Myanmar judge jails Reuters reporters for seven years in landmark secrets case

A Myanmar judge on Monday found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and sentenced them to seven years in prison, in a landmark case seen as a test of progress towards democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

Yangon northern district judge Ye Lwin said Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents.

"The defendants ... have breached Official Secrets Act section 3.1.c, and are sentenced to seven years. The time already served by the defendants from Dec. 12 will be taken into consideration," the judge said.

Press freedom advocates, the United Nations, the European Union and countries including the United States, Canada and Australia had called for the Reuters journalists' acquittal.

"Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere," Reuters editor in chief Stephen J Adler said in a statement.

"We will not wait while Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo suffer this injustice and will evaluate how to proceed in the coming days, including whether to seek relief in an international forum."

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Facebook Rolls Out Video Platform Watch Internationally

The social media platform is looking to commission a raft of content from producers around the world as it looks for global shows that can repeat the success of Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith and beauty mogul Huda Kattan’s behind-the-scenes show Huda Boss.

Fidji Simo, Head of Video at Facebook, said, “Today we’re making Facebook Watch available everywhere — giving people around the world a new way to discover great videos and interact with friends, creators and other fans.

“We launched Watch in the US a year ago to give people a place on Facebook to find shows and video creators they love and to start conversations with friends, other fans, and even creators themselves. Over the past year, we’ve made the experience more social — like making it easier to see which videos your friends have liked or shared, creating shows that have audience participation at their core.”

Night School #Summer Rush @GENESIS CINEMAS

   

As kids are heading back to school next Month, Kevin Hart will be doing the same, though their hours will be different. Universal Pictures said that its comedy Night School featuring the Ride Along and Central Intelligence star will open September 28, 2018.Based on a story by Hart, Night School follows a group of misfits who are forced to attend adult classes in the long-shot chance that they’ll pass the GED exam.  

Hart will produce for his Hartbeat Productions along with Will Packer via his Will Packer Productions.
 

So far the film’s only competition on that weekend is Warner Bros’ redo of A Star Is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.

Director: Malcolm D. Lee

Writers: Kevin Hart, Harry Ratchford 

Oscars 2019 countdown

By the time the curtain goes up at the opening ceremony of this year’s Venice Film Festival, distributors and awards strategists will have just about picked their jaws off the floor after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled what must rank as one of its most radical rule changes in recent memory. The announcement in early August that the 91st Oscars telecast on February 24, 2019 will include an award for outstanding achievement in popular film came as a bolt out of the blue, taking even seasoned campaigners and studio executives by surprise.

Ostensibly a move by the Academy to make the ailing Oscars telecast seem more relevant to younger viewers, observers say the new category could damage the show’s reputation for championing smaller, independent films (which is not always the case — studio films get recognition too). Of greater concern is the possibility that whenever a studio tentpole transcends its genre roots and appears worthy of a shot at the senior Oscar categories, it will be exiled to a populist ghetto.

Eligibility requirements and further details on who will vote for the new Academy Award were not forthcoming at time of writing, but clearly Black Panther is the film that looks likely to be most affected. Marvel Studios/Disney executives are proud of their $1.3bn global smash, and it is understood they have been planning an awards push that encompasses not just crafts and major categories, but best picture and director for Ryan Coogler.

The industry consensus so far is that the Academy is being fuzzy-headed in its good intentions. It took notice when the #Oscarsowhite furore blew up a couple of years ago, and in the past 18 months has made overtures to the world outside, inviting a new intake of younger, more diverse, international entertainment professionals that would account for roughly one-fifth of global membership.

'Crazy Rich Asians' stays top in US

Crazy Rich Asians delivered one of the best second-weekend percentage drops for a wide-release film on 6.4% after Warner Bros expanded the theatre count by 142 to 3,526. The film also performed well internationally, buoyed by a string of impressive debuts in Southeast Asia.

STX’s R-rated human-puppet buddy movie The Happytime Murders starring Melissa McCarthy earned generally unfavourable reviews and disappointed on its debut, arriving at number three on $9.5m from 3,256 sites. The film reportedly cost $40m to produce excluding marketing.

Meanwhile the family adventure A.X.L. – which also failed to impress the critics – from the beleaguered Global Road just about broke into the top 10, arriving at number 10 on $2.8m from 1,710 venues. No production budget was available at time of writing.

Last week Screen broke the story that the theatrical production and distribution division of Global Road Entertainment, established by Donald Tang’s Tang Media Partners, is now in the hands of the banks as the company’s financial status declines and it faces bankruptcy.

The Meg held firm in second place and added $12.8m for $105.1m via Warner Bros, dropping 39.4% in its third weekend. Mission: Impossible – Fallout is closing in on $200m for Paramount and Skydance Media and held firm at number four after a 24.9% drop in its fifth weekend, adding $8.1m for $193.9m. In its fourth session Disney’s Christopher Robin fell 29.3% and held on to sixth place on $6.3m for $77.8m.

Eddie Murphy Expecting 10th Child With Paige Butcher

The couple are already parents to two-year-old Izzy.
Eddie Murphy is about to welcome a new member to his family. The actor is expecting a 10th child with partner and Australian actress Paige Butcher, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The couple are already parents to 2-year-old Izzy. Murphy has eight other children from previous relationships.

The news was first reported in several publications after Butcher was photographed with a visible baby bump.

Murphy's other children include 29-year-old Eric with Paulette McNeely; 28-year-old Bria, 25-year-old Miles Mitchell, 23-year-old Shayne Audra, 18-year-old Zola Ivy and 16-year-old Bella Zahra with ex-wife Nicole Mitchell Murphy; 27-year-old Christian with Tamara Hood; and 11-year-old Angel Iris with Mel B.

Murphy, who was last seen in the 2016 film Mr. Church, will soon play blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore in a movie for Netflix.

FBI Opens Investigation Into Hollywood's Notorious "Con Queen

The FBI and NYPD have opened investigations into the prolific scam artist impersonating Amy Pascal, Kathleen Kennedy and other top female execs — including one male suspect with a talent for female voice work.
FBI officials and the NYPD have opened investigations into the identity of a con artist who impersonates powerful female entertainment industry executives in order to scam industry workers, sources with knowledge of both operations tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The moves come after tips began pouring in following the publication of “Hunting the Con Queen of Hollywood” in THR on July 11, which detailed a privately funded investigation of the global scam and included two voice recordings of the alleged imposter in action.

The “Con Queen” has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars by impersonating female industry executives, including former Sony Pictures chair Amy Pascal, Star Wars producer Kathleen Kennedy and Homeland director Lesli Linka Glatter.

According to sources, there is some evidence to suggest that the “Queen” may in fact be a man.

At least one of the tips that investigators are actively pursuing involves a male con artist who appears able to disguise his voice to mimic the powerful women. Though investigators will not divulge details of the ongoing case, one person who has been briefed confirms to THR that a special unit within the NYPD is “working to confirm the identity of the scammer.” At the same time, the FBI has opened up a parallel investigation that spans the U.S., Europe and Asia. The NYPD and the FBI both declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the con appears to be continuing unabated. Two more high-profile women have been impersonated recently by the scammer, and more victims continue to emerge. One of the newly impersonated individuals is a successful Hollywood executive. The other is a high-net-worth public figure. Sources declined to reveal the identities of the women.

Last month’s THR investigation detailed the efforts of corporate security firm K2 Intelligence, a company hired by several of the impersonated executives.
The “Con Queen” ruse is centered around a cunning imposter who, perhaps with the help of a team of collaborators based in Indonesia and, possibly, the U.K., uses the personae of these powerful executives to persuade people in the industry — stylists, stuntmen, photographers and others — to travel to Indonesia with promises of work.

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Customers will be winning prices like Movie vouchers, Free Drinks, Free Popcorn, Shawarma, Pizza, Cocktail, Mocktail, Milkshake, Hot-dog and lot more.

Have You Heard about FUNKE! Now it's time to see the movie!!! Funke The Movie premieres across Genesis Cinemas from the 7th Of September 2018.

 FUNKE’S  SHOWS HER STRUGGLES IN FINDING SUCCESS IN A GAME DURING A TIME WHERE IT WAS PREDOMINANTLY CONSIDERED A MAN’S GAME. THE STORY FOCUSES ON HER CHOICES AND DECISIONS AS A WOMAN, AS SHE ATTEMPTS TO ACHIEVE HER DREAM. THE FILM FOCUSES ON FAMILY DYNAMICS, YOUNG LOVE/CRUSH AND THE GAME OF FOOTBALL AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A FOOTBALLER.

Chicago pharmacy techs charged with stealing, selling hydrocodone

Two technicians at a Humboldt Park neighborhood pharmacy on the West Side have been indicted for stealing and selling more than 56,000 hydrocodone pills over two years.

Elizabeth Cruz, 33, and 27-year-old Jacqueline Green conspired to steal 56,108 pills between September 2015 and December 2017 when they worked at Allcare Discount Pharmacy, 2750 W. North Ave., according to an indictment returned last week in U.S. District Court.

Cruz, who lives in Stone Park, and Green, who lives in Chicago, allegedly falsified the pharmacy’s inventory to make it look like the pills had either been dispensed to patients or had never been received from the distributor, according to prosecutors. They then sold them outside of the pharmacy for a profit of about $10,800.

The indictment charges them each with conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to deliver, prosecutors said. They were arrested Aug. 9 and were expected to appear in court for detention hearings on Monday.

“Diversion of opioids contributes to addiction and illegal drug sales in our communities,” U.S. Attorney for the Norther District of Illinois John R. Lausch said in a statement. “Pharmacy employees who divert prescription drugs for their own profit will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The charge against Cruz and Green carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.

17-year-old girl cuts off boyfriend’s manhood in Jigawa state Nigeria

Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence, NSCDC has arrested a 17-year-old girl, Ramatu Tafida, who cut off her 25-year-old boyfriend's penis in Babura Local Government Area of Jigawa State.
AC Adamu Shehu, the corps Spokesman in the state, who confirmed the incident to newsmen in Dutse on Saturday, identified the victim as Abdullahi Sabo, a resident of Kofar Gabas and a teacher at Government Girls Secondary School Babura engaged under N-Power.

“The incident occurred on Thursday in Babura when the attention of our officers was drawn by a good Samaritan who informed them that some youths were about to lynch a girl in Kofar Arewa, the residence of the suspect, to revenge for their friend," said Shehu.
“Immediately the officers swung into action and went to the scene and whisked the girl away to the office for safety, but they still followed her.
“It was upon reaching the office that we realised what led to the whole matter.

Europe's tallest skyscraper

The tallest building in Europe is nearly complete. Rising above a new waterfront complex in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Lakhta Center's tower stands at 462 meters (1,516 feet) tall, making it the city's first "supertall" building (one measuring 300 meters or above).
The structure is now the northernmost skyscraper in the world, according to its developers.
The 87-story tower twists a full 90 degrees from its foundation to its top, like a winding needle. This makes it one of the world's tallest examples of a "twisted" skyscraper design.
Its soaring height is offset by a lower mixed-use building with a 260-meter-long (853-foot-long) facade. Residential and commercial space will be installed up to a height of 360 meters (1,181 feet), above which an observation deck and restaurant will offer breathtaking views over the Gulf of Finland.

The Lakhta Center takes the title of Europe's tallest building from Moscow's Federation Tower, completed in 2017, which stands at 374 meters (1,227 feet). Moscow is also home to five of the next six entries in the list, interrupted only by London's Shard, which was briefly the continent's tallest in 2012, at 310 meters (1,016 feet) tall.

NASA blasts off historic spaceship to Sun

NASA on Sunday blasted off a $1.5 billion spacecraft toward the Sun on a historic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms.

“Three, two, one, and liftoff!” said a NASA commentator as the Parker Solar Probe lit up the dark night sky aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 3:31 am (0731 GMT).

The unmanned spacecraft aims to get closer than any human-made object in history to the center of our solar system.

The probe is designed to plunge into the Sun’s atmosphere, known as the corona, during a seven-year mission.

It is protected by an ultra-powerful heat shield that can endure unprecedented levels of heat, and radiation 500 times that experienced on Earth.

– Strange veil –

NASA has billed the mission as the first spacecraft to “touch the Sun.”

Angry soldiers ground Maiduguri airport, threaten to shoot superiors

There is currently tension at the Maiduguri international airport in Borno state as angry soldiers are shooting indiscriminately to protest their deployment from the state capital to another local government.

The aggrieved soldiers reportedly arrived at the airport at 6pm ahead of their posting to Marte local government area.

But trouble started when they regrouped and refused to board the aircraft which ought to convey them there.

The soldiers who are of the special forces said after spending over four years in Maiduguri, they ought to be sent back to their families and not to be posted to face death.