5 things you absolutely must know today

Alan Rickman has died of cancer at the age of 69. The loveable and talented actor’s death was confirmed by his family on Thursday in London, according to the Guardian newspaper. Rickman rose to the big screen after his 1988 role as Hans Gruber in Die Hard. And later, of course, Robin Hood, Harry Potter, Love Actually, and many more films he either starred in or directed. He was politically active until the end, having been born a card-carrying member of the Labour party. “Actors are agents of change,” he said. “A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.”Rickman met his wife, Rima Horton, in 1968 when they were teenagers, and they have been together since. The details surrounding the cancer that took him have not yet been released. Earlier this week, musician David Bowie also succumbed to cancer at the age of 69. [Source: Guardian]

Photo series depicts widening economic disparities across globe

1% Privilege in a Time of Global Inequality features photographs depicting class disparities around the world. The book focuses mainly on the wealthy, its creators believing that in photography depicting the underprivileged the viewer tacitly accepts the subject’s fate and is not compelled to change what is. “When we glamorize or hero-ize the bottom one percent, the struggling migrants, in a sense we accept their plight and say that we, in a sense, permit this to continue happening, this economic injustice,” the book’s editor Myles Little told National Geographic. “Instead of turning people like that into icons or heroes, you might say instead that they are victims of a crime—and it’s not them that we should be interrogating, but maybe the people who put them there.” The book project and related installations and exhibits took inspiration from the Family of Man photo collection shot in the 1950s. [Source: National Geographic]

Explosions, gunfights devastate Jakarta 

Jakarta, India was hit with up to seven explosions and a reported multitude of gunfights Thursday in what is being called an organized attack by Islamic State. The attacks left seven dead and 17 wounded. In one incident, Jakarta forces were involved in a three-hour standoff near a department store Starbucks that ended when seven armed militants blew themselves up. Aamaaq news, which has Islamic State ties, said the terror group carried out the attack targeting “foreigners and the security forces tasked with protecting them in the Indonesian capital.” Fourteen gunmen were involved in the attacks. [Source: Guardian]

Ebola outbreak is officially over: WHO

The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in west Africa over and done. The positive news comes two years after the first case of the deadly virus was reported in Guinea. The last known and treated case was 42 days ago in Liberia. This latest Ebola epidemic killed more than 11,000 of the more than 28,500 people it infected. “Detecting and breaking every chain of transmission has been a monumental achievement,” said WHO director Margaret Chan. “So much was needed and so much was accomplished by national authorities, heroic health workers, civil society, local and international organisations and generous partners. But our work is not done and vigilance is necessary to prevent new outbreaks.” [Source: Guardian]

Kevin O’Leary eyeing Conservative leadership

Kevin O’Leary is not ruling out running for the Conservative leadership when the race begins 18 months from now. “I thought at some point, someone is going to say to me, if you can be such a critic, why don’t you do better? Why don’t you try it?” O’Leary told CBC News. “I thought to myself, hmmm, maybe I should. Every word that comes out of a politician’s mouth, including mine, should I elect to go for this, is how does it create the next incremental job, That’s what I care about.” O’Leary has been in the news recently over his spat with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. O’Leary claims Notley is unfit to lead a province containing what he thinks is Canada’s No. 1 resource: Oil. Earlier this week, O’Leary said he’d contribute one million dollars to Canada’s oil industry if  Notley would step down as premier. Notley said “bring it on” to whatever battle O’Leary thinks he’s waging. [Source: CBC]

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