Olympic champion gymnast Gabby Douglas says she is among the group of athletes sexually abused by a former team doctor.

Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion and a three-time gold medalist, wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday night that she waited so long to reveal the abuse by Larry Nassar because she was part of a group “conditioned to stay silent.”

The 21-year-old Douglas is the latest high-profile gymnast to come forward against Nassar, who spent nearly two decades as the national team doctor for USA Gymnastics before being fired in 2015. Two-time Olympic teammate Aly Raisman detailed her abuse by Nassar in her autobiography “Fierce” released earlier this month. Two-time Olympic medalist McKayla Maroney disclosed abuse by Nassar in October.

Nassar, 54, is accused of molesting several girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. He’s facing similar charges in a neighboring county and lawsuits filed by more than 125 women and girls.
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The CBS television network fired veteran newsman Charlie Rose on Tuesday, a day after an explosive Washington Post report recounted stories from eight women who said he had sexually abused them with lewd comments, groping and walking around naked in their presence.

Rose, 75, was co-host of the network’s CBS This Morning news and talk show, and he occasionally appeared on its 60 Minutes investigative news show.

But Rose is perhaps better known for his acclaimed Charlie Rose interview show he has conducted since 1991, in which he has interviewed newsmakers from the worlds of politics, the media and entertainment. PBS and Bloomberg Television, which distributed his self-produced interview show, suspended him Monday after the newspaper account, and they both also ended their contracts with Rose on Tuesday.

Co-hosts critical

Rose’s firing at CBS came hours after his co-hosts on the morning news show sharply condemned him, expressing shock at allegations that he had sexually abused young women who worked with him on the interview show or sought employment from the late 1990s to 2011.

“What do you say when someone that you deeply care about has done something so horrible?” anchor Gayle King said at the opening of CBS This Morning, which she has hosted alongside Rose and Norah O’Donnell. “How do you wrap your brain around that? I’m really grappling with that. That said, Charlie does not get a pass here. He doesn’t get a pass from anyone in this room.”

King said that while the Post’s story did not represent a Rose she knew, “I’m also clearly on the side of the women who have been very hurt and damaged by this.”

O’Donnell said, “This has to end. This is a moment that demands a frank and honest assessment about where we stand and, more generally, the safety of women. Let me be very clear: There is no excuse for this alleged behavior.”

The eight women alleged that Rose had unexpectedly sexually abused them when they were alone with him in work-related settings or on lewd telephone calls. They said he had walked around naked in their presence and had groped their breasts, buttocks or genital areas.

Other allegations

Rose is the latest prominent U.S. man to be the subject of allegations of long-running sexual abuse, a list that includes President Donald Trump, actor Bill Cosby, film producer Harvey Weinstein, journalists, corporate executives and other politicians, including former President Bill Clinton when he was in office in the 1990s.

Rose said in a tweet after the Post published its story, “I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed.” He admitted behaving insensitively, but wrote that he did not “believe that all of these allegations are accurate.”
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Harvey Weinstein paid $1 million to silence an Italian model who accused him of groping her in 2015 after prosecutors decided not to charge him, and in the 1990s, his brother paid other accusers from his personal bank account, a magazine reported Tuesday.

Ambra Battilana Gutierrez told The New Yorker she signed a nondisclosure agreement before knowing the media mogul had a pattern of sexually harassing and abusing women. But she felt at the time pressured to sign the agreement.

“I didn’t even understand almost what I was doing with all those papers,” she told the magazine. “I was really disoriented. My English was very bad. All of the words in that agreement were super difficult to understand. I guess even now I can’t really comprehend everything.”

She recalled that, across the table, Weinstein’s attorney was trembling visibly as she picked up the pen.

Instant regret

“I saw him shaking and I realized how big this was. But then I thought I needed to support my mom and brother and how my life was being destroyed, and I did it,” she told me. “The moment I did it, I really felt it was wrong.”

Weinstein attorneys Blair Berk and Ben Brafman said in a statement to the magazine that because of pending investigations it would be inappropriate to respond to each of the details in the article.

“Suffice it to say, Mr. Weinstein strongly objects to any suggestion that his conduct at any time has ever been contrary to law,” according to the statement published in the magazine. “Be assured that we will respond in any appropriate legal forum, where necessary, and fully expect that Mr. Weinstein will prevail against any claim of legal wrongdoing.”

Gutierrez had told police the movie magnate touched her thigh, grabbed her breasts and asked, “Are these real?” during a meeting in his Manhattan office on March 27, 2015. Investigators conducted a sting, listening to a call between the two and getting the model to record an in-person encounter in which Weinstein alternated between trying to persuade her to come into his hotel room and apologizing for his conduct at his office.

No charges were brought, because the district attorney concluded they were not supported.

‘We had so much proof’

Gutierrez told the magazine the decision shocked her.

“We had so much proof of everything,” she said. “Everyone was telling me, ‘Congratulations, we stopped a monster.’ ”

After the recent flood of allegations against Weinstein brought new scrutiny of that decision, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s top assistant prosecutor said that police had arranged the 2015 sting without prosecutors’ knowledge and that there were other “proof issues.” The NYPD pushed back, saying it had used established investigative techniques to present prosecutors with a recording that corroborated Gutierrez’s complaint, plus other statements and information.

Weinstein also once asked his brother and business partner to settle claims made by two women, and Bob Weinstein sent them 250,000 British pounds, the magazine reported. Bob Weinstein told The New Yorker that he had no knowledge of what the payments were for. His publicist didn’t immediately return a message from the AP.

The New York Times published an expose of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, leading to his firing from the company he co-founded and his expulsion from the organization that bestows the Academy Awards. Since then, more than 100 women have come forward to tell similar tales of harassment or assault.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they speak publicly, as Gutierrez has done.
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American actress and singer Della Reese, who made broadcasting history as the first black woman to host a national talk show, has died at 86.

The Detroit-born Reese began her career as a teenage gospel singer, touring with the legendary Mahalia Jackson.

She turned to jazz and pop in the late 1950s, including the million-selling hits “And That Reminds Me” and “Don’t You Know.”

Her 1969 television series Della ran for two years and was the first such talk show to be hosted by an African-American woman.

Reese became a familiar face on television comedies, and spent nine years playing a chief angel on the series Touched by an Angel.

She spent the last 20 years as an ordained minister, preaching from a Los Angeles church she founded called Understanding Principles for Better Living.
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Charlie Rose is the latest public figure to be felled by sexual misconduct allegations, with PBS halting distribution of his nightly interview show and CBS News suspending him Monday following a Washington Post report with the accusations of eight women.

The women, who all worked for Rose or tried to work for him, accused the veteran newsman of groping them, walking naked in front of them and telling one that he dreamed about her swimming nude.

Rose, 75, said in a statement that he was “deeply embarrassed” and apologized for his behavior.

“PBS was shocked to learn today of these deeply disturbing allegations,” the public broadcasting service said in a statement. “We are immediately suspending distribution of Charlie Rose.”

Three women went on the record in the Post’s deeply-reported story. Reah Bravo, a former associate producer for Rose’s PBS show who began working for him in 2007, told the newspaper: “He was a sexual predator, and I was his victim.” She said Rose groped her on multiple occasions and once, during a business trip to Indiana, called her to his hotel room where he emerged from a shower naked.

Kyle Godfrey-Ryan, one of Rose’s former assistants, was 21 when she said Rose repeatedly called her to describe his fantasies of her swimming naked at the pool at his Long Island home while he watched from his bedroom. She said she was fired when Rose learned she had spoken to a mutual friend about his behavior.

Megan Creydt, who worked as a coordinator on Rose’s PBS show in 2005 and 2006, told the newspaper that she was sitting in the passenger seat as Rose drove in Manhattan one day when he put his hand on her thigh. Five women interviewed by the Post described similar grabs to their legs in what many interpreted as an attempt to see their reactions.

Rose said that he has behaved insensitively at times “and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken. I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will, too.”

Rose’s interview show is seen in 94 percent of the country on PBS stations. It is rebroadcast on Bloomberg’s cable network, which also announced Monday it was suspending the show. He interviews a wide circle of people in the media, politics and entertainment — this month including Harvard President Drew Faust, rapper Macklemore and the Post’s Robert Costa, who talked about that paper’s sexual harassment investigation of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

He also hosts CBS This Morning with Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell, a critically-acclaimed morning news programs which has been gaining the past few years on its better-known rivals. Rose also conducts interviews for 60 Minutes.

Despite his age and heart troubles in the past, Rose had been one of the busiest figures in television.

Two hours after the Post story went online, one of its authors, Amy Brittain, tweeted that “sadly, my inbox is already flooded with women who have had similar, disturbing encounters with Charlie Rose.”

Allegations against others

Stories of sexual misconduct have been coming in a flood since The New York Times first reported on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s behavior in early October. Even on Monday, the Times suspended White House reporter Glenn Thrush while it looked into a story about him making drunken, unwanted advances on women. In the news business alone, NBC political reporter Mark Halperin and top National Public Radio news executive Michael Oreskes have lost their jobs.

Interviewed last April outside a Time magazine gala, Rose was asked by The Associated Press about Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, who lost his job when it was revealed his network had paid millions of dollars to settle claims women had made against him.

“All of the cases that raise the issue of sexual harassment, which is a terrible thing, [and] has probably been not exposed enough,” Rose said. “Not enough in the sense of the attention in the past, so that people were afraid to come forward. I think people are coming forward now.”
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Forbes has crowned Beyonce as the highest-paid woman in music.

Forbes magazine says the singer earned $105 million over a yearlong period stretching from June 2016 to June of this year. Beyonce’s earnings were boosted by her “Formation” world tour last year, which Forbes says grossed $250 million.

Runner-up Adele also enjoyed a successful year on the road. Her tour helped contribute to $69 million in earnings.

Taylor Swift, Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez complete the top five highest female earners in the business.

Dolly Parton is a surprising sixth. Forbes says the 71-year-old brought in $37 million with the help of 63 shows during the yearlong period.
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The 2017 American Music Awards marked a night of unison, positive vibes and American pride as musicians spoke about coming together in a year dominated by natural disasters, violence and divisive politics.

Kelly Clarkson and Pink kicked off the three-hour show Sunday with a performance honoring those affected by tragic events of the year, from hurricanes to hate crimes. First responders stood behind Jamie Foxx, who gave a heartfelt speech before the pop stars sang R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts.”

This year “was a year that tested our faith. In these moments of crisis, heroes emerged,” he said. “As this year comes to a close, we look forward to 2018 with hope … together we can unite as a people and a nation.”

“Black-ish” actress Tracee Ellis Ross said the show – taking place in the wake of multiple sexual allegations against powerful men in Hollywood, the media, business and politics – would honor women who “own our experiences, our bodies and our lives.”

“This is the country I know, which is of powerful women, talking about our women, talking about empowering our LGBTQ youth,” said Dan Reynolds of the band Imagine Dragons, which won favorite pop/rock duo or group. “May we continue to progress as a nation as one of love and equality. No divide. There’s been way too much of that this last year.”

Before her performance, Demi Lovato said, “There’s so much hate in this world. We have to rise above and never say sorry for who you are.” And while Lady Gaga performed “The Cure,” a song about healing, she told the audience: “Who’s gonna be there? We got to be there for each other America. Hands up!”

Gaga sang from her concert in Washington, D.C. Later in the show, she was in tears when she was named favorite female pop/rock artist.

“If you feel different … don’t you dare give up on who you are,” she said.

Bruno Mars was also not in attendance at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Mars, who on tour in South America, picked up multiple awards, including artist of the year.

“I wish I could be partying with y’all,” said Mars, who appeared in a video.

Iconic entertainer Diana Ross was honored with Lifetime Achievement Award, and she received touching video messages from Barack and Michelle Obama, and Taylor Swift.

The 73-year-old was cheerful and energetic as she ran through well-known songs onstage like a veteran, singing “I’m Coming Out” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” among other hits, with her signature big hair. Foxx, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and others sang along, while some of Ross’ grandchildren danced onstage near the end of the performance.

Pink was also impressive as she continued to show her athleticism and acrobatic skills during a second performance at the AMAs, performing from the side of a high-rise building alongside aerial dancers. The K-pop group BTS, who have a feverish and fanatic social media following, earned the night’s loudest applause after they performed their song, “DNA.”

Another highlight of the night came when Linkin Park – whose lead singer Chester Bennington killed himself earlier this year – won favorite alternative rock artist.

“We want to dedicate this award to him, to his memory, to his talent, to his sense of humor, to his joy,” band member Mike Shinoda said onstage. “I want you guys to take a moment to appreciate what you’ve got and make Chester proud.”

Selena Gomez, who had a kidney transplant this year due to her struggle with lupus, sang “Wolves” while lying on the floor in a short nightgown. Her knees, hands and forehead covered in faux bruises and blood.

Christina Aguilera was shaky when she sang a medley of Whitney Houston’s songs to honor the 25th anniversary of Houston’s film, “The Bodyguard.” The band Portugal. The Man, who sang their pop hit “Feel It Still,” opened their performance with the words: “No computers up here, just live instruments.” And rapper Macklemore gave his grandmother a birthday shout out at the end of his performance.

Like Mars, Keith Urban also won multiple awards, including favorite country album, country male artist and country song.

“Absolutely you should be sharing these, my love,” the country singer said as “This Is Us” actor Justin Hartley passed two of the trophies to Urban’s wife, actress Nicole Kidman, who sat in the audience.

Shawn Mendes won favorite adult contemporary artist, beating Mars and Ed Sheeran.

“Ed and Bruno are basically the two reasons I started singing,” he said.

Former One Direction singer Niall Horan won new artist of the year; the Chainsmokers were named favorite electronic dance artist; and Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber won collaboration of the year for the hit song “Despacito.”

DJ Khaled won favorite rap/hip-hop song for “I’m the One,” his No. 1 hit featuring Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne.

While the performers at the AMAs were evenly split between men and women, the nominees were not – a reflection of the year in pop music where male acts dominated.
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Mel Tillis, the affable longtime country star who wrote hits for Kenny Rogers, Ricky Skaggs and many others, and overcame a stutter to sing on dozens of his own singles, has died.

 

A spokesman for Tillis, Don Murry Grubbs, said Tillis died early Sunday at Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Florida. He was 85.

 

Grubbs said Tillis battled intestinal issues since 2016 and never fully recovered.  The suspected cause of death is respiratory failure.

 

Tillis, the father of country singer Pam Tillis, recorded more than 60 albums and had more than 30 top 10 country singles, including  “Good Woman Blues,”  “Coca Cola Cowboy” and “Southern Rain.” Among the hits he wrote for others were “Detroit City” for Bobby Bare; “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” by Rogers and the First Edition; and “Thoughts of a Fool” for George Strait.

 

Country music stars Charlie Daniels, Crystal Gayle and Blake Shelton offered their condolences on Twitter.

 

“He once spent an entire day at his place in Tennessee showing me all the memorabilia he’d gathered over the years where he gave me a pair of his stage boots,” Shelton’s account said.  “He even took time to talk me through some hard times in my life on a couple phone calls.”

 

Although his early efforts to get a record deal were rebuffed because of his stutter, he was a promising songwriter in Nashville in the 1950s and 1960s, writing tunes for Webb Pierce and Ray Price.

 

In all, the Country Music Hall of Fame member wrote more than 1,000 songs and in 2012 received a National Medal of Arts for bringing “his unique blend of warmth and humor to the great tradition of country music.”

He also dabbled in acting, appearing in such feature films as Clint Eastwood’s “Every Which Way But Loose,” and the Burt Reynolds movies “Cannonball Run I and II” and “Smokey and the Bandit II.”  He starred in several television movies and briefly had a network TV show, “Mel and Susan Together,” with Susan Anton.

 

In 2007, Tillis became a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry country music show.

 

“You know what?  Another part of the dream has been fulfilled,” he said at the time. “It’s been a long, hard road.”

 

Tillis was raised in Pahokee, Florida, and developed his stutter as a child while being treated for malaria.  He dropped out of the University of Florida and instead served in the Air Force and worked on the railroad before relocating to Nashville in 1957.

 

Musical from an early age, he started performing in the early 1950s with a group called The Westerners, while stationed in Okinawa and serving as a baker in the Air Force.

 

He held a variety of odd jobs before breaking out, including being a truck driver, a strawberry picker, a firefighter on the railroad and milkman, which inspired his breakthrough song.  Feeling down one day he began singing to himself, “Oh Lord, I’m tired.  Tired of living this ol’ way.”  He turned his lament into “I’m Tired,” which became a hit for Webb Pierce.

 

Price, Skaggs, Brenda Lee and hundreds of others would cover his songs.

 

Tillis, meanwhile, became a major success on his own in the late 1960s and toured for decades, often using his stutter as a source of humor – though his stutter disappeared when he sang.

 

“One of the reasons I worked it into my show is that it’s my trademark,” he once told The Associated Press.

 

He said that when he was in the Air Force as a flight leader, he marched airmen right into a wall.

 

“I couldn’t get out the word `halt,” he said.

 

Grubbs says the Tillis family will release information about funeral services in Florida and Nashville.
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When Britain’s 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth married 26-year-old Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in 1947, the wedding sparked joy and celebration in a country just recovering from World War II. 

 

Seven decades on, the couple who would become Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, both now in their 90s, are still going strong, their marriage a bedrock in British public life amid a world of change.

 

On Monday, they mark their 70th wedding anniversary, though officials say the milestone will be celebrated privately and no public events are planned. The royal family is reportedly marking the date with a gathering at Windsor Castle. 

 

The queen is the first monarch in British history to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary. 

At their 50th wedding anniversary, Elizabeth praised her husband as “quite simply… my strength and stay all these years.”

 

Elizabeth first met Philip, a naval officer and the son of Prince Andrew of Greece, as they attended the wedding of Philip’s cousin in 1934. 

 

The pair wed at Westminster Abbey in London on Nov. 20, 1947. It would be nearly another six years before Elizabeth would be crowned as monarch, also at Westminster Abbey. 

 

In the decades that followed, Philip, who also holds the title Duke of Edinburgh, spent almost the entire duration of their marriage supporting his wife in her role as head of state. Both have cut back on their public engagements in recent years, and Philip retired from official duties earlier this year. 

 

The royal couple has four children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
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Afghanistan defeated Pakistan Sunday, winning their first under-19 cricket Asia Cup final in Kuala Lumpur, offering a rare opportunity for celebrations in a country desperate for a break from relentless rounds of deadly violence.

Batting first, the Afghan team scored 248 runs in their allotted 50 overs. The opposition Pakistani side while chasing the target was dismissed within 23 overs for just 63 runs, enabling Afghans to win the match by a massive margin of 185 runs to lift the championship trophy.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani tweeted his pride in the team, posting to his official Twitter account: “Indeed, our young colts showed that our future in cricket is bright.”

And Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah tweeted, though he is out of Afghanistan on an official trip, “I feel proud to congratulate our nation on this very unique, rare and prideful occasion of our country’s cricket as Afghanistan’s U19 clinches historic win over Pakistan at the ACC U-19 Asia Cup and lifts the trophy for the first time in the history.”

The win demonstrated significant improvement in Afghan cricket, which spread in the war-torn country from refugee camps in neighboring Pakistan and has become one of Afghanistan’s most popular sports in recent years.

The International Cricket Council in this year inducted Afghanistan as its 12th full member, recognizing the strides the Afghan national side has made in the game.

The other full ICC members, are traditional cricket-playing nations: England, Australia, Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, the West Indies, India, Ireland, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
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A group dedicated to preserving and promoting the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail has purchased private land in western Washington state to prevent a break in the path.

The Pacific Crest Trail Association bought more than 400 acres (162 hectares) in the Stevens Pass area this week from a private landowner for $1.6 million, The Seattle Times reported.

The association says the landowner had considered putting up a fence and cutting off public access to the trail.

“Given the topography, we found it very difficult to loop around that piece of private property,” said Megan Wargo, the group’s director of land protection. “There’s only a short window you can be out there building trail. It would have meant several years of access to the PCT as a through-hike would have been closed.”

The 2,600-mile (4,200-kilometer) trail from Mexico to Canada generally follows the crests of several mountain ranges, including the Cascades in Washington state and Oregon.

Wargo said the U.S. Forest Service manages the trail and has easements where it crosses private land. However, no one got an easement for the private land on the section of trail at the Stevens Pass Trailhead, she said.

“In most likelihood, it was just an oversight,” Wargo said. “Somebody thought there was an easement there, but the easement was not recorded.”

In 2015, the property owner was looking to sell and fence off the trail, so the association borrowed money to buy the land. It says the next step is to sell the land to the Forest Service at market value so it can repay the loan.
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