RadioRob

Published by BANG Showbiz English Shirley MacLaine and Amy Schumer have joined the cast of ‘Only Murders in the Building’. The hit Hulu series’s second season will see the addition of the 87-year-old Hollywood legend and the 40-year-old ‘Trainwreck’ star. They join an already stellar cast of Selena Gomez (Mabel), Martin Short (Oliver) and Steve Martin (Charles). Martin, 71, who is also an executive producer on the comedy, told Deadline: “Before Christmas, [I shot scenes with] Shirley MacLaine and Amy Schumer. “The quality of actor that this show is attracting makes it endlessly fun to go to work.” Martin also confirmed Tina Fey, 51, will also be back as Cinda Canning. The latest casting news comes after Cara Delevingne was cast as Alice, “a sophisticated art world insider who becomes enmeshed in the mystery.” The 29-year-old actress-and-model hit it off so well with Selena that the pair got matching tattoos. The ‘991’ hitmaker and the ‘Carnival Row’ star recently showed off identical pink rose inkings and the 29-year-old singer-and-actress has told how the design references one of her pal’s nicknames for her. She said: “It means a couple of different things. Me and Cara , one of my best friends that I’ve known for — I was maybe 16 when I met her — she calls me ‘Rosebud.’ So, it’s a nickname and I’ve always wanted a rose. Now, I got one and I love it.” Asked if she had other friendship tattoos, the It Ain’t Me’ singer said: “Yeah, I do! I have, actually, multiple tattoos with people who have honestly left a significant mark on my life. I have one with Julia Micheals, my mom and my best friends.” The ‘Lose You to Love Me’ hitmaker has roughly 16 tattoos, including tributes to momentous occasions in her life, such as her kidney transplant. Selena recently admitted she had “so much fun” working with Cara. She said: “We just did our first day together yesterday … It’s so fun. We were just dying and laughing most of the time because we just know each other so well.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kevin Hart and Meek Mill have teamed up with Michael Rubin to donate $15 million to schools in need of financial aid in Philadelphia. The generous gift – the biggest bequeathed by any of the trio – will go towards assisting low-income students at private or religious schools in 110 areas in the Pennsylvanian city. According to Philly Voice, the money will not benefit state-funded education. They each have a connection to the city – rapper Meek, 34, and actor Kevin, 42, were raised in North Philadelphia, while Fanatics CEO Michael, 49, is the co-owner of the local NBA team, the 76ers – and have donated to education institutions previously and set out their mission. In 2019, Michael said: “We care about education. I don’t know if you guys saw, Meek and I have been talking a lot about education. We’re actually gonna commit, between Meek and I in Pennsylvania, millions of dollars to Pennsylvania schools this year.” Kevin previously donated $250,000 for better technology at the schools and $600,000 in college scholarship funds. And in 2020, Meek and Michael footed $2 million for scholarship funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic. William Hite, the superintendent of the district – an area with 65 per cent of students labelled as “economically disadvantaged” – warned on Tuesday (11.01.22) that they were incredibly short of funding, roughly $5,583 per student. William – who is leaving the role in the summer – said: “Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the country. We have larger numbers of young people who don’t have access to early childhood services and who aren’t on grade level, those experiencing trauma, homelessness, are new to the country, have special needs, and those who need additional resources.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Queen Elizabeth has reportedly stripped her son, Prince Andrew, of all his military titles and royal patronages amid his sexual assault lawsuit by accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre. According to Daily Mail, the Queen made the decision to strip the 61-year-old Duke of York of all royal and military titles and honors following a judge’s ruling on Wednesday that Andrew will have to face the sexual assault allegations against him in a U.S. court. The trial is scheduled to begin in September. Mega By stripping the prince of his titles and patronage, the Queen is forcibly making Andrew face the lawsuit against him as a “private citizen” with no help or aid from the royal family. Mega View the full article

Published by Reuters By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) – A fast-spreading Omicron variant that causes milder illness compared with previous versions of the coronavirus has fueled the view that COVID-19 poses less of a risk than in the past. In which case, some ask, why go to great lengths to prevent getting infected now, since everybody will be exposed to the virus sooner or later? Here is why experts say it is not time to be complacent about Omicron: YOU COULD STILL BECOME VERY ILL Research has indicated that Omicron may be more likely to lead to an asymptomatic case of COVID-19 than prior variants. For those who do have symptoms, a higher proportion experience very mild illness, such as sore throat or runny nose, without the breathing difficulties typical of earlier infections. But the extraordinary spread of Omicron in many countries means that in absolute numbers, more people will experience severe disease. In particular, recent data from Italy and Germany show that people who are not vaccinated are far more vulnerable when it comes to hospitalization, intensive care and death. “I agree that sooner or later everyone will be exposed, but later is better,” said virus expert Michel Nussenzweig of Rockefeller University. “Why? Because later we will have better and more available medicines and better vaccines.” YOU COULD INFECT OTHERS You might become only mildly ill, but you could pass the virus to someone else at risk for critical illness, even if you have antibodies from a prior infection or from vaccination, said Akiko Iwasaki, who studies viral immunology at Yale University. OMICRON’S LONG-TERM EFFECTS ARE UNKNOWN Infections with earlier variants of the coronavirus, including mild infections and “breakthrough” cases after vaccination, sometimes caused the lingering, debilitating long-haul COVID syndrome. “We have no data yet on what proportion of infections with Omicron… end up with Long COVID,” Iwasaki said. “People who underestimate Omicron as ‘mild’ are putting themselves at risk of debilitating disease that can linger for months or years.” Also unclear is whether Omicron will have any of the “silent” effects seen with earlier variants, such as self-attacking antibodies, sperm impairments and changes in insulin-producing cells. MEDICATIONS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY Omicron treatments are so limited that doctors must ration them. Two of the three antibody drugs used during past COVID-19 waves are ineffective against this variant. The third, sotrovimab, from GlaxoSmithKline, is in short supply, as is a new oral antiviral treatment called Paxlovid, from Pfizer Inc, that appears effective against Omicron. If you get sick, you might not have access to treatments. HOSPITALS ARE FILLING UP In fully vaccinated and boosted individuals without underlying medical conditions, Omicron “will not do too much damage,” said David Ho, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University. Still, the fewer infections, the better, especially now, “when the hospitals are already overwhelmed, and the peak of Omicron wave is yet to come” for most of the United States, Ho said. Due to record numbers of infected patients, hospitals have had to postpone elective surgeries and cancer treatments. And during past surges, overwhelmed hospitals have been unable to properly treat other emergencies, such as heart attacks. MORE INFECTIONS MEAN MORE NEW VARIANTS Omicron is the fifth highly significant variant of the original SARS-COV-2, and it remains to be seen if the ability of the virus to mutate further will slow down. High infection rates also give the virus more opportunities to mutate, and there’s no guarantee that a new version of coronavirus would be more benign than its predecessors. “SARS-CoV-2 has surprised us in many different ways over the past two years, and we have no way of predicting the evolutionary trajectory of this virus,” Ho said. INFECTION NOW MIGHT NOT PREVENT REINFECTION LATER Variants evolve to evade people’s immunity to earlier variants. How well Omicron antibodies will protect against future variants is unclear. Early COVID-19 survivors had antibodies that could neutralize the original virus but were less effective against variants, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, and people who were only mildly ill were less likely to be able to neutralize future variants compared to survivors of severe disease. Like the common-cold coronaviruses that cause milder upper respiratory infections, Omicron “will not induce lasting immunity,” Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher at Baylor College of Medicine, predicted in a tweet on Thursday. (Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Additional reporting by Emilio Parodi in Milan and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa Shumaker) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Susan Heavey and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Thursday said he will deploy more military health workers to six U.S. states beginning next week, and give Americans free masks and more free tests to tackle the fast-spreading Omicron variant around the country. The dispatch of 1,000 military health personnel is “part of a major deployment of our nation’s armed forces to help hospitals across the country manage this surge of the Omicron virus,” Biden said. “I know we’re all frustrated as we enter this new year,” Biden said, while reiterating his message that COVID-19 continues to be a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations reached a record high this week after steadily increasing since late December, according to a Reuters tally, while Omicron overtook Delta as the dominant variant of the coronavirus. The U.S. will send the health workers, in teams of seven to 25 military doctors, nurses and other personnel, to Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island to support at-capacity emergency rooms and free up overwhelmed hospital staff for non-COVID cases, the White House said earlier on Thursday. The White House’s more aggressive stance comes after months of criticism from health experts that the administration was relying too heavily on vaccines alone to stop the spread of the coronavirus, especially given a politically motivated anti-vaccine movement pushed by some Republican officials. About 62% of Americans are considered fully vaccinated, according to U.S. data. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell, who joined Biden during his speech, told CNN earlier “the number one request continues to be staffing,” referring to states asking for federal aid. Other states are likely to need reinforcements of military and other federal doctors and nurses as well, she said. MORE TESTS AND MASKS Biden also announced that he will direct the U.S. government to procure an additional 500 million COVID-19 tests to help meet surging demand across the country. The order comes on top of another 500 million tests that the White House pledged would be available to Americans in January. The president also said the administration next week will announce it will make high quality masks available for free. He noted about a third of Americans report they do not wear a mask. Biden’s administration has deployed federal surge teams since July to battle COVID-19. In December, Biden directed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to ready another 1,000 medical forces and sent more than 100 federal medical personnel to Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont and Wisconsin. Some states’ hospitals are at or near capacity. New Jersey, for example, had 6,089 COVID patients in hospital on Wednesday. That compares with a state record of 8,270 on April 15, 2020. About 73% of the hospital beds in the state are filled and 53% of intensive care unit (ICU) beds are occupied. In Rhode Island, 86% of all hospital beds are filled and 90% of ICU beds. There were 133,871 people hospitalized with COVID in the United States on average over the past week, the tally showed. The increase has strained health systems and forced several states to postpone elective surgeries. Omicron not only drives up case loads but also has sidelined staff hit by their own COVID infections or exposures to the virus. Several states have already declared emergencies to loosen regulations and free up funding to cope with the surge. To date, 847,664 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States among 63,268,225 reported total cases as the outbreak enters its third year. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting and writing by Nandita Bose and Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Heather Timmons, Howard Goller and Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega CNN’s ratings are tanking after finding the network found itself entangled in scandal both on and off the screen. According to The New York Post, the liberal channel’s ratings have taken a 90% nosedive during the first week of 2022. The left-winged news program only brought in 548,000 viewers for the January 3rd week compared to the whopping 2.7 million viewers for the same week one year before. Of course, the January 6, 2021 capitol riots brought in eyeballs — giving CNN its most-watched day since launching in 1980. But on the one-year anniversary of the attack, audience members tuned into CNN’s rival network Fox. The Rupert Murdoch-run station collected the most watched ratings for the historic anniversary date. Mega CNN has found itself in hot water, not only because of two of its anchors’ questionable behavior and a few sex scandals but also because of the network’s boss. Jeff Zucker‘s personal life made headlines after Radar exposed his alleged affair with the cable giant’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Allison Gollust. Their romance even got tangled up in Chris Cuomo‘s coverup mess. But CNN’s head honcho’s relationship wasn’t the only bombshell that exploded on the network. Zucker was forced to fire Cuomo after discovering he helped cover his brother Andrew Cuomo‘s tracks amid the ex-New York Governor’s sexual harassment scandal. The 51-year-old journalist was axed as the primetime anchor in December. Mega Attorney General Letitia James‘ office released a number of text messages that reportedly showed Cuomo helping Andrew strategize his response to the scandal. The CNN host was also accused of using his contacts and position at the network to bury his brother’s mess. Following Cuomo’s firing, he was hit with his own sexual misconduct scandal. Cuomo wasn’t the only on-camera talent whose actions came into question. Don Lemoncollected major backlash when former Empire star Jussie Smollett took the stand in his hate crime hoax trial, claiming the CNN host tipped him off that cops didn’t believe his story. Don Lemon Attacks Jussie Smollett On-Air, Calls Actor A ‘Liar’ After Being Dragged Into Criminal Case Radar According to Smollett, Lemon had been told by a law enforcement source that Chicago Police Detectives were doubtful about Jussie’s attack on the night of January 29, 2019. The host allegedly sent the text before Jussie was arrested on February 21. Lemon later came out swinging, denying Smollett’s claims and branding the actor a “liar.” Don is also facing his own lawsuit after a man claimed the anchor sexually assaulted him at a bar. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sarah N. Lynch and Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, and 10 other people with seditious conspiracy for their role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. It marked the first time prosecutors brought that charge against defendants in the attack. The crime is defined as attempting “to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States.” Supporters of former President Donald Trump that day stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying his election loss to President Joe Biden. The attack occurred shortly after Trump in a speech repeated his false claims that his loss was the result of widespread voting fraud and urged his supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” to stop the election from being stolen. The Oath Keepers are a loosely organized group of activists who believe that the federal government is encroaching on their rights, and focus on recruiting current and former police, emergency services and military members. Prosecutors said that beginning in late December 2020, Rhodes used private encrypted communications to plan to travel to Washington on Jan. 6. He and others planned to bring weapons to the area to help support the operation, they said. While some of the Oath Keeper members rushed inside the building wearing tactical gear, others remained stationed outside in what they deemed “quick-response force” teams, which were prepared to rapidly transport arms into the city, prosecutor said. The indictment alleges that Thomas Caldwell, a previous defendant in the case, and Edward Vallejo of Arizona, a new defendant in the case, were in charge of coordinating these quick-response force teams. Seditious conspiracy is a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Nine of the 11 defendants were already facing other charges. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, on the day before the anniversary of the attack last week, vowed to hold accountable anyone involved in the riot. The department has charged more than 725 people with crimes arising from the attack. Of those people, about 165 have pleaded guilty and at least 70 have been sentenced. Garland said the Justice Department would “follow the facts wherever they lead.” Over the years, the Justice Department obtained seditious conspiracy convictions against Puerto Rican nationalists and alleged Islamist militants including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the radical Islamic clergyman known as the “Blind Sheikh.” Seditious conspiracy charges featured prominently in a case federal authorities brought in 1987 against leaders and members of a neo-Nazi group known as The Order. Fourteen alleged members or supporters were indicted, with 10 facing seditious conspiracy counts. After a two-month trial, a jury acquitted all defendants. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Scott Malone, Doina Chiacu and Cynthia Osterman) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema rejected President Joe Biden’s plea to jettison the Senate’s filibuster https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-democrats-mull-ending-filibuster-pass-voting-rights-reform-2022-01-11 rule to allow Democrats to pass a voting-rights bill, calling the measure a critical tool to tamp down the nation’s deepening political divisions. Sinema took to the Senate floor to reiterate her opposition shortly before Biden was to meet with fellow Democrats in the Senate to urge them to unite around the idea and pass a law he said was critical to offsetting a wave of new restrictions on ballot access passed in Republican-led states. She blasted the wave of new laws restricting ballot access in Republican-led states as undemocratic, but said she would not agree to change the Senate’s rules to pass a federal law countering them. “I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division in our country,” Sinema said. “Some have given up on the goal of easing our divisions and uniting Americans. I have not.” The chamber’s 50 Republicans are united in opposition to the voting-rights reform bill, which they dismiss as a partisan power grab. Democrats need all 50 of their votes in the upper chamber to agree to change the filibuster, but both Sinema and fellow centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin oppose the move. Sinema said that previous changes to the filibuster proved to be mistakes. “These shortsighted actions by both parties have led to our current American judiciary and Supreme Court, which as I stand here today is considering questions regarding fundamental rights Americans have enjoyed for decades,” Sinema said. Democrats in 2013 eliminated the 60-vote threshold for most administration nominees, and Republicans followed up in 2017 and did the same thing for Supreme Court nominees. That cleared the way for Republican President Donald Trump to name three conservatives to the court in his four years in office, establishing a 6-3 majority. Sinema’s speech was attended by more Republican senators than those of her own party. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was present on the floor for her speech, told reporters afterwards that it was “extraordinarily important” and said that Sinema’s “act of political courage” had “saved the Senate as an institution.” (Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jason Lange and Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Republican Party on Thursday said its future presidential candidates might not participate in debates run by the Commission on Presidential Debates due to concerns about fairness, upending decades of tradition. In a letter https://bit.ly/3I0DPmB to the non-profit commission known as the CPD, which has run presidential debates since 1988, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the party was considering amending its rules to ensure its candidates do not attend the debates because of concerns about “whether the CPD credibly can provide a fair and impartial forum for presidential debates.” She said the party would try to help future Republican presidential nominees participate in debates that are organized more fairly. It is unclear what format those debates would take or whether they would take place as often as in recent decades. Prior to the debate commission’s founding in 1987, political parties or campaigns negotiated directly on the terms of debates. The looming schism comes as U.S. political divisions have grown deeper and the possibility of fewer debates could leave Americans with less access to unfiltered information about their aspiring leaders. At the same time, Republicans have long accused the debate commission, which was founded to codify the debates as a permanent part of presidential elections, of being biased in favor of Democratic candidates. Republicans are also concerned that the commission could hold its first debate for the 2024 presidential contest after the start of early voting, as it did in 2020, McDaniel said. Last year, McDaniel and other party officials asked the commission to agree to changes in how it conducts its business and how the debates were held. The RNC rule change could be made official at a party meeting in Salt Lake City in February, McDaniel said. (Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Drew Barrymore turned to the ‘Queer Eye’ team to re-enter the dating world. The 46-year-old actress – who has been single since splitting from ex-husband Will Kopelman in 2016 – had a Zoom date with ‘Top Chef’ star Sam Talbot as they were both “unable to fly”, she got tips from the cast of the reality show. Speaking about the date – which will air on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ this week – she told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “It was so fun. I had Jonathan [Van Ness] holding up, like, silly questions and naughty signs making me giggle. “I had Tan [France] saying, ‘Hey, I notice something over there,’ like, ask him about that. “I had Antoni [Porowski] tell me, ‘You are doing a good job and I had Bobby going, ‘Hey, I see plants and dogs, see how he is a caretaker,’ it was, like, every person. I do feel like I was on their show.” And it seems the boys did their job, as she and Sam have kept in touch and are already talking about the possibility of meeting in real life. She added: “We have been texting. So, I mean, this just happened. We were bold enough to say, ‘Should we meet in another forum?’ “And so, we’re keeping communication alive, which is really exciting and that is perfectly enough for the moment, and I think we will figure out what our next step is.” Although Drew – who has daughters Olive and Frankie with ex Will – has felt “apprehensive” about online dating, she has started to accept the need to “figure out [her] side of the street”, and accept that there’s nothing “wrong” with her for not dating for so long. She explained: “A lot of us out there who stay single for a really long time can start to get an inner dialogue of, ‘Maybe there is something wrong with me,’ rather than realizing it can be an empowered choice. “And in my case, I really wanted to honor raising two daughters, and their dad is now happily remarried. “It has been six years, I have a great sense of peace of what is happening on that side of the street.” View the full article

Published by Reuters UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Human Rights Watch on Thursday criticised U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western leaders for a weak defense of democracy and for failing to meet challenges from the climate crisis and COVID-19 pandemic to poverty, inequality and racial injustice. In contrast to what Human Rights Executive Director Kenneth Roth described as former U.S. President Donald Trump’s “embrace of friendly autocrats”, Biden took office in January 2021 with a pledge to put human rights at the center of his foreign policy. “But he continued to sell arms to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel despite their persistent repression,” Roth wrote in Human Rights Watch’s annual World Report, released on Thursday. “Other Western leaders displayed similar weakness in their defense of democracy,” Roth wrote, naming French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Roth also said that during key summits Biden “seemed to lose his voice when it came to public denunciation of serious human rights violations.” “The U.S. State Department has issued occasional protests about repression in certain countries, and in extreme cases the Biden administration introduced targeted sanctions on some officials responsible, but the influential voice of the president was often missing,” he wrote. U.S. officials have defended the Biden administration’s record, saying diplomats have frequently raised human rights concerns with foreign leaders, including in difficult talks with adversaries including China and Russia. “If democracies are to prevail in the global contest with autocracy, their leaders must do more than spotlight the autocrats’ inevitable shortcomings. They need to make a stronger, positive case for democratic rule,” Roth said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken and Karishma Singh) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will seek to rally Senate Democrats in a meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to unite and alter the chamber’s rules to pass voting-rights legislation. Biden and most fellow Democrats have ratcheted up their campaign to pass voting-rights legislation after spending much of his first year in office debating spending bills focused on COVID-19 relief, infrastructure and social safety net programs. Democrats see the voting rights bills as a last chance to counter new voting restrictions in Republican-controlled states ahead of the Nov. 8 congressional elections, when they run the risk of losing their narrow majorities in at least one chamber. Former Democratic President Barack Obama wrote in a USA Today op-ed on Thursday that the Senate’s “filibuster” rule, which requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree on most legislation, has become a common tool for the chamber’s minority to block important progress on issues supported by the majority of voters. “We can’t allow it to be used to block efforts to protect our democracy. That’s why I fully support President Joe Biden’s call to modify Senate rules as necessary to make sure pending voting rights legislation gets called for a vote,” Obama wrote. Democrats, who hold just 50 seats, remain divided on how to get around the rule that has hampered them. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-meet-with-senate-democrats-voting-rights-thursday-aide-2022-01-12 outlined a strategy to ensure a Senate floor debate on voting rights, after three separate attempts last year were stymied by Republicans. Under the plan, the House of Representatives will soon repackage two elections-related bills into one and pass it. It would then go to the Senate under a special procedure preventing Republicans from blocking debate. If Republicans remain opposed, that bill would not pass the Senate unless all Democrats agree to change the filibuster, he said. At least two Democrats are opposed to a rule change. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday reiterated that Republicans oppose voting-rights legislation and changes to the filibuster. McConnell also criticized Biden for a speech in Atlanta on Tuesday pushing for an overhaul of the filibuster to pass voting rights bills, calling it “incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office.” Republican lawmakers in 19 states have passed dozens of laws making it harder to vote. The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act together would make Election Day a holiday, expand access to mail-in voting and strengthen U.S. Justice Department oversight of local election jurisdictions with a history of discrimination. (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Bill Gates says “social media got behind” with dealing with misinformation after he was caught up in a COVID-19 conspiracy theory. The Microsoft founder was falsely accused of wanting to plant microchips in people’s arms via coronavirus vaccinations amid the global pandemic, and the billionaire has insisted apps like Twitter and Facebook need to do more to ensure only factual information is shared online. Gates was asked on Twitter by Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University Medical School and director of the Global Health Governance Programme, “One major problem has been online misinformation on Facebook & other platforms around vaccines, masks and other interventions — how do we deal with this challenge?” To which, he replied: “Trusted authorities like @WHO and @CDCgov need more resources to see the pandemic early (surveillance) and to communicate better. Social media got behind on trying to get factual information out – there will be a lot of debate about how to do better on that… People like you and I and Tony Fauci have been subject to a lot of misinformation. I didn’t expect that. Some of it like me putting chips in arms doesn’t make sense to me – why would I want to do that?” Gates and his ex-wife Melinda’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – which has worked to help stop the spread of malaria, HIV and tuberculosis – continues to provide support throughout the pandemic. Gates previously said: “We’ve taken an organisation that was focused on HIV and malaria and polio eradication, and almost entirely shifted it to work on this. “This has the foundation’s total attention. Even our non-health related work, like higher education and K-12 [schools], is completely switched around to look at how you facilitate online learning.” As well as providing funding to help fight the disease, they have been focusing on eliminating extreme poverty. A statement read: “While we’ve announced more than $250 million in funding to date and a commitment to leverage our Strategic Investment Fund toward the pandemic, we are increasingly focusing the expertise of our staff and leveraging our partnerships toward the urgent efforts needed to end this pandemic. “These are unprecedented times, but our belief that all lives have equal value and our commitment to addressing inequities across all of our work remains more critical than ever.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Anthony Deutsch and Simon Jessop AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) – The Dutch wing of environmental group Friends of the Earth, which won a landmark court victory against Royal Dutch Shell last year, is targeting 30 major corporate emitters of greenhouse gases in a campaign launched on Thursday. Milieudefensie has set its sights on large companies with legal bases in the Netherlands, where a court ruled in May that Shell must reduce its environmental footprint. The heads of the companies were being sent letters demanding that they provide plans outlining how they will trim emissions of the heat-trapping gases by 45% from 2019 levels by 2030. A failure to do so may result in legal action, said Peer de Rijk, policy officer at Milieudefensie. “We are very clear that in the end, if needed, we are willing to go to court. But of course we are hoping these companies will be moving by themselves,” De Rijk told Reuters in an interview. “We are willing to engage in talks, but we are in a hurry as well, so we won’t accept talks for the sake of talks themselves,” he said. “Climate science is very clear. This is exactly what is needed.” Shell is appealing against The Hague district court order to cut emissions in line with the 2015 Paris agreement. Among leaders in finance, retailers, oil and energy majors, builders and industrial manufacturers on the list are KLM, the Dutch arm of airline Air France KLM, ABN Amro bank and supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize. “You lead an enterprise with control over and influence on a substantial amount of CO2 emissions. An enterprise that can and must contribute to the system change necessary to prevent dangerous climate change,” a draft letter seen by Reuters said, asking: “Are you a frontrunner or a straggler?” Some of the businesses are “small in the Netherlands itself, but they have a very large, international, global impact and the Shell verdict very clearly states that it is …possible to hold them accountable for their global emissions via the Dutch law,” he said. MID-APRIL DEADLINE The move by Milieudefensie follows a commitment by countries to accelerate their emissions reductions at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in November, with investors managing $130 trillion in assets signing up to net-zero and pressuring companies to ensure their plans are good enough. The broadening out of Milieudefensie’s campaign also comes against a backdrop of increased climate-related litigation globally, with more than 1,000 cases brought since 2015, research from the London School of Economics showed. Milieudefensie set a three-month deadline until April 15 for the companies to present a climate plan. They will be used to set an emissions baseline against which progress in cutting climate-heating gasses can be measured, the group said. Other companies receiving a letter were: Pension fund ABP, insurer Aegon, paint maker AkzoNobel, insurer Atradius, builder BAM Groep, dredger Boskalis Westminster, oil company BP, Dow Chemical, nutrition maker DSM, oil company ExxonMobil, dairy group FrieslandCampina, bank ING Groep, airline KLM, chemical manufacturer LyondellBasell, insurer NN Group, pension fund PfZW, Rabobank, energy company RWE, Schiphol airport, oil major Shell, car producer Stellantis, Tata Steel, products group Unilever, Uniper energy, food group Vion, commodities trader Vitol, Vopak storage and Yara chemical. KLM said it has committed to aligning its net-zero pathway with climate science, and planned to use more sustainable aviation fuel. An ABN spokesperson said the bank supported efforts to limit global warming and was working to reduce emissions from its lending. Ahold Delhaize said it had not yet received the official letter and could not comment. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam and Simon Jessop in London; Editing by William Maclean) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two months after U.S. President Joe Biden announced an unprecedented effort among major oil consuming economies to work together to bring down rising fuel prices, prices are again approaching multi-year highs. And Biden has few options to stop the rally. Global benchmark Brent crude passed $84 a barrel on Wednesday and leading analysts are forecasting that oil could pass $100 a barrel in the first quarter. [O/R] Biden spearheaded a coordinated release of oil from strategic reserves with Japan, India, South Korea, Britain and China in November that helped quell prices – even though, in the end, China did not take part. Brent briefly dropped below $70 a barrel, but the effects were short-lived. Rising oil prices present a political headache for Biden and any U.S. president, because the United States is the biggest consumer of gasoline globally, burning roughly 9 million barrels per day (bpd) of the motor fuel. Crude prices make up about two thirds of the price of gasoline, making the commodity’s price an important part of consumers’ budgets. Republicans are pointing fingers at climate-focused policies supported by Biden, a Democrat, for rising prices, but the reality is that oil market is linked to global factors beyond any U.S. political party’s control. Investors have been buying oil on expectations that the Omicron coronavirus variant will have a limited effect on global economic activity. Currently U.S. pump prices are about 80 cents a gallon below their all-time record hit in 2008, but they are expected to rise. WHY ARE OIL PRICES RISING AGAIN? Worldwide oil demand recovered to pre-pandemic levels at roughly 99 million bpd, but supply is at least a million bpd short of that, according to the International Energy Association. Economists say the combination of strong demand, weak investment and a lack of spare capacity has caused prices to rise. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, have been routinely falling short of targeted supply increases. “OPEC+ remain steadfast in adding 400,000 bpd back to the market each month, but our data suggests that monthly additions tally closer to 250,000 bpd,” Mike Tran, commodity strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note to clients. U.S. production averaged roughly 11.3 million bpd in the second half of 2021, compared with a peak of about 13 million bpd at the end of 2019. CAN’T BIDEN PRESSURE OPEC AGAIN? Biden last year joined his predecessors who at one time or another pressed OPEC to raise output, with variable success. The president announced several steps to try to bring fuel prices down in November. The White House, in conjunction with Japan, South Korea and India, announced a release of barrels from its strategic reserves. Biden had also said China would be involved, but the country, the world’s largest crude importer, said it would sell from its reserves on its own schedule. The group cut supply by a record 9.7 million bpd in early 2020 as the pandemic broke out. It has been slowly restoring output, but currently OPEC+ is still withholding more than 3 million bpd in supply. WHAT ARE BIDEN’S OTHER OPTIONS? Biden could increase sales from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). However, that supply is limited, and pales in comparison to the size of the global market. SPR crude inventories have fallen to 593 million barrels, their lowest since November 2002. Biden’s announcement in November was for a release of 50 million barrels in sales and loans – roughly half of one day’s global consumption. The president could also consider a federal gas tax holiday; the federal excise on gasoline is 18.4 cents a gallon. In 2008, lawmakers floated this idea in response to a surge in prices that brought gasoline costs to more than $4 a gallon – but because refiners cannot quickly produce more gasoline, such a move would likely only boost demand, which would ultimately send prices higher, economists have argued. (Reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault; Editing by Heather Timmons, David Gaffen and Marguerita Choy) View the full article