- ‘Fragile, defective…’: Netizens share slew of complaints as Apple’s new iPhone 15 goes on sale | Mint Mint
- YouTube iPhone 15 Pro Teardown Shows Off Repairability Gizmodo
- First iPhone 15 Pro drop test suggests new rounded edge titanium design is less durable 9to5Mac
- Apple iPhone 14 receives downgraded iFixit repairability rating because of ongoing software locks Notebookcheck.net
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- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: fragile
Miley Cyrus Says She Was Unaware of Sinéad O’Connor’s ‘Fragile Mental State’ During ‘Wrecking Ball’ Dispute – Rolling Stone
- Miley Cyrus Says She Was Unaware of Sinéad O’Connor’s ‘Fragile Mental State’ During ‘Wrecking Ball’ Dispute Rolling Stone
- Miley Cyrus looks back on feud with Sinéad O’Connor, dedicates a song to the late singer during special Yahoo Entertainment
- Miley Cyrus says Sinéad O’Connor’s open letter criticizing ‘Wrecking Ball’ video ‘deeply upset’ her — but now she realizes the late singer was right that she was ‘manipulated’ by the music industry Yahoo Entertainment
- Miley Cyrus Looks Back on Sinead O’ Connor Feud Us Weekly
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Kim Kardashian needs three people to CRAM her bottom into fragile Marilyn Monroe dress
Kim Kardashian reveals how much work it took for her to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s iconic ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’ dress for the Met Gala… AFTER losing 16 pounds.
The 41-year-old Kardashian flew to the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not headquarters in Orlando, Florida to try on the dress… after an apparently persuasive phone call from Kim’s mother, Kris Jenner.
After a strenuous three-week workout and diet regimen, Kim was able to fit into the original gown… with the help of three other people… though the dress wasn’t fully zipped over her behind.
Work; Kim Kardashian reveals how much work it took for her to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s iconic ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’ dress for the Met Gala… AFTER losing 16 pounds
Not fully zipped: After a strenuous three-week workout and diet regimen, Kim was able to fit into the original gown… with the help of three other people… though the dress wasn’t fully zipped over her behind
Towards the beginning of the episode, Kim has arrived at the Ripley’s headquarters in Orlando, Florida, though her boyfriend Pete Davidson still has yet to be featured.
Both Kim and Pete were seen at Ripley’s in videos taken at the Orlando facilities in May, though Pete is nowhere to be seen in the new episode.
Kim is seen admiring a full makeup kid that Marilyn herself used, which is one of many Marilyn artifacts in the room.
Makeup: Kim is seen admiring a full makeup kid that Marilyn herself used, which is one of many Marilyn artifacts in the room
There is also an iconic oversized cardigan sweater Marilyn wore on the Santa Monica beach for a photo shoot with George Barris in 1962, along with the famous picture of her wearing it.
She shows the makeup kit to her makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic through a video call, adding she’s about to try the original Marilyn dress on.
‘We’re trying it on now. If not I’m going in this sweater… just kidding,’ Kim jokes, referring to the iconic cardigan.
Ripley’s: ‘We’re trying it on now. If not I’m going in this sweater… just kidding,’ Kim jokes, referring to the iconic cardigan
‘I flew all the way to Florida to try on the Marilyn dress at Ripley’s. They were not gonna let me wear this dress. They were not gonna let me even try it on, until Kris Jenner calls,’ Kim says in confession.
Kris is asked by a producer in confession, ‘What did you say to Ripley’s? Cause they were like flat out no,’ as Kris can only laugh.
They cut back to Kim who says she practically begged Kris to make this happen – ‘I was like, “Please mom, if you make this happen I’ll… marry you,’ as the producers are heard laughing when Kim adds, ‘I would have done anything.’
Laugh: Kris is asked by a producer in confession, ‘What did you say to Ripley’s? Cause they were like flat out no,’ as Kris can only laugh
Kris says, ‘I cannot tell you my secrets, but if somebody says no, you know what I say, you’re talking to the wrong person,’ a line that Khloe had said during their Variety interview.
Kim adds that she was, ‘screaming at her on the phone’ adding she’d put in an appearance at Ripley’s and Kris kept telling her to shut up.
‘So, after my mom’s conversation, they’ve agreed to let me try on the dress, one last time, and if it fits, I’m going to the Met. If it doesn’t fit, I’m not going to the Met.’
Fit or no fit: ‘So, after my mom’s conversation, they’ve agreed to let me try on the dress, one last time, and if it fits, I’m going to the Met. If it doesn’t fit, I’m not going to the Met’
Kim is seen putting on her shapewear before stepping into the original dress, as she adds in confession that she’s been, ‘working my a** off to see my vision come to life. I will be crushed if this doesn’t pay off.’
The dress is seen being pulled up over her behind, as she asks if she needs to put on, ‘another pair of shapewear.’
‘It’s hard because you can’t shimmy into this dress the way that I really would, that’s the difficult part, it just has to glide up,’ she says in confession, as a number of women wearing white gloves try to work the dress up.
Shapewear: Kim is seen putting on her shapewear before stepping into the original dress, as she adds in confession that she’s been, ‘working my a** off to see my vision come to life. I will be crushed if this doesn’t pay off’
‘Kim, push your a**,’ says Chris Stapleton, as Kim explains, ‘He lifted up my butt in my SKIMS, kind of repositioned my shapewear, and then it went up.’
‘Oh my God… it fits, ‘Kim says, though the dress doesn’t zip all the way up her butt as Kim asks if they can use the tie on top and ‘keep it open.’
Kim adds, ‘What if we did that and then put a fur over it?’ as one of the Ripley’s women says that’s, ‘a perfect idea.’
‘It’s happening. This is happening. I’m going to be wearing Marilyn Monroe’s original dress to the Met Ball,’ Kim adds in confession.
She hops on a video call with her sister Khloe and says, ‘It kinda fits… kinda. I mean, the back doesn’t zip. My butt still doesn’t fit, but it goes up.’
Kinda fits: She hops on a video call with her sister Khloe and says, ‘It kinda fits… kinda. I mean, the back doesn’t zip. My butt still doesn’t fit, but it goes up’
‘Kimberly, shut the f**k up that you got in that,’ Khloe is heard saying over the phone, adding, ‘I’m so proud of you.’
Kim adds in confession that she’s happy but she can’t celebrate because the Blac Chyna trial ‘just started, so I just have to focus, because I have no time.’
The episode begins in Milan, where Kourtney Kardashian, Travis Barker and family friends such as Simon Huck and Steph Shepherd, visit a famous church.
Church: The episode begins in Milan, where Kourtney Kardashian, Travis Barker and family friends such as Simon Huck and Steph Shepherd, visit a famous church
As they’re leaving the private offices of Dolce & Gabbanna, Kourtney thanks Travis for doing this for her, before Kourtney reveals in confession she has, ‘a super busy week.’
‘Tomorrow’s fitting is the most important one, which is my actual wedding dress and his actual wedding outfit,’ Kourtney explains.
They walk towards the church as Kourtney tells Travis that her legs almost gave out, adding, ‘the jet-lag, the stairs, the running three miles…’ though Travis adds, ‘but that’s how we do it, baby.’
‘It’s all preparing you to walk down that aisle, babe,’ Travis adds, joking that she could ‘run down the aisle,’ if she wants.
She joked that she would run down the aisle when she first sees him and he says, ‘That would be the cutest thing ever.’
They take pictures in front of the church with Travis lifting her up as they make out in front of the church, before marveling at the church’s architecture.
Lift: They take pictures in front of the church with Travis lifting her up as they make out in front of the church, before marveling at the church’s architecture
‘How crazy is all the carving and the marble?’ Kourtney asks, before they’re ushered into the church without the camera crew.
They leave and thank the people at the church, and when they walk back to their vehicle, a fan yells out, ‘It’s Travis Baker!’
Kourtney jokes that she loves it when people call him Travis Scott, the father of Kylie Jenner’s children, as Kourtney adds, ‘Or when they call me Khloe.’
They get to their car as an unseen fan asks, ‘Can you say Bye to us?’ as Kourtney obliges before getting in the vehicle.
After Kim trying on Marilyn’s dress in Orlando, the episode cuts back to Milan, where Kourtney and Travis are getting ready for their final fitting.
Kourtney asks if they’re all going to cry today, adding she has anxiety, while someone on her team admitted they already cried this morning.
Kourtney says to the camera this is her first time trying on her wedding dress, while she tells Travis, ‘Remember we were just going to run away? Just get married you and I? We tried.’
They arrive at Dolce & Gabbana’s offices again, as they marvel at the offices and again suggest to just get married there.
There is a woman playing the piano when they arrive and Travis says they should have her at their wedding.
Kourtney adds Travis gave her ‘an abundance of caffeine’ before they greet Domenico Dolce, the co-founder of Dolce & Gabanna with Stefano Gabanna.
‘I have known Domenico Dolce for years now. Vacationed at their home over the years in Portofino, he was at my 40th birthday party, so we’re super excited to be working with him.’
Domenico says he wants to make it the best, like his wedding, adding he’d like to marry again, with a laugh.
Domenico says they will talk with Puny, which is the most famous restaurant in Portofino, for the entire family.
He wonders if anyone in the family has allergies and Kourtney says that Travis is vegan, as Domenico jokes he will forget who he is during the wedding.
‘No, if you have some, we organize a special dish, adding that Portofino is a ‘public area’ and it will be ‘impossible’ to avoid paparazzi.
‘If you walk in Portofino, you have paparazzi,’ Domenico says, as Travis goes to try on his last few remaining looks for the wedding and Kourtney gets to see her dress for the first time.
Dress: ‘If you walk in Portofino, you have paparazzi,’ Domenico says, as Travis goes to try on his last few remaining looks for the wedding and Kourtney gets to see her dress for the first time
‘Oh my God. That is crazy,’ Kourtney says of the elegant white minidress with an elaborate train, as Kourtney sees the mini version of the dress.
Domenico mentions the dress was made, ‘point by point,’ handmade and not made by machines at all.
She tries on the dress as Steph says it’s, ‘like nothing I’ve seen before’ as Kourtney walks out from behind the changing curtain.
Kourt’s dress: She tries on the dress as Steph says it’s, ‘like nothing I’ve seen before’ as Kourtney walks out from behind the changing curtain
Domenico and his team start making small alterations, as Kourtney explains in confession that he, ‘springs into action, biting bones out of my dress, cutting things and completely building a dress on me.’
Domenico says he wants the dress to push up on her chest and not down as they keep altering the dress as Kourtney says, ‘That is some surgery.’
Meanwhile, Travis is getting fitted for his suit with his stylist Chris Kim, as Travis says, ‘They’re making everything perfect.’
Alterations: Domenico and his team start making small alterations, as Kourtney explains in confession that he, ‘springs into action, biting bones out of my dress, cutting things and completely building a dress on me’
Surgery: Domenico says he wants the dress to push up on her chest and not down as they keep altering the dress as Kourtney says, ‘That is some surgery’
‘To some people I may look crazy with all these tattoos, but whatever. I like my wedding day to be like classic and traditional sort of,’ Travis tells the camera.
Stefano Gabbana arrives, telling Kourtney that she will need two people behind her to take care of the elegant train.
Dolce explains that Kris will walk her up the aisle and shake hands with Travis, and she and Travis kiss right away, much different from a traditional American ceremony.
Right away: Dolce explains that Kris will walk her up the aisle and shake hands with Travis, and she and Travis kiss right away, much different from a traditional American ceremony
‘Oh, right away? To start?’ Kourtney asks as Stefano says, ‘This is Italy,’ and Kourtney says, ‘That makes me feel so much better.’
She starts a video call with her mother Kris, wearing her full wedding dress, but Corey answers, saying Kris is in the shower.
‘Oh… I was trying to show my mom my wedding dress,’ Kourtney explains, as Corey says she looks, ‘Amazing,’ before Kris comes on the line.
‘Oh my God. You look like a little doll,’ Kris says over the phone. ‘Oh my goodness, Kourt, you look so beautiful. I want to cry. I would have never thought I would be looking at you in a wedding dress naked in the shower.’
Dress: She starts a video call with her mother Kris, wearing her full wedding dress, but Corey answers, saying Kris is in the shower
Calling Kris: ‘Oh my God. You look like a little doll,’ Kris says over the phone. ‘Oh my goodness, Kourt, you look so beautiful. I want to cry. I would have never thought I would be looking at you in a wedding dress naked in the shower’
She said she loved them and hoped they are having the best time and she says they are before disconnecting the call.
Kourtney’s stylist Dani Michelle asks if she’s happy and she says she is, adding, ‘I think he made it perfection.’
Her friend Steph Shepherd added, ‘I can’t believe it. I was like, Oh my God she’s in a wedding dress,’ as Kourt adds, ‘I know, I never thought there would be a reason.’
Can’t believe it: Her friend Steph Shepherd added, ‘I can’t believe it. I was like, Oh my God she’s in a wedding dress,’ as Kourt adds, ‘I know, I never thought there would be a reason’
The episode cuts back to Los Angeles, as Kim and Khloe are getting ready for a fitting, with Kim saying Khloe is, ‘skinnier than ever.’
Fashion designer Jeremy Scott tells Khloe that she is, ‘skinnier than the models who would do the show,’ as Khloe tries on a bustier.
Khloe reveals in confession, ‘I have officially been invited to the Met. I have been invited in the past, I just opted not to go. I’m not big on red carpets. I think I’ve made that very clear, but good old Kimberly has a way with words and I am also sort of a pushover when it comes to some things, so I guess I allowed her to push me over.’
Skinnier: Fashion designer Jeremy Scott tells Khloe that she is, ‘skinnier than the models who would do the show,’ as Khloe tries on a bustier
Invited: Khloe reveals in confession, ‘I have officially been invited to the Met. I have been invited in the past, I just opted not to go. I’m not big on red carpets. I think I’ve made that very clear, but good old Kimberly has a way with words and I am also sort of a pushover when it comes to some things, so I guess I allowed her to push me over’
Kim tells the camera, ‘Do you guys get how cool this is that you have Jeremy Scott in Khloe’s house, on camera? You guys just don’t get it. I mean, maybe you do. I get it. It’s a really big deal.’
Kim adds this year will be the first time that all of the Kardashian-Jenner sisters will be going to the Met Gala together, and it will be both Kourtney and Khloe’s first time.
Khloe says that somehow it’s online already, and Kim said she saw it on celeb gossip site DeuxMoi, which she jokes is, ‘the Bible.’
Online: Khloe says that somehow it’s online already, and Kim said she saw it on celeb gossip site DeuxMoi, which she jokes is, ‘the Bible’
Kim adds in confession that Khloe has always been, ‘really nervous to go to the Met, but after this year, we decide she’s going, and that’s it.’
A producer asks, ‘Who’s we?’ Kim responds, ‘Me… and myself,’ while Khloe tries on her glittering gold gown.
Kim says in confession that they plan on getting ready and glamming together and they will, ‘make this the best experience ever and you’re gonna feel good about yourself and show the world, “F**k you, I’m invited to the Met, dude.’
Nervous: Kim adds in confession that Khloe has always been, ‘really nervous to go to the Met, but after this year, we decide she’s going, and that’s it’
Kim says the dress is, ‘so beautiful,’ though Khloe adds, ‘I can’t breathe but that’s fine,’ as Kim and Jeremy joke that breathing is overrated.
Khloe asks if they will shorten the dress a bit and Jeremy says they will, but when she says she’s too tall, he insists, ‘You are not too tall. You are perfect. These gorgeous long legs, please, heaven.’
Khloe adds in confession, ‘I love that everyone is being so supportive, but that doesn’t take away from how many cameras are gonna be there and how long this carpet is, and that’s really overwhelming.’
Can’t breathe: Kim says the dress is, ‘so beautiful,’ though Khloe adds, ‘I can’t breathe but that’s fine,’ as Kim and Jeremy joke that breathing is overrated
Kim takes off as Jeremy says Khloe looks like a movie star as Kris arrives and Khloe says, ‘the boss… the other boss’ is here.
Kris raves about Khloe’s look and Khloe asks if Kris has had a vodka and she says, ‘Of course I have.’
Kris adds in confession, ‘I am absolutely, mentally, spiritually, physically tired. Tired from the trial, tired from being in the courthouse all day every day.’
Boss: Kim takes off as Jeremy says Khloe looks like a movie star as Kris arrives and Khloe says, ‘the boss… the other boss’ is here
They show news footage including sketches of the family in the courthouse, adding in confession it’s ‘exhausting’ so it will be a ‘two-martini night… maybe three.’
Kris tells Jeremy that Kim was trying to prepare Khloe for the red carpet at the Met, as Kris tries to replicate the experience by yelling at her like paparazzi would on the red carpet.
Kris adds in confession, ‘Listen, I’m the voice of reason. I want to get her mentally prepared so when she walks out onto the biggest red carpet there is, she knows exactly what to expect. I don’t want her to get there and scream at me because I didn’t prepare her.’
Khloe adds in confession that she feels, ‘really great’ in the dress and there needs to be some work done but it’s, ‘incredible how it looks.’
Replicate: Kris tells Jeremy that Kim was trying to prepare Khloe for the red carpet at the Met, as Kris tries to replicate the experience by yelling at her like paparazzi would on the red carpet
Incredible: Khloe adds in confession that she feels, ‘really great’ in the dress and there needs to be some work done but it’s, ‘incredible how it looks’
The episode cuts back to Milan where Kourtney and Travis play patty-cake, for whatever reason, before heading out for dinner.
Kourtney explains to Travis that they can make anything vegan that he wants, as Travis marvels at the gnocchi.
‘Today was like a fairy tale,’ Kourtney tells the table, as she’s asked if she’ll want glam for her bachelorette party.
Travis asks what day the bachelorette party is and she says it’s May 10 and 11, adding he’s ‘not a planner’ so he was making sure.
Kourtney tells the party that she started laying out the plan for Milan and she saw him, ‘spiraling’ and asked if he didn’t want to know and he said, ‘Yeah.’
Kourtney says she sent pictures of her wedding dress to her family and Kris said they said they wished she could be there adding, ‘Blac Chyna is ruining it all,’ referring to the trial.
Simon Huck adds that it’s, ‘just so Kourtney,’ that she wasn’t part of the trial when most of the rest of her family is.
‘I haven’t even seen one thing about it. Are there photos?’ Kourtney asks and is told there are only courtroom sketches.
Kourtney proposes a toast, thanking everyone for their, ‘time and opinions and love for this whole adventure in Italy.’
Simon jokes, ‘Oh my God, Kourtney is making speeches? Who is this woman?’ Kourtney insists, ‘That’s the longest speech you’ll ever hear from me ever.’
The episode cuts back to Los Angeles, as Kim continues working out so she can continue to fit into the Marilyn dress.
She tells her trainer Melissa Alcantara that she’s back down to 118 pounds after she jumped up to 120 pounds, which she said was, ‘tripping me out.’
‘So I fit into the dress, but I’m not gonna stop working out. I have this sauna suit and you put it on and it makes you just sweat. Even if it’s just water weight, it helps,’ Kim says in confession.
Kim’s trainer says for her to do 10 minutes on the treadmill and then another 10 minutes on the Stairmaster, as Kim speaks directly into the camera.
‘We have four days until the Met Ball. I still need to dye my hair blonde, I don’t know when I’m gonna do that, I have only a day to go blonde. When I thought to go in Marilyn Monroe’s dress – and I know how precious and fragile the dress is, I knew I had to lose at least 10 pounds for it to even go up on me,’ Kim said.
‘This feels exhausting, but it feels like a movie role, you know? How an actor will lose weight, gain weight for roles? It feels like my role is Marilyn Monroe. I’m determined,’ she adds as they show workout footage of Kim.
She gets a call and says she has to go because the trial has gone to closing arguments.
‘I need to be there for closing arguments, obviously as a defendant of this case, but also as an aspiring attorney, I need to see the closing arguments to see how they piece it all together. This is like the first real trial that I’ve seen, which is the best law school you can imagine,’ Kim says.
Kim adds in confession she has been taking notes during the trial and it was, ‘so interesting to see that you have to follow the proper process to get evidence submitted.’
She adds it’s ‘scary’ but ‘fascinating’ to be living it and learning at the same time.
‘There’s not a chance I’m missing this. This is like what I live for,’ Kim says in confession, before adding at her home gym that her ‘butt is all wet’ and she needs her butt to shrink.
‘I love you Marilyn, but our curves are in different places,’ Kim says as her trainer laughs, as Kim tells her she’ll work out tonight and tomorrow morning.
The episode cuts to an airfield as Khloe, Corey and Kris boards Kylie’s private plane en route to New York City for the Met.
Plane: The episode cuts to an airfield as Khloe, Corey and Kris boards Kylie’s private plane en route to New York City for the Met
‘I am like literally panicking about tomorrow. Not just about the Met, but also the f***ing verdict,’ Khloe says, as news footage shows jury deliberations continue with the trial.
‘The facts are the facts, the fact though that we’re in trial blows my mind,’ Khloe adds, as Kris says they didn’t do anything dishonest.
Khloe is wondering why it’s taking so long but Kris says nothing surprises her anymore, as Kris boards her plane before they take off for New York City.
The family lands in New York and heads to their hotel as a bottle of vodka is heard clinking in the backseat which Kris admits she hates it with ‘everything in my body.’
Hate: The family lands in New York and heads to their hotel as a bottle of vodka is heard clinking in the backseat which Kris admits she hates it with ‘everything in my body’
Kris points out ‘the city’ as Khloe knows Kris will launch into another story about when she was a flight attendant based in New York City.
‘I feel like we’ve gone through every memory at this point,’ Khloe says in confession.
Back in Milan, Kourtney and Travis are getting ready to head to New York City themselves as Khloe tries to get Travis to not look at pictures of her wedding dress on her phone.
The city: Kris points out ‘the city’ as Khloe knows Kris will launch into another story about when she was a flight attendant based in New York City
Memory: ‘I feel like we’ve gone through every memory at this point,’ Khloe says in confession
Kourtney explains they’re going directly to Tom Brown for their fitting for their Met looks while her team thanks her for a ‘magical’ trip.
‘I have no idea what time it is. We’ve been on Italy time zone, now we’re in New York. We’ve been eating pasta and drinking cappuccinos. I think it’s the opposite of everyone’s Met prep,’ Kourtney says in confession.
Kourtney and Travis go to their fitting at Tom Brown for both of their first ever Met, as Kourtney explains in confession that they’re the first couple Tom Brown is dressing together.
‘I don’t think we feel nervous about going to the Met. I think we’re just happy experiencing it together,’ Kourtney adds.
She adds that Tom’s vision was to have Travis, ‘polished and buttoned-up and proper and I am the unfinished version, like deconstructed of Travis’ look. It’s kind of the opposites of what we are.’
They try on various looks apart, but they really ‘come together’ when they’re next to each other, with Kourtney saying they’re not taking ‘solo pics.’
‘Our looks work together, which is how we feel at our stage in our lives,’ Kourtney explains in confession.
Travis thinks that both of their looks together are a ‘conversation piece’ but they wouldn’t be solo.
Across town, Kim is in her hotel with hairstylist Chris Stapleton, revealing they’re watching the new Marilyn Monroe documentary on Netflix, to get in the mood.
‘Tomorrow is Met Monday and I didn’t get a lot of sleep because we had to pull an all-nighter to dye my hair blonde,’ Kim adds in confession.
She adds the hair dying process is ‘tedious and annoying’ but adds it’s, ‘dedication’ on her part.
Chris says the last time they did this it took a week to get the color and now they have just two days.
He adds that Kim is ‘so dedicated’ and he’s ‘never met anyone more dedicated than Kim.’
‘It has to be the right color. My hair can’t fall out. We have to get it right. We have one day to dye it. We’re gonna be up for 15 hours,’ Kim says.
A producer asks how many Met Gala’ she’s been to as she counts all the looks up and says she’s gone to eight Met Gala’s and this will be her ninth.
‘This I can’t walk, I can’t sweat, I can’t breathe. If one little stone falls off, I’ll have to pay millions of dollars,’ Kim adds.
Chris adds this year is different because she won’t be leaving the hotel wearing her red carpet look.
‘I can’t walk out of the hotel and walk down. They’re gonna have to put up barriers, get me out of the hotel in a robe. They’re putting a dressing thing on the red carpet, and I’m gonna put it on there,’ Kim says.
A producer asks, ‘Oh, you’re not getting dressed here?’ Kim answers, ‘No, because I can’t sit in a car, I can’t risk it. It’s so fragile, you guys. No one can touch me. So if anyone touches me and gets their oils on the dress… it’s too risky to get in the car and leave from the hotel and do it.’
‘So, all of this – the losing the weight, dying the hair for 30 hours, leaving the hotel in a robe, getting there, changing on the red carpet, just walking to the top of the red carpet, then changing again into a replica of the dress, because we can’t risk sitting in it and eating dinner, is all for maybe 10 minutes of my life, just on the red carpet. Like that’s it,’ Kim says, though Chris adds, ‘It will live in history.’
A producer asks, ‘What do you think people are going to say about you wearing the dress?’
‘I’m a little nervous some people will hate and be like, “How dare she think she can just step into Marilyn’s dress, and I get that,’ Kim says.
Chris adds, ‘You are like the modern-day Marilyn, so I love that you’re still being you,’ as Kim adds, ‘I don’t want to say I’m the modern-day Marilyn,’ and Chris says, ‘I’ll say it. She’s the modern-day Marilyn,’ but Kim says, ‘I don’t think that.’
‘I love that Marilyn was a normal girl and figured it out and became the most famous woman in the entire world. It’s just fascinating,’ Kim says.
‘This year’s Met is all about dedication and hard work and having my own voice and vision. Being determined and making s**t happen. I’ve never had that strong of willpower in my life before,’ Kim says in confession.
A producer mentions that they might read the verdict for the Blac Chyna trial during the Met Gala, as Kim jokes, ‘I’m cleared from defamation so I don’t care what happens to those hoes… I’m just kidding.’
They show the slow progression of Kim’s hair dye job before the episode cuts to Khloe visiting Kylie in her hotel, trying on her full Met Gala look, when Kendall arrives too.
Khloe visits: They show the slow progression of Kim’s hair dye job before the episode cuts to Khloe visiting Kylie in her hotel, trying on her full Met Gala look, when Kendall arrives too
Kylie tries to decide if she wears a sheer t-shirt over the dress as Kylie says it’s, ‘kinda cool.’
‘I love going to the Met. I love everything about it. I chose the white dress. I’m just ready to honor Virgil and his work and his brand and it’s definitely a very special moment,’ Kylie says in confession.
Kim walks in with her hair covered in foil as she takes pictures on her phone, while reflecting in confession about how they always talked about everyone going to the Met together.
Shirt: Kylie tries to decide if she wears a sheer t-shirt over the dress as Kylie says it’s, ‘kinda cool’
Kim: Kim walks in with her hair covered in foil as she takes pictures on her phone, while reflecting in confession about how they always talked about everyone going to the Met together
‘This is crazy. We always talked about this and how fun it would be if all the sisters went together,’ Kim says in confession.
Kylie adds in confession that they are still waiting for the verdict of the trial, while Kim checks Kylie’s phone and notices something.
‘Your phone gives me such anxiety. 1,600 text messages? I can’t let my phone get past five, ‘Kim admits.
Verdict: Kylie adds in confession that they are still waiting for the verdict of the trial, while Kim checks Kylie’s phone and notices something
Anxiety: ‘Your phone gives me such anxiety. 1,600 text messages? I can’t let my phone get past five, ‘Kim admits
Kylie adds in confession that the trial has been, ‘very very stressful’ and ‘we just want it to be over, honestly.’
Kim adds, ‘We just want this behind us and obviously it’s been super stressful so… I think we should just focus on the Met and the good times and a fun sister moment no matter how it goes,’ as the episode comes to an end.
The preview for next week’s penultimate ninth Seasons 2 episode shows Kim stating she was in ‘disbelief’ that she pulled off her Marilyn Monroe vision.
Stressful: Kylie adds in confession that the trial has been, ‘very very stressful’ and ‘we just want it to be over, honestly’
Sister moment: Kim adds, ‘We just want this behind us and obviously it’s been super stressful so… I think we should just focus on the Met and the good times and a fun sister moment no matter how it goes,’ as the episode comes to an end
They show footage of the family leaving the hotel as Kris admits in confession that they’re still waiting for the verdict.
They’re all getting glammed up when Kim says the verdict is in and they have 30 minutes, as Kim says, ‘Honestly, what could she get from us?’
‘Our f***ing dignity,’ Khloe responds, as she reveals in confession her anxiety is ‘heightened’ and her being there is already ‘outside my comfort zone.’
Kendall is seen topless with a billowing black dress as she admits, ‘For a moment, we considered doing the carpet with no shirt.
She opted for a black top but when she’s in the limo she says she has to pee… as she’s given an ice bucket.
‘Nobody judge me,’ Kendall says as Kim admits she just wants to make sure everything is perfect… but that’s not the case.
Kim is seen in the car telling someone on the phone, ‘this is such a big f***-up, you missed the drop-off.’
‘One thing after another was going wrong and I was like, “Oh do not f**k with me today,’ Kim says in confession as the preview ends.
The brief post-credit scene shows Kylie saying she is ‘obsessed’ with her mom Kris Jenner, and when a producer asks if she’s Kris’ favorite, Kylie says, ‘That’s exactly what I’m saying.’
‘We actually have a relationship like she has no other kids, yeah. We’re always like, “Those f***ers over there,”’ joking she doesn’t remember their names.
China home sales drop in July, exposing fragile market
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The housing market in China has recorded a sharp drop-off in home sales throughout July as underlying economic troubles make themselves more apparent.
Sales dropped 39.7% in July from the same period last year, marking a roughly $77.6 billion — or 523.14 billion yuan — decline. Just from June to July saw a drop of 28.6%, which ended a two-month rally.
Apartment sales had increased in May and June over the previous months, but July largely blunted those gains, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“China’s economy has been slowing for quite some time,” Craig Singleton, a fellow at the nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies, previously told Fox News Digital. “What we’re witnessing now is a rapid economic slowdown.”
GEN. KELLOGG: IT’S TIME TO PUSH BACK ON CHINA
Singleton argues that while COVID-19 has played a part in the initial troubles, China’s recovery slowdown has resulted from “deeper structural, systemic problems.”
An aerial view shows the construction site of the new campus of New York University, NYU Shanghai, in Shanghai, China, Feb. 16, 2022.
(Fang Zhe/Xinhua via Getty Images)
“One of them happens to be … China’s hyper-leveraged property market by some conservative estimates,” he said. “China’s property sector makes up 30% of Chinese GDP, so even small deviations in that market can have outsized impact on China’s broader global domestic product and its broader growth.”
CHINA ANNOUNCES LIVE-FIRE NAVAL EXERCISES AHEAD OF POSSIBLE PELOSI TAIWAN VISIT
The Chinese real estate market saw a sales boom driven by debt-funded building projects that sold homes before they were built. The lack of completed projects led to protests from angry would-be homebuyers who refused to pay their mortgages.
FILE – Under-construction apartments are pictured from a building during sunset in the Shekou area of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Nov. 7, 2021.
(Reuters/David Kirton)
Hundreds of buyers from roughly 320 projects across the country as of July 29 have refused to pay their mortgages. Those prospective buyers have turned instead to buy second-hand homes or newly built state-owned homes, which can come at a cheaper cost.
Even cutting interest rates and down payments or outright offering cash subsidies haven’t helped prompt enough activity to prop up the sagging housing market. Local authorities have considered offering full-on relief funds for cash-strapped developers.
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“The sector won’t stabilize if developers’ liquidity crunch is not relieved,” said Song Hongwei, a research director of Tongce Research Institute.
Lockdowns Aggravated the ‘Fragile Mental Health’ of the Chinese’
The Lancet medical journal took a pause from its progressive pandering this week to criticize China’s harsh Coronavirus lockdowns, insisting that the measures have intensified China’s already serious mental health problems.
The June 11 essay, attributed to the journal’s editorial board, notes that China’s lockdowns over the past two years “have often been the most stringent and frequent” among the varying national responses to the pandemic.
“Control policies, including school closures and stay-at-home orders, combined with the stress of the pandemic itself, will have exacerbated the already fragile mental health of many Chinese people,” the essay asserts.
A 2020 national survey on psychological distress conducted in China during the COVID-19 epidemic revealed that more than a third of respondents (35 percent) “experienced distress, including anxiety and depression,” the Lancet observed.
School closures as well were associated with “adverse mental health symptoms and behaviours among children and adolescents,” the essay added, and even as restrictions have been lifted, “widespread anxiety” continues over both adapting to a return to some normalcy and fear that the virus will return.
A resident looks out at the street from their window during the coronavirus lockdown in the Jing’an district in Shanghai, China, on May 5, 2022. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
The current mental health situation is not an anomaly, the editors assert, since it “plays out against the wider backdrop of mental disorders in China,” which is ongoing.
“Mental health has long been neglected in China, partly because of a deep-rooted cultural stigma,” the Lancet said, and discussing mental health “remains taboo among many communities.”
Families of patients worry “about how a disclosure of mental illness might damage their reputation,” and fear of being ostracized “will undoubtedly disincentivise people with mental disorders from seeking care,” the essay added.
In a rare direct chastisement of Beijing, the Lancet notes that China’s anti-coronavirus policies have been “extreme,” occasioning massive negative side-effects.
“The Chinese Government has vigourously defended its dynamic zero COVID-19 strategy,” the editors state. “But China’s lockdowns have had a huge human cost.”
This cost will “continue to be paid in the future, with the shadow of mental ill-health adversely affecting China’s culture and economy for years to come,” the journal warns. “The Chinese Government must act immediately if it is to heal the wound its extreme policies have inflicted on the Chinese people.”
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‘Like them, we’re fragile’: how Randall Poster assembled his star-packed birdsong project | Music
In the early days of Covid, when lockdowns held tight, even the loudest cities fell into silence. With all that clamor cleared away, other sounds filled the air. For New York City native Randall Poster, the most enchanting of them came from the hawks, cuckoos and warblers that could finally be heard above the din. “Amid the quiet, I became more aware of all the birdsong around us,” Poster told the Guardian. “Also, during a time when so much was unknown and dark, looking out the window and watching nature’s creatures continuing to thrive was comforting.”
It was also inspiring. For Poster, one of the film world’s most prominent music supervisors who has worked with directors like Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes, the hoots and caws of birds inspired him, and the project’s executive producer Rebecca Reagan, to ask their wide range of musical contacts if they’d be interested in creating their own odes to aviary life.
The question struck a deep and immediate chord. More than 200 artists enthusiastically agreed to create new pieces to salute birdsong. They ranged from Elvis Costello and Beck and Jarvis Cocker to Nick Cave, the Flaming Lips, and Kamasi Washington. The result is a 242-track behemoth titled For the Birds, that, starting today, will arrive in five installments released over as many months. All proceeds will go to the Audubon Society.
For Poster, the project has as much to do with the activist movement to protect birds as it does with an appreciation for the sounds they make. “I see this project as a great way to draw attention to the crisis around bird life,” he said from his office overlooking New York’s Gramercy Park. “Birds are under tremendous threat from the overdevelopment of the planet. It’s destroying their habitats and disrupting their migratory patterns. There’s also a problem with all the glass buildings that keep their lights on at night. Millions of birds get killed smashing into them.”
Urgent as those issues may be, much of the music for the project luxuriates in calm. Many tracks strike a meditative tone and their arrangements tend toward the spare, the better to leave room for the birdsong to alight on the music. Some of the aviary contributions come from samples, others from field recordings the players made to capture the gulls, wrens and cockatoos around them. Interestingly, few of the mixes of human sounds and birdsong feel imposed or ornamental, despite the fact that the birds had no say in the matter. To musical contributor Jonathan Meiburg, whose group Shearwater took its name from a long-winged sea bird, the connection between the species couldn’t be clearer. “Birds make music for the same reasons we do,” he said. “They do it to communicate. Sometimes they do it just for the joy of it. Other times for the sensation of it. The more attuned you become to the natural world, the more you understand that it’s not alien to your own experience.”
Poster goes further, declaring that “we are birds. Like them, we’re fragile and we’re threatened,” he said. “We’re beautiful and we don’t want to be alone. We go from place to place and we want to take care of our children. The connections are profound.”
The For the Birds project is far from the first musical venture to employ birdsong. According to composer Nico Muhly, who contributed a track to the project, “you can hear it as far back as pre-baroque music, where stringed instruments were used to imitate natural sounds”.
In a more literal way, the 20th-century French composer Olivier Messiaen incorporated the sound of winged creatures into many pieces he wrote. Likewise, the contemporary musician Paul Winter has used nature sounds in his music for decades. In a new song by Shearwater, Meiberg let a toucan take a solo. For Poster, role models for the project were the tweets and coos in classic rock songs like Layla, by Derek and the Dominoes and Blackbird, by the Beatles. He began reaching out to musicians for their contributions in the fall of 2020, knowing he had to act fast, before Covid restrictions loosened and the stars were able to get back on the road. The first artist he contacted was Nick Cave who, along with Warren Ellis, created a piece featuring the sounds of mourning doves. From there, artists spread the word, paving the way for a wide wake of contributors. On some tracks, artists collaborated with each other remotely. For one piece, Mark Ronson kicked things off by creating a beat. Then he invited Damon Albarn to add a chorus before bringing in Wale to layer on a rap. Some pieces have firm structures; others go for an ambient feel, such as Muhly’s track May Birds. “There’s no clear beginning, middle or end to it,” he said. “It’s like a garden of sound you sit with.”
The artists on the project cover a broad landscape of genres, from modern alternative stars like Devandra Banhart, to vintage folkies like Loudon Wainwright, to avant-gardists like Terry Riley to jazz artists like Rudresh Mahanthapp. While many of the pieces maintain a quiet and enraptured mood, those by Riley and Mahanthappa capture nature’s racket. “Birds don’t just sing,” Meiburg said. “They screech and scream, and some make sounds so deep, they’ll rattle your breast bone if you stand right next to them. The sheer variety of sounds birds can make is staggering. Some can even make multiple sounds at once. Compared to them, human music is pretty primitive.”
Meiburg’s track on the set, Kwitaro Backbone, includes birds from a field recording he made some time ago while standing on a sandbank overlooking a river in Guyana. “To hear bird voices – all of them present and equally loud – is a beautifully democratic experience,” he said. “It can become a spiritual experience when you marinate in it.”
All of the set’s tracks were newly recorded, though a few pre-existing pieces were remixed to feature birdsong, including those by Yoko Ono, Philip Glass and Alice Coltrane. Similarly, Elvis Costello created a fresh medley out of vintage songs, linking his rapturous 1993 piece The Birds Will Still Be Singing to the Beatles’ This Bird Has Flown.
The contributors don’t all come from the world of music. There’s also a visual component to the package, with architects like Nina Cooke John and artists like Andy Holden offering their innovative renderings of bird houses. Actors took part, too, by reading related poems. Sean Penn voiced Jim Harrison’s Counting Birds, while Tilda Swinton delivered a wry ode titled Sparrow, written in 1968 by Norman MacCaig. In biting verse, the poem describes this dark creature as a “proletarian bird” with taste “in clothes more dowdy than gaudy”.
Another witty piece came from Jarvis Cocker, whose Cuckoo Song includes the lines: “I try to love you/but I guess I’m out of practice/and practicing is strictly for the birds.”
One of the sparest tracks came from the Native American artist Ray Young Bear whose piece consists entirely of Indigenous chants and a stark drum to create a fleet, sonic pas de deux. Another piece translates the movement of birds into sound: the harmonies of the Haden Triplets swoop and sail, as if wafting through air. In Karen O’s piece, Hum Hum Hum, she connects onomatopoetic human language to the hypnotic thrum of birds.
Poster plans to use the project to connect, and amplify, the educational efforts of various ornithological groups, including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the American Bird Conservancy. To help with that, the eyeglass company Warby Parker will manufacture 20,000 binoculars (or, what they call, “bird-noculars”), to encourage kids to get into spotting, and appreciating, these creatures. The goal is to achieve a community of concern for birds that Poster likens to a Buddhist sangha. Beyond that, Poster hopes the project will encourage everyday people to become more aware of all the flying life around us. “Put a bird feeder outside your window,” he said. “You’ll be amazed by what comes your way.”
Creating a less fragile diamond using fullerenes
A team of researchers from China, Germany and the U.S. has developed a way to create a less fragile diamond. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes their approach to creating a paracrystalline diamond and possible uses for it.
Prior research has shown that diamond is the hardest known material but it is also fragile—despite their hardness, diamonds can be easily cut or even smashed. This is because of their ordered atomic structure. Scientists have tried for years to synthesize diamonds that retain their hardness but are less fragile. The team has now come close to achieving that goal.
Currently, the way to create diamonds is to place a carbon-based material in a vice-like device where it is heated to very high temperatures while it is squeezed very hard. In this new effort, the researchers have used the same approach to create a less ordered type of diamond but have added a new twist—the carbon-based material was a batch of fullerenes, also known as buckyballs (carbon atoms arranged in a hollow spherical shape). They heated the material to between 900 and 1,300 °C at pressures of 27 to 30 gigapascals. Notably, the pressure exerted was much lower than is used to make commercial diamonds. During processing, the spheres were forced to collapse, and they formed into transparent paracrystalline diamonds which could be extracted at room temperature.
After making their less-ordered diamonds, the researchers looked at them under an electron microscope to learn more about their structure. They also subjected samples to X-ray diffraction and to atomist modeling. In so doing, they found their diamonds were made of disordered sp3-hybridized carbon, just as they expected. The goal of creating a less fragile diamond had been achieved. Unlike the results of another recent effort to synthesize a less fragile diamond, their resulting diamond is not completely amorphous (which would make it a type of glass), theirs is a type of amorphous diamond paracrystal. This means that it has a medium-range order—its atoms are ordered over short distances but not over long ones. Thus, no plane of atoms exist which means that the diamonds cannot be cut like natural diamonds.
Newly-synthesized AM-III carbon is hardest and strongest amorphous material to date
More information:
Hu Tang et al, Synthesis of paracrystalline diamond, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04122-w
Hu Tang et al, Synthesis of paracrystalline diamond, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04122-w
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Southern California oil spill: Beaches sit empty and fragile habitats hang in the balance
The normally bustling beaches of Huntington Beach, which welcome tourists with a sign reading “Surf City USA,” sat empty on Monday.
And a little farther south, teams in white hazmat suits worked to protect the fragile wetland ecosystem near the mouth of the Santa Ana River — a crucial habitat for migratory birds that is wrapped in shimmering oil ribbons.
Dead birds and fish have already washed ashore, according to Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley who has been providing updates on Twitter.
On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency due to the spill. “The state is moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment,” he said in a statement.
The breach, widely reported Saturday, occurred about five miles off Huntington Beach in Orange County, spilling the equivalent of an estimated 3,000 barrels — or 126,000 gallons — of post-production crude, local officials said.
And while the cause is being investigated, there are also questions about the timeline of notifications.
California authorities were notified late Friday of reports of an oil sheen at the site of the pipeline spill, more than 12 hours before Amplify Energy Corp., the operator of the line, reported it to state and federal officials, according to documents reviewed by CNN.
But in an interview with CNN on Monday, Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher said an sheen was detected by company personnel Saturday morning, not Friday night. Willsher said while there is equipment to detect the leak without visibly seeing oil spills, there were no notices of a potential leak in the line before Saturday.
Amplify is a small, Houston-based company with 222 employees as of the end of 2018, the last time it reported its staff size in a company filing. Its most recent financial report shows sales of $153 million, with year-to-date losses of $54.4 million through the end of June.
The spill, which stretches from Huntington Beach to Laguna Beach, is likely to move farther south based on wind and currents, said Capt. Rebecca Ore, the Commanding Officer at U.S. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach.
Response efforts to the spill have doubled since Sunday afternoon, Ore said Monday.
“This has devastated our California coastline in Orange County, and it’s having a tremendous impact on our ecological preserves as well as our economics,” Foley told CNN. “We need answers and the public deserves answers.”
It is unknown how many animals have died in the spill, Michael Ziccardi, Director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) said at a press conference Monday.
“I had grave concerns about this impact,” he said. However, initial assessment shows a lower number of birds impacted than were feared.
So far, OWCN has captured four birds, including a pelican that had to be euthanized, he said.
The spill is just the latest such incident to hit California’s shores, including the 1969 spill of as much as 4.2 million gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara. Locally, Huntington Beach bore the brunt of a 1990 spill of about 417,000 gallons of crude oil when an oil tanker ran over its anchor and punctured its hull.
The current spill, at 126,000 gallons, would fill about 20% of an Olympic-sized pool. Its volume pales in comparison to the most serious oil spills in history, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska (11 million gallons) and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico (134 million gallons).
For some, this latest incident is a sign of a need for change to protect the environment.
“As California continues to lead the nation in phasing out fossil fuels and combating the climate crisis, this incident serves as a reminder of the enormous cost fossil fuels have on our communities,” Newsom said Monday. “Destructive offshore drilling practices sacrifice our public health, the economy, and our environment.”
Investigation into the cause
The cause of the leak is not yet known. Willsher said Monday the company had isolated a specific spot along the pipeline that may be responsible.
“We are still assessing to look for the source and figure out,” Eric Laughlin, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, said Sunday at a news conference. “It doesn’t appear there’s further fuel leaking, but we’re still working on identifying that.”
Authorities are examining whether a ship’s anchor could have caused the oil spill, said Capt. Ore with Coast Guard.
“These ships are anchored and many are awaiting entry into the San Pedro Bay Port complex — the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — and in the course of transit it is possible that they would transit over a pipeline,” Ore said Monday.
The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement was assisting in Coast Guard-led response to the oil spill, the agency told CNN. Its role was to assist “in identifying the location and source of any spills and provide technical assistance to the Unified Command in stopping the spillage,” it said Sunday in a statement.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending investigators to gather information and assess the source of the oil leak, it said Sunday on Twitter.
CNN’s Joe Sutton, Susannah Cullinane, Eric levenson, Amir Vera, Alta Spells, Stella Chan, Claudia Dominguez, Chris Isidore, Cheri Mossburg and Sonnet Swire contributed to this report.
Asia stocks fragile amid growth worries, dollar in demand
SYDNEY, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Asian share markets were trying to pick up the pieces on Monday following last week’s thrashing as coronavirus concerns showed little sign of abating, while safe-haven flows benefited the dollar ahead of a key update on U.S. monetary policy.
A raft of “flash” manufacturing surveys for August out on Monday will offer an early indication of how global growth is faring in the face of the Delta variant, with analysts expecting some slippage and especially in Asia.
Concerns over China’s economy have only intensified in recent weeks, while Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on the tech sector delivered a double blow to markets.
More than $560 billion was wiped from Hong Kong and mainland China exchanges last week as funds fretted on which sectors regulators might target next. read more
The impact was all too evident in MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) which sank 4.8% last week to a nine-month trough. Early Monday, it had limped 0.2% higher but the gains looked fragile.
The rot spread to Japan where the Nikkei (.N225) shed 3.4% last week to its lowest since January. Bargain hunting helped the index bounce 1.2% early Monday.
“Following a strong V-shaped recovery, there are many signs of slower growth,” says BofA’s chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett.
“The U.S. yield curve is at a one-year low, emerging markets are negative YTD and both copper and oil are down double digits from recent highs.”
He expects negative returns for stocks and credit in the second half of this year and suggests investors own defensive quality.
The spread of the Delta variant also has the potential to upset the timing of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering plans.
Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan, a well-known hawk, on Friday said he might reconsider the need for an early start to tapering if the virus harms the economy. read more
That adds an extra frisson of uncertainty to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole this week, which has had to be moved online because of pandemic restrictions. read more
“Our base case is that the FOMC will announce a taper in September if the August non‑farm payrolls is strong,” said Joseph Capurso, head of international economics at CBA.
“We anticipate the taper will be implemented in October or November, though the recent increase in Covid infections and deaths in parts of the U.S. may give Powell pause.”
That is in market contrast to the European Central Bank which is under pressure to add more stimulus, giving the dollar a leg up on the euro.
“Unlike the Fed, we do not expect the ECB to shift away from its ultra‑dovish monetary policy stance,” said Capurso. “We expect EUR to decline to a low of $1.12 in Q1 2022, before gradually appreciating.”
The single currency was trading at $1.1697 , after losing 0.8% last week to touch 10-month lows at $1.1662. That in turn helped the dollar index to a 10-month peak at 93.734 , and it was last trading firm at 93.507.
The dollar made large gains on commodity and emerging market currencies, and turned higher on the Chinese yuan.
It has been more restrained against the Japanese yen at 109.84 , which is also benefiting from safe haven flows.
Global growth jitters took a heavy toll on commodities last week, with base metals, bulk resources and oil all falling.
Gold was steadier at $1,777 , following a one-day plunge earlier in August.
Oil had suffered its sharpest week of losses in more than nine months as investors anticipated weakened fuel demand worldwide due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Early Monday, Brent had edged up 37 cents to $65.55 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 27 cents to $62.41.
Editing by Shri Navaratnam
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Trump acquittal: Biden urges vigilance to defend ‘fragile’ democracy after impeachment trial | Trump impeachment (2021)
US president Joe Biden has urged Americans to defend democracy following the acquittal of Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial, saying: “This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile.”
In a statement on Saturday night, Biden said the substance of the charge against his predecessor over the Capitol riot on 6 January in which five people died was not in dispute, and noted the seven Republicans who voted guilty.
“Even those opposed to the conviction, like Senate minority leader McConnell, believe Donald Trump was guilty of a ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’ and ‘practically and morally responsible for provoking’ the violence unleashed on the Capitol,” he said.
Remembering those who fought to protect democratic institutions that day, he added: “This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant … Each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.”
Biden spoke hours after Trump was acquitted by the Senate in his second impeachment trial – a verdict that underscored the sway America’s 45th president still holds over the Republican party even after leaving office.
After just five days of debate in the chamber that was the scene of last month’s invasion, a divided Senate fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority required to convict high crimes and misdemeanors. A conviction would have allowed the Senate to vote to disqualify him from holding future office.
Seven Republicans joined every Democrat to declare Trump guilty on the charge of “incitement of insurrection” after his months-long quest to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden and its deadly conclusion on 6 January, when Congress met to formalize the election results.
The 57-43 vote was most bipartisan support for conviction ever in a presidential impeachment trial. The outcome, which was never in doubt, reflected both the still raw anger of senators over Trump’s conduct as his supporters stormed the Capitol last month – and the vice-like grip the defeated president still holds over his party.
Among the Republicans willing to defy him were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Trump’s acquittal came after grave warnings from the nine Democratic House managers, serving as prosecutors, that Trump continued to pose a threat to the nation and democracy itself.
“If this is not a high crime and misdemeanor against the United States of America then nothing is,” congressman Jaime Raskin, the lead manager, pleaded with senators in the final moments before they rendered their judgments as jurors and witnesses. “President Trump must be convicted, for the safety and democracy of our people.”
In a floor speech after the vote, Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leaders, said Trump’s conduct preceding the assault on the Capitol amounted to a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” by the former president, who he held “practically, and morally, responsible for provoking the events of the day”
But McConnell concluded that the Senate was never meant to serve as a “moral tribunal” and suggested instead that Trump could still face criminal prosecution.
“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he’s in office,” McConnell said. “He didn’t get away with anything yet.”
The vote on Saturday came after the proceedings were briefly thrown into chaos when the House managers unexpectedly moved to call witnesses, in an effort to shed light on Trump’s state of mind as the assault unfolded. Caught off guard, Trump’s legal team threatened to depose “at least over 100” witnesses, and said Pelosi was at the top of their list.
After a frantic bout of uncertainty in which it appeared the managers’ request could prolong the trial for several more weeks, senators struck a deal with the prosecution and Trump’s lawyers to avert calling witnesses. Instead, they agreed to enter as evidence the written statement of a Republican congresswoman who had been told that Trump sided with the rioters after the House minority leader pleaded with him to stop the attack on 6 January.