Features

By Eric Randolph
Agence France-Presse

PARIS — Lady Gaga has revealed she had some animal inspiration for her murderous turn as a jilted ex-wife in the new movie “House of Gucci”. 

Her performance as Patrizia Reggiani, who had fashion heir Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver) assassinated in the 1990s, is already picking up Oscar buzz. 

And in a press conference ahead of the film’s release later this month, the singer-turned-actress revealed she turned to the animal kingdom for help in portraying each stage of Reggiani’s life.

“Earlier in her life, I was a cat, like a house cat,” Lady Gaga told reporters. 

“In the middle of the film... I was a fox. And so I studied the way foxes hunt and they’re actually quite playful when they hunt.”

“And then I studied panthers for the end. I watched lots of videos about the way that panthers hunt. And they’re sort of seductive... they sort of seduce and then they pounce.”

Early reviews have gushed about Lady Gaga’s performance, with many expecting another Oscar nomination to match her screen debut in “A Star is Born”. 

Also getting a lot of attention is Jared Leto, who endured six hours of make-up every day to tranform into balding pudgy playboy Paolo Gucci. 

“I really used [those six hours] as an opportunity to work on the inner life of the character,” Leto said. 

“It was a great time to focus, and to meditate on the character.”

The film is directed by British director Ridley Scott, who has created some of the most iconic movies of the past 40 years, including “Blade Runner”, “Alien”, “Gladiator” and “Thelma and Louise”. 

But it was actually Scott’s wife who pushed for many years for the film to be made, according to Salma Hayek, who plays Reggiani’s mother. 

“I just happen to be really good friends with Giannina Scott, and so I saw her fight for this for 20 years,” Hayek said at the press conference. 

“She wanted to do the story of a woman that everybody sees only as a gold digger... but actually she really loved this man.”

‘Too hurt’

Lady Gaga agreed that there was more to the story than simple greed. 

“She not only loved Maurizio, but she loved what he meant and the way that he empowered her within the family business,” she said. 

“And when that was taken from her... she reacted in a way that most women don’t — most women don’t have their husbands murdered. 

“And yet I do believe in that system, with this sort of systemic oppression, that this happened because she was simply too hurt.”

It is the second film to hit theatres for Scott since the summer, following “The Last Duel”, also starring Driver alongside Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. 

Well-received by critics, that film was something of a flop with audiences. 

Initial reactions to “House of Gucci” have also been mixed. 

While everyone seemed mesmerised by Lady Gaga, some critics agreed with Observer magazine’s Brandon Katz that the film was “an overwrought slog”.

But many others were swept away, with Variety’s Jazz Tangcay tweeting that it was “murderously delicious” and Entertainment Weekly writer Joey Nolfi describing it as “juicy caviar camp”. 

By Maggy Donaldson
Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK — After nearly 14 years living under a strict conservatorship she deemed abusive and exploitative, Britney Spears is free.

And now that a California court has lifted the controversial legal arrangement barring one of the world’s best-selling pop stars from managing her own life and finances, many fans are asking what’s next.

Speculation abounds — Kids? Travel? Suing her family? — but the answer is elusive, particularly given the guarded lifestyle Spears was legally bound to during more than a decade that saw her largely governed by her father, Jamie.

The magnetic superstar, who turns 40 on December 2, has not given an interview in years, rarely makes public appearances and last performed in October 2018.

Today most of what the public knows about Spears — who soared to global fame as a teenager on a burst of hits including her breakout “... Baby One More Time”, before a highly publicised mental breakdown saw her become a paparazzi punching bag — comes from her eccentric Instagram account.

For years the bubbly star has posted regularly, sometimes uploading videos of herself twirling or doing dance routines, other times waxing poetic on hopes and dreams.

The line of communication from Spears’s lavish Los Angeles mansion to the outside world — she has more than 90 million followers across Instagram and Twitter — has offered the singer a modicum of control over her image, and is perhaps where the most accurate reading of her plans lies.

In October — a few weeks after her father was removed from the conservatorship, paving a path for the arrangement’s termination — Spears voiced anxiety over her future in a lengthy missive.

“I’ll just be honest and say I’ve waited so long to be free from the situation I’m in,” she wrote. “Now that it’s here I’m scared to do anything because I’m afraid I’ll make a mistake.”

Family planning

Marriage has been a theme, with Spears in September announcing her engagement to 27-year-old Sam Asghari.

Earlier this week she said Donatella Versace was designing her gown, although a date for the nuptials has not been set publicly.

Spears also has said she wants to have another child. She shares two boys, both now teenagers, with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, who has majority custody.

In a chilling accusation in June she told the Los Angeles judge who ultimately ended the conservatorship that under the arrangement she was forced to keep in place a contraceptive IUD, despite her wishes to conceive.

Along with control of her own reproductive system Spears now has power over her fortune, estimated to be some $60 million.

This year she’s taken a number of vacations including to Hawaii and French Polynesia, where she posted about taking flying lessons.

Performing ‘not her top priority’

But while Spears seems focused on family and travel, high on the priority list of fans — and industry players — is whether she will resume performing or release new music.

The superstar dropped four studio albums under the conservatorship, most recently 2016’s “Glory”.

She also was among the singers to stage wildly bankable Las Vegas residencies in recent years. Her four-year “Britney: Pieces of Me” run grossed a reported $138 million. 

But in January 2019 she abruptly canceled her planned return to Vegas, going on indefinite professional hiatus.

She wrote on Instagram in July that “I’m not gonna be performing on any stages anytime soon with my dad handling what I wear, say, do, or think!!!!” 

“I’d much rather share videos YES from my living room instead of onstage in Vegas.”

In the same post Spears indicated that she had been shut out of the planning of her Vegas shows, becoming more puppet than performer.

Since Friday’s court proceeding tabloids have been abuzz over her next career moves, with Page Six citing an “insider” who said Spears “wants to make music and perform again” but it’s “not her top priority right now and hasn’t been for a while”.

Tell-all?

Also on deck are upcoming hearings over the millions involved in the fight to free Britney — all of which have been billed to the singer’s estate, with a constellation of lawyers and family members on both sides seeking payments.

It is possible Spears could take legal action against her father, which she hinted at during a court hearing but has made no formal steps towards.

Her primary recourse against her father would be providing evidence he mismanaged Spears’s money or overcharged her in his role as her financial conservator; he stepped down as conservator of her person in 2019, with a professional taking over.

Spears said recently scripts for TV and film depictions of her story have been pouring in, though she said “I’m not dead” and not interested in someone else portraying her.

She has also alluded to a tell-all: “Lord have mercy on my family’s souls if I ever do an interview,” she wrote in October. 

Successor to the vehicle considered by many to be the world’s first luxury or comfort-oriented SUV, the Grand Cherokee has carried the 1963-91 Jeep Wagoneer tradition since 1992.

Launched in fifth generation earlier this year, the latest Grand Cherokee is the largest, most refined, spacious and luxurious yet, even as Jeep resurrects the Wagoneer nameplate as a full-size body-on-chassis SUV. That said, the new uni-body Grand Cherokee is now better positioned to compete with premium European SUVs, and uses the Stellantis group’s modern Giorgio platform, shared with the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, in lieu of its 2010 predecessor’s Mercedes-derived platform.

Offered in two lengths, the fifth generation Grand Cherokee is the first available with 3-row 7-seats configuration, as driven in L guise. En evolution of the design direction of its predecessor, the new Grand Cherokee’s headlights are slimmer, more heavily browed and moodier still, while its signature 7-slot grille is similarly slimmer and more upright, with a jutting and predatory shark-nosed angle. Longer and with a more level waistline, the new Grand Cherokee has a more formal and upmarket look to it, while rear lights are now also distinctly slimmer.

Elegant and eager

At 5.2-metres long, the extended wheelbase Grand Cherokee L sits with a luxurious and classically proportioned posture, with short front, and long rear overhangs. Subtly bulging squared wheel-arches deflect from length and short wheel-arch apex to bonnet top length gives it a sleeker and stylishly elegant profile. Under its well-proportioned and bulging bonnet line, the Grand Cherokee is initially available with carry-over 3.6 litre V6 or 5.7 litre V8 engines for the region for now. An optional plug-in hybrid 2-litre is available elsewhere, while high performance SRT variants are expected but yet unconfirmed.

Positioned far back in its engine bay to achieve ideal 50:50 weight distribution, the driven Grand Cherokee L 3.6-litre V6 is powered by Jeep’s familiar and well-regarded naturally-aspirated Pentastar engine. Developing 290BHP at 6,400rpm and 260lb/ft torque at 4,400rpm in this application, it is estimated to power the 2,128kg Grand Cherokee L through the 0-100km/h acceleration benchmark in around 8.5-seconds. High revving, the Pentastar engine is smooth and eager to its 6,700rpm limit, and provides good throttle control to feed in power increments. Eager and progressive, its delivery is responsive from idling and through mid-range.

Confident and composed

High revving, the Grand Cherokee’s engine nevertheless serves much of its torque from early on and through a broad range, and is coupled with a smooth and responsive 8-speed gearbox to utilise available output for brisk and versatile on the move performance. At demanding high altitude and steep inclines, the Grand Cherokee is meanwhile better served by engaging “sport” mode or keeping revs high through manual mode paddle-shifters. Refined and quiet normally, a purposeful mechanical, tone, however, becomes more audible near its rev limit, rather than some Italian cousins’ more exotic soundtracks.

A modern monocoque built SUV with multilink suspension all-round, the Grand Cherokee L is a comfortable and confident ride with adept handling that belies its size and weight. With balanced weight distribution and just the right level of suspension tautness, the Grand Cherokee L turns into corners with tidy composure, and maintains good in-class body lean control throughout, and despite its high ride. On exiting corners, its rear-oriented four-wheel-drive and weighting meanwhile allows one to briefly, progressively and predictably kick the rear out to adjust a cornering line with stability control disengaged.

Comfor tand commitment

A more agile vehicle than expected, the Grand Cherokee L’s limited slip differential helps allocate power where needed for added security and nimbleness on road, and to maintain traction off road. Braking is meanwhile highly effective and fade resistant, but slightly more initial pedal feel would be welcome. Meanwhile electronic brakeforce distribution keeps the Grand Cherokee L level and adds safety and reassuring commitment through corners, but slightly more “dive” might lend a more intuitive feel for sudden straight line heavy braking. The Grand Cherokee also features forward collision warning with brake assistance, and 12 airbags,

Comfortable, refined and easy to drive, the Grand Cherokee L is a natural long distance cruiser. Smooth, stable and reassuring at speed, the Grand Cherokee L’s ride quality is among the best in class, absorbing all but the most jagged lumps and bumps in a forgiving manner, even with standard mechanical suspension and optional low profile 265/50R20 tyres. Settled and vertically well-controlled over imperfections, the Grand Cherokee L feels buttoned down on rebound and over crests and dips, and dismounts larger bumps gracefully and without the excessive suspension compression or stiffness of some rivals.

Spacious and stylish

Offered in four trim levels including the very luxurious Reserve specification, which includes height adjustable air suspension and low gear ratios, the driven mid-range Limited specification is nevertheless not far behind with its stylish up-market interior, equipment and abilities. With selectable driving modes optimising various parameters for different terrain, the Grand Cherokee L Limited also features generous 215mm ground clearance and 20.6° approach, 18.2° break-over and 21.5° departure angles. Spacious and practical, it can meanwhile tow up to 2,818kg, carry a 635kg payload and accommodate between 490- to 2,390 litres of cargo, depending on seat configuration.

A long, large 7-seat SUV with excellent front and middle row seating that betters most larger full-size American SUVs, the Grand Cherokee L’s manoeuvrability in narrow confines is, however, aided by big mirrors, parking assistance system, reversing camera and large screen, and level waistline for good in-class visibility. Additional safety equipment usefully includes blindspot and crosspath detection, while cabin access is generous and rearmost seats are adequately useable. Up-market inside in material, design and finish, it also features plenty of storage space, great driving position, stylish wood accents and user-friendly infotainment system with dedicated off-road gauges.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 3.6-litre, in-line V6-cylinders
• Bore x Stroke: 96 x 83mm
• Compression ratio: 11.3:1
• Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, variable valve timing
• Rev limit: 6,700rpm
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive, limited slip differential
• Gear ratios: 1st 4.71 2nd 3.14 3rd 2.11 4th 1.67 5th 1.29 6th 1.0 7th 0.84 8th 0.67; R 3.3
• Final drive/low gear ratios: 3.45/2.72
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 293 (297) [218.5] @6,400rpm
• Specific power: 81.3BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 137.6BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 260 (353) @4,400rpm
• Specific torque: 97.9Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 165.8Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: approximately 8.5-seconds (estimate)
• Fuel capacity: 87-litres
• Length: 5,204mm
• Width: 1,979mm 
• Height: 1,815mm
• Wheelbase: 3,091mm
• Track: 1,660mm
• Ground clearance: 215mm
• Load floor height: 817mm
• Kerb weight: 2,128kg
• Weight distribution, F/R: 50/50 per cent
• Payload: 635kg
• Trailer towing: 2,818kg
• Approach/break-over/departure angles: 20.6°/18.2°/21.5°
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.357
• Seating capacity: 7
• /2nd/1st rows: 490-/1,330-/2,390-litres
• Steering: Electric rack & pinion
• Turning circle: 11.6-metres
• Teering ratio: 15.6
• Lock-to-lock: 2.9-turns
• Suspension: Multilink, coil springs
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated perforated discs 354x28mm/350x22mm
• Brake calipers, F/R: 2-/1-pistons
• Tyres: 265/50R20
• Price, on-the-road: JD75,000 (without insurance)

By Dr Mona Choueiry
Paediatrician

Depression and anxiety due to social isolation affected an overwhelming number of teenagers during this COVID-19 pandemic.

The lives of teens were disrupted with some having lost family members. Others live in fear for themselves and their family members- and many teens were victims of domestic abuse. 

Virtual learning alone has its challenges, leading to poor academic outcomes and low self-esteem. 

Anxiety from returning to school remains an issue. 

For instance, teens now fear illness, meeting people and have concerns about body image, physical changes and what peers might think about them. 

Seeing the signs 

and symptoms of:

Depression

• Little interest or pleasure in doing things

• Feeling down, depressed or hopeless

• Insomnia, staying asleep, or sleeping too much

• Feeling tired or having little or no energy

• Poor appetite or overeating

• Feeling bad about themselves, that they may be a failure and letting their family down

• Trouble concentrating on things like watching television

• Being restless and fidgety 

• Thoughts of self-harm

Anxiety

• Nervousness

• Fear when away from the parent, scared to be alone, or to sleep alone

• Headache or abdominal pain at school

• Worries about going to school

• Feels like fainting when frightened

• Difficulty breathing or having a choking sensation

• Palpitations, pallor and sweating, dizziness, shakiness when nervous or scared

• Worries that something terrible is going to happen to parents

• Feels shy around people he doesn’t know well, or finds it hard to talk around them

• Worries about being as good as other kids

• Worries about other people not liking her

• When frightened, feels like things are not real

• Gets frightened for no reason at all

• Worries about things not working out for 

• Worries about how well she does things

• Worries about things that have already happened

Paediatrician’s role

Common complaints at the paediatrician’s are excessive weight loss or weight gain, headaches, abdominal pain, sleep problems, academic decline, fatigue, heart palpitations chest pain and irritability.

Paediatricians, and family doctors can play a vital role in the detection of depression and anxiety in children and teenagers. Your doctor can initiate medications if indicated and may refer the teen to a psychiatrist. Psychotherapy is an essential part of treatment. Successful depression and anxiety management requires family support and self-care.

Self-care tips

• Getting eight hours’ sleep, going to bed at the same time seven days a week and limiting screen time, especially around bedtime

• Limiting caffeine

• Eating a well-balanced diet, drinking a lot of water and not skipping meals

• Spending time outdoors in nature and sunshine

• Getting exercise: Brisk walking, jogging, biking, weight training five days a week

• Meditating or practising yoga and breathing techniques

• Listening to music at least 20 minutes a day

• Trying aromatherapy (lavender is ideal)

• Cultivating gratitude

• Laughing! Look up laughter yoga classes in Amman

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

AMMAN — The title of the exhibition “I Hear America Singing” at the National Gallery of Fine Arts might sound very sardonic at the moment, taking into consideration class and ethnic divisions within the US, wide gap between liberals and pro-conspiracy groups like QAnon, vaxxers and anti-vaxxers.

“The exhibition celebrates the breadth of contemporary photography through works by sixteen renowned photographers whose images capture the complexity of the United States. It’s an exhibition about truth telling, pushing boundaries, diversity and inclusion, and the American frontier, ” curator Ashley Lumb told The Jordan Times.

“Many of the works engage with difficult, important and urgent issues: Black Lives Matter, Asian solidarity, immigrants, Indigenous perspectives and the polarised political climate,” she added.

Images of photographers try to capture diversity of the American melting pot, dealing with inclusion, discrimination, immigrants, human solidarity, and perspectives of indigenous population and overall climate of insecurity, fear and mistrust.

“It is an exhibition of a multitude of voices so long missing from presentation but nevertheless strong, persistent and filled with life. When I started working on the exhibition I was predominantly seeing white male artists, but as I researched further, I was able to broaden the scope of the show and feature more than 50 per cent BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Colour],” noted Lumb, adding that the ethnic diversity of the US is the central theme.

Lumb is an independent curator who obtained a Master’s Degree in the History of Photography at St Andrews University in Scotland, and worked for the British Museum in the Middle East Department. She curated and co-curated 25 photography exhibitions involving around 300 artists.

“We have to rebuild, build relationships, open pathways and remove gates. Then we can start to think what’s next, how we can build a future, but without forgetting the dark lessons of history,” said Lumb, adding that the exhibition also pushes boundaries within the medium itself in terms of what has been shown in Jordan before. 

There are several 19th century processes in the show, such as tintypes, photograms, and modern daguerreotypes, and some of these processes “can’t be made in Jordan by artists because the chemicals aren’t available”, Lumb pointed out. 

“A beautiful and powerful body of work in the show is Four Freedoms, produced by the For Freedoms collective including Hank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur in collaboration with Eric Gottesman and Wyatt Gallery. In this body of work the artists have reimagined Norman Rockwell’s seminal paintings, Four Freedoms. The original works were a visual interpretation of president Franklin D Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address, detailing his vision for a post-war America in which he extolled the global right to freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and the freedom from fear,” Lumb said.

However, Roosevelt made these paintings in 1943, Japanese Americans were imprisoned in internment camps, while African-American soldiers who grew up under Jim Crow laws fought in segregated units, the curator said.

Willis Thomas said: “At that time in America, it seemed what it meant to be American was to be white Anglo-Saxon.” 

According to Lumb, Norman Rockwell’s work at the time was seen as representative of Americana. This new project concerns the question of what Americana stands for and for whom it stands, she explained.

“This new project is the questioning of what Americana stands for and for whom it stands, so For Freedoms tried to bring the past forward. The question that this work embodies is what would those four freedoms look like in the 21st century?” she asked.

Willis Thomas asked: “What does a Muslim look like?” He was worried about tokenism. 

“The pictures depict so many people from different backgrounds. Only four photos are shown in this exhibition but there are many different versions of these four freedoms. The artists worked with over 200 people to depict the diversity of America“, Lumb said, adding that in one version of the Thanksgiving photo, “Freedom from Want”, there is actually Middle Eastern food on the table, which was brought in by one of the subjects in the photo.

Often with art we don’t like to be challenged, unsettled, or made to think, and these images, and the entire exhibition, do just that, she explained.

“I don’t have immediate plans to do more shows in Jordan, but rather, I would like to next do an exhibition in the US on Middle Eastern photography, which would include Jordanian artists. It would be sort of a cultural exchange, since I have just brought American artists to Jordan,” Lumb underscored.

The exhibition runs through November 26.

WASHINGTON — US scientists have developed a new form of drug that promotes the regeneration of cells and reversed paralysis in mice with spinal injuries, allowing them to walk again within four weeks of treatment.

The research was published in the journal Science on Thursday, and the team of Northwestern University scientists behind it hope to approach the Food and Drug Administration as early as next year to propose human trials.

“The aim of our research was to develop a translatable therapy that could be brought to the clinic to prevent individuals from becoming paralysed after major trauma or disease,” Northwestern’s Samuel Stupp, who led the study, told AFP.

Curing paralysis is a longstanding goal of medicine, and other cutting-edge research in the field includes experimental treatments using stem cells to make new neurons (nerve cells), gene therapy that tells the body to produce certain proteins to aid nerve repair, or injecting proteins.

Stupp’s team, on the other hand, used nanofibres to mimic the architecture of the “extracellular matrix” — a naturally occurring network of molecules surrounding tissue that is responsible for supporting cells.

Each fibre is about 10,000 times narrower than a human hair, and they are made up of hundreds of thousands of bioactive molecules called peptides that transmit signals to promote nerve regeneration. 

The therapy was injected as a gel into tissue surrounding the spinal cords of lab mice 24 hours after an incision was made in their spines. 

The team decided to wait a day because humans who receive devastating spinal injuries from car accidents, gunshots and so on also experience delays in getting treatment.

Four weeks later, mice who received the treatment regained their ability to walk almost as well as before the injury. Those left untreated did not.

The mice were then put down to examine the impacts of the therapy on the cellular level, and the team found dramatic improvements to the spinal cords.

The severed extensions of neurons called axons regenerated, and scar tissue that can act as a physical barrier to regeneration was significantly diminished.

What’s more, an insulating layer of axons called myelin that is important in transmitting electric signals had reformed, blood vessels that deliver nutrients to injured cells had formed, and more motor neurons survived.

‘Dancing’ molecules

A key discovery by the team was that creating a certain mutation in the molecules intensified their collective motion and heightened their efficacy. 

This is because receptors in neurons are naturally in constant motion, Stupp explained, and increasing the motion of the therapeutic molecules within the nanofibres helps connect them more effectively with their moving targets.

The researchers in fact tested two versions of the treatment — one with the mutation and one without — and found that mice that received the modified version regained more function.

The gel developed by the scientists is the first of its kind, but could usher in a new generation of medicines known as “supramolecular drugs”, because the therapy is an assembly of many molecules rather than a single molecule, said Stupp.

According to the team, it is safe because the materials biodegrade within a matter of weeks and become nutrients for cells.

Stupp said he hopes to rapidly move direct to human studies next without the need for further animal testing, such as on primates. 

This is because the nervous system is highly similar across mammal species and “there is nothing out there to help spinal cord injury patients, and this is a huge human problem”, he said.

According to official statistics, nearly 300,000 people are living with a spinal cord injury in the United States alone. Their lifespan is shorter than people without spinal injury, and has not improved since the 1980s.

“The challenge will be how the FDA will look at these therapies because they’re completely new,” predicted Stupp.

LOS ANGELES — US actor Alec Baldwin is being sued by a "Rust" crew member over the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer last month, lawyers said Wednesday.

The negligence suit also names armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who claimed through her legal representatives that she was being "framed" for the death of Halyna Hutchins.

The low-budget movie's chief lighting technician Serge Svetnoy says in the lawsuit that the accidental killing "was caused by the negligent acts and omissions" of lead actor and producer Baldwin and others.

"Simply put, there was no reason for a live bullet to be placed in that .45 Colt revolver or to be present anywhere on the 'Rust' set, and the presence of a bullet in a revolver posed a lethal threat to everyone in its vicinity," the suit, submitted to a Los Angeles court, says.

Baldwin, assistant director Dave Halls and Gutierrez-Reed did not follow film industry practice on the handling of weapons and "allowed a revolver loaded with live ammunition to be pointed at living persons," the suit alleges.

Cinematographer Hutchins was shot and killed as Baldwin rehearsed a scene on the 19th-century western in which he fires a gun at the camera.

The Emmy-winner was handed the firearm by Halls, who declared it "cold" — industry lingo for an inert weapon. Halls later told investigators he had not fully checked it.

The live bullet passed through Hutchins and hit director Joel Souza in the shoulder. 

Svetnoy, who had worked with Hutchins on a number of previous films said he was close when Baldwin fired the gun on October 21.

He felt a "strange and terrifying whoosh" as the bullet flew past him, and he was hit in the face by gunpowder and "residual materials."

The suit describes how he had rushed to help his friend as she lay dying on the ground.

"As he held her, he noticed that the hand placed behind her back was becoming wet with her blood," it says.

"The next 20-30 minutes felt like the longest of plaintiff's life as he tried to aid and comfort Ms. Hutchins, watching helplessly as her consciousness faded inexorably away."

As the film's armorer, 24-year-old Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for firearms and ammunition.

In a statement issued Wednesday, her lawyers insisted again she did not know why there was a live round on the set.

"We are asking for a full and complete investigation of all of the facts, including the live rounds themselves, how they ended up in the 'dummies' box, and who put them in there," attorney Jason Bowles said.

"We are convinced that this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed. We believe that the scene was tampered with as well before the police arrived."

Bowles said Gutierrez-Reed had met again with investigators from the Santa Fe County Sheriff, and had "offered to share additional, critical information" with them.

Santa Fe county district attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, in an interview broadcast Wednesday, rejected the notion of a conspiracy.

"We do not have any proof," she told ABC News.

Carmack-Altwies has previously refused to rule out criminal charges over the incident, which has sparked calls for the banning of functional weapons on Hollywood sets.

Baldwin has suggested police officers should be stationed on sets that use weapons.

He called the tragedy a "one in a trillion episode" and insisted "Rust" had a "well-oiled crew".

But reports have emerged since the shooting of disquiet among staff over allegedly lax safety procedures, and Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza has spoken of "complacency" on the New Mexico set.

Mendoza said previously his officers seized more than 500 rounds of ammunition from the set, which they believed to be a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and some suspected live ammunition.

LOS ANGELES — An original Apple computer, hand-built by company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 45 years ago, sold for $400,000 at auction in the United States on Tuesday.

The functioning Apple-1, the great-great-grandfather of today’s sleek chrome-and-glass Macbooks, had been expected to fetch up to $600,000 when it went under the hammer in California.

The so-called “Chaffey College” Apple-1 is one of only 200 made by Jobs and Wozniak at the very start of the company’s odyssey from garage start-up to megalith worth $2 trillion.

What makes it even rarer is the fact the computer is encased in koa wood — a richly patinated wood native to Hawaii. Only a handful of the original 200 were made in this way.

Jobs and Wozniak mostly sold Apple-1s as component parts. One computer shop that took a delivery of around 50 units decided to encase some of them in wood, the auction house said.

“This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors,” Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen told the Los Angeles Times ahead of the bidding. “That really makes it exciting for a lot of people.”

John Moran Auctioneers said the device, which was sold with a 1986 Panasonic video monitor, has only ever had two owners.

“It was originally purchased by an electronics professor at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California, who then sold it to his student in 1977,” a listing on the auction house’s website said.

The Los Angeles Times reported the student — who has not been named — paid just $650 for it at the time.

While the $400,000 hammer price represents a healthy return on investment for that former student, it is a long way short of the record for such a device.

A working Apple-1 that came to the market in 2014 was sold by Bonhams for more than $900,000.

“A lot of people just want to know what kind of a person collects Apple-1 computers and it’s not just people in the tech industry,” Cohen said.

Apple raced to success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but foundered after the departure of Jobs and Wozniak.

The company was reinvigorated in the late 1990s, and Jobs was brought back into the fold as the chief executive.

He oversaw the launch of the iPod, and later the world-changing iPhone, before his death in 2011.

STOCKHOLM — Swedish pop sensation ABBA made a comeback on Friday with their new album “Voyage”, nearly 40 years after they split up, delighting fans but leaving critics divided.

Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid — forming the acronym ABBA — have not released any new music since their split in 1982, a year after their last album “The Visitors”.

“Voyage” went live at midnight Thursday in various time zones, to the delight of longtime fans worldwide.

“We are just in disbelief... that it’s something that we could experience again in our lifetimes,” longtime ABBA fan Jeffrey de Hart, 62, said at a listening party in Stockholm for the Swedish band’s much-anticipated release.

At the ABBA museum in Stockholm, eager fans had also arrived, hoping to experience a rekindling of the magic of the group.

“I grew up with ABBA so for me the music and the group was important, for my growth,” 50-year-old fan Malin, told AFP as her mother, who had just turned 80 and had accompanied her to the museum, nodded in agreement. 

Critics though were split on the return.

US magazine Rolling Stone hailed it as “worth the wait”, while the UK’s Guardian newspaper dismissed it with a “no thank you for the music”, a play on the title of one of the group’s most famous songs.

‘ABBAtars’

After years of speculation and several dropped hints, the group finally announced the reunion and new album in September, and released the singles “I still have faith in you” and “Don’t shut me down”.

The 10-track “Voyage” is not all the group will be releasing. 

They will also unveil digital avatars — dubbed “ABBAtars” — at a concert in London in May, resembling their 1979 selves.

The holograms are the product of a years-long project, designed in partnership with a special effects company of Star Wars creator George Lucas.

Repeatedly delayed by technical difficulties, then by the COVID-19 pandemic, they will finally be unveiled in May. 

The group initially dreamed up the idea of avatars, and then the music followed suit.

By 2018, ABBA had confirmed rumours of their return to the studio and that at least two new songs were being recorded.

But great pains were taken to keep the music a secret. 

“First it was just two songs, and then we said: ‘Well maybe we should do a few others’, what do you say girls and they said ‘Yeah’,” Benny Andersson, 74, explained when the album was announced.

“Then I asked them ‘why don’t we do a full album?’,” he added.

He and Bjorn Ulvaeus, 76, have been promoting the album in recent weeks, with 71-year-old Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 75, opting to spare themselves from busy promotion schedules.

All promotion was halted for 24 hours this week after two people died at a tribute concert north of Stockholm on Tuesday evening.

‘ABBA sound’

In addition to the two songs released in September, a third track from the album was published in October, a modernised version of “Just A Notion”, originally recorded in 1978 but never before released.

The newly released songs cannot escape being compared to hits like “Waterloo”, “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia”, “The Winner Takes It All” and “Money, Money, Money”, but the band members are not worried about disappointing fans.

“We don’t have to prove anything, what does it matter if people think we were better before?” Andersson told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

For record shops, the release was a welcome boon.

“I’ve been working at the store for 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. So I’m really thrilled to be a part of it,” Samuel Hagglund, manager at the record store Bengans in Stockholm, told AFP.

To Swedish fan Peter Palmquist, the new album has struck just the right note between old and new.

“It’s true to ABBA’s sound but it’s not nostalgic, staying to where they are but to the people that they grown into today,” he said.

According to Jean-Marie Potiez, one of the group’s most well-known international experts, age has given some of the singers a new edge. 

“Agnetha and Anni-Frid’s voices have lost their high notes, which is normal given their age, but they have gained in depth and sensitivity.” 

“When they sing together, both of them, like on ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’, it’s the ABBA sound.”

Despite two divorces — Bjorn and Agnetha and Benny and Anni-Frid were both married for several years — the four have remained good friends. 

But “Voyage”, the band’s ninth studio album, will indeed be their last, the two Bs of the group confirmed in an interview with The Guardian at the end of October.