Janelle Monáe says the response to coming out as non-binary has been extremely positive.

The ‘Knives Out: Glass Onion’ star – who uses she/her and they/them pronouns – came out as non-binary last year and has had a great reaction from the general public.

Monáe told PEOPLE: “It’s been great.

“And I say that because I think that there are a lot more discussions, and that’s so important. I think that all of us want to walk in our truth. We’re just trying to find a name to put with how we feel. And I think that’s always great.

“I try to challenge people to listen. Yeah, you may not necessarily understand. But listening is such a free thing we can do. I think that by listening you can give somebody more compassion, more empathy, and that’s just one more step [to] bridging that gap between us.

“Being non-binary has opened up my mind in terms of the type of art I can make and where I can go, who I can be. I’m all about surprising myself and discovering something new.”

At the Critics Choice Awards earlier this month, the star accepted the seventh annual SeeHer Award, for actors who advocate for equality, defy stereotypes and push boundaries.

Monáe said in the acceptance speech: “I try to make an effort in my work … to highlight the ones who have been pushed to the margins of society, who’ve been outcast or relegated to ‘the other’. This is a deeply personal choice for me because I grew up to working-class parents: My mother was a janitor, my father was a trash man, and my grandmother was a sharecropper in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

“And it’s personal because I am non-binary, I am queer, and my identity influences my decisions and my work.

“So to anyone out there like me watching right now. I just want you to know that I see you—but I challenge you to see you.”

New York (AFP) – Neil Young hailed the late David Crosby as “the soul” of their supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, paying homage Friday to the former bandmate he shared a decade-long feud with.

Crosby, the singer-songwriter who pushed past rock’s confines as a co-founder of CSNY as well as The Byrds, died this week at the age of 81.

Crosby’s head-butting with Young as well as Graham Nash and even at times Stephen Stills was well-documented, and was cited as a reason the band behind hits including “Ohio” broke up — multiple times.

Their final appearance as a quartet was in 2013 at a benefit, after which Young and Crosby became estranged over disparaging comments the notoriously brash Crosby made about Young’s partner.

Crosby made attempts to apologize, but the damage was done.

But following Crosby’s death, Young focused on his longtime collaborator’s artistry and their band’s legend.

“David’s voice and energy were at the heart of our band,” Young wrote on his website. “His great songs stood for what we believed in and it was always fun and exciting when we got to play together.”

“We had so many great times, especially in the early years. Crosby was a very supportive friend in my early life, as we bit off big pieces of our experience together,” the “Heart of Gold” singer continued. “David was the catalyst of many things.”

“Thanks David for your spirit and songs, Love you man. I remember the best times!”

When news of Crosby’s death broke one day prior, Nash had also put aside his falling out with his collaborator to honor his legacy: “David was fearless in life and in music.”

“He leaves behind a tremendous void as far as sheer personality and talent in this world.”

And Stills, the only bandmate still speaking to Crosby at the time of his death, called him “a giant of a musician.”

“The glue that held us together as our vocals soared, like Icarus, towards the sun.”

For years fans had hoped for a CSNY reunion, a door that officially closed with Crosby’s passing.

“I think CSNY was a very good thing,” Crosby told AFP in 2021. “And I’m very proud of it.”

“And I think it’s very finished.”

Madonna will play four London shows on her global tour due to “overwhelming” demand for tickets.

The Queen of Pop, 64, initially announced she was adding a second date at London’s O2 Arena when seats went on sale on Friday (20.01.23), with fans complaining they were fighting to secure a ticket, and one saying it was like an “Olympic sport”.

She has now said a third and fourth show will be performed at the 20,000 capacity venue, where she is set to appear on October 14, 15, 17 and 18.

Madonna added: “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for.”

A press release stated her ‘Madonna: The Celebration Tour’ will take fans on her artistic journey through four decades and pay homage to the city of New York where her career in music began 40 years ago.

Madonna is set to bring it to 35 cities, with the gigs kicking off in Vancouver in Canada on 15 July and continuing across North America.

The singer – born Madonna Louise Ciccone – will then cross to Europe, where she will perform in 11 cities this autumn.

Before the extra dates were added she was scheduled to only play London’s O2 on 14 October, as part of a European leg that will see her perform in Barcelona, Paris and Stockholm.

She is due to finish the tour at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on 1 December.

Billed as a “one-of-a-kind experience”, the tour will feature Bob the Drag Queen – real name Caldwell Tidicue – as a special guest on all dates.

Madonna announced the global tour on Tuesday (17.01.23) by posting a black and white video that featured DJ Diplo, actor Jack Black and rapper Lil Wayne, and ended with comedian Amy Schumer daring the singer to go on tour.

It is the first time Madonna has toured since 2019, when she performed across America and Europe mark her ‘Madame X’ album.

News of the extra tour dates came as Mail Online reported Madonna fans are outraged some tickets for the tour, which marks her 40th anniversary as a singer, are being sold for nearly £3,000 each.

The singer has also provoked controversy with a new religious-inspired photoshoot for Vanity Fair, which has been described as “blasphemy” as it includes a photo of Madonna taking the place of Jesus in a recreation of the Last Supper, surrounded by 12 of her “disciples”.

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump warned his fellow Republicans on Friday not to “destroy” federal retirement and health benefits as they try to exact spending cuts from President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in the looming debate over the debt ceiling.

“Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security,” Trump said in a two-minute video message posted to social media that could test his influence among Republicans who now control the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Do not cut the benefits our seniors worked for and paid for their entire lives. Save Social Security. Don’t destroy it!”

Trump’s call to protect the two single largest federal spending programs could put him at odds with some House Republicans who have said they should not be off the table in budget talks.

Social Security, which provides retirement and disability payments, accounted for 17% of federal spending in the 2021 fiscal year, while Medicare, the health-insurance program for seniors, accounted for 13%, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Both programs are projected to grow dramatically in coming years due to an aging population.

Trump, who launched his 2024 presidential reelection bid in November, was rebuffed by hard-line conservative House Republicans earlier this month when he urged them to fall in line behind Representative Kevin McCarthy as he sought to lead the chamber.

Trump’s video appeared a day after the U.S. Treasury hit its $31.4 trillion borrowing limit, forcing the agency to use “extraordinary” cash-management measures to pay its bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has asked Congress to promptly raise the cap to stave off a default, which she said could come by June 5.

Republicans, with their newly won House majority, want to extract steep spending cuts from Biden and congressional Democrats. They also intend to call on the Treasury to continue making debt and other payments should the government face default without an agreement to raise the borrowing limit.

Republicans want to balance the federal budget within a decade, and some have said that changes to Social Security and Medicare should be considered. But House Republican leaders have called for preserving the popular programs.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement that they want to “move quickly” to raise the cap.

Trump urged Republicans to concentrate funding cuts on “waste, fraud and abuse” as well as programs focused on foreign aid, immigration, climate change and LGBTQ rights.

(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Jonathan Oatis)

Dolly Parton plans to spend her birthday “in the studio”.

The chart-topping icon turns 77 on Thursday (19.01.23) – but Dolly insists that she’ll be hard at work on her big day.

Speaking about her birthday plans, Dolly told E! News: “I’m actually in the studio recording a rock ‘n’ roll album, so I’m actually working on my birthday.

“I’m sure I’ll have time for some sort of a little birthday cake or something.”

Dolly’s new album, ‘Rock Star’, features duets with a host of big-name stars, including Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, and Sir Ringo Starr.

The country music star is also hoping to host ‘Saturday Night Live’ in the coming months, having first hosted the show in 1989.

She said: “When I did the show with Miley [Cyrus] – the New Year’s Eve show from Miami – that was produced by Lorne Michaels.

“I talked to Lorne about me doing it again because when I was on that before I was hosting, I was the musical guest and I was in the skits. It about killed me. I might have to pull back a little bit but I’d love to be on it at some point.”

Meanwhile, Dolly recently revealed that she doesn’t have any plans to retire.

The award-winning star also insisted that she’ll keep performing until she “can’t do it anymore”.

She said: “I don’t think I could retire if I wanted to. Cause I’ve dreamed myself into a corner, as I say. Cause all these wonderful things keep happening and you gotta keep the dream alive.

“Since I love to work, I always say I’ll just work. ‘I’m gonna make hay while the sun shines,’ is the old saying. So, I’m gonna do that until I can’t do it anymore.”

By Praveen Menon

(Reuters) – Jacinda Ardern has put tiny New Zealand on the map in her five years as prime minister, becoming a global icon for left-leaning politics and women in leadership, even as she struggled at home with the economy and COVID-19 restrictions.

The 42-year-old – who gained attention for bringing her baby to a United Nations meeting and wearing a hijab after a massacre targeting Muslims – announced in similarly dramatic fashion on Thursday that she will step down in less than three weeks, saying she had “no more in the tank”.

“Be strong, be kind,” New Zealand’s youngest prime minister in more than a century repeated through her eventful tenure, but her empathetic leadership and crisis management skills often masked her government’s shortcomings.

Considered personable and engaging, Ardern turned speaking from the heart and smiling through adversity into a winning formula for surging to power in 2017 and returning with a blowout win in 2020 that ushered in New Zealand’s first purely left-leaning government in decades.

Her leadership was marked by unprecedented events for the island nation of 5 million: the 2019 massacre of 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch by a white supremacist and the eruption of the White Island volcano, and, the next year, the pandemic.

“I hope I leave New Zealanders with a belief that you can be kind but strong, empathetic but decisive, optimistic but focussed,” Ardern said in an emotional resignation announcement. “And that you can be your own kind of leader – one who knows when it’s time to go.”

PROBLEMS MOUNT, RATINGS FALL

Ardern received worldwide praise for her response to the Christchurch attacks, which she labelled terrorism. Wearing a headscarf, she met the Muslim community, telling them New Zealand was “united in grief”.

She delivered a ban on semiautomatic firearms and other gun curbs within weeks of the massacre, a stark contrast to the United States, where lawmakers and activists have struggled to address gun violence despite regular mass shootings.

Launching a global campaign to end online hate, she has often herself been a target of right-wing extremists online.

Ardern made global headlines in 2020, presiding over New Zealand’s most diverse parliament, with more than half the members women and the highest number of indigenous Maori lawmakers.

When COVID arrived, she was among the first leaders to close borders and pursue a zero-tolerance strategy that kept New Zealanders safe from the virus, holding death rates far below those of other advanced nations.

But not everyone was happy with her “go hard, go early” approach, which included a nationwide lockdown over a single infection.

While Ardern’s popularity rose internationally, at home she has faced growing political headwinds, struggling to prove that her leadership extended beyond crisis management and kindness.

Her ratings have dropped in recent months on a worsening housing crisis, rising living costs and mortgage rates, and growing concerns about crime. She remains, however, more popular that her rivals.

Despite her promises of transformational leadership, Ardern’s affordable housing programmes have been set back by blunders. Even on climate change, which Ardern called “my generation’s nuclear-free moment”, progress has been incremental.

REFRESHING

Ardern burst onto the global scene in 2017 when she became the world’s youngest female head of government at the age of 37.

Riding a wave of “Jacinda-mania,” she campaigned passionately for women’s rights and an end to child poverty and economic inequality in the country.

Raised a Mormon by her mother and police officer father, Ardern left the church over its stance on LGBTQ people in the early 2000s and has since described herself as agnostic.

Hours after being appointed Labour Party leader, she was asked whether she planned to have children. Ardern said it was “totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace”.

Eight months after becoming premier, she had a baby daughter, becoming only the second elected leader to give birth while in office, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto. Less than three months later, Ardern brought the baby, Neve Te Aroha, to the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Many took her pregnancy and prime minister’s maternity leave as symbolising progress for women leaders, part of a wave of progressive female leaders including Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

Meeting with Marin in Wellington in November, Ardern shot back at a question whether the two were meeting only because of they were young and female.

“I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of similar age,” Ardern said, in reference to the former U.S. president and New Zealand prime minister. “Because two women meet, it’s not simply because of their gender.”

(This story has been corrected to fix Ardern’s age in the second paragraph)

(Reporting by Praveen Menon in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)