Broadway Legend Carol Channing Dead At 97

Actress and singer Carol Channing died early Tuesday morning at the age of 97 at her home in Rancho Mirage, California.
 Her publicist B. Harlan Boll confirmed she died of natural causes.
Whether you knew her as Dolly, Lorelei, Muzzy or just Carol, Channing was a one-of-a-kind talent who captivated any audience.
Her razor-sharp wit, gravelly voice and big, bright smile became the trademarks of a performer who originated some of Broadway’s most iconic roles throughout the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. Channing continued to share her gifts on stage into her late 90s, enshrining her in a class of Broadway luminaries all her own.

Carol Channing, the legendary Broadway actress who portrayed Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly! has died, her publicist said in a statement.

Channing was 97 and died at her home in Rancho Mirage, California.

24-year-old first openly gay rapper Kevin Fret shot dead in Puerto Rico

Popular gay rapper Kebin Fret who was known as an advocate for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community has been shot dead in Puerto Rico. The young man has been shot while riding a motorbike. According to BBC, Fret who was described as Latin Trap music's first openly gay artist had been shot eight times on Thursday, January 10. BBC disclosed that Fret was riding a motorbike on a street in San Juan when he was hit in the head and hip. According to the police, his death brings the number of murders in Puerto Rico to 22 this year.

Confirming his death, Fret's manager Eduardo Rodriguez said: "There are no words that describe the feeling we have and the pain that causes us to know that a person with so many dreams has to go.

"We must all unite in these difficult times, and ask for much peace for our beloved Puerto Rico."

What happened?

Fret was out in the Santurce neighbourhood of San Juan at 5:30 local time (9:30 GMT) on Thursday when he was fatally shot.

He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.

R. Kelly’s Daughter Calls Him A Monster

Celebrities and strangers are not the only ones who appear to be castigating embattled singer, R. Kelly in the wake of Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries that exposes his alleged sexual abuse of multiple underage girls and women.

The singer’s estranged daughter, Joan Lee Kelly popularly referred to as Buku Abi has broken her silence with a powerful statement condemning her father and in her statement, she strongly implies she and her family have also been abused by him.

In a lengthy message she shared on her Instagram page yesterday, January 10th, she apologised for taking so long to speak out explaining she has been searching for the right words for days.

She made it clear she has chosen to stay out of the spotlight because it’s better for her healing process and the constant reminders of “how terrible my father is” aren’t good for her so she has to do what’s best for herself.

The 20-year-old also expressed sympathy and devastation for all of the women who have been allegedly victimised by her father and makes it clear that she, her mother and siblings don’t condone any of his negative behaviour, past or present.

Abi in her post also suggests that she and her family have not had any relationship with Kelly for years, saying.

Two firefighters killed, dozens hurt in Paris explosion

Three people, including two firefighters, have died and dozens more people were injured after a gas leak caused an explosion in Paris, emergency services in the French capital say.

The blast occurred at a bakery at 9 a.m. local time on Saturday, as firefighters were responding reports of the leak.
Police had originally said four people had died, before revising down the death count.
"At this hour, 2 firefighters from the Paris fire brigade are dead. 10 people are seriously injured, including a firefighter. 37 people are in a state of relative emergency," French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner tweeted.
"Profound sadness. Standing by the families of victims. The nation shares in their pain," he added.
Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell Fontelles later said that a Spanish citizen died in hospital following the explosion, and that another Spaniard was injured.
Pictures from the scene, on Rue de Trevise in the 9th arrondissement of the French capital, showed smashed windows and scattered debris across the street, as fire crews evacuated people from apartments above the bakery.

At least three dead after shooting at California bowling alley

The Torrance Police Department urged people to stay away after shots were fired. The shooting, according to local media, Three people were killed, with another four injured.
A fight escalated into a shooting that killed three people and injured four others last night at the Gable House Bowl, a bowling alley and arcade in Torrance, Calif.
Family members have identified the victims.

13 dead in Czech coal mine explosion

A methane gas explosion in a coal mine in the northeast of the Czech Republic has killed 13 miners, the mining company said on Friday.

OKD, the company that operates the CSM mine near the city of Karvina, said 11 of those killed were Polish miners provided by a contractor agency, while two were Czech.
"Due to yesterday's mine disaster, 13 miners lost their lives -- 11 Poles and two Czechs," OKD spokesman Ivo Celechovsky said in a televised statement.
A further 10 miners were injured in the blast, with one in a critical condition, the Czech national news agency CTK reported.

The OKD mining company confirmed that 13 people died in the explosion.
OKD's managing director, Boleslav Kowalczyk, said search and rescue operations had to be called off because of poor conditions in the mine.

Bumblebee’ Review: If John Hughes Made a ‘Transformers’ Movie

Ok, we’re not sure, exactly, how to say this. It’s, um … well … right, fine [deep breath]. We’ll just say it.

So Bumblebee is a spin-off of the Transformers series, those Michael Bay movies of sound and fury and volume and lukewarm metal-on-metal action that are based on a line of toys, because cinema. You probably remember him somewhere within the haze of your post–Transformers-movies-screening memories, as very few human beings can recall much from those trainwreck blockbusters about good ‘bots and bad ‘bots, cars and jets, the fate of the world (we think?), etc. He’s the one who’s yellow and black, hence the name. Good friend of Optimus Prime. Hates Decepticons. Turns into a bitchin’ Camaro.

And the movie … it’s good. Not just “not bad.” It’s actually good.

Imagine if John Hughes made a Transformers movie. Or: Think E.T., but with auto parts. Or, possibly: The Iron Giant, stuck in a world where only ’80s action movies and vintage teen-angst movies exist. Or — and here’s where things admittedly get weird — an extension of a franchise not known for anything besides “big robots make boom,” only one with personality, wit, tenderness, imagination, emotional grounding, performances that don’t get drowned out by din and a soundtrack that favors The Smiths over Imagine Dragons.

We know, it’s a lot to process. Feel free to take a minute.

‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Review: Too Many Spoonfuls of Sugar

It’s no surprise that Mary Poppins Returns, an industrial-strength sugarplum, doesn’t 
live up to the 1964 original; how do you replace the immortal Julie Andrews as the London nanny who drops from the clouds to dispense tough love. Luckily, we have Emily Blunt, an actress who makes her own kind of magic in playing the impatient, imperious fixer once described as looking “like Joan Crawford trying to be nice.”

This sequel, efficiently directed by Rob Marshall, is set 25 years after the first film. But it follows the same beats, including a new score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman that sounds like warmed-over Sherman brothers. There are echoes everywhere of what came before — including a lamplighter named Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who’ll remind of you of Dick Van Dyke’s chimney sweep Bert, right down to the unapologetically fake Cockney accent. What’s the radical creator of Hamilton doing in this family-friendly escapism? The answer: having a ball. In his big-screen debut, Miranda has charm to spare and throws in a little rap during a number called “A Cover Is Not the Book.”
Set during the “Great Slump” on the 1930s, the film calls Ms.

‘Aquaman’ Review: D.C. Superhero’s Solo Movie Is a Waterlogged Mess

He’s the laughing stock of the DC Comics Extended Universe — and Aquaman’s solo movie almost gets by on razzle dazzle, since that’s all it has up its waterlogged sleeve. Not that this underwater superhero knows much from sleeves: A shirtless but never humorless Jason Momoa plays Arthur Curry, a.k.a. Aquaman, as if he were born to wield a trident. Yes, he looks nothing like the platinum blondie of the comic books. His half brother, King Orm (Patrick Wilson, in for the fun of it), is the one taking on that visage, complete with a dash of Draco Malfoy villainy. “I am the Ocean Master,” says Orm, seriously and hilariously. Ok, then.

But, wait, no jumping ahead. Aquaman is directed by James Wan, the horrormeister behind Saw and The Conjuring who’s showing off his lighter side. He gives the 143-minute film a propulsive drive, which comes in handy when the light dawns that the plot is going nowhere. The movie is an origin story from co-writers David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall, that starts out with a man having sex with a fish. That’s right. A human lighthouse keeper, Thomas (Temuera Morrison), working out of Amnesty Bay, Massachusetts, falls hard for Atlanna, the queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, when she washes up on shore. Nicole Kidman, of all overqualified actresses, plays her. And before long the interspecies couple is raising a son, Arthur, until Mom has to go back to sea on family business. As for the kid, he’s left to wonder whether he belongs to the surf or the turf.

Panic in Lagos suburb as vandals cause explosion

Reports reaching us Wednesday morning indicate that there is a raging fire at Ebule Egba in Lagos caused by activities of pipeline vandals.
Residential and commercial houses are reportedly affected. People are scampering to safety.
It was alleged that vandals had caused an explosion from the pipelines, which extended to Abule Egba Bus Stop.

Fire was said to have started 3:30am.

Details later..

Philippines contestant Catriona Gray named Miss UniversePhilippines contestant Catriona Gray named Miss Universe

Catriona Gray of the Philippines was named winner of the Miss Universe 2018 competition in the Thai capital Bangkok, besting contestants from 93 other countries to claim the prize.

The 24-year-old Gray edged out first runner-up Tamaryn Green of South Africa and third-place Sthefany Gutierrez of Venezuela.
Gray succeeds the 2017 winner, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa.

Nicki Minaj: 'Let's have a little empathy for Pete Davidson after suicide post'

Nicki Minaj has urged her fans to show more empathy for those suffering mental illnesses after comedian Pete Davidson worried followers with a worrying Instagram post.
Ariana Grande's ex-fiance has often spoken publicly about mental illness, and he offered his support to Kanye West on social media after the rapper discussed his bipolar disorder in a series of posts.
"No one would ever choose to end up in a mental hospital and diagnosed with a mental disorder but god chose me to publicly go through this journey and it is beautiful," the Life of Pablo hitmaker tweeted.
Pete praised the father-of-three for speaking candidly about his mental health struggles, but later shared a disturbing message on Instagram: "I really don't want to be on this earth anymore," he wrote. "I'm doing my best to stay here for you but i actually don't know how much longer i can last."

Frenzy as cash rains down on Hong Kong neighbourhood

A hail of banknotes rained down onto the streets of a working-class neighbourhood in Hong Kong, sending bystanders into a frenzy -- but the man who claimed to be behind the stunt was arrested Sunday.
Bills worth thousands of Hong Kong dollars were seen fluttering to the ground from the top of a building, as people tried to grab the falling cash and others filmed the scene on their smartphones.
A man who runs a cryptocurrency Facebook page live-streamed the prank Saturday in the Sham Shui Po district.

Right wing extremists being referred for deradicalisation programme rises by a third as Islamist suspects falls

The number of people flagged up to the authorities for right-wing extremism has surged to a record high, new figures reveal.

There was a 36% increase in the number of referrals to the Government’s Prevent programme over concerns about right wing extremism. It jumped from fewer than 1,000 in 2016/17 to 1,312 in 2017/18.

The Home Office figures also revealed a sharp rise in the number of children and teenagers being referred to the programme, up by a fifth to 2,009 including 297 girls.

More than half of those reported for possible deradicalisation interventions in 2017/18 were 20 or under.

The rise in right-wing extremism accounted for an overall 20% increase in referrals to Prevent, from 6,093 to 7,318 in 2017/18.

While Islamist concerns accounted for a larger proportion of referrals, the number in the category fell by 14% year-on-year.

“The Rise of Right-Wing Extremism, and How U.S. Law Enforcement Missed It”

Despite repeated warnings over the past two decades, federal law enforcement officials in the United States have ignored the threat of violence from far-right extremists. Now, they have no idea how to stop it.

Roughly 22 million Americans found neo-Nazi or white supremacist views “acceptable,” according to a poll taken after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.

White supremacists and other far-right extremists have killed more people in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, than any other category of domestic extremist — but the country’s counterterrorism strategy has been focused elsewhere. Read Janet Reitman’s article for the New York Times Magazine.

A jury has recommended that the man who drove into a crowd of anti-racism protesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last year spend the rest of his life in prison.