Apr 27, 2017

Samantha Bee and Lena Dunham on Hollywood and politics

For the forthcoming issue of the Hollywood Reporter, Lena Dunham, the mastermind behind Girls, interviews Samantha Bee about her upcoming White House Correspondents' dinner special, and more:

Dunham: This is the first election and the first government where we've started holding celebrities accountable for either speaking or not speaking. ... Jenni [Konner, Girls' co-creator] had to point out to me, "You know, the problem isn't female movie stars who didn't talk about Hillary Clinton. You need to f—ing chill out." But I wonder what you think the responsibility of public figures and entertainers is in a moment like this?

Bee: If you have a platform and there's something that you want to say, certainly you should not be ashamed to say it. It's a gift and an opportunity to be able to reach people with your voice. And I don't think that people should be intimidated by their own opinions, and if they want to speak, I don't think that they should be shamed for that. They will be. Of course. It's not what everyone got in this business for.

Dunham: No. Some people just want to dance.

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Axios

South Korea and Italy see spikes in coronavirus cases

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

The novel coronavirus has spread to more nations, and the U.S. reports a doubling of its confirmed cases to 34 — while noting these are mostly due to repatriated citizens, emphasizing there's no "community spread" yet in the United States.

The big picture: COVID-19 has now killed at least 2,446 people and infected almost 79,000 others, mostly in mainland China. New countries to announce infections recently include Israel and Lebanon, while Iran reported its sixth death from the virus. South Korea's confirmed cases jumped from 204 Friday to 433 on Saturday and Italy's case count rose from 3 to 62 by Saturday.

Go deeperUpdated 44 mins ago - Health

Axios

Bernie Sanders wins Nevada caucus

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders waves to supporters at a campaign rally on Friday in Las Vegas. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders is projected to handily win the Nevada Democratic primary caucus, becoming the clear frontrunner among 2020 Democratic presidential primary election candidates.

Why it matters: Nevada is the first state with a diverse population to hold a nominating contest, highlighting candidates' abilities to connect with voters of color — particularly Latino voters.

Go deeperUpdated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Rebecca Falconer

Heat wave melts 20% of snow cover from Antarctic island in days

The effects of February's record heat wave on Eagle Island in Antarctica. Photo: NASA

Antarctica's Eagle Island now has a side that's almost ice-free following this month's searing heat wave in the region, images released by NASA show.

Why it maters: "The warm spell caused widespread melting on nearby glaciers," NASA said in its report. It's the third major melt event of the 2019-2020 Southern Hemisphere summer, following warm spells in January and last November, according to the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Go deeper1 hour ago - Energy & Environment