Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian court has sentenced a female television presenter to three years in jail after she spoke on her show about pregnancy outside marriage, a judicial source said on Friday. Doaa Salah was convicted of “outraging public decency”, the source said. The court also ordered her …
Read More »Netflix cancels flagship series ‘House of Cards’
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | The next season of Netflix’s award-winning “House of Cards” will be the last, a spokesman said Monday, as the series reeled over sexual misconduct allegations against its star Kevin Spacey. The 58-year-old double Oscar winner, who plays ruthless President Francis Underwood in the hit …
Read More »Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez to host telethon for hurricane victims
Miami, United States | AFP | Celebrities including Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Stevie Wonder are set to appear Saturday night at a telethon for those affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Appearing from both Miami and Los Angeles, performers will raise funds to provide food, shelter, medicine, electricity and …
Read More »Netflix to spend Can$500 mln to make films, TV shows in Canada
Ottawa, Canada | AFP | Netflix will spend Can$500 million (US$400 million) over the next five years to make original films and television shows in Canada, the company and Heritage Minister Melanie Joly announced Thursday. This amounts to about five percent of the video streaming service’s estimated total US$7 billion production …
Read More »Kim’s words find rapt audience in Pyongyang
Pyongyang, North Korea | AFP | An expectant hush fell on the crowd as the giant screen outside Pyongyang’s main train station went black on Friday afternoon. Workers, students in grey uniforms, travelling families surrounded by piles of bags, women shielding themselves from the late summer sun with frilly parasols, for …
Read More »Emmys 2017: five big moments
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | It was a night of glam frocks, political virtue-signaling, and an R-rated speech, with Elisabeth Moss turning the air blue and Dolly Parton talking about sex toys. After all 27 awards were given out, there were some shocked shows going home empty-handed but — …
Read More »Merkel ‘out of touch’, says challenger as vote nears
Berlin, Germany | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel is “aloof” and “out of touch”, her main challenger Martin Schulz said Sunday, stepping up his attacks as he seeks to turn around a flagging campaign ahead of next month’s general election. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader said Merkel …
Read More »LIVE: TV demand forces delay of Mayweather-McGregor
Las Vegas, United States | AFP | A surge in pay-per-view television demand forced a delay to the start of Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor’s Las Vegas superfight on Saturday. A statement from Showtime Sports said the start of the fight, due to begin at around 9pm local time had …
Read More »Facebook rolls out video shows, in new challenge
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook is rolling out a new video service offering professionally produced shows in a challenge to rivals such as YouTube, and potentially to streaming providers like Netflix. The Facebook service called Watch will include a range of shows, from reality to comedy to live …
Read More »Disney unveils streaming TV services, including one for sports
New York, United States | AFP | Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it is launching two new streaming television services including one for its ESPN-branded sports channel, while ending its deal with Netflix as it shifts towards direct content distribution. The media-entertainment giant called the move “a strategic shift in the …
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