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Published by BANG Showbiz English Mariah Carey says writing “saved” her as she used poetry and music as an escape. The 52-year-old star has penned new children’s book ‘The Christmas Princess’ about a 12-year-old girl called Mariah who is rescued by her music, and she has noted some parallels with her own life. The ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ hitmaker explained while the story is “a fairy tale”, there are some similarities. As well as the character’s “shack”, her mum is called Diva, while Mariah’s actual mother Patricia was an opera singer. The age of the protagonist is also relevant, as the singer told PEOPLE magazine: “That’s the age when I learned I was definitely ‘other.’ “ She added: “It would’ve been great to actually be a chameleon, but I didn’t have the tools for it. Meaning we didn’t have money.” Instead, Mariah turned to poetry and music as an excape, with her childhood inspiring the lyrics for tracks like 1997’s ‘Outside’. She said: “Writing saved me.” Referencing the book’s character, she noted: “Her music rescues her. It’s not a Prince Charming who comes in. She saves her own day.” Meanwhile, Mariah – the self-professed Queen of Christmas – admitted another festive holiday gave her the spark to start writing the book. She explained: “It was two years ago at Thanksgiving, and I was making a pot of greens. They were so good we named them the Anointed Greens. “Cooking for my friends and family, everything that I was doing at the time, I thought, ‘Wow, this is so different from when I was little.’ “ Mariah previously suggested diamonds really might be a girl’s best friends as she reflected on her butterfly-themed jewellery collections with Chopard and insitsed most people “let you down”. She said: “I hate to say it, but for the most part, people let you down. So I might have to go with it. With very few exceptions, but for the most part, yeah.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Robbie Williams thinks Tom Hanks and Noel Gallagher are the only people unaffected by fame. The ‘Let Me Entertain You’ hitmaker – who has been honest about his battles with addiction and the difficulties of life in the spotlight – suggested the Hollywood actor and Oasis legend appear to have come through relatively unscathed. Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, he said: “I play this game, that who has got through that [fame], come through the other side and gone, ‘I enjoyed every bit about it, and I’m totally mentally really well and I’m happy to continue. Let’s do more of it.’ “Do you know, here’s the thing. The first person that jumps to my head is Tom Hanks. But, we don’t know the real Tom Hanks. So we don’t know what went on with his life. “The other one who I think… Noel Gallagher seems to have handled extreme fame really, really well. They still achieved what they achieved, and he’s still Noel Gallagher.” Of course, the challenges of fame are well known, and the former Take That singer himself thinks it can be particularly tough for members of boybands and girlbands. He explained: “If you run through every boyband and girlband that’s ever existed. With Take That, Gary Barlow leaves the band, his career’s supposed to do that and it didn’t. “He suffered with bulimia, didn’t leave his house, went to sleep underneath his piano because he’d forgotten how to write songs. Incredibly depressed. “Changed his name on his credit card because he didn’t want people to see Barlow. “Howard Donald wanted to commit suicide after he left Take That. Mark Owen’s been to rehab and Jason Orange just can’t do it.” As well as his former bandmates, the 48-year-old star has battled his own issues, and he thinks a lot of that can be blamed on “this machine”. He explained: “And then there’s me, the mental health, the rehabs, the addiction, there’s all of that. So that’s what being in a boyband really does. “And I’m sure that in five or 10 years’ time if you sit down with One Direction to a man, they’re all going to have their isms that have been caused by this machine. “I want to do a documentary about it. Maybe we should do it together. About boybands and girlbands and what really happens. Why fame does that to you.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – Democratic former President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned that “more people are going to get hurt” unless the U.S. political climate changes, after the husband of the Speaker of the House was attacked by a man wielding a hammer. A 42-year-old man has been charged with breaking into the home of Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday and, in her absence, attacking her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, fracturing his skull and causing other injuries. The suspect pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and a host of other state charges. Campaigning at a rally for Democratic candidates in Nevada, the former president said he had spoken to Paul Pelosi recently and “he’s going to be OK.” But Obama expressed grave concern about “this erosion of just basic civility and democratic norms,” in a country where supporters of Republican former President Donald Trump violently attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. “This increasing habit of demonizing political opponents creates a dangerous climate,” Obama said, faulting elected officials who fail to reject the violence, make light of it, or inflame the situation with heated rhetoric. “If that’s the environment that we create, more people are going to get hurt.” Obama was in Las Vegas to lend his star power to candidates who are in extremely close races for U.S. Senate and governor ahead of the Nov. 8 election. He also backed candidates further down the ballot in races for the U.S. Congress, state attorney general and secretary of state. The two-term president, who left office in 2017, remains the Democratic Party’s most popular figure and has already made campaign stops in Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia. The Obama tour will continue on Wednesday in Arizona and Saturday in Pennsylvania, two more states with tight races for governor and senator. In Nevada, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is facing a fierce challenge from Republican Adam Laxalt, a former attorney general who supported Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by fraud. The Nevada race could determine which party controls the Senate, which is split 50-50 and in Democratic hands only because Vice Present Kamala Harris can break any ties. In the race for governor, Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak is locked in a close race with Republican challenger Joe Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Kim Coghill) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sky Palma A TikTok creator posted a video showing a woman harassing her in a public bathroom because the woman thought she was trans. Jay, who uses the TikTok handle @creatingjayrose, shared the video which shows the woman questioning her identity. “I knew she was talking about me so I started recording… Today a woman thought I was trans and harassed me for using the bathroom,” Jay stated in the video. When Jay stepped out of the bathroom, the woman immediately approached her and said: “Stay right there, yeah, figure out your identity in your bedroom. I am pissed right now.” IN OTHER NEWS… Read More View the full article

Published by The Detroit News It only makes sense that Al Yankovic’s biopic would be a parody of biopics. So “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is anything but the A-Z story of the song parodist who is perhaps not technically the best but arguably went on to become the most famous accordion player in an extremely specific genre of music. Take any music biopic, whether it’s “Walk the Line,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Ray,” and give it the “Weird” Al treatment, and you’ve got this absurdist, playful, self-aware send-up of the man who took a gamble and risked it all to turn “Like a Virgin” into “Like a Surgeon.” Yankovic, who co-wro… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Sappy William Shatner‘s got a new outlook on life after boldly going into outer space last year — and now, he hopes to launch a truce with Star Trek castmate George Takei, RadarOnline.com has learned. The sci-fi legends have bickered with each other for decades — but Shatner, 91, is eager to make peace with Takei, 85, while they still can, tipsters snitched. Mega “Bill has been reaching out to try and mend fences,” spilled an insider. “He doesn’t want the bad blood anymore, and word is George is open to it. “Bill’s the first to admit he’s been stubborn, big-headed, and ego-driven. It’s taken years, but Bill’s come a long way — and better late than never.” Star Trek‘s Nichelle Nichols died of natural causes in July at the age of 89 while fellow franchise icon Leonard Nimoy, 83, succumbed to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2015 — without ever responding to Shatner’s calls and texts. Nichelle Nichols Hand-Wrote Will CUT HER SON OUT Of $10 Million Estate Mega “Bill was devastated when Leonard died. He never did get a chance to say goodbye,” confided the source. “And he was so sad over Nichelle’s passing. He’ll always remember her as a great lady.” According to the mole, Shatner “seems to be getting a little lonely,” and “everyone would like to see Bill and George be on friendly terms.” Shatner’s epiphany comes just one week after he revealed he felt profound grief after launching into space, detailing his experience in his memoir, Boldly Go. “I was crying,” the actor told NPR. “I didn’t know what I was crying about. I had to go off some place and sit down and think, what’s the matter with me? And I realized I was in grief.” Mega Shatner said space gave him “the strongest feelings of grief” he had ever felt in his life. “I wept for the Earth because I realized it’s dying,” the star said. “I dedicated my book, Boldly Go, to my great-grandchild, who’s three now — coming three — and in the dedication, say it’s them, those youngsters, who are going to reap what we have sown in terms of the destruction of the Earth.” View the full article

Published by AFP The 'Big Five' publishing companies are Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group USA and Macmillan Publishers New York (AFP) – A federal judge on Monday blocked publishing giant Penguin Random House from acquiring its competitor Simon & Schuster, siding with the US Justice Department which had argued against the mega-merger. The deal, worth $2.2 billion, had been announced in November 2020 and would have brought together two of the five largest American publishers. US District Court Judge Florence Pan, in her ruling, said the government had convincingly shown that the merger would substantially lessen competition “in the market for the US publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books.” Pan said her full reasoning for the decision would be issued under seal, as it relied on confidential business information. The Justice Department hailed the decision, which comes only a week before crucial midterm elections in which Democratic President Joe Biden has tried to paint his party as defending consumers’ interests. The Justice Department under Biden has been more aggressive than his predecessors in attempting to block mergers, with mixed success so far. “Today’s decision protects vital competition for books and is a victory for authors, readers, and the free exchange of ideas,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter in a statement. With 10,000 employees worldwide and nearly 15,000 books published per year, Penguin Random House — a subsidiary of the German Bertelsmann Group — dominates the industry in the United States. Simon & Schuster, owned by Paramount, is the fourth largest of America’s “Big Five” publishing companies, which also include HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group USA and Macmillan Publishers. Stephen King ‘delighted’ Big-name writers on the roster at Simon & Schuster include Stephen King and Doris Kearns Goodwin, while Barack and Michelle Obama and John Grisham have books published by Penguin Random House. It is also preparing to release Prince Harry’s memoir, in early 2023. Penguin Random House said it strongly disagreed with the judge’s ruling and announced it will request an expedited appeal. “We believe this merger will be pro-competitive, and we will continue to work closely with Paramount and Simon & Schuster on next steps,” it said in a statement. But best-selling author King praised Pan’s decision, in a statement going against his own publisher. “I am delighted that Judge Florence Pan has blocked the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster,” the “King of Horror” said in a tweet. “The proposed merger was never about readers and writers; it was about preserving (and growing) PRH’s market share. In other words: $$$,” he said. Paramount said it was disappointed by the ruling. “We are reviewing the decision and discussing next steps with Bertelsmann and Penguin Random House, including seeking an expedited appeal,” it said. Prior to the US action against the takeover, the UK’s competition authority had also taken a close look at the merger, as both groups have British divisions. It issued a favorable opinion in May 2021. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Julia Harte (Reuters) – U.S. states have enacted more than 30 new voting restrictions since 2020, from voter ID requirements to limits on mail-in voting, fueling tensions between Republicans and Democrats ahead of November’s general election. Republicans, who have largely embraced former President Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, say the measures are necessary to ensure election integrity. Democrats say they are aimed at making it harder for voters who traditionally back the Democratic Party to cast their votes. Most of the measures were backed by Republican state legislators and opposed by Democrats, but the divide is not purely red and blue. Sometimes the debate over each law comes down to the fine print of the details. VOTER ID Eleven U.S. states have imposed stricter voter identification requirements since 2020, according to the Brennan Center for Justice and the Voting Rights Lab, which track voting legislation across the country. Opponents of voter ID measures do not object to the requirement that voters verify their identity when voting – which is already standard in every state – but rather the means used to verify them. Unlike many European democracies, where government-issued IDs are more ubiquitous, studies have found that millions of U.S. voters lack photo ID. Two of the most controversial 2021 laws changed the ID rules for absentee or mail-in ballots. Georgia now requires voters who lack driver’s licenses or state ID cards to include in their absentee ballot application a photocopy of another government-issued ID, which many voters may not be able to easily produce. Previously, absentee voters’ identities were verified by signature-matching. Texas’ law permits voters to use a broader set of IDs when applying for and casting mail-in ballots. However, it automatically rejects them if the voter uses an ID number different from the one they provided when they registered to vote. In Texas’ March primary, election officials rejected one out of every eight mail-in ballots, according to data from the secretary of state’s office. That rate – 12.4% – vastly exceeded Texas’ 0.8% mail ballot rejection rate during the 2020 presidential election. Officials blamed most of the increase on the new law, according to local news reports. Advocates of the Georgia and Texas measures say they are necessary to ensure that voters are who they claim to be, and cite studies that show some voter ID laws have not depressed turnout. Opponents say there is no need for stricter ID rules because voter fraud is already vanishingly rare, and point to studies showing that voter ID laws in states such as North Carolina reduced turnout by voters of color. MAIL-IN VOTING Mail-in voting laws are especially complex in the United States. Only 11 countries in the world do not require voters to provide an excuse to vote by mail, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). Two-thirds of U.S. states are in this category. Since 2020, 19 states have enacted laws making it harder for voters to apply for, receive, or cast mail-in ballots, according to the Brennan Center and the Voting Rights Lab. Some states’ laws restricted mail-in voting one way while easing it other ways. Kentucky’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a law that allowed voters to fix absentee ballots if they made errors, but also limited the application period for absentee ballots. Proponents of limiting mail-in voting say it adds to the cost of running elections and creates more opportunities for ballots to be intercepted by unintended recipients who might fraudulently cast them. Advocates of expanding mail-in voting say limiting it hinders voters who cannot go to a polling place. VOTER LIST MAINTENANCE Unlike many democratic countries, the United States does not have compulsory voter registration through a centralized system. As a result, states must periodically review their lists of registered voters to ensure they are up to date. Since 2020, seven states have enacted laws that facilitated the delisting of voters. Advocates of the laws say they are necessary for ensuring only eligible voters are kept on the list, whereas opponents say the laws make it harder for voters to know they have been removed or remedy wrongful removals. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in April enacted a law he said would improve election security by requiring election supervisors to clean up voter rolls every year rather than every two years, and establishing a statewide Office of Election Crimes and Security to investigate election “irregularities.” Voter advocates criticized the law, saying it created more opportunities for voters to be wrongly purged from the rolls and intimidated by investigators from the new office. PARTISAN VS. NONPARTISAN ELECTION ADMINISTRATION The United States has one of the world’s most fractured election administration systems. In most U.S. states, elections are overseen by elected or appointed state officials. Within each county, elections are run by local officials such as clerks and judges, sometimes in conjunction with nonpartisan or bipartisan election boards. Few state-level voting laws sought to change election management authority before the hotly contested 2020 election, in which Trump falsely blamed his loss on voter fraud. But since that election, 25 states have enacted laws that shifted power away from traditional election managers and, in many cases, ceded control to partisan actors, according to the Voting Rights Lab. Advocates of the laws, who were overwhelmingly Republican, argued they would bolster oversight of local election officials. Such laws are unusual in other democracies. The human rights body Council of Europe adopted guidelines in 2010 that called for high-level positions within election-management bodies to be “dispersed among parties” to ensure balance. (Reporting by Julia Harte; editing by Ross Colvin and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Greta Thunberg says that teenagers have been “betrayed” by those in power. The 19-year-old activist – who became known around the world when she staged regular school strikes outside the Swedish Parliament in 2018 to protest against climate change and has gone on to become a figurehead of the movement – recently announced her decision to avoid COP27 this month in Egypt, having accused the United Nations of “green-washing” their annual summit but when asked how she felt about UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also choosing to also skip the event, she noted that it was a sign of government failure. She said: “All these individual cases have many different reasons why they made these decisions, so of course we shouldn’t be focussing ourselves blindly to just one example. “The people in power do not really prioritise the climate crisis and have proven time and time again that their priorities are somewhere else entirely, they would rather stay in power and serve the forces of greed.” Greta insisted people needed to keep “demanding this change”. She continued: “The change is going to come from the outside when enough people are demanding this change, because they are most likely going to do what they can, as long as they can get away with it. So we have to make sure that they do not get away with it.” Meanwhile, she admitted she goes for “long walks” to “clear her head” and deal with the idea of being a frontrunner in the campaign. She said: “I usually go for very, very long walks, to try to clear my head. It shouldn’t have to be like this, this responsibility shouldn’t have to fall on teenagers at all. The fact that there are young people, mostly, who have to take up this fight is a sign of betrayal and failure from those in power.” Greta also explained that there has been a “difference” in activism since her rise to fame because “millions” have joined her in protest but claimed that the action taken has been “not nearly” enough and we need “everyone” to play a part in managing the crisis. Speaking on UK TV show ‘This Morning’ on ITV, she said: “You could look at it in a way that emissions are still on the rise and we are speeding in the wrong direction. We are still expanding fossil fuels for infrastructure and so on. There is no sense of urgency whatsoever. No one is acting if we are in a crisis. But on the other hand, of course, we have had millions of people flooding the streets and demanding action. “So, it depends on how you see it. Of course, there has been a difference but not nearly enough. It’s very difficult to describe. We never thought that it would be possible to do anything like that. In the beginning, it was just me, and then it was a handful of others – schoolchildren. “We just thought that since we had the opportunity to do something, it was our moral duty to go out and act. Someone needed to take action so we just did it. We didn’t count on any consequences or so on, we just did it.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Hillary Clinton recently demanded Donald Trump pay upwards of $1 million to cover her legal fees following a failed racketeering lawsuit against her, RadarOnline.com can confirm. The surprising request came on Monday when lawyers for the former first lady-turned-2016 presidential candidate filed a motion in federal court demanding sanctions be imposed upon ex-President Trump. Mega Clinton’s lawyers also called the racketeering lawsuit, which was thrown out of court in September, nothing more than a “political stunt.” “A reasonable attorney would never have filed this suit, let alone continued to prosecute it after multiple Defendants’ motions to dismiss highlighted its fundamental and incurable defects,” Clinton’s lawyers wrote, according to the Post. Mega Her legal team requested Trump pay a whopping $1.06 million to cover all the legal fees accrued by the numerous defendants named in the failed lawsuit. As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Trump filed a civil lawsuit in March and accused Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and numerous others of conspiring to undermine his 2016 presidential campaign with accusations Trump’s team colluded with Russia. British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who made headlines in 2016 over claims he had a “dirty dossier” proving Russia had blackmail against then-candidate Trump, was also named as a defendant in the civil suit. Trump claimed he lost $24 million as a result of the Russian collusion rumors – although US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1997 and oversaw the lawsuit, threw the suit out of court in September due to “deficiencies in the plaintiff’s argument.” Mega Trump’s legal team, led by his lawyer Alina Habba, have since appealed the dismissal of the $24 million civil suit. Habba has also accused Clinton of having “political reasons” for Monday’s motion demanding sanctions against Trump. “This motion, conveniently filed one week prior to election day, is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to score political points,” Habba said on Monday after Clinton’s team demanded $1.06 million from Trump. “This motion is particularly inappropriate, given that our client’s case will soon be reviewed by the Eleventh Circuit,” Habba continued. “We will oppose this motion and trust that the Court will see through this ruse.” View the full article

Published by AFP Election denialism — the rejection of President Joe Biden's certified victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election — is potential fuel for political violence in the 2022 midterm vote Washington (AFP) – The shocking assault of top Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home has heightened concerns that unconstrained disinformation and toxic political partisanship could spill over into violence around next week’s US midterm elections. US security officials say unconstrained disinformation and political vitriol is volatile fuel for attacks, like the one in which a follower of right-wing conspiracy theories apparently sought to kidnap Nancy Pelosi over alleged election “lies.” David DePape, who allegedly assaulted Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband Paul in their San Francisco home when he found she wasn’t there, posted conservative conspiracy theories on his website on election fraud, Covid vaccines, climate change, the Holocaust and trans people in schools. The attack came one week before midterm congressional elections, as politicians and poll workers have reported a surge in threat messages and intimidation. Those include, in Arizona, armed men patrolling ballot drop boxes, alarming people attempting to vote. On Friday, the day of the Pelosi attack, US security agencies issued a warning that domestic violent extremists (DVE) pose “heightened threats” around the November 8 vote. “Election-related perceptions of fraud and DVE reactions to divisive topics will likely drive sporadic DVE plotting of violence and broader efforts to justify violence in the lead up to and following the 2022 midterm election cycle,” the agencies said in a joint intelligence bulletin. Trump rhetoric Talk of political violence climbed after former president Donald Trump refused in November 2020 to accept his election defeat by Joe Biden, leading to the assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters two months later, on January 6, 2021. Since then the political rhetoric has not dampened, in part because Trump himself still dominates the Republican Party and tells supporters that Biden’s Democrats are bent on stealing the upcoming elections. In Robstown, Texas last week, Trump urged voters not to trust the polls, called Pelosi “crazy” and said “Biden and the far left lunatics are waging war on Texas,” among other accusations made without evidence. “Biden and his left wing handlers are turning America into a police state,” he asserted, repeating his unfounded claim that “January 6th was caused because of a crooked stolen election.” Democratic, Republican officials targeted Nothing like January 6 has recurred. But there are enough incidents and social media-fuelled disinformation to give officials cause for worry. In June an armed man traveled to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home just outside Washington, unhappy about the high court’s opposition to abortion rights. In July a man with a gun threatened Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal at her home in Seattle. The same month a military veteran, later described as suffering from alcoholism and PTSD, tried to knife Republican New York governor candidate Lee Zeldin. And Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell has been the target of numerous violent threats. Swalwell placed the blame directly on Trump’s fiery “Make American Great Again” movement. “MAGA political violence is at peak level in America and it’s going to get someone killed,” he wrote in August, urging Republican leaders to denounce it. Rampant disinformation In addition, poll workers have reported widespread threats after Trump and his followers blamed them for his 2020 election loss. Some areas say they now cannot recruit enough poll workers. In Arizona — where tensions over the allegedly “stolen” 2020 presidential election have been particularly high — armed people wielding video cameras have shown up at ballot drop boxes. Such actions “raise serious concerns of voter intimidation,” the Justice Department said in a filing to the Arizona federal district court, where a lawsuit has been filed over the issue. Underpinning the worries of violence is an atmosphere of copious disinformation online that angers readers and can lead them to launch attacks, as with Pelosi’s attacker. On Sunday the US government’s top cybersecurity official Jen Easterly said there was “a very complex threat environment helped by “rampant disinformation” and “threats of harassment, intimidation and violence against election officials, polling places and voters.” Disinformation “can undermine confidence in election integrity and that can be used to incite violence,” Easterly said on CBS. View the full article

Published by AFP The report sounded the alarm on the scale of land needed for countries' climate plans Paris (AFP) – The world needs to set aside an area bigger than the United States for tree planting and other measures to meet climate pledges, according to research published Tuesday that warned against “unrealistic” carbon-cutting plans. Almost 200 nations will begin high-stakes UN climate talks in Egypt from November 6, as increasing damage from floods, heat waves and droughts are being felt across the world. Recent UN assessments conclude that current policies and plans are not nearly enough to limit global warming and avoid catastrophic climate impacts. They may also be unattainable, new research showed Tuesday on the planned use of land-based schemes such as tree planting to offset fossil fuel pollution. An assessment of plans from 166 countries and the European Union, released by the University of Melbourne, estimated that the total area implied was almost 1.2 billion hectares (2.9 billion acres) — bigger than the United States, or four times the size of India. “Servicing all of the land-based carbon removal pledges is unrealistic because it would require a land mass half the size of current global cropland, putting potential pressure on ecosystems, food security and indigenous peoples’ rights,” the report said. The research looked at countries’ targets, particularly longer-term commitments, and if the land needed was not explicitly stated, they calculated using information about the types of activity as well as carbon removal data from UN climate experts. They found that while over 550 hectares were earmarked for restoring degraded land and protecting primary forests, some 630 million hectares were estimated for carbon capture schemes, like tree planting. “Land-based carbon removals have to be considered together with deep cuts in fossil fuel emissions, not as a replacement,” said Anne Larson, of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry, who was a co-author of the report. ‘Dangerous overreliance’ Larson said governments might see tree planting as “easy, compared to other options”, but cautioned that these projects can cause their own problems. If there is no long-term management plan or if the species are not native, the trees can simply wither. Tree plantations imposed on communities risk being “neglected, burned, cut down”, she said. Such expansion is also seen as incompatible with the rights of many indigenous peoples, who are increasingly being recognised as crucial custodians of nature, as the world faces a human-caused extinction crisis as well as climate change. The Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, representing 35 million people living in forest territories in Asia, Africa and Latin America, on Tuesday said: “dangerous overreliance on land-based methods to capture carbon would gobble up much of our ancestral lands, which we desperately need for food production and nature protection”. “Simply put, we cannot plant trees to escape climate disaster, there is not enough land. Instead, we need to protect and restore existing forests and you can only do that with us,” the alliance said. UN climate scientists have said the world needs to slash carbon emissions 45 percent by 2030 in order to limit global heating to the more ambitious Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Melbourne University report said any tree planting schemes would be simply unable to meet the urgent challenge of reducing greenhouse gas pollution. “Countries need to reduce their expected reliance on land-based carbon removal in favour of stepping up emissions reductions from all sectors and prioritising ecosystem-based approaches,” the report said. View the full article

Published by Al-Araby As the 2022 World Cup fast approaches, a wave of false and misleading news targeting host country Qatar has intensified across websites, newspapers, and social networking sites. Below is a sample of false or misleading news stories published in the last few weeks, debunked by the Misbar.com fact-checking website. Claim 1: A graphic entitled “Qatar Welcomes You” was circulated on social media. It claimed to contain official instructions from the State of Qatar for visitors coming to the 2022 World Cup, suggesting the Qatari authorities planned to restrict fans’ personal freedoms during the tour… Read More View the full article

Published by The Detroit News As Halloween comes to a close, the candles are blown out inside the pumpkins on your porch and the trick-or-treaters are safely tucked in bed, Mariah Carey will be waiting in the wings somewhere, ready to kick off Christmas season once again. Nov. 1 has become the official start of the holiday season, the day we put away everything orange and black and bring out everything red and green. And it starts the two-month run in which Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” is inescapable wherever you go. The four-minute, one-second burst of joy will be blasted from cars, bars, dentist’s off… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — Nearly 70 years after her death, the world’s fascination with Frida Kahlo continues to flourish — generating popular culture conversations in ways the groundbreaking Mexican artist would likely not even understand. That includes exhibitions chronicling her life and work; an upcoming Broadway musical exploring the artist’s intercontinental career; and even the alleged burning of an estimated $10 million Frida Kahlo drawings as part of an NFT launch, which has sparked a criminal investigation by Mexican authorities. Now, a new Brooklyn exhibition described as an “immersive biography” … Read More View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) Taylor Swift has made history by landing a perfect 10 in the charts after the release of her tenth studio album ‘Midnights’. After Swift released Midnights on 21 October, the top 10 positions on the US Billboard Music charts are all taken up by songs from the album. It’s a feat that’s never been achieved before in US chart history. The person to come closest was Drake, with nine of the top 10 spots in September 2021. “10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES,” the pop star tweeted Monday. The number one spot was taken by ‘Anti-Hero’. The song has immediately gained t… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sky Palma During a segment on his livestream show, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk slammed news outlets and journalists who say the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband this weekend is a sign that right-wing rhetoric is sparking real-world violence, saying “of course” Republicans should reject Democrats’ attempts to link them to the attack. “Why is the conservative movement to blame for gay schizophrenic nudists that are hemp jewelry maker breaking into someone’s home — or maybe not breaking into someone’s home. Why are we to blame for that exactly,” Kirk said. “And why is he still in j… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online mega Popular TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney fired back at Caitlyn Jenner over comments she made on Twitter that included misgendering the transgender star. Mulvaney slammed Jenner, condemning her for the cruel remarks, RadarOnline.com has learned. Mulvaney acknowledged Jenner as a courageous trans woman, while she called out the former athlete’s hypocritical tweets. Although Jenner publicly came out as transgender in April 2015, the ex-Olympian has remained staunch in her far-right beliefs, often publicly praising Republican legislators even in the wake of controversial bills pushed by the party, including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Jenner started the drama in a series of tweets about the TikTok star. mega In one tweet from Jenner, which quoted an article from the New York Post about the ongoing drama between the two celebs, she wrote of Mulvaney, “There is a difference between acceptance and tolerance, and normalizing exposing your genitals in a public way and a public place. I do not support that at all, in the slightest.” “Dylan…congrats your trans with a penis,” Jenner concluded the tweet. In a video from Mulvaney’s Days of Girlhood TikTok series, where she openly shares her transition with followers, she started by addressing Jenner, saying, “We are two of the most privileged trans women in America at the moment, and with that comes a lot of responsibility.” Mulvaney continued her remarks by stating while she disagreed with Jenner on other issues, “A few days ago I probably would have still been willing to sit down with you and try to connect with you in some way.” “Because I automatically have a lot of respect for you as a fellow trans woman,” Mulvaney continued in her video, “but then you decided to ridicule me very publicly.” The TikToker then referenced Jenner’s now-deleted tweet, which misgendered Mulvaney and stated, “He is talking about his penis!” The exchange that sparked the fired-up TikTok — as well as the article by the New York Post and subsequent tweet from Jenner — was in reference to a video Mulvaney made at the beginning of her transition, where she later explained she was learning how to “tuck.” mega Resurfacing a months-old video made by Mulvaney, in which she calls to “normalize” women with bulges, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn reshared Mulvaney’s content to her Twitter followers, prompting a response from Jenner. “@MarshaBlackburn thank you for speaking out and having a backbone — one of the best senators we have,” Jenner wrote in a tweet quoting Sen. Blackburn’s tweet. “Let’s not ‘normalize’ any of what this person is doing. This is absurdity!” Jenner added in the tweet. Mulvaney said, “it felt like I got outed,” in regard to Jenner’s tweets. Mulvaney asked Jenner to reflect on her own transition while explaining her series was meant to bring light to a situation many in the trans community face when embarking on their own transitions. Mulvaney was quick to tell Jenner that “the call is coming from inside the house,” meaning the Olympian’s remarks were hypocritical and lacked substance to the much greater issue at hand: transgender rights and the acceptance of trans individuals in communities. mega “I still have so much to learn,” Mulvaney shared in her TikTok response to Jenner. The TikTok star added that the two are from “very different generations” and stated that she “cheered” Jenner on “from the second you came out.” Mulvaney added that she’s “so happy” for Jenner to be able to receive gender-affirming surgery but added that she’s not eligible for surgery due to hormone therapy. Mulvaney also revealed that due to Jenner’s remarks, she’s uncomfortable sharing her future plans for surgery. “It doesn’t make them any less of a woman,” Mulvaney told Jenner. “Funny enough, one of the only things we do have in common is that I’m going to one of your surgeons,” she added. Mulvaney pleaded for Jenner to be “patient” as she navigates her public transition. She concluded her video by calling Jenner out for gatekeeping transgender identification: “Is no one else allowed to be trans?” Mulvaney called for her followers to not attack Jenner in the same way Jenner’s followers have spewed hateful comments against her. Mulvaney also warned Jenner that her political “cohorts” may not have her best interest in mind as Jenner promotes their anti-transgender agenda. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Paresh Dave and Steve Gorman SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -The man accused of bludgeoning U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer after breaking into the couple’s home threatened to take her hostage and break her kneecaps if she lied under his questioning, according to a federal criminal complaint filed on Monday. David Wayne DePape’s alleged intentions emerged as federal prosecutors charged the 42-year-old suspect with assault and attempted kidnapping in Friday’s predawn break-in at the Pelosis’ San Francisco home. Several state charges were filed separately in San Francisco Superior Court, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, elder abuse and threatening a public official, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced at a news conference. An arraignment was set for Tuesday, her office said. The 82-year-old speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a Democrat who is second in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency, was in Washington at the time of the assault. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, 82, a real estate and venture capital executive, has undergone surgery for skull fractures and injuries to his hands and right arm, and he remained hospitalized on Monday. “Paul is making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process,” the speaker said in a statement on Monday. The attack, which Jenkins called “politically motivated,” has stoked fears about partisan extremist violence just over a week ahead of the midterm elections, on Nov. 8, that will decide control of Congress during one of the most vitriolic and polarized U.S. campaigns in decades. Democrats’ continued control of both the House and the Senate is at stake. As one of the highest-ranking Democrats in Washington and a longtime representative of one of America’s most liberal cities, Nancy Pelosi has been a frequent lightning rod for expressions of conservative criticism and contempt. Her office was ransacked during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump, some of whom hunted for her during the melee, following a fiery speech by Trump featuring false claims that his defeat in the 2020 presidential election was the result of fraud. AWAKENED BY STRANGER DePape was arrested by police officers dispatched to the Pelosis’ home after Paul Pelosi placed an emergency-911 call reporting an intruder, according to an FBI affidavit filed as part of the federal criminal complaint. The San Francisco Police Department recovered zip ties in the bedroom and in the hallway near the front door. Police also found a roll of tape, rope, a second hammer, a pair of gloves and a journal in DePape’s backpack, the affidavit said. The intruder had broken in through a glass door to the residence. Paul Pelosi, who was initially left unconscious from the attack, later told police that he was asleep when a stranger, armed with a hammer, crept into his second-floor bedroom and awakened him, demanding to speak with his spouse, the complaint states. According to Paul Pelosi’s account in the affidavit, he told the intruder that his wife would be away for several days and the intruder responded that he would stay and wait for her. Pelosi’s husband recounted that he managed to slip away to the bathroom to place the 911 call, the affidavit said. The suspect told police in an interview following his arrest that he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage for questioning, and that if she told the “truth” he would let her go but if she “lied” he would break her kneecaps, according to the FBI affidavit. He told police he did not flee the Pelosi home after Paul Pelosi’s 911 call because, according to the affidavit, “much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option to surrender.” Authorities said police officers arriving at the Pelosi home saw DePape and Pelosi struggling over a hammer. As the officers shouted at both men to drop the tool, DePape yanked the hammer away and struck Pelosi in the head before officers subdued DePape and took him into custody. DePape was charged in federal court with one count of assault on a family member of a U.S. official and one count of attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official. Prosecutors alleged the offenses stemmed from the suspect’s intent to retaliate against the House speaker for her “performance of official duties.” The federal charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, the Justice Department said in a statement announcing the charges. The state charges are punishable by a prison sentence of 13 years to life, Jenkins said. Online messages recently posted to several websites by an internet user named “daviddepape” expressed bigoted sentiments against minorities, Jews, women and transgender people while embracing the cult-like, right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon. Older online messages promoted quartz crystals and hemp bracelets. Reuters could not confirm the posts were created by the suspect charged on Monday. Experts on extremist ideology have said Friday’s attack appeared to be an example of a growing trend they call “stochastic terrorism,” in which sometimes-unstable individuals are inspired to violence by hate speech and scenarios they see online and hear echoed by public figures. (Reporting by Paresh Dave in San Francisco and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Howard Goller, Rosalba O’Brien and Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will visit Florida on Tuesday, seven days ahead of U.S. midterm elections, to contrast Democratic healthcare plans to those of Republicans while taking on potential 2024 rival Ron DeSantis during a campaign event. In his first political event in a state he lost in 2020, Biden is expected to take aim at Florida Republican Governor DeSantis during a campaign event for Democratic candidate for governor Charlie Crist, and then attend a fundraiser. The president will also go after Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, who has proposed to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare if the U.S. Congress does not pass new legislation to extend them, according to a White House official. The president is expected to offer his most sharply targeted attack yet on DeSantis, administration officials told Reuters. Biden and DeSantis have clashed over multiple issues including COVID-19 vaccines, abortion and LGBT rights. Biden met DeSantis last month during a trip to the state to assess devastation from Hurricane Ian. They greeted each other warmly and stood shoulder to shoulder as they met with victims of the hurricane. A lot has changed since Tuesday’s trip had to be rescheduled from late September due to the hurricane. In recent weeks, the White House has lowered its earlier optimism about the midterm elections and administration officials say they are now worried Democrats could lose control of both chambers of Congress. Recent polls have shown Democrats, who once had comfortable leads in some Senate races, on a knife’s edge. Senate elections that were considered toss-ups between the two parties are now leaning Republican as high inflation persists. Losing control of one or both houses of Congress would profoundly shape the next two years of Joe Biden’s presidency, with Republicans expected to block legislation on family leave, abortion, policing and other Biden priorities. The last time a Democrat won a presidential or Senate election in Florida was 2012, with Republicans holding an advantage in registered voters in the state, 5.2 million versus 4.9 million. But unaffiliated voters stands at 3.9 million and represent an increasingly important part of the electorate. (Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Tom Hogue) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Julia Roberts says the late Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill for her birth. The actress, 55, revealed the couple made the gesture as her parents couldn’t afford the fee, and said her mum and dad befriended the Kings while living in Atlanta running a theatre school. She told Gayle King, in a clip showing her in conversation with the journalist last month that has now been shared online by a fan: “One day Coretta called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids. “My mom was like, ‘Sure, come on over,’ and so they all just became friends, and they helped us out of a jam.” It has been reported that a Ku Klux Klan member blew up a car outside one of Julia’s parent’s Betty and Walter Roberts’ plays in 1965 in response to King Jr’s daughter Yolanda being cast in a role in which she kissed a white actor. Gayle hailed Julia’s parents’ decision “extraordinary” because people didn’t see “little black children interacting with little white kids in acting school” at the time. Julia celebrated her 55th birthday on Friday (28.10.22) by sharing a selfie of herself on Instagram sipping a mug of coffee surrounded by pink and gold balloons. She captioned the photo: “Feeling the love and magic on my 55th Birthday! My cup runneth over.” Julia has also paid tribute to her husband Danny Moder and their life with their children, 17-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus and son Henry, 15, saying: “The life that I have built with my husband, [and] the life that we’ve built with our children, that’s the best stuff. To come home at the end of the day, triumphantly, to them.” View the full article

Published by DPA A woman takes a picture with her smartphone of the dish “Drop it like it’s hot” at the Coccodrillo restaurant in Berlin. Monika Skolimowska/dpa In more than 20 years at his family’s restaurant, Joel Gonzalez had never seen anything like it. Around 6 p.m. on March 25, 2021, he looked up to find a line stretching out the door of Mariscos Corona, the Van Nuys restaurant he runs with his sister. For the next two hours, the siblings did their best to manage the surge of customers eagerly requesting the restaurant’s signature dishes: aguachile-stuffed avocados and surf-and-turf burritos. “Oh my God, we had such a rush” until closing time, Gonzalez says. “We had never seen a line out the door like that before.” The next day, a Friday, there was another line, and the onslaught of customers continued through the weekend. The restaurant’s Instagram account gained 5,000 followers. Gonzalez ran out of avocados; eventually, his refrigerator was empty. He couldn’t open on Monday. What Gonzalez didn’t know, when the crush started, was that Ashley Rodriguez, 29, a food influencer also known as @firstdateguide on her social channels, had posted a 42-second TikTok video featuring his soon-to-be-in-demand dishes earlier in the day. Viewers got a glimpse of avocados overflowing with citrus-drenched seafood and a giant grilled burrito stuffed with shrimp, carne asada and French fries. At one point, Rodriguez poured an entire cup of red salsa onto the burrito, took a big bite and nodded enthusiastically — just like a trusted friend who wants you to know about a new restaurant you have to try. The video attracted more than 200,000 views overnight and hit 1 million views in a week. Eventually, “one of the customers that [first] day told me that he had seen our restaurant on @firstdateguide,” Gonzalez says. “That’s when we put it together.” This is the food influencer effect — or, what it can be. If the right influencer posts a video of your food and it hits, it can lead to a larger social following and a noticeable increase in revenue. It’s a phenomenon that’s causing a paradigm shift in the restaurant world, transferring the power of influence from traditional media to anyone with a cellphone and a love for food. And these days, sometimes seemingly spontaneous expressions of restaurant fandom are actually well-planned, calculated business transactions. That’s exactly what happened at Mariscos Corona. Gonzalez had hired Rodriguez to promote his restaurant — he just didn’t know when her video would be posted. A few weeks before the surge, Gonzalez had DM’d Rodriguez on Instagram, inviting her to try his food. Rodriguez explained that her rates range from $1,500 to upwards of $10,000 — depending on her following and the platform where a business is looking to be featured. Gonzalez agreed to pay Rodriguez $1,500 for one video that she posted to TikTok and, later, Instagram. Gonzalez says he spent an additional $40 for her food. “If I could tell any other restaurant owner — it was worth it,” he says. Food influencers come in many varieties: There are the home cooks who post how-to videos of dishes, mukbangers who livestream themselves eating, newbies looking for free food, marketing professionals with restaurant clients, gourmands who review food in their cars, and food obsessives who just like to share what they’re eating. Some influencers have agents and make a living through brand and restaurant deals. Others do it for the free products and perks. Most of the restaurants they work with are not the kinds of places you’ll find on a critic’s best-restaurants lists. Rodriguez, along with influencers Paul Castro, 28, and Hugh Harper, 39, founded the L.A. branch of a Las Vegas-based marketing company called JMPForce. They work with about 20 local restaurants, handling their social channels and creating content. While the three regularly post non-work-related photos and videos, Rodriguez estimates that about 60% of the restaurants featured on her channels are clients. If it were up to Rodriguez and the rest of the JMPForce crew, they wouldn’t be labeled influencers. “I always say ‘food blogger’ because it makes me feel better than ‘food influencer,’” Rodriguez says, seated at a table at Craft by Smoke and Fire, a restaurant client in Arcadia. She was there to film content with Castro, who is also her boyfriend. “There are too many influencers trying to take advantage, so I don’t want to be intertwined with them,” Castro adds. Earlier this year, an incident involving a Los Angeles food influencer and Corner 17, a Chinese restaurant in St. Louis, blew up online when owner Xin Wei posted screenshots of the interaction on Instagram. The influencer requested $100 to pay for food he wanted to feature in a video, but the restaurant declined. Antonio Malik, known online as @antonio_eats_la, visited anyway and posted an Instagram story review to his hundreds of thousands of followers. He complimented the service but had some not-so-nice things to say about the food: “Worst dumplings ever!” Wei responded in an Instagram post: “An intentionally bad write-up from a large-following influencer because of our refusal to accept their collaboration is unprofessional and such a hostile manner can simply ruin their businesses. I want to step up because we felt threatened by this media influencer.” The incident raised questions around the ethics of “collaborations,” the term used for an exchange of free food or other goods for social media content. Rodriguez and Castro say that requesting free food from restaurants that are not actively seeking social promotion is common among influencers who are just starting out. Pim Techamuanvivit, the chef and owner of Nari and Kin Khao in San Francisco (temporarily closed), says she receives at least a couple of Instagram messages a week from influencers asking for free meals. “They sort of code it and say, ‘We’d like to collaborate,’ but it doesn’t mean we’re going to collaborate on anything,” she says. “It means, ‘I don’t want to pay for my food.’‘” The Federal Trade Commission has guidelines in place for influencers, though the process is still very much self-regulated. In a document titled “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers,” accessible on the FTC website, there are clear instructions for when and how users should disclose a relationship with a brand partner on social media. If you have any familial, financial, employment or personal relationship with a brand, you must disclose it. A financial relationship includes money and free or discounted products, as well as other perks. “If a significant portion of a food influencer’s audience doesn’t expect that the influencer is being paid or given free food and would give the influencer’s endorsement less weight if they knew about the incentives that the influencer received, then the incentives should be disclosed,” a spokesperson for the FTC told The Times in an email. But the general consensus among the half-dozen food influencers interviewed for this story is that consumers don’t care if — and probably assume — the food is free. Nkechi Ahaiwe, 32, who goes by the name @eatwhateveryouwant on Instagram, has more than 63,000 followers. A former beauty blogger and Enterprise Car Rental employee, Ahaiwe says she pays for all her food unless a restaurant invites her to come in; then she allows them to comp her meal, but she always tips her servers. “If a restaurant says I need to disclose that something was free, then I’ll do it,” she says, “but if not, no, because when you put sponsored, paid, gifted, I noticed … my reach is lower.” Do Ahaiwe and Rodriguez worry that accepting free meals might put them in a compromising position when it comes to posting about the restaurant? What if they don’t like the food? Ahaiwe says she turns to another user-generated resource — Yelp reviews — to vet restaurants ahead of time. “I never had an experience where I couldn’t find anything I liked, but I know eventually it will happen. I would have to apologize and just tell them that this is not going to work.” Rodriguez says she doesn’t do reviews. “I just educate people on what there is to order and try to highlight things.” “This is Corona Mariscos in Van Nuys, California,” Rodriguez says in her voice-over on TikTok. “Trust me, aguachiles is way better than ceviche. … Well, if you like spicy, that is. … Oh, did I mention this place has been around since 1999 and now run by two siblings? They’ve definitely kept up the quality of their father’s recipes.” Though Rodriguez and Ahaiwe won’t knock a restaurant’s food, there are plenty of influencers who will. The hashtag #foodreview is connected to at least 1.6 million posts on Instagram and 13.4 billion on TikTok. Fear of upsetting influencers has created an unofficial code of silence among some traditional publicists and restaurant owners, who sometimes field dozens of requests from influencers for free food and restaurant tables. “Restaurants operate on tiny margins,” Techamuanvivit says, “and we have payroll, insurance, all those things, and you’re asking us to fund your Instagram story content? It’s just not right.” Last summer, a major-label musician with more than 1 million followers on Instagram reached out on that platform to Isaias Hernandez, chef-owner of Craft by Smoke and Fire. The celebrity — Hernandez won’t name him because he fears retaliation — asked if the Downey-based chef would be willing to supply food for 100 people at his home that evening. The celebrity told the restaurateur that he’d exchange a social media post or Instagram story for the food. Hernandez and his partner cooked more than $400 worth of barbecue. They hand-delivered the food to the celebrity’s home, and even threw in some T-shirts in various sizes for guests. When he arrived, someone from the celebrity’s entourage took the food and the merch. Hernandez never met the celebrity or received a thank-you. There was no Instagram post. “I messaged him later asking if he liked the food, and he never responded,” Hernandez says. He decided to eat the cost and just keep quiet. With multiple Michelin stars and a busy dining room, Techamuanvivit says, she’s in a position to speak up for the restaurants that can’t. “I’m sure some of these influencers that we told to go away probably have written something bad on Yelp or Google reviews, but I don’t really care,” she says, adding, “I don’t fault the restaurants who work with them. People do what you have to do to survive.” The power to make or break a restaurant once was reserved for the authoritative voice of the restaurant critic, a long-standing figure of traditional media; at many publications, taking freebies continues to be grounds for firing. (Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison reviews anonymously and the newspaper pays for his meals.) When Yelp was established almost two decades ago, it launched a new community-participant phase and expanded the opinion pool. Today’s food influencer further democratizes food media with posts that sometimes feel like the creators are sitting across the table from you. Despite his experience, Hernandez, for the most part, is not only pro-food influencer, he’s built them into his restaurant’s marketing plans. He’d hired Rodriguez, Castro and Harper in March 2020, as he was getting ready to open a restaurant in La Habra, California. The influencers strategize and host events for Hernandez’s restaurants, participate in quarterly meetings and provide feedback on everything, from the atmosphere to the food. Hernandez’s grilled cheese sandwich now includes barbecue sauce because Harper thought it was too dry. Rodriguez’s suggestion for a bone-in short rib sandwich led to a 15% increase in sales the week that it was introduced. “In general,” Hernandez says, “people perceive social influencers as snake-oil salesman of the past, but social media marketing is probably our strongest pillar in terms of sales growth.” Kristin Diehl, a professor of marketing at USC Marshall School of Business, categorizes influencers as a part of marketing that falls under a larger communications umbrella. Though she does recognize that influencers with larger followings can have a big impact on brands, she says it’s micro-influencers, people with around 10,000 to 50,000 followers and high engagement, who tend to have the most influence when it comes to restaurants. “These micro-influencers are particularly effective and applicable to the restaurant industry, which is more localized,” she says. Ahaiwe is a full-time micro-influencer with a full business plan and a media kit that explains her rates. She tailors her pitches to specific companies and says her rates have more to do with how much effort she’ll need to put in to make something look beautiful versus her number of followers. “If I have to go out of my way to do a shoot, it can easily be $825. If the brand wants me in the photo smiling with the food,” she says, “that’s going to amp it up to $1,000 because now I have to find someone to be my plus-one to take photos.” Ahaiwe travels with a car full of trays, silverware, changes of clothing and other props, ready to style food or other products for shoots. She schedules her social media posts months in advance. On a recent afternoon, Ahaiwe visited Hollywood Burger in West Hollywood to take some photos and film some video. In addition to the milkshake and the burger she ordered, director of operations Kevin Shea brought out a tray full of chicken wings, a soon-to-be-released menu item he wanted to promote. Ahaiwe, in turn, carefully styled her photos, arranging the wings in a row, dunking some into condiments and taking selfies with the chicken. Shea said he expected to see an immediate boost in terms of followers and engagement for the restaurant when Ahaiwe eventually posts her photos on Instagram. And she isn’t the only influencer Shea works with. “We have influencers DM-ing us like three to four times a week, saying, ‘Hey, can we “collab” and give us food,’ and we say no problem,” he says. Hernandez estimates that $1 out of every $5 made at his restaurants goes to marketing, which includes the fee and free food given to influencers. “I will never understand TikTok, but as a business owner you need to do your due diligence and find someone who does and bring them on board,” Hernandez says. “But social marketing is just a foot in the door; then you have to convince people to keep coming back.” For some, photographing food has become part of the appeal of going to restaurants. For food influencers, it’s a job. Andrea Warnecke/dpa-tmn Klaus Glaetzner, better known as cult griller Klaus, is filmed by his wife Melanie for a new YouTube video at the grill. Food influencers are transforming the business of eating. Patrick Pleul/dpa TikTok and Instagram posts can transform a restaurant’s fortunes and now, owners are integrating the platforms into their social media strategies. Jens Kalaene/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa View the full article

Published by DPA Australia is the land of kangaroos, koalas – and camels, boasting the world’s largest wild population. The animals were brought by the Europeans when they colonized the continent to transport goods across the arid outback. Today, Australians are no longer as keen on their camels, often seen as a nuisance. Petah Devine/Silverton Outback Camels/dpa A caravan of camels plods steadily through the desert, majestic despite the blazing heat. That may make you think of the Sahara but in fact, Australia is home to the world’s largest population of wild camels. Valued for their endurance, they were brought by the Europeans when they colonized the continent. Nowadays, they tend to be used for recreational purposes. “There have always been camels out here,” says Shelley Lorensen, president of the Boulia Camel Races that are held in the middle of the outback. Boulia in Queensland has only about 300 to 400 inhabitants, but some 3,500 people descend on the village in July, when it hosts the race. Many arrive in caravans or sleep in tents, ready to watch the camels as they race through the red desert sand. The three-day spectacle also features a lawnmower race, music and fireworks, but the camels are the main attraction, says Lorensen. But the animals are unpredictable. Their riders cannot steer them or control them. “You can train them,” she says. “It could be a perfect camel, win every race one day and on the next day.” But when race day comes, the camel might just sit down, Lorensen says. Australia’s camels helped the colonialists explore the outback and transported goods and people alike, after they were brought from India, Afghanistan and the Arabian Peninsula starting in the 1840s. Camels also provided much of the muscle when it came to major projects such as the Trans-Australian Railway and the Overland Telegraph Line. Settlements in the outback were dependent on the animals, nicknamed “desert ships,” as camels carried food to the most remote areas of the country. Camels have been in Silverton on the border between New South Wales and South Australia since the town was founded in the 1880s, says Duncan Pickering. “They transported a lot of the original building materials out here and supplied the local stores,” he says. Pickering and his partner Petah Devine offer camel tours in the area. They had always dreamed of having a farm in the middle of the outback, living entirely off the land. The camel tours came about by chance. “We got our first two camels back in March 2017 – the family who used to do camel rides in Silverton, they stopped doing camel rides,” Pickering tells dpa. Now, the couple has 13. All camels have different personalities and that’s what interests Pickering the most, he says. “They’re all individuals and just very affectionate.” The troubles start when you train a new one. You have to begin by “learning about their personalities, getting warm with the camels,” he says. But Australians are no longer as keen on their camels, seeing them as a nuisance. Many were released into the outback at the start of the 20th century, when they were no longer needed for transport as people switched to cars. The camels proliferated in the wild, with a population of 1 million according to the Department of the Environment in 2010. There were 1.2 million by 2020, ABC broadcasting station reported, though the exact number is not known. When the weather is very hot and dry, camels often head to settlements in search of water. In the process, they wind up tearing down fences to try and reach the condensation in air-conditioning systems. That often causes extensive damage. That has led officials to allow people to shoot the animals regularly and in large numbers. Local governments and landowners hire snipers and some use helicopters. The camels should be killed as quickly and painlessly as possible, according to the Australian Action Plan for Wild Camels. Meanwhile estimates suggest that 3,600 to 4,000 camels are killed every year to make animal feed out of their meat. A further 400 animals are exported live, while 1,000 are killed for human consumption. The main challenge is “trying to save camels and finding a use for their products,” says Paul Martin, who founded Summer Land Camels in 2015, a 324-hectare farm in Harrisville, Queensland. He and his team have tamed some 400 to 500 camels that they captured in the outback. Alongside sunrise rides and cocktail evenings with the camels, visitors can try cheese and ice cream made from camel milk or a camelccino in the farm café. The aroma is slightly sweet, and camel milk is packed with vitamin C and iron. Martin says it has many additional health benefits, including that people who are lactose intolerant can enjoy it too. “It doesn’t curdle in the stomach. It doesn’t create an inflammatory situation like other types of milk do.” Demand for camel products is slowly increasing, he says. Alongside the milk products, Summer Land Camels also sells hand creams, body lotion and the world’s first camel vodka, and consumers can buy the products online in some Asian countries. More is to come. “We are just working on an EU strategy at the moment,” says Martin. A female camel with two foals on the Summer Land Camels farm in Queensland, Australia. The country is home to the world’s largest population of wild camels. The animals were brought by the Europeans when they colonized the continent to transport goods across the arid outback. Today, Australians are no longer as keen on their camels, often seen as a nuisance. Tim Vermey/Summer Land Camels/dpa Camels racing in the 2022 Boulia Camel Races in Queensland, Australia. Matt Williams/Boulia Camel Races/dpa Petah Devine (l) and her partner Duncan Pickering offer camel tours in Silverton on the border between New South Wales and South Australia. Petah Devine/Silverton Outback Camels/dpa Paul Martin is the founder of Summer Land Camels, a 324-hectare farm in Harrisville, Queensland. He and his team capture and tame wild camels from the outback. Summer Land Camels/dpa View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jeff Goldblum is to play The Wizard in the pair of ‘Wicked’ films. According to Variety, the ‘Jurassic Park’ legend will join Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the two-parter. Pop megastar Ariana has just dyed her hair blonde ahead of shooting the flick. The 29-year-old pop star has taken on the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the upcoming adaptation of the smash hit Broadway musical – which tells the backstory of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and explains how the witches of Oz came to be both good and wicked – and has changed her signature dark locks to blonde in an apparent effort to match her character. Alongside a snap of her new look, she wrote on Instagram: “new earrings.” Cynthia plays the misunderstood green girl Elphaba, while ‘Bridgerton’ star Jonathan Bailey is set to play Fiyero, who finds himself in a love triangle with the witches. Principal photography is due to begin in London this November, and US-born superstar Ariana is said to have rented a “stunning” eight-figure mansion in the capital city to live in while she works on the project. Director Jon M. Chu decided to make the movie into two parts because it would be “impossible” to put the complex story into a single film. He said: “Thank you for all the support these past several months in anticipation of the ‘WICKED’ movie. Here’s what happened: as we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of ‘WICKED’ into a single film without doing some real damage to it. With more space, we can tell the story of WICKED as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys of these beloved characters.” ‘Wicked: Part One’ is set to be released in December 2024, with the second following in 2025. View the full article