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Martin Scorsese Mentee Celina Murga Preps Next Pic, ‘The Rehearsals’
Argentine director Celina Murga, a mentee of Martin Scorsese, is developing her next feature, “The Rehearsals” (“Los Ensayos”), which will be pitched at the San Sebastián Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum this month. The film is one of 15 projects selected for the forum and marks a new work from Murga, who is known for the…
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Loznitsa condemns EU Venice Biennale funding cut over Russian pavilion
Ukrainian film-maker Sergei Loznitsa has criticised the European Commission for withdrawing €2m in funding from the Venice Biennale over the reopening of Russia’s pavilion, calling the move “a punishment in kindergarten”. Speaking ahead of the Venice film festival, he argued the funding row distracts from the EU’s own failure to curb Russian gas imports, which…
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Colm Tóibín revisits Catalan grief and forbidden desire
Colm Tóibín’s new novella The Bridge revisits Miquel, the young protagonist of his 2006 story A Long Winter, a year after his mother’s disappearance in the snow of the Catalan Pyrenees. Miquel now scrapes by with his harsh father, supplementing their income through smuggling, while a tender and forbidden relationship with the family’s mistreated servant,…
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‘We have had enough’: thousands of staff at the University of Sydney walk off the job over AI, job security
Around 2,000 staff at the University of Sydney walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, driven by disputes over artificial intelligence protections, job security and workload fairness during ongoing enterprise bargaining. The action, backed by roughly 500 picketers stationed at every entrance to the inner-city campus, comes amid deep staff distrust of management, with…
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Scotland’s Stewart suffers Swansea injury blow
Scotland striker Ross Stewart is set to miss Swansea City’s next four Championship matches due to a quad injury, a fresh setback for a player who has barely featured since his summer move. The 30-year-old joined Swansea on a three-year deal last month but has managed only nine minutes of football, coming on as a…
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Father of four struck by lightning off Florida beach had stopped to help boater, heartbroken family reveals
Steve Matheson, a 41-year-old father of four from Utah, died after being struck by lightning while jet skiing off Fort De Soto Park near Tampa Bay, Florida, on Saturday. His family said he had been returning to shore with a friend when they stopped to help a struggling boater, and he was struck shortly afterwards;…
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Andy Burnham has already made a mistake that will cost him his premiership: he lost his nerve over political donations | George Monbiot
George Monbiot argues that Andy Burnham has undermined his premiership at the outset by abandoning his pledge to cap political donations, arguing this shows he has already bowed to the influence of wealthy donors. Monbiot contends this retreat is significant because it signals that vested financial interests, rather than the public, will continue to shape…
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Sheffield’s worst dog fouling blackspots revealed as new crackdown starts and fines issued – thestar.co.uk
Sheffield has begun a renewed crackdown on dog fouling, with enforcement officers issuing fines and attention focused on areas identified as persistent problem locations. The action matters because the council is seeking to improve the cleanliness of public spaces while making clear that owners who fail to clear up after their dogs may face penalties.…
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Ridley Scott and ‘Project Hail Mary’s Screenwriter Almost Made This Violent, Gritty Western
Ridley Scott and screenwriter Drew Goddard once planned to collaborate on a film adaptation of Wraiths of the Broken Land, a violent Western novel by S. Craig Zahler, shortly after the pair worked together on The Martian. The project, first reported by Variety in 2016, appears to have stalled in development, joining a long list…
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The startling story of Australia’s population forecast from almost 30 years ago that proves just how wrong we’ve got it on immigration: PVO
This opinion piece argues that Australia lacks a coherent population policy, relying instead on ad hoc visa settings and consistently inaccurate Treasury forecasts, which leaves housing, hospitals, schools and transport perpetually playing catch-up. The author contends this back-to-front approach, pursued under both major parties, has eroded public trust in immigration by presenting it as an…