Phil Donahue, whose pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre, has died
By: Julie Carr Smyth
(AP) – Phil Donahue, whose pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre that brought success to Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and many others, has died. He was 88.
NBC’s “Today” show, citing family members, said Donahue died Sunday after a long illness.
Dubbed “the king of daytime talk,” Donahue was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, typically during a full hour with a single guest.
The format set “The Phil Donahue Show” apart from other interview shows of the 1960s and made it a trendsetter in daytime television, where it was particularly popular with female audiences.
Later renamed “Donahue,” the program launched in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967. Donahue’s willingness to explore the hot-button social issues of the day emerged immediately, when he featured atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair as his first guest. He would later air shows on feminism, homosexuality, consumer protection and civil rights, among hundreds of other topics.
The show was syndicated in 1970 and ran on national television for the next 26 years, racking up 20 Emmy Awards for the show and for Donahue as host, as well as a Peabody for Donahue in 1980. In May, President Joe Biden awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Donahue, who was cited as a pioneer of the daytime talk show.
Ernesto gains strength as a hurricane over the open Atlantic
By: Ron Todt
(AP) – Ernesto picked up strength as a hurricane early Monday as it headed farther out in the Atlantic toward easternmost Canada, but the storm is expected to stay offshore, causing powerful swells, dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast, the National Hurricane Center said.
Ernesto’s maximum sustained winds increased Monday to near 90 mph (150 kph), with higher gusts, the hurricane centre said. It is expected to weaken and become a post-tropical storm by Tuesday, the centre said.
The storm was centred about 320 miles (515 kilometres) southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was expected to pass near southeastern Newfoundland late Monday and early Tuesday, the centre said. Some coastal flooding in Canada was possible.
People all along the Northeast’s coast should remain careful, the centre said.
Protesters plan large marches and rallies as Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago
By: Sophia Tareen
CHICAGO (AP) — Crowds of activists began gathering Monday in Chicago for protests outside the Democratic National Convention, hoping to call attention to issues such as economic injustice, reproductive rights and the war in Gaza.
Protesters say their plans have not changed since President Joe Biden left the race and the party quickly rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris, who will formally accept the Democratic nomination this week. Activists are ready to amplify their progressive message before the nation’s top Democratic leaders.
Their issues cover climate change, abortion rights and racial equality, to name a few, but many protesters agree that pressing for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war is the top message of the demonstrations. They have likened it to the Vietnam War of their generation.
The Chicago area has one of the largest Palestinian communities in the nation, and buses are bringing activists from all over the country.
– Associated Press Writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
British tech magnate Mike Lynch among those missing after luxury superyacht sinks off Sicily
By: Nicole Winfield
ROME (AP) — British tech magnate Mike Lynch and several other people were among those missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily early Monday, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived.
Lynch, who was acquitted in June in a big U.S. fraud trial, was among the six people who remain unaccounted for after their chartered sailboat sank off Porticello, when a tornado over the water known as a waterspout struck the area overnight, said Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency.
One body has been recovered, and police divers were trying to reach the hull of the ship, which was resting at a depth of 50 metres (163 feet) off Porticello, near Palermo, where it had been anchored.
It had a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers, the Italian coast guard said. A sudden fierce storm had battered the area overnight, and struck the place precisely where the 56-metre (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian had been moored.
– AP writer Danica Kirka contributed from London.
U.S. settles with billionaire Carl Icahn for using company to secure personal loans worth billions
By: Michelle Chapman
Billionaire Carl Icahn and his company were charged by U.S. regulators with failing to disclose personal loans worth billions of dollars that were secured using securities of Icahn Enterprises as collateral.
Icahn Enterprises and Icahn have agreed to pay $1.5 million and $500,000 in civil penalties, respectively, to settle the charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday.
The agency said that from at least Dec. 31, 2018 to the present, Icahn pledged approximately 51 per cent to 82 per cent of Icahn Enterprises’ outstanding securities as collateral to secure personal loans with a number of lenders.
The SEC said Icahn Enterprises failed to disclose Icahn’s pledges of the company’s securities as required in its annual report until Feb. 25, 2022. Icahn also failed to file amendments to a required regulatory filing describing his personal loan agreements and amendments, which dated back to at least 2005, and failed to attach required guarantee agreements. Icahn’s failure to file the required amendments to the regulatory filing persisted until at least July 9, 2023, the agency added.
Flash flooding in Connecticut leaves 1 dead and 1 missing
OXFORD, Conn. (AP) — Torrential rain flooded parts of Connecticut, washing out roads, trapping people in cars and a restaurant, and reportedly sweeping two people into a river. At least one person died in the storm, which also caused problems in New Jersey and on New York’s Long Island late Sunday and early Monday, authorities said.
As much as 10 inches (25.4 centimetres) of rain fell on some parts of western Connecticut, coming down so fast that it caught drivers unaware as roads quickly turned into rushing rivers.
The body of a woman who disappeared during the storm was recovered Monday in Oxford, about 35 miles southwest of Hartford, Oxford Fire Chief Scott Pellitier told the New Haven Register. Crews were still looking for a second woman who washed away as firefighters tried to rescue her, he said.
Gov. Ned Lamont said more than 100 people were evacuated by search and rescue teams around the state as of Sunday evening.
Shooting near a Boston festival over the weekend leaves 5 injured
BOSTON (AP) — A shooting near a Boston festival left five people injured and police on Monday were searching for those responsible.
The shooting happened Sunday night in Franklin Park as a Dominican festival was ending. Police say three men and two women suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and they were transported to a hospital. They did not provide their ages nor their names.
“We need to hold these people responsible whether it’s an individual or individuals responsible for this heinous act, you know shooting into a crowd,” Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox told reporters Sunday night.
Cox said police heard the shots as the festival was winding down and authorities were directing pedestrians out of the park. Police had no update Monday, including whether there was more than one shooter.
Heavy rains hit Pakistan’s south, as deaths from flash floods and downpours jump to 209 since July
By: Munir Ahmed
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Flash floods triggered by the latest spell of monsoon rains flooded streets in southern Pakistan and blocked a key highway in the north, officials said Monday, as the death toll from rain-related incidents rose to 209 since July 1.
Fourteen people died in various parts of Punjab province in the past 24 hours, Irfan Ali, an official at the provincial disaster management authority said.
Pakistan is in the middle of the annual monsoon season, which runs from July through September. Scientists and weather forecasters have blamed climate change for heavy rains in recent years.
Most of the deaths occurred in the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Sindh provinces.
