Spike Lee to do MJ flick
Spike Lee worked with Michael Jackson and considered him a friend, but the director says even he learned a lot combing through footage of the icon for a planned documentary about the singer's Bad album.
Lee calls it a "treasure chest of findings."
"We have footage in this documentary that no one's ever seen, stuff that Michael shot himself, behind-the-scenes stuff," he said in an interview Monday. "We had complete access to the vaults of Michael Jackson. ... He wrote 60 demos for the Bad record. Only 11 made it. So we got to hear a lot of that stuff, too, so it was just a great experience."
Hunger Games confirms fourth film
The final instalment in bestselling book trilogy The Hunger Games will be split into two films.
According to film studio Lionsgate, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 will be released in November 2014, with Part 2 to follow 12 months later.
The film franchise is based on the teen science-fiction books by Suzanne Collins.
The first movie, starring Jennifer Lawrence, smashed box office records when it was released in March.
It has now taken $678 million (£436m) worldwide and is currently the year's second highest-grossing film in the US, behind The Avengers.
Lawrence plays rebel heroine Katniss Everdeen, who is trained to fight to the death in televised competitions in a future US society called Panem.
The second instalment. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is due in cinemas in November 2013 and will be directed by Francis Lawrence of I Am Legend fame.
Earlier this week it was revealed that Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman has signed up to play games master Plutarch Heavensbee in the sequel.
Filming is due to start in September, with Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Donald Sutherland all confirmed to reprise their original roles.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay follows the example set by the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises.
In both cases, the final books in the teen literary franchises have generated two separate films.
Collins' book trilogy currently holds the top three places in the UK's children's bestseller list of 2012.
Cruise and Holmes reach divorce deal
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have reached an agreement to settle their divorce, representatives of both film stars have confirmed.
"The case has been settled and the agreement has been signed," Holmes' lawyer, Jonathan Wolfe, said in a statement to People magazine.
"We are thrilled for Katie and her family," he added.
A spokeswoman for Cruise confirmed the settlement in an email to Reuters: "It is done."
The actor's lawyer, Bert Fields, also confirmed the deal in a statement: "Tom is really pleased we got there and so am I."
Representatives for Holmes and Cruise declined to elaborate on the agreement.
Mr Wolfe said in a later statement that terms of the settlement were confidential and will not be disclosed.
In a joint statement released earlier on Monday, the pair said they were "working together" to settle custody of their daughter Suri, six.
"We are committed to working together as parents to accomplish what is in our daughter Suri's best interests," the statement read.
"We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other's commitment to our respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents."
The divorce has raised speculation among Hollywood media that the couple differed on raising Suri as a Scientologist. Neither Holmes nor Cruise's legal team would comment.
A lawyer for the Church of Scientology denied last week that Cruise wanted Suri to join the Sea Organization, sometimes described as the organisation's militaristic wing.
It was revealed last month that Holmes, 33, was filing for divorce.
It was Holmes' first marriage and Cruise's third. He previously was married to actresses Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman, which both ended in divorce. He adopted two children with Kidman.
Cruise also had a three-year relationship with the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz.
Paul Talbert, a family law expert, told Reuters news agency the settlement had been reached quickly for such a high-profile couple.
"Cases with so many moving parts do not routinely resolve themselves in a matter of 10 days. We obviously have one or two extremely motivated people," Mr Talbert said.
"Nobody wins in a messy public battle, and you certainly have two concerned parents here that recognised Suri definitely loses if this is a public divorce."
Eiffel proposal
The divorce brings to an end a relationship that began with very public displays of affection.
Holmes once admitted she had a childhood crush on the Hollywood celebrity, and had kept posters of him on her bedroom wall.
Cruise famously raised eyebrows when he jumped on a sofa on the Oprah Winfrey Show as he declared his love for the actress.
He proposed to Holmes at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the couple were married in an Italian castle by a Church of Scientology minister.
Cruise, who turned 50 last week, was Hollywood's highest-paid actor in 2011, and has starred in blockbusters such as Top Gun, Jerry Maguire and the Mission Impossible series.
Holmes rose to fame on US television drama Dawson's Creek. She has also appeared in Batman Begins and Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark.
Haitian migrant drowns, 79 detained
A military official in the Bahamas says one woman drowned when a boat carrying dozens of Haitian migrants ran aground in the country.
Lt. Origin Delevaux of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force says immigration authorities have detained 79 people but the exact number of people who were on board has not been established. At least six of the migrants were children.
The vessel ran aground Tuesday along the southern tip of New Providence, the island that includes the capital of Nassau.
Many Haitians have migrated to the Bahamas in recent years to work low-wage jobs in the island chain or to try to get to the United States. In June, 11 Haitians died when their boat capsized off the Bahamian island of Abaco as they tried to reach Florida.
Copywrited by AP
Hugo Chavez says his recuperation from cancer will not affect his re-election bid
President Hugo Chavez said Monday he’s completely free of cancer and assured Venezuelans that physical limitations stemming from his recuperation will not affect his re-election campaign.
Speaking at a news conference, Chavez said he’s “totally free” of cancer and plans to begin actively campaigning soon following months of radiation treatment, physical rehabilitation and medical exams.
“I feel in better physical condition every day,” he said. Over the past 13 months, Chavez has undergone two surgeries that removed tumors from his pelvic region, most recently in February.
The socialist leader has not disclosed key details about his illness including the type of cancer that had been diagnosed.
Following his cancer treatment, Chavez has appeared in public less frequently, preferring to address Venezuelans during marathon speeches broadcast on television and radio.
Chavez called on his supporters to prepare for “an offensive,” when he plans to start attending campaign rallies.
Jamaican man among three killed in NY - 63 spent shells at the scene
Enraged gunmen — one of them packing an AK-47 — stalked and executed three men on a Queens street in a hail of bullets that friends say was sparked by a nightclub glance at the wrong woman.
The killers sprayed 63 shots around 5 a.m. Saturday as the victims sat in a double-parked Jeep Grand Cherokee — unaware the shooters were closing in, police said.
“Someone followed (them) from the club,” said an emotional Katie Bussereth, sister of the slain driver, Jaime Bussereth. “They didn’t want any money. They just wanted death.”
The three men died from multiple bullet wounds in a scene reminiscent of an old-school mob hit. The trio had stopped to drop off a friend, who somehow survived the gunfire on 144th St. at 85th Ave. in Jamaica.
The heavy firepower used has investigators looking at whether drugs motivated the gory killings.
One of the victims was shot right out of his shoes, with his barefoot body left on the street. A fourth man was wounded in the blizzard of assault rifle bullets. Investigators, who also found 9-mm. shell casings at the scene, believe there were at least two shooters.
One of the victims had not been identified by early Sunday. The other two victims were Bussereth, 33, a father of three, and Jamaican-born Jason Wood, 27, who has a 4-year-old son in his homeland.
Daily News
FBI issues reward for Fast and Furious murder
The FBI has offered a $1m (£644,000) reward for information on four suspects wanted over the killing of a US border patrol agent in December 2010.
In an indictment issued on Monday in Arizona, the men are accused of murdering Brian Terry.
Two firearms found at the crime scene went missing in the botched gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious.
A congressional inquiry into the matter led to a historic contempt vote against the US attorney general last month.
The FBI named the four fugitives as Mexicans Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, Ivan Soto-Barraza, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, and Lionel Portillo-Meza, whose nationality was not given.
'Cannabis smugglers'
A fifth suspect, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, has been in custody since the night of the shooting on 12 December 2010, said a statement by the Department of Justice.
He was shot during the gunfight that led to the death of Terry, a former marine and Michigan police officer.
"Agent Terry served his country honourably and made the ultimate sacrifice in trying to protect it from harm, and we will stop at nothing to bring those responsible for his murder to justice," said Attorney General Eric Holder.
As well as murder, the suspects are charged with assaulting four federal agents.
The five men, plus another who faces lesser charges in the case, came to the US from Mexico in order to rob cannabis smugglers, according to the indictment.
The Department of Justice said last month that it would not prosecute the attorney general over his refusal to hand over to Congress documents on the bungled gun-running operation.
Their statement followed a vote by lawmakers in the House of Representatives to hold the US government's top justice official in contempt.
Launched in 2009 in Arizona by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Fast and Furious was a sting operation designed to track weapons smuggled to Mexican drug cartels.
But hundreds of the illegal guns went missing.
--BBC
ILO warns eurozone risks losing 4.5 million more jobs
The eurozone could lose 4.5 million more jobs in the next four years unless the region shifts away from austerity, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned.
That rise would take unemployment in the 17-nation bloc to 22 million.
The ILO said a concerted policy shift away from austerity towards job creation was needed.
"It's not only the eurozone that's in trouble, the entire global economy is at risk of contagion," it said.
The report said that all 17 countries in the eurozone would suffer, both those currently under stress and their healthier counterparts.
"Unless targeted measures are taken to increase real economy investments, the economic crisis will deepen and the employment recovery will never take off," said ILO director-general Juan Somavia.
The report added that the consequences of a longer period of austerity would be particularly severe for young people.
It said that unemployment had not been as bad so far in the downturn as it might have been because some companies were hanging onto staff in the hope of an imminent recovery.
"If their expectations don't come true, worker retention may become unsustainable, leading to significant jobs losses," it warned.
The ILO recommends:
- Making support for the financial system conditional on the resumption of lending to small businesses
- Making shareholders pay for the bailouts of banks
- Guaranteeing unemployed young people training, education or work placements
- Changing pay levels in different eurozone countries to address differences in productivity.
The unemployment rate in the eurozone hit 11.1% in May, according to official figures from Eurostat.
It took the total number of people out of work to 17.56 million, the highest level since records began in 1995.
In Spain, which has the highest unemployment rate in the eurozone, one in four people is now out of work, .
The youth unemployment rate in the eurozone stood at 22.6% in May, meaning 3.4 million people under the age of 25 were jobless.
Anniversary of the Peg of the EC Dollar
July 7th marked 36 years since the EC dollar has been pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate of EC$2.70 to US$1.00.
Deputy Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Mr Trevor Brathwaite says the stability of the EC dollar provides the citizens of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) with a level of certainty where they can make financial decisions with confidence knowing that the value of the currency will not fluctuate.
According to Mr Brathwaite, over the years, the backing of the EC dollar has been maintained at over 90 per cent, which is well above the legal benchmark of 60 per cent.
He added that maintaining the peg has proven, over the years, to be a sound decision, which contributes to the economic stability and development of the eight ECCB member states.
China cuts retail fuel price by 5% as oil demand falls
China, the world's second biggest consumer of fuel, has cut retail oil prices by about 5% with immediate effect.
This is the third cut in two months, and some analysts say could be an attempt to increase fuel consumption.
Demand for oil fell for the first time in three years in April.
Domestic and global factors have weighed on the Chinese economy in recent months, which has shown signs of slowing.
Gasoline retail prices will be reduced by 420 yuan ($65.90; £42.50) a tonne and diesel prices by 400 yuan, the National Development and Reform Commission said.
It added that the move was made in response to lower international crude prices and changes in the "conditions of domestic and international economies, as well as the domestic refined oil market".
China introduced an oil pricing system in 2009 to reflect fluctuations in the price of crude oil on international markets.
The system kicks in when prices change by more than 4% within 22 working days, according to Xinhua news agency.
However, some analysts said that if there are further cuts, it could squeeze the profits of state-owned and private refineries.
Lower retail prices are also likely to further ease inflation which cooled in June to the lowest level in more than two years.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% from last year, data showed.