Washington (AFP) – As US Republicans cheered impressive gains in state elections in the fall, their leader may not have been so delighted as he followed the results from his fiefdom in southern Florida.

For the results of the gubernatorial races — victory in leftward-trending Virginia and an unexpectedly narrow defeat in deeply Democratic New Jersey — proved one thing beyond doubt: Republicans can win without Donald Trump.

Whisper it, but five years after submitting entirely to the will of its mercurial leader, and one year ahead of the crucial midterm elections, the Republican Party is tentatively picturing life after Donald.

“At this stage, he would be the frontrunner if he chose to enter the 2024 presidential race,” Matt Lacombe, an assistant professor of political science at New York liberal arts school Barnard College, told AFP.

“But it’s also very possible that coordination among potential candidates and party officials… would be sufficient to prevent him from pursuing or succeeding in a second run.”

After Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination in May 2016, the party abandoned its policy platform at its next two conventions, instead opting to simply declare fealty to its rambunctious chieftain.

The consensus remains that all paths to Congress go through Mar-a-Lago — that to succeed in Washington you had to kiss the ring in Palm Beach, flattering Trump and his ultra-loyal base of tens of millions of ardent devotees.

Republican politicians who fail to toe the line know they risk a public dressing down and primary challenge at best and death threats to their families if his supporters were particularly inflamed.

“Despite losing his social media megaphone, his endorsements still energize grassroots supporters, drive donations, and in some cases clear away competitors and force retirements,” Tommy Goodwin, a Washington-based political consultant and lobbyist, told AFP.

Some prominent Republicans are seizing on the recent governors’ races to call for a course correction, however, navigating around Trump and his “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him by the Democrats.

All-time low

In Virginia, Republican multimillionaire Glenn Youngkin won by far exceeding Trump’s 2020 showing in the suburbs, especially among independents and women.

Trump immediately took credit but in reality, Youngkin soft-pedaled the former reality TV star’s support and did all he could in the final weeks to keep his high-profile endorser at arm’s length.

In New Jersey too, Republican Jack Ciattarelli started out very pro-Trump, even speaking at a “Stop the Steal” rally in 2020, but distanced himself from the ex-president during the campaign proper.

The suburbs are likely to be the key battlegrounds again next year, when the stakes will be control of the House of Representatives and Senate and 36 governorships — yet Trump is far less popular there than in the countryside.

The takeaway for many Republicans is that borrowing heavily from Trump’s playbook while assiduously avoiding the man himself could be the key.

The former president’s approval sank to an all-time low of 34 percent after the January 6 insurrection, when thousands of his supporters stormed the US Capitol to stop lawmakers certifying Joe Biden’s victory. 

Trump has since issued a number of statements praising the insurrectionists and defending their threats on the life of his vice president, Mike Pence.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has urged the 75-year-old real estate tycoon to stay out of the midterms, telling reporters: “I do think we need to be talking about the future, and not the past.”

Yet Rick Scott, the chairman of the Republicans’ Senate campaign committee for 2022, told NBC any Republican would be “foolish” to reject Trump’s endorsement — underlining the dilemma Republicans face.

“Donald Trump is where he wants to be — the center of attention, a crying child in the candy aisle of a packed grocery store, demanding more soda while he throws bags of candy bars at other children,” Peter Loge, an associate professor at George Washington University, told AFP.

“It is difficult to imagine him demurring so that others can have their turn in the spotlight.”

‘The past is never dead’

Trump’s bully pulpit isn’t what it was before social media bans effectively curbed his day-to-day influence and, in any case, his electoral secret sauce was never as powerful as he claimed.

Republicans did fairly well down-ballot in 2020 — keeping their Senate loss to the narrowest possible margin and almost taking the House — but stumbled at the presidential level.

And Trump is the first president since Herbert Hoover nearly a century ago to lose the House, the Senate and the White House during a single term.

“So far, Trump-endorsed candidates haven’t fared particularly well,” said Sam Nelson, associate professor and chair of the University of Toledo’s political science department.

“While Republican primary candidates actively seek his endorsement, valuable in Republican races, that same endorsement can be somewhat dangerous in a general election in that it motivates Democrats to turn out to vote against the Trump-supported candidate.”

Loge believes challengers who think they have nothing to lose may emerge, alongside others concerned about the future of the Republican Party and the country.

“The 2022 midterm elections will also go a long way to determining Trump’s level of support in 2024,” Loge told AFP.

“If Trump-backed candidates win primary and general elections, Trump’s stock will go up. If Trump-backed candidates lose primary and general elections, Trump’s stock will go down.”

But Trump remains a hero to the millions of disaffected new voters he brought to the Republican cause in 2016, and is credited with remaking the federal judiciary in the image of his right-wing backers.

His deficit-busting tax cuts remain popular among the working classes, although they tilt increasingly toward the mega-rich over the longer term.

“William Faulkner famously wrote ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past,'” Mark Bayer, a former chief of staff in the Senate and the House, told AFP.

“The same can be said about Trump’s trance-inducing influence over the Republican Party. His grip… is as strong as it was when he was president.”

Channing Tatum is on board for ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’.

The 41-year-old Hollywood heartthrob will reunite with Steven Soderbergh – who directed the first film in the series, which focuses on the world of male stripping – in the third and final instalment of the franchise.

He took to Twitter to tease fans with the news, posting alongside an image of the script: “Well world, looks like Mike Lane’s tapping back in.”

In a statement, he said: “There are no words for how excited I am to blow the doors off of the world of ‘Magic Mike’ with Steven, Greg, Reid, and the amazing people at HBO Max. The stripperverse will never be the same.”

The franchise – which has so far grossed more than $300 million worldwide – is loosely based on Tatum’s own experiences as an 18-year-old stripper.

He plays a veteran performer who takes a newcomer under his wing.

Toby Emmerich, Chairman of Warner Bros., said in a statement: “Is there anybody on screen more charismatic and appealing than Magic Mike? We’re thrilled to be back in business with Channing, Steven and their creative team to bring back Magic Mike’s wonderful combination of dance, drama, romance and humour.”

Director Soderbergh noted how he was directly inspired to make a third film when he saw ‘Magic Mike Live’, the spin-off show that premiered in London in 2018.

He said: “As soon as I saw what Channing, Reid, and the Magic Mike choreographic team did with the live show, I said, ‘We have to make another movie.’

“Mike Lane’s dream of connecting people through dance must be realised.”

A woman selected to be a juror in Jussie Smollett’s hate crime trial was dismissed after she admitted she wouldn’t be able to fairly judge the case – because her daughter is gay.

The 39-year-old actor was issued with a 16-count felony indictment for filing a false police report after he claimed he was the victim of a shocking racist and homophobic attack in Chicago in 2019, as it was alleged he knew two men investigated over the incident and claims were made that he had staged the attack.

Smollett’s initial charges were dropped by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office in the same month they were filed, but in February 2020 he was indicted once again for allegedly orchestrating the attack himself.

And a Caucasian woman who was chosen to potentially be a part of the jury had to pull out, upon learning details of the crime, and, ultimately, decided after doing her research that she feared taking part in the trial could put her offspring at risk.

She stated: “When I found out it was a hate crime, my daughter is gay, so I did some research on that.

“She works in the downtown area, so I was very concerned for her safety and what was going on.”

After being asked by Cook County Judge James Lin if it was possible for her to offer up an impartial view to help decide the verdict, the female was dismissed as she admitted she wasn’t sure if she could.

According to reports, other jurors included a woman who has seen ‘Empire’ and enjoys drag, an immigrant from Iraq, a Canadian store manager, a counselor, a man who works in health care, and a salesman.

Prosecutor Dan Webb claimed Smollett had allegedly worked with two siblings he worked with to help him carry out the fake attack, and that Chicago police spent 3,000 hours investigating the crime.

Webb told the courtroom in Chicago on Monday (29.11.21): “When he reported the fake hate crime that was a real crime.”

The brothers claimed Smollett awarded them $3,500 (£2,626) to pose as his attackers, and he has been charged with felony disorderly conduct.

The prosecutor said Smollett then “devised this fake crime” and rehearsed it with Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, and instructed them to use racial and homophobic slurs and “MAGA (Make American Great Again)”.

Other key points include Smollett asking the pair to film the fake attack on video, however, a filming mishap meant the device was facing the wrong way.

Smollett’s lawyer, however, has insisted his client “is a real victim” of a “real crime”.

Attorney Nenye Uche insisted the $3,500 cheque was paid to his colleagues for a music video they were making.

And the lawyer claimed there was a third person involved in the attack.

There were 12 jurors in the end, plus there alternate jurors who were sworn in with a verdict set for a week’s time.

At this stage, it is not known if Smollett will testify.

If convicted, a prison sentence of up to three years is not unheard of, however, it has been claimed that Smollett could end up on

probation and even given community service.

The judge had asked for evidence to be brought forward right up until 7pm, and then the court was adjourned for the day.

Jennifer Coolidge wants more “romance and sex” for her character in ‘The White Lotus’.

The 60-year-old actress stars as Tanya McQuoid in the sitcom about holidaymakers at a resort in Hawaii, and she revealed her high hopes for the upcoming second season.

She said: “They haven’t told me what the script is. But, I hope I have lots of romance and sex in this next one. I felt like I didn’t get enough of that in the first one.”

Jennifer – who has also starred in the likes of ‘American Pie’ and ‘Legally Blonde’ – admitted wherever she goes, she gets recognised for her role in the HBO hit series, even when wearing a mask.

She told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “It didn’t matter where I was this year. It didn’t matter that I had a mask on. I could be in a motorboat up in Maine going by another speedboat and someone would be like, ‘White Lotus.’ I mean, it was weird. Everyone saw it. Everyone saw that thing.”

The ensemble cast of the satirical comedy also features Murray Bartlett, 50, Connie Britton, 54, Jake Lacy, 46, Molly Shannon, 57, and ‘Percy Jackson’ star Alexandra Daddario, 35, and Jennifer previously spoke of how she would prefer things to stay that way.

When asked whether the new season is to feature any new cast members, she said: “I hope not. I have heard that. But you know what? You never know! And even so, imagine what Mike White can write the second time around. So, I’ll watch it, even if I’m not in it.”

Her comments come after Jennifer previously gave her take on ‘Legally Blonde 3’, the upcoming second sequel to the 2001 hit in which she starred as manicurist Paulette Bonafonté alongside Reese Witherspoon.

She said; “I hope Reese [Witherspoon] and I are running really fast for most of it, we’re running from something really fast. I don’t know what it’ll be this time around, I just hope it’s some really fast-moving, caper-type [thing], that we get into trouble.”

Rihanna has been declared a national hero by her native Barbados.

The ‘Umbrella’ hitmaker, 33, was honoured by Prime Minister Mia Mottley at an event which marked Barbados’s new status as a republic, which was attended by Prince Charles.

Addressing the pop star by her real name, the PM said: “Robyn Rihanna Fenty tomorrow morning shall have conferred upon her the order of national hero of Barbados.”

The Fenty Beauty founder was then summoned from her seat to accept the honour, with the Prime Minister managing to rouse a laugh from the singer when she referenced her 2012 hit ‘Diamonds.’

She added: “On behalf of a grateful nation, but an even prouder people, we therefore present to you, the designee, for national hero of Barbados. And to accept on behalf of a grateful nation – you can come my dear – ambassador Robyn Rihanna Fenty, may you continue to shine like a diamond and bring honour to your nation.”

Rihanna – who was born on the St Michael parish of Barbados – found fame in 2005 after being spotted by a record producer and has since gone on to become one of the most successful female artists of all time with sales of over 250 million and recently reached billionaire status through her Fenty beauty brand.

The Prime Minister continued in her speech: “‘Commanding the imagination of the world through the pursuit of excellence, her creativity, her discipline, and above all else, her extraordinary commitment to the land of her birth.

“Having satisfied that, Ambassador Robyn Rihanna Fenty has given service to Barbados which has been exemplified by visionary and pioneering leadership, extraordinary achievement and the attaining of the highest excellence to the Government of Barbados.”

It comes after a historic move for Barbados, which has become a republic after almost 400 years and welcomes its first president, Sandra Mason, after removing Queen Elizabeth as head of state.

Washington (AFP) – Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey announced Monday he was leaving the company, after steering the social network during the tumult of Donald Trump’s presidency and surviving an activist investor’s ouster bid in 2020.

Dorsey, who is also chief executive of payments company Square, was confronted during his tenure by thorny freedom of speech questions, challenges to making the platform profitable and criticism he had spread himself too thin.

With his recognizable look of a shaved head, long beard and unconventional style, Dorsey for years embodied Twitter.

“I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it. It was a tough one for me, of course,” he wrote in an email to Twitter staff announcing his resignation as CEO, which was effective immediately.

“There aren’t many companies that get to this level. And there aren’t many founders that choose their company over their own ego,” he added.

The company said Twitter’s chief technology officer Parag Agrawal has replaced Dorsey in the top post, with Dorsey saying he would remain a member of the board through until around May to help with the transition.

“And after that… I’ll leave the board,” Dorsey wrote. “Why not stay or become chair? I believe it’s really important to allow Parag the space he needs to lead.”

Nasdaq briefly suspended trading of Twitter on Monday, citing “news pending,” and after some volatility, the price was down over 2.5 percent for the day.

Trump era

Like many Silicon Valley celebrities, from Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs to Bill Gates or Michael Dell, Dorsey dropped out of college, never graduating from either of the universities he attended, one in his native Missouri and the other in New York.

Dorsey is credited with coming up with the idea for Twitter when eventual co-founder Evan Williams gave workers at blogging start-up Odeo two weeks to work on new projects as a way to break up the daily routine.

He ran Twitter from 2007 to 2008 and returned later as CEO after Dick Costolo resigned in June 2015.

With Dorsey at the helm, Twitter reported its first profitable quarter for the last three months of 2017, and then two full years in the green, before slipping back into the red in 2020.

Twitter in March 2020 made a deal with key investors to end an effort to oust the chief, creating a new committee on the board of directors to keep tabs on company leadership.

Dorsey came under pressure in 2020 from Elliott Management amid concerns he had spread himself too thin by running both Twitter and Square.

During Trump’s presidency, which ended in January this year, Twitter was widely seen as the medium used to broadcast America’s deepening political and cultural rifts.

Dorsey took the controversial decision to permanently ban Trump from the platform, where the former president had amassed 88.7 million followers.

Dorsey made the decision days after Trump whipped up a mob of supporters who stormed the US Capitol, where they tried to prevent Joe Biden being confirmed winner of the 2020 election.

New CEO

Trump supporters accused Dorsey and the social media giants of trying to curb free speech, and many ditched Twitter to join new, far-right-friendly platforms.

But some also defended the hard decisions Dorsey had to make.

“People tend to conflate Jack Dorsey with Twitter censorship, but my sense is he’s actually done what he could these past few years to keep the platform relatively open,” tweeted Mike Solana, head of the private equity firm Founders Fund.

“Things will be worse without him, not better. Godspeed, bird king,” he added.

Twitter’s incoming CEO Agrawal joined the company in 2011 and has served as chief technology officer since October 2017, where he was responsible for the network’s technical strategy.

Dorsey cited Agrawal’s understanding of the company as key to his decision to step down.

“There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a company being ‘founder led.’ Ultimately, I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure,” Dorsey wrote to Twitter staff.

Agrawal holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay.

“We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right,” he wrote in his own message to staff.

He is the latest India-born talent to be tapped to lead a major US tech firm, following the likes of Google-parent Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

“USA benefits greatly from Indian talent!” tweeted Tesla boss Elon Musk on Monday.

Public health officials in the US and elsewhere have been struggling to persuade eligible citizens to get their Covid-19 booster shots. New research could help them make the case that the extra dose will provide substantially more protection — even if they’ve also recovered from a coronavirus infection.

A small study that’s among the first to track people’s protective antibodies over time found that those who were immunized against Covid-19 with two doses of an mRNA vaccine and received a booster shot about eight months later saw their levels of neutralizing antibodies skyrocket.

Among this group of 33 fully vaccinated and boosted people, the median level of these antibodies was 23 times higher one week after the booster shot than it had been just before the tune-up dose.

What’s more, their median post-booster antibody level was three times higher than was typical for another group of people whose antibodies were measured a few weeks after getting their second dose of vaccine, when they’re close to their peak. And it was 53 times higher than that of a group of 76 unvaccinated people who had recovered from Covid-19 just two to six weeks earlier.

Even compared to a group of 73 people who had weathered a bout with Covid-19 and went on to get two doses of an mRNA vaccine, the boosted group’s median antibody level was 68 per cent higher.

Study leader Alexis Demonbreun, a cell biologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said the data demonstrate that no matter how well protected a vaccinated person may think she is, getting a booster shot is likely to increase her neutralizing antibodies — and with it, her immunity — considerably. And because scientists expect large antibody responses to create more durable immunity, the protection afforded by the booster should last longer than the initial two-shot regimen did.

“If I was going to Vegas, I’d bet on the booster rather than getting the virus to protect me,” Demonbreun said.

The study was posted on MedRxiv, a website where researchers share preliminary findings.

The authors measured antibodies that lock onto a key component of the coronavirus spike protein called the receptor-binding domain, which the virus relies on to latch onto a host cell and force its way inside. In tests, they confirmed these antibodies were capable of keeping the virus out of the specific cells it attempts to invade.

While only 33 people were tested before and after getting a booster, their post-boost antibodies were compared to those of 941 people whose levels had been tested already. Everyone who was vaccinated had received one of the mRNA options, made either by Pfizer and BioNTech or Moderna.

The resulting group of nearly 1,000 subjects allowed the study’s authors to measure and compare immunity in people who had earned their protection in a variety of ways. (Among their other findings: After receiving two doses of vaccine, people who’d already had an asymptomatic infection were typically no better protected than vaccinated people who had never been infected.)

For the vaccine “passports” used across Europe and in Britain, people who’ve had a confirmed coronavirus infection are considered immune on a par with fully vaccinated people. Medical and public health leaders there also widely credit a second infection as a booster.

Those views have not prevailed in the US Health officials here have said repeatedly that neither two doses of vaccine nor a past infection is likely to provide powerful long-term protection. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said a booster dose will probably be necessary to protect most.

While boosters have been extensively studied in older and immunocompromised people, the new work measured neutralizing antibodies in healthy adults from the Chicago metropolitan area, half of whom were 43 or younger. Participants were asked to prick their fingers and send in samples of their dried blood for analysis.

Dr. Greg Poland, a vaccine expert at the Mayo Clinic, said the new study provides “another dot” on the emerging picture of coronavirus immunity. Research on the crucial question of how best to protect humans has been hampered by the fact that no single measure fully captures the immune system’s multi-layered response, he said.

Antibodies are wildly diverse, and not all are capable of “neutralizing” an invading virus. Over time, they decay and disappear, leaving a more complex network of B cells and T cells to recognize and respond to a viral invasion. Yet scientists focus on antibodies because they’re the most visible and readily measured marker of immunity, though they may not be the best predictor of protection, Poland said.

The result is that research to date has yielded conflicting signals on the comparative value of vaccines versus infections.

An Israeli study posted to MedRxiv in August suggested powerful protection from a past bout with the coronavirus. It found that people with so-called natural immunity were 13 times less likely to experience a new infection than were people who hadn’t been infected and had two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In October, a study published in Nature showed that while two doses of vaccine generated impressive antibody levels, people who’d been infected before they were vaccinated developed a more broad-based immunity that was better able to thwart infections involving new variants, such as Delta.

Alice Cho, a Rockefeller University scientist who led that research, said the new study doesn’t shed light on whether a booster shot can prompt the immune system’s B cells to recognize a wider range of coronavirus variants. But she said the body’s reaction to boosters was certainly encouraging.

“They are clearly very good at providing robust plasma antibody responses in people regardless of infection history,” Cho said.

By Peter Szekely

(Reuters) – On a frigid Chicago night in January 2019, actor Jussie Smollett, a star on the TV drama “Empire,” reported that he was the victim of a hate-motivated street attack, but police later accused him of staging the whole affair as a publicity stunt.

A jury was being selected on Monday in Cook County Circuit Court for Smollett’s trial on six felony charges of disorderly conduct accusing him of making false reports to the police. The legal saga has dragged on in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smollett, 39, has denied that he faked the attack, pleading not guilty https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-jussie-smollett-idINKCN20I19I in February 2020.

The openly gay Black actor told police he had been accosted on a darkened street by two masked strangers. According to Smollett’s account, his assailants threw a noose around his neck and poured chemicals on him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs and expressions of support for then-President Donald Trump.

A month later, police arrested him, accusing Smollett of paying two brothers $3,500 to stage the attack in a hoax aimed at gaining public sympathy and raising his show-business profile.

Smollett’s acting career has faded since the incident. He lost his role as a singer-songwriter in the final season of “Empire,” a Fox television hip-hop drama that ended a five-year run in 2020.

His case took an unexpected turn in the spring of 2019 when the Cook County state’s attorney’s office dropped the 16-count indictment against him in exchange for forfeiting his $10,000 bond without admitting wrongdoing.

The dismissal drew criticism from then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city’s police superintendent, who called the reversal a miscarriage of justice, leading a Cook County judge to appoint Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney, to review the case.

After a five-month investigation, Webb overruled the state’s attorney’s office and concluded that prosecution of Smollett was warranted, questioning the judgment of prosecutors in dropping the original case.

The current case against Smollett has been slowed by legal challenges and the pandemic.

Key trial testimony is expected from the brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who prosecutors have said were paid by Smollett to participate in a phony attack. Smollett is not required to testify in his own defense.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson has laughed off the hate he received on social media after his cameo in ‘Selling Sunset’.

The former ‘Modern Family’ star made an appearance at realtor Christine Quinn’s baby shower on an episode in the fourth season of the reality show – and not everyone was impressed.

One Twitter user wrote: “Jesse Tyler Ferguson made an appearance at Christine’s baby shower. He’s either doing poorly post-Modern Family or he was just hella bored post-pandemic and craved ANY social interaction. Face with tears of joy #SellingSunset (sic)”

And the actor reshared the comment and laughed: “I just did a quick search of my name on Twitter & I’m LOLing at the unanimous confusion about this. I’m doing great & staying busy post MF but thank you for checking in on me! (sic)”

Jesse insisting he’s “doing great” comes after he had a skin cancer scare earlier this year.

The star posted a photo of himself with a surgical dressing on his neck after a visit to the dermatologist where they found he had a small patch of cancerous skin.

He urged his millions of followers to “stay up to date” with check-ups, especially if “you’re fair like me”.

He wrote: “Reminder to stay up to date on your dermatology checks … especially if you’re fair like me. I always wind up getting something taken from me, every time I go.

“Today, they took a bit of skin cancer that they found. Don’t worry, I got it early and I’m gonna be just fine. (and, wear sunscreen! SPF 1000 for me!)”

His husband Justin Mitika echoed the actor’s sentiment and insisted Jessie, 46, will be having monthly dermatologist appointments from here on in.

Justin said: “Gotta keep you around forever. Derm appointments once a month!”

Paris (AFP) – Top US fashion designer Virgil Abloh, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection, died Sunday aged 41 after battling cancer for several years, the fashion and luxury house’s French owners LVMH announced.

Abloh, the first black American creative director of a top French fashion house, brought streetwear such as hoodies and sneakers to the catwalk.

He transcended the fashion world and his untimely death at the peak of his career sent shockwaves across the globe, with tributes pouring in from rival design houses but also actors and sportspeople for a man seen as a deeply humane visionary.

“We are all shocked by this terrible news. Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, but also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom,” LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault said in a statement.

“The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow and we are all thinking of his loved ones after the passing of their husband, their father, their brother or their friend,” he added in the statement posted on LVMH’s Twitter account.

The group said he had been “battling privately” against cancer for several years.

Abloh was chosen to be artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection in 2018. His parents had immigrated to the United States from Ghana.

LVMH also announced earlier this year it was taking a majority stake in the luxury streetwear label Off-White created by Abloh. LVMH took 60-percent stake in Off-White and Abloh retained 40 percent.

Abloh has addressed both environmental and social issues in his work with Louis Vuitton, with anti-racist and anti-homophobia messages at his January show in Paris.

He said earlier this year he planned to use his partnership with LVMH “to expand opportunities for diverse individuals and foster greater equity and inclusion in the industries we serve”.

Kim Jones, the artistic director of menswear at French fashion house Dior said: “So sad to hear about the passing of dear Virgil, one of the kindest people you could ever meet.”

Rival Italian luxury fashion house Gucci hailed Abloh as an “immense inspiration to us all both as a designer and as a person. 

“He will be deeply missed though his vision will live on through the trails that he blazed throughout his career,” Gucci added on its Twitter account.

‘No one will forget impact’

The king of luxury streetwear, Abloh had established himself within a few years as one of the most sought-after designers in the world.

His trademark was a style reflecting street culture, with sneakers and sweatshirts, but also an easily recognisable logo, made of oblique black and white bands. He enjoyed successful collaborations with the likes of Nike, Jimmy Choo and Moncler. 

Abloh created his first label, Pyrex Vision, in 2012. 

A year later, Off-White was born, a luxury streetwear brand, which won a following through its eye-catching branding before evolving towards more “couture” creations. 

Abloh was one of a handful of fashion designers who had a close following well beyond the industry and was a celebrity name in his own right.

Long-time friend and collaborator Kanye West dedicated his weekly gathering “Sunday Service” to Abloh, with a livestreamed choir rendition of Adele’s new hit “Easy On Me”. 

Canadian rapper Drake thanked Abloh “for everything” in an Instagram post. 

“Love you eternally brother,” he wrote.

US singer Pharrell Williams also took to Instagram with a tribute, writing: “Virgil you were a kind, generous, thoughtful creative genius your work as a human and your work as a spiritual being will live forever.

“Sending love and light to your wife, children, family… you’re with the Master now, shine.”

On Twitter, French football star Kylian Mbappe posted: “RIP VIRGIL ABLOH. No one will forget the impact you had. God bless you my friend.”

British actor Idris Elba also tweeted, saying, “Too soon Virgil. You will be missed from this world man.” 

Fellow British actor Riz Ahmed added that Abloh had “stretched culture” and “changed the game”, helping to “reimagine what’s possible”.

French actor Omar Sy, famed for his role in the Netflix series Lupin, wrote simply on Twitter: “Rest in Power Virgil.”

Lady Gaga has heaped praise on Tony Bennett’s “remarkable wife” Susan for “the love” she has for her husband.

The ‘House of Gucci’ star made the comment after her and Tony’s CBS concert special ‘One Last Time’ aired in the US, and the 35-year-old Oscar-winner admitted she will “cry about tonight forever”.

Alongside a picture from the show, Gaga wrote on Instagram: “The real ‘Lady’ of the hour is Susan Benedetto, Tony’s remarkable wife. Thank you Susan for how you love @itstonybennett I love you and Tony and the whole family so much. I’ll cry about tonight forever.”

Tony and Gaga recently released their second joint LP, ‘Love For Sale’ – the follow-up to 2014’s ‘Cheek to Cheek’ – which marked his last ever album.

Susan is caring for the 95-year-old Jazz legend, who is battling Alzheimer’s disease but has no idea he has the progressive neurological condition, which causes memory loss.

Meanwhile, Gaga recently shared her delight at Tony understanding her every word when she told him the news they are up for six Grammys.

The ‘Stupid Love’ hitmaker, 35, and the music legend have been showered with nods for their acclaimed duets album, including the prestigious Album of the Year prize.

And the ‘A Star Is Born’ star was left “utterly speechless” after finding out they are up for several accolades next year.

The duo are also in contention for Record of the Year for ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’, and best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Music Video, and Engineered Album Non-Classical.

Tony became the oldest artist in history to be nominated in the general categories.

Their first LP took home Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album seven years ago.

In a lengthy statement on Instagram, Gaga gushed: “Thank you so much to the @RecordingAcademy for these 6 nominations for Love For Sale. I am stunned and shocked and beyond grateful. I don’t know what to say. I just keep crying and am utterly speechless.

“This means so much to me, @itstonybennett, the Bennetts, my family, jazz music, and the great Cole Porter who wrote all these timeless classics. I’ll never forget today and congratulating Tony on his 6 nominations.”

On Tony’s reaction, she continued: “I’ll never forget that today he could track every word I was saying and understood the world was celebrating him and celebrating jazz – a genre that embodies the joy, abundance and imagination of Black music throughout history.

“Thank you to all the Grammy voters for recognizing me and Tony’s dedication to jazz music and for also recognizing it in major categories where this music is often not nominated. (sic)”

The ‘Born This Way’ singer admitted there is no better feeling than the “love and partnership” they share – despite their 60-year age gap.

Gaga concluded: “This album happened because it was Tony’s idea and I made him a promise that we would make it and we did.

“At 95 years old, he has more nominations than ever, I’m so honored to be his companion in music and his friend.

“Thank you to the public for loving us, we surely love each other, and you.

“Believe in love and partnership, even with 60 years between us, and Alzheimer’s, there is nothing like the magic of music. I love you Tony, and the world loves you too. How could they not?”

(Reuters) – Former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense for withholding parts of a memoir about the time he spent in the administration of Donald Trump.

The book, “A Sacred Oath”, sheds light on events that occurred during the second half of Trump’s presidency, Esper said.

The Department “arbitrarily” redacted the manuscript after he submitted it to DoD officials for review, he said in a statement.

“Significant text is being improperly withheld from publication …under the guise of classification. The withheld text is crucial to telling important stories discussed in the manuscript,” Esper’s lawsuit, filed in a federal court, said.

Esper served as Trump’s defense secretary from June 2019 to November 2020, when he was fired over a range of differences on policy issues.

They included Esper’s public opposition to Trump’s threats to use active duty military forces to suppress street protests over racial injustice after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The DoD did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent during overnight hours.

(Reporting by Vishal Vivek and Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; editing by John Stonestreet)

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sara Bareilles, Josh Groban and members of almost every current Broadway company honoured Stephen Sondheim with a special performance in New York’s Times Square on Sunday (28.11.21).

The legendary composer – who was behind musicals such as ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Gypsy’ – died on Friday (26.11.2021) at the age of 91 and stars of the stage, as well as fans, got together to celebrate his life with a touching rendition of his song ‘Sunday’ from ‘Sunday in the Park with George.’

‘Waitress’ star Sara told Variety: “This felt like church. In his remembrance, we did what theatre does best. We sang and raised our voices and came together in community.”

During the event, Lin-Manuel offered a speech, by reading out from Sondheim’s annotated anthology ‘Look I Made a Hat’, where he detailed the song that would go on to be sung in his memory.

He read: “Once during the writing of each show, I cry at a notion, a word, a chord, a melodic idea, an accompaniment figure.

“In [‘Sunday in the Park with George’], it was the word ‘forever’ in ‘Sunday. I was suddenly moved by the contemplation of what these people would have thought if they’d know they were being immortalised.”

Following his comments, the ‘Hamilton’ composer and the chorus got to perform the song one final time, joined by actors, directors and crew members from across the Broadway community.

Singer Josh – who starred in the musical ‘Chess’ – was among the stars quick to pay tribute to Sondheim and explained the meaning behind the song that has been dedicated to his memory.

He said: “Everybody who’s here has a touchstone for why Sondheim’s music has brought them to this place. And whatever part of the entertainment industry we’re in, everybody is here because we were first influenced by Sondheim’s music. To mourn his passing is a crushing blow. ‘Sunday,’ is about capturing moments and holding on to them while we have them, even the ones that might seem ordinary. It’s a song about gratitude, about making sure to hold each other close.”

During his lifetime, Sondheim – who also composed other hits such as ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Into the Woods’ – received nine Tony Awards, eight Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize.

George Clooney thinks the #MeToo movement has stopped people “being a jerk at work”.

The ‘Tender Bar’ filmmaker has reflected on the Harvey Weinstein scandal and thinks not only are there now more measures in place to protect women from predatory man in the workplace, there is also a general acceptance that certain behaviours from people in power are no longer acceptable.

Asked how much has changed since Weinstein was accused of sexual assault and rape in 2017, kicking off the #MeToo campaign, he said: “It’s changed in this way.. On top of the terrible things Weinstein did, being a jerk at work is now not OK.

“Just because you’re a boss, it doesn’t mean you get to s*** on people. I’ve been the boss and the guy being s*** on. You can’t get away with being a d*** any more — you’d get ratted out.

“Now there’s sometimes an overcorrection, where everyone points fingers, but that will settle. It always does.

“And I can’t imagine some producer having a casting session alone in his hotel room with a young girl any more. It’s moving in the right direction.”

Although George – who has twins Alexander and Ella, four, with wife Amal – thinks there are still changes needed in the film industry, he is unsure what until people speak out about wrongdoing.

Asked what still needs to happen, he told the Sunday Times Culture magazine: “We’ll know when we see how wrong something else goes. I’m sure there’s more and someone will tell us, then we’ll have to pay attention to it.”

The former ‘E.R.’ star turned 60 in May and although it was a “bummer” to hit the milestone, he’s grateful to still be alive and wants to fit in as much as he is able to before he hits 80.

He said: “Turning 60 is a bummer. But it’s that or dead…

“I said to Amal, knock on wood, I’m healthy. I still play basketball with the younger gang. I feel good. But in 20 years I’m 80 — and 80 is a real number. I said the next 20 years are halcyon and we need to celebrate that, we should focus on the work we do being just the stuff we have to, that we feel in our chest.”

By Jessica DiNapoli

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The number of S&P 500 companies that have either stopped political giving or plan to disclose it hit a record in 2021 after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and recent social justice protests, according to a study viewed by Reuters.

According to the study from the Center for Political Accountability, U.S. companies see new risks in political giving in light of the country’s hyper-partisan environment, leading corporations to either halt contributions or disclose them. The center advocates for corporate transparency.

“Unrest and angry political conflict have defined the past two years,” according to the study, which cited as examples the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, the two-time impeachment of former President Donald Trump and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “In these explosive times, companies are taking action.

“They’ve adopted political spending policies to avoid or mitigate heightened risk,” according to the study.

Political spending came under closer scrutiny earlier this year after a raft of major companies suspended contributions to lawmakers who voted against President Joe Biden’s election certification. [L1N2JN2ZQ]

At the same time, some companies, such as Delta Air Lines Inc, are becoming outspoken on social and political issues, including voting rights. [L1N2OP2UL]

The new study found that 370 companies disclose some or all of their political spending, or ban at least one type of it, such as contributions to trade associations. That figure is up from 332 companies last year. [L1N2H31BW]

The Center for Political Accountability considers disclosure or outright banning of political giving a mark of top flight corporate governance policy, said Bruce Freed, the group’s president.

The study found that one of the biggest changes over the past six years among companies related to so-called “dark money” groups, which are tax-exempt organizations that influence politics. There was nearly a 100% increase from 2015 to 2021 in the number of companies who prohibit or disclose contributions to those organizations.

Intel Corp was highlighted by the study for adopting a corporate political contribution policy stating that the chipmaker reviews recipients’ voting records and public statements, and that it will communicate directly with them.

The study also highlighted videogame maker Activision Blizzard Inc and artificial intelligence computing company NVIDIA Corp, among others, for improving their policies by prohibiting payments to the “dark money” groups.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

New York (AFP) – Pfizer has already started working on a version of its Covid-19 vaccine specifically targeting the Omicron variant in case the current inoculation is not effective against the new strain, the US drugmaker’s CEO Albert Bourla said Monday.

Bourla told CNBC that his company on Friday began testing the current vaccine against the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and reignited fears of a global wave of Covid-19 infections.

“I don’t think the result will be the vaccines don’t protect,” Bourla said. 

But the testing could show that existing shots “protect less,” which means “that we need to create a new vaccine,” Bourla said. 

“Friday we made our first DNA template, which is the first possible inflection of the development process of a new vaccine,” he said.

Bourla likened the situation to the scenario earlier this year when Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech developed a vaccine in 95 days when there were concerns the previous formula would not work against Delta, though that version ultimately was not used. 

The current vaccine is “very effective” against Delta, the executive said, adding that the companies expect to be able to produce four billion vaccine doses in 2022.

On Monday, the World Health Organization warned the new Covid-19 Omicron variant poses a “very high” risk globally.

Bourla said he was also “very confident” that Pfizer’s recently unveiled antiviral pill would work as a treatment for infections caused by the mutations, including Omicron. 

Among newly-infected, high risk patients treated within three days of the onset of symptoms, Pfizer’s pill has been shown to cut hospitalization or death by nearly 90 percent.

Washington (AFP) – The American dictionary of reference Merriam-Webster on Monday revealed “vaccine” to be its word of the year for 2021, reflecting both the hopes and deep divisions sparked by vaccination as the world wrestled with year two of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The word vaccine was about much more than medicine in 2021,” the dictionary — which based its decision on surging interest in the term’s definition — said in a post on its website.

“For many, the word symbolized a possible return to the lives we led before the pandemic. But it was also at the center of debates about personal choice, political affiliation, professional regulations, school safety, healthcare inequality, and so much more.”

Merriam-Webster said the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines required it to expand its definition of the word “vaccine,” because the technology triggers an immune response by telling human cells to create antigens, versus classic vaccines, which inject a neutralized form of a virus or antigens.

The word “vaccine” saw a 601 percent increase in definition lookups over the year, compared to 2020.

But “the prominence of the word vaccine in our lives… becomes even more starkly clear when we compare 2021 to 2019, a period in which lookups for the word increased 1048%,” Merriam-Webster said.

Vaccines are back in the spotlight once again after the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant, prompting renewed appeals for people in the developed world to get vaccinated or boosted against the virus — and for vaccines to be made more widely available across the developing world.

The World Health Organization has listed the Omicron strain as a “variant of concern,” and countries around the world are now restricting travel from southern Africa, where the new strain was first detected, and taking other new precautions.

In the United States, top government scientist Anthony Fauci on Monday urged everyone eligible to get a Covid-19 vaccine to help protect against severe disease.

“A variant like this, although there’s a lot we don’t know about it, one thing we do know is that vaccinated people do much, much better than unvaccinated people,” he said. “I would strongly suggest you get boosted now.”

Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump has made it back into the White House — at least in the form of a picture hanging on the Bidens’ Christmas tree unveiled Monday.

It’s no exaggeration to say there’s bad blood between the Trumps and Bidens, largely because Trump continues to push his unprecedented attempt to persuade Americans that Joe Biden didn’t really beat him in the 2020 presidential election.

But First Lady Jill Biden’s “Gifts from the Heart” theme for this year’s Christmas decorations is delivering seasonal goodwill.

A gold-framed photo of Trump and his wife Melania hangs on the tree in the State Dining Room, along with snaps of the Obamas, the families of both presidents Bush, the Reagans and the Carters.

Democrats Bill and Hillary Clinton also get a place on the presidential family tree. 

More photos of former first families, again including Trump, decorate a hallway. Hanging on another wall are framed holiday greetings cards from Biden, Obama and Trump.

The Christmas truce of sorts contrasts with the bitter relationship between the Trumps and Bidens.

After Biden’s victory, Donald and Melania Trump scratched the longstanding traditional invitation to tea that outgoing presidents and first ladies extend to their replacements.

In another disruption to the more genteel customs of the White House, Trump never hosted his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama for an official portrait unveiling.

The Republican has also yet to have his own portrait hung up in Biden’s White House.

Marvel’s ‘Blade’ movie is set to start filming in summer 2022.

According to the industry magazine Production Weekly, the movie – starring Mahershala Ali – will start shooting in late summer 2022 in Atlanta.

Blade first appeared in Marvel comics in 1973. He is a human-vampire hybrid as his mother was bit and killed by the blood-sucking monsters during childbirth.

The character was played by Wesley Snipes in three movies between 1998 and 2004 and Marvel boss Kevin Feige previously explained that he had been desperate to revive Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

He said: “We have, for years, wanted to find a new way into Blade. We love that character. We love that world.

“Now with Doctor Strange and the supernatural elements coming into the MCU, it felt like we could definitely start exploring that.

“Mahershala wanted to come in and meet with us, and when Mahershala Ali wants to meet, you take the meeting.

“I think he had just come off of his second Academy Award, and we were talking very polite and he was talking about what a fan he is. And then he just cut right to it and was like ‘Blade.’ And we were like, ‘Yes.'”

Meanwhile, Bassam Tariq has revealed his ‘Blade’ film isn’t “as boxed in” to the comics as other Marvel movies.

The director – who signed up to helm the project in July – hinted about what fans can expect from the movie, and he revealed he is putting “character first”.

He said: “What’s so great is it’s not as boxed in as I think people imagine it to be, which I thought it was.

“But it’s quite exciting, and I think the reality is there is no ‘Blade’ canon. In some comics, his name is Fred H. Blade, you know, instead of Eric Brooks.

“Unfortunately, the runs never lasted that long, and there have been some interesting and exciting waves. But I can say [the new movie is] character first.”

Apple is looking to launch an augmented reality (AR) headset next year.

The tech giants are reportedly set to release their first AR headset in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a research note from analyst Ming-chi Kuo seen by MacRumors and 9to5Mac.

The analyst had previously predicted back in March this year that the headset would be released in 2022, but Kuo now has more technical information on the device.

According to Kuo, the headset will have two processors, one with “the same level of computing power as M1” and one lower-end chip to handle input from the various sensors.

Kuo says that the headset has “at least 6-8 optical modules to simultaneously provide continuous video see-through AR services”, and the headset is also said to have two 4K OLED microdisplays from Sony.

The analyst also states the headset will be a standalone platform, and claimed that being able to work without an iPhone or a Mac to support it will make it a more viable product to consumers.

Kuo wrote: “If the AR headset is positioned only as an accessory for the Mac or iPhone, it will not be conducive to the growth of the product. An AR headset that works independently means that it will have its own ecosystem and provide the most complete and flexible user experience.”