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Published by BANG Showbiz English Andy Cohen doesn’t think ‘Queer Eye’ would have been a “hit” on Bravo. The ‘Watch What Happens Live’ host thinks the cable network made the “right move” in passing on the opportunity to reboot the makeover show – which was originally titled ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ and ran from 2003 to 2007 on Bravo – because it was so expensive to make and he thinks it found the right home with streaming service Netflix. Speaking on SiriusXM’s ‘Jeff Lewis Live’, Andy said: “I don’t think it would have been a huge show on Bravo. I don’t … I don’t think people are watching linear television in the way they are watching Netflix. “And I think it premiered on Netflix and people loved it. “It was going to be super expensive; ‘Queer Eye’ was a super expensive show to make. And I think Bravo probably made the right move not doing that show. “I don’t think it would have been a hit.” Andy serves as executive producer on the ‘Real Housewives’ franchise, and while he doesn’t “regret” cancelling the Miami series – which is now being rebooted – at the time, he wishes ‘The Real Housewives of DC’ had been kept on after it was axed after just one season amid controversy surrounding Michaele Schon and her then-husband Tareq Salahi, who notoriously breached security to attend a White House state dinner. He said: “I think shows get cancelled for a reason, like the ‘Real Housewives of Miami’. “The new version is really good — and the next season we’re shooting now is really great. But I don’t regret cancelling it at the time. “The ratings went down that whole season, the ratings went down for that reunion. You know what show I regretted they cancelled? And I was a fierce proponent for keeping it on — ‘The Real Housewives of DC’. “If you look at that cast, that was an integrated cast, it was racially diverse at a time when our shows weren’t enough, and I really liked that show. “I thought there was a lot that could have come [of it]. But I think the Salahis kind of tanked it.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican on Tuesday unveiled a committee to oversee the ethics of its investments, even as a corruption trial related to a botched London real estate deal in which it lost more than 200 millions euros continued. The committee will be headed by a cardinal, Irish-American Kevin Joseph Farrell, who is based at the Vatican, but include four outside lay financial experts, a statement said. They are Jean Pierre Casey of RegHedge investments in Britain, Giovanni Christian Michael Gay of Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH in Germany, David Harris of Skagen Funds in Norway and John J. Zona, head of investments at Boston College, a Catholic university in the United States. The creation of an investment ethics committee was stipulated in the Vatican’s new constitution, Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), which Pope Francis issued in March and which came into effect two days ago. The constitution tasked the committee with guaranteeing that Vatican investments would be proper, ethical and not overly risky. The new members hold five-year terms. The Vatican announced the committee as the 21st hearing of a major corruption trial was in progress and while one of its key defendants, Italian broker Raffaele Mincione, was being questioned for a second straight day. The trial began last July. The real estate venture at the centre of the trial began in 2014, when the Vatican’s Secretariat of State invested 350 million euros ($390 million) with Mincione to buy a building in a high-end area of London. In 2018, the Vatican felt it was being fleeced by Mincione, according to the indictment document, and turned to another broker, Gianluigi Torzi, to get out of the first deal. But Vatican prosecutors accuse Torzi of duping the Vatican and trying to take control of the building by assigning himself the voting shares. The Vatican then gave Torzi 15 million euros to get out of the deal with him. Mincione, Torzi and the other eight defendants at the trial, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a former top Vatican official, deny any wrongdoing. They face accusations including extortion, abuse of office, fraud and money laundering. Last January, the Vatican signed a contract to sell the building, definitively exiting a venture that the court has been told resulted in a loss of 217 million euros. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Alex Richardson) View the full article

Published by uInterview.com Chrishell Stause, the Selling Sunset star, was glowing last night when she accepted the award for Best Reality Star at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. After thanking her home streamer Netflix and the rest of the Selling Sunset cast, Stause also took a moment to thank fans for accepting her after she recently came out as queer last month. Chrishell Stause DatingStause revealed she was dating the non-binary Australian singer G-Flip last month during the reunion special for Selling Sunset. She later filmed a video on Instagram clarifying her feelings further. “Some of you won’t understand this or agre… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos seems excited to be going to work for his “friend” Marjorie Taylor Greene on Capitol Hill. “Mummy always said I’d end up in government!” the far-right pundit who identifies as an “ex-gay” wrote on social media Monday. That caption ran alongside a photo of what appears to be the 37-year-old provocateur’s House of Representatives ID atop a leather Louis Vuitton bag. “I’ve finally been persuaded out of retirement,” he also wrote. “But my skills are a bit rusty, so the best role I could land was an unpaid internship with a friend. Pray for me!” Greene, the… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Julie Steenhuysen (Reuters) -The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Monday it had instructed monkeypox vaccine manufacturer Bavarian Nordic to deliver an additional 36,000 doses this week as part of a drawdown from a U.S. vaccine stockpile. In a statement, HHS said the doses will be added to the existing 36,000 in the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile. Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine, called Jynneos, is approved to treat both monkeypox and smallpox. The Danish company, which developed the vaccine with the support of HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, still has more than 1 million government-owned doses of the vaccine on hand. Another 16.4 million doses of vaccine could be finished if needed, HHS said. During a news briefing last week, HHS official Dawn O’Connell said Bavarian Nordic can store the vaccine at a lower temperature than is possible once in the stockpile, extending the vaccine’s shelf life by about two years. In addition to the Bavarian Nordic vaccine, the United States has more than 100 million doses of ACAM2000, a smallpox vaccine from Emergent BioSolutions Inc, that is also effective against monkeypox. As of June 3, the government has delivered about 1,200 vaccines and 100 courses of treatment within the United States. The United States has so far 25 confirmed cases of monkeypox, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency on Friday urged U.S. doctors to test for monkeypox if they suspect cases, saying there may be community-level spread but that the overall public health risk remained low. Around 30 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, with more than 911 confirmed or suspected cases mostly in Europe, according to the World Health Organization, Reuters reporting and local data. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Susan Heavy and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by AFP US President Joe Biden embraces New York State Governor Kathy Hochul during a visit to Buffalo, New York, on May 17, 2022 following a racist massacre at a supermarket New York (AFP) – New York’s governor raised the age for buying a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21 Monday as she tightened gun laws following the racist massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo. Kathy Hochul approved a package of gun reform laws that had been passed by the state senate in the wake of last month’s shooting that killed 10 Black people. The measures come amid a spate of mass killings in the United States that have sparked renewed calls for greater gun control laws. Payton Gendron, 18, is accused of gunning down the shoppers at Tops Friendly Market using a an AR-15 assault rifle that he had bought legally. As well as being at least 21 years old, buyers of semiautomatic rifles will now also have to obtain a permit, meaning undergoing a background check. Democratic New York already has some of the strongest gun laws in America. The new laws also ban most civilians from purchasing body armor, such as bullet-proof vests. Gendron, a white supremacist, was wearing heavy body armor during his alleged attack on May 14. Hochul also agreed to expand the state’s “red flag” laws, which allow courts to take away guns from people deemed a risk to themselves and others. Ten days after the Buffalo shooting, a teenaged gunman shot dead 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. US President Joe Biden has called for new gun-control legislation, including a ban on assault weapons. At a minimum, Biden has said lawmakers should raise the age at which assault weapons can be purchased from 18 to 21. But gun regulation faces deep resistance in the United States, from most Republicans and some rural-state Democrats. US gun violence has killed more than 18,000 people so far in 2022, including nearly 10,300 suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive. View the full article

Published by AFP Henry Washington (AFP) – A leader of the Proud Boys and four other members of the far-right group were indicted on sedition charges on Monday in connection with the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 38, is already facing other charges related to the failed attempt by supporters of former president Donald Trump to block Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory. A superseding indictment unveiled on Monday added the more serious charge of seditious conspiracy to the charges against Tarrio, the former “national chairman” of the Proud Boys, and the four other members. Tarrio was arrested in Miami in March and is also charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of law enforcement, destruction of government property and other offenses. More than 800 people have been arrested in connection with the storming of Congress by Trump supporters, according to the Justice Department, but only a handful face the charge of seditious conspiracy, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Stewart Rhodes, 56, founder of another far-right organization, the Oath Keepers, has been charged with seditious conspiracy along with 10 other members of the group. Three members of the Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty. According to the superseding indictment, Tarrio was not in Washington on January 6 but he met with Rhodes on January 5 in an underground parking garage in Washington and was in contact with members of the Proud Boys who breached the Capitol. Along with Tarrio, four other members of the Proud Boys — Dominic Pezzola, 44, Joseph Biggs, 38, Ethan Nordean, 31, and Zachary Rehl, 36 — were charged with seditious conspiracy in addition to their previous charges. The indictment comes three days ahead of a public hearing by the House select committee investigating the storming of the US Capitol. The committee is trying to see if Trump or members of his circle had a role in planning or encouraging the violent attack, and has subpoenaed advisors and aides to the former president. The assault on the Capitol left at least five people dead and 140 police officers injured and followed a fiery speech by Trump to thousands of his supporters near the White House. Trump was impeached for a historic second time by the House after the Capitol riot — he was charged with inciting an insurrection — but was acquitted by the Senate, where only seven members of his own Republican party voted against him. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The former leader of the right-wing group the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, and four associates were charged with seditious conspiracy on Monday for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters. Federal prosecutors accused the five men of plotting the attack in advance and encouraging other Trump supporters to prevent Congress from certifying his 2020 election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden. Thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol that day after a fiery speech in which he repeated his false claims that his loss was result of widespread fraud, an allegation repeatedly rejected by multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump’s own administration. Eleven members of another right-wing group, the Oath Keepers, were charged in January with seditious conspiracy for allegedly playing a similar leadership role in the deadly attack. Federal prosecutors rarely use the seditious conspiracy charge, defined as attempting “to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States.” It carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Federal prosecutors investigating the attack filed the new charges against Tarrio, Dominic Pezzola, Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl, according to court papers. All five have pleaded not guilty to other criminal charges related to the attack. The new indictment accuses them of encouraging other Proud Boys to come to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021; raising money to buy bulletproof vests and other tactical gear; and directing crowd members into the Capitol and assaulting police once the attack was underway. It said Tarrio received a document titled “1776 returns” that laid out plans to occupy buildings in the Capitol complex three days before the attack. Members of the group sought to erase those messages when Tarrio was arrested on Jan. 4 for burning a church’s “Black Lives Matter” banner the prior month, prosecutors said. Tarrio was ordered to stay out of Washington as a condition of his release, but prosecutors say he still played a leading role in the attack. The indictment says he returned to the city on Jan. 5 and met with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes in an underground parking garage. Rhodes and other Oath Keepers have pleaded not guilty to the seditious conspiracy charges and are due to stand trial later this year. Three other members of the group have pleaded guilty. About 800 people have been charged with taking part in the Capitol riot, with about 250 guilty pleas so far. The new charges come days before the U.S. House of Representatives plans to hold its first prime-time hearing that will attempt to reverse Republican efforts to downplay or deny the violence of the day. There are five months until Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress for the next two years. [L1N2XT157] The Justice Department has previously obtained seditious conspiracy convictions against Puerto Rican nationalists and alleged Islamist militants including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the radical Islamic clergyman known as the “Blind Sheikh.” Seditious conspiracy charges featured prominently in a case federal authorities brought in 1987 against leaders and members of a neo-Nazi group known as The Order. Fourteen alleged members or supporters were indicted, with 10 facing seditious conspiracy counts. After a two-month trial, a jury acquitted all defendants. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Scott Malone, Leslie Adler, Alistair Bell and David Gregorio) View the full article

Ivan Gonzyk (Credit Ivan Gonzyk / Instagram). Used with permission. LGBTQ soldiers are gaining acceptance in the Ukrainian military LGBTQ soldiers representatives within the Ukrainian army are rarely portrayed. In 2018, Viktor Pylypenko, an openly gay veteran of the Donbas Volunteer Battalion, decided to change that by forming LGBT Military, a union of military, veterans, and volunteers fighting for equal rights. This piece explores how his idea came about, alongside the stories of two other soldiers from the LGBTQ+ community that the union has helped to support. ‘We were here’ Around 330,000 Ukrainians have taken part in the Ukraine government’s military operation against Russia-led militants in the east of the country since 2014, but there is no public information about how many of them are members of the LGBT military community. This is what motivated We Were Here, a Kyiv-born photography project featuring members of the Ukraine forces of diverse gender and sexual orientations. The pictures were taken by Anton Shebetko, a Ukrainian artist and photographer who lives in Amsterdam. “The ‘We Were Here’ project aims to shine a light on the people who are on the one hand modern-day heroes of Ukrainian society and on the other, are being ignored by most of their compatriots,” Shebetko said. These videos are not dubbed nor so they seem subtitled. Look for bits of English and even without, there are some great opportunities to see about about LGBTQ life in Ukraine over the last few years and then since the Russians started attacking. –ED [This post contains video, click to play] Most of the people in the photographs have their faces covered. One of the soldiers, Viktor Pylypenko, came out during the exhibition, becoming the first openly gay person in Ukraine who was known to take part in the Russian–Ukrainian war. That moment also marked the beginning of the creation of LGBT Military, as it inspired Pylypenko to set up the association. The union has been sharing stories of LGBTQ+ soldiers on its Instagram page to raise awareness of the community and the profiles of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and other diverse identities within the armed forces. These are the stories of two people featured on the page. (continues after instagram profiles via LGBT Military) The LGBTQ+ community is still marginalized in Ukrainian society Though sexual diversity in Ukraine is not outlawed (it’s legal since independence in 1991), the LGBTQ+ community have long faced stigma and marginalization. In the past month alone, Ukrainians have witnessed hate speech towards the LGBTQ+ community from at least two public figures. Earlier this month, singer and Ukrainian jury member of Eurovision Irina Fedishin said that there were many members of the LGBTQ+ community among the Eurovision participants, so it was difficult for her to watch the show, calling LGBTQ+ representatives “sinners.” The other case occurred earlier with the mayor of the Ukrainian city Ivano-Frankivsk. Speaking at the March for Life and Family Values at the beginning of May, Ruslan Martsinkiv said that “a gay man cannot be a patriot, only a Christian can be a patriot.” Both figures have been criticized publicly for their words. Zi Fáamelu, a trans musician who has been forced to relocate from Ukraine to Germany said in an Instagram post, “although my story is known all over the world, from Italy to Japan, from Turkey to Brazil, I don’t want to be remembered as a victim of a hate crime. I am Zi Fáamelu, a human being, a daughter, an artist, and I’m ready for the next chapter of my journey. I choose joy,” she said on Instagram. This article by journalist Maryna Bakyeva was first published in Geneva Solutions. An edited version is republished here through Global Voices. More on Ukraine on Towleroad View the full article

Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — L Morgan Lee isn’t your typical overnight success story. The performer, who became the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for a Tony Award for her supporting performance in “A Strange Loop,” has been working at her goal for 20 years. Her standout role as “Thought 1″ in Michael R. Jackson’s ribald and irreverent Pulitzer Prize-winning musical will pit the actress against “Mr. Saturday Night’s” Shoshana Bean, “The Music Man’s” Jayne Houdyshell, “Girl From the North Country’s” Jeannette Bayardelle and “Company’s” Patti LuPone and Jennifer Simard at the Tonys ceremony on J… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jennifer Lopez broke down in tears as she was honoured with the Generation Award at the MTV Movie and TV Awards. The ‘Marry Me’ star – whose soundtrack to the rom-com, ‘On My Way’, also nabbed Best Song – got emotional collecting the special award at Sunday night’s (05.06.22) ceremony at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar. At the Vanessa Hudgens-hosted bash, the 52-year-old singer-and-actress thanked both those who were huge supporters and skeptical of her talents. The ‘On The Floor’ hitmaker also thanked her fiance Ben Affleck, 49, and her 14-year-old twins Emme and Max – whom she has with ex-husband Marc Anthony. She began: “I want to thank the people who gave me joy and the ones who broke my heart. The ones who were true and the ones who lied to me. I want to thank true love and I want to thank the way I lied to myself—because that’s how I knew I could grow. “I want to thank disappointment and failure for teaching me to be strong and my children for teaching me to love.” She continued: “I want to thank all the people who told me, to my face or when I wasn’t in the room, that I couldn’t do this. I really don’t think I could have done it without you.” Jennifer added: “It is an honour to be able to connect with audiences and you guys, and because of you I will continue to do justice to that honour as long as I am around.” The ‘Second Act’ star quipped: “Thank you so much. And to Ben and everyone at home, waiting for me to have dinner. I will be home by 7!” The Generation Award is given to “beloved actors whose diverse contributions to both film and television have turned them into household names.” View the full article

Published by AFP Los Angeles (AFP) – Zendaya dominated the MTV Movie and TV Awards on Sunday as her teen drama “Euphoria” and big-screen superhero blockbuster “Spider-Man: No Way Home” were voted best show and best movie respectively. The light-hearted awards, taking place at the start of the summer blockbuster season, are voted for online by the public, and underscored the huge popularity of the 25-year-old former Disney child star. Zendaya won best performance in a show for “Euphoria,” HBO’s often bleak and hard-hitting look at modern teen life, which also won offbeat awards for “best fight” and a new award for the best on-screen “hookup.” The MTV awards have long bestowed tongue-in-cheek “golden popcorn” statuettes for categories ranging from “best kiss” to “most frightened performance.” With obsessive fans encouraged to vote multiple times for their favorites, the awards tend to recognize mainstream and commercial hits with large and devoted social media followings. It was little surprise therefore that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” — by far the biggest box office hit since the pandemic — won best movie. The film has earned almost $1.9 billion worldwide, and is the third-biggest hit for domestic theaters ever. It also won best performance in a movie for Zendaya’s on-screen and real-life boyfriend Tom Holland, who plays the latest incarnation of the web slinging superhero — although neither attended the ceremony in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, in person. Lending some A-list stardust to the room, Jennifer Lopez was presented a non-competitive “Generation Award.” She thanked “true love” before telling her fiance Ben Affleck “and everybody at home” that she was on her way back for dinner. Lopez also won best song, for “On My Way (Marry Me),” while 19-year-old multiple Grammy winner Olivia Rodrigo won best music documentary “Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u.” Jack Black was also honored by MTV for his career on Sunday. The 52-year-old attempted an energetic entrance, somersaulting on stage to youthful cheers from the audience, before breathlessly calling for “a little blast of oxygen.” Daniel Radcliffe, who won best villain for adventure comedy “The Lost City,” joked that his British accent had made his evil turn a breeze. “This is a universally recognized accent of pure evil,” he said. “This is a voice that would kick a puppy or not give Oliver Twist more food. “I really should thank my parents most for just having the foresight, all those years ago, to have me be British, so that I could grow up sounding naturally evil enough to one day win this award.” View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by The Boot Cameron Hawthorn uses country music to tell queer stories — full stop. If country music is three chords and the truth, then Hawthorn uses the storied genre to tell his own story, one that has only recently been reflected in country music. The Kansas native first came out using the music video for “Dancing in the Living Room” as a clever visual aid. While the gentle ballad could be about anyone in its audio form, Hawthorn uses it as an extension of the song’s meaning. His follow-up single, “To Break Hers,” co-written with Lena Stone, details the particular regret of breaking up with a sweethear… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Chris Rock is ignoring Jada Pinkett Smith’s plea for him to reconcile with Will Smith. The ‘Top 5’ star was slapped by the ‘King Richard’ actor on stage at the 2022 Oscars after he made a joke about the ‘Red Table Talk’ host’s shaved head, and though the ‘Girls Trip’ actress recently made a public call for them to put their differences behind them, Chris is reportedly “not concerned” about the drama with the couple at the moment and is focused on his own career. A source told ‘Entertainment Tonight’ that Chris is the “most genuine person ever” and he is “not caught up in the Hollywood scene”. They added: “He’s not concerned with the Smiths at the moment. He’s touring and he’s preparing for a comedy special.” Last week, Jada admitted she hoped Will and Chris would “talk out” the situation and ultimately “reconcile”. During the latest episode of ‘Red Table Talk’, she said: “Now, about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile. “The state of the world today, we need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever. “Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together.” Jada suffers from alopecia – a condition that causes hair loss – and the actress revealed that “thousands” of people have contacted her since the Oscars ceremony, when Chris made a joke about her appearance. She said: “Considering what I’ve been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories.” Will – who has been married to Jada since 1997 – previously described his behaviour at the Oscars as “shocking, painful, and inexcusable”. As a result of his actions, the ‘Men in Black’ actor resigned from the Academy after issuing an apology. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced the actor would be banned from attending any of their events, both virtually and in person, for 10 years. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Natalia Zinets KYIV (Reuters) – Oleg Averyanov’s factory produced fire trucks and employed 600 people until it was forced to halt operations and close its doors as a Russian invasion force poured over the border into his region in northeastern Ukraine on Feb. 24. Months later, the 44-year-old is gearing up to restart some of the plant’s operations 700 km (435 miles) away in the western city of Lviv, where he has moved some staff and 20 rail cars of equipment and production lines that weighed hundreds of tonnes. “No one believed this could happen. But the war began and we decided to diversify the risks, move part of the production line to western Ukraine,” he told Reuters by phone. Averyanov is part of a wave of businesspeople taking up a government programme to relocate businesses westwards from war-ravaged areas to protect manufacturers and shield them from further damage to an economy facing its greatest ever crisis. The economy is projected to contract 35-45% this year as the war severs export routes for Ukrainian grains and metals, jacks up inflation and unemployment, and devastates heavy industry in the south and east where fighting has been fiercest. Now it is transforming the geography of industry too. More than 600 enterprises have already relocated to Ukraine’s western regions, and 390 of them had already resumed work by early June, according to Economy Ministry data. Some 150 of those companies have moved to the Lviv region that borders Poland and has been relatively unscathed by the war, the regional administration said. “The large-scale relocation of business to safe areas will help Ukraine maintain production, jobs and meet the demand of the army and civilian population for a number of goods and services that are necessary to defeat the enemy,” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Facebook on March 29. TWO FACTORIES Averyanov plans to retain some of his business’s operations at his original plant in Chernihiv region that was overrun by Russian troops in the first phase of the war before Moscow withdrew its forces there. “The war will finish and we’ll have two factories – one in western Ukraine and one in Chernihiv region,” Averyanov said. His company, Ukraine’s only producer of fire engines and fire equipment that are vital to the war effort, hopes to start operating in Lviv region by the end of June. He plans to recruit and train about 100 local residents or internally displaced people this summer. Though grateful for the support, he now wants the government to provide enterprises like his with procurement orders and criticised the preference shown to imported goods. “We have retained our manufacturing capabilities… and our team of employees. But if the state does not think about how to provide orders to enterprises like ours that are moving to western Ukraine, then we will not survive,” Averyanov said. His message was echoed by Central Bank Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko who has urged the government to scrap tax breaks for imports and to impose additional taxes on non-vital imported goods. “The incentives created for imports in the form of the abolition of import duties and value-added tax deprive Ukrainian producers of an advantage,” he wrote in a column on the ZN.UA news website. RUINED INDUSTRY Ukraine has lost 200 large factories during the war, said Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office. In the east, the war has brought operations to a standstill at the Azovstal and Illich metallurgical plants in the city of Mariupol, the chemical Coke and Chemical Plant in Avdiivka and the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk. “The government is doing a good job helping to evacuate businesses, it would be much worse without it,” said Mykhailo Kolisnyk, a professor at the Kyiv School of Economics. But with their share of gross domestic product at no more than 1-2%, the number of relocated enterprises is not enough to noticeably improve the economy, he said. A few large agricultural and metallurgical enterprises make up a sizeable chunk of Ukrainian gross domestic product but their production facilities cannot be relocated, he said. “There is a number of such conglomerate enterprises in the east, and most of them have stopped making their contribution to GDP,” Kolisnyk said. “Russia, the invaders, are deliberately destroying these enterprises and taking away their products.” (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Gareth Jones and Edmund Blair) View the full article

Published by AFP Tesla Chief Exeuctive Elon Musk threatened to withdraw his bid for Twitter if the company does not provided requested information on fake accounts New York (AFP) – Elon Musk threatened Monday to withdraw his bid to buy Twitter, accusing it of failing to provide data on fake accounts, in the latest twist in the Tesla billionaire’s push to acquire the social network. Twitter has committed “a clear material breach” of its “obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves … his right not to consummate the transaction,” according to a document filed with securities regulators. The filing marks an escalation of Musk’s prior statements that have highlighted fake accounts as a threat to his proposed $44 billion deal to take over Twitter. Musk has said that the real number of bots may be four times higher than Twitter estimates. Bots can be used on social media to spread false news or create a distorted impression of how widely information is being consumed and shared. Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal has said that fewer than five percent of accounts active on any given day at Twitter are bots, but that analysis cannot be replicated externally due to the need to keep user data private. Musk has been dismissive of Twitter’s responses and reiterated that stance in Monday’s filing. To execute the deal, Musk “must have a complete and accurate understanding of the very core of Twitter’s business model — its active user base,” said the filing. “Mr. Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Mr. Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover.” Shares of Twitter fell 3.6 percent to $38.70 in early trading. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Congress’s probe of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters trying to overturn his election defeat enters a new phase this week with hearings meant to refocus attention on the violence and those who planned it. The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Jan. 6 will attempt to reverse Republican efforts to downplay or deny the violence of the day, with five months to go until Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress for the next two years. “This was a coup organized by the president against the vice president and against the Congress in order to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” Representative Jamie Raskin, one of the Democratic members of the nine-member committee, said in a recent interview. “We’re going to tell the whole story of everything that happened. There was a violent insurrection and an attempted coup and we were saved by (then-Vice President) Mike Pence’s refusal to go along with that plan,” Raskin said. The panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans has spent much of the past year investigating the events preceding and driving the attack by thousands of Trump loyalists, who stormed the building in a failed bid to prevent Congress from formally certifying his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. The committee has not yet said what witnesses it will call at its Thursday 8 p.m. ET (0000 GMT June 10) hearing, a prime time spot intended to capture the attention of as many Americans as possible. ABC and CBS News programming schedules showed that the networks planned to carry Thursday’s hearing live. Five more hearings are expected in the next two weeks. The committee said in a statement the hearings would “provide the American people a summary of its findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power.” “It will be a combination of exhibits, staff testimony, outside witnesses,” the committee’s chairperson, Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, recently told reporters. Prospects for success are not clear, in a deeply divided country. A Washington Post-ABC News poll last month found that only 40% of Americans believe the committee is conducting a “fair and impartial” investigation of the attack, while 40% say it is not. Many Americans are simply not paying attention, more worried about inflation, a spate of mass shootings and summer vacations than an attack 18 months ago. CLOSED DOORS, SHIFTING NARRATIVE The panel and its dozens of investigators have conducted more than 1,000 depositions and interviews and collected more than 140,000 documents. The investigation has focused on efforts by Trump and associates to promote his false election claims, with committee members contending that the fate of American democracy is at stake. “People are going to be absolutely surprised how much was known,” Denver Riggleman, a Republican former congressman who worked as an adviser to the committee said on CNN on Sunday. “When you look at the totality of the evidence, it’s pretty apparent that at some point President Trump knew what was going on.” Some congressional Republicans condemned Trump in the first days after the attack, but since then almost all of shifted their tone. Members of Congress have refused to cooperate and disputed accounts of the riot, despite thousands of photographs and videos. Republican Representative Andrew Clyde, who helped barricade the doors of the House chamber against the mob, said the Trump supporters who stormed the building behaved “in an orderly fashion.” The Republican National Committee called the assault “legitimate political discourse.” Four people died the day of the attack, one fatally shot by police and the others of natural causes. More than 100 police officers were injured, and one died the next day. Four officers later died by suicide. The Capitol sustained millions of dollars in damage. Trump, who is publicly flirting with another White House run in 2024, has denied wrongdoing and accused the committee of engaging in a political attack. He has leveled harsh criticism particularly at Representative Liz Cheney, the panel’s Republican vice chairperson, as she runs for re-election. Representative Adam Kinzinger, the panel’s other Republican member, is retiring from Congress. Every Republican House leader voted to overturn 2020 election results in the hours after the riot. Cheney – the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney – was removed from Republican leadership for criticizing Trump. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who refused to comply with a committee subpoena, called the committee invalid, for reasons including having too few members and lacking a formal Republican “ranking member.” The June sessions will not be the committee’s first public hearings. The panel held one last July, at which police officers described being beaten, threatened and taunted with racial insults as they faced the worst attack on the seat of the U.S. government in more than two centuries. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone) View the full article

Published by DPA Handshakes are back. The risk of a coronavirus infection through the ritual is actually much lower than many believe – at least compared with the risk via airborne respiratory droplets. Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa/dpa-mag Sometimes they’re firm and other times rather limp, but mainly – after more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic – they now feel oddly antiquated. In any case, handshakes are gradually making a comeback these days. Many people are hesitant to resume the traditional greeting ritual though, worried it can put them at risk of infection with the novel coronavirus or other pathogens. Infectiologist Dr Peter Walger, from the German Society of Hospital Hygiene (DGKH), has answered some questions addressing such concerns. How much of a health risk are handshakes? Peter Walger: Infection with the coronavirus or other pathogens causing respiratory illness isn’t possible via your hands alone. But handshaking can contaminate them with secretions containing the viruses, and if the secretions are transmitted by your hands to mucous membranes in your mouth or nose, for example, you can become infected. Your risk of infection via handshaking naturally depends on whether the other person has touched highly infectious secretions. This is the case, for example, if he or she was near someone ill and touched secretions expelled by that person’s coughs or sneezes. So the risk of infection isn’t nil, but it’s low – at least compared with the risk via airborne respiratory droplets. This is particularly true in the warm months of summer, when fewer respiratory illnesses are transmitted. Does handshaking bolster our immune system by exposing us to various germs? Walger: All our lives we’re confronted with potential pathogens in our environment, so handshaking shouldn’t be overstated. Many pathogens on our skin cause illness only when they enter the body in some way: via an injury, during an operation, or when we inhale them. Some viruses get into our nose and throat region via mucous membranes, where they lead to an infection. The most advisable “training programme” for the immune system is a vaccination. Recovery from an infection contracted naturally would be the best protection, but at the price of illness. The handshake is now returning in many places. How can we practice it as safely as possible, both for ourselves and others? Walger: You should regularly wash your hands, of course. This is a general rule, irrespective of a specific pathogen. Not everyone follows it though, as can be seen in any public lavatory. But handwashing is important, particularly after “critical situations” – for instance after touching a damp handkerchief or a railing that’s been touched by a lot of other people. If you don’t have an opportunity to wash your hands, it will do to use hand sanitizer you carry around in a small bottle. But washing your hands is preferable to disinfecting them. And you shouldn’t touch your face with your hands. This is easier said than done, but you can train yourself to avoid it. During the Covid pandemic, many people switched to elbow and fist bumps as greeting rituals to minimize the risk of a coronavirus infection. Zacharie Scheurer/dpa View the full article

Published by AFP Boosting renewable capacity and combating climate change are a priority for President Joe Biden whose green ambitions have met with mixed success Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden on Monday will suspend tariffs for two years on solar panel imports from four countries and invoke a key power to compel domestic manufacture of clean energy technology, the White House said. The moves are aimed at boosting renewable capacity and combating climate change, a priority for the president whose green ambitions have met with mixed success. “Today’s clean energy technologies are a critical part of the arsenal we must harness to lower energy costs for families, reduce risks to our power grid, and tackle the urgent crisis of a changing climate,” the White House said in a fact sheet. It added that, compared to when Biden took office, the United States was on track to triple domestic solar manufacturing capacity by 2024, from 7.5 gigawatts to 22.5 gigawatts, enough to enable 3.3 million homes to switch to solar each year. Duties will be lifted on certain solar parts from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam — but not China — as a “bridge” to ensure the United States has access to sufficient parts to meet electricity needs while domestic capacity scales up. China is excluded as the Commerce Department investigates whether some Chinese companies are circumventing US customs duties by assembling parts in the four countries. At the same time, Biden’s administration will invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate production, and use the federal government’s purchasing power to increase demand. Solar panel parts, building insulation and efficient heat pumps are all targeted under the DPA. Former president Donald Trump used the same powers during the Covid pandemic to increase production of medicines and equipment, and it was also invoked during World War II. Most recently, Biden used the act to help baby formula makers to overcome a production shortfall. The administration will also look to permit more clean energy projects on public lands, including both solar and wind. “The fact is with a stronger clean energy arsenal, the United States can also be a stronger power partner to our allies all around the world, especially in the face of Putin’s war in Ukraine,” a senior administration official told reporters. “The stakes are high and the president is taking action.” Biden has succeeded in getting Congress to pass a bipartisan infrastructure law, a pillar in his climate policy, but has failed to pass a second proposed law, the Build Back Better act. At the same time he has been criticized by environmental groups for plans to resume oil and gas drilling on public lands, reneging on a campaign promise. View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms. “I plan to work remotely while isolating according to CDC guidelines, and look forward to when I can safely return to the office and the road,” Buttigieg said on Twitter. A number of U.S. cabinet secretaries have tested positive for COVID-19. (Reporting by David Shepardson) View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by BANG Showbiz English Andrew Ridgeley is working with Netflix on a new Wham! documentary. The 59-year-old singer starred alongside George Michael in the 1980s, and he’s now joined forces with the streaming giant to help to make a new documentary. A source shared: “The Netflix team jumped at the chance to make this film. The Wham! story is an incredible one and who better to offer insight than Andrew? It is a really exciting project and they are putting a lot of resources into it. “Andrew is also very keen for the opportunity to look back over his years with George in the band – though it will, of course, be bittersweet for him.” The Netflix documentary promises to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at their ups and downs as a pop duo. The insider explained: “It is a welcome chance to celebrate what they achieved together and will give fans a unique look behind the scenes.” The new documentary is being billed as an intimate look at Andrew and George’s chart success. And Netflix hopes that it’ll be similarly successful to Taylor Swift’s ‘Miss Americana’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘Five Foot Two’. A second source told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: “The bosses are confident this will be just as much of a hit, if not more.” George passed away on Christmas Day in 2016, aged 53. But prior to his death, the ‘Faith’ hitmaker revealed he wanted to be remembered as someone “with integrity”. The pop icon had been working on a documentary film called ‘George Michael Freedom Uncut’ in the months before his death. And in a clip from the planned project, he said: “I want to leave songs … that will mean something to later generations. I want to be remembered as someone who had some kind of integrity.” View the full article

Published by Sports Illustrated By Jon Wertheim His hilariously timed home runs have become the stuff of internet legend. What are the odds?! We found out. Never mind the honeyed delivery, the wit or the accumulated baseball wisdom. For all his various and sundry broadcasting gifts, Vin Scully was blessed, above all, with exquisite timing. “He may have called baseball games all those years, but he would have been a wonderful conductor or musician,” says Al Michaels, a Scully protégé dating back to his Brooklyn boyhood. “He just has this intuition for the rhythm of a game.” The running joke was that baseball waited for Scully… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters UK By Jiraporn Kuhakan BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thousands of members of Thailand’s LGBTQ+ community raised rainbow flags in the country’s first official pride parade on Sunday evening to celebrate pride month and support gender equality. Also waving blue, pink, and white transgender flags, marchers made their way through the main streets of Bangkok. Some chanted and called for same-sex marriages to be legalised and for sex workers’ rights. Designer Cpeeranat, 24, who made his costume with a long rainbow flag, said the parade had given him goosebumps. The relatively big parade was supported by the loca… Read More View the full article