Jackie Chan: foreign ‘pressure’ good for Chinese films…Read full details

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Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan poses as he arrives on the red carpet for the 89th Oscars on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. / AFP PHOTO / ANGELA WEISS

Action star Jackie Chan said opening up China’s heavily-restricted film market to more foreign works would put positive pressure on local filmmakers, as rumours swirl Beijing will expand its quota on imported movies.

Since 2012, China has permitted 34 films to be imported from overseas each year, but the state-run Global Times newspaper reported last month that Chinese and US officials are renegotiating the limit.

A shakeup in domestic movie offerings would challenge Chinese filmmakers to produce better work, Chan told reporters at a Tuesday press conference during the annual gathering of China’s political advisory committee, of which he is a member.

“Their technology is more advanced than ours, but on the other hand, we will have more opportunities to watch their films and learn from them,” he said.

“We are concerned — very afraid — but I believe that this kind of pressure is a positive thing…the more films that come in, the more we will ourselves improve.”

Hollywood films accounted for more than half of China’s 45.3 billion yuan ($6.6 billion) in ticket sales last year.

Several Chinese executives also made investments in major Hollywood studios in 2016, drawing attention to China’s growing influence over US film.

The Beijing-based Wanda Group broke records last January by paying $3.5 billion for Legendary Pictures, the maker of “Jurassic World” and “Godzilla.”

This move was followed by Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma’s investment in Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners and a reportedly $1 billion agreement between Paramount and two Chinese companies.

The deals have been accompanied by concerns that Hollywood is increasingly pandering to Chinese audiences.

Chan said he frequently fields collaboration requests from firms eager to exploit the country’s burgeoning box office, now the world’s second-largest movie market after North America.

“I recently attended a meeting with several major executives who said ‘okay’ to every suggestion I gave,” he said.

“My assistant told me, ‘You’re so awesome.’ I said, ‘I’m not awesome. It’s today’s Chinese market that is awesome.’ Everyone wants to do business here.”

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The Biography Of Helen Parker-Jayne Isibor [Age, Life Profile & Net Worth]

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Helen Isibor-Epega (Helen Parker-Jayne Isibor) also The Venus Bushfires (born 1981), is a Nigerian opera singer, songwriter, composer and performance artist, who has written the world’s first opera in Pidgin English. Inspired by Wagner’s Parsifal, her Song Queen: A Pidgin Opera was presented in London in July 2015.

Born in Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria into a family with five children, Isibor is the daughter of a medical consultant and a storybook writer, both of whom were interested in music. She lived in Benin City until she moved to London in the 1980s when she was seven. After attending an all-girls convent school, she graduated in Communications and Media at Brunel University London. She was initially a rapper but became interested in more politically aware singers such as Fela Kuti and Miriam Makeba. When she was in Ibiza in 2007, she discovered the hang drum which has since become her favourite instrument.

Thanks to funding from the Arts Council, Isibor composed the Song Queen along more or less traditional opera lines but while she kept the strings, she introduced traditional African instruments such as the kora and included talking drums and djembes for percussion. The version premiered at the Palace Theatre in London in 2015 was an hour long but Isibor is working on an extension to bring it to an hour and a half or two hours. It has also been performed at the Artspace in Cape Town and is to be performed in Lagos in late 2016.

In May 2015, Isibor married the EMC3 chairman Baba Epega.

* An Uzomedia Biography

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Don Jazzy Launches Free Wifi “Flobyt”, Says ‘I Know How Expensive Data Is’

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On Friday, Mavin Records founder, Don Jazzy and technology company Tsaboin launched Flobyt, a free WiFi service for Nigerians residing in Lagos. According to Dele Odufuye, Tsaboin MD/CEO, disclosed that the WiFi service can be accessed in locations like eateries, parks, taxis, buses, restaurants, and cafés.

Odufuye said, “It’s quite easy. You simply walk into any of our partner outlets and patronize them. While you are at that, you can log into Flobyt’s free WiFi service available. Join the “Flobyt FREE Wifi” ”If your browser pops up for authentication, just visit http://ift.tt/1bpBlcU or click on “Free Access” button shown to you. “We are using state-of-the-art WiFi technology equipment that balances speed, quality of service, security and data consumption.

These equipment are light weight and easier to manage. These are the technological and business edges”. he added. Don Jazzy, in his remarks, stated that “I believe so much in this. This is one of the few other investments we are going to be sharing with you.

“I have been on social media for a long time.
I know how expensive data is. I give free airtime, now it’s time to give free WiFi,” he said.

Flobyt is currently installed in Bar Enclave, Ilupeju; FoodHouse, Ikosi; Lounge 9a, Anthony; Massimo Bar, Ikeja; Grace’s Cakes, Ogba; Jazzment Salon Lekki; Kayz Place Barbershop, Lekki; Amala Express, Lekki; White House, Sabo, Yaba and Road Star Burger, Lekki.

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Boosting Erdogan powers will ‘stabilise’ Turkey…Read full details

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Turkish Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, Binali Yildirim greets supporters on February 25, 2017 in Ankara, as he arrives for a campaign meeting to promote support for an April referendum on whether to boost the Turkish president's powers. On April 16, 2017, the Turkish public will vote on whether to change the current parliamentary system into an executive presidency. / AFP PHOTO / Adem ALTAN

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim urged Turks to say “yes” to boosting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers on Saturday, saying it would strengthen Turkey at the ruling party’s first pro-referendum rally.

The event in Ankara sports arena was held ahead of the April 16 referendum when the Turkish public will vote on whether to approve constitutional changes creating an executive presidency.

“For a strong Turkey, lasting stability, our choice is ‘yes’. This is our wish, it will come,” Yildirim said, addressing party members and supporters who had come from across the country’s 81 provinces.

Ahead of his arrival, the crowd had been rallied by recordings of campaign songs with lyrics saying a “yes” vote would be a tribute to the “July martyrs” killed during last year’s failed coup, and saying the changes would ensure a fair judiciary and respect opposing sides.

When Yildirim arrived, he began handing out red carnations to the audience.

Last July’s coup featured heavily in a video screened ahead of his speech, with images of the victims also appearing on banners held by the audience.

The premier insisted no one would be forced to back the changes, which the government says are necessary for political harmony but which critics fear will create one-man rule.

– ‘Grand master’ Erdogan –
“There is no creating fear,” he told the excited crowds.

“We want a willing yes.”

Turkish media said some 6,500 police officers were deployed in and around the arena where heavy security was in evidence.

In the arena, there were thousands of people, including many young women, most of whom were waving Turkish flags — noticeably there were no AKP flags — or carrying banners, including one praising “grand master” Erdogan.

The heavy focus on encouraging young people to vote “yes” could be seen everywhere in the arena, with one large banner saying: “Turkey’s issues are young people’s issues.”

Ahead of the referendum, “we will go square-to-square, street-by-street, door-by-door, and we know what we will say for change, don’t we?” Yildirim said.

“Yes” roared the crowd.

Under the new constitution, the president will have strengthened executive powers to directly appoint top public officials including ministers.

The post of prime minister would be replaced with one or more vice presidents.

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Amitabh Bachchan Just Said No To Queen Elizabeth!…Read full details

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Amitabh Bachchan has been working for years together yet he it seems like he hasn’t tired from it. He still has as much zest and zeal as a 20 year old and it makes you wonder where he gets this energy from. Bachchan was recently invited by the Queen and Prince Philip for the UK-India Year Of Culture launch, but given his prior commitments and busy schedules, he was forced to give this coveted event a miss.

His spokesperson confirmed the news to Indian Express.

Yes, Mr Bachchan has been extended a rare invitation by Queen Elizabeth and Buckingham Palace to grace the UK-India Cultural Year reception. Unfortunately, however, he will be unable to attend due to prior commitments.

Would’ve been so great to see him there. Hopefully, next time!

The post Amitabh Bachchan Just Said No To Queen Elizabeth! is copyright of MissMalini.

Source: Miss Malini

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Leader of Spain’s Podemos re-elected in resounding victory

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Left-wing party Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias (L) raises his fist during the closing of a decisive two-day party congress at Vistalegre bullring in Madrid on February 12, 2017 that has renewed Iglesias as General Secretary of Europe's leading far-left party. Supporters of Spain's Podemos handed their charismatic leader Pablo Iglesias a resounding victory today, re-electing him as party chief and embracing his strategy to fight on as an anti-establishment grouping.<br />PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP

Supporters of Spain’s Podemos handed Pablo Iglesias a clear victory Sunday in the leftwing party’s power struggle, re-electing him as party chief and backing his strategy to fight on as an anti-establishment grouping.

More than 155,000 people voted to re-elect the charismatic 38-year-old as chief and a large majority of his list of candidates for the leadership council.

They also backed his strategy for the future of Podemos, in what supporters hope will end months of in-fighting in one of Europe’s leading far-left parties.

More than 89 percent of voters backed Iglesias as secretary general, while 56 percent endorsed his vision for Podemos, in results that met with wild applause from thousands of Podemos followers gathered in a conference centre in Madrid, who shouted “yes we can” and “unity”.

Born in 2014 out of the Indignados protest movement that swept Spain during a severe economic crisis, Podemos, an ally of Greece’s Syriza, experienced a meteoric rise to national-level politics, winning millions of votes in two elections to become the country’s third party.

Buoyed by promises of radical change and a more egalitarian society, Podemos won 71 seats in parliament as part of a wider leftwing coalition.

But it found itself at a crossroads that divided its pony-tailed chief and his deputy and once close friend Inigo Errejon, creating a rift in the entire party over how to achieve its goal of replacing the Socialists as the main opposition party, and eventually take power.

Should Podemos, which harnessed the anger of millions stung by Spain’s economic woes, take to the streets again as an anti-establishment group, as wanted by Iglesias?

Or should it shed an “enfant terrible” image that may be scaring away voters now that it has become a credible political force, and work from within parliament as Errejon proposed?

In the end, activists made the final decision.

“It’s good because we now have clarity,” Podemos co-founder and lawmaker Carolina Bescansa, who has stayed out of the in-fighting, told AFP.

– Time to move on? –
The split between Iglesias and his number two erupted into the open last year, playing out on social media and in the press.

Supporters, who looked on with dismay, are hoping the rift will be put to rest now the results have been announced.

Iglesias was almost assured of being re-elected given he was only up against a low-profile lawmaker, but his list of candidates for the leadership council met with stiff competition.

Errejon had presented his own list, as did other popular Podemos members such as Teresa Rodriguez, a regional Podemos lawmaker in southern Andalusia, and MEP Miguel Urban.

As such, Iglesias had said that if his list was rejected, he would step aside, precipitating another crisis for a party that would be left without the public face of the Podemos success story.

The new leadership council is composed of a majority of those on Iglesias’s list, even if some of Errejon’s team are also included, including the number two himself.

On Sunday, Iglesias hugged each of the new members of the council on a stage flanked by purple flags, the colour of Podemos.

He took an extra minute to embrace Errejon, who gave a weak smile.

Iglesias and Errejon have pledged that come what may, it will be business as usual for Podemos from Monday, putting the divisions firmly behind them.

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Suspect in Louvre attack quizzed for first time

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People go through a security checkpoint as they enter the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris on February 4, 2017 a day after a machete-wielding attacker lunged at four French soldiers while shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") in a public area that leads to one of the Louvre Museum's entrances. The condition of a man who was shot after attacking troops at the Louvre in Paris has improved and is "no longer life-threatening", a source close to the case said on February 4, 2017. But the man has not recovered sufficiently to be able to communicate with investigators, the source said. PHOTO: JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP

French investigators Sunday began questioning a suspect in the attack on troops outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, but the man refused to speak, a judicial source said.

The suspect, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday.

Investigators decided to question him in hospital after his condition improved, the source said.

The man “is refusing to speak to investigators for now”, the source added.

The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since Friday’s attack near the historic museum, which thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the French presidential election.

Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian national living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.

Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees.

– ‘No sign of radicalisation’ –

Police were examining Hamahmy’s Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before the attack.

“In the name of Allah… for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world,” he wrote, before referring to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

Speaking to AFP in Cairo on Saturday, a retired police general, Reda El-Hamahmy, said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, Abdallah, who had been in Paris on a business trip.

But he said there were no signs his son had been radicalised.

“He went on a company trip and when it was over visited the museum. He was supposed to leave on Saturday,” he told AFP, saying his son was married and his pregnant wife was currently staying in Saudi Arabia with their seven-month-old son.

“He is a simple guy,” he said. “I can show you pictures where he has no beard,” he said. Beards are often grown by devout Muslims.

Over the past two years, France has suffered a string of bloody attacks by Islamic extremists and has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

Security, immigration and the economy are all major issues for voters ahead of this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections which are expected to confirm the country’s shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.

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SAD! Jehovah Witness lady dies after refusing transfusion during childbirth (see photo)

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A Jehovah Witness church member named Peace Euodia has died after she had excess bleeding during childbirth and refused blood transfusion because of her faith.

According to Ossai Ovie:

RELIGIOUS DOCTRINE: Peace Euodia died of excess bleeding during child delivery, because Her church, Jehovah Witness Church does not permit her to accept blood transfusion.

Why will Jehovah Witness church not allow her to receive blood from someone because of church tradition.

Rest in PEACE EUDIA. COMBINED SOCIAL SCIENCE CLASS OF 2011 UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA has lost a rare gem. We will mourn your death together with your family. Adieu.

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