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Review: Swan song or not, Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ is a master surveying his empire

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

When Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, the filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said in his introductory remarks: “We are privileged enough to be living in a time where Mozart is composing symphonies.”You might be tempted to call that hyperbole, but — this being Miyazaki, the legendary anime filmmaker of “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service” — it’s closer to fact. The occurrence of a new film from Miyazaki deserves to be treated like the coming of a seldom-seen comet or something rarer still, like a winning New York Jets season. Ten years ago, Miyazaki released the profoundly personal “The Wind Rises.” It was then expected to be his swan song. But the 82-year-old filmmaker — known for his propensity for retiring again and again — soon announced that he would make one more. A decade of anticipation followed. Then, just as “The Boy and the Heron” finally debute...

Video shows Alabama police officer using stun gun against handcuffed man

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

REFORM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama police officer is on leave after video circulated on social media showed her appearing to shock a handcuffed and compliant man with a stun gun and telling him to shut up after he cried out in pain.The video shows a white female police officer shocking a Black man after placing him in handcuffs and leaning him against a car.In the 45-second video clip, which went viral, the handcuffed man is not resisting and tells the officer he has a gun on him. She retrieves it and places it on the hood of the car, saying, “Oh, yeah.” He asks her, “What you saying, ‘Oh, yeah’ for?” She then appears to shock him with the stun gun pressed to his back and tells him to be quiet.“Oh, my God,” he cries out and continues to bellow. “You want it again? … You was big and bad,” she says before using profanity to tell him to shut up. Friends and family said the man, identified as 24-year-old Micah Washington, was changing a tire on the side of the road w...

Denny Laine, founding member of the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney’s Wings, dead at 79

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Denny Laine, a British singer, songwriter and guitarist who performed in an early, pop-oriented version of the Moody Blues and was later Paul McCartney’s longtime sideman in the ex-Beatle’s solo band Wings, has died at age 79.Laine, inducted five years ago into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues, died Tuesday in Naples, Florida. The cause was interstitial lung disease, according to an announcement on Laine’s Instagram page by his wife, Elizabeth Hines.His death comes almost exactly 50 years after the release of McCartney’s acclaimed “Band On the Run” album, on which Laine played guitar and provided backing vocals. On Tuesday, McCartney posted a tribute to Laine on Instagram, calling him a “great talent with a fine sense of humor.”“We had drifted apart but in recent years managed to reestablish our friendship and share memories of our times together,” McCartney wrote.Laine was born Brian Frederick Arthur Hines, and ch...

Global Affairs Canada says two Canadians dead in Antigua

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

OTTAWA — Global Affairs Canada says two Canadians have died in Antigua.The department has not provided more information about the deaths on the Caribbean island, citing privacy considerations, but it says consular officials are providing assistance and are in contact with local authorities to get more information. Local media outlets are reporting that a Canadian woman and child died in rough waters last week. The Canadian Press has not independently verified the reports. The Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force said in a press release that a 911 call came in on Nov. 30 at around 6:45 a.m. about a woman and child entering the water at a rock formation locally known as Devil’s Bridge.The release said members of the force had to navigate choppy waters before locating the bodies of both people, as well as a “visibly distraught” man who survived.This past April, another Canadian was reported to have died in the same area, with authorities saying in a press release they ha...

Former Colorado officer accused of parking patrol car hit by train on railroad tracks pleads guilty

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A former Colorado police officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of reckless endangerment for parking his patrol car on railroad tracks before a handcuffed woman was put inside and seriously injured when it was hit by a freight train.Pablo Vazquez had been charged with five misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment in connection with the crash that injured Yareni Rios last year but reached a plea deal with prosecutors.A judge sentenced Vazquez to 12 months of unsupervised probation. If he stays out of trouble during that time, the misdemeanor charge will be dismissed and the case will be sealed, KUSA-TV reported. Another former officer who put the woman in the patrol car after a traffic stop, Jordan Steinke, was found guilty of reckless endangerment and assault for the crash near Platteville. A judge acquitted her of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter after a bench trial in July.Steinke was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation and 100 hours of comm...

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai urges world to confront Taliban’s ‘gender apartheid’ against women

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said Tuesday that the world needs to recognize and confront the “gender apartheid” against women and girls imposed by the Taliban since they seized power in Afghanistan more than two years ago.She urged the international community to take collective and urgent action to end the “dark days” in Afghanistan. Yousafzai was awarded the peace prize in 2014 at the age of 17 for her fight for girls’ education in her home country, Pakistan. She is the youngest Nobel laureate.Two years earlier, she survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban — a separate militant group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban — when she was shot in the head on a bus after school.The 26-year-old activist spoke to The Associated Press after delivering the annual Nelson Mandela lecture in Johannesburg on the 10th anniversary of the death of South Africa’s anti-apartheid leader and Nobel laureate.Yousafzai is also the youngest person to...

'He's a gentle giant': CFD members step up to help fellow firefighter battling A-Fib

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

CHICAGO — For nearly a decade, he put his life on the line, serving some of the city's most underprivileged neighborhoods as a fire paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department. Now, his fellow firefighters are stepping up to help one of Chicago's very own as he battles a heart ailment that nearly took his life.Nick Temen’s story as a Chicago firefighter goes back to 2013, when he first applied to join the department and was put on a waitlist. Two years later, he got the call, joined the academy, and was officially hired full-time as a fire paramedic to work in the Beverly neighborhood.“Beverly is a really nice neighborhood, pretty slow with not a very high call volume,” Temen said in an interview with WGN News. “So, when I was there for like three-to-four months, my buddies would tell me about shootings going on, delivering babies and all the experience I wasn’t getting [in Beverly].”When Temen originally sought to become a firefighter, he pursued the career because he wanted to find ...

Skilling: Sprinkles, snow possible for Chicagoland

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

Measurable snow fell for only the third time this fall and early winter Tuesday morning. While only 0.3" was measured at O'Hare and 0.1" at Midway, some areas away from the city and Lake Michigan measured 1" or more. It was 5 miles north/northwest of Belvidere that the area's heaviest snowfall was reported. 2.4" had fallen there by Tuesday's opening hours.  1" and greater totals were reported by COCRAHS volunteer observers Tuesday morning near Cary, Valparaiso and Wanatah IN, Rockford, Bull Valley and Hampshire.  But southern sections of the metro area reported NO—or VERY LIMITED accumulations.  And above freezing daytime temps led to the quick demise of much of this snow in areas where it stuck.THE CHICAGO AREA recorded a 5th consecutive day without sun making this the first Dec 1 through 5 period in the 71 years since 1952 that the opening 5-days of December have produced NO SUN.UNSEASONABLY MILD PACIFIC AIR is making its way across the Plains and western ...

Inflation, economy: What GOP presidential candidates say they will do

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

NewsNation will host the fourth Republican primary debate on Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. E.T. The debate will be aired and streamed live on all NewsNation platforms. Not sure how to find us on your TV? Use our ChannelFinder app. If you have a question for the candidates, submit it here. (NewsNation) — Though the economy is recovering from disruptions caused by the pandemic, some Americans continue to feel the pain of inflation and looming economic uncertainty, and questions about how to fix the remaining economic issues are among the most important discussions in the 2024 race. A NewsNation/DecisionDesk HQ poll released Monday revealed the economy was the top issue for more than half of Americans and 92% reported inflation was still a concern. How to watch the fourth Republican presidential debate While recent reports indicate that inflation has reached its lowest level in 2.5 years with the unemployment rate staying below 4% for the longest stretch since the 1960s, concerns over the econom...

Canadian brand to pay for your real maple syrup at American restaurants

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:26 GMT

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – If there's every been a perfect excuse to request the good stuff when it comes to the syrup on your pancakes or waffles, this is it.The Québec Maple Syrup Producers argue that too many Americans consume high-fructose imitation maple syrup without realizing it. They want to pay you back for restaurants that charge extra for real maple syrup.Maple from Canada, representing over 13,300 maple farmers, is launching the "Bill the Maple" initiative to address the extra charges for pure maple syrup at American breakfast spots. The organization will reimburse patrons who request pure maple syrup instead of defaulting to high-fructose imitations. Panera faces second lawsuit after ‘Charged Lemonade’ blamed for Florida man’s death The group says that misleading labels have led to confusion, with over half of surveyed Americans mistaking table syrup for genuine maple syrup. Consumer Reports says that while it offers some benefits over sugar, be cautious about its calorie and...