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Published by BANG Showbiz English Ariana DeBose hopes she can pave the way for more queer Afro Latinas in Hollywood. The 31-year-old actress became the first openly queer woman of colour to win an individual film Screen Actors Guild Award when she scooped the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role accolade on Sunday (27.02.22) and while it is an “honour” for her to be “seen”, she hopes her victory will help other women succeed in the future. Speaking in the SAG Awards press room after her win at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar, she said: “I think it’s just indicative that the doors are opening. “It’s an honour to be seen, it’s an honour to be an Afro-Latina – an openly queer woman of colour, a dancer, a singer, and an actor. It’s indicative to me that I will not be the last, and that’s the important part. “Whatever firsts are attached to my name, they are immensely special to me, but I’m focused on the fact that if I’m the first of anything that means I won’t be the last.” Ariana also paid tribute to Rita Moreno and Chita Rivera, who previously played Anita in ‘West Side Story’, for opening doors for her too. She said: “The legacy of Anita means a great deal to me, for many different reasons. “I’m a Broadway girl at heart. We speak so frequently about Rita Moreno, as we should, she’s legendary. “But the OG Anita on stage is Chita Rivera, and I have looked up to Chita for such a long time. She [paved the] way for me on the stage for me to be able to do what I do in that facet of the industry. “So, to be able to be a part of the legacy of Anita that includes both Chita and Rita—and now Ariana— it’s really special to me. And we’re all very different types of Latinas, that’s beautiful and important too. “There’s no one way to be Latina or Hispanic. There are many beautiful ways. I think each one of us is a testament to that.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jessica Chastain was “completely stunned” to be named Best Actress at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday (27.02.22). The 44-year-old actress was nominated for the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her work on ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ accolade alongside Olivia Colman (‘The Lost Daughter’), Lady Gaga (‘House of Gucci’), Jennifer Hudson (‘Respect’) and Nicole Kidman (‘Being the Ricardos’) and admitted she felt like the “luckiest person ever” when she was announced as the winner. Speaking on stage at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar, she said: “Whoa. Wow. Okay I’m really surprised. Thank you SAG-AFTRA for this, I’m completely stunned. I’m the luckiest person ever… “I wanted to be an actor my whole life, and ever since I was a kid it was the only thing I ever really thought about, and there were years of studying and auditioning and not getting jobs. And I know what that feels like and I know the loneliness of what that feels like. “And so, for those of you who are struggling and feeling unseen I just want you to keep going because you’re one job away, I promise! And the thing that really kept me going was you. It was everyone in this room and it was this community.” Jessica admitted it had been a “dream” to play evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in the movie and paid tribute to the “trailblazer”. She said: “She wrapped her arms around those who were repeatedly cast aside and she launched herself into decades of LGBTQ love. I worked on the project for 10 years, and I hope that we made her story in a way that she would be proud of.” Like many other winners, the actress touched on the situation between Ukraine and Russia. She concluded: “And I love my artistic family, and my heart is with our international family all over the world right now who is fighting for their safety and their freedom. I love you all so much, thank you very, very much.” Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role was awarded to Will Smith for his portrayal of Richard Williams in ‘King Richard’ and he gave a shout out to her alter ego’s real-life daughters, tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. He said: “That may have been one of the greatest moments of my career just now because my name was called for King Richard sitting next to Venus Williams and her sister.” Will hailed Richard a “dreamer like no one you’ve ever known” before thanking his castmates Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton. He said: “You guys are actors, so you know how sometimes your onscreen characters kind of bleed into real life. To walk you around this room tonight, to parent you on this film, to deliver you into this business has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life. “ Javier Bardem (‘Being the Ricardos’), Benedict Cumberbatch (‘The Power of the Dog’), Andrew Garfield (‘Tick, tick… BOOM!’) and Denzel Washington (‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’) were also nominated for the award. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Josh Gad thinks Disney “didn’t go far enough” in depicting his ‘Beauty and the Beast’ character as gay. The 41-year-old actor played the part of Le Fou in the 2017 movie, but Josh regrets not making more of Disney’s first-ever “gay moment”. He told The Independent: “We didn’t go far enough to warrant accolades. “We didn’t go far enough to say, ‘Look how brave we are.’ My regret in what happened is that it became ‘Disney’s first explicitly gay moment’ and it was never intended to be that. It was never intended to be a moment that we should laud ourselves for, because frankly, I don’t think we did justice to what a real gay character in a Disney film should be.” On reflection, Josh now regrets not making more of the opportunity. The actor – whose character briefly danced with another male character in the film – said: “If we’re going to pat ourselves on the back, then damn it we should have gone further with that. “Everybody deserves an opportunity to see themselves on screen, and I don’t think we’ve done enough – and I certainly haven’t done enough to do that.” By contrast, Josh previously claimed that he felt “so proud” of the film’s “gay moment”. The Hollywood actor – who starred in the movie alongside Emma Watson, Dan Stevens and Luke Evans – explained: “Here’s what we decided, we decided that LeFou’s happy ending would be to dance with another man, [and] that became such a controversial thing apparently, even though it was three seconds of screen time. “We never put a spotlight on it, we never meant to put a spotlight on it. I think the director Bill Condon was very proud of the moment and he made some comments about being very proud of it. “[But] the movie speaks for itself, and that moment speaks for itself.” View the full article

Mackenzie Phillips brings as much perspective as anyone to a discussion about public disclosure. She was twice fired from a beloved network series; arrested in a high-profile drug bust; and told Oprah and the millions watching of the long-term incestuous sexual abuse by her father, a famous musician who helped define the 1960s sound. And those are connected. She blames that abuse for her addictions and other unhelpful strategies. All that makes this a different disclosure, one without the downside, judgement, especially in how the world has changed for queers. DAVID YONTIF: You know you’re a gay icon, right? MACKENZIE PHILLIPS: Well, I love that… on Behidn the Velvet RopeOut On Behind The Velvet Rope, Casually In the wake of all that, her casual coming out on podcast two days ago was so full of other updates we are pleased to get to break this news just about worldwide. And for those of us of a certain age it’s big news. We watched Phillips grow up on ‘One Day at A Time’, a show that treated its characters as more real, and we got invested. Sources close to Phillips confirmed their belief that it’s her first time on the record/publicly revealing that she isn’t just an LGBTQ ally but has been and will continue to operate as a queer in practice and strongly identifies her place as in the broader gay community. …and I also love that throughout my life, I have lived on both sides of the curtain. –Mackenzie PhillipsA 10+ Year Sober Survivor with channels for all that actualization Sober more than 10 years since her arrest, she’s healed the deep rifts with her siblings that formed when she spoke out about the abuse. She’s maintained her lifelong friendship with co-star Valerie Bertinelli and spends weekends playing complicated board games with her son, who is in his mid 30s. In the last decade, Hollywood called a few times with roles in “Orange Is The New Black”, “Hot In Cleveland” and the reboot of “One Day At a Time”, but she spends more time counseling addicts and managing the Breathe Life Recovery Center where she’s a parter in the business started by “Oprah’s interventionist” Brad Lamm. I’ve had boyfriends, I’ve had girlfriends. –Mackenzie Phillips “One of our most attended tracks here [at Breath Center] is the chem-sex track, which is gay men with crystal meth and sex addiction issues because those those are so entangled.” Phillips says, describing the work and another way she’s part of the bigger community. She and Lamm also host a podcast called American Recovery, embedded below. So after weathering and growing through all those issues and some of the highest profile media circuses over the last few decades she is unconcerned with what others think. She feels not need to feed anyones need for details nor help them through their discomfort. What i hear is real joy in this part of the podcast. And why not? It’s all good news. If you really can’t listen to the entire Behind the Velvet Rope discussion, the queer segment is at 1:07:00 I am neither one, nor the other. –MACKENZIE PHILLIPS Breaking it down. Parsing it out The interviewer asks, in a somewhat set-up cut, if Phillips realizes she’s a Gay Icon.(Full text below) She says she is aware of it and moves into saying she’s more than an “ally”. i really like her next silly turn of phrase, “I have lived on both sides of the curtain.” A shower? Is this about her seeing things that a woman just ain’t supposed to see… from behind a curtain? I assume it’s akin to another phrase heard recently about sometimes “jumping the fence”. Then there’s the hard proof if you didn’t get the curtain bit, the hard news of having had relationships with men and women, but you’re not getting specifics on that either. I love our gay community. –MACKENZIE PHILLIPS COMES OUT QUEER ON “BEHIND THE VELVET ROPE” podcastWrapping it up is the best statement. It’s joyful. It’s so carefully worded that it’s got to be intentional. And it’s not something any young, testing-the-waters naif would say. No one says, “I love our gay community.” And for Phillips, It’s explicit in just the way she just said she’s not going to plant any flags or swear any oaths. This sounds like an oath. Why flip flop? I’ll assign intention here and guess Mackenzie Phillips isn’t needing to put any limits on who comes to bed. She can handle it. Has and will. Coming out Super Confident But when it comes to what counts, being part of a community that is committed, she’s already there. She’s is in, knows what she’s in for, participating in the communal and mutual defense agreements that bind especially communities of diverse groups each with struggles. Ms. Phillips could have been a Karen. She could pass, and “put all that behind her” and would have had powers and privileges waiting. But no. She knows better than most folks who come out a lot earlier, without the experience to know what’s important. At that point most of us hedge. We’re scared enough about and self conscious about what others think of us, let alone that whole community. That’s why we give and hear the caveats, the fears of suffocation, the fear of pressure to conform; and they don’t know the gay community like they know themselves and so we shy away from representing it then, saying blah blah “…but i’m not into the scene”, “but i’m not going to give up my life and join the gay community”. “but i’m not that gay. I don’t like dance music.” [This post contains video, click to play] Mackenzie Reflects on the Disclosures Starting with her child actor experience, not many get their big break in a film with pressures the size of “American Graffiti”. That then led to playing Julie Cooper on the classic hit show “One Day At a Time” In the episode above — her podcast with Brad Lamm, Phillips recounts the most harrowing pivotal moment going on Oprah’s show to share the big secret she’d held until release of her autobiography — that she’d been the victim of incestuous sexual abuse by her famous musician father for many years. That disclosure drove a wedge between Mackenzie and her siblings that took the better part of a decade to put back together. She happily reports they share texts and time together all the time these days, and as you heard on the first podcast will even sing a few lines her favorite Wilson Phillips tune. Published by Radar Online Mega The once-fractured Phillips family has seemingly healed. Since 2009, One Day At A Time star Mackenzie Phillips has been on the outs with most of her siblings. It was in the fall of that year that the now-62-year-old actress released her explosive memoir, High On Arrival, in which she detailed a longterm incestuous relationship with her father, late Mamas & Pappas singer John Phillips. The allegations shocked and horrified Mackenzie’s family, including her half-sisters – actress Bijou Phillips and singer Chynna Phillips – as well as her brother-in-law/Chynna’s husband, Billy Baldwin. Revealing her truth caused her relationships to become so “strained,” she wondered whether they’d ever be able to be reconciled. Mega Stopping by the Behind The Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast, Mackenzie said she credits Oprah Winfrey with both shining a light on her book as well as helping her realize that her relationship with her father was not consensual, as she had previously and mistakenly thought. In fact, she recalled her story being initially dismissed by her siblings – until it took off. “I think that there was a thought that, ‘Oh, yeah, Mackenzie is writing a book. No one’s ever going to read it,'” she explained. “And then Oprah came into play and Simon and Schuster, a huge publishing house came into play, and I think everybody got really upset.” “And I understand that,” she made sure to note. “And had I known the distress it would’ve caused everybody on such a visceral level, I would certainly have considered doing things slightly differently. I certainly would not have decided to not tell my truth, because my truth needed to be told, but I likely would have done it slightly differently.” Mega “On the day that the book was published, the day that it hit the stands, there was a lot of unrest and distress in my family, which has over the years gotten much better,” Mackenzie revealed. “Just in case anybody was wondering, there’s a family thread,” she added joyfully. “We all text and we’re all in touch. And we spend time together whenever we can.” As a former drug addict who’s now a manager and counselor at Breathe Life Healing Centers in West Hollywood, California, Mackenzie knows that “hindsight is 20/20.” She told David she and her siblings “killed a lot of those wounds” and are “all back in love with each other, as brothers and sisters should be.” “Not only did I survive, I actually am thriving,” she added. “And so that is something that I’m proud that I have weathered the storm, but I’m 62 years old. You know, what the F to be still here. I’m quite often amazed that I’m able to even put together an elusive sentence, let alone a paragraph, let alone help run a treatment center.” Mega In addition to having pride in her mended family and commitment to recovery, Mackenzie is also proud in other ways. Seemingly revealing for the first time that she is queer, she told David, “Throughout my life, I have lived on both sides of the curtain. I’ve had boyfriends, I’ve had girlfriends, you know, throughout my life. I am neither one nor the other. I love our gay community. And yeah, I love everybody.” “Not everybody,” she quickly noted. “Almost. It’s messy.” TRANSCRIPT Of Mackenzie Phillips Coming Out on Beyond the Velvet Rope Near the end of the show the two are tossing out their favorites in pop culture. Of course we also chat Mack’s favorite Wilson Phillips Song (shout out to sister Chynna Phillips) and Van Halen (shout out to Val). A no holds bar sit down chat with the one and only Miss Mackenzie Phillips. The One Day At A Time actor is featured on a just released podcast episode of ‘Behind the Velvet Rope’. She and host David Yontef have a funny, interesting conversation for the whole hour without a moment of lag. Near the end, the two are talking favorite shows, find much common ground especially when it comes to Scandal which logically leads to the following coming out exchange: DAVID YONTIF: ” When we started you made a joke about like “allyship” and, you know… you have lots of, gay boys, like myself… and lots of women …you know….Like, you are kind of a gay icon, Mackenzie, Do you realize this? MACKENZIE PHILLIPS: Well, I love that, and I also love that I throughout my life I have lived on both sides of the curtain. I’ve had boyfriends. I’ve had girlfriends. I am neither one, nor the other. I love our gay community. MACK: You know, Breathe Life Healing Center is LGBT owned and operated. One of our most attended tracks that we have here is chem-sex track, which is gay men with chrystal meth and sex addiction issues because those those are so entangled. And so we treat a lot of gay men with crystal meth and sex issues. And yeah, I mean, I love everybody. Not everybody almost. Mackenzie Phillips and Brad Lamm are America Recovers View the full article

Published by Factinate In a way, King James I of England is lucky. His predecessor Elizabeth was one of the most powerful and infamous monarchs in history, and his successor Charles got his head chopped off. Between those two, people tend to forget about the absolute hot mess that was King James. From his dark family history to his train-wreck marriage to his infamous boy-toys, it’s about time we brought King James’s dirty secrets to light. 1. His Parents Were A MessFor James, the family drama started even before he was born. His parents were Mary, Queen of Scots , and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley…. Read More View the full article

Published by St. Louis Post-Dispatch WENTZVILLE, Mo. — A banned book again will be available to high school students here after the Wentzville School Board reversed its decision in the face of criticism and a class action lawsuit. The board voted 5-2 on Friday to rescind its earlier decision to ban Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” The board then voted 5-1, with one member abstaining, to accept a review committee’s recommendation to retain the book, which had been challenged by a parent. “‘The Bluest Eye’ doesn’t offer anything to our children,” argued board member Sandy Garber. She had been a leading critic of the Morrison book,… Read More View the full article

The Latest Zelensky Video Zelensky video: Sizzle Reel for Dancing With Stars Finals 2006 Caption (translated) Tomorrow we will have the grand finale of the #DancingStars show. Let’s remember the best performances of the winners of the first season. In your opinion, what helped Volodymyr Zelensky and Olena Shoptenko get the title of the best dancing couple? Though frequently referred to as a “former comedian”, it’s not like Pete Davidson becoming president. In fact Volodymyr Zelensky has a law degree from the Kyiv Economic University, has accumulated broad experience . So, actually it’s more like Kim Kardashian who has one as well. But that’s where the comparisons stop. Wait, he also starred on a reality show, the Ukrainian Dancing With the Stars, but now that comparison really does stop since he did some things, danced and featured some fashion skills. Turns out he won that competition and here are the highlights TV Series: ‘Servant of the People’, Zelensky Plays a Teacher Elected President Because of a Viral Video : 2 Episodes Subtitles Volodymyr Zelensky, a 41-year-old actor who became a household name playing, in what some would call irony and others “lol 2019,” an unlikely president named Vasiliy Petrovich Goloborodko on the Ukrainian television show Servant of the People in 2015 Far from a traditional candidate, Zelensky didn’t do debates or even standard meet and greets. He set up rallies with a big circle that looked like the main ring of a circus and would dance and tell jokes. The Financial Times quoted him as explaining, “Why would there be a need for campaigning? You’re smart people, you know what to do on March 31, right?” This was not all ready for prime time either. It was quirky and described as disturbing, not to mention a serious reliance on jokes that were offensive, with many making a punchline out of a situation or wordplay degrading to women. And he was elected and, well we’re watching and seeing how suited he is to the job under pressure. Zelensky Videos: This week [This post contains video, click to play] Videos of last 3 days by Zelensky have had an impact first directly addressing the Russian people, in Russian. The other two quick ones countering misinformation, encouraging his fellow countrymen to fight, proving he’s not fled Zelensky’s selfie videos have calmed and fortified his country in these first days under Russian attack, even as Russia’s Putin has made it clear he is a primary target. The Russian leader has encouraged the Ukrainian army to overthrow his government, and has made regime change a requirement for any talks. But so far Zelensky has been posting regular messages — ‘We will not lay down our weapons’, he said, going on to rejected rumors that he had told the army to surrender and proved that he had not left the country by filming in front of a landmark. The Headlines: In Video, a Defiant President Zelensky Says, ‘We Are Here’ President Zelensky posts video as Russian troops advance ‘We are all here,’ Ukraine’s Zelensky says in video from Kyiv U.S. stands ready to evacuate Zelensky, Russia’s ‘target No. 1’ Ukraine’s Zelensky asks citizens to resist and Europe to do more – BBC “Enemy’s Marked Me No. 1 Target, Family Is No. 2″: Ukraine President — NDTV Zelensky Posts Defiant Videos From the Streets of Kyiv as Putin’s Forces Close In — Intercept Zelensky Agrees to Talks, as Putin Places Nuclear Forces on Alert — NY Times Posted last night by Zelensky’s No 2 Original post below Cheryl Hole Adele Gay Club London on Towleroad More than 100,000 rally in Berlin against Russia’s war on Ukraine More Ukraine’s government raises crypto worth $8 million in crowdfunding appeal More At war with Ukraine, Putin puts nuclear “deterrence” forces on alert More Trump condemns Russia invasion; hints again at 2024 presidential run More Jussie Smollett seeks a new trial in hate crime case More US Republican party in the long shadow of Donald Trump at key conference More Elliot Page condemns anti-trans laws in Texas More Analysis-Putin’s end-game? Split Ukraine and install ‘tame’ leadership, analysts say More Biden pick preserves Supreme Court’s even split – between Harvard and Yale More Supermodel Linda Evangelista Seen Publicly For The First Time Without Mask After Botched Surgery More China says it respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and Russia’s security concerns More Whoopi Goldberg Is ‘Untouchable’ At ‘The View,’ Peacocking Around After Ratings Dip During Two-Week Suspension More Los Angeles counts its growing homeless population More Load More View the full article

Published by DPA People march in front of the Brandenburg Gate during a demonstration under the slogan “Stop the war! Peace for Ukraine and all Europe” against the Russian attack on Ukraine. Kay Nietfeld/dpa More than a hundred thousand people took to the streets of central Berlin on Sunday to decry Russia’s war against Ukraine, far exceeding organizers’ hopes for 20,000 protesters to turn out. About an hour after the start of the demonstration at 1 pm (1200 GMT), the police put the number of participants in the low six figures. That figure was expected to rise as more anti-war demonstrators continued to pour in. People were packed on the boulevard between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. They waved Ukrainian flags and held signs reading “Stop the war,” “Stop all trade with Putin now” and “Solidarity with Ukraine.” Authorities said coronavirus capacity limits had been reached and so the demonstration area was expanded farther into the area around the Tiergarten park. An alliance of trade unions, churches, environmental organizations and peace groups had called for the demonstration. People hold march during a demonstration under the slogan “Stop the war! Peace for Ukraine and all Europe” against the Russian attack on Ukraine. Jörg Carstensen/dpa People hold signs, flags and placards during a demonstration under the slogan “Stop the war! Peace for Ukraine and all Europe” against the Russian attack on Ukraine. Kay Nietfeld/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters By Tom Wilson LONDON (Reuters) – Ukraine’s government has raised almost $8 million in cryptocurrencies after posting appeals on social media for donations of bitcoin and other digital tokens, according to blockchain analysis company Elliptic. Ukraine’s official Twitter account made the appeal for cryptocurrency donations on Saturday following the country’s invasion by Russia, posting digital wallets addresses for tokens including bitcoin and ether. Ukraine’s Vice-Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov Tweeted the wallet addresses. “Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations,” wrote Fedorov, who is also minister of digital transformation. The donations came as Russian military vehicles pushed into Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv on Sunday and explosions rocked oil and gas installations on a fourth day of fighting in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. By 1030 GMT Sunday, the wallet addresses had received crypto worth $7.9 million across almost 11,500 donations, London-based Elliptic said. The company tracks the movement of digital coins on the blockchain, a public ledger that records crypto transactions. Ukraine’s ministry of digital transformation did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Its crypto crowdfunding appeal is unprecedented. Though some states such as El Salvador have embraced cryptocurrencies, Ukraine’s appeal for direct donations is among the first of its kind. It was not clear what Kyiv would use the funds for. Crypto donations to Ukrainian volunteer and hacking groups have also spiked since Russia launched its invasion on Thursday, Elliptic said this week. The donations to such groups, some of which have supplied equipment to government forces, grew strongly in January as Russia massed troops near Ukraine’s border ahead of its invasion. (Reporting by Tom Wilson, editing by Ed Osmond) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Maria Tsvetkova and Aleksandar Vasovic KYIV/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military command to put nuclear-armed forces on high alert on Sunday as Ukrainian fighters defending the city of Kharkiv said they had repelled an attack by invading Russian troops. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that “President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable and we have to continue to stem his actions in the strongest possible way”. On the fourth day of the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two, the Ukrainian president’s office said negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow would be held at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. They would meet without preconditions, it said. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians, mainly women and children, were fleeing from the Russian assault into neighbouring countries. The capital Kyiv was still in Ukrainian government hands, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rallying his people despite Russian shelling of civilian infrastructure. But Putin, who has described the invasion as a “special military operation”, thrust an alarming new element into play on Sunday when he ordered Russia’s deterrence forces – a reference to units which include nuclear arms – onto high alert. He cited aggressive statements by NATO leaders and economic sanctions imposed by the West against Moscow. “As you can see, not only do Western countries take unfriendly measures against our country in the economic dimension – I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows about very well – but also the top officials of leading NATO countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements with regards to our country,” Putin said on state television. Russian soldiers and armoured vehicles rolled into Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, and witnesses reported firing and explosions. But city authorities said Ukrainian fighters had repelled the attack. “Control over Kharkiv is completely ours! The armed forces, the police, and the defence forces are working, and the city is being completely cleansed of the enemy,” regional Governor Oleh Sinegubov said. Reuters was unable to immediately corroborate the information. Ukrainian forces were also holding off Russian troops advancing on Kyiv. “We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy attacks. The fighting goes on,” Zelenskiy said in a video message from the streets of Kyiv. In other developments, Russian troops blew up a natural gas pipeline in Kharkiv before daybreak, a Ukrainian state agency said, sending a burning cloud up into the darkness. Ukraine’s Western allies ratcheted up their response to Russia’s land, sea and air invasion with an almost blanket ban on Russian airlines using European airspace. In the strongest economic sanctions yet on Moscow, the United States and Europe said on Saturday they would banish big Russian banks from the main global payments system and announced other measures aimed at limiting Moscow’s use of a $630 billion war chest of central bank reserves. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Aleksandar Vasovic and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Alan Charlish in Medyka, Poland; Fedja Grulovic in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania; and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel and Angus MacSwan; Editing by David Clarke and Kevin Liffey) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Alexandra Ulmer ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) -Former President Donald Trump condemned on Saturday Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and said he was praying for Ukrainians, switching tone from his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week. Trump’s remarks at the CPAC conservative gathering in Florida came hours after the United States and allies announced sweeping new sanctions that would kick some Russian banks off the main global payments systems and limit the ability of Russia’s central bank to support the rouble. Addressing an adoring crowd at an event that touts itself as the world’s largest conservative gathering, Trump used his speech to bash Democratic President Joe Biden and again hint at a possible run for president in 2024. Trump had irked some Republican party members by describing Putin’s actions in Ukraine, where cities have been pounded by Russian artillery and cruise missiles, as “genius” and “pretty savvy.” Trump expressed empathy for Ukrainians and this time praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, calling him “brave” as he stays in Kyiv, the capital. “The Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling. We are praying for the proud people of Ukraine. God bless them all,” Trump said. Trump said that Putin took advantage of Biden’s being “weak” to attack Ukraine. He also linked the invasion to the U.S. 2020 presidential election, a fixation of his, again falsely saying that fraud was to blame for Biden’s victory. “As everyone understands, this horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged and if I was the president,” he said, to which a woman in the packed audience responded: “You are the president!” Trump has not confirmed whether he will run for president again in 2024, but has hinted at it heavily recently and did so again on Saturday. “On November 2024, they (Democrats) will find out like never before. We did it twice, and we’ll do it again. We’re going to be doing it again, a third time,” Trump said. Democratic lawyer Marc Elias tweeted that Trump’s words should trigger a “series of legal requirements related to his spend and disclosures.” Trump’s fundraising operations have raised a cash pile of more than $100 million and he is criss-crossing the country holding rallies. TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN, WORLD LEADERS Trump also cited Russia’s invasion of Georgia under George W. Bush and Crimea under Barack Obama before declaring: “I stand as the only president of the 21st century on whose watch Russia did not invade another country.” Trump did address his past praise of Putin, saying he was correct that Putin was smart because he was outfoxing world leaders and NATO. “The real problem is that our leaders are dumb, dumb. So dumb,” he said. The Democratic National Committee criticized Trump’s comments. “The defeated former president took the stage at CPAC to double down on his shameless praise for Putin,” it said in a statement. In an interview released earlier on Saturday, Biden mocked Trump’s comment that Putin was a “genius.” “I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin is a genius than when he called himself a stable genius,” Biden said. Conservatives at the CPAC conference in Orlando, Florida, which ends on Sunday, have repeated the line that Putin decided to invade Ukraine because he knew Biden was “weak.” Republican politicians have broadly steered clear of lauding Putin, however, and hot-button domestic issues, such as mask mandates, have featured far more heavily than foreign policy. Earlier on Saturday, J.D. Vance, a Republican candidate for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat, said the American political class was fixated on the Ukraine conflict to the detriment of problems closer to home, such as record crossings at the Mexican border. “I’m sick of being told that we have to care more about people 6,000 miles away than we do people like my mom, and my grandparents, and all the kids who are affected by this crisis,” said Vance, a venture capitalist and author. (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Susan Heavey in Washington, D.C.; Writing by David MorganEditing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jussie Smollett is seeking a new trial after being convicted of falsely reporting a hate crime. The 39-year-old actor was convicted of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for making false police reports, after staging a fake hate crime in 2019, but he’s now filed paperwork to get a new trial. In the 83-page document, the actor claims that his constitutional rights were violated during the case, as his legal team were blocked from actively participating in the jury selection process. In the documents – which have been obtained by NBC – his attorneys claim that the court “made numerous trial errors leading up to the trial and during the pendency of the trial”. The legal team also argue that the evidence was “insufficient and inconsistent so that no reasonable trier of fact could have found Mr. Smollett guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and thus there is evidence that the jury verdict was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence”. The document adds: “As such, the Defendant now respectfully requests that his convictions be vacated or in the alternative, that the Court grant the Defendant a new trial.” In December, the former ‘Empire’ star was found guilty on five of the six charges he faced in court. Smollett was convicted on five counts related to giving a false report to police on the day of the alleged attack. However, he was found not guilty on the sixth count of giving a false report to police at a later date, following the incident in Chicago in January 2019. The actor initially reported an alleged attack outside his apartment by two men in ski masks. Smollett claimed that he was subjected to racist and homophobic abuse. Smollett also alleged that he had an “unknown chemical substance” dumped on him and had a noose put around his neck. View the full article

Published by AFP The 75-year-old billionaire and former US president Donald Trump is due to speak on February 26, 2022, at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida Orlando (AFP) – Donald Trump may have lost the last US election and be under investigation over the 2021 Capitol riot, but the former president’s dominance remains undented in the Republican party, where he is virtually unchallenged. The 75-year-old billionaire is due to speak on Saturday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida — an opportunity to gild his popularity. Even before his arrival at the hotel hosting the conference, Trump’s presence is felt in the numerous red “Make America Great Again” hats and in speeches, like that of Senator Ted Cruz, rife with taunts and attacks on figures reviled by conservatives. “Trump is so popular that whatever position he takes most Republicans feel that they have to go along with them or at least not overly criticize them,” Aubrey Jewett, political science professor at the University of Central Florida, told AFP. “Because if they do, the president is going to take political revenge.” – ‘Future of the party’ – Trump’s influence looms large as midterm legislative elections approach in November, with the political risks to Republicans who don’t fall in line implied in some of his statements. Last month, Trump suggested he might pardon those who participated in the January 6 assault on the US Capitol if he were reelected president, a provocative proposal met with little pushback from Republicans save a handful, including New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who said those who stormed the seat of US democracy to stop the certification of Democratic President Joe Biden’s election win needed to be held accountable. The former president continues to insist the election was stolen, despite 50 percent of Republican voters wanting to put those accusations aside and look to the future, according to a Politico poll published earlier this month. “I think many of the Republican leaders, including a lot of campaign managers, would rather put that behind them,” Jewett said. “They don’t see it as the future of the party. They’d rather not talk about any issues that could be controversial with voters.” But Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, underscored that Trump “is still a person whose endorsement is sought after, especially in the most conservatives areas.” She added, however, that “we are increasingly seeing that some of the language and tone things don’t work as well with woman voters. And they are often the swing voters.” – DeSantis, a possible adversary? – Trump’s dominance is such that few other leading voices stand out in the party, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appearing to be the only possible exception. On Thursday, DeSantis’ CPAC speech, in which he again criticized Biden and presented himself as a defender of individual freedom against a heavy-handed federal government, was met with cheers and applause. Some of his policies in Florida, such as prohibiting Covid-19 mask mandates in schools, made him a favorite of media like Fox News. While DeSantis hasn’t said he’s aiming for the White House, he also hasn’t ruled it out even if Trump runs. A poll released this week by the University of North Florida found that among Republicans registered in the state, the governor is almost neck and neck with Trump as a favorite for president. “As a governor, DeSantis has a very good feel of the economical issues that affect local governments and local businesses,” MacManus said. “And he’s able to speak about the economy in a way more meaningful to people as the grassroot. And right now the economy is the big issue.” A possible sign of DeSantis’ growing influence, according to the New York Times, is that he’s drawn Trump’s ire by refusing to declare he won’t run for president in the 2024 election even if the former president stands. Trump, who was a key contributor to DeSantis’ rise from little-known politician to governor of Florida — a key state in presidential polls — expects loyalty. “I think that, at this point, it will be political suicide if DeSantis comes out against Trump,” said Jewett. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Elliot Page has condemned Texas government officials for declaring that medical care for transgender youths is child abuse. The ‘Juno’ actor – who came out as transgender in December 2020 – has spoken out after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared earlier this week that hormone therapy, puberty blockers and other types of gender-affirming health care for trans youth are forms of child abuse. Texas Governor Greg Abbott added that “prompt and thorough investigations” into gender-affirming care for trans-youth would take place. In a statement to Variety, Elliot said: “I am horrified by the inhumane and downright dangerous declarations by the Texas Governor and Attorney General. “Trans youth deserve gender-affirming care and to be able to live their true, authentic selves without fear and oppression. I stand with trans youth and their families.” Gabrielle Union has also hit out at the new laws, with similar legislation being passed in Florida. She tweeted: “This is where we are. “We shot past dangerous and horrific a long time ago. The rubber has hit the road so who is standing shoulder to shoulder in this fight? Who truly gives a s*** and whose on that performative bs? Let’s see. (sic)” Prominent trans actor Jen Richards also slammed the politicians for their proposals. The ‘Better Things’ star wrote on Twitter: “Texas has declared that the kind of care recommended by every major medical and paediatric association, with decades of proof of efficacy, and provided by doctors in full cooperation with parents… is child abuse.” Richards added: “We know what the result will be. Because trans people exist, have always existed, and will always exist, it just means that trans youth will be more at risk, more vulnerable, at home and in schools. They will be kicked out or run away and suicide rates will spike.”` View the full article

Published by Reuters By Robin Emmott, Sabine Siebold and Tom Balmforth BRUSSELS/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks designed to take Kyiv and create a land corridor south to the Black Sea, splitting the country into two, military analysts and former officials said, echoing the view of Ukraine’s generals. President Vladimir Putin may still seek some form of control over the entire country, they said, as he strives to stop Ukraine ever joining NATO. He is also not guaranteed victory. A senior U.S. defence official said on Friday that Russia was facing more resistance than it expected, not least in its advance on Kyiv. The tactics of the advancing Russian troops point to a “flanking movement” from Ukraine’s weakest points – its northern border with Belarus, and in the south Crimea, which Russian annexed eight years ago, with its huge naval base. Such a strategy, if successful, could allow Moscow to control eastern Ukraine including its seaboard directly while reducing western Ukraine to a vassal state, and in turn reduce the financial costs of a long-term occupation, experts say. “I think that now they (the Russians) are aiming at creating a land bridge all the way to Moldova,” said Konrad Muzyka, director of the Poland-based Rochan consultancy. Russian tanks and forces began their invasion on Thursday through the eastern Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, and from the south in Tavriya, while missile strikes and bombing from Belarus began an advance towards Kyiv from the north, according to the Ukrainian military. According to a Ukrainian defence ministry broadcast posted on Facebook on Thursday, military movements so far suggest that the Kremlin’s goal is to “block Kyiv, create a land corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula and self-proclaimed Transnistria”. In 2014, Russia not only seized Crimea but also backed rebels who set up separatist administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk, in the largely Russian-speaking Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. It also has troops in Transnistria, a Russian-speaking breakaway province of Moldova. Joerg Forbrig, at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, said Russian troops could “try to gain control of a very large part of Ukraine, which will include those territories that would make a land corridor between the between the three territories they control already”. ‘UKRAINIANS WOULD RESIST’ Ukraine’s armed forces have so far denied Putin a rapid advance on Kyiv. “As long as the Russians don’t have control of the airspace, they won’t be able really to make their armoured thrust into Ukraine count,” said Jamie Shea, a former NATO official now at the Friends of Europe think-tank. Russian missiles pounded Kyiv on Friday. Moscow claimed to have captured the Hostomel airfield northwest of the capital, a potential staging post for an assault on Kyiv. U.S. officials believe Russia’s initial aim is to topple Ukraine’s pro-Western president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Putin doesn’t want Donbass or Donetsk – he wants all of Ukraine, but he does not have to occupy the entire country to reach that goal. He will aim to decapitate the Ukrainian state,” said retired German general Hans-Lothar Domroese. Defence experts pointed to the huge expense for Russia of a military campaign in Ukraine, a former Soviet state of 44 million people slightly smaller than Texas. “The Soviet Union spent so much money having its troops in eastern Europe, and they were they were willing participants as communist regimes. Ukrainians would resist any Russian government,” said Elisabeth Braw at the American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington. It is also unclear how a protracted war with many Russian casualties would be perceived at home, even when Putin does not tolerate dissent. Police detained more than 1,800 anti-war protesters across Russia on Thursday. Putin could seek an arrangement for western Ukraine – where most people speak Ukrainian rather than Russian as their first language – similar to the one Moscow has with Belarus, where Russia has helped long-time president Alexander Lukashenko suppress opposition and dissent. Carlo Masala, professor for International Politics at Bundeswehr University Munich, said Russia had so far not tried to send troops to western Ukraine in numbers. “The Russian military build-up, no matter if it is 160,000 or 200,000 troops, is not enough to occupy Ukraine for any long period of time,” he said. “I am still sure that Putin’s main goal is seizing Donbass … and a land corridor to Crimea, splitting these areas off from Ukraine and establishing a tame government in Kyiv.” (Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Kevin Liffey) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Karen Sloan (Reuters) – The addition of Ketanji Brown Jackson will not change the grip that Harvard and Yale Law alumni hold on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Jackson, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1996, to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, another Harvard Law alumnus. If she is confirmed, eight of the nine sitting justices will be from Harvard or Yale Law – four from each school. Harvard and Yale’s dominance has prompted handwringing for years. Both Representative Jim Clyburn, a Democrat, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said before Jackson’s nomination that Biden should pick someone without an Ivy League pedigree. “Everybody doesn’t have to be from Harvard and Yale,” Graham said last month on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. Amy Coney Barrett, a 1997 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School, is the sole sitting justice without a law degree from Harvard or Yale. Barrett was appointed by former President Donald Trump after the 2020 death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who transferred from Harvard to Columbia in her final year of law school. University of Tennessee law professor Benjamin Barton, a Supreme Court expert, said the concentration of Harvard and Yale law graduates creates a bench that’s out of touch with the country. “It’s not a track where you get broad life experience,” he said. It is also a relatively recent phenomenon. Between 1902 and 1950, about 16% of confirmed justices came from Harvard or Yale Law, according to an analysis by Patrick Glen of Georgetown Law. That percentage steadily increased until the 1986 confirmation of Harvard Law graduate Antonin Scalia, after which only Ginsburg and Barrett joined the court without either Yale or Harvard diplomas. Glen points to the failed 2005 nomination of Harriet Miers as a possible factor. She was criticized for her law degree from much lower-ranked Southern Methodist University, among other perceived shortcomings. “A president may believe he will have an easier time selling a nominee from Harvard or Yale based on the cultural renown that both schools share,” Glen wrote. (Reporting by Karen Sloan; Editing by David Bario and Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Former supermodel Linda Evangelista was pictured in New York City for the first time without a face mask since her botched plastic surgery. The 56-year-old Canadian supermodel made her first brave public outing since revealing her “brutally disfigured” body after getting a cosmetic fat-freezing procedure. Evangelista was dressed in all-black loungewear with no attempt to hide her face or her appearance. The former CoverGirl was seen in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market on Wednesday — one week after her telling interview with PEOPLE. Mega The model spoke to the magazine accusing CoolSculpting, a popular FDA-approved “fat-freezing” procedure, that she says left her “permanently deformed.” Evangelista had a message to her fans saying, “To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving, the reason is that I was brutally disfigured.” She added, “CoolSculpting procedure which did the opposite of what it promised.” Model Linda Evangelista ‘Brutally Disfigured,’ Shares First Photos Since Botched Plastic Surgery Mega The ’90s fashion star revealed she “stopped eating” because she feared she was losing her mind after noticing the bulges on her body post-procedure. Evangelista said she went to her doctor and had a full-body inspection to figure out what she was doing wrong — only for the doctor to diagnose her with Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia. She filed a lawsuit suing CoolSculpting’s parent company, Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., in September for $50 million in damages. Evangelista claims she has been unable to work since the procedures so she underwent liposuction in an attempt to fix the botched job. The former model claims she had to wear girdles, a chin strap, and compression garments for eight weeks after the liposuction to prevent the PAH from coming back. Evangelista said the condition returned after her second liposuction. Mega Fashion’s former “It Girl” was once married to Gerald Marie from the late ’80s to early ’90s. She later dated French football player Fabien Barthez in 2000 but broke up after a reported miscarriage of their child. Evangelista has one son, Augustin James, 16, with French billionaire Francois Henri Pinault whom the model dated for only a few months in 2005. View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told senior European officials on Friday that China respects countries’ sovereignty, including Ukraine’s, but that Russia’s concerns about NATO’s eastward expansion should be properly addressed. After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed an invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south on Thursday that was the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two. Weeks before the invasion, China and Russia announced a strategic partnership, and so far Beijing has stayed clear of condemning Moscow’s actions. Wang said the current situation in Ukraine was not something Beijing wished to see and that it would welcome direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible. “China firmly advocates respecting and safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries,” Wang said, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry. “This equally applies to the Ukraine issue.” Wang held separate calls with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and a French presidential adviser. “Given five consecutive rounds of NATO’s eastward expansion, Russia’s legitimate security demands should be taken seriously and properly addressed,” Wang said, according to the statement. The U.N. Security Council was expected to vote on Friday on a resolution condemning Moscow’s invasion. Russia is expected to veto the measure, and Wang said China historically had opposed Council resolutions that applied sanctions or the use of force. He said the Council should seek to ease tensions, “not fuel them.” U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said any country that backed Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine would be “stained by association,” and Washington has said Chinese firms will face consequences if they seek to help Moscow evade export controls imposed by Western countries. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Chris Reese and Kevin Liffey) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Whoopi Goldberg feels on top of the world now that she’s back on The View. The talk show host has reportedly been “strutting around” the studio as her return from her two-week suspension also means a return of the viewers. Goldberg was suspended from her talk show after making some ill-advised comments about the Holocaust — but now that the actress is back, she’s reportedly feeling more powerful than ever. When the panelist was semi-booted from the show, she took a good chunk of the viewership with her. The View had a noticeable dip in ratings during the Star Trek actress’ absence — a burn to Whoopi’s rival Meghan McCain, who jumped at the opportunity to gloat about the host’s suspension. The first full week the host was missing from the program, The View allegedly lost up to 283,000 viewers. The biggest hit was from women aged 18-49 and 25-54. Rating demographics are weird. Once Goldberg returned, the viewership jumped a whole 113,000. She didn’t win back everyone who jumped when she was suspended without pay, but it’s enough to bring the overall viewership back to 2.3 million viewers. This marked the biggest week-to-week gain for the entire show’s history. “With Whoopi out from the show on suspension, the ratings dropped to the lowest in total viewers and key demos of the season,” an insider explained. “At the end of the day, TV is a business. The only thing that really matters is ratings.” The news seems to have gotten to Whoopi’s head. “She’s strutting around the place,” the source said. “She’s peacocking.” Goldberg was “livid” about the suspension and was telling coworkers she was going to “quit” the show after getting the blunt end of the stick even after she apologized on air. The Sister Act star sparked outrage when she claimed on the Jan. 31 episode that the Holocaust was “not about race.” The next day, she apologized, saying it was indeed about race because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race. Later that night, the network announced her suspension. ABC News President Kim Godwin called Whoopi’s comments “wrong and hurtful.” She added, “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.” What Goldberg ended up learning in that time is how valuable she really is to the show. View the full article

Published by AFP Figures from 2020 — the last time the survey was carried out — showed Los Angeles city alone had more than 66,000 homeless people, up more than 13 percent from the year before Los Angeles (AFP) – Tents, makeshift shelters and dilapidated campervans line the streets of Skid Row as Mike Murase and his team tally the exploding population of homeless people in Los Angeles. In the United States’ second biggest city, the unhoused huddle by small fires, trying to keep warm on one of the coldest nights of the year. Homelessness is “an intractable, stubborn issue that the politicians and agency leaders have not had the will to try to solve,” 75-year-old Murase tells AFP. Murase and his colleagues criss-cross the dozen-or-so roads they have been assigned as part of a three-day effort to count the number of people living on the streets. Figures from 2020 — the last time the survey was carried out — showed Los Angeles city alone had more than 66,000 homeless people, up more than 13 percent from the year before. Everyone expects this year’s number to be much higher. “During Covid there were so many jobs that were lost, you know, restaurant workers or laborers,” says Murase. “A lot of these people were unable to pay rent for maybe two, three months. They get kicked out and they have no family or other relatives to go to and they end up on the street. “I think there is a misconception that they’re mostly criminals, or addicts, or mentally ill people. “There’s a large number of people with those conditions, but there are (also) families, children.” Tourists shocked Visitors to Los Angeles often express shock at the sheer number of people living on the streets of one of the wealthiest cities in the wealthiest state of the wealthiest nation on the planet. Tents and tarpaulin shelters clump next to Hollywood tourist spots, or string out along embankments next to the city’s freeways. Rusting mobile homes with broken windows line the roads of Venice Beach, where multi-million dollar houses glower down at them. Obviously ill people wander through traffic, railing at unseen demons, or picking at their grimy clothes as they mutter into greasy beards. Others rummage through trash cans, or lie dazed on thoroughfares, the smell of urine a fug that pedestrians pick their way distastefully around. Some of the unhoused are new to the streets, victims of the pandemic economic crush, but others have been there for years. “I’ve lived downtown for about like seven, eight years. And it’s always been an issue seeing people on the street,” says Kimberly Briggs, who is volunteering alongside Murase. “I just want to participate in something that helps bring resolution to this problem, because there is suffering on the streets and housing is a human right.” The count is a federal government requirement that will help to determine grants to the local organizations trying to fix the unfixable. Volunteers are instructed not to interact with people; rather they must simply document what they see. The survey Murase and Briggs are doing takes them between warehouses ripe with spices whose heady scents mingle with the smell of cannabis. Many of the streets appear deserted, though there is evidence of people: here, the carapace of a campervan; there, plastic sheets stretched between shopping carts to form a rudimentary tent. A closer look at a darkened area reveals a human form lying against a brick wall, almost camouflaged by the head-to-toe blanket that covers him or her. Briggs carefully logs their presence in a special app on her phone, and the team walks on. An occasional “good evening” comes from some of those trying to settle in for the night, but most — like the man who sits blankly in his wheelchair — ignore the census-takers. Trash and rats Homelessness comes easy in the United States, where the welfare safety nets of other developed countries are largely absent, and the uninsured or under-insured can be a hospital bill away from a missing rent check and the resulting eviction. In California that problem is exacerbated by skyrocketing real estate prices that have pushed the average purchase price of a home to around $700,000 — twice the national figure. Before the pandemic, experts calculated that a person earning minimum wage would have to work 80 hours a week just to afford the rent on a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. To be able to pay for food and bills, they would have to work even longer. On Skid Row, the flickering campfires fueled by scraps of trash cast shadows on the walls, revealing the occasional rat scurrying from one hiding place to another. Less than a mile away, ritzy apartment buildings and office towers gleam silently into the night sky. “Look at all the private developers that are building all these tall buildings in Downtown LA,” splutters Murase. “What we need in the city is more affordable housing, and more services. That’s what we should be spending our dollars on. “Let’s treat people as human beings.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Matthias Williams LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – The morning after Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the nation in his favourite style: the selfie video. Unshaven, wearing a khaki jacket and flashing a smile, he told the nation that contrary to reports of him trying to flee, he was staying put in the capital. “Good morning to all Ukrainians! Lately there has been a lot of fake information online that I am calling on our army to lay down their arms and to evacuate. Listen. I am here,” he said, in a video that received 3 million views on Instagram in an hour. The setting was suitably eerie, with Zelenskiy standing in the morning light in front of the “House with Chimeras”, an Art Nouveau landmark covered in otherworldly animal figures across the road from his presidential office in Kyiv. It has been an unlikely transformation for the 44-year-old, who was a comedian and actor with no political experience before he was elected as president in 2019 – except when he played a fictional president in a satirical TV series. At the beginning of the crisis, some Ukrainians on social media feared Zelenskiy was out of his depth against veteran Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Moscow massed troops on the border to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He had been criticised for taking public swipes at the United States and other friendly powers when he felt they were not being sufficiently supportive. But Zelenskiy’s refusal to evacuate with Russian troops closing in on Kyiv and his calm presence in social media videos has won plaudits, even from self-described sceptics. “Whatever happens next, history will remember the simple physical courage Volodymyr Zelens’kyi displays in remaining in his capital, with his people, amidst a horrible invasion, knowing that he is its target,” Timothy Snyder, a history professor specialising in Ukraine at Yale said on Twitter. Olena Halushka, an activist at a well-known Ukrainian anti-corruption organisation, said on Twitter she had misjudged him. “I couldn’t imagine I’ll be proud of him as the supreme commander. He is worthy of our incredible nation.” THE PRESIDENT STAYS Zelenskiy has been a prolific social media user throughout his time in politics, goading his rivals during the election campaign in 2019, snapping pictures and videos of himself at the gym, in his office or addressing the nation with instructions during the coronavirus pandemic. Critics and political rivals have often sought to label him as a “clown” unsuited for high office. Before 2019, he dressed up in buffoonish costumes on stage, performed song and dance acts and, as the fictional president on TV, drunkenly fell into a swimming pool after a meeting with the head of the International Monetary Fund. Now, he is posting videos trying to give reassurance. In a previous selfie video, he stood on the street with his inner circle, showing them that his chief of staff, prime minister and closest advisers had also not left the capital. His style stands in contrast with Putin, who has often kept even close officials on the other side of a long table during meetings during the coronavirus pandemic. Nassim Taleb, the best-selling author of the book “The Black Swan”, compared Zelenskiy to the images that Putin has used in the past to project strength, including images of him riding bare-chested on horseback. “Putin the poseur on horseback is hiding in his remote bunker, while Zelenski, the former comedian, is risking his life on the frontline,” he said. On camera, Zelenskiy has spoken mainly in Ukrainian but also switched to Russian to address the Russian people, urging them to come out into the streets to protest the war. Vyachslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, asserted on Saturday without evidence that Zelenskiy had fled to the western city of Lviv and that his self-recorded video appearances were in fact pre-recorded. There was heavy fighting in several parts of the country on Saturday including clashes in the capital, and there have been media reports of Zelenskiy declining offers from foreign governments to be evacuated. Asked to comment on the reports, Zelenskiy’s spokesman said: “The president stays in Kyiv, the president stays with his people. No one will run away or drop weapons.” (Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by David Clarke) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Cecile Mantovani and Stefica Nicol Bikes GENEVA/SYDNEY (Reuters) -In a sea of blue and yellow flags and banners, protesters around the world showed their support for the people of Ukraine on Saturday and called on governments to do more to help Kyiv, punish Russia and avoid a broader conflict. Several hundred people marched through heavy rain in Sydney chanting “Ukraine will prevail”, while protesters in Tokyo called for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations Security Council. Thousands of people also took to the streets in Europe, with protesters – including many Ukrainians living abroad – in London, Nicosia, Berlin, Athens, Helsinki, Madrid and Milan draping themselves in flags and holding “stop the war” placards. “You look at the people gathered here and everybody is scared … We had peace for 80 years and all of a sudden, war is back in Europe,” said Stefan Pischel, among a crowd of some 2,500 in Munich’s Karlsplatz square. A rally that organisers estimated to number 20,000 people was held in the Swiss capital of Bern. The Ukrainian flag flew over the seat of the city council. Some called for the Swiss government to take tougher action against Russia and President Vladimir Putin, who said he ordered the “special military operation” not to occupy territory but to destroy Ukraine’s military capabilities and capture what the Kremlin regards as dangerous nationalists. In Istanbul, Ukrainians living in Turkey sang their national anthem and held banners with images of bloody handprints. “My family is in Kyiv region and they are attacking Kyiv today. I don’t know what to do, what to think. I am calling them every 10 to 15 minutes,” a protester who gave her name as Victoria said. “I hope the whole world will … just stand up and do something to protect our families.” ‘NOT ALONE’ Hundreds of people demonstrated in the square in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, carrying signs such “Make Ukraine a member of NATO now” and “Say no to Putin”. “I’m here because I’m extremely ashamed for my country of birth,” said Valery Bragar, a native Russian who has lived in Switzerland for 15 years and is now a Swiss citizen. The protests come on the heels of other demonstrations around the world in the past days. In Latin America, protesters joined rallies on Friday in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru, chanting “Long live Ukraine”. In Russia too, anti-war campaigners have defied warnings from the authorities to voice their anger. Police on Thursday detained more than 1,600 Russian protesters. In Sydney, some speakers demanded the government expand sanctions against Moscow and ban Russian citizens from visiting Australia, while others called for NATO to step in. “I want more economic sanctions on Russia, I want military help for Ukraine,” said Katarina, a protester who gave only her first name. “I want more action, more concrete action and less words. It’s too late for diplomacy right now.” Several hundred Russian, Ukrainian and Japanese protesters gathered in the busy Shibuya shopping district in central Tokyo, many with their children and holding Ukrainian flags, chanting “stop the war” and “stop Putin” in Japanese and English. “I just want to say, ‘Putin stop this, regain your sanity’,” said Hiroshi Sawada, a 58-year-old musician. In India, some of the anger was directed towards NATO and the West. “The kind of aggression we are witnessing in Ukraine has been forced by U.S. through NATO and also the Russian military forces who have entered Ukraine. Both are responsible for this situation,” student activist Neha said at a protest in New Delhi. (Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Lidia Kelly and Alison Williams; Editing by William Mallard and Ros Russell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Maria Tsvetkova and Aleksandar Vasovic KYIV (Reuters) – A defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv remained under Ukrainian control on Saturday as Russian forces renewed their assault, pounding the capital and other cities with artillery and cruise missiles. A U.S. defence official said Ukraine’s forces were putting up “very determined resistance” to the three-pronged Russian advance that has sent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing westwards, clogging major highways and railway lines. “We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy attacks. The fighting goes on,” Zelenskiy said in a video message from the streets of Kyiv posted on his social media. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a special military operation before dawn on Thursday, ignoring Western warnings and saying the “neo-Nazis” ruling Ukraine threatened Russia’s security. Top Russian security official and ex-President Dmitry Medvedev said military operations would be waged relentlessly until Putin’s goals were achieved. That ratcheting up of Russia’s rhetoric came as the Kremlin said its troops were advancing again after Putin ordered a pause on Friday for anticipated talks that never happened. An adviser to Zelenskiy denied that Kyiv had refused negotiations but said Russia had attached unacceptable conditions. He also said it was untrue that Russia had paused troop movements. Russia’s assault is the biggest on a European state since World War Two and threatens to upend the continent’s post-Cold War order. Medvedev said new sanctions on Russia were a sign of the West’s impotence in the conflict and he hinted at a severing of diplomatic ties, saying it was time to “padlock the embassies”. The United States has observed more than 250 launches of Russian missiles, mostly short-range, at Ukrainian targets, the U.S. defence official said. “We know that (Russian forces) have not made the progress that they wanted to make, particularly in the north. They have been frustrated by what they have seen is a very determined resistance,” the official said, without providing evidence. Moscow says it is taking care not to hit civilian sites. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, said on Saturday his fighters were also deployed in Ukraine. He said Russian forces could easily take Kyiv and other large cities but their task was to avoid loss of life. Putin has said he must eliminate what he calls a serious threat to his country from its smaller neighbour, accusing it of genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine – a charge dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies as baseless propaganda. CAPITAL UNDER CURFEW Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said there was no major Russian military presence in the capital, but that saboteur groups were active. The metro system was being used as a shelter for citizens and trains have stopped running, he said. Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion said 35 people, including two children, had been wounded overnight and that he was imposing a curfew from Saturday evening until Monday morning. Ukrainians faced lengthy queues for money at cash machines and for fuel at petrol stations, where individual sales are mostly limited to 20 litres. Many shops in the city centre were closed and the streets were largely empty on Saturday afternoon. “I was smart enough to stock up food for a at least a month,” said Serhiy, out for a walk before the curfew. “I did not trust the politicians that this would end peacefully.” At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed and 1,115 people wounded so far in Russia’s invasion, Interfax quoted Ukraine’s Health Ministry as saying. It was unclear whether the numbers comprised only civilian casualties. Interfax later cited the regional administration in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, saying 17 civilians had been killed and 73 wounded by Russian shelling. Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, won independence from Moscow in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union and wants to join NATO and the EU, goals Russia opposes. Putin says Ukraine is an illegitimate state carved out of Russia, a view Ukrainians see as aimed at erasing their distinctive history and identity. REFUGEES AND PROTESTS Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had captured Melitopol, a city of 150,000 in southeastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials were not immediately available to comment and Britain cast doubt on the report. If confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre the Russians have seized. The city of Mariupol, a key port on the Sea of Azov in southeast Ukraine, remained under relentless shelling on Saturday, its mayor Vadim Boychenko said in a televised address. “They are shelling schools, apartment blocks,” he said. About 100,000 people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine since Thursday, including 9,000 who have entered since 7 a.m. on Saturday, Polish Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker said. “The most important thing is that people survive,” said Katharina Asselborn, wiping away tears while waiting at the Polish border for her sister, aunt and her three children to arrive from their home in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odessa. “The last 30 kilometres to the border they went on foot.” Ukrainians were also crossing the borders into Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Protests against the war took place in Berlin, Berne, London, Tokyo, Sydney and other cities worldwide. “I’m here because I’m extremely ashamed for my country of birth,” Valery Bragar, a Russian who is now a Swiss citizen, said at a rally in Geneva. The crisis has galvanised the NATO Western military alliance, which has announced a series of moves to reinforce its eastern flank. Germany has approved the export of 400 rocket propelled grenades from German military stocks in the Netherlands to Ukraine, its defence ministry said, in a shift in policy after Berlin faced criticism for refusing to send weapons, unlike other Western allies. Western nations have also announced new sanctions on Russia, including blacklisting its banks and banning technology exports. They have stopped short of forcing Russia out of the SWIFT system for international bank payments, but the governor of a central bank in the euro zone told Reuters on Saturday such a decision was “just a matter of time, very short time, days”. In one of the first visible signs of sanctions being enforced over the invasion, France seized a car cargo ship in the Channel on Saturday that has been linked to the son of a former Russian spy chief. The invasion is also affecting Russia’s sports, cultural and other links. On Saturday Poland and Sweden said their national soccer teams would not play its World Cup qualifiers against Russia next month. (Reporting by Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, Natalia Zinets and Maria Tsvetkova in Kyiv, Aleksandar Vasovic in Mariupol, Alan Charlish in Medyka, Poland, Fedja Grulovic in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Robert Birsel, Gareth Jones and Alex Richardson; Editing by William Mallard and David Clarke) View the full article

Published by AFP Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sparked outrage after ordering a state agency to investigate transgender medical care for youth as potential child abuse Washington (AFP) – “Unethical,” “scary” and “maddening” — human rights groups have reacted with fury to a Texas order that a state agency should investigate cases of transgender children receiving gender-affirming medical care as child abuse. Earlier this week, Republican Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, directing it to probe “any reported instances of Texas children being subjected to abusive gender-transitioning procedures”. The order — which has been condemned by US President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration — followed a legal opinion issued by the Texas attorney general stating that “a number of so-called ‘sex-change’ procedures for minors already constitute child abuse under existing Texas law.” Human Rights Campaign, a US-based LGBTQ advocacy group, called the opinion and order “unprecedented” and “a craven, politically motivated attempt to criminalize healthcare decisions made between parents, medical experts, and transgender youth.” In a virtual meeting hosted by the group, 11-year-old Libby Gonzalez said it “feels very scary”. “It’s also super annoying that all of these lawmakers are just bullying me and other trans and non-binary kids. It’s really sad,” she said. “To say that it’s scary is an understatement of a lifetime,” said her mother, Rachel Gonzales. The US-based League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) on Friday called the order “unethical and illegal.” In a statement, LULAC LGBTQ committee chair Jesse Garcia said the move was “attacking a marginalized population… to score political points” and “fueling discrimination.” Dr. Stephen Rosenthal, medical director of the Child and Adolescent Gender Center, which offers medical care and advocacy to transgender children, called the moves “maddening.” “There are more than 25 years of published scientific evidence that support current clinical practice guidelines and standards of care,” he said. “This interdisciplinary model of care that is referred to as a gender-affirming approach has been endorsed by every major medical and mental health professional health society in the United States.” The Transgender Law Center has slammed the opinion and order as seeking “to criminalize parents, caregivers, guardians, or health care professionals.” The White House issued its own condemnation on Thursday. “The Texas Attorney General’s attack on loving parents who seek medical care for their transgender children is dangerous to the health of kids in Texas and part of a much larger trend of conservative officials cynically attacking LGBTQI+ youth to score political points,” a spokesperson told US media. Several US states, including South Dakota, Alabama and Florida, have put forward legislation regarding transgender youth in recent years. View the full article