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Published by AFP First responders at the scene of a shooting at a parade on July 4, 2022 in Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park (United States) (AFP) – A gunman armed with a high-powered rifle shot dead at least six people at a parade to mark US Independence Day in a wealthy Chicago suburb on Monday — the latest in a series of shocking mass shootings on a holiday meant to celebrate all things American. Police launched a manhunt in the city of Highland Park for the gunman, who was still on the loose, while authorities rushed to cancel July 4 celebrations there and in the nearby town of Evanston. Along the parade route, abandoned chairs and other belongings could be seen scattered after panicked spectators fled for their lives. “Everyone thought it was fireworks,” one parade-goer, identified only as Zoe, told CNN. “My dad thought it was part of the show, and I’m like, ‘Dad, no… something is wrong.’ And I grabbed him. And I looked back at him, and then it was just a sea of panic, and people just falling and falling.” As they ran, she said that some 20 feet behind her, “I saw a girl shot and killed… saw her die.” Zoe said they first hid behind a dumpster before police pulled them into the basement of a sporting goods store with some other people, several of whom were injured, including a man who appeared to have been shot in the ear and a girl who was shot in the leg. When they were finally able to leave, she told CNN, the parade route resembled “a battle zone. And it’s disgusting.” Commander Chris O’Neill of the city’s police said the shooting began around 10:14 am, as the parade was “approximately three-quarters of the way through.” “It sounds like spectators were targeted… So, very random, very intentional and very sad,” he said. He said two dozen people had been hospitalized and six confirmed dead, adding that “several” of them had died at the scene, which was “very large.” The suspected shooter has been described as a white male aged 18-20 with longer black hair, and was using a “high-powered rifle,” O’Neill said. He said that “firearm evidence” had been located on a nearby rooftop, adding: “All indications is he was discreet, he was very difficult to see.” “All individuals are still urged to shelter in place at this time,” he said. Nancy Rotering — the mayor of Highland Park, a wealthy suburb north of Chicago in the Midwestern state of Illinois — gave the same toll and condemned the holiday violence. “On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we’re instead mourning the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us,” she said. ‘Enough is enough’ Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the state police and the local sheriff’s office, are assisting with the response. Highland Park announced that all July 4 festivities had been canceled as a result of the violence, as did nearby Evanston. “While there is no known threat to Evanston residents, the shooter is still at large; therefore, cancelations are taking place in an abundance of caution,” the city said. US Representative Brad Schneider, who was at the parade, said on Twitter that “a shooter struck in Highland Park during the Independence Day parade.” “Hearing of loss of life and others injured. My condolences to the family and loved ones; my prayers for the injured and for my community,” he wrote, adding: “Enough is enough!” The shooting is part of a wave of gun violence plaguing the United States, where approximately 40,000 deaths a year are caused by firearms, including suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive website. The debate over gun control — a deeply divisive issue in the country — was reignited by two massacres in May that saw 10 Black supermarket shoppers gunned down in upstate New York and 21 people, mostly young children, slain at an elementary school in Texas. Congress passed the first significant bill on gun safety in decades in the wake of those killings. President Joe Biden signed it into law in late June, saying that while it falls short of what is really needed, it will still save lives. But a day earlier, proponents of tougher firearms laws suffered a setback when the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a fundamental right to carry a handgun in public, a landmark decision with far-reaching implications for states and cities across the country trying to rein in gun violence. View the full article

Published by AFP A rusted metal barrel, near the location of where a different drum was found containing a human body, sits exposed on the shore of Lake Mead, in Boulder City, Nevada outside Las Vegas Las Vegas (AFP) – Mobsters who end up sleeping with the fishes are usually never seen again. But climate change has a way of messing even with the mafia, and a watery grave outside Las Vegas is starting to cough up Sin City’s darkest secrets. Lake Mead, which can be reached from the Las Vegas Strip by a short ride in the trunk of a car with your hands and feet bound, is drying up in a grueling decades-long drought. Its receding waters are leaving behind the usual flotsam and jetsam of a lake heavily trafficked by weekend boaters. But also bodies. One particular find caught the attention of mob-watchers: the skeletal remains of a man who had been shot in the head, stuffed in a barrel and tossed in the lake four decades ago. “The mob had a propensity to put people in barrels, whether they’re burying them in a lake, or dumping them out in the field,” said Geoff Schumacher of The Mob Museum in Las Vegas. “That’s number one. Number two, the person was shot in the head, typical mob hit style. “And third, we know that this happened in the late ’70s, early ’80s (when) the mob was very prominent in Las Vegas.” Oasis An improbable oasis of hotels, casinos and vice sprouted in the baking Nevada desert in the 20th century. Las Vegas had been founded in 1905, but it wasn’t until work began on the nearby Hoover Dam in the 1930s that its population swelled. The influx of construction workers — mostly single men — created a market for entertainment, which was filled by sex workers, showgirls and legalized gambling. And where there is flesh, casinos and booze, organized crime is lurking in the background. “The mob played a pretty big role in the development of Las Vegas from the 1940s through the 1980s,” said Schumacher. “There was a lot of behind-the-scenes activity where the mob was controlling the management of the casinos, but also building and expanding the casinos, using in many cases, Teamsters union money.” The city grew rich in the post-World War II boom that fueled the American dream, becoming the global capital of gambling. And for every $100 that a hapless tourist lost at the blackjack table in a fug of free booze, a mafia boss in Chicago or New York wanted his cut. The skimming, which doubtless cost the city millions of dollars in lost taxes, was a double-edged sword. “They also sort of created this mystique about Las Vegas,” said Schumacher. “People wanted to come to Las Vegas, on the idea that ‘oh, maybe when I sit down at the bar, there’s going to be a mob guy sitting next to me.'” ‘Cold-blooded killers’ But it wasn’t all glamour. “The reality was that these guys were cold-blooded killers; they were thieves. If you were to cross the mob in some way… there definitely were consequences.” Las Vegas police are still investigating the body found in the barrel at Lake Mead earlier this year, and in response to AFP inquiries would only say there is an ongoing probe. But Schumacher has his theories about the identity of the dead man. One suggestion is that he was Jay Vandermark, who worked at the Stardust Hotel, an operation run by Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal on behalf of the Chicago Mob. Rosenthal — who was played by Robert De Niro in the movie “Casino” — was funneling cash back to his bosses, until the scheme drew the attention of local authorities. Vandermark disappeared shortly thereafter. A more likely candidate for the body in the barrel, however, is a man named Harry Pappas who was also connected to the Chicago Mob. “One of the extra perks for visitors to Las Vegas, if you were a high roller… was they would take you out on the boat at Lake Mead,” Schumacher said. “The Stardust had a boat out there and Harry Pappas was in charge of that whole operation. “Right before he disappeared, he told his wife he was going to lunch with someone who was interested in buying his boat. We’ve never seen Harry Pappas again.” Lake Mead is a massive reservoir on the Colorado River created by the Hoover Dam. It is now just a quarter full — the result of a drought and warming temperatures fueled by man-made climate change — and shows no sign of stabilising. As its shoreline retreats, revealing more of the lake bed, it may yield more mob secrets, said Schumacher. “I don’t know if we find another body in a barrel, but I have to believe that there could very well be a second murder victim out there.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega When it comes to movie stars who are equal parts handsome and successful, Brad Pitt is undeniably at the top of the list. The actor, 58, has proved time and time again he’s more than just a pretty face, having earned countless awards and dabbling in activism. Scroll down to relive his rise to the top! mega Raised in Missouri, the actor moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting dreams in the ’80s — and much like his peers, he struggled to get work at first. He eventually nabbed recurring roles in shows like Dallas, and by 1992, his flick A River Runs Through It premiered, and critics, as well as moviegoers, began taking notice. mega By the mid-90’s, the father-of-six had achieved man of the hour status thanks to iconic films like Legends of the Fall, Interview with the Vampire and Seven. While working on the latter, he struck up a romance with costar Gwyneth Paltrow. The pair got engaged but called it off in 1997. mega Pitt soon became a bonafide A-list movie star, putting out star-studded movies like Fight Club and Ocean’s Eleven. It was around that time that he and Jennifer Aniston got together, but after five years of marriage, they parted ways in 2005 — the same year his and Angelina Jolie‘s flick Mr. & Mrs. Smith debuted. Shortly after he and the Friends actress filed for divorce, Pitt and Jolie became inseparable. mega In 2006, Brangelina confirmed they were expecting their first child together, Shiloh. They welcomed twins Vivienne and Knox in 2008, and Pitt formally adopted her three other kids, Maddox, Pax and Zahara, as well. His career kept up at its steady pace, with box office blockbusters like Inglourious Basterds. He and Jolie tied the knot in 2014, but had a messy split in 2016 that involved the Hollywood hunk being investigated by child services and the FBI, though he was ultimately cleared. The exes are still embroiled in a custody case, and it’s believed the actor doesn’t get to see the children very often. mega Pitt eventually revealed he had a drinking problem, and in 2016, he decided to get sober. Over the past few years, he’s retreated a bit from the spotlight, but that hasn’t stopped him from doing what he loves, and he finally received the coveted Best Actor Oscar win for 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In a recent candid interview with GQ, he said that he spent “years with a low-grade depression,” but he’s now feeling better, explaining, “It’s not until coming to terms with that, trying to embrace all sides of self — the beauty and the ugly — that I’ve been able to catch those moments of joy.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Elliot Page has shared his new passport photograph. The ‘Umbrella Academy’ actor – who announced he was transgender in 2020 – took to Instagram to share his updated passport picture and revealed how much it meant to him. He wrote: “Never thought I would love a passport photo.” Meanwhile, Elliot, 35 – who separated from Emma Portner in January 2021 after three years of marriage – recently revealed that he is looking for love online and thanked his ‘Umbrella Academy’ co-star Ritu Arya, 28, for “guiding me on my first dating app ever”. Elliot previously explained he always knew he was a boy and couldn’t understand when people told him he wasn’t. He said: “All trans people are so different, and my story’s absolutely just my story. But yes, when I was a little kid, absolutely, 100 percent, I was a boy. I knew I was a boy when I was a toddler. I was writing fake love letters and signing them ‘Jason.’ Every little aspect of my life, that is who I was, who I am, and who I knew myself to be. “I just couldn’t understand when I’d be told, ‘No, you’re not. No, you can’t be that when you’re older’. You feel it. Now I’m finally getting myself back to feeling like who I am, and it’s so beautiful and extraordinary, and there’s a grief to it in a way.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Meta is to turn all Instagram videos into Reels. The social media giant – which is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – launched the 90-second video feature back in 2020 after the rise of rival TikTok and is now trialling a feature that will see all of its videos take on the Reels format. Alongside a screenshot that read “video posts are now shared as reels”, industry analyst Matt Navara wrote on Twitter: “Instagram is now making EVERY video a Reel!” His claims were then backed up by Meta, who claimed that the feature was being “tested out” gradually amongst random users. A Meta spokesperson told The Verge: “We’re testing this feature as part of our efforts to simplify and improve the video experience on Instagram. The news comes a year on from claims that the social media app – which is used by an estimated 5.2 billion people worldwide and serves as a major platform for several celebrities – is “no longer” just a photo-sharing app, according to Instagram Head Adam Mosseri. Back n July 2021, he said: “Changes are coming to video. We’re no longer just a square photo-sharing app. At Instagram we’re always trying to build new features that help you get the most out of your experience. Right now we’re focused on four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping, and Messaging. “Let’ be honest -there’s some really serious competition right now. TikTok is huge and YouTube is even biger. People are looking to Instagram to be entertained, there is stiff competition and we have to embrace that.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Drake became the “sixth member” of the Backstreet Boys when he joined the band onstage to perform his favourite song. The music star made a guest appearance at the boyband’s show in Toronto, Canada on Saturday (02.07.22) to sing on their hit track ‘I Want It That Way’ – and Drake gave a moving speech to the audience telling them why the track means so much to him. According to People.com, he said: “At 13 years old, I had a bar mitzvah, and at my bar mitzvah, for the first time in my life, this girl I was in love with came up to me while one of the greatest songs in the world was playing, and she asked me if I would dance with her. “It was the first time I ever felt acknowledged, and it was the first time I ever felt like, you know, I had a shot at being cool.” The star then joked: “If she can see me now, you know what I’m talking about?” The publication reports the band referred to Drake as their “sixth member” during the special one-off appearance together. Drake recently released his new album ‘Honestly, Nevermind’ to mixed reviews and he seemingly hit back at the criticism of the record by insisting haters “don’t get it yet”. The rapper’s latest release debuted on June 17, but was hit with lacklustre reviews with some critics branding the album “dull”. However, Drake appeared to have responded during a speech at a subsequent release party in Miami, Florida. According to Fox News, he said: “It’s all good if you don’t get it yet. That’s what we do! We wait for you to catch up. We in here, though, we caught up already. On to the next. My goodness!” A clip of the moment circulated online showing Drake making the comments while the song ‘Calling My Name’ played in the background. It’s believed to have been filmed during a bash at Miami nightclub Gala. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Adele gave a fan VIP access to her concert, in exchange for borrowing their Pride flag. The 34-year-old star draped herself in a rainbow flag at her concert at British Summer Time in Hyde Park, London on Saturday (02.07.22) to celebrate Pride and Dean William, a teacher from Essex, revealed the story behind the special moment. He wrote in a heartwarming thread on Twitter: “Last night I was invited by @Adele to sit side of stage for her performance at @BSTHydePark. Here’s how the most random night of my life happened! A thread… “I arrived with my general admission ticket at about 6pm and went straight to the toilet at the furthest point away from the stage. As I left, a woman approached my friend and I and said she saw I was wearing a pride flag, and they @Adele needed one for her performance… “She asked if she could borrow mine so…OF COURSE I SAID YES! Then we were whisked away into the Diamond VIP section and given a LOT of drinks tokens. “After we got our wristbands and drinks, we watched a bit of the amazing Gabrielle and bumped into the lovely @Charlottegshore. “We were stunned. This was a dream! Before long @adele came on stage and blew our socks off! Of course, singing Hello. “Then, after two songs the MOST BIZARRE moment of my life happened. @Adele, in front of 65,000 people asks where Jack and Dean are and calls us over to the barrier! I of course, have no footage of this as I was losing my mind!!! “We were pulled over the barrier, and told by @adele that she wanted to give us the best seats in the house… they certainly were! “Then, during When We Were Young, @adele appeared wearing the very flag we bought for eight quid at Holborn station just hours before! I cried. “To end the most magical, perfect, mind-blowing pride @adele sung Love Is A Game, looked at us directly in the eyes and blew us a kiss. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ADELE!!!! I’ll never ever forget this night and this pride!!!!” And Dean revealed that the superstar even made sure he got his Pride flag back following the performance. During the show at American Express presents BST Hyde Park, Adele played the Great Oak Stage and wowed the crowd with a 19-track headline set. Wearing a glistening black off-the-shoulder Louis Vuitton gown, she told the crowd: “It has been an absolute pleasure to be here this weekend… There’s no place like London in the summer. I can’t wait to come back. I love coming home. And happy Pride!” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega She got it from her mama! Lourdes Leon never fails to wow her followers with the sultriest of snaps on social media. The ultra famous daughter of Madonna knows how to get all eyes on her with her artistic photoshoots and high fashion ensembles. The 25-year-old model appears to take after her famous mother as she is always pushing the envelope with her risqué looks and daring aesthetic. MADONNA’S DAUGHTER LOURDES LEON BRINGS THE HEAT IN MARC JACOBS SPRING COLLECTION — AND EVEN SHOWS OFF HER UNSHAVEN ARMPITS However, Leon still gets a bit embarrassed by the “Material Girl” singer’s attention0seeking ways. As OK! exclusively reported, Madonna’s kids, who also include Rocco Ritchie, 21, Mercy James, 16, David Banda, 15, as well as 8-year-old twins Stelle and Estere Ciccone “cringe” at the way their mother provocatively dresses herself. “They can’t understand why [her behavior] needs to be so hyper and gratuitous,” a source revealed. “She’s constantly looking for ways to push the envelope, and the kids worry among themselves about where it’s all going to end.” The source noted her children love her “but it makes them cringe to see her writhing around naked and making a fool of herself,” explaining that Lordes and Ritchie have “struggled for years” with her attention-seeking behavior. MADONNA’S DAUGHTER LOURDES LEON SHARES SERIES OF RISQUE SNAPS AFTER SHADING MATERIAL GIRL FOR DRESSING PROVOCATIVELY FOR HER AGE Scroll through the gallery to see Lordes Leon’s top social media thirst traps: @SAVAGEXFENTY /@lourdesleon/instagram Madonna’s first born showed off her assets in a black bra ensemble complete with tall leather socks and a wild hairdo as she smiled for the camera. @lourdesleon/instagram Leon left little to the imagination in a light blue bikini as she lounged on the hood of a car. @SWAROVSKI ;@lourdesleon/instagram; The model posed for a Cher inspired shoot rocking a pair of jeans and a turquoise halter top as she wore her long pin straight hair down. @thisismayan / @lourdesleon/instagram Leon rocked a pair of clear glasses and showed off her unique manicure as she lounged in the pool. @indiana420bitch/@lourdesleon/instagram The super famous offspring sported a white mini skirt along with a jean bralette as she went high glamour with her makeup for the snap. View the full article

Published by DPA Media experts have warned that unhealthy body images on social media can be particularly dangerous for younger users, who are discovering their own bodies and are often dissatisfied with their looks. Benjamin Nolte/dpa Norway is now making influencers and other advertisers inform viewers when they have digitally altered the appearance of someone in an ad, in an effort to limit the negative body image promoted on Instagram and other social media platforms. A change in the law coming into force in July stipulates that digitally manipulated appearances in paid advertisements must be marked with a special kind of notice. This includes any changes to body shape, size and skin, for example changes in facial shape, broader shoulders and narrower hips – some of the most common manipulations offered by “beauty filters” and apps designed to “beautify” selfies. Pictures and videos of extremely thin people still show up on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube without warning, and often in an explicitly positive context. Media experts have warned that unhealthy body images on social media can be particularly dangerous for younger teenagers, who are discovering their own bodies and are often dissatisfied with their looks. Norway’s measure is intended to help make consumers aware that people are not always shown in advertising as they look in reality. Ultimately, the aim is to portray less idealised bodies in advertising and thus protect younger people in particular. “Finally we are getting a powerful measure against unhealthy body pressure that especially children and young people are exposed to,” said the Norwegian Minister for Children and Family Affairs, Kjersti Toppe. The labelling obligation applies to all traditional and social media and explicitly also to influencers and other people who post advertisements online on the internet and in social media. Those who do not comply with it will face a fine. The notice should take up about 7% of the image area and be placed clearly visible in the upper left corner of the advertisement. Both those who have created the advertisement and the advertisers who want to earn money with it can be held responsible. 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 New research has found that a surface that has been touched by someone infected with monkeypox can be highly contaminated with the virus that has spread around the world in recent weeks. And yet the study, published in July, said that the chances of people becoming infected by touching a contaminated surface were limited to certain scenarios. “We assume that surfaces would have to be very heavily contaminated in order for somone to become infected through contact with this surface,” said Johannes Knobloch, head of the study at Germany’s University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). This probably primarily affects people working in the care of monkeypox patients as well as people who live together with an infected person, Knobloch said. “According to the findings to date, there is no risk from publicly accessible hand contact surfaces such as door handles or lift buttons.” This viral disease, 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. Although experts do not believe the impact of monkeypox will be on a similar scale to Covid-19, doctors are nevertheless warning people, particularly pregnant women and parents of babies, to watch for the symptoms. According to guidance from the CDC health experts in the US, the monkeypox rash can look like pimples or blisters and typically appears on the face, inside the mouth, hands and feet. If you notice this kind of rash in combination with a fever, aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and/or exhaustion, then seek medical help immediately. View the full article

Published by DPA Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, delivers a video speech at the International Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano. Christophe Licoppe/European Commission/dpa Ukraine wants to use the Russian assets seized as a result of Western sanctions to finance the country’s reconstruction, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. “Russia’s frozen assets according to various estimates range from $300 to $500 billion,” Shmyhal told an international conference of potential donors in the Swiss town of Lugano. “Russian authorities unleashed this bloody war, they caused this massive destruction, and they should be held accountable for it,” he added. Ukraine needs an estimated $750 billion, Shmyhal said. However, experts have cautioned that confiscating Russian assets in this way is legally difficult. Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Trade, shakes hands with Denys Shmyhal (R), Prime Minister of Ukraine, during their meeting, ahead of the International Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano. Christophe Licoppe/European Commission/dpa View the full article

Published by AFP Ukraine told a conference in Switzerland that it would cost around $750 billion to rebuild the country Sloviansk (Ukraine) (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered Russian troops to press their offensive deeper into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine after Moscow’s forces seized the strategic city of Lysychansk. With the war now well into its fifth month after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine told a reconstruction conference in Switzerland that it would already cost $750 billion to rebuild the country. The loss of Lysychansk over the weekend prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to step up calls for an increased supply of weapons from the West so Kyiv can keep up the resistance and regain lost territories. After giving up on its initial war aim of capturing Kyiv following tough Ukrainian resistance, Russia has focused its efforts on securing control of the Donetsk and Lugansk areas which make up the Donbas region. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin at a meeting that Moscow’s forces were now in full control of the Lugansk region. In a sign there would be no let-up in the fighting and that Russia now had its eyes on the entire Donetsk region, Putin told Shoigu that troops stationed there must continue their operations. “Military units, including the East group and the West group, must carry out their tasks according to previously approved plans,” Putin said. “I hope that everything will continue in their direction as has happened in Lugansk so far.” The Ukrainian army said on Sunday it was retreating from Lysychansk to preserve the lives of its troops after finding itself outnumbered and outgunned by Russian forces there. ‘Most modern weapons’ But in a symbolic boost for Ukraine, the Ukrainian flag was raised on Snake Island, an rocky outcrop in the Black Sea, after Russia withdrew from the strategically important Ukrainian territory last week. Moscow’s capture of Lysychansk — one week after the Ukrainian army also retreated from the neighbouring city of Severodonetsk — frees up Russian forces to advance on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk. Lugansk region governor Sergiy Gayday said on Telegram that there was still fighting in the town of Bilogorivka outside Lysychansk. “We keep defending a small part of the Lugansk region so that our army could build protective redoubts,” he added. In an address late Sunday, Zelensky vowed Kyiv would fight on and ensure the military had “the most modern weapons”. “Ukraine will reach the level when the fire superiority of the occupiers will be levelled.” In Sloviansk, about 75 kilometres (45 miles) west of Lysychansk, there were few people on the streets on Monday, the day after Russian strikes that left at least six dead, among them a nine-year-old girl, and 19 injured. In the large downtown market largely ravaged by a fire caused by a Russian strike, a few vendors offered basic goods while others cleared charred debris. Vendors and residents who spoke to AFP, some still in shock, expressed concern for the days and weeks to come, as sounds of shelling were heard again. ‘Task of democratic world’ The city of Siversk, 30 kilometres west of Lysychansk, also saw overnight shelling, residents and an official told AFP. But Zelensky’s address Sunday evening was defiant, pointing to Ukrainian troops would “win back” territory in the Donbas just has they had in other regions earlier in the war. On Monday, leaders from dozens of countries and international organisations met in the Swiss city of Lugano with the aim of hashing out a roadmap for Ukraine’s reconstruction. At the gathering Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal put the cost of rebuilding Ukraine at $750 billion and said: “the key source of recovery should be the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs”. Lugano is not a pledging conference but will instead attempt to lay out the principles and priorities for a rebuilding process aimed to begin even as the war rages. The meeting could help usher in a modern version of “The Marshall Plan”, the US-devised giant economic rescue scheme to rebuild Europe after World War II. In a video address to the conference Zelensky described rebuilding Ukraine as the “common task of the whole democratic world” and the “biggest contribution to the support of global peace.” But for residents in Bucha — a Ukrainian town synonymous with war crimes blamed on Moscow’s forces after their retreat in April — fear remains even as talk begins of reconstruction. “We’re going to bed without knowing if we’ll wake up tomorrow,” said Vera Semeniouk, 65. “Everyone has come back, is starting to repair houses, many are putting in new windows. It would be terrible if it started again, and we had to leave everything again.” View the full article

Published by DPA The defendant is brought to the Neuruppin Regional Court for sentencing. A 101-year-old man has appealed the five-year jail sentence he was handed by a German court last week for aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. Fabian Sommer/dpa A 101-year-old man has appealed the five-year jail sentence he was handed by a German court last week for aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Brandenburg state court in Neuruppin, to the north-west of Berlin, confirmed his appeal on Monday. Following delivery of the written verdict, he has a month to justify his appeal, court spokesperson Iris le Claire said. The court has until September 27 to finalize its written judgement, she added. It would then be up to the Federal Court of Justice to decide on the appeal. Throughout his trial, the accused denied that he had been a guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp during the period in question, 1942-45. The prosecution had produced documents identifying a Nazi SS guard with the accused’s name, date of birth and place of birth, among other evidence. Defence lawyer Stefan Waterkamp had said right after the verdict that he would launch an appeal. He argued that, to date, the Federal Court of Justice had not considered activity as a concentration camp guard to be sufficient to convict someone for aiding and abetting Nazi crimes. View the full article

Published by DPA Pope Francis leads a Holy Mass for the Congolese community in Rome at Saint Peter's Basilica. Evandro Inetti/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Pope Francis has defrocked a retired priest in relation to repeated cases of sexual abuse perpetrated from the 1980s to the early 1990s, the Trier diocese in western Germany announced on Monday. The unnamed priest did not face trial in a state court, as the offences were subject to the statute of limitations, but was found guilty in two sets of proceedings under canon law in an ecclesiastical court. The bishop of Trier, Stephan Ackermann, ordered the priest’s dismissal from the clergy following the first proceedings in 2015. The priest then lodged an appeal, with the result that the sentence was reduced at the end of 2017 to a ban on exercising priestly duties. After additional allegations were made in the summer of 2019, the Trier diocese launched a second preliminary investigation, which again found the priest guilty. The pope has now finally defrocked the priest at the request of the congregation of the faithful, informing the parishes where he worked and the affected persons. In April this year, Pope Francis defrocked a retired Trier priest at the priest’s own request after he was found to have committed sexual abuse. The diocese numbers some 1.3 million Catholics in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. View the full article

Published by Al-Araby A coalition of Lebanese civil society organisations published a letter on Monday condemning what it calls a “crackdown” on LGBT rights by authorities. The letter, signed by the Coalition to Defend Freedom of Expression in Lebanon, said that the government had unlawfully banned peaceful gatherings in support of LGBT people. It further said that the move to quash the gatherings violated LGBT people’s constitutional rights to “equality, free expression and free assembly … during a worsening climate for the rights of LGBT people.” On 24 June, Lebanon’s Minister of Interior instructed Lebanon’s sec… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – DeShanna Neal’s 7-year-old son stopped standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag in school, questioning whether the United States of America really stood for, as the pledge says, “liberty and justice for all.” “He said, ‘I will only stand when Black lives matter,'” said Delaware native Neal, 40, a Black, queer mother of two transgender girls and a son she describes as gender non-conforming. Neal is also a candidate for a seat in the state House of Representatives. As much of the nation takes a day off for backyard barbecues, Main Street parades and fireworks displays, some Americans see democracy in peril and others see it as ascendant. Another American interviewed ahead of the holiday marking the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, was in a more celebratory mood. “The quote-unquote conservative side has been on the losing side for a very long time,” said CJ Grisham, a founder of the gun rights group Open Carry Texas. “Does it suck to lose? Yeah, it does. But I look at things also from an originalist point of view. So obviously I’m mostly happy.” Conservatives are relishing a series of victories at the U.S. Supreme Court, landmark rulings that ended a constitutional right to abortion, expanded gun rights, and curtailed government authority to regulate power plant emissions. At the same time, congressional hearings are offering testimony about how close former President Donald Trump and a violent mob that supported him may have come on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturning the November 2020 election that put Joe Biden in the White House. Jodie Patterson, 52, of Brooklyn, a Black mother with a transgender child, sees a dominant culture of straight, white, wealthy men too easily overlooking the rest of America. She is on the board of the Human Rights Campaign’s foundation, which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans at a time when legislation in states across the country would block access to healthcare to help young people transition and restrict transgender athletes’ participation in sports. “I’m not turning my back on America,” Patterson said. “This country is as much mine and my family’s, and for people who look like me, as it is anyone else’s.” Only white men signed the Declaration of Independence, and most, like its main author Thomas Jefferson, owned Black slaves. Slaveowners also were among the white men who in 1787 signed the Constitution, when convincing slave states to join the union was prioritized over liberty for Blacks. It took Civil War, constitutional amendments and Supreme Court rulings to extend rights to minorities and women. Today, some conservatives see liberal critiques that extremists are threatening democracy as overblown, noting that Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress. “Stop blaming it on these boogie men,” said Chuck Warren, a Republican strategist from Arizona. “I don’t think the Supreme Court justices are just sitting around saying, ‘We have to protect the white man.’ I don’t believe that’s happening at all.” Concerns were so great that Biden established a commission to study reforming the Supreme Court. Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, was among those on the commission, and he advocates expanding the court to counter the current conservative bent. “The odds that we will really go down, the way other democracies have, are frighteningly real,” Tribe said. Charles Fried, a Harvard law colleague who once argued cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the administration of Republican President Ronald Reagan, favors a different change: term limits that would convert the lifetime Supreme Court appointment to 18 years. “There are people around, and I’m afraid some of them are on this Supreme Court, who want to repeal the 20th century,” Fried said. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Donna Bryson and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Chris Hemsworth thinks Thor is a constantly evolving character. The 38-year-old actor first played the iconic superhero in 2011 and since then, Chris thinks Thor has been different in every subsequent movie. He reflected: “Where we started in the first film to now, there’s been many versions of the character and so I’ve always hoped … and I think there is something unique about each time we see him in a film, he has changed. There’s been something sort of … unexpected to the character.” Chris believes Thor has become more relatable since director Taika Waititi joined the franchise. The Hollywood star suggested that Taika, 46, has made Thor more humorous and also more emotionally vulnerable. He told IGN.com: “I definitely think from ‘Ragnarok’ onwards, his sense of humour made it all the more relatable and there was a greater sense of fun and enjoyment there to be had. “I think the more vulnerable he became too over times and the more complex – as far as he was susceptible to emotional trauma, or emotional complications – his mental fitness wasn’t always at a ten … I think people kind of appreciated that.” Meanwhile, Tessa Thompson recently revealed that Valkyrie’s sexuality was a “big topic of conversation” among the makers of ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’. The actress has reprised the role of Valkyrie in the new Marvel movie, and she revealed that her character’s sexuality was a major point of discussion before and during the shoot. Tessa – who is attracted to both men and women, but chooses not to label herself bisexual – said: “We talked about it a lot, it was big topic of conversation. Because I think rightfully there’s this real want in audiences to see characters be very clearly queer or LGBTQIA inside these spaces. And I think it’s hugely important to have representation. “And also, as humans, I think that we are not defined by our sexuality, and by who we love. And so sometimes I think to hang a narrative completely on that is a way of actually diminishing the humanity of the character. Because you don’t allow them to be anything else.” View the full article

Published by AFP Liz Cheney (pictured during a January 6 attack hearing investigating in Washington, DC, in June 2022) was one of just 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the insurrection by his supporters Washington (AFP) – Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a rising Republican star until she refused to accept Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, says she has not ruled out a US presidential run in 2024. “I’ll make a decision about ’24 down the road,” she said in an interview Sunday with ABC talk show “This Week.” “The single most important thing is protecting the nation from Donald Trump.” Wyoming representative Cheney was one of just 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach the former president for inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection by his supporters. The 55-year-old is now vice chair of the special House committee investigating whether Trump was responsible for the attack on the US Capitol, as he sought to stay in power after losing the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. “A man as dangerous as Donald Trump can absolutely never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again,” Cheney said, telling ABC she thinks her Republican Party “can’t survive” if the real estate mogul wins the nomination again in 2024. “Those of us who believe in Republican principles and ideals have a responsibility to try to lead the party back to what it can be,” she said. Trump, who still holds outsize influence in the Republican Party, has discussed a potential new candidacy with increasing openness, with some outlets reporting he could announce his campaign by the end of July. Even as Cheney — daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney — mulls a White House bid she is fighting for her political life in Wyoming, where a Trump-backed rival is challenging her in the state’s Republican primary, to be held next month ahead of November’s midterm elections. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Silvio Berlusconi’s ex-partner Francesca Pascale has married her singer girlfriend of two years amid global Pride celebrations. They held a service on Saturday (02.07.22), after reports the former prime minister of Italy, 85, had put his 1,140 square metre mansion on the market, which he bought in 2015. Pascale, 36, and her wife – 57-year-old musician Paola Turci, who has released 17 studio albums – shared a picture of their ceremony on Instagram. The Giornale di Merate newspaper reported Berlusconi’s villa and its surrounding 40,000 square metres of parkland could be up for sale, with a real estate consultant telling the publication: “I have set up meetings. I don’t have an exclusive on it, but I don’t believe it’s been sold yet.” Once the home of footballer and businessman Valentino Giambelli, it was purchased by Berlusconi for €2.5 million (£2.2 million) as a gift for Pascale, who he met in 2006 and started dating a few years later after his split from his former wife. The home underwent a €29 million (£25 million) renovation that included installing a wine cellar, Brianza furniture and a room for the couple’s poodle. Berlusconi and Pascale split at the height of the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 and his ex has since reportedly been living with Turci. Even though the ex-prime minister and Pascale were not married, they had a financial deal that saw her walk away from their relationship with a €20 million (£17 million) payout – equivalent to €2 million (£1.7 million) for every year they were together. She also received a €100,000-a-month (£86,000) monthly payment to sustain her lifestyle. Berlusconi recently made his relationship official with 32-year-old Forza Italia member Maria Fascia. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York state passed a law on Friday banning guns from many public places, including Times Square, and requiring gun-license applicants to prove their shooting proficiency and submit their social media accounts for review by government officials. The law, passed in an emergency legislative session, was forced by a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that struck down New York’s restrictive gun-license laws. The court’s conservative majority ruled for the first time that the U.S. Constitution grants an individual the right to carry weapons in public for self-defense. New York’s Democratic leaders have decried the ruling and the court, saying there will be more gun violence if there are more people carrying guns. They conceded they must loosen the state’s century-old permit scheme to comply with the ruling, but sought to keep as many restrictions as they could in the name of public safety. Some will likely be targets for further legal challenges. The court ruled that New York’s former license regime, which dates from 1911, gave too much discretion to officials to deny a permit. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who ordered the extraordinary session in the legislature, said the state’s gun-licensing regulations had resulted in New York having the fifth-lowest rate of gun deaths of the 50 U.S. states. “Our state will continue to keep New Yorkers safe from harm, even despite this setback from the Supreme Court,” she told a news conference in the state capital, Albany, while lawmakers were debating the bill. “They may think they can change our lives with the stroke of a pen, but we have pens, too.” The court’s ruling allowed that people could be banned from carrying weapons in certain “sensitive places” but warned lawmakers against applying the label too broadly. The court also made it easier for pro-gun groups to have a regulation overturned. It ruled that a weapons regulation was likely unconstitutional if it was not similar to the sort of regulations around in the 18th century, when the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-2 was ratified, letting states maintain militias and defining a right to “keep and bear Arms.” The law passed on Friday makes it a felony crime to carry a gun into a new list of sensitive places, including: government buildings, medical facilities, places of worship, libraries, playgrounds, parks, zoos, schools, colleges, summer camps, addiction-support centers, homeless shelters, nursing homes, public transit including the New York City subway, places where alcohol or marijuana is consumed, museums, theaters, stadiums and other venues, polling places and Times Square. Law enforcement officials and registered security guards are among those exempt from the sensitive-place restrictions. Republican lawmakers voted against the law, set to take effect on Sept. 1, complaining that it makes the right to carry weapons lesser than other constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech and of religion. “Now, it’s going to be easier to get a concealed-carry” license, said Mike Lawler, a Republican member of the Assembly, during the debate. “But you’re not going to be able to carry it anywhere.” ‘FLAGRANT VIOLATION’ The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun-owners’ rights group whose local affiliate was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, called New York’s law a “flagrant violation” of the ruling by creating more barriers to New Yorkers’ self-defense rights, indicating it may soon face legal challenges. “Gov. Hochul and her anti-Second Amendment allies in Albany have defied the United States Supreme Court with an intentionally malicious rewriting of New York’s concealed carry law,” Darin Hoens, the New York NRA state director, said in a statement. The court ruled in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that New York licensing officials had too much subjective discretion over who could enjoy what it said was a constitutional right. Applicants were denied a concealed-carry permit if they could not convince an official they had “proper cause,” or some kind of special reason, for carrying a handgun for self-defense. Reluctantly and not without protest, Hochul agreed the state must remove the “proper cause” requirements, though the law still requires licensing officers find the applicant is of “good moral character.” The new licensing rules require applicants to meet with the licensing officer, usually a judge or a police official, for an in-person interview, and provide the contact details of some immediate family members and any adults they live with. The law makes it a felony to carry a gun into private business premises unless the business affirmatively gives notice that concealed weapons are welcome. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Chris Reese, Daniel Wallis and William Mallard) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jason Lange and Jonathan Landay (Reuters) -Police killed Jayland Walker, a Black man in Ohio, by shooting him dozens of times as he ran from officers following a traffic stop, a lawyer for his family said, citing a review of police body-worn camera footage due to be made public on Sunday. In comments published on Saturday by the Akron Beacon Journal, attorney Bobby DiCello described the video as “brutal,” and said Walker’s relatives worried that protests this weekend could turn violent. The shooting was the latest in a spate of killings of Black men by law enforcement in the United States that critics say are unjustified, including the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis that ignited global protests against police brutality and racial injustice. “We’re all bracing for the community’s response, and the one message that we have is the family does not need any more violence,” DiCello said. Akron police have said Walker, 25, fired a gun at officers who were pursuing him. They plan to release their body camera footage following a news conference on Sunday, hours before a protest march is scheduled. “Protest is a way of crying,” Rodderick Pounds Sr., pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Akron, said during a prayer rally there on Saturday after he was permitted to see the video prior to its being made public. Pounds declined to describe in detail “the graphic video the world is about to see,” but he called the footage “shocking,” saying it showed Walker posed no threat when he was shot down in a manner the pastor likened to a “massacre.” “It’s barbaric,” Pounds said in an interview with local television station WEWS-TV. “You’ll see tomorrow.” Officials have said the deadly confrontation began when officers tried to stop Walker for a traffic violation while he was driving early Monday morning. Walker fled, according to the Akron Police Department, which said officers reported a gun being fired from Walker’s vehicle. After several minutes Walker exited his vehicle and ran, while officers chased him on foot and fired at him, saying he presented a “deadly threat,” the police department said in a statement on Tuesday. Walker was pronounced dead in the parking lot where he fell. Police representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday. DiCello said his team has not seen any evidence Walker fired a weapon and that police body-camera footage showed him running with his back to officers when they gunned him down. “He is just in a down sprint when he is dropped by I think the count is more than 90 shots,” DiCello told the Beacon Journal. “Now how many of those land, according to our investigation right now, we’re getting details that suggest 60 to 80 wounds.” It was not clear how many bullets struck Walker because bullets can cause wounds both entering and exiting the body, DiCello said. Television station WJW-TV said a preliminary report from the medical examiner’s office found Walker sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his head, torso and legs, and that a weapon was recovered from a car by Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, though it did not specify which car. Pounds told WEWS that Walker “did not have a weapon when he was shot. It was in his car.” Compounding the tragedy, according to the Beacon Journal, Walker’s fiance had died in a car accident last month, though WJW cited attorneys for his family as saying Walker had no intention of harming himself or others when he was killed. The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave during an investigation, the department’s statement said. (Reporting by Jason Lange and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Adele was a “shell of a person” after cancelling her Las Vegas residency at the last minute. The ‘Easy On Me’ hitmaker stunned fans in January when she axed her concert series just days before it was due to start and she admitted she was plagued by guilt but needed time to “grieve”. Speaking to Lauren Laverne on ‘Desert Island Discs’, she said: “I was a shell of a person for a couple of months. I just had to wait it out and just grieve it, I guess, just grieve the shows and get over the guilt, but it was brutal.” The 34-year-old star knows how disappointing her decision was for fans but she still believes she did the right thing. She said: “The show was not good enough. Maybe my silence has been deadly, I don’t know. But it was horrible. “I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment and I was devastated, and I was frightened about letting them down. I’d thought I could pull it together and make it work and I couldn’t, and I stand by that decision. “I don’t think any other artist would have done what I did and that is why it was such a massive, massive story. It was like, ‘I don’t care. You can’t buy me, you can’t buy me for nothing. I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we’re going to lose loads of money.’” While Adele was criticised for staying silent in the aftermath of the cancellation but she insisted it wasn’t necessary for her to keep addressing fans. She said: “Of course I could be someone on TikTok or Instagram Live every day, being like ‘I’m working on it’. Of course I’m working on it! I’m not gonna update you if I ain’t got nothing to update you with, because that just leads to more disappointment.” The ‘Someone Like You’ singer still battles stage fright and she knows when it will be time to call it a day. She said: “My adrenaline means I am excited and my nerves mean I want to go and do a great show. When I don’t feel like that, I am done – l won’t do it any more. I think a lot of people actually don’t care any more and it breaks my heart when I go to a show or I hear an album and I think: ‘I don’t think they care about what they are doing any more’.” The ‘Hello’ singer – who has nine-year-old son Angelo with ex-husband Simon Konecki and is in a relationship with Rich Paul – acknowledged she has tried to keep out of the public eye but her desire to be “such a recluse” has only “fuelled” further interest in her. She said: “Sometimes it used to be two years and I wouldn’t be seen anywhere. I used to just hang out at home. But also I have a whole setup of how I move, and no one ever knows, just so I can go out and be completely carefree.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s top security officer has asked Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to enforce laws barring picketing outside the Maryland homes of high court justices, saying protests and “threatening activity” have increased. Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley made the request in a July 1 letter to Hogan, noting that Maryland law prohibits people from intentionally assembling “in a manner that disrupts a person’s right to tranquility in the person’s home.” “I am writing to request that the Maryland State Police, in conjunction with local authorities as appropriate, enforce laws prohibiting picketing outside the homes of Supreme Court justices who live in Maryland,” Curley told Hogan, according to a copy of the letter posted on the Fox News website. Abortion rights activists began protesting outside the Maryland homes of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the Virginia home of Justice Samuel Alito Jr. after the leak in May of a draft opinion indicating the court would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision guaranteeing women the right to an abortion. The court last month issued a final opinion that did just that. Curley reminded the governor that in May, he said he was “deeply concerned” over picketing outside justices’ homes in his state. Hogan made the statement in a joint letter with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland seeking enforcement of a federal law barring demonstrations intended to sway judges on pending cases. “Since then, protest activity at Justices’ homes, as well as threatening activity, has only increased,” Curley told Hogan, adding that protesters have for weeks used bullhorns, chanted slogans, and banged on drums. The letter also noted “an attempt on a Justice’s life,” an apparent reference to the arrest last month near Kavanaugh’s home of a California man armed with a handgun, a knife and pepper spray. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by David Gregorio) View the full article

Published by AFP The New York state senate — seen here in June 2011 — took action on Friday July 1, 2022 to add the right to an abortion to the state's consitution. New York (AFP) – The US state of New York moved to enshrine abortion rights and access to contraception in its constitution Friday, becoming a vanguard in the pushback against a seismic ruling by the country’s Supreme Court that upended reproductive rights nationwide. The state Senate “advanced the first passage of an amendment to codify the right to an abortion and the right to contraception in the State Constitution,” it said in a statement. New York state law already permits abortions, so the move would add an extra layer of legal protection for the procedure. The amendment also seeks to “update the existing Equal Rights Amendment to extend current protections to several new classes, including on the basis of sex, disability, national origin, ethnicity, and age,” it said. After passing the Senate, the legislation will next go to the state Assembly, where it is expected to be passed. Voters will then cast their ballot on it directly in a referendum. Conservatives in the United States have been working for decades to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that said the US constitution provides for a right to an abortion. Last month they got their wish when the court’s new conservative majority overturned Roe with a decision that was widely expected, but nonetheless ignited nationwide protests and brought international condemnation. The decision handed power back to the states to make their own rules on abortion, and up to half are expected to ban or severely restrict it. Others have declared themselves abortion “sanctuaries” and vowed to protect the right, as well as other rights such as gay marriage which progressives now fear are in the court’s sights. “The reversal of Roe v. Wade made it clear that New York State must continue to stand up and be a national leader to protect women and individual rights,” said New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, in the statement. View the full article