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Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen (Reuters) – Two weeks of emotional, explicit testimony at Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex abuse trial from four women who said the British socialite groomed them as teenagers for deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein could largely undercut the defense’s argument that prosecutors are using Maxwell as a scapegoat, legal experts said. The women – who say they met Maxwell at different times in places as far flung as Florida, New Mexico and London – all portrayed her as central to the sexual encounters they had with Epstein. Maxwell’s attorneys did rattle three of the four accusers during tough cross-examination and scored two favorable rulings from U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, who said that two of the four women prosecutors called victims were old enough to consent at the time of the alleged encounters. But as the defense prepares to mount its case, persuading jurors that Maxwell was not involved will be difficult, some experts said. “The government has done a good job of keeping the jury focused on Maxwell,” said Sarah Krissoff, a partner at law firm Day Pitney and former federal prosecutor. “The government will argue that the fact that each victim has a different story – and didn’t exaggerate Maxwell’s role in that story – demonstrates the credibility of those accounts.” Prosecutors, who say Maxwell recruited and groomed four teenage girls for Epstein from 1994 to 2004, rested their case on Friday in Manhattan federal court. Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges. Her attorneys did not reply to a request for comment for this story. Her attorneys have argued that she is a “convenient stand in” for Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges. The remarkably similar accounts of the accusers could help undermine that argument, experts said. For example, a woman testifying under the pseudonym Kate said that Maxwell encouraged her to rub Epstein’s feet when Kate was 17 in London in 1994. Weeks later, at Maxwell’s request, Kate said she gave Epstein a full-body massage that escalated into a sexual encounter. Annie Farmer, now 44, said she and Maxwell gave Epstein a foot massage at the financier’s New Mexico ranch in 1996, when Farmer was 16. “I watched what she was doing and she instructed me,” Farmer said. Massages, and Maxwell’s central role in them, came up repeatedly during the women’s testimony. Jane, who said she was 14 in 1994 when Epstein first abused her, testified that Maxwell would sometimes participate when massages later escalated into sexual encounters. Prosecutors said the women’s testimony provided them with details which are crucial to prove charges that Maxwell enticed the girls to travel across state lines and in some cases paid them for sexual activity. Jane said Maxwell assisted her with arrangements when she traveled to Epstein’s home in New York. And Carolyn, a woman who says Epstein abused her starting when she was 14, said she was paid $300 after she massaged Epstein. Once or twice, it was Maxwell who handed her the cash, Carolyn testified. ‘ROOM FULL OF STRANGERS’ Maxwell’s lawyers argued that the women’s memories were corrupted in the decades since the alleged abuse, and that they were motivated by money. Three of the four women frequently became agitated when the defense challenged their credibility by pointing to apparent inconsistencies between their testimonies and prior statements made to law enforcement. Maxwell attorney Laura Menninger grilled Jane about why she initially told the FBI that she did not recall being in a room alone with Epstein and Maxwell or Maxwell ever touching her. Jane called the notes “incorrect,” but on further questioning by prosecutors cried as she explained why she did not share certain details initially. “I was sitting in a room full of strangers and telling them the most shameful, deepest secrets that I’d been carrying around with me my whole life,” Jane said. Later in the trial, Maxwell attorney Jeffrey Pagliuca pressed Carolyn about $3.25 million she received from a compensation fund set up for Epstein victims. “Why is that being mentioned more than once?” said Carolyn, who later sobbed on the stand. Jeffrey Cohen, an associate professor at Boston College Law School and former federal prosecutor, said the defense may argue that the accusers’ reactions under cross-examination could indicate “they are simply out for vengeance and clouded by passion.” But in this case, he said, the jury would likely be “forgiving of the victims’ outrage.” In a victory for the defense, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan ruled that Kate and Farmer were old enough to consent at the time of their alleged encounters, meaning any physical contact they had with Epstein was not “illegal sexual activity” as prosecutors alleged in their 2021 indictment. But the damage to the prosecution’s case from that decision may be limited, experts said. Neither Kate nor Farmer are the sole alleged victims underlying any of the charges Maxwell faces, meaning that jurors can use Kate and Farmer’s testimony to back up the accounts of the other accusers. Kate and Farmer “described strikingly similar patterns of behavior on Maxwell’s part,” bolstering Jane’s and Carolyn’s testimony, said Deborah Tuerkheimer, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law. “In important ways, the testimony of the women who were over the age of consent during the sexual interactions strongly corroborates the testimony of the two alleged victims,” Tuerkheimer said. (Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lisa Shumaker and Andrea Januta (Reuters) – Extreme weather events in 2021 shattered records around the globe. Hundreds died in storms and heatwaves. Farmers struggled with drought, and in some cases with locust plagues. Wildfires set new records for carbon emissions, while swallowing forests, towns and homes. Many of these events were exacerbated by climate change. Scientists say there are more to come – and worse – as the Earth’s atmosphere continues to warm through the next decade and beyond. Here are some of the events Reuters witnessed over the past year: February — A blistering cold spell hit normally warm Texas, killing 125 people in the state and leaving millions without power in freezing temperatures. Scientists have not reached a conclusion on whether climate change caused the extreme weather, but the warming of the Arctic is causing more unpredictable weather around the globe. February — Kenya and other parts of East Africa battled some of the worst locust plagues in decades, with the insects destroying crops and grazing grounds. Scientists say that unusual weather patterns exacerbated by climate change created ideal conditions for insects to thrive. March — Beijing’s sky turned orange and flights were grounded during the Chinese capital’s worst sandstorm in a decade. Busloads of volunteers arrive in the desert each year to plant trees, which can stabilize the soil and serve as a wind buffer. Scientists predict climate change will worsen desertification, as hotter summers and drier winters reduce moisture levels. June — Nearly all of the western United States was gripped by a drought that emerged in early 2020. Farmers abandoned crops, officials announced emergency measures, and the Hoover Dam reservoir hit an all-time low. By September, the U.S. government confirmed that over the prior 20 months, the Southwest experienced the lowest precipitation in over a century, and it linked the drought to climate change. June — Hundreds died during a record-smashing heatwave in the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest, which scientists concluded would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change. Over several days, power lines melted and roads buckled. Cities, struggling to cope with the heat, opened cooling centers to protect their residents. During the heatwave, Portland, Oregon, hit an all-time record high of 116 Fahrenheit (46.7 Celsius). July — Catastrophic flooding killed more than 300 people in central China’s Henan province when a year’s worth of rain fell in just three days. Meanwhile in Europe, nearly 200 people died as torrential rains soaked Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Scientists concluded that climate change had made the floods 20% more likely to occur. July — A record heatwave and drought in the U.S. West gave rise to two massive wildfires that tore through California and Oregon and were among the largest in the history of both states. Scientists say both the growing frequency and the intensity of wildfires are largely attributable to prolonged drought and increasing bouts of excessive heat from climate change. July — Large parts of South America are suffering from a prolonged drought. While Chile is enduring a decade-long megadrought linked to global warming, this year Brazil saw one of its driest years in a century. In Argentina, the Parana, South America’s second-longest river, fell to its lowest level since 1944. Around the globe, heatwaves are becoming both more frequent and more severe. August — In the Mediterranean, a hot and dry summer fanned intense blazes that forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes in Algeria, Greece and Turkey. The fires, which killed two people in Greece and at least 65 in Algeria, struck amid an intense heatwave, with some places in Greece recording temperatures of over 46 Celsius (115 Fahrenheit). Late August — Nearly all the world’s mountain glaciers are retreating due to global warming. In the Alps, Swiss resort employees laid protective blankets over one of Mount Titlis’s glaciers during the summer months to preserve what ice is left. Switzerland already has lost 500 of its glaciers, and could lose 90% of the 1,500 that remain by the end of the century if global emissions continue to rise, the government said. August/September — Hurricane Ida, which hit Louisiana as a Category 4 storm, killed nearly 100 people in the United States and caused an estimated $64 billion in damage, according to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. As the remnants of Ida moved inland, the heavy rains created flash flooding across the densely populated Northeast, vastly increasing the storm’s death toll. Climate change is strengthening hurricanes, while also causing them to linger longer over land – dumping more rain on an area before moving on. Studies also suggest these storms are becoming more frequent in the North Atlantic. September — Infrastructure and homes in Russia are increasingly in peril as underground permafrost melts and deforms the land underneath them. Permafrost was once a stable construction base, in some regions staying frozen as far back as the last Ice Age. But rising global temperatures threaten the layer of ice, soil, rocks, sand and organic matter. November — The worst floods in 60 years in South Sudan have affected about 780,000 people, or one in every 14 residents, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Every year the county goes through a rainy season, but flooding has set records for three years in a row. The destruction will likely increase as temperatures rise, scientists say. November — A massive storm dumped a month’s worth of rain over two days in the Canadian province of British Columbia, unleashing floods and mudslides that destroyed roads, railroads and bridges. It is likely the most expensive natural disaster in Canada’s history, although officials are still assessing the damage. Meteorologists said the rain had come from an atmospheric river, or a stream of water vapor stretching hundreds of miles long from the tropics. Atmospheric rivers are expected to become larger — and possibly more destructive — with climate change, scientists say. (Reporting by Andrea Januta in New York and Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; Editing by Katy Daigle and Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by DPA Opel’s new hydrogen van can be fully refuelled in just three minutes, which gives the model a clear advantage over the all-electric version which needs almost five hours. Opel/dpa Opel has delivered its first hydrogen-powered van to a customer in Germany, saying the Vivaro model will pave the way for a whole family of new zero-emission light commercial vehicles that refuel far faster than their electric counterparts can recharge. The Vivaro-e Hydrogen was delivered to domestic appliance manufacturer Miele in the central Rhine-Main region. It promises a range of 400 kilometres compared to 329 km for the pure electric version. The hydrogen tanks of the Vivaro e-hydrogen can be refuelled in just 3 minutes, which gives the model a clear advantage over the all-electric Vivaro which needs to sip electrons for four hours and 45 minutes once the batteries are depleted. The hydrogen van is aimed at business customers initially and will be sold alongside the existing battery-electric and combustion-engined versions. A Vauxhall variant will debut later in some markets. “With the new Opel Vivaro-e Hydrogen we are opening the next chapter in our sustainable mobility offensive,” said Opel CEO Uwe Hochgeschurtz. He said the van was ideal for transporting loads without losing time while charging the batteries. The Vivaro hydrogen-driven van is the forerunner of a joint version for all the companies within the Stellantis concern which groups Fiat, Chrysler and PSA with Opel. Hydrogen versions of the Citroen e-Jumpy and Peugeot e-Expert vans are said to be in the pipeline. The hydrogen load-hauler is based on the battery electric Opel Vivaro-e but driven by a 45kW fuel cell which uses a chemical reaction to produce electricity. A 10.5kWh lithium-ion battery provides dynamic peak power when required, for example, when the van starts up and under acceleration. Opel said the battery also enables regenerative braking, while the plug-in capability offers the opportunity to recharge the battery externally if necessary. Opel’s new hydrogen van can be fully refuelled in just three minutes, which gives the model a clear advantage over the all-electric version which needs almost five hours. Opel/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2021, a year that saw his electric car company become the most valuable carmaker in the world and his rocket company soar to the edge of space with an all-civilian crew. Musk is also the founder and CEO of SpaceX, and leads brain-chip startup Neuralink and infrastructure firm The Boring Company. Tesla’s market value soared to more than $1 trillion this year, making it more valuable than Ford Motor and General Motors combined. Tesla produces hundreds of thousand of cars every year and has managed to avert supply chain issues better than many of its rivals, while pushing many young consumers to switch to electric cars and legacy automakers to shift focus to EV vehicles. “For creating solutions to an existential crisis, for embodying the possibilities and the perils of the age of tech titans, for driving society’s most daring and disruptive transformations, Elon Musk is TIME’s 2021 Person of the Year,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal, said. “Even Elon Musk’s spacefaring adventures are a direct line from the very first Person of the Year, Charles Lindbergh, whom the editors selected in 1927 to commemorate his historic first solo transatlantic airplane flight over the Atlantic.” From hosting Saturday Night Live to dropping tweets on cryptocurrencies and meme stocks that have triggered massive movements in their value, Musk has dominated the headlines and amassed over 66 million followers on Twitter. Some of his tweets have also attracted regulatory scrutiny in the past. According to the magazine, “The Person of the Year” signifies somebody “who affected the news or our lives the most, for better, or worse.” Time magazine named the teenage pop singer Olivia Rodrigo as its “Entertainer of the Year”, American gymnast Simone Biles “Athlete of the Year” and vaccine scientists were named “Heroes of the Year”. Last year, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were jointly given the “Person of the Year” title. Time began this tradition in 1927. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have also received the title in the past. (Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Brooke Shields thought George Michael was “extremely respectful” of her virginity. The 56-year-old actress dated the late ‘Careless Whisper’ singer in the years before he came out as gay and before she learned about his sexuality, she thought the fact things developed so slowly between them was because he had so much love and respect for her. She said: “I thought it must be love… I just thought he was being extraordinarily respectful of my virginity.” The ‘A Castle for Christmas’ actress – who has daughters Rowan, 18, and Grier, 15, with husband Chris Henchy – also dated the likes of Liam Neeson and John Travolta but didn’t lose her virginity until she was 22 and dating Dean Cain while studying at Princeton. However, Brooke didn’t “celebrate” her relationship with the ‘ Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’ actor enough at the time. She reflected to The Times magazine: “I wish I had celebrated us more, but I was just so laden with fear and guilt that I didn’t have a wild time. “I want my girls to explore and experience and not feel guilt and not feel shame. My daughter talks to me about everything and I’m kind of like, ‘I didn’t bargain for this much information, but I’m going to listen.’ I look at her as an 18 year old and just think, ‘Wow, she is so much more in her body and she owns her sexuality.’ ” Before meeting Chris when she was 25, Brooke was wed to tennis star Andre Agassi for two years but she insisted she didn’t enjoy much of a sexual awakening with him. She said: “That was not a part of my first marriage.” However, everything changed when she met Chris. She said: “I would always walk backwards out of rooms and he’s like, ‘No, I want to grab onto you.’ I’d always felt like I could arm-wrestle every guy I’d ever dated – and win – but then this big hunky guy was like, ‘Come here, woman,’ and it felt really good. It’s not like, oh, I needed a man. But in a way, I did need a man. I needed a man to celebrate me, so that I could see that I was a woman.” But the ‘Pretty Baby’ actress predicted their marriage would only last two years. She laughed: “I was like, ‘Don’t count your chickens.’ I would always want a foot out of the door.” Things weren’t plain sailing for the couple as Brooke struggled to get pregnant. She recalled: “It was two years and seven rounds of IVF just to get Rowan. She was from the first batch. She was frozen for two years. I was like, ‘You’re stubborn.’ But it feels like the biggest failure. Women are getting pregnant all around you and you want this and it’s all you’ve wanted in your life. And then you think, ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve had too much in my life.’ “Thank God I had a great doctor. And that she spoke to me in a way that took away the guilt. And the perseverance. She was not going not to get me pregnant.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Manas Mishra (Reuters) – More than half a billion people globally were pushed into extreme poverty last year as they paid for health costs out of their own pockets during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization and the World Bank said on Sunday. The pandemic disrupted health services globally and triggered the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, making it even more difficult for people to pay for healthcare, according to a joint statement from both the organizations. “All governments must immediately resume and accelerate efforts to ensure every one of their citizens can access health services without fear of the financial consequences,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Tedros urged governments to increase their focus on health care systems and stay on course towards universal health coverage, which the WHO defines as everyone getting access to health services they need without financial hardship. Healthcare is a major political issue in the United States, one of the few industrialised countries that does not have universal cover for its citizens. Globally, the pandemic made things worse and immunisation coverage dropped for the first time in ten years, with deaths from tuberculosis and malaria increasing. “Within a constrained fiscal space, governments will have to make tough choices to protect and increase health budgets,” Juan Pablo Uribe, global director for health, nutrition and population at World Bank, said. (Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta) View the full article

Anne Rice fans mourn LGBTQ ally in human, undead worlds. Published by AFP Anne Rice sold more than 150 million books worldwide Washington (AFP) – Anne Rice, the gothic novelist best known for writing “Interview with the Vampire,” died Saturday aged 80, her family said. “In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage,” her son Christopher Rice said in a post on her Facebook page. He said she died of complications from a stroke. “Interview with the Vampire,” published in 1976, was made into a movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in 1994. She wrote dozens of books, many of them in the “Vampire” series, selling more than 150 million worldwide. Another of her works, “The Queen of the Damned,” was adapted into a film in 2002. “The immensity of our family’s grief cannot be overstated. As my mother, her support for me was unconditional — she taught me to embrace my dreams, reject conformity and challenge the dark voices of fear and self-doubt,” her son wrote. “As a writer, she taught me to defy genre boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions.” She will be interred at a private ceremony in New Orleans, the statement said. A public celebration will be held next year in the city, with “friends, readers and fans” invited, her son added. Gay Anne Rice Fans – LGBTQ Ally on Towleroad Billie Eilish was told to avoid acting by her mother More Chris Wallace leaving Fox News for CNN+ streaming service More Explainer-Why tornadoes are so difficult to predict More Out Lesbian CEO/Editor Wins Peace Prize –First Philippine Nobel — with Russian Editor Who Exposed Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Crackdown; More Gay Rom Com, The Matrix |And Cackles with Clarkson | Miley and Pete Talk About New Years Eve | Coldplay with BTS, My Favorites Sing. (Julie Andrews Version) More U.S. House Capitol Jan. 6 probe subpoenas more Trump aides More ‘It’s going to be so hard to beat It’s A Sin: Olly Alexander keen to do more acting More Carrie Anne-Moss glad Trinity wasn’t ‘overly sexualised’ in The Matrix More Kanye West publicist pressed Georgia election worker to confess to bogus fraud charges More Tibetan students lock themselves to Olympic rings to protest Beijing games More California man charged in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot flees to Belarus More Load More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Billie Eilish was told by her mother to avoid acting. The 19-year-old popstar was hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ and in her opening monologue detailed how her mother Maggie Baird, 62, had told her to give up her dreams of becoming an actress.. She said: “I spent a lot of years pretending to be somebody that I’m not. Basically acting. And somebody wise once told me: ‘Billie, you should never, ever act…that person was my mom!” The ‘Happier than Ever’ hitmaker then went on to reveal an amusing anecdote which saw her overlooked by her mother for a role in a film in favour of her brother FINNEAS, 24. Speaking on SNL, she said: “It is so great to be back here at SNL. I was a musical guest a couple of years ago but I never thought I would host, ever. In fact I used to say that I hated acting but the truth is when I was little, I loved it. My parents were both actors and so was my brother. It was my dream to be in a movie, and I remember when that dream died. “I was nine. My mom wrote a film inspired by her life – this is true – she cast my brother Finneas as her son. She played the mom. And in the movie she had no daughter! So yeah, I got the hint! But my mom is my best friend.” The Grammy Award winner then welcomed her mother to the stage, who was wearing a sweater emblazoned with the slogan ‘Finneas’ mom’ to continue the joke before noting that “[the film story] is true. It literally happened!” View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) -Veteran television journalist Chris Wallace announced on Sunday that he is leaving Fox News after about 18 years and he is set to join rival CNN’s upcoming streaming service as an anchor. Wallace, 74, hosted the program “Fox News Sunday,” and announced his departure on the show. He was one of the most prominent journalists at Fox News, including moderating a presidential debate last year between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. “I want to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I’m interested in. I’m ready for a new adventure,” Wallace said. CNN said Wallace will join the company as an anchor for its streaming service CNN+, which will debut early next year. “I am thrilled to join CNN+. After decades in broadcast and cable news, I am excited to explore the world of streaming,” Wallace said in a CNN statement, adding that he also looks forward to the “new freedom and flexibility streaming affords.” In a statement, Fox News said other journalists from the network will host “Fox News Sunday” until a replacement is named. During last year’s presidential debate, Wallace sought to stop Trump’s interruptions, asking the then-president at one point: “Why don’t you observe what your campaign agreed to as a ground rule. Okay, sir?” Trump at another point objected to a Wallace question on healthcare policy, saying, “I guess I’m debating you not him (Biden). But that’s okay. I’m not surprised.” Wallace is the son of the late broadcast journalist Mike Wallace. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – After a string of powerful tornados struck the U.S. Midwest https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/devastated-kentucky-tornado-survivors-pick-through-debris-shelter-with-relatives-2021-12-12 and killed more than 100 people this weekend, attention has turned to the warning systems in place and why the movements of the fast-moving storms are so difficult to predict. A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. About 1,200 tornadoes hit the United States yearly. Unlike hurricanes https://www.noaa.gov/explainers/hurricane-forecasting which can be seen gathering strength days in advance, a tornado watch https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/forecasting lasts for four to six hours over a certain area when favorable conditions develop for tornadoes. Hurricanes usually have diameters measured in hundreds of miles and can last for days or weeks. Scientists can usually predict a hurricane’s path three to five days in advance. Tornadoes usually form in a span of a few minutes, are normally a few hundred feet wide, and last for a few minutes. Tornado watches https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes, which are not the same as tornado warnings, are typically issued hours in advance by meteorologists watching the weather 24/7 across the United States and cover parts of a state or several states. They indicate that weather conditions are ideal for a tornado to form, but do not necessarily result in a tornado. Meteorologists in local offices of the National Weather Service issue a tornado warning when a tornado is either reported by spotters or indicated by radar https://www.weather.gov/safety/tornado-ww and there is a serious threat to lives and properties in its path. The average lead time for tornado warnings is eight to 18 minutes https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/2021-04-05-tornado-warning-nws-accuracy, according to Weather.com. Many towns use public warning sirens https://www.weather.gov/unr/Warning_Systems to warn of tornadoes, but rural areas and smaller towns do not have them. Most local radio and television stations broadcast the warnings, as do many smart phone apps and the Wireless Emergency Alerts provided by FEMA that come from cell towers in the vicinity of tornadoes and flash floods. The genesis of the tornado outbreak over the weekend was a series of overnight thunderstorms, including a super cell storm that formed in northeast Arkansas. That storm moved from Arkansas and Missouri and into Tennessee and Kentucky. This time was deadlier because the tornados hit at night. “People rely on a visual confirmation to go into shelter. But at night, you know, you don’t have that,” said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections. Masters added that the mile-wide size of the biggest cell was another factor for the widespread destruction. “That means there’s really no place to hide. It’s so large and so powerful that even if you’re in shelter, you’re at danger of losing your life.” (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) View the full article

Nobel Peace Prize winners Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressa Are the first journalists chosen for the recognition since 1935. [This post contains video, click to play] Published by Reuters By Nerijus Adomaitis and Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) -People in positions of power in Russia are actively promoting the idea of war, and conflict with Ukraine is now distinctly possible, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov said on Friday. Receiving his award at Oslo City Hall, Muratov said it was common in Russia to think that politicians who avoided bloodshed were weak, while threatening war was “the duty of true patriots”. Muratov, editor-in-chief of Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, won the 2021 award jointly with Maria Ressa of the Philippines, co-founder of news site Rappler, in recognition of their fight for freedom of expression. “The powerful actively promote the idea of war,” he said. “Moreover, in (the) heads of some crazy geopoliticians, a war between Russia and Ukraine is not something impossible any longer.” U.S. officials have said Russia could soon invade Ukraine following a build-up of troops near the Ukrainian border. Moscow has denied it is planning an invasion. Muratov also said journalism in Russia was going “through a dark valley”, with over a hundred journalists, media outlets, human rights defenders and non-governmental organisations having been branded as foreign agents. “In Russia, this means ‘enemies of the people’,” Muratov said, dedicating his prize to all investigative journalists, and to colleagues at Novaya Gazeta killed because of their work. Muratov’s co-laureate Ressa reiterated her call for reform of social media platforms. “Our greatest need today is to transform that hate and violence, the toxic sludge that’s coursing through our information ecosystem, prioritised by American internet companies that make more money by spreading that hate and triggering the worst in us,” she said. “For the US, reform or revoke section 230, the law that treats social media platforms like utilities.” Ressa and Muratov are the first journalists to receive the Nobel prize since Germany’s Carl von Ossietzky won the 1935 award for revealing the Nazis’ secret rearmament programme. Ressa noted in her speech that Von Ossietzky was never able to collect his award as he was held in a concentration camp and died in custody. “By giving this to journalists today, the Nobel committee is signalling a similar historical moment, another existential point for democracy,” she said. For a graphic listing all Nobel laureates, click on https://graphics.reuters.com/NOBEL-PRIZE/010050ZC27H/index.html (Additional reporting by Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander in Stockholm; editing by John Stonestreet) Nobel Peace Prize Sheared Nobel Peach Prize on Towleroad Gay Rom Com, The Matrix |And Cackles with Clarkson | Miley and Pete Talk About New Years Eve | Coldplay with BTS, My Favorites Sing. (Julie Andrews Version) More U.S. House Capitol Jan. 6 probe subpoenas more Trump aides More ‘It’s going to be so hard to beat It’s A Sin: Olly Alexander keen to do more acting More Carrie Anne-Moss glad Trinity wasn’t ‘overly sexualised’ in The Matrix More Kanye West publicist pressed Georgia election worker to confess to bogus fraud charges More Tibetan students lock themselves to Olympic rings to protest Beijing games More California man charged in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot flees to Belarus More Life at 50: ‘Sex and the City’ women back for new chapter More New York City Council passes bill to let non-citizens vote in municipal elections More Don Lemon Attacks Jussie Smollett On-Air, Calls Actor A ‘Liar’ After Being Dragged Into Criminal Case More U.S. And Major Allies Start To Look Like Human Rights, Democracy Defenders Again With Sanctions on China, Myanmar, N Korea More Load More View the full article

Holidays, Hold the Mariah . Elton and Ed Sheeran Duet finally; Adam Lambert and Darren Criss too. Gwen and Blake; Kelly and Arianna; George and Andrew; Sia and Sia; Miley to Pete; Ru and Big; Blondie, Ellla Fitz and Alicia Keyes. Enjoy. Also throw back to Amazing Grace with Jeff Beck, The Waitresses. And Kelly Clarkson is in new territory with a breakup Xmas song. Defiant. Powerful. Jesus. [This post contains video, click to play] Holidays, Hold the Mariah. [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] View the full article

Published by Reuters By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) – (This December 10 story was refiled to fix repetition of paragraph 9) The U.S. House of Representatives committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot said on Friday it had issued six more subpoenas demanding information from witnesses, including some top aides from former President Donald Trump’s White House. The House of Representatives Select Committee issued subpoenas to Brian Jack, who was Trump’s White House political director; Max Miller, a former special assistant to Trump now running for a House seat in Ohio with Trump’s endorsement; and Bobby Peede, former director of the White House advance staff, which prepared events for Trump’s arrival. The committee said Peede and Miller met with Trump in a private dining room at the White House to discuss Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 – the day his supporters marched on the Capitol – and that Jack reportedly reached out to several members of Congress on Trump’s behalf to invite them to speak at the rally. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy later hired Jack to lead his congressional political operation. “Some of the witnesses we subpoenaed today apparently worked to stage the rallies on Jan. 5th and 6th, and some appeared to have had direct communication with the former President regarding the rally at the Ellipse directly preceding the attack on the U.S. Capitol,” Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, said in a statement. The committee also issued subpoenas to Bryan Lewis, a former executive at Fox News who the committee said obtained a permit for a rally outside the Capitol; Ed Martin, whom the committee described as an organizer of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement falsely claiming Trump did not lose the election, and Kim Fletcher, who runs a pro-Trump organization called Moms for America that organized a rally near the Capitol on Jan. 5. The individuals sent the subpoenas could not be reached for comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS The committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas and heard from more than 275 witnesses in its investigation of the attack by supporters of the Republican ex-president as Congress met to formally certify his November 2020 presidential election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden. Four people died the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress. Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught, and four officers have since taken their own lives. The panel has begun contempt of Congress https://www.reuters.com/world/us/whats-stake-trump-allies-facing-contempt-congress-2021-10-14 proceedings against three Trump supporters for failure to comply with its subpoenas – former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump Justice Department official. Trump has urged associates not to cooperate, calling the Democratic-led investigation politically motivated and arguing that his communications are protected by executive privilege https://www.reuters.com/world/us/can-trump-use-executive-privilege-block-jan-6-attack-probe-2021-09-09. Multiple courts have rejected that argument, with the federal appeals court in Washington on Thursday saying Trump had provided “no basis https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-appeals-court-rejects-trumps-bid-withhold-records-panel-probing-jan-6-attack-2021-12-09” for his claim. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone, Chris Reese and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Olly Alexander admits it will be difficult to “beat” ‘It’s A Sin’ if he lands another acting gig. The Years & Years frontman starred as Ritchie Tozer in the hit Channel 4 drama about the 1980s AIDS crisis, and while he’d love to do more acting, the ‘Starstruck’ singer has nothing planned as of yet. Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz on the red carpet at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard at London’s The O2 arena on Saturday (11.12.21), Olly said: “I don’t have any plans yet. “‘It’s A Sin’ was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I would love to do some more acting, but I feel like it’s gonna be so hard to beat ‘It’s A Sin’. “I don’t know. We will have to wait and see. I don’t have any plans yet.” Asked what part he’d like to play the most, he replied: “My dream role would be a sexy gay witch. Have you ever seen ‘Xenia: Warrior Princess’? “Maybe that vibe – but gay – and I could have magic powers, like beat people up in like an ‘I’m saving the world’ type way and become a hero, something like that.” The 31-year-old star was speaking before taking to the stage at the annual festive extravaganza, which takes place between December 11 and 12. Meanwhile, Olly recently shot down rumours he’s set to be the next Doctor Who. ‘It’s A Sin’ creator Russel T Davies is returning as the screenwriter for the BBC sci-fi series after 12 years away. And Olly was touted to take over control of the TARDIS from Jodie Whittaker when she exits her role as the Thirteenth Doctor in 2022, and although he insists he has had no talks about the legendary role he is honoured that his name is even in the frame. He said: “I was so flattered and inspired by that but I’m definitely not the next Doctor Who. It’s an amazing show and I was quite flattered that people thought I might be able to do it.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Carrie Anne-Moss is grateful her ‘The Matrix’ character wasn’t “overly sexualised”. The 54-year-old actress has reprised her role as computer programmer and hacker Trinity in the upcoming fourth instalment in the blockbuster sci-fi franchise, ‘The Matrix Resurrections’. And Carrie-Anne has admitted she appreciative of the fact directors The Wachowskis sisters – Lana and Lilly Wachowski – never took her alter ego in “that direction”, as she admitted she was naive to Hollywood when she shot to fame in the first film in the cult series in 1999. She said: “I don’t know. When I did the first film, I was super-young; I didn’t really understand all the different things that were happening, it was just such a whirlwind. “When I saw the movie I was overwhelmed by it. “I’d never seen myself in that way on a big screen. “One of the things that I love about Trinity has to do with the gaze of the filmmakers. “It’s Lana, and how she shoots. “She loves Trinity so much. “I can really appreciate it, in hindsight. I didn’t feel that she was overly sexualised, and I don’t think they would have picked me anyway if they were looking for that. I am grateful, in Hollywood terms, that it wasn’t taken in that direction.” The ‘Love Hurts’ star also recalled how she was unable to complete a scene in the originnal flick while she was wearing stilettos, and so they had to give her a boot with a “solid heel” to steady her. She told The Guardian newspaper: “In the first one, there was one scene where they had me in a kind of a stiletto, and I couldn’t do the scene. “I had auditioned with that scene, and then suddenly there we are on the day shooting it, and I was unsteady. “It was the whole thing in the nightclub, where I’m whispering in the guy’s ear, and I’m supposed to be really grounded and strong, and yet I could barely stand straight. And so they took those off and gave me a boot with a nice solid heel.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jason Szep and Linda So ATLANTA (Reuters) -Weeks after the 2020 election, a Chicago publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West traveled to the suburban home of Ruby Freeman, a frightened Georgia election worker who was facing death threats after being falsely accused by former President Donald Trump of manipulating votes. The publicist knocked on the door and offered to help. The visitor, Trevian Kutti, gave her name but didn’t say she worked for West, a longtime billionaire friend of Trump. She said she was sent by a “high-profile individual,” whom she didn’t identify, to give Freeman an urgent message: confess to Trump’s voter-fraud allegations, or people would come to her home in 48 hours, and she’d go to jail. Freeman refused. This story of how an associate of a music mogul pressured a 62-year-old temporary election worker at the center of a Trump conspiracy theory is based on previously unreported police recordings and reports, legal filings, and Freeman’s first media interview since she was dragged into Trump’s attempt to reverse his election loss. Kutti did not respond to requests for comment. Her biography for her work at the Women’s Global Initiative, a business networking group, identifies her as a member of “the Young Black Leadership Council under President Donald Trump.” It notes that in September 2018, she “was secured as publicist to Kanye West” and “now serves as West’s Director of Operations.” When Kutti knocked on Freeman’s door on Jan. 4, Freeman called 911. By then, Freeman said, she was wary of strangers. Starting on Dec. 3, Trump and his campaign repeatedly accused Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, of illegally counting phony mail-in ballots after pulling them from mysterious suitcases while working on Election Day at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. In fact, the “suitcases” were standard ballot containers, and the votes were properly counted, county and state officials quickly confirmed, refuting the fraud claims. But Trump and his allies continued to accuse Freeman and Moss of election-rigging. The allegations inspired hundreds of threats and harassing messages against them and their family members. By the time Kutti arrived, Freeman needed help but was cautious and wouldn’t open the door because of the threats, according to Freeman and a police report. So Freeman asked a neighbor to come over and talk with Kutti, who was with an unidentified male. Like Freeman, Kutti and the other visitor were Black. Kutti told the neighbor that Freeman was in danger and that she’d been sent to provide assistance. Freeman said she was open to meeting them. She asked Cobb County Police to send an officer to keep watch so she could step outside, according to a recording of her 911 call. “They’re saying that I need help,” Freeman told the dispatcher, referring to the people at her door, “that it’s just a matter of time that they are going to come out for me and my family.” An officer arrived and spoke with Kutti, who described herself as a “crisis manager,” according to the police incident report. Kutti repeated that Freeman “was in danger” and had “48 hours” before “unknown subjects” turned up at her home, the report said. At the officer’s suggestion, the women agreed to meet at a police station. The officer’s report did not identify the man accompanying Kutti. ‘YOU’RE A LOOSE END’ Inside the station, Kutti and Freeman met in a corner, according to footage from a body camera worn by an officer present at the meeting. Reuters obtained the video through a public-records request. “I cannot say what specifically will take place,” Kutti is heard telling Freeman in the recording. “I just know that it will disrupt your freedom,” she said, “and the freedom of one or more of your family members.” “You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up,” Kutti continued. She added that “federal people” were involved, without offering specifics. According to Freeman, Kutti told her that she was going to put a man named “Harrison Ford” on speakerphone. (Freeman said the man on the phone wasn’t the actor by the same name.) Kutti said the man had “authoritative powers to get you protection,” the bodycam footage shows. At that point, Kutti can be heard asking the officer to give them privacy. The body camera did not capture a clear recording of the conversation that followed after the officer moved away from the two women. Kutti and the man on the speakerphone, over the next hour, tried to get Freeman to implicate herself in committing voter fraud on Election Day. Kutti offered legal assistance in exchange, Freeman said. “If you don’t tell everything,” Freeman recalled Kutti saying, “you’re going to jail.” Growing suspicious, Freeman said she jumped up from her chair and told Kutti: “The devil is a liar,” before calling for an officer. Later at home, Freeman said, she Googled Kutti’s name and discovered she was a Trump supporter. Police say they did not investigate the incident further. West, who changed his name in October to “Ye,” did not respond to requests for comment sent through another publicist who represents him. Reuters could not independently confirm whether Kutti still works for West, or in what capacity. Media reports have cited her association with the rapper since 2018, when she ceased working with R. Kelly, an R&B singer who was convicted in September of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges. Kutti’s biography says she is the founder of Trevian Worldwide, a media and entertainment advisory firm with offices in four cities. Among her clients, she says, are boxer Terence Crawford and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan. The meeting took place two months after West ended a failed bid for the White House that drew media attention when several publications revealed that allies and supporters of Trump were working on the ground to advance West’s campaign. Some Democrats said they regarded West’s presidential bid as a ruse to siphon off Black votes from Democrat Joe Biden. Groups assisting the rapper’s campaign denied that charge. On Jan. 5, the day after Freeman’s meeting with Kutti, an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation called Freeman and urged her to leave her home of 20 years because it wasn’t safe, Freeman said. The following day, Jan. 6, Kutti’s prediction that people would descend on Freeman’s home in 48 hours proved correct, according to a defamation lawsuit Freeman and Moss filed last week against a far-right news site. Freeman, the lawsuit said, left hours before a mob of angry Trump supporters surrounded her home, shouting through bullhorns. (Reporting by Jason Szep and Linda So; editing by Brian Thevenot) View the full article

Published by Reuters LAUSANNE (Reuters) -Two Tibetan students chained themselves to the Olympic rings outside the Swiss headquarters of the International Olympic Committee on Saturday to call for an international boycott of next year’s winter games. The pair were part of the latest protest against the 2022 Olympic Games over Beijing’s abuse of human rights and its treatment of minorities. The United States will not send government officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics due to China’s human rights “atrocities,” it said earlier this month. Members of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe (TYAE) and Students for a Free Tibet held a sit-in at the IOC building in Lausanne as officials gathered for a meeting. The activists demanded countries withdraw from the event they have called the “Genocide Games”, which they say are being used to burnish China’s reputation. China seized control of Tibet after its troops entered the region in 1950 in what it calls a “peaceful liberation”. Tibet has since become one of the most restricted areas in the country. Critics, led by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, say Beijing’s rule amounts to “cultural genocide”. Two activists unfurled a banner over the entry to the building reading, “No Beijing 2022,” while five students got inside the building and held a sit-in protest. “Despite mounting international criticism of the IOC and China, the Chinese regime’s human rights abuses in Tibet, East Turkestan, and Hong Kong continue unabated,” said Tenzing Dhokhar, Campaigns Director of TYAE, one of the protesters. “By collaborating with China, the IOC is making itself an accomplice of the Chinese Communist Party’s crimes, which will be sports-washed by the Beijing Olympics.” Police started removing the campaigners after three hours of protests. Organisers and a Reuters eyewitness described the protest as peaceful, but the IOC said one of its security guards was injured. “The IOC always listens to all concerns that are directly related to the Olympic Games. We have engaged multiple times with peaceful protesters and explained our position, but we will not engage with violent protesters who used force to enter the IOC building and injured a security guard by doing so,” the IOC said in a statement. The organisation has previously said it is a force for good and cannot have any influence over sovereign states. Chinese authorities have been accused of facilitating forced labour by detaining around a million Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim minorities in camps since 2016. China denies wrongdoing, saying it has set up vocational training centres to combat extremism. (Reporting by Denis Balibouse, writing by John Revill, editing by Ros Russell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Mark Hosenball and Steve Gorman WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A California man charged with assaulting police in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and using a metal barricade as a battering ram has fled the United States and is believed to have taken refuge in Belarus, federal prosecutors said on Friday. Evan Neumann, 49, was indicted on Friday on 14 criminal counts stemming from the deadly Capitol siege by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, expanding on charges originally contained in a criminal complaint filed against Neumann in March. Neumann, of Mill Valley, California, near San Francisco, was seen in video footage donning a gas mask while standing near police in front of barricades set up at the base of the West Front of the Capitol Building, prosecutors said in a statement. According to documents filed in the case, Neumann later removes his gas mask and shouts at the police, “I’m willing to die, are you?” before he physically assaults several officers and rushes into them using a barricade as a battering ram. Neumann, who has yet to make a court appearance in the case, fled from the United States on Feb. 16 and “is currently believed to be in Belarus,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement. According to an account published by news outlet the Daily Beast, Neumann was featured last month in a Belarusian state television special titled “Goodbye, America,” recounting his journey to the former Soviet republic and its capital, Minsk. He said on the program that he was seeking political asylum in Belarus because the United States, in his opinion, is no longer a country of law and order, the Daily Beast reported. Neumann is one of more than 220 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which disrupted a joint session of Congress meeting to formally certify the November 2020 presidential election victory of Democrat Joe Biden over Trump, the Republican incumbent. Neumann is believed to be the only international fugitive charged in connection with the Capitol riot. The siege followed a rally near the White House earlier that day in which Trump exhorted supporters to march on the Capitol during a speech in which he repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. Four people died the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress. Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour melee and four officers have since taken their own lives. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by AFP Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis (center, L-R) poses with the cast and crew of the New York (AFP) – Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte are 20 years older, and their beloved New York has been ravaged by Covid-19, but the sassy women are back — without Samantha — in HBO Max’s “Sex and the City” revival, which premieres Thursday. The hotly anticipated “And Just Like That…” picks up long after the landmark series and two so-so movies left off, with the forever friends taking on a new phase of life — their 50s. In the 10 new episodes, onetime sex and dating columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) is married and learning to work with her podcast co-host (Sara Ramirez) — one of several new characters created to widen the cast’s diversity. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is back in school for a new Master’s degree and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is the uber power mom – a far cry from the characters’ amusing sexcapades that made the show must-see TV in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “We don’t try to make a point of: “Look, they’re mature, they’re better, they’re smarter’,” Parker told The New York Times. “Sex and the City” broke ground with its frank portrayal of female friendships and sexual relationships, spawned fashion trends, and generated tours of locations made famous by the show. Can lightning strike again with this reimagining? For journalist and author Candace Bushnell, whose columns for the New York Observer were the basis for the original show, the series is about empowerment. “I think what ‘Sex and the City’ brought to women is really the message that I’ve been trying to give women since I was eight years old. And that’s really a message of feminism, of behaving independently, of having your own money and of becoming your own Mr. Big as opposed to looking for a Mr. Big to marry,” Bushnell told AFP. Michael Patrick King, who worked on the original series, returns as a writer and director for the new episodes. But one major contributor to the success of the original is missing this time — Kim Cattrall, who played the sexed-up Samantha, announced after the second film that she would no longer portray the character. “We did everything we could to make it be worth a trip back,” King told The Hollywood Reporter. “The city’s different, the world’s different and the conversations are different.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Peter Szekely NEW YORK (Reuters) -The New York City Council on Thursday passed a measure that would enable hundreds of thousands of non-citizen immigrants who are in the country legally to vote in municipal elections. If the bill is signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York would become the largest U.S. city to allow non-citizens to participate in elections. It would enable more than 800,000 permanent U.S. residents, or green-card holders, and other legally documented non-citizens to take part in elections for city leaders, including the mayor. Non-citizen residents would not be allowed to vote in state or federal elections. “I am proud to be voting on legislation that will give the right to vote to green card holders and people who are authorized to work in the United States of America,” Council Speaker Corey Johnson said before the vote. “Immigrants pay taxes,” he said. “They use city services. Their kids go to our public schools. They are part of our community, and they deserve a say in local government.” The measure, which passed 33-to-14, just short of a veto-proof two-thirds majority, sparked an debate that was often emotional, with many members invoking their own immigrant family histories. Some said the bill’s 30-day residency requirement was too short. The 51-member body defeated an effort by the council’s three Republican members and several Democrats to send the bill back to a committee to lengthen the residency requirement. “Thirty days is not enough for someone to decide who’s going to represent the greatest city in the world,” said Council Member Paul Vallone, a Democrat who voted with Republicans. Some members also questioned whether the bill would pass legal muster, asserting that the state constitution bestows voting rights to “every citizen.” Those concerns were shared by de Blasio, who cited misgivings over “outstanding legal questions” about the city’s authority to enact such a measure. But he suggested on Wednesday that he would still sign the legislation. “I respect the City Council,” de Blasio told a reporter at a briefing. “My assumption is I’m just going to respect whatever they do.” A report last year by the mayor’s office estimated that nearly 10% of the city’s 8.8 million residents were green-card holders or other immigrants with legal status. New York would join at least 14 U.S. cities, including San Francisco, already allow non-citizens to vote in their municipal elections. (Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Don Lemon is throwing his one-time friend Jussie Smollett under the bus after the actor claimed the CNN host had tipped him off with police information prior to his arrest. On Thursday, hours after a Chicago jury found Jussie guilty on 5 counts related to him staging his own hate crime, Don appeared on air to discuss the verdict. When talking about Jussie he said, “He had to make up too many lies on why he didn’t want to do certain things. To cover, another lie. I guess he got caught up in that.” Don Lemon All Smiles As Calls For Him To Be Fired From CNN Grow Over Jussie Smollett Texts Mega He added, “Because he took the stand himself, he got angry with the prosecutor, as the prosecutor poked holes in his story.” During the show, Don also accused Jussie of making it harder for other victims to come forward. Don didn’t address the fact that Jussie testified during the trial that the CNN host had texted him before he was charged. The texts reportedly told the actor the police involved in the investigation didn’t believe his story. Sources claim the CNN host is furious with Jussie for name-dropping him in court. Chris Cuomo And Don Lemon Are No Longer Talking Mega After the fake hate crime went down, Jussie and Don were texting every day with the journalist providing the actor with inside information from his sources. Don’s involvement with Jussie has infuriated viewers who are now demanding CNN terminate his contract. Many are wondering why the network hasn’t taken action against Don but was swift to fire Chris Cuomo for meddling in his brother Andrew‘s scandal. Jussie Smollett Claims CNN’s Don Lemon Warned Him Cops Didn’t Believe His Story Via Text, Host Accused Of Unethical Behavior Days After Chris Cuomo’s Firing One political commentator wrote, “If Don Lemon tipped off Jussie Smollett about police investigating the hate crime hoax, CNN should fire him immediately!” Mega CNN has yet to comment on the calls for Don to be fired. View the full article

Democracy Defenders (US, UK, Canada and others could join) put sanctions on China and others in an attempt to message that human rights violations and threats to democracy will be responded to during President Biden’s Democracy summit. Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Friday imposed extensive human rights-related sanctions on dozens of people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh, and added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime Group to an investment blacklist. Canada and the United Kingdom joined the United States in imposing sanctions related to human rights abuse in Myanmar, while Washington also imposed the first new sanctions on North Korea under President Joe Biden’s administration and targeted Myanmar military entities, among others, in action marking Human Rights Day. “Our actions today, particularly those in partnership with the United Kingdom and Canada, send a message that democracies around the world will act against those who abuse the power of the state to inflict suffering and repression,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement. The North Korean mission at the United Nations and the Chinese, Myanmar and Bangladesh embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime to a list of “Chinese military-industrial complex companies”, accusing it of having developed facial recognition programs that can determine a target’s ethnicity, with a particular focus on identifying ethnic Uyghurs. As a result it will fall under an investment ban for U.S. investors. U.N. experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China’s far-west region of Xinjiang. China denies abuses in Xinjiang, but the U.S. government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there. The Treasury said North Korea’s Central Public Prosecutors Office had been designated, along with the former minister of social security and recently assigned Minister of People’s Armed Forces Ri Yong Gil. U.S. President Joe Biden gathered over 100 world leaders at a virtual summit this week and made a plea to bolster democracies around the world, calling safeguarding rights and freedoms in the face of rising authoritarianism the “defining challenge” of the current era. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis, David Brunnstrom, Matt Spetalnick, and Tim AhmannEditing by Chris Sanders and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) -A fourth Ghislaine Maxwell accuser testified at the British socialite’s sex abuse trial on Friday, recalling that late financier Jeffrey Epstein climbed into bed with her at his New Mexico ranch when she was 16. The testimony by the woman, Annie Farmer, comes as the prosecution has said it could rest its case by the end of the week. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges for her alleged role in recruiting and grooming four teenagers for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. Her attorneys say she is being scapegoated because Epstein is no longer alive. Farmer said she was 16 when she visited Epstein and Maxwell at the ranch in the spring of 1996. Her older sister, Maria, worked for Epstein in New York at the time, and Farmer said she believed he would help her pay for her college education. While at the ranch, Maxwell offered to give Farmer a massage, Farmer testified. Farmer agreed to receive the massage and got undressed, she said. Maxwell touched Farmer’s breasts during the massage, Farmer said. “Once she pulled down the sheet I felt kind of frozen,” Farmer said. Later on during the trip, Farmer said Epstein came into her room and climbed into bed with her. “Suddenly Epstein kind of opened my door, bounding into the room in a playful way, saying that he wanted to cuddle,” Farmer said, adding that Epstein “pressed his body into me.” She said she became uncomfortable and said she had to use the bathroom, which she described as an “excuse” to get away from Epstein. The financier killed himself at age 66 in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkEditing by Frances Kerry, Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell and Mark Porter) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed abortion providers to pursue a legal challenge to a ban on most abortions in Texas but left the nation’s strictest abortion law in place, with the fate of the Republican-backed measure that allows private citizens to enforce it still hanging in the balance. The justices, who heard arguments on the case on Nov. 1, lifted a block on lower court proceedings, which may pave the way for a federal judge to block the law at least in part. The conservative-majority court on Sept. 1 had declined to halt the measure. The justices in a separate case dismissed a separate challenge brought by President Joe Biden’s administration. The law bans abortions at around six weeks, a point in time when many women do not yet realize they are pregnant, and has no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. The Supreme Court has yet to decide another major abortion rights case from Mississippi that could lead to the overturning of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. The abortion providers and the Biden administration had asked the Supreme Court to block the Texas law while the litigation continues, but the justices opted to leave it in place for now. “We won, on very narrow grounds. Our lawsuit can continue against the health department, medical board, nursing board and pharmacy board. We’d hoped for a statewide injunction, but no clear path to it. Rest assured, we will NOT stop fighting,” Whole Woman’s Health, the abortion provider that challenged the law, wrote on Twitter. The Texas measure, the nation’s most restrictive, is one of a series of restrictive abortion laws passed by Republicans at the state level in recent years. Abortion opponents welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision not to block the law. “We celebrate that the Texas Heartbeat Act will remain in effect, saving the lives of unborn children and protecting mothers while litigation continues in lower courts,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List. The court in the Texas case, in an 8-1 decision authored by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, ruled that a narrow challenge was allowed under a 1908 Supreme Court precedent that said state laws can be challenged in federal court by suing state government officials. Texas had sought to exploit a loophole in that earlier ruling by saying no state officials could enforce it, but the Supreme Court said the challengers could pursue their case by naming state licensing officials as defendants. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas dissented on that part of the ruling, saying he would have dismissed the lawsuit altogether. The Texas law, known as S.B. 8, enables private citizens to sue anyone who performs or assists a woman in getting an abortion after cardiac activity is detected in the embryo. Individual citizens can be awarded a minimum of $10,000 for bringing successful lawsuits under the law. Biden’s administration has called it a “bounty.” That feature made it more difficult to directly sue the state to challenge the law’s legality, helping shield the measure from being immediately blocked. ‘THE FEDERAL RIGHT’ Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the court’s three liberal justices, agreed that licensing officials can be sued, but said the providers could also target other officials, including state court clerks and the attorney general. Roberts criticized the Texas law as specifically designed to “nullify” the Supreme Court’s precedents on abortion, effectively denying women a constitutional right. The court cannot allow legislatures to evade federal court judgments, Roberts added. “The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake,” Roberts wrote. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while agreeing with the court’s decision to allow the challenge, wrote a partial dissent blasting her colleagues for failing to “put an end to this madness” and warning that other states could still try to copy Texas’ enforcement mechanism because the state’s attorney general and state court judges could not be named as defendants in court challenges. “The court thus betrays not only the citizens of Texas but also our constitutional system of government,” Sotomayor added in an opinion joined by the other two liberal justices, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Gorsuch said in the ruling that state judges and clerks are improper proper targets for lawsuits against the abortion ban. “Judges exist to resolve controversies about a law’s meaning or its conformance to the federal and state constitutions, not to wage battle as contestants in the parties’ litigation,” Gorsuch wrote. Abortion providers and the Biden administration argued that the law violates a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy recognized in the Roe v. Wade ruling and is impermissibly designed to evade federal judicial review. The Mississippi law – blocked by lower courts – bans abortions starting at 15 weeks of pregnancy. The court’s conservative justices during oral arguments in the Mississippi case on Dec. 1 indicated sympathy toward the Mississippi measure and potential support for overturning Roe. How the conservative justices voted in the Texas case may not guide how they vote on the Mississippi law because the legal issues differed, particularly relating to its unusual enforcement mechanism. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AFP Trump supporters are seen outside the US Capitol during the violent attack on January 6, 2021 Washington (AFP) – A US federal appeals court on Thursday rejected former president Donald Trump’s bid to prevent the release of White House records relating to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The appeals court agreed with a lower court ruling that President Joe Biden could waive executive privilege on the records, so that they could be handed over to a Congressional panel investigating the violence by Trump supporters. Trump, who has been accused of fomenting the attack on the US Congress, sought to exercise his privilege as a former president to keep the documents and phone records that might relate to the attack a secret. But the court said Biden’s judgment carried more weight in the case. “The right of a former president certainly enjoys no greater weight than that of the incumbent,” the appeals court said in its ruling. “In this case, President Biden, as the head of the Executive Branch, has specifically found that Congress has demonstrated a compelling need for these very documents and that disclosure is in the best interests of the nation,” the court said. Supreme Court appeal expected The ruling did not trigger the immediate release of the records. The appeals court said that Trump’s lawyers would have two weeks to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. There, Trump’s attorneys are expected to request a new freeze on the release while the high court reviews the unprecedented case. “Regardless of today’s decision by the appeals court, this case was always destined for the Supreme Court,” said Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington. “President Trump’s duty to defend the Constitution and the Office of the Presidency continues, and he will keep fighting for every American and every future administration.” The appeals court said the public interest was greater than Trump’s own in relation to the records, which are held by the National Archives. “That public interest is heightened when, as here, the legislature is proceeding with urgency to prevent violent attacks on the federal government and disruptions to the peaceful transfer of power,” it said. The records are sought by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 violence, in which hundreds of Trump supporters forced the shutdown of Congress and delayed a joint session to confirm that Joe Biden had won the November 2020 election over Trump and would become president. “We applaud the Court’s decisive ruling, which respects the Select Committee’s interest in obtaining White House records and the President’s judgment in allowing those records to be produced,” the special committee’s Democratic chairman Representative Bennie Thompson and Republican vice chair Liz Cheney said in a joint statement Thursday. Documents that Trump hoped to block include records from his top aides and memos to his former press secretary. The more than 770 pages include records of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former senior advisor Stephen Miller and his former deputy counsel Patrick Philbin. Trump had also hoped to block the release of the White House Daily Diary — a record of his activities, trips, briefings and phone calls. Another trove of documents Trump does not want Congress to see includes memos to his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, a handwritten note on the January 6 events and a draft text of his speech at the “Save America” rally, which preceded the attack. “Today, the Courts have once again rejected the former President’s campaign to obstruct Congress’s investigation into the January 6th insurrection,” Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after the ruling. “No one can be allowed to stand in the way of the truth – particularly not the previous President, who incited the insurrection.” Investigation advances The January 6 committee meanwhile continued to push ahead in its investigation. Witness and document requests indicate it is seeking to determine whether the White House played a role in encouraging or even plotting the January 6 attack as part of Trump’s effort to prevent Biden from taking office. Cheney, the committee’s vice-chair, said it had now heard from nearly 300 witnesses, including four on Thursday: former Trump aide and Pentagon official Kash Patel; Ali Alexander, who helped organize the pro-Trump rally at the White House before the Capitol attack; and two others. When Trump political consultant Steve Bannon refused to testify on his role on January 6, he was held in contempt, and then arrested by the Justice Department. Next week, the committee is expected to also rule Meadows in contempt for refusing to testify. “The investigation is firing on all cylinders,” Cheney said on Twitter. “President Trump is trying to hide what happened on January 6th and to delay and obstruct. We will not let that happen.” View the full article