Miley Cyrus obtained a restraining order against her alleged stalker Alexander Kardalian and stated that he is dealing with 'severe mental health challenges'

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William Friedkin, director of iconic 1970s films including "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist," has died, his wife Sherry Lansing, the former CEO of Paramount Pictures, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday.

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Vladislav Goldin scored 19 points, Brandon Weatherspoon added 16 while not missing a shot, and No. 10 Florida Atlantic eased past Eastern Michigan 100-57

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A famous drag show restaurant has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis, claiming a bill that prohibits children’s attendance at drag shows has hurt its business and is a violation of the First Amendment. Hamburger Mary’s Orlando, a franchise location of the drag show restaurant chain Hamburger Mary’s, is alleging that the state of Florida, “Seeks to explicitly restrict or chill speech and expression protected by the First Amendment” in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Monday. The lawsuit pertains to SB 1438, nicknamed the Protection of Children, which allows for criminal penalties against a food service establishment for admitting children to “an adult live performance.” The bill, which was signed into law by Mr DeSantis last week, prohibits children from attending adult live performances or the establishment can face fines, have their license suspended or revoked and their liquor license suspended or revoked. Hamburger Mary’s Orlando offers “family friendly” drag performances on Sundays, which they say have been greatly affected by the passage of SB 1438. “This bill has nothing to do with children, and everything to do with the continued oppression of the LGBTQ+ community,” Hamburger Mary’s Orlando wrote in a Facebook post. In the lawsuit, Hamburger Mary’s Orlando said “immediately” after the bill passed, 20 per cent of their bookings were cancelled for the 21 May 2023 show as well as future bookings despite the performances being “family friendly.” Hamburger Mary’s Orlando is alleging in the lawsuit that the bill does not serve a compelling governmental interest and is too vague, thus violating the restaurant’s First Amendment right to freedom of expression. “The law and anticipation of it has had a chilling effect on free speech in Florida,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit names Mr DeSantis, the state of Florida, as well as Melanie Griffin, the Secretary of the State Department of Business and Professional Regulation for Florida, as defendants. The recent Protection of Children bill defines “adult live performance” as any presentation in front of a live audience where a part of it depicts sexual activity, sexual conduct, nudity, lewd exposure, lewd conduct, prosthetic or imitation genitals and more. Hamburger Mary’s Orlando claims, “There is no lewd activity, sexually explicit shows, disorderly conduct, public exposure, obscene exhibition, or anything inappropriate for a child to see” in their family-friendly brunches. The restaurant claims several undercover agents visited a drag brunch in December and did not witness “any lewd acts” that were inappropriate for children. Hamburger Mary’s Orlando is also alleging that the state of Florida has not provided examples of specific conduct that is harmful to children. “The uncertainty about what specific conduct this law prohibits, as well as the threat of police surveillance and criminal charges, is precisely what concerns the Plaintiff in this case,” the lawsuit says. Instead, Hamburger Mary’s Orlando believes this is another example of conservative leaders trying to restrict LGBT+ inclusivity in communities. “Anytime our legislators want to demonize a group, they say they are coming for your children. In this case, creating a false narrative that drag queens are grooming and recruiting your children with no factual basis or history to back up these accusations AT ALL,” Hamburger Mary’s Orlando wrote on Facebook. “They are setting a precedent that the state legislators [sic] can decide what is best for you based on THEIR own values and convictions, and write it into law,” Hamburger Mary’s Orlando added. The Independent has reached out to Hamburger Mary’s Orlando and Mr DeSantis’ office for comment. Read More Why are drag shows being targeted by the state of Tennessee and other republicans? Tampa Pride event cancelled over Ron DeSantis’ latest anti-LGBT+ laws Pride events cancelled across Florida due to ‘climate of fear’ after DeSantis’s anti-LGBT+ laws A famous restaurant chain has sued Florida over DeSantis’s drag ban Florida school bans poem recited by Amanda Gorman at Biden inauguration AP News Digest 3:10 am

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Hopeful festival goers joined together in unity this morning to celebrate the great British tradition of queueing for another great British Tradition: Glastonbury Festival. Tickets for the 2024 edition of the yearly music festival went on sale this morning, with tickets costing £360 (£355 with a £5 booking fee per ticket). Music-lovers had to drop £75 on a deposit today before fronting up the rest of their balance in the first week of April 2024. Frantic users joined the 9am GMT queue and waited - but that was far from the end of the story. Fans speculated that tickets would sell-out fast, pointing to the fact that Coach tickets to Worthy Farm sold out on Thursday within just 25 minutes. Thankfully, they lasted quite a lot longer than that - 58 minutes to be exact. Those 58 minutes though, for a lot of people, were spent waiting on the 'screen of death.' Before hopefuls could purchase their ticket, they had to brave the aforementioned Glastonbury ticket queue - a holding page on a timer that automatically refreshes on 20 seconds (or thereabouts) before redirecting the user into a ticket purchasing window, or back into the holding page - or even worse, onto the 9:58am notice saying that tickets have sold out. It was an ordeal. Despite the lucky many who received tickets after waiting in the queue, there were just as many queuers who left empty-handed. And of course, a lot of people left enraged by the waiting room and the technology behind it. This isn't the end though - fans will have one more chance to buy tickets at a resale in the Spring for cancelled or returned tickets. As anyone who joined the queue at 9am and bagged a ticket knows, there's always a bit of hope. As anyone who joined the queue at 9am and was booted out with the 'screen of death' knows, it's the hope that kills you. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel 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.

Relief organisations were awaiting clearance from Myanmar's military rulers on Wednesday to access areas of Rakhine State devastated

The Dutch 'Klassieker' between bitter rivals Ajax and Feyenoord was abandoned Sunday after several flares were thrown on the pitch, with Feyenoord 3-0 ahead ten...