“In a major shakeup for the film industry, Amazon MGM Studios said on Thursday it will take creative control of the James Bond franchise from long-serving producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The deal comes amid mounting speculation of the fate of one of the world’s most popular franchises, after a Wall Street Journal report in December said a clash between the Broccoli family and the e-commerce giant had put Bond’s future on pause. … Under the terms of Thursday’s joint venture, all parties would remain co-owners of the franchise’s intellectual property rights, but Amazon MGM would have creative control. This would give the tech giant a lot more freedom in its approach to the series, as fans await the 26th Bond film and the reveal of who will don the iconic tuxedo after [Daniel] Craig’s 2021 exit.” (02/20/25)
“A Polish woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has been arrested at Bristol Airport. Julia Wandelt, 23, was detained alongside a 60-year-old woman from Wales on suspicion of stalking involving serious alarm and distress. … Ms Wandelt claimed to be the missing Madeline McCann in an Instagram post in 2023. Months later she took a DNA test that showed she was from Poland, with some Lithuanian and Romanian heritage. In other words, she is not Madeleine McCann. Mr Clair said the 23-year-old and her companion had travelled to the UK for a few weeks to stay with a friend. He said his client denies the stalking allegations.” (02/20/25)
“President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he likes the idea of giving some of the savings from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency back to U.S. citizens as a kind of dividend. He said at an investment conference in Miami that the administration is considering a concept in which 20% of the savings produced by DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts goes to American citizens and another 20% goes to paying down the national debt. Trump also said the potential for dividend payments would incentivize people to report wasteful spending.” (02/20/25)
“Hipshipper, a shipping platform used by sellers on eBay, Shopify and Amazon, accidentally exposed millions of shipping labels with personal customer information. Researchers at Cybernews found the exposed data in December 2024, but it wasn’t fixed until January, meaning it was open for at least a month. Hipshipper helps people ship packages to over 150 countries, offering tracking, free insurance and easy returns. The exposed shipping labels are important because they detail what’s inside the packages and where they’re supposed to go. However, an unprotected AWS bucket held over 14.3 million records, mainly shipping labels and customs forms. Researchers from Cybernews said, ‘Cybercriminals can use leaked data to carry out scams and phishing attacks. For example, criminals might pretend to be trusted businesses and send fake messages using specific order details to trick people into sharing personal or financial information.'” (02/20/25)
“Why did humans start speaking? Scientists suggest genetics played a big role – and they say the evolution of this singular ability was key to our survival. A new study links a particular gene to the ancient origins of spoken language, proposing that a protein variant found only in humans may have helped us communicate in a novel way. Speech allowed us to share information, coordinate activities and pass down knowledge, giving us an edge over extinct cousins like Neanderthals and Denisovans. The new study is ‘a good first step to start looking at the specific genes’ that may affect speech and language development, said Liza Finestack at the University of Minnesota, who was not involved with the research.” (02/20/25)
“Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to keep Mayor Eric Adams on a short leash, but won’t call on him to resign Thursday, The Post has learned. The governor plans to announce a sweeping set of proposed ethics reforms that would increase the state’s oversight powers over the embattled mayor and senior City Hall officials, a source familiar with her thinking told The Post. Hochul will stop short of calling for Adams’[s] resignation, but is not ruling out removing the mayor at a later date, the source said. … It comes as Adams and New York City face an unprecedented leadership crisis prompted by President Trump’s Department of Justice controversially moving to drop the corruption case against the mayor.” (02/20/25)
“Israeli forces have killed at least three Palestinians in an attack on a house in the Far’a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that the killings took place on Wednesday night after the Israeli military surrounded their homes near Tubas and opened fire. The report added that Israeli forces have withheld all three bodies.” (02/20/25)
“Two teenage girls in the US state of Texas have been arrested for plotting a ‘mass casualty attack’ with pipe bombs and guns, police say. The girls, ages 15 and 16, were planning an attack at Memorial High School in a suburb of Houston, police told KHOU, an affiliate of the BBC’s US partner CBS News. The plot — which was shared on social media — was detailed enough that officials deemed it to be credible, CBS reported. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said its Threat Mitigation Team was involved in the response to help local police arrest the teenagers immediately.” (02/20/25)
“A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declined the Justice Department’s request to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, setting up a potential emergency application to the Supreme Court. Legal experts [and people who can read] have said Trump’s order conflicted with the Fourteenth Amendment, which extends American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, by denying citizenship to future children born in the United States if their mothers were unlawfully [sic] present in the country and their fathers were not citizens or permanent residents. … In denying the request, the panel found the Justice Department had not made a ‘strong showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of this appeal.’” (02/19/25)
“Hamas said on Thursday it had handed over the bodies of four Israelis abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel — including a woman and her two young children — in exchange for Palestinian [hostages]. Large crowds had gathered near the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis to watch the choreographed handoff staged by Hamas. Rifle-toting gunmen were deployed around a stage on which four black coffins — each bearing the image of a deceased hostage — had been placed. Officials with the International Committee for the Red Cross placed the coffins in waiting white vehicles. The Israeli government later confirmed that the Red Cross had brought them to waiting Israeli forces inside Gaza.” (02/20/25)
