Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine on Friday ordered its last troops holed up in Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steelworks to lay down their arms after nearly three months of desperate resistance against a ferocious Russian assault.

Russia’s flattening of the strategic port city has drawn multiple accusations of war crimes, including a deadly attack on a maternity ward, and Ukraine has begun a reckoning for captured Russian troops.

The first post-invasion trial of a Russian soldier for war crimes neared its climax in Kyiv, after 21-year-old sergeant Vadim Shishimarin admitted to killing an unarmed civilian early in the offensive. The verdict is due on Monday.

Shishimarin told the court on Friday that he was “truly sorry”. But his lawyer said in closing arguments that the young soldier was “not guilty” of premeditated murder and war crimes.

While Ukrainian forces fended off the Russian offensive around Kyiv, helped by a steady infusion of Western arms, both eastern Ukraine and Mariupol in the south have borne the brunt of a remorseless ground and artillery attack.

“Russian occupation forces are conducting intense fire along the entire line of contact and trying to hit artillery deep into the defences of Ukrainian troops,” Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters.

The fighting is fiercest in the eastern region of Donbas, a Russian-speaking area that has been partially controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.

“In Donbas, the occupiers are trying to increase pressure,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address late on Thursday. “There’s hell — and that’s not an exaggeration.”

In the eastern city of Severodonetsk, 12 people were also killed and another 40 wounded by Russian shelling, the regional governor said.

Burial with honours

Zelensky described the bombardment of Severodonetsk as “brutal and absolutely pointless”, as residents cowering in basements described an unending ordeal of terror.

The city forms part of the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Lugansk, which along with the neighbouring region of Donetsk comprises the Donbas war zone.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said his forces’ campaign in Lugansk was “nearing completion”.

Also apparently complete is the capture of the Azovstal steelworks, a totemic symbol of Ukraine’s dogged resistance since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on February 24.

A total of 1,908 Ukrainian troops have surrendered this week at the steelworks, according to Russia’s defence ministry, after releasing a video showing bedraggled defenders being taken into captivity.

Ukraine’s Azov battalion commander Denys Prokopenko said only the dead remained.

“The higher military command has given the order to save the lives of the soldiers of our garrison and to stop defending the city,” he said in a video on Telegram.

“I now hope that soon, the families and all of Ukraine will be able to bury their fighters with honours.”

Ukraine wants to exchange the surrendering Azovstal soldiers for Russian prisoners. But in Donetsk, the pro-Kremlin authorities are in turn threatening to put some of them on trial.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged both sides to grant it access to prisoners of war and civilian internees, “wherever they are held”. 

“Many more families need answers,” it said in a statement. 

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said all prisoners of war should “be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention and the law of war”.

US President Joe Biden has cast the Ukraine war as part of a US-led struggle pitting democracy against authoritarianism.

The US Congress approved a $40-billion (38-billion-euro) aid package, including funds to enhance Ukraine’s armoured vehicle fleet and air defence system.

Underground living

And meeting in Germany, G7 industrialised nations pledged $19.8 billion to shore up Ukraine’s shattered public finances.

Biden offered “full, total, complete backing” to Finland and Sweden in their bid to join the NATO military alliance, when he welcomed their leaders to the White House on Thursday.

But all 30 existing NATO members need to agree on any new entrants, and Turkey has condemned the historically non-aligned Nordic neighbours’ alleged toleration of Kurdish militants.

Shoigu said the Kremlin would respond to any NATO expansion by creating more military bases in western Russia.

Russia’s own expansion in Ukraine has ebbed around the northeastern city of Kharkiv, its troops forced to retreat from a rearguard offensive by defending forces.

But Kharkiv remains in Russia artillery range, and hundreds of people are refusing to leave the relative safety of its metro system.

“We’re tired. You can see what home comforts that we have,” said Kateryna Talpa, 35, pointing to mattresses and sheets on the ground, and some food in a cardboard box.

She and her husband Yuriy are doing their best to cope in the Soviet-era station called “Heroes of Labour”, alongside their cats Marek and Sima.

“They got used to it,” Talpa said.

burs-jit/har 

(Reuters) -Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has denounced as “utterly untrue” claims in a news report that he sexually harassed a flight attendant on a private jet in 2016.

Shares of Tesla skidded more than 6% on Friday.

Business Insider reported on Thursday that Musk’s private company SpaceX paid $250,000 in 2018 to settle a sexual harassment claim from an unnamed private jet flight attendant who accused Musk of exposing himself to her.

The article quoted an anonymous person who said she was a friend of the flight attendant. The friend had provided a statement as part of the private settlement process, according to the article.

“I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me ‘exposed’ – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened,” Musk tweeted late on Thursday.

Reuters was not able to verify the Business Insider account.

Musk and SpaceX did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the Business Insider story or on tweets by the billionaire.

In a statement to Reuters on Friday, Business Insider said: “We stand by our story which is based on documents and interviews and which speaks for itself.”

Business Insider quoted the friend of the flight attendant as saying that in addition to allegedly exposing himself, Musk rubbed the flight attendant’s thigh and offered to buy her a horse if she would “do more” during an in-flight massage.

The flight attendant came to believe that her refusal to accept Musk’s proposal had hurt her opportunities to work at SpaceX and prompted her to hire a lawyer in 2018, according to Business Insider.

The rocket company made the settlement out of court and included a nondisclosure agreement that prevented the flight attendant from speaking about it, Business Insider said. The news site did not name the friend or the flight attendant.

Musk, who is in the midst of a contentious effort to buy Twitter Inc, said on Wednesday that he would vote Republican instead of Democrat, predicting a “dirty tricks campaign against me” would follow.

In the Business Insider article, Musk was quoted as saying the flight attendant’s story was a “politically motivated hit piece” and that there was “a lot more to this story.”

On Thursday evening, Musk first tweeted: “The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech.”

In the initial tweet, he did not specifically mention the allegations in the Business Insider article.

“And, for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,” Musk added in another tweet.

He also tweeted that the article was meant to interfere with the Twitter acquisition.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Joey Roulette; Editing by Frances Kerry and Bill Berkrot)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department will release $5 million for states to establish hotlines to report hate crime, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday, as a mass shooting in Buffalo heightened concerns about racially motivated violence in the United States.

The money is one of several steps Garland outlined to improve reporting and prosecution of hate crimes, which reached their highest level in more than a decade in 2020, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Those figures are not comprehensive as state and local authorities are not required to report them to the FBI, which defines a hate crime as a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias.

The FBI has said it is investigating three recent shootings as possible hate crimes, in Buffalo, New York, Dallas and southern California.

Criminologists have said that shooters, mostly young white men, have been inspired by previous racist gun massacres. Authorities say the man charged with Saturday’s shooting in Buffalo posted a racist screed online before killing 10 people, all of them Black.

Garland said the Justice Department also will issue new guidelines for raising awareness about hate crimes and will release another $5 million for community-based approaches. Those steps were specified by legislation that President Joe Biden signed into law a year ago.

“We will use every legal tool at our disposal to investigate and combat these kinds of hate crimes and their collateral impact that they have on the communities that they hurt.”

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Chris Gallagher; editing by Grant McCool)

By Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover

LONDON (Reuters) -The World Health Organization was due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after more than 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe.

In what Germany described as the largest-ever outbreak in Europe, cases have now been confirmed in at least five countries – the United Kingdom, Spain Portugal, Germany and Italy – as well as the United States, Canada and Australia.

First identified in monkeys, the disease typically spreads through close contact and has rarely spread outside Africa, so this series of cases has triggered concern.

However, scientists do not expect the outbreak to evolve into a pandemic like COVID-19, given the virus does not spread as easily as SARS-COV-2.

Monkeypox is usually a mild viral illness, characterised by symptoms of fever as well as a distinctive bumpy rash.

“With several confirmed cases in the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal, this is the largest and most widespread outbreak of monkeypox ever seen in Europe,” said Germany’s armed forces’ medical service, which detected its first case in the country on Friday.

Fabian Leendertz, from the Robert Koch Institute, described the outbreak as an epidemic.

“However it is very unlikely that this epidemic will last long. The cases can be well isolated via contact tracing and there are also drugs and effective vaccines that can be used if necessary,” he said.

There isn’t a specific vaccine for monkeypox, but data shows that vaccines that were used to eradicate smallpox are up to 85% effective against monkeypox, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

British authorities on Thursday said they had offered a smallpox vaccine to some healthcare workers and others who may have been exposed to monkeypox.

The WHO committee due to meet is the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential (STAG-IH), which advises WHO on infection risks that could pose a threat to global health.

UNUSUAL CASES

Since 1970, monkeypox cases have been reported in 11 African countries. Nigeria has had a large outbreak since 2017 – so far this year there have been 46 suspected cases, of which 15 have since been confirmed, according to the WHO.

The first European case was confirmed on May 7 in an individual who returned to England from Nigeria.

Since then, more than 100 cases have been confirmed outside Africa, according to a tracker by a University of Oxford academic. https://twitter.com/MOUGK/status/1527055553876348928

Many of the cases are not linked to travel to the continent. As a result, the cause of this outbreak is unclear, although health authorities have said that there is potentially some degree of community spread.

In Britain, where 20 cases have been now confirmed, the UK Health Security Agency said the recent cases in the country were predominantly among men who self-identified as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.

The 14 cases in Portugal that were all detected in sexual health clinics are also in men who self-identify as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.

Health authorities in Spain said 23 new cases were confirmed on Friday, mainly in the Madrid region where most infections were linked to an outbreak in an adult sauna.

It was too early to say if the illness has morphed into a sexually transmitted disease, said Alessio D’Amato, health commissioner of the Lazio region in Italy. Three cases have been reported so far in the country.

Sexual contact, by definition, is close contact, added Stuart Neil, professor of virology at Kings College London.

“The idea that there’s some sort of sexual transmission in this, I think, is a little bit of a stretch,” he said.

Scientists are sequencing the virus from different cases to see if they are linked, the WHO has said. The agency is expected to provide an update soon.

(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover in London; Twitter @NatalieGrover; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo Gonzalez, Emma Farge, Catriona Demony and Patricia Weiss;Editing by Josephine Mason and Nick Macfie)

By Deena Beasley

(Reuters) -The Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Wednesday said it had confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in a man who had recently traveled to Canada.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)said its labs confirmed the infection to be monkeypox on Wednesday afternoon.

The state agency said it was working with CDC and relevant local boards of health to carry out contact tracing, adding that “the case poses no risk to the public, and the individual is hospitalized and in good condition.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada late on Wednesday issued a statement saying it is aware of the monkeypox cases in Europe and is closely monitoring the current situation, adding no cases have been reported at this time.

Monkeypox, which mostly occurs in west and central Africa, is a rare viral infection similar to human smallpox, though milder. It was first recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1970s. The number of cases in West Africa has increased in the last decade.

Symptoms include fever, headaches and skin rashes starting on the face and spreading to the rest of the body.

The Massachusetts agency said the virus does not spread easily between people, but transmission can occur through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, items such as bedding or clothing that have been contaminated with fluids or sores, or through respiratory droplets following prolonged face-to-face contact.

It said no monkeypox cases had previously been identified in the United States this year. Texas and Maryland each reported a case in 2021 in people with recent travel to Nigeria.

The CDC also said it is tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox reported in several countries including Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, within the past two weeks.

A handful of cases of monkeypox have recently been reported or are suspected in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.

Earlier on Wednesday, Portuguese authorities said they had identified five cases of the infection and Spain’s health services said they were testing 23 potential cases after Britain put Europe on alert for the virus.

European health authorities are monitoring any outbreak of the disease since Britain reported its first case on May 7 and has found six more in the country since then.

(Reporting by Deena Beasley in Los Angeles; additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Juby Babu in BengaluruEditing by Sandra Maler)

Taylor Swift was “pleasantly surprised” to receive an honorary doctorate.

The ‘Blank Space’ singer was honoured by New York University at their graduation ceremony at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday (18.05.22) and insiders at the event said the 32-year-old star “really blended in” with the other students.

A source told E! News: “Taylor really blended in like one of the students. Everyone was really accepting of her and having fun with it.”

Taylor took the time to speak to some of the students and asked about their university experiences.

The insider added: “She was very sweet and genuine… just listening to different perspectives.

“Overall it was a really nice experience and everyone enjoyed it. She was cute and fun and she just seemed really happy. Taylor was telling people how pleasantly surprised she was about the honour.”

Taylor delivered a speech to the 2020, 2021 and 2022 graduating classes and joked her cap and gown was “much more comfortable” than the looks she usually wore when performing to similar sized audiences on similar stages.

She said: “Last time I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in high heels and wearing a glittery leotard. This outfit is much more comfortable.”

The Grammy winner also quipped that she was only there because one of her 2012 hit single ‘22’, which matched the current calendar year.

Taylor said: “I’m 90 per cent sure the reason I’m here is because I have a song called ‘22’.”

The ‘I Bet You Think About Me’ singer urged the graduating class that they should “learn to live alongside cringe” as it is an “unavoidable” part of life, citing her fashion choices from a decade ago.

Taylor continued: “You will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively. Cringe is unavoidable over the course of a lifetime… You can’t avoid it so don’t try to – for the entirety of 2012 I dressed like a 1950s housewife.”

The ‘Love Story’ hitmaker also spoke about the challenges of being a young woman in the music industry, such as “constantly being issued warnings” and how she felt that needed to be the “perfect young female role model” or else she would end up in “pop star jail”.

Taylor also mentioned getting “cancelled” – when Kanye West and his then-wife Kim Kardashian alleged that she was a lying about consenting to lyrics on his 2016 track ‘Famous’ – and how it gave her “excellent knowledge” of her wine rack.

She said: “Getting cancelled on the internet and almost losing my career gave me an excellent knowledge of all the types of wine.”

Baghdad (AFP) – An embarrassing slip of the tongue by former US president George W. Bush may have drawn laughter from his American audience, but it raised the ire of Iraqis.

In a speech Wednesday evening in Dallas about Russia’s war on Ukraine, Bush called the invasion of Iraq, which he himself ordered, “unjustified and brutal” — before quickly correcting himself.

The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and ushered in one of the bloodiest periods in the country’s modern history, marked by sectarian warfare and the rise of jihadists.

Between 2003 and 2011, when the US withdrew its troops, more than 100,000 civilians were killed, according to the Iraq Body Count tracker. The invasion cost the lives of nearly 4,500 Americans.

But on Wednesday it was the war in Ukraine that Bush talked about during an event organised by his foundation.

“The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, I mean of Ukraine,” he said in a speech, drawing laughter from the audience.

“Anyway — 75,” he added, referring to his own age, to another burst of laughter.

Video footage of the gaffe has since gone viral online, with one post on Twitter having been viewed more than 14 million times in less than half a day.

It was also picked widely up by Arab media, stoking anger among Iraqis.

“The spectre of Iraq’s invasion and destruction haunts Bush Jr. His subconscious exposed it when it took over his tongue,” Iraqi journalist Omar al-Janabi tweeted.

“Yes it is a brutal and unjustified invasion which will remain your worst nightmare”, he added.

Iraqis also took to Facebook to criticise the former US president.

“The moment of truth has come — the invasion of Iraq is a lifelong nightmare that plagues your conscience,” Hamza Qusai wrote.

“The crime of your occupation of Iraq and its destruction will remain a nightmare that haunts your sleep and torments your dead criminal consciences,” added Nahedh al-Tamimi.

The US-led invasion of Iraq was launched on March 20, 2003 after accusations that the Saddam regime had weapons of mass destruction. None were ever found.

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden met the leaders of Sweden and Finland on Thursday after the nations set aside their long-standing neutrality and moved to join the NATO alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hours before his first trip to Asia as president, Biden sat down with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö at the White House to discuss their NATO applications.

“This is a historic event, a watershed moment in European security. Two nations with a long tradition of neutrality will be joining the world’s most powerful defensive alliance,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Biden has made uniting Europe against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a top priority. Turkey has raised questions about including Finland and Sweden in the alliance, asking Sweden to halt support for Kurdish militants it considers to be part of a terrorist group and both to lift their bans on some sales of arms to Turkey.

Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that U.S. officials are confident Turkey’s concerns can be addressed, and Biden told reporters “I think we’re going to be okay,” on the issue.

All 30 NATO members need to approve any new entrant. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a video posted on his Twitter account on Thursday that Turkey had told allies that it will reject Sweden and Finland’s membership.

Biden’s meeting comes as he seeks approval from the U.S. Congress for $40 billion in aid for Ukraine to provide weapons and humanitarian assistance through September.

U.S. officials said Wednesday the United States has collected intelligence showing some Russian officials are aware there are abuses being conducted against Ukrainians in Mariupol.

“Some Russian officials recognize that despite claiming to be ‘liberators’ of the Russian-speaking city of Mariupol, Russian forces are carrying out grievous abuses in the city, including beating and electrocuting city officials and robbing homes,” the official said, citing declassified intelligence.

Russian officials worry these abuses “may further inspire Mariupol residents to resist Russian occupation,” the official said.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Reuters was unable to verify the intelligence claim.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Heather Timmons, Lincoln Feast and Nick Zieminski)

Jonathan Van Ness doesn’t mind what pronouns people use for him.

The ‘Queer Eye’ star insisted he is comfortable with both masculine and feminine terms, as well as gender-neutral ones, because he feels like he is “all of those things and none of those things”.

Jonathan told Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper: “When I say, he, she, they, whatever, I mean it because I feel like in ways I am all of those things and I’m none of those things at the same time.

“That’s why I feel like whether you want to say he, she or they, it is okay for me.

“If it is they or she, for me who I am is so much more than what that means to other people and to me.

“That is where I come at it and why I identify as he, she or they ­because I feel like I’m everything and I feel like I’m nothing at the same time. That is kind of existential, but it is how I see it.”

In 2019, Jonathan revealed he had been HIV+ since he was 25 and opened up on his diagnosis to help end the stigma around the condition.

The 35-year-old star said: “This is only the beginning. I’m quickly realising that there is still so much misunderstanding, so much sensationalising of living with HIV. The stigma and the difficulty around the process of getting treatment is creating that. My work has only really just begun.”

Jonathan has reassured fans that the condition is under control and he is “thriving”.

He said: “So there’s a thing called a viral load and that’s how much copies of the virus is in you.

“And you take a pill every day and it basically kills all the copies of the virus in your blood and that means you can achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load. There’s been a lot of studies … that basically, undetectable equals un-transmittable.

“So as long as you’re adhering to your medication and seeing your doctor every three months – I mean, I’ve picked up figure skating, I’ve done nothing but get cuter and be able to work longer and harder hours. I feel like I’m thriving!”

Dove Cameron is “struggling” with depression and dysphoria and feels “terrorised” by her own image.

The ‘Boyfriend’ singer admitted she has been “crying a lot” because she’s struggling to get to grip with who she really is and how other people see her.

Alongside a series of selfies of her crying into a mirror, she wrote on Instagram: “I’ve been struggling lately with the concept of self, my inner relationship to who i know myself to be and my outer perceivable self who i feel i have never known but other people seem to.

“I’ve been covering mirrors lately. I’ve been feeling wrong in clothing that used to make me feel beautiful lately. i’ve been crying a lot lately, sometimes terrorized by my identity and image.

“i don’t know if I’ve ever slowed down enough to learn who i am outside of fight, flight or freeze. but the self finds ways of showing up anyway.”

The ‘Descendents’ star – who came out as bisexual in 2020 – explained “sexuality and performative gender norms” were “really throwing” her for “a loop” and she believes social media and a “constant broadcasting of self and visibility” was potentially harmful to mental health.

The 26-year-old actress wanted to share her journey so her followers felt less “alone in a sea of what seems like humans who are comfortable in their identity, like they may not even have to think twice about it”.

She added: “We all deserve a life unburdened by the societally created identity, we all deserve to unlearn self abuse and self hatred. i am on the journey now, and I’m sharing so that we may all feel more comfortable in a conversation that may be confusing.

“emotion is COOL, dysphoria is OK. living as a human is INTENSE. we are all holding hands. Don’t forget.”

Dove is “interested in a life unburdened by myself,” but admitted that is easier in theory than in practice, but we’re making room.”

She added: “I am beginning to have a hope that the public platform that has been difficult for me to learn to take up space as myself in, can actually be the conduit for change/mutual support/exploration/safety.

“Maybe the spaces that are the least human can become the most human, if we want that, and we can all let each other take up a little more space. i love you.”

By Gabriel Araujo and Steven Grattan

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -COVID-19 is on the rise again in the Americas as many countries have abandoned measures like masking and social distancing and many lag in vaccination rates, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.

Cases in the Americas surged 27.2% last week from the prior one, driven primarily by a spike in infections in the United States, according to PAHO.

More than half of a total 918,000 infections came from North America as U.S. cases jumped by 33% to 605,000 in the last week. Infections in North America have now been climbing for the past seven weeks.

PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne noted that many countries and local governments are giving up measures to protect against the virus and have reopened borders after a period of lower transmission.

“Masking and social distancing have served us well since the start of the pandemic and are still valid measures to lower virus transmission,” she said, adding that governments should be ready to scale up these measures whenever there is an increase in cases or deaths.

Too many people remain at risk, PAHO said, as only 14 of the 51 countries and territories in the Americas have reached the World Health Organization’s goal of vaccinating 70% of their population, she added during a news conference.

PAHO said new COVID-19 infections and deaths in the region have been rising steadily over the past four weeks, with over 3,500 fatalities reported last week.

Central America saw the largest percentage rise in cases, with infections soaring by 80%. In Brazil, the second most populated country in the Americas, infections increased by 9% to 120,000.

“It is time to take stock of these numbers and act. COVID is again on the rise in the Americas,” Etienne said. “The truth is this virus is not going away anytime soon.”

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Steven Grattan; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Gentle readers of the Ton, season 3 of “Bridgerton” will stray from its source material and focus on the romance of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington.

According to Lady Whistledown herself, the forthcoming season of Netflix’s hit period drama will sideline Colin’s elder brother, Benedict (Luke Thompson), and will instead dive into the relationship of the characters played by Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan.

At Netflix’s FYSEE Space’s opening night ATAS panel on Sunday, Coughlan was asked what she can reveal about season 3.

“Like Lady Whistledown, I have been keeping a secret for quite some time, and I can confirm to you all that season 3 is Colin and Penelope’s love story,” Coughlan said, according to Deadline. “I have kept that secret since two weeks into season 2. This is the first time I am saying it here.”

Colin and Penelope’s relationship has been teased and used as a subplot since the debut season of Netflix’s Regency London-set series. But their budding romance was further complicated in the season 2 finale when Pen overheard Colin telling his friends that he would never court her.

The diss came immediately after Penelope fell out with her best friend, Eloise — Colin’s younger sister — when Eloise confronted her about her literary side gig and using the Bridgerton family matters to fill the pages of Lady Whistledown’s scandal sheet.

(Though Penelope writes Whistledown, the literary alter ego who narrates the series is actually voiced by legendary actor Julie Andrews.)

Each of Julia Quinn’s romance novels in the “Bridgerton” series focuses on a Bridgerton sibling in the eight-child, aristocratic family. A ninth book, “The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After,” included the love story of matriarch Violet Bridgerton.

The steamy first season of the drama showcased Phoebe Dynevor and breakout star Regé-Jean Page as Daphne Bridgerton and the Duke of Hastings, respectively, and was primarily pulled from the first book, “The Duke and I.” Page did not return for season 2, which was based on Quinn’s second novel, “The Viscount Who Loved Me.”

That slow-burn season starred Jonathan Bailey as Daphne’s eldest brother, Anthony, and Simone Ashley as his love interest Kate Sharma.

Colin’s book, “Romancing Mister Bridgerton,” is the fourth in the series and is preceded by Benedict’s “An Offer From a Gentleman.” But producer Shondaland has taken liberties with the source material for the streaming series, notably assembling a diverse cast to play the well-heeled characters and revealing Lady Whistledown’s identity much earlier than the books did.

Season 3 has already seen a number of creative changes. Series creator Chris Van Dusen stepped down as showrunner and is being replaced by “Bridgerton” writer Jess Brownell. And the role of young Francesca Bridgerton has been recast after actor Ruby Stokes landed a lead role in Netflix’s “Lockwood & Co.” Hannah Dodd will replace her.

The franchise is also getting a spinoff prequel that revolves around the enigmatic Queen Charlotte, her marriage to King George and the societal shift that followed their 1800s union — during which the original “Bridgerton” series is set.

The limited-prequel series was announced in late March and is being written by Shonda Rhimes, who has thus far executive produced the original series. The still-untitled show will tell the queen’s origin story and will also include a young Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury.

JK Rowling is at the centre of another trans row after coming to the defence of a schoolgirl who challenged views on biological sexes.

The ‘Harry Potter’ writer, 56, backed the girl after she felt forced to leave her school for arguing gender is real during a talk about transphobia.

Rowling raged on Twitter: “Utterly shameful. Add this to the tottering pile of evidence that people in education and academia who’re supposed to have a duty of care towards the young have succumbed to an outbreak of quasireligious fanaticism. The girl’s crime? Saying ‘sex exists’.”

The pupil said she was hounded by schoolmates for challenging the views of a visiting speaker.

One teacher at the school said the girl had been treated like a heretic for questioning a politician’s views about sex.

A female member of the House of Lords had visited the private girls’ school to talk about transphobia in parliament.

The girl told The Times newspaper: “The language she was using was implying critical theory took precedence over biological reality in defining women.

“When I questioned that, she said it wasn’t an issue of semantics. She said trans people don’t have basic human rights in this country.”

The girl said the pair parted on friendly terms, but added she was surrounded by up to 60 shouting and screaming girls when she returned to the sixth form.

She also claimed the mob of pupils swore and spat at her.

The girl later fled and collapsed with breathing problems.

Teachers who were initially supportive are said to have withdrawn their backing after other sixth-formers accused the girl of transphobia.

The teenager returned to school but was told she would have to work in the library if she said anything provocative in lessons.

She claims she then left the institution in December after she faced bullying and accusations of transphobia.

Rowling has repeatedly come under fire for defending public figures against accusations of transphobia.

At the weekend, she slated balaclava-clad activists involved in a stand-off around the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter’s Square, Manchester.

She said: “I never expected the right side of history to include so many people in masks intimidating and assaulting women, did you?”

Rowling says she has been driven to speak out on trans issues partly as she is a sexual assault and domestic abuse survivor.

She has said about the gender debate: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

Washington (AFP) – The US men’s and women’s national soccer teams will receive equal pay under a “historic” agreement announced by the US Soccer Federation on Wednesday, following years of pressure from female players.

The move makes the federation the first in the world to equalize World Cup prize money awarded to its men’s and women’s teams.

“This is a truly historic moment. These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world,” said US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone.

The terms of Wednesday’s landmark agreement include “identical compensation for all competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, and the introduction of the same commercial revenue sharing mechanism for both teams,” USSF said.

The deal stipulates that players from both teams “pool and share” the otherwise unequal prize money paid by FIFA for participation in their respective World Cups.

For non-World Cup tournaments, players from “both teams will earn an equal amount of the total prize money paid when both teams participate in the same competition.”

In February, the US national women’s team won a $24 million payout and a promise of equal pay in a najor settlement with US Soccer, that was contingent on the new collective bargaining agreement.

The question of World Cup prize money had formed a prominent part of the lawsuit, which was filed in 2019 and accused the federation of “stubbornly refusing” to pay its men and women’s players equally.

“The accomplishments in this CBA (collective bargaining agreement) are a testament to the incredible efforts of WNT players on and off the field,” said US women’s captain Becky Sauerbrunn, who is also her team’s players association president.

She added that she hoped the agreement “will similarly serve as the foundation for continued growth of women’s soccer both in the United States and abroad.”

‘Achieved it’

The agreement, which runs through 2028, also aims to improve “player health and safety, data privacy and the need to balance responsibilities to both club and country,” USSF said.

Women’s star Megan Rapinoe, who has forged a reputation as an unflinching advocate for social justice causes including equal pay and conditions for her and team-mates, said in February that the settlement marked a moment in which “US Soccer changed for the better.”

Center-back Walker Zimmerman, a member of the men’s team players association, welcomed Wednesday’s deal saying that “we hope this will awaken others to the need for this type of change.”

“They said equal pay for men and women was not possible, but that did not stop us and we went ahead and achieved it,” he added.

The United States women have won four Women’s World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. They are chasing an unprecedented third consecutive Women’s World Cup crown after hoisting trophies in 2015 at Canada and 2019 in France. They last won Olympic gold in London in 2012.

(Reuters) -One of three Minneapolis policemen who watched fellow officer Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd by kneeling on his neck pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting manslaughter in the 2020 case, which triggered a wave of protests over racial injustice.

Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison last year after his conviction on charges of murdering Floyd, a Black man suspected of passing a counterfeit bill.

By entering the plea on Wednesday, now-former officer Thomas Lane avoided an upcoming trial on the more serious charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. He agreed to a sentence of three years in prison, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

The two other former officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, are scheduled to face trial in June on both of state charges, according to online Hennepin County Court records.

“His acknowledgment he did something wrong is an important step toward healing the wounds of the Floyd family, our community and the nation,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.

In February, Lane, Thao and Kueng were convicted on federal charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by failing to give aid to him when he showed signs of distress while pinned under Chauvin’s knee for more than nine minutes.

Chauvin has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges he violated Floyd’s civil rights.

Floyd’s killing sparked protests in cities around the world against police brutality and racism.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien; Edited by Susan Heavey, Howard Goller and Jonathan Oatis)