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Published by BANG Showbiz English Macaulay Culkin’s “midlife crisis” is to be explored in a new documentary series. The 41-year-old actor shot to fame as a child star in the 1990s with roles in movies such as ‘Home Alone’ and ‘My Girl’ and he decided to document his experience of getting older with Lightbox series ‘Macaulay Culkin’s Midlife Crisis’ after a tweet he posted to mark his 40th birthday went viral. In a statement, Culkin said: “Wow, Lightbox. Thanks for reminding me I’m in my 40s. Well, rather than make a big deal about it I figure we should just make a show about it. Makes sense.” Representatives from the streaming service went on to explain how the star – who has nine-month old son Dakota with former Disney Channel star Brenda Song – is “as iconic” as he was during his childhood since turning his hand to music with the comedy rock band the Pizza Underground. Jonathan and Simon Chinn of Lightbox said: “Mack remains as iconic, and as loved as ever – a social media sensation, internet entrepreneur and hard-working member of his pizza-themed Velvet Underground tribute band. Despite his legendary status, like the rest of us he’s having to confront what it means to be a normal middle-aged guy, with a wife and a new kid who’s soon going to be the same age he was when he became a massive global superstar. We are thrilled to be working through our mid-life crises with him on this exciting project.” No release date has been given, but the documentary is produced by the same the team behind HBO’s documentary ‘Tina’, which charted the life of soul singing legend Tina Turner, as well ‘The Princess ‘ which explored the life and death of Diana, Princess of Wales. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A government-funded research project released on Friday sheds new light on the upward trend of mass shootings in the United States, finding that the number of Americans dying from mass shooters is on the rise, and most people who commit such acts of violence have a history of trauma or were in a state of crisis. The Violence Project, funded by the Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice, examined 172 mass shootings -defined as killing four or more people – dating back more than 50 years. It found that of all the mass shootings that took place between 1966 and 2019, more than half took place since 2000, with 20% of them occurring between 2010 and 2019. In the last five years of the study period, an average of 51 people died from mass shootings per year, compared with only eight people in the 1970s. The Justice Department unveiled some of the study’s highlights the day after President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland met with New York City’s mayor to call for greater investments in local police to combat a recent rise in gun violence. “This study — one of the most extensive assessments of mass violence to date — reveals a deeply unsettling trend: more Americans are dying at the hands of mass shooters than at any point in recent history,” said Amy Solomon, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. Researchers analyzed data on mass shootings using a publicly-available database, which draws from open source material such as social media and newspapers. An analysis of some of the data by the National Institute of Justice found that suicidal intention is a “strong predictor” for mass shooting perpetrators, and that 31% of the people who committed mass shootings had experienced childhood trauma while 80% were “in crisis.” A large percentage of the shooters – 48% – also took steps to leak their plans in advance to family, friends, law enforcement or strangers. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine MEGA Rabbi Abraham Cooper has a suggestion for ABC following Whoopi Goldberg‘s recent Holocaust comments. The L.A. based rabbi from the Simon Wiesenthal Center spoke with TMZ about the recent controversy revolving around the talk show host, who claimed earlier this week that the Holocaust was “not about race.” Goldberg, 66, did apologize after saying the misleading comments on air, but she was consequently suspended by the network for two weeks effective immediately, as OK! reported. MEGA Rabbi Cooper gave his perspective on the matter, claiming that he thinks Goldberg is already taking accountability, and now it is time for the ABC network to do the same. WHOOPI GOLDBERG MAY BE CONSIDERING EXITING ‘THE VIEW’ AMIDST TWO WEEK SUSPENSION BY ABC OVER HOLOCAUST COMMENTS: REPORT “It would be inappropriate, foolish to stick the label of ‘anti-Semite’ on [Goldberg],” he told the outlet, as he deals with “real” racists and anti-Semites everyday and believes the TV personality is definitely not in the same category. In terms of whether it was appropriate for Goldberg to have been suspended following her comments, Rabbi Cooper said it “has already been done,” and therefore she is already facing the consequences. MEGA “But you know what, there is something that ABC can do,” he continued before mentioning the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, which is an “internationally renowned Jewish human rights organization,” per their website. ABC STAFFERS OUTRAGED WHOOPI GOLDBERG HASN’T BEEN FIRED OVER ‘ABHORRENT’ COMMENTS ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST, NETWORK HAS A ‘BLIND SPOT’ FOR FAVORITED TALK SHOW HOST: SOURCE “They are welcome to bring The View to shoot a week’s worth of shows in our auditorium, maybe have one or two community based interactions,” Rabbi Cooper reportedly explained. “What ABC could do, whether they bring the show here or they come and do a special in the museum, is to explain why this new definition of racism is simply not factual.” MEGA He believes the problem with the way the current society thinks of racism, “would probably account for why Whoopi Goldberg said what she said.” “So if ABC really wants to do a service to America, help us do a better job with explaining to people the full scope of racism,” the Rabbi concluded. “The truth is, they did what they did, and it is appropriate to have some accountability, now it’s time for some accountability from ABC.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) – The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Alzheimer’s-like changes seen in COVID-19 patients’ brains People who die of severe COVID-19 have brain abnormalities that resemble changes seen in Alzheimer’s disease – accumulation of a protein called tau inside brain cells, and abnormal amounts of the protein beta-amyloid that accumulates into amyloid plaques – small studies have found. At Columbia University, Dr. Andrew Marks and colleagues studied the brains of 10 COVID-19 patients and found defects in proteins called ryanodine receptors that control the passage of calcium into cells. In Alzheimer’s disease, defective ryanodine receptors are linked to accumulation of tau into so-called neurofibrillary tangles. These tangles were present in high levels in the COVID-19 patients’ brains, the Columbia team reported on Thursday in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Other research teams have looked for – and found – abnormal amyloid levels in brains of COVID-19 patients, according to reports posted online ahead of peer review on bioRxiv and on The Lancet’s preprint server. In all the studies, patients had experienced the most severe forms of COVID-19. If similar changes are occurring in the brains of patients with milder illness, that might help explain the “brain fog” associated with long COVID, Marks said. Patients with severe COVID-19 might be at higher risk for dementia later in life, but it is too soon to know, he added. His advice: Get a booster vaccine and avoid the virus. “If you get COVID-19, you probably won’t die, but we still don’t know a lot about the long-term effects.” Seniors can get flu shot, mRNA COVID-19 booster together Seniors can safely get the high-dose flu vaccine and an mRNA COVID-19 booster dose at the same time, a new study confirms. The study’s 306 participants, all older than 65, were randomly assigned either to receive Sanofi’s Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent influenza vaccine and a third shot of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine at the same time, or either of the vaccines alone. Blood samples obtained before and 21 days after vaccination showed that giving the two vaccines together did not affect the resulting immune response, with similar antibody levels generated in participants in each of the three groups, according to a report published on Tuesday in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. A spokesperson for Sanofi said combined administration of the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines “did not raise any safety concerns and the study team is continuing to follow study participants through 6 months after vaccination.” Fluid in some rapid COVID tests could be deadly for kids In some COVID-19 rapid test kits, the small bottle of “reagent” fluid contains sodium azide, a powerful poison that is particularly dangerous for small children, experts warn. In adults, small amounts can quickly cause dangerously low blood pressure, dizziness, fainting, or even heart attacks or strokes, said Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, Co-Medical Director of the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, D.C. Higher doses can be fatal, she and her colleagues wrote in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Sodium azide levels in COVID-19 rapid test kits are not always high enough to cause low blood pressure in adults, and the iHealth kits being sent out by the U.S. government do not contain any sodium azide at all, Johnson-Arbor said. “However… since children are typically much smaller than adults, they are at a higher risk of experiencing poisonous effects after swallowing any amount,” she said. Poison control hotlines have been getting reports of accidental exposures to the reagent fluid. “Some people have swallowed the solution, some have spilled it onto their skin, and others have put it in their eyes,” mistaking the bottle for eye drops, Johnson-Arbor said. “If you or a loved one swallows the reagent fluid or gets the fluid in their eyes or on the skin, contact Poison Control right away.” (In the U.S., at www.poison.org or 1-800-222-1222; in the UK at https://www.npis.org/). Click for a Reuters graphic on vaccines in development. (Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Adele‘s boyfriend Rich Paul was seen for the first time amid rumors his crumbling relationship with the singer was the reason why she canceled her Las Vegas shows. The 40-year-old rich sports agent broke his cover for a fancy dinner in Beverly Hills, but Adele was nowhere in sight. Rich — who represents NBA great LeBron James — held his head high while making his way into Wally’s all alone on Thursday. Adele Desperately Trying To ‘Save’ Relationship With Rich Paul After Canceling Vegas Shows Mega He did not come dressed to impress for his first public appearance since Adele left Sin City and headed to his $14 million in what was allegedly a last-ditch effort to “save” their decaying romance. Sporting black velour sweats, Rich rocked a striped jailbird t-shirt, an oversized denim jacket, and a pair of loud yellow sneakers. Failing to show any emotion at all, Adele’s boyfriend wore an N-95 mask and kept his hands in his pockets and ignored the paparazzi’s flashes as he entered the restaurant located in his 90210 area code. He later emerged, leaving the eatery solo once again. Mega After dinner, Rich headed to the Lakers vs Clippers game at Crypto.com Arena in downtown (aka Staples Center) where he sat courtside with Megan Fox‘s fiancé, Machine Gun Kelly. Rich appeared to be in a good mood, despite his name being smeared in the headlines. See the photos here! Adele was forced to shoot down the trouble in paradise rumors. Breaking her silence for the first time since tearfully postponing her Vegas residency just 24 hours before her debut weekend, Adele shocked fans by revealing she was heading back on the stage — but not in Sin City. @adele/Instagram “Hiya, so I’m really happy to say that I am performing at the Brits next week!! Anddddd I’ll also be popping in to see Graham for a chat on the couch while I’m in town too!” the Hello singer wrote completely unbothered. “I’m looking forward to it! Oh, and Rich sends his love,” she coyly ended her post. After abruptly canceling her shows, Adele got the hell out of Dodge and headed straight to Rich’s $14 million mansion in Beverly Hills. Photos emerged showing the Rolling In The Deep singer rolling up to his pad late in the night wearing slippers. According to reports, Adele couldn’t get through a rehearsal without having an emotional breakdown. Her relationship issues with Rich allegedly added to the stress of her show. “Adele’s been crying and couldn’t get through a single full rehearsal for the past month,” a source told Page Six. “Just constantly on the phone with Rich … loudly shouting and sobbing.” Her last-minute trip to his home was reportedly to “fix” their broken romance. Mega View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega;COURTESY OF TAYLOR LIANNE CHANDLER Michael Phelps’ ex-girlfriend Taylor Lianne Chandler has called the Olympian out for his “hypocritical” comments regarding trans athletes participating in organized sports. The author — who herself is trans — believes that Phelps’s stance had immense influence over the University of Pennsylvania swim team members who penned a letter to school and Ivy League officials requesting that their trans teammate Lia Thomas be banned from taking part in theNCAA championships. “The ‘teammates’ of Lia Thomas come out with a scathing letter stating they don’t want to compete against her, but they are not confident enough in their convictions to state their names,” Chandler, 49, said exclusively in a statement to Radar. COURTESY OF TAYLOR LIANNE CHANDLER “Governing bodies should not succumb to outside pressure by people that are not trans and don’t have a horse in the race,” the crisis management consultant added. “What makes Michael Phelps an authority to even speak to trans women competing in swimming?” 10-YEAR-OLD CLARK KENT COMPLETELY SHATTERS MICHAEL PHELPS’ OLD SWIM RECORD “Biological sex is far from that simple and far more complex. How many people truly know their biological sex beyond what was assigned at birth by a doctor based on genitals?” she emphasized to the outlet. MATTHEW SHULTZ On Thursday, February 3, sixteen of the school’s female swim team members sent a letter to university officials asking them to change the trans eligibility requirements for competition. “We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman,” the letter read. “Lia has every right to live her life authentically.” MICHAEL PHELPS CLAIMS LAST GOLD MEDAL, ENDS CAREER AS MOST DECORATED OLYMPIAN IN HISTORY The students made sure to emphasize that they “recognize that when it comes to sports competition, that the biology of sex is a separate issue from someone’s gender identity.” But they feel that “Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female.” mega Phelps, 36, had previously stated in regard to allowing transgender athletes to compete, that he believed that the sport should be a “level playing field.” When asked about Thomas, 22, the famous athlete told CNN, “I think this leads back to the organizing committees again because it has to be a level playing field.” He added, “That’s something that we all need. Because that’s what sports are. For me, I don’t know where this is going to go. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English ‘Euphoria’ has been renewed for a third season. The drama series has been a huge hit with viewers since its launch in 2019, and HBO has now officially renewed the programme for a third season. Francesca Orsi, the executive vice president of HBO Programming, said: “Sam [Levinson], Zendaya, and the entire cast and crew of ‘Euphoria’ have taken season two to extraordinary heights, challenging narrative convention and form, while maintaining its heart.” The hit TV show stars the likes of Zendaya, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney and Colman Domingo. And Francesca is already looking forward to season three of ‘Euphoria’. She said: “We couldn’t be more honoured to work with this gifted, wildly talented team or more excited to continue our journey with them into season three.” Zendaya plays the part of Rue Bennett, a teenage drug addict, in the show, and the actress previously admitted that she jumped at the chance to join the Sam Levinson-created series. She explained: “I think the choice to do this show wasn’t really a choice. I just felt like I had to do it. “I felt very connected and emotionally invested in Rue, and the characters. When I met Sam, I immediately was drawn to the story that he was telling and how honest it was because I think Rue is a version of himself, and his experience with addiction. “I thought it was a beautiful story. It wasn’t a decision of like, ‘oh, is this the right thing to do?’ Or, ‘is somebody going to think this way of me?’ All those preconceived notions about what I was supposed to do just kind of went out the window because I was really just focused on what emotionally felt like the right decision and the right move.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Steve Gorman and Roshan Abraham (Reuters) -The coronavirus pandemic reached a grim new milestone in the United States on Friday with the nation’s cumulative death toll from COVID-19 surpassing 900,000, even as the daily number of lives lost has begun to level off, according to data collected by Reuters. The latest tally marks an increase of more than 100,000 U.S. COVID-19 fatalities since Dec. 12, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalizations driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus. Preliminary evidence has shown that Omicron, while far more infectious, generally causes less severe illness than earlier iterations of the virus, such as Delta. But the sheer volume of Omicron cases fueled a surge in hospitalizations that has strained many U.S. healthcare systems to their limits in recent weeks. Experts have said the bulk of Omicron patients requiring hospitalization were unvaccinated individuals and people with other underlying chronic health conditions. Data also suggests that Omicron may have hit the United States harder than other countries with younger overall populations, such as in Africa. As of Friday, according to Reuters’ running tally of state-reported data, the total number of American lives lost to COVID-19 since the first U.S. cases were detected in early 2020 has reached at least 904,228, more than the entire population of South Dakota. U.S. President Joe Biden, whose first year in office has been dogged by a pandemic that has proven more implacable than was expected – due in part to many Americans’ hesitancy to get vaccinated – used the occasion to urge greater vaccine uptake. Some 250 million Americans have received at least one shot, “and we have saved more than one million American lives as a result,” he said in a statement. On the eve of his inauguration in January 2021, Biden led a national memorial observance to honor the 400,000 Americans who had then perished from COVID-19, 11 months after the virus claimed its first U.S. life. The latest tally stands as the highest number of COVID-19 deaths reported by any nation, followed by Russia, Brazil and India with more than 1.8 million deaths combined. In terms of coronavirus fatalities per capita, the United States ranks 20th, well below the top two – Peru and Russia. Nevertheless, the U.S. COVID-19 death rate appears to be slowing as the Omicron surge wanes, Reuters’ figures show. The seven-day average fell for two days in a row to 2,592, compared with a peak average of 2,674 in the current wave of infections. By comparison, the peak during the Delta wave in January 2021 was an average of 3,300 deaths a day. Some public health officials have said that as the Omicron outbreak recedes and hospitalizations decline, the pandemic may enter a new phase in the United States and elsewhere. In the state of Iowa, for example, the governor announced on Friday that a public health disaster proclamation, and special safety measures that go with it, would expire on Feb. 15. “The flu and other infectious illnesses are part of our everyday lives, and coronavirus can be managed similarly,” Governor Kim Reynolds tweeted. Nationally, confirmed COVID-19 cases are now averaging 354,000 a day, half of what was reported less than two weeks ago and down from the peak of nearly 806,000 infections a day on Jan. 15. Many infections, however, go uncounted because they are detected by home-testing kits and not reported to public health authorities, officials say. Over the past seven days, the states reporting the most new cases per capita were Alaska, Kentucky, Washington state, South Carolina and North Dakota. Current U.S. COVID hospitalizations on Thursday stood at 117,000 compared with a peak of nearly 153,000 on Jan. 20. (Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru, Susan Heavey in Washington and Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; editing by Jane Wardell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Alexandra Ulmer (Reuters) -In a sharp rebuke of his former boss, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday that Donald Trump was wrong to believe Pence had the power to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election that Trump has falsely claimed was stolen from him. After losing his re-election campaign to Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020, the Republican Trump in a bid to stay in office pressured Pence to block congressional certification of the results while presiding over the proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021. Pence, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Trump’s tumultuous presidency, opted not to block certification. Trump has often disparaged Pence since then, and on Sunday issued a fresh statement saying the former vice president could have “overturned” the election. “President Trump is wrong,” Pence said in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. “I had no right to overturn the election.” “The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president,” Pence added. Pence’s comments represented his most forceful criticism of Trump to date. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. I was on the ballot,” Pence said. “Whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day. John Quincy Adams reminds us: Duty is ours; results are God’s,” Pence added, quoting a 19th century U.S. president. “And the truth is there’s more at stake than our party or political fortunes. Men and women: if we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections, we’ll lose our country,” Pence added. Trump issued a statement later on Friday disagreeing with Pence. “I was right and everyone knows it. If there is fraud or large scale irregularities, it would have been appropriate to send those votes back to the legislatures to figure it out,” the former president said. ‘DARK DAY’ While Pence was presiding over the certification, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to stop the certification. Pence and U.S. lawmakers inside the Capitol fled from the rioters. In his speech on Friday, Pence called Jan. 6 a “dark day.” His comments stand in contrast to the Republican Party, which on Friday censured https://www.reuters.com/world/us/loyal-trump-republican-party-moves-censure-us-reps-cheney-kinzinger-2022-02-04 Republican U.S. Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for joining a House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. The party said the Democrat-led inquiry was persecuting “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Some Republicans aligned with Trump have made the false election claims a key part of their campaigns https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-governors-race-tests-trumps-stolen-election-claims-2021-12-20 heading into the November 2022 midterm elections in which the party is seeking to win back control of Congress from the Democrats. Around 55% of Republicans nationally think the 2020 election was stolen, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls. Trump, who continues to have a strong grip over the party more than a year after he left office, has hinted he could run for president again in 2024. At a rally in Texas on Saturday, he said that if he were to win in 2024, he would pardon people charged with criminal offenses https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-would-pardon-jan-6-rioters-if-he-runs-wins-2022-01-30 in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. In a speech moments before the Jan. 6 attack, Trump repeated his false claims that the election was stolen through widespread voting fraud. Trump called upon Pence to “do the right thing” and block certification of the election results, while urging his supporters to go to the Capitol to “stop the steal.” Later, some of the rioters at the Capitol chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and some set up a makeshift gallows. Olivia Troye, a former national security aide to Pence who has become a Trump critic, said it was the first time she had heard her former boss publicly say Trump was wrong. “It’s a start,” Troye wrote on Twitter. (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco; Editing by Will Dunham and Kim Coghill) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Spotify has reportedly removed upwards of 70 episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast from their streaming service, but of the dozens of episodes removed, not one includes the episode that started the controversy over the spread of Covid-19 misinformation on the platform. According to Gizmodo, Spotify removed 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience from their streaming platform Friday, although the most recent episode to be deleted is dated December 2018 – more than one year before the Covid-19 pandemic even started. Mega One of the first people to recognize that some of the podcast series had been removed was Michael Malice, a Ukrainian-American author and fellow podcaster who was a guest on Rogan’s show two times in the past. “Spotify has deleted two of my @joerogan appearances,” he wrote Friday, including a screenshot of the two episodes – #963 and #1197 – and a message indicating they were both removed from the platform on February 4. As Radar previously reported, this latest removal of 70 episodes of Rogan’s podcast comes in the wake of musicians – such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash – demanding their music be taken off the streaming service giant’s platform over the harmful and dangerous spread of misinformation regarding Covid-19 on the host’s show. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” the Heart of Gold singer wrote in an open letter after calling out Rogan for his “spread of misinformation” by having Dr. Robert Malone, who compared the United States and their vaccine mandate to that of Nazi Germany, as a guest on his show. “With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, The Joe Rogan Experience, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” Young continued. Young ultimately removed his content from the platform days later, while Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and a slew of other musicians subsequently followed suit. Mega But the removal of 70 episodes of Rogan’s show also came just one day after singer India Arie demanded her content be removed due to Rogan’s history using the N-word. “We have this person who is offensive to a lot of people and is paid $100 million,” Arie said in a video directed to Spotify on Thursday. “The backbone of Spotify is the music. You pay the musicians .003 to .005 percent of a penny and take this money generated over here and use it to invest in this guy?” “Do what you want, but take me off. Or pay me too. I mean us. Pay artists like me too. Pay podcasters of color too,” she added. Rogan eventually responded to Arie’s video two days later, admitting that “It looks f—ing horrible. Even to me.” “Instead of saying ‘the N-word,’ I would just say the word,” Rogan said in his own video Saturday, claiming the videos of him using the derogatory word were taken out of context. “I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing.” Mega View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who rose to fame for taking on then-U.S. President Donald Trump before a string of criminal charges ended his legal career, was convicted on Friday of defrauding a former client, porn star Stormy Daniels. Avenatti, who faces up to 22 years behind bars, had pleaded not guilty to embezzling nearly $300,000 in book proceeds intended for Daniels. The verdict by a federal jury in Manhattan followed a two-week trial in which the brash, 50-year-old lawyer represented himself. Avenatti, who is based in Los Angeles, agreed to surrender to U.S. marshals in California on Monday. Sentencing was scheduled for May 24. Following the verdict, Avenatti, who was wearing a black mask and a suit with a diamond-patterned tie, switched his gaze back and forth between the jury and down at the table he was sitting at. He vowed to appeal. “I am very disappointed in the jury’s verdict,” Avenatti said. “I am looking forward to a full adjudication of all the issues on appeal.” It was the second time in two years that Avenatti was convicted on federal charges in Manhattan. “Rather than advise his clients in their best interests, Avenatti instead used his law degree as a license to steal,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. Daniels, the prosecution’s star witness https://www.reuters.com/world/us/porn-star-stormy-daniels-testifies-against-fallen-lawyer-michael-avenatti-2022-01-27, testified that Avenatti had led her to believe her publisher had not disbursed advance payments totaling $297,500 for her memoir, “Full Disclosure,” when she asked in 2018 and early 2019 about the delays. She said she later learned that Avenatti had diverted the money to an account he controlled, without telling her. “I felt very betrayed and stupid,” Daniels said. “Michael had been lying and stealing from me.” In a statement following the verdict, Daniels’ lawyer, Clark Brewster, said his client was “relieved this nightmare is over.” “Mr. Avenatti possessed the uncanny ability to steadfastly deny the crimes and persuade others he was entitled to the embezzled funds,” Brewster said. “Stormy is pleased that the justice system worked.” Avenatti had downplayed the dispute as a disagreement over legal fees. He said his contract with Daniels, 42, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, entitled him to a reasonable share of her book and media proceeds. Avenatti called no witnesses https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/avenatti-does-not-plan-testify-his-defense-stormy-daniels-us-fraud-case-2022-01-31 and did not testify in his own defense. Asked after the verdict whether he regretted his decision to represent himself, he said, “No. Not at all.” The highlight of the trial was Avenatti’s five-hour cross-examination of Daniels, where he sought to undermine his former client’s credibility by exposing her interest in paranormal activities https://www.reuters.com/world/us/michael-avenatti-cross-examines-ex-client-stormy-daniels-his-fraud-trial-2022-01-28. Daniels, who is producing a documentary-style TV show on ghost hunting called “Spooky Babes,” testified that she believed she could speak with the dead. The spectacle of Avenatti questioning Daniels capped a public falling-out for a pair who became cable TV mainstays in 2018 for cases they brought against Trump. Daniels is known for receiving $130,000 in hush money from Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in exchange for remaining quiet ahead of the 2016 election about sexual encounters she says she had with Trump, which he has denied. Avenatti was successful in freeing Daniels from her nondisclosure agreement with Trump. He gained widespread recognition through frequent television appearances that made him a hero to some Trump opponents, prompting him to flirt with running for the White House as a Democrat in 2020 against the Republican president. But Avenatti was hit with dozens of criminal charges in March and April 2019 accusing him of cheating Daniels, defrauding several other clients, trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike Inc, and other crimes. He is appealing his conviction and 2-1/2-year prison sentence in the Nike case in New York. A federal court trial in California over the other alleged client frauds, in which Avenatti also represented himself, ended in a mistrial. The remaining charges have yet to be tried. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Alistair Bell, Jonathan Oatis and Noeleen Walder) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Shubham Kalia and Shivani Tanna (Reuters) -Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced on Friday a moratorium on no-knock warrants after police fatally shot a 22-year-old Black man during a raid on an apartment. The Minneapolis Police Department released video and a still image showing the man, Amir Locke, holding a gun as he twisted around beneath a blanket after being roused by officers who entered the apartment on Wednesday to carry out a search warrant. A no-knock warrant authorizes police officers to enter a property without first knocking and announcing their presence. “To ensure safety of both the public and officers until a new policy is crafted, I’m issuing a moratorium on both the request and execution of such warrants in Minneapolis,” Frey said in a statement. The incident is the latest to put the Minneapolis police department under scrutiny. Almost two years ago, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a white officer who knelt on his neck for over nine minutes during an arrest. Outrage over Floyd’s death sparked a nationwide movement challenging police brutality and bias in the U.S. criminal justice system. The video of Locke’s arrest, which was released on Thursday, shows police unlocking his apartment with a key, and officers shouting, “Police, search warrant, get on the ground, get on the fucking ground,” as they entered. An officer then kicks at the couch where Locke was lying and as Locke turns, an arm comes out from beneath the blanket, showing a gun held in the hand. Almost immediately, police fired at least three shots. Locke was not named in the search warrant, which was issued in relation to a homicide investigation that is being run by the neighboring Saint Paul Police Department, Minneapolis Police Department interim chief Amelia Huffman said on Thursday. Locke’s parents described their son as a talented musician, beloved member of his community, and law-abiding citizen at a news conference on Friday with their lawyer, prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who also represented Floyd’s family. “I’m going to fight every day, throughout the day, 365 days, to make sure that Amir Rahkare Locke gets justice for being executed by the MPD,” said Locke’s mother, Karen Locke. “We are going to make sure that we speak loudly for Amir.” In a statement released on Wednesday, the Minneapolis Police Department said that the man had a “handgun pointed in the direction of the officers.” During a news conference on Thursday, Huffman said the county’s attorney will review the facts, in response to a question noting that the video appeared to show that Locke’s gun was pointed toward the floor. “As there’s a gun emerging in your direction, you are forced to make a split-second decision on when it’s a threat,” Huffman added. In commenting on the search warrant in the homicide probe, Huffman said, “It is unclear at this time how he or if he was connected to the Saint Paul’s investigation.” She added that officers from the Saint Paul’s Police Department were at the scene later and had recovered possible evidence for the homicide investigation. According to the family’s lawyers, Locke had no criminal history and legally possessed a firearm at the time of his death. “In the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the City of Minneapolis told the public that it was limiting the use of no-knock warrants to ‘limit the likelihood of bad outcomes.’ Less than two years later, Amir Locke and his family needlessly suffered the worst possible outcome,” Jeff Storms, another lawyer representing Locke’s family in the case, said in a statement. Taylor, a Black woman, was shot and killed when armed police raided her Kentucky apartment in March 2020. Floyd was killed in May 2020. (Reporting by Shivani Tanna and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Leslie Adler and Kim Coghill) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ken Jeong felt “disrespected” after Rudy Giuliani was revealed as a contestant on ‘The Masked Singer’. The 52-year-old actor – who is a qualified medical doctor – strongly disagrees with Giuliani’s political views and those of former US President Donald Trump, who Giuliani works for as his personal attorney. Ken stormed off the set of the show – where he is a judge – and his close pal and fellow judge Robin Thicke followed him to check if he was ok after the reveal. A source told PEOPLE: “Ken felt disrespected and was livid to see Rudy was under the mask which is why he walked off. There’s no way he could hide his feelings. “Ken has been incredibly vocal about how the previous administration handled many things but especially COVID-19 and has found a lot of what they’ve said not only wrong but dangerous. To get someone who helped to spread misinformation and call into question the accuracy of our election and democracy to appear on his show was going to set him off.” Deadline first reported the incident, adding that fellow judges Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger stayed and chatted with the ousted contestant. Robin and Ken eventually returned to resume filming, though it is unclear how long they were off stage. Giuliani has been involved in a number of controversies in recent years, and in 2021, federal agents raided his home and office during an investigation into his work in Ukraine. His lawyer said afterwards: “Mr. Giuliani respects the law, and he can demonstrate that his conduct as a lawyer and a citizen was absolutely legal and ethical.” He was suspended from working as a lawyer New York last June after an appellate court said he made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” about Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. Rudy also made an infamous appearance in Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ but later denied any inappropriate behaviour and insisted a clip in which he appeared to put his hand down his pants while leaning back onto a bed near Maria Bakalova was a “complete fabrication”. View the full article

Published by Reuters LONDON (Reuters) – A smiling Queen Elizabeth kicked off celebrations for the 70th anniversary of her accession to the British throne by inviting local community groups on Saturday to her Sandringham residence in the east of England. Sunday will mark the queen’s platinum jubilee https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/queen-elizabeth-quietly-marks-70-years-british-throne-2022-02-04, a first for a British monarch. Elizabeth, 95, became the queen of Britain and more than a dozen other realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand on the death of her father King George VI on Feb. 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya on an international tour. The queen’s guests at Sandringham included Angela Wood, who as a cookery student in 1953 helped to create Coronation Chicken, a curry and mayonnaise-based dish invented to celebrate Elizabeth’s reign and that is still enjoyed today. The queen, wearing a light blue dress, also cut a celebratory cake baked by a local resident and heard a rendition of “Congratulations” played by a concert band, Buckingham Palace said. Elizabeth has continued to carry out official duties https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/queen-elizabeths-reign-second-golden-age-britain-2022-02-03 well into her 90s, but has been little seen in public since she spent a night in hospital last October for an unspecified ailment and was then instructed by doctors to rest. However, Buckingham Palace on Friday released footage ahead of Sunday’s landmark, showing her viewing items from previous royal jubilees, such as a fan given to her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria to mark her 50th year on the throne in 1887, signed by family, friends and politicians. Ironically Elizabeth was not destined to be monarch at her birth, and became queen only because her uncle Edward VIII abdicated to be with American divorcee Wallis Simpson. But in 2015, she overtook Victoria as Britain’s longest-reigning sovereign in a line that traces its origin back to Norman King William I and his 1066 conquest of England. This weekend’s low-key events are a prelude to more pomp and ceremony to mark the platinum jubilee in early June. The government has added an extra public holiday to the usual spring day off to make for a four-day weekend. (Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Frances Kerry) View the full article