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Taylor Swift officially world’s top seller in 2014
NEW YORK - Taylor Swift was crowned the world’s top-selling artist in 2014 on Monday, although an industry group said that the Disney soundtrack “Frozen” would have beaten her. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, said that Swift was the world’s most popular recording artist last year when accounting for physical sales, downloads and streaming. Swift dominated US charts in late 2014 but the group said that she was also among the top five artists in the next largest markets of Germany, Japan and Britain. But the IFPI said that the blockbuster soundtrack to the Disney film “Frozen” would have topped Swift. The industry group, which did not give exact sales figures, awards the top rank solely to an individual artist. British boy band One Direction, which topped the list in 2013 year, was number
two, followed by British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and then more established acts Coldplay and AC/DC. Michael Jackson was sixth, even though the King of Pop died in 2009. Swift’s album “1989” last year sold 1.2 million copies in its first week in the United States, the top haul since Eminem’s “The Eminem Show” in 2002 when overall music sales were far higher. Swift has topped the charts, which now factor in streaming services, despite her highprofile fight with Spotify. Swift last year pulled her music from the growing Swedish streaming site, urging it to provide more compensation to artists. (afp)
Nielsen: Oscars viewership down 16 percent
NEW YORK — Oscar viewership was down 16 percent from last year and reached its lowest point since 2009, with 36.6 million people watching the Neil Patrick Harrishosted awards show on ABC Sunday night. The Nielsen company’s preliminary estimate of U.S. viewership was down from the 43.7 million people who watched last year, a feel-good show where host Ellen DeGeneres attracted attention for posting a “selfie” with various movie stars and having pizzas delivered to the audience. Last year’s show, which also had the star power of “Frozen,” Matthew McConaughey and U2, reached the biggest audience for any Academy Awards show since 2000. The Oscars tend to be the most-
watched entertainment program of the year on television, often second only to the Super Bowl. But viewership can be affected by the relative popularity of the movies up for big awards, and best picture winner “Birdman” wasn’t a particularly big box office draw. “American Sniper” was the most popular movie, but received one relatively minor award. There was also a movement among black viewers to boycott the awards show because all of the major acting nominees were white. There’s no way to immediately tell whether this had an impact on the decrease in viewers since Nielsen did not have an immediate breakdown of ethnic viewership. This year’s Oscars audience was the lowest since 36.3 million watched
in 2009, when “Slumdog Millionaire” won best picture. After a couple of years where awards show ratings in general were going up — a reflection of the desire among viewers for live programming — they appear to have flattened. Nielsen also said there were 5.9 million messages about the Academy Awards sent out through Twitter in the U.S. That’s roughly half the 11.2 million tweets sent out last year, when DeGeneres’ selfie replicated like wildfire online. Facebook said there were 58 million interactions worldwide on the Oscars, including posts and “likes.” The biggest individual moment for Twitter and Facebook was the same: Lady Gaga’s medley of songs from “The Sound of Music.” (ap)
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Redmayne completes journey to stars with Oscar glory
LONDON - Eddie Redmayne -the latest British actor to crack Hollywood -- is set to see his profile go cosmic after clinching the Oscar for his poignant and physically challenging portrayal of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. Having already won a BAFTA and Golden Globe for playing the disabled British scientist in “The Theory of Everything”, the 33year-old actor completed the trio on Oscar night. He bested “Birdman” star Michael Keaton, the other main favourite, as well as his friend and fellow countryman Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”), Steve Carell (“Foxcatcher”) and Bradley Cooper (“American Sniper”). “This belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS,” a visibly humbled Redmayne said, referring to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, from which Hawking suffers. “It belongs -- it belongs to one exceptional family -- Stephen, Jane, Jonathan and the Hawking children.” Redmayne built his reputation on the stage, television and as a supporting actor in several major films, but his first leading role as Hawking has elevated him to Hollywood’s A-list. The film is based on a memoir by Hawking’s wife Jane, played by fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, and recounts their doomed love story. The couple started dating in the 1960s at Cambridge University -- before Hawking was diagnosed at the age of 21 with ALS. The film charts their relationship as his health declined and fame grew, until their marriage fell apart in the early 1990s. Redmayne could have been left waiting for his first
leading role had it not been for a beer-fueled evening with director James Marsh. Despite having someone else in mind for the role, Marsh was convinced by Redmayne during a pub chat without the need for an audition. He then spent four months visiting people with motor neurone disease at a clinic in London and reading everything he could by Hawking. The result is a physical transformation that has been compared to Daniel Day-Lewis’s Oscar-winning performance in “My Left Foot”. Hawking has reportedly said there were moments watching the film when he thought he was watching himself, and was so impressed he allowed the director to use his trademark computerised voice. The son of a London banker with four siblings, Redmayne took acting classes from a young age and was a child extra in the West End production of “Oliver!” He attended the elite Eton school alongside Prince William and studied art history at Cambridge -- the same university where Hawking still works. Barely a year after graduating, Redmayne had a part in an all-male production of “Twelfth Night” by Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, and by 2004 had won his first theatre award. He has also appeared in a number of hit films including “The Good Shepherd”, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and “The Other Boleyn Girl”. He also played Marius in the Oscar-winning 2012 musical “Les Miserables”. Like Cumberbatch, Redmayne is blessed with chiselled good looks and has modelled for luxury brand Burberry. (afp)
WEATHER FORECAST 23 - 32 Dps
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Ukraine rebels claim weapons pullback begins Page 6
Monaco’s Berbatov seeks goals on London return
Cambodia PM says work on mega-dam will not start until 2018
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Executions won’t be delayed despite mercy pleas JAKARTA - President said on Tuesday the planned execution of 11 convicts on death row, most have two weeks to file an appeal. If on drugs charges, would not be delayed, warning foreign countries not to intervene in Jakarta’s the law is respected, the execution should be postponed until the legal right to use capital punishment. President Joko Widodo has denied clemency to the convicts despite repeated pleas from Australia, Brazil and France, who have citizens due to be executed soon by firing squad. “The first thing I need to say firmly is that there shouldn’t be any intervention towards the death penalty because it is our sovereign right to exercise our law,” President Joko Widodo told reporters. Wi d o do said he
took calls from the leaders of France, Brazil and the Netherlands about the death penalty but made no mention of Australia. Two Australians are among the 11 on death row. Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap. Shortly before Widodo spoke, a court in Jakarta threw out an appeal by the two Australians against
Widodo’s rejection of their request for presidential clemency. Australia has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to save the lives of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, two members of the so-called Bali Nine, convicted in 2005 as the ringleaders of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia. “According to the judge, the president’s rejection of (the) clemency petition is not an administrative act so this court does not have the jurisdiction to accept our case,” said Todung Mulya Lubis, a lawyer for the two men. “We plan to appeal today’s court decision. We
process is over.” Australia, which has long had rocky relations with its northern neighbour, has said it would consider recalling its ambassador to Indonesia in protest if the e x ecutions take place. It is not clear when the p a i r will be put to death, al-
ANTARA FOTO/Nyoman Budhiana
Brother of death convicted, Myuran Sukumaran, Chintu Sukumaran (right) and his mother Raji Sukumaran (left) visited Myuran in Kerobokan Jail on Tuesday. An Indonesian judge has rejected an appeal from two Australian men due to be executed in Indonesia after President Joko Widodo denied them clemency.
though the head of the prosecutor’s office in Bali, where they are in prison, previously said it is “very likely” that they will be transferred this week to an island off Java where the executions will take place. Authorities have to inform death row convicts 72 hours before they are executed. The looming executions have dramatically heightened tensions between Australia and Indonesia, fraying ties that were only just recovering from a spying row. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made repeated pleas for the men to be spared and even urged Indonesia to remember Canberra’s significant help in dealing with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. However, the remarks sparked anger in Indonesia, with several groups organising collections of coins to return the aid to Australia, and Vice President Jusuf Kalla saying the money would be given back if Canberra did not consider it “humanitarian”. Brazil and the Netherlands have already pulled their ambassadors after Indonesia executed two of their citizens on drug offences last month. Brazil took the further step of refusing to allow Indonesia’s new ambassador to take part in a credentials ceremony, prompting the Southeast Asian country to recall him back to Jakarta in protest. (rtr/afp) News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http:// globalfmbali.listen2myradio.com or live video streaming at http://radioglobalfmbali.com and http:// ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.