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Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Wallenda siblings complete daunting Times Square tightrope stunt
NEW YORK - Siblings from a famed circus family - the Flying Wallendas - walked a wire strung 25 stories over New York’s Times Square Sunday, in a hair-raising balancing act performed across five city blocks. “If you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere -- so let’s make it in New York,” Nik Wallenda, 40, told his sister Lijana before they began the fearsome feat. The undertaking, which was broadcast live, saw the duo start the wire walk on opposite sides, slowly moving towards each other holding balancing poles as a throng of onlookers gawked from below. When the siblings met, Lijana sat on the 396-meter (1300-foot) wire strung between skyscrapers so her brother could step over her, before standing back up and finishing the walk. Tensions were running particularly high as it was the 42-year-old Lijana’s first such attempt since 2017, when she and four others fell more than 9 meters while rehearsing an eight-person
pyramid on a wire. The near-fatal incident left her seriously injured, including breaking most bones in her face. During the approximately 36 minutes the acrobats took to complete the nerve-wracking stunt Nik -- who in 2012 traversed Niagara Falls on a wire, and the Little Colorado River Gorge close to the Grand Canyon a year later -- offered words of encouragement to his sister via earpiece microphones, as she audibly prayed and sang. New York allowed the siblings to attempt Sunday’s walk on the condition that they wear safety harnesses, a mandate Nik had said added physical weight and stress to the challenge. In 2013 the city had declined him permission to cross a wire
anchored between the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Sunday’s never-before-attempted stunt is yet another feather in the cap of the Wallendas, a family famous for jaw-dropping endeavors executed from dizzying heights -without safety nets. The clan’s performances date back generations to the Austro-Hungarian empire and debuted in the United States in 1928, as part of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In 1978 Karl Wallenda -- Nik and Lijana’s great grandfather, who brought the family act stateside -tumbled to his death at age 73 while attempting a wire walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico. New York has long attracted daredevils seeking to make headlines: Harry Houdini escaped a crate in which he was chained and thrown in the river over a century ago, and Evel Knievel soared on his motorcycle over ten vehicles in 1971. (afp)
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Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Dick Clark Productions/AFP
Lijana Wallenda and Nik Wallenda walk a high wire over Times Square during the Highwire Live In Times Square With Nik Wallenda on June 23, 2019 in New York City.
Michael Jackson fans defiant as abuse claims loom over anniversary
Agustin PAULLIER / AFP
People pose for pictures with Michael Jackson’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star in Hollywood on June 23, 2019.
LOS ANGELES - Defiant fans are preparing to mark 10 years since Michael Jackson’s death as fascination with the King of Pop remains undimmed despite lurid claims of child sex abuse. On Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, the singer’s star continues to draw a constant scrum of selfie-snapping tourists, while nearby souvenir shops, street performers and even tattoo parlors report a brisk trade in all things Jackson. Across the street at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum, a statue of the singer is strategically perched above the box office to entice tourists. Staff at Madame Tussauds say Jackson’s waxwork remains a top draw.
Yet according to the groundbreaking HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland,” released earlier this year, it was just a few hours’ drive from the heart of Hollywood that Jackson used his celebrity and glamor to molest young boys at his fairytale-themed ranch. While most fans who spoke to AFP were aware of the documentary, the adoration fostered from growing up with the “Thriller” megastar’s many hits supersedes all else. “I came here actually only for him. I don’t take pictures with any other star,” said Dutch tourist Hooman Nazemi. “Some stuff that they were say-
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ing in the doc was kind of hard, but you cannot say 100 percent it’s true ... I just love him. I love him and I think everybody does.” Antoine Baynes, 31, a Jackson impersonator who moonwalks along Hollywood Boulevard for tourists’ tips, said the allegations had done nothing to diminish his performances’ appeal -- in fact, the opposite. “After the HBO special came out I received just as much if not more attention than before. It kinda gave it publicity,” he said. “Honestly I’ve married people as Michael Jackson. I have two weddings to do this Sunday, to do as Michael Jackson!” (afp)
GOH CHAI HIN / AFP
Riot gear belonging to Indonesian police as seen laid out along a street near the constitutional court in Jakarta on June 18, 2019, as the court continues to hear arguments of a claim by defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto that Indonesia’s 2019 election was rigged. Prabowo Subianto lodged an appeal seeking to overturn his loss to incumbent leader Joko Widodo on April 17 over claims it was the result of massive electoral fraud and vote-counting irregularities in the world’s third-biggest democracy.
Police chief bans mass rally outside Constitutional Court building
JAKARTA - Police has banned mass rallying outside the Constitutional Court (MK) building during the court’s Consultative Meeting of Judges before it gives a ruling on the presidential election dispute, Indonesian Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian emphasized. Karnavian drew reference to the May 21-22 rally outside the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) that took a violent turn and claimed several lives. “I do not want this to recur. Our goodwill and my discretion should not be misused. Hence,
I bar all rallies that will hinder public order,” he noted here on Tuesday. The police chief admitted to receiving information that the presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno had appealed to supporters to not
hold any event in front of the MK. The ban on rally outside the MK building is in accordance with article 6 of Law No. 9 of 1998 on presenting opinions in public. “Article 6 of the law has stipulated five issues that will be
barred, including those that affect public order, impinge upon other people’s rights, and the obligation to maintain the nation’s unity,” Karnavian elaborated. The police has coordinated with the Indonesian military (TNI) to deploy at least 45 thousand security personnel around the MK building and close access to roads around the area. “Mass rally that runs counter
to the public’s interest will be dispersed,” Karnavian affirmed. (afp) News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http:// globalfmbali.listen2myradio.com or live video streaming at http:// radioglobalfmbali.com and http:// ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.