‘More than enough vaccine’

You can see Elizabeth Taylor submerged in the deep blues of a pool in Hollywood, a green parrot perched on her hand.

German-Australian photographer Helmut Newton created the portrait of Taylor during a shoot for Vanity Fair in the 1980s.

It is just one of the many gems on display at an exhibition of works focusing on Hollywood, with many by iconic photographer Newton (1920-2004).

They are now on show at the Berlin Museum of Photography, suitably, as Newton’s photographic estate is administered by Berlin, where he was born.

The photographer made his name portraying celebrity actors and actresses, well-known directors and famous musicians for magazines in the 1980s. Many of his works resemble stills from famous Hollywood films, as he often staged photographs based on cinematic scenes.

While Newton’s works are the focal point in the exhibition, you can also see photographs by Eve Arnold, Anton Corbijn, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Michael Dressel, George Hoyningen-Huene, Jens Liebchen, Ruth Harriet Louise, Inge Morath, Steve Schapiro, Julius Shulman, Alice Springs and Larry Sultan, all focusing on Hollywood. There are also publications by Annie Leibovitz and Ed Ruscha.

The exhibition opened on Friday and runs until November 20.

By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Declaring “Enough, enough!” U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday called on Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other gun control measures to address a string of mass shootings that have struck the United States.

Speaking from the White House, in a speech broadcast live in primetime, Biden asked a country stunned by the recent shootings at a school in Texas, a grocery store in New York and a medical building in Oklahoma, how many more lives it would take to change gun laws in America.

“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked.

Biden described visiting Uvalde, Texas, where the school shooting took place. “I couldn’t help but think there are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields, here in America.”

The president, a Democrat, called for a number of measures opposed by Republicans in Congress, including banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, or, if that were not possible, raising the minimum age to buy those weapons to 21 from 18. He also pressed for repealing the liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their guns.

“We can’t fail the American people again,” Biden said, pressing Republicans particularly in the U.S. Senate to allow bills with gun control measures to come up for a vote.

Biden said if Congress did not act, he believed Americans would make the issue central when they vote in November mid-term elections.

The National Rifle Association gun lobby said in a statement that Biden’s proposals would infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. “This isn’t a real solution, it isn’t true leadership, and it isn’t what America needs,” it said.

The United States, which has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation, has been shaken in recent weeks by the mass shootings of 10 Black residents in upstate New York, 19 children and two teachers in Texas, and two doctors, a receptionist and a patient in Oklahoma.

Lawmakers are looking at measures to expand background checks and pass “red flag” laws that would allow law enforcement officials to take guns away from people suffering from mental illness. But any new measures face steep hurdles from Republicans, particularly in the Senate, and moves to ban assault weapons do not have enough support to advance.

The U.S. Constitution’s second amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms. Biden said that amendment was not “absolute” while adding that new measures he supported were not aimed at taking away people’s guns.

“After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done,” Biden said, ticking off a list of mass shootings over more than two decades. “This time that can’t be true.”

PLEA FROM GRIEVING GRANDMOTHER

Gun safety advocates have pushed Biden to take stronger measures on his own to curb gun violence, but the White House wants Congress to pass legislation that would have more lasting impact than any presidential order.

Biden’s evening address was aimed in part at keeping the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. The president has made only a handful of evening speeches from the White House during his term, including one on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and one about the Texas shooting last week.

More than 18,000 people have died from gun violence in the United States so far in 2022, including through homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

Canada, Australia and Britain all passed stricter gun laws after mass shootings in their countries, banning assault weapons and increasing background checks. America has experienced years of massacres in schools, stores and places of work and worship without any such legislation.

A broad majority of American voters, both Republicans and Democrats, favor stronger gun control laws, but Republicans in Congress and some moderate Democrats have blocked such legislation for years.

Prices of shares in gun manufacturers rose on Thursday. Efforts to advance gun control measures have boosted firearm share prices after other mass shootings as investors anticipated that gun purchases would increase ahead of stricter regulations.

In the aftermath of the Texas shooting, Biden urged the country to take on the powerful pro-gun lobby that backs politicians who oppose such legislation.

The Senate is split, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, and a law must have 60 votes to overcome a maneuver known as the filibuster, which means any law would need rare bipartisan support.

“The only room in America where you can’t find more than 60% support for universal background checks is on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” said Christian Heyne, vice president for policy at Brady, a gun violence prevention group.

While Biden and Congress explore compromises, the Supreme Court is due to decide a major case that could undermine new efforts to enact gun control measures while making existing ones vulnerable to legal attack.

Biden said he received a handwritten note from a grandmother who had lost her granddaughter in Uvalde that read: “Erase the invisible line that is dividing our nation. Come up with a solution and fix what’s broken and make the changes that are necessary to prevent this from happening again.”

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Alexandra Alper and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mary Milliken, Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)

Kathy Najimy took fans by surprise by showing support to Kim Cattrall after her Hocus Pocus 2 costar Sarah Jessica Parker spoke out about the Sex and the City drama in a rare interview.

SJP opened up about her “painful” rift with Cattrall on the Awards Chatter podcast, revealing her former SATC costar’s remarks over the years have been tough to hear, adding, “There just isn’t anybody else who has talked about me in this way.”

Hours after the interview made headlines, Najimy entered the conversation by tweeting directly to Cattrall, despite reprising her iconic role inHocus Pocus alongside SJP.

Najimy and SJP portray two of the three Sanderson sisters in the spooky films.

“@KimCattrall Sending you alll the love and support in the WORLD today!! One of the best, most authentic humans in the ‘business’ and maybe the world! dinner soooon my love!” she wrote on Thursday, also writing in a separate tweet, “Sending love to my brilliant authentic talented beautiful hilarious [@KimCattrall] today … miss you.”

Eagle-eyed fans were keen to notice that Najimy also doesn’t follow SJP on Instagram but does follow Cattrall.

“Hocus Pocus 2 press tour ’bout to be real fun!!!!” one social media user quipped.

Najimy’s praise of Cattrall comes after SJP finally addressed her longtime feud with Cattrall as well as why her character Samantha Jones was not brought back, claiming it was more of a studio decision than Cattrall’s — contradicting her costar’s claims.

SJP, known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in the hit HBO series, said, “The studio, when we were going to do the third movie, there were things she requested that they were not able to do — they didn’t feel comfortable meeting where she wanted to meet.”

In a May interview with Variety, Cattrall had said that she was never asked to return for the reboot after making her feelings clear on a possible third movie, stating she felt confident in her choice to say no after hearing where her plotline was going.

“She did not ask her to be part of this because she made it clear that it wasn’t something she wanted to pursue and it no longer felt comfortable to us, so it did not occur to us,” SJP, in turn, said about why they didn’t reach out to Cattrall regarding the reboot.

“It’s so painful for people to keep talking about this catfight,” Parker continued, adding that Cattrall was essential to the show’s success. “I’ve never uttered fighting words in my life about anybody that I’ve worked with ever.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Parents of victims killed in recent mass shootings in New York state and Texas, as well as a fourth grader who survived last week’s attack, will speak before a congressional panel next week as U.S. lawmakers consider new measures to curb gun violence.

The mother of one of the 10 people killed at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, will join the parents of one of the 19 children gunned down at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school at the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee’s hearing on June 8, the panel said in a statement on Friday. Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader at the school, will also appear.

The public hearing comes after the United States, which has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation,

has seen a spate of especially horrific mass killings in recent weeks, including the largest mass school shooting in nearly 10 years.

Two teachers were also killed May 24 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde by an 18-year-old gunman who was fatally shot by law enforcement officers. Two weeks earlier, 10 Black people were killed in Buffalo by an 18-year-old avowed white supremacist who was subsequently arrested.

More shootings have occurred since then, including at a medical building at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, hospital and at an Iowa church this week.

Democratic President Joe Biden, in a prime-time address to the nation on Thursday, called for sweeping gun reforms and urged Congress to act.

Next week, the Democratic-controlled House is expected to vote on a bill approved this week by the House Judiciary Committee that would raise the minimum age for purchasing semi-automatic weapons to 21 from 18. No Republicans on the panel voted for the measure, which would also outlaw high-capacity ammunition magazines for civilian use and crack down on gun trafficking and so-called straw weapons purchases.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Richard Cowan; Editing by Katharine Jackson and Jonathan Oatis)

While Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the royal family celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, news anchors on Russian state TV mocked Elizabeth and suggested she was the reason for the “collapse” of the British Empire.

Rossiya-1, a Russian news channel directly controlled by Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, aired a report this week claiming Britain’s “opulent” celebration and commemoration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is a ruse to mask the country’s alleged recent and sudden decline.

“The UK, which as a consequence of its sanctions against Russia is bracing for power cuts, has found the money for an opulent celebration of the Queen’s platinum jubilee,” the channel said in a recent evening report from straight out of London.

The bizarre report also claimed that Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign saw the “final collapse” of the British Empire, citing examples like the recent independence of former-British colonies and the recent election of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland as a “threat to the realm.”

“The imperial functions of the Anglo-Saxon world long ago passed to the United States, even though Boris Johnson is trying to revive British influence on the European continent by actively interfering in events in Ukraine,” the Russian news report continued.

“[The aim is to] deflect attention from domestic problems like Downing Street parties during lockdown and a general decline in living standards.”

As RadarOnline.com reported, this is just the latest report broadcasted by the Kremlin-controlled Russian state TV and comes as the country’s war against Ukraine hits its 100th day.

In April, the same Russian state TV channel claimed that World War 3 had already begun, and Russia was under attack by NATO for invading Ukraine.

“What it’s escalated into can safely be called World War 3,” Olga Skabeyeva – who is widely considered to be one of Russia’s leading propagandist presenters – said during the propaganda-filled broadcast at the time. “That’s entirely for sure.”

“Now we’re definitely fighting against NATO infrastructure, if not NATO itself. We need to recognize that,” she added.

Despite Russia’s claims of WW3, and the alleged “collapse” of the British Empire under Queen Elizabeth, she and the royal family continue to celebrate her 70 years on the throne, servicing the people of the United Kingdom.

NeNe Leakeslaughed off accusations she stole her boyfriend from his wife, with the former Real Housewives of Atlanta star saying that’s not in her DNA.

As Radar reported, the 54-year-old was hit with a lawsuit by Malomine Tehmeh-Sioh, who claimed NeNe started a romance with Nyonisela Sioh when he was still married.

NeNe isn’t allowing speculation to swirl — she’s taking action, as usual. She responded to the lawsuit with shade, taking to social media to deny the rumors.

Posting a video of herself, NeNe addressed the lawsuit.

“I’m already out here a husband stealer. This is too much,” she said, referencing the accusations. “Ain’t nobody out here stealing husbands. I would never!” NeNe added.

She didn’t stop there.

“Nobody want to steal anyone else’s problem, honey!” NeNe said bursting out in laughter with her boyfriend seemingly reacting the same in the background.

She later doubled down on her stance.

NeNe also took to her Instagram Stories to troll Nyonisela’s ex. “Yours, mine, ours,” she posted three clips showing her in the car with her man. The three words are lyrics from a Muni Long song.

NeNe was slapped with the lawsuit in North Carolina last month. According to court documents, Malomine claimed she “enjoyed a genuine happy marital relationship” and had an “active sexual relationship” with Nyonisela until he met the RHOA alum.

She also alleged her husband and NeNe “engaged in an ongoing romantic, uninhibited, and adulterous affair” without her knowledge or consent.

Malomine went on to claim she faced “embarrassment, humiliation, and disgrace” when NeNe shared “intimate pictures” with Nyonisela online.

In the docs, she listed their date of separation as December 17, 2021, noting that NeNe first shared photos with Nyonisela two days before.

“As a result of the adulterous relationship between [Leakes] and [Sioh], the love and affection which existed between [Tehmeh-Sioh] and [Sioh] was alienated, estranged, and destroyed,” she alleged.

Malomine wants $100,000 in damages from NeNe for “alienation of affections” and “criminal conversation.”

NeNe’s reaction makes it clear how she feels about the lawsuit.

Of course, this isn’t the only legal woes NeNe is facing. As Radaronline.com reported, she’s suing Andy Cohen and Bravo, claiming she faced discrimination from the network and RHOA producers.

By Michael Holden and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) -Horse-loving Queen Elizabeth was thanked for being “in the saddle” for 70 years as head of state at a service on Friday to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, an event she missed due to ongoing mobility issues.

Other senior members of the royal family joined a congregation of politicians, charity figures and groups the queen has supported for the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London to pay tribute to the sovereign’s record-breaking reign.

Four days of celebrations began on Thursday, when a beaming Elizabeth waved to crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after a military parade and Royal Air Force flypast, and later led the lighting of the Principal Platinum Jubilee Beacon at her Windsor Castle home.

The 96-year-old, who has been forced to cancel a series of engagements recently due to “episodic mobility problem”, reluctantly pulled out of Friday’s service after experiencing “some discomfort” the previous day.

Elizabeth, who is a devout Christian and also the titular head of the Church of England, watched the service on television at her Windsor Castle residence near London.

Her son and heir Prince Charles, 73, represented her, while much attention was focused on her grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who were making their first public appearance together in Britain since stepping down from royal duties two years ago.

The couple moved to the United States to lead a more independent life, and have since delivered some stinging attacks on Buckingham Palace and the royal family. They were greeted by cheers and a few boos on their arrival.

ENDURANCE

Noting the queen’s well-known love of horse-racing, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said in his sermon that her reign reflected the distance of the Grand National, the famous, gruelling steeplechase, rather than the Epsom Derby sprint.

“But with endurance through times of change and challenge, joy and sorrow, you continue to offer yourself in the service of our country and the Commonwealth,” he said.

“Your Majesty, we are sorry that you’re not here with us this morning, but we are so glad that you are still in the saddle. And we are glad that there is still more to come. So thank you for staying the course.”

Also absent from Friday’s service was her second son, Prince Andrew, 62, who has tested positive for COVID-19.

That potentially spares the royals some awkwardness, with Andrew’s reputation shattered after he settled a U.S. lawsuit in February in which he had been accused of sexually abusing a woman when she was underage, claims he denied.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who delivered a reading, was met by a mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd outside the cathedral, reflecting recent public anger over his conduct in office.

After the service, a reception was held at the Guildhall hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of London and attended by some of the royals and politicians.

Thursday marked not only the start of the Jubilee, but also the 69th anniversary of the coronation of Elizabeth, who became queen on the death of her father George VI in February 1952 and is head of state of 14 other countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

She has now been on the throne for longer than any of her predecessors in 1,000 years, and is the third-longest reigning monarch ever of a sovereign state. Opinion polls show she remains hugely popular and respected among British people.

Tributes have poured in from across the globe, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un adding his own congratulations to those from the likes of U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis.

Roxie Kishore-Bigord, 51, who was outside St Paul’s to see the guests arriving, said it was disappointing the queen had been unable to attend.

“We want her well, we want her to keep going,” she told Reuters. “We’re happy that she will probably be watching from home and hopefully she will see how much she’s loved and appreciated.”

(Reporting by Michael Holden and Kate Holton in London, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Gareth Jones)

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fed-up Democrats in San Francisco and Los Angeles, liberal-leaning California cities reeling from COVID-era spikes in homicides and gun violence, may punish their own party at the polls next week over its criminal justice policies.

San Francisco’s progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, is likely to be pushed out of office in a recall vote, while voters in Los Angeles will be choosing a new mayor – with an ex-Republican as a leading candidate.

The results could send a blinking-red warning to Democrats ahead of November’s midterm elections.

In congressional and local races across the United States, Republicans have seized upon calls by progressives to reduce police department budgets and other liberal criminal justice policies to paint almost all Democratic candidates as lenient on crime.

Democrats have struggled to formulate a persuasive rebuttal, even as a new wave of moderates, such as New York Mayor Eric Adams, has urged them to take a more tough-on-crime approach.

In April, the pollster Gallup found concern over crime was at its highest level since 2016, with 53% of Americans saying they worried “a great deal” about it. An ABC/Washington Post poll in May showed Americans trusted the Republican Party over Democrats to handle crime by 12 percentage points.

But focus groups also show Americans increasingly worried about the proliferation of firearms. That is an issue that Democratic consultants said the party’s candidates could hone in on, shoring up their support with suburban and Black voters by explicitly tying lax gun laws to surges in crime.

“It is absolutely something Democrats can and should be using to combat against the increasing narrative of their being soft on crime,” said Angela Kuefler, a strategist who advises Democratic candidates on gun issues.

Kuefler noted there is widespread public support for enhanced background checks of gun purchasers and actions to decrease the flow of illegal guns into cities.

A series of mass shootings – including last week’s at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead – has reignited the U.S. debate over policing and guns.

President Joe Biden has tried to balance a push for changes in policing from the more radical wing of his party with voters’ concerns about security. An executive order last week, for instance, established guidelines for the use of deadly force by federal law enforcement officers.

Boudin, on the other hand, embraced a strong progressive agenda in San Francisco – and appears to be paying the price.

COVID CHAOS

Boudin was elected in San Francisco in 2019 after pledging a series of reforms, saying he would not try juveniles as adults, would not push for sentencing enhancements for certain crimes that can add years to prison sentences, and would not seek cash bail for any defendant.

He largely followed through on his promises, which also included diverting low-level offenders away from incarceration to reduce the city’s jail population.

But after the pandemic began, the city saw increases in homicides, gun violence and property crime. Hate crimes against Asian Americans rose. Videos of large-scale “smash and grab” retail theft went viral.

Residents, including some deep-pocketed Republicans, blamed Boudin’s policies and launched a recall petition.

“It is a radical ideology that has upset everyone: left, right, gay, straight, young, old, male or female,” said Richie Greenberg, a local independent activist and spokesperson for the recall effort.

Boudin’s supporters say robberies and other crimes shifted from tourist areas to residential ones as a result of the pandemic, creating the perception of a crime surge. They point to data that shows a more nuanced reality, with assaults and rapes decreasing during the period, even as homicides and shootings increased.

Still, said Lara Bazelon, a law professor at the University of San Francisco and a Boudin defender, “People are feeling less safe regardless of what the stats say.”

Opinion polls show Boudin likely to be recalled on Tuesday. A replacement would be chosen by the city’s mayor, London Breed, a Democrat who has criticized Boudin but has not taken a stance on the recall.

In Los Angeles, Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer and former Republican, is battling U.S. Representative Karen Bass and a host of other liberal candidates in the mayoral election.

Caruso, who has spent more than $30 million of his own money in the campaign, made crime the centerpiece of his candidacy in a city that saw homicides reach a 15-year high in 2021. That forced Bass, a longtime progressive champion in Congress, to move to the center and pledge to put more police on the streets. Caruso and Bass could be headed to a runoff, polls show.

Republicans think crime could be a winning political issue in a number of congressional races, including in the suburbs of Minneapolis, New York City and Portland.

The party has already gone after Democratic Senate candidates in battleground states on crime, with Cheri Beasley in North Carolina an early target.

Republican-funded TV ads have assailed Beasley’s record, saying in one that she “failed to protect” child crime victims. Beasley, the former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, on Twitter called the ad “misleading” and warned more were to come.

She answered with an ad of her own, touting her efforts as chief justice to keep human traffickers off the streets.

“I’ll never stop fighting to make North Carolina safe,” she says.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Rosalba O’Brien)