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Michael Gambon, actor who played Prof. Dumbledore in 6 'Harry Potter' movies, dies at age 82

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Veteran actor Michael Gambon, who was known to many for his portrayal of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight “Harry Potter” films, has died, his publicist said Thursday. He was 82.A statement by his family, issued by his publicist, said he died following “a bout of pneumonia.”“We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon. Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside,” his family said.No matter what role he took on in a career that lasted more than five decades, Gambon was always instantly recognizable by the deep and drawling tones of his voice. He was cast as the much-loved Dumbledore after the death of his predecessor, Richard Harris, in 2002.He once acknowledged not having read any of J. K. Rowling’s best-selling books, arguing that it was safer to follow the script rather than be too influenced by the books. That didn't prevent him from embodying the spirit of P...

Slightly fewer number of Americans apply for jobless benefits as layoffs remain rare

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits inched up modestly this week after reaching their lowest level in eight months the previous week, as the labor market continues to defy the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes meant to cool it.Filings for jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 204,000 for the week ending Sept. 23, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Last week’s figure was the lowest since January.Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.The four-week moving average of claims, which quiets some of the week-to-week noise, fell by 6,250 to 211,000.Though the Federal Reserve opted to leave its benchmark borrowing rate alone last week, it is well into the second year of its battle to squelch four-decade high inflation. Part of the Fed’s goal in that fight has been to cool the labor market and bring down wages, but so far that hasn’t happened.The whopping 11 interest rate hikes since March of last year ...

NY Attorney General Letitia James has a long history of fighting Trump and other powerful targets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Letitia James fixated on Donald Trump as she campaigned for New York attorney general, branding the then-president a “con man” and ″carnival barker” and pledging to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.”Five years later, James is on the verge of disrupting Trump’s real estate empire after a judge ruled Tuesday that he defrauded banks, insurers and others by exaggerating the value of assets on paperwork used for deals and securing loans.The ruling shifts control of some of Trump’s companies to a court-appointed receiver, meaning he could lose control of prized properties like Trump Tower, a sprawling suburban estate, office buildings and more.For James, a Democrat, it’s just the latest joust with a powerful foe.Here’s a look at her political background and some of her biggest cases:LAWSUITS AGAINST TRUMPJames began investigating Trump just about as soon as she took office as attorney general in 2019. She launched several lawsuit...

US government estimates last quarter’s economic growth was 2.1%, unchanged from previous estimate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.The second-quarter expansion of the nation’s gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — marked a modest deceleration from revised 2.2% annual growth from January through March. Consumer spending, business investment and state and local governments drove the second-quarter economic expansion.The economy and job market have shown surprising resilience even though the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates to combat inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since mid-March 2022, leading to concerns that ever-higher borrowing rates will trigger a recession. So far, though, inflation has eased without causing much economic pain, leading to hope the central bank can...

NATO’s secretary-general meets with Zelenskyy to discuss battlefield and ammunition needs in Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the status of the war and needs of troops on Thursday, the day after Russia accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.Zelenskyy said that Stoltenberg agreed to make efforts to get NATO members to help provide additional air defense systems to protect Ukraine’s power plants and energy infrastructure that were badly damaged in relentless and deadly attacks by Russia last winter. He also reminded the secretary-general of the persistent attacks that often strike civilian areas, including 40 drone attacks overnight. “In the face of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, our ports, which are crucial for global food security, we need a corresponding intensity of pressure on Russia and a strengthening of our air defense,” Zelenskyy said. “...

Hurricane Juan: the most powerful and deadly storm to hit Atlantic Canada in 50 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

HALIFAX — Chris Fogarty remembers the moment 20 years ago when he transmitted a weather bulletin warning that hurricane Juan would make landfall near Halifax, churning out gusts at 140 kilometres per hour.With the storm’s arrival only 36 hours away, the meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Centre was worried the alert would be ignored.“We had gone through almost two decades of very little hurricane impact in Canada,” Fogarty said in a recent interview, recalling how Juan would become the most powerful and deadly storm to hit Atlantic Canada in almost 50 years.“People didn’t really have any memory of recent hurricanes …. There was still a sense that we didn’t get hurricanes in Eastern Canada.”That sense of complacency stands in sharp contrast to today. In the two decades since Juan made landfall on the morning of Sept. 29, 2003, the East Coast has been lashed by several intense tropical storms, including Igor in 2010, Arthur in 201...

Inspired by llamas, the desert and Mother Earth, these craftswomen weave sacred textiles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

COLCHANE, Chile (AP) — In northern Chile, Teófila Challapa learned to weave surrounded by the hills and sandy roads of the Atacama Desert.“Spin the threads, girl,” her grandmother told her a half a century ago.Aymara women like Challapa, now 59, become acquainted with wool threads under blue skies and air so thin that outsiders struggle to breathe. While herding llamas and alpacas through scarce grasslands 11,500 feet above sea level, they create their first textiles.“We had no clothes or money, so we needed to learn how to dress with our own hands,” said Challapa, sitting next to fluffy alpacas outside her humble home in Cariquima, a town with fewer than 500 inhabitants near the Chile-Bolivia border. The knowledge of her craft passes on from one generation to another, securing Aymara families’ bond with their land.Challapa prays before beginning her work: “Mother Earth, give me strength, because you’re the one who will produce, not me.”Among the 3 million Aymaras ...

How Canada created an international incident through sheer incompetence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, somehow, nobody involved in the now-infamous affair clued into the fact that a man who was fighting against the Russians in 1943 would have been fighting with the Nazis. That’s at the core of last week’s House of Commons’ screwup that has made international waves, become a hyper-partisan blame game in Ottawa and has many people speed running the history of the Second World War.David Moscrop, an author, podcaster and political commentator is on today’s episode.“This is an international and historical incident of some considerable concern. This is not just a mistake in the House of Commons in Canada. It is now bound up with world history, with the history of the Second World War, with geopolitics in Europe, and with the Russian-Ukraine war,” said Moscrop.But who’s really to blame for this failure? Why will the blame land at the feet of the Liberals and Justin Trudeau regardless of the answer? And what do these frequent misste...

3 killed in shootings and an explosion as deadly violence continues in Sweden

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three people were killed overnight in separate incidents in Sweden as deadly violence linked to a feud between criminal gangs escalated. Late Wednesday, an 18-year-old man was shot dead in a Stockholm suburb. Hours later, a man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital.Early Thursday a woman in her 20s died in an explosion in Uppsala, west of Stockholm. The blast, which damaged five houses, is being treated by the police as a murder. Swedish media said the woman who died likely was not the intended victim and that the target was the house next door.Swedish broadcaster SVT noted that the two fatal shootings brings the death toll from gun violence in September to 11, making it the deadliest month for shootings since police started keeping statistics in 2016. It was not known whether the shootings or the blast were related to each other but Swedish media said at least two of the three events were somehow connected to a fe...

Man critical after shooting on Red Line

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:03:53 GMT

CHICAGO -- A man is in critical condition after he told police he was shot on the Red Line train overnight. Police said the man was shot by an unknown individual and he refused to give any more details. The Red Line train was shut down between 63rd and 95th street and police said they were called to the stop around midnight. Police issue restroom alert after body piercing operation discovered in Northwest Indiana school The man was transported to University of Chicago Medical Center where he is listed in critical condition. CTA told WGN the Red Line trains will now operate on the same track between 79th and Garfield but did not give any details on the incident. There was no additional information provided and police are investigating the incident.