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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

Published by Radar Online MEGA Luke Evans is living all of our best lives. While the vast majority of us are at work or working from home on these dreary December days, the 42-year-old actor is half-naked in sunny Florida, getting friendly with a mystery man. MEGA The shirtless and chiseled celebrity was photographed on Wednesday rocking a tiny black speedo on the warm sands of Miami Beach. It’s evident Luke was working on his tan, as he was seen lying on a beach chair among a small crowd of equally relaxed-looking beachgoers. At one point, an unidentified man wearing a coral T-shirt, black basketball shorts and a black baseball cap swooped in to say hello to the Hobbit star – not with a handshake or even a hug, but with two kisses on each cheek. How very European! But such a greeting makes sense given that Evans was born and raised in Wales. His career has taken him from singing to broadway performing to acting. But these days, you can catch him stocking up on some vitamin D and showing off his anti-dad bod, which he surely worked hard to obtain. MEGA The Welsh star, who is openly gay, confirmed earlier this year that he and his boyfriend, Rafael Olarra, had broken up, following speculation that began in October 2020 that the two had split. Of course, it all started with Luke unfollowing Rafael on Instagram. Since then (and even before, let’s be real) Evans has been focused on perfecting his physique, which may have something to do with the filming of his Apple TV+ action thriller series, Echo 3. Set in South America, Echo 3 follows the story of a young American scientist who goes missing at the Colombia–Venezuela border. Earlier on Wednesday, the actor posted a photo to his Instagram page that appeared to have been taken on set. Sitting on top of a wall and holding a soccer ball in his hands, he quipped, “No one wanted to play with me that day….” Needless to say, his Instagram followers wish they had been given the opportunity. MEGA View the full article

Published by AFP People protest in front of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC for Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist killed by a team of assassins at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in 2018 Washington (AFP) – The street in front of the embassy of Saudi Arabia will be called “Jamal Khashoggi Way,” after the Washington city council voted to honor the Saudi journalist murdered by government agents. The council voted unanimously on Tuesday to symbolically name the 700-foot (213-meter) stretch of New Hampshire Avenue that runs between the embassy and the Watergate complex for Khashoggi, a dissident journalist working for The Washington Post at the time of his murder in Turkey. “Through his journalism, Jamal Khashoggi was a fierce advocate for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law,” said a council report on the bill. “By designating the street fronting the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia after Jamal Khashoggi, the District is creating a memorial in his honor that cannot be covered up or repressed,” it said. Khashoggi, a vocal critic of the Saudi monarchy, was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 after traveling there from the United States to file paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee. The killers were a team of men closely connected to the palace of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused by Western intelligence of authorizing the murder. The Saudi embassy did not respond to request for comment on the move. The bill from the council is expected to be signed by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and not meet objection in the US Congress, which reviews all legislation from the US capital city government. In 2018, Washington named a street outside the Russian embassy in honor of prominent Vladimir Putin critic Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in Moscow in three years earlier. View the full article

Published by AFP US actor Jussie Smollett leaves the Leighton Criminal Court Building between his mother Janet Smollett (L) and sister Jurnee Smollett (R), after his trial on disorderly conduct charges on December 8, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois Washington (AFP) – A jury in Chicago on Thursday found US actor Jussie Smollett guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for falsely telling police he was the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime in 2019 — an attack prosecutors said he himself staged. Smollett, who was one of the stars of the popular television drama “Empire” at the time, told police in January 2019 that he was attacked in the middle of the night by two masked men while walking near his Chicago home. But investigators eventually concluded — based on examination of closed circuit television images and the cell phone data of Smollett and his two alleged attackers — that he had orchestrated the whole thing. “The jury in the case of Jussie Smollett have found Mr Smollett guilty of five of six counts of disorderly conduct,” Cook County Circuit Court spokeswoman Mary Wisniewski said in a statement to reporters. The actor faces up to three years in prison, but could instead be sentenced to probation and community service. No sentencing date was set. Smollett’s lawyer Nenye Uche said the actor would appeal the conviction, according to US media. “The verdict is inconsistent,” he said, referring to Smollett’s conviction on five charges and acquittal on a sixth. “We feel 100 percent confident that this case will be won on appeal,” Uche told reporters during a press conference after the verdict. Smollett, who is gay and African-American, maintained his innocence in the face of a damning public account from authorities of their case against him and pleaded not guilty on all counts. Prosecutors accused Smollett of hiring two acquaintances, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, to stage the attack while invoking Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, after the actor had received a legitimate piece of hate mail which he felt was not taken seriously by his employers. The case took a strange turn when Cook County prosecutors dropped the initial 16 felony counts against him in March 2019. But he was again indicted in February 2020 by a grand jury in Cook County, which handles crimes in Chicago, on six counts of disorderly conduct related to the alleged false reporting. Smollett — who was dropped from “Empire” after the allegations against him — was acquitted on a sixth count. ‘I was supposed to punch him’ “There was no hoax,” the 39-year-old Smollett insisted during the trial, local media reported. He denied having spoken about a staged attack at any time with his alleged accomplices. Smollett and his lawyer then acted out the fight between the actor and the brothers in front of the court, with Smollett playing the role of the attacker. The Osundairo brothers testified they had been paid to stage the assault. Abimbola Osundairo said Smollett “talked about how the studio was not taking… hate mail seriously.” “Then he proceeded to tell me he wanted me to beat him up,” he said. “I was supposed to punch him but not too hard.” The brothers had flown to Nigeria, where they are from, after the alleged attack. They were arrested upon their return to Chicago in mid-February. The episode initially sparked outrage, with many politicians and celebrities jumping to Smollett’s defense. The case also revived America’s long-simmering debate about how just the country’s criminal justice system really is, whether the rich get off easy — and whether prosecutors should have so much discretion. View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA The prosecutor in Jussie Smollett‘s hoax trial has put his foot in his mouth once again. 76-year-old Dan Webb — who is a white attorney — claimed the actor “monkeyed around” with the noose that was found around his neck during an alleged hate crime in 2019. The former Empire actor is currently on trial after being hit with six felony disorderly conduct charges for allegedly filing a false police report about being a hate crime victim. Chicago police believe he staged the attack in order to gain attention. As of this post, the jury is currently deliberating their verdict, but Webb reportedly used the cringe-worthy terminology during his closing argument on Wednesday. The prosecutor has been trying to paint a picture that Jussie stagged the attack. Webb’s noose reference was an attempt to prove the star tried the rope around his own neck. According to reports, his poorly chosen phrase led to groans of displeasure from the packed courtroom. MEGA Webb’s “moneyed around with noose” reference comes one day after he repeatedly dropped the n-word in court while questioning Jussie on the stand. He used the slurs when reading an Instagram conversation between Jussie and Abimbola Osundario on the night of the January 29, 2019 attack. The actor couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted the lawyer mid-sentence. Jussie asked the attorney not to say the word anymore “out of respect for every African American in the courtroom.” Webb apologized then suggested, “Why don’t you read it?” to Jussie before adding, “I don’t want to mispronounce anything.” Jussie has been accused of paying Abimbola $3,500 to stage a hate crime against him. The star denies the accusation, claiming the money was for training and nutrition advice. Jussie claims he was attacked near his apartment by two masked men wearing MAGA hats. He says they shouted homophobic and racial slurs while beating him up and tying a noose around his neck. While on the stand, he repeatedly denied the attack was a hoax. If found guilty, Jussie’s six felony counts could lead to three years behind bars, but experts think he’ll get off with a fine and community service. The jury’s verdict could come in as early as today. MEGA View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by AFP A manatee is seen here at a zoo in Tampa in January 2021 Miami (AFP) – Florida’s manatees — which are increasingly facing starvation, largely as a result of pollution — are going to be fed directly by wildlife officials, in what they called an “unprecedented” step to prevent further die-off. The pilot program will start with Indian River Lagoon, on the Sunshine State’s east coast southeast of Orlando, federal and state authorities announced Wednesday. Many manatees migrate to this area in winter, to bask in the warm water discharged by a nearby power plant and to graze on seagrass. But over the last decade, heavy runoff from nearby farms and urban areas has caused algae blooms to explode, which increasingly threaten the sea mammals’ main food source. The algae blocks out sunlight, which seagrass needs to grow, while also releasing poisonous toxins. At least 1,017 manatees have died so far in 2021, with the most deadly winter months still to come. “This unprecedented event is worth unprecedented actions,” announced Thomas Eason, the deputy director of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Under the new program, only a small number of individuals will be authorized to feed the manatees in the Indian River Lagoon, and only if necessary, Eason explained, reiterating that the general public should not do so. In captivity, manatees are fed a diet of salad, cabbage and other vegetables. Also known as sea cows, manatees are large animals of about 10 feet (three meters) in length and weighing between 800 and 1,200 pounds (360-540 kilos). They can eat up to 10 percent of their weight every day, so any decrease in seagrass growth can have dire consequences. Save the Manatee, a local non-governmental organization, praised the new program, with executive director Patrick Rose calling it a “significant move to help prevent another severe loss of manatees due to starvation.” Florida Man Florida Manatees on Towleroad Sarah Jessica Parker reveals challenges reviving Sex and the City role in And Just Like That More US Supreme Court leans toward public funding of religious schools More Jennifer Coolidge Wasn’t One To Emerge From COVID Lockdown With Renewed Zest, In Shape, With New Skills More Number of jailed journalists reached global high in 2021, at least 24 killed for their coverage – CPJ report More Groups push to make California a haven for abortion rights More Keanu Says: Neo Trinity Romance Was Key to Matrix 4; Jonathan Groff Cried Reading Script: ‘Iconic Actors…Iconic Parts …Fighting to Have their Love Again’ : TRAILER More People with health issues or inactivated vaccine should get COVID-19 booster – WHO More Georgia Republicans purge Black Democrats from county election boards More House Jan. 6 panel has ‘no choice’ but contempt charge against former Trump aide Meadows More Don Lemon All Smiles As Calls For Him To Be Fired From CNN Grow Over Jussie Smollett Texts More Drag Pastor Loses Ministry; Has No Regrets For Brief HBO Moments in Thigh High Boots, Pink Wig, Sequins; Was ‘powerful, spiritual’: ‘May Acceptance of LGBTQ… continue’ More Load More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sarah Jessica Parker has insisted it wasn’t “simple” resurrecting ‘Sex and the City’ characters in ‘And Just Like That’. The 56-year-old actress – who reprises her role as Carrie Bradshaw in HBO’s revival of the comedy drama – has opened up on the challenges she and her cast mates Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon faced on set. She told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “I think, actually, every day figuring out who Carrie is, who is Charlotte, who is Miranda? “Putting that back together is probably not quite as simple as some might think. “You may recall how they sound and walk and talk, but more so who are they now, and what has time given them? How do you reveal that? And what do they dress like, and what matters to them?” Sarah insisted fans of the show will get a feel for the differences in the characters – and their world – as the 10-episode series gets underway. She added: “It will become abundantly clear that, like for many people, time and experiences and cities and environment and circumstances tend to dictate who you are when you walk out the door.” And when it comes to the timing of the revival, the star insisted it wasn’t a case of finding the “right or wrong” moment, but instead it was about an “appropriate” reason to make a new series. She explained: “I don’t know that there is a right or wrong time. I think for us… we felt excited about the kind of stories that we were interested in telling. “We found that home again at HBO, so we were encouraged that this year or next year, it just felt appropriate somehow. “That we had left these women, and we were curious about where they were, and who they were, and what was their life like, and who they were surrounded by. “It gave us a lot of opportunities to make the family larger and start telling new stories.” View the full article

Published by AFP The US Supreme Court seen on December 4, 2021 Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared poised to accept that public funds can be used to support families sending their children to religious schools, challenging longstanding principles of separation of church and state. Two evangelical Christian families in the northeastern state of Maine sued to be able to use state-provided education subsidy funds to send their kids to schools with religion as the basis of their teachings. As Maine is sparsely populated, more than half of its school districts have no publicly funded high schools. So families receive subsidies that allow them to send their children to schools of their choice, including privately-run schools. But schools where religious beliefs are at the core of instruction are not covered in the aid program, because, under the regulations for the program — and those similar in other states — the teaching is “sectarian.” One of the families wanted to send their children to a school that was disqualified because, local authorities argued, it “teaches children that the husband is the leader of the household” and encourages kids to recognize “God as Creator of the world.” The school chosen by the second family in the case makes use of the Bible in all academic subjects. And both schools do not accept LGBTQ students or employees. The parents who sued — with the backing of Republican senators, 20-odd conservative-led states and many religious institutions — insist on that the constitution’s First Amendment freedom of religion clause gives them the right to choose a school that reflects their values. If they are denied the subsidies, they argue, they are suffering discrimination because of their religious views. The state of Maine argues that under the constitution government money cannot be used to support religious schools that discriminate, for example, against LGBTQ students. The administration of President Joe Biden, Democratic-run states and teachers and human rights associations have backed Maine in this fight. With six of the court’s nine justices in the conservative camp, several appeared sympathetic to the families’ arguments that the state must include the parents’ preferred religious schools in the funding program. When a government official decides which schools can benefit from subsidies and which cannot, Justice Neil Gorsuch said, “How does that not discriminate against minority religious viewpoints? Or ones that are unorthodox?” The three progressive justices warned that ruling against Maine would spark conflicts. “These schools are overtly discriminatory, they’re proudly discriminatory,” said Elena Kagan. “Other people won’t understand why in the world their taxpayer dollars are going to discriminatory schools.” The case is a part of a much wider and very hot debate in the United States on the role of parents and school choice in education, and how tax funds dedicated to schools are allocated. Issues of Covid-19 policies, acceptance of transgender students, and teaching about African-American history have deepened divides in communities and encouraged some to look to private and religious schools for their children. The Supreme Court is expected to decide the case by June 2022. View the full article