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LOS ANGELES -- Louise Fletcher, a late-blooming star whose riveting performance as the cruel and calculating Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” set a new standard for screen villains and won her an Academy Award, has died at age 88. Fletcher died in her sleep surrounded by family at her home in Montdurausse, France, her agent David Shaul told The Associated Press on Friday. No cause was given. After putting her career on hold for years to raise her children, Fletcher was in her early 40s and little known when chosen for the role opposite Jack Nicholson in the 1975 film by director Milos Forman, who had admired her work the year before in director Robert Altman’s “Thieves Like Us.” At the time, she didn’t know that many other prominent stars, including Anne Bancroft, Ellen...

A tropical storm that is currently on track to make landfall in Florida next week as a hurricane could strengthen into a Category 4 storm, the latest forecast shows. Tropical Storm Ian formed over the central Caribbean Sea late Friday, becoming the ninth tropical storm of the season. This satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Ian over the central Caribbean, on Sept. 24, 2022. NOAA via AP The storm is expected to continue to strengthen over the weekend into a hurricane by Sunday night as it approaches the Cayman Islands. A hurricane watch is currently in effect for the Cayman Islands. MORE: Fiona updates: Now a post-tropical cyclone, Fiona heads to Canada Ian is forecast to strengt...

The Federal Reserve escalated its fight against inflation this week, instituting a major rate increase and saying more will likely follow. The moves will cause a jump in the number of unemployed Americans by the end of next year, the central bank said. The Fed has put forward a series of aggressive interest rate hikes in recent months as it tries to slash price increases by slowing the economy and choking off demand. But the approach risks tipping the United States into a recession and causing widespread joblessness. Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday acknowledged that rate hikes would cause pain for the U.S. economy, as growth slows and unemployment rises. He added, however, that "a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain later on." The job losses forecasted by...

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbia has signed an agreement with Russia for mutual “consultations” on foreign policy matters, the Balkan country’s media reported Saturday. Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selakovic signed the agreement Friday along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York, where most Western delegations shunned Russia's top diplomat over the country's invasion of Ukraine. The consultation plan covered by the agreement is expected to last for two years, Serbia's foreign ministry said in a Friday statement. Serbia officially is a candidate for European Union membership, but the government maintains relations with Russia. Although Serbia said it supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the government has r...

About two-thirds of Nova Scotia and the entirety of Prince Edward Island are currently without power as Fiona, now a post-tropical cyclone, continues to lash the east coast of Canada with strong, gusty winds. It's the most intense landfalling system Canada has ever seen. While it has lost its tropical characteristics, Fiona is still producing hurricane-force winds over a large area. Wind gusts over 85 mph were recorded in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Saturday. Residents stand in flood waters following the passing of Hurricane Fiona, later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, in Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada, on Sept. 24, 2022. Greg Locke/Reuters This Sept. 24, 2022, image courtesy of Michael King, special advisor to Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey...

LONDON -- Buckingham Palace released a photo Saturday giving the first public glimpse of the new ledger stone installed at the final resting place of Queen Elizabeth II. The image shows the hand-carved Belgian black marble slab with brass letter inlays set into the floor of King George VI Memorial Chapel, St. George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. Surrounded by floral wreaths and bouquets, it is inscribed with her name and the years of her birth and death, alongside those of her father, George VI; her mother, Elizabeth; and her husband, Philip, who died last year. It replaces a previous slab that had only her parents. All four royals were members of the Order of the Garter, which has St. George’s Chapel as its spiritual home. The release came ahead of the queen’s buria...