Dame Vera Lynn, the woman whose voice boosted British spirits during the darkest days of World War Two, has died at 103.Her family did not give a cause of death when it announced her passing Thursday in East Sussex.Along with Winston Churchill’s, Lynn’s was the most recognized and renowned British voice of World War Two.She was known as the “Forces’ Sweetheart,” serenading Allied soldiers and the British people with such sentimental but optimistic ballads as “We’ll Meet Again,” “The White Cliffs of Dover” and “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”FILE – Singing star Vera Lynn tries on a lampshade in London, Nov. 30, 1961.She also hosted “Sincerely Yours,” a hugely popular BBC radio show during the war that included messages to British soldiers and sailors overseas and songs she sang at their request.Lynn also toured army camps, entertaining British troops in person.”What they needed was a contact from home,” she said. “I entertained audiences from 2,000 to 6,000. And the boys would just come out of the jungle and sit there for hours waiting until we arrived and then slip back in once we’d left.”Her popularity endured after the war.A decade before the Beatles, her 1952 recording of “Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart” made her the first British singer to top the American record charts.She also found renewed fame when director Stanley Kubrick played her vintage recording of “We’ll Meet Again” near the end of his 1964 film “Dr. Strangelove.”Long after she retired, a 2009 compilation album, “We’ll Meet Again — The Very Best of Vera Lynn,” was a top-selling recording in Britain.Prime Minister Boris Johnson said her “charm and magical voice entranced and uplifted our country in some of our darkest hours. Her voice will live on to lift the hearts of generations to come.”Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth plans to send a personal note of condolence to Lynn’s family. Sir Paul McCartney tweeted that he is “so sad to hear of her passing but at the same time so glad to have met her and experienced first-hand her warm, fun-loving personality. Her voice will sing in my heart forever.”Sir Cliff Richard recalled performing with Lynn on the 50th anniversary of VE Day in 1995, calling her “a great singer, a patriotic woman and a genuine icon.”
…
Day: June 18, 2020
Top social media companies Google, Facebook and Twitter told U.S. lawmakers Thursday that foreign interference on their platforms has evolved significantly since the 2016 presidential election.The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence heard how these companies are adapting their approaches to combating disinformation as COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests and the upcoming 2020 presidential election present opportunities for the exploitation of partisan political differences in the United States.FILE – Nick Pickles, public policy director for Twitter, speaks during a full committee hearing, in Washington, Sept. 18, 2019.To date, Twitter has not seen signs of foreign actors attempting to exploit U.S. racial divides or differences of opinion on the coronavirus, Nick Pickles, Twitter’s director of global public policy strategy and development, told lawmakers.”We haven’t found evidence of concerted platform manipulation by foreign actors in either of those areas,” Pickles said.Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said his company has yet to see “coordinated inauthentic behavior on the part of foreign governments, particularly targeting voting systems or how to vote in the United States.”But in his opening statement, Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said that while social media companies have made efforts since the 2016 election to address concerns about manipulation of their platforms by foreign entities, “I can’t say that I am confident that the 2020 election will be free of interference by malicious actors, foreign or domestic, who aspire to weaponize your platforms to divide Americans, pit us against one another and weaken our democracy.”Representatives from Google, Facebook and Twitter told the panel they are seeing an evolution by many foreign actors, who are returning to methods last seen from the 1960s through the 1980s to disseminate misinformation and evade controls the companies put into place in response to concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 election. FILE – Facebook Head of Cybersecurity Policy Nathaniel Gleicher testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 22, 2019.”So far this year, we’ve taken down 18 coordinated networks seeking to manipulate public debate, including three networks originating from Russia, two from Iran and two based here in the United States,” Gleicher told lawmakers.A Pew Research survey found that 44% of Americans used social media platforms as a news source during the 2016 election. Lawmakers noted contentious discussions on social media do much of the work for malicious foreign actors.”I’m pretty convinced that when this republic dies, it doesn’t happen because the Russians broke into Ohio voting machines or they managed to buy ads on Facebook or Twitter. It happens because our politics become so toxic, so polarized, we don’t recognize each other anymore as Americans,” said Representative Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat. “All it takes is a match from Russia, from Iran or from North Korea, or from China to set off a conflagration.”The House Intelligence Committee is holding virtual hearings because of continuing concerns about the threat of COVID-19. Committee Republicans have chosen not to participate in these virtual hearings this week.The committee hearing marked the second time social media companies had briefed lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee about the security threat posed by bad actors on their platforms. In 2017, the committee released dozens of Russian-linked ads that circulated on Facebook ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
…
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist said Thursday the agency hopes there will be about two billion doses of a vaccine against COVID-19 by the end of next year that would be reserved for “priority populations.”Speaking at a virtual news conference in Geneva, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan told reporters, “It’s a big ‘if’ because we don’t have any vaccine that’s proven.”She said she is encouraged by the number of possible vaccines currently being tested and hoped at least one or two would prove ready for use by next year.Swaminathan said that the WHO recommends immunizing people at risk first, including the elderly and those with underlying conditions like diabetes or respiratory disease, as well as key workers. But she said countries must come to a consensus on which populations would be prioritized.Numerous developed countries including Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S. have already struck deals with pharmaceutical firms to secure vaccine supplies for their citizens.On Wednesday, EU Commission President Ursual von der Leyen announced a donor conference scheduled for June 28 designed to raise funds to ensure all people can get access to any vaccines or COVID-19 treatments that might become available.She said there is no place for “Me first” when it comes to fighting a global pandemic.The WHO and partners have called for drug makers to suspend their patent rights on any effective COVID-19 vaccine and for billions of dollars to buy vaccines for developing countries.
…
“That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson was charged with the rapes of three women in the early 2000s, Los Angeles prosecutors said Wednesday, the culmination of a three-year investigation that resulted in a rare arrest of a famous Hollywood figure in the #MeToo era.
The three counts of rape by force or fear against Masterson were filed Tuesday, and an arrest warrant isssued. Masterson, 44, was arrested late Wednesday morning, jail records showed. He was released a few hours later after posting bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 18.
Masterson’s attorney Tom Mesereau said his client is innocent, and “we’re confident that he will be exonerated when all the evidence finally comes to light and witnesses have the opportunity to testify.”
Prosecutors allege that Masterson raped a 23-year-old woman sometime in 2001, a 28-year-old woman in April of 2003, and a 23-year-old woman he had invited to his Hollywood Hills home between October and December of 2003.
If convicted, he could face up to 45 years in prison.
Prosecutors declined to file charges in two other Masterson cases that police had investigated, one because of insufficient evidence and the other because the statute of limitations had expired.
Masterson has been married to actor and model Bijou Phillips since 2011.
“Obviously, Mr. Masterson and his wife are in complete shock considering that these nearly 20-year old allegations are suddenly resulting in charges being filed, but they and their family are comforted knowing that ultimately the truth will come out,” said Mesereau, who has previously represented Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby in their trials for sexual crimes.
“The people who know Mr. Masterson know his character and know the allegations to be false.”
The women, whose names were not made public, issued a statement through their attorneys saying they have suffered “harassment, embarrassment and re-victimization” since they began cooperating with authorities.
“We are thankful that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is finally seeking criminal justice against Masterson,” the statement said. “We are confident that the truth will be known and hope that the charges filed today are the first steps in this long journey of healing, justice, and holding those that victimized us accountable.”
The alleged rapes came at the height of Masterson’s fame as he starred on the retro sitcom “That ’70s Show” alongside Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace. The series ran on Fox TV from 1998 to 2006 and has had a long afterlife in reruns.
He had reunited with Kutcher on the Netflix western sitcom “The Ranch” when the LAPD investigation of him was revealed in March 2017. The news did not have immediate career repercussions for Masterson, but later in the year, after allegations against Harvey Weinstein shook Hollywood’s culture, he was written off the show.
Masterson decried the Hollywood atmosphere that led to his losing the job, and also suggested at the time that his high-profile membership in the Church of Scientology was leading to his persecution.
He said in a 2017 statement that “in the current climate, it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused.”
Because police were already investigating him, Masterson’s case was not among those taken up by a task force formed by Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey to investigate sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry. That task force has declined to file charges in more than 20 cases in the two years of its existence, charging only Weinstein himself.
Los Angeles prosecutors have begun efforts to bring Weinstein to California to face charges of rape and sexual assault. He is being held in a New York prison after being convicted of similar charges earlier this year.
Masterson’s case still stands out as just the second set of charges Los Angeles prosecutors have filed against a famous Hollywood figure in the #MeToo era.
Masterson worked steadily starting in the early 1990s, largely in TV sitcoms including “Cybill” and “Men at Work” along with “That ’70s Show” and “The Ranch.”
His film credits include the 2008 Jim Carrey comedy “Yes Man,” “The Bridge to Nowhere” in 2009, in which he starred with his future wife Phillips, and 2011’s “The Chicago 8,” in which he played 1960s antiwar activist Jerry Rubin.
…
The Russian government has lifted a ban on Telegram two years after it announced attempts to restrict access to the encrypted instant-messaging app, the country’s communications regulator said Thursday.“As agreed with the Prosecutor General’s office, Roskomnadzor withdraws the demand to restrict access to the Telegram messenger,” the federal communications watchdog said in a statement.Roskomnadzor began blocking the popular app in accordance with a 2018 court order that demanded the messaging service be restricted because of its alleged use by Islamic State terrorists.Pavel Durov, the app’s Russian-born founder, was ordered to hand over the app’s encryption codes but refused, citing violations of user privacy.But even top-tier officials such as Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov continued using the app after its developers adjusted the code to slip past Roskomnadzor’s cybersecurity barriers.Its widespread use has continued, and even coronavirus task force operations in many Russian regions use Telegram for daily updates.Roskomnadzor on Thursday said it was prepared to lift restrictions because Durov, who has been living in self-imposed exile since 2014, was prepared to cooperate with Russian government counterterrorism efforts to combat extremism on the platform.Islamic State terrorists behind the November 2015 Paris attacks, which claimed 130 lives, used the app’s public channels to spread propaganda and other related content. The app shut the channels down after the attack.Telegram’s developers say that they have since increased their ability to spot and delete extremist content on the app without compromising user privacy.The Kremlin took note of Roskomnadzor’s decision and the reasoning for it, the Tass news agency reported, quoting Kremlin spokesman Peskov.Founded in 2013, Telegram now has an estimated 30 million users in Russia — nearly 20% of the population.Some information for this report came from AP and Reuters.
…
Турецкий спецназ в Ливии кошмарно оттрахал наемников обиженного карлика пукина
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
Ваши потенциальные клиенты о нужных им товарах и услугах пишут здесь: MeNeedit
Путляндські голодранці, польська перевірка карлика пукіна, комплекси наполеончика. Люті новини
Для поширення вашого відео чи повідомлення в Мережі Правди пишіть сюди, або на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
Ваші потенційні клієнти про потрібні їм товари і послуги пишуть тут: MeNeedit
Путляндія знову намагається захопити вулицю. І починає з вигулу тітушок шарія. Про те, як вата хоче повторити події весни 2014 та чому поліція їх захищає, дивіться у випуску.
Блог про українську політику та актуальні події в нашій країні
Для поширення вашого відео чи повідомлення в Мережі Правди пишіть сюди, або на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
Ваші потенційні клієнти про потрібні їм товари і послуги пишуть тут: MeNeedit
Журналисты разоблачили очередную схему фальсификации голосования за поправки в конституцию
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
Ваши потенциальные клиенты о нужных им товарах и услугах пишут здесь: MeNeedit
Каждый шестой холоп путляндии не может себе позволить покупать мясо, чтобы питаться в соответствии с нормативами минздрава
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
Ваши потенциальные клиенты о нужных им товарах и услугах пишут здесь: MeNeedit
Inside the Zarzuela Palace, the spacious residence of King Felipe VI of Spain, there is a corridor dedicated to cartoons about the royal family.Most of the light-hearted jokes are by Spanish media but there is also one from France’s Le Monde.Conspicuous by its absence is the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves (Thursday). This is no accident.When Felipe’s father Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014 after nearly 40 years on the throne, the magazine’s artists marked the occasion with a special front page cartoon.It showed the former king passing his son a crown covered in excrement – a pointed reference to the scandals which had led to Juan Carlos’ to quit the throne.It did not go down well at the Zarzuela. El Jueves was ordered to withdraw the magazine from sale and gave in to pressure as insulting the royal family is a criminal offense in Spain.“It seemed that we could make fun of Juan Carlos’ love life but if we said anything about his financial affairs or anything about how he ruled, that would not be tolerated,” Isaac Rosa, a former writer for El Jueves told VOA.“Many staff, myself included, left in protest. We all knew about these allegations but no-one reported it in Spain. That has changed now.”A financial scandal involving the 82-year-old ex-king has put into sharp relief Spaniards’ relationship with the monarchy.Spain’s supreme court prosecutor began an investigation into the role of its former king in a $7.5 billion deal to build a high speed rail link in Saudi Arabia.FILE – Spain’s Princess Elena waves to the crowds as she is escorted by her father King Juan Carlos to the altar of Seville’s cathedral on March 18, 1995.Prosecutors are examining if there is any evidence of money laundering and fraud after Juan Carlos left the throne as the Spanish constitution says serving monarchs cannot be prosecuted.The story revolves around allegations made by Carlos’ former lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a German businesswoman who splits her time between London and Monaco. She said they had maintained a relationship between 2004 and 2010. The king remains married to Queen Sofia.Sayn-Wittgenstein claimed in 2008 Carlos received a kickback of $100m from the Saudi Arabian royal family and he later gave her some $65 million which was deposited in offshore accounts.A magistrate in Switzerland is now investigating two financial advisers to Juan Carlos who handled accounts in Switzerland and Panama City.Spain’s relationship with monarchy has in recent years been an uneasy one.The longtime ruler General Francisco Franco nominated Juan Carlos as his successor before Franco died in 1975.Before Franco came to power after winning the civil war in 1936-1939, Spain voted in 1931 on whether to get rid of its monarch, Juan Carlos’s grandfather, Alfonso XIII, and usher in a republic. Alfonso fled.Juan Carlos was lauded for helping to uphold a fragile new democracy.In 1981, when armed police stormed the Spanish parliament in an attempted coup d’etat, Juan Carlos made a televised address to the nation backing democracy and faced down the plotters. The coup failed.Despite his love of bullfighting, fast cars and women to whom he was not married, the king was a popular figure.Yet doubts remained. Spaniards were often described as “more juan carlistas than monarquistas” meaning they supported the person of Juan Carlos more than the monarchy itself.Attitudes changed in 2012 when Juan Carlos had to be flown back from Botswana to Spain after he injured himself during a secret elephant hunting safari with Sayn-Wittgenstein.Spaniards were appalled as millions were struggling to survive a deep recession.When Felipe came to the throne he promised a “renewed monarchy for new times” and vowing to “listen, understand, warn and advise.”In March, Felipe was forced to renounce his personal inheritance from his father after it was alleged that he was set to receive millions of euros from a secret offshore fund linked to Saudi Arabia. The king also stripped Juan Carlos of his royal allowance.The king released an unprecedented statement saying last year he had become aware he was the beneficiary of an offshore fund and decided to renounce any benefit from this account.Now the issue has split the coalition government of the Socialists and the far-left Unidas Podemos.FILE – People fill the main square of Madrid during a march by members of the Podemos party, which hopes to emulate the electoral success of Greece’s Syriza party in elections later this year, Jan. 31, 2015.Pablo Echenique, parliamentary spokesman for Podemos, led a motion for a parliamentary commission to examine the ex-king’s financial affairs, but it was blocked by the Socialists who formed an unlikely alliance with the conservative People’s Party and the far-right Vox party.“Every time they need weaker arguments to continue protecting the royal household and to keep putting the king above the law. We will keep trying to change that,” Echenique tweeted.Pilar Eyre, a writer and royal expert, said the royal household should have addressed the financial allegations earlier to boost support for the monarchy.“The way the royal household has dealt with this has seemed clumsy. These allegations have been around for a time but they have not dealt with them properly in order to re-establish respect for the institution of the monarchy,” she told VOA.Conservative commentators have applauded the role of King Felipe in renewing faith in the monarchy and for his support during the COVID-19 crisis.Emiliano Garcia-Page, regional president of Castilla La Mancha, said: “I don’t think a debate over monarchy or a republic will be the best idea now. The king has been in touch with us throughout this crisis.”Spaniards may disagree.A poll published in April for Publico newspaper found 51.6 per cent of Spaniards backed a republic rather than a monarchy, while 34.6 per cent supported the crown. Just over 58 per cent said the matter should be settled by holding a referendum.The spokesman for the royal household declined to comment.
…
Engineers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, are developing new technology for health care workers on the front lines of fighting the spread of COVID-19. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from Chicago, an unexpected benefit of the current pandemic is technological innovation that could have a lasting impact.Camera: Kane Farabaugh Produced by: Rob Raffaele
…
Aerospace company Lockheed Martin says it has successfully completed a crucial test of the Orion spacecraft it is building for the NASA space agency to eventually return astronauts to the moon.The company released video Thursday of its most recent test conducted earlier this month at the company’s Waterton Canyon facility near Littleton, Colorado. After takeoff, the Orion must jettison three large service module coverings, known as fairings, designed to protect the spacecraft during the launch. The fairings must come off to lighten the load so the craft can reach space. Lockheed Martin said the test was successful and validated the jettison mechanisms, and will help the company as it builds new versions of the Orion.NASA hopes to launch the Space Launch System on its first test flight as early as 2021. The agency’s mission to the moon is scheduled for 2024, the first since 1972.
…
New Zealand on Thursday reported its third confirmed coronavirus case this week, a development that has prompted the government to further restrict its quarantine rules for those entering the country after it had declared local transmission of the virus eradicated.All three cases involve people who flew to New Zealand from elsewhere in the world, the latest coming from Pakistan. The man is in quarantine.Authorities are working to trace those who may have come into contact with the man and two women who flew from Britain and tested positive after being permitted to leave their quarantine early to see an ill relative.There are worries about rising case counts in other parts of the world.India reported 12,881 new confirmed cases Thursday, the highest one-day increase it has seen during the pandemic. The country now has about 367,000 confirmed cases, trailing only the United States, Brazil and Russia.US cases
More than a dozen U.S. states have reported their highest number of new cases in recent days, while deaths in the country continue their trend of declining.Oklahoma, where President Donald Trump is set to hold a political rally Saturday in the city of Tulsa, Wednesday reported 259 new cases during the previous 24 hours.“I know so many people are over COVID, but COVID is not over. COVID is here, it’s transmitting very efficiently in our community,” Bruce Dart, Tulsa’s top health official, said Wednesday. “If you’re in public, wear masks, social distance, pay close attention to handwashing and hygiene, and keep yourself safe and healthy.”Texas reported 3,100 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, a new record for the state, while California surpassed 4,000 new confirmed cases in one day for the first time.According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there were 840 new deaths from COVID-19. Wednesday marked the seventh consecutive day in which the U.S. death toll was under 1,000 people.New York has been the state hardest hit by the coronavirus, but Governor Andrew Cuomo celebrated progress Wednesday, saying, “We have gone from the worst infection rate in the country, to the best infection rate in the country.”Cuomo said there were 17 deaths reported on Tuesday, prompting him to declare it was one of the state’s best days since the outbreak began.
…
Вот и всё, обиженный карлик пукин переводит путляндию на бункерное положение
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
Ваши потенциальные клиенты о нужных им товарах и услугах пишут здесь: MeNeedit
Эксперты ожидают дальнейшего роста цен на бензин. Становится интересно, какой рекорд будет побит аккурат под обнуление путинского маразма, назначенное на 1 июля
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
Ваши потенциальные клиенты о нужных им товарах и услугах пишут здесь: MeNeedit
Понад три місяці Мінстерство освіти та науки України залишається без повноцінного міністра. Як так сталося? Та чому у це крісло хочуть посадити ректора Чернігівського університету Сергія Шкарлета, який довгий час поділяв політику «партії регіонів»?
Для поширення вашого відео чи повідомлення в Мережі Правди пишіть сюди, або на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
Ваші потенційні клієнти про потрібні їм товари і послуги пишуть тут: MeNeedit
Обиженного карлика пукина дерут как сидорову козу: лукашенко повышает ставки
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
Ваши потенциальные клиенты о нужных им товарах и услугах пишут здесь: MeNeedit