Author: CNN

CNN
 — 

The party is over for Panic! At the Disco.

The band’s frontman, Brendon Urie, announced on social media Tuesday that the group will go their separate ways after shows in Europe and the UK in February and March.

Urie also explained that he will soon be a dad.

“Sometimes a journey must end for a new one to begin,” Urie wrote, adding, “I look forward to this next adventure. That said, I am going to bring this chapter of my life to an end and put my focus and energy on my family, and with that Panic! At The Disco will be no more.”

He continued: “Thank you all for your immense support over the years. I’ve sat here trying to come up with the perfect way to say this and I truly can’t put into words how much it has meant to us. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or are just finding us, it has been a pleasure to not only share the stage with so many talented people but also share our time with you.”

The band, with hits like “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and “Nine in the Afternoon,” got together in 2004 and includes Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith and Brent Wilson.

Panic! At the Disco’s last show is on March 10 in Manchester, England.

“I am looking forward to seeing everyone in Europe and the UK for one last run together,” Urie wrote.

New York
CNN
 — 

Lawmakers grilled a top executive from Ticketmaster’s parent company after the service’s inability to process orders for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour left millions of fans unable to buy tickets or without their ticket even after purchase.

Joe Berchtold, the president and CFO of Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation Entertainment, testified before a Senate committee on Tuesday, two months after the Swift ticketing fiasco reignited public scrutiny of the industry.

“As we said after the onsale, and I reiterate today: We apologize to the fans,” Berchtold said. “We apologize to Ms. Swift. We need to do better and we will do better.”

Ticketmaster, he said, was “hit with three times the amount of bot traffic than we had ever experienced” amid the “unprecedented demand for Taylor Swift tickets.” The bot activity “required us to slow down and even pause our sales. This is what led to a terrible consumer experience that we deeply regret.”

Tickets for Swift’s new five-month Eras Tour – which kicks off March 17 and will have 52 concerts in multiple stadiums across the United States – went on sale on Ticketmaster in mid November. Heavy demand snarled the ticketing site, infuriating fans who couldn’t snag tickets. Customers complained about Ticketmaster not loading, saying the platform didn’t allow them to access tickets, even if they had a pre-sale code for verified fans.

Unable to resolve the problems, Ticketmaster subsequently canceled Swift’s concert ticket sales to the general public, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.”

As fury grew among legions of hardcore Swifties, Swift herself weighed in on the fiasco. “It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans,” Swift wrote on Instagram in November. “It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”

As a result, the US Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled the hearing titled “That’s The Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment” to examine the lack of competition in the ticketing industry.

During her opening remarks, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, emphasized the importance of competition to uphold a capitalist system in her opening remarks. While criticizing the amount of consolidation in the market, she used Taylor Swift’s lyrics, saying it’s a practice that the country knows “all too well.”

“To have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition,’ she said. “You can’t have too much consolidation — something that, unfortunately for this country, as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say, we know ‘all too well.’”

Berchtold suggested that venues enjoy significant leeway to run their operations. He testified that Ticketmaster does not set ticket prices, does not determine the number of tickets put up for sale and that “in most cases, venues set service and ticketing fees,” not Ticketmaster.

In addition to the executives, the committee said witnesses at the hearing included Jack Groetzinger, CEO of ticketing platform SeatGeek; Jerry Mickelson, CEO of Jam Productions, one of the largest producers of live entertainment; and singer-songwriter Clyde Lawrence.

Groetzinger testified that as long as Live Nation remains both the dominant concert promoter and ticketer of major venues in the US, “the industry will continue to lack competition and struggle.”

Criticism of Ticketmaster’s dominance dates back decades, but the Swift ticketing incident has once again turned that issue into a dinner table discussion at many households.

Concert promoter Live Nation and ticketing company Ticketmaster, two of the largest companies in the concert business, announced their merger in 2009. The deal at the time raised concerns, including from the US Department of Justice, that it would create a near-monopoly in the industry.

The Justice Department allowed the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger to proceed despite a 2010 court filing in the case that raised objections to the merger. In the filing, the Justice Department said that Ticketmaster’s share among major concert venues exceeded 80%.

Ticketmaster disputes that market share estimate and says it holds at most just over 30% of the concert market, according to comments on NPR recently by Berchtold.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary’s leading Democrat and Republican weighed in on Ticketmaster’s economic dominance.

“These issues are symptomatic, I think, of a larger problem,” said committee chair Sen. Dick Durbin, arguing that live event ticketing has been “dominated by a single entity” that was created from the merger.

Durbin said he believes the legally binding consent agreement allowing Live Nation to complete the deal with conditions has not succeeded in preserving competition. If the current Justice Department concludes that the consent decree has been violated, “unwinding the merger ought to be on the table,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the panel’s top Republican, agreed that “consolidation of power in the hands of a few can create problems for the many.”

“Out of this hearing,” he said, “I hope we can make a better experience of the consumer being able to buy tickets to things you want to see without such a debacle” as the Taylor Swift ticketing process.

While irate fans were left scrambling to wade through the Swift ticket confusion, their collective anger caught lawmakers’ attention.

Members of Congress used the debacle to criticize Ticketmaster’s control of the live music industry, saying that because Ticketmaster dominates so heavily, it has no reason to make things better for the millions of customers who have no other choice.

“Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services,” Klobuchar, who chairs the antitrust subcommittee, wrote in an open letter to Ticketmaster’s CEO in November. “That can result in the types of dramatic service failures we saw this week, where consumers are the ones that pay the price.”

Blumenthal echoed Klobuchar’s concerns. He tweeted at the time that the tour “is a perfect example of how the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger harms consumers by creating a near-monopoly.”

In December, lawmakers from the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, demanding a briefing on what went wrong and what steps the company is taking to fix the problems.

“The recent pre-sales ticketing process for Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras tour – in which millions of fans endured delays, lockouts, and competition with aggressive scammers, scalpers and bots – raises concerns over the potential unfair and deceptive practices that face consumers and eventgoers,” the committee wrote in its letter.

The committee noted it had previously raised concerns about the industry’s business practices and said it wanted to meet with Rapino to discuss how the company processes tickets for concerts and major tours. It also wants answers about how Ticketmaster plans to improve in the future.

Brian A. Marks, a senior lecturer in the department of economics and business analytics at University of New Haven’s Pompea College of Business, said he would have liked Swift to make an appearance at the hearing.

“This hearing seems to be focused on Swift and what happened with the ticket sales. We also have to remember that Taylor Swift and her team negotiated a contract with Ticketmaster for sale of her concert ticket,” said Marks.

“Will Congress want to look at that contract? To me, what happened with the Swift concert tickets was not necessarily the result of Ticketmaster being the dominant player in the industry,” he said. Artists, and especially larger artists like Swift, “are free to elsewhere,” he said. “This point may get missed in tomorrow’s hearing.”

– CNN’s Brian Fung, Frank Pallotta, Chris Isidore and David Goldman contributed to this story

CNN
 — 

Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has detailed the “traumatizing” racist abuse which he says he suffered at school during an episode of Jess Shetty’s ‘On Purpose’ podcast released on Monday.

“School was the most traumatizing and most difficult part of my life. I was already being bullied at the age of six,” the Mercedes driver said.

“At that particular school, I was one of three kids of color and just bigger, stronger, bullying kids were throwing me around a lot of the time,” the Mercedes driver said.

“And the constant jabs, the things that are either thrown at you, like bananas, or people that would use the N-word just so relaxed. People calling you half-caste and not knowing where you fit in. That was difficult,” he added.

“In my [secondary] school, there were six or seven Black kids out of 1,200 kids, and three of us were put outside the headmasters’ office all the time,” Hamilton continued.

“I felt the system was up against me and I was swimming against the tide … There were a lot of things I suppressed.

“I didn’t feel I could go home and tell my parents that these kids kept calling me the N-word or I got bullied or beaten up at school today, or I wasn’t able to defend myself. I didn’t want my dad to think I was not strong,” he added.

CNN reached out to Hamilton’s schools but has not received responses.

The wide-ranging interview, which is over an hour long, is the 38-year-old Hamilton’s first podcast appearance.

The Stevenage-born Hamilton is F1’s only Black driver, and in 2021, he partnered with Mercedes to launch Ignite, a joint charitable initiative to support greater diversity and inclusion in motorsport.

Hamilton also founded Mission 44, which aims to enhance the lives of people from underrepresented groups.

Hamilton will begin his 17th F1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 5.

CNN
 — 

Among the victims of a mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, on Saturday were a loving father, and a woman whose family called her one of their biggest cheerleaders.

Dozens in their 50s, 60s and 70s gathered to celebrate the Lunar New Year weekend when a 72-year-old gunman opened fire at the studio, which killed 11 and injured nine.

Authorities do not know why the shooting happened, but say the gunman fled and died Sunday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A timeline of the Monterey Park shooting

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office has identified four of the people slain: My Nhan, 65; Valentino Alvero, 68; Lilan Li, 63; and Xiujuan Yu, 57.

Here’s how family and friends want them to be remembered and how to help. As we learn more about their lives, we will continue to update this story.

Alvero, a hospitality worker, had plans to retire in a year with hopes of returning to his native Philippines, his son and namesake, Val Anthony Alvero told CNN’s David Culver. He hadn’t heard about the shooting until Sunday morning, he said.

Anthony described his father as someone who was “always upbeat and caring for others.”

Alvero spent his free time at the dance studio, Anthony said. Growing up, he remembers his dad dancing and singing around the house.

“He loved people and hearing about their lives and in return, he shared his own stories with so much gusto and enthusiasm that you couldn’t help but listen and laugh along with him,” according to a family statement. “He loved ballroom dancing, he loved his community and was the life of any party.”

While Anthony wants to know more about what happened, he said it doesn’t add anything to the situation to be angry.

“I’d just like for better to come out of it,” he said. “The biggest thing I’d want other people to take away, I think regardless of this situation it’s always so important to cherish the time you have with people.”

Anthony said his father was the type of person who would push through emotions in moments of crisis, so to honor him, he’s trying to do the same.

Nhan, known to friends and family as Mymy, loved to dance and spent many years frequenting the dance studio.

She was known as her family’s “biggest cheerleader” and a “loving aunt, sister, daughter and friend,” according to a statement from her family.

Tiffany Liou, a reporter for CNN affiliate WFAA in Dallas, Texas told CNN and also posted on Twitter that Nhan was her husband’s aunt.

Nhan was the primary caretaker for her mother, who passed away four weeks ago, Liou said.

“They’re together now, dancing in heaven,” wrote on Twitter.

“Mymy treated her nieces/nephews like her own kids,” she said. “Her kindness is what’s needed in this world.”

The family started a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs as they grieve for two family members back to back.

The past 12 months has forced European leaders to seriously rethink their approach to national security.

If Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has confirmed one thing, it’s that peace on the continent cannot be taken for granted. The status quo – decades of low spending and defense not being a policy priority – cannot continue.

This is especially true in Germany, which has for years has spent far less on its military than many of its Western allies but is now reconsidering its approach to defense at home and abroad.

Days after the invasion began last February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a head-turning speech to parliament in which he committed to spending 100 billion euros ($108 billion) to modernize Germany’s military capacity.

He also vowed that Germany would lift its defense spending to 2% of GDP – meeting a target set by NATO that it had missed for years – and end its deep reliance on Russian energy, particularly gas.

However, nearly a year on, critics say Scholz’s vision has failed to become reality. And Germany has been accused of dragging its feet when it comes to sending its more powerful weapons to Ukraine.

The criticism has grown in recent days as US and European leaders have piled pressure on Berlin to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, or at least allow other countries to do so.

Experts estimate there are around 2,000 Leopard tanks in use by 13 countries across Europe, and they are increasingly being seen as vital to Ukraine’s war effort as the conflict grinds into a second year. But Berlin must grant these nations approval to re-export German-made tanks to Ukraine, and it has so far resisted calls to do so.

Scholz has insisted that any such plan would need to be fully coordinated with the whole of the Western alliance, and German officials have indicated they won’t approve the transfer of Leopards unless the US also agrees to send some of its tanks to Kyiv.

On Friday, a key meeting of Western allies in Germany broke up without a wider agreement on sending tanks to Ukraine, after the country’s new defense minister Boris Pistorius said no decision had yet been made by his government.

Pistorius rebuffed claims that Germany has been “standing in the way” of a “united coalition” of countries in favor of the plan. “There are good reasons for the delivery and there are good reasons against it … all the pros and cons have to be weighed very carefully, and that assessment is explicitly shared by many allies,” he added.

Germany’s decision to dig in on sending tanks will likely go down badly with its allies, both in the immediate and long-term.

Read the full analysis here.

CNN
 — 

Vice President Kamala Harris declared Sunday that “this violence must stop” in her first on-camera remarks about the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, that has left at least 10 people dead.

“I do want to address the tragedy of what happened in my home state,” Harris, a former California senator and state attorney general, told a crowd in Tallahassee, Florida, at the beginning of her speech to mark 50 years since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.

“A time of a cultural celebration … and yet another community has been torn apart by senseless gun violence,” the vice president said, noting that the shooting took place on the weekend of the Lunar New Year. The attack happened at a dance studio Saturday night near a Lunar New Year festival celebration in the city approximately seven miles from downtown Los Angeles.

“So Doug and I join the president and Dr. Biden, and I know everyone here, in mourning for those who were killed, as we pray for those who are injured, and as we grieve for those many people whose lives are forever changed. All of us in this room and in our country understand this violence must stop,” Harris said. “And President Biden and I and our administration will continue to provide full support to the local authorities as we learn more.”

President Joe Biden said in a Sunday morning tweet that he is monitoring the aftermath of the mass shooting “closely as it develops.”

“Jill and I are praying for those killed and injured in last night’s deadly mass shooting in Monterey Park,” he said. “I’m monitoring this situation closely as it develops, and urge the community to follow guidance from local officials and law enforcement in the hours ahead.”

The White House announced earlier Sunday that the president had been briefed by Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and had directed her to “make sure that the FBI is providing full support to local authorities,” while providing him regular updates.

The Bidens remain at their vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and are expected to return to Washington, DC, on Monday.

Harris’ high-profile speech in Tallahassee came on the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which the Supreme Court overturned in June, ending federal protections for abortion.

The vice president sought to draw a direct throughline between abortion access and the freedoms enjoyed by Americans, arguing that limits or outright bans on reproductive health care threaten the rights of ordinary citizens.

“There’s a collection of words that mean everything to us as Americans. The heartfelt words of our great national anthem, that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. But let us ask, can we truly be free if a woman cannot make decisions about her own body?” Harris said as the crowd at The Moon nightclub responded with a loud “no.”

The vice president’s office said there were 1,500 people in attendance.

Harris’ office said earlier that the choice of Florida for the vice president’s speech Sunday spoke to the reality that the Sunshine State, which enacted a 15-week abortion ban last year, is now at the forefront of the abortion debate.

Harris did not mention the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, by name in her remarks, but she appeared to speak directly to the potential 2024 presidential contender, as well as other Republican opponents of abortion rights.

“Republicans in Congress are now calling for a nationwide abortion ban,” she said.”The right of every woman in every state in this country to make decisions about her own body is on the line. And I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: How dare they?”

Harris in her speech announced a new presidential memorandum Biden will sign to protect access to medication abortion.

“I’m pleased to announce that President Biden, I’m announcing it today, has issued a presidential memorandum on this issue. Members of our Cabinet and our administration are now directed as of the president’s order to identify barriers to access to prescription medication and to recommend actions to make sure that doctors can legally prescribe, that pharmacies can dispense and that women can secure safe and effective medication,” Harris said.

As vice president, Harris has claimed the issue of reproductive rights as her own, becoming the administrations most visible advocate for abortion rights since news leaked last year that the Supreme Court was all but expected to overturn Roe v. Wade. Harris traveled the country to convene state legislators, activists, lawyers and educators to discuss the issue and set a national message for Democrats.

The Biden administration has taken steps in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last June to ensure access to abortion care. The president signed an executive order in August that he said would help women travel out of state to receive abortions; ensure health care providers comply with federal law so women aren’t delayed in getting care; and advance research and data collection “to evaluate the impact that this reproductive health crisis is having on maternal health and other health conditions and outcomes.”

Harris, touting the White House’s strategy, called Sunday on Congress to pass federal protections for abortion.

But any legislation to enshrine abortion rights into federal law is unlikely to get far in the Republican controlled-House, which passed a bill earlier this month that would require health care providers to try to preserve the life of an infant in the rare case that a baby is born alive during or after an attempted abortion. The bill is not expected to be taken up in the Democratic-controlled Senate, but passage in the House serves as a messaging opportunity for the new Republican majority.

Still, Harris encouraged abortion rights advocates to stay positive.

“To all the friends and leaders, I say let us not be tired or discouraged because we’re on the right side of history,” she said Sunday. “Here now, on this 50th anniversary, let us resolve to make history and secure this right.”

This story and headline have been updated.

CNN
 — 

The NFL Playoffs are well underway. After last week’s exciting Super Wild Card Weekend, eight teams remain.

This weekend’s Divisional Round will whittle it down to the final four. The action kicks off on Saturday with the No. 1 seeded Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants, respectively.

Here’s what you need to know.

This time last year, the Jaguars were eliminated from playoff contention with a league-worst 3-14 record. Coming into this season, the expectations were as low as they could be.

Nobody expected them to finish with a winning record, let alone make it to the playoffs. Fast forward to now and the Jaguars are still competing.

Their thrilling comeback victory over the Chargers in the Wild Card stage secured their spot in the Divisional Round, just two rounds away from the NFL’s biggest stage. Their season will be considered a success no matter the outcome on Saturday but there’s something to be said for being the team with nothing to lose.

If they manage to squeak out a victory, it would be considered one of the biggest NFL upsets in recent memory.

The Chiefs, on the other hand, could lose everything.

They are the team that’s ‘supposed’ to be here. Nobody is surprised. Nobody is expecting them to fail. After a heartbreaking end to last season in the AFC Championship game, the Chiefs are back with a vengeance.

As Super Bowl Champions in 2020, this team has seen the light. They know what it’s like to win, and what it’s like to go home too soon.

A successful regular season paved the way to this moment. They won nine of their last ten games, and powered their way to the AFC’s top seed, a first-round bye, and a home advantage this week. All circumstances considered, the scene is set for a Kansas City victory.

While this game presents a clear favorite and a clear underdog, anything can happen at this stage in the postseason.

The Chiefs’ quality of play will determine the outcome of this game. If they play their game to their full potential, they’ll likely win. But if they come out flat, or fall victim to careless mistakes, the Jaguars are capable of exposing their shortcomings.

The nightcap similarly features an underdog and a juggernaut.

The Giants have found unlikely success under first-year head coach Brian Daboll.

From Week 1, Daboll set the tone for a successful season. His greatest talent might be getting the most out of players other coaches might have written off, the biggest example being quarterback Daniel Jones.

Prior to Daboll joining the Giants, Jones had a league-high 65 interceptions and fumbles. This season, he had 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions. In last week’s Wild Card Round against the Vikings, he had a career-defining playoff debut, throwing for 301 yards and two touchdowns and running for 78 yards.

It was arguably the best game of his career, but a more important game lies ahead. The question is, then, does he have enough left in the tank to take on the Eagles?

As the NFC’s No. 1 seed, the Eagles enter this week’s contest fresh off a bye week. The rest was much-needed, especially for quarterback Jalen Hurts who has battled a shoulder injury since the backend of the regular season. Ultimately he missed two games and returned in Week 18. However, he appeared a bit rusty, as if he needed to shake out the injury a bit more.

This setback was the only blemish on an otherwise stellar season with MVP-caliber numbers. The question for Hurts is, then, has he had enough time to recover from injury and revert back to that MVP-caliber quarterback?

The outcome of Saturday’s game will be yet another installment of an age-old rivalry between NFC East counterparts. It will be the fifth time the two have gone head-to-head during the postseason, having split the first four with two wild-card meetings and two Divisional Round matchups.

Neither team has made it to the NFC Championship since they last won a Super Bowl. If history repeats itself, one of these teams could find themselves with a Lombardi Trophy at the end of it all.

Here’s how to catch these games from wherever you are.

Australia: NFL Game Pass, ESPN, 7Plus

Brazil: NFL Game Pass, ESPN

Canada: CTV, TSN, RDS, NFL Game Pass on DAZN

Germany: NFL Game Pass, ProSieben MAXX, DAZN

Mexico: NFL Game Pass, TUDN, ESPN, Fox Sports, Sky Sports

UK: NFL Game Pass, Sky Sports, ITV, Channel 5

US: NFL Game Pass, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime

CNN
 — 

One of the most stirring and resonant sequences in a film this awards season comes from an unlikely source: “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”

The DreamWorks film, a sequel to a spinoff of “Shrek,” follows the titular feline as he attempts to restore eight of the nine lives he’s spent. He spends most of the film committing acts of daring with panache and charm to spare, as audiences have come to expect from Puss in Boots.

But during one crucial sequence, Puss loses faith, and panic and fear threaten to consume him.

Puss slumps against a tree in a forest, huffing and puffing. His rapid heartbeat drowns out any other sound in the forest where he lies. His friend, the affable therapy dog Perrito, notices Puss is in distress and lays his head on our feline hero’s tummy. Puss exhales a few times, calmly pets Perrito and is able to recover.

It’s a quiet, brief moment in an otherwise jovial film aimed at young viewers and families. But it’s resonating with many viewers for its depiction of what it feels like to have a panic attack – and the relief of coming out the other side.

“That was one of our big goals – let’s take our audience on a journey that expresses the full range of emotions of life,” said Joel Crawford, director of “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” in an interview with CNN.

There are still hard-won victories, gags and hard-earned wisdom in the film, but what lends “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” its staying power is its heart and honesty, even in a fairy-tale setting. Psychologists spoke with CNN about why it can be impactful to see panic attacks reflected on screen – and how a bipedal, sword-carrying cat got it right.

A panic attack is “basically a wave of powerful, physical fear that feels overwhelming,” said David Carbonell, a clinical psychologist based in Chicago who specializes in fear and phobias. Someone experiencing a panic attack may feel their heart beating at a faster-than-normal rate and have trouble catching their breath. Lightheadedness and tingles in extremities are common, too. But the throughline is always fear that feels suffocating, even if that fear doesn’t match one’s circumstances.

Lynn Bufka, associate chief of practice transformation at the American Psychological Association and a clinician, compared a panic attack to an encounter in the desert with a terrifying rattlesnake. Faced with a venomous foe, our body would trigger a physiological response to the fear in front of us. But with a panic attack, there usually isn’t an obvious cause, and this unknown element can make a panic attack feel even scarier, she said.

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” takes place in the same fairy-tale land of the “Shrek” series, with its anthropomorphic animals and ogres with hearts of gold. The new film features Goldilocks and the three bears, a grown-up and villainous version of “Little Jack Horner” of nursery rhyme fame and Salma Hayek as a feline foil to Antonio Banderas’ Puss in Boots. All of them are after a mythical wishing star, which, if Puss can reach it first, could restore the first eight of his nine lives.

It’s all very fantastical and humorous until it isn’t. In a brief but crucial sequence, Puss is overwhelmed by fear and can’t catch his breath. Even his comedic sidekick Perrito straightens up to calmly comfort Puss. It’s a sober moment in an otherwise jovial story.

That was intentional, director Crawford said. He told CNN that the moment wasn’t for laughs, and the film as a whole aimed to portray a more vulnerable side to the swashbuckling cat audiences have come to know.

“(Watching) an animated world is such a great way to escape,” he said, while noting that challenging topics can be explored through the comfort of fiction.

The process began with the film’s screenwriters, Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow, who brought their own experiences to the film’s portrayal of fear and panic, as well as Crawford and co-director Januel Mercado. Then it moved to storyboard artist Taylor Meacham, who drew from his own panic attacks to sketch what Puss might look like. Everything from the “tunnel vision” when viewers see Puss’ point of view to the loud heartbeat that takes over the scene were pulled from his experiences with panic, Meacham told CNN.

He also made sure the scene slowed down to take the time “needed for Puss in Boots to relax and breathe as he comes out of his attack,” he said. “The contrast from such intensity gradually into calm is another moment I hope feels real for viewers.”

Animator Prashanth Cavale even filmed himself as a reference for the scene, adding “tiny clenches and twitches” to add a lifelike texture to the scene, Cavale told CNN.

The goal, Crawford said, was to avoid making the moment feel “superficial or forced” while keeping it accessible to viewers of all ages.

“Fear, weakness, anxiety – if anybody has ever felt those emotions, which is everybody, we wanted to make sure this scene related to them,” Crawford said.

What audiences see in “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is less what a panic attack looks like to a bystander and more what it feels like to have one. A panic attack is often imperceptible to everyone except the person experiencing them, Bufka and Carbonell said. But in the moment, a panic attack can feel like a catastrophic event, even if it doesn’t look like one on the outside.

“Puss in Boots” isn’t the first example of popular media to feature a character experiencing a panic attack. Tony Soprano infamously suffered from them in “The Sopranos,” though his were greatly exaggerated and unrealistic – it’s rare for people to collapse during or after a panic attack, Carbonell said. The new HBO Max series “Velma” takes a heightened approach to panic attacks, too, showing both its bespectacled protagonist’s exaggerated perspective of panic and the subdued reality. (HBO and CNN share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)

Former ABC News journalist Dan Harris even had a panic attack live on air while reading a brief news item, though most coworkers and viewers didn’t know it at the time thanks to his outwardly calm demeanor.

Even if a panic attack portrayed onscreen isn’t a universal representation of the psychological phenomenon, seeing a character have one, particularly in a film like “Puss in Boots” that children and adults alike will view, can lead someone to consider their own experiences with panic and anxiety and seek help from an expert or from loved ones, Bufka said.

“It just really helps to normalize that this happens, and that you can recover,” she said.

When Puss finds comfort in his friend, the portly Perrito, who lends a paw for support without saying anything, the dog’s response is a fine example for people to follow if they know their loved ones have panic attacks, Carbonell said.

“You want to undercut the panic and bring it back down to reasonable proportions,” Carbonell said. Simply being there for someone and not overwhelming them with suggestions can help ground them.

Puss also accepts the help Perrito silently offers him. Fighting against a panic attack, Carbonell said, can often elongate and worsen it – the “quicksand of mental illness.” But letting it pass and rediscovering one’s calm is often the quickest way to get through it, he said.

For children, especially, seeing a character feel extreme fear and then find comfort in a loved one can be impactful, Bufka said, even if they’re not familiar with the term “panic attack.”

“People don’t always have the language for their emotions,” she said. “But it’s important to have it onscreen, because it helps people feel seen, recognized and not alone.”

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

CNN
 — 

To pry open the mysteries of our planet’s past, scientists typically study rocks and fossilized bones.

Eggs are an often overlooked but extremely rich source of information, with birds, reptiles, dinosaurs and a few oddball mammals laying them on land for more than 200 million years.

Rare fossilized eggshells can illuminate the behavior and diet of ancient creatures, expose changes in climate, and shed light on how our prehistoric relatives lived and communicated.

And now, an “eggciting” discovery in India announced this week has revealed intimate details about the lives of some of the biggest dinosaurs to walk the Earth.

Paleontologists in central India have unearthed a fossilized dinosaur hatchery with 92 nests and 256 eggs belonging to colonies of giant plant-eating titanosaurs.

Judging by the nests’ proximity to one another, researchers inferred the dinosaurs laid eggs together in colonies or rookeries, as many birds do today.

However, unlike most bird species, titanosaurs weren’t doting parents. Researchers think these creatures likely laid their eggs and then left their offspring to fend for themselves.

“Since titanosaurs were huge in size, closely spaced nests would not have allowed them to visit the nests to maneuver and incubate the eggs or feed the hatchlings … as the parents would step on the eggs and trample them,” said lead study author Guntupalli Prasad, a paleontologist at the University of Delhi.

Planting a tree is a fitting memorial to a loved one, but how about “becoming” a tree after death?

Transcend, a New York-based green burial start-up, is one company offering a way for people to make a positive environmental impact when they shuffle off this mortal coil.

Customers will select a tree species to be planted over the body, which will be prepared with biodegradable flax linen and buried with wood chips, local soil and fungi to facilitate composting. The site is marked, and the tree left to grow.

Advocates hope green burials can help slow the climate crisis, but the industry is new — Transcend hasn’t planted any people yet — and there is little research on how much better human composting is for the environment compared with traditional burials.

Want more ideas on how to tackle the climate crisis and reduce your eco-anxiety? Sign up for CNN’s Life, But Greener limited newsletter series.

Australia’s echidna, like the platypus, belongs to an odd group of mammals that lay eggs, known as monotremes. But the spiky creature’s egg-laying ability isn’t its only unusual characteristic.

Despite being one of the world’s oldest surviving species, echidnas are also thought to be sensitive to heat. Researchers, however, have discovered the echidna uses a unique method to cool down and stay active at much higher temperatures than previously known.

Infrared footage of 124 echidnas shot over the space of a year revealed how they beat the heat of global warming: The creature blows mucus bubbles, which burst over its nose tip and wet it. As the moisture evaporates, it cools the echidna’s blood, with the nose tip acting as an “evaporative window.”

When the Artemis I mission lifted off in November, NASA’s Space Launch System performed as advertised. The most powerful rocket ever flown provided the propulsion needed to send the Orion spacecraft on a journey around the moon and back.

But SLS has long been considered controversial, and NASA and Boeing, which was responsible for the rocket’s core stage, have both received criticism for delays and whopping price tags.

The complicated history of SLS has left some industry insiders with conflicting feelings about the rocket and its place in the Artemis program, which is designed to land humans on the moon and eventually reach Mars.

Meanwhile, astronomers have now documented the cosmic drama that is the Milky Way in unprecedented detail during the Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey — and it produced a breathtaking image.

Runes are the oldest known form of writing in Scandinavia and are closely associated with the Viking Age between 793 and 1066 — a time from which thousands of stones with runic inscriptions have been found.

Older runestones are much rarer, and archaeologists in Norway have recently discovered the most ancient known example — thought to be around 2,000 years old.

Researchers at the University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History spotted the stone while investigating a burial ground in the municipality of Hole in eastern Norway in 2021.

Eight runes on the front face of the reddish-brown sandstone boulder spell “idiberug” when converted into Roman letters. According to one of the archaeologists, it could be the name of a woman.

Immerse yourself in these engrossing stories:

— Scientists have discovered a foot-long snake in the Ecuadorian Amazon. It shares a key trait with its much larger cousin — the boa constrictor.

— NASA and Boeing are teaming up to design a new type of emission-reducing, single-aisle aircraft. Air travelers could benefit in the 2030s.

— Analysis of DNA extracted from the skeletal remains of more than 100 individuals has revealed that, in ancient Greece, marrying your cousin was not just allowed — but encouraged.

(CNN) — Grab your favorite red shirt; it’s time to celebrate the Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival.

Saying goodbye to the Tiger, we enter the Year of the Rabbit on January 22, 2023.

Millions of families worldwide are preparing celebrations for one of the year’s biggest festivals.

If you’re a Lunar New Year newbie, here’s a quick guide to the most common traditions and superstitions associated with the occasion.

The Legend of Monster Nian

There are countless folktales attached to Lunar New Year, but the myth of “Nian” stands out as the most iconic and fun.

Legend has it Nian was a ferocious underwater beast with sharp teeth and horns. Every Lunar New Year’s Eve, it crawled onto the land and attacked a nearby village.

On one such occasion, as the villagers rushed into hiding, a mysterious old man showed up and insisted on staying in the village despite being warned of impending doom.

To the villagers’ surprise, the old man and the village survived utterly unscathed.

The man claimed to have scared Nian away by hanging red banners on the door, lighting firecrackers and wearing red clothes.

This is how wearing the fiery color — right down to undergarments — along with hanging red banners with auspicious phrases and lighting firecrackers or fireworks became Lunar New Year traditions, all of which are still followed today.

Fun aside, Lunar New Year can actually be a lot of work.

Festivities often last for 15 days — or even more — with different tasks and activities taking place over that period.

It all begins about a week ahead of the new year.

Before we get started, a quick note: while there are different ways to say “Happy new year!” depending on where you are, we’re sticking with Mandarin and Cantonese in this story. We have included the romanized versions of both languages in our descriptions of the various traditions.

January 15: The preparation

The week before Lunar New Year, festive cakes and puddings are made on the 24th day of the last lunar month.

The word for cakes and puddings is “gao” in Mandarin or “gou” in Cantonese, which sounds the same as the word for “tall.”

But no Lunar New Year preparation would be complete without hanging red banners bearing auspicious phrases and idioms (called fai chun in Cantonese, or chunlian, in Mandarin) at home — beginning with one’s front door.

January 19: The ultimate cleanup

A big cleanup is done in homes on the 28th day of the last lunar month, which fell on January 19 this year.

For instance, don’t wash or cut your hair on the first day of the new year.

Why? The Chinese character for hair is the first character in the word for prosper. Therefore washing or cutting it off is seen as washing your fortune away.

You’ll also want to avoid purchasing footwear for the entire lunar month, as the term for shoes (haai) sounds like losing and sighing in Cantonese.

January 21 (Lunar New Year’s Eve): The big feast

A big family reunion dinner is usually held on Lunar New Year’s Eve, which falls on January 21 this year.

The menu is carefully chosen to include dishes associated with luck, including fish (the Chinese word for it sounds like the word for “surplus”), puddings (symbolizes advancement) and foods that look like gold ingots (like dumplings).

In China, the foods served at these classic dinners vary from north to south. For instance, northern Chinese tend to have dumplings and noodles, whereas southern Chinese can’t live without steamed rice.

But no matter which dishes you prefer, Lunar New Year foods are a feast of wordplay.

January 22 (Lunar New Year): Family visits

The first few days of the Lunar New Year, especially the first two days, are often a test of one’s stamina, appetite and social skills, as many people have to travel and visit immediate family, other relatives and friends.

Bags are stocked with presents and fruits for each of the elders’ and friends’ homes visited, who will shower the visitor with gifts and snacks in return after exchanging conversations over Lunar New Year treats.

Married people also have to give out red packets to those who haven’t yet tied the knot — both children and unmarried juniors.

It’s believed these red envelopes could protect children from evil spirits called xie sui. The packets are known as yasui qian/Ngaat seoi cin and intended to ward off those spirits.

January 24: Chi kou/Cek hau, or Red Mouth

Day three of the Lunar New Year (which falls on January 24 this year) is named “chi kou/cek hau,” or red mouth. It’s believed that arguments are more likely to happen on this day, so people will visit temples and avoid social interactions.

Every year, certain Chinese zodiac signs clash with the stars negatively. A temple visit is a good way to resolve those conflicts and bring peace in the coming months.

January 28: The people’s birthday

The seventh day (January 28) of the Lunar New Year is said to be the day when the Chinese mother goddess, Nuwa, created humanity. Thus, it’s called renri/jan jat (the people’s birthday).

Different communities in Asia will serve various birthday foods on that day.

For instance, people in Malaysia enjoy yeesang, or a “Prosperity Toss” of raw fish and shredded vegetables, whereas Cantonese people will eat sweet rice balls.

February 5: Lantern festival

The highlight of the whole Spring Festival happens on the 15th and final day (February 5 in 2023).

In ancient Chinese society, it was the only day when young girls were allowed to go out to admire the lanterns and meet boys. As a result, it’s also been dubbed Chinese Valentine’s Day.

Nowadays, cities worldwide still put on massive lantern displays and fairs on the festival’s final day.