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Published by DPA Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington (left): The romance between Penelope and Colin Bridgerton is set to be the focus of season three of Netflix's hit show "Bridgerton". Liam Daniel/Netflix/dpa Gentle readers of the Ton, season 3 of “Bridgerton” will stray from its source material and focus on the romance of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington. According to Lady Whistledown herself, the forthcoming season of Netflix’s hit period drama will sideline Colin’s elder brother, Benedict (Luke Thompson), and will instead dive into the relationship of the characters played by Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan. At Netflix’s FYSEE Space’s opening night ATAS panel on Sunday, Coughlan was asked what she can reveal about season 3. “Like Lady Whistledown, I have been keeping a secret for quite some time, and I can confirm to you all that season 3 is Colin and Penelope’s love story,” Coughlan said, according to Deadline. “I have kept that secret since two weeks into season 2. This is the first time I am saying it here.” Colin and Penelope’s relationship has been teased and used as a subplot since the debut season of Netflix’s Regency London-set series. But their budding romance was further complicated in the season 2 finale when Pen overheard Colin telling his friends that he would never court her. The diss came immediately after Penelope fell out with her best friend, Eloise — Colin’s younger sister — when Eloise confronted her about her literary side gig and using the Bridgerton family matters to fill the pages of Lady Whistledown’s scandal sheet. (Though Penelope writes Whistledown, the literary alter ego who narrates the series is actually voiced by legendary actor Julie Andrews.) Each of Julia Quinn’s romance novels in the “Bridgerton” series focuses on a Bridgerton sibling in the eight-child, aristocratic family. A ninth book, “The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After,” included the love story of matriarch Violet Bridgerton. The steamy first season of the drama showcased Phoebe Dynevor and breakout star Regé-Jean Page as Daphne Bridgerton and the Duke of Hastings, respectively, and was primarily pulled from the first book, “The Duke and I.” Page did not return for season 2, which was based on Quinn’s second novel, “The Viscount Who Loved Me.” That slow-burn season starred Jonathan Bailey as Daphne’s eldest brother, Anthony, and Simone Ashley as his love interest Kate Sharma. Colin’s book, “Romancing Mister Bridgerton,” is the fourth in the series and is preceded by Benedict’s “An Offer From a Gentleman.” But producer Shondaland has taken liberties with the source material for the streaming series, notably assembling a diverse cast to play the well-heeled characters and revealing Lady Whistledown’s identity much earlier than the books did. Season 3 has already seen a number of creative changes. Series creator Chris Van Dusen stepped down as showrunner and is being replaced by “Bridgerton” writer Jess Brownell. And the role of young Francesca Bridgerton has been recast after actor Ruby Stokes landed a lead role in Netflix’s “Lockwood & Co.” Hannah Dodd will replace her. The franchise is also getting a spinoff prequel that revolves around the enigmatic Queen Charlotte, her marriage to King George and the societal shift that followed their 1800s union — during which the original “Bridgerton” series is set. The limited-prequel series was announced in late March and is being written by Shonda Rhimes, who has thus far executive produced the original series. The still-untitled show will tell the queen’s origin story and will also include a young Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English JK Rowling is at the centre of another trans row after coming to the defence of a schoolgirl who challenged views on biological sexes. The ‘Harry Potter’ writer, 56, backed the girl after she felt forced to leave her school for arguing gender is real during a talk about transphobia. Rowling raged on Twitter: “Utterly shameful. Add this to the tottering pile of evidence that people in education and academia who’re supposed to have a duty of care towards the young have succumbed to an outbreak of quasireligious fanaticism. The girl’s crime? Saying ‘sex exists’.” The pupil said she was hounded by schoolmates for challenging the views of a visiting speaker. One teacher at the school said the girl had been treated like a heretic for questioning a politician’s views about sex. A female member of the House of Lords had visited the private girls’ school to talk about transphobia in parliament. The girl told The Times newspaper: “The language she was using was implying critical theory took precedence over biological reality in defining women. “When I questioned that, she said it wasn’t an issue of semantics. She said trans people don’t have basic human rights in this country.” The girl said the pair parted on friendly terms, but added she was surrounded by up to 60 shouting and screaming girls when she returned to the sixth form. She also claimed the mob of pupils swore and spat at her. The girl later fled and collapsed with breathing problems. Teachers who were initially supportive are said to have withdrawn their backing after other sixth-formers accused the girl of transphobia. The teenager returned to school but was told she would have to work in the library if she said anything provocative in lessons. She claims she then left the institution in December after she faced bullying and accusations of transphobia. Rowling has repeatedly come under fire for defending public figures against accusations of transphobia. At the weekend, she slated balaclava-clad activists involved in a stand-off around the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter’s Square, Manchester. She said: “I never expected the right side of history to include so many people in masks intimidating and assaulting women, did you?” Rowling says she has been driven to speak out on trans issues partly as she is a sexual assault and domestic abuse survivor. She has said about the gender debate: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.” View the full article

Published by AFP Catarina Macario of the USA celebrates after scoring a goal against Iceland in February 2022 Washington (AFP) – The US men’s and women’s national soccer teams will receive equal pay under a “historic” agreement announced by the US Soccer Federation on Wednesday, following years of pressure from female players. The move makes the federation the first in the world to equalize World Cup prize money awarded to its men’s and women’s teams. “This is a truly historic moment. These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world,” said US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone. The terms of Wednesday’s landmark agreement include “identical compensation for all competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, and the introduction of the same commercial revenue sharing mechanism for both teams,” USSF said. The deal stipulates that players from both teams “pool and share” the otherwise unequal prize money paid by FIFA for participation in their respective World Cups. For non-World Cup tournaments, players from “both teams will earn an equal amount of the total prize money paid when both teams participate in the same competition.” In February, the US national women’s team won a $24 million payout and a promise of equal pay in a najor settlement with US Soccer, that was contingent on the new collective bargaining agreement. The question of World Cup prize money had formed a prominent part of the lawsuit, which was filed in 2019 and accused the federation of “stubbornly refusing” to pay its men and women’s players equally. “The accomplishments in this CBA (collective bargaining agreement) are a testament to the incredible efforts of WNT players on and off the field,” said US women’s captain Becky Sauerbrunn, who is also her team’s players association president. She added that she hoped the agreement “will similarly serve as the foundation for continued growth of women’s soccer both in the United States and abroad.” ‘Achieved it’ The agreement, which runs through 2028, also aims to improve “player health and safety, data privacy and the need to balance responsibilities to both club and country,” USSF said. Women’s star Megan Rapinoe, who has forged a reputation as an unflinching advocate for social justice causes including equal pay and conditions for her and team-mates, said in February that the settlement marked a moment in which “US Soccer changed for the better.” Center-back Walker Zimmerman, a member of the men’s team players association, welcomed Wednesday’s deal saying that “we hope this will awaken others to the need for this type of change.” “They said equal pay for men and women was not possible, but that did not stop us and we went ahead and achieved it,” he added. The United States women have won four Women’s World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. They are chasing an unprecedented third consecutive Women’s World Cup crown after hoisting trophies in 2015 at Canada and 2019 in France. They last won Olympic gold in London in 2012. View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) -One of three Minneapolis policemen who watched fellow officer Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd by kneeling on his neck pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting manslaughter in the 2020 case, which triggered a wave of protests over racial injustice. Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison last year after his conviction on charges of murdering Floyd, a Black man suspected of passing a counterfeit bill. By entering the plea on Wednesday, now-former officer Thomas Lane avoided an upcoming trial on the more serious charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. He agreed to a sentence of three years in prison, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled. The two other former officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, are scheduled to face trial in June on both of state charges, according to online Hennepin County Court records. “His acknowledgment he did something wrong is an important step toward healing the wounds of the Floyd family, our community and the nation,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. In February, Lane, Thao and Kueng were convicted on federal charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by failing to give aid to him when he showed signs of distress while pinned under Chauvin’s knee for more than nine minutes. Chauvin has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges he violated Floyd’s civil rights. Floyd’s killing sparked protests in cities around the world against police brutality and racism. (Reporting by Brendan O’Brien; Edited by Susan Heavey, Howard Goller and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Diana Ross is set to perform as part of the BBC’s Platinum Party At The Palace concert. The Motown legend and former Supremes star will make her grand return to the UK at Buckingham Palace on Saturday, June 4, as part of the four-day Bank Holiday celebrating the Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign on the British throne, according to The Times newspaper. The ‘I’m Coming Out’ hitmaker hasn’t performed on British soil since 2007. Diana, 78, was due to hit the road for her ‘Thank U Tour’ in 2020, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as the Palace gig, the ‘Upside Down’ hitmaker is set to play the Sunday afternoon teatime legends slot at Glastonbury this June, among other festival dates. George Ezra was previously confirmed for the royal concert, while Queen guitarist Brian May has suggested he will also be part of the extravaganza. ‘Shoutgun’ hitmaker George, 28, said: “I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to be part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert, what an incredible honour to be asked.” The BBC – who will broadcast the show – are expected to announce the full bill in the coming days. Viewers at home and the 10,000 concert-goers attending in-person can expect three stages and epic 3D projections beamed across the Palace. Half of the tickets will be given to members of the public from a ballot. In a statement, the Palace added: “The remaining tickets will be made available to charitable organisations including those who work in support of young people, the military, the environment and those who supported communities during the pandemic.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) – Russia on Wednesday touted its new generation of laser weapons including a mobile laser system first announced by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 which Moscow said had advanced so far it could blind orbiting satellites and destroy drones. Putin in 2018 unveiled an array of new weapons including a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a small nuclear warhead that could be attached to cruise missiles, underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and a laser weapon. Little is known about what exactly the laser weapon, named Peresvet after a medieval Orthodox warrior monk Alexander Peresvet who perished in mortal combat, does. Putin gave few specifics in 2018 and the laser’s details are secret. Yury Borisov, the deputy prime minister in charge of military development, told a conference in Moscow that Peresvet was already being widely deployed and it could blind satellites up to 1,500 km above Earth. He cited a test on Tuesday which he said had burned up a drone 5 km away within five seconds. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the test. “It is already being mass-supplied to the (missile) troops, and it can blind all satellite reconnaissance systems of a likely enemy in orbits of up to 1,500 km, disabling them during flight due to the use of laser radiation,” Borisov said. “But that, let’s say, is of today, or even in some ways of yesterday: our physicists have now created, and practically mass-produced, laser systems which are more powerful by an order of magnitude that can inflict thermal destruction on various apparatus,” Borisov said. Borisov’s remarks indicate that Russia has made significant progress with Peresvet, and other yet to be unannounced successors, a trend of considerable interest to other nuclear powers such as the United States and China. His remarks indicate Russia could blind the satellites and an array of other systems which the United States uses to monitor Russia’s intercontinental ballistic missiles – or the drones used to target artillery positions in the Ukraine war. Borisov said he had just returned from Sarov, a closed town in the Nizhny Novgorod region once known as Arzamas-16 because it was so secret, which is a centre of Russia’s nuclear weapons research. “Today, so called weapons systems based on new physical principles are on the way,” Borisov said. “This is primarily a laser weapon, an electromagnetic wideband weapon that will replace (conventional weapons) in the next decade – this is not some sort of exotic idea; it is the reality,” Borisov said. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Nick Macfie) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sarah Jessica Parker hasn’t spoken to Chris Noth since allegations of sexual assault were made against him by multiple women. The pair played couple Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big in ‘Sex and the City’, the two spin-off movies, and the recent reboot ‘And Just Like That…’, until the accusations were brought to light, and Noth’s character was killed off in one episode of the latter series. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sarah Jessica admitted she’s not ready to discuss the allegations but she confirmed she’s not spoken to her former co-star since. The 57-year-old actress – who is also executive producer of ‘And Just Like That…’ – said: “I don’t even know if I’m ready to talk about it, but I don’t think … I wasn’t reacting as a producer.” Struggling to get her words out, she continued: “I should have worked on this because I’m just… it’s just…” Then asked if she’d been in contact with Noth, she replied: “No.” Sarah Jessica and her co-stars Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis released a joint statement at the time, in which they said they had been left “deeply saddened” by the allegations and praised his accusers for having the strength to speak out. They said: “We are deeply saddened to hear the allegations against Chris Noth. “We support the women who have come forward and shared their painful experiences. We know it must be a very difficult thing to do and we commend them for it.” Two women came forward to The Hollywood Reporter to allege they had been sexually assaulted by the 67-year-old actor. A woman, identified only as Zoe, alleged he had “raped her from behind” in 2004 when she was just 22, and another known as Lily claimed she was 25 and had had a dinner date with the actor in New York before he allegedly assaulted her in 2015. The Daily Beast then published an account from a female tech executive who alleged Noth had sexually assaulted her in 2010 at a New York City restaurant where she worked as a hostess and lounge singer. The actor – who was also fired from ‘The Equalizer’ and dropped by his talent agency in the wake of the claims – has denied the allegations. He said in response to the Hollywood Reporter piece: “The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. “These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.” Noth – who has been married to Tara Wilson since 2012 – also branded the third woman’s claim a “complete fabrication”. View the full article

Published by Reuters By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The match-ups for several high-profile U.S. congressional and gubernatorial races in November’s midterm elections began to take shape in Pennsylvania and North Carolina on Tuesday. Here are three takeaways from the primary elections: ABORTION ON THE BALLOT Abortion rights will be a central issue in the open race for Pennsylvania’s governorship. Democrat Josh Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, ran unopposed in the Democratic primary in his bid to replace Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and has vowed to protect abortion rights against a Republican-controlled General Assembly that has proposed a series of anti-abortion bills. State Senator Doug Mastriano, who emerged the winner on Tuesday from a crowded Republican primary, has proposed a so-called heartbeat bill that would ban abortions after six weeks. He recently called abortion genocide and would not allow exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. Shapiro quickly blasted Mastriano on Twitter as “the most extreme gubernatorial candidate in the country.” The state legislature has introduced a bill that would prevent the state Supreme Court from declaring abortion a right in the wake of a possible ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that overturns the nationwide protections of its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. That would send the issue of legalization back to the individual states. Joseph Foster, chairman of the Democratic Party in Montgomery County, the state’s largest suburban county, said Democrats will spend considerable time reminding voters ahead of November’s elections that the only thing standing in the way of strict abortion laws is a Democrat in the governor’s mansion. “If a Republican wins a governor seat, we are in deep trouble,” Foster said. FETTERMAN FOLLOWS THROUGH John Fetterman, the idiosyncratic, hoodie-wearing lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, defeated U.S. Democratic Senate primary rival Conor Lamb in convincing fashion despite a health scare that took Fetterman off the campaign trail for the race’s final weekend. Now the road gets even tougher. No matter who wins the Republican U.S. Senate primary, expect a flurry of ads this summer labeling Fetterman a “socialist” and a “radical” in the mold of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Fetterman supported Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid but has since sought to broaden his appeal, said Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist in Pittsburgh. Analysts said Fetterman won on Tuesday with a populist persona that attracted both moderates and progressives, avoiding the kind of ideological mud-slinging that has plagued other Democratic primaries this year. He has made a particular effort to reach out to working-class voters in counties that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won by 35 percentage points or more in the 2020 election. With vote counting still under way, Fetterman’s most commanding leads were in rural counties where in many cases he led Lamb, a moderate congressman, by more than 50 points. That rural appeal may allow him to siphon some votes away from his Republican opponent in those counties. But ultimately, Fetterman will have to win the way Democrats usually win in the state, by playing to suburban voters in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, said Jacob Rubashkin, an elections analyst in Washington. Fetterman first has to reassure voters about his health after suffering a stroke last week. His campaign said a procedure on Monday to implant a pacemaker was successful and that Fetterman was on track for a “full recovery.” BIDEN’S BACKYARD President Joe Biden quickly congratulated Fetterman, his fellow Democrat, on Twitter after his primary win. The role Biden takes in the coming campaign will bear some watching. The president, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, considers the state a second home, especially the Philadelphia region. Biden narrowly won the state in 2020 over Trump, after Trump won it four years earlier in a race against Hillary Clinton. But Biden’s popularity in the state has waned, as it has in much of the country. A poll conducted by Franklin & Marshall College earlier this month found that only one in three voters in the state approved of Biden’s job performance, including just 61% of Democrats. Fetterman was more popular among Democrats at 67%. Fetterman calls himself a “different kind of Democrat” and favors policies more in line with the progressive Sanders than the moderate Biden. Would an appearance by Biden on the trail clash with Fetterman’s anti-establishment image and do more harm than good? Or would Biden help Fetterman bring in the swing voters, Black voters and women he will need to prevail in the general election? That will be one drama hanging over the race in the next several months. (Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Newtown, Pennsylvania and Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – First-term U.S. congressman Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, an ally of former President Donald Trump who has drawn the ire of fellow Republicans over controversial remarks and a nude video, conceded to party primary challenger Chuck Edwards in his House of Representatives race, local news outlet WRAL and CNN reported on Tuesday. Edwards, a North Carolina state senator, will now face a Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 general election in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district. Cawthorn, endorsed by Trump despite a series of controversies, is at age 26 the youngest member of Congress. (Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Will Dunham and Ross Colvin) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton communicate with each other using fax. The 29-year-old pop singer and her godmother starred together in a Super Bowl commercial about 5G phones earlier this year – but the advert didn’t truly reflect Dolly’s real-life approach. During an appearance on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’, Miley shared: “It was amazing because, you know, she was doing it for the phones, yet every time I coordinate and kind of communicate with Dolly, it’s still through fax. “So I don’t know what she’s talking about. She’s rarely on the phone.” Seth, 48, joked that the Super Bowl commercial was an example of “false advertising”. The ‘Wrecking Ball’ hitmake then tried to clarify what she meant. She said: “Well, we do use the phone, but she does a fax, and then someone scans the fax, and then they put it into a text message, and then that gets sent to me, and it’s always signed.” Miley has also been encouraged by the country music icon to improve her own communication skills. She explained: “I’ve started to try and make my own letters because there’s something so amazing just about a connection. It’s just not casual. You know that she took the time to get out, I guess, her typewriter.” Meanwhile, Dolly previously praised Miley for starring in ‘Hannah Montana’. The singer – who also made guest appearances on the Disney show – shared: “When Hannah Montana came on the air, and little Miley Cyrus, my little goddaughter, was the star of it, I was so proud of her. “I thought she was sensational. I thought, ‘What a great little comedienne she is. And what a great little actress. And of course, she’s a great singer.” View the full article

Published by AFP Software 'bots' posing as people can spread misinformation and foment division while making social media audiences seem larger than they really are. San Francisco (AFP) – Elon Musk’s pausing of his bid to buy Twitter due to questions over “bots” has put the artificially-operated accounts at the heart of the proposed deal’s latest controversy. The software is so commonplace and can be such a problem that tech giants such as Meta, Google and Twitter have teams devoted to banishing bots and cybersecurity firms sell defenses against them. Here’s a closer look at bots: Human or software? At a basic level, “bots” are software programs that interact with online platforms, or their users, pretending to be real people, said Tamer Hassan, co-founder and chief of cybersecurity firm HUMAN. Malicious bots have become sophisticated and are among this decade’s top cyber threats, said Hassan, whose firm specializes in distinguishing people from software online. The term bots at Twitter is often used to describe fake accounts, powered by some version of artificial intelligence, that can fire off posts and even react to what is posted by others, said independent analyst Rob Enderle. Tickets and turmoil Bots are used in more than three quarters of security and fraud incidents that happen online, from spreading socially divisive posts to snapping up hot concert tickets and hacking, Hassan told AFP. “The question is, what would you do if you could look like a million humans?” Hassan asked rhetorically. “Across all social media platforms, bots can be used to spread content to influence people’s opinions, garner reactions and can even result in cybercrime.” Bots can be used on social media to widely spread false news, direct users to misinformation, steer people to specious websites and make bogus posts seem popular using shares or “likes.” Bots on social media can also sucker people into financial scams, Hassan added. “Social media platforms have had bots for a long time,” analyst Enderle said. “Bots have been connected to attempts to influence the US election and shape opinions about Russia’s war on Ukraine.” The deal with Twitter Twitter makes its money from ads, and marketers pay for reaching people, not software. “Advertising to bots isn’t going to have a good close rate because bots don’t buy products,” Enderle noted. If advertisers are paying Twitter fees based on how many people see ads, and those numbers are inflated due to bots in the online audience, they are being overcharged, Enderle added. If Twitter has way more bots than it is letting on, its revenue could plunge when those accounts are exposed and closed. 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 posted that the real number of bots may be four times higher and has said he would make getting rid of them a priority if he owned the platform. Twitter has rules about automated actions by accounts, including barring software from posting about hot topics, firing off spam, attempting to influence online conversations, and operating across multiple accounts. Bots are a known social media problem, and having Musk make it a sticking point this late in the acquisition process appears to likely be “a vehicle to escape the purchase or get a lower price,” Enderle said. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gabriella Borter (Reuters) -A Michigan judge on Tuesday granted a temporary injunction to block the enforcement of a state abortion ban, which might have taken effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade precedent that legalized abortion nationwide. A Michigan Court of Claims judge in Lansing sided with women’s healthcare provider Planned Parenthood in its lawsuit against the state seeking to stop the potential enforcement of the ban, which was enacted in 1931 and rendered unconstitutional in 1973. The U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to overhaul the constitutional right to abortion. On May 2, the news outlet Politico published a leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, which showed the court’s conservative majority intended to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established the right to abortion nationally. The court’s final decision is expected in June. Nine states, including Michigan, have abortion bans on the books that were enacted before the Roe v. Wade ruling, and which could potentially be enforced anew if Roe is overturned. “Forced pregnancy, and the concomitant compulsion to endure the medical and psychological risks accompanying it, contravene the right to make autonomous medical decisions,” Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher wrote in her opinion. Michigan’s 1931 law criminalizes all abortions except in cases to save the pregnant woman’s life. Planned Parenthood and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, filed lawsuits last month to prevent the law from taking effect. “Today’s ruling means all Michiganders will continue to be able to access the health care they deserve and to be able to decide for themselves their own futures,” Sarah Wallett, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said in a statement. Whitmer praised the judge’s decision on Tuesday, and said in a statement that the injunction “will help ensure that Michigan remains a place where women have freedom and control over their own bodies.” Whitmer added that she is still pressing the state Supreme Court to recognize the right to abortion under the state constitution to further protect abortion access, a campaign she began last month. A representative for Right to Life of Michigan, an anti-abortion group, called the judge’s ruling “egregious for many reasons” in a statement on Tuesday. John Bursch, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said the judge had no jurisdiction to rule in the case as the defendant – state Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat – was not defending the pre-Roe law. “Government officials have a duty to uphold the law and protect their citizens, including unborn children” Bursch said, adding that Right to Life of Michigan was considering next steps. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter; editing by Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Maria Caspani (Reuters) – South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster this week signed a bill banning transgender athletes from playing school sports that match their gender identity, joining a number of Republican-led states that have enacted similar laws this year. The “Save Women’s Sports Act” first cleared the state’s House of Representatives last month after the Republican majority outlasted an estimated 1,000 amendments to the bill put forward by Democrats seeking to stall it. It passed the Republican-controlled Senate earlier this month. The measure signed into law by McMaster on Monday bars transgender girls and women from female sports teams in public elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges, as well as private school teams that compete against public schools. The law was amended in the Senate to prohibit transgender boys and young men from competing on male school sports teams, “unless no team designated for females in that sport is offered at the school in which the student is enrolled.” Supporters of the law – and others like it – say it is necessary to ensure a level playing field in women’s sports. Opponents and LGBTQ advocates say the laws are cruel and unnecessary, because they address a problem that does not really exist given the small number of transgender athletes in school sports. “Transgender youth are not a threat to fairness in sports, and this law now needlessly stigmatizes young people who are simply trying to navigate their adolescence, make friends, and build skills like teamwork and leadership, winning and losing,” Ivy Hill, community health program director of Campaign for Southern Equality, said in a statement. As transgender rights have been pushed to the forefront of the U.S. culture wars, at least half a dozen states this year have passed or enacted legislation preventing transgender students from playing on school sports teams matching their gender identity. Louisiana and Alaska lawmakers are currently considering or advancing similar bills. (Reporting by Maria Caspani; Editing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

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Published by AFP Andy Warhol’s “Self Portrait” during a press preview on May 6, 2022 for the Macklowe Collection at Sotheby's in New York New York (AFP) – The famed Macklowe collection, subject of a bitter divorce battle between a New York property developer and his ex-wife, became the most expensive art collection ever sold at auction Monday. Sotheby’s sold its second offering of works from the collection for $246.1 million, bringing the total value of the group of paintings to $922.2 million, a spokesman told AFP. That exceeds the $835.1 million that the Rockefeller collection sold for in 2018, then the highest total ever made by a single private collection at auction. Among the highlights of Monday evening’s sale were Mark Rothko’s “Untitled,” which fetched $48 million and Gerhard Richter’s “Seestück””, which went for $30.2 million. Andy Warhol’s “Self Portrait” sold for $18.7 million while Willem de Kooning’s “Untitled” went for $17.8 million. Sotheby’s won the rights to sell the Macklowe works back in September. It sold 35 of the pieces in November for $676.1 million before selling the remaining 30 on Monday. Sotheby’s had described the paintings as the “most significant collection of modern and contemporary art to ever appear on the market.” During divorce proceedings, Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda had been unable to agree on how much the vast collection was worth. A New York judge ruled in 2018 that the they should sell all 65 works and split the profits. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Neil Patrick Harris has apologised for a resurfaced joke about Amy Winehouse. The 48-year-old actor has responded after backlash over a photo taken at a Halloween party he and his husband David Burtka threw in 2011 which included a meat platter labelled “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse”. The platter – which had ingredients including “beef ribs, pulled pork, chicken sausage in a spicy BBQ sauce – was made up to resemble the late ‘Rehab singer’, who had died three months earlier. On Monday (16.05.22), Neil said in a statement: “A photo recently resurfaced from a Halloween-themed party my husband and I hosted 11 years ago. “It was regrettable then, and it remains regrettable now. “Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-generation talent, and I’m sorry for any hurt this image caused.” Last year, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ star Mayim Bialik revealed Neil stopped talking to her after she refused to give him a standing ovation following a performance of ‘Rent’. Explaining she isn’t a fan of musicals, she said: “I went to see ‘Rent’. I was friends with Neil Patrick Harris… this is a terrible story. I went to see Rent… I was a teenager and I did not… it wasn’t my thing. “But when your friend is in the play… and then everyone is clapping at the end and you say to your boyfriend next to you, ‘I don’t want to stand for this,’ and you look up and Neil Patrick Harris is looking right at you, it’s a bad day… “Neil was fantastic, he’s amazing, but I just wasn’t into the, ‘Let’s give a standing ovation,’ it wasn’t my thing, but that’s not a thing you say out loud, because Neil was reading my lips.” Mayim admitted she went backstage after the show and the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star confronted her. She added: “We were friends at the time… at the time… and he said, I kid you not, ‘Why did you say you weren’t gonna stand up?’ “I did not have a good answer… “We didn’t speak for a long time. He says that he forgave me and he sent me flowers when he heard I was still carrying this terrible guilt. “I mean, I feel terrible. It just wasn’t my thing.” Neil responded on Twitter, and quipped: “Mayim Bialik and I have been friends for over 30 years. Her aversion to musical theater isn’t going to change that…” View the full article

Published by DPA After a decade of prototypes and trial runs of hydrogen trains in cities across Europe and Asia, Deutsche Bahn's new hydrogen-powered train is among Europe's first passenger hydrogen trains to be in regular use alongside older diesel counterparts. Siemens/dpa German state-owned Deutsche Bahn rail has launched a new hydrogen-powered train designed to replace smoky, old diesel trains on commuter and regional transport routes. Hydrogen trains have a particularly climate-friendly drive technology since they operate emission-free with green hydrogen and emit only water vapour. After a decade of prototypes and trial runs of hydrogen trains in cities across Europe and Asia, Deutsche Bahn’s hydrogen-powered train is among Europe’s first passenger hydrogen trains to be in regular use alongside older diesel counterparts. “For Deutsche Bahn, hydrogen trains are an important component on our way to achieving climate neutrality,” said DB’s Daniela Gerd tom Markotten. For the pilot project, the hydrogen will be produced in the southern city of Tübingen by DB using green electricity taken directly from the overhead power line. The two-car Mireo Plus H train has an operating range of up to 800 kilometres and is as powerful as an electric multiple-unit counterpart. Top speed is given as 160 kilometres per hour. A three-car version has a range of up to 1,000 kilometres. Each train can save up to 45,000 tons of CO2 over its service life of 30 years compared to corresponding travel with cars. The rail project is being funded as part of Germany’s National Innovation Program for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology with €13.74 million by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. “Only with a strong rail system and alternative types of drives will we be able to make a significant contribution to the fight against climate change,” said Michael Peter, CEO of Siemens Mobility which has teamed up with DB rail for the project. The Mireo train is refuelled with hydrogen in an innovative procedure that, for the first time, takes no longer than tanking a regular diesel unit. After completing a test phase, the train will enter passenger service between Tübingen, Horb and Pforzheim in 2024. Approximately 120,000 kilometres of scheduled rail service are planned. View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The antic-ridden career of Republican U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn comes down to the wire in North Carolina on Tuesday, as voters choose whether the keep the conservative firebrand in office after a string of self-inflicted controversies. A nude video, claims of being invited to a cocaine-fueled Washington orgy by leaders he respected, two attempts to carry a gun onto an airplane and calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a “thug” in the midst of a Russian invasion have turned key colleagues against the 26-year-old, who is Congress’s youngest member. “The establishment Republicans in North Carolina are embarrassed by Madison Cawthorn,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, which is located in the 11th congressional district that Cawthorn represents. He faces a challenge for his party’s nomination from state Senator Chuck Edwards, who has gained ground in polls, along with support from the Republican super PAC Results for NC. Cawthorn’s staff did not respond to repeated requests for comment. “I just see a lack of judgment,” said Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, who says Cawthorn has not demonstrated a serious interest in serving a legislator even when the state has been hit by flooding. “It just makes me wonder how focused he is on serving the people of his district, versus focused on increasing his political stature. I have no patience for anybody who’s got a focus on the latter,” Tillis said. Cawthorn was seen as a rising star of the Republican Party after the political newcomer defeated a Trump-endorsed candidate in 2020. This time, Cawthorn has the endorsement of Donald Trump, who pleaded on his behalf on the day before Tuesday’s primary. “When Madison was first elected to Congress, he did a great job. Recently, he made some foolish mistakes, which I don’t believe he’ll make again … let’s give Madison a second chance,” the former president said in a post on the Truth Social media platform. Cawthorn has seen his lead in opinion polls collapse over the past two months, amid a barrage of attacks from two super PACs with backing from Republicans and Democrats. In the closing days of the primary race, Results for NC Inc, which has supported Tillis, ran a 30-second ad accusing Cawthorn of being a reckless playboy out to slash spending on Social Security and Medicare. Tillis has endorsed Edwards, a 61-year-old legislator and local businessman who is touting an “America First” agenda that is likely to appeal to Trump voters in the district. Cawthorn and Edwards are among eight candidates seeking the party nomination to square off against a Democratic candidate in the Nov. 8 election for the U.S. House of Representatives. Political analysts say Cawthorn continues to enjoy strong backing among hard core Trump supporters and could still emerge the victor. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega The family of Payton Gendron, the main suspect in the mass shooting that took place in a Buffalo supermarket over the weekend, spoke out after Gendron’s arrest to blame his fear and paranoia over Covid-19 for what led him to allegedly commit the shooting that left 10 Black people dead and many more seriously injured. In a surprising interview with The Post on Monday, Gendron’s relatives revealed that they believe the 18-year-old “snapped” and committed the atrocity in Buffalo on Saturday after isolating himself from the world during the Covid-19 pandemic and spending too much time inside visiting white supremacist websites. Mega “I have no idea how he could have gotten caught up in this. I blame it on Covid,’’ Sandra Komoroff, a cousin of Gendron’s mother, told the outlet. “He was very paranoid about getting Covid, extremely paranoid, to the point that — his friends were saying — he would wear the hazmat suit.” “And then he got Covid just a few weeks ago…He went to family functions with a respirator mask on. He totally wasn’t going to get Covid — and then he got Covid,” she continued. “They were vaxxed to the max. I don’t know if it was a bad case, I just know he caught it.” “That’s the only way to say it. And when you’re home all day on the Internet, you’re missing out on human contact,” Sandra added. “There’s a lot of emotions and a lot of body language you’re not getting [compared to] when you see their face.” Making Payton’s relatives’ interview with The Post even more chilling is the fact that Dave Komoroff, Sandra’s husband, suggested that the 18-year-old shooting suspect’s positive Covid diagnosis affected Gendron’s “lizard brain” and caused him to get overly-aggressive and carry out the shooting at Tops Friendly Market on Saturday. Mega “In theory, [Covid-19] could have affected what they call the lizard brain — the part of the brain that controls aggression,” Dave suggested. “I can’t say it’s impossible, but maybe that would happen one out of so many millions of times.” The shooting suspect’s relatives also revealed in the newly released interview that they had no idea Gendron was a white supremacist, nor that he had written a 180-page white supremacist manifesto promoting racist ideology and outlining specific plans for a massacre, but they also blame such a change in their young relative on the websites he visited while isolating from the pandemic. “I don’t know where he went online — the dark Web, or wherever — but apparently he got into some nasty stuff,” Dave said. “He’s smart enough to get into dangerous stuff online, which maybe the average person wouldn’t know how to get into. “I mean, I’m trying to figure it out myself.” Mega As Radar reported, Gendron was taken into police custody on Saturday shortly after using a rifle to open fire into the parking lot and inside the store of a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York. 10 people were confirmed dead and at least three more confirmed injured in the shooting that took place in a predominantly Black community, and the manifesto detailing the suspected shooter’s plan for the slaughter was found shortly after he was taken into custody. View the full article

Published by AFP Senate hopeful Kathy Barnette, pictured at a Republican leadership forum in Newtown, Pennsylvania on May 11 2022, has closed the gap on frontrunner Mehmet Oz, who has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump Washington (AFP) – Pennsylvania picks its candidates Tuesday for the crucial US midterm elections in a contest that has gripped the political establishment — with a Democratic frontrunner suffering an 11th-hour stroke and a far-right Republican outsider surging into contention. It is the most consequential day so far of the primary season, with hopefuls in North Carolina, Oregon, Kentucky and Idaho vying to be their party’s representative in November’s congressional and state ballots. All eyes are on Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate contest, however, which looked for months like a toss-up between hedge fund tycoon David McCormick and TV surgeon Mehmet Oz, who has former president Donald Trump’s endorsement. But the race has been rocked in the final days by a come-from-behind surge from a long-shot insurgent Kathy Barnette, who has drawn practically level with her big-spending rivals. Barnette had been so far behind that the early frontrunners spent little time digging into her background until recent days, when a series of anti-Islam and homophobic statements were uncovered. Oz, who would be the first Muslim Republican senator if elected, zeroed in on a 2015 social media post in which Barnette said that “pedophilia is a cornerstone of Islam.” She has falsely denied posting the slur and told Fox News on Sunday that some of her inflammatory posts were aimed at starting a conversation, rather than “full thoughts.” She is also facing questions over her appearance at the “Stop the Steal” rally that turned into the 2021 US Capitol riot, and spreading Trump’s false claims of election fraud. ‘Full recovery’ The ex-president’s support for Oz will serve as a new test of his sway over Republicans, after a clean sweep of successful endorsements in the first three state primaries but failure of a high-profile candidate in Nebraska a week ago. A Fox News poll released this week showed Barnette with support from 19 percent of respondents, McCormick with 20 percent and Oz with 22 percent. The anti-abortion Barnette has seen her popularity swell among conservatives after speaking powerfully about her mother being raped at age 11 and giving birth to her at just 12. But Republican leaders worry that she will prove unable to expand her appeal beyond the Republican base, costing the party an eminently winnable Senate seat in November. Donna Patterson, head of political science at Delaware State University, told AFP Barnette’s “unprecedented rise” would likely shut out McCormick, leaving Oz as her main rival. “Frankly, things have shifted so quickly in the past 10 days that it is difficult to predict a winner,” she added. Trump said in a statement last week however that Barnette would “never be able to win the general election against the radical left Democrats.” In the race for Pennsylvania governor, Trump has the party fretting all over again after he endorsed far-right candidate Doug Mastriano, a state senator who has a narrow polling lead but is considered by many to be too out of the mainstream to win in the midterms. The Pennsylvania primary took another turn, this time on the Democratic side, as Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, the overwhelming favorite for the party’s Senate primary, suffered a stroke on Friday. The tattooed, six-foot-nine-inch (2.05-meter) liberal said he had suffered no cognitive damage and was expected to make a “full recovery” but he remains hospitalized. According to the most recent Franklin and Marshall University poll, Fetterman leads Marine veteran and moderate US congressman Conor Lamb by nearly 40 percentage points. View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) -Russia’s parliament will consider banning the exchange of Russian prisoners of war for captured members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, the speaker said on Tuesday, after the last Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel works surrendered to Russian forces. The Azov Regiment, a one-time nationalist militia now integrated into Ukraine’s National Guard, became the face of resistance against Russian troops in the city, which saw some of the fiercest fighting in what Moscow terms its “special military operation” in Ukraine. But Moscow has depicted it as a main perpetrator of the alleged radical anti-Russian nationalism or even Nazism from which it says it needs to protect Ukraine’s Russian-speakers. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, said its members were “Nazi criminals” who should not be included in prisoner exchanges. “They are war criminals and we must do everything to bring them to justice,” he said. The Duma website said he had asked the defence and security committees to prepare an instruction to that effect. The regiment denies being fascist, racist or neo-Nazi, and Ukraine says it has been reformed away from its radical nationalist origins. Kyiv also denies that Russian speakers have been persecuted in Ukraine, and says the allegation that it has a fascist agenda of violating human rights, repeated daily on Russian media, is a baseless pretext for Russian aggression. Moscow said over 250 Ukrainian fighters in the steelworks had surrendered, and that 51 would be treated for serious injuries. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed that all would be treated “in accordance with international standards”. Russia and Ukraine have already conducted several prisoner exchanges. Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said that “an exchange procedure will take place” for the soldiers’ return. But Leonid Slutsky, one of Moscow’s negotiators in talks with Ukraine and chairman of the Duma’s international affairs committee, called the evacuated Azov fighters “animals in human form” and said they should receive the death penalty. “They do not deserve to live after the monstrous crimes against humanity that they have committed and that are committed continuously against our prisoners,” he told the assembly. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Alison Williams) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Andy Cohen is excited about trying different hairstyles on his daughter. The ‘Watch What Happens Live’ host welcomed baby Lucy into the world via surrogate last month and he admitted one of the things he’s most looking forward to about having a girl is getting creative with her locks. He told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “It’s exciting! I’m already looking at her trying to think of how I want to do her hair. I have a lot of ideas that I’m workshopping. “I already know how to braid. “[And] I’ve got the greatest up-close view of hairdos every night on ‘Watch What Happens Live’! I talk to the hair and make-up people every night at my show.” Andy is also dad to three-year-old Ben, and though the little boy is smitten with his baby sister, he needs to keep an eye on their interactions. He said: “Maybe he loves her so much he wants to hit her? So I’m monitoring the situation closely.” The 53-year-old star announced Lucy’s birth on Instagram on 29 April. Alongside a picture of himself cradling the newborn, he wrote on the photo-sharing platform: “HERE’S LUCY!!!!! Meet my daughter, Lucy Eve Cohen! She’s 8 pounds 13 oz and was born at 5:13 pm in New York City!!!” The ‘Real Housewives’ producer went on to thank his “rock star” surrogate and noted that Benjamin “can’t wait” to meet his younger sister. He added: “Her big brother can’t wait to meet her! Thank you to my rock star surrogate (ALL surrogates are rockstars, by the way) and everyone who helped make this miracle happen. I’m so happy!”(sic) Back in 2018, Andy – who is currently single and broke up from Broadway star John Hill in 2020 after three years of dating – previously spoke how much he longed for a family prior to the birth of his son. At the time, he said: “Family means everything to me and having one of my own is something I’ve wanted in my heart for my entire life and though it has taken me longer than most to get there, I cannot wait for what I envision will be the most rewarding chapter yet.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Natalia Zinets MARIUPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) -More than 250 Ukrainian fighters surrendered to Russian forces at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol and Kyiv said on Tuesday it had ordered its full garrison to evacuate, bringing an apparent end to the bloodiest battle in Europe for decades. Reuters saw buses leave the steelworks overnight and five of them arrive in the Russian-held town of Novoazovsk, where Moscow said the wounded would be treated. In one, marked with the Latin letter ‘Z’ that symbolises Russia’s assault, wounded men were stacked on stretchers three bunks high. One man was wheeled out, his head tightly wrapped in thick bandages. While both sides spoke of a deal under which all Ukrainian troops would abandon the huge steelworks, important details were not yet public, including how many fighters still remained inside, and whether any form of prisoner swap had been agreed. Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar told a briefing that Kyiv would not disclose how many fighters were inside the plant until all were safe. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had personally guaranteed the prisoners would be treated according to international standards. “The ‘Mariupol’ garrison has fulfilled its combat mission,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a statement. “The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel.” In a television address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive.” Russian defence ministry video showed fighters leaving the plant in daylight, some carried on stretchers, others with hands up to be searched by Russian troops. Russia said at least 256 Ukrainian fighters had “laid down their arms and surrendered”, including 51 severely wounded. Ukraine said 264 soldiers, including 53 wounded, had left. RUINS The surrender appears to mark the end of the battle of Mariupol, where Ukraine believes tens of thousands of people were killed under months of Russian bombardment and siege. The city now lies in ruins. Its complete capture is Russia’s biggest victory of the war, giving Moscow total control of the coast of the Sea of Azov and an unbroken stretch of eastern and southern Ukraine. But it comes as Russia’s campaign has faltered elsewhere, with troops retreating from the outskirts of Kharkiv in the northeast at the fastest pace since they were driven from the north and outskirts of Kyiv at the end of March. Authorities on both sides gave few clues about the ultimate fate of Mariupol’s last defenders. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Kyiv aimed to arrange a prisoner swap for the wounded once their condition stabilises, but neither side disclosed terms for any specific deal. Natalia, wife of a sailor among those holed up in the plant, told Reuters she hoped “there will be an honest exchange”. But she was still worried: “What Russia is doing now is inhumane.” VICTORY Mariupol is the biggest city Russia has captured since its Feb. 24 invasion, giving Moscow a clear-cut victory for the first time in months. In a statement on Monday, the Azov Regiment, the main Ukrainian unit that had held out in the steelworks, said it had achieved its objective over 82 days of resistance by making it possible to defend the rest of the country. The regiment, now part of Ukraine’s territorial defence forces, originated as a far-right militia, and Moscow has portrayed defeating its fighters as central to its stated objective of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine. Russia blames them for mistreating Russian speakers, one of its war justifications, which Kyiv and its Western backers call a bogus pretext. High-profile Russian lawmakers spoke out against any prisoner swap. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house, said: “Nazi criminals should not be exchanged.” Lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, one of Russia’s negotiators in talks with Ukraine, called the evacuated combatants “animals in human form” and said they should be executed. The United Nations and Red Cross say thousands of Ukrainian civilians died under Russia’s siege of the port of 400,000 people, with the true toll uncounted but certain to be Europe’s worst since the 1990s wars in Chechnya and the Balkans. For months, Mariupol’s residents were driven into cellars under perpetual bombardment, with no access to food, fresh water or heat, and bodies littering the streets. Two strikes – on a maternity ward and a theatre where hundreds of people were sheltering – became worldwide emblems of Russia’s tactic of devastating population centres. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been buried in mass graves or makeshift pits in gardens, and Ukraine says Moscow forcibly deported thousands of residents to Russia. Moscow denies targeting civilians or deporting them. UKRAINE ADVANCES Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have been advancing at their fastest pace for more than a month, driving Russian forces out of the area around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Ukraine says its forces had reached the Russian border, 40 km north of Kharkiv. They have also pushed at least as far as the Siverskiy Donets river 40 km to the east, where they could threaten supply lines to Russia’s main advance in the Donbas. Russia is still pressing that advance, despite taking heavy losses. Finland and Sweden have announced plans to join NATO, bringing about the very expansion of the Western alliance Putin invoked as one of the main justifications for his “special military operation”. U.S. President Joe Biden was due to host the Swedish and Finnish leaders at the White House on Thursday. After weeks in which Russia threatened unspecified retaliation, Putin said on Monday Russia had “no problems” with either country, and their NATO membership would be an issue only if the alliance deployed additional troops or weapons. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday there would be “probably not much difference” if Finland and Sweden joined NATO, since they had already participate in alliance drills. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kyiv and a Reuters journalist in Mariupol; Additional reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Stephen Coates, Nick Macfie and Angus MacSwan) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two top U.S. defense intelligence officials said on Tuesday the Pentagon is committed to determining the origins of what the government calls “unidentified aerial phenomena” in the first public congressional hearing in more than 50 years concerning phenomena commonly known as UFOs. The two officials, Ronald Moultrie and Scott Bray, appeared before a U.S. House of Representatives intelligence subcommittee 11 months after a report documenting more than 140 cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, that U.S. military pilots have reported observing since 2004. Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, acknowledged that there have been some sightings that U.S. officials “can’t explain.” Some of those involved instances in which there was too little data to create a reasonable explanation, Bray said. But Bray added: “There are a small handful of cases in which we have more data that our analysis simply hasn’t been able to fully pull together a picture of what happened.” These, Bray said, have involved unexpected “flight characteristics” or “signature management.” “When it comes to material that we have, we have no material, we have detected no emanations, within the UAB task force that would suggest it is anything non-terrestrial in origin,” Bray added. The term UFO, for unidentified flying object, has long been widely associated with the notion of extraterrestrial spacecraft. “We know that our service members have encountered unidentified aerial phenomena, and because UAP pose potential flight safety and general security risks, we are committed to a focused effort to determine their origins,” Moultrie, who oversees a newly formed Pentagon-based UAP investigation team as U.S. defense undersecretary for intelligence and security, told the hearing. Bray presented the panel with two UAP video clips. One showed flashing triangle-shaped objects in the night sky later determined to be visual artifacts of light passing through night-vision goggles. The other showed a shiny, spherical object zipping past the cockpit window of a military aircraft. “I do not have an explanation for what this specific object is,” Bray said of the second object. Moultrie and Bray also said the Pentagon was determined to remove the stigma long associated with sightings of unexplained flying objects by encouraging pilots to come forward when they observe such phenomena. The notion of alien spacecraft received no mention in last June’s UAP presentation. The focus, instead, was on possible implications for U.S. national security and aviation safety, as it was in Tuesday’s hearing. The report did, however, include some UAPs previously revealed in Pentagon-released video footage of enigmatic airborne objects exhibiting speed and maneuverability exceeding known aviation technology and lacking any visible means of propulsion or flight-control surfaces. That report was nine-page “preliminary assessment” compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and a Navy-led task force the Pentagon formed in 2020. ‘THEY ARE REAL’ Subcommittee chairman Andre Carson said it was important for the Pentagon to take the issue of UAPs seriously. “UAPs are unexplained, it’s true. But they are real,” Carson said, raising concerns that Pentagon officials have in the past focused on cases that are relatively easy to explain while “avoiding the ones that cannot be explained.” Carson asked Moultrie, “Can we get some kinds of assurances that your analysts will follow the facts where they lead and assess all hypotheses?” “Absolutely,” Moultrie responded. “So, we’re open to all hypotheses. We’re open to any conclusions that we may encounter.” “We want to know what’s out there as much as you want to know what’s out there,” Moultrie said, acknowledging that he grew up as a science-fiction enthusiast. Moultrie and Bray were scheduled to testify behind closed doors following the public hearing. The Navy task force behind last year’s report was replaced in November by a Pentagon agency named the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group. Last year’s report said the UAP sightings probably lack a single explanation. Further data and analysis were needed to determine whether they represent some exotic aerial system developed by a secret U.S. government or commercial entity, or by a foreign power such as China or Russia, according to the report. Defense and intelligence analysts have likewise yet to rule out an extraterrestrial origin for any UAP case, senior U.S. officials told reporters ahead of the report’s release last year, though the paper itself avoided any explicit reference to such possibilities. The report and Tuesday’s hearing marked a turning point for the U.S. government after decades spent deflecting, debunking and discrediting observations of unidentified flying objects and “flying saucers” dating back to the 1940s. There had been no open congressional hearing on the subject since the U.S. Air Force terminated an inconclusive UFO program code-named Project Blue Book in 1969. (Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article