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Byron Allen’s Freestyle Releasing Acquires ‘Hello Beautiful’ For Theatrical Release (Exclusive)
Byron Allen’s Freestyle Releasing has acquired the drama Hello Beautiful for a limited theatrical release beginning 25 September, opting for cinemas over an initial streaming launch. The film, directed by Ziad H. Hamzeh, is based on cancer survivor Christine Handy’s best-selling novel Walk Besides Me and follows a supermodel whose seemingly perfect life is upended…
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Microsoft says virtually nobody was grabbing NYT articles through its chatbot
Microsoft has told a US court that its Copilot chatbot only rarely reproduces substantial chunks of copyrighted news articles or books, as it seeks summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by The New York Times, book authors and other publishers. The filing, submitted on Friday, forms part of Microsoft and OpenAI’s defence against claims that…
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Russian drone assault on Kyiv security office signals escalation
Russia struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) in central Kyiv with a drone on Friday, hitting an office used by security chief Oleksandr Poklad, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The attack, one of the rare occasions Russia has successfully hit a Ukrainian government building, comes as Moscow appears to be intensifying strikes ahead…
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‘Al Baraneya’ Review: Cinema Verité Doesn’t Get More Naturalistic Than Egyptian Director Ashgan El-Hamus’ Impressive Debut
Variety film critic reviews “Al Baraneya,” the debut feature from Egyptian director Ashgan El-Hamus, praising its documentary-style naturalism despite being a scripted fiction film. The film follows Amal, a young pregnant woman in the rural Nile Delta village of Al Baraneya, as she begins to question the traditional life path laid out for her by…
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Reform councillor quits party as row erupts over alleged missing funds
A Reform UK councillor in North East Lincolnshire has quit the party after being sacked from the council’s cabinet amid allegations of financial mismanagement linked to a Christmas Ball she organised. Tanya Brasted, who represents the West Marsh ward, denies any wrongdoing and says she has “nothing to hide”, while council leader Oliver Freeston says…
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Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault review – a pleasant bout of number go up that’s most remarkable for how much of an improvement it is
Rock Paper Shotgun has reviewed Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, praising it as a significant improvement over its 2018 predecessor. The sequel again casts players as Will, a dungeon-delving merchant who fights monsters by night and sells his loot by day, but refines the formula with layered systems built around multipliers in combat, inventory management…
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Chavez-DeRemer directed federal driver to pay stripper at strip club
Former Trump Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer ordered a government driver to shower cash over a partially nude dancer during an unscheduled stop at an Oregon strip club, according to a damning US Department of Labor watchdog report. The visit took place in April 2025 while she was travelling with her taxpayer-funded federal protection detail, and…
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Two US sailors ejected from Thai fleshpot over drunken brawl just hours after ending record-breaking 286 days at sea
Two American sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln were sent back to their ship after a drunken brawl broke out in Pattaya, Thailand, just hours after the aircraft carrier completed a record-breaking 286 days at sea. The incident occurred near Walking Street in the city’s red-light district, despite extensive precautions taken by US and Thai…
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Bayeux Tapestry got torn on trip from France to British Museum, French culture minister reveals
The Bayeux Tapestry suffered a minor tear during its transfer from France to the British Museum for its first UK exhibition in nearly 1,000 years, France’s culture minister Catherine Pegard has confirmed. Two threads broke across the 70-metre tapestry during the journey, though experts who examined it centimetre by centimetre concluded it remains “in the…