The actor who will be returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom said he believed Marvel would ‘never’ recreate him on screen without his permission
Robert Downey Jr has said he will instruct his lawyers to sue future executives who attempt to create digital replicas of him using AI.
Speaking on the On With Kara Swisher podcast, he said: “I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec.”
Continue reading...Ryan James Girdusky removed from NewsNight show after telling fellow guest ‘I hope your beeper doesn’t go off’
CNN has apologised to its viewers after a panellist on its NewsNight programme made derogatory remarks implying that a fellow guest on the show, the broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, was a terrorist.
Ryan James Girdusky, a conservative commentator, told Hasan, a Guardian US columnist and former host on MSNBC, who is Muslim, that he hoped his “beeper doesn’t go off”, in an apparent reference to Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon with exploding pagers last month. The wave of coordinated explosions killed 12 and injured thousands.
Continue reading...The scale of what lurks beneath the surface could be vast – can the Liberal leader defy the odds and win a fourth term?
Justin Trudeau, who promised “sunny ways” as he won an election on a wave of public fatigue with an incumbent Conservative government, is now facing his darkest and most uncertain political moment as he attempts to defy the odds – and a bitter public – to win a rare fourth term.
The Canadian prime minister appears to have ignored both the demands of a handful of his own MPs calling for him to resign and threats from a separatist party looking to unravel his party’s tenuous hold on power.
Continue reading...London-headquartered bank says profits beat forecasts as it prepares to split eastern and western operations
The boss of HSBC has said moves to separate its eastern and western operations are not part of a plan to break up the banking group, as he announced a $3bn share buyback amid better-than-expected profits.
Georges Elhedery pushed back against rumours that a huge restructuring plan announced last week was a sign he was considering hiving off parts of the banking group, which had been under pressure to do so by its largest shareholder, the Chinese insurer Ping An. Investors last year rejected Ping An’s proposals.
Continue reading...Oleksii Sivak has set up a support group for others who have suffered widespread but unspoken abuse
Russian troops tortured Oleksii Sivak for weeks, applying electric shocks to his genitals in a freezing basement in his home city of Kherson in punishment for resisting their rule.
When Ukrainian troops freed the city in the autumn of 2022, Sivak was presented with a long list of medical specialists who could help his recovery and asked to tick the ones he needed.
Continue reading...Researchers found 38,000 fewer people – 10 times number of murders – would have died if atmosphere was not clogged with greenhouse pollutants
Climate breakdown caused more than half of the 68,000 heat deaths during the scorching European summer of 2022, a study has found.
Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found 38,000 fewer people would have died from heat if humans had not clogged the atmosphere with pollutants that act like a greenhouse and bake the planet. The death toll is about 10 times greater than the number of people murdered in Europe that year.
Continue reading...Vice-president strikes hopeful tone in remarks delivered from site of Trump’s speech before deadly January 6 attack
With the White House illuminated behind her, Kamala Harris asked the vanishing slice of undecided Americans to elect a “new generation of leadership”, likening Donald Trump to a “petty tyrant” who had stood in the very same spot nearly four years ago and, in a last-gasp effort to cling to power, helped incite the mob that stormed the US Capitol.
The choice between her and Trump in the deadlocked presidential contest was “about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division”, Harris said, from the Ellipse near the White House’s South Lawn, where tens of thousands of supporters gathered one week before the final votes of the 2024 election are cast.
Continue reading...Past threats former president – and present Russian ones – have spurred Europe to invest in self-defence, but as conflicts rise the alliance still looks vital
Politeness and convention dictate that European leaders try to sound noncommittal when asked whether a Donald Trump presidency would hurt Nato. But despite the rhetoric about “Trump-proofing”, Nato cohesion will be at risk from a hostile or isolationist Republican president, who has previously threatened to leave the alliance if European defence spending did not increase.
“The truth is that the US is Nato and Nato is the US; the dependence on America is essentially as big as ever,” said Jamie Shea, a former Nato official who teaches at the University of Exeter. “Take the new Nato command centre to coordinate assistance for Ukraine in Wiesbaden, Germany. It is inside a US army barracks, relying on US logistics and software.”
Continue reading...Rising Tide event would involve thousands of paddling climate activists blocking coal exports
The New South Wales police force is challenging a planned protest through the supreme court for the second time this month – this time an event in Newcastle calling for climate action.
The November protest is organised by Rising Tide and known as the “People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port”. It would involve thousands of activists paddling into the Port of Newcastle on kayaks and rafts to stop coal exports from leaving Newcastle for 50 hours.
Continue reading...Prime minister’s office says opposition leader is making a ‘pathetic attempt at creating a headline’ over flight upgrades from 2009 to 2019
Peter Dutton says Anthony Albanese should refer himself to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) after questioning whether the prime minister’s ties to Qantas influenced his government’s decision not to allow more Qatar Airways flights into the country.
It follows allegations in a book that Albanese had personally liaised with the former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce about obtaining free flight upgrades during his time as transport minister and opposition leader.
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Continue reading...Victorian premier says ‘dark shadow’ has been cast over city after collision at Auburn South primary school in Hawthorn East
A child has died and four others remain in hospital with serious injuries after a car crashed into a school in Melbourne’s inner east.
Emergency services rushed to the collision that occurred just after 2.30pm on Tuesday afternoon at Auburn South primary school in Hawthorn East.
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Continue reading...Accused pleads not guilty to 12 charges including seven of causing another person to enter into and remain in servitude
A father has been described as a tyrannical ruler who forced his wife and six children into working on a farm using physical, verbal and emotional abuse.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced the first day of a jury trial at the Victorian supreme court on Monday.
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Continue reading...Coalition meanwhile says Australia should divert aid funding away from the UN humanitarian assistance body
Bill Shorten has said Palestinians in Gaza should be “prioritised” and urged Israel to look after civilians at risk after Israel’s parliament voted to ban the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) from Israel and the areas of Gaza, the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem within 90 days.
Meanwhile, the opposition said the Albanese government should divert the millions of dollars in funding to Unrwa to other more “trusted” humanitarian organisations.
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Continue reading...If unchecked, pest species would burden health system with 650,000 more appointments and more than $2bn in costs each year, expert says
The federal government’s response to a Senate inquiry into the spread of invasive fire ants has been labelled inadequate with experts saying Labor has “essentially pressed the pause button”.
An April upper house report contained 10 recommendations. The Albanese government on Monday said it supported three in their entirety and three in principle – including calls for funding reviews, more transparency and improved council collaboration.
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