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☆ Greek Tsitsipas feels at home in Melbourne
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MELBOURNE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas described the Australian Open as his "home slam", saying the conditions in Melbourne remind him of the Attic Peninsula. Tsitsipas, a three-time semi-finalist at the Australian Open, reached the quarter-finals on Sunday after he held firm to beat Italy's Jannik Sinner 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3. With Melbourne boasting the largest Greek population in Australia, Tsitsipas said he always felt at home when competing at the season-opening major. "Another reason, another plus is wherever I look I see Greek faces, I see Greek people speaking Greek. For me it's the Australian Open."

Harris, the former American Idol contestant whose soulful voice wowed the judges and whose sweet demeanor won him legions of fans, has died of an apparent heart attack. Harris was an incredible talent, and the news of his passing deeply saddens us," a statement posted on American Idol's official Instagram page read. Harris told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2014 interview that his mother was his first musical influence. It wasn't until 2014 that Harris made his musical mark when he placed sixth in American Idol's 13th season. "You sing because you have to sing, not because you want to sing," Urban told Harris.

☆ Video shows George Santos calling himself Anthony Devolder at a 2019 event, raising questions about his name
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. George Santos introduced himself as Anthony Devolder in a recently surfaced video from 2019. Videos and social media posts reveal Santos previously used the names George Devolder and Anthony Devolder. The New York congressman has admitted to lying about his college and work history and has previously listed his full name as George Anthony Devolder Santos. Other resurfaced clips and social media posts reveal that Santos had gone by the names Anthony Devolder and George Devolder until as recently as 2020. CNN also uncovered social media posts from 2020 in which Santos goes by the name George Devolder.

☆ Lisa Marie Presley to be laid to rest at Graceland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Mary Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Singer Lisa Marie Presley will be laid to rest at Graceland, the Memphis mansion she inherited from her father Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," a representative for her daughter said on Friday. Lisa Marie Presley remembered her son in an essay for People magazine earlier this year that she posted on Instagram, calling herself "destroyed" by his death. As the only daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie became the owner of her father's Graceland mansion, a popular tourist attraction in the city. Tributes to Lisa Marie Presley continued to pour in on Friday. Lisa Marie Presley is survived by her mother, daughter Riley Keough, 33, and 14-year-old twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood.

☆ China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-Covid policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Travelers began streaming into mainland China by air, land and sea on Sunday, many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the abrupt policy reversal has triggered a massive wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals and causing business disruptions. China on Sunday also resumed issuing passports and travel visas for mainland residents, and ordinary visas and residence permits for foreigners. Beijing has quotas on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day. I’m thrilled, I can’t believe it’s happening,” said a business woman surnamed Shen, 55, who flew in from Hong Kong.

Long queues formed at the Hong Kong international airport's check-in counters for flights to mainland cities including Beijing, Tianjin and Xiamen. Hong Kong media outlets estimated that thousands were crossing. Beijing has quotas on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day. I'm thrilled, I can't believe it’s happening,” said a businesswoman surnamed Shen, 55, who flew in from Hong Kong. The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that China's COVID data underrepresents the number of hospitalisations and deaths from the disease.

Bolsonaro, a far-right nationalist, left Brazil for Florida on Friday after losing to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil's most fraught vote in a generation. Bolsonaro's U.S. trip insulates him from any immediate legal jeopardy in Brazil, where he is under investigation in at least four criminal probes. Under Brazil's constitution, a sitting president can only be arrested if he is convicted by the Supreme Court. From September, Lula will be able to install his own prosecutor general, who has the power to charge Bolsonaro if his cases remain with the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro also faces 12 requests for investigation at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) for baseless claims Brazil's electoral system is liable to fraud, as well as alleged abuses of power for granting economic benefits to win votes.

☆ Kids are pranking their parents on TikTok by telling them celebrities have died. Angela Bassett's son may have killed the trend by bluffing about her colleague, Michael B. Jordan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Slater Vance joined in on a TikTok trend where users lie about celebrity deaths to their parents. Many social media users have called the trend distasteful. That's what 16-year-old Slater Vance learned last week, after joining in on it using his own famous parents: actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance. The trend involves users pranking their families on camera, pretending that celebrities — usually ones beloved to their parents — have died. "Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance just put an end to that TikTok trend and we owe them a debt of gratitude," one user said.

☆ Pat Boone Is the Last of the Hollywood Squares
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Matthew Hennessey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HollywoodIf you’re under 50, you may not recognize the name Pat Boone . Consider this: For most of the latter half of the 20th century, there wasn’t a person in America who didn’t know who Mr. Boone was and what he stood for. He was the All-American; the kid in the white buck shoes; the clean-cut alternative to early rock-’n’-rollers like Elvis Presley , Little Richard and Chuck Berry; the star of a dozen Hollywood movies, none of which contained anything resembling profanity, social subversion or a love scene. Life magazine put Mr. Boone on its cover in February 1959, dubbing him “The Million-Dollar Idol of U.S. Teen-Agers.”

☆ Scaloni heads into final as the coach who made Messi and Argentina smile again
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Fernando Kallas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"He can't even direct traffic, how come he will direct the national team. They have since created a bond that has allowed a rejuvenated Messi to enjoy his best years with the national team. It was that which arguably gave them the foundation to regroup after their shock loss to Saudi Arabia in their World Cup opener. Representing my country is an emotional thing," Scaloni told reporters after Argentina swept past Croatia 3-0 in their World Cup semi-final. Thanks to Scaloni's acumen, Argentina are on the brink of glory - and while Messi will claim the attention, his coach deserves his share of the plaudits.

☆ Who will be Wall Street’s un-American idol?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Europeans have been losing the battle against Wall Street’s cozy club for a decade. Deutsche Bank has done the former. BNP has made smaller steps, buying Bank of America’s prime broking business in 2008, then Deutsche Bank’s in 2019. Even with the best intentions, European banks must contend with their own regulators, which affects their ability to take risk elsewhere. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs together took the top five slots for debt capital markets and merger advisory, as they also did in 2021.

☆ ‘White Lotus’ star meets childhood idol Nick Jonas in surprise video call
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ tWitch’s legacy of kindness makes his loss all the more tragic
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

They were simply returning a bit of the kindness and love Boss poured into the world. His tragic death has stirred public shock, expressions of grief and confusion about how it was possible given the joy Boss seemed to exude in his work. Boss talked to Yahoo in April 2021 about trying to move their way through those difficult months. In a 2017 conversation on the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast,” Boss talked about dancing and perseverance through challenge. “When you feel good, you dance,” Boss said.

☆ Why Have Netflix, Hulu, and the Rest of Streaming TV Gotten so Boring?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Paris Marx | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

As a result, Netflix and other streamers are retreating from any sort of creative risk in favor of humdrum, lowest-common-denominator shows. But just as Netflix was pulling back from its most creative content, the streaming wars were heating up. Netflix is now churning out cheap and broadly appealing reality TV shows like "Is It Cake?" Despite positioning itself for years as the ad-free way to watch TV, Netflix in October launched a lower-cost, ad-supported tier in many of its major markets. As the cheap money disappears, we're starting to get a better picture of the actual price of streaming media.

☆ The golden age of streaming TV is over
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Paris Marx | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

That August, the streaming analyst Eric Schiffer told The Verge that the "golden age" was over as competition increased, and Netflix was putting creators on a shorter leash. But just as Netflix was pulling back from its most creative content, the streaming wars were heating up. Netflix is now churning out cheap and broadly appealing reality TV shows like "Is It Cake?" Despite positioning itself for years as the ad-free way to watch TV, Netflix in October launched a lower-cost, ad-supported tier in many of its major markets. As the cheap money disappears, we're starting to get a better picture of the actual price of streaming media.

Puerto Rican singer and musician Lalo Rodríguez, best known for his salsa megahit "Ven devórame otra vez" (Come devour me again) has died. As fellow musicians and fans grapple with the uncertain circumstances surrounding his death, they're remembering Rodríguez as a talented artist who helped lift salsa music to new heights. Light and progress Lalo," salsa music icon Willie Colón, who is also credited for helping popularize the genre, lamented in Spanish on Twitter. Salsa music enthusiast Juana Peña described Rodríguez as a "versatile singer, capable of getting into any rhythm and doing it well" in a tweet. Puerto Rican writer Sandra Guzmán mourned the singer's passing with a touching post saying, "A virtuoso goes to music heaven to join Puerto Rican salsa Gods.

☆ Ambivalent Argentines want to be Messi but are more Maradona - author
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Lucila Sigal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Argentines aspire to be like clean-living Lionel Messi but in reality are more like flawed rebel Diego Maradona, an author says, as comparisons between the two great No. 10s become a dominant talking point of the Qatar World Cup. But only a World Cup would give him Maradona's stature. "People demand more from Messi because he's come on the scene to compete with and rival Maradona. "But unfortunately he needs to win here because in Argentina winning is what counts.

For years, Argentine fans said that no matter how many Ballons d'Or and trophies Messi won with Barcelona, he could never match Maradona until he too lifted a World Cup. EMOTIONAL MESSIMany of the banners show Messi and Maradona together, some depicting the late No. And Messi himself has opened up emotionally to rally the team and nation after their shock defeat to Saudi Arabia. "For me, Messi has always felt and done his all for the national team, from his first game until now. "Messi has suffered from being a venerated star in Barcelona but often under attack here in Argentina."

☆ Opinion | Something Remarkable Is Happening in African Football
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Sean Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

African players are increasingly on the center stage of world football. Though African players have a long history in Europe, it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that they began to star in the top leagues there. And there is a kind of continental solidarity that emerges for many African fans during the World Cup. African teams, meanwhile, usually showed poor form and were quickly eliminated. In the years that followed, as African teams began to have more success, drawing on their diasporas in Europe, many of us began to cheer for teams from the continent instead.

☆ Messi dances night away after keeping World Cup storyline alive
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Andrew Cawthorne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Though in truth they laboured in the first half against a mediocre Mexico team, they celebrated as if they had won the World Cup itself. After scoring the first goal against Mexico, his second of Argentina's three at the tournament, Messi charged towards fans screaming in joy. Many in fact show the two together, arm-in-arm or Maradona looking beatifically down on Messi from heaven. Should Messi go all the way, he will of course directly match Maradona, who led Argentina to a famous 1986 World Cup win including his famous "Hand of God" and best-ever tournament goals against England en route. Even Messi looked slow and made basic errors prior to scoring against Mexico and relaxing into the player everyone knows.

☆ India's first private rocket company looks to slash satellite costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Nivedita Bhattacharjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Employees pose in front of Vikram-S rocket, India?s first private rocket developed by Skyroot, an Indian Space-Tech startup, at a spaceport in Sriharikota, India, November 18, 2022. The Hyderabad-based company, backed by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, says the $68 million it has raised will fund its next two launches. Skyroot faces both established and up-and-coming rocket launch rivals that also promise to bring down costs. India opened the door to private space companies in 2020 with a regulatory overhaul and a new agency to boost private-sector launches. The Skyroot rocket that reached 89.5 kilometers altitude in last week's test launch used carbon-fibre components and 3D-printed parts, including the thrusters.

☆ Pop star Kris Wu sentenced to 13 years of jail for rape in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Hannah Lee | Kriti Gandhi | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

A court in Beijing on Friday, sentenced Chinese-born Canadian musician Kris Wu to over 13 years for crimes including rape. Chaoyang district court found Wu, also known as Wu Yifan, guilty of raping three women in November and December 2020, according to the court’s official Weibo account. Wu was also found guilty of “group licentiousness,” which is when three or more people are gathered together to to engage in sexual promiscuity. Being charged for group licentiousness can result in a jail sentence of up to five years. Some also said that they were “witnessing history” as Kris Wu is the first idol in China to be imprisoned for as long as 13 years.

☆ Nets Irving apologizes 'deeply,' says he is not anti-Semitic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving said on Saturday that he was "deeply" apologetic after his team suspended him earlier this month for sharing anti-Semitic content on social media and not disavowing anti-Semitism. He told local sports network SNY on Saturday that he was not anti-Semitic and wanted to "set a greater example." Irving faced heavy criticism after posting a link on Twitter last month to an anti-Semitic 2018 documentary and defending it. He later said it contained "false anti-Semitic statements" and apologized "for posting the documentary without context." Nike Inc (NKE.N) suspended its relationship with Irving in the aftermath and canceled the release of its next Irving-branded shoe.

☆ 'You're going to come back', Hamilton tells retiring Vettel
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Abhishek Takle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ABU DHABI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Thursday that he expected his old rival Sebastian Vettel to make a Formula One comeback. The 35-year-old four-times champion is bowing out of the sport after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday but Hamilton believes the 53-time grand prix race winner will find the lure of F1 hard to resist. "Obviously after the change from Ferrari to Aston Martin at that time it was the first time I really thought it might be the time to stop...," he added. Vettel jokingly suggested he could agree some sort of a swap with Hamilton, who turns 38 in January but is keen on extending his Mercedes deal. "We can make a deal ... when you want to get away, maybe then (I want to come back)," he said.

☆ Lily-Rose Depp explains her silence on Johnny Depp’s drama
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Lily-Rose Depp is familiar with fame. “When it’s something that’s so private and so personal that all of a sudden becomes not so personal…I feel really entitled to my secret garden of thoughts,” the younger Depp told Elle. And I’m really ready to be defined for the things that I put out there.”Paradis is a star in her native France and Depp talked about how much she idolized her mom growing up. Now she’s carving her own path, having appeared in several productions like the 2019 film, “The King.”Depp said she finds celebrity “a weird thing to navigate.”“It’s different experiencing it firsthand rather than by proxy,” she said. “I guess it’s something that I’ve had to make my own way with.”“The Idol” is set to air next year on HBO, which is owned by CNN’s parent company.

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