NEW YORK: Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump hosted the sketch-comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” defying protesters to make the highly anticipated but controversial primetime television appearance.
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie, Trump stepped on stage to cheers and insisted in a nearly five-minute opening monologue that saw him flanked by two lookalikes: “People think I’m controversial, but the truth is, I’m a nice guy.”
“It’s wonderful to be here. This is going to be something special,” he said.
Trump, a billionaire real estate developer who has never held elected office, leads the polls along with Ben Carson for the Republican nomination for the 2016 race to the White House and will be hoping that his appearance on the show will cement his status as frontrunner.
But the 69-year-old has courted controversy for his statements on immigration, promising that if he becomes president he will expel immigrants who are in the United States illegally and build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
He has also alleged that Mexico sends rapists and other criminals across the border.
That stance saw Latino community leaders hold a rally Friday in Los Angeles calling on NBCUniversal to drop Trump from “Saturday Night Live.”
And there were more protests Saturday in New York hours before the show was broadcast, with demonstrators marching from Trump Tower to NBC’s studio in Rockefeller Plaza.
There were fears that audience members might seek to heckle Trump over his views and a Hispanic advocacy group had offered a $5,000 reward for anyone that called Trump “racist” during his closely watched opening monologue.
He indeed was interrupted with a cry of “you’re a racist!” — but it turned out to be from comedian Larry David, who co-produced “Seinfeld.”
“Who the hell is –- oh, I knew this was going to happen,” Trump responded in what was clearly a scripted sketch. “Who is that?” “I heard if I yelled that they’d give me $5,000,” David said, to laughter and applause from the audience.
Other sketches saw Trump poke fun at his own bombastic personality and holding a cabinet meeting as president of the United States, during which he is told the Islamic State extremist group has been defeated.
People in Trump’s America are just “sick of winning,” he is told. Prior to that, Trump — who has admitted he vetoed some of the skits for being too “risque” — said: “Many of the great have hosted this show. Like me, in 2004.
“A lot of people say: Donald, you are the most amazing guy. You are brilliant, you’re handsome, you’re rich, you have everything going, the world is waiting for you to be president, so why are you hosting Saturday Night Live? Why?
“And the answer is: I really have nothing better to do.”
Trump got plenty of laughs from a sympathetic audience, but that was not enough to satisfy Maureen Ryan, a TV critic with respected show-business daily Variety.
“The fevered lead-up to Donald Trump’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ episode turned out to be more exciting than the edition of the show he hosted,” she wrote. “Most of the sketches involving Trump were weak, timid or predictable.”
The “racist” sketch with David was one of the few that worked, said Ryan.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, appeared on “Saturday Night Live” last month, playing a sympathetic bartender in a skit that was well received by critics and Clinton supporters.
‘Nice guy’ Trump defies protests to host SNL
‘Nice guy’ Trump defies protests to host SNL
Tech billionaire returns to Earth after first private spacewalk
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: A billionaire spacewalker returned to Earth with his crew on Sunday, ending a five-day trip that lifted them higher than anyone has traveled since NASA’s moonwalkers.
SpaceX’s capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas in the predawn darkness, carrying tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot.
They pulled off the first private spacewalk while orbiting nearly 460 miles (740 kilometers) above Earth, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope. Their spacecraft hit a peak altitude of 875 miles (1,408 kilometers) following Tuesday’s liftoff.
Isaacman became only the 264th person to perform a spacewalk since the former Soviet Union scored the first in 1965, and SpaceX’s Sarah Gillis the 265th. Until now, all spacewalks were done by professional astronauts.
During Thursday’s commercial spacewalk, the Dragon capsule’s hatch was open barely a half-hour. Isaacman emerged only up to his waist to briefly test SpaceX’s brand new spacesuit followed by Gillis, who was knee high as she flexed her arms and legs for several minutes. Gillis, a classically trained violinist, also held a performance in orbit earlier in the week.
The spacewalk lasted less than two hours, considerably shorter than those at the International Space Station. Most of that time was needed to depressurize the entire capsule and then restore the cabin air. Even SpaceX’s Anna Menon and Scott “Kidd” Poteet, who remained strapped in, wore spacesuits.
SpaceX considers the brief exercise a starting point to test spacesuit technology for future, longer missions to Mars.
This was Isaacman’s second chartered flight with SpaceX, with two more still ahead under his personally financed space exploration program named Polaris after the North Star. He paid an undisclosed sum for his first spaceflight in 2021, taking along contest winners and a pediatric cancer survivor while raising more than $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
For the just completed so-called Polaris Dawn mission, the founder and CEO of the Shift4 credit card-processing company shared the cost with SpaceX. Isaacman won’t divulge how much he spent.
A river otter attacks a child at a Seattle-area marina
- River otters can be territorial and “like any wildlife, are inherently unpredictable,” officials said
BREMERTON, Washington: A river otter attacked a child at a Seattle-area marina, dragging the youngster from a dock and into the water before the mother rescued her child, wildlife officials said.
The child was pulled underwater and resurfaced after a few moments during the encounter Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at the Bremerton Marina in Kitsap County, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers said in a press release.
The otter continued to bite and scratch as the mother pulled the child out of the water. The animal chased them as they left the dock, wildlife officials said. The child was treated at a hospital.
“We are grateful the victim only sustained minor injuries, due to the mother’s quick actions and child’s resiliency,” said Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Ken Balazs. “We would also like to thank the Port of Bremerton for their quick coordination and communication to their marina tenants.”
Officers trapped the otter and took it to a disease diagnostic lab for testing, including for rabies, the release said. The agency did not respond to questions Saturday about test results.
River otters are common throughout Washington and can be found in fresh and saltwater habitats, officials said. Encounters with humans are rare, with six occurring in the past decade, they said. River otters can be territorial and “like any wildlife, are inherently unpredictable,” officials said.
Vessel rescued in English Channel after emergency call to Dover, Delaware, instead of Dover, England
Vessel rescued in English Channel after emergency call to Dover, Delaware, instead of Dover, England
- Dispatchers for the city of Dover found themselves at the center of an international rescue effort last month after receiving a call from an Albanian man
- “The caller had conducted an Internet search for the ‘Dover Police Department’ and the first search result on the screen proved to be the Dover, Delaware Police Department,” police said
DELAWARE, USA: Police dispatchers in Delaware’s capital city are being lauded for helping direct rescuers to a boat foundering in the English Channel thousands of miles away.
Dispatchers for the city of Dover found themselves at the center of an international rescue effort last month after receiving a call from an Albanian man who thought he was calling emergency personnel in Dover, England.
The mix-up happened Aug. 27, when the man learned that his brother’s boat was sinking in the English Channel, according to Delaware authorities.
“The caller had conducted an Internet search for the ‘Dover Police Department’ and the first search result on the screen proved to be the Dover, Delaware Police Department,” police officials said in a news release Thursday. “The family member thought they were calling Dover, England but was connected with our agency here in the United States.”
Recognizing that trying to refer the frantic caller to authorities in England could cost valuable time, Communications Operator MacKenzie Atkinson kept the man on the line and began collecting critical information. The caller provided the coordinates of the vessel, and Atkinson, who had recently acquired certification from the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch, followed protocols for a vessel in distress, officials said.
Meanwhile, Communications Officer Connor Logan began making international notifications. Within four minutes, he established contact with the several agencies, including the US Coast Guard, French Coast Guard, His Majesty’s Coast Guard in England, the United Kingdom’s Maritime and Coast Guard Agency’s Coordination Center, and police stations in Dover, England, officials said.
Dover police said that 15 minutes and 48 seconds after the initial call, the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency confirmed that rescuers were on their way to the vessel. Dover police said they received confirmation on Sept. 5 that the vessel and everyone on board were safely returned to the Port of Dover, England.
Dover police officials have nominated Atkinson, Logan and two other communications officers on duty during the emergency for a Distinguished Unit Commendation.
Hearts, tails and blubber at Japan fin whale tasting
- Tokoro’s firm Kyodo Senpaku hopes the taste of fin whale will revive demand and help it recoup the costs of its new 9,300-tonne ‘mothership’
- With three-quarters of Japan mountainous and ill-suited to agriculture, Japan has long relied on the sea – including whales – as a vital source of food
TOKYO: Bite-size portions of fin whale were available to sniff and taste Friday as Japan’s whaling industry seeks to rekindle appetite for a traditional protein source that has fallen out of favor.
“Once young people eat it and they realize it’s good, they will eat it more and more,” Hideki Tokoro, the head of Japan’s main whaling firm, said at the event at Tokyo’s main wholesale fish market.
“People are excited about the fin whale... It’s just delicious,” he said in his trademark whale-themed hat and jacket.
Since 2019, Japan has caught whales in its own waters after abandoning under international pressure hunting for “scientific purposes” in the Antarctic Ocean and the North Pacific.
The catch list was limited to sei, minke, and Bryde’s whales, but this year fin whales — the planet’s second-largest animal — were added and on August 1 the first killed.
Tokoro’s firm Kyodo Senpaku hopes the taste of fin whale will revive demand and help it recoup the costs of its new 9,300-tonne “mothership.”
Almost every part of the whale was on display, including slabs of heart, slices of tail and chunks of blubber.
With three-quarters of Japan mountainous and ill-suited to agriculture, Japan has long relied on the sea — including whales — as a vital source of food.
As imports of other meats have grown, consumption of whale has slumped to around 1,000 to 2,000 tons per year compared to around 200 times that in the 1960s.
Kyodo Senpaku this week released footage showing its first fin whale catch. The animal was almost 20 meters (65 feet) long and weighed at least 55 tonnes.
Fin whales are deemed “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Japan’s decision to catch them has alarmed conservationists.
Japan’s industry has come under additional scrutiny since the arrest of US-Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, 73, in Greenland in July on a Japanese warrant.
Watson co-founded Sea Shepherd, whose members played a high-seas game of cat-and-mouse with Japanese whaling ships in the 2000s and 2010s.
Anna Okada, a visitor to Friday’s event who runs a cafe in the Yamanashi region, said that she is on a mission to jazz up whale meat to appeal to younger people.
“Sashimi and deep-fried whale meat have an old-fashioned image of having a bad smell,” Okada said.
“The popularity can spread quickly when people try and find it delicious,” she said.
“If it’s sold from younger people’s perspective, for example like casual, stylish and tasty tacos, I think it will be popular quickly.”
Some schools are starting to serve it again in their canteens, she said, while products where the whale content isn’t obvious — such as in dumplings — can increase demand.
Keita Ishii, another visitor to the tasting event who works for an “izakaya” pub in Tokyo — famous for their meat skewers — was impressed.
“We’re using Bryde’s whale (for our restaurant). I came here to look for other whale meat today,” he said.
“The fin whale tasted different. It was delicious.”
Two men charged with stealing a famous Banksy image from a London art gallery
- Larry Fraser and James Love are alleged to have taken ‘Girl with Balloon’ from the Grove Gallery on Sunday night
- Police say they have recovered the work, which is valued in court documents at $355,000
LONDON: Two men have been charged with burglary over the theft of an artwork by street artist Banksy from a London gallery, police said Friday.
The Metropolitan Police force said Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, are alleged to have taken “Girl with Balloon” from the Grove Gallery on Sunday night.
The suspects appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and were ordered detained until their next hearing on Oct. 9.
Police say they have recovered the work, which is valued in court documents at 270,000 pounds ($355,000).
The stolen work is one of several versions of “Girl with Balloon,” a stenciled image of a child reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon. Originally stenciled on a wall in east London, the picture has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy’s best-known images.
Another version partially self-destructed during a 2018 auction, passing through a shredder hidden in its frame just after it was purchased for 1.1 million pounds ($1.4 million) at Sotheby’s.
The self-shredded work, retitled “Love is in the Bin,” sold for 18.6 million pounds ($25.4 million at the time) in 2021.
Bansky, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists. His mischievous and often satirical images include two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words, “Laugh now, but one day I’ll be in charge.”
His paintings and installations sell for millions of dollars at auction and have drawn thieves and vandals.
This summer a series of animal-themed stencils showed up around London. One of them, a howling wolf on a satellite dish, was removed by a masked man less than an hour after it was confirmed as authentic. An image of a gorilla at London Zoo and piranhas in a police sentry box in London’s financial district were both removed by the authorities for safekeeping.
