Latest news with #Scorpion
News18
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Leak Alert! These Could Be The Villains Of Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Last Updated: An Instagram user recently teased the addition of three classic comic villains, including Scorpion, Boomerang, and Tombstone. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is all set to swing back into action. With the makers now busy with shooting of the sequel around the world, updates continue to pique excitement among fans, with casting details now making headlines. While Tom Holland's Peter Parker will be returning as the beloved friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, a fresh buzz has started making rounds about the future villains. Chris Higashi, who attended the Disney Blockbuster Consumer Products presentation in Las Vegas, shared an exciting update about the new Marvel movie. Mentioning that Spider-Man was one of the top titles on the agenda at the presentation, his post stated specifically, 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Scorpion, Boomerang, and Tombstone. 'Nuff Said. 2026 looks awesome!" 'SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY' will seemingly feature Scorpion, Tombstone and Boomerang as is according to a sizzle reel shown at a Disney Blockbuster Consumer Products panel. (via trusthigashi | IG) — Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) May 20, 2025 It is worth mentioning that Scorpion and Tombstone have already made an appearance in the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, playing the role of Kingpin's henchmen. Their mention at the event has now only shaken up the recent rumours surrounding the film, especially its characters. The official title for the upcoming Spider-Man film was revealed in April this year, with the release date now scheduled for July 31, 2026. However, details surrounding the plot or the villains that fans can expect to see have been kept under wraps. Holland has been confirmed to be returning as Peter Parker, while Sadie Sink recently joined the cast, expected to play a key character. Spider-Man New Look It was not just the villains that Higashi teased on his Instagram. In a now-deleted post, he seems to have accidentally unveiled the first look of the superhero costume. In the post that featured several Disney films of 2026, there was a subtle glimpse of Parker's costume, which appeared quite similar to the one he wore at the end of No Way Home; however, in darker shades. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to hit theatres on July 31, 2026. First Published:
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Primary school closed today following major fire nearby
A primary school has been closed today, May 23, after a major fire nearby. The Olive Tree Primary School is closed after the blaze, which took place on an industrial estate adjacent to it. A receptionist at the school confirmed to The Bolton News that the school is closed today, and that remote classes will be running. Parents and children could also be seen being turned away from the entrance on Adelaide Street this morning. This comes after the large fire, which took place at an industrial unit off the street. For live updates on the incident, see our blog here: Read more: Roads shut as firefighters deal with fire at industrial unit Read more: The number of taxi drivers have had their licences revoked this year so far Fire services were called out at just before 10pm last night, with "bright red" flames seen high above the building. Eight fire engines alongside specialist appliances including the Aerial Unit, Scorpion and Turntable Ladder were called to the incident. St Helens Road was closed in both directions while crews worked alongside partners to contain the large fire which produced a lot of smoke. Closures remain in place this morning as firefighters continue to dampen down the area.
Irish Daily Mirror
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
'Laika Party' can be Europe's new 'Winds of Change'?
Vladimir Putin is not much of a music aficionado by all accounts. Other than once singing Blueberry Hill at a charity event and declaring he likes 'Russian music', there is little on record about him having much interest. It does make me wonder, does his hostility stem from losing the Cold War? Putin has declared the collapse of the old Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall to be the great tragedy of the 20th Century. He has been very busy trying to reverse that tragedy by any means necessary since coming to power, most notably by rolling his tanks into Ukraine. What's that got to do with rock 'n' roll you ask? Well only perhaps the greatest spy conspiracy ever told. In the late 1980s, German rockers Scorpion had a monster hit with their 'haunting ballad', Winds of Change. It became the anthem of a generation across the old Soviet and eastern European bloc just as real winds of change were beginning to shake the Berlin Wall and blow open the Iron Curtain. But in 2020, a podcast revealed the mind-blowing conspiracy that the tune was allegedly penned by a secret song-writing unit embedded deep in the CIA, as a soundtrack to encourage revolution. Scorpions' frontman Klaus Meine has always denied his greatest smash hit was written by anyone other than himself and the band. Well he would, wouldn't he? But if there was a secret rock'n'roll wing to the CIA that helped bring down the old Soviet Union, wouldn't now be as good a time as any to get the band back together? Strangely, into this moment in history – just as Putin's nostalgia for the old days is peaking - steps Ireland's Eurovision entry, Emmy. With a song challenging the myths about Soviet prowess and invincibility, could Laika Party be the Winds of Change for a new generation? The song is all about a Moscow street mongrel named Laika that was sent on a one-way ticket to space oblivion aboard the USSR's Sputnik II rocket in 1957. The western press dubbed the mission at the time 'Muttnik', proving it was the golden age of puns as well as space exploration. In what would become a forerunner of Vlad's disinformation campaigns, it took 45 years for the Russians to admit the truth of Laika's demise - that she died of overheating in a malfunctioning Sputnik capsule. So rather than being the first hero of the space race, Laika was actually sacrificed as cannon fodder on the altar of bungling Soviet hubris and imperialism. That makes Ireland's Eurovision entry - which reimagines a defiant Laika having survived and giving two paws to her old Soviet masters as she continues to orbit the earth - as subversive in its own way as that Scorpion's Cold War anthem. Eurovision has always been part of the great geopolitical power struggle anyway. Russia remains banned. Israel is facing calls for a boycott. Neighbours have settled trade wars and border disputes with the awarding of their 'Douze Points'. On the frontlines in Ukraine, Laika Party can remind Russian conscripts how their masters really treat the rank and file. And across Europe, the song can be a rallying call of defiance to Vlad's dream of rebuilding the Soviet empire. Which does make you wonder about whether those old CIA hitmakers have come back for an encore to help Ireland's Eurovision bid. They would certainly know that their new commander in chief in the White House loves a good bit of canine propaganda ('they're eating the dogs!') And if the youth of Europe adopt Laika as their Eurovision winner, they can still save her from the sad fate of being boiled alive in that sputnik space capsule. They can ensure she keeps orbiting the earth, partying on in cyberspace to viral infinity and beyond!
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
No justice for Tyre Nichols
In January 2023, Memphis police officers pulled over Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist who was just minutes from his home, and brutally beat him. Video footage captured the officers, all of them Black, striking Nichols repeatedly as he offered no active resistance. Nichols called out for his mother as officers assigned to the since-disbanded "Scorpion" unit continued to pummel him. The 29-year-old father died three days later. On Wednesday, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith were all acquitted of a count of second-degree murder, a count of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and a count of official oppression. Two other officers, Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin III, pleaded guilty to state charges. All five officers previously were found guilty of (or pleaded guilty to) at least one federal crime. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week called 'Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens.' The title of that document suggests that police in our country are hampered somehow, that they have to follow too many rules, but Tyre Nichols' dead body is evidence of what happens when the police are unleashed. Wednesday's not-guilty verdicts were gut-wrenching and disheartening, but long before the all-white jury began its deliberations, the case had already reminded us that, in American policing, there's a gulf between written policy and institutional culture. Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn 'C.J.' Davis said after Nichols' death that she'd never been 'more horrified and disgusted,' and her department found that officers involved in the attack on Nichols violated department policies and ignored their training, specifically their 'duty to intervene' when they observe another police officer in the wrong. Even so, Davis was not called to testify during the three officers' trial. Thus, she was never asked to confirm under oath that they violated protocol. Not only that, but the state didn't bring forward a single MPD officer or policy expert to testify about whether protocols governing use-of-force or an officer's duty to intervene were followed. As a result, the jury — which was brought in from Hamilton County, about five hours away from Memphis — was left without clarity about what the department's policies require its officers to do and how the officers violated those policies. That silence weakened the case and blurred the line between formal policy and rogue behavior. The defense called Don Cameron, a police training expert, in the apparent hope that he would justify the officers' actions. But Cameron's testimony only underscored that the head strikes were excessive, and he testified that the officers ignored their duty to intervene. Even so, the jury still found the officers not guilty. According to a Department of Justice report on the Memphis Police Department released in December 2024: MPD never adopted policies and procedures to direct the SCORPION Unit's activities and failed to act despite alarming indications that supervision was minimal. We heard from officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, community members, and other advocates that the SCORPION Unit persistently mistreated people. Prosecutors told us that some SCORPION Unit cases involved 'outrageous' inconsistencies between body-worn camera video and arrest reports, and if the cases went to trial, they 'would be laughed out of court.' The unit's misconduct led to the dismissal of dozens of criminal cases. In the Nichols case, there were 'outrageous inconsistencies' between what officers entered into police reports and what was plainly visible on Sky Cop and body-worn camera footage. The story in Memphis isn't that individual officers failed. The story is that the department failed. But state prosecutors, likely because they have to work with the police, seemed unwilling to expose the departmental failures. Prosecutors are reluctant to be perceived as 'anti-police,' but in this case justice required an intense scrutiny of the department and not just the accused officers. Even in the cases where police departments have good policies, it's often the case that culture trumps those policies. That is to say that police departments in America have a culture that rewards silence, valorizes aggression and demonizes those who dissent to problematic behavior. Policies that say police have a 'duty to intervene' or say officers should prioritize 'de-escalation tactics' may be written in handbooks, but they are too often disregarded in practice, especially when those who break them are shielded by a code of loyalty or a chain of command unwilling to confront them. When the public rises up in righteous indignation — marching, protesting, grieving — the rhetoric of reform is rolled out like a pressure valve. Police officials use talking points about training and accountability. Policy is weaponized as a pacifier. Trials like the one for the officers involved in the brutal treatment of Nichols matter so much because they present rare opportunities to press for clarity — to demand that officials and institutions move beyond performance and provide proof that they actually demanded that their officers follow proper procedure and completely comply with the law. If we are serious about public safety— and want law enforcements that focus on justice and not media management — then we must reject this surface-level theater such departments give us. It is not enough for police departments to write better policies. We must confront the internal cultures that subvert them. This article was originally published on
Straits Times
08-05-2025
- Straits Times
Former Memphis officers acquitted in beating death of black motorist Tyre Nichols
Five former Memphis police officers who were charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols at Shelby County courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee. PHOTO: REUTERS MEMPHIS - A jury in a Tennessee state court on May 7 acquitted three former Memphis police officers of second-degree murder and all other charges in the 2023 beating death of black motorist Tyre Nichols. The all-white jury, which was chosen from out of town, deliberated about eight-and-a-half hours before finding Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty of murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. All five officers charged in the case are black. Two previously pleaded guilty and testified against their former colleagues. Nichols, 29, an aspiring photographer, avid skateboarder and father of a young son, was severely beaten by police on January 7, 2023, following a traffic stop near his home, and died in a hospital three days later. Police video showed five black officers, who were members of the since-disbanded Scorpion street crimes detective unit, kicking, punching, pepper-spraying and striking Nichols with a baton as he cried out for his mother. 'We are obviously disappointed by today's verdict,' said Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, whose office prosecuted the case. 'We respect the jury's decision, but we obviously disagree with it.' Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, representing Nichols' family, called May 8's verdict 'a devastating miscarriage of justice'. 'That brutal, inhumane assault was captured on video, yet the officers responsible were acquitted,' Crump said on social media. The judge had granted a defense motion that jurors be chosen from outside the Memphis area, out of fairness concerns considering intense publicity surrounding the case. They were selected from the Chattanooga area. Following the verdict, Memphis Mayor Paul Young and Police Chief Cerelyn Davis issued a joint video statement pledging to build trust between police and citizens while improving police training. 'Memphis is still healing and that healing demands we work together,' Young said, adding that his prayers were with the Nichols family. Defense lawyers argued in court that their clients pulled Nichols over for driving dangerously and suggested he provoked violence by breaking free and trying to run away, saying a police officer must make split-second decisions based on a subject's actions. The incident sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls for reform of the US criminal justice system, one of a series of high-profile cases of officers accused of using excessive force in the deaths of black people and other minorities, including George Floyd in 2020. In December, during Democratic President Joe Biden's term, the US Justice Department concluded a 17-month civil rights investigation, finding that the Memphis Police Department routinely used excessive force and discriminated against black people. The US political climate has shifted since then. May 8's verdict came days after Republican President Donald Trump issued an executive order that called for 'strengthening and unleashing America's law enforcement', while condemning efforts to 'demonise law enforcement and impose legal and political handcuffs'. The three men acquitted on state criminal charges on May 8 drew a mixed verdict when they stood trial in federal court last year. They were convicted of witness tampering in the case but cleared of charges that carried the potential for a life prison sentence. One of them, Haley, was found guilty on two counts of the lesser charge of deprivation of rights resulting in bodily injury, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Two other former officers involved in the beating pleaded guilty to state and federal charges and testified against their former colleagues in both cases. They have yet to be formally sentenced, but reached deals with prosecutors that their terms are not to exceed 40 and 15 years, respectively. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
