Adam Lambert got his first job in order to buy makeup.

The 41-year-old singer became interested in fashion and cosmetics during his teenage years but because his parents refused to buy him makeup products so he took up a job serving coffee at Starbucks in order to fund his passion.

He told Allure: “As I got into my teenage years, I started getting really interested in fashion. I was buying a lot of magazines. I was looking at editorials and was so into what I was seeing, and I was like, “I want to try to do that. I want to be able to do that.” The first cosmetics brand that I dove into was MAC.

“I remember I would beg for something from MAC. And then at some point, my parents were like, ‘Well, we’re not going to just buy you this s***. You have to buy it yourself.’ So I got a job and I had some spending money, and so I was buying stuff for myself. Unfortunately, the job was not at a makeup counter. I was 16, I was working at Starbucks.”

The former ‘American Idol’ contestant – who is often seen on stage sporting extravagant looks as part of rock band Queen – went on to add that he would charge the girls at school to do their makeup for formal occasions and would take on so many appointments that he would have enough money by the end of it that he could afford to take his own date out for dinner.

He added: “I mean, one of the things I wanted to spend my money on was to build a makeup kit. I started doing makeup on friends [in high school]. Every year for the school dances, I would end up having appointments all afternoon and charge the girls that I knew 10 or 20 bucks a pop. Then by the end of the day, I would do my date’s makeup, and I would have enough cash to go out to dinner with my date. I had so much fun doing it and would take pictures of it. And I did some photography in high school; I ended up doing makeup for that.”

Sir Elton John got into shape for his tour by walking six miles a week in his swimming pool.

The ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ started in 2018 and is due to conclude in Sweden in July and the 76-year-old pop legend has revealed he used the enforced break during the COVID-19 pandemic to start working out and his regular sessions have helped him bounce back from a series of health troubles including a bout of pneumonia and hip replacement surgery.

According to The Sun newspaper, he said: “I get up, have breakfast and go for a walk in the pool. At my age that is the best thing I can do. I walk sideways and do about six miles a week.”

Sir Elton’s final concert date in the UK will be at Glastonbury Festival in June. He’ll then go on to perform in cities including Paris, France and Copenhagen Denmark before finishing up at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden on July 7.

The singer recently opened up about his decision to retire from the road following the end of the tour, insisting he wants to change his life and spend more time with his husband David Furnish and their two sons.

He told CBS: “I want to be with my family. I mean, I’ve been touring since I was 17 in the back of a van. I’ve had the most incredible life. I’ve been so lucky, and I’ve loved every single minute of it. But I’ve had enough of that applause, and I really want … I’ll be 76 years of age when I stop touring in 2023. I want to do something different with the rest of my life.”

Christine and the Queens thinks Madonna is the “most emblematic female voice” in the pop world.

The 34-year-old singer worked with Madonna on his new album, ‘Paranoia, Angels, True Love’, and he relished the experience of collaborating with the pop icon, who plays a mysterious character who appears throughout the record.

Chris told the BBC: “What is the most emblematic female voice we have in the pop landscape? She has such an imprint on everybody’s subconscious.

“She did a very risky FaceTime when I explained the whole concept and I was like, ‘Do you want to be an actress in this weird musical? To be exactly also the great actress you are?’ Because she’s multifaceted. She’s not even enclosed in one person.

“And she said, ‘Yes!’ I think because she was enticed by the insanity of the whole thing. She was like, ‘You’re crazy. I’ll do it!’

“I sent her lines that I wrote because she’s embodying the character of Big Eye, a very ambivalent ‘being of light’. We don’t really know if it’s AI, a true angel, or maybe my mum?

“Or if it’s maybe me. She’s has this voice that encloses all of the others and she’s piercing through in the record to just give the wisdom we need.”

Madonna features on three tracks on the new album, and Chris insists he’d be happy to return the favour one day.

The singer shared: “She sent me the lines and she delivered in such a perfect way. So I had the emotions of a stage director having the best, best performer to direct, and she delivered in exactly the right way.

“I’m truly joyful that she trusted me enough to give me this impeccable piece of theatre. And also, any time she wants me to just do something for her, I’ll be of service all my life.”

By Dave Sherwood

HAVANA (Reuters) -Upwards of 70% of eligible Cubans had cast ballots by late Sunday afternoon in an election for the 470 lawmakers who will represent them in the country´s National Assembly, with voter turnout topping that of two previous votes in 2022, officials said.

Participation in Sunday’s election was widely seen by both pro- and anti-government groups as a proxy for gauging support for Cuba’s communist leadership at a time of deep economic crisis and growing social unrest.

Election officials said Sunday evening that turnout had topped 70% by 5 p.m. ET (2100 GMT), with two hours still remaining before voting stations closed at 7 pm. That turnout bested both participation in municipal elections in November and a referendum on the Cuban family code, which legalized gay marriage, in September.

Though results are not expected until Monday or Tuesday, Cuba´s government, saddled by shortages, inflation and record-breaking migration, is likely to claim the stronger than expected turnout as a success after weeks of rallying for a “unity vote” in support of former leader Fidel Castro’s six-decade old Cuban revolution.

Cuba polices its own elections and does not allow independent, international observers to monitor the proceedings.

Anti-government groups, primarily off-island in a country that restricts dissident political speech, had encouraged voters to stay home in protest, saying a vote had no meaning in a one-party system with no formal opposition or international oversight.

The 470 candidates on Sunday´s paper ballot were vying for 470 open seats in the legislature. In order to win a place in the National Assembly, a candidate must receive more than half the votes of those who cast ballots.

There were no opposition candidates in the election, and the majority of those running were members of the country’s Communist party or allied groups.

The winning candidates, who serve for five years, will choose the next president of Cuba from among their ranks.

Sitting President Miguel Diaz-Canel is widely expected to be re-elected by lawmakers.

Legislators elected Sunday will also debate and pass laws that will regulate the press and the right to protest.

PATRIOTIC VOTE

Diaz-Canel, who spoke with reporters shortly after voting in his hometown of Santa Clara, said he was confident Cubans would turn out to vote despite predictions to the contrary. Abstention had been on the rise in Cuba over several elections.

Cuba’s president also blasted long-time foe the United States for what he called its “hostile narrative” towards Cuba and its elections, urging Cubans to vote to defend their homeland against foreign intervention.

“This is a vote to defend the Revolution, to defend socialism,” Diaz-Canel said early on Sunday.

On the eve of the vote, Brian Nichols, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, said Cuban elections offered no “real choice.”

“When the only choice is the Communist party and closed committees choose candidates to run unopposed, there is no democracy, only autocracy and misery,” he wrote on Twitter.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; additional reporting by Mario Fuentes, Anett Rios and Alexander Frometa; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Washington (AFP) – Toothpaste tabs plunk into a jar. Maple syrup flows viscously from a spout. Dishwasher powder crunches under the tip of a metal scoop. The chorus of consumer goods lacks one familiar sound: the crinkle of plastic wrap.

At Mason & Greens in Washington, the lack of packaging is the point — the small shop selling household goods and groceries is among dozens of zero-waste refill stores sprouting up in US cities from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

Customers bring their own containers — from used jars to Tupperware, to fill with bulk items. The store even has “had people bring in the sleeves that their newspapers come in,” owner Anna Marino, 34, told AFP.

Such stores are emblematic of what experts say is a necessary culture shift in one of the world’s largest consumer economies, where the average person generates 4.9 pounds of waste per day, according to government statistics.

Marino says the aim is to help anyone from novices to experts on their journey towards less waste, citing paper towels as a personal catalyst.

“Quitting paper towels was one of the first things that my family did and it was a significant reduction in the waste that we were creating on a weekly basis,” said Marino, who co-founded the store with her husband.

Reusable “paper” towels made of cloth are just one of the products she now sells at her store, where beans and oats fill wall-mounted dispensers, metal containers hold vinegar and olive oil, and shelves are stocked with package-free artisanal bread, veggies and vegan food.

For bulk items, customers pay by weight, Marino’s aim being to avoid any “obnoxiously outrageous price” and to keep things “accessible.” 

Reusable containers, such as mason jars, can be purchased if needed.

Upstairs, shampoo bars and toothpaste tablets that are chewed until becoming paste are among the store’s many unpackaged hygiene products.

Less than a third of US municipal solid waste was recovered for recycling or composting in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and only about nine percent of plastic material was recycled.

Statistics such as these are why Marino asks suppliers to send shipments in compostable, or minimal packaging.

‘Reduce, reuse’ first

“We can’t recycle our way out of the plastics crisis,” says Jenny Gitlitz of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics.

She points to toxins in plastic that can be carcinogenic or cause genetic mutations, as well as to endocrine disruptors.

On top of that, tiny particles called microplastics have been discovered in virtually every environment, from the Mariana Trench to Mount Everest, as well as in the human body including the lungs and blood.

Unlike aluminum and glass, plastic can only be recycled a few times before its polymers break down. And many types are not widely recyclable in the first place.

“If all else fails, then recycle,” sums up professor Shelie Miller at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. 

“I think folks often skip straight to the recycle and forget to reduce, reuse,” she told AFP. 

Miller cautions that the issue of plastic waste will not be solved simply by individuals changing the way they consume — as exemplified in places like Mason & Greens. 

Creating a sustainable future “really is a complete shared responsibility model” involving corporations, governments and waste handlers, she said.

‘No choice’

In the meantime, though, Rini Saha — the co-owner of the FullFillery, another Washington-area refill shop in the suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland — hopes to make a difference from the ground up.

“We want you to reuse as much as we can, because recycling is still a huge carbon footprint,” the 46-year-old told AFP.

Saha and colleagues make a number of body care and cleaning products on-site, for refill or purchase in a returnable container.

On a recent Wednesday morning, fellow co-owner Emoke Gaidosch, a chemist by training, poured liquid soap she had made into a large receptacle. 

Aside from the lack of packaging, Miller says bulk sales could yield even bigger environmental benefits by helping consumers buy only what they need.

That, ultimately, can help eliminate the impacts from a product’s entire lifecycle, from the energy and resources used to create it, to things like methane released when unused organic waste decays in landfalls.

Over three years of existence, the FullFillery has morphed from a farmer’s market stall to a large store lined with environmentally friendly products and extremely limited packaging.

Similarly, Mason & Greens’ Washington location, which only opened in September, was an expansion after the success of its first location in another suburb.

The model “is profitable,” Saha told AFP. “I don’t think it’s as profitable as a disposable business.”

“But I think that inevitably, there’s no choice. This is the way that business has to go.”

Jon Hamm has joined the cast of the ‘Mean Girls’ musical movie.

The 52-year-old actor will take on the role of Coach Carr, the gym coach and incompetent sex-ed teacher, in the upcoming movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, Busy Philipps recently joined the cast as Mrs. George, the mother of Regina George, who will be played by Renée Rapp in the film.

Philipps shared a Deadline article revealing her casting, and wrote on Instagram: “You know something? I really never have been a regular mom… #meangirls (sic)”

Angourie Rice, Auli’i Cravalho, and Jaquel Spivey are also set to star in the movie, which will be directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.

Tina Fey and her husband Jeff Richmond are adapting their musical for the big screen, and they want the ‘Mean Girls’ musical movie to have a “fresher palette”.

Composer Richmond told THR previously: “Right now, the day-to-day is more about the movie adaptation that we’re working on. We’re super involved with that. What we’re trying to do [with the movie] is take the score that sounds like a Broadway score – in a good way – and [give] the movie a fresher palette. To make it sound more like stuff you want to listen to on Spotify, as opposed to when you’re sitting eighth row at a Broadway show or the Pantages. It’s kind of making it a fresher, younger take on the whole thing. We’re kind of reinvented the music for the movie, so it’s really fun.”

Lorne Michaels is producing the movie for Paramount Pictures, with Fey penning the script and Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin working on the music.

Richmond admitted he and Fey love working together.

He said: “We know when to get out of each other’s way when we’re working together. Like who’s taking this part? Who’s doing that? Who needs to push harder on getting the script done for this? We’re just around each other all the time. Same office, all the time. She’s a hilariously fun person to be around.”

Almost four years after Pope Francis issued tougher measures against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the Vatican announced on Saturday expanded and clearer rules.

The Holy See presented an updated version of the apostolic exhortation “Vos estis lux mundi,” or “You are the light of the world,” issued in 2019. The pontiff confirmed existing measures, but ordered innovations and extensions. The new version will take effect on April 30.

In 2019, the pope had reacted to criticism that he was not doing enough against cases of abuse in the Church. At the centre of the decree at the time was the obligation, of the entire Catholic Church, to report cases of sexual abuse.

The obligation to immediately report cases of abuse and cover-up applied in the original letter exclusively to clergy and religious.

In the updated version, lay people at the head of international associations have now also been added. In an interview with Radio Vatican, Father Hans Zollner of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors described this as the most important change.

The new rules also expand places where people can report abuse by ordering the establishment of “offices and agencies” to receive such reports.

The old version spoke of “stable systems” that should be “easily accessible to the public.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar is “so proud” of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s legacy.

The supernatural drama series – which ran from 1997 to 2003 and was based on Fran Rubel Kuzui’s 1992 film of the same name – saw a resurgence in popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and Buffy Summers actor Sarah, 45, never gets bored of hearing people tell her how much the show means to them.

She told SFX magazine: “As an actor, all you ever want to do is a show that affects people, that they love and holds up.

“That is your legacy. I am so proud of what we created. It’s been a tumultuous couple of years, and understanding the show and its legacy, there is good and bad to all of it. I have gotten to a place now where we can really appreciate the show for what we created. I am so proud that during the pandemic, the show reached a whole new generation of people that still felt that it spoke to them, that it was still timely and it still meant something to them.”

The ‘Wolf Pack’ star also praised the horror genre for casting more women than most other genres.

She told the publication: “Horror takes you to a totally different place. It’s also about the roles for women. Traditionally, there were only a few genres where women really could lead. I remember when ‘The Grudge’ came out, and I am sure it’s been surpassed, but at the time it was the second-highest, female [fronted] opening ever. I am sure it’s still in the top 10 because they just don’t make movies with women up front in the lead. Horror is one of the few genres where you get to do that. Having a character like Buffy, who is so three-dimensional and hits all those notes … you don’t just want to be the wife or the girlfriend.”

Kanye West has claimed Jonah Hill has made him “like Jewish people again”.

The ‘Jesus Walks’ rapper previously lost his deal with Adidas, was dropped by agents CAA and record label Def Jam, and had the likes of Balenciaga and Vogue magazine distance themselves from him due to a string of anti-Semitic comments he made last year, including praising the “good things” about Adolf Hitler and declaring he wanted to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”

But now, the 45-year-old rapper – who has four children with ex-wife Kim Kardashian – has had a change of heart after watching Jonah in his 2012 movie ’21 Jump Street’.

Returning to Instagram for the first time in 2023, Kanye shared a photo of the film’s poster and wrote: “Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump street made me like Jewish people again

“No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people

“No Christian can be labeled antisemite knowing Jesus is Jew

“Thank you Jonah Hill I love you (sic)”

While Jonah has yet to comment on Kanye’s post, one of the film’s directors, Christopher Miller, shared a screenshot of the ‘All Day’ hitmaker’s Instagram message on Twitter and wrote: “Um… thanks for watching?”

Kanye caused outrage in 2022 when he said that he sees “good things” about Hitler.

The controversial rap star explained: “I love everyone, and Jewish people are not going to tell me, ‘You can love us and you can love what we’re doing to you with the contracts, and you can love what we’re pushing with the pornography.’ But this guy that invented highways and invented the very microphone I use as a musician, you can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good and I’m done with that. I’m done with the classifications.”

Kanye added: “Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler. How about that one?”

By Kanishka Singh and Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security worries about TikTok, alleging China’s government had access to the short video app’s user data.

In the United States, there are growing calls to ban TikTok, owned by China-based company ByteDance, or to pass bipartisan legislation to give President Joe Biden’s administration legal authority to seek a ban. Devices owned by the U.S. government were recently banned from having the app installed.

“The House will be moving forward with legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party,” McCarthy said on Twitter.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before a U.S. House Committee for about five hours on Thursday, and lawmakers from both parties grilled him about national security and other concerns involving the app, which has 150 million American users.

In Thursday’s hearing, the TikTok CEO was asked if of the app, has spied on Americans at Beijing’s request. Chew answered, “No.”

Republican Representative Neal Dunn then referenced the company’s disclosure in December that some China-based employees at ByteDance improperly accessed TikTok user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the company. He repeated his question about whether ByteDance was spying.

“I don’t think that spying is the right way to describe it,” Chew said. He went on to describe the reports as involving an “internal investigation” before being cut off.

McCarthy, a Republican, said in a tweet on Sunday, “It’s very concerning that the CEO of TikTok can’t be honest and admit what we already know to be true — China has access to TikTok user data.”

The company says it has spent more than $1.5 billion on data security efforts under the name “Project Texas” which currently has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and is contracted with Oracle Corp to store TikTok’s U.S. user data.

Rather than appease lawmakers’ concerns, Chew’s appearance before Congress on Thursday “actually increased the likelihood that Congress will take some action,” Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, told ABC News on Sunday.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump lost a series of court rulings in 2020 when he sought to ban TikTok and another Chinese-owned app, WeChat, a unit of Tencent.

Many Democrats also have raised concerns although have not yet explicitly backed a U.S. ban.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, additional reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Scott Malone and Cynthia Osterman)

By Nathan Layne

WACO, Texas (Reuters) -Die-hard fans of Donald Trump flocked to the ex-president’s election rally in Waco, Texas, on Saturday, brimming with defiance as their favored candidate faced overlapping threats of criminal indictment.

Several thousand Trump supporters lined up outside the Waco Regional Airport waiting to go through security and enter the event, with the first speaker scheduled for 2 p.m. CDT (1900 GMT). The crowd, many wearing Trump T-shirts and hats, broke into applause when Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in Congress, walked into the venue.

Fifty-seven-year-old Laurie Hansen said Trump was “the best president ever.”

“He’s the only one who can bring our country back,” she said. “We are at a precipice. It’s time to put our foot down and say, ‘No more.'”

Like others at the rally, Hansen dismissed talk that Trump might be prosecuted over allegations he violated campaign finance laws for paying hush money to an adult film actress, or hoarded top-secret documents, or masterminded a plot seeking to overturn the 2020 election.

“They’re all political witch hunts,” said Hansen, a sales coordinator who drove three hours from Sherman, Texas. “We all know that.”

The rally is happening in Waco as the city marks the 30th anniversary of a raid by federal agents on the Branch Davidians religious sect there that resulted in 86 deaths, including four law-enforcement officers. Many right-wing extremists see the raid as a seminal moment of government overreach, and critics saw the rally’s timing as a nod to Trump’s far-right supporters.

In an email, a Trump campaign spokesperson said Waco was chosen for what the former president has billed as his first major rally of the 2024 presidential race because it is situated between several major population centers and has the infrastructure to host a large event.

Trump, who is seeking to solidify support for the Republican nomination in 2024, faces growing legal peril from a series of ongoing criminal investigations, including the hush money case, which is being weighed by prosecutors in Manhattan.

The former president has sought to paint the New York case as politically motivated, raised money off it and used it to rally supporters to his side. On Friday, he issued an apocalyptic warning, saying the country faced potential “death & destruction” if he was charged with a crime.

“Trump is walking on a high wire without a net, telegraphing that he has nothing to lose and is willing to risk dangerous outcomes to rally support,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist in Washington.

LITTLE RESPONSE

Few supporters have heeded his calls to take to the streets to protest his possible indictment in the Manhattan case. Those calls will likely invite closer than normal scrutiny of how many people attend Saturday’s rally, where Trump, who is due to start speaking at 5 p.m. CDT, is expected to rail against the potential prosecutions.

The city of Waco said it was expecting 15,000 people to attend the rally.

In an editorial, the Houston Chronicle said the decision to host the event in Waco during the anniversary of the Waco siege represented more than a dog-whistle message to far-right and conspiratorial Trump supporters.

“The more apt metaphor is the blaring air horn of a Mack 18-wheeler barreling down I-10,” the newspaper said, adding that Waco had become “a shrine for the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers and other anti-government extremists and conspiracists.”

Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University, said he would be watching to see whether Trump explicitly references conspiracy theories related to the siege, similar to how he promoted lies about a stolen 2020 election in the run-up to his supporters’ assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“He still has the power to create more wreckage and his choice of venue allows him to do more damage if he wishes. We’ll see,” Naftali said.

In addition to prosecutors, Trump is likely to target Ron DeSantis for criticism. The Florida governor has yet to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination but has drawn Trump’s ire nonetheless.

Trump rallies typically draw thousands of enthusiastic supporters keen to see him in person. Trump continued to hold rallies even after he left office, delivering his trademark rambling and inflammatory oratory that draws rapturous applause from rallygoers.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Ross Colvin, Howard Goller and Daniel Wallis)