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Striking actors will begin picketing alongside writers in fight over the future of Hollywood

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Striking screen actors will begin picketing alongside writers in New York and Los Angeles on Friday in what has become the biggest Hollywood labor fight in decades.The double-barreled strike will shut down the small number of productions that continued shooting in the two months since screenwriters stopped working. Many actors made a show of solidarity on the writers’ picket lines, including Fran Drescher, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists president and former star of “The Nanny.” The union’s 65,000-member actors’ branch will now formally join them as fellow strikers.The two guilds have similar issues with studios and streaming services. They are concerned about contracts keeping up with inflation, residual payments in the streaming era and putting up guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence mimicking their work on film and television shows. The famous faces of Oscar and Emmy winners will lik...

BC Wildfire Service crew member dies near Revelstoke while responding to wildfire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

VICTORIA — The B.C. government is confirming the death of a firefighter who was responding to a wildfire near Revelstoke.A statement from Premier David Eby issued late Thursday offers his condolences.Calling it a “tremendous loss for everyone involved with the BC Wildfire Service at an already challenging time,” the statement goes on to say the tragedy serves as a heartbreaking reminder that firefighters are often putting their lives on the line to keep people and communities safe.The statement offers condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the unidentified crew member on behalf of all British Columbians.The death comes as the province puts out a call for national and international help to fight the 350 or so fires burning across B.C.Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma says the province has requested 1,000 additional foreign firefighters to join 160 from Mexico and the United States already in B.C., as well as more federal resources...

Central Asia, a large region of nearly 80 million people, is at a crossroads surrounded by significant opportunities as well as risks.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development projects that the economies of the five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – will grow by at least 5.2 % on average in 2023 and 5.4 % in 2024. This trajectory has been in place for two decades, which is undoubtedly welcome news.Over the past 20 years, Central Asian countries’ GDP has grown more than sevenfold at an average rate of 6.2%, which is faster than in most developing countries and more than twice as fast as the world as a whole.The region is also taking full advantage of its transit potential. The total foreign trade turnover of the Central Asian states over the last six years has exceeded $200 billion. Last year, Kazakhstan’s trade turnover broke a historical record, reaching $134.4 billion, exceeding the pre-pandemic level of $97.8 billion in 2019. Mutual trade between Central Asian countries is growing even faster than their total foreign trade.Despite these posit...

India busca conquistar la Luna con su histórica misión Chandrayaan-3

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

(CNN) — India aspira a convertirse en el cuarto país en realizar un aterrizaje controlado en la Luna con el lanzamiento de su misión Chandrayaan-3 previsto para este viernes.Se espera que Chandrayaan, que significa “vehículo lunar” en sánscrito, despegue del Centro Espacial Satish Dhawan en Sriharikota, en el estado sureño de Andhra Pradesh, a las 2:30 p.m. hora local (5 a.m. hora de Miami).Es el segundo intento de India de realizar un aterrizaje suave, después de que fracasara su anterior esfuerzo con el Chandrayaan-2 en 2019. Su primera sonda lunar, la Chandrayaan-1, orbitó la Luna y luego se estrelló deliberadamente en la superficie lunar en 2008.Chandrayaan-3, desarrollada por la Organización de Investigación Espacial de la India (ISRO), consta de un módulo de aterrizaje, un módulo de propulsión y un vehículo explorador. Su objetivo es aterrizar con seguridad en la superficie lunar, recoger datos y realizar una serie de experimentos científicos para conocer mej...

89-year-old woman reported missing in Little Havana found safe

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

Police have found an elderly woman who was reported missing in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.According to City of Miami Police, 89-year-old Gilse Sanchez Ramos was located at a nearby hospital. Officials wanted to thank all who assisted in her search.

‘Hour of the patriots has arrived.’ Meloni urges far-right allies in Spain to help her change the EU

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

MADRID — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backed Spain’s far-right Vox party on Thursday night, telling its hard-liners that their success in Spain’s July 23 elections would usher in “a change in the politics of Europe.”“It is crucial that a conservative, patriotic alternative be established,” Meloni said during a televised appearance at a Vox rally in Valencia. “Europe needs to become aware of its role and influence again to be a political giant instead of a bureaucratic one.”The Italian prime minister spoke at length about her government’s achievements and said that while many had tried to “isolate” her, she had strengthened her country’s position in Europe by firmly backing Ukraine and pitching Italy as an alternative gas hub amid the bloc’s energy crisis. “Now we are preparing to chair the G7 in 2024,” she added.Meloni also trumpeted her country’s tough migration policies, w...

WHO: Aspartame safe to consume despite weak cancer link

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

The common artificial sweetener aspartame is safe to consume despite some weak evidence linking it to a common type of liver cancer, according to two separate reports previewed by World Health Organization (WHO)-affiliated researchers on Friday.Aspartame is commonly used to replace sugar in food and drink products such as diet soda or chewing gum.Both assessments, one of which found there were no new health risk linked to aspartame and the other found a possible cancer link, are based on reviews of existing scientific literature and don’t include new research. The WHO only presented the summaries of the reports, with the full evaluations to be published within six months, the health authority said.While the WHO reiterated that the sweetener is safe, the organization’s head of food safety department said quantity was key.“We’re not advising companies to withdraw products nor we are advising consumers to stop consuming altogether. We’re just advising for ...

Gov. Wes Moore, Orioles’ John Angelos promise new Camden Yards lease ‘soon’ after falling short of ‘All-Star break gift’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

Orioles chairman John Angelos has repeatedly said that the Orioles will remain in Baltimore for years to come. Democrat Gov. Wes Moore, a friend of Angelos’, has echoed the confidence, as have Mayor Brandon Scott and even MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.The prospect of the Orioles relocating remains a remote one. But until promises become agreements, there could be a bit of apprehension in Baltimore, where the NFL’s Colts’ midnight move 39 years ago feels fresh for many.The Orioles’ lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority, the owner of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and their landlord, is what officially binds the club to the city. In the lease, under the “no relocation” heading, a move by the ballclub is forbidden.The lease — which has been in place since Oriole Park opened in 1992 — expires at the end of this year. In February, Angelos said he would “love to have [a new lease] as an All-Star break gift for everybody, really, in the...

Stock market today: Global shares buoyed by Wall Street’s winning week as inflation eases

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares are mostly higher, buoyed by another rally on Wall Street fueled by hopes that cooling inflation will help stave off more interest rate hikes. France’s CAC 40 gained 0.3% in early trading to 7,394.68. Germany’s DAX fell 0.1% to 16,121.61. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher to 7,453.21. The futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell less than 0.1%.China will release an update on economic growth in the April-June quarter on Monday. Analysts are forecasting that growth accelerated to more than 7% from a year earlier, up from 4.5% in the previous quarter, but largely due to sluggish business activity while the country was enduring its worst waves of COVID-19 outbreaks. In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost earlier gains, finishing down 0.1% at 32,391.26. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 7,303.10. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.4% to 2,628.30. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.3% to 19,413.78, while ...

Man arrested for planning terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, Poland’s security agency says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:51 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Internal Security Agency said Friday it arrested an 18-year-old Polish citizen planning a suicide attack, on a government office, using an explosive belt. The agency, ABW, said in a communique the arrest took place on June 16 in southwestern Poland. It said the man converted to Islam last year and with a group of other people, inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, they were planning attacks on government administration offices. He was charged with participating in a crime ring, having terrorist goals, and planning actions that would have endangered the well-being of a large number of people as well as their lives. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in jail. The Associated Press