RadioRob

Published by The Mercury News SAN JOSE, Calif. — A few days before Amy Schneider taped her first “Jeopardy!” game, she decided to literally use her own voice, not the higher-pitched, “feminized” voice she learned after she began to transition several years ago. More than anything, the Oakland software manager wanted to be herself on national TV: A transgender woman, yes, but also an engaging, whip-smart person whose lifelong dream was to triumph on “Jeopardy!” Schneider’s authentic self helped her to win a record 40 games, earn $1.3 million and become one of the most popular champions in the venerable game show’s 58-year h… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP US actor William Hurt (pictured February 2010) built his reputation on his willingness to play quirky and unusual characters Los Angeles (AFP) – American actor William Hurt, known for much-loved films such as “The Big Chill” and “A History of Violence,” has died at age 71, US media reported Sunday. Multiple outlets cited Hurt’s son, Will, who said in a statement: “It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday. He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes.” The actor had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in May 2018, but his son’s statement did not specify whether the disease contributed to Hurt’s passing. Hurt built his reputation on his willingness to play quirky and unusual characters such as a Russian police officer in “Gorky Park” (1983), a wealthy and aloof husband in Woody Allen’s “Alice” (1990) and a man seeking to build a machine that would benefit blind people in “Until the End of the World” (1991). His first film role was as an obsessed scientist in Ken Russell’s 1980 film “Altered States.” Appearing opposite Kathleen Turner in Body Heat in 1981 turned him into a sex symbol, and he won the best actor Oscar in 1985 for playing a gay prisoner in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Hurt was also nominated for Oscars as a teacher of deaf students in “Children of a Lesser God” (1986) and as a slow-witted television anchorman in “Broadcast News” (1987). For his second Academy Award, Hurt played a Philadelphia mobster in David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence.” He appears in the film for only about 10 minutes, but he made a huge impact with critics, who praised his “creepy” and “funny” character. In recent years, Hurt made himself known to younger moviegoers through his turn in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thaddeus Ross, a blustering general who was present on the day Bruce Banner became the Hulk. In addition to “The Incredible Hulk,” Hurt’s character appeared in four Marvel films including “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Widow.” Uneasy with stardom Hurt was born March 20, 1950 in Washington, DC, but as his father was a US diplomat, he traveled widely as a child. After his parents divorced, his mother married Henry Luce III, the heir to the Time-Life empire, and moved to New York. Hurt stayed close by, studying theology at Tufts University before enrolling at the renowned Juilliard arts school in New York. Despite his spreading fame, Hurt did not settle in Hollywood but set up his home in Oregon. In interviews, he had shown he was uneasy with stardom. “I’m not comfortable with all this. I’m not comfortable with walking the red carpet in a tuxedo and seeing all the women with their boobs pushed up and all the men dressed as penguins,” he told one interviewer. His private life, however, read like something straight out of Hollywood. Hurt married aspiring actress Mary Beth Supinger after finishing his studies at Tufts and followed her to London to study drama. They divorced on their return to New York. In the late 1980s, he was sued by a former live-in love, ballet dancer Sandra Jennings, who is the mother of one of his sons. He had two other sons from another marriage and a daughter, Jeanne, from a relationship with French actress Sandrine Bonnaire. Hurt spoke fluent French and was also an avid private pilot. View the full article

Published by Global Voices Nepali Transgender Bhumika Shrestha. Screenshot from YouTube video by The Storytellers. Fair use. Bhumika Shrestha is an LGBTQ+ activist from Nepal who received the 2022 International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award from the US government. The award is given to women around the world who promote women’s rights and have shown leadership, courage, and willingness to sacrifice for others. For the last fifteen years, Shrestha has been working to address the challenges of the transgender community of Nepal. Whether it’s leading a conversation about queer citizenship rights with the government or figh… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brian Ellsworth and Don Burgess (Reuters) – A London tribunal on Monday ruled that a 2018 Bermuda law that bans same-sex marriage in the British overseas territory is constitutional, a departure from the broad trend towards legalisation of gay marriage in the West. Bermuda’s top court in 2018 ruled that the 2018 Domestic Partnership Act, which allows same-sex couples to form partnerships but prohibits them from marrying, violates constitutional freedom of conscience. London’s Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for British territories, ruled on Monday that the constitution does not in fact require the state to recognise same-sex marriages, in response to an appeal by Bermuda’s government. “Our supporters often say ‘love wins.’ This time it didn’t,” said Roderick Ferguson, lead co-plaintiff in the legal case against the law, in a statement by LGBTQ advocacy group OUTBermuda. “Our work as a society is not done until everyone’s humanity is recognized both in law and in life.” OUTBermuda called on the government to clarify how it will treat same-sex marriages that had been lawfully performed since 2017. The Bermuda court’s 2018 ruling had suspended the prohibition. The government of Bermuda, a wealthy, socially conservative island in the Atlantic of 60,000 people, argues that domestic partnerships provide the same rights as marriage. Thousands of people support the gay marriage ban. Bermuda’s Attorney General did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Privy Council found that the Domestic Partnership Act does not interfere with freedom of conscience as laid out in section 8 of Bermuda’s constitution. “The respondents’ belief falls within the scope of section 8, but that belief is not interfered with by the state failing to legally recognise same-sex marriage,” the Privy Council ruled. (Editing by Nick Macfie) View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The war in Ukraine has opened a new front in the U.S. Republican Party’s civil war, with party primary candidates vying to run in the November midterm elections attacking each other for past comments praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. In Senate and House of Representatives races in at least three states, Republican candidates have been put on the defensive over comments describing Putin as intelligent, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “thug” and Ukraine as not worth defending. They now face criticism at a time when U.S. public opinion strongly supports Ukraine and its president. Pat McCrory, a leading Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina’s May 17 primary election, lashed out this week at his Trump-backed Republican rival, Representative Ted Budd, in his first TV ad. “While Ukrainians bled and died … Congressman Budd excused their killer,” McCrory says in the ad, which is interspersed with video clips from a TV interview showing Budd describing Putin as “a very intelligent actor” with “strategic reasons” for the invasion. The ad also accused Budd, who has described Putin as “evil,” of casting votes “friendly” to Russia. Budd’s campaign dismissed the McCrory ad in a statement, saying, “Ted Budd presented the sort of level-headed assessment of a foreign crisis you would expect from a U.S. Senator because he knows these are serious times that require strength and substance, not the empty soundbites.” Before Russian forces moved on Ukraine on Feb. 24, some Republicans felt comfortable echoing former President Donald Trump’s praise for Putin as a strong leader, while denouncing U.S. policy toward Moscow. Even after the invasion, two Trump allies in the House – Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar – participated in a white nationalist conference at which participants applauded Russia’s move on Ukraine and chanted Putin’s name. Infighting over Putin and Ukraine has exacerbated existing divisions within the party over Trump’s false claims of widespread election fraud in 2020, and a House investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by the former president’s supporters. Trump has been widely criticized for describing Putin’s actions toward Ukraine as “genius” and “pretty savvy” in a Feb. 22 interview. ATTACK AD Also in North Carolina, Representative Madison Cawthorn came under fire from his Republican rivals over remarks at a town hall in which he criticized Zelenskiy and Ukraine. “Remember that Zelenskiy is a thug. Remember the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies,” Cawthorn said in a video clip aired by WRAL-TV in Raleigh. “ITS INCOMPREHENSIBLE THAT A MEMBER OF CONGRESS WOULD CALL UKRAINES PRESIDENT A THUG!” tweeted Michele Woodhouse, who is challenging Cawthorn in the Republican primary. Cawthorn’s office did not respond to a Reuters query seeking comment. The Republicans are vying to become candidates at the November midterm elections in which control of the U.S. Congress is at stake. In Utah, independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin, a former CIA officer, attacked Republican Senator Mike Lee in an ad accusing the two-term incumbent of “making us weak and unsafe” in the midst of the current Ukraine crisis by opposing sanctions against Russia and visiting Moscow. But the actions cited in the ad occurred years before the Ukraine invasion or were mischaracterized, according to the fact-checking website PolitiFact, which judged the ad “mostly false.” Lee’s office did not respond to a Reuters query seeking comment. But McMullin’s campaign said it stood behind the ad and insisted that Lee has displayed a pattern of appeasing Putin. (Reporting by David Morgan, Joseph Ax and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Meghan Markle and Prince Harry won’t be hopping across the pond anytime soon. After rumors swirled whether the 37-year-old prince would come in March for Prince Philip‘s memorial service, the answer has finally been revealed. “The Duke will not be returning to the U.K. in late March, but hopes to visit his grandmother as soon as possible,” a spokesperson told Page Six. In January, it was revealed that the red-headed royal was nervous to return home, as he wanted security for when he was out and about. (Since he is no longer a senior member of the royal family, he doesn’t have free security anymore.) MEGA “Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life. He remains sixth in line to the throne, served two tours of combat duty in Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has been subjected to well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats,” a legal representative for Harry said at the time. “While his role within the institution has changed, his profile as a member of the Royal Family has not. Nor has the threat to him and his family. The Duke and Duchess personally fund a private security team for their family, yet that cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the U.K. In the absence of such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home.” One month later, he spoke about the whole ordeal. “This claim is about the fact that the claimant does not feel safe when he is in the U.K. given the security arrangements applied to him in June 2021 and will continue to be applied to him,” Shaheed Fatima QC, for the Duke, said during Harry’s High Court battle on Friday, February 18. “It goes without saying that he does want to come back to see family and friends and to continue to support the charities that are so close to his heart. Most of all, this is and always will be, his home.” It remains to be seen if the couple, who share Archie, 2, and Lilibet, 9 months, return for the Queen’s Jubilee in June. However, one expert claimed the former actress, 40, won’t return to the U.K. again, especially since she is on bad terms with the royal family. MEGA “I don’t think Meghan will ever come back to this country, and I think this is a very good excuse for not coming back. I don’t think realistically (Harry) expects to win this case,” expert Phil Dampier told The Sun. “Getting his protection reinstated would set a precedent and so it gives them the perfect opportunity to say we can’t come to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Harry might come over, but it gives Meghan a good excuse not to come and also not to bring the children.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Grimes has already moved on from her ex Elon Musk and is reportedly dating former US army soldier turned WikiLeaks correspondent Chelsea Manning. Mega A source close to Grimes told Page Six that “They’re getting serious. They U-Hauled it,” referring to the singer and infamous leaker getting together. “They’ve been living together in Austin.” Another source said Manning still has her apartment in Brooklyn but spends more time in Texas. Neither reps for Manning nor Grimes have commented on the report. Elon Musk & Grimes Had Secret Second Child Via Surrogate In December, Announcement Comes Nearly Six Months Since Breakup Manning and Grimes have been tweeting back and forth since the pop star’s public break up with Tesla’s CEO. Few expected the friendship to bloom into a full on relationship In December, the Oblivion singer tweeted, “Celebrity culture is suffocating af. I’m not quitting music, but def changing my main day job after BOOK 1.” She continued to clarify, “Music industry feels old and tired, reliant on archaic systems.” When Manning replied, “vouch,” Grimes responded, “Since I seem to be taking ur word as final these days.” The 33-year-old mother of two has gone on to publicly apologize for not appearing on Manning’s Twitch stream yet saying she’s been planning to but has had to “postpone like 10 times.” Mega Manning was part of the United States Army until she was convicted by court martial in 2013 for violations of espionage after leaking 750,000 classified documents to government leak site WikiLeaks. Manning was imprisoned in 2010 until her sentence was commuted in 2017. Mega The news of the odd couple comes days after Musk and Grimes announced their second child together. The former couple announced Exa Dark Sideræl months after their split from one another. They had the child through a surrogate, unlike their first child, X Æ A-12. The two have clarified that they have not reconciled their romantic relationship but have decided to keep the family unit together while they move on in new romantic ventures. View the full article

Published by AFP This undated image courtesy of Ben Frick from the University of Georgia shows a Joro spider (Trichonephila clavata) Washington (AFP) – Big and scary-looking Joro spiders have spread from Asia to the southern United States and are now poised to colonize the country’s cooler climes — but they’re nothing to fear and might end up actually helping local ecosystems. That’s according to scientists who have been studying the arachnid invaders since they first arrived in Georgia around 2013. In a few short years, the golden webs spun by the bright yellow, dark blue and red spiders have become a common sight throughout the state, and new research suggests they will clamber up the Eastern Seaboard next. “The reason we got involved in this project was because they literally fell in our lap,” Andy Davis, an ecologist at the University of Georgia, told AFP on Friday. “They’re kind of everywhere here in North Georgia, they’re all over my backyard.” Davis set about studying the new resident, comparing it to the golden silk spider, which came to the southeastern United States some 160 years ago from the tropics. Writing in a paper published in the journal Physiological Entomology, he and his co-author Ben Frick found similarities but also striking differences between the relatives. The Joro spider’s metabolic rate is about double that of its cousin, its heart beats 77 percent faster, and it can survive brief freezes. They also grow faster. Together, these traits mean it can better survive colder climates, which is not completely surprising, given that it is native to temperate Japan. They’re also adept at gliding — spinning webs that act like parachutes and catch air currents — allowing them to fly up to 100 miles (160 kilometers). The paper examined records from iNaturalist, which tracks sightings of animals, and found that the spider’s range had already spread far beyond Georgia to encompass the nearby states of South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. There was even a report from faraway Oklahoma. Left to themselves, Joros would probably work their way up the coast over 20 years, but it’ll probably happen faster if they hitchhike on vehicles, said Davis. Call for clemency That’s likely how they arrived in the United States in the first place — either a female stowaway laid her eggs when she landed on a ship, or an egg sac was brought over and hatched in spring. Invasive species are often linked to destruction — such as the spotted lanternfly, a native of Southeast Asia that came to the US state of Pennsylvania in 2014 and is known to decimate fruit trees and ornamental plants. But the Joros’ exploding numbers aren’t necessarily a cause for concern, argued Davis. “The golden silk spider is everywhere in the southeast, and it’s not causing any harm. It’s been here so long, it’s integrated itself into the ecosystem, and the Joro could follow the same trajectory,” he said. In fact, it could provide a hearty meal for native predators, such as mud dauber wasps, which hunt spiders. Other beneficiaries could include local lizards. Another advantage: Joros also feed on insects that local spiders do not, such as the adult brown marmorated stink bug. They’re also not aggressive towards humans, nor are their fangs big enough to pose any kind of threat, stressed Davis, who called for clemency and understanding, not stigmatization. “I don’t really think the Joros deserve to be squashed or killed like the spotted lanternfly — they’re really not out to get us and it’s not their fault either that they’re here. They were literally along for the ride,” he said. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tom Hanks apologised to Connor Ratliff for firing him because of “dead eyes”. The ‘Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ star made amends with the 65-year-old actor – who took “full responsibility” – after they discussed the time Conor was let go from the 2001 mini-series ‘Band of Brothers’ for his apparent “dead eyes”, which the Academy Award winner was directing. Tom – who appeared on podcast ‘Dead Eyes’ on Thursday (10.03.22), which got its name from the episode – said: “This is a bone-chilling story, just bone-chilling,” before taking “full responsibility” for his conduct on set. The ‘You’ve Got Mail’ star called it “one of those very, very subtle” decisions made as a director. Tom said: “This was without a doubt the act of the director, and that was me. There was something in stuck in a craw or one of those very, very subtle sort of decisions that aims the story in the direction you want it to go.” He continued: “In the inner sanctum of whatever this casting session was on Band of Brothers … I’m sure I said, ‘I don’t know man, that guy’s got dead eyes.’ I could’ve said, ‘He’s got too blond of hair; he’s too tall and I can’t have the aide be taller than Captain Winters.’ I could’ve said, ‘He’s too short and slight … I could’ve said any of these things, and they would have been true and they would’ve been the opinion.’” Connor got how Tom could have forgotten the comment but told him it was “very big” for him in the immediate aftermath after being let go from the show that starred Tom Hardy, Damien Lewis, Jimmy Fallon Michael Fassbender and David Schwimmer. He added: “I built this thing up so big and then it was just gone.” The ‘Splash’ star – who is married to actress Rita Wilson, 65 – spilled he was “aghast” when he found out about the podcast and how it got its name after hearing about it from his son Colin, 44, and daughter Elizabeth, 39, who are both in the movie business, just like their dad. Along with these two, he also has 31-year-old son Chet and 25-year-old Truman. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday Ukraine was at a “strategic turning point” in the war as Russian forces bombarded cities across the country and appeared to be regrouping for a possible assault on Kyiv, with satellite images showing them firing artillery as they closed in on the capital. The governor of the Kharkiv region, on the Russian border, said a psychiatric hospital had been hit, and the mayor of the city of Kharkiv said about 50 schools there had been destroyed. Russia also carried out air strikes deeper into western Ukraine, far from the battlefields in the north, east and south where ground combat has raged. In the besieged southern city of Mariupol, the city council said at least 1,582 civilians had been killed as a result of Russian shelling and a 12-day blockade that has left hundreds of thousands trapped with no food, water, heat or power. Russia’s defence ministry said the Black Sea port was now completely surrounded and Ukrainian officials accused Russia of deliberately preventing civilians getting out and humanitarian convoys getting in. A new effort to evacuate civilians along a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol appeared to have failed, with Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk saying Russian shelling prevented them from leaving. “The situation is critical,” Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said. Western countries meanwhile took more economic steps to try to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his assault. President Joe Biden, who this week banned U.S. imports of Russian oil, said the G7 industrialised nations would revoke Russia’s “most favoured nation” trade status. He also announced a U.S. ban on imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds. Washington later sanctioned more oligarchs and elites, including board members of Russian banks, in addition to a dozen lawmakers. European Union leaders said they were ready to impose harsher sanctions on Russia and might give Ukraine more funds for arms. But they rejected Ukraine’s request to join the bloc. At a meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin said there were “certain positive shifts” in talks with Kyiv, but did not elaborate. GEARING UP With the Russian assault in its third week, Zelenskiy, who has rallied his people with a series of addresses from Kyiv, said Ukraine had “already reached a strategic turning point”. “It is impossible to say how many days we still have (ahead of us) to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it,” he said. “We are already moving towards our goal, our victory.” Russia’s main force has been stalled north of Kyiv, having failed in what Western analysts say was an initial plan for a lightning assault. But images taken on Friday and released by private U.S. satellite firm Maxar showed Russian forces were continuing to deploy closer to Kyiv and firing artillery toward residential areas, according to the company’s analysis. Multiple homes and buildings were on fire and widespread damage was seen throughout the town of Moschun, northwest of Kyiv, Maxar said. Reuters could not independently verify the images. Britain’s defence ministry said Russia appeared to be gearing up for a new offensive in coming days that would probably include Kyiv. However, the Russian ground forces were still making only limited progress, hampered by logistical problems and Ukrainian resistance, it said in its intelligence update. The Ukrainian general staff said Russian forces were regrouping after taking heavy losses. Ukrainian troops had pushed some back to “unfavourable positions” near the Belarus border, it said. Kyiv’s mayor, former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, said the capital had enough essential supplies to last a couple of weeks. Supply lines remained open. ‘WRONG ASSUMPTIONS’ Ukrainian authorities said a psychiatric hospital near the eastern town of Izyum had been hit. Emergency services said no one was hurt, but Kharkiv governor Oleh Synegubov called the attack a war crime. Reuters could not verify the report. Moscow denies it has been targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to disarm and “de-Nazify” Ukraine. Ukraine and its allies say this was a baseless pretext for Russia’s invasion of the democratic country of 44 million. Air strikes near a kindergarten in the central city of Dnipro killed at least one person on Friday, emergency services said. The mayor of Lutsk said four people were killed and six wounded in an attack on an airfield – a rare strike so far into western Ukraine. A U.S. official said such attacks were aimed at preventing western bases from being used by Ukraine’s air force. Britain’s defense intelligence ministry said Russian air and missile forces struck the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk in the past 24 hours. In Kharkiv, hundreds were sheltering in metro stations. Nastya, a young girl lying on a makeshift bed on the floor of a train carriage, said she had been there for over a week, unable to move around much and ill with a virus. “I’m scared for my home, for the homes of my friends, very scared for the whole country, and scared for myself of course,” she said. Moscow said its separatist allies in the southeast had captured the town of Volnovakha, north of Mariupol. But Mathieu Boulegue, an expert at London’s Chatham House think tank, said Moscow might not have sufficient troops to achieve its goals. “You can’t invade a country on a one-on-one ratio (of troops). Nobody has done it, which means that either something was wrong or they had very wrong assumptions,” he told Reuters. In a nighttime video address, Zelenskiy accused Russia of abducting the mayor of Melitopol, a captured city in southeastern Ukraine, calling it a “new stage of terror.” Russia has not commented on the fate of Mayor Ivan Fedorov. Zelenskiy said 7,144 people were evacuated from four cities on Friday, a sharply lower number than each of the two previous days. He accused Russian troops of refusing to allow civilians out of Mariupol and vowed to try to deliver food and medicines there on Saturday. Ukraine also raised the prospect of Moscow’s ally Belarus entering the war, accusing Russia of staging “false flag” air attacks on Belarus from Ukraine to provide an excuse. Belarus has served as a staging post for Russian forces before and after the Feb. 24 invasion. The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment. Putin and Lukashenko agreed Moscow would supply its smaller neighbour with up-to-date military equipment, the official Belarus Belta news agency said. NO EU MEMBERSHIP Away from the battlefields, EU leaders meeting near Paris agreed to spend more on defence and cut reliance on Russian energy supplies by 2027. But they declined Ukraine’s call for a speedy admission to the EU. Western countries have moved to isolate Russia from the global financial system. The Russian rouble ended a third week of hefty losses, stripped of a third of its value in Moscow exchanges since Russia invaded Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. economy was strong – though inflation was a problem – and acknowledged there would be spillovers from sanctions against Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that on Saturday the bloc would suspend Moscow’s privileged trade and economic treatment; crack down on its use of crypto-assets; and ban the import of iron and steel goods from Russia as well as the export of luxury goods in the other direction. (Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Kevin Liffey and Daniel Wallis) View the full article