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Published by AFP A federal judge ruled that White House records that could implicate former President Donald Trump in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol can be released to a congressional committee investigating the violence Washington (AFP) – A flurry of subpoenas targeting top lieutenants and a court affirming lawmakers’ investigating powers have sent Donald Trump a decisive message as he seeks to run down the clock on the January 6 insurrection probe: you cannot escape justice forever. The former president suffered a stinging legal blow late Tuesday when a federal court in Washington rejected his effort to block documents and other information requested by lawmakers probing the deadly attack on the Capitol. Meanwhile the investigation’s shift from focusing on security failures to targeting big names in Trump’s orbit has demonstrated a new spotlight on his role in a plot to spread lies about the 2020 election being stolen and prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory, leading to the violence. David Greenberg, a journalism and history professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said it was impossible to predict the political effect of the latest developments for Trump, who escaped conviction twice after being impeached and emerged largely unscathed from several federal misconduct investigations. “But the investigation is important for more direct, material, and concrete reasons,” he told AFP. “It is already establishing a fuller and more comprehensive picture of who in Trump’s administration and orbit was involved in the planning of the January 6 riot, what they did to bring it about, and what they hoped or expected would happen.” The first batch of documents related to the assault is now set to be turned over to House investigators by Friday unless a court intervenes, although Trump’s attorneys have already made clear they will appeal, holding up the release. ‘Presidents are not kings’ It was made possible when District Judge Tanya Chutkan contended that Biden, who is opposing Trump’s demands, is “best positioned” to determine if a former president can keep Oval Office conversations with advisors secret. “At bottom, this is a dispute between a former and incumbent president. And the Supreme Court has already made clear that in such circumstances, the incumbent’s view is accorded greater weight,” Chutkan said in a 39-page decision. “[Trump’s] position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity’… But presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president.” Chutkan also ruled that the House panel’s probe was serving a “valid legislative purpose,” rejecting another argument by Trump’s legal team to challenge the authority of the investigation. The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, meaning investigators would not see the disputed evidence any time soon. “The battle to defend Executive Privilege for Presidents past, present & future — from its outset — was destined to be decided by the Appellate Courts,” Trump’s spokesman tweeted in reaction to the ruling. “Pres. Trump remains committed to defending the Constitution & the Office of the Presidency, & will be seeing this process through.” But Bennie Thompson, who chairs the nine-member select committee, hailed the decision as a victory for lawmakers conducting investigations involving the White House. ‘Decisive ruling’ “The select committee appreciates the court’s swift and decisive ruling on the former president’s lawsuit, which I consider little more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our investigation,” Thompson said in a statement. “The presidential records we requested from the National Archives are critical for understanding the terrible events of January 6.” The court decision was the latest in a whirlwind of activity by the House January 6 select committee, which dramatically accelerated efforts this week to compel testimony from Trump’s inner circle. The committee has interviewed more than 150 witnesses and issued 35 subpoenas, including 16 this week alone, many to former aides who had front row seats to the chaotic final weeks of Trump’s presidency as he sought to cling to power. Many held sensitive posts inside the West Wing, including White House advisor Stephen Miller and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, both of whom made false statements promoting Trump’s baseless claims of 2020 voter fraud. Other targets include campaign aides and law professor John Eastman, who crafted a six-step blueprint setting out how the Trump team could disregard the will of millions of voters and reverse the election. The committee’s investigators have also interviewed former Department of Justice lawyer Jeffrey Clark, who was at the center of Trump’s pressure campaign to get the department to interfere in the election. Liz Cheney, the top Republican on the committee, has said Trump’s pressure on allies to defy subpoenas showed he was “personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6.” She warned Tuesday that the 45th president presents an unprecedented threat as he attempts to “unravel the foundations of our constitutional republic, aided by political leaders who have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Nathan Layne KENOSHA, Wis. (Reuters) -Teenager Kyle Rittenhouse broke down crying while testifying in his own defense on Wednesday in his Wisconsin trial, saying one of the two men he is charged with murdering threatened to kill him and “ambushed” him before he opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle. Rittenhouse, 18, is charged in the killing of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, during racial justice protests in the city of Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020. He has pleaded not guilty and has said he acted in self defense. Dressed in a navy blue suit and dark blue tie, Rittenhouse was composed on the witness stand until his attorney began asking him to detail his encounter with Rosenbaum, who video evidence showed was pursuing the teen when he turned and shot him four times. “I didn’t notice Mr. Rosenbaum until he came out from behind the car and ambushed me,” Rittenhouse told the jury, before he started to breathe heavily and lose his composure, appearing to shed tears as the judge called for a break. Moments earlier, Rittenhouse testified that Rosenbaum threatened twice to kill him before their final encounter in the parking lot of a used car dealership in Kenosha. Rittenhouse said Rosenbaum, speaking to his group earlier in the night, said “I’m going to cut your fucking hearts out.” Rittenhouse testified that he was asked to help guard a used car dealership, separate from the one where he shot Rosenbaum, along with other armed men. Rittenhouse said his objective that night was to provide medical aid to anyone hurt, which is why he offered his bullet-proof vest to another person in his group. By the night of the shootings, Kenosha had endured two nights of chaotic protests over the police shooting of a local Black man, Jacob Blake. Several businesses were burned to the ground and there were incidents of looting. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to control the crowds. The prosecution rested its case on Tuesday. The case is the most high-profile civilian U.S. self-defense trial since George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Florida in 2013. Like Zimmerman, Rittenhouse has emerged as a divisive figure and politics has coursed through the case. He is a hero to some conservatives who believe in unfettered gun rights and see the shootings as justified during the chaos in Kenosha, while many on the left see him as a symbol of a gun culture run amok. During five days of testimony, prosecutors have tried to paint Rittenhouse as a vigilante killer who used deadly force without justification. He was 17 at the time of the shootings and has been charged with underage possession of his gun. The two assistant district attorneys prosecuting the case struggled to elicit testimony countering Rittenhouse’s claims that he feared for his life. Some witnesses they called spoke about the erratic behavior of Rosenbaum that night. (Reporting by Nathan Lane; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled that a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol can access some of former President Donald Trump’s White House records. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Andy Sullivan) View the full article

Biden Democracy Summit Published by Reuters By Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden is getting ready to deliver on a key campaign promise by convening a Summit for Democracy: a first-of-its kind gathering of more than 100 countries to help stop democratic backsliding and erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide. But rights advocates are questioning whether the virtual event can push those world leaders who are invited, some accused of harboring authoritarian tendencies, to take meaningful action. “If the summit is to be anything more than just another meeting, each attendee, including the United States, will need to follow through on meaningful commitments on democracy and rights issues in the year ahead,” said Annie Boyajian, vice president for policy and advocacy at Freedom House, a non-profit group specializing in human rights and democracy. Administration officials say the December event is just the “launch” of a longer conversation about democracy and that countries will need to fulfill the reforms they pledged to be invited to the follow-up summit planned next year. The event – to be held on Dec. 9 and 10 – is a test of Biden’s longstanding claim, announced in his first foreign policy address as president in February, that the United States would return to global leadership under his tenure to face down authoritarian forces led by China and Russia. A tentative invite list first reported by Politico and confirmed by a source familiar with the matter shows that the event will bring together mature democracies such as France and Sweden but also countries including Philippines and Poland, where activists say democracy is under threat. In Asia, some U.S. allies such as Japan and South Korea were invited, while others like Thailand and Vietnam were not. Representation from the Middle East was slim with Israel and Iraq among the few countries invited and notable U.S. allies such as Egypt and NATO partner Turkey absent from the list. Rights groups praise Biden’s pledge to reinstate the promotion of rights and freedoms as a foreign policy priority, after the disinterested approach of his predecessor Donald Trump, who openly praised strongmen such as Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. They also say the invitation to countries with problematic human rights records raises doubts about the credibility of the event, but at the same time illustrates the administration’s struggle to balance wider U.S. national security interests, such as countering a rising China, with higher ideals. “Clearly, strategic considerations about countering China are at play in inviting very troubled, backsliding democracies like India and the Philippines that are in China’s neighborhood,” said Amy Hawthorne, research director at the Project on Middle East Democracy, an advocacy group. “The same might be true for inviting deeply flawed democracy Iraq, the neighbor of U.S. adversary, the Iranian theocracy,” she added. ‘MAKE CHOICES’ Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has in the past stated he does not “care about human rights”, and Indian President Narendra Modi, who advocacy group Freedom House said is driving India toward authoritarianism, will be among those discussing with Biden how to help democracy flourish globally. An official at the Philippines’ foreign ministry confirmed Duterte was invited to the online forum and said Washington had imposed “absolutely no conditions” on his attendance. The country’s government was still considering whether to participate, the official said. A senior U.S. official involved in the planning of the summit told Reuters that invites were sent to countries with different experiences of democracy from all regions of the world. “This was not about endorsing, ‘You’re a democracy, you are not a democracy.’ That is not the process we went through,” the official said. Biden administration officials say they had to “make choices” to ensure regional diversity and broad participation. Human rights groups said that with only weeks until the summit it was unclear how Washington would monitor implementation of commitments and hold the leaders who participate to their word. ‘A PLACE OF HUMILITY’ Poland, which is locked in a feud with the European Union over what Brussels says is democratic backsliding, was invited, but officials there took umbrage at an earlier message from Washington that appeared to place conditions on the invitation, according to a Polish government source. The earlier email contained a list of suggested actions that would demonstrate Poland’s commitment to freedom and democracy, including respect for LGBTQI rights – a major sore point in Washington’s dealings with Poland’s right-wing government that has moved to restrict gay rights. U.S. officials said they did not dictate any conditions but called on invited countries to come forward with commitments to take action. “The idea has never been to prescribe or to be prescriptive,” said one of the officials. The United States would also make its own commitments, the official added, as Washington faces skepticism about the health of its own democracy. After losing the November 2020 election to Biden, Trump’s false claims of fraud paved the way for his supporters’ Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, an unprecedented episode that stunned foreign governments and armed authoritarian leaders with cause to question the robustness of American democracy. “In all of our diplomatic communications around the summit, we are starting from a place of humility and recognizing that no democracy, including of course the United States, is perfect,” said a second administration official. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis; Additional reporting by Joanna Plucinska in Warshaw and Neil Jerome Morales in Manila; Editing by Mary Milliken and Daniel Wallis) Biden Democracy Summit on Towleroad Oklahoma court overturns $465 million opioid judgment against J&J More White House condemns Gosar video, Pelosi urges investigations More Adele reveals Heartbreak on New Single. Hold On Tease is part of Amazon’s Marketing With This Ad More Trump allies Flynn, Miller, Eastman, others subpoenaed by Jan 6 committee More The Lady Gaga Gucci Movie Is A Good Time for Her to Review 17 of her Looks. Was Inside the 2011 Grammy Egg for 3 Days More U.S. Supreme Court weighs Puerto Rico’s exclusion from benefits program More Missing Teenager found after Alerting with viral TikTok signal. 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Published by Reuters By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a $465 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by the state alleging the drugmaker fueled the opioid epidemic through the deceptive marketing of painkillers. The decision marked the latest setback for states and local governments pursuing lawsuits to hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for a drug abuse crisis the U.S. government says led to nearly 500,000 opioid overdose deaths over two decades. The court ruled https://tmsnrt.rs/3bSrnrj that the state’s public nuisance law does not extend to the manufacturing, marketing and sales of prescription opioids and that a trial judge went too far in holding the company liable under it. “However grave the problem of opioid addition is in Oklahoma, public nuisance law does not provide a remedy for this harm,” Justice James Winchester wrote. New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J in a statement said it sympathized with those affected by the epidemic but that the court “appropriately and categorically rejected the misguided and unprecedented expansion of the public nuisance law.” A spokesperson for Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor did not respond to requests for comment. His office had on appeal sought $9.3 billion from J&J to fund treatment and other programs to address the epidemic. The Oklahoma lawsuit was the first of the more than 3,300 lawsuits over the opioid crisis against pharmaceutical manufacturers, drug distributors and pharmacies to go to trial. The trial pre-dated an agreement this year by J&J and the three largest U.S. drug distributors – McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen – to pay up to $26 billion to settle thousands of opioid-related cases against them. PUBLIC NUISANCE LAWS Tuesday’s decision came days after a similar trial in California pitting several large counties against J&J and three other drugmakers resulted in a tentative ruling in the companies’ favor. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman ruled in August 2019 that J&J had engaged in misleading marketing about the benefits of painkillers Duragesic and Nucynta, and concluded that their addictive risks caused a public nuisance. J&J had argued that there was scientific support for the marketing claims and said that Duragesic and Nucynta accounted for a tiny fraction of the opioids sold in Oklahoma. The company, which no longer promotes the drugs, also argued the state’s public nuisance law should not apply. In Tuesday’s ruling, Winchester agreed that the law only applied to discrete, localized problems involving criminal or property-based conflicts, not policy problems. “The district court’s expansion of public nuisance law allows courts to manage public policy matters that should be dealt with by the legislative and executive branches,” Winchester wrote. Paul Geller, a plaintiffs’ lawyer at the law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd who helped draft the $26 billion nationwide settlement proposal, said the Oklahoma ruling could lead to increased participation in the settlement. “Perhaps the realization that, despite the gravity of the epidemic, trials are inherently risky and appellate courts are largely unpredictable will ultimately help increase participation,” he said. Eight states have declined to sign-onto the deal with J&J, which agreed to pay up to $5 billion. Local governments in states that did join the have until January to sign-on. The ultimate payout is contingent on participation. The Oklahoma ruling, coupled with the California decision, could prompt states and localities who have not backed the proposed nationwide settlement to re-think their positions, said Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a University of Georgia law professor. “To the extent folks are on the fence about going into that settlement, this definitely changes the risk profile,” Burch said. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Noeleen Walder, Bernadette Baum, Aurora Ellis and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House and Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday condemned an anime video tweeted by Republican congressman Paul Gosar that depicted him swinging swords at President Joe Biden and killing Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “This should not be happening, and we should be condemning it,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called on a congressional ethics panel and law enforcement officials to investigate. “Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated,” Pelosi said in a statement on Twitter. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office did not respond to requests for comment. The 90-second video shared by Gosar on Sunday appears to be an altered version of a Japanese animated series. A House Ethics Committee staff official declined to comment. One ethics expert said that threatening behavior could violate both House ethics rules and federal criminal statutes. “He is putting his real feelings out there, and his real feelings look very threatening,” said Craig Holman, ethics lobbyist for Public Citizen. Under House rules, ethics violations can result in reprimands, fines, censure or removal from office. Threats can also constitute felony violations punishable by imprisonment. But Gosar appeared unbowed. “I will always fight for the rule of law, securing our borders and defending the America First agenda,” the lawmaker said in a statement. The Arizona Republican, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, voted against certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory in January, has backed Trump’s claims of a stolen election and has described Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 as “peaceful patriots.” Twitter added a warning label to the video, saying it violated its “hateful conduct” policy. It also restricted engagement with the tweet. But Twitter said in a notification attached above the tweet that it had determined “it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.” Ocasio-Cortez responded to Gosar’s tweet with a Twitter https://bit.ly/303BCX8 thread noting the video posted by a “creepy member I work with,” and said she expected no consequences for Gosar from the House Republican leader. Other Democrats called for Gosar to leave office. “In any other job in America, if a coworker made a video killing another coworker, that person would be fired,” members of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee said in a statement. (Reporting by David Morgan and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and by Shivam Patel in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; editing by Andy Sullivan and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Adele’s Hold on tease is in the Amazon Ad below. [This post contains video, click to play] Published by BANG Showbiz English Adele has opened up about her heartbreak on new song ‘Hold On’. The 33-year-old star – who is set to release new album ’30’ on November 19 – has unveiled her new single as the soundtrack to Amazon’s new Christmas advert, and she bares her soul while singing about her split from ex Simon Konecki in the emotional lyrics. At one point, she sings: “I swear to God I’m such a mess, the harder I try I regress.” And in another line, she adds: “Every day feels like the road I’m on, might just open and swallow me whole.” She then sings: “Let time be patient, let pain be gracious, just hold on. I will survive.” In the Amazon advert, a young woman is seeing struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adele has already been honest about how she wrote about the breakdown of her marriage to Simon and hopes it can help their son Angelo, nine. She previously said: “I wanted to explain to him through this record, when he’s in his 20s or 30s, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness. “It made him really unhappy sometimes. And that’s a real wound for me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to heal.” Meanwhile, she admitted it was “bloody hard work” writing about the end of their relationship on the record, but she’s “proud” of what she’s achieved. She added: “It was bloody hard work. I was singing things i didn’t even realise I was feeling or thinking. “But I’m really, really proud of it and I feel like I can’t unlock a door for my own mental health and take the key with me. “I’ve got to leave it in the door for everyone else – and I’m in a strong place now where I feel like I can put that vulnerability out.” Adele’s Hold On Tease on Towleroad Trump allies Flynn, Miller, Eastman, others subpoenaed by Jan 6 committee More The Lady Gaga Gucci Movie Is A Good Time for Her to Review 17 of her Looks. Was Inside the 2011 Grammy Egg for 3 Days More U.S. Supreme Court weighs Puerto Rico’s exclusion from benefits program More Missing teenager found after alerting with viral TikTok signal More World heading for 2.4C of warming after latest climate pledges -analysts More U.S. is back with a new approach to climate policy, says lawmaker Ocasio-Cortez More U.S. borders reopen, but not for asylum seekers stuck in Mexico More China may be carrying out Uyghur genocide: US Holocaust Museum More Matthew McConaughey weighs ‘outlaw’ bid for Texas governor More China builds mockups of U.S. Navy ships in area used for missile target practice More Latest developments in the trial of U.S. teenage gunman Kyle Rittenhouse More Load More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. congressional committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol issued subpoenas seeking documents and testimony from six more associates of former President Donald Trump, including top aides from his re-election campaign. They are William Stepien, manager of the Republican president’s 2020 re-election campaign; Jason Miller, senior adviser to the campaign; Angela McCallum, national executive assistant to the campaign; John Eastman, an attorney for Trump; Michael Flynn, who was briefly Trump’s national security advisor, and Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner. The Democratic-led House of Representatives Select Committee wants those subpoenaed to sit for depositions scheduled for between Nov. 30 and Dec. 13. The panel has now issued 25 subpoenas and received testimony from more than 150 witnesses. More subpoenas are expected as soon as this week. The subpoenas announced on Monday focus on Trump associates believed to have strategized about ways to overturn the results of the November 2020 election, including those who spent time at a “command center” at Washington’s Willard Hotel set up to steer efforts to deny Democrat Joe Biden his victory. Eastman in particular has been under intense scrutiny. He spoke at the Jan. 6 rally where Trump gave a fiery speech alleging election fraud and urging supports to march on the Capitol. Eastman also wrote a memo outlining how, in his view, then-Vice President Mike Pence could thwart formal congressional certification of Trump’s re-election loss. Pence ultimately declined to follow Eastman’s advice. “In the days before the January 6th attack, the former president’s closest allies and advisors drove a campaign of misinformation about the election and planned ways to stop the count of Electoral College votes,” Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Select Committee, said in a statement. “The Select Committee needs to know every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress, what connections they had with rallies that escalated into a riot, and who paid for it all,” Thompson said. HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS Miller declined comment. Kerik issued a statement accusing the committee of deciding to “publicly defame” him and demanded that it retract its press release. The other Trump associates could not immediately be reached for comment or did not respond. More than 670 people have been charged with taking part in the riot at the Capitol as Congress and Pence were to certify Biden’s defeat of Trump. It was the worst attack on the seat of the U.S. government since the War of 1812 and the only time power in the United States has not been transferred peacefully. Trump has filed suit to avoid turning over White House documents and urged former aides to reject panel subpoenas, claiming the right to withhold information because of executive privilege, a legal principle that protects many White House communications. Legal experts have disputed his claim that the principle applies. The House voted last month to hold longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt over his refusal to cooperate. Four people died the day of the assault, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress. Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught, and four officers have since taken their own lives. The Select Committee was created by House Democrats against the wishes of most Republicans. Two of its nine members – Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – are Republicans who joined House Democrats in voting to impeach Trump in January on a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 attack in a fiery speech to supporters earlier that day. Multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump’s own administration have rejected his claims that Biden won because of election fraud. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in New York and Jan Wolfe in Washington; editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis, Lincoln Feast, Raju Gopalakrishnan) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lady Gaga was inside her giant latex egg vessel she turned up to the 2011 Grammys in for “three days”. The ‘A Star is Born’ actress famously hatched out of a giant egg-shaped enclosure on stage at the glitzy awards ceremony after a dramatic red carpet arrival a decade ago. And in a new interview with British Vogue in a video titled ‘Life in Looks’, Gaga has revealed she wanted to get a feel for being inside the Hussein Chalayan-designed prop days prior to performing ‘Born This Way’ at the awards. The 35-year-old Oscar-winner also revealed how her team went to extreme lengths to track down some latex and ended up purchasing the material, which was typically only available at sex shops at the time, in vast quantities from a bus company. She spilled: “We would call this an outfit. “Everyone calls this the egg but it’s actually a vessel that was designed by Hussein Chalayan. “I was very particular about the way the fashion looked for this performance in so much as the night before the performance I said, ‘The fashion’s wrong, we don’t have it. We need it to be latex. We need nude latex.’ “And if you know anything about looking for latex, years ago it was very difficult to find latex anywhere other than a sex shop, or – where we found this latex was a bus company had latex that they were using to cover the seats of their busses and we found the latex and we asked if we could buy it from them. So everybody’s fashion that’s made here was made from the fabric from seats for a bus.” Gaga added: “I was in the egg for three days. “To be honest, at award shows, especially during this time, I didn’t like to talk to people. I always felt that it threw me off with my performance so this in a lot of ways is really representative of my devotion to my craft in that I really wanted to be with myself.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday is set to weigh the legality of a decades-old congressional decision to exclude Puerto Rico from a federal program that provides benefits to low-income elderly, blind and disabled people. The justices are hearing the U.S. government’s appeal of a lower court ruling that deemed Puerto Rico’s exclusion from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program unlawful. The appeal originally was filed by Republican former President Donald Trump’s administration. His Democratic successor Joe Biden has continued the appeal while at the same time urging Congress to extend SSI to Puerto Rico. Many Puerto Ricans have long complained that the Caribbean island’s residents are treated worse than other Americans despite being U.S. citizens. Puerto Rico, which is not a state, is the most-populous of the U.S. territories, with about 3 million people. The case involves a Puerto Rican resident named Jose Luis Vaello-Madero who received SSI benefits when he lived in New York but lost eligibility when he moved to Puerto Rico in 2013. The Supreme Court has been instrumental in defining the legal status of Puerto Ricans dating to a series of rulings starting more than a century ago called the Insular Cases, some suffused with racist language. The rulings endorsed the notion that the people of newly acquired U.S. territories could receive different treatment than citizens living in U.S. states. Vaello-Madero’s case gives the justices an opportunity to revisit those rulings. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year in favor of Vaello-Madero, deciding that Puerto Rico’s SSI exclusion violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution that requires that laws apply equally to everyone. Vaello-Madero, who is 67 years old and disabled, mounted his constitutional challenge after the government sued him in federal court in Washington in 2017 seeking more than $28,000 for payments it made to him after he moved to Puerto Rico. The government’s lawsuit was filed a month before Vaello-Madero lost the roof of his home in Hurricane Irma, which was followed weeks later by the devastating Hurricane Maria. SSI benefits are available to U.S. citizens living in any of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the Northern Mariana Islands, but not the territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Congress decided not to include Puerto Rico when it enacted the program in 1972. Puerto Ricans are eligible for a different government program, called Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled, that allows for more local control but not as much federal funding, the Justice Department said in court papers. The Supreme Court’s ruling is due by the end of June. Biden said in June that the existing law’s denial of SSI benefits to residents of Puerto Rico is “inconsistent with my administration’s policies and values” and asked lawmakers to amend the statute to extend the benefits to the territory. After passing infrastructure legislation on Saturday, congressional Democrats are working to finalize a massive social spending bill, the latest draft of which includes a provision extending the benefits to Puerto Rico. If that legislation passes, it would limit the importance of the Supreme Court’s eventual ruling. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Hand signals that went viral on TikTok helped a missing teenager be found. A 16-year-old girl was reported missing by her parents in North Carolina last week and she was spotted inside a car in Kentucky two days later, having gestured to surrounding vehicles using movements designed to help domestic abuse victims signal they needed help. The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office explained a driver had called police after noticing “a female passenger in the vehicle making hand gestures that are known on the social media platform TikTok to represent violence at home – I need help – domestic violence.” The caller told police the girl “appeared to be in distress” while being driven by an older male. The teenager told cops she had travelled through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. James Herbert Brick, 61, of Cherokee, North Carolina, was subsequently arrested. The “signal for help” campaign – which features a one-handed gesture whereby the victim holds up their hand with their palm facing out, then tucks their thumb in before closing their fingers on top of the thumb – was launched went viral early in the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020 in an attempt to address a rise in domestic violence. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Kate Abnett GLASGOW (Reuters) -New national pledges to tackle climate change this decade would lead to around 2.4 degrees Celsius of global warming this century, far above safe levels, analysts predict. Climate Action Tracker (CAT) said on Tuesday that the promises by countries attending the U.N. summit in Glasgow https://www.reuters.com/business/cop to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 would still allow the Earth to heat up far beyond the United Nations target by 2100. “Even with all new Glasgow pledges for 2030, we will emit roughly twice as much in 2030 as required for 1.5°C,” it said, referring to the aspirational goal for warming since pre-industrial levels set down in the 2015 Paris Agreement. “Therefore, all governments need to reconsider their targets,” the research coalition added. In an “optimistic scenario” where some countries’ longer-term goals to stop increasing the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – “net zero” – by 2050 or later were implemented, warming could be limited to 1.8C this century, CAT added. That forecast echoed an analysis last week by the International Energy Agency. CAT warned against assuming the longer-term pledges would be met, however, since most countries have not yet implemented the short-term policies or legislation needed for those goals. “It’s all very well for leaders to claim they have a net zero target, but if they have no plans as to how to get there, and their 2030 targets are as low as so many of them are, then frankly, these ‘net zero’ targets are just lip service to real climate action,” said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, one of the organisations behind the CAT. Under “business as usual”, without any of the new pledges, the world would warm up by 2.7C this century, CAT said. All scenarios will blow past the 1.5C limit that scientists say the world must meet to avert the most devastating impacts of climate change. To keep to that, scientists have said global greenhouse gas emissions, mostly carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil and gas, must fall 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and hit net zero by 2050. Greenpeace said the analysis was “devastating” and called on countries to agree to update their 2030 targets every year until the gap between their pledges and the 1.5C target was closed. Some 90% of global emissions are now covered by a net zero target, but the “vast majority” of countries’ climate plans for the next decade are inconsistent with long-term net zero targets, CAT said. (Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Richard Valdmanis, Kevin Liffey and Alexander Smith) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Valerie Volcovici GLASGOW (Reuters) -The United States has returned to global climate negotiations with a new approach rather than just picking up where it left off, U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Tuesday. The New York congresswoman arrived at the COP26 summit in Glasgow with U.S. representatives that came to support U.S. efforts to show renewed leadership at UN climate negotiations after a four-year absence under former president Donald Trump. “We’re just here to say that we’re not just back. We’re different and we’re more just. And we are more open minded to questioning prior assumptions of what is politically possible,” she told a side event at the climate conference. “And I would argue that it’s a fundamentally different approach.” Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic lawmakers said that key to proving U.S. leadership will be the passage of a comprehensive social and climate spending bill called Build Back Better that needs to win support from moderate Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate. “As we fly back to the United States later this week, it will be with the intent to finish the job next week. Failure really is not an option,” said Colorado Representative Joe Neguse. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, writing by William James, editing by Elizabeth Piper and Barbara Lewis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Kristina Cooke, Mica Rosenberg and Caitlin O’Hara NOGALES, Mexico (Reuters) – Leo fled his hometown in southern Mexico after his uncle was murdered by gang members and he received death threats. Earlier this year, he, his wife and their two children headed to the U.S.-Mexico border hoping to claim asylum. After months of waiting, he hoped he would finally get his chance on Monday. But even as U.S. borders opened for travelers vaccinated against COVID-19, they remained closed to asylum seekers. When Leo, 23, and his family approached the port of entry in Nogales, Mexico with his and his wife’s vaccination cards in hand, they were told by a border official they could not enter and seek asylum. “I feel dispirited and sad,” said Leo, who asked his last name not be published for fear of reprisals from the gang he fled. President Joe Biden “is just continuing the same policies of Donald Trump.” Biden has kept in place a controversial U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order, first implemented by his Republican predecessor Trump in March 2020, that allows migrants to be immediately expelled without an opportunity to seek asylum. The Biden administration has said the CDC’s order, known as Title 42, remains necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as asylum seekers are processed in crowded settings at the border. Any foreign national attempting to enter the United States without proper documentation will be subject to expulsion regardless of vaccination status, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Advocates have criticized the Biden administration’s continuation of the expulsion policy as borders reopen. The idea that a vaccinated asylum seeker is more of a risk than a vaccinated tourist is laughable, said Noah Gottschalk, global policy lead with Oxfam America, one of the advocacy groups suing the Biden administration to overturn the Title 42 order. Gottschalk said the exclusion of vaccinated asylum seekers strengthens the group’s argument that the policy isn’t about public health. In September, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to stop expelling family units – parents or legal guardians arriving with their children – under the Title 42 order. The administration appealed, and a higher court put the judge’s ruling on hold as the case moves forward. Last month, more than 1,300 medical professionals signed letters to the CDC urging it to end the border expulsions order, saying it lacked epidemiological evidence to justify it and put migrants at risk. New York-based nonprofit Human Rights First has documented more than 7,600 kidnappings and other attacks on migrants stuck in Mexico who were blocked from entering the United States since Biden took office in January. Leo has been working in construction to pay rent in Nogales, but he says his earnings are not enough to support his family. “They abuse you because they know you are not from here, they pay you what they want,” he said. He is also worried about his children getting hit by a stray bullet when gunshots ring out at night. The U.S. State Department recommends Americans reconsider travel to the Mexican state of Sonora, where Nogales is located, due to crime and kidnapping. “We were fleeing a place that was dangerous,” said Leo. “And here it is the same.” (Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Mica Rosenberg in New York and Caitlin O’Hara in Nogales, Mexico; Editing by Mary Milliken and Karishma Singh) View the full article

Published by AFP Demonstrators from the Uyghur community protest outside the Belgian parliament as it votes to recognize genocide against the group by China in July 2021 Washington (AFP) – New evidence shows China may be “committing genocide” against the Uyghur minority, the US Holocaust Museum said Tuesday, the latest accusation that Beijing is carrying out the most serious of crimes. The United States has already declared that actions against the mostly Muslim group and other Turkic people in China’s western region of Xinjiang amounts to genocide, an assertion rejected by Beijing. The US Holocaust Museum, which last year said that crimes against humanity have been committed, in a new report pointed to accounts of forced birth control of Uyghurs as well as forced transfer to labor in other parts of China. “Additional recently surfaced information signals that the Chinese government’s conduct has escalated beyond a policy of forced assimilation,” the report said. “The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is gravely concerned that the Chinese government may be committing genocide against the Uyghurs,” it said. “The seriousness of the assault on the Uyghur population demands the immediate response of the international community to protect the victims.” The report, however, noted that previous determinations of genocide have often been based on findings of efforts to kill off a community. “Given the limited reports of Uyghur deaths in detention, there is insufficient evidence at this time of the intent of the Chinese government to systematically kill living Uyghurs,” it said. But the report said that forced sterilizations and forced contraception raise “legitimate questions about the existence of the intent to biologically destroy the group, in whole or in substantial part.” It said that there was not enough verifiable data, which was a deliberate decision by China to limit information. Quoting previous accounts, the report estimated that anywhere between one million and three million people, mostly Uyghurs, are detained in Xinjiang in a policy to forcibly assimilate them into China’s majority Han culture and prevent Islamic practices. China rejects the allegations and say it is offering vocational training aimed at reducing the allure of Islamic extremism following attacks attributed to Uyghur militants. Former US secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a staunch critic of China, announced the determination of genocide on his final day in office in January. His successor Antony Blinken has said he agrees with the finding, and the parliaments in a number of Western countries — Belgium, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and The Netherlands — have since passed motions declaring that China is committing genocide. View the full article

Published by AFP US actor Matthew McConaughey’s outlaw bona fides are well established in his new book Los Angeles (AFP) – Matthew McConaughey’s transformation from rom-com heart-throb to serious Oscar-winning actor for “Dallas Buyers Club” was so remarkable it earned its own neologism. Could another “McConaissance” be on the cards, as the category-defying A-lister mulls a run for governor of his home state of Texas, potentially as a third-party candidate next year? “Look, it’s been discussed. It’s a possible avenue,” McConaughey, 52, told AFP in an interview via Zoom. “I would call myself aggressively centrist. Not because that’s the place of gray and compromise… I think today it’s a daring space. It’s the space of outlaws.” McConaughey’s outlaw bona fides are well established in his new book “Greenlights,” with anecdotes including the time he “bongoed naked until the cops arrested me” for disturbing the peace, drug possession and resisting arrest. At the peak of his fame, the actor ditched Los Angeles for an ecstasy-fueled hike through the Amazon, and at other times would ask film directors to fly out and meet him at provincial airports as he spontaneously criss-crossed the United States in an RV. But soon after becoming a father in 2008, the “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” star told his agent to turn down future rom-coms, no matter how lucrative the offers, as he pursued grittier, more challenging fare. “Rom-coms are built to be light. They’re Saturday afternoon characters,” he said. “I became a father. My life takes on sincere and deep meaning right then. I was in the Monday morning of life, not the Saturday afternoon,” added McConaughey. Now McConaughey’s political ambitions have caused excitement in liberal circles, and particularly those appalled at Texas governor Greg Abbott, who signed a highly restrictive law banning most abortions. It is now being challenged before the US Supreme Court. A recent University of Texas, Tyler poll found McConaughey would fare better against Abbott than potential Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. But McConaughey, hailing from a small town in deep Texas and raised in a religious family, does not seem any more enamored with the Democrats than Republicans such as Abbott. “Each party is claiming to be democracy itself, and in doing so can’t much tell you what they’re about,” said McConaughey. He added: “You got to go ‘left’ sometimes, you got to go ‘right.’ There are people on the so-called right and the so-called left that are better people for the job at hand at different times.” ‘That was wrong’ McConaughey’s book — part memoir, part self-help manual — recounts his remarkably fast rise to stardom. Having dropped out of law school in Texas, McConaughey was quickly cast in coming-of-age classic “Dazed and Confused,” before hitting the big time with the lead role in courtroom drama “A Time To Kill.” “I wouldn’t say I’ve been interested in politics since a very early age. I’ve been interested in justice,” he said. The book also reveals darker moments, including how at 18 he was sexually abused by a man “while knocked unconscious in the back of a van.” The crime is only mentioned in passing because “people would have become voyeurs over that, and that’s not what the book is about,” he told AFP. Without discussing details, McConaughey says the incident “affected me” but he was helped by his “clear sense that it was wrong.” “Maybe if I’d have been younger, and I’d been like ‘Is that an okay reality? Is that kind of how the world is supposed to work sometimes?'” He added: “Was I a victim in that circumstance? You’re damn right. “But I haven’t been victimized from it, and I think part of the reason is it was very clear — that was wrong, that was an aberration. “That’s not true intimacy. That’s not two people saying yes to each other. That’s not right.” ‘Another chapter’ If McConaughey does decide to run for the Lone Star State’s top office, he will need to file by a December 13 deadline. Pressed on whether he has taken key early steps such as hiring campaign staff or fundraising, he responds with a stock line: “I’m not, until I am.” “It’s something I’m giving great consideration… there’s some wonderful sacrifices for the awesome position.” For McConaughey, who continues to act and run his Just Keep Livin’ foundation for high school students, the decision will come down to “where and how can I be most useful?” “I’m not afraid of risk. But I really need to ask that question and answer that question for myself,” he said. When McConaughey gambled by turning his back on rom-coms, his agent’s phone stopped ringing for nearly two years — to the point that he seriously considered quitting acting. Eventually Hollywood took his new aspirations seriously, with a string of acclaimed hits such as “Mud” and “True Detective” leading to his Oscar for “Dallas Buyers Club” — a politically charged drama about the AIDS pandemic. McConaughey says he coined the term “McConaissance” himself, figuring his recent career run “needed a campaign slogan.” So, does he have a slogan for his next chapter, in politics or otherwise? “It’s still the McConaissance,” he said. “It’s just going to be another chapter.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Yew Lun Tian BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s military has built mockups in the shape of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and other U.S. warships, possibly as training targets, in the desert of Xinjiang, satellite images by Maxar showed on Sunday. These mockups reflect China’s efforts to build up anti-carrier capabilities, specifically against the U.S. Navy, as tensions remain high with Washington over Taiwan and the South China Sea. The satellite images showed a full-scale outline of a U.S. carrier and at least two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers had been built at what appears to be a new target range complex in the Taklamakan Desert. The images also showed a 6-meter-wide rail system with a ship-sized target mounted on it, which experts say could be used to simulate a moving vessel. The complex has been used for ballistic missile testing, the U.S. Naval Institute reported https://news.usni.org/2021/11/07/china-builds-missile-targets-shaped-like-u-s-aircraft-carrier-destroyers-in-remote-desert, quoting geospatial intelligence company All Source Analysis. For a graphic, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/3wmFA9i China’s anti-ship missile programs are overseen by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF). China’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the Pentagon’s latest annual report on China’s military, the PLARF conducted its first confirmed live-fire launch into the South China Sea in July 2020, firing six DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missiles into the waters north of the Spratly Islands, where China has territorial disputes with Taiwan and four Southeast Asian countries. The tests at sea may have shown China “they are still far from creating an accurate ASBM,” said Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “I don’t think the desert targets are going to be the final stage. It’s meant for further refinement.” An anti-ship ballistic missile test in the desert would not reflect the realistic conditions of a marine environment, which could affect sensors and targeting, but would allow China to carry out the tests more securely, Koh said. “The best way to test it and keep it out of the prying eyes of the U.S. military and intelligence assets is to do it inland,” he said. Neighbouring countries, concerned about the missiles hitting other ships around the target, might also object to China’s testing at sea, he added. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in July this year that the United States will defend the Philippines if it comes under attack in the South China Sea and warned China to cease its “provocative behaviour”. (Reporting by Yew Lun Tian. Editing by Gerry Doyle) View the full article

Published by Reuters KENOSHA, Wis. (Reuters) – Here is a timeline tracing the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, a U.S. teenager who is on trial for killing two men and wounding a third with a military-style rifle during protests last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Aug. 23, 2020 – A white police officer responding to a domestic dispute in Kenosha shoots Jacob Blake seven times at close range, paralyzing the Black man and setting off protests. Aug. 25, 2020 – As Kenosha braces for a third night of protests, Rittenhouse, then 17, takes his rifle and joins other armed men on the streets. Rittenhouse says he was asked to help guard a used-car dealership. Shortly before midnight, Rittenhouse fatally shoots Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, after Rosenbaum appears to have chased him and tried to grab his rifle, according to video evidence. As he runs down the street, Rittenhouse shoots and kills Anthony Huber, 26, who was swinging a skateboard at him, and shoots Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27, in the arm. Grosskreutz, who was holding a pistol at the time of the shooting, survives. Aug. 27-28, 2020 – Kenosha County district attorney charges Rittenhouse with six criminal counts, including reckless and intentional homicides. Rittenhouse, who turned himself in on Aug. 26, is held in custody in his home state Illinois. Atlanta-based attorney Lin Wood says video evidence would vindicate Rittenhouse, showing he acted in self-defense. Wood begins soliciting donations through a non-profit and within a month collects nearly $2 million. Wood and another lawyer portray Rittenhouse as a patriot and tie him to the issue of gun rights. Oct. 30, 2020 – Rittenhouse is extradited to Wisconsin. Nov. 20, 2020 – John Pierce, then an attorney for Rittenhouse, posts $2 million cash bail. Rittenhouse is released. Jan. 5, 2021 – Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley finds officer Rusten Sheskey acted in self-defense in shooting Blake, saying Blake was armed with a knife and had resisted arrest. That same day Rittenhouse pleads not guilty to all counts in a video appearance at Kenosha County Circuit Court. Nov. 1, 2021 – Jury selection begins in the Rittenhouse trial. Nov. 2, 2021 – Trial begins with opening statements. Nov. 3, 2021 – Jurors see graphic videos showing the chaotic moments after Rittenhouse shot three protesters. Nov. 4, 2021 – One juror is dismissed for telling a joke to a sheriff’s deputy outside the courtroom about the police shooting of Blake. (Reporting by Nathan Layne in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Editing by Howard Goller and Lisa Shumaker) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sarah Jessica Parker still has all of her ‘Sex and the City’ clothes and props. The 56-year-old actress has reprised her role as writer Carrie Bradshaw in the upcoming HBO Max reboot, ‘And Just Like That…’, and she’s revealed she has held onto “every single solitary thing” used or won by her character in the hit series and two spin-off movies. Speaking to the December 2021 issue of Vogue magazine – of which she is the cover star – she said: “I had all of the original stuff in my own storage. Furniture, clothes, everything, packed according to season and episode and scene. “I kept every single solitary thing.” The iconic tutu skirt Carrie wore in the ‘Sex and the City’ is set to go under the hammer this week. The auction is in aid of Housing Works’ annual Fashion for Action fundraiser, and the show’s former costume designer Patricia Field has donated the sweet tulle-style skirt to benefit the non-profit working to support those living with HIV/AIDS and the homeless. Bidding kicks off at Housing Works’ Manhattan HQ in New York on Wednesday (10.11.21). Meanwhile, Patricia previously shared how Sarah Jessica “spoke the same language” as her when they worked on ‘Sex and the City’. The 80-year-old costume designer found it much “more interesting” working alongside someone who is “innovative in her own way” on set. Patricia said: “We kind of spoke the same language. She was innovative in her own way. I say, if I’m a good tennis player, I want to play with another good tennis player. It makes it more interesting.” She also revealed that Sarah’s alter ego’s popular oversized studded belt was worn more than once because she’s obsessed with belts. She said: “I love belts. I use them a lot. “The main thing about a belt is it defines the waist and can be worn over a coat, dress or pant.” View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House economic adviser Brian Deese on Monday said he expects lawmakers to work through issues with Democrats’ social spending bill this week and vote on the measure in the U.S. House of Representatives next week. “We’ll move this process forward,” Deese, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC in an interview. (Reporting by Susan Heavey) View the full article

Published by AFP After months of restrictions on travel, the United States is reopening land and air borders to foreign visitors Washington (AFP) – The United States reopens its land and air borders Monday to foreign visitors fully vaccinated against Covid-19, ending 20 months of restrictions on travel from around the globe that separated families, hobbled tourism and strained diplomatic ties. The ban, imposed by former president Donald Trump in early 2020 and upheld by his successor Joe Biden, has been widely criticized and become emblematic of the upheavals caused by the pandemic. The restrictions were particularly unpopular in Europe and US neighbors Canada and Mexico. In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, US borders were closed after March 2020 to travelers from large parts of the world, including the European Union, Britain and China, India and Brazil. Overland visitors from Mexico and Canada were also banned. The months of restrictions affecting hundreds of millions of people helped fuel both personal and economic suffering brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s been so hard,” Alison Henry, 63, told AFP. “I just want to see my son.” The British woman plans to fly Monday to see her son in New York, after 20 months of separation. Families on both sides of the Atlantic are eager to finally reunite with their loved ones. Although travel from the United States to Europe has been possible since the summer, foreign US residents holding certain visas have had no guarantee of being able to reenter the country. To cope with surging demand, airlines have increased the number of transatlantic flights and plan to use larger planes, as they work their way out of the pandemic crisis. Along the border with Mexico, many cities in the US states of Texas and California have faced economic struggles due to anti-Covid trade restrictions. Meanwhile, Canadian seniors will be able to resume their annual car trips to Florida to escape the bitter northern winters. But the cost of the PCR tests Canada is requiring for cross-border travel — up to $250 a pop — can be prohibitive. Ann Patchett, an Ontario resident, told the Ottawa Citizen that it will cost $500 for her and her husband to go south to visit family. “Do you want to hug your children? Do you want to tuck your grandchildren into bed?… It’s very frustrating,” she said. New York congressman Brian Higgins, whose district touches the Canadian border and includes the US side of Niagara Falls, plans to hold a news conference Monday with mayors from both countries to urge Canada to drop its testing requirement. Some restrictions remain – Lifting the travel ban will affect more than 30 countries. But entry into the United States will not be totally unregulated: US authorities plan to closely monitor travelers’ vaccination status and will still require them to present negative Covid-19 tests. The United States, from Monday, will require air passengers to be fully vaccinated and be tested within three days before travel. Airlines will be required to put in place a contact tracing system. The land border opening will happen in two phases. Starting Monday, vaccines will be required for “non-essential” trips — such as family visits or tourism — although unvaccinated travelers will still be allowed into the country for “essential” trips, as they have been for the last year and a half. A second phase, beginning in early January, will require all visitors to be fully vaccinated to enter the United States by land, no matter the reason for their trip. US health authorities have said all vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization would be accepted for entry by air. At the moment, this includes the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Covaxin, Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines. The United States has not yet commented on the increase in Covid-19 cases in Europe. The WHO has expressed “grave concern” over the rising pace of infections in Europe, warning that the current trajectory could mean “another half a million Covid-19 deaths” by February. But speaking for the United States, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Sunday on ABC that he’s “cautiously optimistic about where we are,” while adding: “We can’t take our foot off the accelerator until we’re at the finish line.” But in Berlin, 51-year-old Elisabeth Zours is ready to hit the gas — or as Mick Jagger would say, the “gas, gas, gas.” A lifelong Rolling Stones fan, Zours had to miss a St. Louis show by the rock supergroup in September due to Covid-19 restrictions and was “frustrated” by the slow US reopening. Now she plans to make up for lost time. “I’ve got tickets for four (US) concerts,” she said. “Their music,” Zours added, “is like a good friend.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Instagram post previews have made a return to Twitter. The photo-sharing platform has brought back support for Twitter to preview a snippet of a post when shared on the rival social media site, nine years after it was removed. Instagram controversially took the feature away when it was acquired by Facebook – which is now known as Meta – in 2012, but it has begun to return to some users this week, according to BBC News. The feature shows a small preview of the Instagram post when it is shared on Twitter, and both platforms have confirmed the reinstated feature will be available to everyone soon. A tweet on Twitter’s official support account read: “If you want to share your latest Instagram post on the Twitter timeline too, you’re in luck: now when you share a link to an IG post in a tweet, it’ll show up as a card with a preview of the photo (sic)” Instagram sparked controversy with users when it removed support for Twitter cards in 2012, and said at the time it wanted to take back control of its content following its merger with social media site Facebook. Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom insisted at the time that the mandate came from himself, and not Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg. He said Instagram was attempting to grow its web platform and shared hopes that the move would help increase traffic. View the full article