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“X-Men” alum Simon Kinberg is preparing to visit a galaxy far, far away. Lucasfilm is developing a new “ Star Wars ” trilogy with Kinberg set to write and produce the three films with studio chief Kathleen Kennedy. This will begin a new series after “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac, concluded the original nine-chapter “Skywalker Saga” in 2019. Though plot details haven’t been revealed, Lucasfilm has disputed the notion, first suggested by Deadline in their initial report of the forthcoming trilogy, that Kingberg’s movies will continue the story that George Lucas began with 1977’s “A New Hope,” introducing Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. Disney curr...

A masked bandit sent Spirit Airlines passengers scurrying at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Monday when a raccoon was spotted bursting through a ceiling tile. Video shows the raccoon dangling from a cord from inside a ceiling tile next to the Spirit Airlines counter. It soon takes a nosedive, landing on the ground and sending airline personnel and passengers alike into a frenzy as they run away. As screams fill the budget airline’s terminal, another video shows someone is carrying what seems to be a trash can in an effort to catch the raccoon. The raccoon rendezvous occurred around 8 a.m., after which the raccoon was safely removed, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement. Airport staff members are working closely with a professional wildlife co...

A "Jeopardy!" contestant is addressing the "problematic" clue given on the show's Oct. 28 episode, for which host Ken Jennings apologized. Heather Ryan, who came in second by just $1, spoke to Pipe Dream , the student-run newspaper at Binghamton University in New York, on Wednesday to share her thoughts about the clue. The clue from the category "Complete the Rhyming Phrase" read, "Men seldom make passes at..." To which the correct question was "Who are girls who wear glasses?" Ryan, the only female competitor on the episode, happened to be wearing glasses. Jennings read the clue with a slightly awkward tone, then immediately apologized to Ryan after it was answered. "Yeah, a little problematic," he said. "Sorry, Heather." Will Wallace, who...

A federal judge chastised Rudy Giuliani on Thursday for offering a “farcical” explanation of why he hasn’t complied with a court order to turn over valuables to former Georgia election workers he defamed after the 2020 presidential campaign. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman made the remark in a New York courtroom after an attorney for Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, claimed he wasn't sure where some of his belongings are. “The notion that your client doesn’t have any knowledge of where his assets are located is farcical," Liman told Giuliani lawyer Ken Caruso. Giuliani, a onetime personal attorney to President-elect Donald Trump, had been ordered to transfer personal property, “including cash accounts, jewelry and valuables," to former election workers Ruby Fr...

Questions about sexual orientation, gender identity and changes to queries about race and ethnicity are on track to be asked in the most comprehensive survey of American life by 2027, U.S. Census Bureau officials said Thursday. The new or revised questions on the American Community Survey will show up on questionnaires and be asked by survey takers in as early as three years, with the data from those questions available the following year, officials told an advisory committee. The American Community Survey is the most comprehensive survey of American life, covering commuting times, internet access, family life, income, education levels, disabilities and military service, among many other topics, with a sample size of more than 3.5 million households. Some of t...

Warner Bros. Discovery said Thursday its streaming platform Max added 7.2 million global subscribers in the third quarter. It marked the biggest quarterly growth for the streaming platform since its inception. Max now had 110.5 million subscribers as of Sept. 30. Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streaming service has been growing its subscriber base at a fast clip this year since expanding internationally during the first half. Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock was up more than 10% on Thursday. The streaming business has become a bright spot for Warner Bros. Discovery as its traditional TV networks have been pressured by cord cutting and a soft advertising market. Last quarter, Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $9.1 billion write-down on its TV networks. On Thursday, ...

DETROIT — Automaker Stellantis announced plans Wednesday to cut a manufacturing shift and indefinitely lay off roughly 1,100 workers at a Jeep plant in Ohio. The company, which has been battling high inventory levels and lower earnings this year, said the decision at its Toledo South Assembly Plant to cut production to one shift will better align output with demand of the Jeep Gladiator pickup — the factory’s sole product. “As Stellantis navigates a transitional year, the focus is on realigning its U.S. operations to ensure a strong start to 2025, which includes taking the difficult but necessary action to reduce high inventory levels by managing production to meet sales,” Stellantis said in an emailed statement. The layoffs will be effective as early as Jan. 5, acco...

With the glaring exception of the presidential race , North Carolina Democrats had a good 2024 election. While Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump in the battleground state by more than 3 percentage points, Democrats won nearly every other statewide race that was on the ballot Tuesday. Those results largely comport with decades of political trends in North Carolina. But Democrats and Republicans alike also attributed them to Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s disastrous campai g n for governor , which was constantly plagued by his long history of incendiary remarks. “We squarely blame Mark Robinson for losses in races that Republicans would and should have otherwise won,” said a North Carolina GOP operative, who requested anonymity to speak cand...

Donald Trump's presidential victory means some U.S. allies may have to reckon with prior scathing remarks as their countries prepare to build diplomatic ties with a president-elect whose return they may not have anticipated. “The most destructive president in history,” Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd said of Trump in 2020, who “drags America and democracy through the mud.” “A woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” and a “profound threat to the international order,” David Lammy, the U.K.'s current foreign secretary, said in 2018. “A political pyromaniac who must be put before a criminal court,” Jean Asselborn, then-foreign minister for Luxembourg, said of Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. "Trump has ruined it all," Croatian Presid...