Seven stars who refused to be body shamed

 

Stories about "body shaming" are nothing new - but more and more celebrities are starting to fight back against the trend.

Earlier this week, actress Chloe Moretz said she was "appalled and angry" over the marketing for her new animated Snow White film.

A poster for Red Shoes & The 7 Dwarfs showed a tall woman next to a shorter, heavier version of herself.

The caption read: "What if Snow White was no longer beautiful and the 7 dwarfs not so short?"

After plus-size model Tess Holliday tweeted a photo of the poster, Moretz apologised to her fans and said she hadn't approved the marketing.

The film's producers withdrew the ad campaign.

And last week, Modern Family actress Sarah Hyland took to social media after suggestions she looked anorexic in a recent photo.

Here are seven other stars who hit back after criticism over the way they look.

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1. Lady Gaga

 

Lady Gaga came in for criticism after she wore a crop top during her performance at this year's Super Bowl.

More than 100 million people watched the legendary half-time show worldwide, but some made cruel remarks about her stomach and said she "wasn't fit enough".

The singer took to Instagram to respond with an empowering message to her fans.

"I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I'm proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too," she said.

"I could give you a million reasons why you don't need to cater to anyone or anything to succeed. Be you, and be relentlessly you."

2. Amy Schumer 

 

 

The comedian and actress has memorably taken on body shamers on more than one occasion.

When the advert for her film Trainwreck was released in 2015, one critic referred to her as a new member of director Judd Apatow's "Funny-Chubby Community".

Posting a photo of herself almost naked on Twitter, Schumer wrote: "I am a size 6 and have no plans of changing. This is it. Stay on or get off. Kisses!"

There was more to come.

At the end of 2016, she responded to social media "fat shamers" who questioned whether she was an appropriate choice to play Barbie in a forthcoming film.

Alongside a photo of herself in a swimsuit, she said she was honoured to be considered to play "an important and evolving icon".

"Is it fat shaming if you know you're not fat and have zero shame in your game?" she asked.

"I don't think so. I am strong and proud of how I live my life and say what I mean and fight for what I believe in and I have a blast doing it with the people I love.

"Where's the shame? It's not there. It's an illusion. When I look in the mirror I know who I am."

(Schumer has since left the Barbie project over a scheduling conflict.)

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3. Meghan Trainor 

 in 2016, the singer made her record label take down the new video for her Me Too single after she noticed she'd been digitally altered.

Or to use her words, "they photoshopped the crap out of me".

Trainor took to Snapchat to tell her fans: "I'm so sick of it, and I'm over it, so I took it down until they fix it."

She added: "My waist is not that teeny, I had a bomb waist that night. I don't know why they didn't like my waist, but I didn't approve that video, and it went out for the world, so I'm embarrassed..."

A day later, the video reappeared with Trainor restored to her rightful size.

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4. Lena Dunham

 

In March this year, the star and creator of HBO's Girls responded to criticism about her recent weight loss.

Dunham had attracted headlines about her dramatic new look. But in a lengthy Instagram post which referred to her struggle to control her endometriosis, she said: "My weight loss isn't a triumph and it also isn't some sign I've finally given in to the voices of trolls."

The actress said she had made it clear over the years that she didn't care what anyone else felt about her body.

"I've gone on red carpets in couture as a size 14. I've done sex scenes days after surgery, mottled with scars. I've accepted that my body is an ever changing organism, not a fixed entity - what goes up must come down and vice versa."

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5. Jennifer Lawrence

 

Back in 2013, Jennifer Lawrence said she thought "it should be illegal to call someone fat on TV" after red carpet criticism of her own figure.

Speaking to US host Barbara Walters, The Hunger Games star said she was worried about how the media's attitude affected young people.

"The media needs to take responsibility for the effect that it has on our younger generation, on these girls who are watching these television shows, and picking up how to talk and how to be cool," Lawrence said.

She added: "I mean, if we're regulating cigarettes and sex and cuss words, because of the effect they have on our younger generation, why aren't we regulating things like calling people fat?"

The actress, who won an Oscar for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, had previously spoken out against gossip magazines and TV shows which criticise the way women look.

She told the December 2012 issue of Elle magazine that "in Hollywood, I'm obese. I'm considered a fat actress".

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6. Kate Winslet

 

The Titanic star and Oscar-winning actress has spoken on occasions about how she was bullied at school and called "Blubber".

"I was even told that I 'might be lucky with my acting, if I was happy to settle for the fat girl parts'," she said during a speech this year for the WE charity at London's Wembley Arena.

"I felt that I wasn't enough, I wasn't good enough. I didn't look right... and all because I didn't fit into someone else's idea of 'perfect.' I didn't have the perfect body."

The star said her love of acting meant she was always auditioning for roles - however small.

"I would often get cast as the crocodile, or the scarecrow, or the dark fairy, I was even a dancing frog once. But it didn't matter. I still loved it... I wanted to be great and I was determined to keep learning."

Kate, who made her film debut aged 17 in 1994's Heavenly Creatures, shot to global stardom three years later as Rose in James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic.

She said: "The most unlikely candidate, Kate from the sandwich shop in Reading, [was] suddenly acting in one of the biggest movies ever made!"

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7. Vin Diesel

 

It's not just women who get criticised for how they look.

Vin Diesel found that out in 2015 after the publication of unflattering pap shots of him shirtless in Miami. Some comments on social media referred to his "dad bod".

The Fast and Furious star responded by posting a photo on Instagram which showed off his muscular physique.

He said one journalist, during an interview for his film The Last Witch Hunter, had even asked to see the "dad bod".

"Haha," Diesel wrote. "I am wondering if I should show the picture... Body shaming is always wrong!"

BBC NEWS

Dutch families win right to test DNA of sperm bank doctor 

A Dutch court has approved a request by families seeking DNA tests on the belongings of a late fertility clinic doctor accused of using his own sperm in dozens of cases.

Jan Karbaat is suspected of fathering about 60 children at the centre he ran in Bijdorp, near Rotterdam.

Tests will now be conducted on items seized from his home after his death in April, at the age of 89.

A lawyer for his family said there was no evidence to support the claims.

Physical resemblance

Jan Karbaat called himself "a pioneer in the field of fertilisation".

His clinic was closed in 2009 amid reports that he had allegedly falsified data, analyses and donor descriptions and exceeded the permitted number of six children per donor.

At a court hearing last month, a lawyer for the 22 parents and children said that the suspected cases included a client's child who had brown eyes when the sperm donor was supposedly blue-eyed and a client's son who physically resembled the doctor.

The DNA profile will remain sealed until the children can show there is cause to believe he is their father, the BBC's Anna Holligan, who was at the district court in Rotterdam, reports.

Eventually, if the DNA profile matches, the children, most of them born in the 1980s, hope to sue the doctor, possibly on the grounds that they should not exist, our correspondent adds.

Joey, who believes Jan Karbaat may be his father, told the BBC: "It means everything to me... We hope to get the answers."

The Karbaat family's lawyer argued against any DNA tests taking place. While alive, the doctor himself refused such tests.

However, last month, Jan Karbaat's son donated his DNA for tests, which showed that the doctor could be the father of 19 children, born though IVF, AFP news agency reports.

It is not clear whether the 19 are among those involved in the court case.

BBC NEWS

Poland air crash probe: Remains of ex-president mixed up

Polish investigators say remains of two other people have been found in the coffin of ex-President Lech Kaczynski, who died with dozens of other top officials in a plane crash in 2010.

Twenty-seven exhumations have been carried out so far since Poland started a new crash investigation last year.

The disaster happened near Smolensk in western Russia, as the government plane was coming in to land in thick fog.

Victims' remains were mixed up in 11 other coffins, investigators say.

The crash of the Soviet-built Tu-154 jet killed 96 people - the worst such disaster for Poland since World War Two.

Senior state and military officials had been on their way to a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, in which more than 20,000 Polish officers were murdered by the Soviet secret police.

Russian and Polish investigations concluded that the crash was mainly caused by pilot error.

But the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), led by Lech Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, swept to power in October 2015 elections, and launched a new investigation.

Some PiS members believe the plane was brought down by an explosion. Some also claim that the Russian air traffic controllers deliberately misled the crew. 

• Polish late president's body exhumed
• Smolensk tragedy continues to haunt Poland

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  The shadow of the tragedy continues to darken Polish-Russian relations.
  Poland started the exhumations last year after errors were allegedly found in Russian forensic documents. In all, 83 exhumations are planned.

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  No evidence of conspiracy: By Adam Easton, BBC News, Warsaw

  What this painful and shameful discovery shows is that the autopsies on the victims' remains, carried out in Russia in the days after the crash, were inadequate, rushed and flawed. Correctly identifying the victims of a plane crash is difficult. Experts reckon it can take up to a month, due to the massive impact and extent of injuries. In this case, dozens of sealed coffins returned to Poland within five days of the disaster.
  The mix-up reflects poorly on Donald Tusk's Polish government at the time. What it doesn't do is bolster the theory promoted by the current PiS government that the plane was brought down by a bomb.
  The previous Russian and Polish investigations concluded that the pilots had ignored electronic warnings to "pull up" in dense fog, as they tried to get a sighting of the runway. The current investigation, which has been working for 18 months, has failed to produce any credible evidence to support the assassination theory. Nor have the prosecutors, presiding over the exhumations.

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  In a statement on Thursday, Polish Deputy Prosecutor General Marek Pasionek said that in two cases remains had been swapped, while nine other coffins were found to contain various mixed-up remains.
  According to Mr Pasionek, citing the results of DNA tests:
• Gen Bronislaw Kwiatkowski's coffin contained 14 body parts belonging to seven different people
• Gen Wlodzimierz Potasinski's contained six body parts belonging to four other people
• Archbishop Miron Chodakowski's coffin contained his body from the waist up and the body of Gen Tadeusz Ploski from the waist down
• Only half of Gen Ploski's body was found in his coffin.

Magdalena Merta, widow of ex-culture ministry official Tomasz Merta, said the Russian post-mortems showed "nonchalance in the best case and ill-will in the worst case". She accused Russia of "a filthy attitude towards our dead".

Nine post-mortems conducted by Poland before 2016 revealed that six bodies had been wrongly identified.

BBC NEWS

South Thanet Tory candidate Craig Mackinlay charged over expenses

The Conservative candidate for South Thanet has been charged with allegedly overspending in the 2015 General Election campaign.

Craig Mackinlay, who is running again on 8 June, stands accused under the Representation of the People Act 1983, alongside his election agent Nathan Gray and party activist Marion Little.

He said he had done nothing wrong and questioned the timing of the decision.

Other Tory candidates were investigated but no charges were brought.

Prime Minister Theresa May said: "The Conservative Party continues to believe that these allegations are unfounded.

"Craig Mackinlay is innocent until proven guilty and he remains our candidate."

• See the BBC's election live page for more updates
• Candidates standing in South Thanet

If found guilty, Mr Mackinlay could face a maximum sentence of one year in prison, BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said.

Police forces have been investigating whether MPs' agents should have filed costs for battle bus visits to constituencies under local expenses.

The Conservative Party said they had been campaigning "across the country for the return of a Conservative government" and, as a result, associated costs were regarded as national and not local expenditure.

It added that election laws were confused and unclear and the party was committed to strengthening future electoral laws.

Mr Mackinlay, who is 50, his agent Nathan Gray, 28, and Marion Little, a party activist, 62, have each been charged with offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983 and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 4 July 2017.

In May the CPS announced that no criminal charges would be brought against more than 20 Conservative MPs in connection with the national party's failure to declare expenses for its battle bus campaigns.

Complex election spending rules require parties to disclose national spending separately from the funds used to promote candidates, and separate national and local spending limits apply.

In explaining its decision in May, the CPS said: "Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest."

A statement on Mr Mackinlay's Facebook page said: "My candidature in South Thanet is entirely unaffected and my campaign continues as before."
"I have done nothing wrong and acted honestly and properly whilst a candidate in 2015, as all candidates do, [and] acted upon advice throughout."
Mr Mackinlay said it was a "shocking decision" by the CPS.
He said: "I am very disappointed with the way this has been handled by the CPS and Kent Police and I must question the timing of this decision given that Kent Police confirmed on 18 April that their file had been sent to the CPS to review and make their decision: Why leave this until a few days before the election?"

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Analysis: Helen Catt, BBC South East Today Political Editor

It may feel like a curve ball this close to polling day, but in electoral terms the decision to charge Craig Mackinlay means no change.

Postal ballots have already been sent out, the deadline for withdrawing nominations has passed, so there is no choice for the Conservatives to make, even if they wanted to: Craig Mackinlay will be the party's candidate on the ballot paper in South Thanet.

If he were to win, he would also be able to take his seat like any other MP; being charged with a criminal offence does not preclude that.

The Conservative Party could always decide to withdraw the whip, leaving him as an Independent, but that is unlikely in this case.

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Nick Vamos, CPS head of special crime, said Kent Police had handed a file of evidence to it on 18 April and the CPS had asked for further investigation "in advance of the 11 June statutory time limit by when any charges needed to be authorised".

He added: "We have concluded there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to authorise charges against three people."

The 2015 election saw Mr Mackinlay elected as MP for South Thanet beating Nigel Farage, then UKIP leader, into second place.
Commenting on the CPS decision, Mr Farage said he was pleased someone had been charged and he predicted the Conservative vote in South Thanet would collapse.
He said: "I think that constituency will now be a straight fight between UKIP and the Labour Party."
Mr Farage also said: "Once again, it is bad judgement from Theresa May.
"Why on earth would you allow someone to go ahead as General Election candidate when this cloud was clearly hanging over him?"
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Tories' decision to comment on the case could be seen as "interference" in an independent process.
He said: "Nobody should be commenting on the details of an ongoing case, the police must be allowed to act independently, to investigate on the basis of any evidence they've got and the Crown Prosecution Service must be allowed to make its decision on whether to proceed on a case.
"I think it is a very bad road when democratically elected politicians start offering a running commentary on independent judicial processes. We have to have total separation of political and judicial powers in this country."

BBC NEWS

The company will wield even more power than it already does

Google has confirmed it is adding an ad blocker to Chrome in early 2018.

The controversial plans have been rumoured for weeks, and the company has now shared concrete details about them.

Google makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertising, and there has been concern that the company will take great care to protect its own interests.  

 

However, Google says its technology will penalise non-compliant ads even if they’re “owned or served” by Google itself. The company, of course, will ensure its ads don't fall foul of the rules.

“It's far too common that people encounter annoying, intrusive ads on the web – like the kind that blare music unexpectedly, or force you to wait 10 seconds before you can see the content on the page,” wrote Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s senior vice president of ads and commerce, in a blog post. 

“These frustrating experiences can lead some people to block all ads – taking a big toll on the content creators, journalists, web developers and videographers who depend on ads to fund their content creation.”

Google’s ad blocker will only target adverts that the Coalition for Better Ads – a group Google is a member of – considers to be “unacceptable”. 

For mobile users, the Coalition for Better Ads says pop-up ads, prestitial ads (those that block the content you actually want to access by loading first), pages with more than 30 per cent ad density, flashing animations, poststitial ads that require a countdown to dismiss, full-screen rollover ads, large sticky ads and auto-playing videos with sound are “least preferred”.

On desktop, the “least preferred” list includes cut to pop-up ads, auto-playing videos with sound, prestitial ads with a countdown and large sticky ads.

Publishers can find out if their ads are compliant by using the Ad Experience Report, which is designed to help them spot and fix issues.

Chrome is the world’s most popular browser, and the introduction of a Google-built ad blocker will give the company an immense amount of power over the web.

However, blocking irritating ads will definitely improve the user experience, and should also help web pages load faster.

“We believe these changes will ensure all content creators, big and small, can continue to have a sustainable way to fund their work with online advertising,” added Mr Ramaswamy. 

 

 North Korea releases first pictures of latest nuclear missile test

Kim Jong-un said missile 'valuable victory' makes US and South Korea 'worried and dispirited' Korean Central News Agency

The first pictures of North Korea's latest ballistic missile test have been released, a reminder of the third show of military aggression in three weeks.

The Scud-type missile reached an altitude of 75 miles and fell into the water, about 200 nautical miles off the western coast of Japan. 

North Korean officials said they launched the weapon to counter what they describe as US military threats and are seeking to build a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach the US mainland.

North Koreans said their missile test was a success and had fallen within a few metres of their target.

“The ballistic rocket flew toward the east sky where the day broke and correctly hit a planned target point with deviation of seven meters after flying over the middle shooting range,” the state-run news agency KCNA said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was quoted as saying, "Whenever news of our valuable victory is broadcast... the Yankees would be very much worried about it and the gangsters of the South Korean

The UN Security Council vowed to encourage all countries to tighten sanctions on the country.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida urged his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, to call on China to do more in dealing with Pyongyang after the missile entered Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone.

puppet army would be dispirited more and more."

The vast majority of North Korea’s trade is with China. Chinese officials have pleaded for dialogue with North Korea, rather than sanctions, while the US said it would not enter talks before the missile tests stopped.

US President Donald Trump has condemned the latest test. 

BBC NEWS

Resorts World Manila: At least 36 bodies found at casino complex

At least 36 bodies have been recovered from a casino and hotel complex in the Philippine capital, Manila, where a lone gunman opened fire overnight.

Most of the dead suffocated in thick toxic smoke after the man set fire to casino tables, officials told the BBC.
The gunman, whose nationality is not yet known, began shooting in the casino in Resorts World Manila in the early hours of Friday morning.
Police said he later killed himself by setting himself on fire.
The incident sparked a security lockdown. Authorities initially said there were no casualties, but appear to have only found the bodies while sweeping the complex after the gunman's body was recovered.

Officials insisted that the incident was a robbery attempt, and was not terrorism-related despite an apparent claim by the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.

How did the attack unfold?

The man, who has yet to be named, entered the casino shortly after midnight and began firing an assault rifle, sparking widespread panic.
'People running and screaming' at Manila casino
He fired into the air, not at people, but it caused fear, Southern Police District Superintendent Tomas Apolinario told the BBC.
"We have some injured people and we have some dead as well, but none of them have gunshot wounds," he said.

The gunman also set gaming tables on fire and filled a backpack with gambling chips worth 113m Philippine pesos (£1.7m, $2.3m).
The man later fled to the hotel section of the complex, leaving behind the backpack, and entered a hotel room.
"He lay down on the bed, covered himself with a thick blanket, apparently poured petrol on the blanket and burned himself," national police chief Ronald Dela Rosa said on Friday.
The shooting sparked a security lockdown and a manhunt in the complex, which ended when the gunman's body was found.
Resorts World Manila said in a statement that the man also shot himself after setting himself on fire, and that he was found dead around 07:00 local time (23:00 Thursday GMT).

Who was the gunman?

Police released CCTV images of the man, showing him dressed in black and carrying his rifle.
There has been some speculation on the part of local media and some officials that the gunman could have been a foreigner on the basis that he spoke English well. Early reports said he appeared to resemble a Caucasian.

But Superintendent Apolinario told the BBC the police had not confirmed his nationality.
Authorities have also told reporters that the man appeared to be "mentally disturbed". Resorts World Manila has called the casino shooting a "cowardly act of a deranged mind".
Police say the gunman was acting alone, unconnected to any Islamist group. Over the last week militants allied to IS have been engaged in street battles in the far south of the Philippines.

How did so many people die?

Police said the suspect poured petrol over the furniture and rugs, causing them to catch fire immediately. Although the fire was not large, thick smoke caused the deaths.
Those who escaped the casino have said they saw smoke filling the complex.
One woman told AFP that she had received a call from her daughter as the attack happened. "Our daughter called us past midnight saying she was in the VIP section of the casino and there was smoke and they were suffocating," Gil Yongco said.
Resorts World Manila chief operating officer Stephen Reilly has told reporters that fire safety equipment worked, and that there was "proper ventilation".
More than 50 people have been sent to a hospital to be treated for injuries, including fractures.

BBC NEWS