Carole Cook, legend of theater and screen and close friend of Lucille Ball, dead at 98

Carole Cook, an actress with a prolonged career in both theatre and film who was good friends with the late comedy legend Lucille Ball, has past away. She was 98.

A representative for Cook confirmed in a statement that the actress passed away on Wednesday afternoon in Beverly Hills, California, three days before her 99th birthday, of heart failure.

Infant Mildred Ball, who helped Cook in beginning her Hollywood career, encouraged Cook to change her first name when she was Frances Cook in Abilene, Texas.

Ball encouraged Cook to choose the name Carole in honour of the actress Carole Lombard since, like her, "you have the same healthy disrespect for all things in general."

Cook went on to make performances in "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy," and Ball remained his mentor and buddy. Ball, who was wed to Tom Troupe from 1964 until her death, was the matron of honour at Cook's wedding.

Cook had a long stage career, starring in "Steel Magnolias" national tour and the Broadway hit "Romantic Comedy," for which she was shortlisted for a Helen Hayes Award. She though while a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for her work on the "Father's Day" tour.

Her career also includes "American Gigolo," "Sixteen Candles," and the Disney animated classic "Home on the Range." She additionally previously appeared in a number of TV shows, including "Grey's Anatomy."

Cook and Troupe made history in 2002 when they became the first husband-and-wife team to win a Theatre Ovation Award for professional achievement. The Entertainment Community Fund, which attempts to offer a safety net for professionals in the performing arts and entertainment, is accepting donations in place of flowers from Cook's family.

Apple will start producing its own screens in 2024, moving away from Samsung.

As part of a drive to bring more components in-house and lessen its reliance on technology partners like Samsung and LG, Apple Inc. intends to begin employing its own bespoke displays in mobile devices as early as 2024.

According to those with knowledge of the situation, the company plans to start by replacing the display in the most expensive Apple Watches before the end of next year. Apple intends to eventually add the displays to other products, including the iPhone, and they replace the current OLED (organic light-emitting diode) standard with a microLED one.

The displays will soon be added to other devices, including the iPhone, according to Apple. The adjustments are a part of a larger initiative to switch from third-party to domestically produced parts, which will offer Apple more control over the appearance and functionality of its devices. In favour of its own designs, the tech giant has stopped using Intel Corp. CPUs in its Mac computers and intends to do the same with the iPhones' primary wireless components. Apple's spokesman in Cupertino, California declined to respond to a request for comment. Apple has been working on a screen switch for years. The company's intention to create its own displays, starting with the Apple Watch, was first covered by Bloomberg in 2018. The decision will hurt LG Display and Samsung Display Co.

the two primary screen manufacturers for the watch. Wei Chen, who oversees Apple's display technology group inside Johny Srouji's Hardware Technologies division, is in charge of the project for Apple. With an update to its new premium sports watch, the Apple Watch Ultra, the company has started testing the microLED displays. The next-generation displays are intended to provide brighter, more brilliant colours and the ability to be better seen at an angle as compared to the current Smart Watches. People who have seen the displays and asked to remain anonymous since the project is still under wraps claim that the content appears to be painted on top of the glass. The microLED panels will be Apple's first screens that were fully internal designed and built.

Two major hospitals in New York City are expecting nurse strikes

Due to a disagreement over compensation and staffing levels, nurses at two of the biggest hospitals in New York City are prepared to walk out on Monday.

After a weekend of negotiations that failed to generate a settlement for a new contract, nurses at two of New York City's top hospitals were prepared to walk out on Monday in a dispute over pay and staffing levels.

Up to 3,500 nurses from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and another 3,600 from Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan will participate in the walkout, which is scheduled to start at 6 a.m.

As a result of persistent understaffing that forces them to care for an excessive number of patients, the New York State Nurses Association, which represents the employees, claimed it was forced to take this severe action.

Nurses are reluctant to strike. By rejecting our ideas to address the desperate situation of hazardous staffing that damages our patients, managers have forced us to strike, the union claimed in a statement late Sunday.

In preparation for a walkout, hospitals have begun relocating patients, rerouting ambulances to other facilities, delaying non-emergency medical operations, and making plans to hire temporary staff.

Late on Sunday, Governor Kathy Hochul encouraged the hospitals and the union to submit their disagreement to formal arbitration.
The management of Montefiore declared in a statement that it was ready to let an arbitrator decide the contract "as a means to obtaining an equitable resolution."

The plan was not immediately accepted by the union. Hochul, a Democrat, was urged in a statement to "listen to the frontline COVID nursing heroes and honour our legally protected labour and collective bargaining rights."

The latest of a group of hospitals with contracts with the union that expired concurrently are Montefiore and Mount Sinai. Even in a city with as many hospitals as there were, the Nurses Association had first forewarned that it would all strike at once.

On Sunday, contracts for nurses at two Mount Sinai facilities were also reached in a preliminary manner. However, talks went on at the system's main hospital on the east side of Manhattan.

The union's emphasis on staffing-to-patient ratios, according to Mount Sinai's administration, "ignores the efforts we have made to attract and hire more new nurses, despite a global shortage of healthcare workers that is affecting hospitals across the country," they said in a statement.
Patients may experience delays in care, including ER visits and deliveries, if nurses go on strike.

Israeli missile attacks render the airport in Damascus inoperable.

Early on Monday, Israel launched missiles against the capital of Syria's international airport, knocking it out of commission and killing two troops and injuring two more, according to the Syrian army.

The Damascus International Airport was damaged in the strike, which was the second in seven months to do so, according to the army, which did not provide any other information.

Israel appears to be trying to stop Iranian militant groups, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, from receiving weaponry shipments by targeting airports and ports in government-held areas of Syria.

An arms depot nearby the facility south of Damascus as well as the airport were reportedly hit by Israeli raids, according to an opposition war monitor. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is located in Britain, four individuals were killed in the attack.

Israel didn't offer any commentary.

Infrastructure and runways were severely damaged by Israeli airstrikes that hit Damascus International Airport on June 10. After renovations, it reopened two weeks later. The international airport of Aleppo, Syria's main city and former commercial hub, was struck by Israeli airstrikes in September, rendering it inoperable for days.

Israeli aeroplanes fired missiles against the port of Latakia in the latter half of 2021, striking cargo and sparking a massive fire.
Israel has attacked government-controlled areas of Syria on hundreds of occasions in recent years, although it rarely admits or talks about these actions.

However, Israel has confirmed that it strikes the facilities of militant organisations with ties to Iran, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, which has dispatched thousands of men to aid Syrian President Bashar Assad's army.

The 11-year civil war in Syria has thousands of fighters who are supported by Iran, who have tipped the scales in Assad's favour.

Israel claims that having Iran on its northern border is a red line that justifies its attacks on Syrian facilities and arsenals