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Published by Reuters By Ahmed Aboulenein and Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Thursday she was cautiously optimistic over a decline in the growth of new monkeypox cases, but that some areas of the country are still experiencing a rise in infections. She also said during a White House briefing that the agency was taking steps to address racial and ethnic disparities in distribution of monkeypox vaccines. Nearly 23,000 cases of monkeypox have been identified across the United States as of Sept. 14, Walensky told reporters. “Over the last several weeks, we’ve been pleased to see a decline in the growth of new cases here and abroad. There are areas of the U.S. where the rate of rise in new cases is still increasing,” she said. “We approach this news with cautious optimism.” The racial and ethnic makeup of the outbreak has evolved over the past few weeks, Walensky said. CDC is opening applications for a vaccine equity pilot program under which 50,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine have been allocated to address distribution disparities. “While monkeypox cases were first seen predominantly in non-Hispanic white men, in the last week among the cases for which we have race and ethnicity data, non-Hispanic Black men represented 38% of cases, Latino or Hispanic men represented 25% of cases and non-Hispanic white men represented 26%,” Walensky said. Conversely, of the 91% of first vaccine doses administered for which the CDC has race and ethnicity data, white people received about 47% of those shots, Hispanic people got about 20% and Black people accounted for some 12%, the CDC director noted. “The percentage of vaccines administered to Latino or Hispanic men and non-Hispanic Black men are disproportionately lower than we are seeing represented in cases,” she acknowledged. More than 540,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine have been administered so far, Walensky said. CDC data shows that 80% of those were first doses, but the number of second doses administered has increased over the past several weeks, Walensky said. Jynneos needs to be given in two doses, four weeks apart, to be fully effective. At a briefing on Aug. 26, Walensky said 97% of shots administered had been first doses. (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by Global Voices Photo by Guillaume Paumier, published under CC BY 2.0 license on Flickr. French President Emmanuel Macron’s (center-right, liberal) government, who was reelected President in April 2022, is currently facing backlash over homophobic comments and stances expressed by some of its members. On July 13, 2022, six French anti-homophobia organizations filed a legal complaint against the current Minister of Local Authorities, Caroline Cayeux, only a few days after she was appointed. They denounced comments she made as a senator in 2013 when she said same-sex marriage was a “whim” and went “against natu… Read More View the full article

Published by The Detroit News DETROIT — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he’s raising his children to “have better values” than Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock, who called him a “weak little girl” on Twitter earlier this week. “If she wants to talk about little girls, Chasten and I are raising a little girl and a little boy. And we are raising them to have better values than the chairwoman,” he said. “The rest is politics.” Buttigieg is the nation’s first openly gay, Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary and a former officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. The Buttigieges announced last August they ha… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet By David Badash,The New Civil Rights Movement Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi mocked Republican lawmakers on Wednesday after U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham‘s decision to announce a bill to ban abortion nationwide continues to backfire on the South Carolina Republican and the GOP. Pointing to a little-noticed aspect of Graham’s proposed legislation, which would ban nearly all abortion at the 15-week mark, Speaker Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference the bill would not just place a nationwide ban of abortion, it would actually “criminalize” it. “The extreme MAGA Republicans gather… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andrea Shalal and Jarrett Renshaw WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden called on Americans to speak out against racism and extremism during a summit at the White House on Thursday, and said he would ask Congress to do more to hold social media companies accountable for spreading hate. “White supremacists will not have the last word,” Biden told the ‘United We Stand’ summit of bipartisan local leaders, experts and survivors. Biden said America had long experienced a “through line of hate” against minority groups, one that had been given “too much oxygen” by politics and the media in recent years. “It’s so important that we keep hollering,” he said. “It’s so important for people to know that’s not who we are.” The event also recognized communities that suffered hate-based attacks, including mass shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando in 2016 and at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket earlier this year, in which 10 Black people were gunned down by an avowed racist. Hate crimes in the United States hit a 12-year high in 2020, the last available data, the FBI said last year. Biden was introduced by Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer, who was killed during an August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “Her murder resonated around the world, but the hate did not begin or end there,” Bro said. Participants gave Biden a standing ovation when he said he wanted Congress to “hold social media companies accountable for spreading hate.” “I’m calling on Congress to get rid of special immunity for social media companies and impose much stronger transparency requirements on all of them,” Biden said. The White House event comes just weeks after Biden warned in a speech in Philadelphia that extremist Republicans are a threat to democracy. Biden addressed criticism that the speech was divisive on Thursday. “Silence is complicity, we can’t remain silent,” Biden said. “There are those that say we bring this up, we divide the country. Bringing it up we silence it.” Biden announced a $1 billion push by philanthropists to build bridges among Americans of different backgrounds, and an initiative supported by the foundations of former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford. Several big technology companies also joined in. YouTube said it was expanding its efforts to combat violent extremism by removing content glorifying violent acts for the purpose of inspiring others to commit harm, fundraise, or recruit. Microsoft said it was expanding use of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to detect credible threats of violence, and use gaming to build empathy. (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Andrea Shalal; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Heather Timmons and Richard Pullin) View the full article

Published by Al-Araby No artistic discipline is more neglected in Islamic civilisation than its figurative art, which involves the depiction of humans and animals on any surface. While the Jewish ban on this form of art has influenced the Islamic doctrines and cultures up till today; as Islamic civilisation grew in cultural centres outside the Arabian Peninsula, new Muslim nations continued making images in line with their inherited local artistic traditions, with varieties in terms of quality, quantity, styles, preservation conditions and the rules followed in determining what is permissible or not. So, what is ca… Read More View the full article

Published by Miami Herald MIAMI — Days after the Miami-Dade County School District denied students from attending Miami New Drama’s production of Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Anna in the Tropics,” school officials pointed to lines and imagery they considered to be “sexually explicit” or inappropriate for school-aged children. Among the examples cited were comments between characters, such as “I would’ve shot the son of [expletive] a long time ago,” and a stage note that referenced lovemaking on top of a table. There’s also a description “of what lovers do” and a violent passage in which a character reads fr… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega JoJo Siwa knows all about the pressures of performing on Dancing With The Stars — which is why RadarOnline asked her who she believes will come out victorious with this year’s hard-to-get mirror ball. We caught up with JoJo at the opening night of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill at Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday, where we asked the former DWTS contestant who she thinks will take home the coveted trophy. Not only did she spill about her prediction, but she also had some sound advice for Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice, along with the others fighting for the sought-after award. Mega Last week, the newest contestants and their pro pairs for season 31 of the competition reality series were announced. The celebrity-filled cast includes Bachelor star Gabby Windey, comedian Wayne Brady, singer Jordin Sparks, actress Selma Blair, Jersey Shore star Vinny Guadagnino, country singer Jessie James Decker, Sex and the City actor Jason Lewis, Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s son Joseph Baena, and more. It also includes Teresa and Shangela, who is the first drag queen ever to compete on DWTS. JoJo broke barriers when she teamed up with dancer Jenna Johnson last year, making them the first same-sex pairing on the show. The reality star-turned-mega influencer didn’t win, but she thinks she knows who will take home the mirror ball this time around. Mega “The whole cast is awesome,” JoJo responded when we asked her about the cast. “I’m really excited for Shangela to be a part of the show. Shangela’s paired up with Gelb and, you know, it’s going to be really fun because obviously, Shangela is a drag queen, but on the inside, she’s also a he.” “I think that that’s going to be really fun to see if they dress in drag (or) if they present masculine,” she continued. “I think it’s going to be a really fun story to watch throughout the season.” When asked what it means to see DWTS eliminate stereotypes of dancing pairs, JoJo didn’t hold back. Mega “It’s incredible! I really love that they didn’t do another female-female this year, even a male-male,” she told RadarOnline.com, “they did a male-drag queen and I think that anything they would have done would have been incredible, but they brought a whole other level of inclusivity.” She added the “brilliant” move “shows, once again, that you can do anything — you can dance with anyone.” While JoJo’s votes are going to Shangela, her mother will be cheering for Teresa. When asked if she had any advice for the reality star-turned-mirror ball hopeful, she said, “It’s not about being a dancer, I can say that. It’s a totally different kind of dancing as well.” Shooting down the idea that Charli D’Amelio will walk away with the trophy because she’s a dancer, JoJo argued, “it really is such a different kind of dance than what a competitive dancer is trained to do. It’s a challenge for everybody.” Besides stopping to chat with RadarOnline.com at the event, JoJo made headlines by making her red carpet debut with her girlfriend Avery Cyrus. The two were adorable for their first-ever event, stopping to take their own photos as they walked into the theater. Jagged Little Pill will be showing in Los Angeles until October 2. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate votes on legislation protecting gay marriage on Thursday were put off until after the Nov. 8 congressional elections, as negotiators failed to win enough Republican support to ensure passage. The delay dashed the hopes of advocates who had sought prompt action on a bill already passed by the House of Representatives that would ensure protection for same-sex and interracial marriages. The move came after weeks of closed-door talks between a small group of Democratic and Republican senators who looked at ways to amend the House bill in order to attract at least 10 Republican supporters who would join 48 Democrats and two independents. The U.S. Census Bureau in 2019 estimated that there were 543,000 same-sex married couple households and 469,000 households with same-sex unmarried partners living together. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is “extremely disappointed” that there were not at least 10 out of 50 Republicans willing to come forward to support the gay rights legislation, spokesman Justin Goodman said in a statement. Goodman added that Schumer nonetheless is “100% committed” to holding a vote this year. Schumer had hoped to set up a first procedural vote on the legislation on Monday. Senators leading the negotiations issued a statement saying that they needed additional time to work on the bill. “We are confident that when our legislation comes to the Senate floor for a vote, we will have the bipartisan support to pass the bill,” said Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin and Kyrsten Sinema and Republicans Susan Collins, Rob Portman and Thom Tillis. Earlier, Baldwin told reporters that a bill will be put to a vote following the elections. Joni Madison, the interim president of LGBT civil rights organization Human Rights Council, called for the bill to be brought to the floor for a vote “at the earliest possible moment,” calling the delay disappointing. “Marriage equality – for both LGBTQ+ and interracial couples – is not and should not be a partisan issue, and to treat it as such is an insult to the millions of families who are impacted,” Madison said in a statement. The thinking behind the delay is that following the midterm elections Republican senators will feel freer to back the legislation at a time when any voter backlash would be two years away with the next elections. “If they think that improves their chances of passage, that’s their prerogative,” Republican Senator John Cornyn told reporters, adding that he would vote against a bill codifying same-sex marriage into law. The Senate’s failure to win sufficient Republican support for a bill came after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in mid-July passed such a measure with the backing of 47 Republicans. Schumer has been careful to give negotiators — and wavering Republicans — the space they needed to put together a bill that would succeed, rather than just force senators to go on record for or against but result in a failed vote. Over the past several days, the small group of senators and their staffs worked on an amendment designed to protect the “religious liberty” concerns of some Republicans. But some supporters of the bill said the real snag was that there just were not enough Republicans willing to back any such bill, especially six weeks before the elections. “The Republicans need to stand up and explain why they don’t want to vote for equality among all human beings and the right to marry the person you love,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren told reporters upon hearing about the delay. Republican Senator Rob Portman told reporters, “We were very, very close” to moving toward passage of a bill. The push to enact a federal law recognizing gay marriage arose after conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in June wrote that the same logic that led the court to overturn the national right to abortion could also lead it to reconsider its earlier decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Early on, Senator Mitt Romney was one of several Republicans saying there was no need to tackle such legislation after the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples. The court in 2015, however, was markedly less conservative than the current high court. Supporters of the legislation fear that the delay – the second in two months – could see support further erode, especially if Republicans win in November elections. (The story corrects to ‘were’ in lead.) (Reporting by Richard Cowan, Makini Brice and Moira Warburton; editing by Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent two planeloads of migrants to the posh vacation island of Martha’s Vineyard this week, to protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies. It’s the latest provocation by DeSantis, a Republican who is seeking re-election as governor in November and is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate. POLITICAL RISE DeSantis, 44, was elected Florida’s governor in 2018 after President Donald Trump endorsed the then-congressman over a more established Republican candidate. His national profile grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he resisted mask and vaccine mandates and argued for the opening of schools. He has governed Florida with a brash and heavy hand, blasting critics, pushing his priorities through the legislature and punishing his enemies. He recently removed from office an elected Democratic prosecutor in Tampa for what DeSantis called an unwillingness to enforce abortion restrictions. IMMIGRATION DeSantis has taken an aggressive approach to illegal immigration despite the fact that Florida does not share a border with another country. He sued Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration over its immigration policies and sought to ban so-called “sanctuary cities” – places that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities – from being established in the state. “People are wondering, ‘Why are you doing this?,’” DeSantis said earlier this year. “People will say, ‘Let Texas or Arizona worry about that.’ Let me tell you, people trying to come in illegally are trying to get to Florida.” CULTURE WARRIOR DeSantis has been the party’s leading figure in fighting “culture wars,” particularly with regard to education. He championed the “Don’t Say Gay” law that prohibits Florida teachers from discussing sexual orientation with young students, sparking a clash with Disney, a large employer in the state. He has backed restrictions on what teachers can teach about U.S. history and race relations, arguing that public schools “indoctrinate” students with liberal values. He also has seized control of the state Board of Education and supported conservative school board candidates in local races. PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS As his prominence within the Republican Party has risen, so has talk about DeSantis running for president in 2024. The biggest obstacle in his path is Trump himself, who is expected to seek another term in office. DeSantis has been cagey about whether he would challenge Trump, who is still the most popular figure in the party. Meantime, DeSantis has proved to be a prolific fundraiser, having raised $172 million for his re-election campaign from sources inside and outside of Florida – on pace to set the record for fundraising in a gubernatorial race. He has continued to build national recognition, taking time away from the state to stump for other Republican candidates ahead of November’s midterm elections. (Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jarrett Renshaw and Phil Stewart PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro on Wednesday plans to debut a new online ad aimed at Black voters that features his Republican rival posing in a Confederate military uniform, the campaign told Reuters. The ad features a photo first reported last month of Doug Mastriano, a Donald Trump-backed candidate and state senator, wearing the uniform in a faculty photo at the Army War College. The photo obtained by Reuters showed Mastriano in a 2013-14 portrait for the Department of Military Strategy, Plans, and Operations, where he worked. Faculty at the time had been given the option of dressing as a historical figure and at least 15 of the 21 faculty in the photo opted to appear in regular attire. Mastriano was the only one wearing a Confederate uniform. Mastriano, who has not responded to Reuters requests for comment, came under fire from Shapiro, who said it was a “traitor’s” uniform that has come to symbolize racism. The new ad features a close-up view of Mastriano in the Confederate uniform with a voice over that notes the War College said the photo failed to meet the War College’s values. “Does it reflect your values?” the narrator asks. The six-figure ad campaign is part of $1.2 million that Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, has budgeted for digital ads. Pennsylvania plays an outsized role in U.S. politics as a swing state in presidential elections, and Mastriano, who has embraced Trump’s stolen election lies, is trailing in polls and in fundraising ahead of the Nov. 8 contest. The winner of the governor’s race will choose the state’s top elections official, who will oversee its 2024 presidential election. The governor will also have the power to block or advance efforts by the Republican-led state legislature to severely restrict abortions. Displays of Confederate symbols are painful reminders to many of racial oppression and the Civil War, which saw 11 rebelling Confederate states fight to keep Black people enslaved. The U.S. military issued a de facto ban on displaying the Confederate flag and has sought to remove segregationist symbols from bases and academic institutions following the murder in May 2020 of George Floyd, a Black man whose killing by a white police officer in Minneapolis triggered protests worldwide. The War College removed the photo from a display after Reuters inquired about it. (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Cynthia Osterman) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow and an outspoken defender of ex-President Donald Trump’s voter fraud claims, said the FBI seized his cellphone this week, RadarOnline.com has learned. According to Lindell, the incident took place on Tuesday while the My Pillow founder was picking up dinner at a Hardee’s restaurant in Colorado. Mega While Lindell was in the drive-through line, he was allegedly surrounded by FBI agents who served him with a grand jury subpoena ordering the turnover of his cellphone. The subpoena was reportedly in connection to potential information to help with the agency’s ongoing investigation into a Colorado 2020 presidential election security breach. Mega “Cars pulled up in front of us, to the side of us and behind us and I said, ‘These are either bad guys or the FBI.’ Well, it turns out they were the FBI,” Lindell revealed during his struggling online show, The Lindell Report, Tuesday night. “He goes, ‘Well, I got some bad news … he goes, ‘We’re taking your cellphone. We have a warrant for your cellphone,” Lindell continued. “I want to say this for the record, they were pretty nice guys. None of them had an attitude.” The My Pillow CEO and staunch Trump defender further revealed he was questioned about Tina Peters, a Mesa County, Colorado clerk currently under investigation for allegedly allowing an unauthorized individual to access voting machines. “I said, ‘Come on, bring me to January 6,’” Lindell allegedly told the FBI agents after initially believing the subpoena was in connection to the ongoing investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. “I want to be part of that show.” Mega “They thought they were there to intimidate me,” he added during an interview with CNN, “they won’t intimidate me.” Although a spokesperson for the FBI could not officially corroborate Lindell’s claims, the spokesperson confirmed agents of the agency were at Hardee’s Tuesday night to execute a search warrant. “Without commenting on this specific matter, I can confirm that the FBI was at that location executing a search warrant authorized by a federal judge,” the agency’s spokesperson told CNN. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Russian tank.MEGA Russia has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to interfere with foreign elections, according to declassified United States intelligence, Radar has learned. The country’s influence in foreign elections has included the funding of political parties, officials and politicians. Moscow’s interference has been in place in at least two dozen countries over four continents since 2014, the U.S. stated. Russia’s interactions have been further under the microscope since it began its invasion of Ukraine in February. The Biden Administration has shared the findings with 110 other countries in order to expose Russia. “What Russia is doing around the world in terms of its election meddling is also an assault on sovereignty, is an effort to chip away at the ability of people around the world to choose the governments that they see best fit, to represent them to represent their interests, to represent their values,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said Sept. 13. MEGA “Part of our charge, not only is to do that assessment and to collect and to do that analysis, but then to expose what we know.” Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to continue his interference in foreign politics with the goal of having global influence. Russia has been accused of foreign election interference for years while denying all claims. According to a Federal Grand Jury indictment, Russians used a monthly budget of $1.2 million to interfere with the 2016 United States presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. However, the new report on Russia’s influence in foreign elections did not cite how effective it has been. The release of the declassified information has been a tactic the Biden Administration has used to expose Russia, one that CIA Director William Burns said last week has been effective, according to NBC News. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen setbacks recently as the invaded country has been pushing the aggressors back. View the full article

Published by Radar Online The fight over abortion.MEGA A Louisiana woman carrying a skull-less fetus had to travel approximately 1,400 miles to get an abortion in New York because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Radar has learned. Nancy Davis, 36, who was carrying a fetus that would die shortly after birth, had to go out of state to get the termination because of uncertainty over abortion laws in her home state of Louisiana. Davis had the procedure done Sept. 1 in Manhattan, a long way from her home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a state that’s outlawed abortion aside from a few exceptions. New York is among U.S. states where abortion is still legal. Davis found out in July, when she was about 10 weeks pregnant, that the fetus was missing the top of its skull, a rare, fatal condition called acrania, which kills babies shortly after birth. The condition is not explicitly listed as an exception in Louisiana’s abortion law. Louisiana state Sen. Katrina Jackson, who authored the law, has insisted that Davis could have had the procedure done in the state despite the lack of an explicit exception. Still, a Louisiana hospital refused to provide an abortion for Davis in fear that they could face prison time, fines and forfeiture of their licenses. “Basically … I [would have] to carry my baby to bury my baby,” Davis has previously said. More than 1,000 people have donated nearly $40,000 to a GoFundMe campaign for Davis in hopes of traveling to a state where she could legally get the abortion. Davis originally was going to North Carolina for the procedure but wound up going to a Planned Parenthood facility in Manhattan instead. Davis is one of several women across the United States who have had to go out of state for abortions since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June. Many states have already banned abortions, while others, like Indiana, are in the process of making it happen. In late August, Davis stood outside Louisiana’s capitol building alongside civil rights attorney Ben Crump while calling on the state to clarify Louisiana’s abortion ban. Crump said Davis suffered “unspeakable pain, emotional damage and physical risk” due to the law, and he added that state lawmakers “replaced care with confusion, privacy with politics and options with ideology,” according to The Guardian. “This [was] not fair to me. And it should not happen to any other woman,” Davis said. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters) – The White House released new details on Wednesday on how it plans to invest more than $2 billion in the U.S. biotechnology sector as it hosts a meeting of government leaders to discuss the emerging industry. President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order that launched a national biotechnology and bio-manufacturing initiative, and on Wednesday the White House will hold a summit with top government officials and department heads to discuss plans on how to administer the order and allocate the money. The executive order allows the federal government to direct funding for the use of microbes and other biologically derived resources to make new foods, fertilizers and seeds, as well as making mining operations more efficient, administration officials said. It also will help fund a quest for medical breakthroughs, such as a vaccine to prevent cancer, or a blood test that could detect cancer in an annual physical. The spending plan released by the White House includes $1 billion from the Department of Defense to fund bio-industrial domestic manufacturing infrastructure over five years to boost the industry and make it accessible to U.S. innovators. Other spending includes a $250 million grant program administered by the Department of Agriculture to support sustainable American fertilizer production. A further $40 million will be used to expand the role of bio-manufacturing for active pharmaceutical ingredients, antibiotics and key materials needed to produce medications and respond to pandemics. The federal government is already a source of funds to biotechnology research and development through the National Institute of Health, the DoA and other agencies. Overall U.S. funding for R&D has dropped as a percentage of gross domestic product since a peak in the 1950s, a trend Biden has pledged to reverse. (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) View the full article

Published by AFP John Boyega, Thuso Mbedu, Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, and Sheila Atim star in Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – Viola Davis said the future of big-budget Black female filmmaking in Hollywood is at stake as her ground-breaking African warrior epic “The Woman King” hits theaters this weekend. The Oscar-winning actress told AFP Wednesday she feels intense pressure and conflicting emotions, because she knows the movie’s performance will be judged in a way that films with white directors and casts are not. “First of all, the movie has to make money. And I feel conflicted about that — that we sort of have one or two chances,” she said. “If it doesn’t make money then what it means overall, is that, what, Black women, dark-skinned Black women can’t lead a global box office? “That’s it, period. And now they have data on it because ‘Woman King’ did a, b and c. And that’s what I’m conflicted about. “Because it simply isn’t true. We don’t do that with white movies. We simply don’t. If a movie fails, you do another movie, and you do another movie just like it.” Sony Pictures’ “The Woman King,” which portrays the real-life 19th century all-female warriors of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, is in many ways a step into the unknown for a major Hollywood studio. With a Black female director, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and a majority Black and female cast, it will open in more than 3,000 domestic theaters, with a budget including marketing that reportedly approaches $100 million. Davis, the only African-American to win an Oscar, Emmy and Tony, spent six years trying to get “The Woman King” made, with studios and producers reluctant to take the plunge. ‘Prove it’ She plays veteran warrior Nanisca as she trains the next generation of recruits fending off a larger, rival African kingdom and European slavers. The all-female army of the Dahomey kingdom served as an inspiration for the elite women fighters in “Black Panther,” which grossed $1.3 billion worldwide. Davis called on the movie-going public to prove that films like “The Woman King” can succeed without being part of the Marvel superhero franchise. “We’re all in this together, right? We know that we need each other. We know that we’re all committed to inclusion and diversity,” she said. “Then, if you can plop down your money to see ‘Avatar,’ If you can plop down your money to see ‘Titanic,’ then you can plop your money into seeing ‘The Woman King.’ “Because here’s the thing. It’s not even that it’s just Black female-led, the cultural significance of it. It’s a very entertaining movie. “And if we are indeed equal, then I’m challenging you to prove it.” ‘You won’t see us’ The movie received largely positive reviews following its world premiere at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival. Variety called it a “compelling display of Black power,” with Davis in “her fiercest role yet.” But, Davis said, the film’s muscular battle scenes had drawn criticism and misogyny from within the Black community. “You even have people in the Black community saying, ‘Ah, it’s dark-skinned women, why do they have to be so masculine? Why can’t they look prettier? Why couldn’t it be a romantic comedy?'” she told AFP. “Well, guess what, if this movie doesn’t make money September 16 — by the way, I am 150 percent certain it will — but if it doesn’t, then guess what? You won’t see us at all,” she said. “That’s the truth. I wish it were different.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Tim Reid (Reuters) – Republicans who back former President Donald Trump’s false claim the 2020 election was stolen have become their party’s nominees for secretary of state in battleground states where they can play a decisive role in choosing a U.S. president. Should they defeat their Democratic opponents in a Nov. 8 vote, these election deniers will be in charge of elections and vote counts in the swing states of Arizona, Michigan and Nevada during the 2024 White House contest. Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly won all three states in 2020. Voting rights groups say the election of any of these Republican candidates threatens both the integrity of the next presidential election and U.S. democracy itself. The fear is they could help Trump, if he decides to run again, or another like-minded Republican, overturn election results in 2024. Here are the Republican secretary of state candidates in the three states. MARK FINCHEM, ARIZONA Finchem is a state legislator, has claimed membership of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers, and has parroted false conspiracy theories propagated by the QAnon movement, including that leading politicians are part of a pedophile ring. Finchem supported the “Stop the Steal” movement that falsely claimed the 2020 election was fraudulent and attended Trump’s rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, that preceded the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Finchem says he did not travel from Trump’s rally to the Capitol that day. Finchem has said he would not have certified Biden’s 2020 victory in Arizona. He supported an audit of Arizona’s election results and co-sponsored a bill that would give the state’s Republican-controlled legislature the power to overturn election results. After the 2020 election he also called for the arrest of the state’s Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor this November. KRISTINA KARAMO, MICHIGAN Karamo was a little-known political figure in Michigan but soared to prominence – and onto Trump’s radar – when she claimed in 2020 that she had witnessed fraud at Detroit’s absentee counting board as a poll observer. A community college professor who opposes the teaching of evolution in schools, Karamo testified before the state legislature that she had seen sacks of votes being mysteriously dropped off in the middle of the night, and that voting machines flipped votes to Biden. No evidence has ever emerged supporting those claims. JIM MARCHANT, NEVADA A former state assemblyman, Marchant opposed certification of Biden’s win in Nevada. He was a member of Nevada’s bogus alternative slate of presidential electors that sought to overturn Biden’s victory in the state. Marchant ran for the U.S. Congress in 2020 but lost. He unsuccessfully sued to have that result overturned, basing his case on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Marchant is a member of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a group supporting a slate of candidates supporting Trump’s baseless claims about the 2020 election. In Nevada, the secretary of state does not have the power to certify results but can set and enforce election rules. (Reporting by Tim Reid, editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Manas Mishra (Reuters) -The world has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, urging nations to keep up their efforts against the virus that has killed over six million people. “We are not there yet. But the end is in sight,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a virtual press conference. The comment was the most optimistic from the UN agency since it declared COVID-19 an international emergency and started describing the virus as a pandemic in March 2020. The virus, which emerged in China in late 2019, has killed nearly 6.5 million people and infected 606 million, roiling global economies and overwhelming healthcare systems. The rollout of vaccines and therapies have helped to stem the severity of disease. Deaths from COVID-19 last week were the lowest since March 2020, the U.N. agency reported. Still, countries need to take a hard look at their policies and strengthen them for COVID-19 and future viruses, Tedros said. He also urged nations to vaccinate 100% of their high-risk groups and keep testing for the virus. The WHO warned of the possibility of future waves of the virus and said countries need to maintain adequate supplies of medical equipment and healthcare workers. “We expect there to be future waves of infections, potentially at different time points throughout the world caused by different subvariants of Omicron or even different variants of concern,” said WHO’s senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove. Monkeypox cases, too, were on a downtrend but Tedros urged countries to keep up the fight. WHO officials said last month that it is possible to eliminate the monkeypox outbreak in Europe by stepping up vaccination and testing. “As with COVID-19, this is not the time to relax or let down our guard.” (Reporting by Manas Mishra and Khushi Mandowara in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, William Maclean and Josephine Mason) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union executive will recommend suspending billions of euros earmarked for Hungary over corruption woes, two officials told Reuters on Wednesday, in what would be the first such move against Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The head of the executive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual policy speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday she would freeze funding for members damaging democracy, and singled out corruption. “We must fight for our democracies… I would like to focus on corruption,” she said, without naming Hungary specifically. But her executive was expected to recommend on Sunday the suspension of up to 70% of 22.5 billion euros ($22.44 billion)worth of cohesion funds earmarked for Hungary from the EU’s 2021-27 budget, according to the EU officials. Neither specified the exact sum in question. The Hungarian forint and bonds weakened on the news on Wednesday as European lawmakers denounced Orban for years of dismantling the rights of migrants, gays and women, as well as the freedom of media, academics and courts. “Hungary isn’t really a true democracy at all,” said Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, a Green French lawmaker. Hungary’s veteran premier Orban denies such criticism but is under pressure to secure funds for his ailing economy. Budapest promised to set up an anti-corruption agency and said repeatedly it was hoping for a deal with Brussels. CORRUPTION But the Commission has been cautious, with distrust running high after years of acrimonious feuds with Orban. Any cuts would come on top of some 6 billion euros from the bloc’s separate COVID-19 economic stimulus earmarked for Hungary but blocked by the Commission over the same corruption concerns. EU countries would have up to three months to decide on the Commission recommendation through a majority vote. One of the officials said any final decision could still change if Hungary follows up with “more detail and implementation” of the anti-graft measures it proposed during that time. Hungary had by far the highest share of irregularities in the whole bloc in spending EU funds in 2015-19, according to the EU anti-fraud agency. Brussels has long called for transparency, competition and accountability in Hungarian public procurement. ($1 = 1.0025 euros) (Additional reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Anita Komuves, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) View the full article

Published by AFP The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meanwhile published a report about two unvaccinated men in their thirties who experienced brain and spinal cord inflammation as a result of the virus Washington (AFP) – A second US death was linked to monkeypox on Tuesday as health authorities published a study describing how two previously healthy young men experienced inflammation of the brain and spinal cord as a result of the virus. There have been nearly 22,000 US cases in the current global outbreak, which began in May, but new infections have been falling since mid-August as authorities have distributed hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses. The latest fatal case involved a severely immunocompromised resident of Los Angeles County who had been hospitalized, the local health department said, without revealing further details about the case. “Persons severely immunocompromised who suspect they have monkeypox are encouraged to seek medical care and treatment early and remain under the care of a provider during their illness,” the department said. The first US death linked to the viral illness occurred in Texas and was announced on August 30, although authorities said that as the person was severely immunocompromised, they were investigating what role monkeypox had played. The current global outbreak is primarily affecting men who have sex with men. Historically, the virus has been spread via direct contact with lesions, body fluids and respiratory droplets, and sometimes through indirect contamination via surfaces such as shared bedding. But in this outbreak, there is preliminary evidence that sexual transmission may also play a role. Brain and spinal cord inflammation The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meanwhile published a report about two unvaccinated men in their 30s who experienced brain and spinal cord inflammation after testing positive for the virus. The first, patient A, was a gay man in his 30s from Colorado whose symptoms began with fever chills and malaise but progressed to rashes on his face, scrotum and extremities, with swabs of lesions testing positive for the virus. He also developed lower extremity weakness and numbness, was unable to empty his bladder, experienced a persistent and painful erection, and was hospitalized. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed brain and spinal cord inflammation, and he was treated with the oral monkeypox antiviral tecovirimat as well as other drugs, and began to improve at two weeks. He was released but continued to have left leg weakness and required an assistive walking device at one month followup. A second person, patient B, was also a gay man in his 30s from the capital Washington. His fever, rashes and muscle pain progressed to bowel and bladder incontinence and progressive flaccid weakness of both legs. Brain and spinal cord inflammation was confirmed on MRI and he was intubated in an intensive care unit, where he was treated with intravenous tecovirimat, as well a drug to reduce inflammation, and finally blood plasma exchange. He remains in hospital but can walk with the assistance of a device. The report said the underlying mechanism behind the two cases was unclear — it might have been direct invasion of the central nervous system, or an autoimmune response triggered by monkeypox infection elsewhere in the body. View the full article