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posted by chromas on Friday May 03 2019, @09:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the Chewieeeee! dept.

Chewbacca Actor Peter Mayhew From ‘Star Wars’ Dies at 74:

“Star Wars” actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the original trilogy, died on Tuesday, his family announced on his Twitter. He was 74.

He died at his North Texas home surrounded by his family, read the Twitter statement.

[...] He was discovered by producer Charles H. Schneer while working as a hospital attendant in London, and cast in Ray Harryhausen’s “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.” The next year, he was cast as Chewbacca, the 200-year-old Wookiee.

[...] His height was not due to gigantism, but he measured 7 feet 3 inches at his highest. George Lucas originally had his eye on bodybuilder David Prowse, but Prowse decided to play Darth Vader instead and Lucas went with the even taller Mayhew.

The Hollywood Reporter notes:

While Mayhew did not provide the voice of the 200-year-old Wookiee (that was created by sound designer Ben Burtt), many credit the body language and the expressiveness of the eyes the actor brought to the role in making Chewbacca a fan favorite. It was a part that Mayhew would take on his whole life and well beyond the movies. He reprised the role for appearances on the Donny and Marie Show and The Muppet Show and, more recently, Glee.

Finnish-born basketball player-turned-actor Joonas Suotamo took over for Mayhew in some installments, including Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Mayhew worked as a consultant on The Last Jedi (2017) to pass the baton to Suotamo, and at that film's premiere in 2017 spent time chatting with his young protege, as well as Star Wars star Mark Hamill.

"Chewbacca is one of the most iconic characters in the history of film, and Peter's development and portrayal of this beloved Wookiee has spread so much joy around the globe," Suotamo wrote after the casting was announced. "Peter's guidance and kindness have been invaluable gifts which warmed my spirit and prepared me for this journey. I aspire to make Peter proud and bring Star Wars fans the Chewie they know and love."

A private memorial will take place June 29, while in December in Los Angeles there will be a gathering for fans at EmpireConLA. Mayhew is survived by his wife, Angie, and three children.

See also: Twitter announcement

and coverage at The Guardian.


Original Submission

posted by martyb on Sunday April 21 2019, @12:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the RIP dept.

According the Beeb (BBC):

At least 137 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, police and hospital sources say.

At least eight blasts were reported. Three churches in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo's Kochchikade district were targeted during Easter services.

The Shangri-La, Kingsbury, Cinnamon Grand and a fourth hotel, all in Colombo, were also hit.

A curfew has been imposed from 18:00 to 06:00 local time (12:30-00:30 GMT).

The government also said there would a temporary block on the use of major social media networks.

No group has yet said it was responsible for the attacks.

Update:"At least 207 people have been killed and 450 hurt in explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, police say."


Original Submission

posted by martyb on Thursday April 18 2019, @04:15PM   Printer-friendly

Read the Mueller report

Pardon the brevity; submitted via my mobile phone.

[Update (20190418_203255 UTC) --martyb]

I was listening to the radio while running an errand when I heard the Mueller Report had been released. The above link was the first that came up when I did a search. I quickly posted the story using my mobile phone to get it to the community as quickly as possible. Here are additional sources as well as the MD5SUM and resultant file sizes from downloading each. The CNN file has a different size from the others. A quick inspection suggests that it contains searchable text (presumably through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing) whereas the others contain images of each of the pages in the report.

CNN (searchable): http://www.cnn.com/2019/04/18/politics/full-mueller-report-pdf/index.html provided a link to:
https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/04/18/mueller-report-searchable.pdf:
MD5: 614529b6979e7ec5323af8c2a286afdd
Size: 140,352,112 bytes

DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf:
MD5: ce5859e9b5d8b76aedd18dc296dcc1e6
Size: 145,509,756 bytes

NPR: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/708850903/read-the-full-mueller-report-with-redactions provided a link to:
https://media.npr.org/assets/news/2019/04/muellerreport.pdf
MD5: ce5859e9b5d8b76aedd18dc296dcc1e6
Size: 145,509,756 bytes

PBS: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-the-redacted-mueller-report provided a link to:
https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2019/04/Muellereport.pdf
MD5: ce5859e9b5d8b76aedd18dc296dcc1e6
Size: 145,509,756 bytes


Original Submission

posted by martyb on Monday April 15 2019, @08:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the they-don't-build-them-like-they-used-to dept.

The deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, said the cathedral had suffered "colossal damages", and the emergency services were trying to salvage the art and other priceless pieces stored in the cathedral. A cathedral spokesman said the entire wooden interior was burning and likely to be destroyed.

Sounds like the whole thing may go up in flames. There's a reason for modern building codes. A structure made entirely out of wood, is a huge bonfire, waiting to happen. Thankfully, at this time, there are no reported deaths.

[Update: 2019-04-16 @ 0222: The Cathedral is not "made entirely out of wood" as was suggested above. There is a great deal of stone work in its construction which can be readily seen on its Wikipedia page. I was at work when I heard news of the fire, immediately took a break, loaded the story queue on my phone, saw a story submission on the fire, and pushed it out to the community. In my haste to get the story out, I failed to notice the erroneous claim about wood construction. I apologize for the error. --martyb]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/notre-dame-cathedral-fire-today-2019-04-15/


Original Submission

posted by takyon on Saturday April 13 2019, @07:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the with-friends-like-these dept.

Assange associate Ola Bini has been arrested in Ecuador for alleged involvement in hacking government computer systems. A large quantity of electronic equipment and credit cards were allegedly found in his suitcase and during a raid of his home.

Assange's arrest was designed to make sure he didn't press a mysterious panic button he said would bring dire consequences for Ecuador

Julian Assange's arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was carried out in a specific way to prevent him from pressing a mysterious panic button he said could bring dire consequences for Ecuador, its foreign minister said.

[...] It is not clear exactly what form the "panic button" took: whether it was a physical device or a metaphor for some other easily activated insurance measure. It is also unclear what leverage Assange thought he had over Ecuador.

Assange's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on the nature of the button and whether it existed. According to Valencia, though, it was serious enough for Ecuador to warn British authorities and carry out the raid in such a way that Assange was not able to get back into his room after learning of his imminent arrest.

Julian Assange must face Swedish justice first - MPs and peers

More than 70 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging the home secretary to ensure Julian Assange faces authorities in Sweden if they want his extradition.

[...] In their letter to Sajid Javid, 70 parliamentarians - chiefly Labour MPs and peers - urged him to "stand with the victims of sexual violence" and ensure the rape claim against the Wikileaks founder could be "properly investigated". "We do not presume guilt, of course, but we believe due process should be followed and the complainant should see justice be done," the letter said. Labour's Stella Creasy tweeted a copy of the letter sent to Mr Javid. The same letter was also sent to shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.

See also: The U.S. Government's Indictment of Julian Assange Poses Grave Threats to Press Freedom
Sweden Considers Request to Reopen Rape Investigation of Julian Assange
Four theories about Julian Assange's cat (also at NPR)

Previously: Wikileaks Co-Founder Julian Assange Arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London


Original Submission

posted by FatPhil on Thursday April 11 2019, @01:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the shoulda-taken-the-tea-chest-option-years-back dept.

Breaking: Met police confirm that Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy.

Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.

Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations to international conventions.

But WikiLeaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".

[...] Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.

After his arrest for failing to surrender to the court, police said he had been further arrested on behalf of US authorities under an extradition warrant.

He doesn't look happy, to say the least.

Update: As this is a breaking story, more information is coming out regularly - one source that updates their reports frequently is Zero Hedge - thanks boru!

Previously: New Analysis of Swedish Police Report Confirms Julian Assange's Version in Sweden's Case
Ecuador Reportedly Almost Ready to Hand Julian Assange Over to UK Authorities
UK Said Assange Would Not be Extradited If He Leaves Embassy Refuge
Inadvertent Court Filing Suggests that the U.S. DoJ is Preparing to Indict Julian Assange
U.S. Ramping Up Probe Against Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Says
Ecuador Denies That Julian Assange Will be Evicted From Embassy in London


Original Submission

posted by martyb on Thursday March 28 2019, @12:12PM   Printer-friendly

Bangladesh Firefighters Battle Blaze at Dhaka Skyscraper:

At least two people confirmed dead and some are believed to be trapped inside FR Tower in the Bangladeshi capital.

At least two people have been confirmed dead after fire broke out in a 19-storey commercial building in Dhaka on Thursday, officials have told Al Jazeera, weeks after a deadly fire in the Bangladeshi capital left at least 70 people dead.

"Nineteen fire-fighting units are working at the scene. Bangladesh navy and air force have also joined to fight the fire," said Duty Officer Mohammad Russel from Dhaka's central fire service control room.

Several people are believed to be trapped inside the tower in the Banani area of the Bangladeshi capital, according to The Daily Star news website.

Helicopters dropped water on the burning building while hundreds of panicked onlookers crowded the streets in the upmarket commercial district of Banani.

[...] Al Jazeera's Tanveer Chaudhry, reporting from Dhaka, said "at least six people have jumped off the building."

"There are 95 emergency services working and helicopters hovering above ... trying to rescue some people from the roof as well.

"The fire took place on the 9th floor of the building but we don't know under what circumstances."

A massive blaze in Dhaka's old quarter last month killed at least 70 people and injured 50 others.

Also at: AP, Dhaka Tribune, and The New York Times.

Had a fire in my apartment building a while back and had to evacuate. Scary.


Original Submission

posted by martyb on Thursday March 21 2019, @03:00AM   Printer-friendly

New Zealand Bans Sale of Assault, Semi-Automatic Rifles: PM:

New Zealand has banned the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons after the country's worst-ever attack that killed 50 people in two mosques.

"Be assured this is just the beginning of the work we'll be doing," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference on Thursday.

[...]Ardern said she expects a new law to be in place by April 11 and buy-back schemes will be established for outlawed weapons.

"Now, six days after this attack, we are announcing a ban on all military style semi-automatics [MSSA] and assault rifles in New Zealand," Ardern said.

She said the man arrested in the attacks on two Christchurch mosques had purchased his weapons legally and enhanced their capacity by using 30-round magazines "done easily through a simple online purchase".

"Related parts used to convert these guns into MSSAs are also being banned, along with all high-capacity magazines.

"In short, every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country," she said.

That was quick.


Original Submission

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