Recently, public intellectuals are moving away from university settings to the 'Intellectual Dark Web' to spread their ideas. What is driving this shift?

Public discourse in recent years is increasingly characterised by polarisation and an emotionally divided political landscape. The Right in the Western world struggles to grapple with rampant populism that degrades the political process with nativist sentiment whilst a concurrent fractured identity discourse sees the Left increasingly searching for traitors over converts. Where in the current fraught climate is a space for free dialogue held in good faith? Is the burgeoning 'Intellectual Dark Web' the new forum for intellectual debate that is sorely needed?

For several public intellectuals and pundits, as part of a new digital network of podcasts and talk shows, the 'safe space' for dialogue is not in the universities or mainstream news media outlets but online. Coined by Eric Weinstein, economist and director of Thiel Capital, the term Intellectual Dark Web refers to this emergent space. A veritable Mos Eisley cantina of disaffected leftists, conservatives and liberals are found here conducting their own political discourse. Creating their own podcasts and crowd-funding with supporters through tools like Patreon, these thinkers are subject to no authority but themselves.

Figures of all political and ideological persuasions are found on these podcasts. One of the more well-known podcast hosts, Joe Rogan, comes from the world of MMA, self-described as 'The bridge between the meatheads and potheads.' You certainly would not guess that Rogan and his podcast, 'The Joe Rogan Experience' was pulling in excess of 5 million YouTube views on his most popular content and regularly exceeding a million views. This is not to mention the tens of millions of downloads his podcasts receive monthly on platforms such as iTunes. Symptomatic of shifts from traditional media gatekeepers to independent platforms shows like Rogan's signify a rejection of the trend toward sound-byte analysis. His discussions with guests, ranging typically from 2-4 hours in length, is common to many of the major content producers in this area.

A N. Korean delegation has travelled to the South to inspect Olympic venues. Pyongyang had earlier indicated the visit would be canceled, raising alarm over the fate of the budding rapprochement in the run-up to the Games.

Accompanying the inspection team is young female artist Hyon Song-wol, who now heads the North's Samjiyon Orchestra. She's known for her part in the Moranbong Band, an all-female music group whose members are allegedly selected by Kim Jong-un personally. The superstar is rumored to be an ex-girlfriend of the supreme leader himself. She now leads her country's efforts to make the so-called 'Peace Olympics' a reality.

All the attackers on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul have been killed and hostages released, the Afghan government said, announcing the end of a long siege. However, gunshots were still being heard even after the siege ended.

Afghan forces regained control over the Intercontinental Hotel in Afghanistan and killed four attackers on Sunday morning, according to the Interior Ministry's statement. One foreign citizen was among five people killed in the attack. At least six others were wounded, including four servicemen.

The whole operation reportedly lasted some 17 hours and the death toll could be higher than the government puts it, amounting to 18 people according to TOLOnews citing sources.

Comic book readers are apparently not fans of progressive politics - a fact no more evident in Marvel's decision to cancel every single one of its comics that has been nominated by the LGBTQ advocacy group, GLAAD.

In December, the publisher announced its decision to cancel many of its comics, citing poor sales. LGBTQ, feminist, and social justice-themed comics involving stories that revolved around Black Lives Matter, illegal immigration, and LGBTQ issues were among those to end up on the chopping block.

At a New York Comic Con panel in October, Marvel executives faced tough questions from retailers who complained about the company's social justice push, with poor-selling products that took up valuable inventory space on store shelves.

Pierce College will have to defend the constitutionality of its policies restricting speech to just 0.003 percent of campus after a judge rejected its motion to dismiss a student's lawsuit.

With help from attorneys at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), student Kevin Shaw sued the school in March after administrators refused to let him distribute copies of the Constitution outside of the school's "free speech zone," which encompasses just 616 square feet of the 426-acre campus.

Shaw was also told he must fill out a permit application to use the free speech zone, and that he would have to leave campus if he refused to comply, which the school's defense attorneys have sought to justify by arguing that the campus is a "non-public forum"

According to the court order, the motion was dismissed in part because "given the traditional purpose of the open, outdoor areas of universities, such as the 'Mall' on Pierce's campus, the Court finds that these areas are traditional public fora, regardless of Pierce's regulations naming them non-public fora."

The Intercontinental Hotel in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul is under attack according Reuters, citing an interior ministry spokesman.

The group of "three or four men," who appeared to include suicide bombers, attacked the hotel Saturday and exchanged gunfire with security forces, according to ministry spokesman, Najib Danish.

The attackers have taken several hostages in the hotel, according to local news agency Tolo News who cited Kabul police.

The gunmen entered through the hotel kitchen, before moving to rooms 104 and 105, according to local journalist Bilal Sarwary, who cited an Afghan special forces commander.

A group of Jewish Israelis settlers attacked a Palestinian school in the Al-Zawahra neighbourhood of Bethlehem area village Ta'mor on Wednesday, Felesteen.ps reported.

Member of the Palestinian Authority anti-settlement committee in Bethlehem Hassan Brejea said that the settlers broke the door of the school and damaged some of its facilities.

The police commander tasked with tackling female genital mutilation has excused the lack of convictions for the crime by saying it has "many nuances".

Ivan Balchatchet, the National Police Chiefs' Council's lead on 'honour' violence, female genital mutilation, and forced marriage, was responding to a letter from Jonathan Nicholas, a writer who served as a frontline police officer for 30 years, asking why there has yet to be a single conviction for FGM despite tens of thousands of recorded cases since it was criminalised in 1985.

"Thank you for your letters received dated 10th October 2017 and 12th January 2018 [sic]," wrote Balhatchet.

The massive rise in the proportion of Muslim migrants in the country has resulted in two-thirds of Belgians feeling their nation is being "increasingly invaded", according to a new study.

This sentiment was especially marked among respondents to the detailed survey aged 65 and over, 84 per cent of whom likened the influx of migrants and refugees to an invasion.

Overall, two-thirds of the 4,734 people polled believe there are "too many immigrants in Belgium", while 77 per cent agreed with the statement, "Today we no longer feel at home as we did before [mass migration]".

Michael Anthony Livingston, 50, was suspected of selling a plant that is legal in some form in well over half the country. Becuase the other half of the country still violently and callously kidnaps, cages, and kills people for this plant, however, Livingston is in jail and his mother is now dead.

Geraldine Townsend, 72, was shot and killed this week as a Bartlesville SWAT team executed a search warrant to bust Livingston for the alleged sale of marijuana.

When the heavily armed and likely militarized men kicked in the door to their home, Townsend, likely not knowing who her home invaders were, picked up a pellet gun and fired off two pellets. A Bartlesville officer then shot and killed her.