At the Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday night, Selena Gomez did what we’re sure many a female star has wanted to do over the years: walked up to the podium barefoot.
On the red carpet, Selena wore black heels, but then tripped and fell to her knees, in full view of the press. She then took off both shoes and walked off the carpet barefoot. Later, when she came on stage to present the award by Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, she was still barefoot.
Of course, the Only Murders in the Building star still looked fabulous, wearing a black Oscar de la Renta gown and a Bulgari diamond necklace worth $1 million.
The SAG Awards also saw Lady Gaga and her A Star Is Born co-star/director Bradley Cooper reuniting: They hugged each other when they saw each other at the event, where both were nominees. Unfortunately, both went home empty-handed.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — There is growing evidence that Ukraine is managing to inflict significant casualties on Russian forces as they try to advance deeper into the country — and that the swift strike Russia hoped to carry out on the capital, Kyiv, has been slowed by intense and popular resistance.
Russia hasn’t managed to make significant progress in the last two days. The main Russian force pushing down from Belarus towards Kyiv does not appear to have advanced closer towards the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Ukraine’s military claims the Russian troops are struggling with fuel and logistics supplies. Images and videos of destroyed Russian military vehicles and tanks, which have been verified, have been circulating online.
One example of the effective Ukrainian resistance took place Sunday when Russia appeared to mount a half-hearted attempt to destroy resistance in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv.
Russian special forces units in light armored vehicles tried to push into Kharkiv after indiscriminately bombarding the city with artillery, but they were rapidly destroyed by Ukrainian troops and volunteer territorial defense, according to videos posted online.
Kharkiv’s Mayor Oleg Sinegubov on Sunday night pushed a triumphant message, saying that “control over Kharkiv is completely ours” and that Ukrainian forces had succeeded “in a full clearing of the city of the enemy.”
Sinegubov said dozens of Russian troops had surrendered with little fight, sometimes in whole groups of five to 10 men, with some abandoning their equipment.
A number of military analysts — including those that correctly predicted the invasion — believed Russia had hoped for a lightning “shock and awe” advance to the edge of Kyiv in the first days that would lead to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government surrendering without Russia needing to actually seize the city. Instead, the resistance is growing, officials said.
“It is clear they hoped to get Zelenskyy to surrender quickly without inflicting heavy casualties on the Ukrainian military [and] civilians. That failed, but their execution still appears to be fairly restrained,” Rob Lee, analyst from Kings College London’s War Department, wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
Lee said that strategy had now failed, and that Russia would have to move to a plan B, which he feared would mean “more force.”
Time is working against Russia. Ukrainian popular resistance is gaining in self-confidence, and the Russian piecemeal strategy so far has allowed cities more time to set up defenses, putting in place barricades and distributing thousands of weapons.
In Berdyansk, the only major city Russia has gained full control of, videos posted to social media Monday showed a crowd of residents angrily chanting a slogan insulting President Vladimir Putin at Russian troops guarding a government building on the main square.
At the same time, the international response is also growing, with more sanctions and moves aimed at crippling Russia’s economy, while European countries are sending more and more weapons to bolster the Ukrainian defense, with the European Union also announcing that for the first time it would provide Ukrainian officials with military support.
Russia has so far held back its main army and has been using its air and artillery power against military targets, avoiding widespread, intense bombardment against civilian areas. Analysts, including Lee, said Russia appeared to have initially sought to inflict limited casualties on Ukrainian civilians and the military, likely out of concern about backlash in Russia and making it harder to achieve a swift political change in Ukraine, as well as a stronger international reaction.
U.S. officials and independent analyst now fear if Russia’s attempt to overpower Ukraine quickly fails, it may turn to using more brute force to achieve it. That could mean unleashing indiscriminate artillery and airstrikes to destroy Ukraine’s military and terrorize civilians, as well as besieging cities.
That already appears to be happening in Kharkiv, where Russia in the last two days has fired heavy artillery, including “Grad” multiple rocket launchers onto the city, causing significant damage to civilian buildings.
“I think today we’ve seen a shift in Russian targeting towards critical civilian infrastructure, greater use of MLRS, and artillery in suburban areas. Unfortunately, my concern that this was going to get a lot more ugly and affect civilians is starting to materialize,” Michael Kofman, an analyst at CNA, who also predicted the invasion as likely, tweeted late Saturday.
U.S. officials caution, though, that Russia still has major combat power yet to be deployed, with roughly half its forces massed near Ukraine still not engaged. A massive 3-mile-long column of hundreds of vehicles has formed up in northern Ukraine after crossing from Belarus and appears to be moving towards Kyiv.
Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Neil Diamond has joined the “sell your catalog” club of veteran musicians.
Universal Music Group has acquired Diamond’s entire catalog, as well as the rights to all his recordings, including 110 unreleased tracks, an unreleased album, and archival long form videos. The legendary singer, who turned 81 in January, has sold more than 130 million albums over the past 50 years. No price was reported for the deal.
Universal Music Group has overseen Diamond’s publishing since 2014. The deal also brings together recordings he made for UMG, like “Sweet Caroline,” “Red, Red Wine,” “Cracklin’ Rosie” and “Song Sung Blue,” with his earlier recordings for the BANG label, and his post-1972 work.
UMG will also release Diamond’s future music, if he decides to make any.
“After nearly a decade in business with UMG, I am thankful for the trust and respect that we have built together,” Diamond said in a statement, adding that he feels “confident” that the company will “continue to represent my catalogue, and future releases with the same passion and integrity that have always fueled my career.”
As previously reported, The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise will premiere at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre on June 21, where it’ll have a six-week engagement before heading to Broadway.
(WASHINGTON) — Jury selection was set to begin Monday morning in the case of Guy Reffitt, who faces five felony counts in the first trial of an alleged participant in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The stakes are high for prosecutors because the trial will be closely watched by hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants who have yet to enter into plea deals with the government.
It marks a significant turning point for the Justice Department nearly 14 months into its sprawling criminal investigation of the attack, and depending on the outcome, could prompt guilty pleas or encourage defendants to fight in court.
Reffitt, a 49-year-old man from Wylie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is one of several Jan. 6 rioters accused of possessing a firearm while on Capitol grounds. Prosecutors say he traveled from his home in Texas to Washington with an AR-15 rifle and Smith and Wesson .40 caliber pistol, though he is only alleged to have carried the pistol in a holster during the riot itself.
He was seen in pictures and videos with the mob outside the West Front of the Capitol, wearing body armor, a helmet and carrying flexicuffs, prosecutors said.
He allegedly “confronted Capitol Police officers” on stairs just north of the temporary scaffolding that had been put up in advance of the Biden inauguration. At one point he allegedly charged at police, but was stopped after they shot him with two different types of less-than-lethal projectiles and then pepper spray. After returning home following the riot, Reffitt is alleged to have threatened his children if they reported him to law enforcement.
Reffitt has been held in pre-trial detention since arrest on Jan. 16, 2021, due to his alleged dangerousness to the general public. Reffitt’s trial will take place at the D.C. District Court in Washington, D.C. Jury selection is expected to last a day or two.
In a recent filing, prosecutors said they expect to call 13 witnesses in Reffitt’s trial. This will include representatives from Capitol Police, the FBI, Secret Service, a counsel to the Secretary of the Senate, Reffitt’s son and daughter, and a fellow member of the Three Percenter militia who traveled with Reffitt to D.C. and has been granted immunity for his testimony.
Reffitt is not alleged to have entered the Capitol, but prosecutors are looking to persuade a jury that he joined with hundreds of others in the mob seeking to disrupt Congress’ certification of Biden’s election win.
Reffitt’s attorneys tried and failed to get Judge Friedrich to dismiss the charge against him that he sought to obstruct the certification — the felony charge that is one of the most crucial to Justice Department’s prosecution of the riot and which has been leveled against more than 275 other defendants. The charge itself carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Reffitt’s attorney, William Welch, has argued there are several deficiencies in the government’s case. Specifically, he has sought to argue that Congress’ convening on Jan. 6 to certify the results of the 2020 election should not count as an “official proceeding” under law, and that there is no evidence Reffitt acted “corruptly” with the intention of disrupting lawmakers discharging their duties that day. Welch has also argued Reffitt’s comments to his family that he was charged for were merely “idle threats,” and noted that Reffitt’s wife and daughter both have said they never feared for their personal safety despite his comments.
Reffitt spoke to ABC News from jail in December, saying, “This has been disastrous for me and my family, especially for my girls, my son — actually, all of my family.” He also said he believes he’ll be exonerated at trial. “It’s not that hard to prove that I didn’t do anything,” Reffitt said. “It should be pretty easy.”
According to recent filings in the case, prosecutors will look to underscore the dangers that the pro-Trump mob posed to lawmakers, former Vice President Pence and American democracy itself as they attacked the Capitol that day.
At the trial, first-hand accounts from government officials as well as a mountain of video are expected to be shown. Photo and audio evidence that they’ll use to implicate Reffitt as they paint a picture of an American man radicalized to carry out an attack against his own government and the rule of law.
Variety reports that Steven Spielberg is developing an original feature film based on Frank Bullitt, the fictitious San Francisco cop first played by Steve McQueen in the 1968 thriller Bullitt. The original was based on the 1963 novel Mute Witness, which followed Bullitt’s investigation into the death of a mob informant that he was tasked with protecting. No script is in place for Spielberg’s remake, and no deals have been set…
Who’s the Boss and Taxi alum Tony Danza has been tapped to star in Hulu’s adaptation of Darby Harper Wants You to Know, according to Deadline. He joins Riele Downs, Auli’i’ Cravalho, Asher Angel, Chosen Jacobs and Derek Luke. The plot follows high schooler Darby Harper, who after suffering a near-death experience as a child is granted the ability to see ghosts, and subsequently runs a business counseling local spirits on the side. Danza is currently touring with his live show, Tony Danza: Standards & Stories…
This Is Us actress Lyric Ross has joined the cast of Marvel’s Disney+ series Ironheart, alongside Dominique Thorne as the titular character and Anthony Ramos, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ironheart — a.k.a. Riri Williams — was introduced in the Marvel comics in 2016 as a 15-year-old MIT student who designs a suit of armor similar to Iron Man’s. Ross will play Williams’ best friend. Ramos’ character has yet to be revealed, though sources tell THR he could be the show’s villain…
(NEW YORK) — A Georgia mom is on a mission to spread joy and raise awareness after her 1-year-old son was diagnosed with uncombable hair syndrome, a hair disorder she’d never heard of until last year.
The boy’s mother, Katelyn Samples, told Good Morning America that a stranger messaged her last summer on Instagram after seeing a photo of her youngest son, Locklan Samples, and asked if he had been diagnosed with uncombable hair syndrome.
“At first, you see ‘syndrome’ and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ like is something wrong with my baby? Is he in pain or something?” Samples recalled.
She added, “I just went in a tailspin and did a Google deep dive, called his pediatrician and the pediatrician even was like, ‘Hang on, let us look into this.’ They hadn’t even heard of it. So they sent us to a specialist, a pediatric dermatologist at Emory in Atlanta and that’s where we were able to get the diagnosis.”
What is uncombable hair syndrome?
Uncombable hair syndrome is a rare hair disorder and a genetic condition that usually affects children between the ages of three months to three years, although there have been reports of cases in kids up to age 12. According to the NIH, only about 100 cases have been reported in medical studies but experts say there could be more unreported cases.
“People might just be like, ‘Oh, my child has unruly hair or hair that’s difficult to tame, but they might not have sought a medical professional, like a pediatrician or dermatologist to formally diagnose the condition,” Dr. Carol Cheng, a pediatric dermatologist at UCLA Health told GMA.
According to Dr. Cheng, children with uncombable hair syndrome, also called spun glass hair, can have hair that grows in all directions and their hair can be straw-colored, have a dull texture, or be hard to manage.
A specialist can diagnose uncombable hair syndrome through a genetic test and an examination of a hair clipping through electron microscopy, a process that uses a special type of microscope.
“When you look under that microscope, you can see that instead of having hairs that are cylinder shape … the shaft of the hair is actually more in a triangular shape,” Dr. Cheng explained. “Within the triangle, there (are) these little grooves that go up and down the long axis of the hair shaft so that’s why it makes it really uncombable.”
“To diagnose the condition, at least 50% of the hairs would have this abnormality, but not all the hairs have to be abnormal,” Dr. Cheng added.
For the genetic test, doctors would look for three specific genes that have been associated with the syndrome, she said.
“The three genes that were found are what we call an autosomal recessive condition, meaning that both the mom and the dad have to have one of these genes and pass it on to the child who’s affected,” Dr. Cheng said. “It can also be inherited in what we call an autosomal dominant condition where only one of the parents has to have this genetic trait to pass on to their child.”
Living with uncombable hair syndrome
Despite the syndrome’s name, Samples said she can still comb Locklan’s hair for now but she doesn’t need to do so often, and overall, it’s relatively low maintenance.
“It can get matted easily. It is very fragile. … It can get tangled and I do have to be careful,” she said. “That would be an example of a time I actually would wash it because I very rarely wash his hair. Just doesn’t need to be, it doesn’t really get greasy.”
The mother of two said other people have been very curious about Locklan’s hair both in public and online. “We get a lot of comments about him looking like a dandelion and that’s actually a very accurate description of appearance and how it feels,” Samples said. “His hair is extremely soft, like a little baby chick. People will ask to touch it, which is fine with us, as long as people ask.”
Samples has been sharing Locklan’s story and photos on Instagram since his diagnosis, In a post from October, she wrote that she wanted to do so in part “to spread some joy on the internet!”
“Our biggest message is to celebrate what makes you stand out and what makes you different and hopefully bring awareness to this uncombable hair syndrome and hopefully, we can get more information,” Samples said. “If you think your kid might have it, go inquire and ask questions and be your child’s advocate.”
There are no formal treatments for uncombable hair syndrome and the hair abnormalities tend to resolve themselves as time goes on.
“Interestingly, this condition does get better with age. So after puberty or into adulthood, typically the hair condition does get better,” Dr. Cheng noted. “It doesn’t stay with them for their entire life.”
With no new major releases, this weekend’s box office top five was a repeat of last weekend’s.
Uncharted held on to first place, earning an estimated 23.2 million dollars in its second week of release. That puts the film’s current domestic tally at $83.3 million. Uncharted is now the top-grossing film of the year so far, surpassing Scream‘s $77.7 million.
Dog followed in second place, delivering an estimated $10.1 million. Its two-week stateside total now stands at $30.8 million.
Back at third place was Spider-Man: No Way Home, with an estimated $5.7 million. After 11 weeks, No Way Home has collected $779.8.
Disney and 20th Century’s murder mystery Death on the Nile earned an estimated $4.5 million, putting its three-week domestic total at $32.8 million. Death on the Nile has been more popular overseas, where it grabbed $68 million, bringing its worldwide haul to $101 million.
Jackass Forever took in an estimated $3.1 million in its fourth weekend of release. It has earned $52 million so far.
Elsewhere, rock band Foo Fighters‘ horror-comedy Studio 666 bowed in eighth place with an estimated $1.5 million.
Cyrano, the romantic musical drama starring Peter Dinklage as the titular character, opened in limited release, collecting an estimated $1.4 million from 797 locations.
(NEW YORK) — Traffic deaths surged during the pandemic, despite less cars on the road. A new study from AAA found an increase in reckless drivers on the roads may be to blame.
The study, conducted in fall of 2020, found an estimated 4% of drivers in the United States reported they increased their driving during the pandemic. Those drivers tended to be younger and mostly male, AAA said.
That group also reported to engage in risky driving behaviors such as distracted driving, speeding, aggressive driving, substance-impaired driving and not using seatbelts, the report found.
“Our research finds that higher-risk motorists accounted for a greater share of drivers during the pandemic than before it,” Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said in a release. “Safety-minded individuals drove less, while many who increased their driving tended to engage in riskier behaviors behind the wheel.”
The average daily number of driving trips made by adults in the U.S. decreased by 42% during the early months of the pandemic, AAA said.
Despite the decrease in traffic, approximately 13% more people died on U.S. roads in the second half of 2020 compared to the same time the year prior, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The agency estimates 38,680 people died on roads in 2020 — the largest projected number of fatalities since 2007.
AAA’s survey results were part of the organization’s annual Traffic Safety Culture index. Researchers questioned almost 3,000 drivers between October and November of 2020 about their driving habits in the past 30 days.
“About 4% of the population reported they were actually driving more because of the pandemic, and the emphasis of our study here is that group, although small, is driving more and that they appeared to be far higher risk drivers, both in terms of their characteristics and in terms of their own self-reported behaviors behind the wheel,” Brian Tefft, senior researcher at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said in an interview with ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 28, 6:47 am
Russia hikes key rate to 20% as ruble tumbles
Russia’s central bank on Monday raised its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5% in an apparent effort to slow the fallout from severe international sanctions.
The rate hike came as the Russian ruble tumbled, trading down as much as 30% against the U.S. dollar on Monday, according to Bloomberg. The currency traded about 17% lower midday in Moscow.
The Russian stock market reportedly closed for the day.
-ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki
Feb 28, 6:23 am
500,000 refugees have fled Ukraine, UN says
More than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Thursday, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.
More than half have crossed the border into Poland, the agency said. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, had said on Sunday that 368,000 people had fled to neighboring countries.
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Feb 28, 5:00 am
Ukraine delegation arrives for talks with Russia
The Ukrainian delegation sent for talks with Russia arrived Monday morning at the Belarus-Ukraine border, where the meeting will be held.
Ukraine has said the key issue for the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Russia has signalled it wants to discuss Ukraine adopting “neutral status.”
The head of Russia’s delegation has said the two sides will meet within about an hour. They are meeting on the Pripyat River, north of Chernobyl.
The Ukrainian delegation includes the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, the head of Zelenskyy’s parliamentary party, as well as advisors to the president and MPs.
Russia’s delegation includes officials from the Foreign and Defense ministries, and the presidential administration.
The talks were agreed to on Sunday in a call between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Fighting continued throughout the night, as Russia attempted to advance and bombarded Ukrainian forces.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Julia Drozd
Feb 28, 3:29 am
Russian advance slows north of Kyiv, UK military says
The U.K. Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the advance of Russian ground forces had been slowed by Ukraine’s defense of an airport in Hostomel, about 19 miles north of Kyiv.
“Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance,” the ministry said on Twitter.
(WASHINGTON) — As the impacts of global climate change exact an increasingly dire human and economic toll, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is considering a major challenge to the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to combat greenhouse gas emissions from thousands of American power plants.
The justices are hearing oral arguments in a case — West Virginia v. EPA — that pits major coal and mining companies and Republican-led states against the Biden administration, power utilities and public health groups that see EPA’s authority as critical for curbing the climate crisis.
The outcome of the case could determine whether the U.S. will be able to meet a government goal of cutting carbon pollution by 50% over the next eight years and shifting entirely to clean energy sources by 2035, experts say.
“We need every tool in the toolbox to address climate change,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. “An action [by the Court] here is a real setback.”
The landmark Clean Air Act of 1970 charged the EPA with protecting human health from dangerous airborne contaminants, which the Supreme Court has twice affirmed to include greenhouse gasses.
The law lets the agency craft pollution limits based on the “best system of emission reduction” available, but there is disagreement over whether the law prohibits consideration of measures “outside the fence line” of a particular plant, such as shifting to alternative sources of power generation or emission trading programs.
The U.S. power sector is the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Plaintiffs in the EPA case claim the agency is seeking to “reshape the power grids and seize control over electricity production nationwide,” according to court documents, a characterization the government disputes.
The justices will first need to decide whether there’s even a live dispute worth adjudicating. While the case originated as a challenge to the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan, that policy was subsequently put on hold and has never taken effect.
The states and coal companies argue that a lower court decision, if allowed to stand, effectively empowers the EPA to threaten entire industries and tens of thousands of American jobs. The Biden administration says the warnings are premature, noting its emission guidelines have not yet been published, much less enforced.
“Petitioners are seeking a ruling on what EPA might do in the future, but federal courts do not have jurisdiction to decide cases on what could happen,” said Andrew Restrepo, a senior attorney with the Sierra Club. The states and coal companies “do not and cannot explain how they would be injured.”
The Supreme Court showdown comes the same day the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in a new report of impending catastrophic harms from the unchecked rise in carbon pollution.
“What we’re arguing about is the scope of the means, or the way the [EPA emissions] standard can be constructed,” said David Doniger, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council and former EPA lawyer. “We want EPA to be able to look at a range of measures beyond efficiency tuneups” at power plants.
A decision against the agency could also have implications for the ability of other government agencies to set health and safety regulations across entire sectors of the nation’s economy, legal analysts said.
Conservative legal scholars, including several members of the high court, have long argued that major administrative rules governing American life must be specifically approved by Congress in order to be legal.
Last month, the justices blocked the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers on those grounds, while last summer the court rolled back the CDC’s pandemic eviction moratorium as an illegal overreach.
“If there are enormous decisions that have vast political and economic significance, Congress — if they want an agency to deal with it — should speak clearly to that issue,” said Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA official who served during the George W. Bush administration and has represented clients challenging recent EPA emissions regulations.
There are more than 3,300 fossil fuel-fired power plants in the U.S., including 284 coal-fired facilities, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. An estimated 1.7 million Americans work in fossil fuel industries, from mining to pipeline construction to electricity generation.
In a landmark 2007 decision, Massachusetts v EPA, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote authorized the agency to regulate greenhouse gasses as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Four years later in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, the justices again affirmed that “Congress delegated to EPA the decision whether and how to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants.”
Doniger said if the Court rolls back that authority a “huge swath” of the regulatory state could potentially be upended by extension.
“Legislation that people rely on to structure their businesses or protect themselves from predatory business practices, fraud in commercial transactions, in the securities market — all of that would seem to be imperiled if this is imperiled,” he said.
In a friend-of-the-court filing in the case, a coalition of medical groups, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians have implored the justices to take a broad view.
“Climate pollutants’ most grievous harms beset children and families, pregnant women, people over 65 and communities of color and of low income,” they wrote.
“The Court should be mindful of Congress’s decision to provide EPA regulatory authority to address this type of threat to public health. Any retrenchment in the scope of that authority would inflict further harm to the health of current and future generations.”