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Movie Review: Jeffrey Wright is brilliant in the smart and funny satire ‘American Fiction’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

Jeffrey Wright’s Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is at the end of his rope at the beginning of “ American Fiction, ” a crowd-pleaser that’s both funny and smart in its satire of race, media, artists, identity politics and even Hollywood. It opens in theaters this week.A classic frustrated artist, Monk is a professor and an author who writes literary stories that he wants to see in the world. He’s not interested in race, or at least the kind of “Black misery porn” stories that seem to be omnipresent, whether it’s in the Black history month advertisement on television with images of addicts and slaves, or at a book convention.The latest hit that has him fuming is a book called “We’s Lives In Da Ghetto,” written by a comfortably upper middle class Black woman (Issa Rae) who gives interviews about how dismayed she was in her post-college job at a literary agency that she didn’t see stories about “her people.” But exploitative and demeaning as they are, those are also the ones that get the boo...

Apple now requires court orders in U.S. to access push notification data

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple is now requiring that U.S. law enforcement agencies obtain a court order for information on its customers’ push notifications, the alerts that iPhone apps send users that can reveal a lot about their online activity.Push notifications alert smartphone users to breaking news alerts, incoming messages, weather bulletins and other content. The policy shift was not formally announced but rather appeared in an updated version of Apple’s law enforcement guidelines posted online. Apple’s main competitor in mobile operating systems, Google, already had such a policy in place for its Android system.The Cupertino, California, company did not immediately respond to questions about it.The privacy-enhancing policy was added following last week’s disclosure by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden that his office had received a tip last year that government agencies in foreign countries were demanding smartphone push notification data from both Google and Apple.“Ap...

University of Calgary named world’s first United Nations University hub for water

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

CALGARY — The University of Calgary has become the world’s first United Nations University hub focused on water.The hub is a partnership between the Calgary university and the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, which is a think tank based in Hamilton, Ont.It means they will work together to develop the scientific understanding, solutions and skilled workforce needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change.Kaveh Madani, director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health, says the partnership will help to tackle upcoming water, environmental and health challenges.Officials with the University of Calgary say the hub’s reach would be global.It is to have four research areas: understanding changes in aquatic ecosystems, infectious diseases in a changing climate, environmental predictions for water sustainability and resilience in Indigenous communities.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2023.The Canadian...

1 Marine killed, 14 taken to hospitals after amphibious combat vehicle rolls over during training

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A U.S. Marine was killed and 14 others were taken to hospitals after an amphibious combat vehicle they were in rolled over during a training at a California base, north of San Diego, officials said Wednesday.The rollover happened around 6 p.m. Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton during a ground movement training. The U.S. Marine Corps said the others were taken to area hospitals for treatment and evaluation but did not specify the severity of their injuries. The Marine who died won’t be identified until family is notified per military policy, and was assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the military said.The incident is under investigation, officials said.The fatal rollover happened on land in an amphibious combat vehicle, a model that was introduced to replace Vietnam War-era amphibious assault vehicles after one sank off the Southern California coast in 2020, killing eight Marines and one sailor. It was one of the of Marine Corps’ deadlies...

Woman gets 70 years in prison for killing two bicyclists in Michigan charity ride

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

IONIA, Mich. (AP) — A woman was sentenced to at least 70 years in prison for causing the deaths of two bicyclists who were hit while taking part in a charity ride in western Michigan.The judge in Ionia County stacked two 35-year terms for Mandy Benn, a rare consecutive punishment. Most sentences in Michigan courts run concurrently.Police said Benn was under the influence of drugs when she crossed the center line and hit a group of bicyclists on a rural road in 2022. Edward Erickson, 48, of Ann Arbor, and Michael Salhaney, 57, of Bloomfield Hills, were killed while riding in a three-day endurance event for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.“This is not an accident. … There was a series of choices you made at some point to ingest this cocktail of narcotics and that led to everything we saw,” Judge Ronald Schafer said Tuesday.In October, Benn, 44, was convicted of second-degree murder and a raft of other charges.She apologized in court on Tuesday and read out the names of the dead...

As Pacific Northwest fentanyl crisis surges, officials grapple with how to curb it

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The fight against fentanyl is increasingly being waged in schools, jails and on city streets in the Pacific Northwest, where state officials in Oregon and Washington have named it a top issue as overdose deaths rise.Washington’s Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee plans to ask lawmakers for $50 million more to treat and prevent opioid use. In Oregon, Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek has proposed declaring a fentanyl emergency in Portland, and lawmakers have created a committee on addiction to get a jump on the issue before the Legislature reconvenes in February.“We know how serious this problem is. Fentanyl is deadly,” Inslee said. “But there is a positive note — we can be successful if we put our minds to this. Treatment works. We can help people recover.”A surge in fentanyl deaths, including among children, has marked the latest iteration of the years-long opioid crisis. The most recent provisional figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention es...

Oprah Winfrey portrait – featuring the color purple – unveiled at National Portrait Gallery

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — It seemed only fitting that Oprah Winfrey chose to wear a flowing, full-length purple dress for her portrait unveiled Wednesday at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. She told the assembled crowd that she wore purple not because a musical remake of the movie that launched her career is coming out later this month: “I chose to wear the color purple because for me, that color has been seminal in my life.”As she pulled a curtain and saw the portrait by Chicago artist Shawn Michael Warren for the first time, Winfrey exclaimed: “Spectacular. Great job.” The painting shows Winfrey against the backdrop of a prayer garden at her home in California. She is holding a sprig from an olive tree.Warren said he had asked Winfrey to consider how she wanted to be depicted for the generations to come.“You could have chosen anyone, but you saw fit that an artist from the place you called home during your rise to prominence should be given this honor,” he said.Win...

‘Heart filled with joy’: Toronto retiree wins $5M in OLG Lotto 6/49

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

Sometimes dreams do come true. A retired man from Toronto is $5 million richer after he won the OLG Lotto 6/49 classic jackpot on Nov. 29, 2023. Rafael Mesa Valdes, who retired from the construction sector, told the OLG he has been a regular lottery player for the past 30 years and said his favourite game is Lotto 6/49.“I went to the store and asked the clerk for a printout of the winning numbers. As I was matching the numbers, the last number was covered by my thumb. When I noticed it matched, I was shocked,” Valdes said. “I went to the ticket checker to double-check and saw all the zeroes. I was so happy. I had hoped this day would come.” Related: GTA woman waited 30 minutes before telling mom she won $60M in OLG Lotto Max The Toronto man said he went home a winner, ready to have a memorable dinner with his wife. Now, he and his family have big plans.“She didn’t believe me at first. She thought I was joking,” Valdes admitt...

Somalia secures $4.5 billion debt relief deal with international creditors

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Somalia on Wednesday secured a $4.5 billion debt relief deal from its international creditors, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank said, which will allow the nation to develop economically and take on new projects. The deal comes as part of a debt forgiveness program —called the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative— overseen by both organizations. As a result of its participation in the program, Somalia’s external debt will fall from 64 percent of GDP in 2018 to less than 6 percent of GDP by the end of 2023, the IMF and World Bank say in a joint news release. Somalia’s national debt currently exceeds $5 billion, according to official figures.“Somalia’s debt relief process has been nearly a decade of cross governmental efforts spanning three political administrations. This is a testament to our national commitment and prioritization of this crucial and enabling agenda,” said Somalia’s President, H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in a statement.U.S. Treasur...

B.C. police seek Interpol notice for return of cocaine smuggler who escaped to India

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:46:16 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — Police in British Columbia are asking Interpol to post a red notice for the arrest and return of a Surrey man who escaped to India after being convicted of smuggling cocaine into Canada from the United States.RCMP say 60-year-old truck driver Raj Kumar Mehmi was sentenced in absentia by a B.C. provincial court judge to 15 years in prison in November after his arrest in 2017 for smuggling 80 kilograms of cocaine.A red notice asks member countries to help locate, arrest and extradite a person to face criminal charges, and India is a member of Interpol. Police say the 80 sealed bricks of cocaine were hidden inside a truck owned and driven by Mehmi while he was at the Pacific Highway border crossing into Metro Vancouver.Mehmi was convicted of smuggling and trafficking in September 2022, but police say he boarded a flight from Vancouver to New Delhi a month later before he could be sentenced. Police say a Canada-wide warrant for Mehmi has also been issued, and they are see...