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Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ to open Toronto Film Festival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — “The Boy and the Heron,” the first film in a decade by Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki, will open the 48th Toronto International Film Festival, organizers announced Thursday.The long-awaited “The Boy and the Heron” opened earlier this month in Japan under the title “How Do You Live?” Miyazaki, the 82-year-old co-founder of Studio Ghibli and the maker of films including “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro,” came out of retirement to make his 12th feature. “The Boy and the Heron,” about a boy named Mahito whose mother is killed in the WWII fire bombings of Tokyo, was released without any trailer or marketing promotions in Japan as a way, Miyazaki has said, to make seeing the film more of a discovery. But “The Boy and the Heron” will get a big platform to make its North American premiere when it kicks off TIFF on Sept. 7 at the Roy Thomson Hall.“We are honored to open the 48th Toronto International Film Festival with the work of one of cinema’s grea...

Trump lawyers meeting with prosecutors as potential new federal indictment looms, AP source says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump were meeting Thursday with members of special counsel Jack Smith’s team as a potential indictment loomed over the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the matter.The meeting included Trump lawyer John Lauro, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Associated Press to describe a private gathering.Trump earlier this month was informed by Smith’s office that he was a target of the Justice Department’s investigation, suggesting that an indictment could be soon.A spokesman for Smith declined to comment on meeting.

11-year-old Florida girl arrested for fake kidnapping report inspired by YouTube challenge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

PORT ORANGE, FLA. (WSVN) – An 11-year-old girl from Port Orange was taken into custody after texting a false kidnapping report to 911, leading law enforcement to launch an extensive search for a non-existent armed suspect. The incident occurred on Wednesday morning on South I-95 in Oak Hill, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.The deceptive 911 call prompted a swift response from multiple agencies, including deputies from the Sheriff’s Communications Center, Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, and Port Orange police, as well as Air One. However, despite their efforts, no sign of the alleged white van and its armed male suspect was found.The events unfolded at approximately 9:45 a.m. when a dispatcher at the Sheriff’s Communications Center received a text message reporting a suspicious incident. The sender, an 11-year-old girl, claimed that her 14-year-old friend had been kidnapped, stating that she was trailing the suspect’s vehicle in a blue Jeep.Over t...

DiGiorno pilots vending machine pizza service

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

DiGiorno, the popular frozen pizza brand, is venturing into the world of vending machines to bring its mouthwatering 10-inch thin-crust pizzas to consumers on the go. The company has recently set up two experimental kiosks in strategic locations – one inside a Walmart store in Colorado and another at the Nestlé Company’s Ohio campus.The vending machines, equipped with commercial-grade ovens, are the key to delivering piping hot, fully-cooked DiGiorno pizzas in just three minutes. Pizza enthusiasts can now savor the delectable flavors of classic Cheese and zesty Pepperoni pizzas at their convenience, without compromising on taste or quality.The cost of this swift and tasty indulgence? Each 10-inch DiGiorno pizza from the vending machine is priced at approximately $9, making it a competitive and affordable option for those seeking a delicious and fuss-free meal.

‘Cocaine Sharks’ documentary suggests sharks consume narcotics dumped in ocean

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

FLORIDA KEYS (WSVN) — Marine biologists uncovered evidence suggesting that sharks off the coast of Florida may be consuming dumped cocaine from the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. The U.S. Coast Guard, responsible for seizing tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine and other drugs each year, has left some wondering about the fate of the narcotics that evade capture – leading to a potential connection with these enigmatic sea creatures.Marine biologist Tom “The Blowfish” Hird and his team of researchers conducted a unique experiment as part of the “Cocaine Sharks” documentary for Shark Week. “Sharks are intelligent creatures,” Hird emphasized the intelligence of sharks. “They’ve gone up and touched it with the only thing they’ve got, their mouth, and taken a bite out of it. They would have got to hit of cocaine, so, it sounds crazy, but, the probability of it occurring is actually quite high.”To test the theory, the t...

€1.8B worth of fraud in EU in 2022, watchdog says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

BRUSSELS — The EU’s anti-fraud watchdog found irregularities worth €1.77 billion in 2022 as the number of cases it investigated increased, it said in a report published Thursday.OLAF, which monitors the abuse of EU funds, said there were 12,455 cases reported by authorities last year, a 7 percent increase from 2021.The majority of these, 11,316 ― an all-time high — were not criminal but concerned irregularities such as poor management, sloppy record-keeping or insufficient financial controls. It represented an 8 percent increase on the previous year.The remaining 1,139 cases — a 2 percent increase year-on-year — concerned various types of fraud including collusion, manipulation of procurement procedures, conflicts of interest, inflated invoices, evasion of customs duties, smuggling and counterfeiting. While the number of cases has gone up, the amount of money concerned represents a 13 percent drop from 2021, which is down to “a limited number of individual cases with hig...

The Dow is on pace to do something today it hasn’t done since 1897

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

New York (CNN) — The Dow is on pace for its best run in 126 years.The blue-chip stock index on Wednesday notched its 13th straight day of gains, its best winning streak since 1987 and its highest level since February 2022.If the Dow closes higher for a 14th consecutive session, that would be its longest run of consecutive gains since May 1897.Should the Dow end the day higher today, and for a 15th straight day on Friday, that would mark the index’s longest daily winning streak ever.The Dow, up 7% for the year, was flat Thursday after rallying in recent weeks as cooler-than-expected inflation data has investors more optimistic that a soft landing, or no recession, could be in the cards for the economy.That, in turn, has spurred investors to snap up shares of cyclical stocks, or shares of companies that are sensitive to the economy.Strong earnings and investor optimism about tech — particularly fueled by interest in AI — has also helped stocks pick up steam throughout t...

Appreciation: Sinead O’Connor, dead at 56, was a singular artist: ‘I would have liked to be a priest,’ she told us in 2013

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

In a world of cookie-cutter pop music stars and automatons, Sinéad O’Connor was a one-off. The Irish singer-songwriter — whose death at the age of 56 was reported Wednesday by her family — was a singular artist who marched to the beat of her own, very idiosyncratic drummer.She not only courted controversy with her take-no-prisoners approach, she welcomed it.Or, as O’Connor said in a 2013 San Diego Union-Tribune interview: “I think artists can be inspiring, as long as we’re courageous enough to be ourselves and to be bullied, but not run away.”This Dublin native could have taught master classes in not running away, no matter how intense the blow-back could be — and, in her case, it was often withering.O’Connor’s area debut concert at the San Diego State University Open Air Theater on May 19, 1990, was electrifying and then some.No cause of death has been disclosed yet for the troubled musician, whose struggles with mental health issue were a ...

MBTA overpaid for transit ambassadors, did not set performance metrics, report finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

The MBTA overpaid a Tennessee-based company by more than $5.3 million to outsource in-station customer service agents and did not set clear goals to track their performance, Massachusetts’ top government watchdog found in a new report.A review from Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro found although the MBTA saved money by using the company, Block by Block, instead of using state workers as “transit ambassadors,” the overpayments arose because the agency failed to account for special events. The study also found the T paid Block by Block employees higher hourly wages than the contract called for.The so-called ambassadors are the employees typically dressed in red shirts that help riders get around, report maintenance and cleaning needs, and help ensure the safety and security of stations.The agency also succeeded in expanding the number of hours and stations covered by customer service agents.But a five-year contract between the MBTA and Block by Block lacked a way to track performance...

Selloff begins for Chicago White Sox, who trade pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to Los Angeles Angels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:42 GMT

Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López were pivotal additions when the Chicago White Sox began their rebuild in 2016.Late Wednesday, they were the first two players moved in what figures to be a busy selloff by the trade deadline.The Sox sent Giolito and López to the Los Angeles Angels for minor-league switch-hitting catcher Edgar Quero and left-handed pitcher Ky Bush.“Given this club’s performance over the course of the last several months, it’s apparent that these types of moves have to take place given where we are at and putting us in the best position we can be going forward,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said.“Certainly not where any of us in the organization thought when this year started we would be come the trade deadline. But clearly moves like these in terms of putting ourselves in the best position going forward are essential and we are certainly pleased to add Bush and Quero.”Giolito and López, both free agents at the end of...