 
    Henry Cejudo’s dream Olympic anniversary derailed by injury
      Henry Cejudo’s dream of fighting on the anniversary of his Olympic gold-medal win has been derailed by injury, the ex-UFC champion has said. Cejudo was due to face Marlon “Chito Vera” at a UFC Fight Night on 19 August – the 15th anniversary of his wrestling triumph for the United States at the Beijing Games. However, a shoulder injury will prevent Cejudo, 36, from competing this summer, denying him the chance to bounce back from a recent loss. Cejudo, one of just four dual-weight champions in UFC history, retired from mixed martial arts in 2020 but returned in May, losing to bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling on points. “Unfortunately due to my right shoulder, I won’t be able to fight,” Cejudo said on Instagram on Thursday (29 June). “I’ve already torn my left shoulder, where I was out for about a year. I don’t want it to tear further than what it already is. “The cat’s out the bag. It’s actually a 50 per cent tear. I stretched it out to as much as I possibly could, because I love that Chito Vera match-up, but between my shoulder and my baby expected on 25 October, it’s the best decision for me and my family to not fight in August. “Nothing changes with my future goals. I want my title back. When I’m back to 100 per cent, you’ll see me in the Octagon again. But until then, I need to heal. I hope the UFC can find a replacement to fight Chito, so he could stay on the card. I would’ve loved to fight him in Boston on the 15-year anniversary of my gold medal. But I’ll be back.” Cejudo won the UFC flyweight title in 2018 and claimed the bantamweight belt in 2019. He retained each title once and vacated both prior to retiring in 2020. In May, he returned to MMA and attempted to reclaim the bantamweight title by challenging Sterling, who beat Cejudo via split decision. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Conor McGregor doubles down on Ultimate Fighter criticism as Michael Chandler’s team dominate Tyson Fury’s ‘game-changing’ return to be announced in ‘next week or so’, Frank Warren says Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg: Who would win a fight between tech titans? Strickland vs Magomedov live stream: How to watch UFC Fight Night online and on TV this weekend
      2023-06-30 18:24
     
    GATSBY Chocolate on 'Shark Tank': How and where to buy premium low calories and low sugar chocolate
      With GATSBY Chocolate you no longer have to make a choice between counting calories and enjoying your favorite chocolate
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    Tommy Fury seems ready for 'big fight' in rematch against Jake Paul: 'Me and him will meet again'
      In a recent interview with Pro Boxing Fans, Tommy Fury confirmed his intention to face Jake Paul again
      2023-10-27 14:59
     
    'Sound of Freedom' movie becomes box office hit thanks to QAnon
      Sound of Freedom debuted in theatres earlier this month and has earned more than $41 million at the box office so far, but the film has found itself at the centre of controversies and conspiracy theories. The film follows Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel), a former Department of Homeland Security agents who catches child sex traffickers by staging sting operations. It is based on Ballard’s life who left Homeland Security roughly 10 years ago to found the group Operation Underground Railroad. The group catches child sex traffickers in other countries by working with local police. Former President Trump previously appointed Ballard to a State Department advisory council on human trafficking in 2019. However, two and half years before the film’s release an investigation by VICE found that the organisation has often exaggerated its role in the rescues. Multiple law enforcement agencies that partnered with the group said that the group’s support was “insubstantial”. But that isn’t the only controversy this group, and the film, has found itself in. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Sound of Freedom has been accused by many of being linked to QAnon as has Ballard and Caviezel, who portrays him in the film. Critics have accused it of playing into the belief of the movement that global elites run a highly organised child sex trafficking network to harvest their blood. Ballard had previously supported a debunked theory that the furniture retailer Wayfair was using its platform to sell children. And Caviezel has promoted numerous QAnon theories and ‘Q drops’ which refer to posts that are made by Q on sites such as 4chan, 8chan and 8kun. Caviezel has even been reported to have appeared at QAnon events. Speaking to Charlie Kirk - founder of the right-wing organisation Turning Point USA - Caviezel supported theories about the chemical compound Adrenochrome. QAnon theorists believe that global elites such as Hilary Clinton torture children and harvest the chemical from them. "Adrenochrome is a chemical compound that's been around since the 1930s. There is a natural form.. which is caused by torturing kids. I brought this up a few years ago and all of a sudden I was attacked by every media group,” Caviezel said in the interview. “The next day I never heard from my agency for 14 months. My lawyers let me go. My agency never called me after that.” In an interview with right-wing commentator Jordan Peterson, Ballard also affirmed his belief in the adrenochrome blood harvesting theory saying he had seen it himself when in parts of Africa, but that there is no evidence certain celebrities had done it. Ballard also said that he and his group have “condemned the majority of what they see with conspiracy theories.” In a review of the film, Rolling Stone criticised the film for “fetishising the torture of its child victims” and said that it may be used as a gateway for the audience to “far-right conspiracy theories”. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
      2023-07-13 00:22
     
    'RHONJ' fans ask Teresa Giudice to stop 'blaming' others as she says Melissa and Joe Gorga put her in prison
      'Teresa forgets she went to jail for financial/bank fraud, which is traceable,' said a 'RHONJ' fan
      2023-05-31 13:24
     
    Is Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello's marriage in trouble? Fans feel 'something is off' after his brief wish on her 51st birthday
      Fans of Sofia Vergara have expressed concern over the potential instability of her marriage to Joe Manganiello
      2023-07-14 21:20
     
    Adele jokes about being 'big Nuggets fan', says she developed jock itch from wearing Spanx onstage
      Adele cracked a joke about the Denver Nuggets’s star Nikola Jokic whose last name sounds a lot like 'jock itch'
      2023-06-20 14:29
     
    Why was Mitchel Musso arrested? Miley Cyrus's 'Hannah Montana' co-star has had prior run-ins with the law
      Mitchel Musso was found outside a hotel in Rockwell, Texas where he showed signs of intoxication
      2023-08-28 15:26
     
    'I'll do it!' Emma Stone wants to make a full length silent movie
      Emma Stone would love to work on a feature length silent movie after her experience with 'Bleat'.
      2023-10-05 15:26
     
    'A gift to my ancestors': Meet the Palestinian-American authors bringing their culture to the heart of children's books
      Hannah Moushabeck remembers the warm feeling of snuggling beside her two sisters under a heavy blanket, giggles filling their bedroom as they waited for baba to tuck them in and share another bedtime story.
      2023-05-22 04:58
     
    Pat Robertson dies at 93; founded Christian Broadcasting Network, Christian Coalition
      Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93. Robertson's death Thursday was announced by his broadcasting network. No cause was given. Robertson’s enterprises also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization. But for more than a half-century, Robertson was a familiar presence in American living rooms, known for his “700 Club” television show, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of God’s judgment on America for everything from homosexuality to the teaching of evolution. The money poured in as he solicited donations, his influence soared, and when he moved directly into politics by seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 1988, he brought a huge following with him. Robertson pioneered a now-common strategy of courting Iowa’s network of evangelical Christian churches, and finished in second place in the Iowa caucuses, ahead of Vice President George H.W. Bush. At the time, Jeffrey K. Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist and a Robertson biographer, said Robertson's masterstroke was insisting that three million followers across the U.S. sign petitions before he would decide to run. The tactic gave him an army. ″He asked people to pledge that they’d work for him, pray for him and give him money,” Hadden told The Associated Press in 1988. ″Political historians may view it as one of the most ingenious things a candidate ever did.″ Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency. Pursuit of Iowa’s evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, including those currently seeking the White House in 2024. Robertson started the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake in 1989, saying it would further his campaign’s ideals. The coalition became a major force in Republican politics in the 1990s, mobilizing conservative voters through grass-roots activities. By the time of his resignation as the coalition's president in 2001 — Robertson said he wanted to concentrate on ministerial work — his impact on both religion and politics in the U.S. was “enormous,” according to John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at The University of Akron. Many followed the path Robertson cut in religious broadcasting, Green told the AP in 2021. In American politics, Robertson helped “cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.” Marion Gordon “Pat” Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 36 years as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Virginia. After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as assistant adjutant of the 1st Marine Division in Korea. He received a law degree from Yale University Law School, but failed the bar exam and chose not to pursue a law career. Robertson met his wife, Adelia “Dede” Elmer, at Yale in 1952. He was a Southern Baptist, she was a Catholic, earning a master’s in nursing. Eighteen months later, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, knowing neither family would approve. Robertson was interested in politics until he found religion, Dede Robertson told the AP in 1987. He stunned her by pouring out their liquor, tearing a nude print off the wall and declaring he had found the Lord. They moved into a commune in New York City’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood because Robertson said God told him to sell all his possessions and minister to the poor. She was tempted to return home to Ohio, “but I realized that was not what the Lord would have me do ... I had promised to stay, so I did,” she told the AP. Robertson received a master’s in divinity from New York Theological Seminary in 1959, then drove south with his family to buy a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Va. He said he had just $70 in his pocket, but soon found investors, and CBN went on the air on Oct. 1, 1961. Established as a tax-exempt religious nonprofit, CBN brought in hundreds of millions, disclosing $321 million in “ministry support” in 2022 alone. One of Robertson’s innovations was to use the secular talk-show format on the network’s flagship show, the “700 Club,” which grew out of a telethon when Robertson asked 700 viewers for monthly $10 contributions. It was more suited to television than traditional revival meetings or church services, and gained a huge audience. “Here’s a well-educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics,” said Green, the University of Akron political science professor. “It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.” His guests eventually included several U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. At times, his on-air pronouncements drew criticism. He claimed that the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 were caused by God, angered by the federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and church-state separation. Talking again about 9-11 on his TV show a year later, Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that wants to “dominate” and “destroy,” prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say Islam is a peaceful and respectful religion. He called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005. Later that year, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted out school board members who favored teaching “intelligent design” over evolution. And in 1998, he said Orlando, Florida, should beware of hurricanes after allowing the annual Gay Days event. In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya could transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying Robertson “misspoke about the possibility of getting AIDS through towels.” Robertson also could be unpredictable: In 2010, he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he said on the “700 Club” that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs had failed. Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in sex scandals, saying for example that President Bill Clinton turned the White House into a playpen for sexual freedom. But he helped solidify evangelical support for Donald Trump, dismissing the candidate's sexually predatory comments about women as an attempt “to look like he’s macho.” After Trump took office, Robertson interviewed the president at the White House. And CBN welcomed Trump advisers, such as Kellyanne Conway, as guests. But after President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an “alternate reality” and should “move on,” news outlets reported. Robertson’s son, Gordon, succeeded him in December 2007 as chief executive of CBN, which is now based in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained chairman of the network and continued to appear on the “700 Club.” Robertson stepped down as host of the show after half a century in 2021, with his son Gordon taking over the weekday show. Robertson also was founder and chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc., parent of The Family Channel basic cable TV network. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought IFE in 1997. Regent University, where classes began in Virginia Beach in 1978, now has more than 30,000 alumni, CBN said in a statement. Robertson wrote 15 books, including “The Turning Tide” and “The New World Order.” His wife Dede, who was a founding board member of CBN, died last year at the age of 94. The couple had four children, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, CBN said in a statement. ____ Former Associated Press reporter Don Schanche contributed to this story.
      2023-06-08 21:55
     
    Gal Gadot spent a month preparing Snow White audition
      Gal Gadot spent a month preparing her audition for 'Snow White' because she needed to prove she could sing.
      2023-08-13 15:19
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