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Hollywood strikes could boost labour movement, observers say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

TORONTO — The high visibility of sister strikes in screenland could lend a further boost to a labour movement that observers say was already on the rise.The sight of Hollywood celebrities on the picket line is capturing people’s attention, and the message from the striking actors and writers seems to be getting through, said Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.  “These are our superheroes,” she said. “These are the folks that we see on our TV screens and on our Netflix and various different devices all the time. And so there’s a heightened interest by the general public — much more than you would see with the general public.”Members of SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, walked off film and TV sets on Friday after failing to come to an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and TelevisionProducers on issues that include residual payments in the streaming era and the use of artificial intelligence. The actors joined members...

In-N-Out burger chain bans employees in five states from wearing masks without a doctor’s note

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The In-N-Out burger chain will bar employees in five states from wearing masks unless they have a doctor’s note, according to internal company emails leaked on social media.In the memo announcing new guidelines for Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah workers, the fast food chain pointed to “the importance of customer service and the ability to show our Associates’ smiles and other facial features while considering the health and well-being of all individuals.”The policy, which goes into effect August 14, applies to all In-N-Out employees in those states, except for those who need to wear masks or other protective gear for job duties that require it, like painting. Employees could face disciplinary action, including being fired, if they do not comply, the the memo says.California and Oregon both have laws in place preventing employers from banning masks.It is not the first time that the chain, based in California, has clashed with health experts over...

Police in Kenya open fire on activists protesting new taxes. At least 12 people are wounded

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya opened fire on protesters in clashes that left at least 12 people wounded Wednesday as the opposition organized demonstrations calling for the government of President William Ruto to lower the cost of living. The opposition called for three days of countrywide protests aimed at forcing the president to repeal a finance law imposing new taxes. Ruto had vowed that no protests would take place, saying he would take opposition leader Raila Odinga “head-on.”Four protesters were injured in the Mathare area of the capital, Nairobi, according to a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. The Associated Press witnessed one man shot in the shoulder and two others shot in the leg in Mathare.In Nairobi’s Kangemi area, health records worker Alvin Sikuku told the AP that two young men had been brought into the Eagle Nursing Home clinic. “Police are using live bullets,” he said. One man was shot i...

Russia strikes critical port facilities in Odesa after Kremlin halts grain deal

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed intense drone and missile attacks overnight Wednesday, damaging critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine, including grain and oil terminals, and wounding at least 12 people, officials said.The bombardment crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.It came days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger. It also followed a vow by Putin to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack Monday on the crucial Kerch Bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.The Agriculture Ministry, citing experts, estimated it would take a year to restore the damaged facilities. The destroyed grain was supposed to have been loaded onto a vessel ...

Researchers hope to find new information on Baltic Sea ferry disaster and retrieve bow ramp

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — A research vessel with investigators from Sweden and Estonia was scheduled to arrive Wednesday at the site of the wreckage of a passenger ferry in the Baltic Sea for underwater studies that are hoped to produce new information about a maritime disaster that occurred nearly 30 years ago.The studies of the wreck of the M/S Estonia ferry will be conducted from the Viking Reach research and survey vessel by the Estonian Safety Investigation Bureau and the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority in cooperation with Finnish authorities over the next eight days.The M/S Estonia sank in heavy seas on Sept. 28, 1994, killing 852 people, most of them Swedes and Estonians, in one of Europe’s deadliest maritime disasters. The ferry was traveling from Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, to Stockholm when it sank about 30 minutes after an initial distress call. Only 137 people survived.Among other things, investigators plan to collect bedrock samples from the bottom of the sea near ...

Kosovo’s former intelligence chief is convicted for secret deportations to Turkey

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A court sentenced Kosovo’s former intelligence chief to prison Wednesday for secretly deporting five Turkish teachers and a Turkish doctor to Turkey.The court in Pristina convicted Driton Gashi, the former director of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, of abuse of official post or authority and gave him a prison term of four years and eight months.Once he is released from custody, Gashi is not allowed to serve in any public positions for four years, the court said.The six Turks were arrested and had their Kosovo residency permits revoked in March 2018 for allegedly being a threat to national security. Gashi had not legally proven they were a threat but had them deported before the charges were considered by a court.He also did not let the country’s prime minister, president and prosecutor general know in advance about the move, as the law requires.Upon their return to Turkey, the six were arrested and imprisoned. In Kosovo, the teachers worked with schools...

Atlantic City’s main casino union, where most workers are women, is finally led by one

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Most of the Atlantic City casino workers who clean hotel rooms, serve drinks and tidy up public areas are women.For the first time in 107 years, the union that represents them is now being led by a woman.Donna DeCaprio is one of the most influential people in Atlantic City as president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union, which has about 10,000 members and has repeatedly brought the casino industry to its knees during labor disputes.But there will be labor peace in Atlantic City for at least three more years following the adoption of landmark contracts last summer, which gave workers the biggest raises they’ve ever had.DeCaprio was the lead negotiator of those contracts, filling in for then-president Bob McDevitt who was still recovering from an illness that led to the amputation of one of his feet.She was able to get the job done without a strike, which could have seriously damaged an Atlantic City casino industry that was already struggling with th...

American economist turns down top EU job as Macron’s criticism reverberates

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — One day after French President Emmanuel Macron criticized her appointment because of her nationality, the American candidate to become one of the European Union’s chief economists will now not take up the position because of the political controversy it stirred, the bloc announced Wednesday. In a letter to the EU’s executive Commission released early Wednesday, Yale economics professor Fiona Scott Morton wrote that she had “determined that the best course of action is for me to withdraw and not take up the Chief Economist position” in the department that oversees competition and anti-trust policy. She insisted the department must have the full backing of the 27-nation EU, which the bloc would not be able to provide, “given the political controversy that has arisen because of the selection of a non-European.” France insisted Wednesday that the position of Morton as an American at the heart of EU economic policy was incompatible with its view of a stronger ...

Stock market today: Wall Street’s rally keeps running after stronger profit reports than expected

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are ticking higher Wednesday, adding to the strong run that has pulled Wall Street to its highest levels in more than 15 months.The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in early trading, coming off its highest closing level since early April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 187 points, or 0.5%, at 33,139, as of 9:55 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.Elevance Health was helping to lead the market after it jumped 7.5% The insurance provider reported stronger profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected, while raising its forecast for earnings over the full year. Stocks also broadly got a boost from easing pressure from the bond market, where yields fell after a report showed U.K. inflation cooled by more than expected. It eased to 7.9% in June, a 15-month low. The U.K. data follows encouraging U.S. reports that have raised hope inflation is moderating enough to convince the Federal Reserve to soon halt its hikes to inter...

Ben Crump, former Northwestern players discuss hazing allegations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:12 GMT

CHICAGO — A prominent civil rights attorney along with a few former Northwestern athletes will be talking about the hazing scandal that's erupted in recent weeks at the school on Wednesday.Ben Crump along with Chicago-based attorney Steven Levin of Levin and Perconti will be joined by these former Wildcats' players at a news conference at 10 a.m. central time in downtown Chicago. Northwestern University president announces new measures amidst hazing scandal This comes just two days after Crump and Levin announced that a group of former players in the football program had been retained by the attorneys for possible litigation. They allege that a number of incidents took place including "forced participation in humiliating acts and racial bias to punishments that inflicted severe physical discomfort and psychological trauma."WGN News Now will provide live coverage of the news conference in the video above.