Spring 2016
"Well, well, looks like a certain somebody got snubbed from the Nuclear Summit..."
"Looks like DreamWorks is heading home..."
"Just what the hell are the Panama papers?!"
While the Spring of 2016 was becoming defined by the Democratic primaries, there were plenty of other new stories that were catching the eyes of the media. One of which was the Nuclear Security Summit. Hosted every two years, it was started by President McCain in 2010 based on prior ideas and thoughts with former President Al Gore. The idea being that the summit would be done to prevent nuclear terrorism in the world. It grew to encompass other aspects like safe nuclear procedures and even some aspects of nuclear power, done as an informal tie-in to the greater danger of climage change. FIrst held in Washington DC, it would be hosted in Seoul and later Hague, with this year's summit returning back to DC. Various leaders and powers attended and back in 2010, it was a sign of the changing times that Iran was there sing the beginning. Of course, this year became notable for the absence of Russia. Supposedly, they had turned down the summit, a sign of the growing Russo-American tensions as a result of the Ukraine crisis on top of various other notable instances. Ultimately though, the summit went relatively smoothly, especially as the newer nations began getting used to the discussions along with ensuring good cooperation. The last discussions on the next location of the Nuclear Security Spring and after some discussions, it would be decided that Canada would become the next host for the meeting over in 2018.
Nuclear Security Summit 2016 logo
Meanwhile, the entertainment industry became lit with buzz over the news regarding Dreamworks. After the mixed success of
Rise of the Guardians falling short of expectations, the animation giant fell into a slump, namely with films that, while did relatively well, did not seem to truly match what was needed. Even with the films being financially well. However, glimpses into discussion forums and blogs revealed that Dreamworks was becoming formulaic with their films. Additionally, there was a growing community who desired to see the traditionally animated cult classics that Dreamworks started off with make a return, despite the stance Dreamworks had on them since making Shrek. In fact, it was speculated that the formula of current Dreamworks film resulting in a backlash that lead to the increased interest in their traditionally animated ventures. The CEO continued to try looking for buyers of the company and while there were some potential investors, most notably NBCUniversal, things like asking prices and other concerns made it difficult. However, a new light appeared when their old friend in Amblin Entertainment considered the possibility of Dreamworks returning to them. Amblin gained some major attention since their aquisation of LucasArts and the success of
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. After various discussions being the heads, it would be decided that DreamWorks Animation would return over to Amblin Entertainment and the hopes were the fresh blood could rejuvenate some of the longer standing franchises of DreamWorks Animation. Various details such as on distribution, television animation and so on were still being discussed, but the hopes were that DreamWorks could experience a renaissance under Spielberg. The last film released for DreamWorks prior to the changes completed would be
Trolls.
DreamWorks campus entrance- Glendale, CA
However, if there was one issue that dominated the news, even beyond the Democrat primaries, it was the release of the so-called Panama papers. The Panama Papers, or
Papeles de Panamá, are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney/client information for more than 214,400 offshore entities. These documents, some of which dating back to the
1970s, were created by Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca. As such, they were called the Panama papers when they were taken from them. These documents contain personal financial information about many individuals and public officials, all of which would be considered wealthy. While offshore business entities are legal, however, reporters found that some of the Mossack Fonseca shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and even evading international sanctions. Unsurprisingly, the entire matter blew up on social media and the news over blatant tax evasion and fruad. It brought a fresh tidal wave of outrage and anger at the various millionaires and billionaires invovled along with resurrecting the dormant issue over dealing with such matters. Greater calls against the rich were made and those who advocated for tax cuts or similar political techniques that benefitted the wealthy. A spiritual successor to the protests of "Occupy Wall Street" occurred once more across various nations, one being near Trump towers, given how the deceased mogul's name appeared plenty of times on the paperwork.To the shock of no one, this became one of the largest debate points for primaries and for the general election, allowing populist leftists or those perceived as such, to begin rising more and more to the top in regards to popularity.
"Panama Papers"article from the newsource