Author: Ohart

Bill Cosby’s lawyers have asked a Pennsylvania court to overturn the actor’s conviction and three- to 10-year prison sentence because of what they call a string of errors in his sex assault case.

The defense motion argued that trial Judge Steven O’Neill erred in declaring Cosby a sexually violent predator who must be imprisoned to protect the community. Lawyers called the sentence more punitive than necessary, given the standard two- to three-year guideline range for the crime and the fact Cosby is 81 and blind.

They also said the trial evidence never proved the encounter with accuser Andrea Constand took place in 2004, and not 2003, or that Cosby was arrested within the 12-year time limit.

Cosby was arrested on Dec. 30, 2015, and was convicted at a second trial this April. He has been in a state prison near Philadelphia since the Sept. 25 sentencing, when the judge refused to let him stay out on $1 million bail pending appeal. Given his fame, wealth and use of drugs to molest the accuser, the judge said, Cosby could remain a threat to other women.

The defense motion said O’Neill improperly considered the trial testimony of five other accusers in sentencing Cosby, instead of limiting that “prior bad act” testimony to the question of his guilt or innocence. O’Neill, in explaining the sentence in court, told Cosby he considered “voices from the past, your past,” and that he “heard their voices loud and clear,” the defense said.

The lawyers also challenged the state’s sex offender laws, which have been revised several times amid challenges they are unconstitutionally vague. The law requires judges to find that a sexually violent predator has a “mental abnormality,” a term they said has no legal or psychological meaning, yet subjects defendants to lifetime counseling and police registration.

The defense motion, dated Friday, was posted to a public court docket in the case over the weekend. Kate Delano, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, said the office will file a response.

The motion was filed by lawyer Peter Goldberger, a top appellate lawyer in the region, and Joseph P. Green Jr., who handled Cosby’s sentencing after more than a dozen other lawyers on the case had come and gone. A former appellate lawyer on the case is suing Cosby over what he called more than $50,000 in unpaid bills.

The defense also complained that an audio recording played to jurors of a 2005 conversation between Cosby and Gianna Constand, the mother of accuser Andrea Constand, was “not authentic.” They said they did not make the discovery until an expert review after the trial.

District Attorney Kevin Steele has dismissed that as a legitimate appeal issue, saying it’s been widely known that Gianna Constand started her recorder after the call began. She had called Cosby to get answers about what happened to her daughter after Andrea Constand disclosed the assault a year later. The family went to police, who suggested they try to record Cosby.

During the call, Cosby acknowledged engaging in “digital penetration” after giving her daughter pills he would not identify, and offered money for Andrea to attend graduate school, Gianna Constand testified.

“If that’s what they’ve got, it’s beyond a Hail Mary,” Steele said at the sentencing, as Cosby’s lawyers sought to keep Cosby free on bail over the tape recording. O’Neill instead had Cosby led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

 
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It’s Fashion Week season, and major cities around the world are gearing up to show off the latest trends in high fashion clothing and accessories. It’s also a busy time for the world’s top super models, who will grace the catwalks and runways in New York, London, Milan and Paris. VOA reporter Laura Sepulveda took in one of the more exclusive runways in New York City, where one model with Down syndrome saw her dream come true.
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Mormons will start spending less time at church each Sunday — two hours instead of three — after a change announced Saturday aimed at making worship more manageable for members around the globe. 

The change, which takes effect in January, is a significant one for Mormons, who since 1980 have been expected to attend all three hours each Sunday to be considered active members of the faith.

The news triggered widespread applause from members, with some posting celebratory memes on social media. It came during the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ twice-yearly conference, where a leader also reaffirmed the faith’s opposition to gay marriage and its belief that one’s gender is God-given and for eternity.

“The senior leaders of the church have been aware for many years that for some of our precious members, a three-hour Sunday schedule at church can be difficult,” said Quentin L. Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, church leaders who help run the faith. “This is particularly true for parents with small children, primary children, elderly members, new converts and others.”

The three-hour commitment is a hefty one compared with those of some other religions’ Sunday services. Many Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist churches, for instance, offer weekly worship that lasts about an hour or an hour and a half, along with voluntary classes and other gatherings throughout the week.

​Trying to be ‘proactive’

Church President Russell M. Nelson called the adjustment a new “home-centered church” strategy that comes as the faith expands throughout the world. More than half of its 16 million members live outside the U.S. and Canada.

“The long-standing objective of the church is to assist all members to increase their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his atonement,” Nelson said. “In this complex world today, this is not easy. The adversary is increasing his attack on faith and on families at an exponential rate. To survive spiritually, we need counterstrategies and proactive plans.”

Paulina Porras, a mother of 1-year-old twins, was ecstatic with the news. Her daughters aren’t old enough to go to children’s programs alone, so she and her husband have to care for them during Sunday church time.

“Staying three hours is impossible,” said Porras, 29, of Logan. “Two hours, we can do.”

Instead of attending two meetings each Sunday beyond the one-hour worship — such as Sunday school, men’s and women’s groups — members will attend one each Sunday, with the meetings rotating throughout the month, Cook said. 

‘Crazy’ family schedules

Marc Fisher, an insurance company owner from Las Vegas, also lauded the change. Three hours each Sunday can be intimidating for potential converts and wayward members, and the change gives families the flexibility to weave in gospel activities at home.

Fisher, 38, has seven children ranging in age from 7 to 25 who are busy with piano, volleyball and homework, he said. He plans to have more one-on-one talks with them.

“Schedules are crazy for a lot of families,” Fisher said. “Sometimes you hear in the church we’re caught up with checklists, the pressure and the stress of just meeting everything.”

While U.S. members most likely will welcome the new schedule, it seems to mainly reflect the church shifting its focus away from being heavily Western American, where most members live near chapels and can handle the three-hour Sunday commitment, or worship block, said Mormon scholar Matthew Bowman, an associate professor of history at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

“This change is geared toward making participation in the church more flexible and increasingly targeted toward smaller congregations: A shorter worship block means less volunteer demands upon the congregation, fewer jobs which need to be filled, and generally easier administration,” Bowman said in an email.

Church membership growth has decreased in recent years, with membership growth in 2017 being the slowest in 80 years, according to independent Mormon researcher Matt Martinich. The number of convert baptisms in 2017 reached the lowest level in 30 years, he said.

This is mainly due to slowed growth in the countries with the most members: the United States, Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines, Chile and Peru, Martinich said.

Accent on efficiency

He doesn’t think the Sunday change is aimed at increasing retention, but rather at using church resources and members’ time more efficiently. The switch could allow multiple congregations to use the same church building in places like Utah where there are large numbers of members. It also will let members do personal and family gospel activities on their own time, he said. 

The two-day Mormon conference kicked off a day after the faith announced it was renaming the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir to drop the word “Mormon.” The singing group, now called the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, performed at the conference, as it always does. 

The decision to rename the choir the was the first major move since Nelson in August called for an end to the use of shorthand names for the religion that have been used for generations by church members and the public.

The comments about gay marriage and gender came from longtime Quorum of the Twelve member Dallin H. Oaks, who called on members to oppose “social and legal pressures to retreat from traditional marriage or to make changes that confuse or alter gender or homogenize the differences between men and women.”

Oaks said those relationships and identities are “essential to accomplish God’s great plan” and that Satan “seeks to confuse gender, to distort marriage and to discourage childbearing — especially by parents who will raise children in truth.”

The comments align with past positions by the faith, which has tried to take a more welcoming stance to LGBTQ people while sticking with fundamental opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender operations. 
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The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements address the sexual harassment and abuse of women by powerful men in Hollywood and elsewhere today. But systemic sexism in the film industry goes back decades, influencing how stories have been told on the silver screen.

Consider the cartoon Pepe Le Pew, about a persistent skunk in relentless pursuit of Penelope Pussycat. When the TV series first appeared, more than half a century ago, it was considered cute and romantic.

Today’s audiences find the skunk’s unwanted advances creepy, and reflect female characters as passive sexual objects, said George Mason University professor Lisa Koch.

Domestic abuse and patronizing behavior of husbands toward their wives were often glorified as passionate relationships, Koch added, such as in the narrative of the 1939 epic drama Gone with the Wind. The character of Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable, is derisive and controlling toward his on-screen wife, Scarlett O Hara, played by Vivien Leigh. She is scripted as petulant, erratic and manipulative. 

Hollywood glamorized and validated the hypermasculine male character who had to rein in the manipulative and childlike female characters, Koch said.

On screen, behind the scenes

Sexism and abuse on screen also reflected the pervasive sexual abuse actresses often endured behind the scenes, said Giovanna Chesler, director of film and video studies at George Mason University. 

“You read about how Bertolucci and Marlon Brando had an arrangement for their actress in Last Tango in Paris. They knew that this would be a rape scene they would be filming but she (actress Maria Schneider) did not.” Chesler was referring to Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci as well as U.S. actor Brando.

In her 2016 autobiography, Tippi Hedren: A Memoir, the actress who was Alfred Hitchcock’s main muse and star of his films The Birds and Marnie, writes that when she turned down the filmmaker’s sexual advances, he threatened to destroy her career.

Chesler says this pervasive culture of sexism and blackmail produced men like Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

“He was the Oscar maker and he anointed all of these actresses into Oscar-producing roles.” Chesler said. “They thought that once they really broke through, they would get out of being sexualized on screen. How ironic that in order to do so, they had to deal with this predator.”

Dozens of women have accused the disgraced Hollywood studio boss of sexual misconduct that includes harassment and assault. Earlier this year, Weinstein was indicted on sex crimes charges but remains free on bail while he fights the accusations.

Beyond Hollywood

Since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements began, many films have offered more nuanced and textured female characters and are telling more women’s stories. 

But activists say more needs to be done to increase women’s equitable treatment in Hollywood. Lisa Koch says there is definitely power in the number of women who are uniting against sexism and sexual abuse from all walks of life. 

“It started with 300 women in Hollywood,” she said. “It has expanded dramatically, so 700,000 farm laborers pledged their support and that is just one example across the spectrum. Within the first 60 days, the movement raised $21 million in financial backing.”

WATCH: Sexism, Assault in Workplace, Including Hollywood, Stopped by Balancing Power

Activist and filmmaker Shannon Lee says female producers and behind-the-scenes artists are offering women jobs, equal pay and creative expression, such as film producer Ava DuVernay, who has an artist collective that distributes films and mandates that all the directors be female.

Lee cautions, however, that sexism against women in the workplace is too pervasive to change overnight. 

“When there is an imbalance of power, there is an abuse of power. USA Today did a survey that came out in 2017 saying that 94 percent of women in the film industry have had some experience of sexual harassment or sexual assault,” Lee said.

Koch offers another statistic: “Ninety-five percent of Hollywood directors are men, 18 percent of those involved in film production as directors, producers, writers cinematographers, editors, are women.”

Both women say the goal in the industry is 50/50 by 2020. 

“Where there is 50 percent male and 50 percent female, you don’t have the opportunity to this gross misconduct,” Lee said.

Sunu Chandy is the legal director of the National Women’s Law Center in Washington. She represents thousands of women who have come forward to seek legal support against sexual harassment and discrimination. She says both the #MeToo movement, where women openly addressed the abuse they suffered at the hands of men, and the #TimesUp movement, where sexual predators like Bill Cosby have been prosecuted and convicted for their crimes, are significant legal steps in establishing gender equity in Hollywood and elsewhere. 

“Hiring women into roles that are traditionally male roles is absolutely something that we are pushing for,” Chandy said. “But if someone goes there and is sexually harassed and leaves, it’s continuing the problem. If the Time’s Up fund helps that case to come forward and be publicized and that company takes meaningful steps to create a better workplace, more women will be encouraged to apply there.”

Chandy says that although progress is being made in offering women the legal help and support they deserve, much still has to be done to bring about real change in the workplace, be it a factory, a farm or a Hollywood movie set.
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Since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements began, many films have offered more nuanced and textured female characters and are telling more women’s stories. But activists say more needs to be done to increase women’s equitable treatment in Hollywood. In this installment, VOA’s Penelope Poulou talks with activists, filmmakers and actresses about the legal and behind the cameras groundwork that will empower women in the film industry.
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The discrimination and objectification of women in Hollywood is not a new phenomenon. For decades sexist behavior by powerful men in the industry has been part of the star system, and it has influenced how stories were told on the large screen. In the first part of a two-part series on Gender Inequality, VOA’s Penelope Poulou examines sexist stereotypes in iconic films that have permeated our popular culture.
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The Yazidi community in Iraq and around the world expressed joy and hope after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its 2018 Peace Prize to Nadia Murad, a Yazidi activist and survivor of sexual slavery by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

Murad will be sharing the prize with  Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist who treated thousands of women victims of rape and sexual violence.

The Nobel Peace Committee praised Murad’s courage because she did not accept the social codes that require women to remain silent and shamed after abuse.

“She has shown uncommon courage in recounting her own sufferings and speaking up on behalf of other victims,” the Norway-based Nobel Peace Prize Committee said.

Members of the Yazidi community told VOA their voices are now being heard and their plea for justice after the Sinjar massacre is being acknowledged by the world. 

Nagham Hasan, an Iraqi Yazidi activist and a gynecologist who offered treatment and counseling for many Yazidi women in refugee camps in Iraq including Nadia Murad, told VOA that the recognition of Murad is not just the recognition of the plight of Yazidi women, but also everyone else in Iraq who suffered at hands of extremists.

“When Nadia escaped her captivity and arrived to the camp in Sinjar she was traumatized and afraid, but now she blossomed into this strong woman and became the voice of all men and women victims of sexual violence,” Hasan said.

Hasan’s work was recognized in 2016 when she was awarded the U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage Award for “promoting gender equality, combating gender-based violence, and providing psychological support for survivors of violence.”

Women struggle

Mirza Dinay, a Yazidi physician who helped hundreds of Yazidi girls seek asylum in Germany, told VOA that he is thrilled that Murad got this prize, which is a symbol of women’s struggle against sexual violence worldwide. 

“This is a win for Iraqis, Kurds and the Yazidi community and I hope this will encourage the Iraqi government to provide more support to the girls and women survivors of sexual violence,” Dinay said. 

Dawood Saleh, a Yazidi man from Sinjar who has resettled in the U.S., told VOA that Murad’s persistence in making the world listen to Yazidis’ plight has paid off.

“As a Yazidi survivor from IS genocide I feel happy that Nadia received this award. It means to me that Yazidis have value in the world,” Saleh said.

Murad’s reaction

According to United Nations, at least 10,000 Yazidis were either killed or abducted during the IS attack on Sinjar in 2014. The attack sparked international outcry and condemnation.  

Murad was one of those kidnapped by IS in Sinjar mountain in northwestern Iraq. She was sold several times as a sex slave to different IS members before she managed to escape after 3 months in captivity.

In reaction to Friday’s announcement, Murad told Nobel Committee that she did not think that she had the strength to do the work she has been doing. 

She said she derived her strength from thinking about what happened to her community and from the loss of many of her family members including her mother. 

“This prize will make the voices of women who suffered from sexual violence in conflict heard, especially the women in minorities like my community the Yazidis. It tells us that our voices will be heard,” Murad told the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Murad has been a strong advocate for justice for all Yazidis who were kidnapped and abused by IS and continues to raise her voice against sexual violence.

“Whatever has happened to Yazidis, from August 3rd (2014) till now, they should get their justice. An international tribunal should be formed as soon as possible and Yazidis and other minorities who cannot protect themselves should be protected,” Murad told VOA in 2016 during an exclusive interview. 

Yazidi rights groups estimate about 3,000 women and children remain missing, while thousands live under dire conditions in refugee camps in Iraq.
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Ben Affleck says battling addiction is “a lifelong and difficult struggle.”

The actor posted on Instagram Thursday that he has completed a 40-day stay at a treatment center for alcohol addiction and remains in outpatient care.

The 46-year-old says the support he’s received from family and friends has given him strength to speak about “his illness” with others. He says he is fighting for himself and his family.

Affleck says battling addiction is a full-time commitment and “one is never really in or out of treatment.”

He had previously sought treatment in 2001 and 2017.

Affleck has been separated from actress Jennifer Garner since 2015. They have three children.
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Monica Lewinsky is teaming up with celebrities for an anti-bullying campaign that targets name-calling.

Appearing Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Lewinsky says the #DefyTheName campaign calls on people to change their social media names to include the names they were bullied by. Lewinsky says she’ll now be known as ”Monica Chunky Slut Stalker That Woman Lewinsky.”

Lewinsky says she had a long list of names from childhood on. She says name-calling is the most common form of bullying and it’s important not to let those names define you.

Lewinsky says organizers want to recreate a community of empathy online.

Lewinsky was a White House intern when she had an affair with President Bill Clinton. Clinton initially denied the affair before admitting to it in 1998.
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With the digital era in full swing, sketchbooks are likely to be gathering dust in desk drawers around the world. But for the founder of the Brooklyn Art Library, sketchbooks are precious, the nondigital predecessors of Instagram. As part of a special project, the library has created a business by collecting thousands of sketchbooks from people who pay to submit theirs to the collection. Elena Wolf has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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Marion “Suge” Knight was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for mowing down and killing a Compton businessman in a case that completed the former rap music mogul’s downfall from his heyday as one of the biggest and most feared names in the music industry.

Knight will now spend much of the rest of his life, if not all the rest, in a California prison. He showed no emotion in court Thursday as relatives of Terry Carter, the man he killed, described their loved one as a devoted family man and peacemaker.

Carter was killed after Knight and one of his longtime rivals, Cle “Bone” Sloan, started fighting outside a Compton burger stand in January 2015. Knight was upset about his portrayal in an N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, on which Sloan was serving as a consultant. Knight clipped Sloan with his pickup truck, seriously injuring him, before speeding through the parking lot and running over Carter and fleeing.

While Carter’s relatives said they hoped Knight’s lengthy sentence would bring them peace, many had no kind words for the Death Row Records co-founder, whom they criticized for showing a complete lack of remorse.

Carter’s daughter Crystal called Knight a “low-life thug,” “career criminal” and “a disgusting, selfish disgrace to the human species.”

“I ask that you sentence this unrepentant, remorseless, cold, callous menace to society to the maximum of 28 years,” she told a judge.

Pleaded no contest

Before Thursday’s hearing, Knight had already agreed to his lengthy prison term by pleading no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge and avoiding a trial on murder and attempted murder charges that could have resulted in a life sentence if he was convicted. The sentencing ended a nearly four-year court saga that included frequent outbursts by Knight, 53, who also collapsed in court during one appearance and shuffled his defense team 16 times.

Between the restrictions of the three-strikes law and the time Knight has already served, he’ll likely spend roughly 20 years in prison before he’s eligible for parole. 

Knight has been in decline for decades. At his pinnacle in the mid-1990s, he was putting out wildly popular records that are now considered classics from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.

Shakur was in Knight’s car when he was killed in a drive-by attack in Las Vegas in 1996.

Knight later lost his stake in Death Row Records in bankruptcy proceedings.

Nearly two dozen of Carter’s relatives packed the courtroom Thursday. Carter’s daughter, Nekaya Carter, said she hoped that the end of the courtroom saga could bring her some peace.

“I wanted justice for my dad and now we’ve finally got it, kind of,” she said.

She then addressed Knight directly despite the judge’s instructions not to: “My dad can finally rest in peace while you live out the rest of your life in prison.”

Carter’s sister, Jessica Carter, told Los Angeles Superior Court Ronald Coen, “He was so much more than the person the defendant killed with his truck.” 

‘He helped people’

There have been disputed accounts of why Carter was at the scene, but his family said he often acted as a community mediator and peacemaker.

“This wasn’t no cat who went after nobody,” Carter’s brother-in-law Damu Visha said in court. “He helped people.”

The death was captured on surveillance video, and family members described their anguish at having to see it repeatedly, and chastised the media for showing it so often.

Coen appeared moved by the family’s words and offered his own condolences. 

“If it hasn’t been said by anyone else,” Coen said, “let me tell you that my heart goes out to you.”

Most of the victim’s family members spoke of the need to forgive Knight for their own peace of mind.

“I hope and I pray that we find forgiveness,” Terry Carter’s cousin, Patricia Hawkins, said. “But it won’t be today.”
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EgyptAir is standing by a writer for its in-flight magazine who penned a bizarre article purportedly based on an interview with American actress Drew Barrymore.

The article, riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors, led with a description of Barrymore as “being unstable in her relationships” and quoted her as saying that motherhood was “the most important role in my life.”

In a tweet sent late Wednesday in response to online criticism, the national carrier thanked author Aida Tekla for “the clarification” in which she claimed the interview was indeed real and took place in New York.

Barrymore has yet to issue an official statement and her representatives could not be reached for comment. Press reports in the U.S. have quoted representatives as denying any such interview took place, with some suggesting the author must have based her article on misinterpretations of a press conference.

Barrymore shot to fame as a child starlet in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film “E.T.” and is now featured in the Netflix horror-comedy series “Santa Clarita Diet.”

The article on the inflight magazine Horus was first noticed by Yemen analyst Adam Baron, who published photos of it on Twitter and called it “surreal.”

The article says Barrymore had failed relationships because her parents divorced.

“It is known that Barrymore had almost 17 relationships, engagements and marriages; psychologists believe that her behavior is only natural since she lacked the male role model in her life after her parents’ divorce,” Tekla wrote.

In another passage, she quoted Barrymore as being pleased with recent weight loss after having a second daughter. Another quote describes Barrymore as celebrating women’s achievements in “the West” because they handle tasks that men cannot.

“Women exert tremendous efforts that men are incapable of exerting due to their numerous commitments and obligations,” the article quoted her as saying.

EgyptAir’s inflight magazine has Arabic and English sections, but translations are often poor and English-language articles are filled with errors.

The Egyptian government has waged a heavy crackdown on dissent and independent media in recent years, and has passed vaguely worded laws that criminalize the spreading of false news.

 

 
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Cristiano Ronaldo has been left off Portugal’s national team squad for a pair of upcoming matches, the decision coming as the soccer great fights rape allegations in the United States.

Ronaldo has been accused of rape by Kathryn Mayorga, who says the player assaulted her in Las Vegas in 2009. He has denied the accusation.

 

Ronaldo was left off the squad for Portugal’s second game in the UEFA Nations League at Poland on Oct. 11 and a friendly match in Glasgow against Scotland three days later. The Juventus forward also missed Portugal’s first two post-World Cup matches last month, with coach Fernando Santos saying Ronaldo had only just moved to the Italian club and was still settling down there.

 

Santos used the 33-year-old team captain’s absence last month to try out younger players.
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Paper can be much more than just a surface to write on. Paper Trails’, is an annual exhibition held at Cleveland, Ohio’s Morgan Conservatory that showcases dozens of works of paper art that stretch the imagination. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.
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Chelsea Clinton says she’s naturally an optimist and despite enduring name-calling from the time she was a child, she chooses to answer insults — even on Twitter — with kindness and respect.

“Cyberbullying is a huge challenge across our country. I think we need those of us with platforms to not ignore the trolls, not to become consumed by them, but to shine a light and say here’s how you can respond where you’re calmly defending yourself but you’re also showing it’s not OK and you’re not degrading your own humanity in doing that,” the 38-year-old mother of two said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.

It’s one of several messages in her new book, “Start Now! You Can Make a Difference,” released this week. In it, Clinton encourages children to make a positive change in the world by educating themselves and taking action. The book focuses on preserving the environment, helping save animals, staying healthy and putting an end to bullying.

“Start Now!” is Clinton’s fourth children’s book. Her role as an author is one of several that Clinton juggles, including motherhood, being vice chairman of the Clinton Foundation and teaching at Columbia University. Her latest book was inspired by the notion that age doesn’t matter when it comes to activism.

“I’ve always believed that you’re never too young or too old to make a difference. And then when I became a mom, I think I felt that even more keenly because all of a sudden I had, you know, first Charlotte and then Aidan, these little people in the world, I wanted the world to be a healthier, more equitable, more just safer place for them than previous generations,” she said.

Making the world a safer place, in Clinton’s eyes, also means abolishing bullying.

It’s a topic Clinton knows only too well, enduring brutal criticism of her looks when she was growing up in the White House (“Saturday Night Live” did a skit poking fun at her at the time). There were also those who targeted her because she was the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

“So when I was confronted directly — even as a child — and people would say awful things to me, I would say, ‘I’m sorry you feel that way. I don’t feel that way. I don’t think I’m ugly or born in sin or the family dog or that my parents should have aborted me or you know that like we all should be dead,’” she recalled. “I mean these are all things that people said to me when I was a kid and they were always said by much older people.”

Decades later, the taunts still come — these days via social media. At first Clinton ignored them, but recently she started to speak up.

“I started to worry that by ignoring it, it wasn’t depriving the trolls of oxygen, it was maybe taken as kind of implicit — not endorsement — but that I was somehow OK with that language and that behavior,” she said. “And I think particularly being a parent now I never want my kids or any kid to think that that’s OK.”

She added: “And I do think even if you don’t agree with me politically it’s never OK to attack me personally in the same way, like if I don’t agree with you politically it’s never OK for me to attack you personally, and so I want my children to see their mom standing up for respect and kindness and to know that that is not a sign of weakness.”

Clinton pointed to a recent mention of her family that came from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as he defended himself against sexual assault allegations in a combative hearing on Capitol Hill. He said allegations against him came from Democrats seeking revenge over the Clintons; Kavanaugh was an investigator for Kenneth Starr, who led the probe of then-President Bill Clinton that led to his impeachment.

While Clinton had already opposed Kavanaugh — in part over concerns about abortion rights — when he mentioned her family, her feelings were cemented.

“I thought, ‘Oh goodness like judge Kavanaugh, I don’t even think I knew who you were until you were nominated.’ So clearly we were looming larger in your mind than at least you were looming in mine,” she said. “But even if he’d gone after a former Republican president or a current Republican senator or politician I would feel the same way, that that kind of blatant partisanship should be disqualifying.”

While Clinton worked for her mother during the 2016 presidential campaign, she’s hoping the people who pick up “Start Now!” will be Democrats and Republicans.

“And I hope that children whose families come from across the political spectrum would read this book and then think about how to channel whatever kind of their political values are … into issues that they care about.”

 
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How much did movie fans hate “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”? Perhaps not as fiercely as social media might suggest, according to a U.S. academic study which found that half of negative tweets about the 2017 movie came from bots, trolls or political activists, some of whom may be Russian.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” which focused on aging Jedi Luke Skywalker’s reluctance to be drawn back into the battle against the dark side in the sci-fi saga, prompted criticism online after its December 2017 release.

Many lashed out at key roles given to women and actors of color in the movie, while others were dismayed at the apparent death of Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill.

The Disney movie took $1.3 billion at the global box-office, compared to $2 billion for 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

A study by University of Southern California (USC) research fellow Morten Bay, released on Monday, analyzed the language, Twitter handles and IP addresses of more than 1,200 tweets sent to “Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson’s Twitter handle in the seven months after the film’s release.

“Overall, 50.9 percent of those tweeting negatively was likely politically motivated or not even human,” Bay wrote. He said they appeared to be using the debate around “The Last Jedi” “to propagate political messages supporting extreme right-wing causes and the discrimination of gender, race or sexuality.”

“A number of these users appear to be Russian trolls,” Bay added in the paper, called “Weaponizing the Haters: The Last Jedi and the strategic politicization of pop culture through social media manipulation.”

Disney did not respond to a request for comment on the research but Johnson said on Twitter that the overall findings were “consistent with my experience online.”

“This is not about fans liking or not liking the movie – I’ve had tons of great talks with great fans online and off who liked and disliked stuff, that’s what fandom is all about. This is specifically about a virulent strain of online harassment,” Johnson tweeted on Tuesday.

Bay compared his findings to other studies around attempts to influence Americans through social media platforms.

Bay said the likely objective was to increase “media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society.”

A U.S. Senate panel has been examining reported Russian efforts to influence U.S. political public opinion before and after the 2016 election of President Donald Trump.
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Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner is back with a new television series, but while this one is set far from the 1960s world of advertising, he says the themes are much the same.

The Romanoffs features eight contemporary drama stories about people who believe they are descendants of the Russian royal family, and a handful of Mad Men actors, including Christina Hendricks and John Slattery.

Released on Amazon on Oct. 12, it is Weiner’s first television venture since winning nine Emmys for Mad Men, whose tale of restless and conflicted American ad executive Don Draper ended in 2015.

Weiner, who created, wrote and directed The Romanoffs, says the series looks at questions of identity, and nature versus nurture.

“But even though my work is viewed that way, I really wanted to do a show that was entertaining,” Weiner said of the show at its premiere in London on Tuesday.

The Romanoffs is set in seven countries, and each self-contained episode has a different cast, including Diane Lane, Corey Stoll, Paul Reiser, Isabelle Huppert and Marthe Keller.

Weiner said he was attracted to the story because of what the Romanoff name says about current notions of celebrity and fame. The Russian imperial dynasty ruled for 300 years until the 1917 Russian Revolution, when 18 of them were killed and more than 40 remaining members fled abroad.

“It’s a time when we’re wondering why we used to be great,” he said. “Part of my fascination with the Romanoffs was that it [royalty] still has so much prestige.”

Early reviews for The Romanoffs, which will roll out on a weekly basis on Amazon, have been mixed. Variety called it “ambitious,” Rolling Stone said the episodes had “moments of brilliance amid unchecked sprawl,” and IndieWire called it “shallow and self-indulgent.”
…

In the new movie Venom, British actor Tom Hardy plays an investigative journalist whose body is invaded by an alien with violent instincts who feeds on a diet of human flesh.

It is a darker tale from the Marvel Comics superhero universe than what audiences have seen in recent films such as the Avengers series released by Walt Disney Co.

“His version of doing good is just eating,” Hardy said of Venom. “The world is an all-you-can-eat buffet, and human beings are on the menu, so that’s not great for humanity as your hero.”

The story is a Jekyll-and-Hyde tale where Hardy’s journalist character, Eddie Brock, tries to keep Venom’s bad behavior under control.

Venom is being released by Sony Pictures, which owns rights to several Marvel characters that are not owned by Disney.

Hardy said Venom has similarities to several classic monster movies.

“There’s an element of original Ghostbusters, a slightly ’80s retro vibe to it, which I enjoyed, and a bit of Teen Wolf and American Werewolf in London vibe to it,” Hardy said.

The star said he also received input from his 10-year-old son on how to play the role.

“My son’s a massive fan of Marvel and Venom, and he was very clear about what I can and can’t do,” Hardy said at the movie’s red-carpet premiere, adding, “It’s very odd, being told what to do by your son who’s 10 and him being right.”

Venom co-stars fellow British actor Riz Ahmed as villainous corporation owner Carlton Drake and Michelle Williams as Brock’s former girlfriend. It is the first time Oscar-nominated Williams has starred in a superhero movie.

Venom was created by comic book writer Todd McFarlane, who invented the new character after he struggled to draw Spider-Man.

“Venom is a byproduct of me wanting to draw a blue-and-red Spider-Man costume,” McFarlane said. “Thirty years later, you’ve got a big movie!”
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Simply pumping money into anti-trafficking efforts will not achieve a global goal of ending modern slavery by 2030, experts said on Tuesday, urging greater cooperation between governments, companies and charities to raise awareness and take more action.

Countries should not solely focus on funding but strive to better share information on slavery to boost law enforcement, improve data and strengthen laws, activists, lawyers and government officials said at a conference at the United Nations.

“The world needs to better gather more data on anti-slavery interventions to attract more interest and new partners,” said Amir Dossal, head of Global Partnerships Forum, a non-profit aiming to build partnerships around the 2015 U.N. global goals.

“It is not just about funding, it’s about intellectual resources and partnerships,” he said at an event on modern slavery held a week after the U.N. annual world leaders’ summit.

With slavery increasingly regarded as a major global issue, there is growing scrutiny on initiatives to meet a U.N. goal to end by 2030 a trade estimated to enslave about 40 million people and raise annual illicit gains of $150 billion for traffickers.

To achieve that target, about 9,000 people per day must be saved from or stopped from falling into slavery, and pledging more money alone will not suffice, according to several experts at the annual Global Sustainability Network (GSN) conference.

Scarce data, inconsistent global coordination, and varying views on what constitutes modern slavery and how to end it are hindering the effectiveness of anti-slavery cash, experts said.

“We need to change attitudes (around slavery) … it is not just about money,” said entrepreneur Raza Jafar, founder of the GSN event. “There is a lot of such money wasted by non-profits.”

Hungary’s U.N. representative, Katalin Bogyay, called for a “free flow” of information between nations to end slavery while Vladimir Bozovic, a state advisor for Serbia, said it was not a “fight of individuals, but a fight for all levels of society.”

“The reality is that the traffickers are winning … we are losing,” said Peter Talibart, a London-based labor lawyer.

“All of the legal frameworks of the U.N. have failed to contain the crime, it is getting bigger, not smaller,” he added, urging more nations to adopt tough new anti-slavery laws and follow the example set by Britain’s landmark 2015 legislation.

Several conference delegates — from filmmakers to non-profit founders — pointed to the potential of younger generations to effect change through their ethical concerns, purchasing power and capability to put pressure on businesses and governments.

For Karla Jacinto, a Mexican sex trafficking survivor and activist, changing public perceptions around slavery is vital.

“It’s not the acts of bad people that hurt me the most,” she told the conference. “It’s the indifference of the public.”
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It’s hard to miss some of the trash and recycling trucks rumbling through the streets of Washington. Twenty five of them are covered with colorful artwork, ranging from birds, flowers and butterflies to abstract images.

As some sanitation workers do the dirty job of dumping trash into one of those trucks, their job is made a bit more pleasant by rolling along with Shelby, the name of one Department of Public Works trash vehicle bearing vibrant abstract art. 

‘I like the attention’

“It is real fun. It gets us more attention. I like the attention,” said truck driver, Sanders Wright.

Wright is proud of the truck, which is wrapped with a vinyl copy of an original painting, highlighted with the head of a woman with one eye, a house and a bird. Wright, who is married with 11 children, said he’d never reveal who Shelby is named after but he has been riding with the truck for several years. His only criticism of the painting is that he wishes Shelby had two eyes.

Shelby and some of the other art-covered trucks began hitting the streets five years ago. They are part of a city initiative to promote recycling, while showcasing local artist talent. The original paintings, drawings and mixed media are copied onto large pieces of vinyl that are placed on the trucks.

As Sanders maneuvers the truck through narrow alleys, residents enjoy watching Shelby passing by.

“It is pretty cool,” said one woman who brought out her trash can. “Adds some color to the neighborhood.”

People are friendlier

Wright said people have become friendlier since the art initiative began, getting to know the workers by name and even bringing them cookies and other treats.

“It makes you feel good that you have some citizens come out or the children say, ‘Hey, that is a nice truck. I like that art. I like your truck.’ And you just toot the horn or wave to them thank you.”

“I think the art design of the truck is really nice,” said a Washington resident from Senegal who takes a moment to admire Shelby. “It is another opportunity for an artist to show what he can do.”

Recently wrapped

And that includes artist Michael Crossett, who back at the yard where the trucks are parked, is looking at a truck that was recently wrapped with one of his paintings.

Crossett likes the publicity his painting of a gritty urban landscape of Washington in mostly red and black will get. He’s pleased the image will be seen in “diverse communities all over the city,” noting it will get more exposure than it would in an art gallery.

Crossett painted the original image over photos of the city that include the U.S. Capitol and a Metro train.

“It is actually a combination of probably 250 images,” Crossett explained. “Then it was digitized to be placed on the truck.”

He said the painting shows the vibrancy of Washington.

“The international view of Washington, D.C. is so political, and it is a different world when you live here, so my paintings generally show the street life and the energy that is D.C.,” said Crossett.

The artist said he welcomes the predictable dirt and trash on the painting.

“I actually use images of grit or images of concrete to gritty up my work, so in the end, I think this is the perfect kind of marriage, where some trash will add to the color of my art,” Crossett said and laughed.
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Organizers of Asia’s largest film festival have issued a rallying cry to its supporters as the event emerges from years of starring in its own political drama.

The Busan International Film Festival hopes to draw a line under its role in a bitter row over the sinking of the Sewol ferry — one of South Korea’s deadliest ever disasters — which divided and traumatized the nation.

“This edition of the festival is a reunion,” said Lee Yong-kwan, chairman of the BIFF organizing committee. “This year is about our recovery and a return of our status. It’s about expansion and reformation.”  

The festival opens on Thursday with the world premiere of South Korean director Jero Yun’s “Beautiful Days,” which focuses on a North Korean family reunited after the mother escapes south looking for a better life.

Its theme of reconciliation seems a fitting one considering the troubles BIFF has endured since the festival screened a controversial documentary about the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014.

“The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol” was critical of the then-government’s handling of the tragedy in April 2014 that left more than 300 people dead, most of them school children.

Investigations into and charges against festival organizers followed, along with significant funding cuts, as the dispute between BIFF and the government played out in public.

Lee and former deputy festival director Jay Jeon were initially removed from their posts but have been reinstated for this year’s edition, while the new government of President Moon Jae-in has thrown its support behind the festival.

“We hope this year to become a place that once again brings filmmakers together and that the festival can be back on track,” said BIFF programmer Nam Dong-chul.

The 23rd edition of the BIFF runs from October 4-13 and will feature 323 films from 79 countries, including 115 having their world premieres.

The Korean film industry is expected to be out in force on opening night with an array of local celebrities gracing the red carpet, including star of the opening film Lee Na-young, as well as Park Hae-il and Moon So-ri, who have brought the Zhang Lu-directed romance “Ode to the Goose” to the festival.

 K-Pop star turned actress

Joining them will be the likes of Hollywood producer Jason Blum (of Oscar-nominated “Whiplash” and “Get Out” fame), acclaimed Chinese art-house darling Zhao Tao (“Ash is the Purest White”) and Indian hit-maker Rajkumar Hirani (“3 Idiots”).

Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto will also be in town to accept BIFF’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award as well as to perform on opening night.

Highlights of the festival’s main programs include the world premiere of multi-award-winning Hong Kong auteur Stanley Kwan’s latest, the theatre-themed “First Night Nerves.”

Local films as always feature prominently, with 16 world premieres in the Korean Cinema Today section including the debut as a lead actress from sometime K-Pop star Choi Soo-young (Girls Generation) in “Memories of a Dead End.”

The festival’s main competition — the New Currents award for first- or second-time Asian filmmakers — will this year be contested by 10 films from seven countries.

It features a rare Bhutanese production, the drama “The Red Phallus” from Tashi Gyeltshen.

Hong Kong filmmaker Yuen Woo-ping — famed for his work on the Oscar-winning “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and on Hollywood’s “Matrix” franchise — has returned to the director’s chair for the actioner “Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy.”

The film will bring the festival to a close on October 13 with its world premiere.

“The unique part of BIFF is that it represents a wide range of cultures and filmmakers,” said Yuen.

First-time Malaysian director Zahir Omar is among the new talents on show.

Omar is bringing his stylized thriller “Fly By Night” to BIFF for its world premiere and said being accepted by the region’s preeminent festival felt “surreal.”

The Busan festival “allows us the space and support to develop our art,” said Omar. “Many international festivals overlook [Asian filmmakers’] efforts, but [BIFF] has become a festival that we all aspire to get into at some point in our careers.

“To say it is a big event would be an understatement,” he said.
…

When Bradley Cooper saw Lady Gaga perform “La Vie en Rose” at a fundraiser at the home of entrepreneur Sean Parker, it wasn’t one of the important moments along the road to making “A Star Is Born.” It was, Cooper says, THE moment.

 

“She demolished the room,” he recalls, still wide-eyed about it. “I knew that was plutonium.”

 

The next day, Cooper went to Gaga’s home in Malibu to confirm that what he had seen the night before was real. He arrived hungry. Gaga — whose friends call her by her real name, Stefani — fed him some leftover spaghetti, and the two East Coast, Italian American-raised performers (Cooper is from Philadelphia, Gaga New York) felt an immediate, natural connection. “Instantly,” says Gaga. “When I saw his eyes, when I opened the door.”

 

Within minutes, they were singing by Gaga’s piano and “A Star Is Born” was, well, born.

 

“And when I heard him sing! My God! I stopped playing the piano and I was like, ‘Bradley you can sing!'” said Gaga, sitting next to her co-star and director. “And he was like, ‘Really?’ And then he said, ‘Let’s film it.’ He started filming it on his phone.”

 

Cooper shakes his head. “It was nuts.”

 

It can be hard to separate the already mythologized transformations — Cooper directs! Gaga acts! — that fueled “A Star Is Born” from the fictional fable of fame, itself. In both the movie’s creation and in the finished product are lessons of bold chances and artistic integrity, of personal frailty and popular success. “A Star Is Born” is a movie mirrored by its making.

 

“A Star Is Born” is the fourth version of the story (or fifth, depending on how you count). First was George Cukor’s “What Price Hollywood?” in 1932, followed by William Wellman’s 1937 remake. Later came one with Judy Garland and James Mason in 1954 and one in 1973 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.

 

A new “A Star Is Born” has been in development for about two decades at Warner Bros., with various incarnations once planned around Will Smith and Whitney Houston, or Beyonce and Leonardo DiCaprio with Clint Eastwood directing. Cooper, who starred in Eastwood’s “American Sniper,” first discussed acting in the film for Eastwood before deciding to direct, too. For encouragement, Eastwood visited the set on the first day of shooting.

 

“I remember he said he liked my boots,” says Gaga. “I turned bright red.”

 

Cooper, though, put his own imprint on “A Star Is Born,” retailoring the story and  he hopes — launching himself as a writer and director. With meticulous preparation, Cooper — ever the student — threw himself into the new role. Often, he could be found under a table in a scene with a monitor so as to be as close as possible to the actors. “He was tireless,” says Sam Elliott, who plays Cooper’s brother in the film. “He never quit on it, from beginning to end. It probably drove the studio nuts at some point that he wouldn’t quit on it.”

 

“Being 39 when I started this journey, I just realize: Time is the biggest currency. If I don’t do what I keep feeling inside, constantly seeing shots in my head,” Cooper says, trailing off. “I always knew that at some point I had to stop critiquing other movies and just make one.”

 

Cooper stars as Jackson Maine, a hard-drinking, country-rock ‘n’ roll star in the vein of Gregg Allman. (Maine’s band is played by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Neil Young’s regular backing band.) When Jackson ducks into a drag bar for a drink, he’s blown away by Ally (Gaga), who’s there singing — what else — “La Vie en Rose.”

 

A naturally talented singer who has essentially given up on her music dreams, Ally has always been told her look (and her nose) isn’t quite right. She and Jackson quickly fall in love, even as Jackson’s drinking problem worsens, but not before they can together forge something honest and beautiful through music, catapulting Ally to stardom.

 

“When I’m watching it back, I see myself as a much younger girl, more like when I was 15 writing songs at the piano,” says Gaga. “What Jackson is trying to teach her is something that I still want to give more of in my music now and in the future. It’s the nakedness of talent.”

 

A rare fervor has greeted Cooper’s “A Star Is Born.” Its trailer has been watched more than 10 million times, many of them repeat, misty-eyed views. And if there’s one thing that accounts for its swoon-inducing power it’s this self-empowering message of fame coming to those who are true to themselves.

 

It’s something that resonates for many in the cast, too, like Anthony Ramos, who plays Ally’s best friend. The 26-year-old actor, who grew up in the projects of Bushwick, Brooklyn, caught his big break when Lin-Manuel Miranda cast him in “Hamilton.”

 

“I’ve had teachers tell me, ‘You have to be this or you have to be that to be successful. You have to change the way you speak. You have to grow your hair out.’ I’ve had people tell me all kinds of things to give me the formula for success,” says Ramos. “But what I realize, which you find by the end of this movie, all you gotta do is love yourself and believe in yourself, and continue to be your truest self.”

 

For even the 74-year-old veteran actor Elliott, “A Star Is Born” has been cause for reflection on his own path. For decades, Elliott, with his sonorous drawl and trademark mustache, has been resolutely himself, in any role.

 

“Nobody’s ever going to confuse me with a chameleon. I’m just not one of those kind of actors,” says Elliott. “Ben Johnson told me one time: ‘I might not be a very good actor, but nobody else can play Ben Johnson better than I can.’ And that somehow resonated with me. It was about character. It was about integrity. It was about what makes up the man.”

 

Gaga, who has rallied her fans (“little monsters”) around a message of self-acceptance, says she identifies equally with her character and with the more troubled Jackson. The pop star has previously been forthright about her struggles with mental health, and has said she was raped at age 19.

 

“Jackson’s plight in the film and his substance abuse, it really stays with me. The mental health aspect, the substance abuse aspect, the trauma aspect. I told Bradley right after we watched it in Venice that I had to take 30 minutes to myself in a back room somewhere,” says Gaga. “If I act again, the experience has to be as deep as this one or it wouldn’t be fulfilling to me.”

 

Cooper, too, says “A Star is Born” has altered him.

 

“I find myself thinking of lines Jackson says often, just in terms of taking on a new project: What am I trying to say and how am I going to say it?” the 43 year-old says. “Any other project that comes after this, I just have to be brutally honest with myself and listen to Jackson.”

 

Ramos’ success recently inspired his own older brother to — like Ally does in the film — quit his job and “go for it.” After “A Star Is Born” opens in theaters Friday, more walkouts may follow, more stars ready to be born.

 

“Everybody quit their job!” jokes Ramos. “Naw, not everyone can quit. We need some people working.”
…

A Christian TV network is entering the crowded world of 24-hour news broadcasting at a time when the mainstream news media is under increasing attack by President Donald Trump and some of his supporters, many of them evangelicals.

 

The Christian Broadcasting Network’s news channel will provide a religious perspective that other channels lack, CEO Gordon Robertson told The Associated Press in an interview in advance of the network’s formal launch Monday.

 

The CBN News Channel, to air on local television stations in 15 U.S. cities, will produce original programming and commentary on everything from the power of prayer to Justin Bieber’s faith and Christian persecution in the Middle East, Robertson said last week.

 

Robertson, son of evangelist Pat Robertson, said he wants the channel to bring people together. But it is making its debut in an increasingly fractured media landscape and divided nation. Trump sometimes uses evangelical outlets to reach supporters, while shunning other news outlets.

 

“Trump’s modus operandi is not essentially to reach out to new audiences, but to create division and polarization to energize his base,” said Mark Ward, an associate professor of communication at the University of Houston-Victoria, who writes about evangelical mass media.

 

“If that’s your strategy and evangelicals are such a huge part of your base, why would you not use the media organs that are available?” Ward said.

 

Pat Robertson helped revolutionize religious TV through the Christian Broadcasting Network. He also ran for president in 1988 and worked to galvanize conservative Christians into a political force in the 1990s.

 

Last year, Trump told Pat Robertson on his show, “The 700 Club,” that he has “a tremendous audience.”

 

“You have people that I love, the evangelicals,” Trump said.

 

David Brody, CBN’s chief political analyst in Washington, also has interviewed the president as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, among others in the White House. Brody recently co-authored the book, “The Faith of Donald J. Trump.”

 

Critics have accused Brody and the elder Robertson of being less than objective.

 

“Brody has bragged about having unprecedented access to this White House, which makes sense because he’s throwing them softballs,” said Kyle Mantyla, a senior fellow for the liberal organization People For the American Way, which runs the Right Wing Watch project.

 

Gordon Robertson said critics are missing the point.

 

“What I think is missing is an opportunity for someone to come in and just tell their story from their point of view, not give it an angle, not try to be argumentative,” he said. “I think we’ve been criticized for allowing people to speak. But from my point of view, we want that.”

 

For the past two decades, CBN has produced shows and run them on the ABC Family channel, now known as Freeform, as well as CBN’s own online platforms.

 

Many of those shows will run on the new channel, which is airing on the sub-channels that local stations started broadcasting after switching to a digital signal.

 

Among the shows included in the news channel’s lineup are “Jerusalem Dateline” which will focus on Israel, and “Faith Nation” which is centered on politics. The channel also will provide programming about healthy living and entertainment, Gordon Robertson said.

 

Those profiled by CBN include Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who went to jail in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The network also has been monitoring the story of Andrew Brunson, a U.S. pastor detained in Turkey on charges of espionage and terrorism-related crimes.

 

The battle over Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, fueled much of the channel’s news shows last month during its soft launch in a handful of U.S. cities.

 

“We don’t always sit here and say, ‘Is there a Bible story that corresponds with this today?'” news director Rob Allman said during an interview last week at CBN’s studios in Virginia Beach. CBN also has studios in Washington and Jerusalem.

 

CBN is launching the new channel in part to appeal to a growing number of viewers who cancel cable subscriptions in favor of streaming services and free broadcast TV.

 

The nonprofit channel’s success will mostly depend on donations, not advertisements.

 

Most donors are older and like to watch TV.

 

“There’s something that happens to people after the age of 50,” Gordon Robertson said, “where they start thinking about legacy and they start thinking about eternity.”
…

Twice a week, a group of women gathers in downtown Leesburg, Virginia, to get their hands dirty. They’re taking an art class at the Clay and Metal Loft. The studio was founded by two local artists and serves two purposes: it’s a work space for producing and selling pottery and jewelry, and it’s a community space for the aspiring local artists to gain the skills and confidence needed to start their own business.

Hands in clay

 

In the Clay Hand-Building class, ceramist Amy Manson shares techniques with participants who seem to be enjoying what they are learning, which today is using the pinch pot process to create a pumpkin. “So, we’re making two pinch pots and closing them to make a round orb and sculpt it to look like a pumpkin. The first time might be a little bit scary. They are not sure, a little bit intimidated on how hard to push or how the clay is going to react, but after one time, they get a little more confidence and feel good about it.”

Barbara Johnson is one of Mason’s students with a background in art. She started doing pottery three years ago.

 

“I do lots of painting, very much crafting,” she said. “I love to do decorating. I’ve done stained glass. I’ve done all kinds of things. I like to go from thing to thing to thing. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing pottery though. Having your hands in clay is just this calming kind of thing and it’s so creative because you may start out thinking you’re going to make this piece, and it turns to something totally different.”

 

Johnson set up a pottery studio in her home and has recently begun selling her work to a local retailer. She admits, “I’m humbled a lot of times, when someone says they want to want to purchase my things, and have them in their home. It’s just one of the things that make you feel so good.”

 

Even though she’s selling her work, Johnson still enjoys Manson’s class. “Amy is amazing as far as allowing us to learn her different techniques, all the things she learned over the years. She shares all of it. Just the little things that you go. ‘Ah, that’s amazing. I can incorporate it in doing my pottery at home.’ Being with other gals, I’m loving just the idea of being with women who are amazing potters and you’re in the process of learning all the time from everyone else.”

 

Transforming experiences

 

For her part, Manson says inspiring others, passing on skills and watching them grow is rewarding.

About five years ago, she and her friend, Ann Andre, started looking for a space to start this business. “We thought it would be a lot of fun to give back a little bit,” says Andre, who has 30 years of experience as a goldsmith and metalsmith. “We had been working in our own businesses, but then to teach and have other people work. We thought wouldn’t it be great to do something that was more clay and jewelry making because we didn’t see anything like that before?!”

The feedback from students, she says, has all been positive. “When they start, they see a project that we’re going to do for two hours and they don’t think they can do it,” she explains. “Then, they realize, ‘Oh, I can. I can transform this.’ They hammer the metal. They get an effect. They never thought they could do themselves. They form things like a bracelet. They’re just excited they made this and they go out wearing it, which is really nice.”

 

That’s how her student, Jennifer Metesh, feels, when she wears the turquoise and silver pendant she made. “I’m a country girl grew up with horses,” Metesh says. “Turquoise is always a kind of a symbol of that rustic look.”

 

Considering a second career beyond horses, she’s finding a potential in jewelry making. “I wanted it to be my fun thing. I feel that there has been such a revival of the handmade items that people are more willing to pay for something that is made by a single artist than something that’s mass produced.”

 

The founders of Clay and Metal Loft want to be part of that revival. Through summer camps, they want to inspire kids. And through their monthly ladies’ night workshops, they try to help busy professionals unwind.

 

Their goal is to become a creative, fun space for the entire community of Leesburg.
…

French singer Charles Aznavour has died at the age of 94, French media reported on Monday, citing his spokesman.

Aznavour, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries.

He was often described as France’s Frank Sinatra.

Aznavour began his career peddling his music to French artists of the 1940s and 1950s such as Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier and Charles Trenet.

He discovered his talent for penning songs while performing in cabarets with partner Pierre Roche, with Roche playing the piano and Aznavour singing.

It was after World War II that Piaf took notice of the duo and took them with her on a tour of the United States and Canada, with Aznavour composing some of her most popular hits.

The young Aznavour grew up on Paris’ Left Bank. His father was a singer who also worked as a cook and restaurant manager, and his mother was an actress.

Aznavour’s first public performances were at Armenian dances where his father and older sister Aida sang, and the young Charles danced.

President Emmanuel Macron was a big fan of Aznavour and sang many of his songs during karaoke nights with friends when he was a student, according to former classmates.

 
…

2018 marks the 120th year of the world-famous Paris Auto Show. Car manufacturers parade their products, which have dramatically changed through the years in response to, among other things, rising oil prices and climate change. Even women’s participation has evolved from objectified accessories to full-fledge participants. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.
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