Tom Cruise is finally getting an Oscar — as will Dolly Parton, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas

posted in: All news | 0

By LINDSEY BAHR, Associated Press

Twenty-five years after Tom Cruise received his first Oscar nomination, he’s finally getting a trophy. It’s not for his death-defying stunts, either. At least, not exclusively.

Cruise, choreographer Debbie Allen and “Do The Right Thing” production designer Wynn Thomas have all been selected to receive honorary Oscar statuettes at the annual Governors Awards, the film academy said Tuesday. Dolly Parton will also be recognized with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her decades-long charitable work in literacy and education.

“This year’s Governors Awards will celebrate four legendary individuals whose extraordinary careers and commitment to our filmmaking community continue to leave a lasting impact,” Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement.

Most recipients of the prize historically have not yet won a competitive Oscar themselves. Cruise, 62, has been nominated four times, twice for best actor in “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Jerry Maguire,” once for supporting actor in “Magnolia” and once for best picture with “Top Gun: Maverick.” He’s also championed theatrical moviegoing and big-scale Hollywood production through the coronavirus pandemic.

Yang spotlighted Cruise’s “incredible commitment to our filmmaking community, to the theatrical experience, and to the stunts community.”

Related Articles


In Oklahoma, Juneteenth highlights tribal slavery descendants’ fight for recognition and citizenship


Brad Lander, NYC comptroller and mayoral candidate, is arrested outside immigration court


Butterflies are disappearing. Here’s how community scientists are working to save them.


Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs probably won’t testify as defense says its case could be less than 2 days


US stocks drift lower as oil prices return to rising

Allen, 75, has never been nominated for an Oscar. But the multi-hyphenate entertainer — she also acts and produces — has played an integral role in the Oscars show, having choreographed seven ceremonies over the years. Four of those were nominated for prime-time Emmy awards.

A nomination had also eluded Thomas, a leading production designer whose films have often gone on to best picture nominations and even one win, for Ron Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind.” Thomas is most known for his long-term collaboration with filmmaker Spike Lee, from “She’s Gotta Have It” and “Malcolm X” through “Da 5 Bloods.”

Parton has been nominated twice for best original song, for “9 to 5” and, in 2006, “Travelin’ Thru” from the film “Transamerica.” But her honor celebrates her humanitarian efforts over the years, through organizations like the Dollywood Foundation and the literary program “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.”

Yang said Parton “exemplifies the spirit” of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

The awards will be handed out during an untelevised ceremony on Nov. 16 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. Last year’s recipients included the late Quincy Jones, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, filmmaker Richard Curtis and casting director Juliet Taylor.

Recipients of the prizes, which honor lifetime achievement, contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences and service to the academy are selected by the film academy’s board of governors.

Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

posted in: All news | 0

Iranian state television on Tuesday afternoon urged the country’s public to remove the messaging platform WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging the app — without offering specific evidence — gathered user information to send to Israel.

In a statement, WhatsApp said it was “concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.” WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning a service provider in the middle can’t read a message.

“We do not track your precise location, we don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another,” it added. “We do not provide bulk information to any government.”

Related Articles


US spies said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses that assessment


Overnight Russian attack on Ukraine kills 15 and injures 156


Alert raised to the highest level after Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano erupts


Trump says the US knows where Iran’s Khamenei is hiding and urges Iran’s unconditional surrender


G7 leaders try to salvage their summit after Trump’s early exit effectively makes it the ‘G6’

End-to-end encryption means that messages are scrambled so that only the sender and recipient can see them. If anyone else intercepts the message, all they will see is a garble that can’t be unscrambled without the key.

WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

Iran has blocked access to various social media platforms over the years but many people in the country use proxies and virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access them. It banned WhatsApp and Google Play in 2022 during mass protests against the government over the death of a woman held by the country’s morality police. That ban was lifted late last year.

WhatsApp had been one of Iran’s most popular messaging apps besides Instagram and Telegram.

US spies said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses that assessment

posted in: All news | 0

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and DAVID KLEPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard left no doubt when she testified to Congress about Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year.

The country was not building a nuclear weapon, the national intelligence director told lawmakers, and its supreme leader had not reauthorized the dormant program even though it had enriched uranium to higher levels.

But President Donald Trump dismissed the assessment of U.S. spy agencies during an overnight flight back to Washington as he cut short his trip to the Group of Seven summit to focus on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

“I don’t care what she said,” Trump told reporters. In his view, Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear bomb.

Trump’s statement aligned him with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has described a nuclear-armed Iran as an imminent threat, rather than with his own top intelligence adviser. Trump was expected to meet with national security officials in the Situation Room on Tuesday as he plans next steps.

Gabbard brushed off the inconsistency, blaming the media for misconstruing her earlier testimony and asserting that “President Trump was saying the same thing that I said.”

“We are on the same page,” she told CNN. Asked for comment, Gabbard’s office referred to those remarks.

In her March testimony to lawmakers, Gabbard said the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

She also said the U.S. was closely monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, noting that the country’s “enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.”

Trump’s contradiction of Gabbard echoed his feuds with U.S. spy leaders during his first term, when he viewed them as part of a “deep state” that was undermining his agenda. Most notably, he sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 when asked if Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election, saying Putin was “extremely strong and powerful in his denial.”

The latest break over Iran was striking because Trump has staffed his second administration with loyalists rather than establishment figures. Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was narrowly confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate because of her scant experience with intelligence or managing sprawling organizations.

Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022 and endorsed Trump in last year’s election, is expected to testify Tuesday in a closed session on Capitol Hill, along with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, during a previously scheduled budget hearing.

Both officials likely would face questions about their views on Iran and Trump’s latest statements. A representative for the CIA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that Iran has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs should it choose to do so. Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful.

An earlier intelligence report, compiled in November under then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, also said Iran “is not building a nuclear weapon.”

However, it said the country has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce one, if it so chooses,” such as increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium and operating more advanced centrifuges. The report did not include any estimates for a timeline for how quickly a bomb could be built.

Related Articles


Newsom v. Trump: A defining moment for America or the California governor’s shot at presidency?


Trump says US knows where Iran’s Khamenei is hiding, urges Iran’s unconditional surrender


Abortion clinics are closing even in states where abortion is legal. More cuts could be coming


Senate is expected to pass a crypto bill without addressing Trump’s investments


Trump suggests he’ll extend deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell app

Trump’s immigration agenda is another place where he’s split with intelligence assessments. He cited the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law, to deport Venezuelan migrants, which he justified by claiming that the Tren de Aragua gang was coordinating with the Venezuelan government. However, an intelligence assessment in April found no evidence of that.

Gabbard fired the two veteran intelligence officers who led the panel that created the assessment, saying they were terminated because of their opposition to Trump.

In response to those reports, the White House released a statement from Gabbard supporting the president.

“President Trump took necessary and historic action to safeguard our nation when he deported these violent Tren de Aragua terrorists,” the statement said. “Now that America is safer without these terrorists in our cities, deep state actors have resorted to using their propaganda arm to attack the President’s successful policies.”

Brad Lander, NYC comptroller and mayoral candidate, is arrested outside immigration court

posted in: All news | 0

By CEDAR ATTANASIO

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by federal agents at an immigration court Tuesday as he was trying to accompany a person out of a courtroom.

A reporter with The Associated Press witnessed Lander’s arrest at a federal building in Manhattan. The person Lander was walking out of the courtroom was also arrested.

Lander had spent the morning observing immigration court hearings and told an AP reporter that he was there to “accompany” some immigrants out of the building.

At a press conference following the arrest, Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, said her husband had tried to link arms with a man following his immigration court hearing when “we were swarmed by a number of federal agents.”

“They said, ‘You’re obstructing,’” Barnette said. “I was shoved out of the way.”

“What I saw was shocking and unacceptable,” she added. “What I saw today was not the rule of law.”

A video of the arrest, captured by an AP reporter, shows an agent telling Lander, “You’re obstructing.”

In the moments before Lander was handcuffed, agents could be seen trying to physically separate Lander from the man they had come to detain. Lander briefly struggled to stay close to the detainee before he was pulled away.

“I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway,” Lander said as he was being handcuffed.

“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” Lander said as he was led away down a hallway and into an elevator.

One of the officers who led Lander away wore a tactical vest labeled “federal agent.” Others were in plainclothes, with surgical masks over their faces.

The episode occurred as federal immigration officials are conducting large-scale arrests outside immigration courtrooms across the country.

Lander’s detainment comes a little more than a month after Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge outside a federal immigration detention center in his city.

Related Articles


Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs probably won’t testify as defense says its case could be less than 2 days


US stocks drift lower as oil prices return to rising


Disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez arrives at prison to begin serving his 11-year bribery sentence


Kraft Heinz pulling certain artificial dyes from its US products in 2027


Americans turn cautious and retail sales slide after a spring rush to beat tariffs

The charge was later dropped by interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, and Baraka’s fellow Democrat, Rep. LaMonica McIver, was charged with assaulting and impeding federal agents stemming from her role at the same visit as the mayor. A federal indictment charges she grabbed, pushed and blocked officers from arresting the mayor. She’s denied the charges and said she plans to fight them. Baraka filed a federal lawsuit against Habba alleging false arrest and malicious prosecution.

Emailed inquiries to the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were not immediately returned.

Lander is a candidate in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary. Early voting in the contest is underway.

In a statement, Lander’s campaign said, “While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.”