LOS ANGELES: “Game of Thrones” resurrected the Iron Throne at Sunday’s Emmy ceremony, ruling as top drama on a night of surprises in which “Pose” star Billy Porter made history and the comedy series “Fleabag” led a British invasion that overturned expectations.
“This all started in the demented mind of George R.R. Martin,” said “Game of Thrones” producer David Benioff, thanking the author whose novels were the basis of HBO’s fantasy saga.
Porter, who stars in the FX drama set in the LGBTQ ball scene of the late 20th century, became the first openly gay man to win a best drama series acting Emmy.
“God bless you all. The category is love, you all, love. I’m so overjoyed and so overwhelmed to have lived to see this day,” said an exuberant Porter, resplendent in a sparkling suit and swooping hat.
Amazon’s “Fleabag,” a dark comedy about a dysfunctional woman, was honored as best comedy and earned top acting honors for its British creator and star, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and a best director trophy.
“This is getting a ridiculous,” Waller-Bridge said in her third trip to the stage to collect the top trophy.
Her acting win blocked “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus from setting a record as the most-honored performer in Emmy history.
“Nooooo!” a shocked-looking Waller-Bridge said as Louis-Dreyfus smiled for the cameras. “Oh, my God, no. Thank you. I find acting really hard and really painful. But it’s all about this,” she said, her acting trophy firmly in hand.
In accepting the writing award earlier, she called the Emmy recognition proof that “a dirty, pervy, messed-up woman can make it to the Emmys.”
Porter, a Tony and Grammy Award winning actor, relished his groundbreaking moment, quoting the late writer James Baldwin, Porter said it took him many years to believe he has the right to exist.
“I have the right, you have the right, we all have the right,” he said.
English actress Jodie Comer was honored as best drama actress for “Killing Eve.” She competed with co-star Sandra Oh, who received a Golden Globe for her role and would have been the first actress of Asian descent to win an Emmy in the category.
“My mum and dad are in Liverpool (England) and I didn’t invite them because I didn’t think this was going to be my time. One, I’m sorry, two I love you,” Comer said after saluting Oh.
Bill Hader won his second consecutive best comedy actor award for the hitman comedy “Barry.”
Peter Dinklage, named best supporting actor for “Game of Thrones,” set a record for most wins for the same role, four, breaking a tie with Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad.”
“I count myself so fortunate to be a member of a community that is about nothing but tolerance and diversity, because in no other place I could be standing on a stage like this,” said Dinklage, a little person.
“Ozark” star Julia Garner won the best supporting drama actress trophy against a field including four actresses from “Game of Thrones.”
The auditorium erupted in cheers when Jharrel Jerome of “When They See Us,” about the Central Park Five case, won the best actor award for a limited series movie.
“Most important, this is for the men that we know as the Exonerated Five,” said Jerome, naming the five wrongly convicted men who were in the audience. They stood and saluted the actor as the crowd applauded them.
It was the only honor for the acclaimed Netflix series of the evening; “Chernobyl” won the best limited series honor.
Streaming hit new Emmy heights, powered by Amazon Prime winners “Fleabag,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and a “Very English Scandal,” and Netflix’s “Bandersnatch (Black Mirror),” honored as best movie. But HBO again showed its strength, including with the trophies for “Chernobyl,” “Barry” and John Oliver’s best variety-talk win.
Michelle Williams, honored as best actress for her portrayal of dancer Gwen Verdon in FX’s limited series “Fosse/Verdon,” issued a call to arms for gender and ethnic equality.
She thanked the network and studio behind the project for “supporting me completely and paying me equally because they understood ... when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value. And where do they put that value, they put it into their work.”
“And so the next time a woman and, especially a woman of color, because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterpart, tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her,” Williams said.
Patricia Arquette won the trophy best supporting limited-series or movie actress for “The Act.” She paid emotional tribute to her late trans sister, Alexis Arquette, and called for an end to prejudice against trans people, including in the workplace.
Ben Whishaw took the category’s supporting actor trophy for “A Very English Scandal,” admitting in charming British fashion to a hangover.
Alex Borstein and Tony Shalhoub of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won best supporting acting awards at the ceremony, which included early and varied messages of female empowerment after the hostless ceremony.
“I want to dedicate this to the strength of a woman, to (series creator) Amy Sherman-Palladino, to every woman on the ‘Maisel’ cast and crew,” Borstein said, and to her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother survived because she was courageous enough to step out of a line that, Borstein intimated, would have led to her death at the hands of Nazi Germany.
“She stepped out of line. And for that, I am here and my children are here, so step out of line, ladies. Step out of line,” said Borstein, who won the award last year.
Shalhoub added to his three Emmys which he earned for his signature role in “Monk.”
The awards opened without a host as promised, with an early exchange pitting Ben Stiller against Bob Newhart.
“I’m still alive,” Newhart told Stiller, who introduced him as part of a wax museum comedy hall of fame that included Lucille Ball and George Burns.
Kim Kardashian West and Kendall Jenner drew some mocking laughter in the audience when they presented their award after Kardashian West said their family “knows firsthand how truly compelling television comes from real people just being themselves.”
An animated Homer made a brief appearance on stage until he was abruptly crushed, with Anderson of “black-ish” rushing in to, as he vowed, rescue the evening. He called “Breaking Bad” star Cranston on stage to tout the power of television from its beginning to the current golden age.
“Television has never been bigger. Television has never mattered more. And television has never been this damn good,” Cranston said.
Big wins for ‘Fleabag,’ Phoebe Waller-Bridge at Emmy Awards
Big wins for ‘Fleabag,’ Phoebe Waller-Bridge at Emmy Awards
- The awards opened without a host as promised, with an early exchange pitting Ben Stiller against Bob Newhart
Ant smugglers arrested in Kenya as government warns of changing trafficking trends
- Two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi
- Kenya has in the past fought against the trafficking of body parts of larger species of wild animals
NAIROBI: Two Belgian teenagers were charged Tuesday with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser known species.
Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal.
In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis Ng’ang’a and Vietnamese Duh Hung Nguyen also were charged with illegal trafficking in the same courtroom, following their arrest while in possession of 400 ants.
The Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS, said in a statement that the four men were involved in trafficking the ants to markets in Europe and Asia, and that the species included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red-colored harvester ant native to East Africa.
The illegal export of the ants “not only undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over its biodiversity but also deprives local communities and research institutions of potential ecological and economic benefits,” KWS said.
Kenya has in the past fought against the trafficking of body parts of larger species of wild animals such as elephants, rhinos and pangolins among others. But the cases against the four men represent “a shift in trafficking trends — from iconic large mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically critical species,” KWS said.
The two Belgians were arrested in Kenya’s Nakuru county, which is home to various national parks. The 5,000 ants were found in a guest house where they were staying, and were packed in 2,244 test tubes that had been filled with cotton wool to enable the ants to survive for months.
The other two men were arrested in Nairobi where they were found to have 400 ants in their apartments.
Kenyan authorities valued the ants at 1 million shillings ($7,700). The prices for ants can vary greatly according to the species and the market.
Philip Muruthi, a vice president for conservation at the Africa Wildlife Foundation in Nairobi, said ants play the role of enriching soils, enabling germination and providing food for species such as birds.
“The thing is, when you see a healthy forest, like Ngong forest, you don’t think about what is making it healthy. It is the relationships all the way from the bacteria to the ants to the bigger things,” he said.
Muruthi warned of the risk of trafficking species and exporting diseases to the agricultural industry of the destination countries.
“Even if there is trade, it should be regulated and nobody should be taking our resources just like that,” he said.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs pleads not guilty to new sex charges
NEW YORK: US music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs pleaded not guilty Monday to two new charges added to the criminal racketeering and sex trafficking case against him, which is expected to go to trial next month.
The superseding indictment includes an additional charge of sex trafficking and one of transportation to engage in prostitution, relating to a woman identified by prosecutors only as “Victim-2.”
Combs, 55, appeared in federal court in New York to deny the accusations that could spell more prison time if the multi-millionaire entertainer is convicted.
In the new charges, prosecutors say that over the course of two decades Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct.”
With employees and resources of his business empire, Combs created a criminal enterprise that engaged in crimes including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, prosecutors said.
The hip hop magnate is accused of sexually abusing people and coercing them into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence, with prosecutors also alleging he forced employees to work long hours while demanding their silence.
He has denied all charges thus far, insisting that any sex acts were consensual.
The trial is expected to start in May with jury selection but US media reported that one of his lawyers, Marc Agnifilo, said Monday the defense might request a two-week delay to examine new evidence.
The judge gave the defense two days to make their request in writing.
Public allegations have been building against the Grammy winner since late 2023 when singer Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, alleged Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs, as well as a 2018 rape.
Along with the federal criminal case, Combs faces a mountain of civil suits that allege harrowing abuse by the artist with assistance from a loyal network of employees and associates.
The rap superstar has been incarcerated since September, during which time he has started to look noticeably aged, with a crop of salt-and-pepper hair.
Meta says to train AI models on public data of European users
- WhatsApp messenger will for the time being not be affected by the changes
- People based in the EU who use Meta platforms can opt out of having their data used for training purposes
PARIS: Meta will train its generative artificial intelligence (AI) models with its European users’ public content and conversations with the Meta AI chatbot, the firm said Monday.
The decision represents a major volte-face from the Facebook and Instagram owner, which has previously appeared wary of the European Union’s stringent regulations on the use of personal data.
People based in the EU who use Meta platforms can opt out of having their data used for training purposes, the social networking giant said.
The changes would not apply to the accounts of users under 18, nor to private messages of users to family and friends, the tech giant said on social media.
WhatsApp messenger will for the time being not be affected by the changes.
When Meta AI first launched in the EU, the tech giant was at pains to point out that the chatbot was not trained on data from European users.
Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), AI and digital markets.
Developing “large language models” (LLMs) like Meta AI requires vast reserves of data, which is heavily regulated in the European Union where it relates to individual users.
AI is an overriding priority for Meta as for other Silicon Valley giants.
The group plans to invest $60-65 billion this year, with much of the cash going into data centers, servers and network infrastructure necessary to develop AI models.
Erased identity: Post-war adoptee seeks German roots
- “The French authorities actively sought these children and pressured the mothers to give them up,” said Yves Denechere, a historian at the University of Angers. “This was about replenishing the population after the war”
CHAVILLE, France: Claudine Spire pointed to a group of toddlers in a black-and-white photo. “I thought I recognized myself,” she said, indicating a girl with curly hair and a short coat. But it was not her.
As part of the 78-year-old Frenchwoman’s relentless search for her roots, Spire found the photo a few days ago in the archives of the French ministry of foreign affairs.
“I felt as a child that I didn’t quite belong,” she said. “I didn’t look like anyone in the family.”
Spire is among the post-war children from the French-occupied part of Germany who had German mothers and French soldiers as fathers.
About 1,500 of them were brought to France, presumably illegally, by French authorities between 1946 and 1951 and handed over to adoptive families.
“The French authorities actively sought these children and pressured the mothers to give them up,” said Yves Denechere, a historian at the University of Angers. “This was about replenishing the population after the war.”
German women expecting a child from a Frenchman were required to report this to the occupying authorities. While still in the maternity ward, many were visited by “research officers” who urged them to part with the child, claiming that their son or daughter would have a better future in France.
The officers brought a form, ready for the mothers to sign: “For personal reasons, I hand over my child to the French authorities,” it said. The mothers waived all rights to the child, and stated that they did so willingly.
Claudine Spire’s mother, who became pregnant at 19, was pressured by her parents to give up the “child of the enemy.”
Claudine was placed in a French children’s home in Nordrach in the Black Forest when she was barely one and a half.
The French occupying authorities had set up the home in a former “Lebensborn” institution that had been run by the Nazis to promote the Aryan race.
In selecting children for adoption, the French postwar authorities used racial selection criteria that were eerily similar to those applied by the Third Reich.
“The children sent to France were mainly white, with blond hair, and in good health,” said Denechere.
Since about half of the French soldiers stationed in Germany were from North or sub-Saharan Africa, many children did not match the criteria and were either returned to their mothers or placed in German children’s homes.
“I was on the list of children who were not to be proposed for adoption,” said Spire, whose father came from Morocco.
But adoptive parents were found for her regardless, and she grew up in a loving family.
Only in her early 50s did she feel compelled to search for her roots.
“I knew that I was adopted, but I didn’t know the circumstances,” she said.
The more she learnt about the past, the more she was shocked.
“It’s absolutely disgusting what the French state did back then,” Spire said, also condemning postwar Germany for allowing the adoptions to happen.
Spire eventually found her German mother. Their first meeting took place in the entrance hall of a hospital in Offenburg in southwest Germany, just across the border from Strasbourg.
“It was very strange. She hadn’t told her husband and daughter anything about me,” Spire remembered.
Her mother addressed her as Margarete, her birth name that was changed upon adoption.
“Our origins were erased,” Spire states.
These adoptions took place in a legal vacuum, as Germany, having no government, was divided into zones occupied by various Allied countries.
“Those were irregular, illegitimate practices,” said Denechere.
Yet been no legal challenges have been brought, the historian added.
“Against whom? And for what exactly?,” he said.
In addition such cases would presumably be covered by statutes of limitations by now.
“This part of history is completely unknown to the public,” he said.
This is gradually changing thanks in part to a 2022 documentary on the topic and a recent novel by author Anke Feuchter telling the story of a woman in a similar situation as Spire’s mother.
With criticism of the practice mounting, many adopted children of the occupation are still looking for their German roots.
Their search, it turns out, has been facilitated by the French authorities’ decision to repatriate all documents related to the adoptions in a bid to remove traces of the practices.
Today, those very documents have allowed historians and interested parties to shed light on a dark chapter of German-French post-war history.
This is how Claudine Spire found photos of children in Nordrach who, like her, were adopted.
But she has yet to find any pictures of herself from back then.
Coachella continues with Weezer, T-Pain and a Bernie Sanders appearance
- Less than an hour earlier, Charli XCX commandeered a minimalist stage where she was joined by Troye Sivan and Billie Eilish
- Billie Joe Armstrong adjusted the lyrics of Green Day’s set-opening “American Idiot” to declare he’s “not a part of the MAGA agenda“
INDIO: Coachella’s second day featured high-profile guests from Hollywood and Washington, D.C., an emotional performance from Weezer and a peaceful transfer of power between electropop stars. Then there was Flava Flav joining the Yo Gabba Gabba characters on-stage to rap “I love bugs!“
The cultural breadth of the influential Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was on full display Saturday at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida traveled from a Los Angeles rally to the desert to introduce Clairo, praising the 26-year-old singer-songwriter’s political activism.
Less than an hour earlier, Charli XCX commandeered a minimalist stage where she was joined by Troye Sivan and Billie Eilish, with an audience that included Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet in the front row wearing a big smile and a backpack.
As for that power transfer: After last year’s “brat summer,” the English pop star concluded her “Girl, so confusing” performance with New Zealand electropop star Lorde by declaring “Lorde summer 2025.”
Sanders’ appearance wasn’t the day’s only dose of politics. Billie Joe Armstrong adjusted the lyrics of Green Day’s set-opening “American Idiot” to declare he’s “not a part of the MAGA agenda” and changed lyrics in “Jesus of Suburbia” to “running away from pain like the kids from Palestine.”
T-Pain brought mash-ups and covers to the main stage, singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Chris Stapleton’s “Tennesee Whiskey.”
Earlier, Weezer delivered a dozen songs in a well-received performance featuring “Undone (The Sweater Song),” “Buddy Holly” and a cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
The band played four days after bassist Scott Shriner’s wife Jillian Lauren was shot and injured by Los Angeles police. Lauren, an author of two memoirs, was arrested and later posted bail after police said she pointed a gun at them.
Band members didn’t specifically address the incident, but frontman Rivers Cuomo told the crowd, “It feels so good to get out here with you guys and let out these emotions.”
Coachella kicked off Friday with Lady Gaga headlining with a crowd-pleasing, extravagantly theatrical, five-act performance. K-pop star Lisa drew a massive crowd to the Sahara tent and Benson Boone announced his second album and sang “Bohemian Rhapsody” with Queen’s Brian May on guitar.
The festival runs through Sunday, with another round of performances April 18 to 20. Travis Scott headlined Saturday night on the main stage with Post Malone set to perform in the final slot Sunday night.
