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Naomi Osaka speaks out against recent anti-Asian attacks

• No Comments • Sports News

Andy Cheung/Getty ImagesBy ARYANA AZARI, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Tennis star Naomi Osaka took to social media to condemn the recent anti-Asian violence in the United States.

“If people loved Asian people as much as they love bubble tea, anime, mochi, sushi, matcha etc…” Osaka, who was born to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, wrote on Twitter Saturday. “Imagine profiting/enjoying things that come from a culture and then attacking/diminishing the ethnic group that created it.”

The 23-year-old went on to share a screenshot of her tweet on Instagram, commenting that it’s “really sad” the #StopAsianHate hashtag has to exist.

“It should be common sense but it seems like common sense is uncommon in this world now,” she said.

Osaka’s comments come at a time when attacks against Asian Americans are on the rise. According to Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit organization founded last year, 3,795 hate incidents were reported between March 19, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021.

The Pew Research Center found that three in 10 Asian Americans experienced racial slurs or jokes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Osaka is no stranger to speaking out on racial injustice, both on social media and in real life. During the U.S. Open last summer, which she won for the second time, Osaka wore masks with the names of different victims of police brutality.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Hello there! Disney+ announces cast, April start date for 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' series

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Disney+(NEW YORK) — Disney+ has announced that production on its highly anticipated Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi will finally get underway in April. 

The show, which will have Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the Jedi master, is set 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, in which his former pupil Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader. 

The announcement also confirmed the show’s cast, which includes Hayden Christensen reprising his role as Skywalker. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, who also appeared in the Star Wars prequels, will again play Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, in whose care Kenobi left a baby Luke in the close of Episode III. Kenobi promised Yoda he’d watch over Luke from afar on Tatooine at that film’s close; Luke, as a teenager, reunites with him as seen in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.

Also announced in the cast is Kumail Nanjiani, who also stars in Marvel Studios’ upcoming The Eternals, as well as O’Shea Jackson Jr., Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and filmmaker Benny Safdie. 

Star Wars is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lauren Alaina is "feeling healthy" after COVID-19 diagnosis

• No Comments • Country Music News

ABCLauren Alaina is on the mend following a battle with COVID-19. 

The American Idol season 10 runner-up tweeted March 20 that she’d tested positive for COVID-19. In an interview with People, she shares that she was “pretty sick” with the virus and experienced symptoms including shortness of breath and strong headaches. 

“I’m doing better now,” she reports, adding that she is “feeling healthy” and staying hydrated. “I was so frustrated when I got it, because I have taken it so seriously, and I went over a year and didn’t get it, and then I got it. I rarely even go to the grocery store, but it’s a very contagious virus and I picked it up somewhere.”

The singer tested positive for the virus days before she was scheduled to get her first dose of the vaccine. “I was going to get it, because I didn’t want to get the virus. But I got it,” she explains. “It’s different for everyone. I just want my life back, and it felt like a way for me to get one step closer to that.”  

Lauren recently released her latest single, “Getting Over Him,” featuring Jon Pardi. It’s the title track of her 2020 EP.

By Cillea Houghton 
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Derek Chauvin trial live updates: Trial begins in death of George Floyd

• No Comments • National News

Courtesy Ben Crump LawBy JULIA JACOBO, ABC News

(MINNEAPOLIS) — The trial for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, begins Monday in Minneapolis. The trial is expected to last four weeks.

Mar 29, 10:36 am
15th juror to be excused

Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill will excuse the 15th juror chosen for Chauvin’s trial as court gets underway.

The first 14 jurors are present and will be sworn in and seated.

Eight jurors are white and six are people of color, including four jurors who self-identify as Black. There are nine women and five men.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Woody Allen addresses Dylan Farrow allegations in previously unreleased interview

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Europa Press News/Europa Press via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Woody Allen addressed allegations of sexual abuse in an interview with CBS This Morning taped in July, 2020.

CBS released the interview — billing it as Allen’s first in-depth, on camera American interview in nearly 30 years — on Sunday and it is currently available on the Paramount+ streaming service.  It comes weeks after the debut of the HBO documentary Allen vs. Farrow.

Allen, 85, says in the interview, that [Mia] Farrow “believes” she is telling the truth about her previous allegations that Allen sexually assaulted their daughter Dylan when she was a child.

“She was a good kid.  I do not believe that she’s making it up,” he says.  “I don’t believe she’s lying.  I believe she believes that.”

“It’s so preposterous, and yet the smear has remained…Nothing that I ever did with Dylan in my life could be misconstrued as that,” Allen continues.

“There was no logic to it, on the face of it,” he insists.  “Why would a guy who’s 57-years-old and never accused of anything in my life…suddenly…drive up in the middle of a contentious custody fight at Mia’s country home [with] a seven-year-old girl…on the surface, I didn’t think it required any investigation, even.”

In a statement, CBS News said the interview was shelved because of last summer’s “active news cycle” and is being released “given the renewed interest in the controversy surrounding the filmmaker.”

“The interview, which occurred last summer during an active news cycle, is being presented now given the renewed interest in the controversy surrounding the filmmaker,” according to the statement.  “The exclusive for Paramount+ offers the ability to explore Allen, his career, and the allegations in context and with the depth that this story demands.”

By George Costantino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.