Ken Jeong felt “disrespected” after Rudy Giuliani was revealed as a contestant on ‘The Masked Singer’.

The 52-year-old actor – who is a qualified medical doctor – strongly disagrees with Giuliani’s political views and those of former US President Donald Trump, who Giuliani works for as his personal attorney.

Ken stormed off the set of the show – where he is a judge – and his close pal and fellow judge Robin Thicke followed him to check if he was ok after the reveal.

A source told PEOPLE: “Ken felt disrespected and was livid to see Rudy was under the mask which is why he walked off. There’s no way he could hide his feelings.

“Ken has been incredibly vocal about how the previous administration handled many things but especially COVID-19 and has found a lot of what they’ve said not only wrong but dangerous. To get someone who helped to spread misinformation and call into question the accuracy of our election and democracy to appear on his show was going to set him off.”

Deadline first reported the incident, adding that fellow judges Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger stayed and chatted with the ousted contestant.

Robin and Ken eventually returned to resume filming, though it is unclear how long they were off stage.

Giuliani has been involved in a number of controversies in recent years, and in 2021, federal agents raided his home and office during an investigation into his work in Ukraine.

His lawyer said afterwards: “Mr. Giuliani respects the law, and he can demonstrate that his conduct as a lawyer and a citizen was absolutely legal and ethical.”

He was suspended from working as a lawyer New York last June after an appellate court said he made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” about Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

Rudy also made an infamous appearance in Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ but later denied any inappropriate behaviour and insisted a clip in which he appeared to put his hand down his pants while leaning back onto a bed near Maria Bakalova was a “complete fabrication”.

Sarah Jessica Parker (l) and Cynthia Nixon in a scene of “And Just Like That…”, the “Sex and the City” reboot that has divided fans of the cult show. Debra L. Rothenberg/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

After 10 episodes, dozens of brunches, several unannounced visits by Che Diaz and a truly staggering number of ridiculous hats, “And Just Like That…” has come to an end.

And what a wild ride it has been — literally so in the case of Big, who died after exerting himself on the Peloton. From Carrie peeing in a bottle of iced tea to Harry’s prosthetic penis, the show has given us all plenty of moments to talk about. Critics may not have been kind but viewers have flocked to the series in droves, making it HBO Max’s most-watched original to date (whatever that means without actual numbers). Series creator Michael Patrick King and star Sarah Jessica Parker have told Variety they’re open to another season.

The season finale, which premiered Thursday, finds Carrie contemplating what to do with Big’s ashes, then traveling to Paris to scatter them on the bridge where he rescued her during a terrible trip many years ago, and moving on with the hunky podcast producer who’s been making eyes at her all season.

Meanwhile, Miranda decides to bail on a high-profile internship to be with Che in L.A. while they make a pilot — hmmm, what could possibly go wrong? — and Charlotte throws Rock a “they-mitzvah” for the ages.

Where did “And Just Like That” go wrong? What made this bonkers revival so compulsively watchable? And just why do some of us care so damn much about these characters? Staff writer Meredith Blake and culture critic Mary McNamara share their theories here.

Meredith Blake: Mary, as you know, I started out as a defender of this show. I thought the first few episodes, while messy, gave us plenty of promising new territory to explore: grief, aging, the perils of being an affluent, straight white woman in a changing social environment. I loved the insanity of killing off Big via Peloton. I was excited for Carrie to be single and return to the dating world (eventually). I didn’t even mind the lack of Samantha.

But most of all, I felt committed to these characters. I’ve spent more than half my life watching them on TV. It would take a lot more than the horror of watching Big masturbate — ugh, sorry for the reminder — for me to abandon this show completely.

Let’s just say my loyalty has not been rewarded.

Each week, I eagerly tuned in, hoping that things would get better — that Miranda would come to her senses, that Carrie would pick an apartment already, that Steve would find his way around the farmers market. And each week, I would be disappointed.

I found myself more and more frustrated with the underdeveloped characters, the incoherent storytelling, the wild tonal swings from scene to scene, the depictions of podcasting and stand-up comedy that bore no resemblance to either (if I hear the phrase “comedy concert” one more time, I will eat a VHS copy of “Eddie Murphy: Raw”).

Storylines would be introduced only to vanish completely by the next episode. Miranda flew off to Cleveland to surprise Che, a gesture Miranda herself likened to something out of a romantic comedy and one that seemed destined for spectacular failure.

Instead, the show skipped over the whole Cleveland thing completely, forgetting it along with Miranda’s drinking problem, Carrie’s book and whatever the heck was going on with Big’s secretary.

I couldn’t help but wonder … were the writers of these episodes even talking to each other?

And that brings me to the biggest problem this season: Miranda. My God, what have they done to her?

During the original run of “Sex and the City,” Miranda was a radical character, the prickly one with the sensible wardrobe who didn’t buy into Charlotte’s fairy tales or Carrie’s gauzy fashion fantasies. The show wanted us to think of ourselves as Carries, but most of us were Mirandas at heart.

Now, Miranda is a blubbering, lovesick idiot. The problem is not that she left Steve, or that she fell in love with a queer, nonbinary person — though I think these writers are underestimating the importance of finding someone to watch TV with. It’s that she’s acting like a selfish twit and the show wants us to sit back and shout “Yasss, queen!” as she blows up her life. If I learned one thing from “The Hills,” it’s that you never turn down a coveted internship to go hang out at the beach with your new crush. It won’t end well.

All that being said, I couldn’t wait to watch the screeners as soon as they landed in my inbox each week. For a show I didn’t particularly like, “And Just Like That” has consumed an inordinate amount of my mental energy for the last two months. I’ve discussed it on social media, with other moms at drop-off, and in group chats with friends who, like me, wondered why Charlotte’s daughter had such trouble inserting a tampon and couldn’t wait to see which of Carrie’s exes would show up in a surprise twist (sadly, none of them).

And it wasn’t as simple as hate-watching, where a show is so viscerally awful it feels cathartic to dump on it collectively. It was more like King had taken us all hostage and we’d developed Stockholm syndrome. At some point it became clear that the audience cared more about these characters — and certainly understood them better — than their own creator did.

Now that we’re at the end of the season, I am hoping that this train wreck of a show gets renewed, if only because I cannot accept the idea that Miranda will spend eternity with Che Diaz. (Clearly, I do not have a healthy relationship with this show.)

Mary, what do you think was the biggest problem with “And Just Like That”? Was it Miranda’s brain transplant? The bizarre Peloton obsession? The way they did Steve so dirty? The clumsy attempt to atone for the extreme whiteness of the original series by introducing four new characters of color who were mostly half-baked? Che Diaz?

Mary McNamara: At the moment, my biggest problem is the full-blown crisis of Che Diaz being in Los Angeles. I repeat: Che Diaz is in Los Angeles. Seriously, if King wants to sully the reputation of New York with his ridiculous antics, fine. But keep it the hell away from L.A.

Though I do feel like Che getting a pilot says a lot about King’s feelings toward television at the moment, which is, apparently, that pretty much anything can get made. “And Just Like That” being a case in point.

As you know, I am on the record as hating the show from the get-go — for more than a few minutes, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte seemed less like older iterations of themselves than the 100-year-old resurrected witches of “Hocus Pocus”: “Sister, what is this new magic called Instagram?” As someone in the same age, if not income, demographic as the characters, I kept watching in sheer horror. Were there any over-50 female writers on the staff? Did none of the over-50 female cast members protest being portrayed as complete and utter dimwits?

Apparently not.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt a male gaze more than watching these women “struggle” in ways that belie the fact that they have been women alive on this planet, and navigating a major urban center, for half a century. I understand that King is trying to acknowledge the bubbles of privilege he put them in during “Sex and the City,” but “And Just Like That” feels less like a correction than a punishment. As if King were angry at them not only for his mistakes but for not being the young women of the original series. When he had the nerve to put Charlotte in a freaking white coverall so her unexpected period had maximum shock value, I was forced to utter all the swears, none of which fit within The Times’ profanity guidelines.

Though, speaking of that episode, I did actually sympathize with the tampon trouble — I can say from experience that this can be an issue, especially when girls get their periods at 13 or 14 and want to go swimming. And who among us hasn’t “lost” the string?

But one resonant C plot does not make up for all the other maddening absurdities, including the absolute lack of character granted either Lily or Rock, who were shamelessly used as props for Charlotte’s “journey.” (Though I did like what an absolute brat Rock was — being nonbinary does not give you a “get out of adolescence free” card!)

Che, alas, does not have that excuse. I did feel some tiny wicked satisfaction watching them hijack the series from under Carrie’s grieving yet resolutely stilettoed feet — not even the sight of Carrie smoking outside in housecoat, rubber gloves and a double babushka could top the screaming outrageousness of Che’s ‘woke button’ or many lectures on their rules of intimacy. But the price was way too high. At first I honestly wondered if we were going into a “Miranda has early-onset Alzheimer’s” storyline, so unrecognizable was she with her crazy gray wig hat and weird manic racism. Then I thought, “Oh, maybe it’s poor deaf Steve who’s going to introduce a serious storyline about coping with medical issues.” But no, this was just someone’s vision of 50-somethings in a long-term marriage and/or incredibly lazy writing to justify Miranda abruptly ending her marriage because she has a crush on a complete jerk.

Honestly, when Che gave the “I can’t give you anything conventional” speech, I couldn’t help think how outraged Miranda’s younger self would have been if it had come from a man.

Which brings me back to my original horrified concern: If there is a second season, dear God do not let any of it be in L.A. I mean, can you imagine? All those terrible New York Times takes made into actual narrative? The wittering about traffic and Lotusland? It will keep us in defensive think-pieces for a year.

MB: Mary, that is truly terrifying to contemplate. Though as a New Yorker I feel compelled to say that it feels like this show represents my city less than it ever did, especially post-COVID, when no one in their right mind wants to wear heels. “And Just Like That” feels much less interested in New York than “Sex and the City,” which was about Carrie’s love life and her ongoing relationship with Manhattan. (It was right there in the title!) That sense of place is mostly absent here. There were times — like when Carrie moved into that white void of an apartment with the most ridiculously fake waterfront view I have ever seen — when I wasn’t even sure this show was made on Planet Earth, much less in New York.

In an attempt to atone for “Sex and the City’s” sins of omission, “And Just Like That” introduced at least four major characters of color, but these characters were largely half-baked, with storylines so flimsy it was hard to feel invested in their outcome. (Nya, you seem nice and have good style. But I simply don’t care about your marriage to whatever his name is. Also, why do you keep hanging out with Miranda? She’s your student. It’s weird.)

Meanwhile, the new character who consumed the most screen time was also by far the least likable: Che Diaz. In addition to be the worst fictional comedian in the history of fictional comedians, Che is also the kind of boss who will show up at your apartment while you’re recovering from surgery, get to third base with your best friend in the kitchen while you piss yourself in bed, then fire you with no notice because they’re going out to L.A. for a few weeks to make a pilot.

But enough about Che. By the end of the finale, Carrie has moved on to a new romance with Hot Podcast Producer. I suppose this is exciting, though I wish it had come about five episodes sooner and we could have had a show about a woman finding love after loss instead of … whatever this was.

Mary, is there anything positive you can say about the series? I will say I liked the addition of Sarita Choudhury as Seema, though I wish we’d seen more of her. I was glad Steve was lucid long enough to give his sweet little speech about marriage and only wish that Miranda had listened to it. And that drunken sex scene in Carrie’s kitchen was, if nothing else, entertaining to watch — it had some of the outrageous spark that animated so much of the original.

MM: I did like Seema, though not that so much of the story revolved around her finding the right guy. Choudhury is always a pleasure to watch and Seema at least does not appear to have been in cold storage for the past 12 years. I liked the rabbi who shows up at the end, though not that she is continually identified as “the trans rabbi.”

But I feel like we haven’t talked about the finale as a finale, or even mentioned the excising of Chris Noth, leaving at least one flashback scene in tatters. Obviously, the main storyline of the series was Carrie getting over Big’s death, something that was, if we’re honest, far less traumatic than the fallout Peloton faced. Still, early episodes dealt effectively enough with the numbed shock of early grief, and I appreciated how, when her agent pushed back on her memoir, Carrie realized her actual life was not as marketable as her random musings on what sex and the city all meant. (Did we ever believe she was an actual columnist? Not when she spent so much time typing while lying fetchingly across her bed on her stomach.) The insistence that Carrie offer readers a glimmer of hope was, of course, also a clunky way to get her back on the dating scene, because no one is interested in a woman who is not at least seeking love.

The sexual assault accusations against Noth certainly distracted from any residual fondness/nostalgia viewers might have had for Big, which left the writers in the unfortunate position of having a final moment — Carrie scattering Big’s ashes — that no one cared about. But frankly, any pathos would have been hard to sustain once we got a look at the absurdly enormous orange dress Carrie wore to do the honors. I realize that part of Carrie’s charm is her penchant for, and ability to pull off, the most outrageously inappropriate if personally stylish clothing ever. (I’m still not over the fascinator at Big’s funeral.) But this enormous tangerine-colored situation was over the top even for her. (I’m not even going to mention the Eiffel Tower handbag in which the ashes were stashed — did she funnel them in herself in the hotel room?) I mean honestly, even in Paris this dress would have stopped traffic, and in all likelihood led to the gendarmerie informing Carrie that it is illegal to dump human cremains into the Seine. Which it is. In case you were wondering. (Between this scene and “Emily in Paris,” I believe Americans have lost all right to call the French rude.)

While it would have been hilarious to see her hauled off in handcuffs in that dress, I do feel bad for all the emotive work Parker put into the scene. But even as the camera caught her Nefertiti-inspired profile, it was all very anticlimactic. I did not feel bad, however, for my hoot of outraged laughter when suddenly Mr. Hot Podcast Producer was introduced as a last-minute please-give-us-a-second-season love interest. I mean, Jeff Zucker just stepped down for having an affair with a co-worker, for heaven’s sake. But whatever, love is love and I wish them well (Carrie and Hot Podcast Producer).

As long as they promise to stay in New York, and not follow Che and Miranda to L.A.

MB: And even if they do, I will watch every episode. God help me.

Karamo Brown says his style is “always influenced by hip-hop”.

The ‘Queer Eye’ star attributes his coming-of-age during the blossoming of rap music videos on MTV as very influential to his fashion choices.

The 41-year-old television personality told Vanity Fair: “My style is always influenced by hip-hop. I turned 20 in 2000, and so in high school, the emergence of MTV and hip-hop coming up and being popular culture and all those stars, they’ve always influenced me. Message tees [are] something that [have] always been popular in the Black community, talking about funerals to beyond. It’s always been like, put a message on the shirt.”

The star – who takes a lot of the emotional labour on the Netflix makeover show and forms the Fab Five with Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk and Antoni Porowski – opts for more affordable options for people to “cry right on”.

Karamo said: “I’m usually around 99 per cent of the time where people start to let the feelings out…I’m not buying a $400, $500 shirt for somebody to cry on. I’m not doing it. You can cry right on this $17 T-shirt that I wear.”

In the latest season, he broadcasted his love of slogan tops to create a t-shirt that reads ‘Black History is More Than Slavery” – that is being sold for $26 in aid of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and True Colors United.

Karamo explained: “I wear that [T-shirt] a lot to kind of say it’s more than that. So if you, if every time you talk about Black history, the first thing you talk about is slavery, there’s an issue. Talk about it, yes. Acknowledge it, yes. We need to address what brought us there and the things that happened, but just know there is more to Black and African culture than just being slaves.”

Karamo added: “White people will come up to me and, and ask me about it. That’s really what I love. One of the things that we know about the pandemic is it is not the responsibility of that person who’s been marginalized or been beaten down to have to feel like they have to educate. But for me, for me alone, and I’m always clear on that, I don’t mind, I feel like part of my purpose of my role in this world is to educate. It’s part of what I’ve been given the patience and the opportunity to say, ‘I got a little time for you.'”

Sara Ramirez has insisted their ‘And Just Like That…’ character, Che Diaz, is “not here to be liked”.

The new addition to the ‘Sex and the City’ reboot believes that Che – Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw’s boss on the podcast they feature on together – would be able to come up with a “witty rebuttal” to all the criticism aimed their way.

The 46-year-old star told The New York Times: “I imagine Che would have something very witty and silly and funny as a rebuttal; something that ultimately reminds everyone that they are human; something with a sprinkling of self-deprecation, because I think they know they’re a narcissist. And maybe just a little reminder that no one’s perfect.”

They went on to say that they couldn’t personally speak to the criticism as they think the writers who created them would have the best response about the stand-up comic’s polarizing nature.

Sara said: “Michael Patrick King [the showrunner of ‘And Just Like That…’] and the writers’ room would probably answer that best since they wrote the character of Che Diaz.”

The ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ alum is “really proud” of their work on the show and helping to craft a “character who is a human being”.

Sara said: “I’m really proud of the representation that we’ve created. We have built a character who is a human being, who is imperfect, who’s complex, who is not here to be liked, who’s not here for anybody’s approval. They’re here to be themselves.”

They went on to distance themselves from Miranda Hobbes’ (Cynthia Nixon) new love interest.

Sara continued: “I don’t recognise myself in Che.”

Che was not always going to be a lover for Miranda – who has been going through a dry spell with her husband Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) for years – as they were going to have Nya, Miranda’s law professor, played by Karen Pittman.

Cynthia said in the ‘And Just Like That…. The Documentary’: “So originally, when Michael was sort of trying to think about what would happen in our season, he talked about Nya, Miranda’s professor, being the romantic relationship. Nya was a straight character and Miranda’s a straight character and I was like, ‘Well that doesn’t sound very sexy at all.’ Do you know what I mean?”

Courteney Cox says playing piano in the presence of Sir Elton John was the “scariest, most nerve-wracking” thing she’s ever done.

The ‘Friends’ star was joined by the 74-year-old music legend, her close pal Ed Sheeran and Brandi Carlile for a rendition of Elton’s classic ‘Tiny Dancer’ shared on Instagram last year.

And the 57-year-old actress has revealed she phoned up her piano tutor as soon as Ed, 30, invited Elton over for dinner because she was so nervous about the prospect of tinkling the ivories in front of the ‘Piano Man’ himself.

Speaking during an appearance on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ on Friday night (04.02.22), Courteney said: “I learned to play in lockdown but then Ed Sheeran invited Elton John to dinner at my house and suggested we all perform together.

“So, I called my piano teacher and 20 minutes later he was walking out as Elton was walking in.

“It was the scariest, most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done, and it was the thrill of my life!”

It wasn’t just any cover of ‘Tiny Dancer’, as they did the version ‘Friends’ character Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) does where she sings “Tony Danza” instead of ‘Tiny Dancer’.

The ‘Scream’ star captioned the clip: “One of the greatest moments of my life. This one’s for you.”

To which, Lisa reacted in the comments: “Whaaaaaat??? That’s the most exciting thing ever!!!!”

Meanwhile, Ed previously said Courteney might have made an appearance on one of his albums.

Speaking about his latest studio effort, ‘=’, the ‘Bad Habits’ hitmaker said: “She sings. I’m pretty sure she sings on background vocals on the album. I think she’s on ‘Visiting Hours’. If not, she was definitely on ‘÷’ somewhere.”

The chart-topping pop star subsequently explained how he came to work with the Hollywood star.

He said: “Well, my producer and songwriter, Johnny [McDaid] is dating her. Me and Johnny write most, like, we wrote ‘Shape of You’ together. We wrote ‘Bad Habits’ together. We work together a lot.”

‘The Graham Norton Show’ airs on BBC One 10.35pm on Friday (04.02.22) and is available on BBC iPlayer.

By Jonathan Landay and Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A lack of flights and the search for a new U.S. reception center are among the hurdles facing the White House as it races to speed up the evacuation of at-risk Afghans from their homeland, according to a senior U.S. official and others familiar with the new plan.

Other obstacles include difficulties in obtaining passports and an affordable housing shortage in the United States, they said.

The plan’s goal “is just to make this more enduring and less of an emergency operation,” the senior U.S. official said in describing the revamp, requesting anonymity to discuss internal operations.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to speed up Operation Allies Welcome from lawmakers, veterans groups and others angry that tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the U.S. government and others at risk of Taliban retaliation were left behind when the last U.S. troops departed in August after 20 years of war.

Human rights organizations and the United Nations say the Taliban has stepped up detentions, abductions and killings. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sayed Khosti has rejected the accusation of reprisal killings, saying no evidence had been presented.

“People left behind are getting more and more desperate and we’re going to start seeing more of the consequences of that, whether mass movement of refugees or meeting grim fates in Afghanistan,” said a second senior U.S. official.

Advocacy groups say Washington should ensure the new plan will not suffer the types of setbacks that have hampered Afghan arrivals.

“We want to see enough resources applied to these issues so that even if one area fails or falters for a moment, there are options to make sure the pipeline isn’t cut off,” said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of advocacy groups.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered that up to $1.2 billion be made available for the effort, the largest operation of its kind since the Vietnam era. About 80,000 Afghans have been resettled since August.

The new plan calls for shifting the processing of Afghan evacuees for admission to the United States from reception centers on U.S. military bases that are being closed to a base in the Qatari capital of Doha.

FLIGHTS ARE ‘MAIN CHALLENGE’

But two U.S.-chartered Qatar Airways flights a week from Kabul to Qatar’s al Udeid military base are needed, with the goal of adding more flights, the U.S. official said.

The flights are the “main challenge,” said the official.

Differences between Qatar and the Taliban triggered a suspension of regular charters before Christmas.

“We’re hoping we can get to regular order,” the U.S. official said.

The Qatar Embassy and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Qatar has told Washington it intends to close the reception center in September ahead of the World Cup, the U.S. official confirmed. The official said the U.S. was looking for alternatives, including reopening the air base center after the World Cup.

Once Afghan evacuees are processed for admission, they will be flown to the U.S. and placed with relatives or friends, provided housing by resettlement agencies or sent to a the planned reception center to help them resettle.

The Biden administration has housed tens of thousands of such evacuees on bases in the United States while their admission and resettlement arrangements were finalized.

The Pentagon has been closing those reception centers, with the last two expected to shutter this month, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said, after the roughly 6,500 people there have been processed.

One of those two centers will remain open until the administration finds a civilian site, but a location has not been selected yet, the senior U.S. official and a congressional source said.

The State Department plans to process Afghans for refugee status within 30 days beginning in March, two U.S. officials said. That is far faster than typical refugee processing, which can take years.

To be sure, that creates additional challenges that the second senior U.S. official said would be difficult to surmount.

Speeding up the operation, the second senior official said, will require an agreement with the Taliban to prioritize passports for evacuees or a deal with Qatar to allow travel without them, more U.S. officials in Doha to process evacuees, and a “higher tolerance of risk to speed up vetting.”

Afghans entering the United States through the refugee resettlement program will be able to proceed directly to their destinations on U.N.-funded flights.

The department also will complete the processing in Doha of tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the U.S. government and have applied for Special Immigration Visas (SIVs), according to the official and two congressional aides.

The goal is to process and fly to the United States 1,000 refugees and 1,000 SIV recipients a month, the official said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Gerry Doyle)

Stockholm, already a world capital of pop music heritage with its renowned ABBA museum, is now on its way to becoming a pilgrimage site for electronic music fans with both a city landmark and museum dedicated to the late Swedish DJ Avicii.

Almost four years after the superstar DJ’s sudden death, the city is now preparing to open the Avicii Experience on February 26 – an interactive tribute museum to the electronic musician whose real name was Tim Bergling.

The exhibition will feature photos, videos, memorabilia and previously unreleased music by the artist and tell the story of how Avicii became a star of the electronic music scene.

Curators say the Avicii Experience will track Bergling’s life “from a reclusive music nerd to a celebrated superstar, from his boyhood room where it all started to the Los Angeles studio where the biggest hits were created.”

City politicians had also announced in 2021 that a memorial site dedicated to the house musician is in the works. The memorial site, located in the upmarket district of Ostermalm where Bergling was born, grew up and went to school, will be a place where people can sit down for a while for some peace and quiet.

Tim Bergling, known for hits such as “Levels”, “Sunshine” and “Wake Me Up”, was found dead in Oman in April 2018, aged 28. He stopped touring and performing live in 2016, but continued to record music and worked as a producer.

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Texas man accused by U.S. federal prosecutors of threatening to kill election and government officials during a wave of violent rhetoric by believers in former President Donald Trump’s false claim of voter fraud is due in court on Friday.

Chad Christopher Stark, 54, of Leander, Texas, is accused of posting a Jan. 5. 2021 message on Craigslist that read in part: “Georgia Patriots it’s time to kill … It’s time for us to take back our state from these Lawless treasonous traitors.”

Stark is the first person charged by a new federal task force formed shortly after Reuters published the first in a series of investigative reports that have documented more than 850 threats and menacing messages to U.S. election workers.

Stark could not be reached for comment. He is expected to be appointed a federal defender.

The Stark indictment did not identify the victims of his threats, but Reuters previously reported that two of the officials include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp.

Both Raffensperger and Kemp are Republicans who defended the integrity of the Georgia election despite intense pressure from Trump, who in January 2021 called Raffensperger and told him to find enough votes to overturn his loss.

Trump continues to falsely claim he lost the November 2020 election due to widespread fraud despite multiple court losses and audits confirming Joe Biden’s victory.

Remarks Trump made on Saturday at an event in Texas prompted a Georgia prosecutor who is conducting a criminal investigation of the former president to ask the FBI for protection.

Stark is currently out on bond and scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell Vineyard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia at 10:30 a.m. ET (1500 GMT).

His case is one of dozens under investigation by federal authorities.

The Justice Department last week unveiled charges against a second man – Gjergi Luke Juncal, 50, of Las Vegas who they accuse of making threatening phone calls to a state election worker.

He has pleaded not guilty, and a trial was tentatively scheduled for the end of March.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker)

Washington (AFP) – Republicans were set to censure two lawmakers Friday in a significant escalation of the drive to oust dissidents seen as disloyal to former US president Donald Trump.

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the lone Republicans on the House committee investigating Trump’s role in last year’s US Capitol assault, are regarded as adversaries of the ex-president, who retains his iron grip on the party despite losing the 2020 election.

The party’s 168 national committee members, gathered for their winter meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, will vote to approve a formal censure of the pair.

Hardline Trump loyalists have been pushing for months for the two to be expelled, particularly as the investigation into the January 6 2021 insurrection has closed in on the former president’s inner circle. 

The measure is expected to get a strong vote of approval from the committee.

But with Kinzinger retiring from Congress after the November midterm elections, and Cheney in danger of losing her Wyoming seat, the party leadership is said to be keen to put the issue behind them.

Republicans are hoping instead to focus on hitting President Joe Biden on his stalled domestic agenda, spiraling inflation and the stubborn pandemic ahead of the midterms.

Cheney responded to news of the censure by doubling down on her Trump criticism.

“The leaders of the Republican Party have made themselves willing hostages to a man who admits he tried to overturn a presidential election and suggests he would pardon January 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy,” she said in a statement Thursday. 

“I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump. History will be their judge,” Cheney added. “I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what.”

Berlin’s world-famous club scene is hoping to relaunch in March if coronavirus restrictions are lifted as hoped, a group representing the venues said on Friday.

Clubcommission said in a statement that clubs in the German capital would be ready to reopen within two or three weeks of such an announcement, citing the results of a recent survey.

Around 80% of venues polled are currently closed completely, while others are still hosting cultural events or offering bar service. Dancing is currently banned in clubs under Berlin’s current Covid rules.

Even as calls for the easing of restrictions grow in Germany, club owners said they are worried about renewed closures further down the line. They also cited a lack of staff and financial problems as a result of the restrictions as major concerns.

If the clubs are to open, most would be prepared to allow in only vaccinated and recovered persons, while also requiring a recent negative test result at the door. They said that reopening with mask-wearing and social-distancing was out of the question.

“If it is decided to reopen the clubs in the coming weeks, a strategy on the part of the politicians is urgently needed to ensure long-term planning security for event operations and thousands of employees,” Clubcommission press spokesperson Lutz Leichsenring said.

Clubcommission chairperson Pamela Schobeß spoke of “light at the end of the tunnel.”

“When it is clear that the intensive care units are no longer at their limits and the critical infrastructure workers are no longer absent due to illness, we too must finally be allowed to reopen for our guests,” she said.

By Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan

MOSCOW (Reuters) -China and Russia proclaimed a deep strategic partnership on Friday to balance what they portrayed as the malign global influence of the United States as China’s President Xi Jinping hosted Russia’s Vladimir Putin on the opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In a joint statement, the two countries affirmed that their new relationship was superior to any political or military alliance of the Cold War era.

“Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation,” they declared, announcing plans to collaborate in a host of areas including space, climate change, artificial intelligence and control of the Internet.

The agreement marked the most detailed and assertive statement of Russian and Chinese resolve to work together – and against the United States – to build a new international order based on their own interpretations of human rights and democracy.

Steeped in ideological discourse, it was not clear whether it would immediately translate into an increase in tangible and practical cooperation despite Putin trumpeting a new gas deal with China on Friday, or was intended as more of a statement of general policy intent.

Jonathan Eyal of the London-based RUSI think tank said the declaration marked a “frontal rebuttal” of the U.S. and Western view of the world and a possible building block towards a military alliance between Russia and China.

“It’s the most explicit articulation of the ‘making the world safe for dictatorship’ strategy,” he said. “It is a historic point because they both feel cornered and they feel their moment has arrived to state their vision of the world and promote it aggressively.”

The two countries have moved closer together as both have come under pressure from the West on a host of issues including their human rights records and Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine. The timing of their announcement was highly symbolic, at a China-hosted Olympics that the United States has subjected to a diplomatic boycott.

Each went significantly further than before, Eyal said, in explicitly backing the other over key bones of contention with the United States and its allies:

– Russia voiced its support for China’s stance that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and opposition to any form of independence for the island. Moscow and Beijing also voiced their opposition to the AUKUS alliance between Australia, Britain and the United States, saying it increased the danger of an arms race in the region.

– China joined Russia in calling for an end to NATO enlargement and supported its demand for security guarantees from the West – issues at the heart of Moscow’s confrontation with the United States and its allies over Ukraine.

The two countries expressed concern about “the advancement of U.S. plans to develop global missile defence and deploy its elements in various regions of the world, combined with capacity building of high-precision non-nuclear weapons for disarming strikes and other strategic objectives”.

Elsewhere, without naming Washington, they criticised attempts by “certain states” to establish global hegemony, fan confrontation and impose their own standards of democracy.

TECH AND ENERGY

In the technology arena, Russia and China said they were ready to strengthen cooperation on artificial intelligence and information security.

They said they believed that “any attempts to limit their sovereign right to regulate national segments of the Internet and ensure their security are unacceptable”.

Meanwhile Russian state energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft on Friday agreed new gas and oil supply deals with Beijing worth tens of billions of dollars.

The deals capitalise on Putin’s drive to diversify Russian energy exports away from the West, which started shortly after he came to power in 1999. Since then Russia has become China’s top energy supplier and cut its reliance on the West for revenues.

The Kremlin said the presidents also discussed the need to broaden trade in national currencies because of unpredictability surrounding the use of the dollar.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said Russian companies could be cut off from the ability to trade in dollars as part of sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.

Moscow denies any such intention, but has used a build-up of more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border to grab the attention of the West and press its demands for security guarantees.

The Chinese gas supplies are not directly linked with Russian gas exports to Europe, and more Russian gas for Beijing does not automatically mean less for Europe. However, they serve Putin as an addition revenue cushion amid the rising threat of U.S. and EU sanctions.

(Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Dolly Parton has been nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The 76-year-old country legend has received the nod alongside fellow stars Eminem, Lionel Richie and Duran Duran and are all first-time nominees for potential induction into the Ohio museum.

John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation said in a statement: “This year’s ballot recognizes a diverse group of incredible artists, each who has had a profound impact on the sound of youth culture. Their music not only moved generations, but also influenced the sound of countless artists that followed.”

For ‘Slim Shady’ hitmaker Eminem, the nomination comes in his first year of eligibility, whereby an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.

Completing the list of first-time nominees for the 2022 inductions are Beck, Carly Simon and A Tribe Called Quest.

Other nominees – who have been considered for induction before – include ‘Babooshka’ songstress Kate Bush and 1960s singer Dionne Warwick, as well as synth pop duo Eurythmics, heavy metal band Judas Priest, late instrumentalist Fela Kuti, and ‘Killing in the Name’ rockers Rage Against the Machine.

The chosen inductees will be announced in May and honoured at a ceremony set to take place later in 2022 and fans can cast their vote on the Rock Hall’s official website.

Since its inception in 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame foundation has chosen a total of 351 music legends to be inducted into the Rock Hall, including Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, ABBA and The Beatles.

Around 360 square kilometres of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon were lost to deforestation in January alone.

This is the highest amount recorded for January since 2015, the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) said Wednesday, citing provisional figures.

Inpe uses satellite imagery for its analysis, using a rapid survey to examine the changes to the forest in real time.

The Inpe figures are therefore able to indicate how the official deforestation rate might develop in relation to a given year. The annual rate is for the period from August to July.

At the COP26 UN climate conference, the Brazilian government announced it would end illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by 2028.

Experts fear the latest data could indicate an increased risk of another devastating year for the Amazon.

Between August 2020 and July 2021, some 13,235 square kilometres were deforested in the region, according to Inpe.

This marks a 22 per cent increase on the previous year, and the largest area of deforestation since 2008.

2019 was the first year in office for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The right-wing leader was criticized over the devastating fires in the Amazon.

Environmentalists accuse him of accepting the fires as a way to open up new land for agriculture. Brazil has also weakened its environmental and monitoring authorities.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Mario Cantone returned to the ‘And Just Like That…’ set the day after Willie Garson passed away.

The actor – who played Sarah Jessica’s character Carrie Bradshaw’s best friend Stanford Blatch in ‘Sex and the City’ – died from pancreatic cancer in September, at the age of 57, and only filmed three episodes of the revival series.

Mario, 62, who played his lover Anthony, has revealed it was “the hardest day” filming a comedy scene while grieving for their beloved co-star, but heaped praise on Sarah Jessica, 56, for taking care of him “like a mother”.

Speaking to ‘Entertainment Tonight’, he said: “I came in the day after he passed away, and that was real hard. That was the day we did the plastic surgery scene with Jonathan Groff [Dr. Paul David], who was magnificent and he is just wonderful. I just adore him. So that was a hard day.

“That was the hardest day, and Sarah really took care of me like a mother. She just took me out of the room because it was hard.”

Mario was referring to the episode after Anthony was dumped by Stanford – who abruptly left for Tokyo to manage a TikTok star – and needed someone to come with him for their “his and his” plastic surgery consultation.

He continued: “But yeah, she’s the No1, and she just kind of takes care of you.

“We just kind of all huddled together and loved each other and moved on, and we had to keep going and do this thing.”

Mario says if Willie were still alive, the pair’s on-screen relationship would have gotten “very turbulent”.

He said: “I think you were going to see a relationship that was very turbulent.

“It’s turbulent arguments, but I think it was supposed to be – I don’t really know exactly – but it was supposed to be me dealing with his craziness, and having to calm him, and talk him out of things, and mend things.

“But it’s a very turbulent relationship, very argumentative.

“But yet, we can’t live without each other. That was what that was supposed to be.”

Showrunner Michael Patrick King previously revealed a “midlife crisis” was on the cards for Stanford before he passed.

Mario hailed his late co-star as “hilarious” and admitted he will be sorely missed.

He added: “He’s just truly a raconteur, his storytelling is brilliant, he’s hilarious.

“But I’m usually the one that’s like, you know, doing my thing, being crazy on set.

And I can sit back and just watch him go off. He’s hilarious and he lived in LA, we didn’t see each other a lot, but we would do Zoom readings and we would always be texting each other and talking c**p about things and situations. So yeah, but he’s really missed.”

Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong reportedly walked off stage in protest when Rudy Giuliani was unmasked on ‘The Masked Singer’.

The two judges were unimpressed when Donald Trump’s lawyer was revealed as one of the disguised singers on the upcoming Season 7 of the Fox series, and made no hesitation in letting their feelings known.

According to Deadline – who didn’t reveal what costume the 77-year-old former Mayor of New York wore or what he sang – Ken and Robin immediately left the stage when Rudy was unmasked, but fellow judges Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger stayed and chatted with the ousted contestant.

The pair eventually returned to resume filming, though it is unclear how long they were off stage.

A spokesperson for the show – which is due to return to TV next month – had no comment.

Giuliani has been involved in a number of controversies in recent years, and in 2021, federal agents raided his home and office during an investigation into his work in Ukraine.

His lawyer said afterwards: “Mr. Giuliani respects the law, and he can demonstrate that his conduct as a lawyer and a citizen was absolutely legal and ethical.”

He was suspended from practicing law in New York last June after an appellate court said he made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” about Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

Rudy also made an infamous appearance in Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ but later denied any inappropriate behaviour and insisted a clip in which he appeared to put his hand down his pants while leaning back onto a bed near Maria Bakalova was a “complete fabrication”.

Crosby, Stills and Nash have backed Neil Young and demanded their music is removed from Spotify.

The disbanded group – known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young with the ‘Heart of Gold’ hitmaker was in the lineup – have backed their former bandmate in protest over Joe Rogan’s podcast allegedly spreading coronavirus and vaccine misinformation.

In a joint statement on David Crosby’s social media, the trio – including Stephen Stills and Graham Nash – said: “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast.

“While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences.

“Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music – or the music we made together – to be on the same platform.”

They have joined waves of artists threatening to boycott the streaming service over the controversy.

The broadcaster has responded to the backlash in a video as he insisted he “most certainly didn’t want” artists to boycott Spotify because of him.

He said: “Now, because of this controversy … Neil Young has removed his music from the platform of Spotify and Joni Mitchell and apparently some other people want to as well.

“I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that. I’m a Neil Young fan, I’ve always been a Neil Young fan.”

Following the criticism, Spotify updated platform rules, including adding a content advisory to podcast episodes discussing the virus, and Joe backed their move, as well as offering his own pledge to offer more “balanced” opinions.

He promised: “My pledge to you is that I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives, so that we can maybe find a better point of view.

“I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions so that we can all figure what’s going on…

“I do all the scheduling myself, and I don’t always get it right. These podcasts are very strange because they’re just conversations, and oftentimes I have no idea what I’m going to talk about until I sit down to talk to people, and that’s why some of my ideas are not that prepared or fleshed out because I’m literally having them in real time. But I do my best.”

But the broadcaster took issue with the accusations of “misinformation”

Defending his “highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished” guests, he said: “They have an opinion that is different from the mainstream narrative. I wanted to hear what their opinion is.”

Victoria’s Secret has cast Emira D’Spain as their first Black transgender model.

The iconic lingerie brand has hired the 25-year-old TikTok star to showcase its Valentine’s Day lingerie collection.

Emira reminisced about how she had “dreamed” of working with the company on snap of her wearing items from the collection on her Instagram on which she posts under the name Xoxoemira.

She wrote: “Honored to be the first black trans girl working with @victoriassecret

“As a kid I only DREAMED of being a part of Victoria’s Secret.”

Emira thanked fellow transgender model Valentina Sampaio who “paved the way” after becoming the brand’s first transgender model after she posed for their Victoria’s Secret PINK line and Emira called it an “honour” to land her VS contract during Black History Month.

She continued: “It’s such an honour to continue that legacy on the first day of Black History Month. Go watch my TikTok to see and stay tuned for more to come.”

Emria also shared her dream of “empowering” the transgender community and how “grateful’ she was to work with the brand.

She said in a statement: “I want to empower young trans women and men around the world to show them that the beauty and fashion industries are changing, especially if you are a POC. I am so grateful to work with Victoria’s Secret and hope this paves the way for those after me.”

The global retailer recently came under fire after facing a number of serious allegations – including design plagiarism, company executives fostering a culture of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation – prompting them to focus on reshaping their image.

This remake included establishing the VS Collective – a movement that incorporated Megan Rapinoe, Eileen Gu, Paloma Elsesser and Priyanka Chopra Jonas – scrapping their annual fashion show and the brand’s use of ‘Angels’, such as Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio and Elsa Hosk, and many others.

Brian Cox was blown away by how “stunningly beautiful” his ‘Troy’ co-star Brad Pitt was.

The 75-year-old actor portrayed invading king Agamemnon opposite the Hollywood hunk as the titular hero in the 2004 movie and he admitted he was “agog” at the visual spectacle of his co-star in his his skimpy armour.

Speaking in a video interview with Vanity Fair, Brian said: “Brad walked on and my jaw was down because he was so stunningly beautiful. I mean I’m straight, you know, but I just thought, ‘Wow! My God, this guy is stunning. What chance does one have on the screen with this beautiful, beautiful man?’ “

“You know I remember one point you know, just kind of being agog at, you know, at Brad, because you know, he’d never been in costumes like that.”

The ‘Succession’ actor – who has Alan, 51, and Margaret, 44, with first wife Caroline Burt and Orson, 19, and Torin, 17, with spouse Nicole Ansari – joked some of the other cast members were more accustomed to the costumes.

He quipped: “If we’d done the classical theatre, we’re always without pants, you know?”

The veteran star admitted Agamemnon was “the only part [he had] ever pursued” and continued to do so even when he was aware the role had already been offered to Sir Ben Kingsley.

He added: “I’ve never pursued anything. I’ve always allowed it to fall out the way it fell out. But I knew the part was available and I knew that I was dead right for the role of Agamemnon.

“I volunteered to fly myself to London to meet [director] Wolfgang Petersen. I think it’d been offered, the part had been offered to Ben Kingsley. And I had this meeting and it went incredibly well. I got the role.'”