Serena Williams has a message for critics who want her to keep quiet about social issues and just play tennis.
“The day I stop fighting for equality and for people that look like you and me will be the day I’m in my grave,” Williams vowed at a press conference on Saturday.
Throughout her career, Williams has had to deal with plenty of criticism for being outspoken on issues such as sexism, racism and the gender pay gap, especially as it related to women of color. But more recently that criticism came from a surprising source: tennis legend and activist Billie Jean King.
King suggested earlier in the tournament that if Williams wanted a crack at the record, she should give up being a celebrity for a year and a half.
King was quick to add that this advice was for Williams if her main goal was to continue to break tennis records.
“If she is quite happy the way she is, then fine,” King said.
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On Dressing Her Body Type...
I look for things that are really great for curves. I have a really small waist, so I like high-waisted pieces. And I love tank tops. Photo: Getty Images
On Maintaining Her Hair...
It's hard. If you just embrace your natural curl and rock that, I think that's the best way to style it when working out. Photo: AFP
On Her Must-Have Beauty Product...
Right now it is actually eyeliner, which I actually just got into like four days ago. I think eyeliner is cool because you can jazz up your eyes and it helps to distract from other areas on the face that you may not feel comfortable with. Photo: Getty Images
On Her Nails...
OPI is coming out with some brand new gels that set in 30 seconds and I've been playing around with the set at home. I love Samoan Sand. It's really good for the season. For summer, I'm obviously really, really into brights. I'm excited about the Spider-Man nail polish collection and I love the red. Photo: Getty Images
On Keeping Her Cool...
One of the hottest places I've played was in Australia, where it was literally 142 degrees on the court and my shoes were melting. At the time, we had towels that they'd wrap in ice and tape to hold together. But by the time you'd put it around your neck, it's already melted. And my clothes got really wet and the last thing I needed was for my dress to be heavier than what it was. It's not a good look or idea. The Endura Cool towel -- and in pink because that's my favorite color -- works great when we need to cool down fast. Photo: AFP
On Getting A Bikini-Ready Body...
All you have really have to do is a great 30-minute run or walk to get in shape for bikini season. Sometimes it's hard because you don't have the time, but it's tough and you have to get it in. I focus on the core because as a tennis player you have to run, move and get balls. Lifting my own body weight is something I've recently started doing, too. Photo: Raydene Salinas
November 1998
Here's Ms. 17-year-old Serena at the Chase Championships in New York City. All about the beads.
July 2001
Wimbledon. 'Nuff said.
August 2002
Serena the Power Ranger plays Corina Morariu during the US Open at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
August 2002
Serena rocks a Harry Winston diamond bracelet worth, oh, $29K. Ain't no thang.
July 2003
Looking super chic in black for the Wimbledon Ball at Savoy Hotel in London.
November 2004
At the film premiere of "After The Sunset" -- what? Does anyone have any recollection of this film?
September 2004
Belly baring at the Tommy Hilfiger show during Olympus Fashion Week Spring 2005 in Bryant Park, New York.
September 2004
Walking in her big black boots at the 2004 U.S. Open.
September 2006
Playing Amelie Mauresmo of France during the 2006 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
August 2007
Channeling Chanel at MTV's Total Request Live at the MTV Times Square Studios in New York City.
September 2008
Very Grace Kelly at The 60th Anniversary of the State of Israel honoring producer Arnon Milchan at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California.
September 2008
At the Zac Posen Spring 2009 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Bryant Park, New York.
September 2009
Looking dope at the premiere of "Whip It" in Los Angeles, California.
September 2010
Super sophisticated at the Rodarte Spring 2011 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City.
September 2011
Looking her plum best at the New Yorkers for Children Fall Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
Jury selection begins Monday for a former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder and manslaughter in George Floyd's death. Derek Chauvin's trial, which is expected to last weeks, will be overseen by an experienced judge and argued by skilled attorneys on both sides. Floyd, who was Black, died May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck while Floyd was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn’t breathe.
Republican state lawmakers are pushing for social media giants to face costly lawsuits for policing content on their websites, taking aim at a federal law that prevents internet companies from being sued for removing posts. GOP politicians in roughly two dozen states have introduced bills that would allow for civil lawsuits against platforms for what they call the “censorship” of posts. The federal liability shield has long been a target of former President Donald Trump and other Republicans, whose complaints about Silicon Valley stifling conservative viewpoints were amplified when the companies cracked down on misleading posts about the 2020 election.
Organizers and residents opposed metal shredder from operating in a Latino neighborhood already overburdened by pollution Climate activists stage a die-in near Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home to protest a metal recycling plant on the Southeast Side on Thursday. Photograph: Dominic Gwinn/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock On the 30th and last day of their hunger strike, activists from Chicago’s Southeast Side held a vigil. Mourning the health of the hunger strikers who’ve gone without food for a month, demonstrators clad in funeral attire carried a fake casket on Thursday through Logan Square, the North Side neighborhood where Mayor Lori Lightfoot lives. Southeast Side organizers and residents are demanding the city stop a metal shredder from operating in a Latino neighborhood already overburdened by pollution. “In order to continue, we’re going to give our body nutrients. We’re going to go back to eating, and we’re going to continue the fight. But we’re not going to do it alone,” said Yesenia Chavez, organizer with United Neighbors of the 10th Ward. Chavez is among eight others who joined the hunger strike after 4 February, when three organizers announced they would go as long as it takes to stop Southside Recycling from operating. Chavez said she experienced severe weight loss, headaches, muscle pains, and anxiety attacks during her 25 days not eating solid foods. Lightfoot has come under fire for aiding the owners of General Iron, a controversial metal scrapper in an affluent white neighborhood, in closing the facility last year - and then allowing the business to construct a new metal recycling plant in a low-income Black and brown community across town. The mayor wrote a letter on 23 February acknowledging the hunger strike and the environmental racism the East Side neighborhood faces, but stopped short of denying the final permit needed for Southside Recycling to operate. Hunger strikers called the letter “insulting” in their own statement. Thursday’s rally drew more than 200 people from across the city. It started at a church outside Lightfoot’s block, which was heavily blockaded by police, and snaked through the streets of Logan Square. Protestors wore “Stop General Iron” masks (referring to the metal shredder that closed in December) and carried signs saying “We deserve clean air!” and “Ecological devastation is immoral.” At one point, they stopped traffic at a busy intersection. Chicago activists wore masks and carried signs that read ‘Stop General Iron’, referring to the metal shredder on the North Side that closed last year. Photograph: Dominic Gwinn/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock Many of the speakers were students from George Washington high school, located half a mile from the proposed facility. “There’s no reason why I should starve for a week to get Lori’s attention,” said Gregory Miller, a 15-year-old student organizer. The defunct General Iron site was rife with controversy. The scrapyard violated US Environmental Protection Agency standards in 2018, 2012 and 2006, and was widely regarded by neighbors as a nuisance. “There was a near constant rumble of massive machinery, and our facility manager had to replace external air filters weekly,” said a spokesperson from PAWS Chicago, a nearby animal shelter. The particulate matter that often escapes these types of businesses can lead to severe heart and lung conditions, according to Dr Susan Buchanan, public health professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Reserve Management Group (RMG), the metal recycling company that owns General Iron and Southside Recycling, is adamant that the pollution controls at the new site will be enough to keep residents safe. “We’ve been made a target, but we are not the enemy,” wrote Steve Joseph, CEO of RMG, in an op-ed. Chicago’s Southeast Side has a long history of environmental pollution. The steel mills that once attracted immigrants to the neighborhood with good-paying jobs are gone now, due to manufacturing jobs moving overseas in the 1980s. But the area is still home to toxic industries pouring a million pounds of heavy metals into the air every year. Oscar Sanchez lost about 20 pounds from participating in the hunger strike all 30 days. His grandmother, a recent widow who has suffered from COVID-19, called him before the rally. “She’s hooked up to an air tank, [because] the only air she can breathe is not from the Southeast Side.” But she was more concerned for her grandson, according to Sanchez. “She said, ‘I miss your grandpa. Don’t make me miss you too.’”
It was March 11 last year when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced that the St. Patrick’s Day parade was canceled because a virus that had already sickened tens of thousands worldwide had reached Michigan. “All those folks standing shoulder to shoulder for hours, it was a recipe for the spread of the problem,” Duggan told reporters at the time. Detroit recorded 431 confirmed COVID cases on March 30, 2020, and another 387 two days later, according to the city’s Health Department.
Photo by Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty ImagesGrab your popcorn, folks! After what feels like countless teasers, Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey—with Prince Harry in a co-starring role, it is reported—will finally air on CBS this Sunday evening at 8 p.m. ET.Aside from their pregnancy announcement and an ongoing legal entanglement with the British press, the couple has remained pretty silent since their dramatic departure from royal life. In what will surely be a historic sit-down, Oprah with Meghan And Harry: A Primetime Special, is slated to address the couple’s rift with Buckingham Palace.Meghan Markle’s ‘Suits’ Co-Star, Patrick J. Adams, Calls Royal Family ‘Obscene’ for ‘Tormenting’ HerAll of this is occurring while 99-year-old Prince Philip is being tended to in the hospital for a serious heart procedure. Broadcasters in the UK requested that Harry, Meghan, and Oprah table the conversation until Philip’s health has been restored.Some of what Meghan is expected to reveal includes how she felt “silenced” and that the palace is guilty of “perpetuating falsehoods” about their relationship. Prince Harry reveals to Oprah that his decision to step away from royal life was because he feared his wife would suffer like his mother Princess Diana.The up-close and personal event can be viewed on CBS on Sunday, March 7, 2021, starting at 8 pm ET and online at CBS.com.Daily Beast royal expert Tom Sykes and senior editor Tim Teeman will hold a post-interview Zoom chat tomorrow, Monday, March 8 at 12 p.m. ET. Be sure to register for the event now.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
A longtime human rights organization in Russia announced Sunday it's disbanding because of pressure from the country’s foreign agents law. The law requires organizations and individuals involved in vaguely defined political activity and who receive assistance from abroad to register as foreign agents. It seen as an attempt to discredit activists because of the pejorative connotation that the term “foreign agent” carries for many Russians.
CNNCNN anchor Jake Tapper relentlessly grilled Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Sunday morning over the conservative Democrat’s push to water down the recently passed coronavirus relief bill, wondering aloud why the West Virginia lawmaker fought so hard for “less help” during this “cruel economic time.”Prior to Saturday’s passage of the massive bill, which if signed into law will provide $1400 stimulus checks to tens of millions of Americans, the process was brought to a 12-hour standstill during the Senate’s nearly daylong “vote-a-rama.” This amounted in large part to Democrats working frantically to win support from Manchin. After forcing modifications to the bill that included a reduction in the duration and amount of expanded unemployment benefits, Manchin eventually relented and voted in support of the sweeping relief package.Manchin, who appeared on four separate news shows on Sunday morning, found himself immediately confronted by Tapper over his push to weaken the bill during his interview on CNN’s State of the Union.“So after changes that you pushed for, enhanced federal unemployment benefits now expire about a month earlier and there’s a new income cap for writing them off on your taxes,” Tapper stated. “I have to say, you represent one of the lowest-income states in the nation. Why were you fighting for less help for citizens during this cruel economic time?”Manchin, for his part, claimed that all he did was “make sure we were targeting where the help was needed,” adding that due to the child tax credits contained in the relief package that they are “giving more help to individuals than ever before.” At the same time, he defended the income cap for tax deductions contained in the bill.“We capped it that anybody over $150,000 could not use that offset,” he said. “Anybody below it that is struggling and working, or the middle class, is able to do that. That was a fair compromise. We worked through that and got it done.”But the CNN anchor pointed out even if bipartisanship is “very important” to Manchin, no Republicans ended up supporting the legislation in the end.“Who do you blame for the fact that this bill got no Republican support in Congress?” Tapper pressed.“I never do place blame. What I do place is basically we don’t have the tolerance to sit down and work more,” the senator responded, adding: “This was more of a bipartisan bill than you might think.”Tapper eventually swung the conversation to the failed attempt to include a $15 minimum wage in the bill, noting that Manchin and moderate Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema have been singled out by progressives for holding back and calling for a smaller wage increase.While Manchin said that there isn’t one member of the Senate that doesn’t want to increase the federal minimum wage, he continued to indicate that $15 is too much of a jump despite polls showing broad support for just that.“You figure the numbers, it comes out to $11,” the West Virginia lawmaker said. “That is how I got to 11. We can do that very quickly, too, within a couple of years. Once we get to $11, it should be indexed for inflation so it never becomes a political football again.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
Democrats may delight in their brightening prospects in Arizona and Georgia, and may even harbor glimmers of hope in Texas, but their angst is growing in Florida, which has a reputation as a swing state but now favors Republicans and could be shifting further out of reach for Democrats. As the jockeying begins to take on Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022, Democrats' disadvantage against Republicans is deeper than ever, as they try to develop a cohesive strategy and rebuild a statewide party deep in debt and disarray. Former President Donald Trump’s brand of populism has helped power a GOP surge in Florida, where Trump defeated now-President Joe Biden by more than 3 percentage points last fall — more than doubling the lead he had against Hillary Clinton.
Residents of the northern Italian village of Nembro, hard-hit by COVID-19, and still separated by the virus, have been forced to reexamine fundamental issues of life and death, solitude and solidarity.
Facing heightened scrutiny arounds its membership and practices, the group behind the Golden Globe Awards says that it is committed to immediate “transformational change” and reforms. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association said in a statement Saturday that it would focus on adding Black and other underrepresented members to its organization in addition to increasing transparency around its operations. The group outlined initial steps that it will take over the next 60 days, including hiring independent experts to audit its bylaws and membership requirements, engaging in outreach to add Black professionals to the organization and hiring an independent law firm to review its policies and to set up a confidential way for individuals to report violations..
Republicans advanced 250 measures aiming to restrict votingJim Clyburn: ‘No way we’d let filibuster deny voting rights’ President Joe Biden attends mass at Holy Trinity Catholic church in Washington on Saturday. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock Sign up for the Guardian’s Fight to Vote newsletter Joe Biden will sign an executive order expanding voting rights on Sunday, the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when police brutally attacked a voting rights march in Selma, Alabama. Republicans have advanced more than 250 measures in state legislatures which aim to restrict voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Biden referenced those measures in remarks delivered remotely to a unity breakfast in Selma on Sunday, saying: “We cannot let them succeed.” “If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide,” he said. “Let more people vote.” House Democrats last week passed HR1, a bill that contains some of the most sweeping measures to expand voting rights since the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Amid the increasing efforts to restrict voting rights, there are increasing calls for Democrats to get around the 60-vote filibuster in the US Senate in order to pass the measure. The US constitution gives the president little power over voting rights. The executive order Biden will sign will therefore implement relatively modest but potentially consequential changes. The most significant will instruct federal agencies to offer voter registration opportunities if a state requests so, under a 1993 federal law. Offering voter registration opportunities at agencies could boost registration rates among populations where it currently lags. Voter registration at the Indian Health Service, for example, could affect more than 1.9 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives, according to an estimate from the Brennan Center for Justice. Offering registration at the Veterans Association could reach almost 20 million voters and doing the same at immigration offices could affect more than 760,000 each year. Another provision in the order requires the Department of Justice to provide people in federal custody – including those on probation – with voter registration information and “to the extent practicable and appropriate” to facilitate voting by mail. States have widely different policies on when people with a felony conviction can vote and navigating such rules can be extremely difficult for people once they are released from prison. Biden’s order also directs the attorney general to establish procedures to help formerly incarcerated people get identification they can use to vote. The order also instructs the federal government to study how to improve voting access for people with disabilities and how each federal agency can improve voter registration opportunities. It directs officials to come up with a plan to improve vote.gov, the federal website for voting information. Biden will also establish a Native American voting rights steering group and instruct the Office of Personnel Management and Department of Defense to study how to improve voting access for federal employees and the military as well as Americans overseas.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Scouted/Graf LantzIt’s been almost a year since I first started wearing a face mask. It was actually a bandana and I couldn’t get it to stay put no matter what I did. We’ve come a long way, and now there are plenty of great face masks with nose wires that help keep the piece of fabric on your face, and fitting securely. In fact, it’s never been more important—with the onset of double masking, finding a face mask that fits snugly yet allows me to breathe has been a priority of mine. If you’re in the same boat, there’s good news: I just found the perfect one.Buy on Graf Lantz, $22Graf Lantz typically specializes in felt bags and coasters, but they are on top of the face mask pyramid in my book. For starters, they have the origami shape we at Scouted love—it expands to cover your nose and goes under your chin. But unlike other origami masks, there is a “dart” on each side. This helps keep the face mask pressed against your face for a secure fit, while allowing for breathing room, so the mask doesn’t touch your lips. The nose wire is thicker and sturdier than most, but lightweight and comfortable too. It actually feels like I can adjust it perfectly to get the right fit. The mask itself is made with a cotton poplin outer that has a nice texture, and a cotton inner that is soft and breathable. There are adjustable ear loops, a pocket for a filter if you so choose, and best of all, the mask is already pre-shrunk, and is entirely machine washable.The Zenbu mask comes in plenty of different colors to help you match your style and they even offer a “petite size” if you have a really small head/face. When I walk down the street, I’m no longer fiddling with my mask. I finally found one that fits just right.Scouted selects products independently and prices reflect what was available at the time of publish. Sign up for our newsletter for more recommendations and check out our coupon site for more deals. If you buy something from our posts, we may earn a small commission.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
A particularly spectacular blast from Italy's Mount Etna volcano belched out a towering cloud of ash and lava stone Sunday onto Sicilian villages, the latest in a series of explosions since mid-February. Italy’s national geophysics and volcanology institute INGV said the powerful explosion at 2 a.m. was the 10th such big blast since Feb. 16, when Europe's most active volcano started giving off an impressive demonstration of nature's fire power, coloring the night sky in shocking hues of orange and red. Ash and small lava stones rained down on eight villages on Etna’s slopes Sunday morning, while lava flowed from the southeast crater slowly down an uninhabited side, as it has been doing for the last three weeks, the institute said.
