One attendee joked that, because she was coughing, she probably had the virus, a city of Pasadena spokeswoman said.

"With his exuberance, his creativity, and his refusal to be anything other than himself, Little Richard laid the foundation for generations of artists to follow," Michelle Obama tweeted.

"I'm so honored to be your validictator," he says.

I know you would do anything to protect your own child, so let’s make sure every mama has the same opportunity and resources to protect theirs.

A Chinese push to include support for the World Health Organization in a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a global ceasefire is  putting the entire text in limbo – after strong U.S. opposition to the Beijing effort. 

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has warned two tribal leaders she will take “necessary” legal action if the tribes don’t remove coronavirus checkpoints on their reservations.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has warned two tribal leaders she will take “necessary” legal action if the tribes don’t remove coronavirus checkpoints on their reservations.

In the stillness and the night, take heart in knowing that women across the world are joining you in prayer and that God is listening and loving you right where you are.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is cautiously optimistic about finishing out the season in a two-site plan which will likely not include fans -- a condition that may carry into next season. 

“If you don’t have any flour, you can just go to bed.”

“Conversations are happening that people would want to be happening.”

By Ned Parker and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, seven current and former U.S. officials told Reuters.

    Those contacts included two phone calls between April and November last year, two of the sources said. By early this year, Kushner had become a focus of the FBI investigation into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, said two other sources - one current and one former law enforcement official.

Kushner initially had come to the attention of FBI investigators last year as they began scrutinizing former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s connections with Russian officials, the two sources said.

    While the FBI is investigating Kushner’s contacts with Russia, he is not currently a target of that investigation, the current law enforcement official said.

The new information about the two calls as well as other details uncovered by Reuters shed light on when and why Kushner first attracted FBI attention and show that his contacts with Russian envoy Sergei Kislyak were more extensive than the White House has acknowledged.

    NBC News reported on Thursday that Kushner was under scrutiny by the FBI, in the first sign that the investigation, which began last July, has reached the president’s inner circle.  

    The FBI declined to comment, while the Russian embassy said it was policy not to comment on individual diplomatic contacts. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Multiple attempts to obtain comment from Kushner or his representatives were unsuccessful.

In March, the White House said that Kushner and Flynn had met Kislyak at Trump Tower in December to establish “a line of communication.” Kislyak also attended a Trump campaign speech in Washington in April 2016 that Kushner attended. The White House did not acknowledge any other contacts between Kushner and Russian officials.

BACK CHANNEL

Before the election, Kislyak’s undisclosed discussions with Kushner and Flynn focused on fighting terrorism and improving U.S.-Russian economic relations, six of the sources said. Former President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia after it seized Crimea and started supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

After the Nov. 8 election, Kushner and Flynn also discussed with Kislyak the idea of creating a back channel between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could have bypassed diplomats and intelligence agencies, two of the sources said. Reuters was unable to determine how those discussions were conducted or exactly when they took place.

Reuters was first to report last week that a proposal for a back channel was discussed between Flynn and Kislyak as Trump prepared to take office. The Washington Post was first to report on Friday that Kushner participated in that conversation.

Separately, there were at least 18 undisclosed calls and emails between Trump associates and Kremlin-linked people in the seven months before the Nov. 8 presidential election, including six calls with Kislyak, sources told Reuters earlier this month. . Two people familiar with those 18 contacts said Flynn and Kushner were among the Trump associates who spoke to the ambassador by telephone. Reuters previously reported only Flynn’s involvement in those discussions.

Six of the sources said there were multiple contacts between Kushner and Kislyak but declined to give details beyond the two phone calls between April and November and the post-election conversation about setting up a back channel. It is also not clear whether Kushner engaged with Kislyak on his own or with other Trump aides.

HOW KUSHNER CAME UNDER SCRUTINY

    FBI scrutiny of Kushner began when intelligence reports of Flynn’s contacts with Russians included mentions of U.S. citizens, whose names were redacted because of U.S. privacy laws. This prompted investigators to ask U.S. intelligence agencies to reveal the names of the Americans, the current U.S. law enforcement official said.

Kushner’s was one of the names that was revealed, the official said, prompting a closer look at the president’s son-in-law’s dealings with Kislyak and other Russians.

    FBI investigators are examining whether Russians suggested to Kushner or other Trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions would allow Russian banks to offer financing to people with ties to Trump, said the current U.S. law enforcement official.

    The head of Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, Sergei Nikolaevich Gorkov, a trained intelligence officer whom Putin appointed, met Kushner at Trump Tower in December. The bank is under U.S. sanctions and was implicated in a 2015 espionage case in which one of its New York executives pleaded guilty to spying and was jailed.

The bank said in a statement in March that it had met with Kushner along with other representatives of U.S. banks and business as part of preparing a new corporate strategy.

    Officials familiar with intelligence on contacts between the Russians and Trump advisers said that so far they have not seen evidence of any wrongdoing or collusion between the Trump camp and the Kremlin.  Moreover, they said, nothing found so far indicates that Trump authorized, or was even aware of, the contacts.

    There may not have been anything improper about the contacts, the current law enforcement official stressed.

    Kushner offered in March to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia’s attempts to interfere in last year’s election.

The contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials during the presidential campaign coincided with what U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was a Kremlin effort through computer hacking, fake news and propaganda to boost Trump’s chances of winning the White House and damage his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

 (Reporting by Ned Parker and Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by John Walcott, Warren Strobel and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Ross Colvin)

The Trump administration's argument for letting lots of employers opt out of covering birth control is…not exactly bulletproof.

Yesterday, Vox reported that the Trump administration is considering a broad exemption to Obamacare's mandate on contraceptive coverage, according to a leaked draft of the proposed rule. If passed, the rule would allow virtually any employer, not just a religious one, to remove birth control coverage from its insurance plan if contraception violates the organization's religious beliefs or "moral convictions"—a broad and murky standard.

But, in a curious twist, part of the Trump administration's justification for the move hinges on the existence of hundreds of Planned Parenthood clinics, many of which the White House is actively trying to close by "defunding" Planned Parenthood.

As the draft text explains, the administration believes the past rationale for Obamacare's contraception mandate is insufficient. The document lists several reasons why this is the case. Here's one of them:

"There are multiple Federal, state, and local programs that provide free or subsidized contraceptives for low-income women, including Medicaid (with a 90% Federal match for family planning services), Title X, health center grants, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. According to the Guttmacher Institute, government-subsidized family planning services are provided at 8,409 health centers overall. Various state programs supplement Federal programs, and 28 states have their own mandates of contraceptive coverage as a matter of state law. For example, the Title X program, administered by the HHS Office of Population Affairs (OPA), provides voluntary family planning information and services for clients based on their ability to pay.

...

"The availability of such programs to serve the most at-risk women identified by IOM [Institute of Medicine, now known as the National Academy of Medicine] diminishes the Government's interest in applying the Mandate to objecting employers."

The implication here is that since there are already programs like Medicaid and Title X to help low-income women afford contraception, the requirement that most employers provide no-cost birth control is less pressing.

But there are a couple of glaring contradictions here: First of all, of the 8,409 health centers that provide Medicaid and Title X family planning services, as cited in the rule, 817 of them are run by Planned Parenthood—the very group that Congress and the administration are trying to exclude from using Title X and Medicaid funds to provide health care.

Trump has already signed a bill into law allowing states to exclude Planned Parenthood and other providers who offer abortions from receiving Title X family planning funding—never mind that Title X funding is used exclusively for nonabortion services. Beyond that, there are several more proposals moving through government—including in the House's American Health Care Act and in the Trump budget proposal—to withhold Medicaid and other federal dollars, including Title X, specifically from Planned Parenthood.

The problem with the White House's logic boils down to this: As the nation's largest provider of federal Title X-funded care, in 2015 Planned Parenthood centers served more than 40 percent of women nationwide using Title X-funded family planning care—a whopping 1.58 million patients. But if Planned Parenthood can no longer receive a single federal dollar to provide contraception and other family planning care—an oft-repeated goal of the Trump administration—then these nearly 1.6 million low-income patients will suddenly lose their family planning care. And now their employers may not cover that care either.

Just hours after President Donald Trump announced that he intends to withdraw the United States from Paris Climate Agreement, three state governors announced the formation of the United States Climate Alliance, a union that will work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even as national leadership on climate change falters.

For now, the alliance includes California, New York and Washington State. The governors of those states, Jerry Brown, Andrew Cuomo, and Jay Inslee, respectively, released a statement on Thursday describing how the new alliance will build state-level partnerships to continue aggressive American action on climate change and uphold the goals and standards of the Paris Agreement.

"The president has already said climate change is a hoax, which is the exact opposite of virtually all scientific and worldwide opinion," said Governor Brown in the statement. "I don't believe fighting reality is a good strategy—not for America, not for anybody. If the president is going to be AWOL in this profoundly important human endeavor, then California and other states will step up."

Governor Cuomo echoed that sentiment. Trump's "reckless decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement has devastating repercussions not only for the United States, but for our planet," he said. "This administration is abdicating its leadership and taking a backseat to other countries in the global fight against climate change."

California, New York, and Washington combined are home nearly 70 million people, about 20 percent of the US population. And their governments have already begun to take action. For example, the California State Senate passed legislation on Wednesday that mandates California to develop 100 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2045.

So far, no other states have signed on to the alliance, though 61 American mayors also pledged on Thursday that their cities will uphold the tenets of the Paris Climate Agreement.

There were nine new cases and one death related to COVID-19 reported Saturday by the Windsor Essex County Health Unit. The health unit update said a female in her 90s died Friday. She was a resident of a long-term care facility. As of Saturday, there have been 694 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 263 cases are […]

Hyundai कंपनी अपनी नई जनरेशन कार Tucson SUV को बाजार में उतारने की तैयारी कर रही है। कंपनी इसे घरेलू बाजार में अगस्त 2020 में लॉन्च करने की योजना बना रही है। इस कार को ऑटो एक्सपो 2020 में भी प्रदर्शित किया गया था।

Google makes Meet video conferencing app free for everyone, Raspberry Pi gets a new high-definition camera attachment, Intel’s new consumer processors have up to 10 cores! With Zoom being the flavour of the month, Google is feeling a bit left out. Therefore, to challenge Zoom’s popularity, Google has made its Google Meet, its own robust…

Facebook is rolling out a tool that lets users in the US and Canada transfer photos and videos from its platform to Google Photos, Amazon says it plans to spend all of its profit for the second quarter, an estimated $4 billion, on its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and NVIDIA’s chief scientist rolls out…

WeWork’s ex-chief sues SoftBank, a popular children’s computer game gets hacked, and IBM’s Think conference goes virtual this week. WeWork cofounder and former chief executive Adam Neumann has filed a suit against Japanese conglomerate SoftBank for abandoning a $3 billion tender offer to the startup’s shareholders. The money is part of a $9.6 billion rescue…

Microsoft this week revealed the new Microsoft Surface Go 2 and Surface Book 3 convertible tablet PCs. Microsoft Surface Go 2 Microsoft’s Surface Go fills the role of an affordable tablet PC that can run the full Windows 10 operating system. Its lower pricing was especially attractive to the education and front-line sectors. The Surface…

Marcus Arbery Sr says Ahmaud’s death at the hands of two white men, while he was out for a run, was an act of racismMarcus Arbery Sr says his son was just like him, fit and athletic.Nearly everyone who talks about his youngest son, Ahmaud Arbery, remembers him running. Neighbors saw him jogging nearly every day. Ahmaud’s route would take him along the flat, curved road outside the home he shared with his mother, then into the unincorporated community of Satilla Shores on the Georgia coast just outside of Brunswick. Ahmaud would wave to the regulars on his route.“He just loved to work out and he just loved people,” his father told the Guardian.When the 25-year-old left for a run on a sunny February afternoon, he passed, for the last time, neighbors whose Ring alerts would go off as he raced by their homes. He would eventually meet Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis, 34. Shortly afterwards, Ahmaud was shot at least twice.He was dead before officers arrived.For more than two months, Marcus Sr – along with his son’s siblings and mother – demanded answers. But as the case went through three district attorneys after the first two had to recuse themselves due to ties with Gregory McMichael, no one was charged in his son’s death.Ahmaud’s family was devastated.“We can’t have two different justice systems in America: one for black America and one for white America,” Ben Crump, the lawyer representing Marcus Sr, told the Guardian.That day in February, the McMichaels told police that Ahmaud matched the description of someone caught on a security camera committing a burglary in the neighborhood. This week, a leaked video appeared to contradict the elder McMichael’s statement to police insisting Ahmaud violently attacked his son.Gregory McMichael’s story also contradicts Marcus Sr’s memories of his son. “He was just a lovable young man and he would give you the shirt off of his back,” he said of the youngest of his three children, who would have turned 26 on Friday.“We’re talking about doing a celebration for him during the weekend,” Marcus Sr says. Thousands of people in Glynn county and across America also celebrated Ahmaud on Friday by doing something he loved: running. Near his mother’s house, people took the same route Ahmaud would run, walking or jogging 2.23 miles, representing the last day of Arbery’s young life.> He was just a lovable young man and he would give you the shirt off of his back> > Marcus Arbery Sr“We’re going to keep running for you, bro, until justice is served,” one of his friends posted on Facebook while jogging.Within two days of the release of the video of his death, after 10 weeks of local law enforcement failing to investigate, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation made arrests and promised to continue the investigation. The McMichaels were charged with murder and aggravated assault on Thursday, the day before Ahmaud would have turned 26.His father calls the shooting an act of racism by the McMichaels, who are white. The Arbery family is black. “I’ve dealt with racism my whole life here,” Marcus Sr says of the community. “Everybody’s supposed to be equal.”Though he doesn’t think that’s the way justice works in Glynn county, he hopes the shooting of his youngest child may be the catastrophic event that changes how this corner of Georgia operates.Even if that change does come, he says, it will be in exchange for his son’s life.“I got to live without my son and they lynched him. It’s just hard,” he said. “He didn’t deserve that.”

Join SANS and AWS Marketplace to learn how implementing an SDN can enhance visibility and control across multiple virtual private clouds (VPCs) in your network.

As companies re-open, employees may don wearable tech to prevent the spread of COVID-19

Team Sonnenwagen from RWTH Aachen University race in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, in Australia.

Our weekly roundup of books that should be on your radar.

They were tested positive during the pre-flight COVID test,

No one can do a Little Richard composition like Little Richard. In the finest moments from the rock and roll pioneer — who died Saturday at the age of 87 — self-penned songs were as flamboyant as his appearance. Informed by his Georgian roots in the Pentecostal church and the nightlife business (tellingly, his dad […]

This is the most heartbreaking, important thing I've ever written about.

Click here if you want to find ways to make your wedding awesome, you'll love these.

How cool is that?

Sarah Falzon, a Toronto-based entertainment lawyer with Taylor Oballa Murray Leyland LLP, joins us to chat about the recent slew of copyright infringement lawsuits hitting pop stars, including Drake and Katy Perry, as well as Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, and Ed Sheeran.

As Sarah says, it seems like the floodgates have opened in the wake of the infamous “Blurred Lines” conflict in which the estate of Marvin Gaye successfully sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copying the “feel” and “sound” of Gaye’s 1977 song, “Got to Give It Up.” We discuss the details of the newer lawsuits that make them interesting and whether we really have entered a riskier era for songwriters. Sarah also explains if the U.S. lawsuits have any bearing on Canadian songwriters and the relevant differences between Canadian and American copyright law.

The healing power of music is at the heart of The Awesome Music Project Canada: Songs of Hope & Happiness, which features intimate stories from Canadians of all walks of life - including Sarah McLachlan, Michael Buble, astronaut Chris Hadfield, Olympian Madeleine Thien, and NHL star Theo Fleury - on how music changed their lives. Rounding out the book are descriptions of the neurological research confirming that music is good for us and why.

Robert tells us about the origins of the project, some of his favourite stories shared in it, the research the project will fund, and a lot more.

Proceeds from The Awesome Music Project Canada will go to music and mental health research, starting with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and one of the world's leading research centres. www.theawesomemusicproject.com.

Cousins Adam and Cale Gontier of Saint Asonia join Mike to discuss their new sophomore album, Flawed Design. Hailed as a “supergroup" since dropping their self-titled debut in 2015 (Saint Asonia’s members have been in Three Days Grace, Staind, Art of Dying, Thornley, and more), Adam discusses early expectations for the group, songwriting, and how two significant life moments – the birth of his first child and entering rehab – influenced the new record. They also discuss mental health for musicians and whether the industry should provide more support. We then finish with an exclusive acoustic performance of their new song “The Hunted.”

Before that, we chat with critically-acclaimed East Coast singer-songwriter Dave Sampson about his new EP, All Types of Ways. We discuss his life and career in the five years between his widely-praised debut LP in 2014 and this new project, navigating the music industry, his friendship and creative partnership with fellow Nova Scotian and Nashville hitmaker Gordie Sampson, and more.

Mike recently spent an afternoon in the workshop of one of Canada’s top luthiers, Linda Manzer, for a fun chat with her and one Canada’s top singer-songwriters, Stephen Fearing (Blackie & The Rodeo Kings). Together, they talk guitars (obviously), the role the instrument plays in their respective careers and personal lives, share some interesting stories, and get into the new custom Cowpoke guitar that Linda had just presented to Stephen. After the interview, Stephen gives the first-ever performance on the custom guitar.

Plus, contributor Hal Rodriguez recently spoke with Wide Mouth Mason's Shaun Verreault on the band's new album,I Wanna Go with You, and the lap steel's central role in its composition. In this brief snippet, Shaun explains how he found and developed a fondness for the instrument. Check out the full Q&A at https://shorttakes.canadianmusician.com/wide-mouth-mason/

http://canadianmusician.com

In December 2019, with just a few months left before he steps down from his post as president of Re:Sound, Mike had a wide-ranging chat with Ian MacKay about his 11 years with the performing rights organization that represents labels and performing artists.

Ian discusses how Re:Sound’s mission evolved over the decade, how the rise of streaming and its ocean of data impacted its work, evolving relations between music industry organizations, Entandem’s performance thus far, and more. Mike and Ian also dig into the numbers, both positive and negative, from Re:Sound’s most recent financial report, discussing why domestic revenues have been flat while international revenue are increasing and whether music rights holders are owed more compensation for private copying.

Plus, singer/songwriter Ed Roman joins us for a short chat about his single, "Stronger," his unique approach to lyric writing, and more.

http://canadianmusician.com

Being a tour manager means being a logistics coordinator, accountant, event planner, human resources professional, crisis manager, and counselor. Everything that goes on during the tour - or leading up to it - runs through them. Really, it's one of the most important yet least-discussed jobs in the music business. That’s why Mike wrote a feature article for the March/April 2020 issue of Canadian Musician trying to make sense of tour managers’ responsibilities and share a few of their stories.

One of those interesting and fun conversations for the magazine was with Erika Duffee, the go-to tour manager for Canadian pop-rock star Scott Helman and arena-filling Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, among others, which we share on today’s episode. You'll hear about the many facets of this odd role along with some great stories from the road and other insights.

http://canadianmusician.com

This episode is sponsored by Bandzoogle. Try it free for 30 days and use the promo code “CMPOD” to get 15% off your first year of any subscription. https://bandzoogle.com/?pc=cmpod

Mike sits down with visionary pop songwriter, producer, and singer Lauv, who has just dropped his highly-anticipated debut LP ‘How I'm Feeling.’ They discuss Lauv’s rise to hitmaker status for stars like Charli XCX and Celine Dion, and the transition to performing his own songs with the likes of Alessia Cara and BTS. He also delves into self-care and mental health and how his Blue Boy Foundation factors in.

Before that, we chat with Marc Vincent, better known as Ruffsound. He’s one of the premier beatmakers and producers in the resurgent Quebec rap scene, working with lauded locals Loud, Koriass, and FouKi and international names like Dua Lipa and Black Pink. They get deep into the sound of Francophone hip-hop and why it's taken off in recent years, as well as Ruffsound's moonlighting in film and TV.

http://canadianmusician.com

This episode is sponsored by Bandzoogle. Try it free for 30 days and use the promo code “CMPOD” to get 15% off your first year of any subscription. https://bandzoogle.com/?pc=cmpod

Former President Barack Obama slammed the Trump administration's coronavirus response as an "an absolute chaotic disaster."

Mr. Obama's comments came Friday night while privately talking to ex-members of his administration. A tape of the conversation was leaked to Yahoo News, which first reported the former president's comments Saturday morning.

He ...

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In a brilliant performance, Justin Gaethje dominated Tony Ferguson in a fifth-round TKO victory to win the UFC interim lightweight title Saturday at UFC 249.

Justin Gaethje put on a striking masterclass to score a surprise knockout victory over Tony Ferguson and win the interim lightweight title at UFC 249, which took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday.Ferguson, who came into the fight on a 12-win streak, suffered damage as Gaethje chopped at his legs and landed thunderous hooks before referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the fight late in the fifth round.

Virat and Anushka have been trying to help the needy as much as they can in these troubled times and apart from donating to the PM-CARES Fund.

Virat and Anushka have been trying to help the needy as much as they can in these troubled times and apart from donating to the PM-CARES Fund.

Justin Gaethje sent a message to Khabib Nurmagomedov with a merciless performance against Justin Ferguson on Saturday.

Jacksonville, May 10: Justin Gaethje produced a brutal display in a final-round stoppage against Tony Ferguson to become the new interim lightweight champion at the highly anticipated UFC 249. UFC made its long-awaited return behind closed doors in Jacksonville, Florida