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Published by BANG Showbiz English Martha Stewart has recalled that Pete Davidson was a “young upstart” early on in his career. The 80 year-old businesswoman remembers sharing the stage with comedian Pete, 28, – who has been dating reality superstar Kim Kardashian since 2021 – for ‘Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber’ back in 2014 and took to Instagram to honour him after the power couple made their first red carpet appearance together at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington D.C. on Saturday (30.04.22) night . Alongside a throwback of video of Pete, Martha wrote on Instagram: “seven years ago i was on the stage with a young upstart named pete who was doing comedy on saturday night live now that same pete is all grown up , squiring gorgeous women around and appearing everywhere! @petedavidson.93 and @kimkardashian were in washington for the correspondents dinner This clip is from the @justinbieber Comedy Central roast years ago.”(sic) In the throwback clip, the ‘Saturday Night Live’ star can be seen telling the camera: “I’m Pete and I’m very excited to be doing this roast with Martha because she’s adorable and doesn’t know that she’s gonna get abused.” Kim – who has North, eight, Saint, six, Chicago, four, and Psalm, two, with her ex-husband Kanye West whilst Pete has previously dated the likes of pop star Ariana Grande and Hollywood actress Kate Beckinsale – was invited to the prestigious event on behalf of ABC following the debut of her new Hulu series ‘The Kardashians’, while Pete came along as her guest. The couple arrived more than 90 minutes after the event began but they still found the time to stop and pose for photos, though they didn’t speak to reporters before heading into the ballroom. View the full article

Published by Reuters MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The pressure Texas exerted on neighboring Mexican states last month to tighten border security was tantamount to “extortion”, Mexico’s foreign minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott made deals with the governors of the border states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon after enhanced Texan security checks to prevent smuggling of people and contraband disrupted bilateral trade. The episode sparked a testy response from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who described Texas’ behavior as “despicable”, and his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, this weekend weighed in with his own criticism. “Let me put this in quotation marks, it’s an extortion scheme, or rather it is extortion; I close the border and you have to sign whatever I say. That’s not a deal, a deal is when you and I are in agreement on something,” Ebrard was quoted as saying by news network Milenio during a visit to Nuevo Leon. Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of normal business hours. Ebrard did not take issue with the Mexican governors, saying that they had been presented with no alternative. “But we’re not prepared to have a governor extorting Mexico. I will never allow that,” he said. A spokesperson for the Mexican foreign ministry said Ebrard had been interviewed by Milenio. Abbott, who is running for re-election as governor, said Texas had reached accords with the Mexican states to beef up security at the border in order to curb illegal immigration. Mexican media reported later on Sunday that Ebrard declared himself a candidate for the presidency in 2024 during a state election campaign event in the central region of Hidalgo. A foreign ministry official confirmed the reports, saying Ebrard had previously made it clear he intended to run. Record numbers of people have this year been caught trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States. (Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Kenneth Maxwell) View the full article

Published by Reuters HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland will decide to apply for NATO membership on May 12, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported late on Sunday, citing anonymous government sources. The decision to join will come in two steps on that day, with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto first announcing his approval for the Nordic neighbour of Russia to join the Western defence alliance, followed by parliamentary groups giving their approval for the application, the paper reported. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed Finland and Sweden to the verge of applying for NATO membership and abandoning a belief held for decades that peace was best kept by not publicly choosing sides. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the details provided by Iltalehti. Under the Finnish constitution, the president leads Finland’s foreign and security policy in cooperation with the government. The decision will be confirmed in a meeting between the President and the government’s key ministers after the President’s and the Parliament’s initial announcements, the paper reported. Russia, with which Finland shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border and a pre-1945 history of conflict, has warned it will deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in its Baltic coast enclave of Kaliningrad if Finland and Sweden decide to join the U.S.-led NATO alliance. (Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Gwladys Fouche) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Joanne Froggatt insisted it is an “easy decision” to keep returning to ‘Downton Abbey’. The 41-year-old actress has portrayed Anna Bates in the TV series and both spin-off movies and she will always feel a “real loyalty” to the franchise and everyone who works on it. She said: “I love the people and feel a real loyalty to their show and our team. “We had a wonderful experience during the show so it’s an easy decision to keep coming back. “We get to hang out with our friends and revisit something that has been such a big and special part of our lives.” Joanne will always be grateful for the variety of storylines that showrunner Julian Fellowes has written for her over the years. She continued to Big Issue magazine: “I also love revisiting Anna. It’s never a tough decision to step back into her shoes. “Julian has put her through the mill over the years, which as an actor I’m very grateful for. “I wanted to be an actor for the versatility, to be able to play different roles and challenge myself. But to have the opportunity to pop back and revisit that character in a movie is so dreamy, and something that very rarely happens in the TV world.” The actress has promised the new movie, ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’, will be a comforting watch. She said: “I think the second movie is even better than the first. “It is funny, it is poignant, it looks beautiful – it’s got all those things people love about ‘Downton’. “It feels like you are getting a warm hug. And I think that’s what everybody needs right now, after the last few years and with what’s happening in the world.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Serena Williams didn’t tell her daughter’s tennis instructor who she was. The 40-year-old sports star – who is often dubbed The Queen of the Court – has revealed she didn’t want four-year-old Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.’s coach to know they are training the Grand Slam champion’s offspring. Appearing on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ on Monday (02.05.22), she said of her little girl’s skills on the court: “Her ambition is playing princess games.” The host quipped: “You enrolled her in tennis classes with a coach but you did not tell the coach that you were the mother?” And Serena replied: “I don’t have the patience to teach tennis. “It drives me nuts.” Meanwhile, Serena recently admitted she didn’t feel any connection with her daughter during her pregnancy. She didn’t form a bond with her baby girl until the day she was born. In a personal essay for Elle, Serena explained: “I was nervous about meeting my baby. Throughout my pregnancy, I’d never felt a connection with her. While I loved being pregnant, I didn’t have that amazing ‘Oh my God, this is my baby’ moment, ever. It’s something people don’t usually talk about, because we’re supposed to be in love from the first second. “Yes, I was a lioness who would protect her baby at any cost, but I wasn’t gushing over her. I kept waiting to feel like I knew her during pregnancy, but the feeling never came. Some of my mom friends told me they didn’t feel the connection in the womb either, which made me feel better, but still, I longed for it.” However, the Olympic gold medallist – who is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian – added: “When I finally saw her – and I just knew it was going to be a girl, that was one thing I knew about her before we even had it confirmed – I loved her right away. It wasn’t exactly instantaneous, but it was there, and from that seed, it grew.” View the full article

Published by DPA Best friends beyond 70: Over seven seasons, Jane Fonda (Grace, left), and Lily Tomlin (Frankie, right) have brought an unusual friendship to life. Now the longest-running Netflix series is coming to an end. Suzanne Tenner/Netflix/dpa Well they certainly don’t act their age. Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein may be well past 70, but they would hardly fit (or approve of) the label “senior citizens”. Hanson still enjoys a martini with lunch and remains the feisty head of a cosmetics company at an age when others would have long since dozed off into retirement. Bergstein, on the other hand, is a lively art teacher who loves to paint nude in her studio and is still up for every esoteric trend even at her advanced age. The Netflix show “Grace and Frankie” deals with the narrow-minded ideas society has about older women and also raises a good question: In the final stretch of life, do friendships not matter, or even more, than our partnerships? In 2015, the hit producers Marta Kauffman (“Friends”) and John E. Morris (“Home Improvement”) had the right instinct to finally put older people at the centre of a series. The idea became Netflix’s longest-running fictional original production. After the first of four new episodes were previously released, the final 12 episodes of season seven appeared on Netflix at the end of April. The show started out with what felt like a cheesy TV drama: After decades of marriage, two women learn that their husbands are secretly in love with each other and have been having an affair for years. When their spouses move in together, Grace and Frankie also decide, out of necessity, to share a flat. At the beginning, critics were lukewarm at best and pointed to the lazy dialogue and a cliché-riddled plot. Gradually, however, the two women moved more and more into focus and with them the question: Is it ever too late to reinvent yourself? The acclaim from critics grew and grew. Lily Tomlin as Frankie, now 82, has since been nominated four times in a row for the best leading actress in a comedy series at the Emmy television awards Jane Fonda, 84, is credible as the dapper businesswoman Grace, even if many of us know the actor as a left-wing climate activist and protester against the Vietnam War. And Tomlin has proven in her career that a character like the absurdly over-the-top Frankie suits her well. After all, she gained fame from eccentric 1980s films like “The Incredible Shrinking Woman” and “9 to 5”. For anyone who knows the latter, a fitting finale awaits the leading duo at the end of the seven-season run. Cameo spoiler alert: Singer, songwriter and actor Dolly Parton makes a guest appearance in the last episode of “Grace and Frankie”, bringing the trio of Parton, Tomlin and Parton together again four decades their first joint appearance in the office satire “9 to 5”. View the full article

Published by AFP This file photo taken on March 26, 2022, shows the Netflix logo at the Anime Japan 2022 fair in Tokyo New York (AFP) – Netflix has canceled an animated series created by Meghan Markle as it makes cost-saving moves following disappointing first-quarter results. The TV streaming giant confirmed in an email to AFP on Monday that it was not moving forward with the Duchess of Sussex’s “Pearl,” which was announced in July last year. The cancellation is “part of the strategic decisions Netflix is making around animated series,” the company said, adding that it was scrapping other children’s series including “Dino Daycare” and “Boons and Curses.” Markle and her husband, Britain’s Prince Harry, signed a deal to produce content for the streaming platform after quitting their royal duties in Britain. The California-based couple formed a production company called Archewell Productions, named after their son Archie. “Pearl” was due to be about a 12-year-old girl who is inspired by historical female figures. In 2020, Harry and Meghan announced they would create a documentary series about the Invictus Games for wounded servicemen and women, which Prince Harry has long championed. Netflix said that Archewell Productions “remains a valued partner and we are continuing to work together on a number of projects, including the upcoming documentary series Heart of Invictus.” Last month, Netflix reported a drop in subscribers for the first time in a decade, sparking a plunge in its share price. The Silicon Valley tech firm said it ended the first quarter of this year with 221.6 million subscribers, a drop of around 200,000 users from the final quarter of last year. Netflix blamed the quarter-over-quarter erosion to suspension of its service in Russia due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Disney showed earlier this year that it was closing the gap with market leader Netflix in America’s TV streaming wars. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Leah Douglas (Reuters) – Black farmers in the United States lost roughly $326 billion worth of acreage during the 20th century, according to the first study to quantify the present-day value of that loss. Land loss is a contributor to the racial wealth gap in the United States and an issue that has marred the relationship between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and minority farmers. “Wealth and land is one way in this country that you’re able to grow opportunity for your family,” said Dr. Dania Francis, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and lead author of the study published on Sunday in the American Economic Association’s Papers and Proceedings journal. “When huge groups of African Americans were denied that opportunity, it speaks to the intergenerational wealth gap that opened up in part due to this type of land loss,” Francis added. The land loss was due to discriminatory USDA lending policies and forced sales of co-owned land called heirs’ property, among other factors, the study said. The study calculated the compounded value of declining acreage owned by African Americans between 1920 and 1997 in the 17 states where almost all Black-owned farms were documented, using data from the USDA Census of Agriculture. “This is not just theoretical, but this is empirical,” said Dr. Darrick Hamilton, economics professor at The New School and another of the study’s authors. “These are real losses that occurred.” In 1910, Black farmers owned more than 16 million acres of land, according to experts. In 2017, when the most recent agricultural census was done, that figure was just 4.7 million acres, about 0.5% of all farmland. The $326 billion figure is a conservative estimate, said the study authors, in part because it does not account for multiplier effects, like whether Black farmers could have used lost land as collateral to make other investments. A Biden administration effort to provide debt relief to farmers of color as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, framed as repair for past USDA discrimination, is currently stalled in court after white farmers argued it was discriminatory. [L1N2SY2JW] (Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jan Wolfe and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former New York City police officer was found guilty on Monday of assaulting a Washington, D.C., police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, handing prosecutors another win at trial, a Justice Department spokesman confirmed. A federal jury in the District of Columbia rejected arguments by Thomas Webster, 56, that he was acting in self-defense when he struck a Washington officer with a flagpole and tackled him. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Webster will be sentenced on Sept 2. Webster was the fourth Capitol riot defendant to take his case to a jury trial. The Justice Department has secured convictions in all four of those cases. Of the four defendants to face a jury so far, Webster was the first to argue he was acting in self defense. Webster took the witness stand during the week-long trial. He told jurors that the officer had “incited” him by hitting him in the face. “I felt like I was dealing with a rogue cop,” Webster testified during the trial. Prosecutors had rejected Webster’s defense and portrayed the District of Columbia police officer, Noah Rathbun, as the victim in the altercation. Prosecutors said Rathbun made physical contact with Webster to create distance between the two men, who were on opposing side of a police barricade eventually overrun by Trump supporters. About 800 people are charged with a role in the Capitol riot, which disrupted a joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory and sent lawmakers scrambling for safety. About 250 have pleaded guilty so far. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Editing by William Maclean) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andrew Chung (Reuters) -Boston violated the free speech rights of a Christian group by refusing to fly a flag bearing the image of a cross at City Hall as part of a program that let private groups use the flagpole while holding events in the plaza below, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday. The 9-0 decision, authored by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, overturned a lower court’s ruling that the rejection of Camp Constitution and its director Harold Shurtleff did not violate their rights to freedom to speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. President Joe Biden’s administration backed Camp Constitution in the case. Boston’s flag-raising program was aimed at promoting diversity and tolerance among the city’s different communities. In turning down Camp Constitution, Boston had said that raising the cross flag could appear to violate another part of the First Amendment that bars governmental endorsement of a particular religion. As a result of the litigation, Boston last October halted the program to ensure that the city cannot be compelled to “publicize messages antithetical to its own.” Boston has said that requiring it to open the flagpole to “all comers” could force it to raise flags promoting division or intolerance, such as a swastika or a terrorist group. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has taken an expansive view of religious rights and has been increasingly receptive to arguments that governments are acting with hostility toward religion. At issue was whether the flagpole became a public forum meriting free speech protections under the First Amendment to bar discrimination based on viewpoint, as the plaintiffs claimed, or whether it represented merely a conduit for government speech not warranting such protection, as Boston claimed. Breyer, who is retiring at the end of the court’s current term, wrote that Boston’s “lack of meaningful involvement in the selection of flags or the crafting of their messages leads us to classify the flag raisings as private, not government, speech.” Denying Camp Constitution’s request “discriminated based on religious viewpoint” and violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections, Breyer added. In a concurring opinion, conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch agreed with the outcome of the case, but not Breyer’s reasoning, which they suggested may not always ferret out when a government is “surreptitiously engaged” in censorship of private speech. The dispute arose over Boston’s practice of allowing private groups to hold flag-raising events using one of three flagpoles on the plaza in front of City Hall. From 2005 to 2017, Boston approved all 284 applications it received before rebuffing Camp Constitution. The vast majority of flags were those of foreign countries, but also included one commemorating LGBT Pride in Boston. Camp Constitution, whose stated mission is “to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage” as well as “free enterprise,” sued in 2018 over its rejection. It was represented in the case by Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal group. “This case is so much more significant than a flag,” Liberty Counsel attorney Mat Staver said. “Boston openly discriminated against viewpoints it disfavored when it opened the flagpoles to all applicants and then excluded Christian viewpoints. Government cannot censor religious viewpoints under the guise of government speech.” The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the city’s control of the flag-raising program made it government speech. Breyer wrote that the ruling does not prevent Boston from changing its flag-raising policy to make clear it is intended for government speech not private expression. A city spokesperson said in a statement that “we will ensure that future City of Boston programs are aligned with this decision.” Among other topics, Camp Constitution’s website posts materials questioning the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and claiming that last year’s U.S. Capitol attack was actually a cover up for “massive” 2020 election fraud. Its website also posts materials blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on provocations by the “Biden and Obama administrations” seeking to integrate Ukraine into NATO and calling Japan’s 1941 Pearl Harbor attack and al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States “carefully orchestrated false flags.” (Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AFP Donald Trump has faced accusations — including from his own former Pentagon chief Mark Esper — that he sought to use excessive force to push back protesters demonstrating outside the White House in 2020 when he was president Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump vented fury at protesters outside the White House in 2020, saying “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” according to then defense secretary Mark Esper. In a new book, excerpts of which were reported Monday, Esper recalled sitting in the Oval Office with “the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington” over the police killing of a Black man. “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump is quoted as saying in a preview of the book seen by the Axios news website. The protests, which were marked by violence as protesters clashed with security forces, were part of a nationwide wave of demonstrations in the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. US Park Police and National Guard troops deployed tear gas and flash bangs to clear the largely peaceful protesters. Esper’s account appeared to confirm previous reports of Trump arguing that the military should intervene to quell the spiraling civil unrest. An earlier book by journalist Michael Bender quoted sources saying the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, argued with Trump against using the military as the president demanded a stronger response. Bender had quoted Trump as saying “shoot them in the leg — or maybe the foot… but be hard on them!” Esper publicly stated at the time that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act, a rarely-used 200-year-old law which permits troops to be actively deployed within the United States. His stance reportedly enraged Trump, and he was sacked in November 2020. Axios said Esper’s book had been vetted by the Pentagon and reviewed by generals and cabinet members. View the full article

Published by DPA German police officer Leon Dietrich began his career in law enforcement as a woman but came out to his colleagues and boss as transgender in 2020. Ole Spata/dpa It was decades before German police officer Leon Dietrich felt able to come out. “Fourty-three years ago, no one knew much about being trans. My mother had never heard of it and early on, I was pushed into the binary system,” he says. “Of course I rebelled as I’d known something wasn’t right ever since I was born. My body didn’t fit.” He started his career as a woman, joining the police force in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. Only in 2020 did he find the courage to tell his boss, “I identify as trans, my pronoun is male and my first name is Leon.” His colleagues all stood by him and were really positive, Dietrich says. “That was really touching and it still gives me a lot of strength to this day.” He will never know how life might have been if he had come out right after high school. He probably wouldn’t have had a career in law enforcement, however, as the German police force only started accepting applications from trans or intersex people in 2021. Before then, breast implants or “the loss or atrophy of both testicles” were disqualifying criteria, according to police service regulations. Dietrich had been living as a lesbian, but the feeling that something was not right never went away. “It was overwhelming,” he says. Dietrich was appointed state coordinator of police contact persons for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the nothern state of Lower Saxony in 2021, a state where the police have been committed to diversity for years. Doctors working for the Lower Saxony police force stopped checking whether applicants have certain gender-specific characteristics in 2012, even through federal service regulations officially required this up through to 2020, according to the state Interior Ministry. Dietrich’s new role is a full-time job, coordinating between 10 people who work in the regular police force. He is also the contact point for queer police officers, leads training sessions on diversity and handles public relations too. “Visibility creates trust and closeness,” he says. He also maintains networks with the queer community, in an attempt to counteract some of the long-held reservations many still have about the police force. After all, less than 30 years ago, homosexuality was still a punishable offence in Germany under some circumstances. Many in Germany still face abuse due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Trans women are often insulted or molested on the subway, for example. The nation was shocked in 2020 when an Islamist attacked a gay couple in Dresden, killing one and seriously injuring the other. However, 80% to 90% of crimes targeting the LGBTI community go unreported, according to estimates. Germany’s new government has vowed to do better. Lawmakers have promised a programme to protect sexual and gender diversity and to transform the 1980 Transsexuals Act. The 40-year-old law stipulates that people may only officially change their first name and gender following a psychological assessment and a court decision, processes often requiring applicants to answer a lot of intimate questions. Much has changed since Dietrich took up the job as LGBTI coordinator at the Lower Saxony police force, partly thanks to the polls held in September 2021. Tessa Ganserer and Nyke Slawik, both members of the Green Party, became Germany’s first elected transgender lawmakers. In future, Dietrich’s main educational priority is to help people learn about sexual and gender diversity, saying many people don’t understand the issues. “I don’t blame them,” he says. What makes him angry is when people incite hatred against trans people for political reasons, he says, referring to far-right lawmaker Beatrix von Storch who attacked Ganserer in the Bundestag on International Women’s Day, sparking outrage across the political spectrum. Meanwhile German feminist Alice Schwarzer said the focus on trans identity could cause tens of thousands of girls to change their gender. Dietrich attributes this partly to ignorance about trans identity and intersexuality. Young people need to learn about sexual and gender diversity, education that has long been lacking in Germany. “If I had realized sooner, I wouldn’t have had such a difficult time,” says Dietrich, adding that it can be hard to comprehend for anyone without similar experience. Most of Germany’s 16 states have a contact person in the police for the LGBTI community, aside from Bavaria, Thuringia and North Rhine Westphalia, says VelsPol, an association of gay and lesbian police officers. However, many queer police officers are too afraid to come out at their workplace, particularly gay men, studies say. Joschua Thuir, who is also trans, campaigns for the rights of queer police officers on VelsPol’s board. “We are seeing greater openness,” he says. However, when it comes to the national authorities, there’s still a long way to go, he adds. Leon Dietrich, state coordinator of police contact persons for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the nothern German state of Lower Saxony, during an interview with dpa. Ole Spata/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters LONDON (Reuters) – Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre has upset opera and ballet fans by abruptly cancelling a series of shows this week by directors who have spoken out against the war in Ukraine. The theatre gave no reason for dropping Timofey Kuliabin’s production of the opera “Don Pasquale” and Kirill Serebrennikov’s ballet “Nureyev”. Kuliabin has used his Instagram account to express solidarity with Ukraine and ridicule Russia’s description of its actions there. In one post, he showed a mocked-up version of the cover of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, replacing the first word of the title with “Special Operation” – the term used by the Kremlin to describe the invasion. Serebrennikov told France 24 in an interview last month that “it’s quite obvious that Russia started the war”, and that it was breaking his heart. “It’s war, it’s killing people, it’s the worst thing (that) ever might happen with civilisation, with mankind… It’s a humanitarian catastrophe, it’s rivers of blood,” he said. Both directors are currently outside Russia. The replacement of the two shows with “The Barber of Seville” and “Spartacus”, two longstanding staples of the Bolshoi’s repertoire, drew hundreds of mostly critical online comments from ticketholders. Many demanded in vain to know the reason. “What disrespect to the spectators and artists!” one woman, Valeria, wrote on the Bolshoi’s Telegram channel. There was particular outrage at the cancellation of Serebrennikov’s “Nureyev”, a controversial production that premiered at the Bolshoi in 2017. The story of dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who defected to the West in 1961, included a tender scene with his gay lover that tested the Kremlin’s tolerance for what it calls “homosexual propaganda”. (Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Peter Graff) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sarah K. Burris John Oliver addressed three candidates running for reelection in 2022 that have adopted a campaign of how not to help the most people, but instead, how much can you hurt the people that your supporters hate the most. He began with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who has waged war with Disney World because they dared to come out against the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The GOP legislature then voted to strip Disney of all of its benefits given by Florida. The problem that the state is now facing is that the deal that was made with Disney is that if Florida ever withdrew from the… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Eduardo Simões and Lisandra Paraguassu SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and his main rival, former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, staged competing rallies on Sunday that were expected to become previews of their campaigns for presidential elections in October. Supporters of Bolsonaro had called during the week protests against the Supreme Court, after he pardoned a congressman sentenced to eight years in prison for threatening judges. The pardoned congressman, Daniel Silveira, said in a rally in Niteroi, in Rio de Janeiro state, that his arrest last year was “unconstitutional.” Silveira thanked fellow congressmen that helped him during his months in prison last year. He was freed in November, but the Supreme Court last month sentenced him to more than eight years of jail. Bolsonaro decided to pardon him. Bolsonaro went to a rally protesting against the Supreme Court in Brasilia on Sunday. In a video stream from one of his social media accounts, Bolsonaro said the demonstrations were “pacific, to defend the constitution, democracy and freedom.” In Sao Paulo, there were simultaneous demonstrations to support the president and Lula. In a 15-minute speech, Lula promised to supporters, including many union leaders, that he would “resume negotiations to get workers rights respected again” if elected. Lula said he was speaking before becoming an official candidate, with the announcement expected for May 7. The former president cited the recent U.N. human rights committee finding that Brazil graft investigators violated due process in bringing a case against Lula that led to his imprisonment and barred him from running for office in 2018. (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes and Lisandra Paraguassu, additional reporting by Sergio Queiroz and Rodrigo Viga Gaier, writing by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Marguerita Choy) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Prince Charles once fled from a ghost at Sandringham. The 73-year-old royal – who is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and is married to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall – is said to have run away from the spooky presence at the monarch’s lavish estate in Norfolk, according to a new book. According to The Sun newspaper, ‘Britain’s Ghostly Heritage’ author John West claims: “Christmas cards move on mantlepieces, doors open on their own, lights turn on and off, and eerie footsteps have been reported at the Queen’s Norfolk retreat.” The outlet went on to claim that a young Charles and a footman once “fled in terror” from the library after they felt a cold presence and were convinced that a ghostly figure was behind them. The same book also alleges that Princess Margaret – the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II – had seen the ghost of Tudor monarch Elizabeth I in a corridor at Windsor Castle and that 18th century monarch King George III had been seen “looking longingly” out of the windows whilst confined in Buckingham Palace. Royal biographer Kenneth Rose claimed that back in 2000, the Queen had a “little service” for the supposed ghouls of Sandringham after learning from servants that one of the rooms was supposedly haunted. The service was said to have been attended by the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother’s lady-in-waiting Prue Penn, according to diary entries made by Rose and printed in the Daily Mail back in 2019. The diaries read: “Prue Penn [the Queen Mother’s lady-in-waiting] tells me that at Sandringham in the summer, the Queen invited her to attend a little service in one of its rooms conducted by the local parson. The only other person present was the Queen Mother. Some of the servants had complained that the room was haunted and did not want to work in it. The parson walked from room to room and did indeed feel some sort of restlessness in one of them.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega GOP Representative Madison Cawthorn found himself in hot water once again after a video of the young politician surfaced in which one of his male staffers appeared to place his hand on Cawthorn’s crotch while the two were riding together in a car, Radar has learned. That is the sensational development captured by recent footage obtained by Daily Mail, which is leaving his fellow congressmen and congresswomen questioning the 26-year-old politician’s potentially unethical behavior. Mega “I feel the passion and desire and would like to see a naked body beneath my hands,” Cawthorn said in the video while driving in a car alongside his 23-year-old aide Stephen Smith. “Me too,” Smith responded before intimately and provocatively placing his hand over the North Carolina Republican Congressman’s crotch and genitals. The video has since been used as one of many examples of evidence in a newly drafted ethics complaint against Cawthorn created by the political group Fire Madison Cawthorn. The complaint called for an investigation into the young politician and argued that Cawthorn’s repeated unethical behavior is in direct violation of House Rules. Mega But Cawthorn, who took to social media shortly after the explicit clip surfaced, argued that the incident was nothing but a joke between him and his young staffer before suggesting his fellow House of Representative colleagues are just as guilty of such questionable behavior. “Many of my colleagues would be nowhere near politics if they had grown up with a cell phone in their hands,” Cawthorn tweeted on Thursday after the scandal broke. As RadarOnline.com reported, the video of Cawthorn’s aide’s hand on his crotch surfaced just days after the North Carolina Rep came under fire after it was revealed he allegedly misappropriated taxpayer money during a retreat to a posh North Carolina resort in August. Earlier this month, a report by the Washington Examiner revealed that Cawthorn spent nearly $5,000 for “legislative planning food and beverage” that included not only food from Chick-fil-A, Bojangles chicken, and Joey’s NY Bagels, but also several non-detailed payments on the politician’s government credit card. Mega The report also suggested Cawthorn utilized North Carolina taxpayer money to pay for his stay at the luxurious Hendersonville getaway resort, although a spokesperson for the young politician insisted the money used during the August retreat was taken directly from Cawthorn’s authorized House Members’ Representational Allowance. “Our district retreat occurred on those dates; those expenses were for the district and D.C. staff on the retreat,” Luke Ball, Cawthorn’s spokesperson, said after the damning report was published. “Nearly every office on Capitol Hill has a district retreat and a budget specifically designated for one.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online mega Country star Naomi Judd has died at 76-years-old. The Kentucky native was known for being a member of the beloved, Grammy Award winning country duo The Judds. mega Naomi’s daughters, Ashley and Wynonna Judd, confirmed the singer’s tragic passing in a statement shared to the Associated Press on Saturday, April 30. “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” the statement read. “We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.” Naomi Judd Reveals Daughter Wynonna’s Shocking BETRAYAL During Depression Battle Although it has not been confirmed Naomi took her own life, only that she died due to “mental illness”, Radar previously reported she had opened up on her years-long struggles with depression in her 2016 memoir, River of Time. In an excerpt of the shocking tell-all, the singer detailed a period in her life when she contemplated death by suicide. Naomi explained she had made the decision to throw herself off of the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge in Nashville, Tennessee in 2013. “I knew exactly how I was going to carry out my suicide. I would drive my car to the very center, the highest point, and in one swift motion open the car door and climb over the railing,” she penned the heartbreaking confessional. “I’d keep my focus on the beauty of the surrounding countryside, spread my arms out, and step off.” mega The Judds — a mother/daughter duo featuring Naomi and Wynonna — first shot to fame in 1983, and despite a period of estrangement, their careers seemed to be back on track. The country group not only announced a brand new tour scheduled for this Fall, but the duo was also scheduled to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday, April 30 — the day of Naomi’s shocking passing. Naomi Judd Reveals Secrets About Her Estranged Relationship With Daughters Ashley & Wynona: They’re All In Therapy Together View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson have made their red carpet debut as a couple. The couple – who have been together since October – were in attendance for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington D.C. on Saturday (30.04.22) night, and although they arrived more than 90 minutes after the event began, they still found the time to stop and pose for photos, though they didn’t speak to reporters before heading into the ballroom. Kim, 41, was invited on behalf of ABC following the debut of her new Hulu series ‘The Kardashians’, while the ‘Saturday Night Live’ star, who joined her at the show’s premiere a few weeks ago, came along as her guest. The brunette beauty wore a form-fitting silver gown, while 28-year-old Pete donned a black suit, skinny tie and Vans, and kept his sunglasses on throughout. Trevor Noah hosted the event, while joining President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden were guests including lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and ‘Succession’ actress J. Smith-Cameron. In March, Kim and Pete made their romance “Instagram official” when the law student shared a series of pictures of them together on her account. In the caption of the photo dump, the reality television personality wrote: “Whose car are we gonna take?!” In one of the images, Pete – who met the SKIMS founder when she hosted SNL, the weekly NBC sketch show he stars on – is gazing into Kim’s eyes as she puckers up. The second photo posted by Kim – who shares North, eight, Saint, six, Chicago, four, and Psalm, two, with her ex-husband Kanye West – is a black-and-white selfie of the pair, who have been linked since October. Kim recently gave her first public insight into their relationship as she admitted to not filming with her new boyfriend. She said: “I have not filmed with him, and I’m not opposed to it. It’s just not what he does. But if there was an event happening and he was there, he wouldn’t tell the cameras to get away. I think I might film something really exciting coming, but it wouldn’t be for this season. It wouldn’t reach until next season.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English A dancer from Singapore will portray the young Princess Elizabeth in the Diamond Jubilee pageant. Organisers of the celebratory carnival were keen to cast a woman of colour in the role to represent modern Britain and Queen Elizabeth’s status as a role model around the world so have selected 22-year-old Janice Ho to open the ‘Let’s Celebrate’ section of the carnival, which will take place in front of Buckingham Palace on 5 June. Janice will interact with a huge dragon puppet as she depicts the monarch in her younger years coming to terms with her power and responsibility when she takes over as queen. The London Contemporary Dance School Student told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “I’m really excited to be able to perform to such a big crowd in countries across the Commonwealth. “London is such a diverse place and being able to represent that is such a great opportunity.” Janet plans to play the princess by capturing her “sense of light-heartedness”, before she had to “face the reality” of her future life as head of state. Angie Bual, the artistic director of Trigger, which have created the ‘Princess and the Dragon’ segment, said of the casting: “She is a woman of colour and that is something we really strongly stand by. “The Queen is such a role model, obviously in this country and internationally, and I think we need to role model all types of diversity. It is a reflection of the make-up of Britain and London today. “I didn’t want to cast somebody that looks exactly like Queen Elizabeth. I’m really interested in bringing new, unexpected talent in.” While Janice will be the only performer directly portraying the “real” queen, a diverse cast will portray other carnival queens that have been directly inspired by the monarch. The eldest will be 90 and part of a ‘Gangsta Grannies’ troupe, while the parade will also feature a giant puppet Queen walking her corgis, a huge wire frame bust surrounded by dancers in the shape of the coronation robe, the royal wedding reimagined with a Bollywood slant, and a drag queen named Cheddar Gorgeous. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’s costume designer found it “glorious” to put Laura Carmichael in trousers for the first time. The period drama’s second movie is set in the late 1920s and Anna Robbins enjoyed embracing the changing trends of the time period, taking particular delight in sourcing costumers for Laura’s character Lady Edith. She said: “I found a beautiful pyjama set for Edith and we had her in trousers for the first time, which was glorious. “It was the perfect moment. “As a forward-thinking working woman, Edith would have absolutely embraced wearing trousers at the earliest opportunity.” And Anna and Michelle Dockery were keen to use clothes to show a “softer” side to the actress’ alter ego, Lady Mary Talbot. Anna said: “Michelle and I talked about how we would show a softer, more vulnerable side of Lady Mary through silhouette, fabric and colour. “I looked at reintroducing a waistline to her outfits. During the 1920s, dresses became more linear, then it became a dropped waistline, then as we get to the end of the 20s, we find form in the waist again.” The wedding of Tom Branson (Allen Leech) and Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton) provided Anna with one of her favourite moments working on the film, admitting finding the right bridal gown was a “labour of love”. She told Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “That goes down as a favourite, but it’s hard for a wedding dress not to come into your top costumes.” The “quintessential 1920s bride” look included a layered asymmetric skirt, low back and vintage veil. Anna said: “It felt cutting-edge for the time. I wanted to get a contrast between the wedding dresses we’ve seen previously in the series and to give the sense Lucy would be able to lift up her skirt and have a dance.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Tim Cocks JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Two new sublineages of the Omicron coronavirus variant can dodge antibodies from earlier infection well enough to trigger a new wave, but are far less able to thrive in the blood of people vaccinated against COVID-19, South African scientists have found. The scientists from multiple institutions were examining Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages – which the World Health Organization last month added to its monitoring list. They took blood samples from 39 participants previously infected by Omicron when it first showed up at the end of last year. Fifteen were vaccinated – eight with Pfizer’s shot; seven with J&J’s — while the other 24 were not. “The vaccinated group showed about a 5-fold higher neutralisation capacity … and should be better protected,” said the study, a pre-print of which was released over the weekend. In the unvaccinated samples, there was an almost eightfold decrease in antibody production when exposed to BA.4 and BA.5, compared with the original BA.1 Omicron lineage. Blood from the vaccinated people showed a threefold decrease. South Africa may be entering a fifth COVID wave earlier than expected, officials and scientists said on Friday, blaming a sustained rise in infections that seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants. Only about 30% of South Africa’s population of 60 million is fully vaccinated. “Based on neutralisation escape, BA.4 and BA.5 have potential to result in a new infection wave,” the study said. (Editing by Frances Kerry) View the full article

Published by Reuters LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie visited the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday, going to the station to meet people displaced by the war with Russia before later leaving after air-raid sirens sounded. Jolie, 46, is a special envoy for the United Nations refugee agency, which says more than 12.7 million people have fled their homes in the past two months, which represents around 30% of Ukraine’s pre-war population. During the visit to the station, Jolie met volunteers working with the displaced, who told her that each of the psychiatrists on duty spoke to about 15 people a day. Many of those in the station are children aged from two to 10, according to volunteers. “They must be in shock … I know how trauma affects children, I know just having somebody show how much they matter, how much their voices matter, I know how healing that is for them,” she said in reply. At one point during her visit to the station, she tickled a small girl dressed in red, who laughed out in delight. She also posed for photos with the volunteers and some of the children. Later on, air-raid sirens started to sound, and Jolie together with her aides walked quickly out of the station and got into a waiting car. Last month, in her role as special envoy, Jolie visited Yemen, where millions of people have been displaced by war. (Reporting by Reuters, writing by David LjunggrenEditing by Nick Zieminski) View the full article

Published by uInterview.com Warner Bros. Pictures announced the release date for the long-anticipated Greta Gerwig Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and included a picture of Robbie in character as the iconic doll in a pink convertible. The movie will be hitting theaters next summer on July 21, 2023. Some fans of Gerwig, who is known for penning indie comedy-dramas films such as Frances Ha and her acclaimed directorial debut Lady Bird, were shocked to hear that her next project as director after 2019’s Little Women would be a Barbie adaptation. Surely, however, Gerwig and her co-writer, partner, and frequent collaborat… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Alexandra Ulmer and Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters) – The month of May brings Donald Trump the biggest test of his political clout since the end of his presidency, as candidates he has endorsed contest Republican primaries that will set the stage for November’s midterm congressional elections. Trump-backed candidates in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina face active and well-funded challengers seeking the Republican nomination to run for U.S. Senate. The former president has also backed a challenger to Georgia’s sitting Republican governor, who angered Trump by rejecting his false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud. They are among the highest-profile — and in the case of the Senate, most critical for the party — of the more than 150 candidates for federal, state and local races Trump has endorsed this year. Their races will be closely scrutinized for any sign that Trump’s iron-clad grip on his party could be waning as he flirts with a possible 2024 White House run. “It’s important for him to maintain that perception, and perhaps a reality, that he is a king-maker in the Republican Party,” said Mike DuHaime, a Republican strategist, cautioning: “The Trump endorsement is still powerful, but it’s not undefeatable.” Victories in May by some of Trump’s more controversial Senate picks, including former football star Herschel Walker in Georgia and television doctor Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, would not guarantee success in the Nov. 8 general elections and missteps could allow Democrats to hold onto their razor-thin Senate majority. Polls show that at least one of Trump’s May picks, Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio, is leading going into his Tuesday primary. But Oz trails rival David McCormick ahead of the May 17 Pennsylvania primary and former Senator David Perdue lags Georgia Governor Brian Kemp heading into their May 24 matchup. Poor performances by Trump-backed candidates may not diminish his support with his core supporters. Reuters/Ipsos polling last week showed 83% of Republicans view the former president favorably and 40% said he is the leader who best represents their party, well ahead of the 25% for his nearest potential rival for the 2024 nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “His power base is tens of millions of disaffected voters around the country,” said Justin Sayfie of Ballard Partners, a Florida-based lobbying firm with ties to Trump. “No matter what happens to his endorsed candidates, I don’t think it will change the conventional wisdom that he would still be the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for 2024.” Trump is expected to finalize a midterms spending plan for his massive war chest following the contests in Ohio and Pennsylvania, sources told Reuters last month. A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a request for comment. TRUMP’S CANDIDATES Trump stunned Ohio Republicans on April 15 by endorsing Vance, a venture capitalist and author who has been bitterly critical of the former president. More than 40 Republican officials had written to Trump urging him to not endorse Vance, arguing that his history of criticizing Trump would be fodder for his Democratic opponent. Following Trump’s endorsement, a Fox News poll showed Vance leaping 12 percentage points from a previous poll to notch the support of 23% of primary voters, whereas opponent Josh Mandel lost 2 points to poll at 18%. Still, 25% of voters said they were undecided. In Pennsylvania, Trump’s April 9 endorsement of Oz has done little to move the polls, with the latest survey showing a tight race with former hedge fund CEO McCormick. In a Monmouth University poll released last week, 61% of Pennsylvania Republicans say they were “very likely” to vote for McCormick compared to 51% for Oz. In North Carolina, polls show Trump-backed Senate candidate Representative Ted Budd leading rival former Governor Pat McCrory, though a crowded field in that race could force a July run-off. In Georgia, Trump defied the Republican establishment by encouraging Perdue to challenge popular incumbent Kemp, who infuriated Trump by certifying the 2020 election results that showed President Joe Biden defeated him in the state. Perdue lagged Kemp by some 20 points in a recent poll published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Georgia is going to be the proving ground for what the rest of the country is going to see: It’s time to turn the page,” said Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, an anti-Trump Republican. Even Trump’s faith in Perdue appears to be wavering. At a Georgia rally in March, Trump turned to Perdue and said: “I hope, David, you’re going to be the governor. Or I just wasted a helluva lot a time tonight.” (The story refiles to fix second paragraph to ‘rejecting’, from ‘rejected’.) (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco and Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis) View the full article