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Published by Reuters By Siyabonga Sishi PORT EDWARD, South Africa (Reuters) – South Africans took to their beaches on Sunday to protest against plans by Royal Dutch Shell to do seimsic oil exploration they say will threaten marine wildlife such as whales, dolphins, seals and penguins on a pristine coastal stretch. A South African court on Friday struck down https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-wins-court-case-start-seismic-surveys-offshore-south-africa-2021-12-03 an application brought by environmentalists to stop the oil major exploring in the eastern seaboard’s Wild Coast, rejecting as unproven their argument that it would cause “irreparable harm” to the marine environment, especially migrating hump-back whales. The Wild Coast is home of some of the country’s most undisturbed wildlife refuges, and it’s stunning coastal wildernesses are also a major tourist draw. At least 1,000 demonstrators gathered on a beach near Port Edward, a Reuters TV correspondent saw. “It’s just absolutely horrendous that they are even considering this. Look around you?” said demonstrator Kas Wilson, indicating an unspoilt stretch of beach. “It’s unacceptable and … we will stop it.” Shell officials were not immediately available for comment, but the company said on Friday that its planned exploration has regulatory approval, and it will significantly contribute to South Africa’s energy security if resources are found. But local people fear the seismic blasting conducted over 6,000 square kilometres will kill or scare away the fish they depend on to live. “I don’t want them to operate here because if they do we won’t be able to catch fish,” said 62-year-old free dive fisherwoman Toloza Mzobe, after pulling a wild lobster from the ground. “What are we going to eat?” Environmentalists are urging Shell and other oil companies to stop prospecting for oil, arguing that the world has no chance of reaching net zero carbon by 2050 if existing oil deposits are burned, let alone if new ones are found. Earlier this year, a Dutch court ordered Shell to reduce its planet warming carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels, a decision it plans to appeal. South Africa’s environment ministry referred Reuters to a statement late last month that “the Minister responsible for environmental affairs is … not mandated to consider the application or to make a decision on the authorisation of the seismic survey.” (Writing by Tim Cocks;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) -A green massage table seized from Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach estate was carried into a Manhattan federal courtroom on Friday, where British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is on trial for her alleged role in the sex abuse of underage girls. Prosecutors have said many of Epstein’s encounters with teenagers began as massages before escalating, calling the term “massage” a “ruse” to get girls to touch Epstein. Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other crimes for allegedly recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to abuse. Her attorneys argue she is being scapegoated because Epstein cannot be prosecuted, after killing himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019 at age 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges. Maxwell is a former Epstein girlfriend. Jeffrey Parkinson, a retired police officer involved in the 2005 search as part of an investigation into Epstein’s conduct, testified on the fifth day of Maxwell’s trial that he carried the massage table from Epstein’s estate. Prosecutor Maurene Comey also showed jurors a photo of a box labeled “Twin Torpedos” that a colleague of Parkinson’s, Michael Dawson, said contained sex toys taken from an upstairs closet. “We were looking for massage tables, we were looking for massage oils, we were looking for sex toys, we were looking for correspondence,” Dawson testified on Friday afternoon. The demonstrations came after Epstein’s former house manager, Juan Alessi, completed his own testimony. Alessi had testified on Thursday that Epstein was receiving about three massages every day by the time he left his job in 2002. He said he sometimes found sex toys while cleaning the massage room and stored them in Maxwell’s bathroom. Alessi called Maxwell the “lady of the house” at the Palm Beach property, saying she often directed him to schedule Epstein’s massages, and that he sometimes drove her on scouting missions to spas to find new therapists for Epstein. A woman who identified herself as Jane testified this week that she frequently massaged Epstein at the Palm Beach home while she was a teenager in the mid-1990s. She said Epstein often touched her sexually during their encounters, in which Maxwell sometimes participated. Epstein sometimes paid her, she added. Alessi testified that Jane’s real name was in a directory he kept of Epstein’s masseusses. He also said that before Epstein and Maxwell arrived in Florida for the weekend, the house staff was instructed to place several $100 bills in Epstein’s cars. Maxwell’s attorneys on Friday sought to challenge Jane’s recollection of the events when cross-examining Alessi. They questioned his recollection of having met Jane in 1994, when she said she was first abused at 14, pointing to an earlier statement he made that he met her years later, when she might have been of legal age. Alessi replied that he did not remember the precise year he met Jane. Maxwell’s trial is expected to resume on Monday and last into January. (Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Sandra Maler and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English 50 Cent has apologised to Madonna for making fun of her racy Instagram pictures. The ‘Material Girl’ hitmaker posted a photo of herself lying under a bed wearing, with 50 Cent comparing it to the Wicked Witch lying dead under the house in the classic movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’, which led to Madge posting a throwback photo of the pair where she slammed the ‘Candy Shop’ singer for “talking smack.” Apologising for his actions, the 46-year-old rapper wrote on Twitter: “I must have hurt Madonna feelings, she went and dug up a old MTV photo from 03. Ok I’m sorry, I did not intend to hurt your feelings. I don’t benefit from this in anyway I said what I thought when i saw the picture because of where I had seen it before i hope you accept my apology.”(sic) His apology comes after Madonna noticed the jibes and publicly blasted the star, calling him out for “pretending to be her friend.” She wrote on Instagram: “Here is 50 Cent pretending to be my friend. Now you have decided to talk smack about me. I guess your new career is getting attention by trying to humiliate others on social media. The least elevated choice you could make as an artist and an adult. You’r [sic] just jealous you won’t look as good as me or have as much fun when you are my age. “ In the original tweet, 50 Cent – whose real name is Curtis Jackson – wrote: “That’s Madonna under the bed trying to do ‘Like A Virgin’ at 63. She shot out, if she don’t get her old a** up.” The ‘Like a Prayer’ singer had initially posted the photos to Instagram in early November, but they were taken down after it was alleged that her nipple was exposed, thereby violating the social media platform’s nudity policy. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Steve Holland and Tom Balmforth WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a video call on Tuesday to deal with military tensions over Ukraine other topics. Biden wants to discuss U.S. concerns about Russia’s military buildup on the Ukraine border, a U.S. source said on Saturday, as well as strategic stability, cyber and regional issues. “We’re aware of Russia’s actions for a long time and my expectation is we’re going to have a long discussion with Putin,” Biden told reporters on Friday as he departed for a weekend trip to Camp David. “I don’t accept anybody’s red lines,” he said. The two will also talk about bilateral ties and the implementation of agreements reached at their Geneva summit in June, the Kremlin said on Saturday. “The conversation will indeed take place on Tuesday,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters. “Bilateral relations, of course Ukraine and the realisation of the agreements reached in Geneva are the main (items) on the agenda,” he said. More than 94,000 Russian troops are massed near Ukraine’s borders. Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Friday https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/large-scale-russian-offensive-possible-january-ukraine-says-2021-12-03 that Moscow may be planning a large-scale military offensive for the end of January, citing intelligence reports. Biden will reaffirm the United States’ support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the U.S. source said. The exact timing of the call was not disclosed. The White House declined to comment. The U.S. president on Friday said he and his advisers are preparing a comprehensive set of initiatives aimed at deterring Putin from an invasion. He did not give further details, but the Biden administration has discussed partnering with European allies to impose more sanctions on Russia. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin separately said that Washington was committed to ensuring that Ukraine had what it needed to protect its territory. Austin added that there was a lot of space for diplomacy and leadership to work on Ukraine. Moscow accuses Kyiv of pursuing its own military build-up. It has dismissed as inflammatory suggestions that it is preparing for an attack on its southern neighbor and has defended its right to deploy troops on its own territory as it sees fit. U.S. officials say they do not know yet what Putin’s intentions are, adding while intelligence points to preparations for a possible invasion of Ukraine, it is unclear whether a final decision to do so has been made. U.S.-Russia relations have been deteriorating for years, notably with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and U.S. intelligence charges of meddling in the 2016 election won by now-former President Donald Trump. But they have become more volatile in recent months. The Biden administration has asked Moscow to crack down on ransomware and cyber crime attacks emanating from Russian soil, and in November charged a Ukraine national and a Russian in one of the worst ransomware attacks against American targets. Russia has repeatedly denied carrying out or tolerating cyber attacks. The two leaders have had one face-to-face meeting since Biden took office in January, sitting down for talks in Geneva last June. They last talked by phone on July 9. Biden relishes direct talks with world leaders, seeing them as a way to lower tensions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm earlier this week that the United States and its European allies would impose “severe costs and consequences on Russia if it takes further aggressive action against Ukraine.” (Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Krystal Hu and Juby Babu (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s new social media venture said on Saturday it had entered into agreements to raise about $1 billion from a group of unidentified investors as it prepares to float in the U.S. stock market. The capital raise, details of which were first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, underscored the former U.S. president’s ability to attract strong financial backing thanks to his personal and political brand. He is working to launch a social media app called TRUTH Social that is at least several weeks away. Digital World Acquisition Corp, the blank-check acquisition firm that will take Trump Media & Technology Group Corp public by listing it in New York, said it will provide up to $293 million to the partnership with Trump’s media venture, taking the total proceeds to about $1.25 billion. The $1 billion will be raised through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction from “a diverse group of institutional investors,” Trump Media and Digital World said in a statement. They did not respond to requests to name the investors. Trump Media inked its deal with Digital World to go public in October at a valuation of $875 million, including debt. The social media venture is now valued at almost $4 billion based on the price of Digital World shares at the end of trading on Friday. Trump supporters and day traders snapped up the stock. Many Wall Street firms such as mutual funds and private equity firms snubbed the opportunity to invest in the PIPE. Among those investors who participated were hedge funds, family offices and high net-worth individuals, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Family offices manage the wealth of the very rich and their kin. Some Wall Street investors are reluctant to associate with Trump. He was banned from top social media platforms after the Jan. 6 attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol amid concerns he would inspire further violence. The Capitol attack was based on unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in last year’s presidential election. “As our balance sheet expands, Trump Media & Technology Group will be in a stronger position to fight back against the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump said in a statement on Saturday. The deal also faces regulatory risk. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren asked Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler last month to investigsate the planned merger for potential violations of securities laws around disclosure. The SEC has declined to comment on whether it plans any action. Trump Media and Digital World said the per-share conversion price of the convertible preferred stock PIPE transaction represents a 20% discount to Digital World’s volume-weighted average closing price for the five trading days to Dec. 1, when Reuters broke news of the capital raise. If that price averages below $56 in the 10 days after the merger with Digital World has been completed, the discount will grow to 40% with a floor of $10, the companies added. Digital World shares ended trading on Friday $44.97. Trump had 89 million followers on Twitter, 33 million on Facebook and 24.5 million on Instagram at the time he was blocked, according to a presentation on his company’s website. Investors attending the confidential investor road shows were shown a demo from the planned social media app, which looked like a Twitter feed, Reuters reported. FIRST-QUARTER ROLLOUT Since Trump was voted out of office last year, he has repeatedly dropped hints that he might seek the presidency in 2024. Special purpose acquisition companies such as Digital World had lost much of their luster with retail investors before the Trump media deal came along. Many of these investors were left with big losses after the companies that merged with SPACs failed to deliver on their ambitious financial projections. TRUTH Social is scheduled for a full rollout in the first quarter of 2022. It is the first of three stages in the Trump Media plan, followed by a subscription video-on-demand service called TMTG+ that will feature entertainment, news and podcasts, according to the news release. In a slide deck on its website, the company envisions eventually competing against Amazon.com’s AWS cloud service and Google Cloud. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Cynthia Osterman) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lady Gaga thinks ‘House of Gucci’ must be “extremely painful” for the real-life Gucci family. The 35-year-old popstar stars as convict Patrizia Reggiani in the movie, who was married to head of the fashion house Maurizio Gucci and arranged for him to be shot dead in 1995. She said: “This must be extremely painful to watch. A true life story come through in what is essentially our version of what we believe to be the truth and [director] Ridley Scott’s version of the story.” The ‘Poker Face’ hitmaker went on “extend her love” to the Gucci family, as she claims she “did her best” to tell a story of survival. Speaking on NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’, she explained: ” I just – I extend my love to the family. And I did my best to make this performance about something more important than even the story itself, which is a story about women and survival.” Gaga’s comments come after the heirs of former chairman Aldo Gucci released a statement blasting the “inaccurate” way their family had been portrayed on screen. The statement read: “Although the film claims to tell the ‘true story’ of the family, the narrative is anything but accurate, depicting Aldo Gucci — president of the company for 30 years — and other members of the Gucci family who were the protagonists of well-documented events, as hooligans, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them. Even more censurable is the baffling reconstruction of events that advocate leniency toward a woman who was definitively convicted as the instigator of Maurizio Gucci’s murder. To see her portrayed as a victim — not only in the film but also in statements by the cast — who is trying to survive in a male-dominated corporate culture, is an injustice and could not be further from the truth.” View the full article

Colton Underwood Out Everywhere. Tough Questions (and salted rims?) With Pose Actor/Logo Host Johnny Sibilly ; Ptown Advice From Gus Kenworthy; Netflix And Shade From The Bachelor Nation, And 36,000 People Missed The Dave Chappelle Thing and Signed a Petition Asking Netflix not to Platform Underwood Further. https://www.pinterest.com/michaelgoff/sites/?invite_code=4f89b901a33f4e7b84b808aed74c67db&sender=229402312177618782 Colton Underwood Out Towleroad U.S. to restart Trump-era border program forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico More Jeffrey Epstein’s House Manager Claims He Found ‘Huge’ D-uh-letto In Late Billionaire’s Massage Room, Admits To Chauffeuring Accuser From School To Private Jet When She Was Just 14 Years Old More Diverse doubts: How vaccine scepticism takes root More Two Georgia election workers sue far-right website over false fraud allegations More Kamala Harris spokeswoman quits as VP hits bumpy patch More Pro-Trump lawyers ordered to pay $175,000 for ‘frivolous’ election lawsuit More Taliban release decree saying women must consent to marriage More Cardi B joins Playboy as creative director in residence More Tom Ford finding life ‘very hard’ without husband More Kathy Griffin Is Joining Donald Trump’s Niece Mary Trump In Court To Support His Rape Accuser E. Jean Carroll More New museum in Caceres cements town’s status as Spain’s next big thing More Load More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Ted Hesson and Dave Graham (Reuters) -The Biden administration will restart a contentious Trump-era border program that forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for U.S. immigration hearings, in keeping with a federal court order, U.S. and Mexican officials said on Thursday. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has struggled in his first year in office to reverse many hardline immigration policies put in place by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, and is facing a record number of migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden ended https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-protocols/u-s-ends-program-sending-asylum-seekers-to-mexico-to-wait-for-court-hearings-idUSKBN29Q03X the Trump policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) soon after his inauguration in January as part of a promise to implement what he called a more humane approach to immigration. But a federal judge ruled Biden’s rescission did not follow proper procedure and in August ordered the policy’s reinstatement. The U.S. government said it had to wait for Mexico’s agreement before restarting MPP. “The United States accepted all the conditions that we set out,” said one Mexican official. The United States will take steps to address Mexico’s humanitarian concerns about the program, the U.S. and Mexican officials said, including offering COVID-19 vaccines to returning migrants and exempting more categories of people deemed vulnerable. Migrants also will be asked if they have a fear of persecution or torture in Mexico before being enrolled in the program, and have access to legal representation, U.S. officials said during a call with reporters on Thursday. Immigration advocates say MPP exposed migrants to violence and kidnappings in dangerous border cities, where people camped out as they waited for their hearings. Any migrant from the Western Hemisphere could be placed in the reworked MPP program, one of the U.S. officials said. The number of Haitians and Venezuelans caught at the U.S.-Mexico border has jumped in the past year, adding to large numbers of Mexican and Central American crossers. At the same time, the Biden administration is still trying to end the MPP program, issuing a new rescission memo in the hopes it will resolve the court’s legal concerns. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in October that the Trump program had “endemic flaws” and “unjustifiable human costs.” The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, has called for ending the program, saying it puts asylum seekers at risk and harms their due process rights. “The announced adjustments to the policy are not sufficient to address these fundamental concerns,” UNHCR representative Matthew Reynolds said in a statement. The policy was a cornerstone of Trump’s immigration crackdown. During his administration, tens of thousands of people who entered at the U.S.-Mexico land border were sent back to Mexico to wait months – sometimes years – to present their cases at U.S. immigration hearings held in makeshift courtrooms near the border. Many migrants failed to appear in court amid the long delays and dangers in Mexico. The MPP program will restart on Monday, likely with a small number of migrants at a single U.S. border crossing, one of the U.S. officials said. Returns to Mexico will eventually take place at seven border crossings in California, Arizona and Texas, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). CONFUSING MIX The reinstatement of MPP adds to a confusing mix of immigration policies in place at the U.S.-Mexico border, where arrests reached a record 1.7 million in the 2021 fiscal year, which ended in September. Even as Biden tried to end MPP, his administration continued to implement a Trump-era public health order known as Title 42, which allows border authorities to rapidly expel migrants without giving them a chance to claim asylum. Nearly two-thirds of migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border this fiscal year have been expelled under the Title 42 order. Now migrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border will be evaluated to determine whether they can be quickly expelled under Title 42, one U.S. official said. Those who cannot be expelled will either be returned to Mexico with an MPP court date or released or detained in the United States. Exceptions will be made for migrants with health issues, the elderly and those at risk of discrimination in Mexico, particularly based on gender identity and sexual orientation, a different U.S. official said. The United States and Mexico will arrange transportation for migrants waiting in Mexican shelters so that they can attend their court hearings in the United States, another U.S. official said. But local officials in Mexico said many border shelters are already full and overwhelmed. Mexico is also struggling https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-IMMIGRATION/MEXICO/mopankddwva with makeshift migrant encampments that have popped up along the border in the past year. Migrants with cases in the Texas cities of Laredo and Brownsville will be placed in shelters farther away from the U.S.-Mexico border to avoid security risks in the Mexican border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros, the U.S. official said. The Biden administration will dedicate 22 immigration judges to hear MPP cases in an effort to ensure they are completed within 180 days, a separate U.S. official said. One Mexican official said the government expected under the revised MPP program that 10%-15% of people who cross the border will end up returning to the United States for a court hearing. (Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Dave Graham in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico city; Editing by Mica Rosenberg, Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Talk about a dirty job. Jeffrey Epstein’s embittered Palm Beach handyman testified on Thursday of his humiliating duties cleaning and stowing the billionaire’s two-headed dildo, shuttling underage girls to and from his Palm Beach mansion, and suffering degrading micro-management under the withering gaze of gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell. SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE The house manager, Juan Patricio Alessi, 72, took the witness stand in the trial of Maxwell, a British publishing heiress, who is accused of grooming underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. Alessi, an Ecuadorian immigrant, joined the wealthy businessman’s domestic staff in 1990 at the recommendation of the mom of fashion mogulLes Wexner, who gave Epstein his start in business. He would begin at 5 AM and would be at the creepy couple’s beck and call until 9 PM. “I was in charge of running the house, cleaning, maintenance, shopping, the gardeners, the pool man,” he said. “Too many hours.” They didn’t even call him by his name, he says they called him “John.” Once Maxwell joined the household, he claims his relationship with Epstein changed. “She told me, ‘Jeffrey doesn’t like me to look at his eyes, don’t look at his eyes, look at another part of the room,” Alessi recalled. MEGA He was even given a 58-page household manual that detailed everything from how to stock the bathroom to which side of the telephone to place the phone directory. Staff was sent to a symposium in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to learn the rules of Epstein’s many mansions. “It was very degrading,” he said. “It was degrading to the staff. I wasn’t hired for that type of work.” There were rules about how to clean, how to dress, and how to shop. He was told to make sure that there were hundred-dollar bills in all the cars when he cleaned them. They were told to “anticipate the needs of Mr. Epstein, Ms. Maxwell and guests.” They were never to discuss personal problems. “Remember that you see nothing, you hear nothing and you say nothing, except to answer a question,” the manual instructed. “I was supposed to be blind, deaf and dumb regarding their life,” he told the court. Alessi recalled seeing “many, many” women coming and going from the estate, often lounging topless by the pool. On the walls of the Palm Beach mansion hung photos of Epstein with famous men, he said, like former President Donald Trump, the Pope, and Fidel Castro. Maxwell’s desk in the house had photos of topless women that had been taken by the pool. He chauffeured Epstein’s first alleged teenage victim, now a grown woman who works as an actress on a popular soap opera, from her high school. Her name has been kept confidential by the judge. He also alleged he drove her to the airport as a 14-year-old to jet off with Epstein on his private plane. Alessi says he remembered driving Virginia Roberts. She accused Epstein of forcing her to sleep with Prince Andrew when she was underage. MEGA When Roberts’ boyfriend drove her to Epstein’s estate, Maxwell would make him sit in his car, the handyman testified. Among the more thankless tasks that Alessi told of performing was cleaning up the massage room after one of the billionaire’s thrice-daily rubdowns. Several times, strewn among the towels and the oils in the massage room, Alessi said he found Epstein’s sex toys. “I remember finding a large dildo,” he told the jury. “It looked like a huge, man’s penis with two heads.” Federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, the daughter of the former U.S. Attorney General James Comey, asked him what he did with the phallus after discovering it. “I put my gloves on, put it in the sink underwater, cleaned it, and put it in Ms. Maxwell’s closet,” Alessi responded. He said that there was a wicker basket in her bathroom closet with a vinyl costume and pornographic tapes. Alessi claimed he burned out of the job and after falling ill he left Epstein’s staff in 2000, returning only once more in 2004 when he broke into the mansion and stole $6,300. “I was having a lot of pressure in my marriage, I got involved with another woman and I had a lot of financial problems,” he said. He snuck in through a sliding glass door and lifted the money from a satchel in Epstein’s desk. A short time later he got a call from the businessman, saying “We need to talk.” When they met Epstein showed Alessi a surveillance photo of him in the house, but he didn’t call the cops. “The agreement was that it was going to be a loan,” he said. “He would not press charges because of the type of employee I was.” Alessi said he was good to his word and paid him back. MEGA View the full article

Published by AFP While large swathes of the global population remain unvaccinated because of a lack of access, other people who do are choosing not to get them Paris (AFP) – Governments and scientists around the world are championing vaccination as the way to end the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet while large swathes of the global population remain unvaccinated because of a lack of access, other people who can get their jabs are choosing not to. French sociologist Jerome Gaillaguet, who has spent years speaking to those who choose not to vaccinate, told AFP their reasons can be diverse and surprising. His answers have been condensed and edited for clarity. Is there an anti-vax phenomenon? The influence of a loosely-defined activist anti-vaccine movement cannot be discounted but it has to be separated from hesitation. The way the media frames it you get the impression that there is an anti-vax phenomenon that is widespread with people firmly opposed to vaccination. Those movements exist and are highly visible and noisy on social media. But the reality is not at all the same: it’s doubt. The vast majority of people are feeling real hesitation or even indifference and there are as many reasons behind the hesitation as there are states of mind. As soon as you start talking to people you realise that doubt comes from experience and it comes in many different forms. And when you start to follow people over time you can see how things can evolve. Media buzz around a controversy will change attitudes, and I’ve also seen people change their minds after becoming parents. You also find a huge amount of defiance among people with bad experiences with healthcare. For example, some people may hesitate if they have gone to doctors who minimise their problems while failing to offer any solutions. Have you seen attitudes change? One woman I talked to was about 60 years old, we met in 2017 and she was pretty hesitant about vaccines. When she was younger she worked as a pharmaceutical salesperson who sold medicines to doctors. She came to the conclusion that lab profits were far more important than people’s health and eventually she got sick of that life and left everything behind to open a pizzeria. Yet a year into the pandemic she went to get vaccinated without hesitation because she had been in constant contact with customers and had seen many people get sick or die. She made friends with a nurse who worked in a hospital that was greatly affected. It can also work the other way. One person when I first met her was pretty mistrustful. Then, over the course of a few years, the issue kind of disappeared from the media. She began to have friends and acquaintances with children and she had friends who were doctors and a grandfather at home and she began to think about getting the flu vaccine to protect him. She began to think: “I was young and rebellious but I can see that risks linked to vaccination are very rare.” But then the vaccine became mandatory to get a health pass and she completely turned again. She said: “I do not accept being told what to do.” Is the health pass counter-productive? In the short and middle term, the health pass [in France] helped force people who were hesitant to get vaccinated by restricting their day-to-day lives. Of course it did: we were telling them they would no longer be able to travel or go to a restaurant. But we replaced the health concerns with social concerns. We took people out of a situation where they had to think in terms of pandemic risks — like whether someone close to them might be fragile, whether they could get sick or whether they might be at high risk. Acting like these questions did not enter into it when they concern a huge part of the population does nothing to solve the problem of trust in vaccination. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Peter Eisler (Reuters) – Two Georgia election workers targeted by former U.S. President Donald Trump in a vote-rigging conspiracy theory have sued a far-right website that trumpeted the false story, alleging it incited months of death threats and harassment against them. The defamation suit against The Gateway Pundit was filed Thursday by Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a voter registration officer in the Fulton County elections office, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who was a temp worker for the 2020 election. The women were featured in a Reuters report published Wednesday on their ordeal. The lawsuit names the Pundit, its founder and editor Jim Hoft, and his brother, writer Joe Hoft. It alleges they repeatedly published demonstrably false claims that portrayed the women as “traitors” who conspired to “steal the presidential election in Georgia.” A lawyer for Jim Hoft and The Gateway Pundit did not immediately respond to a comment request Thursday morning. Joe Hoft did not respond to a comment request. The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, alleges that the Pundit’s “lies” about Freeman and Moss “devastated” their reputations and “instigated a deluge of intimidation, harassment, and threats that has forced them to change their phone numbers, delete their online accounts, and fear for their physical safety.” the suit says. Freeman went into hiding. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, revolves around false allegations first raised by a volunteer Trump campaign attorney at a Dec. 3 hearing of Georgia state legislators. Freeman and Moss worked in heavily Democratic Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, where a strong showing by Democrat Joe Biden helped give him a narrow Georgia victory. Trump, a Republican, and his surrogates falsely alleged that Freeman and Moss pulled “suitcases” full of fake ballots for Biden and processed them late at night on Election Day, Nov. 3, after most poll workers and election observers left. State officials including Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger quickly and forcefully debunked the allegations, explaining that the “suitcases” were standard ballot containers and the votes were properly counted under the watch of an independent monitor and a state investigator. The Gateway Pundit covered the false allegations in multiple stories, including one that identified Freeman by name with the headline: “What’s Up, Ruby? Crooked Operative Filmed Pulling Out Suitcases of Ballots in Georgia IS IDENTIFIED.” The Pundit identified Moss in another story. The Pundit stories continued through the summer, even as multiple audits and reviews confirmed the accuracy of Fulton County’s vote results. “I couldn’t have imagined the lies that The Gateway Pundit would tell about me, pushing people to harass me and my family and to threaten us with violence,” Freeman said in a statement issued by her lawyers. (Reporting by Peter Eisler; editing by Brian Thevenot) View the full article

Published by AFP US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the press as her press secretary Symone Sanders (R) looks on in Greer, South Carolina on June 14, 2021 Washington (AFP) – The White House confirmed Thursday that Kamala Harris’s chief spokeswoman will be leaving the job at the end of the year, at a time when the vice president is hitting a patch of political turbulence. Confirming press reports, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said there had been an announcement “about Symone Sanders departing” and noted that “she’ll always be a part of this Biden-Harris family, and it’s only natural after a couple of years to be ready for something new.” “Working in the first year of a White House is exciting and rewarding, but it’s also grueling and exhausting,” Psaki said. “It’s all of those things at once.” She added that such departures were “also an opportunity, as it is in any White House, to bring in new faces, new voices and new perspectives.” Harris, pressed about the departure on Thursday, said, “I love Symone.” “I can’t wait to see what she will do next. I know that it’s been three years jumping on and off planes going around the country,” she said. Psaki declined to comment on media reports that Harris’s communications director Ashley Etienne might also be leaving. The vice president is going through a difficult period politically, with media reports that she is struggling to find her place in the White House while also being charged with particularly delicate issues such voting access for minorities and the migration crisis on the southern border. Her team has reportedly been laboring under internal tensions and suffering from strained relations with members of President Joe Biden’s team. In Washington, political commentators have started to speculate openly about the vice president’s political future. Harris made history by becoming the first woman, as well as the first Black person and Asian person, to hold the vice presidential post, which in theory could make her heir to 79-year-old Biden in an upcoming presidential election View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered Sidney Powell and other lawyers who sued in Michigan to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory to pay a $175,000 penalty, reiterating an earlier finding that the lawsuit was frivolous. U.S. District Judge Linda Parker in Detroit ruled in August that Powell, Lin Wood, and other lawyers aligned with former President Donald Trump were to be sanctioned, but had not determined the dollar amount. Thursday’s order set the amount at approximately $175,000. Parker said the money should be awarded to Michigan and the City of Detroit to compensate for time government lawyers spent defending against the case. “Plaintiffs’ attorneys filed this lawsuit without conducting the required degree of diligence as to the truth of the allegations made or the merits of the legal claims asserted,” Parker said in Thursday’s order. In her August ruling, Parker formally requested that disciplinary bodies investigate whether the law licenses of the pro-Trump lawyers should be revoked. The judge also ordered the lawyers to attend classes on the ethical and legal requirements for filing legal claims. Donald Campbell, a lawyer for Powell and her co-counsel, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Powell represented Trump’s campaign when he tried to overturn last Nov. 3’s presidential election in the courts. His campaign distanced itself from Powell after she claimed without evidence at a Nov. 19 news conference that electronic voting systems had switched millions of ballots to Biden. In a written decision last December, Parker said Powell’s voter fraud claims were “nothing but speculation and conjecture” and that, in any event, the Texas-based lawyer waited too long to file her lawsuit. Powell has argued in court filings that her conduct was reasonable, saying she had vetted her election fraud claims before suing. Starting in January 2020, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and other government lawyers asked the judge to discipline the pro-Trump lawyers, saying they had filed a frivolous lawsuit full of typos and factual errors and should be held accountable. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting by David Thomas; Editing by Dan Grebler) View the full article

Published by Reuters ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Friday released a decree on women’s rights which said women should not be considered “property” and must consent to marriage but failed to mention female access to education or work outside the home. The Taliban has been under pressure from the international community, who have mostly frozen funds for Afghanistan, to commit to upholding women’s rights since the hardline Islamist group took over the country on Aug. 15. “A woman is not a property, but a noble and free human being; no one can give her to anyone in exchange for peace…or to end animosity,” the Taliban decree, released by spokesman Zabihillah Muhajid, said. It set out the rules governing marriage and property for women, stating women should not be forced into marriage and widows should have share in their late husband’s property. Courts should take into account the rules when making decisions, and religious affairs and information ministries should promote these rights, the decree said. However, it made no mention of women being able to work or access facilities outside the home or education, which have been major concerns from the international community. During its previous rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban banned women from leaving the house without a male relative and full face and head covering and girls from receiving education. The Taliban say they have changed and high schools for girls in some provinces have been allowed to open. But many women and rights advocates remain sceptical. The international community, which has frozen billions in central bank funds and development spending, has made women’s rights a key element of any future engagement with Afghanistan. The country, which is also suffering from a banking liquidity crisis as the cash flow dries up due to sanctions, is facing the risk of economic collapse since the Taliban took over. (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Angus MacSwan) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cardi B has joined Playboy as the company’s first-ever creative director in residence. The ‘WAP’ hitmaker – whose role will involve providing “artistic direction” across the iconic brand – will work on “co-branded fashion and sexual wellness merchandise collections, digital editorial, experiential activations and more”. In a statement, she said: “It’s a dream come true to officially join the Playboy family. I can’t believe this is real. For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt connected to Playboy. “It’s truly the original platform for uncensored creativity and I’m inspired by its incredible legacy of fighting for personal freedoms. I have so many ideas already – I can’t wait!” Meanwhile, the 29-year-old star is also helping Playboy to launch a new creator-led platform called CENTERFOLD. She added: “Creators today deserve to express themselves freely and unfiltered. They deserve to feel safe in their creativity and sexuality. And they deserve to own their future. “This is what CENTERFOLD is all about. For all those creators out there doing bold, revolutionary, truly culture-shifting things, come join me.” CENTERFOLD is reportedly expected to launch this month, and it will serve as Playboy’s social content platform to offer creators tools to directly interact with fans. A press release outlining her responsibilities stated: “Cardi will provide artistic direction across co-branded fashion and sexual wellness merchandise collections, digital editorial, experiential activations and more. “In addition, Cardi B will serve as the Founding Creative Director and a founding member of Playboy’s upcoming creator-led platform, CENTERFOLD.” Sharing the news on Instagram, she said: “Introducing the FIRST EVER Creative Director In Residence at the legendary @playboy, it’s ME!!! Joining the @playboy family is a dream and I know y’all are going to love what we put together. “I’m startin this party right as the Founding Creative Director and a founding member of CENTERFOLD the new creator-led platform from Playboy coming soon!! We’re going to have soooooo much fun. (sic)” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tom Ford is finding life “very hard” without his husband. The 60-year-old designer-and-filmmaker’s spouse Richard Buckley – who he married in 2014 after 27 years together – passed away in September at the age of 72 and the ‘Nocturnal Animals’ director admitted he’s still struggling to adjust to the journalist not being around any more. He told WSJ magazine: “It’s been hard after 35 years, very hard. I keep thinking, oh, God, I have to call Richard, or I need to send him a note about this. And he’s not here.” Tom finds the mornings a “challenge” these days because he has to look after the couple’s nine-year-old son Jack alone, though he’s found a positive in the struggle. He said: “Until recently, I had Richard to help me out in the mornings. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle the last month because he would normally get [Jack’s] breakfast on school days while I was getting dressed. “It’s a challenge to get him up, dressed, get his lunch made, get his lunch packed, get his breakfast done, get all my things done, and then I drive him to school at 7:45. “But it also means I’m at my office by 8:10, so I get a good start to the day.” Tom and Richard met at a fashion show in the 80s, and it was love at first sight. The designer previously recalled: “I went to a fashion show and this silver-haired guy was staring at me with these piercing water-blue eyes. “It scared me because I absolutely saw and knew my entire future. “About 10 days later, someone asked if [Richard] was seeing anyone. He said, ‘No, there was this guy I had seen at a fashion show,’ and at that moment, the elevator door opened and there I was. Richard jumps in the elevator and he’s practically tap dancing. “We had three dates. We were living together four weeks later. He gave me the keys to his apartment, and we have lived together ever since.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Kathy Griffinis back stronger than ever after undergoing a medical procedure following her lung cancer diagnosis this year. She joined The View’s panel on Thursday to unload the latest updates on her life following the surgery. Griffin also shared her return to the industry after going through a series of tragic life events to the point that she almost took her own life. Kathy Griffin Reveals She And Mary Trump Are Set To Accompany Donald Trump’s Rape Accuser E. Jean Carroll To Court For Support Kathy Griffin Is Joining Donald Trump’s Niece Mary Trump To Support His Rape Accuser E. Jean Carroll In Court The comedian also appeared to stick by her stance about former President Donald Trump. In 2017, Griffin came under fire when she posted a photo holding a model of Trump’s bloody, decapitated head after the president prematurely declared victory in the 2020 presidential election. The scandal cost her multiple jobs, including her New Year’s Eve hosting stint at CNN with Anderson Cooper. She also claims it got her blacklisted from Hollywood. mega During the interview onThe View, Griffin revealed she and Trump’s niece Mary Trump are accompanying E. Jean Carroll to court for a hearing regarding her defamation suit against the former president. Griffin said she believes all women should support each other against misogynistic treatment. mega Carroll came forward in 2019, alleging Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the ’90s. She claimed she kept the outfit she was wearing 23 years ago when Trump allegedly attacked her. The journalist detailed her accident in the suit, saying Trump first asked her for advice to look for a gift. According to the court document, while shopping, they both ended up in a dressing room together after teasing each other to try on a see-through lilac gray bodysuit. That was when Trump allegedly closed the door, pushed her against a wall, bumped her head twice against a wall, and pulled down her tights before reportedly raping her. Trump denied Carroll’s accusation while taking a dig at her appearance, claiming she’s “not my type,” which prompted her to sue him for defamation. Bloomberg‘s latest reports on the account indicated Trump will countersue Carroll for violating New York’s law discouraging the filing of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPP, cases. In a court filing, Trump’s lawyers described such cases as “ill-intentioned lawsuits – particularly those meant to discourage public participation or chill the free speech of others.” However, Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, believes Trump’s latest strategy to take down his client “will not work.” “Trump sat on his hands for a year after the anti-SLAPP law was passed,” he said in response. “While Trump may be notorious for using the courts to attack women he has assaulted, his latest gambit will not work – when it comes to E.Jean Carroll, the truth will prevail.” mega View the full article

Published by DPA Beyond the arched gate “Arco de la Estrella” stretches a labyrinth of narrow alleys. Manuel Meyer/dpa German art collector Helga de Alvear enjoys star status in Caceres, the small town in southern Spain where she has opened her own museum, which has been responsible for bringing thousands of culture lovers to the charming town. Despite only opening in February, the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Helga de Alvear has quickly established a reputation for itself as an international contemporary art hotspot counting some 70,000 visitors so far this year alone, despite pandemic restrictions placing strict limits on visitor numbers. Recently, Caceres even set a new record for visitor numbers this summer, thanks largely to the new museum. The heiress to a German plastics fortune, de Alvear has spent years amassing one of the largest private art collections in Europe, which today includes over 3,000 separate works. Born in the Rheinland, de Alvear has lived in Madrid since 1957 where she founded and ran one of Spain’s most renowned art galleries for many years. Over the decades, de Alvear built up a contemporary art collection that is second to none. Works by Picasso and Ai Weiwei Entering the museum’s garden, a giant pink sausage by Viennese artist Franz West stands out among palm trees. Passing an almost 200-metre-long installation made by Fernando Sanchez Castillo from the remains of Spain’s former dictator Franco’s yacht, you reach an aluminium olive tree by the Swiss sculptor Ugo Rondinone. The entrance area is one of the highlights: On the floor is the gigantic chandelier “Descending Light”, made with 60,000 pearls, with which the Chinese art star Ai Weiwei stages the decline of communism. Next to it hang works by the German photographer Frank Thiel, British art enfant terrible Damien Hirst and the Colombian Doris Salcedo. The work of dozens more renowned artists can be seen on the four floors of the museum, ranging from Pablo Picasso to Louise Bourgeois. With just under 200 works, the museum’s debut exhibition provides the public with just a glimpse into de Alvear’s collection. Art museum awarded architectural prizes Attaching great importance to finding the “right shell” for her collection, de Alvear eventually had the museum’s premises designed and built to her own specifications. Architect Emilio Tunon has already been awarded numerous international architectural prizes for his design, in which snow-white reinforced concrete pillars form the open skeleton of a cube-shaped building, which connects the medieval Old Town with the New Town some 24 metres below via a publicly accessible staircase. Despite this modernist cube being a stark contrast to the rest of Caceres’ historic old town, the museum actually manages to blend harmoniously into its surroundings with its clean lines and light-flooded rooms. Indeed, in architectural terms at least, Caceres is the polar opposite of modern, as a walk through its old town, which was given UNESCO World Heritage status back in 1986, will immediately reveal, being more like a journey back in time to the Middle Ages. The thick city walls and the mighty fortress towers that soar above them date to the Arab rule of Spain during the twelfth century. Behind the imposing star-arched city gate, the Arco de la Estrella, a labyrinth of narrow streets, stone staircases, arcades, old churches and convents spreads out before your eyes. More than 40 Renaissance palaces characterize what is known to be the best-preserved medieval city centre in Europe after those in Tallinn and Prague, and with its combination of Roman, Islamic, Gothic and Renaissance influences, it is certainly the most diverse. Award-winning local cuisine The alluring combination of centuries of history with contemporary art and culture moved Time magazine to include Caceres on its list of “World’s 100 Greatest Places 2021.” But beyond the new museum, there are several other traveller draws in Caceres, such as the Mercedes Calles y Carlos Ballestero Foundation, a cultural centre and exhibition space, or the Provincial Museum in the Palacio de las Veletas, whose cellar contains the world’s second-largest Arabic cistern, which dates from the 15th century. Gastronomically too, Caceres is no slouch, with some exquisite eating opportunities in the town, not least ham from the black Iberico pigs that graze in the forests surrounding the town. In 2015, the Association of Spanish Hoteliers and Restaurant Critics even chose Caceres as Spain’s gastronomic capital, citing the Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish and Jewish influences that can still be found on menus today. A walk through the old town of Cáceres, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, is like a journey back in time to the Middle Ages. Manuel Meyer/dpa Churches, monasteries and narrow streets characterise the medieval town centre of Cáceres. Manuel Meyer/dpa The chandelier “Descending Light” by renowned artist Ai Weiwei, made with 60,000 pearls, stages the decline of communism in the museum entrance. Manuel Meyer/dpa It’s a hub of contemporary art – and yet, architecturally, Cáceres seems anything but modern. Manuel Meyer/dpa The “Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Helga de Alvear” by Emilio Tuñón has already been awarded numerous international architectural prizes. Manuel Meyer/dpa Katharina Grosse’s colourful “Faux Rocks” reach almost to the ceiling of the museum. Manuel Meyer/dpa In the garden of the “Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Helga de Alvear”, the sculpture of a giant pink sausage by the Viennese artist Franz West stands out between palm trees. Manuel Meyer/dpa View the full article

Published by AFP Leonard Bernstein (R), who died in 1990, had not expected the score to have such a long life Paris (AFP) – Leonard Bernstein’s score for “West Side Story” has become so ubiquitous in Western culture that it has popped up in such unlikely places as Metallica and Wu-Tang Clan albums. The original play first appeared on Broadway in 1957, before transferring to the silver screen in 1961, and early reviews suggest that Steven Spielberg’s new film version proves the music still resonates today. Three decades after its appearance, Metallica used a clip from one of its biggest tunes, “America”, as the surprise intro to “Don’t Tread On Me” on their seminal “Black Album”. One of the pioneers of hard rock, Alice Cooper, also mined the musical for inspiration on his “Gutter Cat vs The Jets” in 1972, using the theme song from one of the rival gangs in the story. The inclusions were less obvious when it came to the Wu-Tang Clan sampling elements for “Maria” in 1997, from the song of the same name in “West Side Story”. The Wu-Tang’s lyrics over the sample — “Knew this bitch named Traj, she had a hella fine ashcan ass” — seem rather distant from the vibe of the original, though that only emphasises how deeply the musical had embedded itself in American culture. Bernstein, who died in 1990, had not expected the score to have such a long life. Having never actually conducted his own score — either for the stage or screen versions — he was invited to re-record it with opera singers in 1984. “In the documentary about the recording, you can hear him saying that he thought it would have aged badly, but it hadn’t at all,” said Laurent Valiere, host of a new podcast about the movie. “The music of ‘West Side Story’ transcends classical music, with elements of jazz, be-bop and Latin rhythms,” he added. Although the operatic recording went down as a classic of the genre, it was a fraught process, with Bernstein famously throwing a tantrum at Spanish star tenor Jose Carreras as he struggled with the pronunciation and pacing of playing the all-American Tony. ‘An albatross’ The irascible Bernstein, who was head of the New York Philharmonic by then, also grew tired of constantly being reminded of his most famous work. “It became a sort of albatross around his neck,” his daughter told Britain’s Radio Times. “He had to work all the harder to get people to focus on his other works, especially his symphonic works.” She said he spent his whole life “wishing he could write the great American opera… However, many people will say that ‘West Side Story’ is the great American opera.” The idea for “West Side Story” supposedly came about when Bernstein and playwright Arthur Laurents were sat around a pool in Hollywood and came across a newspaper story about gang warfare. It struck them as the perfect framing for the updating of “Romeo and Juliet” that they had been searching for. The racial element — with the Puerto Rican Sharks taunted by the white Jets — resonated with Bernstein, who had struggled through anti-Semitism as a younger man. The Puerto Rican element also allowed him to introduce a mambo — which gives the score a “hyper-contemporary” feel, said Valiere. View the full article

Published by OK Magazine MEGA Britney Spears is known as the Princess of Pop, but she may have actually had a chance at becoming a real royal if her alleged relationship with Prince William took off. According to biographerChristopher Anderson, the Duke of Cambridge had an online connection with Spears and Lauren Bush prior to his marriage to Kate Middleton. Anderson made the claim in his new book Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan, released Tuesday, November 30. “[William and Spears] tried to get together back when they were young, and he also had a kind of similar cyber relationship with Lauren Bush, the model and the niece of President [George W.] Bush,” Anderson reportedly spilled to Us Weekly. PRINCE CHARLES & PRINCE WILLIAM TOLD PRINCE HARRY HE WAS ‘OVERREACTING’ TO THE ALLEGED BABY SKIN COLOR REMARKS, CLAIMS AUTHOR While the “Toxic” songstress, 40, and royal, 39, were in contact, their relationship apparently never escalated beyond a few phone calls and online exchanges. “There may have been phone conversations, but I don’t recall that they ever actually managed to get together during that period,” Anderson alleged, per the outlet. Back in 2002, Spears reportedly revealed on the ITV1’s Frank Skinner Show thatsheandWilliam “exchanged emails for a little bit, and he was supposed to come and see [her] somewhere but it didn’t work out.” MEGA Prior to his apparent friendship with the Grammy Award winner, William also allegedly took a liking to another Hollywood celebrity — who the father-of-three’s mom Princess Diana seemed to approve of, claimed the author. “William had a huge crush on Cindy Crawford. I think it’s very cute,” Andersen shared. “So [Princess] Diana, being the kind of person she [was], she arranged for a meeting with him when he was, like, 14.” Though William didn’t end up with one of Hollywood’s elites, his marriage to the Duchess of Cambridge didn’t come as a shock either. Anderson pointed out it’s very telling that both William and Prince Harry ended up with “commoners,” something he speculated their mom “would have loved — the fact that they stepped outside of everybody’s comfort zone.” BRITNEY SPEARS TURNS 40 — TAKE A LOOK AT HER BEST FASHION MOMENTS OVER THE YEARS William and Kate, 39, began dating in 2003 after first meeting as students at the University of St Andrews in Scotland in 2001. The lovebirds got engaged in 2010, and wed the following year before they went on to welcome children: Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3. MEGA As for Spears, she was briefly married to Jason Alexander in 2004 before tying the knot with Kevin Federline later that year. The former flames — who share sons Preston, 16, and Jayden, 15 — split in 2007. The “Circus” singer confirmed her engagement to Sam Asghari in September after five years of dating. Spears shared the exciting news amid her bombshell conservatorship trial that came to an end last month — with the legal bind officially being terminated after more than 13 years. View the full article

Published by AFP A volunteer collects plastic waste on an island of the Etang de Berre, France Washington (AFP) – The United States is by far the biggest contributor to global plastic waste in the world, according to a new report submitted to the federal government Wednesday that called for a national strategy to tackle the growing crisis. Overall, the US contributed around 42 million metric tons (MMT) in plastic waste in 2016 — more than twice as much as China and more than the countries of the European Union combined, according to the analysis. On average, every American generates 130 kilograms (286 pounds) of plastic waste per year, with Britain next on the list at 99 kilos per person per year, followed by South Korea at 88 kilos per year. Entitled “Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste,” the report was mandated by Congress as part of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, which became law in December 2020. “The success of the 20th century miracle invention of plastics has also produced a global scale deluge of plastic waste seemingly everywhere we look,” wrote Margaret Spring, who chaired the committee of experts that compiled the report. Global plastic production rose from 20 million metric tons in 1966 to 381 MMT in 2015, a 20-fold increase over half a century, the report said. Initially, attention to ocean waste focused solely on ship and marine-based sources, but it is now known that almost any plastic on land has the potential to reach the oceans via rivers and streams, the report added. Research has shown nearly a thousand species of marine life are susceptible to plastic entanglement or to ingesting microplastics, which then make their way through the food web back to humans. The report said an estimated 8 MMT of plastic waste enters the world annually, “the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck of plastic waste into the ocean every minute.” At the current rate, the amount of plastics discharged into the ocean could reach up to 53 MMT per year by 2030, roughly half of the total weight of fish caught from the ocean annually, it said. Part of the reason is that while the generation of plastic waste in municipal solid waste has exploded, particularly since 1980, the scale of recycling has not kept up, resulting in more and more plastic finding its way into landfills. The report offered a number of steps to address the crisis — especially reducing virgin plastic production. Reduce single-use plastics Other suggested actions include using materials that degrade more quickly and are more easily recycled, the reduction of certain single-use plastics, and improved waste management, such as techniques to remove microplastics from wastewater. Improving waste capture technology would stop plastics in waterways, while stemming plastic disposal directly into the ocean itself also remains a priority. “This is the most comprehensive and damning report on plastic pollution ever published,” said Judith Enk, president of the Beyond Plastics nonprofit. “It is a code red for plastics in the ocean and documents how litter cleanups are not going to save the ocean,” she continued, adding it was urgent that policy makers and business leaders read the report and take action. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Alec Baldwin said he did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed a cinematographer on the movie set of “Rust,” while investigators in New Mexico zeroed in on how live ammunition may have found its way to the set. Baldwin, who was holding a gun he was told was safe when it went off, spoke in his first full interview about the Oct. 21 shooting. “Well, the trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” the actor told ABC television journalist George Stephanopoulos, according to an excerpt released on Wednesday of the interview, which is to be broadcast on Thursday. “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them. Never,” Baldwin added. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded in what Baldwin has previously called a tragic accident on the set of the Western movie he was making near Santa Fe. The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday it had no comment on Baldwin’s statement. It was not known whether authorities are pursuing an accidental discharge scenario. No criminal charges have been filed. Investigators have been focusing their efforts on how live bullets, rather than dummies, got onto the set. Court documents released on Wednesday showed they found “Rust” documents and suspected live ammunition for a revolver like the one Baldwin was using during a search this week at the premises of an Albuquerque supplier of props and weapons for movie sets. The supplier, named as Seth Kenny, earlier told police he believed the live bullets found on the set may have been “reloaded ammunition” that he previously had acquired from a friend, according to the documents. Reloaded ammunition is made up of recycled components, including bullets. Kenny could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Baldwin, best known for playing an egotistical TV network executive on the TV comedy series “30 Rock,” has kept a low profile since the accident at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe. Baldwin, who was the star and also a producer on the low-budget Western, “went through in detail what happened on the set that day,” Stephanopoulos said on Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” show ahead of the interview broadcast. Two crew members have filed civil lawsuits accusing Baldwin, the producers and others on the production of negligence and lax safety protocols. The producers have said they are conducting their own internal investigation. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by AFP Facebook takes aim at anti-Covid vaccine campaign harassing doctors and journalists San Francisco (AFP) – Facebook’s parent company Meta said Wednesday it had derailed an anti-vaccine campaign that harassed medical workers, journalists and elected officials, in a signal of the ongoing pressure from coronavirus pandemic-tied misinformation. The social media giant took down accounts in France and Italy that were linked to a conspiracy movement called “V_V”, which inundated pro-vaccine posts with potentially tens of thousands of comments. “V-V” supporters also “mass-harassed” people on YouTube, Twitter, VKontakte and other online platforms, using swastikas or other images as well as calling doctors and media workers “Nazi supporters” for backing vaccines, Meta said. The company’s update regarding efforts to counter misinformation and harassment on its platform comes as the tech giant battles accusations that it puts profit over user safety. The firm changed its parent company name to “Meta” in October as it tries to move past the reputation of Facebook as a scandal-plagued social network to the company’s virtual reality vision for the future. A report by social network analysis firm Graphika offered additional information on “V_V,” which it says touts itself as engaged in guerilla “psychological warfare” that targets vaccine supporters. Graphika estimates that “V_V” has about 20,000 followers and said the group has been linked to vandalism of hospitals and efforts to disrupt vaccination programs by repeatedly booking and canceling medical appointments. The group’s campaign used messaging service Telegram to train recruits and spread word of who to target, according to Meta head of emerging harms investigations Mike Dvilyanski. Using media to spread misinformation “While we aren’t banning all V_V content, we’re continuing to monitor the situation and will take action if we find additional violations,” Meta said. Since the start of the pandemic, misinformation has taken many forms, from false and dangerous health advice to so-called miracle cures, conspiracy theories, racist rhetoric and online scams. The United States in March denounced what it called a Russian disinformation campaign against US-made Covid-19 vaccines, saying Moscow was putting lives at risk. Meta also reported taking down a “sprawling and unsuccessful” network out of China that used fake accounts to promote a bogus claim that a Swiss biologist contended the United States was putting pressure on World Health Organization scientists to blame China for the pandemic. Investigators on the Meta security team equated the campaign to a “hall of mirrors, endlessly reflecting a single fake persona” with even Chinese state media citing the fabricated claim. “Clusters of fake accounts attempted post-amplification, which only took root when media picked up the stories,” Meta head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher said in the briefing. “But, that was quickly debunked and fizzled out quickly,” he added. The tactic reflected a trend of trying to get legitimate news outlets to spread misinformation promoted by networks of fake accounts, Gleicher noted. “Operations like these will also target media, marketers and influencers, who need defenses against these kinds of campaigns,” he said. Meta found links to employees of people associated with Chinese state infrastructure companies based around the world. “This is the first time we have observed an operation that included a coordinated cluster of state employees to amplify itself in this way,” Meta said. “Our investigation also found that a number of Chinese government officials began interacting with the operation’s content less than an hour after it first posted.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Stephanie Beatriz hates how bisexual people are sometimes portrayed on TV. The 40-year-old actress came out as bisexual in 2016, but she resents how various shows have peddled myths about the community over the years. Reflecting on her experience of watching one particular episode of ‘Sex and the City’, Stephanie explained: “It sucked watching one of my favourite shows talk about bisexuality in this super s***** way for jokes. It felt yuck.” Stephanie thinks the portrayals are often wildly inaccurate and, ultimately, unhelpful for bisexual people like herself. She told The Independent: “We’re so often presented to be like these super-promiscuous beings. Like we’re using our sexuality to manipulate people. “It’s like nah, I’m just living my life.” Stephanie believes that her personal situation is complicated by her Latin background. The ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ star – who has a Colombian father and a Bolivian mother – explained: “I’m in that intersection of Latinx, woman and queer, and there’s a lot of cultural norms you feel pressured to complete, like get married, have kids… “As a bisexual woman, people think like ‘Oh you could still fall in love with a man and do all those things.’ People think it’s a phase or that it’s not even real.” Stephanie has enjoyed success on stage and on screen during her career. However, her parents were initially unconvinced about her career choices – particularly as her family had no links to the entertainment industry. She said: “It’s very risky pursuing the arts, especially if you don’t know anyone who has done it before. It’s really unknown. “I didn’t know how people got on TV or in a play. There was no one in my family who could tell me how to get an agent.” Stephanie Beatriz Bisexual Myths Towleroad Not Just A ‘Gala’: New York Met Donation, $125 Million, is Museum’s Biggest Ever; Will Go To Renovate Modern and Contemporary Art Spaces More White House asks government to buy more from small disadvantaged businesses More Prince Harry pens letter to mark World AIDS Day More Donald Trump Reportedly Tested Positive For COVID 3 Days Before 2020 Debate Against Joe Biden, Former Chief Of Staff Claims More Stacey Abrams announces second bid for governor of Georgia state More Biden marks World AIDS Day with plan to eradicate disease More Ivanka Trump Turns On Charm, Mingles With Rich Pals In First Outing Since Dad Donald Trump Was Accused Of Being Jeffrey Epstein’s Sex ‘Wingman’ More US Supreme Court appears likely to roll back abortion rights More Hungary parliament clears way for government’s LGBT referendum as election nears More New York City opens first U.S. sites for supervised narcotics injection More National Guard who refuse to get vaccinated could lose funding- Pentagon chief More Load More View the full article