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North Korea executes citizens who distribute foreign TV shows, UN finds

Human rights report highlights crackdown on personal freedoms in most restrictive country in the world North Korea has executed people for distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, according to a UN human rights report. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher – including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/iO2lFRK
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Nine Met police suspended amid inquiry into claims of excessive force

Watchdog says there are also allegations of discriminatory and misogynistic comments, centring on Charing Cross police station Nine Scotland Yard officers have been suspended after an investigation was launched into claims of excessive use of force and the making of discriminatory and misogynistic comments. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the allegations centre on Charing Cross police station in central London, the source of a previous scandal for the Metropolitan police. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/IZrqTSo

Government shutdown draws near as Democrats push for healthcare funding

Top Senate Republican says Democrats see shutdown as ‘politically advantageous’ as 30 September deadline looms The US government is drawing nearer to a potential shutdown after Donald Trump told Republicans on Friday “don’t even bother dealing with” the Democrats , whose congressional leaders are refusing to support spending bills that do not include their healthcare priorities. Congress is up against an end-of-the-month deadline to approve legislation funding the federal government, otherwise many departments will stop work and employees will be told to stay home. While the Senate and House of Representatives have made some progress on passing the 12 appropriations bills that make up the budget, it seems certain that Congress will need to pass a short-term measure to keep the government open beyond 30 September. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/MB6FEwe

Paramount Skydance reportedly preparing takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery

Media conglomerate putting together majority cash offer for WBD backed by ultra-rich Ellison family, reports say Paramount Skydance is reportedly preparing a takeover offer for Warner Bros Discovery, in a bid to pull together two of the largest US legacy media conglomerates and Hollywood movie studios. Less than a month after Skydance, a production firm run by David Ellison, son of the billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison, closed its merger with Paramount , the firm is considering other blockbuster deals. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/aoERq9W

Mourners pay tribute at Turning Point USA headquarters after Charlie Kirk’s death

Supporters left flowers and flags at the Phoenix offices of the far-right activist following his shooting Shortly after Turning Point USA shuttered its offices upon learning of Charlie Kirk’s death on Wednesday afternoon, the front doors of the political influence network’s headquarters became a memorial for its fallen founder. A steady stream of mourners brought flowers and handheld American flags to the office building in Phoenix, Arizona, and placed them in front of a large, black-and-white photo of Kirk. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/65d80Rx

South Africa to reopen Steve Biko inquest 48 years after death in police custody

Death of anti-apartheid activist in 1977 after police beat him into a coma sparked outrage across the world South African prosecutors will reopen an inquest into the death of the prominent anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko , nearly 50 years after he died in police custody. Biko, the founder of South Africa’s Black Consciousness Movement, died in a prison cell in 1977 aged just 30 , after being beaten into a coma by police who had arrested him nearly a month earlier. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/e5PW4T3

Couture review – Angelina Jolie is the wrong fit for inert fashion drama

Toronto film festival: the Oscar winner is adrift in Alice Winocour’s uninvolving film about three thinly written women involved in a Paris fashion week show The otherworldly beauty and consuming, tattoo-strewn look of Angelina Jolie hasn’t always allowed for a great deal of versatility as an actor, a difficult face to seamlessly slot into most stories. The star hasn’t seemed to be all that interested in acting for a while anyway (since 2012, she has physically appeared on screen just seven times) and has preferred to spend time behind the camera and focusing on both her family and her philanthropic pursuits. Her films as a director have been of both genuinely noble intention and minimal cinematic value (her last effort, Without Blood , premiered at last year’s Toronto film festival but still doesn’t have US distribution) and as she enters her 50s, it seems like she’s rediscovered her passion for acting again. The catastrophic box office for her ill-advised entry into the Marvel u...