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Published by Reuters By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Thursday will stage his first political rally in the final stretch to the November midterm congressional elections, looking to give Democrats a boost and prevent Republicans from taking control of Congress. The Democratic National Committee event at Richard Montgomery High School, located in a Maryland suburb of Washington and featuring a host of Maryland political leaders, will begin for Biden what the White House has billed as a coast-to-coast tour to help Democratic candidates. He is to speak at 7 p.m. EDT. A party official said Biden will be “highlighting the choice voters will have in the upcoming midterms.” Republicans are hoping to ride voter discontent with inflation and high gasoline prices to victory in November, and they have history on their side. The party that controls the White House usually loses seats in Congress in a new president’s first midterm elections, and political analysts are predicting Republicans have a solid chance to take control of the House of Representatives and possibly even the Senate. Democrats hold only a thin majority in the House while the Senate is evenly divided, with the vice president’s tie-breaking power giving Democrats control. Republican control of one or both chambers could thwart Biden’s legislative agenda for the second half of his four-year term. Heavy losses could also intensify questions about whether Biden, 79, should run for re-election in 2024 or hand over to a younger generation. But Biden and his team hope that a string of recent legislative successes, and voters’ outrage at the Supreme Court’s overturning of the 1973 ruling that recognized women’s constitutional right to abortion, will generate strong turnout among Democrats. A White House memo circulated to Democratic activists earlier in August said the midterms will offer a choice between Democrats working to overcome the influence of special interests like the gun lobby and the pharmaceutical industry and Republicans devoted to former President Donald Trump. Democrats want the trip to boost the president’s poor poll numbers and draw attention to his achievements. But some candidates for Congress worry that campaigning with Biden will hurt them in the Nov. 8 election. Biden, whose latest approval rating is 41%, is polling lower than most, if not all, Democratic candidates in competitive races, often by double digits, Democratic pollsters said. (Editing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican hopes of taking control of the U.S. Senate in November could hinge on former football star Herschel Walker, a first-time candidate endorsed by Donald Trump, whose campaign appears to be lagging behind other Republicans in Georgia. A sports legend, the 60-year-old Walker secured the Republican nomination to run for the Senate for the state in May, seeing off five contenders. Republicans hoped his popularity and name recognition would translate into victory in what is likely to be a close race. But he has been trailing Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in most opinion polls, his campaign rocked by repeated policy gaffes and a string of controversies about his past, including allegations of domestic violence. Walker is one of a handful of Trump-endorsed first-time Republican Senate candidates, also including TV personality Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and author J.D. Vance in Ohio, who even senior Republicans say are weighing on the party’s changes of recapturing Senate control. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, without naming individuals, has cited “candidate quality” as a reason why Republicans may struggle to capture the Senate, putting his party’s odds of winning a Senate majority at 50-50. Analysts say Walker has made himself an easy target for political attacks, with disjointed comments on issues from COVID-19 to climate. For instance, he attacked the recently-passed $430 billion climate and drug bill on Sunday, saying a lot of the money is “going to trees” and asking, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Don’t we have enough trees around here?” “Every time he opens his mouth about a policy issue, it sounds like a word salad. It’s very convoluted and doesn’t make sense sometimes,” said Trey Hood, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. The Republican Accountability political action committee, run by anti-Trump Republicans, has tried to put domestic violence allegations front and center in the campaign. It released a 30-second ad in which Walker’s ex-wife Cindy DeAngelis Grossman says “he held the gun to my temple and said he was going to blow my brains out.” Walker responded with his own video, saying Grossman’s comments were taken out of context but that he was “glad they did this ad, because it gives me an opportunity to end the stigma around mental health.” The Walker campaign and local Republican Party leaders say the former sports star has been the target of unfair news coverage, insisting that his interactions with voters at campaign events have been overwhelmingly successful. “The whole situation is quite aggravating to me, because Herschel Walker is an extremely intelligent man who has a full grasp of the issues,” said Salleigh Grubbs, who chairs the Republican Party in Cobb County, just outside Atlanta. With the 100-seat Senate currently split 50-50, Republicans need only a net one-seat gain to take the majority. Georgia was Republican territory until Biden won the state by a thin margin in 2020, and Warnock and fellow Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff unseated two Republican incumbents in a 2021 run-off. Opinion polls suggest the gap between Walker and Warnock is very narrow, and some have had Walker ahead. But he is considerably less popular in surveys than other Georgia Republicans, including Governor Brian Kemp, who is up for re-election this year. That, analysts said, suggests that some Republican voters who cast ballots for Kemp could just opt not to vote for a Senate candidate — or to back Warnock instead. Warnock was well known in the state, too, before he was elected to the Senate, as senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King once preached. Strategists say that could appeal to Georgia’s large Christian electorate. Warnock has also used recent Democratic legislative victories to fortify his appeal to voters. “Reverend Warnock is focused on fighting for hardworking Georgia families, leading the effort to successfully cap the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, protect Georgia jobs and hold corporations accountable for price gouging,” Warnock campaign communications director Meredith Brasher said in a statement. Democratic strategists expect Warnock to emphasize his policy message to try to overcome Walker’s name recognition as a former NFL player who led the University of Georgia to its first national football title in 1980. Both Walker and Warnock are Black. And Atlanta-based Democratic strategist Fred Hicks said Warnock could improve his ground game against Walker by driving up turnout among Black male voters with concrete appeals on policy issues including jobs and healthcare. But Republicans argue that the close poll numbers bode well for Walker, given the controversies and political attacks he has weathered. “Beating an incumbent senator is never easy. But Herschel is a good candidate and is he going to win,” said Walker campaign communications director Will Kiley. The Georgia Senate race is already expected to be the nation’s most expensive, according to research firm AdImpact, which forecasts $276 million in ad spending. Spending could intensify even further if the Nov. 8 election proves inconclusive and a Georgia run-off becomes the deciding factor for Senate control. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega August 31 marks the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s tragic death — and her only brother, Charles, proudly spoke out about his sister! “I’m always surprised by how difficult August 31 is each year actually,” he said. “I always slightly brace myself for it and it does take me out at the knees. It is a very poignant time. “Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity.” Charles, who is the 9th Earl Spencer, is Diana’s younger brother by three years. They share dad John Spencer, the 8th Earl (who died in 1992), and mother Frances Shand Kydd (who died in 2004), along with two older sisters, Jane, 65, and Sarah, 67. Although they were immensely wealthy, titled and lived on the 13,000-acre Althorp Estate, the Spencers had a troubled marriage and their kids suffered through a heart-breaking childhood. Their mother left and gave up custody of her four kids to marry her lover. Charles was two and Diana was five. The older sisters were at boarding school. “When she was packing her stuff to leave, she promised Diana she’d come back to see us,” said Charles, 58. “Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came. She could hear me crying down the corridor but was too scared of the dark to come to me. Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother wasn’t cut out for maternity. Not her fault, she couldn’t do it.” Spencer said even in his earliest memories of Diana, “she always had a sort of natural star quality,” but “it would be wrong to think of Diana as a saintly child. I mean, she was quite naughty, never with malice, you know, just sort of pushing the boundaries.” mega Diana, a shy 18-year-old teenager, met Prince Charles, who had dated older sister Sarah a few years before. They became engaged after only 12 dates, but a day before the July 29, 1981, nuptials, she tried to call it off when she realized he was in love with Camilla Parker-Bowles. When she told sisters Sarah and Jane, they allegedly urged her to go through with it, and told her it was too late to “chicken out.” Her younger brother, Charles, held his tongue, but years later got into a “massive fight” with Prince Charles. The two almost came to blows just days after Diana’s shocking death at age 36 after the 1997 car crash in Paris. Her brother was outraged that Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, were going to walk behind their mother’s casket in her funeral procession. “Spencer felt quite sure that Diana would have been horrified at the idea of her sons having to endure such an ordeal,” said an insider. “He had already told Charles as much.” When the argument continued, Prince Charles made a “particularly offensive comment” about Diana, and her brother couldn’t bear to hear another word. “That all but sealed the ill-fated label on his [Prince Charles] relationship with the Spencers,” added the insider. Charles Spencer was later proven right. Prince Harry says the 34-minute march, which he did alongside Spencer, dad Prince Charles, grandfatherPrince Philip and brother Prince William, was excruciating. “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today,” said Prince Harry, now 37. Prince William, now 40, added that it was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.” Spencer said it wasn’t easy for him either, even as a grown man. While he walked, “I could hear people in the crowds sobbing, wailing and shouting messages of love to Diana … I still have nightmares about it today.” Publicly, Spencer won’t say which of Diana’s lovers was the man she loved the most, but says Diana’s true love was not for one man, but two — her sons, William and Harry — and after she died, he said, “I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two boys.” Privately, insiders say out of all of Diana’s affairs — including Dodi Fayed, who died with her — there was only one man she fell head over heels for: Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani heart surgeon, who she called “The One.” “I found my peace,” Diana told a friend after falling for him. “He has given me all the things I need.” mega But Khan dreaded being in the public eye and had no desire to live the high life. He always refused Diana’s generous gifts, including a new car. As for the blame for Diana’s death, Spencer puts that squarely on the shoulders of “deceitful” Martin Bashir, who “tricked” his sister into her most explosive TV interview with fake bank statements saying those close to her were blabbing about her so she should be the one to talk. Spencer says Bashir’s lies made her lose faith in those around her after taking part in the 1995 BBC television news bombshell. Diana sat down with the then-unknown journalist and famously revealed, “There were three of us in this marriage.” She also admitted to her infidelity with Army captain James Hewitt, and questioned Charles’ suitability as the future king. Fumes Spencer: “This is a young girl in her mid 30s who has lived this extraordinarily difficult and turbulent time in the public eye — she didn’t know who to trust — and in the end when she died two years later, she was without any form of real protection.” Later, Bashir admitted his duplicity. Spencer has said he still feels “very passionately” that he has an obligation to “honor her memory.” “I feel it is my duty to stand up for her when I can,” he said about correcting inaccuracies about her life. “If you grow up with somebody they are still that person — it doesn’t matter what happens to them later.” Diana is buried on the Althorp estate on a small island that Spencer and his sisters can visit — and speak to her — privately. For more on the royal family’s trials and tribulations, tune into the new podcast “The Firm: Blood, Lies and Royal Succession.” Listen below! View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Justice Department on Wednesday released under court order all of a 2019 memo https://www.justice.gov/file/1528466/download in which two top officials advised then-Attorney General William Barr not to charge then-President Donald Trump with obstructing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Barr’s decision to clear Trump after receiving the memo drew criticism from many Democrats and some former Justice Department lawyers, who accused the top U.S. law enforcement official of protecting his boss. Mueller himself did not exonerate Trump of committing obstruction of justice in trying to impede the probe. The department had released parts of the nine-page memo while keeping other portions secret. The government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued to challenge those redactions, leading a federal appeals court in Washington last week to order its full release. “The memo presents a breathtakingly generous view of the law and facts for Donald Trump,” CREW said in a statement. “Among many other problems, it is premised on the fact that there was no underlying criminal conduct, which is not what Mueller found, and waives its hand at there being no exact precedent to compare it to.” The March 24, 2019, memo was written by Steven Engel, then head of the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, and Edward O’Callaghan, another top department official. They wrote that charging Trump with obstruction would be problematic because the entire first section of Mueller’s report did not find sufficient evidence that Trump or any member of his campaign team had illegally conspired with Russia. “Given that conclusion, the evidence does not establish a crime or criminal conspiracy involving the President toward which any obstruction or attempted obstruction by the President was directed,” the memo concludes. It also said Mueller’s investigation was not “similar to any reported case that the department has previous charged” using obstruction statutes. “The memo supports the chilling conclusion that any president can interfere with any investigation if they believe it could damage them politically,” CREW said. Mueller, a former FBI director appointed as special counsel by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, released a 448-page report documenting Russia’s election interference to sow U.S. discord, boost Trump’s chances and disparage his Democratic opponent Clinton. The report detailed numerous contacts between Trump campaign figures and Russians. It also laid out 10 episodes in which Trump sought to impede Mueller’s probe including firing then-FBI Director James Comey and directing then-White House counsel Don McGahn to tell Rosenstein that Mueller must be dismissed, which McGahn declined to do. After reading Mueller’s report, Barr decided it was up to him as attorney general to decide whether to charge Trump with obstruction, and he sought input from Engel and O’Callaghan, leading to the memo. Barr also has faced criticism from U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who first ordered the department to release the memo after concluding he had been “disingenuous” in the way he described Mueller’s findings to the public when he issued his own summary of the special counsel’s findings ahead of the full public report. Trump, considering another presidential run in 2024, is facing a slew of federal and state investigations into other matters including his removal of classified records after leaving office in 2021. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English The Queen is said to love DJs as long as they obey the order of ending their sets with the National Anthem. Her Majesty hires them for the enormous parties she throws for her staff at Buckingham Palace, William Orbit has revealed. The DJ and music producer for Madonna claimed he has spun tunes for Her Majesty for her Christmas staff party at the Palace, and said she was “evidently fascinated”. But the 65-year-old told the Daily Mail on Thursday (25.08.22) DJs who aspire to perform for her will have to agree to end their set with the National Anthem. William also said the monarch, 96, does not take to the dance floor herself, and she “goes to bed at nine because she’s a bit old for dancing”. He added: “Then everyone starts going nuts.” William said about the conversations he’s had with the Queen: “She’s lovely. She always chats to you. She’s so beautiful and charismatic. We had a nice chat about DJing. “At the end, I had my own butler. He says, ‘Mr Orbit, sir, I’m going to give you this CD of the National Anthem and when you play that, on my signal, the party’s over. “‘Because the Queen is in the house, you play the whole thing and the flag rises, but when she’s not there they only play half it’.” Elaborating on bashes at Buckingham Palace, he added: “Her parties for Palace staff are enormous. Every gardener, every security guard – it’s all in the Palace, in the ballroom. “You have to be working for Her Majesty for a year to be invited, and two years if you want your spouse to come.” It comes after the Duchess of Kent, 89, revealed she enjoyed gangster rap music, with Ice Cube among her favourites, along with Eminem. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sir Rod Stewart has taken another cheeky dig at his long-time pal Sir Elton John by doing an impersonation of him on stage. The 77-year-old ‘Maggie May’ singer stuck on a spangly pink jacket and wacky sparkling sunglasses more suited to Elton’s wardrobe, stuck out his front teeth and mimed playing the piano. He shared the moment as a meme to his 1.2 million Instagram followers just after midnight on Wednesday (24.08.22) but affectionately captioned the clip of his gag: “Still love you, Elt.” During the live performance, Rod giggled to the audience after his mockery. It marks the latest in a series of pranks and ‘feuds’ between Rod and Elton, which have stretched over their 55-year friendship. The friendly rivalry appears to have started when Rod put up billboards to promote his 1970s ‘Blondes ’ave More Fun Tour’ – prompting Elton to place rival boards opposite them showing his face and the message: “But Brunettes make more money.” The humour came to a head in 2018 and threatened to turn nasty when Rod branded Elton’s tour “dishonest” and said it “stunk of selling tickets”. He made the remarks during an appearance on ‘Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen’. It led to the pair not being on speaking terms, with Elton raging in his autobiography ‘Me’: “I thought he had a f****** cheek, complaining about me promoting a tour while he was sat on a TV show promoting his own tour.” Rod later apologised and said he had been “bang out of order”. View the full article

Published by Orlando Sentinel The dust from Florida’s primary elections hasn’t yet settled. But to hear Marco Rubio tell it, his November campaign is already in trouble. On Monday, the eve of the primary elections, Florida’s senior GOP U.S. senator sent supporters an email saying his current campaign situation was “a disaster.” Rubio said his opponent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, had raised more money last month than he’d raised in the past three months combined and cited a recent poll that showed Demings beating him. “My opponent is gaining momentum and I desperately need your support,” Rubio said before ending the … Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Travis Gettys A data hack reveals the right-wing Liberty Counsel may have violated IRS rules against political activity. The hacktivist site Enlace Hacktivista released a 25-gigabyte Liberty Counsel database containing nearly seven years of donor records, which show that 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations controlled by the evangelical organization encouraged supporters to vote for Donald Trump — an apparent violation of IRS rules prohibiting those entities from endorsing political candidates, reported The Intercept. “Noticing a worrying trend of far-right and anti-abortion activists alignin… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world gather for events at the Vatican starting this weekend that could amount to a dress rehearsal for an eventual conclave to choose a successor to Pope Francis after he dies or resigns. On Saturday Francis will induct 20 prelates into the College of Cardinals, the exclusive group whose members serve as the pope’s top advisors and administrators at the Vatican and around the globe. Sixteen of the newcomers are under 80 years old and thus join the even more exclusive inner sanctum known as cardinal electors, eligible to enter a secret conclave to choose the next pope from among themselves. Saturday’s ceremony – known as a consistory – is the eighth time Francis has named new cardinals, again putting his stamp on the Church’s future by choosing men who mostly agree with his vision of a more inclusive Church. “The odds are now in favour of having another pope who will continue Francis’s policies, but you never know how cardinals will vote once they enter a conclave,” wrote Father Tom Reese, a Church historian and columnist for Religion News Service. One significant appointment in the richer countries is that of Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, California, who is seen as a progressive. By giving San Diego its first cardinal, Francis bypassed conservative archbishops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. McElroy has been an outspoken ally of Francis’ pastoral approach to social issues, such as protection of the environment and a more welcoming approach to gay Catholics. McElroy also has opposed conservative U.S. clergymen who want to ban Catholic politicians, including President Joe Biden and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, from receiving communion because of their support of abortion rights. Francis, elected as pope in 2013, has now chosen 83 of the 132 cardinal electors, or about 63%. Church law stipulates a maximum of 120 electors but popes regularly ignore that, mostly because the numbers go down as other cardinals turn 80 and lose their voting rights. The 85-year-old pontiff told Reuters in an interview last month that if he does resign in the future for health reasons – instead of dying in office – he has no plans to do so anytime soon. This means he could name even more cardinals as soon as next year. GETTING TO KNOW YOU Perhaps more significant than the consistory itself will be two days of closed door meetings of cardinals on Monday and Tuesday. The meetings, officially to discuss the Vatican’s new constitution, will give cardinals a rare opportunity to size each other up in person without being under the pressure of gathering to elect a new pope. “For the majority of the cardinals, it will be the first time they can get to know each other personally,” wrote Luis Badilla, head of the Il Sismografo website that specialises in Church issues. He said they would be a “rehearsal for a conclave”. Since his election as the first Latin American pope, Francis’ has mostly broken the mould used by his predecessors in picking cardinals. Often he has preferred men from far-flung places or smaller cities, rather than from big capitals of the developed world where having a cardinal was considered automatic. Archbishop Leonardo Steiner of Manaus, Brazil, becomes the first cardinal from the Amazon region, underscoring Francis’ concern for indigenous people and the environment. Another unexpected new cardinal elector is Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, an Italian who is the Catholic Church’s administrator in Mongolia. At 48, he is the youngest of the new cardinal electors. Mongolia has fewer than 1,500 Catholics but is strategically significant because it borders with China, where the Vatican is trying to improve the situation for Catholics. With each consistory, Francis has continued what one diplomat has called a “tilt towards Asia,” increasing the likelihood that the next pope could be from the region that is a growing economic and political powerhouse. Other new electors come from Singapore, India and East Timor. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Frances Kerry) View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) Twitter has been accused of failing to tackle the spread of anti-LGBTQ hate speech and misinformation about monkeypox. A study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that online discussions linking the virus to the LGBTQ community skyrocketed following the outbreak of the virus in May. False claims have suggested that monkeypox was pre-planned by the world’s elite as part of the so-called “plandemic”. But other Twitter users have predominantly used the outbreak to spread online hate and disinformation targeting the LGBTQ community. Social media platforms have increasingly been acc… Read More View the full article

Published by Orlando Sentinel It’s a rare talent, for a politician’s actions to appear both chilling and silly at the same time. Gov. Ron DeSantis — who from the start has built his personal political brand by resurrecting and weaponizing bigotry that most people believed had been laid to rest —pulls it off regularly. But he hit a new benchmark with a recent speech, which he wrapped up with a polemic featuring his favorite word, one he apparently assumes Floridians don’t know the meaning of. The word, of course, is “woke.” “The state of Florida is the state, is the place, where woke goes to die,” DeSantis said at the end o… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Robbie Williams says he no longer craves sex with strangers since finding love with his wife. He also admitted he is still a “s******” and reckons he would be “naked all the time” if he had a “bigger c***”. In an interview with Grazia over Zoom while naked in bed, the 48-year-old singer also said his wife of 12 years Ayda Field, 43, gives him everything he wants. He said about his love for her and their four kids: “It’s amazing for somebody built like me – to put it in vulgar terms – a sh*****. She gives me everything I want. “I don’t mean sex-wise. My thing in the ’90s was sex with strangers, I didn’t know whether I’d be able to give that up… I was saying to her (Ayda) last night, it’s really special that we’re around a lot of really good looking people, all the way through the summer – and I feel no longing to be up to the nefarious stuff. “She’s really empathetic, really kind, incredibly smart and very, very funny – and I trust her. “The thing with sex with other people is very much like cocaine. I’m not looking for cocaine anymore and therefore I don’t find it.” Robbie, whose exes include Melanie C, Geri Horner, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Appleton, met Ayda in May 2006 when she appeared on a UFO documentary that he produced for the BBC, and they married in 2010. The pair share children Theodora, 10, Charlton, seven, Coco, three and two-year-old Beau. His family life is a long way from his past excesses, with Robbie renowned for his previous addictions to drink, drugs, sex and later food. The ex-Take That singer has admitted he “kind of broke the ’90s” due to “self-medication, due to some sort of –ism, and mental illness”. View the full article

Published by DPA Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin speaks during the summer conference of the Social Democratic Party of Finland at the Lahti Market Square. She moved to tears as she was talking about how the debate on leaked party videos have affected her over the past week. Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva/dpa Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has justified her behaviour at a recent party by saying that she missed “joy, fun and brightness,” resulting in a standing ovation from members of her own party. Marin came under fire last week over videos of a private party which she had attended the week before, showing her exuberantly dancing and singing with friends. She subsequently underwent a drug test which came back negative. “I am human and I too sometimes miss joy, fun and brightness in the midst of these dark clouds,” the Social Democrat said at an event hosted by her party in Lahti, Finland, resulting in a standing ovation from the audience. She said the past few days had not been easy for her, but that she trusted in the public to value what politicians do professionally, not privately. “I haven’t missed a single day of work and I haven’t left any tasks undone,” the 36-year-old said. “I am learning and I am doing my job just as well as always.” Helsinki police said Wednesday that they had received three complaints about the videos, adding that they would not be investigating as they saw no evidence of criminal activity. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (C) meets with people at a public event in connection with the summer meeting of the Social Democratic Group of Ministers, the group leadership and the party government. Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Russia has launched missiles at a railroad station in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a Ukraine-focused meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. “This is our life every day. This is how Russia got prepared for this U.N. session,” Zelenskiy said over video link. There were deaths and injuries in the missile strikes, Zelenskiy said, warning that the death toll could rise. (Reporting by Rami Ayyub and Arshad Mohammed) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Eric Beech and Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A New York Democrat who campaigned on abortion rights and the future of U.S. democracy won a special congressional election in a swing district on Tuesday, a victory that Democrats hope could signal a fundamental shift in national voter sentiment ahead of the November midterm elections. Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro 51.3% to 48.7%, with 99% of the vote counted, Edison Research said, after a hard-fought contest for an open seat in New York’s 19th Congressional District, which spans part of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains region and is known as a bellwether. The election took on outsized national importance and became a testing ground for both parties’ campaign strategies. Ryan made the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign, mobilizing Democrats outraged by the ruling. Molinaro focused on crime and soaring inflation that voters say is their most pressing concern. The district voted for Barack Obama in 2012, Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. Ryan’s victory, coming after voters preserved abortion protections in Republican-dominated Kansas, will boost Democrats’ hopes that opposition to the Supreme Court ruling could help them to hold on to the House of Representatives and Senate in a tough election year. Ryan will serve only until January, when the seat will disappear due to state redistricting. Both he and Molinaro are also running for different seats in the November midterms. Voters also cast ballots in state primaries in New York, Florida, and Oklahoma to choose party nominees for the Nov. 8 elections, which will determine the balance of power in Congress in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. U.S. Representative Charlie Crist emerged as the Democrat who will try to unseat sitting Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in November. Crist, 66, bested state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Edison Research projected. With 78% of the vote counted, Crist had 59.1% vs. 35.4% for Fried. Crist, who served as a Republican Florida governor from 2007 to 2011 before switching parties, portrayed himself as a candidate ready to unify the state after DeSantis’ focus on culture war issues. He drew endorsements from Democratic leaders including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. DeSantis is seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, and Democrats hope they can derail any White House bid by denying him reelection in Florida. “When we defeat him on Nov. 8, that show is over,” Crist told cheering supporters. Recent polling data shows DeSantis leading Crist by several percentage points. Running as a Democrat, Crist lost the 2014 governor’s race against Republican Rick Scott. Meanwhile, Val Demings, another House Democrat, will square off against Republican Marco Rubio in Florida’s Senate race, after defeating three rivals in the state’s Democratic primary election, according to a projection by Edison Research. Most opinion polls show Rubio leading Demings by several points to double digits, according to the tracking website FiveThirtyEight.com. DeSantis and Rubio, a former presidential hopeful, had no primary opponents. In a Republican Senate primary run-off in Oklahoma, U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin beat former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon for the party nomination to replace retiring Senator Jim Inhofe, Edison projected. With 32% of the vote in, Edison said Mullin defeated Shannon by 66.6% to 33.4%. SHOWDOWN OVER ABORTION Democrats have been widely seen as the underdog party up to now in the midterm elections for House and Senate, with their prospects weighed down by historical trends, inflation, and President Joe Biden’s low job approval numbers. Republicans are favored to take control of the House, putting them in a position to scupper Biden’s legislative agenda. But their chances of capturing the Senate have been cast into doubt by the weakness of Trump-endorsed candidates in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. In recent weeks, Biden’s approval rating has recovered somewhat from its low of 36% to reach 41%, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, as inflation has shown signs of easing and Democrats have celebrated a series of legislative wins in Congress. The New York special election was the first competitive contest since the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling in June. But other special House elections in conservative districts in Nebraska and Minnesota saw Republicans prevail by much narrower margins than expected. Also in New York, an unusual intraparty contest saw House Democrat Jerry Nadler defeat fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Maloney, ending her 30-year career in Congress in a redrawn district that pitted the two longtime politicians against each other. Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, won with 55.8% of the vote, vs. 24.2% for Maloney, who chairs the House Oversight Committee. U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, a five-term Democratic incumbent, defeated challenger Alessandra Biaggi in a primary contest in suburban New York. With 48% of the vote counted, Maloney won 66.3% to Biaggi’s 33.1%, according to Edison Research. The contest was seen as a proxy battle between the party establishment and its progressive wing. Biaggi was endorsed by Democratic Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a leading House progressive. (Reporting by Eric Beech and Moira Warburton; Writing by David Morgan; editing by Ross Colvin and Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by Radar Online A man undergoes plastic surgery.MEGA The COVID-19 pandemic has created the perfect environment for change. And for many, that meant enhancing their bodies via plastic surgery, Radar has learned. Demand for breast augmentation, face lifts and tummy tucks during the pandemic. Some experts believe disposable income and self-esteem issues are responsible for the surge in plastic surgery. According to researchers at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 76 percent of the United States’ plastic surgeons have seen an increase in people seeking their services compared to pre-pandemic times. Nearly a fourth of the doctors have said their business has doubled. Liposuctions, facelifts, breast augmentation, tummy tucks and breast lifts were the most common procedures that went up in demand. According to doctors, more than 75 percent of patients are open to spending money on plastic surgery than before. Part of the reason for the increase in such surgeries is that many people skipped vacations and doing other activities, creating more disposable income. Also, experts have said that people staring at themselves on video calls while working from home has caused some self-esteem issues. Some doctors feared they would go out of business because of the pandemic. However, the opposite has happened. “With COVID, we prepared for the worst. But when we were able to reopen our office, we were pleasantly surprised with the incredible surge of demand for our cosmetic services, both surgical and noninvasive,’ Dr. Bob Basu, a plastic surgeon based in Houston, Texas, who serves as vice president of finance for ASPS, “Now that the worst is hopefully behind us and people are traveling again and getting back to normal life, I initially thought that we would see some of that demand drop off, and that’s not been the case. We’re actually still seeing very high demand,” he added. More than 300 representatives from plastic surgery companies in the U.S. took part in the study. Forty-seven percent of those said they were seeing “slightly” more business than before the COVID-19 pandemic started to plague the U.S. in March 2020. View the full article

Published by AFP US President Joe Biden announced limited relief for student loan debt, meeting a major priority for Democrats Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that most US university graduates still trying to pay off student loans will each get $10,000 in relief, addressing a decades-old headache of massive educational debt across the country. “In keeping with my campaign promise, my administration is announcing a plan to give working and middle class families breathing room,” Biden said in a statement issued less than three months before midterm congressional elections, where the issue is seen as a vote winner for Democrats. The proposed debt relief falls far short of some Democrats’ goal of securing complete forgiveness, but is opposed by Republicans who argue that shaving any amount from graduates’ loans is unfair to those who have spent years saving to pay off their own debts. US colleges can often cost anywhere between $10,000 and $70,000 a year, leaving graduates with crushing debt as they enter the workforce. According to government estimates, the average debt for US college students when they graduate is $25,000, a sum many spend years or even decades to pay back. In total, some 45 million borrowers nationwide owe a collective $1.6 trillion, according to the White House. Under the relief plan, $10,000 will be cut from all loans owed by people earning a salary of less than $125,000. For former students who went to university with need-based government assistance known as Pell grants, the relief will be $20,000. ‘Giant step forward’ Meanwhile, a moratorium on loan repayments that was instituted during the Covid pandemic will be extended to the end of the year, with installments restarting on December 31. The plan was announced after months of consideration in the White House on how to thread the needle on an issue that has bedeviled successive administrations. Among the worries is that the program will feed already rampant inflation in the wake of the Covid-19 shutdown and subsequent economic recovery. But Biden has been under heavy pressure for months from the senior Senate Democrat, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and lawmakers from the left of the party to take action. “With the flick of a pen, President Biden has taken a giant step forward in addressing the student debt crisis by cancelling significant amounts of student debt for millions of borrowers. The positive impacts of this move will be felt by families across the country, particularly in minority communities,” said a joint statement by Schumer and leading liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren. Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel called the plan a “bailout for the wealthy. As hardworking Americans struggle with soaring costs and a recession, Biden is giving a handout to the rich.” “Biden’s bailout unfairly punishes Americans who saved for college or made a different career choice, and voters see right through this short-sighted, poorly veiled vote-buy,” she said. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and some media organizations filed a lawsuit over an Arizona law that would bar recording video of law enforcement within eight feet. The law was signed in July by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, and makes it a crime to record law enforcement activity within that distance. Violators would face a potential misdemeanor charge after being warned once to move away. The lawsuit seeks an injunction ahead of the law’s September effect date. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the district Of Arizona. In recent years, the act of filming law enforcement officials has become a way of exposing misconduct. The most high-profile example of such filming is cellphone video footage taken by bystanders of the arrest and murder of George Floyd, a Black man, who died after his neck was pinned to the ground by a police official for nine minutes in May 2020. Floyd’s death sparked demonstrations against racism and police brutality in the United States and across the world. The lawsuit argues that the Arizona law violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment right to record and would negatively impact a reporter’s ability to work on stories related to law enforcement due to the risk of arrest and prosecution. Among the ten news media groups that joined the lawsuit were local news stations and media broadcasting companies, including NBC Universal Media, the parent company of NBC News. The New York University’s First Amendment Watch says that over 60% of the U.S. population lives in states in which federal appeals courts have recognized the First Amendment right to record police officers performing their duties in public. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Bernadette Baum) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) -Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox church, who backs the war in Ukraine, will not meet when both men attend a gathering of religious leaders in Kazakhstan next month, RIA news agency cited a senior Orthodox official as saying on Wednesday. Francis, due to be in the capital Nur-Sultan from Sept. 13-15 to attend the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, has said in several recent interviews he hopes to meet with Patriarch Kirill when in Kazakhstan. But Bishop Anthony, the Russian church’s second most powerful bishop, told RIA there was no question of the two religious leaders meeting on the sidelines. “It (a meeting) must be an independent event by virtue of its importance,” said Anthony, in charge of foreign relations, who held talks with Francis in early August. Francis has met Kirill once before, in Cuba in 2016. Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has given enthusiastic backing to the invasion of Ukraine. In June, Francis implicitly accused Russia of “armed conquest, expansionism and imperialism” in Ukraine. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Rudy Giuliani’s ex-wife claims that the former New York City mayor fell into a tailspin in 2008 and it was a stay at Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago that helped him recover, Radar has learned. The details of the struggle were detailed in a new book “Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America’s Mayor,” by Andrew Kirtzman, that is set to arrive in bookstores on Sept. 13. The Guardian got a sneak peak at the contents, and one of the more shocking revelations tracks back to Giuliani’s attempts to secure the Republican nomination for president in 2008. It’s easy to forget that chapter in Giuliani’s life, with all the more recent and subsequent Trump-tinged headlines. But according to Giuliani’s third wife Judith, now ex, who spoke to Kirtzman, the failed 2008 run sent her husband into a tailspin. He was drinking to excess, she claims, and spiraling into depression. “We moved into Mar-a-Lago and Donald kept our secret,” she says in the book. As The Guardian notes, the only time Giuliani has spoken about this episode was to “The New York Times” in 2018, when he put a rather different spin on it, calling it a month of “relaxing.” According to the book, Giuliani and wife Judith moved into a bungalow across the street from Mar-a-Lago connected by a tunnel that runs under South Ocean Boulevard. During their stay, the Giuliani’s could come and go to Mar-a-Lago, without being spied by the media. When Giuliani finally ended his public absence with a stint as a Saturday Night Live guest host, discerning viewers may have noticed a large scar above his right eyebrow that makeup couldn’t entirely hide. According to Judith, this was the result of a fall he suffered during his dark days while getting out of a car. Kirtzman has covered Giuliani for decades and previously wrote a 2000 book about him, “Emperor of the City.” In this latest tome, he chillingly frames the relationship between Trump and the former NYC mayor. “What’s clear is the two men’s friendship survived when a hundred other Trump relationships died away like so many marriages of convenience,” Kirtzman writes. “Giuliani would never turn his back on Trump, much to his detriment.” View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Matthew Chapman On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that former President Donald Trump is privately scared of the FBI investigation against him — whatever he might say and do publicly. The investigation, the scope of which first became publicly known after the FBI executed a search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida, centers on classified documents the former president removed improperly, possibly including high-level nuclear secrets. “If the investigation into Mr. Trump’s possible connection with Russia was convoluted or hard for Americans to grasp, this one is n… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA The Allianz Arena lights up in rainbow colors. Brazilian FIFA referee Igor Benevenuto believes "an infinite number" of people in football are keeping their homosexuality hidden. Sven Hoppe/dpa Brazilian FIFA referee Igor Benevenuto believes “an infinite number” of people in football are keeping their homosexuality hidden. “If we take all those involved – officials, coaches, players, referees together – 30 to 40% are homosexual, bisexual or once had something with a man,” the 41-year-old, who made his homosexuality public in mid-July, told Germany’s Spiegel magazine on Wednesday. “Even people outside the football world notice that there are secret homosexual partnerships between footballers or sham marriages. You’d be surprised who is homosexual in this industry.” Benevenuto criticized homophobia in football and his native South America. “In Brazil, homosexuals have to fear being attacked not only with words but also physically. Attitudes haven’t changed yet.” Very few people in men’s professional football are openly gay. Whether he would advise others to come out would depend on the situation and the person’s environment, he said. “It shouldn’t just burst out of you, then the damage could be greater than the benefit. It took me a long time to find myself,” Benevenuto said. “It’s a process, but when you get there, then you can – to stay in football jargon – play freely. I hope everyone can free themselves – because there is nothing worse than living for others and not for yourself.” The Brazilian is on FIFA’s international list of video referees, but has missed out on making it to the World Cup in Qatar. View the full article

Published by New York Daily News The Spirit Awards, one of the nation’s most prominent awards celebrating the best in independent film and television, will no longer divide its acting awards categories into male and female performances. On Tuesday, Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization behind the prestigious awards, announced major changes to its 38th annual edition, set to take place on March 4. “We’re thrilled to join the other festivals and award shows that are already moving to celebrate great acting without reference to gender,” the organization’s president, Josh Welsh, said in a statement. “We’re also happy … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Conditions for religious freedom in Afghanistan have “drastically deteriorated” since the Taliban seized power last year as the last U.S.-led foreign troops pulled out after 20 years of war, a bipartisan U.S. commission said on Tuesday. The Sunni Muslim extremists’ “harsh enforcement” of their hardline version of Islam “violates the freedom of religion or belief” of a wide range of Afghans, said the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The congressionally created panel issued its report nine days after the Taliban marked a year since they overran Kabul, returning to power almost two decades after their ouster by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The report noted that the Taliban pledged to protect all ethnic and religious groups. Yet, it said, “Religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan have drastically deteriorated,” with the militants reintroducing “harsh restrictions on all Afghans” based on their hardline interpretation of Islam. Those negatively affected include religious minorities, Afghans “with differing interpretations of Islam,” women, the LGBTQ community and those who follow no faith, the report said. The Taliban, the report said, are responsible for the deaths of dozens of Hazaras, an ethnic minority that follows Shiite Islam, and failed to protect them from attacks by the regional branch of Islamic State, a Taliban rival. They re-established a ministry that includes morality police who have targeted women by enforcing a strict code of dress and behavior, including covering their faces, and limited their movement, education, participation in sports and right to work, it said. The Taliban and Islamic State have both targeted sufis, practitioners of mystical Islam, it said. “The Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan has led to a rapid decline and near extinction of the already small Afghan Hindu and Sikh communities” and the militants deny “the existence of a Christian community,” which must worship in hiding, the report added. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay; editing by Richard Pullin) View the full article