Serena Williams hosts an ESPY awards show celebrating landmark year for women’s sports
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Led by host Serena Williams, The ESPYS celebrated a landmark year for women’s sports, with Simone Biles, A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Dawn Staley and JuJu Watkins among the honorees on Thursday night at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The three-hour show on ABC was delayed when President Joe Biden’s nationally televised news conference started late. Host Serena Williams told jokes during her monologue and later sang. The show experienced a technical glitch in its closing minutes and as a result Williams’ goodnight and the credits were cut off during the live telecast in the East and Central time zones. ABC said the problems would be corrected for tape-delayed viewing in the West.
On NYC beaches, angry birds are fighting drones on patrol for sharks and swimmers
NEW YORK (AP) — A new initiative to monitor swimmers and sharks on New York City beaches with surveillance drones is spurring backlash from shorebirds. City officials say the drones had been repeatedly swarmed by birds, forcing pilots to ground the devices on several occasions since the program launched in May. The city is now avoiding known nesting areas, but the attacks have not stopped. Wildlife experts cautioned the drones could provoke a stress response in the birds forcing them to abandon their nests. Attacks have mostly been carried out by American oystercatchers. The beach is also home to piping plovers, a federally designated endangered species.
Shelley Duvall, star of ‘The Shining’ and ‘Nashville,’ dies at 75
The intrepid, Texas-born movie star Shelley Duvall has died at 75. Her wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and she co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” Her longtime partner, Dan Gilroy, says Duvall died Thursday in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas. Her friend, the publicist Gary Springer, says the cause was complications from diabetes. Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s staff members, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” encountered her at a party in Houston in 1970. She would go on to become Altman’s protege.
Booming Turkish TV drama industry captures hearts and minds worldwide and boosts tourism
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has emerged as a leading exporter of television dramas, bolstering the nation’s international image and drawing millions of viewers and tourists to its historical and cultural sites which are backdrops to many of the shows. Their success has fueled a burgeoning billion-dollar industry. Experts say the industry is also greatly enhancing Turkey’s soft power on a global scale. A leading analytics firm says the global demand for Turkish series increased by 184% between 2020 and 2023. Markets include the United States, Canada, Greece, India and Pakistan. Haley Uganadi, the founder of a fan platform called “Dizilah,” says the appeal of the dramas comes from themes that focus on family, friendship, and love.
On stage, one of Japan’s biggest Kabuki stars changes roles in an instant. Offstage, it took decades
TOKYO (AP) — Onstage, Danjuro Ichikawa, one of the biggest stars of Japan’s Kabuki theater, is a virtuoso in switching roles. In his latest production, he plays 13 parts, including a princess, a sushi chef and a fox. He hobbles offstage as a feeble old man, then dashes back on moments later as a fierce warrior. He gets in a few sword fights, dies tragically more than once, and takes flight on wires. But offstage, he’s wondering if it’s time for the often rigid role of a Kabuki star to change. Danjuro has made efforts to update Kabuki in “Hoshiawase Jusandan,” at the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo through July 24, trimming longer scenes and modernizing some dialogue.
A second critically endangered Chinese pangolin is born in the Prague zoo in less than 2 years
PRAGUE (AP) — A second Chinese pangolin was born in the Prague zoo in less than two years and is doing well, defying the odds and surprising park officials. The female of the critically endangered mammal was born July 1, the second Chinese pangolin born in captivity in Europe following her sister, Cone, in February last year. The pangolins are difficult to breed in captivity and Prague became only the second European zoo to keep them. The pangolins arrived came after Prague decided to revoke a sister-city agreement with Beijing and signed a similar deal in 2020 with the Taiwanese capital. The deal caused tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
A stegosaurus nicknamed Apex will be auctioned in New York. Its remains show signs of arthritis
NEW YORK (AP) — The nearly complete fossilized remains of a 161-million-year-old stegosaurus discovered in Colorado in 2022 will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York next week. Sotheby’s officials have named the dinosaur Apex. They say it stands 11 feet tall and measures 27 feet nose to tail. Apex was discovered in May 2022 on private land near the town of Dinosaur, Colorado. The excavation was completed in October 2023, Sotheby’s said. Experts believe stegosauruses used their fearsome tail spikes to fight, but this specimen shows no signs of combat. The fossil does show evidence of arthritis, suggesting that Apex lived to an advanced age.
At least 200 crocodiles crawl into cities as heavy rains hit northern Mexico, near Texas
MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas, across from Texas, heavy rains associated with Hurricane Beryl and the earlier Tropical Storm Alberto have led at least 200 crocodiles to enter urban areas. State and federal authorities said this week they have captured and relocated around 200 of the big reptiles since Alberto pelted the region with rain in June. Beryl brushed the same area before making landfall in south Texas last week. The state environmental department said the heavy rains have raised water levels in coastal lagoons, leading the animals to crawl into coastal cities like Tampico and the nearby cities of Ciudad Madero and Altamira.
A boy in Gaza was killed by an Israeli airstrike. His father held him and wouldn’t let go
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — He wouldn’t let go. Nael Al-Baghdadi held his 12-year-old son tight. But it was already too late. Omar, who was playing outside near his home, had been killed in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli airstrike. In the photo made by Associated Press photographer Abdel Kareem Hana after the strike, al-Baghdadi’s eyes are shut. He holds his son, whose small body rests limply in his arms. His right hand and right shirt sleeve are streaked with blood. Grief is etched upon the father’s face, but more than that there is an expression of deep love for the child he has just lost. So much love that he insisted on holding Omar until the child could be taken to his grave.
IRS collects milestone $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth taxpayers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS has collected $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth tax cheats — a milestone meant to showcase how the agency is making use of the money it received as part of the Biden administration’s signature climate, health care and tax package signed into law in 2022. The announcement Thursday comes as the much-maligned agency shows the public how much work it is getting done. In a statement, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen praises the Inflation Reduction Act for “increasing tax fairness and ensuring that all wealthy taxpayers pay the taxes they owe, just like working families do.”
