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Published by Reuters By Michael Erman and Julie Steenhuysen (Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized updated COVID-19 booster shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna that target the dominant BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, as the government prepares for a broad fall vaccination campaign that could begin within days. The new vaccines also include the original version of the virus targeted by all the previous COVID shots. The FDA authorized the shots for everyone ages 12 and older who has had a primary vaccination series and is at least two months out from a previous booster shot, shorter than prior recommended intervals. Dr. Peter Marks, a senior FDA official overseeing vaccines, said he hopes the shots will restore the very good protection against symptomatic disease that the original vaccines offered when launched in late 2020 and early 2021. “We don’t know for a fact yet whether we will get to that same level, but that is the goal here,” Marks said. The government has begun working on the fall rollout, which could start soon after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) outside expert panel meets on Thursday and agency Director Rochelle Walensky makes a final recommendation. The United States has secured more than 170 million doses of the two shots in an attempt to stave off the worst effects of a potential surge in infections as schools reconvene and people spend more time indoors due to colder weather. This could be the last COVID vaccine provided for free to all Americans as the government plans to shift them to the commercial insurance market next year. Moderna’s retooled vaccine was authorized for those aged 18 and above, while the Pfizer/BioNTech shot will be available for those aged 12 and above, the FDA said. Pfizer said it has some doses ready to ship immediately and can deliver up to 15 million doses by Sept 9. Moderna said it expects its new shot to be available “in the coming days.” Experts have said that the updated vaccines will be important for older people and the immunocompromised, but noted there is limited data to support the level of protection the government is hoping for. “For people who haven’t been infected whose last dose was a year ago, yes, it’s going to benefit them. How much, I can’t tell you,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, a vaccine expert at the Mayo Clinic. He said the new shots are unlikely to help those who have been recently infected. The revaccination campaign this fall is expected to target many more people than the previous boosters authorized by the FDA earlier this year. Concerns about long COVID was one reason younger and healthier Americans should get the shot, officials said. “If anything is going to prevent transmission and long COVID, it’s going to be a variant specific vaccine for the variant that’s currently circulating,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said. DIFFERENT VACCINES IN OTHER COUNTRIES About 50% of those in the United States over the age of 12 – some 107 million people – have received at least one COVID-19 booster dose so far. Some scientists were critical of the recommendation that would allow for a new booster just two months after a prior shot, saying a longer gap would improve immune responses. FDA officials said the vast majority of Americans are significantly more than two months out from their most recent shot. Other countries including Canada and the UK also have ordered updated Omicron vaccine boosters for fall campaigns, although some have purchased shots tailored to the BA.1 Omicron subvariant that caused the record surge in COVID cases last winter. The FDA in June asked vaccine makers to tailor shots to the BA.4/BA.5 subvariants of the virus responsible for the most recent surge in infections worldwide. The BA.5 subvariant accounts for more than 88% of U.S. infections. The vaccine makers have not completed testing of the updated BA.4/BA.5-based boosters in humans. The FDA is basing its decision on safety and effectiveness data from the original shots as well as from clinical trials conducted on boosters using the BA.1 Omicron subvariant. (Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru, Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Michael Erman in Maplewood New Jersey; Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by DPA Robert Aramayo (l, Elrond) and Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) in “The Lord of the Rings – The Rings of Power”, launching on Amazon Prime on September 2. Ben Rothstein/Amazon Studios/dpa They dwell in utterly different worlds. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff, ”House of the Dragon,” is the one with beautifully candlelit buttocks and a steady supply of spilled entrails. “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is the other one. Premiering Thursday night on Amazon, “The Rings of Power” wields a different, family-friendlier set of selling points, though there is a dragon overlap. And in its first five minutes “The Rings of Power” does manage to shoot an arrow into someone’s mouth. For all the obvious contrasts, though, these two streaming fantasy prequels chase the same quarry. They’re after more of the same of whatever worked the first time, but a different sort of same. “The Rings of Power” gets off to a promising, lavishly outfitted start in the first two episodes made available for review. Guessing here, but I think just enough of the flashy stuff seen in the trailer shows up in the early going to keep casual or less committed Middle-earthlings on the hook for a while. The rabid fans were going to watch anyway. The questions for Amazon: Will their kids watch, too? And can “The Rings of Power” in its chosen weight class turn into a water cooler phenomenon, the way “House of the Dragon” has, even in our post-water cooler age? The series represents Amazon’s quest for the holy grail of a prestigious yet populist streaming hit, working off pricey IP. Jeff Bezos, a J.R.R. Tolkien enthusiast, paid $250 million for the adaptation rights alone — not derived from a book or three, but from various Tolkien “appendices” and narrative threads “inspired by, though not contained in, the original source material,” as the end credits phrase it. The eight-episode first season of “The Rings of Power” (just two were made available for preview) takes place many thousands of years prior to “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” in the Second Age of Middle-earth and environs. It may be peacetime, and New Zealand, as always, looks lovely both in fantasy peace and fantasy war, all dressed up with the usual, clinically wondrous digital landscapes. But the Dark Lord Sauron lurks somewhere across the Sundering Seas, and he’s shaping up as a strong second-term prospect for an all-powerful reign of terror. The initial table-setting “Rings of Power” episodes focus on the elven warrior commander Galadriel (Morfydd Clark, playing the younger version of the character Cate Blanchett handled in the Peter Jackson “LOTR” trilogy). She’s one of 22 characters jostling for their share of screen time in the kingdoms of elves, humans, dwarves, orcs and the rest of the Tolkien universe. With so many storylines on the burner, “The Rings of Power” makes a strategically wise decision to focus the early going on Galadriel as she braves the seas various and Sundering (excellent digital effects here), makes an uneasy truce with a human castaway (Charlie Vickers), and sets a course for adventure, without which, no story. As with Galadriel, many other characters link back directly or indirectly to those we know from the Jackson trilogy. Much like Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortensen’s heavily discouraged elven/human love story in “LOTR,” in “The Rings of Power” the Sylvan elf Arondir falls in love with the human healer Bronwyn, a single mother whose son is tempted by the forces of darkness. Arondir and Bronwyn, two “noncanonical” newbies created for the show, are played with quiet force by Ismael Cruz Córdova and Nazanin Boniadi. While the introduction of elves of color has already exploded the heads of some “LOTR” purists, whatever. Those people can make their own “Lord of the Rings” prequel. Working with showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, director J.A. Bayona shoots in a style approximating “Lord of the Rings” director Jackson’s endless, pivoting camera glides. Visually the series stalls a bit when setting up the less-than-enthralling elven kingdom doings of young half-elf Elrond (Robert Aramayo here, playing the prequel version of the Hugo Weaving role in “LOTR”). Much goes on simultaneously in “The Rings of Power,” including underground rock-crushing contests and the aboveground crash landing of a mysterious interstellar visitor. The overriding plot in this roiling sea of little plots is right there in the title: Twenty rings will be fashioned, eventually, in master elven architect Celebrimbor’s dream of a forge “able to birth a flame as hot as a dragon’s tongue and as pure as starlight.” Hearing a classically trained actor such as Charles Edwards wrap his vowels around a description like that, well, it’s something many “LOTR” enthusiasts have been missing for a long time now. At one point, Celebrimbor wonders if his life’s work will ever “grow beyond petty works of jeweled craft — and devise something of real power.” The same question looms over Amazon’s series. For now, it’s nice for our streaming pile of fantasy destination vacations to include a noble corrective to the assaultive depravities of “House of the Dragon.” The HBO phenom had zero trouble making the stakes and power dynamics clear in its debut episode, because it’s well-made, the actors sell it and the narrative is ridiculously simple. It may take a while for “The Rings of Power” to sort itself out, by contrast, and get the forge fired up. But so far, pretty good. Prime Video has embarked on a mammoth project, and one that is set to be divisive. Its producers are relaunching “The Lord of the Rings” as a series. After years of male-dominated narratives, women are now also taking the fate of Middle Earth into their own hands. Amazon Studios/dpa Morfydd Clark stars as Galadriel in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, launching on Amazon Prime on September 2. Matt Grace/Amazon Studios/dpa View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Brad Reed Republicans for decades have relied on the late billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to fund congressional and presidential races — but now the money spigot he once provided appears to have dried up. Bloomberg News reports that Adelson’s widow, Miriam Adelson, has been hesitant to fork over the massive sums her husband provided prior to his death in early 2021, leaving what the publication describes as a “financial hole” for the GOP. In fact, the only money Adelson has given this year has been a $5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electin… Read More View the full article

Published by The Philadelphia Inquirer PHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden used Philadelphia as the launching point Thursday for a blistering speech warning that “MAGA Republicans” are a threat to American values, and urging voters to choose a different path. Here are six takeaways from the address: A warning for democracyStanding in front of Independence Hall Thursday night, President Joe Biden said it was his duty to warn the country that the democracy born there is under direct threat. “As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise,” he said early in his roughly 2… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP The Biden administration has asked Congress for $22.4 billion more in funds to combat Covid-19 New York (AFP) – Warning of “difficult trade-offs” ahead of a feared fall Covid-19 wave, the Biden administration Friday urged Congress to approve $22.4 billion more to maintain key testing and vaccine programs. The request comes as the government readies a new fall initiative for Covid-19 vaccine boosters targeting the Omicron variant after US officials recommended Thursday new Pfizer and Moderna shots. Biden’s request for more money faces an uncertain fate on Capitol Hill amid pandemic fatigue and elevated partisanship ahead of the midterm elections. Noting that a previous White House demand for additional Covid-19 funds stalled in Congress, the administration has been forced “to pull existing funding from critical needs to meet the most pressing needs,” according to an administration memo ahead of the September 30 end of fiscal year 2022. The government on Friday suspended its program to provide free at-home Covid-19 testing kits, citing the lack of congressional funding. The government currently has “some tests available in the stockpile, but we do not have enough if there were a surge this fall,” an administration official told reporters on a briefing. Administration officials also said continued lack of funding would necessitate a transition from government-financed Covid-19 vaccines to a commercial model that would leave out some people. The latest batch of vaccines will continue to be free to the public “through the fall into next year,” an administration official said. “We were always going to have to transition to commercialization, but we’ve had to accelerate the timeline without additional funding,” the official said, noting the need to provide underinsured and uninsured to “the life saving protection of a vaccine.” Besides Covid-19 programs, the administration sought additional funds to support Ukraine, combat the monkeypox outbreak and address natural disasters in Kentucky, California and other states. View the full article

Published by City AM By Adam Bloodworth Gay men had it in the 1980s and 1990s when two landmark plays, Angels In America and The Normal Heart, humanised the tragedies of the AIDS crisis on major theatre stages. And now I, Joan, a new adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc, feels similarly like a crucial and history-making piece of theatre for transgender and non-binary people. This is the first major London theatre production where a trans person is centre stage, in a main role. It could have gone so wrong. A first-time actor in their first major London theatre job, twisting one of history’s great heroines to fit … Read More View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) A 25-year-old man has died from his injuries after being attacked at a gay pride event last week in the northwestern German city of Münster. Prosecutors say the young man — identified only as Malte — came to help other people who were being insulted at a Christopher Street Day rally on 27 August. A man then attacked the victim, knocking him to the ground, before fleeing with another person. Malte succumbed to his injuries early on Friday morning. Police have issued a description of the male suspects and have appealed for witnesses to come forward. The German government’s “queer commissioner”… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Steve Holland, Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden charged Republican allies of Donald Trump with undermining the country’s democracy and urged voters on Thursday to reject extremism ahead of November’s midterm elections. Biden accused lawmakers and others devoted to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda led by former U.S. President Trump as willing to overturn democratic elections, ignore the Constitution and “determined to take this country backwards” to a time without rights to abortion, privacy, contraception or same-sex marriage. “Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said. “As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise.” The prime-time speech in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, marked a sharp turn for Biden as midterm congressional elections approach. Aides say the president is increasingly concerned about anti-democratic trends in the Republican Party, and sees a need to jump into this year’s election fight and recast the stakes of his own 2024 re-election bid. After spending much of 2022 trying to combat high inflation at home and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and enduring two bouts of COVID-19 over the summer, Biden has in recent days repeatedly lashed out at Trump-aligned Republicans. His remarks on Thursday denouncing political violence and urging bipartisan compromise came after speeches in recent days where he condemned MAGA philosophy as “semi-fascism” and assailed Republican threats against the FBI after a search of Trump’s Florida home as “sickening.” House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday accused Biden of ignoring crime and inflation to criticize his fellow citizens. “Instead of trying to bring our country together to solve these challenges, President Biden has chosen to divide, demean and disparage his fellow Americans,” McCarthy said in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. “Why? Simply because they disagree with his policies.” A Democratic fundraiser said donors are closely watching Biden’s performance over the next few months to gauge whether to back him in a 2024 presidential run. Some have already decided that Biden, 79, should step aside to make way for fresh leadership, while others want to see if he can lead the party effectively. “If we can pull it off and retain the Senate, then there will be enough voices saying he has earned it and pave the way for re-election,” said a senior Democratic official. “If we don’t, the overwhelming sentiment will be ‘Pass the torch.'” FREE ELECTIONS IN DANGER? Biden spoke in Philadelphia from behind bullet-proof glass and within earshot of chanting Trump-supporting protesters. He made his remarks at a venue meant to signal the historical significance of his appeal, near Independence Hall, where the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were adopted. Some historians and legal scholars have cast the stakes in starker terms than Biden’s political future, saying free elections and commitment to the rule of law hang in the balance. They say losing Congress would not only make Biden a lame-duck president, but also turn over control of certifying the results of the next presidential election to Trump sympathizers, some of whom never accepted Biden’s 2020 victory and who have pledged to overhaul voting systems. Biden alluded to the concerns, saying “I will not stand by and watch elections in this country be stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost.” The speech echoed Biden’s signature 2020 campaign pledge to restore the “soul of the nation” and, by implication, purge the values associated with Trump. In the nearly two years since Biden was elected, Republican voters have mostly backed candidates aligned with the former president; more than half say they believe Trump rightfully won the election. Confronted by threats after Trump’s loss, one in five election workers polled this year said they may quit before the next presidential election. (Reporting by Steve Holland in Philadelphia, and Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Jeff Mason and Tyler Clifford in WashingtonEditing by Heather Timmons, Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis) View the full article

Published by uPolitics.com A “straight pride” march that commenced in front of an abortion clinic clashed with a large group of LGBTQ and pro-choice protestors in Modesto, California, on Saturday. The fourth annual straight pride event, put on by the National Straight Pride Coalition, was joined by members of the Proud Boys, the far-right group best known for playing a role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Some of the Proud Boy members in Modesto over the weekend were the same members who participated in the breach of the Capitol, according to reports. The two groups were separated by police, but not … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sarah Morland MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Gay rights activists from across Latin America have called for the region’s governments to take firm steps to prevent the spread of monkeypox, saying a lack of will to provide vaccines and diagnose cases is hurting the region’s gay and bisexual men. Latin America has confirmed around 16% of over 50,000 registered cases worldwide in the recent outbreak, almost exclusively in countries where it is not historically endemic. However, a Latin American network of gay rights activists believes governments are drastically underreporting the extent of the outbreak, in part due to discrimination against men who have sex with men, among whom the disease has so far been circulating overwhelmingly through sex. “The worst thing would be to decide that this will be controlled through herd immunity,” the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s director, Dr. Jorge Saavedra, told Reuters. “The lesions are very painful; and you can’t just condemn people to suffer.” “This is state sadism,” he said. Activists, who gathered in Mexico City on Thursday at an event to call for stronger state responses, said it was unbelievable that Mexico – one of Latin America’s most populous and visited countries – would have only one-third the number of monkeypox cases as Peru, which confirmed its first case a month after Mexico. “Are Peruvians having more sex than Mexicans? Sexologists have found no evidence,” Saavedra said at the event. The situation is particularly worrying in Mexico, activists said, where there is just one centralized diagnostics center forcing people to wait and travel long distances. Grassroots clinics for people living with HIV, who risk suffering much more severe effects of monkeypox, have meanwhile been flooded with patients, they said. Mexico’s government in June issued a statement discouraging messaging that links gay and bisexual men to monkeypox to prevent discrimination. “They stigmatized us 40 years ago during the AIDS crisis,” said HIV researcher Ricardo Forcada. “Now, they’re not helping us under the pretext of not stigmatizing us.” Forcada said the network was prepared to take all available legal actions, including appealing to Mexico’s human rights commission. It hopes the governments will invest in targeted health campaigns and order vaccines. “We don’t want this to turn into an endemic problem like other sexually transmitted diseases,” said Saavedra. (Reporting by Sarah Morland in Mexico City, Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Matthew Lewis) View the full article

Published by Chicago Tribune Workers at a Hostess bakery in Chicago accused the snack dessert maker of firing a transgender employee for her gender identity and segregating LGBT employees onto a separate work line at the factory in the Galewood neighborhood on city’s west side at a Wednesday news conference. Danyell Wallace, 43, said she was filing a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after she was fired in June from the company, where she had worked since 2020. Wallace, who is transgender and worked as a machine operator for Hostess, said she had been discriminated against by supervisors and was… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English George Miller has written another ‘Mad Max’ prequel. The 77-year-old director is returning to helm the movie ‘Furiosa’, which will star Anya Taylor-Joy and serves as an origin story for the character played by Charlize Theron in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, and revealed that he has another prequel idea in mind for Max Rockatansky – who has been portrayed by both Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy in the action franchise. In an interview with The AV Club, George said: “We also wrote, not a screenplay, but almost in novel form, Nico Lathouris and I, what happened to Max in that year before, and that’s something that we’ll look at further down the track later.” George explained how he and the crew created backstories for every character in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ so they could be explained in the other films. He said: “In telling the story of Furiosa, everything in ‘Fury Road’ had to be explained. In my mind, I have a back story of the Doof Warrior, who plays the guitar. How could a blind man play a guitar, how does he get to survive in a wasteland where everybody is in extremis? How did he come to be there? “So we wrote little stories for every character when we made ‘Fury Road’.” George revealed that the techniques for developing the story mean that the screenplay for ‘Furiosa’ was complete before ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ was filmed. The ‘Happy Feet’ director said: “We had the screenplay virtually complete before we shot ‘Fury Road’, and we did it because it arose out of wanting to explain to everybody who Furiosa was – to Charlize when she took on the role, and to all the actors and the designers and everybody else working on the Citadel and so on. “The feeling was, gee, this is a pretty good screenplay, and then I kept saying to myself, ‘If ‘Fury Road’ works, I’d really like to tell this story.'” View the full article

Published by New York Daily News A school board in Virginia has passed an anti-trans bathroom and locker room policy critics are calling “invasive and unnecessary” and “the most horrific bathroom policy ever.” The Hanover County School Board voted 5-2 to adopt the policy during a special session Tuesday night, which will make “trans and non-binary students jump through hoops simply to exist in schools,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. Under the new policy, trans students and their parents or legal guardians will be required to “submit a written request to the principal of the school where the stud… Read More View the full article

Published by City AM By Sascha O’Sullivan When the going gets tough, cultural roles get going. In June, Elon Musk told Tesla employees that 10 per cent of the workforce was going to be cut, as a result of his “super bad feeling” about the economy. Amongst those let go were Tesla’s LGBTQ+ community President and several diversity and inclusion programme leads. Mass redundancies have ripped through organisations as global economies brace themselves for a recession; tech companies laid off seven times as many employees in May as they did in the first four months of this year combined. The steep economic downturn and … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, hospital officials in Moscow said. Below are contrasting reactions from leaders and other high-profile figures outside and inside Russia: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN “Gorbachev was a politician and statesman who had a huge impact on the course of world history. He led our country during a period of complex, dramatic changes and large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges… “(He) strove to offer his solutions to urgent problems.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Gorbachev’s hopes for a “romance” with the West were unjustified, adding: “The honeymoon did not work out and the bloodthirstiness of our opponents showed itself. It’s good that we realised this in time and understood it.” OUTSIDE RUSSIA U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN “Mikhail Gorbachev was a man of remarkable vision … As leader of the USSR, he worked with President Reagan to reduce our two countries’ nuclear arsenals … After decades of brutal political repression, he embraced democratic reforms. “The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.” U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES Gorbachev was “a one-of-a-kind statesman who changed the course of history. He did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War. “The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace.” EX-GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL “Mikhail Gorbachev wrote world history. He exemplified how a single statesman can change the world for the better. “I can still feel the fear I had, like many people in the German Democratic Republic, in 1989, wondering whether tanks would roll again… But… no tanks rolled, no shots were fired… “The world has lost a one-of-a-kind world leader. May the memory of his historic achievement make it possible to take a small pause, especially in these terrible weeks and months of Russia’s war against Ukraine.” GERMAN CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ “We won’t forget that perestroika (restructuring) had made it possible for Russia to be able to try to undertake the establishment of a democracy, that democracy and freedom were possible in Europe, that Germany could be unified, that the Iron Curtain disappeared.” “He died at a time when not only democracy in Russia has failed … but also when Russia and Russian President Putin have dug new graves in Europe and began a terrible war.” GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNALENA BAERBOCK: “In defining moments of our history, Mikhail Gorbachev chose the path of peace and understanding and thereby contributed to the end of the Cold War and Germany’s reunification. Germany will be eternally grateful for this.” FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON Gorbachev was “a man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history”. ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER MARIO DRAGHI “Mikhail Gorbachev …put an end to the experience of the Soviet Union with courage and determination… His desire for peace and his opposition to an imperialist vision of Russia earned him the Nobel Prize. These messages are as relevant as ever in the face of the tragedy of the invasion of Ukraine.” EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN “Mikhail Gorbachev was a trusted and respected leader. He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. It opened the way for a free Europe … This legacy is one we will not forget.” NATO SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG “Mikhail Gorbachev’s historic reforms led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, helped end the Cold War and opened the possibility of a partnership between Russia and NATO. His vision of a better world remains an example.” THE REAGAN FOUNDATION AND INSTITUTE “The Reagan Foundation and Institute mourns the loss of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who once was a political adversary of Ronald Reagan’s who ended up becoming a friend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Gorbachev family and the people of Russia.” FRIEDRICH MERZ, CHAIRMAN OF LATE GORBACHEV-ERA GERMAN CHANCELLOR HELMUT KOHL’S CDU PARTY “Without Mikhail Gorbachev, German unity in freedom would not have been possible. The CDU mourns a statesman whom Germany could trust, and who trusted us.” FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE “He was a man who tried to deliver a better life for his people. His life was consequential because, without him and his courage, it would not have been possible to end the Cold War peacefully.” BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON “I always admired the courage and integrity he showed in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion … In a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.” POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER ZBIGNIEW RAU “He increased the scope of freedom of the enslaved peoples of the Soviet Union in an unprecedented way, giving them hope for a more dignified life.” LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER GABRIELIUS LANDSBERGIS: “Lithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev. We will never forget …that his army murdered civilians to prolong his regime’s occupation of our country. “His soldiers fired on our unarmed protestors and crushed them under his tanks. That is how we will remember him.” OTHER REACTIONS FROM INSIDE RUSSIA SERGEI NARYSHKIN, HEAD OF RUSSIA’S FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: “It fell to Gorbachev to lead the country in a very difficult period, to face many external and internal challenges, for which an adequate response was not found.” JAILED KREMLIN CRITIC ALEXEI NAVALNY (in a tweet issued by his lawyers): Gorbachev “remained one of the very few who did not use power and opportunities for personal gain and enrichment. “He stepped down peacefully and voluntarily, respecting the will of his constituents. This alone is a great feat by the standards of the former USSR.” LYUBOV SOBOL, ALLY OF NAVALNY “Some write that he gave hope, others curse him for the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would have collapsed anyway. And the role of Gorbachev in history in Russia will still be appreciated.” POPULIST RUSSIA TABLOID KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA It acknowledged that Gorbachev’s critics at home would seek to undo his legacy, adding: “But they won’t be able to. Mikhail Sergeyevich has done too much. He changed the world too irreversibly for his ideological opponents.” (Compiled by Reuters bureaus; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Robert Birsel and John Stonestreet) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega “You poor man, do you know what you’re taking on?” Those were Princess Diana’s first words to Dai Davies, who became Commander in Charge of Royal Protection in 1995, shortly after her breakup with Prince Charles. Now, 20 years after Diana’s tragic death, Davies spoke about her deepest secrets — about her many romances, the real father of her younger son and the man she believed was murdered over their illicit affair! “Diana had a number of lovers, 20 at least, after she split from Charles,” Davies says. “She liked to be chased and she liked to chase men, often married men.” Yet the men she reportedly fell for while still wed to Charles continued to haunt her. Among them was Barry Mannakee, her security officer who was removed from royal duties in 1986 and died within a year, when a car hit him. “Diana was convinced it was murder!” Davies shares, adding that a thorough investigation later proved Mannakee’s death to be an accident. And then there was ginger-haired James Hewitt, who some believe secretly sired Prince Harry — an allegation Davies insists is false. “James is definitely not Harry’s father!” he says. “Diana and Hewitt had not even met when Harry was conceived. Charles is his father.” As to the redhead connection, Davies dismisses it as ludicrous: “Her sister is a redhead.” But he does admit that Harry was devastated by questions about his paternity. “Harry was furious when it was suggested he take a DNA test,” Davies declares. “His reaction was, ‘I know who my father is. I am my father’s son.’” Once Diana was free to date whoever she pleased, she didn’t hesitate. “She enjoyed the company of a range of men,” says Davies, who remained at his post guarding the royal family until 1998. mega The princess had 20 lovers — a list that included billionaire Teddy Forstmann, surgeon Hasnat Khan and Oscar winner Kevin Costner! According to Davies, The Bodyguard stud was hoping to sign Diana on to a follow-up to that 1992 hit! “She was linked to Kevin Costner, [but] he wanted her for the sequel,” Davies spills, adding, “There was no way she was going to appear in a film!” While Davies claims he found it “funny” that people fantasized about the Princess and the movie star, he was seriously alarmed in 1997 when Diana started dating Dodi Fayed, son of controversial Egyptian tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed. “Mohamed had been trying to get close to the royal family for years,” Davies explains. “He was pulling strings in that relationship, so Dodi and Diana being together was a dream come true for him.” Unfortunately, they were doomed, as both Dodi and Diana perished in a car cash in Paris on August 31, 1997. Davies says it’s a pity that the Princess did not live to see her older son ascend to the throne one day. “Prince William will make an amazing king,” Davies says. “I will always regret that Diana is not around to see it.” For more on the royal family, tune into the new podcast, “The Firm: Blood, Lies and Royal Succession.” Listen below! mega View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Chris Rock claims to have turned down a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. The ‘Top 5’ star was slapped at the Oscars this year by Will Smith after telling a joke about the ‘King Richard’ actor’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith but he told fans at a stand-up comedy gig in Phoenix, Arizona, over the weekend that he won’t be “crying [his] heart out” in public about the incident. Audience member January Harrison told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “During the evening, he did describe that he declined an offer to go onto Oprah to do to a sit-down interview and even a Super Bowl commercial with Will Smith himself. “He said, ‘You are not gonna see me on any interviews crying my heart out about this. I am not going to be a victim.’ “I think we were all wondering if he was going to talk about that incident or not.” Multiple audience members also revealed Chris said he had been asked to host the Oscars next year but had dismissed the offer. One source said: “Chris Rock said he was asked to host next year’s Academy Awards at his Sunday night show at Arizona Financial Theatre, and that he refused the offer. He also noted that he was offered the chance to do a Super Bowl commercial that he also declined. “Chris joked that returning to the Oscars would be like returning to the scene of the crime and said that it would be similar to asking Nicole Brown Simpson to go back to the Italian restaurant where she left her glasses.” An audience member urged him to “talk about” the slap, and he referenced Smith’s role as Muhammad Ali in 2001’s ‘Ali’. He added: “He’s bigger than me. The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between me and Will Smith.” The ‘Men in Black’ struck Chris across the face on less than an hour before picking up his Best Actor statuette for his role in ‘King Richard’ at the Oscars back in March. Last month, he apologised and reached out to the comic publicly, while claiming he had been hurt both “psychologically and emotionally” by the incident. View the full article

Published by Reuters PARIS (Reuters) -Mourners marked the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in Paris on Wednesday, laying flowers and leaving messages on the bridge above the underpass where she was killed in a car crash. Blooms and pictures of Diana adorned the gold-leaf covered Flame of Liberty, a replica of the torch of the Statue of Liberty at the Pont de L’Alma’s northern end that has become her unofficial memorial in the French capital. The Princess was just 36 when the limousine carrying her and her lover Dodi al-Fayed crashed in the tunnel below the bridge as it sped away from photographers who were chasing it on motorbikes. “Deja 25 ans (25 years already),” read one of the cards left on the memorial, where a trickle of locals and tourists – surrounded by media camera crews – came to pay their respects, leave flowers and take pictures. “Forever in our hearts,” read another with a Diana picture left by someone who identified herself as Monique from Luxembourg. People also left floral tributes outside Kensington Palace in London, Diana’s former home. “Instead of being 25 years it’s like yesterday. It transports you right back to those days,” said Jane Crook, 64, a school worker from Wales. Morgan Hindle, a 23-year-old support worker from Manchester said: “She was such an amazing person and an icon and I think she meant so much to so many people… I think she’s someone who needs to be remembered forever.” Millions globally mourned the “people’s princess”, as then British Prime Minister Tony Blair described Diana, in 1997. She was one of the world’s most recognised and photographed women and a high-profile supporter of humanitarian causes – including children’s charities and land mine clearance – when she died. The mother of princes William and Harry, her death plunged the monarchy into crisis, coming after the disintegration of her marriage to heir to the throne Prince Charles with its revelations of feuding, adultery, and the misery she had felt in her royal role. The continued fascination with Diana’s life was illustrated on Saturday when a black Ford Escort that she drove in the 1980s was sold auction in Britain for 724,500 pounds ($844,000). (Reporting by Antony Paone; Writing by GV De Clercq; editing by John Stonestreet, Alexandra Hudson) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Despite her decades-spanning career, seven Grammy Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it seems even pop icon Madonna isn’t without regrets. On Tuesday, August 30, the “Material Girl” songstress shared that she still had some hard feelings when it comes to her past marriages, revealing that tying the knot “both times” were not “the best idea[s]” in hindsight, a revelation stemming from a new Q & A video posted to her YouTube channel. Madonna/Youtube Despite evidently rethinking her times walking down the aisle — Madonna was married to actor Sean Penn from 1985 to 1989 and director Guy Ritchie from 2000 to 2008 — the star still makes time for intimacy. MADONNA MAKES OUT WITH TWO WOMEN DURING WILD BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION IN ITALY Even after reportedly calling it quits with her longtime beau, Ahlamalik Williams, in April after three years of dating,Madonna, 64, shared in the same clip that “sex” was her “current favorite obsession.” Madonna/Youtube Beyond her personal life — and evident love of getting it on — the Madame X maven also spoke candidly about her career, revealing that even amid her decades of success, she still has several aspirations, including working with storied rapper Kendrick Lamar. SINGLE WOMAN! MADONNA GRINDS ON MYSTERY MAN AT TWIN DAUGHTERS’ 10TH BIRTHDAY PARTY “There’s one artist that I worship more than anything in life and I would love to collaborate with him, and that’s Kendrick Lamar,” the artist spilled, dubbing his record Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, which came out earlier this year, as being “history-making.” Madonna/Youtube “Mind-bogglingly brilliant,” Madonna continued of the album. “It’s insane.” Beyond Lamar, the A Leauge of Their Own alum said that she also would love to work alongside pop maven Britney Spears again, who made her return to music last week, releasing “Hold Me Closer” with Elton John on Friday, August 26. “I am gagging to work with Britney again,” Madonna said of the pop legend. Alongside their live performances, the pair famously collaborated on Spears’ beloved aughts hit, “Me Against The Music,” which appeared on her 2003 album, In the Zone. View the full article

Published by AFP Former president Barack Obama, pictured with his first lady Michelle Obama in 2016, often finds himself on the receiving end of a Donald Trump broadside Washington (AFP) – Former US president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will finally unveil their official portraits at the White House next week after being denied the honor by Donald Trump. The September 7 ceremony, announced by the administration on Wednesday, traditionally gives presidents the chance to pay homage to their predecessors. But Trump, who led the United States for a single term after Obama’s eight years in office and frequently attacks his predecessor, declined to continue with the custom. Instead President Joe Biden — who served as Obama’s vice president — and his wife Jill Biden will host the couple. The 44th president’s latest visit since he vacated the Oval Office in 2017 comes five months after he made a high-profile homecoming for a public event on health care spending. Trump, a world-renowned aficionado of the decade-spanning contretemps, demonstrated repeatedly during his tenure that he was untroubled by the mandates of tradition and protocol. The norm-shredding Republican reportedly removed portraits of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush from the White House’s Grand Foyer, considered the most prominent position in the executive mansion. They were not restored until Biden took office last year. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Dr. Oz is catching flak after comparing unhoused people in Philadelphia to “zombies with needles sticking out of their necks,” with one person pointing out that he doesn’t sound compassionate to addicts for being a medical professional,Radar has learned. The television host-turned-Republican politician is hoping to score a seat on the U.S. Senate against Democrat John Fetterman, but his one-time talk show fans believe he’s been putting his foot in his mouth with the outrageous claims he’s made on the campaign trail. While speaking to a crowd in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, Dr. Oz didn’t hold back about the homeless population in the nearby state. What Dr. Oz Is Hiding From The Campaign Trail: Wannabe Senator Trapped In Bitter Court War With His Own Sister Over Millions Mega “Go down to downtown Philadelphia. I see a little bit in Pittsburgh now too, but more in Philadelphia. There are whole blocks, like multiple blocks and areas. You can’t go. There are addicts walking like zombies into the street with needles sticking out of their necks,” he told the audience. Twitter didn’t like that, immediately slamming the doctor for his seemingly heartless words about those struggling with addiction. “Not a doctor I’d want as my own. Compassion?” one user replied. “What a way for a doctor to talk about people suffering from addiction,” added another. “Is this guy really a doctor?!?” questioned a third. Others simply called Dr. Oz a “pos.” They also started the hashtag, “RejectOz.” Mega This isn’t the first time the ex-TV star’s words on the campaign trail have come to bite him in the backside. He copped tons of backlash over his insensitive response after his opponent had a health emergency. Fetterman suffered a stroke in May. Dr. Oz’s team recently touched on the Democrat’s health scare and lacked any empathy, claiming Fetterman had a stroke because of his diet. “If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly,” Dr. Oz’s communications adviser Rachel Tripp said this month. Voters weren’t the only ones shocked over the statement. Mega Fetterman later responded on Twitter, saying “I had a stroke. I survived it. I’m truly so grateful to still be here today. I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could *never* imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges.” Dr. Oz is slowly losing support from one-time backers, including Donald Trump, with sources saying the ex-president is “fuming” he endorsed his TV pal, RadarOnline.com can reveal. An insider close to the businessman also claimed that “Donald Trump thinks Oz is running a terrible campaign!” and “he’s going to f—– lose.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kate Moss says that Johnny Depp once gifted her diamonds from “the crack of his a***.’” The 48-year-old supermodel – who had a relationship with ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star Johnny, 59, from 1994 until 1997 – sat down with Vogue to look back on her looks over the years and revealed that he had hid the necklace she was pictured wearing down his pants before presenting it to her. She said: “And that diamond necklace Johnny gave me, they were the first diamonds I ever owned. He pulled them out of the crack of his arse. We were going out to dinner and he said, ‘I’ve got something in my bum, can you have a look,’ and I was like, ‘what’ and I put my hand down his trousers and I pulled out a diamond necklace. That diamond necklace.” Meanwhile, Kate – who has graced the cover of Vogue magazine a total of 43 times over the course of her career – explained that when she made her debut on the legendary magazine as a teenager back in 1993, she believed she had ‘”made it” as a model and still has the cover image framed at her home. Speaking in a video posted to Vogue’s YouTube, she said: “When I had my first Vogue cover I thought, alright I’ve made it, that’s it, I don’t have to do it anymore. I think I was 19. It was really special, for me to be on Vogue it was like wow, I couldn’t believe it. I’ve got it framed at home. It’s one of my favourite pictures I think.” The September issue of British Vogue is available now. Watch the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N4QY6qhc3s. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sigourney Weaver has no plans to retire. The 72-year-old actress had her breakthrough role as Ellen Scott in sci-fi hit ‘Alien’ back in 1979 and with multiple projects currently on the go, is ‘happier’ in her career than ever before. She said: ‘Well, I do five projects coming out. I would hope to [not retire] because I probably enjoy it more now than ever. I’m fine that I might be the oldest person on the set. Yes, I always have to go through a period of, ‘Oh my god, it’s happening again.’ But then, I get the joy and the explosion of letting this person out to live. And it’s the most exhilarating thing in the world.’ The ’Abduction’ star is currently filming a role in ‘Avatar 2’ and – although she is unable to disclose too much about the sequel to the 2009 3D epic – teased that director James Cameron has cast her in a ‘goofy’ role because of how well he knows her. She told Interview: ‘So ‘Avatar’ I can’t really talk about, but I would say that it’s the biggest stretch I get to play in every possible way. I think if Jim Cameron didn’t know me really well, he wouldn’t have cast me as something as goofy as this. I had to work in a completely different way to play this character, a very physical way. ‘Then I’m in a Paul Schrader film, ‘Master Gardener’, and I get to have a love triangle with Joel Edgerton and Quintessa Swindell. I also have something else coming out next spring from Amazon, where I play a woman who runs a flower farm that is also a refuge for women escaping domestic abuse. It’s based on a great book called ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’.’ Outside of film, Sigourney is due to take to the stage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in an opera called ‘The Valkyrie Act III.’ She added: ‘I’m coming out to do an opera for a day at the Hollywood Bowl. It’s ‘The Valkyrie, Act III.’ We’re going to have flying saucers coming in over the Bowl, and it’s going to be a crazy thing that Yuval Sharon is doing with [Gustavo] Dudamel.’ View the full article

Published by AFP New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks at a press conference on August 31, 2022 New York (AFP) – It will soon be forbidden to carry a firearm, even concealed, in the famed Times Square district and other public places in the city and state of New York, authorities announced on Wednesday. New York’s legislature passed — and its Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signed — legislation restricting the possession of firearms in sensitive locations earlier this year, and it comes into force on Thursday. It was part of a reaction to a late June ruling by the conservative-majority US Supreme Court that enshrined the right of Americans to leave their homes armed, striking down a 1913 New York law that restricted the carrying of firearms. “The US Supreme Court’s… decision was the shot heard round the world that took dead aim at the safety of all New Yorkers,” the city’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, told journalists. “New York City will defend itself against this decision, and, beginning tomorrow, new eligibility requirements for concealed carry permit applicants and restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons in ‘sensitive locations,’ like Times Square, take effect,” said Adams, a former police officer. The mayor unveiled a “Times Square: Gun Free Zone” sign that will be hung by Thursday in and around the iconic square in the heart of Manhattan, where giant electronic billboards are lit day and night for the 50 million visitors who flock there each year. The governor of the fourth-largest US state added that weapons, even if they are concealed, will be prohibited in “bars, libraries, schools, government buildings and hospitals, among others.” Hochul said she refuses “to surrender my right as Governor to protect New Yorkers from gun violence or any other form of harm. In New York State, we will continue leading the way forward and implementing common sense gun safety legislation.” The restrictions do not apply to law enforcement officers. View the full article

Published by AFP Google says that it notified Truth Social that its app violated Play policies New York (AFP) – Former US president Donald Trump’s Truth Social app is unwelcome in Google’s app store until it abides by rules regarding content moderation including violent threats, the company said Wednesday. The internet giant made the statement after the Trump camp argued that it didn’t know why its social network app had yet to be approved for the Google Play Store, which offers content for Android-powered smartphones. A Google spokesperson said the company notified Truth Social on August 19 that its app violated Play policies and required “effective systems for moderating user-generated content” in order to be offered on the platform. The app breaks rules barring content that incites physical threats and violence, according to the tech firm. “Last week Truth Social wrote back acknowledging our feedback and saying that they are working on addressing these issues,” the Google spokesperson said. Truth Social would still be able to make its app available on its website or other online venues that don’t involve Google’s online shop. As of Wednesday a version of Truth Social was still available on Apple’s App Store, which is the lone gateway onto the company’s mobile devices. Truth Social is Trump’s answer to platforms such as Twitter, from which he was ejected after a mob he egged on assaulted the US Capitol in January 2021. Signs are growing meanwhile that Truth Social is in financial trouble. Fox Business Network reported last week that the platform had halted payments to the company that hosts it, RightForge, and owes $1.6 million. Trump Media and Technology Group said in a regulatory filing that it has raised some $15 million in additional funding that it believes will enable it to pay its bills until the end of April of next year. Meanwhile, a merger between Trump Media and Technology with blank check company Digital World Acquisition Corp, which was formed specifically to carry out the merger, has yet to take place 10 months after the announcement that it would happen. This fusion is supposed to bring in fresh funding for the Trump platform. Regulators are reported to be scrutinizing the merger to determine if anything was amiss. View the full article