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‘It’s not fair’: cafe owners frustrated over exclusion from business rates cut
Cafe owners in England have criticised Andy Burnham’s planned business rates relief for excluding cafes and restaurants while supporting pubs, social clubs and live music venues. They argue that cafes face similar pressures from energy costs, inflation and weaker consumer spending, and play an important role as local workplaces and community spaces. The package, worth…
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Blade Runner 2099 premieres on Prime Video on 25 November
Prime Video has unveiled the first trailer for Blade Runner 2099 and confirmed the limited series will premiere on 25 November. Announced at San Diego Comic-Con, the show extends the Blade Runner franchise into streaming and returns to its dystopian Los Angeles setting, exploring conflict and uncertainty between humans and replicants. Set 50 years after…
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Bruce Dickinson joins Billie Joe Armstrong for Mott cover
Bruce Dickinson joined Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and his cover band, the Coverups, onstage in San Diego to perform “All the Young Dudes”. The appearance brought together two prominent rock singers for a song strongly associated with Mott the Hoople and David Bowie, and formed part of a wider covers set at Comic-Con’s…
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Jake Shears, Lorna Courtney & Kevin McHale To Join Broadway’s ‘The Rocky Horror Show’
Jake Shears, Lorna Courtney and Kevin McHale are joining the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show, replacing Luke Evans, Stephanie Hsu and Andrew Durand as the current leads leave the production. The changes bring a pop musician, a Tony-nominated stage performer and a television actor to prominent roles in a commercially successful revival that…
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Team uses AlphaFold AI to redesign gene-editing proteins to make them safer
Researchers in China have used a modified version of AlphaFold to identify and redesign parts of CRISPR gene-editing proteins that contribute to unintended “off-target” DNA edits. The work could improve the safety of gene-editing therapies, where even rare errors become significant because treatment may involve editing large numbers of cells. CRISPR systems use guide RNA…
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Genesis House and Gotham Shorts Fellowship Unveils Inaugural Winners, Featuring ‘Dìdi’ and ‘All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt’ Directors as Mentors (EXCLUSIVE)
Genesis House and the Gotham Film & Media Institute have announced the first recipients of their shorts fellowship, supporting three emerging New York City filmmakers with funding and professional development. The initiative aims to help distinctive new voices complete narrative short films and build industry connections at an important stage of their careers. Shanice Brette…
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‘The Dink’ Writer Sean Clements on His Funny, Heartfelt Tribute to the Pickleball Community: ‘I Got Adopted by This Whole Crew of Older Women’
Sean Clements’ new Apple TV+ comedy “The Dink” draws on his own experience of being welcomed into the pickleball community after injuries made returning to tennis difficult. The film uses tensions between tennis and pickleball players as its central conflict, while presenting the sport’s social, intergenerational appeal with humour and affection. Starring Jake Johnson as…
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Major League Soccer Boards Danny Ramirez Soccer Drama ‘Baton’ As Key Partner
Major League Soccer has become a strategic partner for *Baton*, a football drama written, directed by and starring Danny Ramirez. The agreement is MLS’s largest collaboration with a feature film so far, giving the production access to the league’s marketing reach across the United States and Canada as it moves into post-production. The film centres…
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The 1929 movie that gave Billy Bob Thornton a lifelong phobia: “That’s how the whole thing started”
Billy Bob Thornton has said that watching the 1929 film *The Unholy Three* as a child triggered his lifelong fear of antique furniture. The actor linked the phobia to a scene involving a ventriloquist’s dummy and a sinister old-fashioned setting, saying it was where “the whole thing started”. *The Unholy Three*, directed by Tod Browning…
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‘America’s Most Wanted’ ex-cop fugitive returned after 20 years on the run to face murder, child sex charges
A former South Carolina police officer, Dan Hiers, who had been a fugitive for more than two decades, has been returned to the United States from China to face charges including murder and child sex offences. Hiers, who was featured on the television programme “America’s Most Wanted”, had been wanted in connection with the killing…