I N T E R N A T I O N A L
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
16 Pages Number 7 7th year
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Friday, December 26, 2014
Sony streams North Korea comedy online
Entertainment
LOS ANGELES - Entertainment giant Sony on Wednesday streamed “The Interview,” the movie that has outraged North Korea for lampooning dictator Kim Jong-Un, giving an early online Christmas present to US viewers. The madcap, irreverent R-rated comedy was available for rent in the United States from 1800 GMT on several platforms, a day before a limited release in about 200 cinemas on Christmas Day. It was being distributed on Google’s YouTube for a $5.99 rental fee, on the Google Play app for Android devices and on a dedicated website, seetheinterview.com. A bawdy, expletive-laden tale full of sexual innuendo and scatological humor, the film’s future had been in doubt after Sony said it was canceling the release after an embarrassing cyber-attack on its corporate network and threats
against moviegoers. The US has blamed the hack attack on North Korea, and President Barack Obama has threatened reprisals. But Sony had come under fire from Obama and free speech advocates for pulling the film, and the studio quickly performed an about-face. While some US movie theater chains got cold feet after anonymous online threats, a limited number have agreed to show the film from Thursday. Meanwhile Google and Microsoft joined forces with Sony to release the film to online audiences. “After discussing
all the issues, Sony and Google agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country -- however silly the content might be,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a blog post. Starring comic actors Seth Rogen and James Franco, the film is a silly, low-brow romp about a CIA plot to assassinate Kim. A kind of a cross between a slapstick James Bond movie and “Hangover,” it is aimed squarely at an audience (most likely teen boys) out for a fun but vacuous night at the cinema.
Clint Eastwood and his wife finalize divorce
AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File
In this Oct. 10, 2010 file photo, director and producer Clint Eastwood, right, and wife Dina Marie Eastwood attend the premiere of “Hereafter” at Alice Tully Hall during the 48th New York Film Festival, in New York.
MONTEREY, California — Clint Eastwood and his wife of 18 years have finalized their divorce. A Monterey County Superior Court judge finalized the Eastwoods’ divorce Tuesday and approved a judgment that does not state how the pair will divide their assets. Clint and Dina Marie Eastwood have one daughter together. She turned 18 years old earlier this month. The Oscar-winning director’s wife filed for divorce in October 2013, citing irreconcilable differences. The Eastwoods have been married since March 1996. They met when she was assigned to interview the 83-year-old actor for a TV news station. Clint Eastwood was previously married to Maggie Johnson from 1953 to 1984.
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Friday, December 26, 2014
Survivors huddle after violence in India kills 72
Balotelli not suited to Liverpool’s style
Priests march, protest attacks in southern Mexico
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Pope urges ‘tenderness’ as millions celebrate Christmas
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called for “tenderness” and “warmth” after a violence-plagued year as millions of Christians began marking Christmas. AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File
Jackie Chan expresses shame over son’s drug charge BEIJING — Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan said he feels shame for his son, who has been indicted by Beijing prosecutors on a drug charge and could be jailed for up to three years. The remarks, reported Wednesday by China’s official Xinhua News Agency, came two days after authorities announced the indictment against Jaycee Chan, 32, who is charged with sheltering others to use drugs. The scandal has been particularly embarrassing for Jackie Chan, who was named by Beijing as an anti-drug ambassador in 2009. Jackie Chan, who sits on China’s top national political advisory panel — the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference — told Xinhua that he did not use his connections to interfere with the case and that he hopes his singeractor son will become an anti-drug ambassador when he is released. Beijing police detained the younger Chan at his Beijing apartment in August along with Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai. Police said Chan and Ko both tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug, and that 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of
it were taken from Chan’s home. Ko, whose real name is Ko Chentung, was released after a 14-day administrative detention for the drug use, but Chan — who has remained in detention since August — is faced with the more serious criminal charge. State broadcaster CCTV in August aired video of the police raid on Chan’s apartment, in which Chan was shown identifying marijuana in his possession. Ko testified on camera that he had used drugs at Chan’s home. CCTV also said Chan told police that he has been using drugs for eight years. In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that illegal drugs should be wiped out and that offenders should be severely punished. The crackdown snared more than 7,800 people in Beijing alone, according to police, and celebrities were targeted because of their influence over the public. As the only son of Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan commands much media attention. The younger Chan has appeared in several films and has released three albums. (ap)
The Argentine pontiff’s brief homily was replete with Gospel references in his Christmas Eve mass, broadcast live in 3D for the first time. “Do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us?” the pope asked in Saint Peter’s Basilica, filled with some 5,000 worshippers. “Or do we prefer impersonal solutions, perhaps effective but devoid of the warmth of the Gospel? How much the world needs tenderness today!” he said. The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics also called on “the arrogant, the proud... (and) those closed off to others” to meet life “with goodness, with meekness.” On Thursday, in his second “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) message, the pope was expected to address the plight of Christians and other religious minorities suffering persecution in the Middle East, notably at the hands of the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group. He was also due to touch on the war in Syria, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the Ebola epidemic, Islamic fundamentalist violence in northeastern Nigeria and the Ukraine conflict. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was expected to pay tribute to the “selflessness” of medical staff and aid workers fighting the Ebola epidemic in her annual Christmas Day broadcast. In Bethlehem on Christmas Eve hectic preparations preceded celebrations on the West Bank town’s biggest night of the year, culminating in midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity built over the spot where Christians believe the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. Scouts playing bagpipes and drums marched to the church in a procession led by Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the top Catholic cleric in the Holy Land. In his homily Twal called for “peace in Jerusalem”, where violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians rocked the city for months, and “equality and mutual respect” among all faiths. He also asked for the rebuilding of Gaza,
which was ravaged this summer during a 50day war between Hamas and Israel in which more than 2,200 people died. Outside the church at Manger Square, a man dressed as Santa Claus handed out sweets next to a giant green Christmas tree decorated with red, black and silver baubles -- the colours of the Palestinian flag. But for many faithful across the region, the festivities will be tinged with sadness following a year of bloodshed marked by a surge in the persecution of Christians that has drawn international condemnation. “For many of you, the music of your
Christmas hymns will also be accompanied by tears and sighs,” Pope Francis wrote in a long letter addressed to Christians in the Middle East. Francis delivered a Christmas message via telephone to refugees displaced to Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region. “Dear brothers, I am close to you, very close to you in my heart,” the pope was quoted as telling the refugees by Italian press agency AGI. “The children and the elderly are in my heart,” Francis also told the Iraqi refugees in the Ankawa camp. In Baghdad, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said about 150,000 Christians had been displaced by an offensive spearheaded by
the Islamic State group, which has targeted Christians and other minorities, with dozens leaving Iraq each day. Iraq’s displaced Christians “still live in a tragic situation and there are no quick solutions for them,” Sako told AFP. In Syria, Christians in the war-torn city of Homs were enjoying their first Christmas in three years in the Hamidiyeh neighbourhood, with a brightly coloured tree and a manger made from rubble set up in the middle of the ruins. “Our joy is indescribable,” said Taghrid Naanaa while picking out tree decorations at a shop in the district, which the Syrian army recaptured from rebel fighters this year.
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ANTARA FOTO/Wira Suryantala
Christians followed Christmas mass during Christmas celebration on Wednesday, December 24, 2014 at Bali Island. Pope Francis called for “tenderness” and “warmth” after a violence-plagued year as millions of Christians began marking Christmas.