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Published by New York Daily News LeBron James seems to wonder if fellow basketball star Brittney Griner will want to live in the U.S. again if she’s released from the Russian prison she currently calls home. In a promotional clip for his talkshow “The Shop,” James appears to believe that Griner, who was arrested in Russia in mid-February, would not want to return to the nation that has been unable to bring her home amid difficult relations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “How can she feel like America has her back?” James said. “I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?’ ” The 31-year-old WNBA star w… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – U.S. first lady Jill Biden’s attempt to compliment Latinos flopped on Monday when she said they were as unique as “breakfast tacos,” prompting criticism from across the political spectrum. Speaking in San Antonio at the annual conference of UnidosUS, formerly known as the National Council of La Raza, Biden attempted to praise Raul Yzaguirre, who led the civil rights and advocacy organization for 30 years. “Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community, as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is your strength,” Biden said. In New York City, people love the convenience stores known as bodegas that are often run by Dominican or Puerto Rican merchants. Biden mispronounced the word as “bogedas.” Miami has long been a destination for Latinos who migrate to the United States. San Antonio is also one of the great Latino cities in the United States, with a population of nearly 1.5 million people that is 65% Hispanic or Latino, according to U.S. Census data. The largely Mexican-American city is fond of its breakfast tacos, part of the local cuisine. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists was not impressed, saying Biden and her speech writers ought to “better understand the complexities of our people.” “We are not tacos. Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by a variety of diasporas, cultures and food traditions, and should not be reduced to a stereotype,” the association said in a statement. Conservatives on social media jumped on the gaffe, wondering what the liberal outrage would sound like if a prominent Republican had said it. “No wonder Hispanics are fleeing the Democratic Party!” U.S. Representative Andy Biggs, a Republican from Arizona, wrote on Twitter. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Bradley Perrett) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman GREENBELT, Md. (Reuters) -Following a presidential sneak peek of a galaxy-studded image from deep in the cosmos, NASA officials gathered on Tuesday to unveil more of their initial showcase from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful orbital observatory ever launched. The first batch of full-color, high-resolution pictures, which took weeks to render from raw telescope data, were selected by NASA to provide compelling early images from Webb’s major areas of inquiry and a preview of science missions ahead. The $9 billion infrared telescope, built for NASA by aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corp, is expected to revolutionize astronomy by allowing scientists to peer farther than before and with greater clarity into the cosmos, to the dawn of the known universe. A partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, the Webb was launched on Christmas Day, 2021, and reached its destination in solar orbit nearly 1 million miles from Earth a month later. Once there, the telescope underwent a months-long process to unfurl all of its components, including a sun shield the size of a tennis court, and to align its mirrors and calibrate its instruments. With Webb now finely tuned and fully focused, astronomers will embark on a competitively selected list of science projects exploring the evolution of galaxies, the life cycles of stars, the atmospheres of distant exoplanets and the moons of our outer solar system. The introductory assortment of pictures had been a closely guarded secret until Friday, when the space agency posted a list of five celestial subjects chosen for its big reveal on Tuesday at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Whoops and hollers from a spritely James Webb “cheer team” welcomed some 300 scientists, telescope engineers, politicians and senior officials from NASA and its international partners into a packed and lively auditorium ahead of opening remarks. “I didn’t know I was coming to a pep rally today,” NASA Administrator James Nelson said from the stage, enthusing that Webb’s “every image is a discovery.” PRESIDENTIAL PEEK U.S. President Joe Biden got a jump on the unveiling with his own White House briefing on Monday to release the very first photo – an image of a galaxy cluster dubbed SMACS 0723 revealing the most detailed glimpse of the early universe recorded to date. Among the four other Webb “targets” getting their closeups on Tuesday are two enormous clouds of gas and dust blasted into space by stellar explosions to form incubators for new stars – the Carina Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula, each thousands of light years away from Earth. The debut collection includes another galaxy cluster known as Stephan’s Quintet, which was first discovered in 1877 and encompasses several galaxies described by NASA as “locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.” NASA will also present Webb’s first spectrographic analysis of an exoplanet – one roughly half the mass of Jupiter that lies more than 1,100 light years away – revealing the molecular signatures of filtered light passing through its atmosphere. Built to view its subjects chiefly in the infrared spectrum, Webb is about 100 times more sensitive than its 30-year-old predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, which operates mainly at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. The much larger light-collecting surface of Webb’s primary mirror – an array of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metal – enables it to observe objects at greater distances, thus further back in time, than Hubble or any other telescope. All five of Webb’s introductory targets were previously known to scientists, but NASA officials promise Webb’s imagery captures its subjects in an entirely new light, literally. The SMACS 0723 image Biden released on Monday showed a 4.6 billion-year-old galaxy cluster whose combined mass acts as a “gravitational lens,” distorting space to greatly magnify the light coming from more distant galaxies behind it. At least one of the faint, older specks of light appearing in the “background” of the photo – a composite of images of different wavelengths of light – dates back more than 13 billion years, Nelson said. That makes it just 800 million years younger than the Big Bang, the theoretical flashpoint that set the expansion of the known universe in motion some 13.8 billion years ago. The bejeweled-like composite photo, according to NASA, offers the “most detailed view of the early universe” as well as the “deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant cosmos” yet taken. The thousands of galaxies appearing in the image were captured in a tiny patch of the sky roughly the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone standing on Earth, Nelson said. (Writing and reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Nick Zieminski) View the full article

Published by AFP HBO drama Los Angeles (AFP) – Here is a list of the nominees in key categories for the 74th Emmy Awards, which will be handed out in Los Angeles on September 12. HBO’s “Succession” topped the nominations list with 25, followed by “Ted Lasso” and “The White Lotus” at 20 each. OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES “Better Call Saul” “Euphoria” “Ozark” “Severance” “Squid Game” “Stranger Things” “Succession” “Yellowjackets” OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES “Abbott Elementary” “Barry” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” “Hacks” “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” “Only Murders in the Building” “Ted Lasso” “What We Do in the Shadows” LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA Jason Bateman, “Ozark” Brian Cox, “Succession” Lee Jung-jae, “Squid Game” Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul” Adam Scott, “Severance” Jeremy Strong, “Succession” LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve” Laura Linney, “Ozark” Melanie Lynskey, “Yellowjackets” Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve” Reese Witherspoon, “The Morning Show” Zendaya, “Euphoria” LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY Donald Glover, “Atlanta” Bill Hader, “Barry” Nicholas Hoult, “The Great” Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building” Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building” Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso” LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary” Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant” Elle Fanning, “The Great” Issa Rae, “Insecure” Jean Smart, “Hacks” SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA Nicholas Braun, “Succession” Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show” Kieran Culkin, “Succession” Park Hae-soo, “Squid Game” Matthew Macfadyen, “Succession” John Turturro, “Severance” Christopher Walken, “Severance” Oh Yeong-su, “Squid Game” SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA Patricia Arquette, “Severance” Julia Garner, “Ozark” Jung Ho-yeon, “Squid Game” Christina Ricci, “Yellowjackets” Rhea Seehorn, “Better Call Saul” J. Smith-Cameron, “Succession” Sarah Snook, “Succession” Sydney Sweeney, “Euphoria” SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY Anthony Carrigan, “Barry” Brett Goldstein, “Ted Lasso” Toheeb Jimoh, “Ted Lasso” Nick Mohammed, “Ted Lasso” Tony Shalhoub, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Tyler James Williams, “Abbott Elementary” Henry Winkler, “Barry” Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live” SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks” Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary” Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live” Sarah Niles, “Ted Lasso” Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary” Juno Temple, “Ted Lasso” Hannah Waddingham, “Ted Lasso” OUTSTANDING LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES “Dopesick” “The Dropout” “Inventing Anna” “Pam and Tommy” “The White Lotus” OUTSTANDING TELEVISION MOVIE “Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers” “Ray Donovan: The Movie” “Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon” “The Survivor” “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas” LEAD ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE Colin Firth, “The Staircase” Andrew Garfield, “Under the Banner of Heaven” Oscar Isaac, “Scenes from a Marriage” Michael Keaton, “Dopesick” Himesh Patel, “Station Eleven” Sebastian Stan, “Pam and Tommy” LEAD ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE Toni Collette, “The Staircase” Julia Garner, “Inventing Anna” Lily James, “Pam and Tommy” Sarah Paulson, “Impeachment: American Crime Story” Margaret Qualley, “Maid” Amanda Seyfried, “The Dropout” SUPPORTING ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE Murray Bartlett, “The White Lotus” Jake Lacy, “The White Lotus” Will Poulter, “Dopesick” Seth Rogen, “Pam and Tommy” Peter Sarsgaard, “Dopesick” Michael Stuhlbarg, “Dopesick” Steve Zahn, “The White Lotus” SUPPORTING ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE Connie Britton, “The White Lotus” Jennifer Coolidge, “The White Lotus” Alexandra Daddario, “The White Lotus” Kaitlyn Dever, “Dopesick” Natasha Rothwell, “The White Lotus” Sydney Sweeney, “The White Lotus” Mare Winningham, “Dopesick” Top 10 programs with most overall nominations: “Succession” – 25 “Ted Lasso” – 20 “The White Lotus” – 20 “Hacks” – 17 “Only Murders in the Building” – 17 “Euphoria” – 16 “Barry” – 14 “Dopesick” – 14 “Severance” – 14 “Squid Game” – 14 View the full article

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Published by Reuters By Kantaro Komiya NAKATOSA, Japan (Reuters) – For half a century, Takeo Nakajo has been catching katsuo, or skipjack tuna – indispensable in Japanese cuisine whether eaten raw, dried or used as a base for the broth. But he and other fishermen in Kure, in Kochi prefecture in southwest Japan, have seen something worrying in the past two years – an unprecedented number of unusually fatty katsuo. While heavier katsuo means more money, locals and experts say it indicates climate change and a risk for katsuo numbers already under threat due to growing demand and overfishing. “The fatty katsuo must have something to do with the water temperature,” said the 70-year-old Nakajo. “I have a sense of urgency thinking what if katsuo doesn’t come to the bay some day.” (Photo essay: https://reut.rs/3AFtYSQ) Noriaki Ito, the head chef at a century-old restaurant Tsukasa in Kochi City, said he too had “never seen such fatty katsuo during this season of the year”. This is worrying as changes in the sea and climate have already wiped out some other fish “including a shellfish called chambara-gai that used to be Kochi’s speciality”, Ito added. Originally from tropical waters, some Pacific katsuo migrate northward on a warm ocean current every spring, making Kochi’s arc-shaped bay a fertile fishing ground. The average surface temperature of the bay in winter has risen by 2 degrees Celsius in the four decades to 2015, local fisheries lab data shows, and the fatter katsuo may be due to ample prey in the warmer sea. But longer term, this warming may prevent mineral-rich water from rising to the surface, resulting in a drop in plankton and smaller fish to feed on, leading to fewer katsuo, said Hiroyuki Ukeda, an agroscientist and vice president of Kochi University. This comes as Japan’s ageing population is threatening the sustainability of local fishing and related businesses such as the production of dried and fermented katsuo, and wasabi horseradish – an eye-watering condiment tucked under fish in a piece of sushi. In Kure, a district in Nakatosa town, many fishermen have gone out of business in the past three decades, said Takahiro Tanaka, a fourth-generation owner of a fishmonger who calls himself a “katsuo sommelier”. “We can distinguish different tastes of katsuo, just like ordinary French farmers may savour subtleties of wine … this place might be one of Japan’s last communities where katsuo is part of the daily culture,” he added. “But without fishers, this won’t last,” Tanaka said. Fisherman Nakajo also rued the ageing community and fewer successors. “I asked my grandson if he would take over, but he’s now studying to work at a government office,” Nakajo said. SUSHI CULTURE AT RISK Overfishing has already hit catch numbers and dealt a blow to the fishermen in Kochi who have stuck to traditional single pole fishing methods versus large-scale seine fishing across the western Pacific. Government data shows catch numbers in Kochi are only at a quarter of their 1980s peak. “We have observed a catastrophic decline in landings over the last 10 years or so,” said Ukeda. “A growing number of people fear we may no longer be able to eat katsuo in the near future if things continue like this.” Production of katsuobushi, dried and fermented katsuo, often used as a shaved condiment over traditional Japanese dishes or as a broth base, is already suffering. The number of katsuobushi manufacturers in Kochi has plunged from dozens some forty years ago to only a few, said Taichi Takeuchi, who runs one in the town of Usa. “I’m really unsure if we can continue this,” said Takeuchi. Wasabi, the tangy horseradish that is an essential for Japanese food, especially sashimi and sushi, is facing similar production challenges. Typhoons and rising temperatures have hurt production in Okutama, a mountainous area to the west of Tokyo, said Masahiro Hoshina, 72, head of the local wasabi growers’ association. “I am extremely worried about the future of our farming,” Hoshina said. The number of farmers in the area is down 75% from the 1950s due to depopulation, and unless something changes, some worry sushi itself could be endangered. “The combination of raw fish and spice, as in katsuo and wasabi, is an art, and we must maintain both,” said Ukeda. “I never want to think about a future” without them, he added. (Corrects name in paragraph 8, Hiroyuki Ukeda not Hideyuki Ukeda) (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya in Nakatosa; Additional reporting by Kim Kyung-hoon and Irene Wang; Editing by Elaine Lies and Himani Sarkar) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Dakota Adams My name is Dakota Adams. Unfortunately, I am Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes’ son. And unfortunately for both of us, I may be relevant to you. It is now undeniable that radicalization and the draw of right-wing extremist thought is a significant problem facing the nation, perhaps a fatal crisis, and in this context, there’s a lot of interest in the stories of people who came back from the right-wing fringe. I have only my niche experience to offer from a very odd life. But I’ve been told that this might be valuable to those interested in how I went from a teenage militiaman who beli… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online MSNBC Shake-Up! Alex Wagner Set To Take Over For Rachel Maddow Star Snubs: MSNBC Anchors Chuck Todd and Stephanie Ruhle Angry Over Alex Wagner Replacing Rachel Maddow mega MSNBC’s search to replace their most high-profile host, Rachel Maddow, ended because Maddow herself finally approved of Alex Wagner, who will take her seat. “Several big names that were suggested were rejected by Rachel. She was insisting that a ‘fresh-faced’ woman take over her primetime slot rather than bring in a higher profiled name who presents the past, not the future,” sources tell Radar. “Katie Couric and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann were both names Maddow couldn’t get behind.” mega Insiders add that initially, Maddow wanted her replacement to be a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ community. “Representation matters to Rachel. Growing up she never saw an openly gay woman on TV. This is personal to Rachel, and she wasn’t going to let an old white man replace her,” adds a friend. “Alex Wagner isn’t gay, but she also isn’t white. Rachel likes her and let’s be honest, it is Rachel’s team who is producing Wagner’s new show. So basically, Rachel is the boss.” “I’m honored to be anchoring a key hour of television in such a critical time for American democracy,” said Wagner at the time the news was announced. “In many ways, the stakes have never been higher, and there’s no better place to explore this moment than MSNBC. I’m thrilled to be coming home.” mega Wagner will take over Maddow’s old Tuesday through Friday at 9 PM time slot starting in August. As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Wagner taking over has rubbed other anchors the wrong way. Sources said when MSNBC boss Rashida Jones made the announcement both Chuck Todd and Stephanie Ruhle were upset. The network’s decision didn’t make Chuck happy who had recently been told his show Meet The Press Daily was being moved off MSNBC and onto its streaming service. A network insider also told us that Stephanie felt slighted by Wagner being appointed only one month after she was named Brian Williams’ successor for The 11th Hour. mega View the full article

Published by DPA Monkeypox, which has been detected worldwide with several thousand cases in recent weeks, is believed to be mainly transmitted from person to person through close physical contact. Cynthia S. Goldsmith/Russell Regnery/CDC/dpa With the number of confirmed and probable monkeypox cases rising rapidly in countries around the world, public health officials say it is critical for everyone to look out for potential symptoms. The virus could infect anyone, though it does not spread as easily as Covid-19 and typically requires prolonged face-to-face or intimate contact, according to guidance from the CDC. Here’s what you need to know: Monkeypox symptoms Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes followed by a rash. The distinctive features of monkeypox happen after the first symptoms, said Dr. Aileen Marty, professor of infectious diseases in the Department of Medicine at FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. After an incubation period of five to 21 days, but usually six to 12 days, infected people get early symptoms like a bad headache, fever, back pain, muscle ache and swollen lymph nodes. These early symptoms generally last one to three days and then comes the rash. “The rash is unusual because it classically starts on the face and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, followed by rash elsewhere — but in the current outbreak, that has not been the usual spread. In this outbreak, lesions have manifested first in the groin, and the prodrome (early symptom) has not been as severe or notable,” Marty said in a previous interview with the Herald. Infectious period People are infectious from a few hours before the first symptom manifests until the scabs are dry and gone. According to the CDC, lesions progress through the following stages before falling off: macules (flat lesions), papules (well-defined skin bump), vesicles (blister, filled with clear fluid, usually), pustules (bulging fluid containing pus) and scabs. The illness typically lasts for two to four weeks. The rash is typically painful, Marty adds, and the scabs contain infectious viral particles. What to do if you have symptoms? Even if you don’t think you’ve been in contact with anyone who has monkeypox, if you are experiencing symptoms, the CDC recommends that you speak with your health care provider to determine whether you need to be tested. These tests are now more widely available to physicians since Labcorp, a company that operates one of the largest clinical lab networks in the world, began testing for monkeypox using the CDC’s orthopoxvirus test as of Wednesday. “The ability of commercial labs to test for monkeypox is a key pillar in our comprehensive strategy to combat this disease,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in a statement to the press Wednesday. “This will not only increase testing capacity but will make it more convenient for providers and patients to access tests by using existing provider-to-lab relationships.” View the full article

Published by AFP Over-the-counter birth control, which could be made available at pharmacies in the US if HRA Pharma's application is successful, has long been backed by major medical organizations as a way to reduce barriers to contraception access Washington (AFP) – In a first, a pharmaceutical company applied Monday for US approval to make its birth control pill available over-the-counter, weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned a federal right to abortion care. HRA Pharma, a subsidiary of Perrigo, said in a statement it was seeking the switch away from prescription-only for its product Opill, a progestin-only daily birth control pill — also referred to as a mini pill or non-estrogen pill. Over-the-counter (OTC) birth control has long been backed by major medical organizations as a way to reduce barriers to contraception access. The timing of the application — which comes amid a wave of state-level restrictions and bans on abortion following the top court’s ruling — was “coincidental,” according to an HRA spokeswoman, who said the company had been compiling research for its application for the past seven years. “This historic application marks a groundbreaking moment in contraceptive access and reproductive equity in the US,” said Frederique Welgryn, chief strategic operations and innovation officer at HRA Pharma, in a statement. “Moving a safe and effective prescription birth control pill to OTC will help even more women and people access contraception without facing unnecessary barriers.” Over-the-counter birth control is backed by major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians. It is also standard practice in many countries, including Brazil, Greece, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Korea and Turkey. Generally speaking, wealthier countries favor more regulations and thus prescription only birth control. But according to ACOG, “Data support that progestin-only hormonal methods are generally safe and carry no or minimal risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE),” also known as blood clots. “Several studies have demonstrated that women are capable of using self-screening tools to determine their eligibility for hormonal contraceptive use,” adds the organization, in an opinion on the matter published on its website. A 2016 study found that nearly one third of US women who have tried to obtain prescription contraception reported access barriers. The application will now be reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration, a process that would normally take around a year to complete. View the full article

Published by AFP The James Bond theme was written by British composer Monty Norman, who has died at 94 London (AFP) – British composer Monty Norman, best known for writing the iconic theme music for the James Bond films, died on Monday at the age of 94, his official website announced. “It is with sadness we share the news that Monty Norman died on 11th July 2022 after a short illness,” read the statement. Norman was born Monty Noserovitch in east London, to Jewish parents, on April 4, 1928. He began his singing career with big bands before turning to composing, penning songs for musicals and films including “Songbook” and “Poppy and Make Me An Offer” and for pop stars such as Cliff Richard. His best-known work came when he was asked to score the first James Bond film, “Dr No”, in 1962, although the producers drafted in John Barry to rearrange the piece. Barry said he had actually written the piece, but Norman won a libel case against the Sunday Times when it made similar claims. The theme became an integral part of the Bond brand, featuring in 24 subsequent films. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden, marking the first major federal gun safety bill passed in three decades, said the United States is “awash in weapons of war” on Monday and renewed his call for assault weapons to be banned. Congress has shown little inclination to outlaw assault weapons after a ban on such weapons expired in 2004, but Biden is hoping to use growing American outrage about mass shootings to lead to greater pressure on lawmakers to change their mind. “Assault weapons need to be banned. They were banned. … I’m determined to ban these weapons again, and high-capacity magazines,” he said. The Democratic president also said lawmakers should add safe storage laws requiring personal liability “for not locking up your gun.” Biden also said he supports the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment that gives Americans the right to possess firearms, but said “the right to bear arms is not an absolute right to dominate all others.” Biden, joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke at an event on the White House South Lawn to commemorate recent passage of the gun safety bill, the first such new law on guns in 30 years. In the audience were many members of Congress who approved the legislation and family members of some of the people killed in mass shootings, including the recent attacks in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and Highland Park, Illinois. The bipartisan bill came together just weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo that killed more than 30 people, including 19 children at an elementary school. The law includes provisions to help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. It also blocks gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners and cracks down on gun sales to purchasers convicted of domestic violence. The gun bill came the same week as the Supreme Court expanded gun owners’ rights. Gun control has long been a divisive issue in the nation, with several attempts to put new controls on gun sales failing time after time. Biden, who is looking to improve sagging public approval ratings ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections for control of Congress, made securing victories on gun control a part of his campaign pitch to voters. (Reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A judge declined to delay the contempt of Congress trial of Donald Trump’s former close adviser Steve Bannon, just one week before it is set to begin, CNN and NBC News reported. Bannon was indicted last year for refusing to answer questions from the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the former president. Bannon told the panel over the weekend he was ready to testify, a change of heart from days before he was due to be tried for contempt of Congress. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese) View the full article

Published by AFP A health worker uses an oximeter to monitor the pulse an oxygen saturation levels of a resident of Hyderabad, India Washington (AFP) – Racial minorities receive less oxygen in the intensive care unit than white patients because of a flaw in a medical device found in hospitals across the world, a US study said Monday. The pulse oximeter, first developed in the 1970s, clips to a patient’s finger and uses red and infrared light absorption to assess hemoglobin. But it is known to generate falsely elevated readings in people with darker skin. In new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Eric Raphael Gottlieb and colleagues looked back at records of 3,069 patients at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston who spent at least 12 hours in the hospital’s ICU. They compared oxygen saturation estimates on the pulse ox devices to more accurate direct readings taken of hemoglobin oxygen saturation. After controlling for other variables, they found that Black, Asian and Hispanic patients were given 0.2 to 0.4 liters per minute less oxygen than their white counterparts. “Our findings present a unique and compelling opportunity to improve equity through device reengineering and by reevaluating how data are interpreted,” the team wrote. Another recent study on the same topic showed that measurement biases in oxygen saturation levels was associated with a time delay in eligibility for Covid-19 treatment for Black and Hispanic patients. An accompanying editor’s note said devices exist that perform more equitably, but have never been widely distributed. “Health care systems, including academic centers, are large-scale purchasers of pulse oximeters,” the editorial said. “If they make a commitment to buy only devices that function across skin tones, manufacturers would respond.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe COLOMBO (Reuters) – In June, a few dozen activists started meeting regularly at a seaside tented camp in Colombo for hours-long sessions to think up ways to revive Sri Lanka’s flagging protest movement. The group, which included a Catholic priest, a digital strategist and a popular playwright, succeeded beyond their wildest hopes. Within weeks, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Colombo. After initially clashing with police, protesters occupied key government buildings and residences, forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his prime minister to promise to step down. “I’m still trying to process it,” said Chameera Dedduwage, a digital strategist at a major advertising firm who became part of the team that helped organise the uprising. “It was 50 percent premeditation and coordination, another 30 percent willingness of the people and 20 percent luck.” In interviews, veterans of those small meetings described how they agreed on a multi-pronged campaign to inject new life into the movement widely known as “Aragalaya”, or “struggle” in Sinhala. The movement had begun in March, when thousands took to the streets to vent their anger at lengthy power cuts and spiralling prices, and to call for the Rajapaksa family that had dominated the country’s politics for much of the last 20 years to leave power. On May 9, Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda – president from 2005-2015 and at that time serving as prime minister – had stepped down. On June 9, younger brother Basil had quit as a lawmaker. So, the Aragalaya activists targeted July 9 as the day they hoped to unseat the president himself. A plan emerged to combine online agitation, meetings with political parties, labour unions and student groups and door-to-door campaigning to get enough people back on the streets for a final push, according to the three attendees. Public frustration at ongoing shortages, which has brought the economy to a standstill, and the president’s stubborn refusal to step aside, had been simmering for weeks. Riding on trains, buses, lorries and bicycles, or simply walking, huge crowds converged on Colombo on Saturday, outnumbering security forces deployed to protect government buildings and upending Sri Lankan politics. “Gota Go Home!” the crowds chanted in Colombo’s Fort area, seething over the country’s worst economic crisis since independence. They quickly broke into the president’s colonial-era house, before storming a portion of the presidential office and entering the prime minister’s official residence 2.5 km (1.6 miles) away. Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had been moved to undisclosed safe locations, and within hours they separately announced they would resign to allow an all-party interim government to take over. If he resigns on Wednesday as promised, Rajapaksa, once a war hero who was both revered and feared, will become the first sitting Sri Lankan president to quit. “I think it is the most unprecedented gathering in this country. Full stop,” Ruwanthie de Chickera, a playwright who is part of the core group of Aragalaya activists, told Reuters. Representatives of the president and prime minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the protests and why they stepped aside. Their whereabouts have not been made public. ‘EVERYONE ON BOARD’ Sri Lanka has around 5 million households and 8 million active Facebook accounts, making online outreach an extremely effective way to reach demonstrators, said Dedduwage, the digital strategist. “Which means basically through Facebook, we can practically reach every corner of the country at no cost,” Dedduwage told Reuters, sitting at a tent at “Gota Go Village”, the main Colombo protest site that mockingly refers to the president. In early July, one of those who received the group’s social media messages was Sathya Charith Amaratunge, a marketing professional living in Moratuwa, some 20 km from Colombo, who had taken part in earlier anti-government protests. The 35-year-old took a poster he received via WhatsApp on July 2 that read “The Country to Colombo, July 9” in Sinhala, and uploaded it on his personal Facebook page. That night he began preparing a campaign that would eventually see tens of thousands of people join him on a march to Colombo. Other Aragalaya members reached out directly to opposition political parties, trade unions and student unions, including the influential Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF), in order to bolster support, according to Dedduwage. One of Sri Lanka’s largest student groups, the IUSF has a reputation for its political agitation and clashed with security forces during recent protests, dismantling police barricades amid teargas and water cannon. The Aragalaya group also asked volunteers to visit thousands of homes across parts of Colombo, including middle-class government housing estates, some within walking distance of the main protest site. To bring people in from outside the city, activists appealed to more than 30 “Gota Go Village” sites that had sprung up in towns and cities across the country. Late on July 8, police declared a curfew in several districts around Colombo, which activists said was aimed at stalling the planned protest. Police said the move was to maintain public order. Some core group members swiftly moved to safe houses, fearing arrest. Jeevanth Peiris, a Catholic priest who is part of the activist group, worried that only a few thousand people would turn up the next day because of the restrictions. Fuel shortages had curtailed transport options for weeks. “We honestly expected only 10,000 with all these restrictions, all this intimidation,” he told Reuters, dressed in a white cassock. “We thought 5,000 to 10,000.” ‘PEOPLE DIDN’T WANT TO GIVE UP’ Early on July 9, marketing professional Amaratunge said he started off on foot from Moratuwa with around 2,000 fellow protesters, about the size of group he had expected after a week of sharing posts on Facebook and WhatsApp. It was only when he left his hometown that Amaratunge said he realised how many people wanted to go to Colombo. Many had been angered by the curfew, which the police withdrew early on Saturday. In multiple Facebook livestreams posted by Amaratunge on Saturday, several hundred people can be seen strolling down the main road to Colombo, some holding the national flag. By Amaratunge’s estimate, tens of thousands eventually joined the march he was on, and reached Colombo’s fort area. According to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the crowd there swelled to at least 200,000 people. Members of the Aragalaya core group said several times that number took part, as wave upon wave of people arrived in Colombo and marched towards the main protest site. Organisers had roughly calculated that it would take around 10,000 people to overpower personnel guarding each of the four entry points to the president’s house, Dedduwage said. In the early afternoon, after dismantling police barricades and commandeering water cannon, protesters took apart the tall gates guarding the president’s house and overwhelmed a large deployment of security forces. By night, Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe’s official residences were occupied by protesters, who uprooted fences outside the presidential secretariat and took over a part of it. Wickremesinghe’s personal residence was attacked and a section of it set alight. Within hours, the leaders were ready to go. “There were so many elderly, teenagers, youth, women,” recalled Peiris, the priest, who said he was part of clashes with police. “People didn’t want to give up, didn’t want to withdraw.” (Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Peter Graff) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Tom Boggioni Questions are being raised about a California pastor and failed Republican Party House candidate who jumped on the Trump train and saw revenue for ministry — where he is the only employee — jump from $280,000 in 2019 to more than $5.3 million in just one year allowing him to go on a property buying spree that primarily benefits only himself. According to a report from Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson and Kara Voght, 38-year-old Sean Feucht went from a little-known Christian singer and evangelist to a MAGA star by aligning himself with former president Donald Trump, thereby raisi… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sarah K. Burris Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, along with other Justices, have faced protests outside of their home from those furious over the right to privacy and abortion being taken away. Outside of Morton’s steakhouse, which is owned by Tilman Fertitta, who Donald Trump once called “a friend,” protesters gathered while Kavanaugh was having dinner. They never came inside the restaurant nor did Kavanaugh ever hear them or face them. Morton’s, however, was aghast and released a statement stating that the judge couldn’t have dessert and was forced to go out the back door of the res… Read More View the full article

Published by Al-Araby Iraqis are standing up against a law that will effectively criminalise being a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the country after the parliament on Friday started planing ways to ban homosexuality. A member of the parliamentary legal committee announced the controversial move to Iraqi media shortly after a session. “It was agreed within the House of Representatives to collect signatures after returning to the session to legislate a law prohibiting homosexuality in Iraq”, State of Law coalition MP Aref Al-Hamami told Iraqi News Agency. The move sparked outrage by many Iraqis who fear for the L… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cara Delevingne never made a “conscious decision” to come out as pansexual. The 29-year-old model-and-actress – who is attracted to all genders – was tired of being “ashamed” of who she loved so felt it was time to be honest about who she was dating without feeling she had to make an announcement about her sexuality. Asked to share her coming out story, she said: “It’s hard to call it a coming out story, because I never really came out. ” It was more that I just decided to put my cards on the table and say look, I’m in love, I’m in love with who I’m in love with. It didn’t feel like I was making, you know, a conscious decision to be out. It just meant that I was done with being in the closet. “I was done with being ashamed for who I loved and who I was. So for me it was more just being like, love is love, and we should be able to love who we want.” The ‘Carnival Row’ star wishes she could tell her younger self to “love” herself and be proud of who she is. Speaking to Britain’s Vogue magazine for their August issue, which celebrates 50 years of Pride in London, she said: “If I could give my younger self a message, it would be to love yourself. It sounds so cliché, but I would also say accept yourself, be yourself. No matter what that means, good or bad. Just to take yourself as you are. “And to lift your head up high. That doesn’t mean to not speak up, not say the truth. But that means to be proud. Be proud of who you are, no matter what that means.” Cara – who is one of the magazine’s 12 LGBTQ+ cover stars and features on one of three special digital covers – thinks the LGBTQ+ community is “more than family” to her. She said: “The most joyful part about being part of the LGBTQ+ community is when you really understand and really become a part of that community, or the moments that you have and the connections you make. Being in that community is one of the most important, incredible things in the world. “Family is important. But that community is more than family. You are so alike in so many different ways. No matter where you’re from, no matter who you are, no matter what age you are.” Read the full interview with Cara at https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/cara-delevingne-interview-pride. The August issue of British Vogue is on sale from Tuesday 19 July. View the full article

Published by Sports Illustrated By Chris Ballard Fifteen years after his big reveal, he tackles the big question: Have we really changed? Each summer Sports Illustrated revisits, remembers and rethinks some of the biggest names and most important stories of our sporting past. Come back all week for more Where Are They Now? stories. In relating how he got where he is today, John Amaechi likes to tell a story. The year was 1999 and Amaechi, then a center for the Magic, was considered by teammates—and much of the league—to be something of an odd duck. One of the first British NBA players, he drank tea, eschewed partying and rea… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sharon Bernstein and Rose Horowitch (Reuters) – With its excellent academic and music programs, Oberlin College in Ohio seemed like a perfect fit for Nina Huang, a California high school student who plays flute and piano and hopes to eventually study medicine or law. But Huang, 16, said she crossed the college off her application list after Ohio enacted a near-total ban on abortion last month. She now plans to cast a wider net for schools in states with less restrictive laws. “I don’t want to go to school in a state where there is an abortion ban,” she said. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide has some students rethinking their higher education plans as states rush to ban or curtail abortion, according to interviews with 20 students and college advisers across the country. While it has long been the case that some students hesitated to attend schools in places with different political leanings than their own, recent moves by conservative states on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights have deepened the country’s polarization. For some students, the restrictions raise fears that they won’t be able to get an abortion if they need one or that they will face discrimination for gender differences. Others said they worried about facing racial prejudice or being politically ostracized. “I’m only in high school right now, and I’m still finding out who I am,” said Samira Murad, 17, who will be a senior this fall at Stuyvesant High School in New York. “I don’t want to move somewhere I can’t be myself because of laws put in place.” It is too soon to determine whether such concerns will affect admissions in a measurable way, and evidence from other recent divisive state laws suggests there may be little overall impact. But in the wake of Roe’s overturn, college counselors said abortion has figured prominently in many conversations with clients, with some going as far as nixing their dream schools. “Some of our students have explicitly stated that they will not apply to colleges and universities in states which may infringe on their access to reproductive rights,” said Daniel Santos, chief executive of the Florida college counseling company Prepory. ‘TOPIC OF CONCERN’ Kristen Willmott, a counselor with Top Tier Admissions in Massachusetts, said students she works with have told her they are taking some top schools in Texas, Florida and Tennessee off their application lists due to their restrictive abortion laws. Alexis Prisco, who is entering her senior year at Eastern Technical High School in Maryland, had planned to apply to her parents’ alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She feels wary, however, after the state enacted a law effectively banning abortion. “Now my mom has warned me that I need to be very careful when applying to schools in states with trigger laws,” said Prisco, 17, referring to bans designed to take effect once the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Washington University declined to comment but shared a June 24 statement in which university leaders acknowledged the fears and frustration felt by some after the court ruling. Oberlin College did not respond to requests for comment. Several students raised similar concerns about attending college in North Carolina after the state in 2016 passed a law restricting which bathrooms transgender people could use, said counselor Jayson Weingarten of New York-based Ivy Coach. But he said many still chose to attend Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Admissions statistics from UNC show the number of applicants increased by 14% between 2016 and 2017 despite individual students’ unease. Abortion is “a topic of concern for most of the students but not something that’s going to dissuade them from going to one of the most highly selective schools in the country,” Weingarten said. Shahreen Abedin, a spokesperson for the University of Texas’ medical school, said the school had not seen a drop in applications that it could reasonably attribute to a state ban on abortions after six weeks that took effect in September. For Maryland high school student Sabrina Thaler, however, the prospect of attending college in a state that bans abortion is unsettling. Thaler, 16, recalled the question she posed to her high school class during a discussion in May after the decision that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade was leaked. “What if I go to a college in a state where abortion is banned and I get raped and then I don’t have the option to have an abortion?” (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California and Rose Horowitch in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tessa Thompson believes she is helping to “save lives” by being open about her sexuality. The ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ actress revealed four years ago she is attracted to both men and women and she admitted it means a lot to her when young people write to her to tell her that her own admission gave them the strength to come out to their families. She told Marc Malkin on the ‘Just Variety’ podcast of the letters: “That’s been tremendous. I’ve had so many folks write me and say that they were able to come out or to talk to their family, which is a dream.” The host said to her: “I will say this to you and I will say it to any artist who lives their truth as a queer person, you’re saving lives. I truly believe that.” Tessa agreed: “I think you’re right. I don’t know, there is something powerful about seeing an image of yourself reflected in any way. But we know all too well there are some ways that really just matter because we don’t have enough of it.” The 38-year-old actress feels “really lucky” that she’s been able to be true to herself because she knows there is a “real problem” in Hollywood surrounding the pressure some stars are placed under not to speak about their sexuality. She said: “I feel really lucky in the sense that I work in real close proximity to people that I think want to advocate for me to be myself and be the fullest expression of myself. “I think the industry at large might put a tremendous amount of pressure, never mind their sexuality, but a real pressure, I think, to be a certain kind of thing. “And I think that’s intensified particularly where sexual orientation is concerned and that’s a real problem. And it’s still a problem that I know friends of mine, dear friends of mine, have been deeply affected by. “I think we have a tremendous amount of work to do, but I feel really lucky to exist inside of a space, both in my professional space and my personal space and familial space, where I feel really loved and supported for who I am. And I know that is a privilege that not a lot of people share. So to those folks that don’t have those spaces, I see them.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine @leointhemountains/instagram Being a member of Kody Brown‘s polygamist, Mormon family means abiding by a certain set of guidelines, but the Sister Wives lead and estranged wife Meri Brown‘s only child together, Leon, is making it clear they’re forging their own path in life. Last month, the 26-year-old revealed they’re transgender, announcing they’ll now go by Leon or Leo instead of Mariah. They’ll also be using “they/them” pronouns. “I remember the first time that i knew i wasn’t a girl. i was pretty young & unfortunately i grew up in a context that was incredibly gendered & restrictive. so i continued to be socialized as a girl & later a woman,” they wrote in their Instagram reveal. “And here’s the thing, i’m finally ready to share my favorite self with the world. and that self is incredibly genderqueer, trans, and unapologetic.” ‘SISTER WIVES’ STAR MERI BROWN IS LIVING IT UP DURING WEEKEND GETAWAY WITH GAL PALS: ‘GOOD TIMES’ Continued Brown, “Being queer & trans are definitely some of my favorite parts of myself. and yet, there are so many things that i am learning to love about myself through this process. here’s to me getting to know myself, share myself, and continually evolve to be the person i am, to be my favorite self in all contexts.” Scroll down to learn more about the reality star. @leointhemountains/instagram They’re an activist On their Instagram account, which has over 170,000 followers, Brown describes themselves as a “radical humanist,” and many of their posts are focused on things like Pride, Black Lives Matter and transgender rights. In one post about the BLM movement, they encouraged others to safely protest, sign a petition or donate money to help the cause. They’re a dog lover Brown owns two pups of their own. “I’m not a parent to humans, but I sure do love being ‘dog mom,’” they wrote in an old social media post. “They help me appreciate the small things — like a sunny Sunday, a sweet smell in the morning, running around & enjoying moving our bodies. I think we can all learn a good lesson in following our intuition from our little pups, don’t you think?” @leointhemountains/instagram They’re a yogi One look at Brown’s socials and you’ll immediately learn they’re frequently practicing with their mat. In 2019, they partnered with the MindBody app. The star said they were “stoked to work with a company that has truly made yoga feel accessible.” Added Brown, “MINDBODY connection is something I am constantly cultivating in my life. Connection to self, through my self care/wellness practices, help me better connect to the world around me.” View the full article