Last year marked a return to normal for the theme park industry around the world with operators reporting revenues at par or above pre-pandemic levels

It’s been out for more than three weeks, and yet Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is still painting the movie industry pink after smashing several fresh box office records. The new movie, starring Margot Robbie as the iconic doll, has become the highest-grossing movie at the US box office by a female director, solo or otherwise - much to the chagrin of Ben Shapiro. The previous record was held by Jennifer Lee, the director of Frozen 2, after the Disney film banked $477.4m at US box offices. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter But this Barbie just keeps breaking records. The movie hit $492.6m on Thursday 10 August, and it now stands at $526.3m in the US. Barbie also became the highest-grossing live-action movie by a female director after the fourth weekend in cinemas. The pink sensation overtook Captain Marvel, which earned $1.13bn globally in 2019 and was co-directed by Anna Boden. Gerwig's movie has now taken $1.18bn to date. The records keep tumbling despite the fact that Robbie was not even first choice for the role, which she revealed last week. The actor, who was also a producer on the movie, recently told Vogue that both her and director Greta Gerwig initially wanted Gal Gadot for the role but scheduling conflicts got in the way. “Gal Gadot is Barbie energy. Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don’t hate her for being that beautiful because she’s so genuinely sincere, and she’s so enthusiastically kind, that it’s almost dorky. It’s like right before being a dork,” she said. Barbie was also banned in Kuwait recently, and now faces calls for a ban in Lebanon amid complaints in the Arab nations about the film’s social values. There are currently no plans in the works for a sequel. “At this moment it’s all I’ve got. I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I’ll never have another idea and everything I’ve ever wanted to do, I did," Gerwig said in a recent interview. “I wouldn't want to squash anybody else’s dream, but for me, at this moment, I’m at totally zero." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Houston Astros are bringing back Justin Verlander, acquiring the three-time Cy Young Award winner from the New York Mets in a trade deadline blockbuster Tuesday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the agreement

People searched for victims after an earthquake killed and injured thousands in Afghanistan’s Herat province, supporters of Israel embraced near the Israeli Consulate in New York during a demonstration in the wake of a deadly attack by Hamas, and people prayed for rain during a drought near the Incachaca dam on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia. In sports, the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, wrapped up.

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After five decades of agony for the family of a nine-year-old girl who was raped and killed, police have identified the culprit of the heinous crime. Debbie Lynn Randall vanished in mid-January of 1972. Her body, which had been raped and strangled, was found 16 days later after thousands of people banded together to search for the missing girl. She was thought to have been abducted from a nearby laundromat in Marietta and was found near an intersection of Windy Hill and Powers Ferry Road in Marietta, Georgia. For decades, the family never learned who did this to the nine-year-old, with her parents dying before they ever got to know the truth. In 2022, a piece of cloth that was recovered from the crime scene was sent to forensics for further analysis after police obtained more DNA testing funding. DNA Labs Internation conducted further testing and found a potential match for the killer, and contacted the family to provide additional DNA samples for comparison. The man they finally landed on was identified as William Rose, someone who was never on police radar at the time. William Rose, however, will never face justice for his crime, as he died by suicide in 1974, two years after he killed Debbie. He was 24 at the time of the murder and would have been around 75 if he were still alive. Debbie’s mother died of leukaemia in 2018 and her father died only last year, however, her brother, Melvin Randall was at the news conference to hear who the person was who killed his sister. "My family appreciates everything they’ve done - all the time and the effort that they’ve done to bring to a close." Mr Randall said. "I wish my mother was here, but I know she knows in heaven that it’s finally over." Debbie went to the laundromat half a block away from her house with her stepfather at around 7pm, but he left before her, reports WAFB. Around 8.30pm Debbie’s mother became concerned about her whereabouts and went out the laundromat to try and find her, but an employee said she left an hour before. Two local youths said that a dark pickup truck backed up in a parking lot near the girl’s home and drove away quickly. All that was left in the parking lot was spilt laundry detergent. While Rose did not live in the area, he likely often visited the the community because he had relatives there, Ron Alter, a cold case investigator with the district attorney’s office said. "If he drove by, I’m sure he saw her. I believe that was a crime of opportunity. He saw her by herself and abducted her," Mr Alter said. He also confirmed that Rose had prior arrests for alcohol-related incidents. Mr Alter said it’s possible Rose killed himself because he was afraid of being caught or going to jail. It was thanks to new technological advances in DNA testing that justice and peace were given to this family after all this time "It may take us some time, but with the new technologies that are coming out every day, we’re going to do everything we can to solve our cold cases, to make sure we bring people to justice," Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady said. As for Debbie’s surviving brother, he says that he has forgiven Rose for what he did to his sister. “I learned over the years that it does you no good to hate or hold grudges,” he said. Read More Georgia deputies killed in ‘ambush’ while serving arrest warrant The BTK killer’s need for notoriety led to his capture a decade ago. He’s now a ‘prime suspect’ in at least two other murders ‘Lady of the Dunes’ killer identified after nearly 50 years

Most draft analysts saw a potentially useful role player in Franz Wagner before the NBA Draft. But this could be the season he breaks out as a legit star.

CATAÑO, Puerto Rico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 2, 2023--

A dozen people -- including seven children -- in Houston were taken to the hospital for chemical exposure due to an apparent over-chlorination of a lazy river pool, authorities said.

Five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, trying for a third consecutive 100-200 sprint gold double next year in Paris, will train under coach Reynaldo Walcott...

Andrew Tate also stated that he feels disheartened seeing men lack the mental strength when it comes to pornography