From its first edition 100 years ago through the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and on to the present day, New Yorker covers have won both artistic and journalistic acclaim.Here are some of the magazine’s most memorable covers:- Dandy turned mascot -The publication’s first edition came out on February 21, 1925 priced at 15 cents, emblazoned with a caricature of a fictional dandy, inspired by the Count d’Orsay, looking at a butterfly through a monocle. Created by the artist Rea Irvin, the fictional character dubbed Eustace Tilley has become the mascot of the journal, reappearing year after year in a humorous way, depicted variously as a hipster, wearing an anti-Covid mask — and with a smartphone in place of a monocle.- Hiroshima -In 1946, the New Yorker devoted an entire issue to John Hersey’s report on the consequences of the US atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The cover features a bucolic landscape, drawn by Charles E. Martin. At the time, “the images had to be almost a way to console ourselves over the world’s trauma,” said the New Yorker’s artistic director, Francoise Mouly. The disparity is such that it necessitated the inclusion of banner on the cover — “this entire issue is devoted to the story of how an atomic bomb destroyed a city.”- September 11, 2001 attacks -The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center adorn the front cover, shrouded in darkness so black and opaque that they are barely distinguishable. “It responds to what I experienced that day,” said Mouly, who was near the towers with her husband, the famous cartoonist Art Spiegelman, and her daughter when the two skyscrapers collapsed. The couple co-signed the cover. “I really felt that there was no possible reaction,” Mouly said.- Controversial Obama issue -One cover of note published when the 2008 presidential campaign was in full swing, as hardline conservatives had brought a lawsuit against Barack Obama, questioning his “American-ness” and falsely insinuating that he was not born in the United States, or that he was Muslim. The New Yorker responded to the kerfuffle with satire, a drawing titled “The Politics of Fear” by Barry Blitt, depicting the Democratic candidate in a djellaba, and his wife Michelle dressed as an armed militant in the Oval Office. The illustration shows a portrait of Osama bin Laden hanging on the wall and an American flag burning in the fireplace. The caricature “raised an outcry,” said Mouly.

The New Yorker magazine, a staple of American literary and cultural life defined by its distinctive covers, long-form journalism, witty cartoons and particular grammar, is celebrating 100 years on newsstands.To mark the publication’s centenary milestone, four commemorative issues are being released, while its namesake city will host seven exhibitions ahead of a Netflix documentary on the title known for its artistic cover creations.Despite its storied history, the New Yorker often puts a mirror up to current events. Three founding fathers were shown on a recent cover design being marched out of office, carrying their effects in cardboard boxes in a satirical commentary on US President Donald Trump’s assault on the status quo.Francoise Mouly, the magazine’s artistic director, said the New Yorker was not immune from the crisis plaguing the media.”But I’m stubborn and I see the future with a lot of confidence and hope,” she said.Mouly has been one of the conductors of the New Yorker orchestra since 1993, selecting the cover that week after week lends the magazine its unique identity.”There are some printed products that will never be replaced by digital — children’s books, comics, and the New Yorker,” she told AFP at a recent exhibition showcasing the magazine’s art, held at New York’s Alliance Francaise cultural center.One example of cover art on display depicts a rush-hour subway scene in which all the passengers are animals, while another by Mouly’s husband Art Spiegelman shows a Black woman kissing a Hasidic man.That 1993 design, which followed clashes between the two communities in a Brooklyn neighborhood, stirred controversy at the time and remains one of the title’s most discussed covers.With more than 5,000 editions over the past century, the magazine has published literary greats like Truman Capote’s 1965 “In Cold Blood”, while also giving James Baldwin space to write about race relations.- ‘Incredibly successful’ -Ernest Hemingway, Susan Sontag and JD Salinger are among the authors to have graced the pages of the magazine which combines current affairs, analysis, fiction, reviews, criticism, poetry, and of course its legendary cartoons.Published weekly, the magazine has reported global scoops like the fullest account of the US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, with the entirety of the August 31, 1946 edition given over to John Hersey’s article.In 1961 Hannah Arendt covered the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in the reporting of which she coined the phrase “the banality of evil.”In recent years the magazine won a Pulitzer Prize for Ronan Farrow’s reporting of predatory film mogul Harvey Weinstein, fuelling the “MeToo” movement.”These were all remarkable, long-form stories that really changed the course of American history, not just American journalism,” said Julie Golia, curator of an exhibition on the magazine at The New York Public Library.Founded on February 21, 1925, the New Yorker did not always have such lofty ambitions.At the height of the Jazz Age, amid post-war and pre-depression euphoria, husband and wife founders Harold Ross and Jane Grant set out to create “a magazine of wit and cosmopolitanism, an urbane magazine, but not one that took itself too seriously.”One hundred years on, it boasts 1.3 million subscribers, most of whom subscribe in both print and digital formats. It is a jewel in the crown of media group Conde Nast, which also publishes Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ, having bought the New Yorker in 1985.Despite its highbrow image, the magazine has adapted to the digital age emphasizing subscriptions over advertising, editor-in-chief since 1998 David Remnick said in a recent radio interview.”The New Yorker is much more than those pages that people get in the mail,” said Golia.”It’s a website, it’s podcasts, it’s a festival, and it’s a brand (and) as a brand, it’s incredibly successful.”

NASA announced Tuesday the dismissal of its chief scientist and others to comply with orders from President Donald Trump, marking the latest in a series of administration actions undermining climate change research.While the move affects only 23 people, a spokeswoman indicated more cuts are coming.The first round notably eliminates the Office of the Chief Scientist, led by Katherine Calvin, a renowned climatologist who contributed to key UN climate reports. She and other US delegates were also barred from attending a major climate science meeting in China last month.”To optimize our workforce, and in compliance with an Executive Order, NASA is beginning its phased approach to a reduction in force, known as a RIF,” agency spokeswoman Cheryl Warner said.”A small number of individuals received notification March 10 they are a part of NASA’s RIF. If they’re eligible, those employees may opt to participate in the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, or VERA, or complete the RIF process.”Also eliminated are the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.NASA has so far avoided the deep cuts affecting other agencies, reportedly due to last minute intervention by Jared Isaacman, Trump’s nominee for NASA chief. Isaacman, an e-payments billionaire and SpaceX customer, is seen as close to Elon Musk — Trump’s key advisor and architect of federal cost-cutting efforts.In February, NASA had been preparing to lay off around a thousand probationary employees. However, Isaacman reportedly asked for the cuts to be put on hold, according to Ars Technica. NASA has not explained the reversal.The new layoffs, first reported by NASA Watch citing an internal memo, could signal a shift away from research and toward exploration.Trump and Musk both support a human mission to Mars. In his State of the Union address last week, Trump declared the US would “plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond.”NASA plays a crucial role in climate research, operating a fleet of Earth-monitoring satellites, conducting airborne and ground-based studies, developing sophisticated climate models, and providing open-source data to researchers and the public.Trump, who has called climate change a “scam” and expressed disdain for the UN and climate science, has already pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement for a second time.Meanwhile, his administration has dismissed hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the nation’s other key climate agency, with more cuts expected.

Donald Trump’s Department of Education said Tuesday it was slashing its staff numbers by almost half, the opening gambit in a plan to dismantle a department that right-wing Republicans have long detested.The move is the latest to roil the US federal government in the six weeks since the president returned to the White House pledging to drastically slim what he says is a flabby and inefficient bureaucracy, with thousands of employees across the country already fired.Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News the decision to chop her staff — just five days after she started work — was a step toward fulfilling Trump’s order last month that she “put herself out of a job.” “His directive to me, clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we’ll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished,” said McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.”But what we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.”Employees at the agency, which manages student loans, monitors achievements among learners and enforces civil rights, were locked out of their offices on Tuesday.”As part of the Department of Education’s final mission, the Department today initiated a reduction in force impacting nearly 50 percent of the Department’s workforce,” said a statement.- Congress -The department had around 4,100 employees when Trump took office.Almost 600 agreed to resign or retire over the last few weeks as part of a government-wide plan to reduce headcount, overseen by billionaire businessman Elon Musk.A further 1,300 will be placed on administrative leave on March 21, although they will continue to be paid until June, a statement said, adding that no area would be spared the cuts.”All divisions within the Department are impacted by the reduction, with some divisions requiring significant reorganization to better serve students, parents, educators, and taxpayers,” a statement read.However, it said, statutory programs would continue unabated, such as student loans, Pell Grants and funding for students with special needs.Trump promised to decentralize education as he campaigned for a return to the White House, saying he would devolve the department’s powers to state governments.Traditionally, the federal government has had a limited role in education in the United States, with only about 13 percent of funding for primary and secondary schools coming from federal coffers, the rest being funded by states and local communities. But federal funding is invaluable for low-income schools and students with special needs. And the federal government has been essential in enforcing key civil rights protections for students. By law, the Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress.But Democrats and opponents of the plan see defunding it and firing staff as a way to neutralize it without the need to seek approval from the House and the Senate.Democratic Senator Patty Murray, a former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, accused Trump of demolishing the agency.”Families want help to get students’ math and reading scores up and ensure their kids can thrive. Instead, Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the Department of Education and robbing our students and teachers of the resources and support they need, so that Republicans can pay for more massive tax cuts for billionaires,” said a statement.   “Fewer teachers, less accountability, less resources for students, and more chaos — it’s the last thing students and schools need, but it’s exactly what Trump is delivering.”