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Published by Raw Story By Sky Palma Prosecutors at the Justice Department say there is sufficient evidence to charge Donald Trump with obstruction of justice when it comes to allegations that he mishandled classified documents, although they’re not quite sure on how to indict him, Bloomberg reports. “The team that’s part of the classified records probe has not yet made a formal recommendation to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who would ultimately approve or reject such a move, according to people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg’s report stated. “It’s also unlikely officials would bring only obstruction charg… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sky Palma An Idaho man who was jailed for allegedly yelling homophobic slurs while trying to run over two women with his car is facing a new charge of arson. But according to Idaho law, he cannot be charged with a hate crime, The Advocate reports. Matthew Lehigh, 31, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault and one count of malicious injury to property along with the felony arson charge related to his burning of Pride flags and vandalism at a LGBTQ community center in Boise. “The women were standing next to their vehicle when the suspect intentionally drove his car at them, the w… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Travis Gettys Donald Trump and his right-wing allies are pushing wild election-fraud conspiracy theories as ballots have already started being cast in some states. Posts on Reddit and other social media sites are purporting to show evidence of ballot stuffing, including photos taken by volunteers from the right-wing Clean Elections USA group, whose members are monitoring drop boxes for so-called “ballot mules,” and the former president has been boosting those claims, reported Vice. “My dedicated dropbox watching team caught this and sent it up the chain. What do you see in the picture?” sai… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump was scheduled to give a deposition on Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit brought in New York by writer E. Jean Carroll after the former president denied having raped her. Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in Manhattan federal court in November 2019, five months after he denied raping her in the mid-1990s. In denying the allegations, Trump said at the time that Carroll was “not my type.” Trump has accused Carroll of making up the original accusation and said the courts should have thrown out the lawsuit. Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, has called the case “entirely without merit.” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan last week denied Trump’s bid to delay the case, stating that subjecting Trump to a deposition in the case would not impose an “undue burden” on him. An Oct. 19 date was set for Trump’s deposition. Trump had argued that the case should be put on hold while an appeals court decides whether he was acting in his official capacity as president when he called Carroll a liar. His lawyers have argued that Trump was shielded from Carroll’s lawsuit by a federal law providing immunity to government employees from defamation claims. Carroll has said she also plans to sue Trump on Nov. 24 for battery and inflicting emotional distress. On that date, a recently enacted New York state law gives victims of sexual misconduct a one-year window to sue over alleged sexual misconduct even if the statute of limitations has expired. Carroll has accused Trump of raping her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. Trump has accused her of concocting the rape claim to sell her book. (Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AFP The replica of Noah's Ark in Kentucky is in keeping with its supposed Biblical measurements: 150 meters (510 feet) long, 15 meters (51 feet) high, and 25 meters (85 feet) wide Williamstown (United States) (AFP) – A full-sized model of Noah’s Ark sitting in rural Kentucky promotes a worldview that draws visitors from across the United States — that the theory of evolution is false. The Ark Encounter and the associated Creation Museum espouse the belief that God literally created the Earth in six days around 4,000 BC. Evangelical Christians flock to see the spectacular staging and sharp denunciations of scientific facts such as that dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago. Visitors also reflect America’s divided politics as the country heads into midterm elections, with creationists often aligned with the Republican Party on issues such as abortion and gay rights. “Dinosaurs are often used by evolutionists to proclaim their worldview. So we’ve taken the dinosaurs back, if you will,” said Mark Looy, cofounder of the ark amusement park and the museum. Standing a few steps from a model of an allosaurus skeleton, Looy said the site offers a different view of dinosaurs — that “most of them perished during the flood about 4,500 years ago.” The museum opened in 2007 in Petersburg, Kentucky, financed by a donation campaign and supported by Answers in Genesis, a group that believes in strict creationism. The Ark Encounter opened in 2016 about 70 kilometers (45 miles) away in Williamstown, and contains a replica of Noah’s Ark in keeping with its supposed Biblical measurements — 150 meters (510 feet) long, 15 meters (51 feet) high, and 25 meters (85 feet) wide. Bible ‘more than a story’ A combo ticket to the two sites costs $85, and Looys says more than a million people a year browse the exhibits — and also enjoy attractions such as zip-lining and a petting zoo Most visitors are committed to the cause. “My husband and I… believe the Earth is about 6,000 years old,” said Suzanne Swindle, a 37-year-old executive from Atlanta who came to show her four-year-old daughter that the Bible “is more than just a story.” However, she does not deny that species “adapt to their environment,” one of the pillars of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Similarly, Mike Barrington, a 70-year-old former veteran who lives in Louisiana, calls himself a creationist, but he adds that the exhibit’s explanation of dinosaurs “is new to me.” Such contradictions are mirrored in the polls. According to a 2019 Gallup survey, 40 percent of Americans believe God created man less than 10,000 years ago. But other polls ask subtler questions with more options and find about 15 percent reject the theory of evolution, said Adam Laats, a historian at Binghamton University in New York and author of the book “Creationism USA.” Calling oneself a creationist in the United States is more “an identifying mark of a much broader cultural divide,” he said. “Someone would go and say, ‘Oh, I guess I’m a creationist because I don’t like pornography, I don’t want abortion rights, and I don’t want LGBTQ rights.'” Laats said decades of conflict over which institutions in the United States are trustworthy — ranging from justice and politics to science and the media — has created “radically different ideas about truth and reality.” Election issues The themes are at the heart of key midterm elections on November 8 and Laats sees “a correlation between the most archetypal MAGA (Donald Trump) conservatives and the most ardent museum-type creationists.” At the two sites, “you’d find mostly Republicans,” Mark Looy said, and while the attractions must stay away from endorsing candidates, “we don’t shy away from some of the hot button issues of the day.” In one clear example, a dummy video game at the museum reflects a binary reading of the world. Two camps confront each other: “Man’s world,” associated with “abortion” or “gay marriage,” versus “God’s word,” synonymous with “marriage” and “sanctity of life.” The mix of religion, activism and entertainment is also evident at the museum’s Garden of Eden. After strolling through a bucolic landscape with Adam and Eve, visitors arrive in a screening room with projected black and white photos of the Holocaust, drug addicts and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. To reinforce the message, big letters spell out: “Rejection of God’s word led to corruption.” Peggy Mast, a 74-year-old woman from Kansas, agrees. For her, “chaos reigns” in America, where “people are now committing anarchy with the acceptance of the administration of our government.” So the museum is “a wonderful place to reaffirm the very things that we know about God,” she added. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jonathan Majors hopes to play the “unbridled” Dennis Rodman. The 33-year-old actor is in talks to play the basketball maverick in the movie ’48 Hours in Vegas’, which tells the story of the sports star’s infamous trip to Las Vegas during the 1998 NBA Finals. Jonathan explained that he is desperate to take on the part of the “eclectic” athlete to test himself as an actor and compared it to his role as the trailblazing Navy pilot Jesse Brown in the film ‘Devotion’. He told Variety: “His character as a man is one that is unbridled. “He’s eclectic. He’s an open mind. He’s an open heart. And, selfishly, you want to play a role like that, because it’s gonna push you to that place. “Jesse Brown teaches me things about my soul and spirit. I know Rodman’s going to too, and I’m just looking forward to getting into it.” Jonathan will arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as Kang the Conqueror in the forthcoming movie ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ and he can barely believe that he is starring in the popular superhero films. He said: “Every time they call and say, ‘Hey, we need you for this’, it’s another miracle. “Every time there’s an event about it or something breaks about it, I go, ‘Yeah this is real.'” The ‘Jungleland’ star explained that he felt a sense of disbelief when her first saw himself as the supervillain on screen. Jonathan said: “He looks different than I do. He is a different man than I am. He used all my material, but he’s a different cat. “When I first heard the trailer, I didn’t recognise the voice, and he was narrating the whole thing. I was like, ‘What is that?’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a great line. That’s a bar; that is a bar.’ “And then they showed who it is and I was like, ‘Oh, oh, oh, okay, cool’.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Thebe Magugu is collaborating with Dior for a charity project. The South African designer has been tasked by Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri to create a new interpretation of Christian Dior’s New Look – which caused a sensation back in 1947. The task mirrors a second-year assignment he had as a fashion student in Johannesburg and is in aid of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, a charity that aids young people in South Africa. Magugu explained that he is honoured to be working with Dior and explained how the brand’s fashion legacy has reached across Africa. The 29-year-old designer said: “I’m from a small mining town called Kimberly, a place which sometimes is completely overlooked on certain maps. But even there people are very familiar with Christian Dior. It sort of revolutionised how women dress.” Magugu also quipped: “It’s like I completed my homework eight years ago.” The designer made his jacket in red with “very small, rounded shoulders” and the skirt a swirling, full-circle style. He has reimagined the New Look’s cinched jacket as a cotton T-shirt, with straps included that allow the wearer to highlight the waist to a degree of their choice. Magugu described the T-shirt as a “universally understood item” that is fronted by two females holding hands in a “powerful symbol of sisterhood”. The designer revealed that the flaring skirt pays homage to the work of Chiuri. He said: “At Dior, I’ve always loved when she’s done the full-circle skirts. I’ve looked at those things forever.” Magugu praised Chiuri for her interest in South Africa and for her attempts to create links with a new generation of fashion designers. He said: “I think it’s quite exciting seeing how two brands from such completely different heritages, histories and geographies come together to sit down and have a visual conversation.” View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. consular official spoke on Tuesday with Britney Griner and Paul Whelan, Americans detained in Russia, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. “There was a substantial proposal on the table earlier this summer to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal, and the Russians should take that deal,” he said at a news briefing. A consular officer spoke briefly on the phone with both detainees on Tuesday, he said without elaborating. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chris Reese) View the full article

Published by Reuters MOSCOW (Reuters) – American WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner, whose appeal against a Russian jail term is due to be heard next week, sent her supporters a message of thanks on Tuesday, her 32nd birthday. The two-time Olympic gold medallist was arrested on Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, and was sentenced on Aug. 4 to nine years in a penal colony on drug smuggling charges. Her appeal is due to be heard next Tuesday. “All the support and love are definitely helping me,” Griner was quoted as saying by her lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, who spent several hours with her in the Moscow pre-trial detention centre where she is being held. Griner pleaded guilty at her trial but said she had made an “honest mistake” and not meant to break the law. Cannabis is illegal in Russia for both medicinal and recreational purposes. “Today is of course a difficult day for Brittney,” said Blagovolina, who is representing Griner in court. “Not only is this her birthday in jail away from her family, team mates and friends, but she is very stressed in anticipation of the appeal hearing on Oct. 25.” Washington says Griner was wrongfully detained and has offered to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States. It said last week it had had no consular access to her since August. Moscow has also suggested it is open to a prisoner swap. Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who travelled to Moscow in September, has said he believes Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan could both be released by the end of the year. (Reporting by Filipp Lebedev; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Angus MacSwan) View the full article

Published by Taste of Country Dolly Parton made a trip to New York to officially accept her 2022 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy trophy, which celebrates her decades of charitable efforts, especially her Dolly Parton Foundation and its creation of the Imagination Library. As she accepted her award, the country legend delivered a nearly five-minute acceptance speech that packed in plenty of her signature light-hearted, down-home humor, and also conveyed the sincere gratitude she felt for the award. “I’m proud to have this. I was afraid I was gonna have to take my hair off to get this on,” Parton joked at the beginning of her… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Benoit Blanc is here and apparently queer. The Stephen Sondheim-loving Southern sleuth that Daniel Craig portrays in the “Knives Out” films has been outed. During a press conference Sunday at the London Film Festival, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” director Rian Johnson confirmed the sexuality of the beloved character. The filmmaker was asked whether Blanc was queer after a scene in the film appears to show him living with another man. “Yes, he obviously is,” Johnson replied. In the sequel to the 2019 star-studded blockbuster, set to start streaming on Netflix Dec. 23, the dapper detectiv… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega An advisor to Vladimir Putin revealed Brittney Griner’s release and return to the United States is not currently a top priority for Russia, RadarOnline.com has learned. Yury Ushakov, one of Putin’s top advisors and who previously served as Russia’s ambassador to the United States for ten years from 1998 and 2008, also suggested President Joe Biden’s vow to free the 31-year-old imprisoned WNBA star is nothing more than PR stunt to help booster the upcoming midterm elections. Mega “In this tense situation, I think that he is thinking first and foremost about the upcoming midterm elections so he keeps emphasizing the need to bring back home the basketball player who was detained for drug smuggling,” Ushakov said on Sunday. “However, it’s not the main issue that we are concerned about,” he added. As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Ushakov’s comments come shortly after Griner’s lawyer, Alexandr D. Boykov, revealed the WNBA star is “struggling” in prison and she is skeptical she will be released and allowed to return home. “She has not been in as good condition as I could sometimes find her in,” Boykov told the New York Times. Mega “She is not yet absolutely convinced that America will be able to take her home,” he continued. “She is very worried about what the price of that will be, and she is afraid that she will have to serve the whole sentence here in Russia.” Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison on August 4 after she pleaded guilty to drug smuggling. She was initially arrested in February after she was caught with two vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in a Moscow airport. Although Boykov plans to appeal Griner’s sentencing, the WNBA star is also reportedly worried about the conditions of the new jail she will likely be transported to should her appeal be denied. Mega “Perhaps the verdict will somehow be changed and, perhaps, the sentence will be reduced, because the decision taken by the first court is very different from judicial practice,” Boykov explained. “Considering all the circumstances, taking into account my client’s personality traits and her admission of guilt, such a verdict should be absolutely impossible,” Griner’s lawyer added. Both President Biden and Putin will be attending this year’s G20 summit in Bali next month, although Biden previously revealed he has no plans to speak with Putin unless the discussion is about Griner’s release. “It would depend on specifically what he wanted to talk about,” Biden told reporters. “I don’t see any rationale to meet with him now.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ezra Miller has pleaded not guilty to stealing three bottles of alcohol from their neighbour’s home. The troubled 30-year-old actor, who faces 26 years in prison if they are found guilty of the charges, as well as more than $2,000 in fines, appeared remotely at a hearing at Vermont Superior Court, and was told to stay away from neighbour Isaac Winokur. They allegedly took a bottle of gin, vodka and rum from Winokur’s pantry on May 1 at around 5pm, and Miller spoke only to confirm that they understood the conditions of their bail, including a ban on contacting Winokur and another Vermont resident Aiden Early. Miller, who goes by they/them pronouns, was also charged with petty larceny over the three bottles, it was reported on Monday. (17.10.22) Vermont Police charged Miller with felony burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, with the actor claiming they were in the house to look for ingredients for a recipe for their mother. Miller’s lawyer Lisa Shelkrot said: “Ezra Miller this morning pled not guilty to one count of burglary and one count of petit larceny in Vermont Superior Court and accepted the court-imposed conditions of not contacting or entering the home of the inhabitants. “Ezra would like to acknowledge the love and support they have received from their family and friends, who continue to be a vital presence in their ongoing mental health.” Miller has been hit with allegations of grooming after the parents of Native American activist Tokota Iron Eyes, 18, filed a protection order against the actor. Her parents accused Miller of grooming their child and other inappropriate behaviour with her as a minor from the age of 12, which has been disputed by Tokota. Miller was also arrested twice in Hawaii in March and charged with disorderly conduct and second-degree assault. They were accused of shouting and swearing at customers as they sang karaoke at a bar, as well as grabbing a microphone from a 23-year-old woman. Miller pleaded no contest to one count of disorderly conduct and paid a $500 fine over the incident. A married couple also took out a restraining order against them after Miller burst into their bedroom and threatened to kill them then left, stealing her passport and his wallet. And in April the star was accused of throwing a chair at a 26-year-old woman and hitting her at a private party. A video of Miller appearing to choke a woman at a bar in Reykjavik, Iceland, also surfaced in April 2020, but did not result in any charges. In August Miller announced that they were seeking treatment for “complex mental health issues”, saying in a statement: “Having recently gone through a time of intense crisis, I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment. “I want to apologise to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behaviour. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe, and productive stage in my life.” View the full article

Published by AFP A Congressional report says that the administration of former US president Donald Trump actively prevented health officials from providing a full picture of the Covid-19 outbreak Washington (AFP) – Former US president Donald Trump’s administration prevented health officials from providing accurate information about Covid-19 in a bid to back up his overly optimistic view of the outbreak, according to a congressional report released Monday. Senior staff at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told investigators Trump aides bullied staff and tried to rewrite their reports in a bid to align guidance with the president’s public downplaying of the crisis. Officials took “unprecedented steps to insert political appointees into the publication process and rebut CDC’s scientific reports, including drafting op-eds and other public messaging designed to directly counteract CDC’s findings,” the report said. Investigators interviewed a dozen current and former CDC officials as well as senior administration figures for the 91-page document released by the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. The panel describes how Trump appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) tried to take over the CDC’s weekly scientific journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), editing or blocking articles they believed might prove harmful to Trump. Trump appointees had sought to “alter the contents, rebut, or delay the release” of 18 MMWRs and a health alert, succeeding on at least five occasions. The report quoted a CDC communications officer who complained that a Trump ally in HHS had used “bully-ish behavior” that made CDC officials “feel threatened.” Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director of infectious diseases, said he was “not really asked back to do telebriefings” after his statements were deemed “too alarming.” “The Select Subcommittee’s investigation has shown that the previous administration engaged in an unprecedented campaign of political interference in the federal government’s pandemic response, which undermined public health to benefit the former president’s political goals,” panel chairman Jim Clyburn, a Democrat, said in a statement. “As today’s report shows, President Trump and his top aides repeatedly attacked CDC scientists, compromised the agency’s public health guidance, and suppressed scientific reports in an effort to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus.” A previous report outlined the Trump administration’s bid to block government health officials from speaking publicly about the pandemic. And another described its pressure on the US Food and Drug Administration to reissue emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug Trump was promoting despite its ineffectiveness in treating Covid-19. Republicans dismissed the latest report as partisan and have vowed to conduct their own inquiry if they win back the House or the Senate in November’s midterm elections. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Helen Coster, Tiyashi Datta and Nivedita Balu (Reuters) -American rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, has agreed in principle to buy Parler, the social media platform popular among U.S. conservatives, parent company Parlement Technologies said on Monday. Nashville-based Parler, which has raised about $56 million to date, said it expects the deal to close during the fourth quarter of 2022. It did not give a deal value. Parler, which launched in 2018, has been reinstated on Google and Apple Inc’s app stores after being removed following the U.S. Capitol riots in January 2021. Parler is one of several social media platforms, including Gettr, Gab and Truth Social, that position themselves as free-speech alternatives to Twitter Inc. Last month, Parler created a new parent company, Parlement Technologies Inc, as part of an overhaul. In an interview with Reuters Monday, Parlement Technologies Chief Executive Officer George Farmer said the deal talks with Ye began recently, after Paris Fashion Week. In Paris on Oct. 3, Ye, who is also a fashion designer, wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase: “White Lives Matter.” Four days later, he made Instagram posts that several Jewish groups called anti-Semitic. Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram and Facebook, locked Ye out of his Instagram account for the posts. Ye then moved to Twitter, posting on Oct. 8 for the first time in two years; Twitter soon locked his account. The Parler deal came together quickly, CEO Farmer said, and Parlement was “presented with an opportunity.” “The motivating factor with him was the discussion about Instagram blocking him.” Farmer declined to comment on whether the deal includes a break-up fee if either party terminates it. Ye in September terminated his partnership with apparel retailer Gap Inc, while German sporting goods maker Adidas on Oct. 6 said it is reviewing its business partnership with the rapper. Farmer said Monday he is not concerned about Parler’s advertising prospects under Ye. “I see this as a warning shot across the bow for companies that want to de-platform people,” Farmer said. “There are increasingly advertisers who want to advertise to this space.” Ye seemed to have joined Parler on Monday and had about 91 followers at the time of the announcement. He now has 3,900. “In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” he said in a statement. Farmer says Parler has 16.5 million registered users. Research firm Apptopia estimates the platform has been installed 11.7 million times since launch, with an estimated 40,000 daily active users. Forbes estimates Ye to have a net worth of $2 billion. (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Dhanya Ann Thoppil) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ruth Negga and Luke Evans are to star in Dan Levy’s feature film directorial debut. The ‘Passing’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ stars will be joined by David Bradley, Celia Imrie, Himesh Patel, Arnaud Valois, and Jamael Westman in Netflix film ‘Good Grief’. ‘Schitt’s Creek’ star Levy, who will write, direct and star in the romantic-comedy movie, admitted the project has been “bittersweet” and helped him through his own grief. He said in a statement: “‘Good Grief’ is a cautionary tale about friendship and loss and all the mess that comes with it when the truth is something you’ve evaded for most of your life. “It’s funny, it’s bittersweet, it’s a project that has helped me work through my own grief. And I hope it does the same for other people as well.” The film will tell the story of Levy’s character Marc Dreyfuss, who tries to avoid the grief of his mother’s death with a comfortable marriage. However, he is later forced to face up to his mum’s passing after his husband unexpectedly dies. In order to do so, Marc joins two of his pals on a Parisian weekend of self-discovery. Levy – whose father is ‘American Pie’ actor Eugene Levy – is no stranger to directing on the small screen, after scooping an Emmy for ‘Schitt’s Creek’ episode ‘Happy Ending’. His Not A Real Production Company partner and president Megan Zehmer will also be part of the movie’s production, and Stacey Snider, Kate Fenske, and Debra Hayward will also produce the film. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Harrison Ford has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The ‘Indiana Jones’ actor will be taking over the role of General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross in the movie ‘Captain America: New World Order’. Harrison replaces William Hurt in the role following the actor’s death at the age of 71 in March. The 80-year-old star’s casting has been rumoured of late and he will join Anthony Mackie in the movie after he assumed the mantle of the superhero in the hit Disney+ series ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. Shira Haas, Tim Blake Nelson and Carl Lumbly are also among the ensemble cast for the film, which is scheduled for release in 2024. General Ross is a top-ranking military official who was first introduced in the Marvel comics in 1962 and he leads the team of anti-heroes known as the Thunderbolts. ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ creator Malcolm Spellman wrote the script for the superhero movie with the show’s staff writer Dalan Musson producing with Marvel chief Kevin Feige. Harrison had previously claimed that Marvel had “killed” the success of its superhero films by releasing too many of them. Discussing his return as Indiana Jones in the upcoming fifth film, he said: “I don’t really want to give them what they wanna see, I want to give them something they didn’t anticipate seeing. The Marvel movies are a spectacular example of a success that worked the other way round – they killed it.” Ford hinted that he wouldn’t let the franchise follow the same path as the Marvel blockbusters. The ‘Star Wars’ actor said: “We’re not going to make another ‘Indiana Jones’ unless we’re in a position to kill it. We want it to be the best.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Patti LuPone has left the Actors’ Equity union and hinted an end to her Broadway career. The 73-year-old actress – who infamously stopped production of ‘Gypsy’ she was starring in in 2009 when an audience member was on their phone – has spent decades on the New York stage starring in acclaimed productions of musicals such as ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’ but is “no longer part of that circus” just days after seeing her name “bandied about” in connection to a more recent incident, which saw an audience member at ‘Hadestown’ reprimanded for using a captioning device. She tweeted: “Quite a week on Broadway, seeing my name being bandied about. Gave up my Equity card; no longer part of that circus. Figure it out.” The multi-Tony Award-winner later revealed that she had in fact resigned from the Actors’ Equity Association – which strives to negotiate fair wages and provide performers with reasonable working conditions – earlier this year after starring in a production of Stephen Sondheim musical ‘Company’ and warned she would not be on stage for a “very long time.” In a statement, she said: “When the run of Company ended this past July, I knew I wouldn’t be on stage for a very long time. And at that point I made the decision to resign from Equity.” Her comments come just days after the alleged incident at ‘Hadestown’ – which Patti is not involved in -, after which deaf audience member Samantha Coleman alleged that actress Lillias White mistakenly believed she was recording the show. In a video posted to Instagram, she said: “I was sitting in the front row of ‘Hadestown’ tonight and Lillias White not once but twice at least reprimanded me from the stage because she thought my captioning device was a recording device. For Lillias, because I don’t think this is inherently her malice, I think it’s a misunderstanding, but we still need to talk about it. “There is a systemic issue in the theatre community and the theatre industry specifically with Broadway about accessibility and inclusion, and some of that has been changed by the creation of technology like captioning devices so that people can be able to experience a show that may not have been able to before.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden, under renewed pressure over high inflation with key elections coming up fast, will seek to turn attention back to the issue of abortion rights in a speech on Tuesday. Biden’s Democrats could lose control of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate too, in November midterm elections. He is trying to rally the party and its supporters around abortion rights, which were sharply curtailed by the Supreme Court’s decision nearly four months ago to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling. “The president will speak about the choice that voters face this November between Republicans who want to ban abortion nationwide, and Democrats who want to codify Roe into law to protect women’s reproductive freedom,” the Democratic National Committee said of Biden’s speech at the historic Howard Theatre in Washington on Tuesday. Biden and top White House officials this month announced new guidelines and grants to protect abortion and contraception rights. He has said he would not “sit by and let Republicans throughout the country enact extreme policies.” Abortion bans have gone into effect in more than a dozen states since the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 24. The issue had created some momentum for Democratic candidates ahead of the November elections, but recent polls still show Republicans are likely to retake control of the House of Representatives with many voters concerned about inflation. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gabriella Borter (Reuters) – An abortion rights vote in Kentucky on Nov. 8 will determine if the conservative state becomes Kansas 2.0. Kentucky voters are being asked to amend the state’s constitution to say residents do not have a right to abortions, three months after voters in Kansas soundly rejected a similar ballot question. The upcoming vote is a test of public support for Kentucky’s strict abortion laws, which took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s federal abortion protections in June. A defeat of the proposed amendment could pave the way for the state’s highest court to invalidate a ban on all abortions except in rare medical emergencies. Five states have put abortion-related measures on their November midterm election ballots, allowing voters to direct the future of abortion access in their states. Kentucky is the only one of those states to have voters weigh in on abortion rights while enforcing a near-total ban. The campaign against the ballot measure in Kentucky, a deeply conservative state with a Republican supermajority in its statehouse, has drawn millions of dollars and some of the same personnel who helped defeat the Kansas effort. A coalition of state and national abortion rights groups called Protect Kentucky Access aims to win support from conservatives who disagree with the overturn of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and the state’s abortion ban. “There’s a decent chance that we’ll see some relatively conservative Republican voters, even people that you’d call generally anti-abortion…looking like they’re relatively pro-choice in this vote because of the current circumstances,” said Steve Voss, a political scientist at the University of Kentucky. There is no public opinion polling on the ballot question. Yes for Life, a coalition of state religious groups campaigning in support of the amendment, also is seeking to galvanize conservative, anti-abortion voters to avoid a repeat of the Kansas outcome. “We’re working very hard night and day to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Addia Wuchner, the group’s campaign director. KANSAS ABORTION BALLOT CONNECTIONS The coalition opposing the Kentucky measure has raised $2.7 million this year, according to an Oct. 12 financial report, surpassing the $510,000 raised this year by Yes for Life in support of the amendment. Leticia Martinez, a consultant who has advised both opposition campaigns, said while the Kansas win informed the Kentucky efforts, the current strategy was tailored to Kentucky voters specifically. There are roughly equal numbers of registered Republicans and Democrats in Kentucky. In Kansas, registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 350,000. One message that swayed moderates in Kansas – that rejecting the amendment would prevent government interference with personal medical decisions – also seems to resonate with Kentucky voters, Martinez said. “That is a message that really crosses party lines,” she said. The campaign is emphasizing the impact abortion bans can have on women with pregnancy complications, noting their lives could be at stake if doctors fear repercussions for providing abortion care. The campaign’s first television advertisement featured a woman discussing how she had to terminate a wanted pregnancy to save her own life. “It’s an impossible decision,” the woman says in the ad, which is airing in Kentucky metropolitan areas. “I can’t imagine a politician making it for me.” Denise Finley, a 64-year-old retired teacher in Lexington, said she would vote “no” on the amendment. She lost a baby to a fatal medical condition, she said. Though she had not known about the condition before giving birth, she felt any decision related to her child should not involve the government. “This is personal,” said Finley, a registered Republican who has often voted for Democrats. “Unless you’re in that situation, you don’t know how you really will feel.” Kentucky’s Supreme Court has allowed two restrictive abortion laws to take effect: a ban on abortions after six weeks and a near-total ban triggered by the overturn of Roe. A hearing on challenges to those bans is set for Nov. 15, the week after the election. The fate of abortion services in the state hangs in the balance. The Kentucky anti-abortion coalition is hosting rallies in rural areas and leaning on church communities, said Wuchner, the Yes For Life campaign director who also serves as executive director of Kentucky Right to Life. Despite being outspent in Kentucky and having far less than the nearly $5 million raised by Kansas’ anti-abortion campaign, Wuchner said her team is counting on turnout from “family-values, pro-life voters” to achieve victory. “This amendment will shore up the constitution and allow the lawmakers to make the laws,” she said. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Josie Kao) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – Lauren Nichols, a 34-year-old logistics expert for the U.S. Department of Transportation in Boston, has been suffering from impaired thinking and focus, fatigue, seizures, headache and pain since her COVID-19 infection in the spring of 2020. Last June, her doctor suggested low doses of naltrexone, a generic drug typically used to treat alcohol and opioid addiction. After more than two years of living in “a thick, foggy cloud,” she said, “I can actually think clearly.” Researchers chasing long COVID cures are eager to learn whether the drug can offer similar benefits to millions suffering from pain, fatigue and brain fog months after a coronavirus infection. The drug has been used with some success to treat a similar complex, post-infectious syndrome marked by cognitive deficits and overwhelming fatigue called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Drawing on its use in ME/CFS and a handful of long COVID pilot studies, there are now at least four clinical trials planned to test naltrexone in hundreds of patients with long COVID, according to a Reuters review of Clinicaltrials.gov and interviews with 12 ME/CFS and long COVID researchers. It is also on the short list of treatments to be tested in the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s $1 billion RECOVER Initiative, which aims to uncover underlying causes and find treatments for long COVID, advisers to the trial told Reuters. Unlike treatments aimed at addressing specific symptoms caused by COVID damage to organs, such as the lungs, low-dose naltrexone (LDN) may reverse some of the underlying pathology driving symptoms, they said. Naltrexone has anti-inflammatory properties and has been used at low doses for years to treat conditions such as fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis, said Dr. Jarred Younger, director of the Neuro-inflammation, Pain and Fatigue Laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. At 50 milligrams – 10 times the low dose – naltrexone is approved to treat opioid and alcohol addiction. Several generic manufacturers sell 50mg pills, but low-dose naltrexone must be purchased through a compounding pharmacy. Younger, author of a scientific review of the drug as a novel anti-inflammatory, in September submitted a grant application to study LDN for long COVID. “It should be at the top of everyone’s list for clinical trials,” he said. Still, the drug is unlikely to help all patients with long COVID, a collection of some 200 symptoms ranging from pain and heart palpitations to insomnia and cognitive impairment. One 218-patient ME/CFS study found 74% had improvements in sleep, reduced pain and neurological disturbances. “It’s not a panacea,” said Jaime Seltzer, a Stanford researcher and head of scientific outreach for the advocacy group MEAction. “These people weren’t cured, but they were helped.” ‘HUMAN AGAIN’ Dr. Jack Lambert, an infectious disease expert at University College Dublin School of Medicine, had used LDN to treat pain and fatigue associated with chronic Lyme disease. During the pandemic, Lambert recommended LDN to colleagues treating patients with lingering symptoms after bouts of COVID. It worked so well that he ran a pilot study among 38 long COVID patients. They reported improvements in energy, pain, concentration, insomnia and overall recovery from COVID-19 after two months, according to findings published in July. Lambert, who is planning a larger trial to confirm those results, said he believes LDN may repair damage of the disease rather than mask its symptoms. Other planned LDN trials include one by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and a pilot study by Ann Arbor, Michigan-based startup AgelessRx. That study of 36 volunteers should have results by year-end, said company co-founder Sajad Zalzala. Scientists are still working on explaining the mechanism for how LDN might work. Experiments by Dr. Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik of the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases in Australia suggest ME/CFS and long COVID symptoms arise from a significant reduction in function of natural killer cells in the immune system. In laboratory experiments, LDN may have helped restore their normal function, a theory that must still be confirmed. Others believe infections trigger immune cells in the central nervous system called microglia to produce cytokines, inflammatory molecules that cause fatigue and other symptoms associated with ME/CFS and long COVID. Younger believes naltrexone calms these hypersensitized immune cells. Dr. Zach Porterfield, a virologist at the University of Kentucky who co-chairs a RECOVER task force looking at commonalities with other post-infectious syndromes, said it has recommended LDN be included in RECOVER’s treatment trials. Other therapies under consideration, sources said, were antivirals, such as Pfizer Inc’s Paxlovid, anti-clotting agents, steroids and nutritional supplements. RECOVER officials said they have received dozens of proposals and could not comment on which drugs will be tested until trials are finalized. Dr. Hector Bonilla, co-director of the Stanford Post-Acute COVID-19 Clinic and a RECOVER adviser, has used LDN in 500 ME/CFS patients, with about half reporting benefits. He studied LDN in 18 long COVID patients, with 11 showing improvements, and said he believes larger, formal trials could determine whether LDN offers a true benefit. Nichols, a patient adviser to RECOVER, was “ecstatic” when she learned LDN was being considered for the government-funded trials. While LDN has not fixed all her COVID-related problems, Nichols can now work all day without breaks and have a social life at home. “It has made me feel like a human again.” (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot) View the full article