King Harald V of Norway Dies at 89

King Harald V of Norway, Europe's oldest reigning monarch, died Friday at Oslo University Hospital at 89. The palace said he had been admitted on Aug. 17 with fluid retention, a complication of cortisone treatment for a blood disorder, and that he later developed an infection.

Born Feb. 21, 1937, at Skaugum in Asker, he was the first Norwegian prince born in the country since Olav IV in 1370. After Germany's 1940 invasion he fled with his mother and two sisters to Sweden and then to the United States, while his father and grandfather went into exile in Britain. A lifelong sailor, he carried Norway's flag at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and competed again in 1968 and 1972, winning the One Ton Cup world championship in 1987. In 1968, after a nine-year courtship, he married Sonja Haraldsen, a commoner, having worn down his father's long resistance to the marriage.

Harald succeeded his father Olav V on Jan. 17, 1991, and reigned for 35 years, declining to abdicate as several other again European monarchs elected. Among his most remembered addresses was the one he gave after Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 attacks, which killed 77 people; he told Norwegians he had faith that freedom was stronger than fear. He is survived by Queen Sonja, two children and five grandchildren. His son succeeds him as King Haakon VIII.

 

Investigation Continues into Hayden Panettiere Death

Actress Hayden Panettiere, known for roles in “Heroes” and “Nashville,” died August 16 in Greenville, South Carolina, at age 36. She was found unresponsive and in cardiac arrest at an apartment, where emergency personnel attempted resuscitation, authorities said.

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy found no signs of trauma that would have contributed to her death. Police said their preliminary investigation found no indications of foul play or suspicious circumstances. The cause and manner of death remain pending toxicology and other testing, and the investigation remains active.

Police records identify Panettiere’s on-again, off-again partner, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, as being at the apartment. Hickerson showed officers a bag of medication Panettiere was taking. The report does not establish whether medication, drugs or alcohol contributed to her death. The Drug Enforcement Administration joined the investigation, according to sources cited by ABC News, though officials have not publicly explained its role.

Panettiere began acting as a child, rose to prominence as Claire Bennet on “Heroes,” and earned two Golden Globe nominations for playing Juliette Barnes on “Nashville.” Her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, was published in May.

 

Dolly Parton, Country Music’s Defining Figure, Dies at 80

Dolly Parton, the songwriter and performer who rose from poverty in the Smoky Mountains to become one of the most recognizable figure in country music, died Aug. 25 at 80 at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, surrounded by loved ones. Her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said she died after a brief battle with cancer (the type was not disclosed).

Ms. Parton was born Jan. 19, 1946, in Sevier County, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children of a sharecropper who could neither read nor write. She sang on local radio as a girl and moved to Nashville the day after graduating high school in 1964. Her breakthrough came on Porter Wagoner's television program. Wagoner continued producing her records for two more years after she left the program, and Parton marked her farewell to Wagoner with "I Will Always Love You," a song that became a worldwide standard after Whitney Houston recorded it in 1992. "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors" and "9 to 5" rank among Parton’s other enduring compositions.

By most estimates she sold more than 100 million records, and she won 11 Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement honor. She acted in several films, including "9 to 5" and "Steel Magnolias."

Parton helped launch the Dollywood theme park in 1986, and in 1995 founded the Imagination Library, which has mailed more than 332 million books to children from birth to age 5 across five countries. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Her husband of nearly 59 years, Carl Dean, died in March 2025.

 

Seattle Food Festival Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, 4 Hurt

Three people were killed and at least four wounded Sunday, July 26, when two groups exchanged gunfire during the Bite of Seattle festival at Seattle Center, police said. The dead were a 44-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman, both bystanders, and a 19-year-old man police believe was one of the shooters. A 15-year-old is in juvenile detention. Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes called the shooting targeted and gang-related, said police are seeking at least one more, unidentified suspect, and said investigators don't yet know who fired the fatal shots.

 

Burnham Becomes UK Prime Minister as Starmer Exits

Andy Burnham became Britain's prime minister on July 20, appearing outside 10 Downing Street shortly after Starmer's departure. "I go with good grace, I go with a smile," Starmer told his wife, cabinet and colleagues on Monday, ending a premiership that began with a landslide win just two years earlier.

Starmer resigned as Labour leader on June 22, having clung on after May elections in which Labour lost nearly 1,500 English council seats and power in Wales, where it fell to third with nine of 96 Senedd seats. Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 until his automatic disqualification in June, was blocked by Labour's NEC from contesting a February by-election but entered Parliament by winning Makerfield on June 18, after its MP resigned to make way. He was declared leader unopposed on July 17, backed by 379 of Labour's 403 lawmakers. Burnham is Britain's seventh prime minister since 2016. He inherits a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living squeeze and overstretched public services, though Labour has since drawn level with Reform UK in the polls. "I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it," he said on becoming leader. The next general election is due by August 15, 2029.