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Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s climate-related agenda, already under threat due to congressional failure to pass key legislation, now faces the prospect of a hostile reception at the U.S. Supreme Court that could have lasting consequences on the use of federal power to tackle environmental issues. The court’s 6-3 conservative majority, suspicious of broad federal agency power, will weigh at oral arguments next Monday the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal- and gas-fired power plants under the landmark Clean Air Act. An eventual ruling restricting EPA authority could hobble the administration’s ability to curb the power sector’s emissions – representing about a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gases. “Could it be damaging? If it’s an adverse decision, of course it could be,” John Kerry, the Biden administration’s special envoy on climate change, told Reuters. The United States, trailing only China in greenhouse gas emissions, is a crucial player in global efforts to combat climate change. The case before the Supreme Court was brought by Republican-led states led by coal producer West Virginia. Other challengers include coal companies and coal-friendly industry groups. Coal is among the most greenhouse gas-intensive fuels. Democratic-led states and major power companies https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/us-utilities-side-with-environment-agency-supreme-court-climate-case-2022-01-27 including Consolidated Edison Inc, Exelon Corp and PG&E Corp sided with Biden’s administration, as did the Edison Electric Institute, an investor-owned utility trade group. The utility industry believes regulatory certainty will help companies devise investment plans. The justices will review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s 2021 ruling striking down Republican former President Donald Trump’s Affordable Clean Energy rule. That regulation would have imposed limits on a Clean Air Act provision called Section 111 that gives the EPA authority to regulate emissions from existing power plants. The rule proposed by Trump, a supporter of the U.S. coal industry who also questioned climate change science, was meant to replace Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan requiring big cuts in carbon emissions from the power industry. The Supreme Court blocked implementation https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-carbon/supreme-court-blocks-obama-carbon-emissions-plan-idUSKCN0VI2A0 of the Clean Power Plan in 2016 without ruling on its lawfulness. Coal-aligned groups now want the justices to rule that Biden’s administration cannot take a sweeping approach to regulating carbon emissions under Section 111. Such a decision would prevent the EPA from enforcing industry-wide changes, confining it to measures targeting individual plants. That would be a huge blow for Biden’s administration, which has a goal of decarbonizing the U.S. power sector by 2035. The White House’s incentive-base proposal to achieve that goal was rejected in Congress during budget and infrastructure legislation negotiations. INDIRECT CURBS? The Supreme Court already has shown hostility to broad agency actions, most recently on Jan. 13 by blocking Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-blocks-biden-vaccine-or-test-policy-large-businesses-2022-01-13 for large employers. The court said congressional authorization was required for any policy imposing “a significant encroachment on the lives – and health – of a vast number of employees.” The court previously has cited what is called the “major questions” doctrine in blocking other government actions, including a 2014 ruling limiting an earlier EPA regulation aimed at reducing carbon emissions from new plants. The challengers in the latest case are making similar arguments that Congress did not explicitly empower the EPA to issue sweeping regulations under Section 111. “Major policy choices affecting the national economy should not be made by unelected agency officials,” lawyers for the North American Coal Corporation, one of the challengers, wrote in court papers. The court could stop short of a “serious check” on the power of the EPA and other federal agencies while reaching “a more technical result that says something along the lines of ‘you can’t do ambitious climate policy under Section 111,'” said University of South Carolina law professor Nathan Richardson. The justices also could dismiss the appeal altogether if they conclude the challengers lack proper legal standing considering there is no regulation currently on the books. If Biden’s administration loses the case, Congress would need to pass new legislation for the government to impose sweeping climate-related regulations – an unlikely prospect in the near-term given the deep divisions among lawmakers. Climate experts have said the EPA meanwhile could attempt to regulate carbon emissions from power plants indirectly by ramping up efforts to curb other air pollutants like soot that tend to rise and fall with carbon dioxide, or by requiring efficiency upgrades. Biden’s administration also could seek action from other agencies and departments like fast-tracking electric transmission projects that could connect far-flung solar and wind farms to consumers. “A number of different agencies have pieces of the decarbonization puzzle,” said Kyle Danish, a lawyer who represents companies on environmental issues. Such efforts on their own are insufficient to reach the administration’s emission-reduction targets, which is why broad EPA authority to regulate power plants remains important, said David Doniger, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the environmental groups that challenged Trump’s rule. “The target that they set is not going to be achieved by a silver bullet,” Doniger said. “It’s going to be a lot of silver buckshot.” (This story corrects date of arguments, Monday instead of Tuesday) (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Additional reporting by Aidan Lewis in Cairo; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gabriella Borter (Reuters) – Medication abortion accounted for more than half of all abortions in the United States as of 2020, a new survey found, a significant increase from prior years as the pills became more widely available and surgical abortions harder to obtain. Fifty-four percent of abortions administered in 2020 involved the two-pill method as opposed to a surgical procedure, according to a survey published on Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy research group. The data showed a jump from 2017, when Guttmacher found that 39% of abortions were done by medication. The research group collects data from U.S. abortion providers every three years. Abortion rights advocates consider medication abortion essential to the future of abortion access in the United States, allowing women who live far from clinics to end their pregnancies without significant travel and financial hurdles. The U.S. Supreme Court could overhaul abortion rights as soon as this spring, when it is expected to rule on a Mississippi law that bans abortion at 15 weeks. The court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has signaled its willingness to let that ban stand. Such a ruling would undercut the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that established the right to end pregnancy before the fetus is viable, at around 24 weeks. If Roe is overturned, some two dozen states would move quickly to ban abortion. “Particularly if patients are living in states where abortion is banned, patients may be able to access medication abortion through the internet,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy expert at Guttmacher. “For many people, it may be easier to access abortion care through the internet rather than travel hundreds of miles to get to a facility.” Abortion opponents see limiting access to the pills as a new front in their fight to end abortion. So far this year, at least 16 state legislatures have introduced bills that would restrict the administration of abortion pills or ban their use altogether, according to Guttmacher. The use of medication to terminate a pregnancy up to 10 weeks was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000. The method involves two drugs, taken over a day or two. The first, mifepristone, blocks the pregnancy-sustaining hormone progesterone. The second, misoprostol, induces uterine contractions. For years, the FDA restricted the use of medication abortion with measures like requiring mifepristone to be dispensed in person, rather than allowing it to be prescribed remotely and sent by mail. The FDA eased its restrictions in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic posed a barrier to in-person healthcare. The agency then permanently relaxed its prior restrictions on the pill in December 2021, allowing the drug to be prescribed by certified providers via telemedicine and sent by mail. However, laws in some states further limit the accessibility of medication abortion. In 19 states, the physician prescribing the pills must be present for their administration, meaning telemedicine is not allowed. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Richard Pullin) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Rosie O’Donnell has become a grandmother for the third time. The 59-year-old comic “loves” being a “nana” so is delighted that her daughter Chelsea and boyfriend Jacob Bourassa, welcomed daughter Avery Lynn – a sibling for Skylar and Riley – into the world on Wednesday (23.02.22). She said in a video shared to TikTok: “Okay, big news. Congratulations to my daughter, Chelsea, who had her third daughter this morning. Three girls under three, oh my gosh! “The baby’s name is Avery Lynn. And Chelsea and Jake and Skylar and Riley and baby Avery are all doing fine. Just call me ‘Nana 3’ – three grandkids. I’m a nana. I love it.(sic)” Rosie – who adopted 24-year-old Chelsea with her former partner Kelli Carpenter-O’Donnell – also shared a photo of the new arrival on Instagram. She captioned the picture: “avery lynn – look! we have the same tummy #grandbabies.(sic)” Rosie previously opened up about how “beautiful” becoming a grandparent had been. Speaking in 2019 after Skylar, her first grandchild, was born, she said: “It was something really beautiful. It’s very trite, but it’s what everyone says — when you’re a grandparent, it’s like [having] a baby times a million. And that’s what it felt like.” Rosie and Chelsea were previously estranged but their relationship has grown much stronger in recent years. Rosie previously reflected: “I think with my relationship with my daughter, Chelsea, it really has because we went through some really public troubled times. “She’s doing better now and we’re both communicating with each other. “When somebody does something unforgivable to you and you can forgive them and they can forgive you, there’s a kind of grace that descends upon the both of you, within that.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Karin Strohecker (Reuters) – The United States and its allies have vowed to hit Russia with harsh sanctions after Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air – the biggest by one state against another in Europe since World War Two. Western capitals introduced an initial round of sanctions after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Monday. U.S. President Joe Biden said Washington and its allies will announce “severe sanctions” with further measures later on Thursday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to outline a new package of measures to parliament at 1700 GMT. The European Union, also set to announce fresh curbs later in the day, said the sanctions package will hit Russia’s economy severely, increase capital outflow, raise inflation and gradually erode the country’s industrial base. South Korea, Norway and other countries have also pledged to join measures. Below are details on the curbs proposed so far and what other sanctions could target Russia: BANKS & FINANCIAL FIRMS Britain has already announced sanctions on five banks – Bank Rossiya, Black Sea Bank, Genbank, IS Bank and Promsvyazbank. All are smaller lenders, with only Promsvyazbank on the central bank’s list of systematically important lenders. President Biden has already announced sanctions on VEB bank and Russia’s military bank, referring to Promsvyazbank, which does defence deals. The U.S. Treasury Department said: “All assets under U.S. jurisdiction will be immediately frozen and U.S. individuals and entities are prohibited from doing business.” A senior U.S. administration official added that Sberbank, and VTB Bank would face sanctions if the Russian invasion proceeds. Bank Rossiya is already under U.S. sanctions from 2014 for its close ties to Kremlin officials. The European Union has agreed to blacklist banks involved in financing separatist activities in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s large banks are deeply integrated into the global financial system, meaning sanctions could be felt far beyond its borders. Data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) shows European lenders hold the lion’s share of the nearly $30 billion in foreign banks’ exposure to Russia. According to data from Russia’s central bank, total Russian banking foreign assets and liabilities stood at $200.6 billion and $134.5 billion respectively with the U.S. dollar share amounting to around 53% of both, down from 76%-81% two decades ago. SOVEREIGN DEBT & CAPITAL MARKETS The coming package of measures from the EU will “target the ability of the Russian state and government to access the EU’s capital and financial markets and services, to limit the financing of escalatory and aggressive policies,” the bloc said. It will ban EU investors from trading in Russian state bonds. Washington announced fresh restrictions on dealings in Russia sovereign debt this week. Americans, who were already barred from investing in Russian sovereign debt directly, will be banned from purchasing it in the secondary market after March 1. Britain threatened last week to block Russian companies from raising capital in London, Europe’s financial centre for such transactions, though stopped short of doing so in its announcements on Tuesday. Even before the latest events, access to Russian bonds had become increasingly restricted. U.S. sanctions imposed in 2015 made future Russian dollar debt ineligible for many investors and key indexes. In April 2021, Biden barred U.S. investors from buying new Russian rouble bonds over accusations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election. The curbs have cut Russia’s external debt by 33% since early 2014 – from $733 billion to $489 billion in the third quarter of 2021. Lower debt improves a country’s balance sheet on the surface, but deprives it of financing sources that could contribute to economic growth and development. INDIVIDUALS The United States, the EU and Britain have already imposed asset freezes, travel bans and other curbs on a number of Russian individuals. The EU on Monday imposed sanctions on five people who were involved in a Russian parliamentary election in annexed Crimea in September 2021. On Tuesday, the bloc said it would blacklist all lawmakers in the lower house of the Russian parliament who voted in favour of the recognition of the breakaway regions, freeze any assets they have in the EU and ban them from travelling to the bloc. Meanwhile Britain has imposed sanctions on three men, Gennady Timchenko and billionaires Igor and Boris Rotenberg – all of whom are allies of President Vladimir Putin from St. Petersburg whose personal fortunes grew precipitously following Putin’s rise to the presidency. All three men are already sanctioned by the United States. The United States also imposed sanctions on Tuesday on Russian elites close to Putin, including Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service, Russia’s powerful domestic security and counterintelligence service. His son, Denis Bortnikov, the deputy president of Russian-state owned financial institution VTB Bank Public Joint Stock Company and a chairman of the bank’s management company, was also targeted in Tuesday’s move. Also designated was Putin’s first deputy chief of staff and former Russian Prime Minister, Sergei Kiriyenko. He was previously targeted by the United States, EU and Britain in response to the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. His son, Vladimir Kiriyenko, was also designated on Tuesday. The chairman and chief executive of Promsvyazbank was also targeted. The Treasury accused Petr Fradkov of working to transform the bank into one that serves the defence industry. The United States has used the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) tool – which effectively kicks individuals and companies out of the U.S. banking system, bans their trade with Americans and freezes their U.S. assets – in the past to sanction oligarchs. However, it has become more cautious in recent years after 2018 sanctions on the owner of Rusal saw aluminium prices skyrocket and forced Washington to backtrack. A bill unveiled by U.S. Senate Democrats in January aimed for sweeping sanctions against top Russian government and military officials, including Putin, and President Biden has said he would be ready to consider personal sanctions on the Russian president. Moscow has said any move to impose sanctions on Putin himself would not harm him personally but would prove “politically destructive”. ENERGY CORPORATES & NORD STREAM 2 The United States and the EU already have sanctions in place on Russia’s energy and defence sectors, with state-owned gas company Gazprom, its oil arm Gazpromneft and oil producers Lukoil, Rosneft and Surgutneftegaz facing various types of curbs on exports/imports and debt-raising. Sanctions could be widened and deepened, with one possible option being to prevent companies settling in U.S. dollars. Nord Stream 2, a recently completed pipeline from Russia to Germany, was awaiting regulatory approval by EU and German authorities before Berlin put its certification on ice. The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the company in charge of building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. CURBING CHIPS The EU has vowed to introduce measures to crimp Russia’s technological position in key areas – from high-tech components to cutting-edge software. The White House has told the U.S. chip industry to be ready for new restrictions on exports to Russia if Moscow attacks Ukraine, including potentially blocking Russia’s access to global electronics supplies. Similar measures were deployed during the Cold War, when sanctions kept the Soviet Union technologically backward and crimped economic growth. SWITCHING OFF SWIFT One of the harshest measures would be to disconnect the Russian financial system from SWIFT, which handles international financial transfers and is used by more than 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries. A senior U.S. official said they are not taking SWIFT sanctions off the table. In 2012, SWIFT disconnected Iranian banks as international sanctions tightened against Tehran over its nuclear programme. Iran lost half its oil export revenue and 30% of its foreign trade, the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank said. Among Western countries, the United States and Germany would stand to lose the most from such a move, as their banks are the most frequent SWIFT users with Russian banks, said Maria Shagina at the Carnegie Moscow Center. Calls to cut Russia’s SWIFT access were mooted in 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea, prompting Moscow to develop an alternative messaging system, SPFS. The number of messages sent via SPFS was about one-fifth of Russian internal traffic in 2020, according to the central bank, which aims to increase this to 30% in 2023. However, SPFS has struggled to establish itself in international transactions. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker and Catherine Belton in London, Katya Golubkova and Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow; Editing by Jason Neely, Mark Potter, Lisa Shumaker and Andrew Heavens) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the Ukraine crisis right now: HEADLINES * Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders around nearly the whole perimeter of the country after Moscow mounted a massed assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two. * Missiles rained down on Ukrainian targets. Kyiv reported troops pouring across the borders with Russia and Belarus from the north and east, and landing on the coasts from the Black Sea in the southwest and Azov Sea in the southeast. * Russian President Vladimir Putin said his aim was to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. * Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was listening to the sound of a new iron curtain falling as Russian troops advanced across his country, and he warned that other European countries may be next. * U.S. President Joe Biden met his Group of Seven counterparts virtually to map out more severe measures against Russia. * Biden will speak on Ukraine at 12:30pm Eastern Time/1730 GMT. * NATO put warplanes on alert. It will reinforce troops on its eastern flank but has no plans to deploy any in Ukraine, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. * European Union leaders will agree a second package of sanctions on Russia on Thursday evening, a senior official said. * Russia would respond with “tit-for-tat” measures, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. * European countries began preparing to receive people fleeing Ukraine. * A mood of defiance gripped Kyiv, though the city echoed to the sound of gunfire, sirens and explosions. The mayor said he would impose a curfew. * Stock markets tumbled. Russia’s rouble hit an all-time low.[FRX/] * The global finance sector was struggling to respond to the invasion, with share prices suffering heavy falls. * Major buyers of Russian oil were struggling with bank guarantees, according to sources. * Ukraine has shut its ports. QUOTES – “I have decided to conduct a special military operation… to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide,” Putin said. “We will strive for the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.” – “Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself & won’t give up its freedom,” Zelenskiy said. – “Russia is using force to try to rewrite history… We have no plans to send NATO troops in Ukraine. What we do is defensive,” said Stoltenberg. – “President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Joe Biden said. COMING EVENTS * Biden also convened his National Security Council. * EU leaders were discussing further sanctions. * NATO will hold an emergency summit on Friday. * The U.N. Security Council will discuss a resolution condemning the invasion. (Editing by Jon Boyle, John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson) View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought no pause to partisan squabbling in the U.S. Congress on Thursday, as some Republicans blasted Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of the crisis and called on him to “change course” in his response. Some Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives blamed Biden for failing to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from sending forces into Ukraine and called on the U.S. president to take a stronger position on the largest conflict in Europe since World War Two. “There’s no doubt that weakness leads to war,” Representative Brian Mast, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a Thursday morning tweet. “Putin once said the collapse of the Soviet empire was the ‘greatest geopolitical catastrophe’ of the past century for Russia. For America, President Biden may be the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of this century.” The invasion of Ukraine followed months of Russian military buildup along the country’s borders, leading to frantic diplomacy and sanctions from the United States and NATO that failed to prevent the incursion. Biden plans an address to the nation at 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT). “Almost 12 hours since Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine and the only response we’ve gotten from Biden is a Zoom call. Where’s Biden? He’s the leader of the free world. It’s time to start acting like it,” Representative Carlos Gimenez wrote on Twitter. Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the invasion began late on Wednesday, convened his National Security Council on Thursday, and met with his counterparts from the Group of Seven allies to map out more severe responses. “The president must change course or our deterrent posture will continue to collapse, chaos will continue to spread and eventually no one will trust America’s promises or fear America’s power,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Former President Donald Trump — who even out of office remains the most powerful voice in the Republican Party — had threatened during his four years in office to leave NATO, calling the military alliance “obsolete.” He withdrew the United States from international agreements — including the Paris Climate Accord, which it has since rejoined — and pulled out of a pact in which Iran had curbed its uranium enrichment program, a possible pathway to nuclear arms, which is now being renegotiated. Trump, who has expressed admiration for Putin, described the Russian leader’s actions leading up to invasion as “genius,” “smart” and “pretty savvy.” ELECTIONS LOOMING The response among congressional Republicans — blaming Biden, calling for stronger sanctions and warning against any use of U.S. troops in Ukraine — largely mirrored the sentiments of Republican voters, as lawmakers approach the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine the balance of power in Congress ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Only 34% of Americans — including just 12% of Republicans — approved of the way Biden was handling the crisis in the run-up to the invasion, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Tuesday and Wednesday. Twenty-five percent of Republicans polled said Biden was primarily to blame for the conflict, with 46% saying Putin was primarily to blame. Nearly one in five was unsure who to blame. Senator Mitt Romney, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a moderate voice in his party, offered broader criticism that also blamed U.S. responses to Russia by former Presidents Barack Obama and Trump while evoking the Reagan era’s tough posture against the former Soviet Union. “Putin’s impunity predictably follows our tepid response to his previous horrors in Georgia and Crimea, our naive efforts at a one-sided ‘reset,’ and the shortsightedness of ‘America First.’ The ’80s called’ and we didn’t answer,” Romney said in a statement. Senator Dan Sullivan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that Putin’s action had changed the global landscape for the Americans and their Western allies. “We must wake up to the fact that this new era of authoritarian aggression will likely be with us for decades. We need to face it with strategic resolve and confidence,” the Alaska Republican said. (Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Harvey Fierstein is “confused” about his gender. The 67-year-old Broadway legend – who is known for originating the drag role of Edna Turnblad in the musical ‘Hairspray’ – admitted he “didn’t feel like” a boy when he was a child until he learned about homosexuality, but still “doesn’t have the answers” now. He said: “I’m still confused as to whether I’m a man or a woman. I don’t have answers for anybody else ’cause I don’t have answers for myself. When I was a kid, I was attracted to men. I didn’t feel like a boy was supposed to feel. Then I found out about gay. So that was enough for me for then.” The ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ actor then went on to explain that after a lifetime of playing characters both in and out of drag, he is unsure of who he is but is “bothered” by gender neutral terminology. He said: “No one has ever been happier walking around with a beard and five daughters and having everyone call me papa [in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’] or as Edna [in ‘Hairspray’]. I don’t know who I am. You wanna tell me who I am?. I think about whether I am non-binary a lot but it’s the term that bothers me.” However, the Tony Award winner then explained that despite his confusion, he doesn’t feel as if he has “missed out” on anything as he insisted that the “everything” is possible. He told PEOPLE: “But let’s put it this way. I don’t think I’ve missed anything by not making up my mind! No two of us are the same, not any of us. I’m 67 years old, and still everything’s possible. I can get up tomorrow if I wanted to, and shave really close and put on a bunch of makeup and walk around my town and see what that’s like. Having done drag as many years as I’ve done drag, I know it’s a lot of f****** work to be pretty.” View the full article

Published by AFP Truckers and their supporters gather in Adelanto, California ahead of a 'People's Convoy' across the United States to Washington DC Barstow (United States) (AFP) – Hundreds of truckers and their supporters set off from southern California on Wednesday on a convoy headed across the United States towards the capital Washington to protest against pandemic restrictions. Inspired by the demonstrations that crippled Canada’s cities for weeks, organizers of “The People’s Convoy” want an end to mask mandates, vaccination requirements and business shutdowns that are intended to slow the march of Covid-19. “Let’s get back to normal,” said Bryan Brase, whose rig was near the front of the caravan that had gathered in the small town of Adelanto, northeast of Los Angeles. “I think everybody’s here for different reasons, but it all boils down to the same thing: Freedom and liberty,” said Shane Class, who had travelled from Idaho to join the rally. “It’s time for our government to start understanding that people want that freedom in the Constitution back.” The caravan, which began Wednesday as a few dozen vehicles, was expected to take 11 days to get to the Washington, DC area, arriving on March 5, though organizers say they do not intend to enter the city itself. That assurance has not prevented the mobilisation of 700 National Guard to provide added security around the nation’s capital, as authorities fret over a possible repeat of the January 6, 2021, invasion of Congress by supporters of former president Donald Trump. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Guardsmen would not be armed and would not be empowered to arrest people, but would be reporting wrongdoing to local police. A number of large vehicles, including snow-ploughs and garbage trucks have been deployed on the streets of the capital to prevent access to sensitive sites. Debunked theories Convoy organizers stress on their website that it is a non-partisan movement that includes both Republicans and Democrats, though there were plenty of flags signifying support for Trump among participants in Adelanto and along the route. Paul Alexander, a health adviser under Trump who suggested letting the coronavirus spread unchecked in the population to prompt “herd immunity,” was among those who revved up the crowd, claiming that vaccines do not work. Scientists say the extensively tested shots are safe and effective, and represent the single best protection against death or serious illness from Covid-19. Vaccine adoption is uneven across the United States, with some on the political right distrustful of the science and holding to debunked conspiracy theories pushed on the internet. Crowds gathered on bridges along the route to cheer the convoy on, with some holding banners calling for the arrest of government health experts. Donations Many of those AFP spoke to in the flag-waving crowd voiced arguments common on the right. “I can no longer work at my facility, a major health organization, without submitting a religious exemption,” said one Los Angeles-based nurse, who did not wish to give her name. “So in order for me to earn a living for my family, I have to call on the holy and righteous name of Jesus.” The movement has attracted more than $450,000 of donations, according to thepeoplesconvoy.org, which organizers say will be used to reimburse fuel and other costs borne by participating truckers. The convoy starting from Adelanto is just one of a number of planned truckers’ events beginning in various parts of the country. Others are due to depart from Texas, North Dakota, Washington state and Ohio over the coming days, according to greatamericanpatriotproject.org. View the full article

Published by AFP This illustration photo shows Washington (AFP) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday authorized the first condom for use during anal intercourse, in what was hailed as a victory for sexual health by experts. Although people already use condoms for anal sex — as is recommended by health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — regulators across the world had only previously allowed companies to officially market their products as “safe and effective” for vaginal use. Sexual health advocates considered this an unmet public health need since unprotected anal intercourse carries the greatest risk of HIV transmission via sexual exposure, with one study finding that 69 percent of men who have sex with men would use condoms more frequently if they were FDA-indicated. Wednesday’s authorization of Global Protection Corp’s One Male Condom follows a clinical trial involving more than 500 people, carried out by Emory University. “The FDA’s authorization of a condom that is specifically indicated, evaluated and labeled for anal intercourse may improve the likelihood of condom use during anal intercourse,” said agency scientist Courtney Lias in a statement. The condom is also indicated to prevent sexually transmitted infections — and as a contraceptive — during vaginal sex. “We want people to have lots of sex — but we also want them to be empowered and informed,” said Davin Wedel, president of Global Protection Corp, which makes the condom brand that is available in 54 sizes, and incorporates a paper template to help each user find the right size. The clinical trial involved 252 men who have sex with men and 252 men who have sex with women, aged between 18 and 54. The FDA had said it would accept a five percent failure rate, which previous trials had failed to accomplish. The limit was easily surpassed in the new study, with the failure rate 0.68 percent for anal and 1.89 percent for vaginal intercourse. The researchers behind the study, which was published in The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine, said one of the reasons the trial succeeded where others failed in the past was likely due to the provision of lubricant and inclusion of instructions on how to use the product. Lubricant reduces friction, which in turn causes condom failure from slippage and breakage. Another reason could be that participants were asked to keep mobile phone-based daily diaries, whereas past trials had asked volunteers to recall failure events up to several months later. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor and medical director of an HIV clinic in San Francisco, welcomed the finding. “The important thing about condoms is they don’t just prevent HIV, but they prevent gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis,” she told AFP, adding it was surprising that such an authorization had taken so long to achieve. In its statement, the FDA said the green light could pave the way for more makers to apply for similar authorization if they show equivalent results. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Elton John‘s private plane was forced to make a scary emergency landing after experiencing hydraulic failure 10,000 feet in the sky. Fire trucks and medical personnel rushed to Farnborough Airport in the United Kingdom on Monday in response to the mid-air drama. In photos obtained by The Sun, a raddled Rocketman can be seen eagerly climbing out of the plane once it touched down on its third attempt. Mega An eyewitness described the terrifying incident, telling the outlet, “The jet was being buffeted and couldn’t land. It was horrible to see.” Elton’s private jet — worth $89 million — had already left the airport and was heading to New York City when the incident occurred. An hour after wheels went up, the pilot was forced to turn back around when the small plane began suffering hydraulic failure. According to The Sun, the pilot used his radio to declare the emergency landing to air traffic control — but the severe winds hitting 80 MPH made it difficult to control the plane. Plumber Philip Thomson was at the scene working when the emergency landing happened. He described the scary ordeal, stating, “The terrible weather and epic gusts made it almost impossible to land. Two attempts to touch down failed.” “The plane was being buffeted and couldn’t make it. The aircraft’s nose was far too vertical. The plane was descending and was halfway along the runway when it gave up trying to hit the tarmac. It soared back in the air.” Mega Revealing the storm made their second attempt worse, he continued, “The airport’s windsock was horizontal and the aircraft was being rocked from side to side by the wind.” “The pilot made a valiant attempt to get down with the jet ‘crabbing’ into the storm. But it didn’t make it and had to head back upwards.” The third time’s a charm because the pilot finally got the plane to land. According to another source, Elton was visibly shaken. “It was a white-knuckle ride and Elton was shaken. But he put aside any personal anguish to get back on a plane. For Elton, quite literally, the show must go on,” they said. Elton ended up getting on a different plane later that day and making it to NYC. His Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour kicks off at Madison Square Garden tonight. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge signaled on Tuesday he may not let Donald Trump countersue E. Jean Carroll, a writer who accused the former president of raping her in the mid-1990s and is suing him for defamation. At a hearing in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan suggested it might be futile for Trump to claim that Carroll’s lawsuit violated a New York “anti-SLAPP” law protecting free speech, citing several courts that found similar laws did not apply in federal court. “I question whether you have the right to do what you are seeking to do, because it seems to me it’s entirely inconsistent with the notion of futility,” Kaplan told Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba. “It may not be the way I resolve this matter.” Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, accused Trump in a June 2019 book excerpt of having raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Midtown Manhattan. She sued five months later, claiming that Trump defamed her when he told a reporter he did not know Carroll, said “she’s not my type,” and accused her of concocting the rape claim to sell her book. New York’s anti-SLAPP law, short for “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” was enacted in Nov. 2020. It was meant to protect journalists and others from wealthy companies and people who file frivolous lawsuits to silence critics. How the law might apply to public officials, or former public officials like Trump, remains unclear. Kaplan questioned why Trump waited until January, 14 months after New York’s law took effect, to invoke it, which Carroll’s lawyers said reflected Trump’s pattern of delaying the case. “This is about giving us the right to litigate these issues,” Habba said. “That is all I’m asking.” Kaplan did not say when he will rule. Both sides are awaiting a decision from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on whether Carroll’s lawsuit should be dismissed because Trump was immune from being sued. In that appeal, the Biden administration essentially adopted an argument by Trump’s Justice Department that the government should be substituted for Trump as the defendant, which could doom Carroll’s case. Carroll’s lawyers want to question Trump under oath and compare his DNA with a dress Carroll said she wore during the alleged rape. The case is Carroll v Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-07311. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sir Elton John was left “shaken” after his private jet suffered hydraulic failure. The 74-year-old singer was on his way to New York on Monday (21.02.22) morning when his personal aircraft got into difficulty at 10,000 feet about an hour into the trip, with the pilot having to make a U-turn close to the coast of southern Ireland but attempts to land the plane were aborted twice because of the strong winds. The pilot radioed air traffic control to declare an emergency landing, with emergency services alerted and firefighters from six stations called to Farnborough Airport, Hants, ready for the plane. Plumber Philip Thomson, who was working when the twin-jet Bombardier Global Express came into view, told The Sun newspaper: “The terrible weather and epic gusts made it almost impossible to land. Two attempts to touch down failed. “The plane was being buffeted and couldn’t make it. The aircraft’s nose was far too vertical. The plane was descending and was halfway along the runway when it gave up trying to hit the tarmac. It soared back in the air. “A crowd had gathered after word went around that Elton was in difficulty. And as the plane came around again for a second attempt to land, the storm was doing its worst. “The airport’s windsock was horizontal and the aircraft was being rocked from side to side by the wind. “The pilot made a valiant attempt to get down with the jet ‘crabbing’ into the storm. But it didn’t make it and had to head back upwards. “It was only at the third attempt to land that the plane got down. The pilot made a flatter approach and the wind had dropped slightly. Everyone watching was mightily relieved. “It was a horrible thing to see, and you wouldn’t have swapped places with Elton on that small plane for anything. I bet he said a few prayers of thanks… “It was so serious that I counted at least six fire engines that attended, along with the airport’s own incident team. The police and ambulance services were there, too.” Despite the terrifying ordeal, Elton caught a later flight to the US and still made it on stage for his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ show at Madison Square Garden. A source said: “It was a white-knuckle ride and Elton was shaken. But he put aside any personal anguish to get back on a plane. For Elton, quite literally, the show must go on.” Local fire fighters confirmed they were asked to attend the scene. A spokesperson for Hampshire Isle of Wight Fire Rescue Service said of the private jet drama: “Firefighters from Rushmoor, Hartley Wintney, Basingstoke, Fleet, Yateley and Surrey FRS were called at 11.16 on Monday morning to an incident at Farnborough Airport. “No action was taken by HIWFRS with the incident dealt with by the airport fire service.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Daniel Radcliffe says portraying ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is “a huge responsibility”. The ‘Weird: The ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Story’ star is “honoured” to be playin the parody song legend in his upcoming bio-pic. The 32-year-old actor told PEOPLE: “Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly, and I’m honored to finally share with the world the absolutely 100 percent unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life.” The ‘Ebay’ hitmaker has injected his signature sense of humour during the production of the movie, jokingly tweeting ‘a spoiler’ Al shared a page from the scripton the social media site that read: “Cut to Black. Credits Crawl.” The tweet’s caption read: “SHOOT DAY #7: Oh man, I am really, REALLY going to get in trouble with @TheRokuChannel over this, but I’m just so proud of this script, and I wanted to leak part of it. So…[siren emoji}SPOILER ALERT [siren emoji]… This is the ACTUAL ENDING of #WEIRDTheAlYankovicStory.” The movie – which is written by Al and Eric Appel – is the ‘Eat It’ funny man’s first go at executive producing a movie since 1987’s ‘UHF’ and will be available for streaming on Roku, after the company purchased the back catalogue of Quibi, the now-bust service. In a statement, Al said: “When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I’m very happy to say we’re on schedule. “I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.” The ‘Harry Potter’ star has found it “liberating” to do more creative roles after shooting to fame as a kid on the wizarding franchise. Daniel said: “I’ve actually found it’s an incredibly liberating thing, to do the biggest thing you’re ever gonna do really f***** early. The financial success thing, that’s done. So just do things that make you happy.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Omar Younis ADELANTO, Calif. (Reuters) -Taking a cue from demonstrations that paralyzed Canada’s capital city for weeks, U.S. truckers on Wednesday plan to embark on a 2,500-mile (4,000-km) cross-country drive toward Washington D.C. to protest coronavirus restrictions. Organizers of the “People’s Convoy” say they want to “jumpstart the economy” and reopen the country. Their 11-day trek will approach the Beltway around the U.S. capital on March 5 “but will not be going into D.C. proper,” according to a statement. The Pentagon said on Tuesday it had approved 400 D.C. National Guard troops to “provide support at designated traffic posts, provide command and control, and cover sustainment requirements” from Feb. 26 through March 7. About 50 large tactical vehicles were also approved to be placed at traffic posts. Brian Brase, a truck driver who is one of the organizers, said regardless of where the trucks stop “we’re not going anywhere” until the group’s demands are met. Those demands include an end to COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements. Most U.S. states are already easing some restrictions. In California, where the convoy begins, universal mask requirements were lifted last week while masks for vaccinated people are required only in high-risk areas such as public transit, schools and healthcare settings. Another convoy was expected to leave Scranton, Pennsylvania – President Joe Biden’s hometown – on Wednesday morning and arrive on the 495 Beltway (highway) in Washington sometime during the afternoon. Organizer Bob Bolus told WJLA news, an ABC affiliate in Washington, that his convoy has no intention to break laws or block traffic, but warned this could happen if their demands regarding pandemic mandates and the cost of fuel are not meant. “They are not going to intimidate us and they are not going to threaten us. We’re the power, not them,” he said. In Canada, pandemic-related protests choked streets in the capital Ottawa for more than three weeks and blocked the busiest land crossing between Canada and the United States – the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario – for six days. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked rarely used emergency powers to end the protests, and Canadian police restored a sense of normalcy in Ottawa over the weekend. “We plan to stay a while and hope they don’t escalate it the way Trudeau did with his disgusting government overreach,” Brase said from Adelanto, California, where the convoy will begin, about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Los Angeles. Brase said he expected thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, would participate. Organizers bill the convoy as nonpartisan, trucker-led, and supported by a wide range of ethnic minorities and religious faiths. Economic growth in the United States – as in other countries – was brought to a juddering halt by the imposition of lockdowns in 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The economy has boomed since the federal government pumped in trillions of dollars in relief, growing 5.7% in 2021, the strongest since 1984 albeit from a low ebb in 2020, the Commerce Department reported in January. Meanwhile, unemployment stands at 4%, close to the 3.5% rate of February 2020, just before the pandemic took hold, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But headwinds related to strained supply chains and inflation remain. “It is now time to reopen the country,” the protest organizers said in a statement. Among other demands, the protesters want an immediate end to the state of emergency in California – the most populous U.S. state with one of the world’s largest economies – that Governor Gavin Newsom has extended. Nationwide, new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations due to the coronavirus have plummeted from all-time highs hit a month ago, though nearly 2,000 people per day are still dying from the disease and the number of total deaths is closing in on 1 million since the pandemic began. (Reporting by Omar Youis in Adelanto; Additional reporting and writing by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Mark Heinrich) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Dmitry Antonov and Polina Nikolskaya MOSCOW/DONETSK (Reuters) -The United States and its allies unveiled more sanctions against Russia on Wednesday over its recognition of two separatist areas in eastern Ukraine, while making clear they were keeping tougher measures in reserve in case of a full-scale invasion by Moscow. European Union sanctions to take effect on Wednesday would add all members of Russia’s lower house of parliament who voted to recognise the separatist regions in Ukraine to a blacklist, freezing their assets and banning travel. Britain followed the United States in announcing new restrictions banning Russia from the issuing of new bonds in its security markets. The steps follow measures announced on Tuesday, including freezing the approval of a new Russian gas pipeline by Germany, and imposing new U.S. sanctions on Russian banks. But none of the measures announced so far directly targets President Vladimir Putin himself, or is expected to have severe medium-term consequences for Moscow, which is sitting on more than $630 billion in international reserves. Oil prices eased from Tuesday’s seven-year highs as it became clear the first wave of sanctions were unlikely to disrupt oil supplies. Global stocks broke a four-day slide and demand for safe-haven assets waned. Western countries fear Russia plans a full-blown invasion of Ukraine after Putin announced on Monday he was recognising two small breakaway regions controlled since 2014 by separatists viewed by the West as Moscow’s proxies. Putin also signed a decree allowing Russian forces to be deployed there. Washington has described Russia’s actions as the start of an “invasion” but because the massed military assault they predicted has not materialised, they have had to calibrate their response. “There will be even more tough sanctions on key oligarchs, on key organisations in Russia, limiting Russia’s access to the financial markets, if there is a full scale invasion of Ukraine,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. She announced plans to bar Russia from issuing new foreign debt in London, a step taken years ago by the United States. Moscow said it would respond by issuing any new debt in roubles at home for now. Some Western leaders have faced criticism at home for the response so far. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was ridiculed in parliament when he announced the blacklisting of three billionaires already under U.S. sanctions for years, and five obscure banks. Leaders say the most serious sanctions must be held in reserve to deter a larger assault. STATE OF EMERGENCY Putin has as many as 190,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders, according to U.S. estimates. More ominous signs pointed to possible war: Moscow announced it had started evacuating its diplomats from Kyiv, while Ukraine declared a 30-day state of emergency and has announced the conscription of men of fighting age. Ukraine’s military said one soldier had been killed and six wounded in increased shelling by pro-Russian separatists using heavy artillery, mortar bombs and Grad rocket systems in the two breakaway areas over the previous 24 hours. New satellite imagery showed several fresh troop and equipment deployments in western Russia and more than 100 vehicles at a small airfield in southern Belarus, which borders Ukraine, according to U.S. firm Maxar. For months, Russia has presented the crisis mainly as a dispute with the West, demanding security guarantees, including a promise never to allow Ukraine to join NATO. But this week’s recognition of the separatist regions was accompanied by much stronger language against Ukraine, including personally from Putin, raising Western concerns he will not stop at an intervention in the separatist areas. In a TV address on Monday described by Washington as “delusional”, Putin rambled across centuries of history to characterise the Ukrainian state as an artificial construct wrongly carved out of Russia by its enemies. Ukrainians consider such views ominous and false. Europe’s second biggest country by area after Russia, Ukraine has a history older than Russia’s, and its people voted overwhelmingly for independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia was making a strategic mistake by heading down a path that would make it a global pariah. “The action that is taking place now may follow a strategy in the short-term, but it is not a medium or long-term strategy to completely isolate yourself worldwide,” she said. The diplomacy of recent weeks has now faltered. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian cancelled separate meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. A summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Putin, floated by France at the start of the week, now seems unlikely. Putin said he was always open to finding diplomatic solutions but that “the interests of Russia and the security of our citizens are unconditional for us.” Germany said on Tuesday it was halting the $11-billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline owned by Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom, a move likely to raise gas prices in Europe. Built and awaiting German approval, the pipeline had been set to ease the pressure on European consumers facing record energy prices but critics including the United States have long argued it would increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia. (Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Peter Graff, Editing by Timothy Heritage) View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Faye Dunaway is firing back at her gay ex-assistant who is suing her for allegedly being a terror to work with — and demanding his lawsuit be thrown out of court. According to court documents obtained by Radar, the 81-year-old actress is asking a New York judge to dismiss claims against Rocha. MEGA Back in 2019, the legendary Hollywood actress was sued by her former personal assistant Michael Rocha. “[Rocha] has suffered as a result of being discriminated against on the basis of [Rocha’s] sexual orientation and retaliated against by termination of [Rocha’s] employment after he complained of being discriminated against as a gay man,” the suit read. In the suit, Rocha claims he was hired to help Dunaway while she worked on the play Tea at Five. His duties included making sure the actress made it at and from rehearsals, did not forget to take her medicine and working on her schedule. Rocha worked out of Dunaway’s apartment and was paid $1,500 a week. However, he claims it was hell working for her. The suit states the actress “regularly and relentlessly subjected plaintiff to abusive demeaning tirades.” Rocha says his former boss used his sexual orientation to “demean and humiliate him at work.” Dunaway reportedly called Rocha and other employees “little gay people” and Rocha specifically “a little homosexual boy.” He claims to have a recording of the latter. The assistant took the issue to the general manager and lawyer for the play but ended up being fired weeks later. He was told Dunaway was not “comfortable” with him anymore. Other employees reportedly spoke out to The Post claiming Dunaway was a terror on set. Rocha is suing Dunaway for discrimination and retaliation. Now, Dunaway is denying the majority of allegations in the complaint. The response also states, “Dunaway denies calling [Rocha] “a little homosexual boy.” She is asking the court to dismiss all claims. On top of that, the actress wants the court to order Rocha to cover her legal bills for having to defend herself in this action. Fun fact — Dunaway ended up being fired from the play after being accused of slapping another cast member. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Chet Hanks/YouTube Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson‘s son, Chet Hanks, decided to open up about growing up the child of a famous and beloved actor – and his vulnerability came back to bite him. Earlier this week, the 31-year-old rapper/actor took to his new YouTube channel to get candid about “the truth about growing up as a Hanks.” In the lengthy video, Chet said repeatedly he felt “blessed” and “grateful” to have the parents he has but admitted that being the son of such an adored man is a “double-edged sword.” With that fame-by-association came expectations from everyone around him – family, friends and the public. People automatically assumed he was an “arrogant,” “entitled,” “spoiled brat.” He explained how those “preconceived notions” resulted in bullying and therefore a lack of trust on his part in basically everyone around him. And all of that, said Chet, created a lot of “contempt,” “disdain” and “animosity.” Chet Hanks/YouTube He explained what he really felt inside was “shame” for how “privileged” and “sheltered” he grew up, embarrassment over how “unprepared” he felt to “deal with real life,” and insecurity about his self-worth. And then came the self-destruction. Chet said he went in the complete opposite direction of how he grew up out of numerous resentments he just wasn’t equipped to manage. But the part that left him vulnerable to internet trolls was when he said he always had the “it factor;” he was handsome, talented, popular and “good with girls.” He said envy was also a huge factor in his negative experiences growing up and wishes he had had “a strong male role model” to tell him, ”Hey, bro, f–k these people. They are just jealous of you.'” Critics feel Chet is blaming his shortcomings on his father instead of taking accountability for his own behavior, with many pointing out that “America’s Dad” has other children who don’t seem as troubled. “Chet Hanks has a lot of problems. Ask Colin Hanks about the ‘strong male role model,’ he turned out fine,” read one of thousands of tweets mercilessly mocking Chet. “Just because you didn’t listen to your parents/dad, doesn’t mean that you didn’t have a strong male role. Take some responsibility of your own behavior,” read another. Mega Someone else tweeted, “Rough life, unless you compare it to: not being raised wealthy, having to pay back student loans, having to compete for a real job, not having health insurance, having to help your family out financially, etc.” “Awww, poor privileged little rich boy!” yet another critic posted. “I can tell you many stories about my childhood and truly having no strong male role model growing up, but I’ve faced those demons and moved forward with my life.” “Chet’s parents are well known in the industry as two of the most kind and down-to-earth stars in the business. I don’t buy what he’s selling. My guess is that they enforced rules and boundaries and Chet was having none of that,” remarked another Twitter user. Others think Chet has “disassociated from reality. I think he got called rich boy so many times that he’s taken on the stereotypical persona of trailer park wanna be rapper who grew up without a dad. Reality, [he] came from a loving home and when to top schools including, Northwestern.” “Sounds like Chet wanted a father who would lie to him and tell him to keep doing whatever he wanted,” read another tweet, while an umpteenth dissenter added, “What is Chet’s definition of a ‘strong male role model.’ Because @tomhanks does have 3 other children, all of whom seem to be gainfully employed.” View the full article

Published by The Seattle Times An organizational psychologist formerly employed by Amazon on the management team of a Spokane, Washington distribution center claims he was fired for speaking up about bullying and inappropriate behavior by a key leader at the massive, roboticized warehouse. Jonathan Fahlberg, formerly a senior business partner for human resources, contends Amazon management failed to respond when he raised concerns about his supervisor, who he claims propositioned him and then retaliated against him. Instead, they were both summarily fired in late 2020 after Fahlberg made a formal request for support. In an … Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cheryl Hole thought it was a joke when she was told Adele wanted to meet her backstage at G-A-Y’s Porn Idol event. The ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ star had thought it was “strange” when she went to her dressing room at London’s Heaven nightclub earlier this month to find the area deserted and couldn’t believe it when G-A-Y owner Jeremy Joseph told her there was a special guest on the way. She said: “I walked up and there was no one there, and I was like, ‘This is strange! Normally there are people here already, it’s like quarter-past twelve’, and I was like, look let’s just crack on, let’s just do the damn thing, and all of a sudden, I’m putting my last three nails on, and then they say ‘Adele’s at the back door’, and I’m like ‘What?’, they’re like, ‘THE Adele is here’, and I was like, ‘Nah, I don’t believe you, you’re just trying to pull my leg Jeremy’. “Then all of a sudden, you know the voice, you can’t mistake that voice… I just hear ‘Hello Babes!!’, this cackling coming round the corner, and I went ‘F***, F***, F***, F***, F***”, I could not believe it.’ Adele went on stage with Cheryl and even pole danced for the stunned crowd. And the drag star admitted she is going to “sell” the moment forever to help her own career. Speaking to Rylan Clarke on his ‘Ry-Union’ podcast, she said: “I’m going to put that on every poster that I’ve got and sell that until the end of time, I mean I have hugged and shared a stage with Adele, and I sang her song! Not with her but I sang it to her!” Listen to ‘Ry-Union with Rylan’, brought to you by Sky Bingo, on Apple, Spotify and all podcast providers Cheryl Hole Adele Gay Club London on Towleroad Lamar Odom Lashes Out At ‘Fake Friend’ Todrick Hall Following ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ Eviction More Annual conservative gathering puts Trump’s sway vs rising DeSantis under scrutiny More Explainer-How Western sanctions might target Russia More Ahmaud Arbery’s killers convicted on all federal hate-crimes charges More Kyle Rittenhouse Reveals Plans To Sue Whoopi Goldberg Over ‘Murderer’ Label More US Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to shield Capitol attack records More US women’s soccer reaches landmark $24 mn settlement in equal pay dispute More EU agrees sanctions ‘to hurt Russia’ over Ukraine crisis More Minneapolis police officers lacked ‘human decency’ in Floyd arrest, prosecutor says More Mayor Adams hires ex-NYC Councilman Fernando Cabrera as faith adviser after he apologizes for anti-gay views More U.S. Supreme Court takes up web designer’s bid to rebuff gay weddings More ‘RHOM’ Star Alexia Echevarria Clarifies That Her Late Ex-Husband & Father Were Bisexual, Not Gay More Sarah Jessica Parker Privately ‘Admits Fans Miss’ Kim Cattrall’s ‘Sex And The City’ Character In Reboot Ahead Off Possible Season 2 More Load More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Lamar Odomhas a bone to pick with Todrick Hall. After getting sent home from Celebrity Big Brother, the 42-year-old retired NBA star lashed out at the 36-year-old American Idol alum-turned-social media influencer. Khloé Kardashian‘s ex-husband was voted out in the first part of Monday night’s double-elimination episode. He was nominated by the Head of Household, Hall, who’s been catching heat online for some of his behind-the-scenes commentary. Odom took to Instagram late Monday to share an illustration that read, “You should have played Chess Not checkers Todrick.” “So I was booted off of @bigbrothercbs by my fake friend Todrick,” he captioned the post, adding a wide-eyed emoji. “He should have been a bit more strategic as he must have forgotten I get a jury vote for the winner!” Lamar added, “I still need you all to vote me for FAN FAVORITE. Text: LAMAR to 21523 from your mobile device! Tell a friend to tell a friend and if I win I will do another CASH APP GIVEAWAY.” Mega No stranger to sometimes winning and sometimes losing, Odom elaborated on his stance with regard to Hall on Tuesday morning. “I know how much social media and his fans and the people mean to him. I don’t really think he wished to rub anyone the wrong way,” the former athlete told Us Weekly of the singer. “He just took the wrong approach to winning and playing a game. I think that was kind of obvious when he won the HOH. And then he even, after he won the HOH, he comes downstairs still singing. ‘HOH!’ I thought that was a gloat. There’s a certain way to win and a certain way to lose.” “Because when I lost, after I was disappointed with my performance, he was one of the people that always come up to me and be like, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK? Are you OK?'” he went on. “And I’m like, ‘No, I just lost.’ Your energy can be that much discerning, even when you win, it can be kind of negative.” Admittedly, Lamar had “never even heard of” Todrick before CBB. However, he claims he was warned about the YouTuber prior to coming into the house. “[My friend] told me that he was a person that I would have to keep my eye on,” he said. When asked about the “most surprising thing” he learned after his eviction, Lamar said it was getting his phone back and seeing “the hit that Todrick is taking from the outside world.” Mega Other eliminated houseguests have mentioned that they feel Hall often plays the victim. While Odom said he could see that, he doesn’t necessarily feel it’s intentional. “I think that’s the position that maybe he’s used to being in from being a gay African American man in society,” he said. “I could see how it was hard, but in the house, that’s where you have a clean slate. I don’t think anybody was judging him.” “I don’t think __Carson [Kressley]__ had that same problem. But he’s a white gay man, because it depends on how you look at it,” he added. “But I think he had a clean slate in the house so he could have just been whoever Todrick is.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Alexandra Ulmer (Reuters) – The leading photo on the website of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual get-together of American rightwing notables, is of a grinning Donald Trump. When the conference kicks off in Orlando, Florida, this week, the former president will be counting on an adoring crowd to cement his dominance of the Republican Party ahead of November’s congressional elections – as well as a potential presidential run in 2024. The photo next to Trump’s on the speakers’ list is of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose rising national profile is driving speculation that the 43-year-old former federal prosecutor is also eyeing a run for the White House. The juxtaposition is symbolic of the Republican Party’s looming choice: Does it coalesce around a fresh face or Trump, who would be 78 in 2024 and whose presidency was marked by turmoil? “I’m sure Trump will be received as a hero,” said Mike DuHaime, a Republican strategist. “The question will be: Are there any cracks in that armor?” If in his Saturday speech Trump belabors false assertions that election fraud was to blame for his loss against Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020, it will reinforce party fears that he is backwards-looking, DuHaime added. While polls show a significant percentage of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen, half of Republicans also said it was time to “move on” from Trump’s 2020 fraud claims, according to a Politico-Morning Consult survey conducted Feb. 12-13. Trump’s fixation on 2020 has fanned concerns among establishment Republicans that he is putting personal revenge above party success by endorsing challengers running against incumbent Republicans who have crossed him. But given Trump’s pull with voters, concerns among Washington, D.C., insiders may not carry that much weight: Trump’s rallies attract large crowds, congressional candidates covet his endorsement, and his fundraising operations have left him with over $100 million in cash. He is widely considered the 2024 frontrunner, should he throw his hat in. Even so, Trump’s presidential aspirations could yet be stymied by several investigations involving him, including a New York state civil probe into his family business and a congressional panel looking into the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. DeSantis, meanwhile, has earned conservative plaudits for opposing COVID-19 mask mandates and being on the forefront of “culture war” issues like abortion and how much say parents should have over their children’s education. While neither man has said he is running for the White House in 2024, attending the Feb. 24-27 CPAC meeting, which touts itself as the “largest and most influential” worldwide gathering of conservatives, will be important for both of them. It will give DeSantis access to national media coverage and exposure to conservatives from across the country. For Trump, “it’s a chance to see if his base is still solid or showing cracks,” DuHaime said. Representatives for Trump and DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment. CPAC will hold a straw poll of who should run for president. Last year in Orlando, Trump reportedly garnered 55% of votes, more than twice as many as DeSantis, who was also a featured speaker. Trump then reportedly received 70% of votes at CPAC’s summer gathering in Dallas last July. A NEW ‘TRUMPISM’? Trump last month slammed “gutless” politicians who don’t disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status, in what was seen as a dig at DeSantis, who has not revealed whether he has received a booster shot. Trump later said reports of a rift with DeSantis were “fake news.” Dan Eberhart, a prominent Republican donor and the CEO of oilfield services company Canary, LLC, said any more verbal broadsides at CPAC would be a sign of how “seriously” the former president takes DeSantis as a challenger. Eberhart said he supports both men. But, he added: “DeSantis would present Trumpism with a newer, less divisive gloss.” Some Trump supporters, like political strategist Roger Stone, stress that DeSantis owes Trump for his 2018 endorsement that helped propel the then-low-profile U.S. congressman to Florida’s top office. “Therefore I would hope that Governor DeSantis gives the president wide berth,” Stone, who has openly criticized DeSantis and called on him to endorse Trump in 2024, said in an interview. Stone, a former Trump adviser, does not currently have a role in Trump’s operation. Trump pardoned Stone in December 2020, sweeping away the most important convictions under the long-running Russia election probe. DeSantis’ camp is seeking to tone down talk of tension and keep the focus on Florida. DeSantis’ CPAC speech will seek to highlight the state’s unrestrictive approach to COVID-19 to anyone “looking to flee lockdown and mandate states,” said Nick Iarossi, a Tallahassee lobbyist and DeSantis fundraiser. (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; additional reporting by Jason Lange; editing by Ross Colvin and Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Karin Strohecker (Reuters) -The United States and its allies are coordinating new sanctions on Russia after Moscow recognised two regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, officials said. Details have started to emerge on the steps taken or planned by the United States, European Union, Britain and other western powers. Below are details on the curbs proposed so far and on what other sanctions could target Russia: BANKS & FINANCIAL FIRMS Britain announced sanctions on five banks – Bank Rossiya, Black Sea Bank, Genbank, IS Bank and Promsvyazbank – all are smaller lenders, with only Promsvyazbank on the central bank’s list of systematically important lenders. Bank Rossiya is already under U.S. sanctions from 2014 for its close ties to Kremlin officials. A European Union sanctions package has been drafted to include curbs on banks involved in financing separatist activities in eastern Ukraine. EU foreign ministers will discuss the measures in Paris from 1500 GMT and aim to finalise “without delay”. While Washington has yet to announce exact measures it plans to take, sources have said President Joe Biden’s administration has prepared sweeping measures to hurt the Russian economy which would cut the “correspondent” banking relationships between targeted Russian banks and U.S. banks that enable international payments. Washington also will wield its most powerful sanctioning tool against certain Russian individuals and companies by placing them on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, effectively kicking them out of the U.S. banking system, banning their trade with Americans and freezing their U.S. assets. Sources familiar with the planned measures said VTB Bank, Sberbank, VEB, and Gazprombank are possible targets. It is unclear whether Russian banks would be added to the SDN list, but both types of sanctions could hit Russia hard and make it difficult to transact in U.S. dollars. Russia’s large banks are deeply integrated into the global financial system, meaning sanctions could be felt far beyond its borders. Data from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) shows that European lenders hold the lion’s share of the nearly $30 billion in foreign banks’ exposure to Russia. According to data from Russia’s central bank, total Russian banking foreign assets and liabilities stood at $200.6 billion and $134.5 billion respectively with the U.S. dollar share amounting to around 53% of both, down from 76-81% two decades ago. SOVEREIGN DEBT & CAPITAL MARKETS The package of measures under discussion by the EU aims “to target the ability of the Russian state and government to access the EU’s capital and financial markets and services, to limit the financing of escalatory and aggressive policies,” according to a statement by the bloc. Britain threatened last week to block Russian companies from raising capital in London, Europe’s financial centre for such transactions, though has stopped short of doing so in its announcements on Tuesday. Even before the latest events, access to Russian bonds had become increasingly restricted. U.S. sanctions imposed in 2015 made future Russian dollar debt ineligible for many investors and key indexes. In April 2021, Biden barred U.S. investors from buying new Russian rouble bonds over accusations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election. The curbs have cut Russia’s external debt by 33% since early 2014 — from $733 billion to $489 billion in the third quarter of 2021. Lower debt improves a country’s balance sheet on the surface, but deprives it of financing sources that could contribute to economic growth and development. INDIVIDUALS Sanctioning persons via asset freezes and travel bans is a commonly used tool and the United States, the EU and Britain already have such sanctions in place against a number of Russian individuals. The EU on Monday imposed sanctions on five people who were involved in a Russian parliamentary election in annexed Crimea in September 2021. The package drafted by the EU on Tuesday could see curbs on those who were involved in the decision to recognise the breakaway regions – which could mean all members of the lower house of the Russian parliament who voted in favour of the recognition, according to one official. Meanwhile Britain has imposed sanctions on three men, Gennady Timchenko and billionaires Igor and Boris Rotenberg – all of whom are allies of President Vladimir Putin from St Petersburg whose personal fortunes grew precipitously following Putin’s rise to the presidency. All three men are already sanctioned by the United States. Detailed measures from Washington are yet to come. While the U.S. has used the SDN designation in the past to sanction oligarchs deemed to be “bad actors”, it has become more cautious in recent years after 2018 sanctions on the owner of Rusal saw aluminium prices skyrocket and forced Washington to backtrack. A bill unveiled by U.S. Senate Democrats in January aimed for sweeping sanctions against top Russian government and military officials, including Putin, and President Biden has said he would be ready to consider personal sanctions on the Russian president. Moscow has said any move to impose sanctions on Putin himself would not harm the Russian president personally but would prove “politically destructive”. ENERGY CORPORATES & NORD STREAM 2 The United States and the EU already have sanctions in place on Russia’s energy and defence sectors, with state-owned gas company Gazprom, its oil arm Gazpromneft and oil producers Lukoil, Rosneft and Surgutneftegaz facing various types of curbs on exports/imports and debt-raising. Sanctions could be widened and deepened, with one possible option being to prevent companies settling in U.S. dollars. Nord Stream 2, a recently completed pipeline from Russia to Germany, was awaiting regulatory approval by EU and German authorities before Berlin put its certification on ice. Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies weakens the West’s hand when considering sanctions in this sector. CURBING CHIPS The White House has told the U.S. chip industry to be ready for new restrictions on exports to Russia if Moscow attacks Ukraine, including potentially blocking Russia’s access to global electronics supplies. Similar measures were deployed during the Cold War, when technology sanctions kept the Soviet Union technologically backward and crimped economic growth. SWITCHING OFF SWIFT One of the harshest measures would be to disconnect the Russian financial system from SWIFT, which handles international financial transfers and is used by more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries. In 2012, SWIFT disconnected Iranian banks as international sanctions tightened against Tehran over its nuclear programme. Iran lost half its oil export revenue and 30% of its foreign trade, the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank said. Among Western countries, the United States and Germany would stand to lose the most from such a move, as their banks are the most frequent SWIFT users with Russian banks, said Maria Shagina at the Carnegie Moscow Center. Calls to cut Russia’s SWIFT access were mooted in 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea, prompting Moscow to develop an alternative messaging system, SPFS. The number of messages sent via SPFS was about one fifth of Russian internal traffic in 2020, according to the central bank, which aims to increase this to 30% in 2023. However, SPFS has struggled to establish itself in international transactions. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker and Catherine Belton in London, Katya Golubkova and Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow; editing by Timothy Heritage and Jason Neely) View the full article