People generally don’t show their best side in a crisis like the pandemic. In times like these, unresolved conflicts become particularly clear. Christin Klose/dpa

The coronavirus crisis has put a serious strain on many aspects of our lives. Many couples’ relationship has been sorely tested too.

“Like a fire accelerant,” crises intensify unresolved conflicts, points out Dominik Borde, a relationship coach in Vienna.

He’s not the only couples therapist expecting a wave of break-ups and divorces on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic. Berlin-based psychotherapist Holger Kuntze, for example, reports a veritable stampede for counselling by couples with relationship problems. The number has increased by more than a third, he says.

This doesn’t surprise the therapists. For one thing, people who are fearful and in difficulties – as during a pandemic – typically don’t show themselves from their best side. And the crisis has shifted many people’s focus. Fulfilling long-held dreams has taken on new urgency. People are asking themselves how they really want to live, and with whom.

Kuntze divides couples who were locked down together into two groups. For one group, the forced togetherness was hell: Long-simmering conflicts boiled over and many a partner decided that the relationship wasn’t worth continuing.

In the other group, the partners made things cosy for themselves. “They reconnected and enjoyed the extended time together. But the normal daily routine is now back, they’ve got the same problems and are frustrated,” Kuntze says.

“The extensive restrictions on our freedom have made many of us realize that life isn’t endless and we don’t have forever to fulfil lifelong dreams that we’ve always put off,” says Borde.

The kinds of couples that are especially at risk of a break-up, in his view, are the ones prone to blaming each other for things that go wrong.

The same goes for those who have never learned to manage their emotions and build relationships. But self-improvement is possible if they draw on their pandemic experiences, Borde says.

Kuntze advises couples to discuss what each partner has learned during the coronavirus crisis. This could reveal common ground and facilitate compromise, he says, but adds they’ve got a problem if it turns out their takes are very different.

“If one partner doesn’t want to resume the couple’s pre-lockdown lifestyle, while the other thinks it was just as it should be, there’s trouble ahead,” Kuntze remarks.

To illustrate his point, he cites a couple that shared a love of cultural activities before the pandemic hit. One partner sorely missed not being able to go to the opera, theatre and exhibitions during the lockdown, while the other didn’t and discovered it was far more enjoyable to be outdoors surrounded by nature.

“Something like this shakes up everything, of course,” says Kuntze. Ideally, couples use these differences to recalibrate their relationship, which he likens to the “moulting process” of animals that shed old feathers, hair, or skin to make way for new growth.

If the couple fails to reconcile their differences and splits, one partner is usually the instigator and also gets over the break-up more easily. The decision is typically prompted not only by current problems, but with the past and future in mind too – ie the relationship may never have been particularly satisfying and/or its prospects may not be promising.

Kuntze says the instigator should explain his or her motives and be sensitive to the rejected partner’s feelings. “You shouldn’t summarily brush aside your partner’s pain,” he says, “for example with the excruciating line, ‘Let’s stay friends.’ People want to be seen, heard and taken seriously.”

Most couples can’t handle such a one-on-one talk though, according to Kuntze, who says one partner’s heartache or the other’s impatience are usually impediments. So he recommends that they go to a therapist.

Borde, for his part, recommends seeing a therapist when you’re struggling to decide whether to continue or to end a relationship. A therapist, he says, can help you recognize your share of the responsibility for the problems and avoid repeating your mistakes – be it in your current relationship or any future ones.

Britney Spears’ high energy pop burst onto the global stage in the late 1990s

Los Angeles (AFP) – Pop princess Britney Spears on Sunday announced her engagement to her boyfriend Sam Asghari via social media.

Spears, 39, showed off a diamond ring in an Instagram micro-video post and wrote “I can’t f***ng believe it!!!!!!!”

By her side in the video is her boyfriend — now fiance — Sam Asghari, whom she turns to and kisses on the cheek.

“Look at that — you like it?” Asghari, 27, asks.

“Yeah!” Spears squeals in delight.

Congratulations poured in and over 1.6 million people had liked the post by Sunday night.

“Congratulations love!! So happy for you! Welcome to the club!” said celebrity heiress Paris Hilton in a comment on the video.

Asghari’s Instagram page has a simple picture of him kissing Spears as she lifts her hand — and ring finger — to show off her new bling.

Spears and Asghari met in 2016 when they co-starred in a music video for her single “Slumber Party.”

Spears has two children with former husband rapper Kevin Federline, and had a brief Las Vegas marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander that was annulled after just 55 hours.

The star rocketed to fame in her teens with hits like “…Baby One More Time,” but suffered a highly public 2007 breakdown, attacking a paparazzo’s car at a gas station.

That led to her being placed under a court-ordered conservatorship largely governed by her father, Jamie Spears.

She swiftly returned to performing, released three albums, appeared on various television shows and even took up a Las Vegas residency.

But in January 2019, she abruptly announced she was suspending her performances until further notice, and became increasingly vocal about the conservatorship.

In July she launched a bid to remove her father from the 13-year guardianship that she said amounted to “abuse,” and in early September Jamie Spears filed a petition to end the conservatorship.

Lil Nas X stole the show on the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) red carpet with his lavender suit-dress hybrid.

The 22-year-old singer – who went on to win the prestigious Video of the Year accolade for ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’, as well as Best Visual Effects and Best Direction at Sunday’s (12.09.21) ceremony – arrived at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn wearing a show-stopping Atelier Versace creation which sparkled with hundreds of gemstones and sequins.

The luxury label noted on Instagram: “The asymmetrical off-the-shoulder design features a lace-up back detail that cascades to long train and is enriched with hand-applied crystal embroidery.”

The ‘Old Town Road’ hitmaker’s stylist, Hodo Musa, accessorised the creation with matching boots, butterfly earrings and long tumbling locks.

And fashion fans will be looking forward to seeing what Nas wears at the Met Gala on Monday (13.09.21) evening as he promised it will be worth the wait.

He told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “We finna give y’all something! It’s gonna be a week. This is not a moment, this is a week, baby!”

Nas’ stylist previously admitted he felt he was “destined” to meet the singer and he thinks they’ll have a very long working relationship.

Hoda said last year: “I really feel like I was destined to meet Lil Nas X. It might sound silly or crazy, but I instantly knew our collaboration was going to be fruitful and long. He gives you the freedom that’s needed in order to do your job well, cause he has faith in the people around him. And he doesn’t have an ego. His ego is dead, just like mine.”

Madonna was a surprise performer at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night (12.09.21).

The 63-year-old star shocked the crowd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City, as she kicked off the latest VMAs in a dominatrix-style outfit.

Madonna – who opened the first VMAs in 1984 with her hit ‘Like a Virgin’ – arrived at the ceremony in a New York-style yellow taxi.

Before she appeared on stage, her voice could be heard in the ceremony recounting her early years in the city and her love of MTV.

She said: “I came to New York City with nothing but $35 and a pair of dance shoes. I was 19 and terrified.

“Forty years ago, another underdog arrived in New York City hoping to create something revolutionary.

“An all-music channel premiered in the middle of the night and called itself MTV.

“We found each other and from then on changed my life, changed music and created a new art form. That’s why there’s only one place to be tonight.”

Madonna – who has won 20 of the VMAs’ Moon Person trophies over the years – walked on stage to her 1990 song ‘Vogue’, and stripped off her trench coat to reveal a BDSM-inspired PVC outfit.

Shortly before she departed the stage, the star – who famously shared a smooch with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 VMAs – told the crowd: “They said we wouldn’t last, but were still here motherf******.

“Happy 40th MTV. Welcome to the 2021 MTV VMAs.”

Other surprise appearances on the night came from Cyndi Lauper, 37 years after she won the Best Female Video at the first-ever VMAs.

Cyndi – who presented the Best Pop Award – said: “I won a Moon Person at the very first VMAs in 1984. Things are a little different now.

“Yeah, girls wanna have fun. But we also want to have funds. Equal pay! Control over our bodies! You know, fundamental rights!”

Other performers at the spectacle included Justin Bieber, who took to the stage with The Kid Laroi to sing their tune ‘Stay’.

Camila Cabello wowed with a version of her latest song ‘Don’t Go Yet’, and her boyfriend Shawn Mendes – who also took to the stage to perform – was spotted dancing to her music.

Doja Cat – who hosted the ceremony – had a break from her evening duties to perform her songs ‘Been Like This’ and ‘You Right’.

Kacey Musgraves, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, and Twenty One Pilots also performed at the ceremony.

Lance Bass has revealed that his twin babies are due to arrive “any day now”.

The former N*Sync star, 42, announced in June that he and his husband, artist Michael Turchin, 34, were to be parents via surrogacy.

He said: “I got twins on the way. They could come any day which I’m kind of really scared about.”

He made the exciting announcement at 2021 VMAs, which he joked would be his last appearance at the ceremony for quite a while.

He told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “I won’t be at the VMAs for the next 18 years!”

The couple – who have been married since 2014 – confirmed to People in a Q&A that they are expecting a boy and a girl, and Lance is thrilled that they will be here in time for Halloween.

He said: “They have no choice but to love Halloween because I’m obsessed and they’re going to be obsessed!”

Happiness follows heartbreak for the couple, after going through several failed IVF attempts and sadly losing a baby boy at eight weeks in 2020.

At the time, he said: “You try to trick yourself into not getting excited because you know anything can happen at any time, especially in those first few weeks when there’s a huge possibility that the (embryos) won’t stick.”

News of the twins’ impending arrival comes as 98 Degrees frontman Nick Lachey spoke of an upcoming benefit concert, in which his band will unite with Bass’s band ‘N*Sync’, as well as other 90s favourites the Backstreet Boys next year.

He said: “We’re working on a little something together for January 2022, called ‘TRL,’ Total Relief Live, and it’s a benefit concert benefiting feeding America. If you’re going to call something ‘TRL,’ you gotta bring out the heavy hitters of TRL.”

AJ McLean of the ‘Backstreet Boys’ also teased that this may not be the only time the boybands collaborate.

He said: “I mean, look. We get the best of the best in the same studio in the same booth. Magic is definitely happening. I mean. Who knows. We’ll see.”

Jodie Foster’s mother never wanted her to go to college.

The 58-year-old actress-and-director began her career in the 1960s when she was just three years old with appearances in adverts and television shows, and in the next decade she established as a major young talent with her acclaimed performances in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’ and the hit children’s musical ‘Bugsy Malone’.

However, in 1980 she took a break from Hollywood to study African-American literature at Yale University, something which her mother Evelyn tried to dissuade her from her from as she though it would ruin her acting career.

And Jodie’s mom also didn’t want her to step behind the cameras and become a director.

Discussing some of the biggest risks she’s taken in her career, she shared: “Well, there are a number of them. The first one was to go to university instead of staying in the cinema. I studied at Yale for five years. Everyone was telling me, ‘Your career will be finished!’ But my education was so useful for what I did later. I learnt how to read deeply at university and this helped in my work as an actress.

“And then I became a director just after the Oscar and the same person, [whispers] my mother, told me that it was a very bad idea to be a director since I was at the height of my acting career and it was the moment when I could make the most money. So it was a very bad choice, according to her. I did not listen and am very happy.”

Jodie has won two Best Actress Academy Awards; the first for her performance as a rape survivor in powerful 1988 drama ‘The Accused’ – which was directed by Jonathan Kaplan – and the second for playing serial killer chasing FBI trainee Clarice Starling in 1991 horror film ‘The Silence of the Lambs in which she starred opposite Best Actor winner Sir Anthony Hopkins as cannibal murderer Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Foster believes that her journey to those accolades started when she played an underage prostitute in ‘Taxi Driver’ opposite Robert De Niro.

In an interview with the UK issue of OK! magazine, she said: “It’s a difficult path. I have this sort of faith in things and when the waves are difficult, it gives me depth. That’s the way I view it as a writer, an actor, a director and a producer.

“For me, ‘Taxi Driver’ is a film which was a kind of transformation in the cinema.

“It was the golden age of American films, it was an arthouse film and I was very proud to be in it. It was destiny, it was fate and I was very lucky. I’d already made a film with [Martin] Scorsese and that’s why he knew me. People thought I was too young to play the part of a prostitute and people – lawyers that is – in the government of California, wanted to make sure I was psychologically ready. I had to do some tests.”

New York (AFP) – Britain’s Prince Andrew has been served legal papers in a US lawsuit brought by a woman who says he sexually abused her when she was a teenager, a court filing showed Friday.

The complaint was delivered to the royal’s home in Windsor, England, on August 27, according to an affidavit filed in the Southern District of New York.

Virginia Giuffre says she was “lent out” for underage sex by late US financier Jeffrey Epstein who killed himself in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking minors.

Giuffre sued Andrew last month, alleging he sexually abused her at the London home of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, when she was under 18.

Giuffre also claims Andrew abused her at Epstein’s New York mansion and on Little St. James, Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.

Andrew, 61, has vehemently denied claims he had sex with Giuffre, and said he has no recollection of meeting her, but the allegations have damaged the British royal family.

An agent for Giuffre said in the affidavit that he handed the papers to a police officer at the main gates of Andrew’s property and did not meet Queen Elizabeth II’s second son.

A spokesperson for Andrew refused to comment when asked to by AFP.

Andrew, a divorced father of two and former Royal Navy helicopter pilot who flew in the 1982 Falklands War against Argentina, was forced to step back from frontline royal duties in late 2019.

That followed a furore at a rare television interview he gave to the BBC, in which he defended his friendship with Epstein, a multi-million-dollar hedge fund manager to befriended countless celebrities.

Andrew — who as a young man was considered one of Britain’s most eligible bachelors and was dubbed “Randy Andy” in the tabloid press — later issued a statement in which he said he “unequivocally” regretted his “ill-judged association” with Epstein.

He has made few public appearances since, although joined other senior royals for the funeral of his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle in April.

Maxwell pleaded not guilty in April to charges of recruiting underage girls for Epstein. She is due to go on trial on November 29.

Giuffre sued Andrew under the Child Victims Act as she was 17 at the time. The first hearing in the case is set for Monday. 

Jessica Chastain was shaking with fear before starting work on ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’.

The 44-year-old actress plays the titular role in the upcoming film about the controversial televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker and her husband Jim Bakker and admits that many elements of the film “terrified” her.

Jessica told DuJour magazine: “There were so many parts of making this movie that terrified me. On the first day of shooting, I started shaking before the first take. That’s never happened to me on a movie before, and it was so embarrassing.

“But I thought, if I’m going to throw myself off this cliff, I’m going to jump off the deep end. People might really make fun of me. But Tammy Faye probably thought that every day, and she did it anyway.”

Jessica, who is also a producer on the film, recalled how it would take her over seven hours to get into makeup as the character and that she would use the time to study Tammy Faye.

The ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ star said: “I just wanted to cry.

“People don’t understand that (that kind of makeup) takes a lot of energy, but I used that time to listen to her voice. I just rewatched and rewatched her on video. I’ve seen every video she’s ever done.”

Jessica acquired the rights to the film by watching the 2000 documentary of the same name and described it as one of her “crazy ideas”.

She explained: “I knew about Tammy from what I’d seen on ‘Saturday Night Live’, but I actually had never seen her give an interview until I watched the documentary.

“My impression from sketch television was that she cried all the time, she was a crook and always had mascara running down her face.”

Jessica added: “I have these ideas that we have to push against an old-fashioned way the film industry has worked.”

Washington (AFP) – With conservative moves to restrict abortion and voting rights dominating headlines, an outsider might be forgiven for thinking it was Republicans, not Democrats, who run Washington.

But the most important elections of 2020 probably weren’t for who would take the White House or Congress — it was the battle for control of America’s state houses.

“The Republicans have been especially good at winning state legislative elections,” Wendy Schiller, a professor of political science at Brown University, told AFP.

“They smartly focused time, money and energy into winning the House of Representatives back in 2010, and state legislatures.”

In that year alone, she said, Republicans picked up more than 600 seats, eventually amassing a nationwide lead of almost 1,100 seats.

While control of the executive and legislative branches might seem like the endgame in US politics, Americans’ happiness and prosperity depends as much on what happens in state capitols as in the US capital.

Republican legislatures have wielded state power with alacrity in recent weeks, passing a barrage of what opponents characterize as voter suppression bills, while Texas just signed strict measures into law that essentially amount to a total ban on abortion.

Critics expect the eventual outcome of the laws, which are seen spreading across numerous red states, to be wide disparities in access to services from one part of the United States to the next.

“Federalism has always produced stark inequality in the arena of civil rights and voting, and again now with restrictions on abortions,” said Schiller.

“In some cases the federal government has been able to prevail, but unlike civil rights and voting, abortion has not produced the same level of national consensus in favor of increased access.” 

Outgunned

When they ratified the Constitution, states agreed the federal government would have responsibility for two dozen or so national and international issues, while all other duties would be discharged locally. 

“So the 10th Amendment provides a great amount of latitude and protection of individual states to make their own legislative and legal decisions that may be starkly different from Washington,” Capri Cafaro, of American University’s School of Public Affairs, told AFP.

These days the federal government’s exclusive responsibilities include coining money, regulating the mail, declaring war and conducting other foreign policy.

It is states, though, that are charged with ensuring the welfare, safety and health of their citizens, taking responsibility for most public services and running elections. 

Democrats acknowledge that in recent years they have been much more focused on winning the presidency and controlling Congress while being outgunned in grassroots funding and organization.

As a result, the Republicans have control of the House and Senate — or the single chamber — in 31 of America’s 50 states. 

The Texas abortion law, a dramatic escalation of the campaign to undo Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized the procedure nationwide, flies in the face of public opinion.

Polls consistently show that over half of Americans believe abortion should be legal all or most of the time. 

Balance of power

“If we do not defend our Democratic majorities and invest in Democratic power, progress on reproductive rights can and will be lost,” Heather Williams, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

US states are currently redrawing their legislative districts in a constitutionally required process that will determine the balance of power in state capitols and Washington for the next 10 years. 

In most states, legislators meet to come up with the new maps of congressional districts after the census.

As a result, redistricting can be as important to the balance of power in the US House of Representatives as the parties’ performances in elections. 

Most political analysts agree that Republicans — known in Washington as the Grand Old Party, or GOP — have a clear advantage.

They control mapmaking in 20 out of the 35 states with multiple congressional seats and legislatures that are in charge of the process. Democrats control just 11. 

But for all the emphasis on local politics, the state houses need the White House as much as the White House needs the states, according to Schiller, the Brown University professor.

“The GOP has moved well beyond its traditional message that the federal government is too big, to a message that the federal government is bad overall,” she said.

“Anything federal is bad for states according to the GOP, except of course when it comes to disaster aid, which GOP governors take readily and without objection.”

San Francisco (AFP) – Facebook and iconic eyewear brand Ray-Ban on Thursday launched their new smart glasses, the latest effort in a tricky, niche market but which the social media giant sees as a step toward its future.

The “Ray-Ban Stories” shades can take pictures and video upon the wearer’s voice commands, and the frames can connect wirelessly to Facebook’s platform through an app.

“We took our Wayfarer (frames), born in 1952, and we reinvented the design squeezing in some cool technology,” said Fabio Borsoi, global research and design director at the EssilorLuxottica group, Ray-Ban’s maker. 

Facebook is wading into a market that has already seen 2013’s Google Glass, which sparked a privacy backlash over built-in cameras and prompted the tech titan to pivot its focus for the device away from the general public.

Messaging app SnapChat has also released its camera-equipped Spectacles, but they are pricey and have struggled to catch on broadly with tech lovers.

Notably, the Ray-Ban Stories glasses will not have augmented reality features — technology that can mesh online computing with visual cues such as mapping or face recognition.

Instead, the shades are an early step toward efforts to create futuristic eyewear that adds to real-world views with data or graphics from the internet, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said previously.

The company had said in July it was combining specialists from across its hardware, gaming and virtual reality units to build an immersive digital world known as the “metaverse.”

Privacy features

Priced starting at $299, the Ray-Ban Stories will roll out in Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Cameras are built into the front of the frames, while the arms are designed to act as directional speakers for listening to calls or streamed audio.

A white light in the front of the frame goes on when the cameras are being used, which is intended as a privacy feature to alert people they could be filmed.

Users can take a picture or a video clip of up to 30 seconds by pressing a button at the temple or using a voice command, both of which can be cues that a camera is on.

“We need the user to feel completely in control of their capture experience,” said Facebook Reality Labs product manager Hind Hobeika.

“And, similarly, we need people around them to feel comfortable that these smart glasses exist and always be in the know when a capture is happening,” Hobeika added, referring to filming.

The glasses also have a physical switch for turning them off. 

Users log into the glasses’ Facebook View app using their accounts at the social network.

Ray-Ban Stories frames sync wirelessly to a smartphone app designed specifically for handling images or video captured by the glasses.

Users can decide using the app whether they want to share pictures or video they have just captured, such as posting to Facebook or attaching them to an email.

Only data needed to run the app is gathered, and no information is used for targeting ads, said Hobeika.

By Dan Whitcomb

(Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday blocked enforcement of an anti-riot law spearheaded by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in response to nationwide protests last year over racial injustice, saying the legislation likely violated the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, ruling in a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups, did not rule the entire statute was unconstitutional but found that the Florida legislature’s new definition of the word “riot” was too vague and confusing to satisfy free-speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.

“If this court does not enjoin the statute’s enforcement, the lawless actions of a few rogue individuals could effectively criminalize the protected speech of hundreds, if not thousands, of law-abiding Floridians,” he wrote.

In the 90-page ruling, Walker, who was appointed in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama, included a three-page history of the civil rights movement in Florida dating back to 1956.

“We vehemently disagree with today’s decision, but this case was always going to be decided by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals,” DeSantis said in a written statement. “There is a difference between a peaceful protest and a riot, and Floridians do not want to see the mayhem and violence associated with riots in their communities.”

The law, prompted by last year’s summer of sometimes violent nationwide protests over police brutality and racism, created criminal offenses tied to rioting and increased penalties for people taking part.

“We are glad the court has agreed to suspend enforcement of this key provision while we continue to advocate to ensure that protesters in Florida can safely exercise their right to speak out against injustice,” the ACLU of Florida said.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Peter Cooney and Sandra Maler)

By Nandita Bose and Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans and libertarians are vowing to fight U.S. President Joe Biden’s new vaccine mandate covering big companies, healthcare workers and federal employees, announced as the Delta strain of the coronavirus rapidly spreads through the country.

The mandate https://reut.rs/3niM2M3, which the White House says would cover 100 million U.S. workers and applies to about two-thirds of all U.S. employees, is being written in part by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Within hours of the new measures being announced https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-deliver-six-step-plan-covid-19-pandemic-2021-09-09 on Thursday, some lawmakers, state governors and political party officials were threatening lawsuits or pledging to defy it.

“When this decree goes into effect, the (Republican National Committee) will sue the administration to protect Americans and their liberties,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

A majority of those opposed questioned the authority the administration has to mandate vaccines.

“The Biden administration’s ill-conceived ‘Path out of the Pandemic’ plan vastly exceeds the powers the United States Constitution allots the executive branch,” said the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit funded by the Charles Koch Foundation, a deep-pocketed conservative group.

“The federal government has no police power, and likewise no authority to force private employers of any size to mandate vaccines,” the group said.

Asked Friday about possible legal challenges, Biden said “Have at it. I’m so disappointed that because some of the Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities.”

The disease has killed https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/united-states more than 655,000 people in the United States, and deaths and hospitalizations have been rising sharply as the easily transmissible Delta variant of the virus spreads. The vast majority of those are unvaccinated.

The situation reignites a long-standing U.S. battle over individual rights, states’ constitutional remit to police citizens and regulate public welfare, and the powers of the executive branch.

Similar fights have raged over gun laws and government healthcare. U.S. vaccine mandates in the past have mostly been administered by state and local governments in relation to public venues and schools.

Roughly 16% of the adult American population – nearly 34 million people – are currently unvaccinated but open to getting one, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll arrived at this estimate by asking respondents a series of questions about their vaccination status.

Legal challenges are likely to focus on the executive branch’s power to enforce the requirements. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, argued in its blog that the private-sector mandate would present the Biden administration with a “tsunami of legal filings.”

“There’s a separation-of-powers issue in that this sweeping new regulation is being imposed by presidential diktat, with related claims about the proper scope of OSHA’s statutory authority and whether Congress can even delegate such broad power to the executive branch.”

Many Republican lawmakers, who said they have received vaccines and support Americans getting a COVID-19 shot, also accused the administration of overreach.

“While I support the vaccine and have received it, Americans have the right to exercise personal choice when it comes to their health,” said Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. “Getting the vaccine is a decision to be made in consultation with one’s doctor, not forced on Americans by the government.”

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Diane Bartz, Additional reporting by David Shepardson and Andrea Shalal in Washington and Chris Kahn in New York; editing by Heather Timmons and Jonathan Oatis)

Gayle King is a “proud third wheeler”.

The 63-year-old broadcaster – who has adult children Kirby and William with ex-husband Bill Bumpus – admitted it wouldn’t “occur” to her that she wouldn’t be invited on vacations with her best friend Oprah Winfrey and her long-term partner Stedman Graham because they have always been so “welcoming” towards her.

She admitted: “I’m a proud third wheeler. I make no apologies for that. I got divorced back in 1994 and I’ve been their third wheel ever since.

“The good news is that Stedman is always very welcoming, so it never occurs to me when she says, ‘We’re going to so and so,’ I’m like, ‘When?’ It doesn’t occur to me that I’m not invited.

“But throughout the years, we’ve gone on some great trips together. And that’s not gonna change.”

The two friends always put their bond ahead of any relationship.

Gayle told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “Oprah came to my house after my favourite daughter, Kirby, was born and she was wearing a T-shirt that said, ‘Husbands come and go, best friends last forever,’ and I went, ‘Whoa, why are you wearing that T-shirt?’ She didn’t even realise, she said she didn’t even realise she had it on, but there is some truth to that.

“When you have a best friend, you really are there through thick and thin, and that’s not always true with husbands and spouses or you know, co-workers, anybody in your life, but when you have a true best friend, it really does. It is something that really is a lifelong thing.”

After embarking on a cross-country trek 15 years ago, the two women have embarked on another road trip for new series ‘OG Chronicles: Joy Ride’ and Gayle knew all along she’d be the one taking the wheel.

She said: “She ain’t changed. She doesn’t like to merge, she doesn’t like to get on the highway, she doesn’t like to parallel park, man, she doesn’t like to change lanes, all the things that come with…driving!

“I really enjoy driving. I actually do, but what I really like is the rule [that] if you’re behind the wheel, you get to control the radio!”

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The continued spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has spawned a Greek alphabet of variants – a naming system used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to track concerning new mutations of the virus that causes COVID-19. Some have equipped the virus with better ways of infecting humans or evading vaccine protection.

Scientists remain focused on Delta, now the dominant variant around the world, but are tracking others to see what may one day take its place.

DELTA – STILL DOMINANT

The Delta variant first detected in India remains the most worrisome. It is striking unvaccinated populations in many countries and has proven capable of infecting a higher proportion of vaccinated people than its predecessors.

The WHO classifies Delta as a variant of concern, meaning it has been shown capable of increasing transmissibility, causing more severe disease or reducing the benefit of vaccines and treatments.

According to Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego, Delta’s “superpower” is its transmissibility. Chinese researchers found that people infected with Delta carry 1,260 times more virus in their noses compared with the original version of the coronavirus. Some U.S. research suggests that the viral load in vaccinated individuals who become infected with Delta is on par with those who are unvaccinated, but more research is needed.

While the original coronavirus took up to seven days to cause symptoms, Delta can cause symptoms two to three days faster, giving the immune system less time to respond and mount a defense.

LAMBDA – ON THE WANE

The Lambda variant had attracted attention as a potential new threat, but this version of the coronavirus, first identified in Peru in December, appears to be receding.

Although cases involving Lambda were rising in July, reports of this variant have been falling globally for the past four weeks, according to data by GISAID, a database that tracks SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The WHO classifies Lambda as a variant of interest, meaning it carries mutations suspected of causing a change in transmissibility or causing more severe disease, but it is still under investigation. Lab studies show it has mutations that resist vaccine-induced antibodies.

MU – ONE TO WATCH

Mu, the variant formerly known as B.1.621, was first identified in Colombia in January. On Aug. 30, the WHO designated it as a variant of interest due to several concerning mutations, and assigned a Greek letter name to it.

Mu carries key mutations, including E484K, N501Y and D614G, that have been linked with increased transmissibility and reduced immune protection.

According to the WHO’s Bulletin published last week, Mu has caused some larger outbreaks in South America and Europe. While the number of genetic sequences identified as Mu have fallen below 0.1% globally, Mu represents 39% of variants sequenced in Colombia and 13% in Ecuador, places where its prevalence has “consistently increased,” WHO reported.

The global health agency said it continues to monitor Mu for changes in South America, especially in areas where it is co-circulating with the Delta variant. Maria van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases unit, said circulation of the variant is decreasing globally but needs to be observed closely. In a press briefing last week, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said U.S. officials are watching it, but so far Mu is not considered an immediate threat.

MORE ON THE WAY?

Getting more people vaccinated against COVID-19 is critical as large groups of unvaccinated people give the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate into new variants.

That effort must be stepped up internationally to keep variants from emerging unchecked among the populations of poor nations where very few people have been inoculated, experts say.

Even so, while the current vaccines prevent severe disease and death, they do not block infection. The virus is still capable of replicating in the nose, even among vaccinated people, who can then transmit the disease through tiny, aerosolized droplets.

To defeat SARS-CoV-2 will likely require a new generation of vaccines that also block transmission, according to Dr. Gregory Poland, a vaccine developer at the Mayo Clinic. Until then, Poland and other experts say, the world remains vulnerable to the rise of new coronavirus variants.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Bill Berkrot)

Wealthy Singapore has long been known as a tightly-run city-state where dissent and disobedience are rare.

While authorities have only had to resort to one 6-week lockdown since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, rigorous testing and tracing as well as public caution has meant even as curbs have been relaxed, the renowned local blend of control and compliance has not.

Even so, the government said on Sunday it would trial the use of robots, codenamed “Xavier,” which are to “patrol and survey a public area with high foot traffic to augment the work of public officers in enhancing public health and safety.”

The 3-week test run has the robocops’ cameras and sensors “providing 360-degree video feed to the command and control centre,” while watching for smoking in “prohibited” places, illegal street hawking, improperly parked bikes and motorbikes mounting footpaths.

There’s a pandemic link, of course, with the robots also to keep an eye out for congregations of more than five people, currently the limit under the ever-changing local pandemic restrictions

Any rule-breaking and Xavier will get into scold mode and relay the “the appropriate message to educate the public and deter such behaviours,” according to the government’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency.

During last year’s April-June lockdown, authorities deployed a robot dog to warn people in public parks to maintain so-called social distancing.

New York (AFP) – Solar power could account for nearly half of the United States’ electricity supply by the middle of the century, according to a government study released Wednesday.

The report, released by the Department of Energy, said solar could account for much as 40 percent of the power supply by 2035 and 45 percent by 2050, up from its current level of just three percent. 

However reaching this level would require the United States to quadruple its annual solar capacity additions, the department said in a statement. 

This future also depends on extensive public investments, as well as policy changes to disincentivize carbon-based energy, the department added.

“The study illuminates the fact that solar, our cheapest and fastest-growing source of clean energy, could produce enough electricity to power all of the homes in the US by 2035,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said.

“Achieving this bright future requires a massive and equitable deployment of renewable energy and strong decarbonization polices –-  exactly what is laid out in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.”

The report comes as President Joe Biden presses for aggressive action on climate change and renewable energy as Congress debates massive proposals to overhaul the country’s infrastructure and social services.

Biden highlighted the need for action during a visit Tuesday to parts of New York and New Jersey ravaged by Hurricane Ida last week, saying the world faces a “code red” danger on climate.

The report came as the Solar Energy Industry Association on Wednesday called for aggressive action to expand solar capacity, including a long-term extension of the solar investment tax credit and other policies promoting clean energy.