Jungkook, Anitta draw fans to Central Park aid fest despite rain

NEW YORK, United States - Thousands of people gathered in a swampy Central Park for a concert urging global development aid, with Jungkook of BTS fame and Brazil's Anitta highlighting the marathon show's first half.

Jungkook had the poncho-clad crowd screaming and swaying along as he serenaded them with hits including "Still With You" during the Global Citizen Festival marked by a chilly, persistent rain.

Wearing acid wash jeans and a brown shirt, the megastar told fans it was necessary to "make an impact together to make sure everyone, everywhere has access to their basic rights like food and education."

He wasn't billed as a headliner but Jungkook was a major draw of the night: many drenched concertgoers streamed out of the park just after his set ended, even though the evening was set to continue for another three hours.

Earlier in the evening Anitta brought her impressive twerks and dance party of a show to the stage, performing hits including her recent "Funk Rave."

Brazil's biggest pop star called attention to the importance of protecting the Amazon rainforest, reminding fans it's "the lungs of our planet."

She also said just prior to kicking off her booty-shaking set that governments must do more to "protect the people there, the indigenous people, the communities there... whose only reality is the Amazon."

And rappers including Busta Rhymes and Common put on a 50th anniversary of hip hop tribute, one of many that has been put on across the city in recent months.

Still to come are headliners Lauryn Hill and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

- Fight against hunger -

Taking place since 2012 as world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, Global Citizen distributes tickets for free to supporters who pledge to take actions such as sending letters to their governments in support of development aid.

Pledges came from leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced via video message a $150 million commitment to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

"We have to fight together against poverty, climate change and for biodiversity," Macron said. "This is why we want to take our part as well."

The Rome-headquartered IFAD is an arm of the United Nations aimed at addressing poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.

Global Citizen welcomed Macron's commitment in a statement, adding that "much more needs to be done to provide crucial support to millions of smallholder farmers around the world, who produce 70 percent of food in low and middle-income countries."

The institution urged governments to double their climate adaptation funding, and make sure IFAD reaches its funding target of $2 billion by the end of 2023.

Along with Macron, they said Norway had pledged $90 million to IFAD.

Agence France Presse

Potential explosives sent to Hillary Clinton, Obama, Time Warner

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - Police intercepted suspected explosive devices sent to former U.S. President Barack Obama, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the CNN bureau in New York that apparently targeted figures disparaged by right-wing critics two weeks before U.S. congressional elections.

With the country deeply polarized under President Donald Trump, the packages brought a new level of tension to political contests that will decide whether Democrats can challenge the majorities now held by Trump's Republicans in Congress.

The package to Clinton was found late Tuesday while the one addressed to Obama was recovered early Wednesday, both during routine off-site mail screenings, the Secret Service said. Obama and Clinton were not at risk, they said.

A bomb was delivered earlier this week to the suburban New York home of George Soros, a major Democratic Party donor.

The Time Warner Center housing a CNN newsroom in New York was evacuated "out of an abundance of caution" after a suspicious package was received in the mail room, CNN President Jeff Zucker said in a note to employees. He said CNN was checking its bureaus worldwide.

New York police issued an emergency alert urging people around the building, which is on the southern edge of Central Park, to "shelter in place." Police later said they had safely removed the suspicious device from the Time Warner Center.

CNN is a frequent target of Trump, who routinely calls the news media the "enemy of the people" and belittles critical coverage as "fake news."

CNN reported the package it received was addressed to former CIA director John Brennan, a periodic guest commentator on the cable network.

Brennan, who led the CIA under Obama, has been an outspoken critic of Trump, calling the president's performance during a July joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki "nothing short of treasonous."

Trump in August revoked Brennan's security clearance in retaliation for the criticism.

The White House, in a statement, condemned the attempted attacks on Obama and Clinton.

"These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. "The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards."

Trump was briefed on the suspicious packages "and we're taking it very seriously," said a senior White House official.

In Florida, the building that houses the office of U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a former Democratic Party national chairwoman, was evacuated after a suspicious package arrived in the mail, WFOR-TV in Miami reported, citing Sunrise police.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers condemned the attempted attacks, saying political violence has no place in the United States, even as some Democrats said Trump's rhetoric was escalating tensions.

"Words matter. Leadership matters. This is the country @realDonaldTrump has created, and he must condemn such acts of terrorism in the strongest terms," Democratic U.S. Representative David Price tweeted.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, called the acts "reprehensible," adding, "We cannot tolerate any attempt to terrorize public figures."

The package addressed to Clinton at her home in the New York suburb of Chappaqua was an explosive device, the New York Times reported.

Former President Bill Clinton was home when the device was intercepted at a Secret Service facility not near the Clintons' home, MSNBC reported. It said Hillary Clinton was in Florida attending fundraising events.

A federal law enforcement official told Reuters that more than one of the packages appears to have the same construction or design. Another source told Reuters the FBI was still evaluating whether the suspicious packages contained dangerous or explosive materials.

The Chappaqua Patch, a local news website, citing a law enforcement official, reported the devices sent to Soros, Obama and Clinton appeared to be a pipe bomb. "Not fancy but definitely functional," the official said.

The New York Police Department's bomb squad said the package at the Time Warner Center, which also houses stores and restaurants, appeared to be an explosive device, CNN reported.

The discovery of the packages came after a small bomb was found earlier this week at the home of billionaire liberal donor Soros in the New York City suburb of Katonah, about 10 miles (16 km) from the Clintons' home.

"Nothing made it to their home," Bill Clinton's spokesman said in an email. A spokesman for Hillary Clinton referred queries to the Secret Service statement. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Thousands march and dance in New York's Gay Pride parade

NEW YORK -- Tens of thousands of people waving rainbow flags and hoisting political banners marched and danced on the streets of New York on Sunday in the latest festive edition of the Gay Pride parade that began in Central Park in 1970.

On foot, on roller skates, on motorbikes or riding on some 100 spectacularly colorful floats, participants moved slowly on a hot, sunny day along the two-mile (three-kilometer) parade route from historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, over to Fifth Avenue, then up to 29th Street.

The route was altered this year in anticipation of the celebrations planned for next year to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots between gay nightclub patrons and police that, in 1969, gave birth to the US movement for gay rights.

Many of Sunday's marchers were scantily dressed, like one clad only in a bikini with a rainbow-colored bottom and a pink top.

Another tanned and well-toned man on roller skates wearing a skimpy red trikini that amply displayed his sculpted abdominal muscles somehow managed to catch photographers' attention. He carried a sign that simply said "Love."

The theme of this year's parade was "Defiantly Different," a message inspired in reaction to President Donald Trump's treatment of the LGBTQ community, organizers said.

For the second straight year, many marchers carried anti-Trump banners and signs, criticizing policies seen as anti-gay.

For flamboyant Democratic New York Council member Corey Johnson, who at 36 is openly gay and is the city's first legislative leader with HIV, the slogan reflects New York's diversity: It has the nation's largest LGBTQ community, a population more than 40 percent foreign-born and where "more than 200 languages are spoken" just in the borough of Queens.

"As Lady Gaga says, 'I was born this way,'" he told the local ABC subsidiary, before returning to the parade, dancing and jumping with a rainbow banner streaming from his hand.

In a heavily Democratic city where gay voters matter, Johnson was not the only politician taking part: Also marching were Mayor Bill de Blasio, US Senator Chuck Schumer and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who walked behind a big banner reading "New York State of Love."

The parade's grand marshal this year was tennis legend Billie Jean King, 74, a lesbian and an outspoken defender of gender equality and LGBTQ rights, who rode in a carriage under a big, rainbow-colored parasol.

The atmosphere in this year's parade was much lighter than last year, when many marchers paid somber tribute to the 49 people killed in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Bono 'dressed as Hasidic Jew' during bike crash: Edge

NEW YORK - How did U2 frontman Bono escape notice when he crashed his bicycle last month? If his bandmate is to be believed, it's because he was disguised as a Hasidic Jew.

U2 guitarist The Edge was asked in a US radio interview why no pictures emerged when Bono -- one of the world's most recognizable singers -- suffered a serious accident in New York's Central Park.

"When he's going cycling, he likes to dress up as a Hasidic Jew, so I think that probably helped," The Edge told KROQ in Los Angeles.

The Edge sounded serious but the radio hosts laughed and did not follow up to ask if he was joking.

Hasidic Jewish men, who are a common sight in New York, generally wear dark suits and brimmed hats and maintain facial hair. The Edge said that Bono was wearing a helmet.

U2 on Wednesday announced a tour of North America and Europe starting in May. The Edge gave the interview to KROQ amid the tour announcement to reveal that U2 would not play the Los Angeles station's annual "Almost Acoustic Christmas" charity concert next week due to Bono's injuries.

The Irish superstars played a surprise show on Monday in New York to support efforts to fight AIDS. Bono was absent, with Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay's Chris Martin filling in.

The Edge said that Bono was "so upset" but had been told by doctors not to move for several months.

Bono returned to Dublin after five hours of surgery in New York. The Edge said that Bono showed the band his X-rays and that his bones "looked like a miniature Eiffel Tower."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com