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Published by Reuters By Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON Reuters) -U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene should be allowed to run for reelection, a judge ruled on Friday, rejecting arguments by a group of Georgia voters that her comments about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol made her unfit for federal office. The ruling by Charles Beaudrot Jr., an administrative law judge in Atlanta, is only a recommendation. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, will make the final determination whether Greene, also a Republican, is qualified to run for reelection. Greene, a prominent supporter of Republican former President Donald Trump who represents a Georgia district in the U.S. House of Representatives, is seeking reelection this year. The Republican primary is scheduled on May 24 and the general election on Nov. 8. Greene, in comments to the media, has played down and justified the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol assault by Trump supporters in their failed bid to block congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. A Greene spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge’s ruling. In a novel legal challenge, a group of Georgia voters accused Greene of violating a U.S. Constitution provision called the “Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause” by supporting an incendiary rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. The constitutional clause, added after the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s, prohibits politicians from running for Congress if they have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort” to the nation’s enemies. In his ruling, Beaudrot wrote: “the Court concludes that the evidence in this matter is insufficient to establish that Rep. Greene, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress … to support the Constitution of the United States … engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or (gave) aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” Trump at the preceding rally told his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” repeating his false claims that the election was stolen through widespread voter fraud. The Trump supporters attacked police, ransacked parts of the Capitol and sent lawmakers into hiding for their own safety. “I was asking people to come for a peaceful march, which everyone is entitled to do,” Greene told the judge at an April hearing on the effort to block her from the ballot. “I was not asking them to actively engage in violence.” (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Leslie Adler and Chizu Nomiyama) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Doyinsola Oladipo and Arriana McLymore (Reuters) – Yelp Inc, Amazon.com, and Citigroup are among a small but growing number of companies rolling out policies to cover costs for American employees who need to travel out of state for an abortion. Yelp Inc was one of the first to offer support for its employees who might need to travel out of state for access to abortion, a decision the company says was made to ensure its workers have equal access to healthcare. A crowd-sourced platform for reviews of businesses including restaurants and hotels, Yelp started this month offering the healthcare travel benefit to U.S. employees. “I think it really comes down to equal access to care. In order to safeguard employees and make sure that they can get the healthcare that they need, no matter what state they live in, we need a benefit like this,” Miriam Warren, Yelp’s Chief Diversity Officer told Reuters. Yelp and Citigroup, Levi Strauss & Co and Amazon.com Inc have all pledged to pay for employees’ travel to obtain abortions while Oklahoma, Texas and other Republican-led states clamp down on access. Some major employers, such as Walmart Inc, Target Corp and Walt Disney Co, have declined to weigh in since the leak to Politico this week of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn its 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide. Some could be fearful of a growing trend among politicians in Republican-led states to punish companies for their stances on social issues. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a rising star in the Republican party, signed a bill in April stripping Disney of self-governing authority at its Orlando-area parks in retaliation for its opposition to a new state law that limits the teaching of LGBTQ issues in schools. Dozens of U.S. House Republicans in April demanded that the chamber drop Citigroup Inc as its provider of credit cards for lawmakers, after the financial institution offered to pay travel costs for employees seeking abortions. The issue has gained urgency now that 31 states have introduced abortion bans this year, according to policy analysis by research group Guttmacher Institute. By offering support for employees who may need to travel out of state for abortions, Yelp and other companies hope to gain an edge attracting and retaining talent as well as appearing socially responsible to investors. “For companies who care about issues of diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging, they can’t sit by and be silent on this issue because it really does impact every aspect of a woman’s life,” said Yelp’s Warren. But speaking out on social issues can carry the risk of losing customers and employees who disagree with a company’s stance. “Companies must carefully navigate such issues, as to avoid offending internal stakeholders as well as the external community,” said Izzy Kushner, president of human resources consultancy HR Impact. (Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo and Arriana McLymore; Additional reporting by Aleksandra Michalska and Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by PopCrush An anonymous man attacked K-pop star Holland in a serious hate crime this week. On Thursday (May 5), the Korean performer shared photos of his scarred face along with details about the assault, which took place on Wednesday (May 4). According to Holland, real name Go Tae-seob, he was walking in the Itaewon area of Seoul alongside his manager and a friend when a strange man approached him and launched a physical attack. *Content warning below // hate crime, assault, graphic imagery* “[He] hit me on the face twice, calling me ‘a dirty gay.’ Now I have a scar on my face and I’m going to the hospi… Read More View the full article

Published by The Street By Veronika Bondarenko “Efforts to further restrict or criminalise that access would have far-reaching consequences for the American workforce,” the company said in a statement. With a leaked draft opinion now showing that the Supreme Court is ready to strike down Roe v. Wade, businesses are feeling pressure to speak out against a decision that could allow individual states to strip residents of abortion access. While the decision was in draft form from several months ago, Chief Justice John Roberts’s confirmation that the draft ruling authored by Justice Samuel Alitowas genuine has set off a … Read More View the full article

Published by AFP The Trevor Project, a non-profit that works to prevent suicide among young people in the LGTBQ community, polled nearly 34,000 people aged 13 to 24 Washington (AFP) – Nearly half of LGBTQ youth aged 13 to 24 in America seriously considered committing suicide last year, according to a survey released Wednesday. The poll of nearly 34,000 people was conducted by The Trevor Project, a non-profit that works to prevent suicide among young people in the LGTBQ community. This annual survey “demonstrates that rates of suicidal thoughts have trended upward among LGBTQ young people over the last three years,” said Amit Paley, the organization’s executive director. The study found that 45 percent of respondents said they seriously considered suicide last year, and that 14 percent tried to take their life. Among those aged 13 to 17, the share of those who said they seriously considered suicide rose to 50 percent. Suicide attempts among young Americans rose throughout the population — especially among teenagers — during the pandemic’s two years of remote school and social isolation. But a 2019 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already found “a significant difference” between levels of suicidal thoughts among young people, based on their sexual identity. To wit: 14.5 percent of heterosexuals reported having seriously considered suicide but the figure shot up to 46.8 percent among those who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, the CDC said. Events in recent years have only reinforced these trends, said The Trevor Project. It said the proportion of young LGBTQ people in America who seriously considered suicide last year is up two percentage points from 2020 and five points from 2019. “The Covid-19 pandemic and record wave of anti-transgender legislation continue to negatively impact LGBTQ youth’s mental health,” the organization said. Seventy-three percent of people in the community reported feeling anxiety last year and 58 percent experienced symptoms of depression, the poll said. View the full article

Published by InsideHook By Mark Hay Over the last decade, sex clubs and parties have shifted from the stuff of underground lore to an almost ho-hum fixture of modern American life. Not just tabloids, but mainstream lifestyle and culture magazines regularly publish in-depth profiles of prominent clubs and events — like those hosted by Snctm, the notorious high-end society that’s offered the rich (and supposedly famous) venues to enjoy kinky performances and public sex since 2013. What’s more, they print guides on how to find sex clubs, how to act while attending parties and even how people can stay safe if and when th… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jennifer Rigby (Reuters) -Almost three times as many people have died as a result of COVID-19 as the official data show, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report, the most comprehensive look at the true global toll of the pandemic so far. There were 14.9 million excess deaths associated with COVID-19 by the end of 2021, the U.N. body said on Thursday. The official count of deaths directly attributable to COVID-19 and reported to WHO in that period, from January 2020 to the end of December 2021, is slightly more than 5.4 million. The WHO’s excess mortality figures reflect people who died of COVID-19 as well as those who died as an indirect result of the outbreak, including people who could not access healthcare for other conditions when systems were overwhelmed during huge waves of infection. It also accounts for deaths averted during the pandemic, for example because of the lower risk of traffic accidents during lockdowns. But the numbers are also far higher than the official tally because of deaths that were missed in countries without adequate reporting. Even pre-pandemic, around 6 in 10 deaths around the world were not registered, WHO said. The WHO report said that almost half of the deaths that until now had not been counted were in India. The report suggests that 4.7 million people died there as a result of the pandemic, mainly during a huge surge in May and June 2021. The Indian government, however, puts its death toll for the January 2020-December 2021 period far lower: about 480,000. WHO said it had not yet fully examined new data provided this week by India, which has pushed back against the WHO estimates and issued its own mortality figures for all causes of death in 2020 on Tuesday. WHO said it may add a disclaimer to the report highlighting the ongoing conversation with India. The WHO panel, made up of international experts who have been working on the data for months, used a combination of national and local information, as well as statistical models, to estimate totals where the data is incomplete – a methodology that India has criticised. However, other independent assessments have also put the death toll in India far higher than the official government tally, including a report published in Science which suggested three million people may have died of COVID in the country. Other models have also reached similar conclusions about the global death toll being far higher than the recorded statistics. For comparison, around 50 million people are thought to have died in the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, and 36 million have died of HIV since the epidemic began in the 1980s. Samira Asma, WHO assistant director general for data, analytics and delivery for impact, who co-led the calculation process, said data was the “lifeblood of public health” needed to assess and learn from what happened during the pandemic, and called for more support for countries to improve reporting. “Too much is unknown,” she told reporters in a press briefing. (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby, Editing by William Maclean) View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by DPA The will-he-won’t-he relationship of schoolboys Charlie Spring (Joe Locke, right) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) is at the core of Netflix’s graphic novel adaptation “Heartstopper”. Netflix/dpa “Heartstopper” isn’t the first coming-of-age series about school kids grappling with the challenges of puberty while longing to find their first love. Other productions like “Sex Education” have already done a good job in introducing more diversity on TV, but “Heartstopper” doesn’t focus on your average heterosexual couples. Instead, the plot revolves around Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor), two students at a British all-boy school, and the question of when they will finally get together. Charlie, a timid, nerdy teenager who is openly gay, immediately falls in love with Nick – the head of the school’s rugby team – when he first says hi to him. Nick, for his part, also seems to like Charlie, but as a friend – or maybe more? While “Heartstopper” still uses this good old and very predictable story pattern – shy kid falls in love with school superstar – it has turned the familiar story into a LGBTQ tale in which everyone has a voice, not just the rich white hetero kids. The series is based on the graphic novel by Alice Oseman of the same name, and Oseman has also co-written the script for “Heartstoppers”. It’s also worth mentioning that Nick’s mother is played by the great Olivia Colman, adding another project to her long list of acclaimed performances, including lead roles in “The Father”, “The Favourite” and “The Lost Daughter”. The first season of “Heartstopper“, which includes eight episodes, is available for streaming on Netflix. View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Kim Cattrall is finally revealing why she never planned to return to her famous “Sex and the City” role. The actress who immortalized the role of sexually freewheeling publicist Samantha Jones on the iconic HBO series infamously walked away from the franchise after six seasons and two blockbuster movies. Late last year, the Michael Patrick King-produced series was rebooted into a 10-episode “And Just Like That” series for the HBO Max streaming service, which kept the character alive and ignited more interest in why Cattrall — who has mostly remained mum on her reasoning — didn’t take part. Now… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Nandita Bose and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden said on Thursday he has chosen Karine Jean-Pierre to be White House press secretary, succeeding Jen Psaki and becoming the first Black and openly gay person to serve as the public face of a U.S. administration. Psaki, who leaves the job on May 13, had said early in the Biden administration, which started in January of 2021, that she planned to stay about a year. Jean-Pierre has served as deputy press secretary since the beginning of Biden’s term. She worked on his 2020 presidential campaign, in President Barack Obama’s White House, and was chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.org, a progressive advocacy group. Biden has pledged to name top officials, cabinet members and judges who reflect the diversity of America, where white people make up less than 60% of the population but have traditionally held most top government jobs. “Karine not only brings the experience, talent and integrity needed for this difficult job, but she will continue to lead the way in communicating about the work of the Biden-Harris Administration on behalf of the American people,” he said in a statement. The press secretary is the highest profile public-facing staff job in the White House. “This is a historic moment, and it’s not lost on me,” Jean-Pierre said in a brief appearance in the White House press room. “It is an honor and a privilege to be behind this podium.” Dee Dee Meyers became the first woman to have the job in the 1990s under former President Bill Clinton. Psaki was named by Biden after tumultuous relations with the media under Republican former President Donald Trump. “Jen Psaki has set the standard for returning decency, respect and decorum to the White House Briefing Room,” Biden said, thanking her for “raising the bar, communicating directly and truthfully to the American people, and keeping her sense of humor while doing so.” Psaki is known for a confident, no-nonsense, rapid-fire delivery from the White House podium. Jean-Pierre, who was chief of staff for Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2020, has tended to stick closely to talking points during her press appearances as Psaki’s deputy. Psaki said Biden offered Jean-Pierre the job during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday afternoon. “She comes to this job with decades of experience, even though she looks very young,” Psaki said, adding her appointment will give a “voice to so many and allow and show what is truly possible when you work hard and dream big.” (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose; additional reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alistair Bell and Stephen Coates) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Ahmed Aboulenein WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A provider of prescription pills that are used to terminate pregnancy at home has seen a spike in interest from U.S. women this week, following news that the Supreme Court would likely reverse a landmark 1973 decision ensuring abortion rights nationwide, nonprofit Aid Access said on Wednesday. The court confirmed that a draft opinion signaling a reversal of the Roe v. Wade ruling, published late on Monday by the news site Politico, was authentic. The court said it did not represent the justices’ final decision, due by the end of June. An increasing number of U.S. states have introduced restrictions that greatly limit access to abortions, and many are expected to ban the procedure outright should the court’s final decision allow individual states to determine whether it is legal. Abortion pills, which can be sent by mail to a patient’s home rather than requiring a visit to a clinic, are viewed as a way to circumvent such bans. Aid Access is a telehealth service with headquarters in Austria that provides access to medication abortion in the United States. Christie Pitney, CEO of Forward Midwifery, a Washington D.C. telehealth practice that works with Aid Access, said that the number of women requesting prescriptions for abortion pills, or information about their use, through the group’s website has tripled since the draft opinion was leaked. In total, the Aid Access website had 38,530 visitors on Tuesday, an almost 2,900% increase from Monday’s 1,290 visitors, Pitney said. The new surge this week represents “insanely higher numbers,” she said. In 20 U.S. states that allow abortion pills to be distributed via telehealth, Aid Access works with U.S. prescribers like Pitney to meet virtually with a patient and send a prescription for the medication to local pharmacies. The group is seeking to add providers to four more states. The remaining 26 states have restrictions on abortion, and 19 of them outright ban or restrict the use of telehealth to get abortion pills. To get around such restrictions, Aid Access works with doctors in Europe who prescribe the pills for patients via a mail-order pharmacy in India. Those practices are not legal, but U.S. state authorities have acknowledged that they have no effective way of policing orders from foreign doctors and pharmacies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the group a warning letter in March 2019 and ordered it to cease mailing pills from abroad. In a medication abortion, a patient takes a drug called mifepristone, which blocks the pregnancy-sustaining hormone progesterone, followed by a second drug called misoprostol, which induces uterine contractions, to end a pregnancy rather than having a surgical procedure. The pills can be used up to 10 weeks in a pregnancy, according to the FDA. Aid Access has not encountered any problems getting supply of the pills, which are made by privately-held drugmakers GenBioPro and Danco Laboratories for the U.S. market. “I have talked to a number of clinicians who are stocking up (on the pills) to make sure that they have access to it,” Pitney said. GenBioPro and Danco Laboratories did not respond to requests for comment. Medication abortion recently became the most common method of terminating a pregnancy in the United States, accounting for 54% of all abortions in 2020, preliminary findings by the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy research group, show. There were 862,300 abortions in 2017, according to the group’s latest available data. Medication abortion accounted for 39% of them that year. (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Diane Craft) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Robbie Williams is considering wearing one of his wife’s bras on stage – as he has “wobbly” man boobs. The 48-year-old singer admitted it’s getting harder for him to look “sexy” on stage because of his jiggly chest, as he modelled one of Ayda Field’s new bras from her line. During an Instagram Live, he said: “There is a lot more oestrogen around these parts than there used to be but with this I feel like I am held in place. “I do really like it. They can wobble about when I jump up and down and I’m trying to be sexy but how sexy can you be when your breasts are going up and down… for a man. “I might have to wear it on stage. It is really holding my back in place too. Lads, don’t be ashamed to wear a support bra for all your daily needs.” Robbie’s man boobs woes come after the former Take That star revealed he could wear a wig on tour to battle his hair loss. The ‘Rock DJ’ hitmaker had a hair transplant and follicle growth injections, but they didn’t help him with his thinning thatch, and so he is considering other options. Speaking on Australian radio recently, he said: “There are these great wigs that you can get now. “You have to shave all your hair off and then you have it placed on with glue and it sticks on for a couple of weeks. “I might actually do it just for touring.” The ‘Angels’ hitmaker had a hair transplant in 2013, before a second one was ruled out two years ago. In March, he revealed: “My hair is sort of mullet-y now. When I’m on stage and I’m giving it the big-gun, I’m looking at them like I still think I’m 27. “And then I turn behind me and see a 40 foot version of me with three necks and there’s a light shining on the top of my head that makes it look like a baby’s a***. I start to get slightly neurotic.” Robbie’s proposed hair transplant in 2020 was scrapped because his hair is too thin for it to work. He previously said: “I am losing my hair. When a light shines on top of it, it becomes like a baby’s bum. “I went to go and have a thatch, but the guys goes, ‘Bad news, your hair is so thin we cannot harvest it from there. It will do nothing.'” Robbie was left gutted after forking out for “two vials” to help his hair grow back, but “nothing happened”. He added: “So I had these injections. They were an absolute fortune, two vials of this stuff. It cost the same price as my grandma’s house. “And they put these vials in and said in five months, your hair will grow back much thicker. Nothing has happened. “We are now seven months in and nothing has happened. You cannot tell.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Bill Gates wants to “wait and see” how Elon Musk handles Twitter. The Microsoft co-founder – who doesn’t see eye to eye with the Tesla chief – has reflected on the news he has had a bid to buy the social media platform accepted by the board. Asked what he thinks of the deal, he told the BBC: “You know, Elon, I guess it’s possible Twitter could be worse. But it also could be better… So I have a wait and see attitude.” Last week, Musk accused Gates of “shorting” Telsa stock – which is a way of making money through betting that a firm with lose value – and argued it undermines Gates’ environmental charity work. However, asked whether or not he had bet against Tesla, the 66-year-old businessman fired back: “That has nothing to do with climate change. I have ways of diversifying. “The popularity of electric cars will lead to more competition for selling those cars. “So there’s a difference between electric cars being adopted, and companies becoming infinitely valuable.” Earlier this week, multi-billionaire Musk – who has bought Twitter for a whopping $44 billion (£33.3 billion) – insisted he wants to make the platform a better place. Regarding his goals of making the site a platform for free speech, he said: “[It] would be to make Twitter as inclusive as possible, and to have as broad a swath of the country and the rest of the world on Twitter, and that they find it interesting and entertaining and funny, and that it makes their life better.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ariana DeBose will present this year’s Tony Awards. The ‘West Side Story’ actress – who has starred in a host of Broadway productions including ‘Hamilton’, ‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’ and ‘Bring It On: The Musical’ – is “honoured” to be “coming home” to her stage roots by anchoring the annual event, which honours excellence in the world of theatre. She said in a statement: “I’m coming home! I’m so honoured to celebrate 75 years of excellence in theatre, but more importantly every member of this community who poured themselves into making sure the lights of Broadway have the opportunity to shine brightly once again! “This is a dream come true. I’m excited to see you all.” The 2022 Tony Awards will broadcast live on CBS and Paramount+ from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on 12 June. Adrienne Warren and Joshua Henry will announce this year’s nominees on Monday (09.05.22). In March, Ariana won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work on ‘West Side Story’ and emotionally reflected on her journey as a queer woman of colour. She said:Oh my ” word, what is this? Now you see why Anita says I want to be in America because even in this weird world we live in, dreams do come true and that’s really a heartening thing right now… “Imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford Focus, look into her eyes, you see a, openly queer woman on colour, an Afro Latina who found her strength through art and that’s what I believe we’re here to celebrate. To anybody who has questioned your identity or find yourself in grave spaces, I promise you this, there is indeed a place for us. “Thank you to the Academy and thank you all.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega The man that accusedDon Lemonof assaulting him in a New York bar three years ago has dropped his lawsuit against the CNN host, announcing he’s backtracking on his allegations after taking a “deep dive into my memory.” As Radar reported, Dustin Hice sued Lemon in August 2019 for an alleged 2018 incident, in which he claimed, “[Lemon] put his hand down the front of his own shorts, and vigorously rubbed his genitalia, removed his hand and shoved his index and middle fingers into Plaintiff’s mustache and under Plaintiff’s nose.” Fast-forward to Monday when Hice retreated on his accusations. Mega His attorney, Robert Barnes, released a statement announcing the news. “After a lot of inner reflection and a deep dive into my memory, I have come to realize that my recollection of the events that occurred on the night in question when I first met CNN anchor Don Lemon were not what I thought they were when I filed this lawsuit,” Hice’s statement read. “As a result, I am dropping the case,” he concluded. Hice’s bizarre flip-flop came just weeks after the judge ordered him to pay Lemon $77,000 in sanctions. The CNN host accused Hice of concealing evidence and attempting to bribe witnesses. Following Hice’s decision, the network’s lawyer Caroline Polisi fired off her own statement. Mega “Thankfully Mr. Hice was finally able to access his memory and recollect the correct version of events on the night when he approached Don Lemon. This has been a long and difficult journey for Don. Out of respect for the judicial process and my advice, he has had to remain silent in the face of a malicious and vulgar attack on his character,” she said. “Unfortunately, being a gay Black man in the media, he has had to deal with these sorts of attacks for quite some time.” Mega Calling Hice’s case a “crass money grab,” Polisi continued, “Mr. Lemon has never paid the plaintiff a dime over the course of this unfortunate spectacle, and he is looking forward to moving on with his life.” Concluding her scathing statement, Polisi added, “I hope that many in the media have learned their lesson on misreporting the facts and jumping to conclusions. The reporting on this story from many outlets has been a case study in unethical and uninformed reporting.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Simon Lewis WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department has determined that Russia has wrongfully detained American basketball player Brittney Griner, a department spokesperson said in a statement. Russia said it had detained Griner, a seven-time WNBA All-Star player, in February for possession of vape cartridges containing hash oil. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia detained Griner amid soaring tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but U.S. officials had not previously determined that she was wrongfully detained. “Brittney has been detained for 75 days and our expectation is that the White House do whatever is necessary to bring her home,” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said in a statement. The WNBA’s regular season is set to tip off on Friday. The league said Tuesday that Griner’s initials and jersey number 42 will be stenciled onto the courts of all 12 teams. The United States has complained that Russia does not grant regular access to Americans detained there, although consular access to Griner was granted and a consular officer visited her on March 23, the spokesperson said. “The U.S. government will continue to undertake efforts to provide appropriate support to Ms. Griner,” the statement said. Griner’s case was now being handled by Roger Carstens, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the spokesperson said. Asked about Griner and the State Department’s determination, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki declined to comment to reporters traveling with Biden on Air Force One and referred to U.S. policy in trying to secure detained Americans. Russia returned another U.S. citizen, former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, last week in a prisoner swap for a Russian pilot convicted of drug smuggling. Another former marine, Paul Whelan, remains detained in Russia after he was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges in June 2020. (Reporting by Simon Lewis, additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Amy Tennery; Editing by Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brad Brooks (Reuters) – The three known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa massacre that saw a white mob murder scores of Blacks and raze much of their neighborhood can proceed with a lawsuit seeking reparations for the death and destruction, a judge in Oklahoma ruled on Monday. Tulsa County District Judge Caroline Wall rejected motions by the defendants, which include the city of Tulsa, to dismiss the case. The next legal steps were unclear. The lawsuit seeks financial and other reparations, including a 99-year tax holiday for Tulsa residents who are descendants of victims of the massacre in the north Tulsa neighborhood of Greenwood. It is estimated that as many as 300 people, most of them Black, died. Among the plaintiffs are Lessie Randle, who survived the massacre as a small child, and a descendant of the owner of the Stradford Hotel, at the time of the massacre the largest Black-owned hotel in the U.S. Greenwood was nicknamed the Black Wall Street. The violence erupted after a white woman told police that a Black man had grabbed her arm in an elevator in a downtown Tulsa commercial building on May 30, 1921, according to an account by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The following day, police arrested the man, whom the Tulsa Tribune reported had tried to assault the woman. Whites surrounded the courthouse, demanding the man be handed over. World War One veterans were among Black men who went to the courthouse to face the mob. A white man tried to disarm a Black veteran and a shot rang out, touching off further violence. Whites looted and burned buildings and dragged Blacks from their beds and beat them, according to historical accounts. Whites were deputized by authorities and instructed to shoot Blacks. No one was ever charged in the violence. Deep economic and health disparities remain between Blacks, who still live for the most part in north Tulsa, and whites. (Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by DPA Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill presides over the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral. -/Kremlin/dpa The European Commission has proposed including the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the latest sanctions package, diplomatic sources confirmed to dpa. Patriarch Kirill, a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has backed his invasion of Ukraine in his religious sermons and blames NATO and the West for the war Putin ordered. He has also resisted efforts from the Vatican and Pope Francis to mediate in the war or support a ceasefire in the conflict. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cyndi Lauper’s career will be celebrated in the documentary ‘Let The Canary Sing’. The feature-length documentary, which is being made in partnership with the ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ singer herself, will explore Cyndi’s time in the music industry and her rise to pop stardom – from finding her voice growing up in working-class New York City to the success of her 1983 debut album ‘She’s So Unusual’. Sony Music Entertainment is in production on the film, which will be directed by the award-winning documentarian Alison Ellwood. The filmmaker previously helmed ‘The Go-Go’s’ – the acclaimed documentary about the female rock band that won Best Music Film at the Critics’ Choice Awards. Ellwood said: “Like many people, I assumed when Cyndi Lauper burst onto the music scene in the early ’80s, that she was another young star experiencing a meteoric rise to fame and success thanks to MTV. “Her music videos were wild and colourful, her songs like ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ were infectious. But as it turns out, her story is one of hard knocks, hard work and dogged determination. Cyndi wanted her voice not just to be listened to, but a voice to be heard.” Tom Mackay, president of premium content at Sony Music Entertainment, added: “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to work together with Cyndi Lauper to produce her definitive documentary, one that matches her iconic and immeasurable impact on both the music industry and society at large. “Together with the incomparable Alison Ellwood and her award-winning artistic direction, the film will be a full portrait of this ground-breaking artist and share her unapologetic world with fans.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brendan Pierson and Nate Raymond (Reuters) – If the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing abortion rights nationwide, demand for abortion pills, which can be prescribed through online telemedicine visits, will likely rise. Conservative states have already rushed to restrict the practice, and if Roe falls, they will be able to ban it altogether, experts say. WHAT IS A MEDICATION ABORTION? In a medication abortion, a patient takes a drug called mifepristone, also known as RU-486, followed by a second drug called misoprostol, to end a pregnancy rather than having a surgical procedure. Over half of abortions in the United States are medication abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy research group. HOW DOES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REGULATE MEDICATION ABORTIONS? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000, but until very recently, the FDA mandated that patients get it at a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital. After easing those restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency in December permanently did away with the requirement that it had to be dispensed in person, allowing patients to consult with healthcare providers via telemedicine appointments and receive the pills by mail. That increased access to abortion for patients living in remote areas without providers nearby and women unable to take time off from work or not able to get to clinics for other reasons. The drugs are approved for use through the 10th week of pregnancy. DO STATES RESTRICT MEDICATION ABORTION? Medication abortions have become a target of anti-abortion politicians and activists. At least 116 restrictions, including eight measures that ban the practice outright, have been introduced this year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Thirty-two states allow only physicians to dispense abortion pills, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Six states, including Texas and Missouri, ban any use of telemedicine for medication abortion. Another 21 states do not have blanket bans but require at least one in-person visit, meaning patients cannot simply have a telemedicine appointment and receive the pills by mail, according to the foundation. WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON MEDICATION ABORTIONS IF ROE V. WADE IS OVERTURNED? If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, conservative states are poised to ban or sharply restrict abortion altogether, including 13 with so-called “trigger laws” that would take effect immediately or soon after the court acts. They would apply to medication abortions. Some trigger laws ban abortions almost completely, while others would outlaw abortion after six weeks or 15 weeks https://tmsnrt.rs/3sbQQEp. CAN A PATIENT IN A STATE WHERE MEDICAL ABORTION IS ILLEGAL GET THE PILLS FROM AN OUT-OF-STATE PROVIDER WHERE IT IS LEGAL? That depends. It is illegal for a medical professional to prescribe the pills via a telemedicine appointment to a woman in a state where they are illegal, legal experts say. “The laws around telemedicine generally say that the location of the patient controls,” said Amanda Allen, senior counsel at the Lawyering Project, an organization that represents abortion providers. Doctors who prescribed abortion pills to a patient in a state where they are illegal could lose their licenses in that state, or even face criminal charges, she said. A woman who lives in a state where abortion is illegal could travel to a state where it is legal, have a telemedicine visit, and have the medication mailed to an address there. “In some cases, that’s somewhat less burdensome and costly than to travel all the way to a brick-and-mortar clinic in a neighboring state,” she said, noting that patients who travel to clinics in other states have sometimes faced weeks-long waits for appointments. ARE THERE CURRENTLY LAWSUITS CHALLENGING STATE RESTRICTIONS ON MEDICAL ABORTION? Yes. GenBioPro Inc, a company that sells mifepristone, has already challenged Mississippi restrictions on telemedicine by arguing that they are “preempted” by the FDA, meaning that the federal approval of the drug overrides any state law. There has not been a ruling in that case, which is pending in Mississippi federal court. Similar challenges have succeeded before. In 2014, a Massachusetts federal judge struck down a state law seeking to regulate opioid drugs more stringently than federal law on the grounds that it was preempted. Those challenges, though, could ultimately end up at the Supreme Court, which is unlikely to strike down the state restrictions. CAN PATIENTS GET ABORTION PILLS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES? Yes. Women in states cracking down on telemedicine abortion have increasingly turned to ordering pills online from overseas. While the practice is not legal, state authorities have said they have no effective way of policing orders from foreign doctors and pharmacies. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Lisa Shumaker) View the full article