Adele is reportedly set to announce rescheduled dates for her Las Vegas residency.

The 34-year-old singer – who recently performed in London’s Hyde Park – cancelled her comeback shows in January, but she’s now planning to perform in Vegas at the end of the year.

A source told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: “Adele loved performing in London and it gave her the drive to push forward with her Vegas residency. An announcement is coming in the next few weeks. Management have asked for a celebration to promote her return.”

Adele originally planned to perform at Caesars Palace in Vegas, but her shows could now take place at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theatre, which has a larger capacity.

Earlier this year, a source claimed Adele “will do everything she can” to reschedule her Las Vegas residency as soon as possible.

The singer was forced to postpone her shows at Caesars Palace after COVID hit her backstage team – but Adele is determined to reschedule the shows as quickly as possible, according to the insider.

The source said in January: “There are two slots in this year’s calendar, from the end of February to the start of May, and from the middle of June to the middle of September. But if they can’t work then it could be 2023 by the time they’re rescheduled.

“The rest of the weekend dates in the year are taken up by other acts including Sting and Rod Stewart.”

Adele has a jam-packed work schedule, but she’s determined to take to the stage in Las Vegas.

The insider added: “Adele’s schedule is mammoth and it makes rescheduling a challenge but she is devoted to her fans and will do everything she can to get them back in the diary quickly.”

Tom Daley wants to be a “designer for life” once he’s done with diving.

The 28-year-old diver is an avid knitter and launched his own Made With Love clothing range earlier this year, and while he’s still hoping to compete at the 2024 Olympics, he’s achieved all his goals in the sport so is now thinking ahead to the future beyond the pool.

Confirming he wants to dive in the next Olympics, told Grazia magazine: “But if you’re asking me this right now, I mean, I’ve achieved everything that I want to achieve in diving.

“Once I finish diving I want to be a designer for life.”

Tom – who has four-year-old son Robbie with husband Dustin Lance Black – thinks too much pressure is put on young sports stars and they should have something else to focus on.

He said: “What I’ve learned as I’ve got older as an athlete is the more time you take off, the more you get out of the sport when you’re actually doing it.”

The Olympic gold winner admitted he has “wanted to walk away” from the sport “more often than you’d think” and it was “really in the last year” while training for the Tokyo games that he “figured out how to have a good relationship with his body”, after being branded “fat” by a coach when he was 15 led to him battling bulimia.

He added: “So then all of a sudden I’m on the diving board thinking, ‘Oh gosh, everybody thinks I’m fat.’ And that really, really messed with my head.

“It gave me all kinds of body image issues that I still have to this day. I had a real struggle with bulimia for a while.”

(Reuters) – The University of Pennsylvania has nominated transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award, the American college sports regulating body said.

Thomas shot to fame earlier this year when she became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle in March and she had hoped to compete for a place at the Olympics.

But soon after, she became the focus of a raging debate when swimming’s world governing body FINA voted last month to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in elite women’s competitions.

Thomas competed on Pennsylvania’s men’s team for three years before transitioning and moving to the women’s team, setting multiple programme records.

Her eligibility had come under considerable scrutiny, including from several Pennsylvania team mates.

The NCAA said member schools nominated a total of 577 graduating student-athletes. Each school can recognise up to two female athletes and Thomas had been nominated for swimming and diving in Division I.

The Woman of the Year selection committee will select 10 student-athletes from each of the three NCAA divisions. Of the top 30, the committee will then announce nine finalists — three from each division.

The winner will be named at the NCAA Convention in January in San Antonio.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Washington (AFP) – The United States, which is forecasting an increase in monkeypox cases in the coming weeks, does not currently have enough vaccines to meet demand, a top health official said Friday.

Concern has grown especially in New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak of the virus, with nearly 390 cases counted as of July 14. The United States has seen a total of 1,470 cases.

The illness is characterized by lesions on the skin — which can appear on the genitals or the mouth  — and is often accompanied by fever, sore throat and pain in the lymph nodes. It usually clears up on its own but can be extremely painful.

“I want to acknowledge that at this time the demand for vaccines from jurisdictions is higher than our current available supply,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said. “And we know that this is frustrating.”

“We don’t yet have all the vaccine that we would like in this moment,” she told reporters during a press conference, warning that authorities “anticipate an increase in cases in the coming weeks.”

New York public health authorities were forced to apologize earlier this week when a government website became overwhelmed as thousands tried to log on to book vaccine appointments at once. 

“Vaccine supply is extremely limited, extremely constrained, all across this country, and especially here in New York,” the head of the city’s public health department Ashwin Vasan said Thursday.

Close contact

In May, when the outbreak began in the United States, there were only 2,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine — the only specifically approved against monkeypox — available in the country. 

Since then, 156,000 doses have been distributed nationwide. More than 130,000 doses have been added to the strategic national stockpile and are expected to start being disseminated Monday. 

The next round of vaccine distribution will prioritize hardest-hit regions first, Walensky said. 

“I anticipate that there will be a lot more supply for New York City,” she added.

Furthering shortages, a shipment of 786,000 doses has been stuck in Denmark awaiting inspection from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The review is now complete, according to FDA official Peter Marks, and “we told the manufacturer (Bavarian Nordic) that they may ship the vaccine,” he said.

Additionally, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday they had ordered another 2.5 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine, set to arrive in 2023. That order follows another made earlier this month, which is expected to arrive later this year. 

The two-injection vaccine is currently recommended for anyone who has been in close contact with someone infected with monkeypox. For now, the virus is mostly circulating among the LGBTQ community, especially gay and bisexual men.

Monkeypox spreads through close physical contact, by touching objects that have previously been handled by an infected person, or by close face-to-face interaction.

Noah Schnapp has confirmed his ‘Stranger Things’ character Will Byers is gay.

He added Will is in love with his best friend Mike Wheeler, and said he was previously careful about discussing the topic to avoid spoilers for fans of the show.

The 17-year-old actor told Variety: “Obviously, it was hinted at in Season 1 – it was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends? Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing.

“Now it’s 100 per cent clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc.”

He stressed not making Will “all of the sudden be gay” was done “beautifully” by show bosses the Duffer brothers, and he preferred the slow pacing.

Noah added: “They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle and they’re doing it so well.

“I think it has been tricky. Years ago in Season 1, I didn’t know where the Duffers wanted to go with this character. So I was kind of figuring it out along with the audience.

“But now that I’ve spoken to them and seen the show, I know what they want to do with it.

“I really have to take into account, like, this isn’t just a single layer thing of he’s struggling with coming out… he was taken by the Demogorgon and then his friends, they never acknowledged him, and now he’s scared to come out and doesn’t know if they’ll accept him.”

Stranger Things 4 volume two started on July 1, with writing staff set expected to return to work on the next series in August, which is not set to begin until 2023.

Ricky Martin has been accused of incest by his 21-year-old nephew and could face up to 50 years in prison if convicted.

The singer, 50, was hit with a restraining order stemming from a domestic violence incident in Puerto Rico earlier this month but the victim’s identity had been withheld until now.

Ricky’s brother, Eric Martin, has since identified the alleged victim as the singer’s nephew, Dennis Yadiel Sanchez, Spanish news outlet Marca reported on Friday night. (15.07.22)

The singer is accused of “exercising physical and psychological attacks” on Dennis during their seven-month relationship, which ended about two months ago.

A representative for Ricky has previously called the abuse allegations “completely false and fabricated”.

Ricky is expected in Puerto Rican court on July 21 for his trial.

The singer’s accuser filed a restraining order against the singer on July 1 under Puerto Rico’s domestic violence law.

It prohibited Ricky from contacting or calling the petitioner who allegedly “fears for his safety”.

The order, reviewed by Puerto Rican newspaper El Vocero, says Ricky and Dennis broke up two months ago after dating for seven months.

The 21-year-old is the son of Ricky’s stepsister, according to The Latin Post.

Dennis suffers “mental problems”, Eric Martin told The Latin Post, adding he was “very sure that his young relative was not telling the truth”.

Puerto Rican law takes allegations of incest very seriously and if the alleged romance between Ricky and his nephew is confirmed the singer could face up to half a century in prison.

Ricky addressed the accusations on Twitter on July 3, saying: “The protection order entered against me is based on completely false allegations, so I will respond through the judicial process with the facts and the dignity that characterize me.

“Because it is an ongoing legal matter, I cannot make detailed statements at this time. I am grateful for the countless messages of solidarity, and I receive them with all my heart.”

He has made no additional statements regarding the allegations.

Ricky is the most awarded male Latin artist with over 200 awards, including two Grammys, five Latin Grammys, five MTV Video Music Awards and three Billboard Music Awards.

Dame Jane Goodall has been immortalised as a Barbie doll.

The 88-year-old scientist – who is known as the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees – has been honoured by the Mattel company as they have created a version of their iconic fashion doll in her likeness as part of their Inspiring Women series.

In a statement, Jane said: “My entire career, I’ve wanted to help inspire kids to be curious and explore the world around them – just like I did!”

The doll – which is dressed in a set of beige shirts and shorts and has her hair slicked back into a ponytail in a nod to Jane’s work attire – comes with a notebook and binoculars and was announced on World Chimpanzee Day on Thursday (14.07.22) .

Barbie – who was launched by late businesswoman Ruth Handler in 1959 – has had more than 200 careers over the course of her 63-year history including that of an astronaut, a teacher, a nurse, and a politician, and the toy company announced that Eco Leadership is to be their central career theme for 2022.

In a message posted to Barbie’s official Instagram, the Mattel team wrote: “Saving the world is a team effort. Each of us has the power to bring change in different ways!

We are proud to announce our 2022 Career of the Year: the #Barbie Eco-Leadership team, created in partnership with the @JaneGoodallInst, to inspire kids with their own potential and open them up to a world of possibility. Made from recycled ocean-bound plastic, these dolls can show us that there are so many ways to help. From grassroots advocacy to research, sustainability, engineering, and more – it all begins with believing you can. #YouCanBeAnything.” (sic)

The Jane Goodall Barbie doll is featured alongside the likes of activist Rosa Parks and diplomat Eleanor Roosevelt as part of their Inspiring Women collector’s series and is currently available for pre-order on Mattel’s official website.

Earlier this year, the Barbie company honoured former ‘Orange is the New Black’ star Laverne Cox as the first transgender Barbie doll, who joined legendary sitcom actress Lucille Ball and fashion designer Vera Wang as part of their Tribute Collection.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Secret Service deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 after they were requested by oversight officials investigating the agency’s response to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the agency watchdog has claimed.

The Secret Service disputed that accusation on Thursday, saying some phone data was lost during a routine device migration, but that all of the requested texts had been saved.

In a letter to the House of Representatives and Senate Homeland Security Committees investigating the events of Jan. 6, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general’s office (OIG) said “many” messages had been erased by the Secret Service with a device-replacement program after the watchdog asked for the records.

It was not clear from the letter what messages the inspector general’s office believed had been deleted or what evidence they might contain.

After the letter was published on Thursday, Bennie Thompson, who chairs both the congressional panel probing the Capitol attack and the House Homeland Security Committee, told the Axios news website the alleged deletion was “concerning.”

“If there’s a way we can reconstruct the texts or what have you, we will,” Thompson said.

The DHS did not respond to a request for comment late on Thursday.

In a lengthy statement issued in response to the accusations, a Secret Service spokesman said the agency had “fully” cooperated with the inspector general’s office.

“DHS OIG requested electronic communications for the first time on Feb. 26, 2021, after the migration was well under way,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “The Secret Service notified DHS OIG of the loss of certain phones’ data, but confirmed to OIG that none of the texts it was seeking had been lost in the migration.”

Guglielmi said that despite the assertions of the inspector general’s office, its employees had been granted “appropriate and timely access” to the materials.

The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol followed weeks of false claims by Trump that he won the 2020 election. On Tuesday, lawmakers of the House panel probing the attack accused Trump of inciting the violence in a last-ditch bid to remain in power after losing the election.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Edwina Gibbs)

By Tom Hals and Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) – The judge overseeing Twitter Inc’s $44 billion lawsuit against Elon Musk has a no-nonsense reputation as well as the distinction of being one of the few jurists who has ever ordered a reluctant buyer to close a U.S. corporate merger.

Kathaleen McCormick took over the role of chancellor or chief judge of the Court of Chancery last year, the first woman in that role. On Wednesday, she was assigned the Twitter lawsuit which seeks to force Musk to complete his deal for the social media platform, which promises to be one of the biggest legal showdowns in years.

“She already has a track record of not putting up with some of the worst behavior that we see in these areas when people want to get out of deals,” said Adam Badawi, a law professor who specializes in corporate governance at the University of California Berkeley. “She is a serious, no-nonsense judge.”

In contrast to Musk’s brash and volatile behavior, she is known as soft-spoken, approachable and amiable — but a person who also stands her ground. She advocates respect among litigants and integrity at legal conferences.

“We’ve always had each other’s backs, we’ve always gone out for drinks after arguments and maintained this level civility,” she told a gathering at the University of Delaware this year.

After weeks of confrontational tweets suggesting Twitter was hiding the true number of fake accounts, Musk said on Friday he was terminating the $54.20-per-Twitter share acquisition, worth $44 billion. On Tuesday, the social media platform sued.

Judges have ordered reluctant buyers to close corporate acquisitions only a handful of times, according to legal experts and court records. One of those was McCormick.

Last year, McCormick got the attention of Wall Street dealmakers by ordering an affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg & Co LLC to close its $550 million purchase of DecoPac Holding Inc, which makes cake decorating products.

She described her ruling as “chalking up a victory for deal certainty” and rejected Kohlberg’s arguments that it could walk away because of a lack of financing.

The case has many parallels to the Twitter deal. Like Musk, Kohlberg said it was walking away because DecoPac violated the merger agreement. Like Musk, Kohlberg argued in part that DecoPac failed to maintain ordinary operations.

There are also differences. Musk’s deal is magnitudes bigger, involves a publicly traded target company in Twitter and might have implications for Tesla Inc, the electric vehicle maker that is the source of much of Musk’s fortune.

In other cases, she has come down on the side of shareholders when they clashed with management.

Last year, she prevented energy company The Williams Cos Inc from adopting a so-called poison pill anti-takeover measure, saying it breached their fiduciary duty to shareholders.

Last month, she said shareholders of Carvana Co could sue the board for a direct offering of stock to select investors when the share price was depressed during the early pandemic.

A graduate of Notre Dame Law School, McCormick started her career with the Delaware branch of the Legal Aid Society, which helps low-income people navigate the court system.

She went into private practice “mainly for financial reasons,” she told the Delaware Senate during her confirmation hearing, joining Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, one of the state’s main firms for business litigation.

She joined the Court of Chancery in 2018 as a vice chancellor and became the first woman to lead the Court of Chancery last year.

Despite her mild manner, Eric Talley, who specializes in corporate law at Columbia Law School, said he doubts McCormick would be cowed by Musk.

“I would not be placing my bets on Chancellor McCormick suddenly becoming weak-kneed,” he said.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Hyun Joo Jin in San Francisco; editing by Noeleen Walder and Jonathan Oatis)

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall has promised people will find a “friend for life” if they adopt a rescue dog or cat.

The 74-year-old royal hosted a reception to celebrate the 160th anniversary of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home – from where she adopted her own canine companions, terriers Bluebell and Beth – in the walled garden of Clarence House on Thursday (14.07.22) – and as well as meeting staff, guests, trustees and ambassadors for the organisation, she also get to pet some of the pooches, who she described as “so sweet”.

Camilla was particularly delighted by an eight-week-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Flora, who she admitted she would like to smuggle away in her handbag.

She said: “I can’t imagine she’ll be stuck for a home for very long.”

The duchess then made an appeal to urge people to adopt from Battersea.

She said: “There are a lot of dogs and cats now at Battersea that need a home so if I could appeal to everybody listening, all of your friends, that if they want a dog or a cat, go along to Battersea and find a friend for life.”

Peter Laurie, chief executive of Battersea, thanked Camilla for the “kind and generous” support she has offered in the five years she has been royal patron.

Paul Marvell, Director of Global Programmes, admitted many pet owners have given up their animals due to the cost of living crisis, and he thinks the problem is set to get worse when gas and electricity bills go up again in the autumn.

He said: “People are now citing financial pressures as one of the reasons they are rehoming their pets. When bills go up people will be more squeezed…

“A lot of people got pets during lockdown. In the case of dogs, they didn’t have much interaction with other dogs and humans.

“There are the inevitable problems with a lack of formal training and social interaction.

“It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen. There are so many factors but the trajectory is looking like we will have more and more coming in.

“But we have long waiting lists of people wanting to adopt dogs and cats. It’s finding the right home for the right animal.

“We are very quick at rehoming. Dogs are here for four or five weeks at most.”

Guests at the event struggled with the heat, with author Dame Jacqueline Wilson needing medical attention after fainting.

When Camilla arrived, after being greeted by a “dog guard of honour”, she asked aides to move the lengthy receiving line into the shade so guests could be slightly more comfortable while they waited to speak to her.

Later, the dogs were treated to bowls of Jude’s Ice Cream for Dogs – which donates 5%of profits to Battersea – with staff revealing the strawberry-flavoured treat had been the duchess’ idea.

Britney Spears would “rather hang out with homeless people than the people in Hollywood”.

The 40-year-old singer – who recently tied the knot with Sam Asghari, 28, in a star-studded wedding – took to Instagram to hit out at Hollywood.

She shared a picture with the words “God is not nice” and added a picture caption which read: “Does that mean the devil is EXTREMELY HOT AND NICE ??? I’d rather hang out with homeless people than the people in Hollywood … JUST SAYING !!!! (sic).”

While Britney received support on her caption from some fans, others pointed out in the comments that Britney’s recent wedding included a number of celebrities, such as Madonna, Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton and Ansel Elgort.

One person wrote sarcastically: “I remember seeing how starved for Hollywood people your wedding was with all the homeless people there.”

In another post, Britney – who was freed from her conservatorship last year – wrote about finally discovering her own “self-worth”.

She wrote: “When you finally realize your worth and value … that MEANS way more than being liked … I have learned that up chatter resonates with different grounds … different awareness … different PRESENCE … I bring this up because I feel like there is a reason why I like the song ‘S.O.S’ by @off.indila … I think there’s a different meaning to it for everyone … we all have our perspectives so here I go … have you ever seen the movie ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ ??? Well I know the song is in French but I interpret the words my own way in my stupid 6 year old brain … after the word “SUN” I feel like she’s saying … SHE TOOK MY BANNER … I CALLED MY OWN !!! That’s probably not what she is saying but it’s what I hear … I feel like whenever there is a 3rd party with her son, husband or whomever she loves, the third party takes over and takes HER BANNER … meaning her identity called my OWN !!! Call me crazy, whatever … It’s been on my mind and if you only knew how many people … nannies, moms, friends have come in and chatted up my loves I think you would go see “To Kill a Mockingbird” !!! Depending on the 3 people indicates who goes away … To Kill a Mockingbird !!! I am grateful for today in finding my body … again reflecting and CLEARING and CLARITY this week !!! It’s good to reflect on where you have been before you know where you’re going !!! So s*** … I’ve done a lot so I have a lot of reflecting to do !!! I speak because I like to be heard … even if only one person hears me, that’s fine !!! As long as I feel heard … so whoever is reading this, hi and thanks for listening (sic).”

The European Commission is taking Hungary to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), to reverse both a law restricting access to information on LGBT issues and a decision to revoke the broadcast licence of the country’s last independent radio station.

The Hungarian legislation “discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity,” the commission said in a Friday statement announcing the move.

The legal actions are the latest in a mountain of litigation the EU executive arm has pursued against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government due to what it says are violations of EU law.

The commission has long deliberated taking Orbán’s government to court due to the controversial legislation adopted last June, but hesitated due to worries its interference could fuel Budapest’s anti-EU propaganda.

Among other things, the law restricts children’s and young people’s access to books, films and other forms of content showing anything other than heterosexuality or birth-assigned gender identities.

Orbán has repeatedly rejected charges that the legislation discriminates, arguing the rules enshrine parental control over what kind of sex education children receive at school.

The commission under President Ursula von der Leyen refutes this. “The Hungarian bill is a shame,” she said last year, announcing the infringement process that culminated in Friday’s legal action.

Hungary’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) law has also drawn strong criticism from EU member states. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Hungary should leave – or be made to leave – the European Union if it didn’t adhere to basic values of the bloc in the aftermath of the bill’s adoption.

Hungary has refused to budge, however, and a series of correspondence with the EU executive arm failed to convince the commission of the legislation’s compliance with EU law.

The commission views the law as disproportionate and puts “in place unjustified restrictions that discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation,” according to a previous statement.

The EU executive arm monitors compliance with EU law in the bloc. Should Budapest not comply with the ECJ ruling on the matter, Hungary could face heavy fines.

Similarly, the commission is pursuing legal action against Hungary regarding a decision not to award a broadcast licence to what is regarded as the country’s last independent radio broadcaster, Klubradio.

In March 2021, Hungary’s media council, whose members are supporters of Orbán, declared Klubradio’s application to broadcast as invalid.

The commission began infringement proceedings soon after, criticizing the decision as non-transparent and discriminatory, which culminated in Friday’s legal action.

Hungary has also been the subject of commission legal action for the handling of asylum claims in the country.

Budapest could also become the first EU member state to face a potential cut in EU funding due to rule-of-law violations after the commission triggered a legal mechanism to safeguard the EU budget.

TJ Osborne joked that his brother John knew he was gay, when he saw his internet search history.

The Brothers Osborne musicians have opened up about when TJ shared his sexuality with his brother and how John tried to break the tension with a joked.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s ‘Exit 209 with Storme Warren’ podcast, John, 40, said: “As his older brother you just kind of know, but it’s not my place to ask.”

TJ, 37, quipped: “When you saw my internet history you kind of knew,” and John laughed: “Yeah. I was like, wow. Interesting.”

TJ revealed he wanted to tell John about his sexuality before they tied themselves into a contract with EMI Records Nashville in 2012.

He said: “I was like, ‘Hey, before we sign this and we get kind of tangled up, contractually entangled in something, you need to know that this is a thing that I need to tell you about me that I think you might now, but I also want you to know that I do intend on coming out at some point. I don’t know when that is, but I don’t want to live my life closeted.’

“I knew that I wanted to tell John then and at that point I had come out to a couple people that I thought really needed to know, but beyond that, I just kind of just did my thing and so John was always obviously incredibly supportive of that.”

John said: “It’s not my place to pry or ask, but I knew eventually he would have to tell me for him, you know, because the people that I’m closest to in my life are my brother and my wife [Lucie] and my family and you have to be honest and open with those people, which allows you to be vulnerable, which is where real life happens, right?”

And John then joked to his brother that he would “balance” him out.

He said: “To break awkward tension, I just remember saying, ‘Well, you don’t have to worry TJ because the other member in your band is a raging heterosexual, so I’m here to balance you out’. I just wanted to say something to make someone laugh and it was after that then we just had drinks and I felt so much happiness and joy for him and it was a beautiful, beautiful night.”

TJ – who is dating Abi Ventura – came out publicly in Time magazine in February 2021, becoming the first only openly gay artist signed to a major country label.