Beautiful Distance

L'Oréal has brought in advisers to explore ways to shed liabilities tied to its chemicals business, according to the Wall Street Journal. The move suggests the beauty group is weighing options such as divestment or restructuring to distance itself from legacy chemical exposure. The report is drawing attention from finance and corporate observers tracking how major consumer companies manage contested liabilities.

The New York Times has published a review of two short story collections by Japanese author Nao-Cola Yamazaki, 'Don't Laugh at Other People's Sex Lives' and 'Beautiful Distance.' The review examines the two English-language translations, introducing Yamazaki's offbeat, quietly surreal fiction to a wider international readership and assessing how well his peculiar, deadpon stories carry over in translation.