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| Japanese film "Homeland" tiptoes into Fukushima nuclear debate Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 06:22 PM PST By Ruairidh Villar and Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese farming family is forced from their home by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, living in cramped temporary housing under stress as they wait for permission to return to land worked by their ancestors for generations. That is the all-too-real backdrop of "Homeland", the first Japanese mass-market film set in Fukushima since the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years made the area's name infamous. Despite an intense debate about whether to restart the rest of Japan's nuclear reactors that were idled after the disaster, director Nao Kubota said he opted to tell a human story. "That's what I want everyone to feel - and it's for that reason that it's not anti-nuclear." On March 11, 2011, a massive offshore earthquake sent tsunami tearing through villages in northeastern Japan, setting off meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant that irradiated a wide swath of countryside and forced more than 150,000 people from their homes. Full Story | Top |
| 161 years a misspelling: NY Times corrects story on 'Slave' subject Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 02:06 PM PST  By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times on Tuesday corrected a 161-year-old story about Solomon Northup, whose memoir was the basis for the Academy Award-winning movie "12 Years a Slave." The January 20, 1853, article, headlined "The Kidnapping Case," tells the story of Northup, a black man born free in the northern United States, who was kidnapped in Washington D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery in Louisiana. That article misspelled Northup's surname, referring to him as "Solomon Northrop," while its headline misspelled it as "Northrup," according to the correction, which followed Sunday's Oscars ceremony, where the film based on Northup's experience was named Best Picture. The correction followed a series of Twitter posts from best-selling author Rebecca Skloot, whose tweets about the article contained their own typographical errors. On Monday, Skloot tweeted "Original 1953 NYTimes article on kidnapping of Solomon Northrup #12YearsASlave #history" and provided a link, which was later amended, or "fixed," as she noted in a retweet. Full Story | Top |
| Verizon in talks with content providers for online video service Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 01:25 PM PST  By Marina Lopes NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications is in talks with content providers to deliver web-based TV services to mobile platforms, chief executive Lowell McAdam, said at an investor conference on Tuesday. A day earlier, Dish Network Corp and Walt Disney Co announced a landmark deal that will allow the No. 2 satellite TV provider to deliver Disney-owned network content online, outside of a traditional TV subscription. Verizon's goal "is to work with the content providers," said McAdam at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bieber police video may be released, minus genitalia -judge Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 01:14 PM PST  By Zachary Fagenson and David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - A judge on Tuesday ruled that video images of a partially-clad Justin Bieber while the pop singer was in police custody in Florida can be released, but only after blocking out his genitals. The video clips included Bieber providing a urine sample for a drug test following his arrest by police in Miami Beach in January on a charge of driving under the influence. Lawyers for Bieber, who turned 20 on March 1, had argued that the police surveillance video showing him urinating was inappropriate and should be withheld to protect the Canadian singer's privacy. "The Court finds that there exists a right to privacy as it relates to the exposure and dissemination of the Defendant's genitalia," Miami-Dade County Court Judge William Altfield said in a written ruling. Full Story | Top |
| 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' couple admit to financial fraud Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 11:24 AM PST  By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Husband-and-wife cast members of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" reality television show pleaded guilty on Tuesday to mail and wire fraud conspiracy and bankruptcy fraud stemming from what prosecutors said was years of hiding income and lying to obtain financial loans. Teresa Giudice, 41, and her husband, Giuseppe - or Joe - Giudice, 43, face prison sentences and fines after pleading guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas in federal court in Newark. Prosecutors said Teresa faces up to 27 months in prison, while her husband faces up to nearly four years, and possible deportation, because he is an Italian citizen. In the first episode, Teresa Giudice paid $120,000 in cash to furnish a room in their house styled after a French chateau. Full Story | Top |
| Oscars telecast audience revised up, highest in 14 years Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 11:01 AM PST  The audience that tuned in to watch ABC's live telecast of the Oscars hosted by Ellen DeGeneres on Sunday was the show's highest in 14 years after ratings were upwardly revised. Nielsen ratings data on Tuesday showed that the audience for the telecast was 43.7 million, versus the 43 million reported on Monday, the highest since 2000 and 8 percent higher than last year. The Oscars attract the biggest non-sports audience in the United States. Walt Disney Co's ABC network has signed on to broadcast the film industry's highest honors through 2020. Full Story | Top |
| Pearl Jam's former financial manager sentenced to prison for theft Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 10:14 AM PST (Corrects headline of February 28 story to reflect Goodrich is a former CFO for Pearl Jam, not the band's former manager) SEATTLE (Reuters) - Pearl Jam's former financial manager, who used his position with the rock band to steal $380,000, was sentenced on Friday to 14 months in prison at a court hearing in Washington state, an official said. Rickey Charles Goodrich, 55, had initially faced 33 theft charges but in December he pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree theft, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office spokesman Dan Donohoe said. Goodrich was chief financial officer at its Seattle-based management company, Curtis Management, before he was fired in September 2010. Goodrich, who had oversight over finances related to Pearl Jam's tours, was found to have made wire transfers from the firm to pay his personal debts and used the company credit card for unwarranted expenses. Full Story | Top |
| Dish eyes Internet TV services in landmark Disney deal Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 08:52 AM PST  Dish Network Corp and Walt Disney Co have reached a long-term programming deal, allowing the No. 2 satellite TV provider to carry Disney-owned networks such as ABC and ESPN and deliver the content outside of a traditional TV subscription. Until now, content owners had not granted cable or satellite TV operators the digital rights to sell their shows outside of a pay-TV subscription. The companies said Dish gets the right to stream "linear and video on demand content" from channels such as ABC broadcast stations and cable networks such as Disney Channel and ESPN as part of an internet-delivered IP-based multichannel offering. Full Story | Top |
| UK hacking furor turned into 'sexist witch hunt': Brooks Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 07:46 AM PST  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, former boss of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm, told a London court on Tuesday the media mogul had persuaded her not to quit amid public revulsion over the hacking of a murdered schoolgirl's phone. Brooks, on trial for phone-hacking offences, said a 2011 report that journalists on Murdoch's News of the World tabloid had tapped the voicemail messages of 13-year-old Milly Dowler had caused a national scandal, with her at its center, describing it at the time as a "sexist witch hunt". Despite the furor, Murdoch and other senior figures told her not to resign, and she told the Old Bailey court that amid the public disgust and condemnation, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and CNN talk show host Piers Morgan had also contacted her to offer support. The outrage began on July 4, 2011, when the Guardian newspaper reported that journalists from the News of the World (NoW) had accessed voicemails on the girl's mobile phone while she was missing nine years earlier, and had deleted some, giving her parents false hope that she was still alive. Full Story | Top |
| TV decoder maker Pace forecasts 2014 revenue above estimates Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 04:44 AM PST British TV decoder maker Pace Plc posted a 22.5 percent rise in full-year core earnings, driven by soaring demand for its next-generation media servers in North America, and the company forecast 2014 revenue above analysts' estimates. Analysts on average were expecting 2014 revenue of $2.60 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Pace has seen a significant rise in earnings over the past 18 months as more consumers in North America look to share content between multiple devices. Full Story | Top |
| Guardian Media sees first revenue rise in 5 years Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 04:00 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - The owner of Britain's centre-left Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday it expected its revenue to rise for the first time in six years as it foresaw a boost from digital advertising and sponsored content. Guardian Media Group (GMG) said it expected a 20 percent rise in 2013-14 digital revenue to 70 million pounds ($117 million), with overall revenue expected to rise more than 5 percent to 206 million. The company - which includes the Guardian, the Observer and guardian. ... Full Story | Top |
| World War One, a hundred years on, entrenched on London stages Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 03:05 AM PST  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - The centenary year of the start of World War One is being marked on the London stage as a bloodbath that wasted millions of lives and ended in failure, setting the world on the destructive path for World War Two. With "War Horse" - the internationally hailed play about a British army steed in the Great War - still playing in the West End, theatre-goers can now delve deeper into the human side of the conflict that killed some 10 million military personnel. A slick and spirited revival of Joan Littlewood's dark-humoured 1963 anti-war musical "Oh What a Lovely War" is on at the Theatre Royal in the east London borough of Stratford, where it created waves 50 years ago. Playwright Peter Gill's "Versailles" dealing with the peace treaty that ended the 1914-18 war - but which in Gill's and many historians' view set the world on the road to the next one - opened last week at the bijou Donmar Warehouse venue. Full Story | Top |
| German violinist Roth champions 'forgotten' Weinberg Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 12:02 AM PST  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - Mieczyslaw Weinberg's parents and sister died in a concentration camp, his Yiddish-language actor father-in-law was killed on Stalin's orders and the Polish-born composer himself was imprisoned by the KGB and only released after Stalin's death. Even a close friendship with Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich seems to have worked against him, prompting critics to look at him as a lesser version of the Russian master. "If you read about his life and his biography, the impression that comes to mind is 'How much can one person actually take?'," German violinist Linus Roth asked in an interview with Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Toronto Mayor Ford drops in on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show Monday, Mar 03, 2014 10:28 PM PST  Toronto's self-admitted, crack-experimenting mayor Rob Ford hit the late night talk show circuit on Monday, telling ABC's Jimmy Kimmel he "wasn't elected to be perfect" but that his record running Canada's biggest city spoke for itself. Ford, who became a popular target for late-night TV hosts including Kimmel after admitting to smoking crack cocaine in a "drunken stupor", appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" where they looked at videos and photos of some of his more colorful antics during his years in office. Ford, who posted messages and pictures of himself on Twitter as he made his way around Los Angeles in recent days drumming up entertainment production business for Toronto, wore a black suit, black shirt and bright orange tie and pocket square for his appearance. Ford was stripped of many of his powers by Toronto city council but has refused calls to step down after media outlets reported they had seen video of him smoking from what appeared to be a crack pipe. Full Story | Top |
| Highmore goes a little 'Psycho' as 'Bates Motel' starts second season Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:43 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - While most college students often use their year abroad to embrace the culture and nightlife of new countries, British actor Freddie Highmore opted to play one of the most notorious fictional serial killers, Norman Bates. Highmore, 22, plays a teenage version of Norman Bates who helps his erratic mother run a hotel in modern-day Oregon in the A&E series "Bates Motel," which returns for a second season on Monday. "Bates Motel" is the first television series for Highmore, who is currently finishing up his final year at Cambridge University, where he studies Spanish and Arabic. The actor started out his career playing wide-eyed young boys in films such as 2004's "Finding Neverland" and 2005's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." But playing Norman Bates has presented a new direction in Highmore's career, playing an innocent, sensitive teenager who begins to transition into a psychologically disturbed young man with an abnormally intimate relationship with his mother, played by Vera Farmiga. Full Story | Top |
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