RadioRob

Published by Reuters By Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday said Ukraine had uncovered a plot to overthrow his government next week, involving individuals from Russia caught on tape talking about roping Ukraine’s richest businessman into backing a coup. The Kremlin denied any role in any coup plot, and the businessman called the president’s account an “absolute lie.” Zelenskiy himself gave few details and stopped short of saying whether he believed the Kremlin was behind the plot. But the accusation raised the temperature at a time when Kyiv and its Western allies have already accused Moscow of massing troops near the Ukrainian border for a possible assault, a suggestion Moscow dismisses as false and alarmist. Speaking at an hours-long news conference, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian intelligence had obtained audio recordings of the plotters talking about involving business magnate Rinat Akhmetov into joining their coup. “We have challenges not only from the Russian Federation and possible escalation – we have big internal challenges. I received information that a coup d’etat will take place in our country on Dec. 1-2,” Zelenskiy said. Akhmetov said in a statement: “The information made public by Volodymyr Zelenskiy about attempts to draw me into some kind of coup is an absolute lie. I am outraged by the spread of this lie, no matter what the president’s motives are.” “As a Ukrainian citizen, the country’s biggest investor, taxpayer, and employer, I will continue to defend a free Ukraine, a free economy, democracy, and freedom of speech.” Ukraine’s sovereign dollar bonds tumbled to their lowest level in more than a year on Friday and the cost of insuring exposure to the country’s debt soared amid rising security concerns. UKRAINE PREPARED FOR ESCALATION Zelenskiy did not give full details of the coup plot. Asked explicitly whether he thought the Kremlin was involved, he said: “I’m sorry, I can’t talk about it.” But he also spoke at length at the news conference of a threat of Russian military escalation, and said Ukraine would be ready for it. “We are in full control of our borders and are fully prepared for any escalation,” Zelenskiy said. The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence told the Military Times outlet last week that Russia had more than 92,000 troops massed around Ukraine’s borders and was preparing for an attack by the end of January or beginning of February. Ukraine, which wants to join the NATO military alliance, has blamed Moscow for supporting separatists in a conflict in its east since 2014. It received a large consignment of U.S. ammunition and Javelin missiles earlier this year, prompting criticism from Russia. U.S. officials were in touch with Ukraine to get additional information on the plot, said Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried. Ministers from NATO member states, including U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken, would also meet Ukrainian officials during a summit in Latvia next week, Donfried told reporters in a telephone briefing. Zelenskiy also said his chief of staff Andriy Yermak would soon be contacting representatives of Russia about the standoff between the two countries. Separately, Yermak said he would be contacting senior Kremlin official Dmitry Kozak. Russia has said it suspects Ukraine of wanting to recapture separatist-controlled territory by force. Zelenskiy said Ukraine had no such plans and added that Russia’s rhetoric opposing Ukraine’s bid to join NATO was a worrying signal. A former actor who once played a fictional president in a popular sitcom, the 43-year-old Zelenskiy came to power by a landslide in 2019 promising to end the war in eastern Ukraine, which Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people. But after a lull in fighting and confidence-building measures including prisoner swaps, tensions with Russia rose this year. President Vladimir Putin said the West was taking his “red lines” about NATO expansion too lightly. At his news conference, Zelenskiy said he wanted the prisoner swaps to resume. He called on Russia to state explicitly that it would not launch a new attack on Ukraine. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk in KyivAdditional reporting by Simon Lewis in WashingtonWriting by Matthias WilliamsEditing by Peter Graff and Matthew Lewis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Busy Philipps has received messages of thanks from other mothers after revealing her child is non-binary. The ‘Busy Tonight’ host announced her 13-year-old child Birdie had come out as non-binary last year, and has said that since sharing the news with the world, she has received “so many” messages from other parents who thanked her for talking openly about her child’s gender. She said: “I have gotten so many messages and letters in the last year of … moms just thanking me for talking about it, talking about my child’s queerness and their choice of pronouns because they’re also having the same thing, but they live in a small town in the middle of the country, and this helps them be able to have the conversation easier.” Busy – who has Birdie, as well as eight-year-old Cricket, with her husband Marc Silverstein – also said that while some people responded negatively to Birdie’s decision to use they/them pronouns, most people were understanding. She added: “I think it’s a part of our culture, sharing things on social media. You cannot ever predict how they’re going to be received, but you just have to know that when you’re moving through the world in a truthful way, [some] people will respond to it in a positive way, and some people won’t, but that’s their issue to work out.” The 42-year-old actress also spoke about Birdie’s decision to let their mother go public with their pronoun change. She told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “Birdie had discussed it with me. They had come to me and were like, ‘You can talk about me, my queerness, and my pronouns on your podcast. I was like, ‘Well, are you sure? Let’s discuss it.’ “They’re kind of always unfazed by everything, in terms of how people have responded. It was hard for me in terms of knowing that there would be people that would be unkind to my child. I felt like I was putting my kid out there, and putting them at risk of getting some of that negativity toward who they are as a person.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Baga Chipz is sick of cancel culture. The 31-year-old drag superstar – real name Leo Loren – who shot to fame when she was runner up on the first UK season of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ admitted that she now has “rules” in an attempt to avoid being “cancelled.” She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: “I’ve been doing drag for over 15 years but now I have rules. In my act, I don’t talk about race. I work in a lot of gay clubs so I’ll not talk about serious things like AIDS. I do a lot of charity work for HIV and stuff but I don’t joke about those things. I don’t think anyone would anyway but it does boil my p*** when it’s silly miniscule things. “You only have to fart these days and people go, ‘Let’s cancel all their work, let’s hang the witch!'” However, the star – who admitted that these days it is just a lot easier now to “just take the p*ss out of [herself]” – said that while cancel culture sometimes serves its purpose, it should not be used just “for the sake of it.” She said: “When I first started you could say what you want. But we live in cancel culture – and rightfully so if you’ve done something really bad, like used racist language or homophobic language, yeah you have to be held accountable for it. I believe in accountability I don’t like it when people moan just for the sake of it.” The ‘Frock Destroyer’ singer revealed that urged fans to see the whole thing as a joke, reminding them that she is just playing an “old Northern trollop”. She said: “I have said stuff on stage before that people are like ‘Oooh’ but it’s no different to any other comedian. I’ve said nothing that someone like Alan Carr or Paul O’Grady hasn’t said. It’s a joke. If I do say an offensive joke, it’s not personal – I’m not gonna knock on your mum’s door and tell her. I’m a man in a dress pretending to be a middle-aged woman in a chip shop. It’s not real life. I do take the wig off! I’m just an old Northern trollop!” ‘The Celebrity Circle’ star was speaking to promote the release of new video game ‘Let’s Sing 2022’ – a karaoke title in which players can belt out classics like Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’, Wham! festive hit ‘Last Christmas’ and ‘A Whole New World’ from Disney’s ‘Aladdin’. On her combined love of karaoke and gaming, Baga said: ” I love a good sing-song. A bit of Liza [Minnelli]. ‘New York, New York’, ‘All That Jazz’ – love it! “The other week at the Admiral Duncan I did a duet – Kylie [Minogue] and Jason [Donovan]. She’s got that voice in her, Kylie, so when I went up I was like [mimics Kylie] ‘Especially for yooo…’ “I love Nintendo, I used to play ‘Donkey Kong’ and ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Then I got my PlayStation – I had the Spice Girls game. Then I got my PlayStation 2. I used to play ‘The Sims’ – I’d spend hours doing me house up!” ‘Let’s Sing 2022’ is available now on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5 and Xbox. Please visit Amazon.co.uk for more information. View the full article

Published by Reuters JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South African scientists have detected a new COVID-19 variant in small numbers and are working to understand its potential implications, they said on Thursday. The variant – called B.1.1.529 – has a “very unusual constellation” of mutations, which are concerning because they could help it evade the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible, scientists told reporters at a news conference. Early signs from diagnostic laboratories suggest the variant has rapidly increased in the most populated province of Gauteng and may already be present in the country’s other eight provinces, they said. In a regular daily update on confirmed cases countrywide, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) later reported 2,465 new COVID-19 infections, slightly less than double the previous day’s infections. The NICD did not attribute the latest resurgence to the new variant, although some leading local scientists suspect it is the cause. South Africa has confirmed around 100 specimens as B.1.1.529, but the variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong, with the Hong Kong case a traveller from South Africa. As many as 90% of new cases in Gauteng could be B.1.1.529, scientists believe. “Although the data are limited, our experts are working overtime with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be,” the NICD said in a statement. South Africa has requested an urgent sitting of a World Health Organization (WHO) working group on virus evolution on Friday to discuss the new variant. Health Minister Joe Phaahla said it was too early to say whether the government would impose tougher restrictions in response to the variant. South Africa was the first country to detect the Beta variant last year. Beta is one of only four labelled “of concern” by the WHO because there is evidence that it is more contagious and vaccines work less well against it. The country detected another variant, C.1.2, earlier this year, but that has not displaced the more common Delta variant and still accounts for only a small percentage of genomes sequenced in recent months. (Reporting by Alexander WinningEditing by Angus MacSwan, Mark Potter and Frances Kerry) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Three white men were convicted of murder on Wednesday in the shotgun slaying of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased while on a Sunday run in a mostly white neighborhood in Georgia on Feb. 23, 2020. The jury found Travis McMichael, 35; his father Gregory McMichael, 65, and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, guilty of murder and other charges. All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the same nine counts: one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal intent to commit a felony. * Travis McMichael was convicted on all nine counts, including one count of malice murder and four counts of felony murder. * His father was found not guilty of malice murder but guilty on all other counts, including felony murder. * Bryan was found not guilty of malice murder but guilty of three counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault and one count each of false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony. Malice murder (one count each) Malice murder is when a person unlawfully and with malice aforethought causes the death of another person. The decision to commit malice murder can come in a spilt second or be planned long before. A malice murder conviction carries a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole, life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. In this case, the prosecution is not seeking the death penalty. Felony murder (four counts each) Felony murder occurs when someone commits a serious or inherently dangerous felony and someone else dies during the crime, even if that murder was not planned. The classic example is when two people rob a bank and a teller is shot dead. Even if only one person actually shot the teller, all those involved in the crime, even if unarmed, are considered equally guilty. It is punished in Georgia by either life in prison with parole or without parole or the death penalty. Aggravated assault (two counts each) Aggravated assault in Georgia is defined as being an assault with the intent to commit another crime such as murder, robbery or rape and a weapon is used. It can be punished by one year in prison to a maximum of 20 years for each count. False imprisonment (one count each) A person commits the offense of false imprisonment when he or she violates the personal liberty of another, illegally arrests, confines, or detains such person without legal authority. False imprisonment is punished by one to 10 years in prison. Criminal attempt to commit a felony (one count each) It is a substantial effort to commit a specific felony crime. It is punished by one year in prison or up to half of the maximum period of time for which he or she could have been sentenced if the crime was successful. (Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; editing by Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Kanishka Singh and Karen Freifeld (Reuters) – The Manhattan district attorney is not planning to charge Trump Organization Chief Operating Officer Matthew Calamari in a fraud case in which the former U.S. president’s firm and its chief financial officer have been charged, Calamari’s lawyer said. “Mr. Calamari is pleased that the District Attorney’s office has indicated that it has no present intention to bring charges against him. That is the fair and appropriate decision. He has committed no crimes and led an exemplary life”, Calamari’s lawyer Nicholas Gravante said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance declined to comment. An indictment unsealed in July charged the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg with tax fraud arising from a probe into Trump’s business and its practices. That indictment said the company provided perks and benefits such as rent-free apartments and leased cars to Weisselberg and other officials without proper reporting on tax returns. Both Weisselberg and the company pleaded not guilty. Trump himself has not been charged. Earlier this month, a source told Reuters that the Manhattan district attorney had convened another grand jury to weigh possible new charges in a case involving the Trump Organization. The second grand jury was expected to examine how the company valued its assets. The criminal case stemmed from a probe by Vance in collaboration with New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Trump has called the charges politically motivated. Trump’s company operates hotels, golf courses, and resorts around the world. Before entering the White House in January 2017, Trump put it into a trust overseen by his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as Weisselberg. Calamari’s son, Matthew Calamari Jr., testified before a grand jury in September and has immunity from possible prosecution, a source told Reuters earlier in November. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by Radar Online She wasn’t born this way, but Lady Gagaalways knew she wanted to become a superstar. This is how it happened. For 19-year-oldStefani Germanotta, a little-known but scarily ambitious New York University dropout turned pop singer desperate to make a name for herself in the hipster club circuit of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, it was a pivotal moment. There she was, ready to sing some of her hot new material in a dingy dive, dressed to the max — a carefully calibrated mix of American Apparel promiscuity and Bride of Frankenstein weirdness. She downed a few drinks. She was ready. But the blasé crowd didn’t seem to care: they never stopped talking, barely mustering a glance at the stage. Enough, she thought. Without missing a beat, she peeled off her clothes, sat back down at the piano in a skimpy bra and panties, and started her set. Everyone shut up and listened. And they haven’t stopped listening since. mega Years later, Stefani, now better known as Lady Gaga — the biggest, wildest, least predictable pop star on the planet — told a reporter that her alter ego sprang to life that night, fully formed. “That’s when I made a real decision about what kind of pop star I wanted to be,” she said. “Because it was a performance-art moment then and there…. Unless you were in the audience in that very spontaneous moment, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s like, she took her clothes off, so sex sells, right? But in the context of that moment, in that neighborhood, in front of that audience, I was doing something radical.” Doing radical stuff has become a big business for Lady Gaga. Meat dresses. Bubble dresses. Meat bikinis. Naked thanksgivings. Flaming pianos. Music videos strewn with corpses, unicorns, and hunky, oiled-up Judases. It all works for her, brilliantly. She’s parlayed an unerring sense for crazy, high concept fashion, insanely catchy dance beats, larger-than-life oddness — and, yes, amazing talent as a singer, songwriter, and musician — into one of the quickest and quirkiest rides to superstardom ever. The numbers have become legendary: 12 straight No. 1 singles on the Billboard dance chart; 32 million Twitter followers; more than 23 million albums sold; more than one billion views of her videos on YouTube. Her fans — little Monsters, as she calls them — are fanatical, and her concerts are huge, meticulously produced extravaganzas. She’s the pop star we needed, the first true superstar of her era. She’s weirdly famous and famously weird. But still, everyone wonders: Who is Lady Gaga, really? And, most intriguing, how on earth did she get that way? “The goal has never been to be famous,” she says. “My goal has been to be a star.” She succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. Not surprisingly, trying to separate myth from reality in the astonishing tale of Lady Gaga’s meteoric rise from a nice Upper West Side girl into the biggest star in a generation is a bit like trying to separate a vapor trail from a streaking comet. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, born on March 28, 1986, grew up in Manhattan, in a nice, expensive duplex apartment, with loving parents. Her dad, Joseph, was an entrepreneur who made a fortune selling WiFi to hotels. Her early childhood was — dare we say it? — upper-middle-class ordinary. But practically from the time she could talk, one thing set her apart from the other kids in the affluent neighborhood: single-minded, unvarnished ambition. She started playing classical piano at age four — forced into it first by her mom but soon excelling to the point where her proud parents considered enrolling her in Juilliard. But she opted to take a different road: Catholic school. At age 11, she entered the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a prestigious private school (annual tuition: $35,000; her sister, Natali, six years younger, went there as well). The place had plenty of well-known alumni (including Caroline Kennedy). Still, one student a few years ahead of Stefi made an especially big impression: Paris Hilton, a socialite princess who was already the object of paparazzi fascination. “She became a bit obsessed with Paris,” says one Gaga friend from her Sacred Heart days. “Stefi was this sweet, slightly pudgy, short, weirdly dressed girl with a perma-tan. And Paris was a blonde goddess. Stefi would watch her, study the way she carried herself.” Years later, Gaga herself admitted: “I am fascinated with the blonde woman as a seductress. There’s a way that these women position themselves in front of the cameras. There’s a real art to fame.” Stefi was not, as she is quick to point out, one of the cool kids in high school. She was an unabashed theater nerd, taking lead roles in school productions of musicals like Guys and Dolls, squeezing in voice and acting lessons in her spare time. mega She played piano in school recitals. She went on auditions for TV and movie roles. She dressed in quirky, mismatched clothes. She was, literally and figuratively, a drama queen. Gaga says she suffered some nasty taunting from her classmates — some of whom called her “the Germ” behind her back — and characterizes the period as one that forever cemented her identification with outsiders. She described it in Rolling Stone as “Being teased for being ugly, having a big nose, being annoying, right? ‘your laugh is funny; you’re weird; why do you always sing; why are you so into theater; why do you do your makeup like that; what’s with your eyebrows…. Why do you have to look like that for school?’ I used to be called a slut. I didn’t even want to go to school sometimes.” But some of her former classmates remember it differently. “She was really a pretty popular kid,” says her high school pal. “She had a core group of good friends. And everyone knew her as the most talented one in the place.” Either way, she escaped more and more into her dreams of stardom. She started writing music, emulating the classic rock that her Baby Boomer parents loved — Billy Joel, Pink Floyd, the Beatles — and formed a band with her classmates. She began entering open-mic nights at local bars, always accompanied by one of her doting parents. But she left mom and dad behind to get a taste of the burgeoning, fashion-forward downtown and Manhattan nightlife on weekends. She began dressing more and more provocatively, making the most of her curvy, 5’1″ frame (“she was very big on cleavage,” her friend recalls); she got a fake ID and started sneaking into clubs on the Lower East Side. It was a world of avant-garde artists, musicians, actors, drag queens, freaks, and geeks. It all made a big impression on the little uptown girl, one that would help form her worldview, fashion sense, sense of who she was, and what she wanted to be. She graduated high school early, then enrolled in New York University’s well-regarded Tisch School of the Arts. Living in a dorm — on her own for the first time, at 17 — she became a regular fixture on the downtown scene. She fit in just fine at school, where she started focusing on the work of convention smashing modern artists like Spencer Tunick (known for photos of large groups of naked folks in public places) and Damien Hirst (famous for art pieces comprising dead sharks and cows, preserved in formaldehyde). She loved how they shocked people, engaging some, enraging others. At the same time, she immersed herself in the work of glam-rock stars like David Bowie, Queen, and Grace Jones. She began envisioning a new type of pop singer who combined performance art, modern music, theatrics, and sex in one intoxicating brew. The pull of stardom grew even stronger. mega After a year, she’d had enough — she had to take her shot. Nervously, Stefi approached her dad to tell him she was quitting school to pursue her dream. Joseph surprised her with a counter-proposal: he would financially support her for one year as she made a grab for stardom. After that, she was on her own. (In a highly unusual arrangement, she and her dad would reportedly come to sign a contract to split all her future earnings 50/50.) She rented a small walk-up apartment on the Lower East Side and began working full-time on her music, her look— everything. She had a year to make something happen. And the clock was ticking. It is said failure is an orphan, but success has many fathers. If that’s true, then few have had more fathers than Lady Gaga. She met one of them shortly after moving to the Lower East Side. She’d been touring lousy downtown bars with her lousy lo-fi rock band formed with some friends from NYU, mostly playing to tiny, disinterested crowds. The music was standard Fiona Apple–type singer/songwriter stuff, and the stage act was unmemorable. Still, she had … something. One person who noticed it right away was a singer and burlesque queen named Lady Starlight. She was a decade or so older, and she was at the apex of the downtown art scene. She knew all the players; she knew the hottest clubs and most exclusive parties. “I wanted to bring [Gaga] into my world,” she told the New York Post. She helped Stefi copy her look: heavy makeup; torn fishnets; huge, spiky heels; lots and lots of skin. mega Lady Starlight also introduced young Stefi to the world of hipster burlesque dancing. Together, they made the rounds with a wild act that was half performance art, half strip show: dancing on stage in thongs, singing songs about oral sex, and lighting cans of hairspray on fire. Not everyone was a fan. “My parents couldn’t look at me for months,” she said. She has characterized this as her wild period, one filled with cocaine and a slew of wildly inappropriate relationships with older men. Eventually, she would meet Lüc Carl, a self-fashioned “heavy metal drummer” who was tending the bar at a hipper-than-thou Lower East Side hotspot. A handsome, well-muscled dude prone to leather vests without shirts and a world-class mullet, he was her on-again, off-again boyfriend for years — and became the inspiration for many of her early songs. But two of the relationships from this period that would wind up having the most significant impact on her life and career happened by pure chance. One of her small gigs was seen by Wendy Starland, a singer who was friends with Rob Fusari, the 38-year-old producer known for crafting dance hits for Destiny’s Child and Whitney Houston. Fusari had asked Starland to help him find a singer under 25 to front a band, someone an audience wouldn’t want to take their eyes off of. He was looking for a once-in-a-lifetime star. Bursting with excitement, Starland called the producer minutes after seeing Stefi onstage. “Why are you waking me up?” he asked. “I found the girl,” she replied. mega A meeting was set up. Fusari wasn’t bowled over at first. He’s been quoted as saying Stefi looked “totally Jersey Shore…like something out of Goodfellas. She was a little overweight. She looked like she was ready to make us pasta.” But he took a 180-degree turn once he heard her sing and play the piano. Fantastic voice, great keyboard skills, awesome stage presence, so-so songs, he thought. Maybe, just maybe, this was the star he was looking for. They worked on writing and recording rock songs for months, but they didn’t seem to be gelling; the earnest singer/songwriter mode didn’t fit. Fusari recommended that Stefi switch to a far more popular genre, one that would be far more saleable to record labels: beat-heavy dance music. She fought it at first — after all, she was a rock’ n’ roll chick at heart. But it was a eureka moment, and she never looked back. She merged the flamboyant songcraft of Queen or Bowie with dark, propulsive Eurodisco beats and state-of-the-art production. It may not have been thought-provoking, but it was sexy, accessible, and almost frighteningly catchy. Eager for a full star makeover, Stefi Germanotta no longer felt like a Stefi Germanotta. She has said that the name Lady Gaga came from a text sent to her from her producer, in which “radio Ga Ga” — one of her favorite Queen songs, and a nickname he had for her — was mistakenly autocorrected to “Lady Gaga.” Wendy Starland says it was the product of marketing discussions. Either way, Stefi ceased to exist. From this point forward, she was Lady Gaga. mega The first big breakthrough happened shortly after that. In late 2006, one of her new songs, “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,” made its way to Island Def Jam, a label specializing in hip-hop and R&B, and its CEO, L.A. Reid, the guy who helped make Kanye West and Mariah Carey (and later Justin Bieber) into mega successes. Reid wasn’t quite sure what to make of Gaga, but he decided to take a chance. “LA told me I was a star,” Gaga recalled. And he backed up his words with cold, hard cash: reportedly an $850,000 contract, an almost-unheard-of sum for a new artist. Gaga was on her way. Unfortunately, Lady Gaga’s first taste of real success was short-lived. In the panic-ridden, ever-shrinking post-iTunes music industry, fortunes shift with the wind. Only three months after he signed her to his label, L.A. Reid sat with some of his top execs in an Island Def Jam conference room and listened to a few of Gaga’s newest tracks. According to those present, Reid leaned back and made a slitting motion across his throat. And just like that, Gaga’s contract was dropped. She did what most 20-year-old girls would have done: she retreated to her apartment and cried for days. It was a devastating blow, the first time she allowed herself to think that maybe she wouldn’t be a star after all. She ate junk food. She wallowed in depression. She watched monster movies on TV. But then something happened: she got angry. And she became even more laser-focused than ever. As she told New York Magazine years later: “That’s when I started the real devotion to my music and art.” She continued to refine her music, her ever-more-flamboyant stage show, and outfits — even her figure. Always a bit on the chunky side, Gaga cut down on the pizza and pasta — her twin demons — and joined a gym for the first time. Before long, she lost 15 lbs. and threw herself into a new, critically acclaimed burlesque show with Lady Starlight. mega A music-biz dictum says that true talent can’t be contained for long, and that’s certainly true in the story of Lady Gaga. Her producers were still knocking on record-label doors, and in mid-2007, Gaga got a meeting with Jimmy Iovine, the legendary head of Interscope Records. The Brooklyn-born Iovine is famous for having the best ear in the business — one that detected the early potential of stars ranging from U2 to Eminem. Gaga showed up for her first meeting wearing mini shorts, go-go boots, and a tiny cutoff top. According to one source, the Interscope folks weren’t sure that Gaga was pretty enough to be a headline act. So, at the same time she was recording new songs with one of the label’s top producers, Interscope had her writing tunes for some of their other artists, including Britney Spears and the Pussycat Dolls. mega Meanwhile, the label cranked up the star-development machine. She was set up to play at Lollapalooza, the enormous multi-day outdoor rock festival. But it didn’t go particularly well. Playing one of the smallest stages, her music system was faulty, and the stage bounced every time she moved. Worse still: swarming reporters thought she was Amy Winehouse. With her Goth look and brunette bouffant, Gaga looked like Amy’s evil twin. Interscope executives told her that she should dye her hair platinum blonde. She did. Everything was finally starting to click. Everything, that is, but Gaga’s love life. As one of Lüc Carl’s buddies explains: “Lüc is a rock’ n’ roll guy, and he really doesn’t like pop. As [Gaga] became more successful, he began to look down on her for choosing to make dance music.” During one of the last of their epic, drama-filled breakups (she has compared their relationship to Sandy and Danny, the main characters from Grease), she told Lüc, “Someday, when we’re not together, you won’t be able to order a cup of coffee at the f*cking deli without hearing or seeing me.” After Akon, one of Interscope’s biggest stars heard tracks from Gaga’s soon-to-be-released debut album, the fame, he urged the label to throw all its marketing and development muscle behind the new artist. They hired a top choreographer to work on her dance moves; theatrical experts to help transform her eccentric live shows into flashy, sexy, high-tech masterpieces; and stylists, including the much-sought-after Nicola Formichetti, to elevate and conceptualize her look. “[The Interscope executives said,] “‘You look like a stripper,’” Gaga told New York Magazine. “I said: ‘Is this the only major label on planet Earth that is asking a female pop artist to put more clothes on?’” She moved to Los Angeles to work more closely with her creative team, which she dubbed Haus of Gaga, envisioning it as a modern version of Andy Warhol’s factory. mega In late summer 2008, her debut album was released and slowly began making its way up the charts — led by wildly addictive singles like “Just Dance,” about getting trashed in clubs, and “Poker face,” about bisexuality (Gaga says that both songs are based on her own experiences). She crossed the US, touring nonstop: gay clubs, cowboy joints, Top 40 clubs, you name it. Every night, it was a new city. Then, Interscope gave Gaga her first taste of bigger venues, booking her as the New Kids’ opening act on the Block’s US tour, then the Pussycat Dolls’ tour in Europe. According to sources, she didn’t get along too well with either band. “Here is this chick dressed like a disco alien, wanting to do these elaborate sets with half-naked male dancers and weird props and video screens,” says one person who worked on both tours. “No one knew what to make of her.” More to the point, jealousy reared its ugly head when Gaga began to outdraw the headliners. By the end of the Pussycat Dolls tour, her album was nearing No. 1 on the UK charts, and she was becoming a bona fide sensation. She started taking off in the US as well. Her singles were in heavy rotation; there were Grammy nominations and a series of increasingly outrageous TV appearances. She launched The Fame Ball Tour across America, her first major-venue headlining tour. She created music videos that harked back to the heyday of Michael Jackson. And, most notoriously, she spewed blood in her number at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Suddenly Gaga was everywhere. Since then, life has played out like a fever dream that might have been experienced by a young Stefi Germanotta, fantasizing about superstardom in her parents’ uptown duplex, like performing at the NFL’s famed Half-Time Show. mega At the end of 2009, there was another album, the Fame Monster, which quickly shot to No. 1, and she kicked off The Monster Ball Tour, a colossal, international-arena show that continued for more than a year and a half and snared $227 million — one of the highest-grossing tours in history. (But not one of the most profitable; a cross between Cirque du Soleil and the seventh circle of Hell, the evolution-themed production cost so much to mount that it lost money). Born This Way, her third album was released in 2011. Not only was it a massive hit, but its title song became a rallying cry for the gay community, one that Gaga has actively supported over the years. Elton John called it “the gayest song ever.” In 2013, she wrapped up her third huge global tour and released an eagerly anticipated new album, Artpop. But even in the hermetically sealed, carefully engineered life of Lady Gaga, not everything is fresh-cut roses and frolicking unicorns. There have been troubling recent accounts of continuing battles with weight, including an all-too-apparent 25-lb. gain in 2012. Her record label ordered looser-fitting outfits for the remainder of her tour and told her to work off the poundage. Another health issue: Gaga has tested borderline-positive for Lupus, the disease that killed her aunt at an early age. And there have been legal woes as well, including a $30 million lawsuit from the former producer and songwriting partner Rob Fusari, claiming that he was largely responsible for her success and demanding a bigger chunk of the spoils. The case was eventually settled. mega “My ride through the industry was an interesting one because people loved me, but there was a very big raised eyebrow about me,” Gaga told one reporter after the suit. “And as soon as I took off, it was like, ‘I invented her, I made her, I wrote the music.’ When in reality, I am completely self-invented.” Others would disagree with that. Madonna, especially, seems in virtually every way (except for her self-seriousness and faux Brit accent) to be a prototype for Gaga — the Catholic, Italian-American background; the lower East Side gay-club roots; the pulsing dance tunes; the taboo-breaking videos; the sex; even the ever-morphing costumed personas. Many have noticed the striking similarities between “Born this way,” and Madonna’s 1989 hit “Express Yourself.” Madge, publicly at least, has taken the high road. “When I heard [‘Born This way’] on the radio, I said, ‘That sounds very familiar.’ It feels reductive,” she said on 20/20. “I certainly think she references me a lot in her work…. There’s a lot of ways to look at it. I can’t really be annoyed by it because, obviously, I’ve influenced her.” Not every pop star is so charitable. Fellow glam-art rocker Grace Jones told UK’s The Guardian, “Well, you know, I’ve seen some things she’s worn that I’ve worn. And that does kind of piss me off.” MIA has said of Gaga: “She’s not progressive, but she’s a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I f–king do! She’s the industry’s last stab at making itself important.” Even Katy Perry called one of her videos “blasphemous.” Gaga takes it all in stride. As for Stefi? She has completely ceased to exist. Like Norman Bates at the end of Psycho, the fictional alter ego has overtaken the real person. These days, Gaga is never seen in public without her full stage makeup and freak-chic disco outfits. In her downtime, she obsessively surfs the web, reads stories about herself, or watches her beloved monster movies and Family Guy reruns. But she stays in character, according to those who know her, even in private. “Lady Gaga is my name,” she has said. “If you know me and you call me Stefani, you don’t really know me at all.” mega View the full article

Published by AFP Luxury shops in San Francisco's Union Square have been particular targets in the surge of Washington (AFP) – US retailers are adding security and locking up goods after flash mob heists involving dozens of thieves at once stunned luxury stores in the San Francisco area and beyond, as the holiday shopping season opens. In the most shocking of recent thefts, around 80 masked people in 25 cars raided a high-end Nordstrom department store in Walnut Creek, California east of San Francisco on Saturday, plundering its first-floor luxury goods counters in just a few minutes before fleeing. That took place one day after 40 people drove up and swarmed a Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco’s Union Square, emptying its shelves in seconds before jumping in cars to speed away. And near Chicago, also hit by a series of similar thefts, a gang of 14 crooks swept into a Louis Vuitton store in the Oak Brook suburb, snatching more than $100,000 worth of luxury bags and garments. It was the third such attack on a Chicago-area Vuitton outlet in a month. Retailers around the country are taking notice and precautions against possible copycat hits as the sheer size of the robbery gangs and their ability to plan secretly have made them nearly impossible to halt. “The level of organized retail theft we are seeing is simply unacceptable,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. “Businesses and customers should feel safe while doing their holiday shopping.” The thefts come at a key moment on the shopping calendar. Thursday is Thanksgiving, and the day after the holiday has been nicknamed “Black Friday,” the traditional kickoff to America’s frenzied Christmas shopping season. Newsom ordered a special task force in the California Highway Patrol to work with local officials to address the theft problem. Despite the action, the number of flash mob thefts multiplied, with a jewelry store in Hayward near San Francisco hit by a group of between 30 and 40. In nearby Oakland a streetwear store was cleaned out: security video shows more than 30 masked, hooded people squeezing into the small shop, grabbing collectable shoes and garb and rushing out in under a minute. Flash mob thefts, also dubbed “flash robs,” have been around for years, but have accelerated in 2021, besetting owners of small pharmacies, mid-level chain clothing stores and top-end luxury goods alike. But the sheer size and speed of the Nordstrom attack in Walnut Creek stunned many. “I wouldn’t even characterize that as organized crime, that was domestic terrorism,” Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association told Fox40 television in Sacramento. Brazen and graphic Jeffrey Ian Ross, a criminologist at the University of Baltimore, said there is nothing indicating that overall retail theft in the country has risen significantly. But he said the spread of video footage of the heists on news and social media may have inspired others to copy them. “It’s brazen, it’s graphic,” he said. Ross said that police, already burdened by rising murder cases and other violent crime, “just can’t keep up” with the volume of stolen goods and the people who resell them. What remained unclear are the ties if any between the multiple group thefts in the San Francisco area, how the participants communicate and coordinate, and how any organized fencing operation might work. Only three people have been confirmed arrested in the Walnut Creek robbery, out of the estimated 80-plus people who took part. On Tuesday San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced felony charges against nine people in store robberies, including the Louis Vuitton store in Union Square. Michelin, though, said that California could need tougher laws against this kind of crime, where social media appears to be used to coordinate the culprits. “We’re going to have those uncomfortable conversations and have a look at some of the laws on the books,” she told Fox40. “Obviously they aren’t working.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Adam Driver took a pair of Gucci shoes home from the ‘House of Gucci’ set, but he snubbed the suits. The 38-year-old actor plays Maurizio Gucci, one-time head of the fashion house, in the movie, and while he decided to treat himself to a pair of Gucci shoes after filming wrapped, he opted against taking any of the suave suits because he didn’t want to feel like his character off-set. He said: “I didn’t take the suits. I took a pair of Gucci shoes. “I always find from when I work on a movie and you’re wearing a costume 14 hours a day for months, always something weird happens where I start to feel like, ‘Oh. This is actually who I am. This is my identity. I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time.’ “And then, you get back to reality and you put the clothes on that you’ve taken from set, because you’re like, ‘This is great.’ And then you pretty soon are like, ‘What? What am I doing? This is not who I am at all.’ “ Driver admitted that also happened to him on historical drama movie ‘The Last Duel’, but joked if he wore his chain mail to the bank staff might think he was about to rob the place. Speaking to Screen Rant, he added: “And that’s what happened with this, regardless if it was Gucci. I mean ‘Last Duel’, you put chain mail on. “After a certain point, you’re like, ‘Actually, think I can kind of pull… You know? I could do this at the bank.’ “And then you get back in reality and realise, ‘No, probably people would construe this as robbery.’ “ This comes after Driver’s ‘House of Gucci’ co-star Lady Gaga joked she probably “annoyed” him on set by remaining in her Italian accent throughout the motion picture. Gaga – who portrays Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband Maurizio – said: “I started in the voice six months before we started shooting and I stayed in it for the whole of filming, which I am sure was super annoying for Adam. “For me I thought it was harder to go in and out, so I stayed in character.” Gaga – whose parents both have Italian ancestry – admitted she felt “so excited” to work alongside Driver, and that was one of the reasons she signed up for the film. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English A previously unreleased Whitney Houston demo has been released as a part of a new NFT collection. The pop superstar – who died in 2012 and was known for hits ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ – is being offered as part of an upcoming NFT which will see the demo auctioned off to auctioned off next month as a single “OneOf One Iconic” item. Pat Houston, executor of Whitney’s estate said in a statement: “I’m excited to see Whitney’s legacy and her wonderful music expand into bold new technology of this era.” An NFT is a non-fungible token, which operates almost as a one-of-a-kind trading card and at their highest level are part of Ethereum cryptocurrency. The winning bidder will gain access to the song demo in the OneOfVault as well as a video that has been digitally 17-year-old artist Diana Sinclair which features archival footage of the legendary musician. Pat Houston added: “It was a joy partnering with 17-year-old Diana Sinclair and watching the artistry of Whitney’s music influence a new generation.” For gaming fans who miss out on the coveted never-before-released demo song, there are still other tiers of Whitney-themed NFTs up for grabs. Thousands of fixed-price NFTs tiered as Golden, Platinum and Diamond will be available, with the first two featuring artwork of the singer inspired by her hit songs ‘I Will Always Love You’ from ‘The Bodyguard’ and ‘The Greatest Love of All.’ Proceeds from the sales of the collection will benefit the Whitney E. Houston Foundation, which aims to inspire the creative youth of today. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Peter Jackson would have cast John Lennon as Gollum in ‘Lord of the Rings’. The 60-year-old filmmaker – who is at the helm of new documentary series ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ – has opened up on the Fab Four’s nixed plans to make a live action musical movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels, and he’s weighed on how the casting could have gone with Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison taking on the lead roles. Appearing on ‘The Late Show’, he told host Stephen Colbert: “Obviously Paul is Frodo, isn’t he? Sam is obviously Ringo. So then you’ve got, well, John is Gollum obviously. “They cast themselves, and they did it right. Gandalf is George the mystic, magician, that’s perfect. I mean you’d have to age him up a bit. “And I guess if you had have Gollum, and you had the four Beatles, John Lennon is the obvious one, absolutely, slam dunk.” In the end, the ‘Hey Jude’ hitmakers didn’t get the rights to the movie, and Jackson would later go on to direct the big screen trilogy. Meanwhile, the director explained who Apple film producer Denis O’Dell originally had the idea, but it didn’t get off the ground. He told the BBC: “Ultimately, they couldn’t get the rights from Tolkien, because he didn’t like the idea of a pop group doing his story. So it got nixed by him. “They tried to do it. There’s no doubt about it. For a moment in time they were seriously contemplating doing that at the beginning of 1968.” Jackson admitted he was in “two minds” about the quartet’s version never getting made. He explained: “Paul said, ‘Well I’m glad we didn’t do it, because you got to do yours and I liked your film.’ “But I said to him, ‘Well, it’s a shame you didn’t do it, because it would have been a musical.’ What would The Beatles have done with a Lord of The Rings soundtrack album? “That would have been 14 or 15 Beatles songs that would have been pretty incredible to listen to. So I’ve got two minds about it. “I would have loved to hear that album, but I’m also glad I got the chance to do the films. But those songs would have been fascinating.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Billy Porter thinks of himself as “spiritual” after becoming unsure about his belief in God following his upbringing around the church. The ‘Pose’ star reflected on his relationship with religion despite his agnostic position upsetting his mother – who raised him in the Pentecostal Church – as he noted he does believe in “a higher power”. The 52-year-old actor told the ‘Table Manners’ podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware: “I don’t know. I don’t know. That hurts my mother’s feelings. I know it hurts her feelings. It hurts her heart so much. And I don’t know. I don’t know, “I do believe in something in something, I do believe in a higher power. I don’t know any more if that is simply out of habit. Because I don’t know anything else. “And I’m afraid to not believe in something. Because, like my grandmother said, ‘If you don’t believe in something, you’ll fall for anything. You gotta believe in something, or you’ll fall for anything.’ “ Billy labelled himself and his wedding five years ago to eyewear entrepreneur Adam Smith as “spiritual” instead of religious. He explained: ”It was a was a legal ceremony. Yeah. But it wasn’t religious. It was spiritual. Yeah, you know, I’m spiritual. I really do believe in spirit, I do believe in a higher calling, a higher level of consciousness. You know, I do believe that, you know, God is the word that we most know. “I do believe that energy is inside of all of us. Personally, how we access that, how we share that is our life’s work. You know, that’s my life’s work, is how I share that energy. You know, I try to be the change that I want to see.” The ‘Cinderella’ star said the church was “what I grew up with”. He added: “You know, so coming out in the church, being young, when that was happening. And then, you know, I mean, I can talk about this because I talk about it in my book, but I was molested by my stepfather.” Billy also recognised that much of who he is comes from “those teachings” however expressed disgust at hypocrisy after he experienced negative aspects of it. He said: “The human being that I am is because of those teachings. A lot of those teachings. My problem is, so many of those people don’t live by those teachings. So many of those people don’t practice what they preach. I stand at the intersection of holding that community accountable. Your language is murderous, you’re killing people. “I have a Bible too. I know what it says. And you are not practising what that book says. And somebody needs to call you out for that. All of you evangelicals who stand behind that Bible and act like [President Donald] Trump is the saviour, f*** you. Somebody needs to say it.” View the full article

Published by DPA European Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova gives a press conference on proposals to reinforce democracy and the integrity of elections. Lukasz Kobus/European Commission/dpa The European Union could soon ban targeted online political advertising using sensitive personal data without user consent under new European Commission proposals published on Thursday. “Elections must not be a competition of opaque and non-transparent methods,” said commission Vice President Vera Jourova in a press release. “People must know why they are seeing an ad, who paid for it, how much, [and] what micro-targeting criteria were used,” said the commissioner whose portfolio covers values and transparency. The proposals come after years of concern that voters in the EU are vulnerable to manipulation from hostile actors on social media. Jourova told journalists in Brussels that the Cambridge Analytica scandal provided a “glimpse” into the risks posed by targeted online advertising. The data analytics company was accused of harvesting the Facebook data of millions of users for work aiding the pro-Brexit campaign as well as former US president Donald Trump’s 2016 White House bid. Under the proposed regulations, targeted political advertisements based on sensitive data like sexual orientation and religious beliefs are to be banned, unless the user explicitly consents. In addition, new transparency labels must show social media users who financed and by how much the political advert they are seeing. The label also needs to explain the relevant connection to current political events like referendums or elections. The commission aims for the rules to be in place by 2024. A recent Eurobarometer survey showed that nearly four out of ten Europeans have been exposed to content where they could not easily determine whether it was a political advertisement or not. European Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova gives a press conference on proposals to reinforce democracy and the integrity of elections. Lukasz Kobus/European Commission/dpa View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Mariah Carey is adapting her memoir into a TV series alongside director Lee Daniels. The ‘All I Want For Christmas is You’ hitmaker is planning to bring her life story to television via an eight-part series, and she’s been collaborating the writer behind the likes of ‘Monster’s Ball’, ‘Precious’ and ‘Empire’. The 52-year-old singer – who released ‘The Meaning of Mariah Carey’ last year – shared an update with Z100 with host Garrett Vogel, who asked if she would ever consider doing a musical. Mariah said: “We did the book, And we are getting it together. I’m working with my friend Lee Daniels. And we are talking about the adaptation of my book. I would rather do that that’s why we wrote the book first. Broadway is a great thing, I just want to do something.” However, she said a musical was less likely, noting the project was “probably” going to be a television show. She added: “Lee is probably going to hear this and kill me but it’s probably going to be an eight-part series. The ‘Without You’ singer – who is mother to 10-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with her rapper ex-husband Nick Cannon – emphasised the importance of the show being “gritty, grimy, beautiful, specular and real”. She said: “I need it to be gritty, grimy and beautiful, spectacular and real!” In the book, the ‘We Belong Together’ singer was incredibly frank about her life, including detailing the abuse she witnessed as a child. Her memoir read: “By the time I was a toddler, I had developed the instincts to sense when violence was coming. As though I was smelling rain, I could tell when adult screaming had reached a certain pitch and velocity that meant I should take cover.” Mariah said the pending project was so “difficult now” because of the on-going pandemic – and the ensuing problems – but that paperback was due to hit shelves soon. She explained: “It’s so difficult now because of COVID and we don’t know what’s going on. First things first I wrote my memoir last year and now it’s coming out in paperback.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Will Smith has asked Lin-Manuel Miranda to “help” him with a one-man stage show. The ‘King Richard’ actor couldn’t resist asking the ‘Hamilton’ creator to give him a hand on a project he’s wanted to make “for years” as he hailed the actor and director as “the one of one in this business”. With both stars appearing on Friday’s (26.11.21) episode of ‘The Graham Norton Show’, he said: “This is probably a terrible thing to ask at this time, but I want to do a one-man show and I would love you to help me do it. “I have had it in my mind for years and I think you are the one of one in this business.” Lin-Manuel – who was on the programme via video link – seemed shocked but didn’t turn down the offer. He replied: “You heard it here first!” There’s not likely to be anything too racy in the production, as Will admitted elsewhere during the interview that he hates doing “sex scenes”. He explained: “Sex scenes are the worst part of acting – when you watch it in a movie there is music and wine but on set there is some big dude holding the microphone, chewing and watching you.” Whether or not Lin-Manuel does get on board with Will’s show, he’s already got experience after making his directorial debut with new musical drama ‘Tick, Tick… Boom!’ Opening up on the film, he explained: “It’s about Jonathan Larsen and an amazing portrait of an artist. “He would go on to write ‘RENT’, which, when I saw it as young man gave me permission to write musicals. When I saw ‘Tick, Tick… Boom!’ it clarified that this was my calling.” Regarding Andrew Garfield in the lead role, he added: “I didn’t know if he could sing or not. I saw him on stage at The National and left feeling that he could do anything – he had all the superpowers and I hoped he could sing. “He told me he had always wanted to, so he trained. We gave him all the resources and he was like a brand-new instrument coming into its power over the course of a year.” ‘The Graham Norton Show’ airs on BBC One on Friday (26.11.21) and will be available on BBC iPlayer. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Ahmaud Arbery‘s killer’s sister sure did add insult to injury, but she insists it wasn’t done maliciously. On Wednesday, Travis McMichael, 35, his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, and the pair’s neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., 52, were convicted of murdering the late 25-year-old Black man in their neighborhood of Satilla Shores – near Brunswick, Georgia – last February. At the time, Arbery was mid-jog when the three white men chased after him in their cars, cornered him and gunned him down. It was Travis who fired off the shot that killed Ahmaud. Though a date to determine the murderers’ sentences has not yet been set, all three are facing the possibility of the death penalty. Mega Now, Travis’ sister/Gregory’s daughter is copping to callously sharing a graphic image of Ahmaud’s blood-soaked and lifeless body on the internet. After her family members murdered Arbery in cold blood, Lindsay McMichael snapped a photo of the aftermath and uploaded it to her Snapchat account. “I had no nefarious or malicious intent when I posted that picture,” she claims, according to The Sun. “The thing is I’m a huge fan of true crime – I listen to four or five podcasts a week – I’m constantly watching that sort of thing.” “It was more of a ‘Holy s–t, I can’t believe this has happened,'” she added. “It was absolutely poor judgment.” The Arbery family attorney, Lee Merritt, ripped into Lindsay for her actions, calling them “very disturbing.” Mega As Radar reported, Travis was found guilty on all charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. Gregory was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. And Roddie was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. All three felons will remain in custody until sentencing. Throughout the high-profile 10-day trial, the defense team tried desperately to present Arbery as a criminal. During closing arguments on Monday, one of those attorneys took it a step further. “Turning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim after the choices that he made does not reflect the reality of what brought Ahmaud Arbery to Satilla Shores in his khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long, dirty toenails,” Laura Hogue told jurors, eliciting an audible gasp from the people in the courtroom. Among them was the late victim’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, who got up and left after hearing the remark. “I gotta get out of here,” she said on her way out. Prosecutors maintained that Ahmaud’s only crime was being Black and daring to run away from his attackers. Mega View the full article

Published by Reuters LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Jazz musician Jon Batiste led nominations on Tuesday for the Grammy Awards with 11 nods, followed by Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, and H.E.R with eight apiece. Batiste and Bieber will compete for the top prize – album of the year – along with Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, H.E.R, Kanye West, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, newcomer Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, organizers said. The Grammys, the highest honors in the music industry, will be handed out at ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan 31. Nominees in the top three categories – album, song and record of the year – were increased to 10 from 8 for the first time. “Adding more nominees is a way to cast a wider net for more music, more artists and more genres,” Recording Academy chief executive Harvey Mason Jr said, announcing the change on Tuesday. Eilish, Rodrigo, Bieber and Batiste were also among the 10 nominees for record of the year, along with Swedish band Abba’s new single, “I Still Have Faith in You.” But Swift, who snagged a best album nod for “Evermore,” was shut out of both the record of the year and song of the year races. Teen phenomenon Rodrigo, 18, who burst onto the U.S. charts in January when her single “Drivers License” went viral, got seven nods, including best new artist and for her debut album “Sour.” (Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Nick Zieminski) View the full article

Janet Jackson and her Rhythm Nation have been the worried well of pop for 17 years He’ll “have you naked by the end of this song” … WHOOPSIE …boob out, pastie on — is best explained by the “multiple hecks of coincidence theory” Now the subject of an entire NYTimes documentary…I just don’t know where to put Janet’s emotional distress. It if was this year, we’d get @janetsboob a twitter account and forget. This is what we remember of 2004? Not bird flu, tsunami, Abu Ghraib or the truly smarmy John Edward VP candidacy. Pasties in place, boob door shuts. No one’s hurt. Also, who put all the folllwing together: Nelly, Jessica Simpson, PDiddy, Kid Rock, Janet and Timberlake? –Editor [This post contains video, click to play] Janet Jackson's Stylist Wayne Scot Lukas Says He Did 'Exactly' As He Was 'Supposed To Do'; There Was No 2004 Super Bowl 'Malfunction' 31 Published by OK Magazine Janet Jackson’s wardrobe stylist — who worked with the star on her headline-making 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show look — is telling his side of the story about the infamous nip slip. Celebrity fashion consultant Wayne Scot Lukas sat down with Access Hollywood on Monday, November 22, and made it clear that the “wardrobe malfunction” seen ’round the world was a planned move and not a failure of his work. The “Control” singer and Justin Timberlake shook audiences to their core during their performance of his song “Rock Your Body” at the NFL Halftime Show. After the former boy band member sang the lyric, “Gotta have you naked by the end of this song,” he tore off part of Jackson’s top, exposing her breast, which featured a nipple cover. MEGA JANET JACKSON SHOWS SUPPORT TO BRITNEY SPEARS AS POP STAR DANCES TO ‘THAT’S THE WAY LOVE GOES’ AMID CONSERVATORSHIP BATTLE Timberlake, 40, told Access Hollywood at the time that it was a “wardrobe malfunction,” but Lukas begs to differ. “I was hired to do a job. I did exactly what I was supposed to do,” he told the outlet. “If I would’ve hurt my friend, I wouldn’t have worked with Janet for six years after the Super Bowl,” he explained, adding that he puts “snaps, pins and velcro” on his client’s outfits so that even during a quick-change, the performance look will not fall apart. “I would have been fired that day.” The Friends With Benefits star’s claim that it was Lukas work that failed during the set is particularly hurtful for the stylist. “[He] came off the stage and said, ‘It was just a little wardrobe malfunction. We all want to give you something to think about,’” Lukas said. Access Hollywood “He coined that phrase, and when he said that, I thought, ‘Friendship over,” he continued. “Wardrobe malfunction? I don’t malfunction. I was a professional stylist. $10,000 a day back then. I can’t fail. Why did you say that?” BRITNEY SPEARS REFLECTS ON 2001 MTV VMAs, MAKES IT CLEAR THERE IS NO BAD BLOOD WITH EX JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE DESPITE DOCUMENTARY Lukas pointed the finger at the show’s producers, saying that viewers “were never supposed to see a movement where a breast was out” because the network was supposed to “cut to black.” “Somebody didn’t push the button. Somebody didn’t protect my friend,” the fashion expert claimed, adding that the pre-taped rehearsal was filmed depicting the performance exactly as it was meant to be played out. MEGA As OK! previously reported, former MTV senior vice president and producer of the performance, Salli Frattini revealed in the new documentaryMalfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson that she “felt betrayed” by Jackson and Timberlake for the incident. “I was a wreck, personally, and I pretty much just lost it. I was in tears. People were crying. It was really upsetting. It’s very emotional. I felt betrayed,” Franttini said in the special. “My instincts told me that there was a private conversation between wardrobe, stylist and artist where someone thought this would be a good idea, and it backfired.” Janet Jackson 2004 Super Bowl on Towleroad Jon Batiste leads Grammy nods; Billie Eilish, Kanye West among album of year nominees More Lady Gaga reveals Tony Bennett’s reaction to their 6 Grammy nominations More Pentagon to form new group to investigate UFOs More They’d Only Just Begun… Karen Carpenter ‘would be absolutely fabulous’ at 71, Says Brother Richard Who Believes the Duo Would Be Doing Shows Today More China, Russia furious over Biden democracy summit snubs More Thanksgiving travel rush tests U.S. carriers More Ahmaud Arbery Court Shocker: Defense Calls Out Deceased Victim’s ‘Long, Dirty Toenails’ In Closing Arguments During Murder Trial More Caitlyn Jenner Admits She Could’ve Handled Bitter Feud With Ellen DeGeneres ‘A Little Bit Differently’ On ‘Big Brother VIP’ More Will Smith’s Shocking New Look, Plastic Surgeons Weigh In More U.S. House panel probing Capitol riot subpoenas leaders of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers More U.S. Congress panel corrects tax rates for wealthy under Biden’s proposal More Load More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lady Gaga has shared her delight at Tony Bennett, who has Alzheimer’s, understanding her every word when she told him the news they are up for six Grammys. The ‘Stupid Love’ hitmaker, 35, and the 95-year-old Jazz legend have been showered with nods for their acclaimed second duets album, ‘Love For Sale’, including the prestigious Album of the Year prize. And the ‘House of Gucci’ star has been left “utterly speechless” after finding out they are up for several accolades for the follow-up to 2014’s ‘Cheek to Cheek’. The duo are also in contention for Record of the Year for ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’, and best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Music Video, and Engineered Album Non-Classical. Tony became the oldest artist in history to be nominated in the general categories. Their first LP took home Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album seven years ago. In a lengthy statement on Instagram, Gaga gushed: “Thank you so much to the @RecordingAcademy for these 6 nominations for Love For Sale. I am stunned and shocked and beyond grateful. I don’t know what to say. I just keep crying and am utterly speechless. “This means so much to me, @itstonybennett, the Bennetts, my family, jazz music, and the great Cole Porter who wrote all these timeless classics. I’ll never forget today and congratulating Tony on his 6 nominations.” On Tony’s reaction, she continued: “I’ll never forget that today he could track every word I was saying and understood the world was celebrating him and celebrating jazz – a genre that embodies the joy, abundance and imagination of Black music throughout history. “Thank you to all the Grammy voters for recognizing me and Tony’s dedication to jazz music and for also recognizing it in major categories where this music is often not nominated. (sic)” The ‘Born This Way’ singer admitted there is no better feeling than the “love and partnership” they share – despite their 60-year age gap. Gaga concluded: “This album happened because it was Tony’s idea and I made him a promise that we would make it and we did. “At 95 years old, he has more nominations than ever, I’m so honored to be his companion in music and his friend. “Thank you to the public for loving us, we surely love each other, and you. “Believe in love and partnership, even with 60 years between us, and Alzheimer’s, there is nothing like the magic of music. I love you Tony, and the world loves you too. How could they not?” View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – The United States Department of Defense late on Tuesday said it will establish a new group to investigate reports on the presence of UFOs in restricted airspace. The formation of the group comes after the government released a report in June, encompassing 144 observations, which said there was a lack of sufficient data to determine the nature of mysterious flying objects. The new group, Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, will be overseen by the Under Secretary Of Defense for Intelligence, the director of the Joint Staff and officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in a separate statement the presence of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) in restricted airspace poses a potential safety of flight risk to aircrews and raises potential national security concerns. The new group which will succeed the U.S. Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, will work to detect, identify and attribute objects, assess and mitigate any associated threats, the Pentagon said. The U.S. military have spent decades deflecting, debunking and discrediting observations of unidentified flying objects and “flying saucers” dating back to the 1940s. (Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; editing by Philippa Fletcher) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Richard Carpenter believes The Carpenters would still be making music if his sister was still alive. The 75-year-old musician is “certain” his late sibling and bandmate, Karen Carpenter – who died in 1983 from a cardiac arrest after struggling with anorexia – would have still had a “fabulous” voice even in her seventies and thinks their group would still be growing strong. He told America’s Closer magazine: “She’d be like 71 one right, and I’m certain she would be absolutely fabulous. Perry Como sounded great at 75 because he sang properly. Karen was the same. We would have hundreds of recordings of the two of us already done, and we’d still be making more.” Richard reminisced about how he and Karen would jam together in their childhood bedrooms with the first tracks they wrote when they were teenagers. He shared: “I was 13 and Karen was 16. I was a budding songwriter, so I asked Karen to sing a couple of these songs I’d come up with. At the time, she didn’t have the marvellous voice that developed later.” But the ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ hitmaker admitted Karen didn’t enjoy singing when she was younger and always agreed to his requests “begrudgingly”. He said: “So every now and again, I would ask her to sing some new song that I’d written. She’d do it begrudgingly because she didn’t care to be singing at all.” And Richard admitted he was in “shock” when his sister died as he was confident he was in a good place after kicking his own addictions and was looking forward to the future. He recalled@ “After Karen passed away, I was in shock. I had gone to rehab, and I had gotten off the sleeping pills. I was healthy and full of life and full of desire to keep making records. So I polished up and finished as many [Carpenters] outtakes as I could.” Karen Carpenter on Towleroad Pentagon to form new group to investigate UFOs More China, Russia furious over Biden democracy summit snubs More Thanksgiving travel rush tests U.S. carriers More Ahmaud Arbery Court Shocker: Defense Calls Out Deceased Victim’s ‘Long, Dirty Toenails’ In Closing Arguments During Murder Trial More Caitlyn Jenner Admits She Could’ve Handled Bitter Feud With Ellen DeGeneres ‘A Little Bit Differently’ On ‘Big Brother VIP’ More Will Smith’s Shocking New Look, Plastic Surgeons Weigh In More U.S. House panel probing Capitol riot subpoenas leaders of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers More U.S. Congress panel corrects tax rates for wealthy under Biden’s proposal More Gay Santa is Smitten And Flirty, But Love Comes Slowly With Just 1 Night a Year in ‘When Harry Met Santa’, A Norwegian Xmas Ad That May Bring A Tear: WATCH More Ghislaine Maxwell Reasoned She Should Look The Other Way With Ex Jeffrey Epstein Because Her Father Told Her To ‘Do Whatever It Takes To Keep Your Man’: Report More U.S. not heading toward COVID lockdown, White House says More Load More View the full article

Published by AFP Since taking office, the US president has placed the fight between democracies and 'autocratic governments' at the heart of his foreign policy Beijing (AFP) – China and Russia reacted furiously Wednesday to US President Joe Biden’s planned democracy summit, which will exclude them, with Beijing angered over an invitation for Taiwan and the Kremlin branding it divisive. The global conference was a campaign pledge by the US president, who has placed the struggle between democracies and “autocratic governments” at the heart of his foreign policy. The inclusion of Taiwan, and not China, led to an angry rebuke from Beijing, which said it “firmly opposes” the invitation to “the so-called Summit for Democracy.” Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory to be retaken one day, by force if necessary. Around 110 countries have been invited to the virtual summit, including the United States’ major Western allies but also Iraq, India and Pakistan. But Russia said the guest list, released Tuesday on the State Department website, showed that the United States “prefers to create new dividing lines, to divide countries into those that — in their opinion — are good, and those that are bad.” “More and more countries prefer to decide themselves how to live,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that Washington is “trying to privatise the term ‘democracy’.” “That can’t do so and should not do so,” he said. Diplomatic coup The invitation is a major coup for Taipei at a time when China is ramping up its campaign to keep Taiwan locked out of international bodies. Taiwan said the gathering would be a rare opportunity to burnish its credentials on the world stage. “Through this summit, Taiwan can share its democratic success story,” presidential office spokesman Xavier Chang told reporters. Only 15 countries officially recognise Taipei over Beijing, although many nations maintain de facto diplomatic relations with the island. The US does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country but maintains it as a crucial regional ally and opposes any change to its status by force. China baulks at any use of the word “Taiwan” or diplomatic gestures that might lend a sense of international legitimacy to the island. “I agree Taiwan more than qualifies — but it does seem to be (the) only democratic govt invited that the US govt does not officially recognise. So its inclusion is a big deal,” tweeted Julian Ku, a Hofstra University law professor whose specialties include China. Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it would be represented at the summit by its de facto US ambassador Bi-khim Hsiao and digital minister Audrey Tang, who is one of the world’s few openly transgender national politicians. Scrutinised guest list The long-advertised meeting will take place online on December 9 and 10 ahead of an in-person meeting at its second edition next year. India, often called “the world’s biggest democracy”, will be present, despite increasing criticism from human rights defenders over democratic backsliding under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So too will Pakistan, despite its chequered relationship with Washington. Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was dubbed an “autocrat” by Biden, did not make the list. Neither did the city-state of Singapore, or Bangladesh, one of the world’s most populous democracies. In the Middle East, only Israel and Iraq were invited. The traditional Arab allies of the US — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — are all absent. Biden also invited Brazil, which is led by controversial far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. In Europe, Poland is represented, despite recurring tensions with Brussels over respect for the rule of law, but Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban is not. On the African side, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Niger are invited. ‘Decline of democracy’ “For this kick-off Summit… there’s a case for getting a broad set of actors into the room: it provides for a better exchange of ideas than setting a perfect bar for qualification,” Laleh Ispahani of the Open Society Foundations told AFP. Rather than using the summit as an anti-China meeting, Ispahani urged Biden to address “the serious decline of democracy around the world — including relatively robust models like the US.” This summit is being organised as democracy has suffered setbacks in countries where the US had placed great hopes. Sudan and Myanmar have experienced military coups, Ethiopia is in the midst of a conflict that could lead to its “implosion,” according to US diplomats, and the Taliban took power in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troops after two decades. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Rajesh Kumar Singh CHICAGO (Reuters) – Flights and airports across the United States are expected to be packed on Wednesday as millions of Americans fly to visit their families for Thanksgiving holiday. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects to screen about 20 million air passengers during the travel period, compared with nearly 26 million in the same period in 2019. On Monday, the TSA screened 2.1 million U.S. air passengers, the fifth consecutive day with checkpoint volume topping 2 million. The holiday weekend is a test for carriers after a spate of flight cancellations marred travel over the summer. One in five Americans are concerned about delays and cancellations, according to a new American Pecans/YouGov survey. But with the weather expected to remain calm for Thanksgiving on Thursday, airlines are sounding confident. “We’re staffed and ready to get our customers to where they need to go safely, reliably and enjoyably,” a Delta Air Lines spokesperson said. The Atlanta-based carrier has hired 8,000 new employees including 1,500 reservation agents. American Airlines has recalled 1,800 flight attendants this month, while Southwest Airlines has hired more than 4,500 employees in the past few months. American, Southwest and JetBlue are also offering bonuses, higher pay and other incentives to ensure they have enough workers. Southwest has cut flight schedules to enhance ontime performance and bolstered its customer relations department. The Thanksgiving week is shaping up to be the busiest travel week in two years as rising COVID-19 vaccination rates have made Americans more confident to travel again. Travel group AAA estimates 53.4 million people will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, up 13% from 2020, with air travel recovering to about 91% of pre-pandemic levels. Rising gas prices are the biggest concern of American this holiday season, the YouGov survey found. (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Stephen Coates) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Throughout the murder trial of the men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery, the defense team has tried desperately to present the late victim – a 25-year-old Black man who was unarmed and shot dead while on a jog in a neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia – as a dirty criminal. During closing arguments on Monday, one of those attorneys took it a step further. “Turning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim after the choices that he made does not reflect the reality of what brought Ahmaud Arbery to Satilla Shores in his khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long, dirty toenails,” Laura Hogue told jurors, eliciting an audible gasp from the people in the courtroom. Among them was Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, who got up and left after hearing the remark. “I gotta get out of here,” she said on her way out. Supplied Later appearing on CNN, Cooper-Jones said she found the comment to be not only disturbing but also a grasp at straws. “I thought it was very, very rude to talk about his long, dirty toenails and to totally neglect that my son had a huge hole in his chest when he was shot with that shotgun,” she said, adding that she felt the defense was trying to deflect from the fact that they “don’t have the proper evidence to get a conviction. So they’re actually going to any measure to get it, to get a conviction, which is not there for them.” The moment has since gone viral, with outraged social media users pointing out, “They don’t even attempt to disguise their racism anymore.” Similar to the recently wrapped double homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse – who was acquitted of shooting three Black Lives Matter protestors, killing two – the McMichael-Bryan trial has been undeniably racially charged. Mega; GLYNN COUNTY DETENTION CENTER AND SHERIFF’S OFFICE The three defendants are white Satilla Shores residents Gregory McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael,and William “Roddie” Bryan. On February 23, 2020, Gregory saw Ahmaud running past his house, suspecting that he had committed burglary or theft in his neighborhood, even though no evidence of such has emerged. Armed and in one vehicle, the McMichaels chased Ahmaud, who was on foot. Roddie – who was in another vehicle and videoed both the pursuit and shooting, which quickly went viral – saw the chase and joined in independently, even though he was not sure if Arbery had done anything wrong. After Travis exited his vehicle and wielded a shotgun, he and Ahmaud engaged in a physical confrontation, during which Travis shot Arbery dead. Mega View the full article

Published by OK Magazine Bad blood? Caitlyn Jenner is speaking out about the beef she has with Ellen DeGeneres. During an episode of Big Brother VIP, the 72-year-old admitted that she could have handled the situation “a little bit differently” after infamously feuding with the daytime talk show host. “I did go on [the show], and then I blasted her a**,” the former athlete admitted on Tuesday, November 23, per Daily Mail. MEGA She also recalled thinking about calling her then-wife Kris Jenner and insisting that they should “ban any of the kids from being on Ellen,” before realizing it was better to not make the situation any worse. CAITLYN JENNER SAYS O.J. SIMPSON ‘OBVIOUSLY’ KILLED NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON: ‘HE GOT AWAY WITH IT’ Caitlyn shares Kendall, 25, and Kylie, 24, with the 66-year-old momager — as well as step-children Kourtney Kardashian, 42, Kim Kardashian, 41, Khloé Kardashian, 37, and Rob Kardashian, 34. MEGA The Olympic gold medalist’s war with DeGeneres first started in 2015 when Caitlyn appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Showshortly after coming out as a trans woman. The talk show host asked Caitlyn to clarify her view on gay marriage, after the reality star alluded to being hesitant to accept gay marriage at first. “She goes to me, ‘Well it sounds like you’re really not for [gay marriage],” Caitlyn recalled. “And I said, “No, I just said I’m for gay marriage.’” “The next week, she goes on Howard Stern’s radio show and says I was against gay marriage and absolutely burnt my a**,” the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum continued. “And so, in the media, I got really tough on her.” CAITLYN JENNER CALLS OUT JIMMY KIMMEL AFTER BEING CALLED ‘DONALD TRUMP IN A CAITLYN JENNER WIG’ MEGA The I Am Cait star confessed in the clip, “I could’ve handled a couple of things a little bit differently” after “blasting” DeGeneres following the incident. In her 2017 memoir, The Secrets of My Life, Jenner revealed that she felt DeGeneres had “alienated” her from “members of the LGBTQ community” after taking her comments of her evolving views out of context. “I believed, as anyone would, that that was exactly what she wanted to talk about my progression in terms of changing attitude over the years,” she wrote in her book. “I am for it. I did not initially understand why marriage was so important, influenced no doubt by my own personal experience. Now I do, and it’s a wonderful thing to see.” View the full article