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Published by The Philadelphia Inquirer Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé are the most acclaimed Black music makers of their time. Between them, the Compton rapper and Houston-born megastar have won 42 Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize. (Though in an ongoing injustice, neither has been honored with the prestigious album of the year Grammy. Taylor Swift and Adele have a combined five.) Neither artist rules the popularity roost. Drake, Swift and Adele do bigger numbers when it comes to sales and streams. But both have attained exalted status as artists of importance who push the culture forward while commanding a mass audience. Beyoncé, who has 2… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Abbi Jacobson is engaged to Jodi Balfour. The 38-year-old actress – who has been dating ‘Bomb Girls’ star Jodi, 35, since 2020 – is reportedly set to tie the knot with her girlfriend after being spotted on the red carpet sporting a ring on her finger at a premiere on Thursday (04.08.22), according to Entertainment Tonight. The ‘Broad City’ actress later shared the images to her Instagram stories, but did not comment on the supposed engagement publicly. The pair were attending the premiere for ‘A League of Their Own’, with Abbi choosing to wear a floor-length red dress whilst Jodi opted for a long pink dress with one white boot and one red boot. The supposed engagement comes just under a year after the pair first announced they were dating in October 2021 and had kept it secret for a year. Alongside a snap of them both, Abbi wrote on Instagram at the time: “One year with this incredible human. Don’t know how I got so lucky . [heart emoji]” Back in 2018, Abbi – who has previously dated the likes of Carrie Brownstein and Ilana Glazer – revealed that she “goes both ways” and insisted that any potential partner has to be funny and pursue something they are passionate about. She said: “I kind of go both ways; I date men and women. I date men and women. They have to be funny, doing something they love. I don’t know—I’ve never really been interviewed about this before. Yeah, who knows? The world is my oyster!” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jack Queen (Reuters) -U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre $45.2 million in punitive damages – on top of $4.1 million in compensatory damages already awarded – for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax, a Texas jury decided on Friday. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, separated parents of slain 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, testified that followers of Jones harassed them and sent them death threats for years in the false belief that they were lying about their son’s death in the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting that killed 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The 12 jurors decided on the punitive damages one day after determining the compensatory damages following a two-week trial in the defamation lawsuit presided over by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in state court in the Texas capital of Austin, where Jones’ radio show and far-right webcast Infowars are based. Jones, a prominent figure in American right-wing circles and a supporter of former President Donald Trump, had called the Sandy Hook massacre a U.S. government hoax staged using crisis actors to serve as a pretext for taking away Americans’ guns. After the verdict, Lewis told reporters that the trial’s outcome showed that “we can choose love,” adding: “We’re all responsible for one another.” The parents had sought $145.9 million in punitive damages and $150 million in compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are awarded to cover a plaintiff’s suffering and losses. Punitive damages are awarded to punish a defendant’s actions. An attorney for Jones, Federico Andino Reynal, had asked jurors to return a verdict of $270,000 in punitive damages based on the number of hours Infowars devoted to Sandy Hook coverage. Outside the courthouse, Reynal told reporters the verdict was high but that Texas law caps punitive damages at $750,000 per plaintiff. Reynal later told Reuters he aimed to minimize compensatory damages throughout the trial knowing there is a cap on punitive damages. “We always knew that was going to be a backstop, so the strategy worked,” Reynal said, referring to the cap. The punitive damages were put at $4.2 million for Jones defaming Heslin by questioning that he held his dead son after the shooting and $20.5 million apiece to Heslin and Lewis for mental anguish. “We ask that you send a very, very simple message, and that is: stop Alex Jones. Stop the monetization of misinformation and lies,” Wesley Todd Ball, a lawyer for the parents, told jurors on Friday before they began deliberations on punitive damages. Jones sought to distance himself from the conspiracy theories during his testimony in the trial, apologizing to the parents and acknowledging that Sandy Hook was “100% real.” The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle during the massacre, which ended when he killed himself with the sound of approaching police sirens. ‘TRULY A BAD ACTOR’ The judge admonished Jones during the trial for not telling the truth during his testimony about his bankruptcy and lack of compliance with requests for documents. Attorney Doug Mirell, a defamation litigation expert not involved in the case, said the question of Jones’s truthfulness on the witness stand could have played a role in the jury’s award of punitive damages, noting that it is unusual to award significantly more in punitive than compensatory damages. “The jury may have simply latched on to their revulsion at the lies and decided Mr. Jones is truly a bad actor,” Mirell told Reuters. Forensic economist Bernard Pettingill testified on Friday that Jones and Infowars are worth between $135 million and $270 million combined. Jones’ company, Free Speech Systems LLC, declared bankruptcy last week. Jones said during a Monday broadcast that the filing will help the company stay on the air while it appeals. The bankruptcy declaration paused a similar defamation suit by Sandy Hook parents in Connecticut where, as in Texas, he has already been found liable. The bankruptcy will also pause another defamation suit by Sandy Hook parents in Texas, Reynal told Reuters. During closing arguments on Wednesday, Kyle Farrar, a lawyer for the parents, urged the jury to end what he called their nightmare and hold Jones accountable for profiting off their son’s death. Reynal acknowledged during his closing argument that Jones and Infowars reported “irresponsibly” on Sandy Hook but said his client was not responsible for the harassment. The plaintiffs have accused Jones of approaching the trial in bad faith, citing broadcasts in which he said the proceedings were rigged against him and that the jury pool was full of people who “don’t know what planet they’re on.” Reynal vowed on Friday that Jones will keep doing his job “holding the power structure accountable.” (Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Additional reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AFP The Flightradar24 app is seen on a smartphone in front of a screen showing the live position of planes tracked by the app in the area of Los Angeles on August 5, 2022 Washington (AFP) – How to upset Russian freight companies, Elon Musk, Chinese authorities and Kylie Jenner in one go? Track their jets. Flight following websites and Twitter accounts offer real-time views of air traffic –- and sometimes major news like Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip –- but that exposure draws pushback ranging from complaints to gear seizures. Whether Russian air freight firms, Saudi Arabian plane owners or others, Dan Streufert said his group gets dozens of “requests” each year to stop posting aircrafts’ whereabouts. “We have not removed anything so far. This is all public information. And I don’t want to be the arbiter of who’s right and who’s wrong,” added Streufert, founder of the US-based flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange. Limits do apply in some cases, but groups that piece together the flight paths note that the core information source is legally available and open to anyone with the right gear. US rules require planes in designated areas be equipped with ADS-B technology that broadcasts aircraft positions using signals that relatively simple equipment can pick up. A service like Sweden-based Flightradar24 has 34,000, mostly volunteer-operated receivers around the world to pick up the signals, a key source of information that’s routed back to a central network and combined with data on flight schedules and aircraft information. Figuring out or confirming to whom a plane actually belongs can require some sleuthing, said jet tracker Jack Sweeney, who filed a public records request with the US government that yielded a form bearing the signature of a particular plane’s owner: Tesla boss Elon Musk. Sweeney has gotten quite a bit of attention with his Twitter account that tracks the movements of the billionaire’s plane and even rejected Musk’s offer of $5,000 to shut down @ElonJet, which has over 480,000 followers. “There’s so much traction, I’m doing something right. The celebrity thing –- people like seeing what celebrities are doing, that and the whole emissions thing,” he told AFP, referring to concerns over the planes’ greenhouse gas impact. “Putting it on Twitter makes it easier for people to access and understand,” Sweeney added. ‘We will track anything’ Another of Sweeney’s Twitter accounts, powered by data from ADS-B Exchange, showed in July that US model and celebrity Kylie Jenner’s plane took a flight in California that lasted just 17 minutes. The internet was not pleased and she faced a torrent of criticism on social media over concerns about the message it sent regarding climate change. “They tell us working class people to feel bad about our once a year flight to a much needed vacation while these celebs take private jets every other day as if it’s an Uber,” tweeted @juliphoria, in an example of the outrage. Neither Sweeney nor Streufert evoked a distinct redline they were concerned could be crossed by publishing the flight data. “We will track anything because honestly, if somebody really was a bad actor, and they wanted to know where this stuff is, you can build the electronics for $100 and just deploy receivers to pick up the same signals yourself,” said Streufert from ADS-B Exchange. Sweeney said “the data is already out there. I’m just redistributing it.” There is also money to be made, but it’s not clear how much –- Streufert acknowledged he makes a living but declined to provide specifics and Sweeney said his flight tracking work brought in about $100 a month. Flightradar24 didn’t provide its revenue. The services’ information -– as recently shown by the hundreds of thousands watching whether Pelosi would defy China’s warnings –- has significant potential for impact far beyond embarrassment of celebrities or the rankling of billionaires. For example, ADS-B Exchange’s data was cited in a non-profit group’s report alleging Europe’s border agency Frontex worked to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean, while US media used it to show surveillance planes flew over racial justice protests in Washington in 2020. In fact, dozens of US Congress members responded to the revelations by signing on to a letter urging the FBI and other government entities like the National Guard to “cease surveilling peaceful protests immediately and permanently.” In some parts of the world, governments have made clear the technology and resulting information is not welcome. Chinese state media reported in 2021 that the government had recently confiscated hundreds of receivers used in crowd-sourced flight tracking, citing the risk of “espionage.” “In many cases, it’s authoritarian regimes that don’t like this exposure,” Streufert said. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Britney Spears is “saddened” after her ex-husband publicly revealed their sons haven’t seen her “for months”. The ‘Gimme More’ singer has spoken out in response to an interview given by Kevin Federline, in which he claimed sons Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden 15, had “decided” they didn’t want to see their mother or attend her recent wedding to Sam Asghari, and suggested the teenagers were embarrassed by her revealing Instagram posts. Britney has now responded via her Instagram Story, admitting the comments were “hurtful”. She wrote: “It saddens me to hear that my ex husband has decided to discuss the relationship between me and my children … as we all know, raising teenage boys is never easy for anyone … it concerns me the fact that the reason is based on my Instagram … it was LONG before Instagram … I gave them every thing … Only one word: HURTFUL … I’ll say it … My mother told me ‘You should GIVE them to their dad’ … I’m sharing this because I can … Have a good day folks!!!” Sam has also hit out at Kevin over his comments, branding him “irresponsible” and insisted there was “no validity” to his claims. He shared a statement online which read: “To clarify my wife has never posted a nude selfie except of her butt which is quite modest these days. All other posts were implied nudity which can be seen in any ad for lotion or soap. “There is no validity to his statement regarding the kids distancing themselves and it is irresponsible to make that statement publicly.” The fitness trainer went on to take a swipe at Kevin for having not “worked much in over 15 years” and questioned why the former dancer had praised Britney’s estranged father, Jamie Spears, and backed her being under a conservatorship for so long. He continued: “The boys are very smart and will be 18 soon to make their own decisions and may eventually realize the “tough” part was having a father who hasn’t worked much in over 15 years as a role model. “I do not know him personally and have nothing against him aside from choosing to vilify my wife. His character is revealed by approval of the cruel 13 CShip and his loyalty to Jamie indicates his approval at time of conception as well. “Things that are now considered normal issues and behaviour were magnified to justify a 13 year prison sentence. Anyone approving of it is wrong or benefiting from it somehow. I will not comment on this matter again except to say I have a job.” In an interview for ITV News released by the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Kevin – who also has Kori, 20, and Kaleb, 18, with Shar Jackson and Jordan, 11, and Peyton, eight, with wife Victoria Justice – claimed he “didn’t feel comfortable” with some of his ex-wife’s recent behaviour. He said: “The boys have decided they are not seeing her right now. It’s been a few months since they’ve seen her. They made the decision not to go to her wedding. “There were a lot of things going on that I didn’t feel comfortable with. They tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but at the same time, I can tell that sometimes, it hurts to be in that position.” The ‘Circus’ singer was placed under a conservatorship governed by her father Jamie in 2008 following a public breakdown and – while the ruling was reversed by a Los Angeles court in 2021 thereby giving Britney control over her multimillion-dollar fortune and other aspects of her life – Kevin argued that the arrangement actually “saved” her life. He added: “I saw this man that really cared, and really cares about his family and wanting everything to be OK,. When Jamie took over, things got into order. He saved her life.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Fidel Castro’s daughter has praised James Franco’s casting as her father in a new movie. The ‘127 Hours’ actor – who has Latin and Portuguese heritage – will portray the former Cuban leader opposite Mia Maestro as his former lover, socialite Natalia ‘Naty’ Revuelta, and Ana Villafane as their daughter Alina Fernandez in ‘Alina of Cuba’, and the real Alina thinks producers have done a great job with casting. She told Deadline: “[I am proud that] the project is almost entirely Latino, both in front and behind the camera. “James Franco has an obvious physical resemblance with Fidel Castro, besides his skills and charisma. “I find the selection of the cast amazing. “Ana Villafañe is extraordinarily talented, and not only as an actress because she is also a great singer, a very complete performer. I’m sure that Mía Maestro, an actress I admire, will understand and interpret Naty, my mother, in a unique way and I can’t wait to see her building her character.” Alina – who will be a biographical and historical consultant on the film – went on to praise the rest of the cast, which includes Alanna de la Rosa, Maria Cecilia Botero, Harding Junior, and Cuban-born actors Sian Chiong and Rafael Ernesto Hernandez. She added: “The rest of the cast is going to be a wonderful surprise for all audiences. “The filmmakers worked a lot and I can’t be more grateful to them for their overall inclusive selection. “To me, the most important thing about this movie is that the conversation about Cuba is alive. “Personally, the experience is so far too unexpected but more than anything, humbling.” Written by Jose Rivera and Nilo Cruz , the movie will show the life story of Cuban exile and social campaigner Alina, who found out aged 10 she was Castro’s daughter. She became an anti-communism activist who was arrested multiple times for her attempts to flee Cuba, and banned from travelling outside the country. She defected to Spain in 1993 and settled in Miami. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Brigitte Neilsen doesn’t think the “world was ready” for a “fierce female lead” when she made ‘Red Sonja’. The 59-year-old star was an unknown actress when she landed the role in the 1985 movie and though she thinks it was a “great story”, she believes if it was made today, it would be a very different experience and the film would be more successful. She said: “In the 80s, you were just a female. You were just there. You were just happy to be there. Today, everything is so different, I think ‘Red Sonja’ was the wrong timing for a great story. For female projects and – when I think back, ‘Red Sonja’, female lead but it was directed and produced by an all-male world. Today, if there was a remake you might have a chance it’s gonna be a female director, with a lot of females producing the movie. “You also saw it when ‘Red Sonja’ premiered. It didn’t become the hit they had expected it to be but ‘Red Sonja’ found its audience and it became a cult. “And that’s why I believe if they were to be remade today, it could be become a hit. That the chance it didn’t get in the 80s because the world wasn’t ready for a fierce female lead.” Brigitte admitted she didn’t full “understand the magnitude” of the impact the film could have when she was first given the script. She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: “When I got the role as Sonja, I read it like a story my life from a book my mother would have given me. My mom was a librarian. So I didn’t understand the magnitude of the lead that I got as to who Red Sonja really was. “In the sense of today, I would go ‘Oh, my god, she’s a fierce, independent, wonderful, female kick a** character that knows where she’s going and what she’s doing.” The movie has been remastered in 4K UHD and Brigitte admitted it has been nice to revisit the project. She said: “It’s nice to come back and get the emotions. Like, so many years ago we shot this movie. And it’s still alive. And someone is thinking about it and it’s got an audience. And I think it’s great. And it’s never been a better timing.” ‘Red Sonja’ is out now on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD from StudioCanal. View the full article

Published by Reuters RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A German diplomat in Rio de Janeiro, Uwe Herbert Hahn, was arrested on Saturday night in connection with the death of his Belgian husband, police said. Hahn said that his husband, Walter Biot, had died on Friday when he fell from their apartment in the Ipanema neighborhood after suffering a sudden illness. But police arrested him on suspicion of murder after their forensics found bloodstains in the apartment and the autopsy of Biot’s body showed multiple wounds. Television images showed police taking Hahn away in a police car. “The circumstances of the death are evident. We realized there was a violent death from the traces of injury in different parts of the body,” police investigator Camila Lourenco told reporters. The German Consulate in Rio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Brazilian news portal G1, the couple had been together for 23 years. Biot was 52. (Reporting by Rodrigo Viga; Writing by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) View the full article

Published by AFP The US Capitol on August 6, 2022, as Democratic senators worked to pass a major climate and health bill sought by President Joe Biden Washington (AFP) – After months of negotiations, the US Senate looks poised to pass Joe Biden’s grand climate and health care plan, channeling billions toward ambitious clean energy goals in a hard-won victory for the president ahead of midterm elections. “I think it’s going to pass,” the Democratic president, who recently recovered from a second bout of Covid-19, told journalists Sunday morning in a brief appearance on the White House lawn. The $430 billion plan, crafted in arduous talks with members on the right wing of his Democratic Party, would include the biggest US investment ever on climate — $370 billion aimed at effecting a 40 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. That would give Biden a clear victory on one of his top agenda items and go some way toward restoring US leadership in meeting the global climate challenge. Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate — just enough to pass spending bills like this with no Republican support. If the package is approved, likely within days, it will move on Friday to the House of Representatives, where the majority Democrats expect to pass it. It would then go to Biden’s desk for his signature. Electric cars The bill would provide ordinary Americans with a tax credit of up to $7,500 when purchasing an electric car, plus a 30 percent discount when they install solar panels on their roofs. It would also provide millions to help protect and conserve forests — which have been increasingly ravaged in recent years by wildfires during record heat waves that scientists say are linked to global warming. Billions of dollars in tax credits would also go to some of the country’s worst-polluting industries to help their transition to greener methods — a measure bitterly opposed by some liberal Democrats who have, however, accepted this as a least-bad alternative after months of frustration. Biden, who came to office with promises of sweeping — and expensive — reforms, has seen his hopes dashed, then revived, then dashed again. Democrats’ narrow edge in the Senate has given a virtual veto to moderates like Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who earlier had used that power to block Biden’s much more expansive Build Back Better plan. But in late July, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer managed to wangle a compromise with the West Virginian, whose state’s economy depends heavily on coal mining. And on Saturday, senators finally opened their debate on the text. ‘Vote-a-rama’ Late in the day, senators kicked off a marathon procedure known as a “vote-a-rama,” in which members can propose dozens of amendments and demand a vote on each one. That has allowed both Republicans, who view Biden’s plan as too costly, and liberal Democrats, who say it does not reach far enough, to make their opposition clear. Influential progressive senator Bernie Sanders used that platform through the evening to propose several amendments aimed at strengthening social planks in the legislation, which were considerably weakened during the months of negotiation. As it stands, the bill would provide $64 billion for health care initiatives and ensure a lowering of some drug costs — which can be 10 times more expensive in the US than in some other rich countries. But progressive Democrats long ago had to give up their ambitions for free preschool and community colleges and expanded healthcare for the elderly. “Millions of seniors will continue to have rotten teeth and lack the dentures, hearing aids or eyeglasses that they deserve,” Sanders said from the Senate floor. “This bill, as currently written, does nothing to address it.” But fellow Democrats, eager to pass the legislation well ahead of November midterms when control of Congress is much at stake, have rejected any change in the text. To help offset the plan’s massive spending, it would reduce the US deficit through a new 15-percent minimum tax on companies with profits of $1 billion or more — a move targeting some that now pay far less. View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – A sinkhole in Chile has doubled in size, growing large enough to engulf France’s Arc de Triomphe and prompting officials to order work to stop at a nearby copper mine. The sinkhole, which emerged on July 30, now stretches 50 meters (160 feet) across and goes down 200 meters (656 feet). Seattle’s Space Needle would also comfortably fit in the black pit, as would six Christ the Redeemer statues from Brazil stacked head-to-head, giant arms outstretched. The National Service of Geology and Mining said late on Saturday it is still investigating the gaping hole near the Alcaparrosa mine operated by Canadian company Lundin Mining, about 665 km (413 miles) north of Santiago. In addition to ordering all work to stop, the geology and mining service said it was starting a “sanctioning process.” The agency did not provide details on what that action would involve. Lundin did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The company last week said the hole did not affect workers or community members and that it was working to determine the cause. Lundin owns 80% of the property and the rest is held by Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation. Initially, the hole near the town of Tierra Amarilla measured about 25 meters (82 feet) across, with water visible at the bottom. The geology and mining service said it has installed water extraction pumps at the mine and in the next few days would investigate the mine’s underground chambers for potential over-extraction. Local officials have expressed worry that the Alcaparrosa mine could have flooded below ground, destabilizing the surrounding land. It would be “something completely out of the ordinary,” Tierra Amarilla Mayor Cristobal Zuniga told local media. (Reporting by Marion Giraldo; Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kevin Bacon insists it “takes a lot of work” to be scared every day on a horror film shoot. The 64-year-old actor portrays the villainous Owen Whistler in new movie ‘They/Them’ and has previously had parts in classics of the genre including ”Friday the 13th’, ‘Stir of Echoes’, ‘Tremors’, and he explained he much prefers the high stakes and physical action of such movies than “sitting around having a conversation and eating a sandwich” in a drama. Asked why he likes making horror films, he told website Slash Film: “Well, the joy is that the stakes are so high. It’s good stuff for me to play. If you’re running for your life, or you’re trying to destroy some kind of evil force, or stabbing somebody or getting stabbed, whatever that happens to be, that’s just good stuff. That’s just stuff that you want to play. “I’d rather be doing that than sitting around, having a conversation and eating a sandwich. Also, sometimes in horror, there’s a lot of physical stuff, which I also really like to get into. There’s not so much in ‘They/Them’. “But it’s also, the challenge is different levels of fear because, especially if you’re a lead and you have to go through this step by step, to try to find a new way to be scared every day is really — that can be a lot of work.” ‘They/ Them’ is set in a gay conversion camp and Kevin loved the way his character slowly revealed his true self throughout the film. He said: “Well, I think that he’s a manipulator, for one thing. He knows that group of people, they’re not there — maybe a couple of them are there because they kind of want to be there. I guess maybe the Stu character kind of wants to become more macho or whatever, but they’re also, at the very least, terrified to be there. “He’s going to try to put them at ease as much as possible, and then see an opening, and then come in with the terror of it he ends up coming in with. “It’s also a good exercise, because it means that if it gives me as a character development, a place to go, when you start to see just a little hint of the darkness, the anger, the fear, the dangerous nature of this character, when you see you can just put a little hint in there. And then just add a little bit more, a little bit later, and then just have it explode. It’s a fun place to go.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – The United States declared monkeypox a public health emergency last week, an effort to bolster the U.S. response to contain the outbreak. The virus continues to be largely transmitted among gay and bisexual men, but experts say the disease could spill over into other populations, especially due to vaccine shortages. Monkeypox is spread by contact with puss-filled sores and is rarely fatal. Here is the state of monkeypox now and some other the populations U.S. experts believe may be at risk: WHO IS GETTING MONKEYPOX NOW? Last month, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global public health emergency. So far, 80 countries where the virus is not endemic have reported 26,500 cases of monkeypox, according to a Reuters tally. In the United States, 99.1% of U.S. monkeypox cases occurred among those assigned the male sex at birth as of July 25, according to a technical report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among male patients, 99% reported having sexual contact with other men. About 38% of cases occurred in among white, non-Hispanic males. Another 26% were in Black males and 32% in Hispanic males. The pattern of sexual transmission in men is not typical. In Africa, where monkeypox has been circulating since the 1970s, 60% of cases are in men, and 40% occur in women. One reason may be that the virus appears to be “very efficiently transmitted through anal receptive intercourse and to some degree oral sex,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease epidemiologist and an editor-at-large at Kaiser Health News. WHO ELSE IS AT RISK? Although the current explosion of cases has occurred in men, experts say there is no biological reason the virus will remain largely within the community of men who have sex with men. “We certainly know it’s going to spread to family members and to other non-male partners that people have,” said Dr. Jay Varma, director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response. He said the virus could also spread through massage parlors or spas. The real question, he said, is whether it spreads as efficiently in those groups as it does among close sexual networks of men who have sex with men. Experts point to the way HIV spread as a possible indicator for where the virus will go next. “My greatest fear is that as we try to contain this, it’s going to seep along the fractures in our social geography and go where HIV did, and that’s going into communities of color in the rural South,” said Dr. Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at Yale University and a leading HIV/AIDS activist. Those are places with limited infrastructure for testing, vaccines and treatments. Gounder is especially concerned about infections among Black women, who account for the largest share of new HIV infections in the United States, and already suffer significantly higher rates of maternal complications and deaths. WHO ELSE MIGHT BE AT RISK? Other at-risk settings include college dormitories, health clubs and sports teams. Gounder is aware of some sports leagues that are preparing for possible infections, noting that sports such as wrestling involve close skin-to-skin contact. Wrestling, football, rugby and other sports teams have previously had outbreaks of the superbug MRSA, according to the CDC. “I think it is something we need to be thinking about and prepared for,” she said. Employers may also need to start preparing. Gounder said some theaters in New York, for example, are considering how they might protect their workers from possible monkeypox infections through contact with shared costumes. “We’re still in the beginnings of that, but I am encouraged to see that some are already thinking about that.” (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Caroline Humer and Josie Kao) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Rosie O’Donnell says her teenage daughter Vivienne is “allowed to express her feelings” after branding her upbringing abnormal. 19-year-old Vivienne claimed in a recent TikTok video that she didn’t have a normal upbringing and after some back and forth, Rosie, 60, admitted she’s right. Speaking in her own TikTok video, Rosie said: “I knew what she was talking about. It’s not normal to have three lesbian mothers and have one of them be famous and get in a fight with the president for five years or more. “She’s right to say that it wasn’t a normal upbringing like all of her friends and it’s okay, you’re allowed to express your feelings in our family, even if you do it online in a funny manner. I replied, I thought in a funny manner, saying I was going to tell all her secrets. But I don’t have any secrets! She’s a great kid, always has been.” This came after Rosie initially responded with videos claiming that Vivienne’s childhood was totally normal. She asked: “Vi Vi, what do you mean I didn’t do anything normal? “I did normal things. I’m normal. I’m totally normal. Jeez, Viv, I’m going to tell some secrets about you! She put a caption on the video that said: “Love your vibe with your Moms.” In another video, she said: “A hater? Come on, I thought I was pretty nice. I didn’t think I was hateful at all. Just my review of the show. That’s all. Bye bye.” Vivienne, is the youngest of Rosie’s four children that she adopted with her 55-year-old ex-wife Kelli Carpenter, from whom she split in 2007. They also share sons Parker, 27, and Blake, 22, and daughter Chelsea, 24. O’Donnell adopted her fifth child, daughter Dakota, nine, with former partner Michelle Rounds in 2013 before Rounds died of an apparent suicide in 2017 aged 46. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tom Daley will be “really sad” when he eventually quits diving. While the 28-year-old sports star currently has his sights set on the 2024 Olympics in Paris, he knows retirement is inevitable and is already looking ahead to his future. He said: “I love diving and the moment I choose to stop is going to be really sad. It’s only two years until the Olympics in Paris. It is a short cycle. It has been weird watching the World Championship scores and comparing them to what I’ve done in the past. The score I got for bronze in Tokyo was 40 points more than the gold medal score.” However, Tom’s current break from competing has allowed him to spend more time with his husband Dustin Lance Black, 48, and their four-year-old son Robbie, along with focusing on his other passions. He told Big Issue magazine: “But it has been nice to set different goals this year. I spend three nights in Pakistan, three nights in Jamaica but otherwise, I’ve just been with Robbie and Lance and it’s been so special. “Between my family, knitting and fighting for LGBT rights this year has been really nice. My priorities and perspectives have been massively shifted in terms of what matters most. I feel like I’m going to look back at this as one of the most important years of my life and the one where I really started to be active in the movement.” Meanwhile, the diver acknowledged that no person’s coming out story is the same as anyone else’s. He said: “There’s no one size fits all. My big advice is making sure you come out in your own time and that it has to be safe. And just being able to be yourself with one person is better than never being able to be yourself with anyone. “I came out back in December 2013. Initially I was just doing it because I didn’t want to feel like I had to hide any more. Since then, I mean, I’ve been married for five years, I’ve got a son that starts school in September, it’s all gone very quickly.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Michelle Visage thinks she was a “gay British man” in a former life. The 53-year-old radio DJ – who has daughters Lillie, 22, and Lola, 20, with husband David Case – is good friends with her fellow ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ stars Alan Carr and Graham Norton, but the star is unable to explain why she feels she was a homosexual guy in a past life, admitting the comment makes her sound “like a nutter”. She told Britain’s Closer magazine: “I feel like in a former life I was a gay, British man. I can’t explain it. “I sound like a nutter but that’s the way that I feel.” But in her present life, Michelle and David celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in June, and she believes the secret to a happy marriage is “not becoming too codependent”. She said: “I surprised him with a day at a spa and we had facials, massages and sat by the pool sipping lovely drinks and enjoying each other’s company. He is a wonderful man. And handsome. I like to think I did well! “I do believe the secret is having time to ourselves and not becoming too codependent.” While Michelle has always been the main breadwinner, she admits author and screenwriter David is still “very much the man of the household”, and despite their quarter of a century together, he isn’t always a big fan of her straight-talking. She added: “My husband sometimes says, ‘Maybe you could say that a little softer. But I’ve always been that way. “Whether it hurts or not, honest communication is how you work through it.” View the full article

Published by uPolitics.com Last month, the Moms For Liberty political action committee (PAC) received a massive donation from a surprise donor, Julie Fancelli, the heiress of the supermarket chain Publix. The $51,000 check was the PAC’s first large donation. Their organization is fairly new in the conservative PAC scene. The organization was started by former school board members, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich Fancelli is a widely known Republican donor. Before the Capitol Riot began, she was a significant donor to right-wing groups organizing the events. The donation was made on June 23, according to the financial… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sofia Ahmed and Ted Hesson NEW YORK (Reuters) -Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Friday he has started to send buses carrying migrants to New York City in an effort to push responsibility for border crossers to Democratic mayors and U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat. The first bus arrived early on Friday at the city’s Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan. Volunteers were putting groups of migrants in taxis headed to a nearby intake center, where they said some would be processed for admission to city homeless shelters. Abbott, who is running for a third term as governor in November elections, has sent more than 6,000 migrants to Washington since April in a broader effort to combat illegal immigration and call out Biden for his more welcoming policies. Abbott said New York City Mayor Eric Adams could provide services and housing for the new arrivals. “I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief,” Abbott said in a statement. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, another Republican, has followed Abbott’s lead and bused another 1,000 to Washington. U.S. border authorities have made record numbers of arrests under Biden although many are repeat crossers. Some migrants who are not able to be expelled quickly to Mexico or their home countries under a COVID-era policy are allowed into the United States, often to pursue asylum claims in U.S. immigration court. New York City Mayor Adams’ office has in recent weeks criticized the bussing efforts to Washington, saying some migrants were making their way to New York City and overwhelming its homeless shelter system. On Friday the mayor’s Press Secretary Fabien Levy said Abbott was using “human beings as political pawns,” calling it “a disgusting, and an embarrassing stain on the state of Texas.” Levy said New York would continue to “welcome asylum seekers with open arms, as we always have, but we are asking for resources to help do so,” calling for support from federal officials. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has also said her city’s shelter system has been taxed by migrant arrivals and last month called on the Biden administration to deploy military troops to assist with receiving the migrants, a request that has frustrated White House officials. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had declined a request for D.C. National Guard to help with the transportation and reception of migrants in the city because it would hurt the troops’ readiness. (Reporting by Sofia Ahmed in New York and Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Mica Rosenberg and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jamie Foxx convinced Cameron Diaz to return to acting. The 49-year-old star last appeared on screen in 2014 movie-musical ‘Annie’ and had since announced her retirement from acting but is due to return in the upcoming film ‘Back In Action’ and co-star Jamie, 54, said that he just had to explain to her how “fun” the project would be. He told ETOnline: “Cameron is such an incredible force and she has done so much in this business, We love her. Getting her to come on board basically involved asking her, ‘Do you wanna have some fun? Just have some fun!’ And I think that’s what brought her to it.” Back in 2021, the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ actress – who has been married to Benji Madden since 2015 and has two-year-old daughter Raddix with him – admitted that she had stepped away from the business in order to “manage” different aspects of her life. She said:” When you do something at a really high level for a long period of time, there are parts of your life that end up being handed off to other people. For me, I just really wanted to make my life manageable by me,” she shared of her decision. “My routine in a day is literally what I can manage to do by myself. “I just went, ‘I can’t really say who I am to myself.’ Which is a hard thing to face up to,” she shared. “I felt the need to make myself whole It was previously reported that Cameron was feeling “anxious” but “excited” upon her return to the big screen. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Christina Ricci learned about homosexuality from Johnny Depp. The 42-year-old actress was starring alongside Johnny, 59, and his then-girlfriend Winona Ryder in ‘Mermaids’ back in 1990 and revealed that the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star explained to her nine-year-old self what homosexuality was during an on-set conflict. Speaking on SiriusXM, she told Andy Cohen: “There was something going on on set and someone was not being nice to someone else. And they were like, ‘Oh, well, he might be homophobic. And then I was like, ‘Well, I don’t understand what that is.’ And I was in Winona’s trailer and she was like, ‘I don’t know how [to explain].’ So she put me on the phone with Johnny, and Johnny explained it to me! “He was like, ‘It’s when a man wants to have sex with a man and when a woman wants to have sex with a woman.’ And I was like, ‘Ah, okay!'” Almost a decade later, Christina had teamed up with Johnny again and was paired up with him for her first sex scene in ‘Sleepy Hollow’ but joked that it was “weird” because she thinks of him “like a brother.” She said: “I’ve known Johnny so long, he’s protective of me as an older brother and it’s weird to think of having sex with him. So we know enough about each other to laugh at it. He said it was ‘like we were rooting around together like pigs. But the decision was made early on that Johnny and I would never be unclothed because in gypsy culture women are forbidden to be nude.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kevin Spacey has been ordered to pay ‘House of Cards’ producers $31 million. The 63-year-old actor was dropped from the Netflix series in 2017 after being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple young men and he was later sued by programme makers MRC for breach of contract after they said he had violated the company’s sexual harassment policy, and on Thursday (04.08.22), a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered him to pay £29.5 million in damages and an additional $1.5 million in legal fees and costs, People magazine reports. When MRC first took action against Spacey – who they alleged cost millions in lost profits after they were forced to remove him from the show and cut its sixth and final season short by five episodes – the disgraced star’s lawyers filed an opposition asking for the motion to be set aside. They argued: “The truth is that while Spacey participated in a pervasive on-set culture that was filled with sexual innuendoes, jokes, and innocent horseplay, he never sexually harassed anyone. “In fact, as the evidence established and the Arbitrator recognized in the Award, the few times Spacey was told that his conduct made someone feel uncomfortable or was in any way unwanted, he stopped.” But the production company quietly won the arbitration award in 2020, with the ruling coming to light in November the following year when MRC filed a petition in civil court to confirm the award. Spacey’s lawyers disagreed with the findings of the arbitrator – who ruled MCR had a right to the money, which should be paid by the ‘American Beauty’ actor and his companies M. Profitt Productions and Trigger Street Productions – as they argued external allegations against their client couldn’t be considered because Netflix were unaware of many of the claims when they fired him from the show. They wrote: “As the Arbitrator recognised, the reduction in episodes was a foregone conclusion once Netflix dictated to Petitioners that Spacey could not and would not be a part of Season 6. “But what the Arbitrator ignored is that the conduct he found to be in breach of the Agreements was not even known by Netflix at the time it made this decision. In other words, the breaches found by the Arbitrator could not have been related to Petitioners’ damages because those damages had already been caused by the time the breaching conduct was known.” MRC are happy with the outcome at the Superior Court. Their attorney, Michael Kump, said: “We are pleased with the court’s ruling.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jane Fonda made her famous workout video with “no money”. The 84-year-old star released ‘Jane Fonda’s Workout’ on VHS 40 years ago and she admitted the exercise class was filmed on “spit and a prayer” so she was stunned by just how successful it went on to be. She said: “I mean, we spent no money on it. I wrote the script myself on a hotel-room floor. We did our own makeup. It was spit and a prayer. “Eventually the video came out, and of course it remains the number one selling home video of all time. Nobody’s ever broken that record!” The ‘Grace and Frankie’ initially rejected multiple approaches for the video because she “didn’t even know” what a VCR was at the time. She told Vogue: “I know that the world is full of women who can’t afford to go to a gym or feel self-conscious about being in a gym or can’t go to a gym because they have a young child. So doing it in the privacy of their home was an answer for that. “I’d like to claim that I’m a brilliant, strategic businesswoman. If people wanted it, I didn’t know it, [but] I provided it and at a time, it was just perfect. “[Founder of Karl Video Corp.] Stuart Karl’s wife read my first workout book and said to her husband, ‘This could be a video.’ “He was sort of the king of home videos, which didn’t mean much at the time because nobody had a VCR. I didn’t even know what a VCR was. Literally nobody I knew had a VCR. He made the first do-it-yourself home-improvement videos. “So he came to me and pitched the idea of doing a workout video. I said no. I just didn’t get it. “But then the money was going to a political organisation that my then-husband, Tom Hayden, and I had founded called the Campaign for Economic Democracy. Stuart Karl kept coming back and kept coming back. “Finally, I realised maybe this could make money. So I said, ‘Okay, let’s try it.’ “ View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kathy Bates and Liza Koshy have joined the cast of a currently-untitled star-studded Netflix rom-com. Nicole Kidman, 55, Joey King, 23, and Zac Efron, 34, were previously announced for Richard LaGravenese’s flick, which he penned with Carrie Solomon. The movie, as reported by Deadline, tells the tale of a “surprising romance which kicks off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother and her movie star boss as they face the complications of love, sex, and identity.” The ‘American Horror Story’ star and 26-year-old YouTube personality-and-actress Liza’s roles are not known at this time. Kathy’s other upcoming movies include starring alongside Dame Maggie Smith and Laura Linney in ‘The Miracle Club’. Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s flick tells the story of a riotous group of women who go on a pilgrimage from Dublin to France. The journey allows them to discover their friendship and their own personal miracles. The 74-year-old star will also star in ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’, Kelly Fremon Craig’s adaptation of Judy Blume’s best-selling novel. She plays the titular character’s grandmother, Sylvia. The Oscar-winner, John Malkovich and Lewis Pullman also lead the cast of ‘Thelma’ by Ken Kwapis. The film “recounts the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It would be published in 1980, eleven years after Ken’s death, thereafter becoming a widely celebrated cult classic.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Angelica Ross is set to become the first transgender actress to play Roxie Hart in ‘Chicago’. The 41-year-old ‘Pose’ star will make her Broadway debut in the long-running musical later this year, playing murderous vixen Roxie for eight weeks from September 12. Actresses who have previously played Roxie include Pamela Anderson, Melanie Griffith, Christie Brinkley, Marilu Henner, Brooke Shields and Lisa Rinna. While Angelica can’t wait to get started, she admitted the announcement was bittersweet as it came on the same day that US basketball star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison after being found guilty of narcotics possession and smuggling for bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into the country. Angelica tweeted: “This day is full of mixed feelings for me! I want to celebrate being on Broadway, but I don’t feel like celebrating with #BrittneyGriner sentenced to 9 years in prison. This world is messed up. She doesn’t deserve this.” The 31-year-old basketball star – who normally lives in Houston, Texas with wife Cherelle Griner – was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling in Russia just days before the country launched the ongoing invasion on Ukraine and has now been found guilty and sentenced to almost a decade behind bars. However, her lawyers told PEOPLE that the verdict was “absolutely unreasonable” and intend to appeal the decision. Brittney – who is also said to have been fined the equivalent of $16,600 for the offence – was found to have taken less than one gram of cannabis oil into the country and insisted her actions were “inadvertent” but she decided to plead guilty. She said: “That’s why I pled guilty to my charges. I understand everything that’s been said against me, the charges that are against me and that is why I pled guilty but I had no intents to break any Russian [law].” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Harry Styles gave Olly Murs one of his Brit awards. The ‘Watermelon Sugar’ hitmaker was unable to attend the 2018 ceremony so the 38-year-old singer – who has been nominated for six prizes at the event over the years but never won – accepted the Video of the Year accolade for ‘Sign of the Times’ on his pal’s behalf. And Olly was left stunned a few weeks later when he opened a mysterious parcel to discover he’d finally received his very own Brit from the former One Direction singer. Speaking to Heart Bingo’s blog, Olly said: “I love Harry’s Styles’ new album and I love Harry. Harry gave me his first Brit for ‘Sign Of The Times’. “He couldn’t make the Brit Awards ceremony, so I accepted it on his behalf. I jokingly said, ‘I will take it because I’ve never won a Brit’. “I didn’t think anything of it because as you walk backstage you have to give it back to one of the producers. “About two weeks later a gift came to my house and I opened it. It was from Harry saying, ‘All my love mate. Here he is’. “And it has my name on it. And of course, Harry’s name and ‘Sign Of The Times’. But I am like, ‘I have got a Brit award from Harry Styles!’” Olly previously spoke of how “dangerous” it was when he supported One Direction on tour because fans were constantly throwing things on stage that they hoped would be passed on to Harry and his bandmates. He said:”When I was on the One Direction tour, we were getting all sorts of things thrown up to us on stage. I think the weirdest things I was getting thrown was like passports, lipsticks and there were quite a few mobile phones. “They wanted you to pick up the phone, like take a photo and give it back to them. Fans were so obsessive, especially on tours with the One Direction boys. The fans just wanted one of them to touch their possessions. “But when you have got 15 phones flying towards you, it was starting to get dangerous at one point. I think they had to say to the fans could you stop throwing things on stage because someone got quite hurt by something thrown at them. I can’t remember, it might have even been me.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English ‘The Flash’ will still go ahead with Ezra Miller. The 29-year-old actor, who played Barry Allen aka the Flash in 2018’s ‘Justice League’ and the 2021 Zack Snyder cut, has faced a number of headline-making controversies in recent times. Just last month, it was reported that they will no longer face legal trouble in Germany after prosecutors reportedly dropped a trespassing investigation. The star had been accused of refusing to leave the Berlin home of a woman named only as Zara after she invited them there one evening in February – with the woman alleging the star became verbally abusive and only left after she called the police. Variety.com reported she filed a criminal complaint against Miller but dropped the case when it emerged they had left Germany. Miller was also accused of sheltering teenage runaway Tokata Iron Eyes, whose parents filed a restraining order against the star. However, despite the run-ins with the law, Warner Bros. confirmed the film is still on track for a June 23, 2023, with Miller in tow. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said at the firm’s Q2 earnings call this week: “We have seen ‘The Flash,’ ‘Black Adam’ and ‘Shazam 2.’ “We are very excited about them. We’ve seen them. We think they are terrific, and we think we can make them even better.” Zaslav also spoke out to defend the studio’s decision to axe the $90 million ‘Batgirl’ movie starring Leslie Grace as the titular superhero. He said: “We’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready. We’re not going to launch a movie to make a quarter, and we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it.” View the full article