United Nations (United States) (AFP) – The UN General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

Of the 193 members of the assembly, 93 voted in favor of suspension as proposed by the United States while 24 voted against and 58 abstained, suggesting weakening international unity against Russia at the United Nations.

It was the second ever suspension of a country from the council. Libya was the first, in 2011.

Suspension required two-thirds of the votes for and against; the abstentions did not count.

The countries voting against included China, a Moscow ally which has steadfastly abstained from criticizing the invasion. Others were Iran, the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan and communist Cuba, as well as Russia itself, Belarus and Syria.

Despite pressure from Moscow for a no vote, several African countries only abstained, such as South Africa and Senegal. Also abstaining were Brazil, Mexico and India.

The US argues that this punishment — suspending Russia from the Geneva-based organization that is the UN’s main human rights monitor — is more than symbolic and in fact intensifies Russia’s isolation after the assault on Ukraine that began February 24.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also called for Russia to be expelled from the UN Security Council “so it cannot block decisions about its own aggression, its own war.”

But Washington has admitted there is little anyone can do about Russia’s position on the Security Council, where it has a veto.

Match words with ‘action’

More than 11 million people have been displaced since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The world has been outraged by images of scores of civilians apparently executed and left in mass graves in areas formerly controlled by Russian troops. This carnage has led to new rounds of sanctions against Russia.

Journalists including from AFP last weekend found corpses in civilian clothes, some with their hands bound in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv.

“The images out of Bucha and devastation across Ukraine require us to now match our words with action,” US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday as she pressed for Russia’s suspension from the rights council.

“We cannot let a member state that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to participate” in the council, she said.

The Kremlin has denied Russian forces killed civilians, and alleged that the images of dead bodies in Bucha were “fakes.”

The UN Human Rights Council was founded in 2006 and is composed of 47 member states chosen by the General Assembly.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Wednesday it assessed that Ukraine could win the war against Russia, even as U.S. officials speak of the risk of a protracted conflict.

“Of course they can win this,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing.

“The proof is literally in the outcomes that you’re seeing everyday … absolutely they can win.”

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Howard Goller)

Kris Jenner is “still friends” with ex Caitlyn Jenner.

The 66-year-old matriarch was married to Caitlyn – who was known as Bruce Jenner before transitioning into a woman – from 1991 until 2015 and admitted that they still see each other and that things have “settled down” since the divorce.

She said: “We’re fine. We’re friends. I see her when she’s at a family thing. It’s settled down a lot.”

Kris – who has daughters Kylie, 24, and Kendall, 26, with Caitlyn, as well as Kourtney, 42, Kim, 41, Khloe, 37, and Rob, 35, from her marriage to the late Robert Kardashian – went on to explain that Caitlyn’s transition in 2015 came as a “shock” because it was a subject she didn’t understand at the time.

Speaking on the ABC interview special ‘The Kardashians’, she told Robin Roberts: “I think it was a big shock. It’s a scary thing to go through, because you know nothing about it. It’s a subject that I never thought I would have to directly deal with, confront, be understanding about something that I didn’t understand.”

Caitlyn – who also has Burt, 43, and Cassandra, 41, with first wife Chrystie Scott, and Brandon, 40, and Brody, 38, with second spouse Linda Thompson – recently opened up about life since her transition, noting that these days her relationship with her family is “fine.”

She said: “My relationship with the family is, you know, fine. I mean, we do things together, my kids, this and that. I just had my 20th grandchild a couple weeks ago and that’s my son, Burt, the oldest son. Of course, when you have 10 kids, you have different relationships with all of your children. Obviously, Kendall and Kylie, my flesh and blood, I’m very close to them. On the Kardashian side, I see them here and there, but I’m not really close. Kim is probably the closest. My other side, my other kids, my sons, Brandon, Burt, the whole group, they’re all there.”

Betty White’s personal belongings are expected to fetch $1 million to $2 million at auction.

The iconic actress passed away at her home in Los Angeles on December 31, at the age of 99, and in honour of her “incredible life and career”, a number of items, including awards, jewellery, scripts and her clothes are being sold.

Among the lot is a “14-carat gold watch that was gifted to Betty Dec. 25, 1940 with the initials T.C.W. which, of course, is Tess White, Betty’s mom.”

Martin Nolan, the executive director of Julien’s Auctions, said: “This is an auction representing an incredible life and career. It’s a lifestyle auction.

“All these items came from her home in Brentwood or her residence in Carmel in northern California, where she lived with her husband Allen Ludden.”

The screen legend received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, and a replica given to the actress will be part of the sale.

There are also several paintings of animals and, the most unique of the lot, three paintings by a gorilla called Koko.

The auction will take place between September 23 and 25 in Beverly Hills.

Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis just paid tribute to the ‘Golden Girls’ star during the Oscar’s In Memoriam segment.

The 63-year-old actress – who starred alongside Betty in the 2010 movie ‘You Again’ – came on stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood with a puppy.

She said: “She was not only a Golden Girl, she was a legend who brightened every room she walked in and brought a smile to the faces of all who watched on her on the screen and day in and day out for almost a century, she was a woman who cared not just for her two-legged friends but for animals just like this.

“So the greatest gift you could give Betty White is to open your heart and home and adopt a rescue dog just like Mac’N’Cheese from Paw Works. Thank you Betty, for being a friend to us all.”

Mads Mikkelsen is great at playing the bad guy. After much-acclaimed performances in incredibly successful films like “Rogue One: The Star Wars Story” and “Another Round”, the Dane now plays Grindelwald, the dark wizard in the “Fantastic Beasts” world.

In the series’ latest sequel, “The Secrets of Dumbledore”, Grindelwald has set himself no lesser task than wiping out the muggles – as people without magical abilities are called in the Fantastic Beast universe.

Not everyone was happy about the prospect that Mikkelsen would replace Johnny Depp who had starred as Grindelwald in the first two spin-off films, which also serve as prequels to the Harry Potter saga.

However, the famous Hollywood star was asked to step back due to domestic violence allegations.

Artistically speaking, stepping into Depp’s shoes is no simple task, but Mikkelsen seems to be doing it with ease.

His portrayal of Grindelwald in “The Secrets of Dumbledore” is characterized by a cool malice that will have viewers paralyzed in their chairs.

The third “Fantastic Beasts” film, out in Britain and the US in April, generally manages to emotionally engage the viewer more than its predecessor, “The Crimes of Grindelwald”. While many fans found the second film’s plot too complex, this time Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, together with Steve Kloves, managed to write a more coherent screen play.

“The Secrets of Dumbledore” is directed by usual suspect David Yates, who already directed four Harry Potter films and the first two Fantastic Beasts films.

In one of the first scenes, a young Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, meets his then-friend Grindelwald, who doesn’t conceal his hatred for muggles. They are smelly creatures and he will destroy their world, Grindelwald tells his friend.

Dumbledore, who later becomes Harry Potter’s most important mentor, is prevented from fighting with Grindelwald himself as the film proceeds, due to a blood pact they agreed on in the early years of their friendship.

While we already know from the Harry Potter series that the friendship with Grindelwald took a dark turn at some point in Dumbledore’s life, the latest Fantastic Beasts film takes a closer look at this complex relationship between two of the greatest wizards of all time.

And more of Dumbledore’s secrets will be revealed, as he recruits a group of outsiders to thwart Grindelwald’s plan for world domination. Once again, oddball magizoologist with a suitcase full of magical animals Newt Scamander, played again by Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, takes a leading role.

At his side is his friend from the first two films, muggle baker Jacob (Dan Fogler). Initially reluctant to join them, he is won over by the witch “Lally” Hicks, whose dry sense of humour adds a bit of levity to the film.

Of course, other magical creatures from the first parts are also back, like the popular mole-like Niffler and Pickett, who resembles a green stick insect.

In the end, many of Dumbledore’s secrets are revealed, and there is still time for feelings, friendships and even a wedding that no one expects.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump said he did not destroy records of phone calls from the official White House log or use so-called burner phones during his supporters’ deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Trump, a Republican, told the newspaper he has not been contacted by congressional investigators about the assault, which occurred as then-Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers gathered to certify the Nov. 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Just before the crowd marched to the Capitol, Trump repeated his false claims about election fraud at a raucous rally outside the White House.

The Washington Post reported last week that there was a gap of nearly eight hours in the White House record of Trump’s calls as the rioting unfolded a few miles away.

Trump told the newspaper he had a “very good” memory but could not remember whom he talked to that day.

“From the standpoint of telephone calls, I don’t remember getting very many,” he said, according to the Post. “Why would I care about who called me? If congressmen were calling me, what difference did it make? There was nothing secretive about it. There was no secret.”

Several U.S. lawmakers, including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, have said they talked to Trump during the riot.

Trump did not speak out until hours into the violence. Four people died on the day of the attack, and one Capitol Police officer who fought with rioters died the next day.

On Wednesday, he defended his public silence and told the Post he did not regret urging supporters to come to Washington.

The House of Representatives’ Democratic-led Jan. 6 Select Committee has interviewed about 800 people before expected public hearings in May.

Trump, who has invoked executive privilege to try to block the Jan. 6 committee from White House records, said he did not know what he would do if contacted.

“It depends what the request is,” he told the Post.

The committee recently interviewed his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, his top White House advisers.

Trump confirmed reporting that he spoke with Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, during his presidency. He declined to comment on whether former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows should have given the panel text messages in which she urged Trump to work to overturn the election.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Frank Jack Daniel)

Washington (AFP) – Former President Donald Trump defended his conduct during the US Capitol assault in an incendiary interview published Thursday, saying he did not regret summoning his rioting supporters to Washington.

He told The Washington Post he would have accompanied his ultra-loyal followers as they marched on the complex on January 6 last year, but was stopped by his security detail. 

He offered no contrition for whipping up the crowd with bogus claims that victory was stolen from him through widespread fraud — although he was clear in his condemnation of the violence that ensued. 

“Secret Service said I couldn’t go. I would have gone there in a minute,” he said, in the wide-ranging interview, adding that it was the largest crowd he had ever spoken to. 

Thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol last year in an effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power after Joe Biden won a decisive victory in 2020, described by the government as one of the most secure elections in US history. 

Trump repeatedly boasted about the “tremendous” size of the crowd at his rally ahead of the riot and glossed over his explosive rhetoric that whipped up the crowd.

“I don’t know what that means, but you see very few pictures. They don’t want to show pictures, the fake news doesn’t want to show pictures,” he said. 

The ex-president defended his long silence during the attack, deflecting blame to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, even though she isn’t responsible for policing at the Capitol and was a target of the mob herself. 

He also pointed a finger at Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who “furiously tried to reach Trump’s team that day,” according to the Post.

“I hated seeing it. I hated seeing it. And I said, ‘It’s got to be taken care of,’ and I assumed they were taking care of it,” Trump said of the violence, which has been linked to at least five deaths.

The interview came after the House of Representatives voted to refer ex-Trump aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino for criminal contempt charges on Wednesday for defying congressional subpoenas to testify about the riot.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration is expected to announce on Wednesday an extension of the student loan repayment pause through Aug. 31, an administration official familiar with White House’s decision making said on Tuesday.

The repayment moratorium has been extended multiple times since it was first put in place in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The current pause was set to expire on May 1.

Nearly 41 million borrowers have benefited from a freeze on interest accruals and about 27 million borrowers have not had to pay their monthly bills since the forbearance began.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Aurora Ellis)

By Ahmed Aboulenein and Julie Steenhuysen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a national action plan to be developed by the U.S. health department to tackle the looming health crisis of long COVID, a complex, multi-symptom condition that leaves many of its sufferers unable to work.

Long COVID, which arises months after a COVID-19 infection, affects nearly 7% of all U.S. adults and 2.3% of the overall population and has cost an estimated $386 billion in lost wages, savings and medical bills, according to an analysis by the Solve Long Covid Initiative, a non-profit research and advocacy group.

More than 200 symptoms – many lasting for months – have been associated with the condition, including pain, fatigue, brain fog, breathing difficulty and exhaustion after minimal amounts of physical activity.

The plan will expand research, care and disability services for people suffering from the condition, the White House said. Secretary Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra will release the jointly developed National Research Action Plan within 120 days, Biden said in a presidential memorandum.

It addresses some concerns raised by patient advocacy groups, which have criticized the slow speed of the National Institutes of Health’s $1.15 billion RECOVER research program, and aims to accelerate the enrollment of 40,000 people with and without long COVID.

Under the plan, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will invest $20 million next year to investigate how healthcare systems can best help those with long COVID, mentor primary care practices, and develop multi-specialty clinics across the country.

The plan calls for allocating an additional $25 million to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from Biden’s 2023 budget – in addition to the agency’s $50 million investment – to better understand and find solutions to characteristics, risk factors, underlying mechanisms, and health impacts of long COVID.

Other provisions include adding more long COVID programs to the 18 Department of Veterans Affairs facilities that already offer them.

HHS also will launch a new project, Health+, aimed at gaining insights into the experiences of those living with the often debilitating condition to help inform high-quality care and contribute to standardized best practices at long COVID clinics.

The plan also aims to translate its findings into actionable disability policies with the Social Security Administration, and work with the Department of Labor on helping affected workers who are deciding if they are able to return to their jobs.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

Washington (AFP) – Being outfoxed in Congress usually means losing a vote on an amended resolution or being too late for the donut line in the Senate cafeteria.

So spare a thought for the politicians and staff at the US Capitol in Washington, where a highly aggressive red fox spent at least two days stalking frightened humans, including a Democratic congressman.

Police officers warned Tuesday that they had received multiple reports of people “being attacked or bitten” by an aggressive canine at the seat of US democracy — in a statement first reported by none other than… Fox News.  

The force quickly dispatched animal control officers to “trap and relocate” any foxes they found — and within hours they posted pictures on social media of the beast, finally taken into custody, sitting in an animal cage above the caption: “Captured.”

Online political magazine Punchbowl News reported that congressman Ami Bera had to be rescued by police late Monday after squaring up to a fox that had just bitten him in an “unprovoked” attack.

“I didn’t see it and all of a sudden I felt something lunge at the back of my leg,” Bera, a physician by profession, told Punchbowl.

The 57-year-old Sacramento Democrat wasn’t hurt, but agreed “out of an abundance of caution” to get a series of rabies shots. 

Bloodlust sated

“I expect to get attacked if I go on Fox News, I don’t expect to get attacked by a fox,” he told Punchbowl.

Ximena Bustillo, a Congress reporter for Politico, said she was bitten on the ankle from behind as she was leaving the complex.

“I’m from Idaho. I know to not try and pet it!!” she tweeted.

Witnesses flooded social media with sightings, with several reporting seeing it munching on a squirrel or merely enjoying the sun — its bloodlust apparently sated — in the Senate gardens. 

Fifteen months after a violent mob stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of last presidential election, one wag even referred to the ongoing animal threat as an “infurrection.”

Inside the Capitol, reporters spent the weekly leaders’ press conferences in a breathless interrogation about possible action on the four-legged menace. 

Top Republican Mitch McConnell ignored the inquiries, but Iowa’s intrepid two-term senator Joni Ernst was proud to report that she had spotted the animal, without revealing how close the encounter was.

Red foxes — the most common of several North American species — are regularly found in towns and cities but tend to avoid people, according to the city environmental department.

They typically eat insects, small birds, squirrels and rabbits, and are not known for their predilection for legislators or their intimidated staffers.

The species has thrived during the pandemic, according to wildlife experts in the nation’s capital.

“Less ambient noise, less traffic, less interference… right now, life is better for them,” Bill McShea, a wildlife ecologist with the Smithsonian National Zoo, told DCist magazine.

“If there’s an upside to Covid, it’s on the wildlife.”

(Corrects description of Texas ban in 4th paragraph)

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) -Oklahoma lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill that would make it illegal to perform an abortion in the state except in medical emergencies, penalizing those who do with up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison.

The Republican-controlled state House of Representatives brought the bill to a vote this week, after it was passed last year by the Midwestern state’s Senate. It now heads to the desk of Republican Governor Kevin Stitt for signing.

Stitt has signaled his support for anti-abortion legislation. If he signs the measure, it would take effect this summer unless blocked by courts.

An abortion ban in Oklahoma would widen a swath of the country where there is little to no legal abortion access. The state has become a destination for Texas women seeking abortions since Texas in September banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

“These harmful bills are an alarming reminder that the days of access to safe and legal abortion may be numbered, and we must continue to fight to guarantee all people have access to the essential health care they need, including abortion,” Tamya Cox-Toure, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, said in a statement.

The measure passed by the Oklahoma House on Tuesday is one of several anti-abortion bills making its way through the state’s legislature.

Separate legislation introduced this year proposes banning almost all abortions and relying on private citizens to sue any person who “aids or abets” abortions, similar to Texas’ six-week abortion ban. That bill contains an emergency clause, which would allow it to take effect immediately once it is passed and signed by the governor.

The measure approved on Tuesday states, “a person shall not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.”

Republican-governed states like Oklahoma have passed a series of restrictive abortion measures in recent years.

The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule by the end of June in a case involving a Republican-backed Mississippi law that gives its conservative majority a chance to undermine or even repeal the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. During arguments in the case, the conservative justices signaled a willingness to dramatically curtail abortion rights in America.

(Reporting by Gabriella BorterEditing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis)

Mark Zuckerberg is nicknamed Eye of Sauron by his Meta employees.

The CEO of the social media network has revealed his “unending” energy levels are compared to those of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ villain, which he doesn’t see as a negative thing.

He said: “Some of the folks who I work with at the company say this lovingly, but I think that they sometimes refer to my attention as the Eye of Sauron.

“They’re like, ‘You have this unending amount of energy to go work on something. And if you point that at any given team, you will just burn them.'”

He added in an interview on ‘The Tim Ferriss Show’: “I just think the engagement that you get of having, like, an immediate feedback loop around thinking about something and then getting to go talk to the people who are working on this is so much better than going and scheduling a meeting that you’ll have three weeks later.”

In the same podcast chat, the billionaire – who co-founded Facebook, now Meta, in 2004 – revealed he goes surfing each day to avoid feeling “punched” in the face by the news.

The 37-year-old internet entrepreneur told the host: “When you’re out there in the water, it’s pretty hard to focus on anything else.

“When you’re on the board, you’re focused on making sure you stay on the board and don’t mess something up.”

Zuckerberg also goes foiling, surfing but using a hydrofoil board.