The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape. It also signals rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle. Shari Redstone's National Amusements has owned more than three-quarters of Pa

World News July 8, 2024

A Japanese hairstylist has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison and 20 strokes of the cane in Singapore for what the judge described as a “brutal and cruel” assault and rape of a drunk student five years ago, his lawyer said Thursday. Kita Ikko, 39, pleaded guilty Monday to one charge of rape, one charge of sexual assault by penetration, and one charge of making an obscene film, defense lawyer Adrian Wee told The Associated Press. The Kyodo News Agency cited the Japanese Embassy in

World News July 4, 2024

AMSTERDAM -- Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof gave his first speech to parliament on Wednesday, pledging that he will work hard at one of his new goverment’s main aims: reducing immigration. “The biggest of those concerns is asylum and migration. That is the crux of the matter, no matter how you look at it,” said Schoof , who is not a member of any of the four parties that make up the coalition government. Schoof formally took the reins from long serving prime minister Mark Rut

World News July 3, 2024

CAIRO (AP) -- More than 1,300 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced extremely high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, Saudi authorities announced Sunday. Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel said that 83 percent of the 1,301 fatalities were unauthorized pilgrims who walked long distances in soaring temperatures to perform the Hajj rituals in and around the holy city of Mecca. Speaking with the state-ow

World News June 24, 2024

A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier arrived Saturday in South Korea for a three-way exercise involving Japan as they step up military training to cope with North Korean threats, which have escalated following a security pact with Russia. The arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group in Busan came a day after South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest a major deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week. The agreement pledges m

Defense June 23, 2024

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the influential war Cabinet that has overseen the fighting in Gaza, a government spokesperson said Monday, days after a key member of the body bolted from the government over frustration with the Israeli leader's handling of the war. The move was widely expected following the departure of Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief. Gantz's absence from the government increases Netanyahu's dependence on his

World News June 18, 2024

Ukraine may keep some of the F-16 fighter jets it's set to receive from its Western allies at foreign bases to protect them from Russian strikes, a senior Ukrainian military officer said Monday. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with over 60 US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it fend off Russian attacks. Ukrainian pilots are currently undergoing training to fly the warplanes ahead of the deliveries expected to start later this year. Serhii Holub

World News June 10, 2024

Nearly 90 countries and organizations, half from Europe, have confirmed attending the Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit over the weekend despite Russia’s refusal to participate, Switzerland’s president said Monday. Viola Amherd told reporters in the Swiss capital, Bern, that the summit, on Saturday and Sunday, will aim to chart a path toward possible peace nearly 28 months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and the war grinding on. “This is not about propaganda,” said A

World News June 10, 2024

Iran’s Guardian Council on Sunday approved the country’s hard-line parliament speaker and five others to run in the country’s June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others. The council again barred former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a firebrand populist known for the crackdown that followed his disputed 2009 re-election, from running. The council’s decision represents the starting gun for a shortened,

World News June 9, 2024

PARIS (AP) -- US President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly apologized to Ukraine for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield. The apology came as Biden met in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who appealed for bipartisan US support going forward “like it was during World War II.” A day earlier, the two had attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in

World News June 7, 2024

South Koreans were alert Friday for possible new launches by North Korea of balloons carrying rubbish into the South, a day after Seoul activists flew their own balloons to scatter political leaflets in the North. Any resumption of trash balloon launches by North Korea would likely prompt South Korea to respond, possibly with anti-North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts or live-fire exercises along their heavily fortified border. North Korea would probably retaliate with its own measures, further es

North Korea June 7, 2024

A man’s death in Mexico was caused by a strain of bird flu called H5N2 that has never before been found in a human, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The WHO said it wasn’t clear how the man became infected, although H5N2 has been reported in poultry in Mexico. There are numerous types of bird flu. H5N2 is not the same strain that has infected multiple dairy cow herds in the US That strain is called H5N1 and three farmworkers have gotten mild infections. Other bird flu va

Politics June 6, 2024

NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory Tuesday for his alliance in India’s general election, claiming a mandate to push forward with his agenda, even though his party lost seats to a stronger than expected opposition, which pushed back against his mixed economic record and polarizing politics. “Today’s victory is the victory of the world’s largest democracy," Modi told the crowd at his party’s headquarters, saying Indian voters had &ldq

World News June 5, 2024

NEW YORK — President Joe Biden won Democratic primaries Tuesday in New Jersey and Washington, DC, among some of the last contests on the 2024 primary calendar. Biden's wins came as a handful of states were holding presidential primary contests for both parties, marking the first time Donald Trump’s name appeared on the ballot since his historic conviction on felony crimes . The former president was on the ballot in Republican contests in Montana , New Mexico and New Jersey . T

World News June 5, 2024

After his historic guilty verdict in his hush money case, Donald Trump attacked the US criminal justice system, making unfounded claims of a “rigged” trial that echoed remarks from the Kremlin. “If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Trump said Friday, speaking from his namesake tower in New York on Friday. Thousands of miles away, Russian President Vladimir Putin was probably “rubbing his hands with glee,” said Fiona Hill, a former senior W

World News June 2, 2024