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| Royal Opera sets accent on youth for cut-rate opening night Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:55 AM PDT  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - The Royal Opera will slash ticket prices to appeal to students and young people and will revive the racy modern opera "Anna Nicole" for its season opener in September in what management said was a bid to knock this stuffing out of galas. All tickets in the house, whose 2,200 seats can go for as much as 200 pounds ($330), will be priced from 1 pound to 25 pounds for the opening night on September 11 and will be sold through the opera's student standby scheme and in conjunction with a music venue that works with young people, the ROH said. "I think it's fantastic to have a season opening gala which is something that sounds stuffy and elitist to actually be a night where we celebrate new work...and is celebrated by selling the whole house to students and young people," the ROH's Director of Opera Kasper Holten told Reuters on Monday. Music Director Antonio Pappano, whose contract the ROH announced was being extended until at least the end of 2017, will conduct English composer Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera based on the life of the Playboy centerfold who married an oil billionaire. Full Story | Top |
| Elton John to marry partner as Britain legalizes gay marriage Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:47 AM PDT  British singer Elton John will marry long-time partner David Furnish now that Britain's legalization of gay marriage has been put into effect, the singer said in an interview on Monday. John, 67, told NBC's "Today" host Matt Lauer that he and Furnish, who were one of the first couples to become united when Britain legalized the Civil Partnership Act in December 2005, will marry in a small ceremony this year, as early as May. "We'll do it very quietly," the singer said. The singer said he was "very proud of Britain" and the progress made to make gay marriage legal. Full Story | Top |
| Album of unheard Michael Jackson songs to be released in May Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:29 AM PDT  Eight previously unreleased songs by the late Michael Jackson will be part of a new album, "Xscape," the singer's estate and Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records said on Monday. The songs were unearthed from Jackson's archive of recorded material by L.A. Reid, the chairman and chief executive of Epic Records. "Xscape" will be released on May 13. The unreleased tracks have been re-produced by the likes of present-day hitmakers Jerome "Jroc" Harmon, who has helped produce hits for Beyonce and Justin Timberlake, and Norwegian duo Tor Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen, who work under the name Stargate and have produced hits for Rihanna and Selena Gomez. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. FCC votes to limit TV stations' banding on advertising sales Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:25 AM PDT U.S. communications regulators voted along party lines on Monday to limit so-called joint sales agreements among broadcasters, deals that allow TV stations to share advertising staff, though promising to respond to any waiver request within 90 days. The Federal Communications Commission approved, in a 3-2 vote, new rules that would count a broadcaster as having an ownership interest in any station where that owner sells 15 percent or more of weekly advertising time. Broadcasters that currently have such deals get two years to divest or apply for waivers, for instance arguing that the joint sales sharing agreement has no influence on programming or actually promotes localism and competitiveness of local TV. Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has argued that such deals, known as JSAs, effectively constitute one TV station owning another and should be allowed only under specifically considered waivers. Full Story | Top |
| Comcast divestitures may be worth roughly $18 billion: source Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:24 AM PDT  The 3 million subscribers that Comcast Corp plans to divest as part of a proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc might be worth roughly $18 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. The company has received strong interest from other cable companies and investors, the source added. While the subscribers could be sold off, Comcast is also considering a spinoff of the assets into a separate publicly traded company. At $18 billion, the 3 million subscribers would be valued at approximately $6,000 each. Full Story | Top |
| Miami officials seek to end annual Ultra music fest, cite 'chaos' Monday, Mar 31, 2014 09:47 AM PDT By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - Miami politicians are calling for the end of the annual Ultra electronic dance music festival after a security guard was trampled and rushed to the hospital with brain injuries when gate-crashers broke through a security fence during the three-day event. "I think we should not have Ultra next year here," Miami mayor Tomas Regalado told the Miami Herald over the weekend. More than 160,000 people attended the festival, now in its 16th year, according to Ultra spokeswoman Alexandra Greenberg. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. stock markets are rigged, says author Michael Lewis Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:03 AM PDT  By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. stock market is rigged in favor of high-speed electronic trading firms, which use their advantages to extract billions from investors, according to Michael Lewis, author of a new book on the topic, "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt." High-frequency trading (HFT) is a practice carried out by many banks and proprietary trading firms using sophisticated computer programs to send gobs of orders into the market, executing a small portion of them when opportunities arise to capitalize on price imbalances, or to make markets. HFT makes up more than half of all U.S. trading volume. The trading methods and technology that make HFT possible are all legal, and the stock exchanges HFT firms trade on are highly regulated. But Lewis said these firms are using their speed advantage to profit at the expense of other market participants to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Full Story | Top |
| Taboo-breaking Basque comedy is blockbuster in Spain Monday, Mar 31, 2014 07:37 AM PDT  By Emma Pinedo MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish filmgoers are lining up for a surprise hit comedy about Basques and separatist guerrillas - complete with jokes about car-bombings - in a film that would have been unthinkable in Spain before now. The movie, "8 Apellidos Vascos" (8 Basque Surnames), has viewers in stitches over the cultural divide between a slick-haired young man from southern Spain and his Basque girlfriend. "It is very, very healthy for all of us that we are laughing at ourselves and especially that people in troubled areas of the country are able to laugh at themselves," Enrique Gonzalez Macho, president of the Spanish Film Academy, said in a television interview on Monday. The Basque separatist movement ETA declared an end to its armed struggle in 2011, after decades of violence in which more than 100 people were killed. Full Story | Top |
| Disney's 'Frozen' becomes top-grossing animated film ever Monday, Mar 31, 2014 05:41 AM PDT  Disney's hit film "Frozen" has become the top-grossing animated film in box office history, the studio said on Sunday as the musical topped $1 billion in global sales. Foreign box offices have added another $674 million, for a global total of $1.072 billion, Disney said. The previous animated-film box office champion was 2010's "Toy Story 3," which racked up $1.063 billion in sales, according to Boxofficemojo.com. Both films were distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Full Story | Top |
| Charlie Brooks hid his 'smut' to protect his ex-Murdoch CEO wife Monday, Mar 31, 2014 04:14 AM PDT  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Charlie Brooks, the husband of Rupert Murdoch's former British newspaper chief, told a London court on Monday he hid his porn collection from police investigating phone-hacking because he feared leaks to the press which would embarrass his wife. Brooks' wife Rebekah is on trial at London's Old Bailey accused of conspiracy to hack phones and authorizing illegal payments to public officials. They are both accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice by hindering the police investigation. Five others are also on trial over alleged criminal activity centered on Murdoch's now defunct News of the World tabloid. Full Story | Top |
| Lagardere says decision on magazine deal set for April 2 Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:54 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - French media group Lagardere said discussions were continuing with potential buyers of 10 of its magazines and a decision was expected on Wednesday this week. The group denied media reports that the choice had already been made. French daily Le Figaro wrote on Saturday that a joint offer from Belgium's Rossel and France's Reworld Media had won the bidding. Lagardere said in October it planned to sell 10 magazine titles including popular Psychologies Magazine, Be and Premiere, and several home and decoration magazines. ... Full Story | Top |
| A soulful Robert Cray tunes in to the sounds of his youth Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:03 AM PDT  By Jeremy Gaunt LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran blues guitarist and singer Robert Cray has set off on a new U.S. and European tour with an album harking back to the early days of soul music, the kind that filled his ears as a youngster. It took around a year and a half to get the pick up just right on the Strat, Cray said, adding that he does not know how many have been sold but that he keeps being asked to sign them at shows. Full Story | Top |
| Tibetan Communist who urged reconciliation with Dalai Lama dies Sunday, Mar 30, 2014 10:43 PM PDT  By Benjamin Kang Lim and David Stanway BEIJING (Reuters) - Phuntso Wangye, a veteran Tibetan Communist leader who became an outspoken critic of Beijing's hardline policies towards the Himalayan region, died on Sunday, his son said. "Before his death, he was a Communist Party member. After his death, we have invited lamas to pray (for his soul) according to traditional Tibetan culture." Phuntso, who had been in hospital in Beijing since July, had recently developed lung problems. Born in 1922 in the Tibetan county of Batang, now part of China's province of Sichuan, Phuntso founded the Tibetan Communist Party and launched a series of guerrilla uprisings against Nationalist Chinese rule until joining forces with the Chinese Communist Party in 1949. Full Story | Top |
| Committee fears for BBC World Service under new funding Sunday, Mar 30, 2014 07:42 PM PDT  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee raised fears on Monday for the future of the BBC World Service, the world's largest international broadcaster, as funding shifts from government grants to financing by domestic television user fees. The BBC World Service, which started as the "Empire Service" in 1932, airs news and discussions around-the-clock in 28 languages, reaching about 190 million people a week. "We have clear differences with the BBC on governance of the World Service .. It remains to be seen whether they will indeed safeguard the distinct nature of the World Service," the committee said in a report on Monday. The World Service has been given a budget of 245 million pounds in 2014/15, which the committee welcomed along with an undertaking by the BBC's news director to maintain this level until the current licence fee period ends in 2016. Full Story | Top |
| British lawmakers fear for BBC World Service under new funding Sunday, Mar 30, 2014 05:06 PM PDT  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers raised fears on Monday for the future of the BBC World Service, the world's largest international broadcaster, as funding shifts from government grants to financing by domestic television user fees. Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee said it was concerned that a change in funding and a lack of presence on the BBC's executive or management boards would erode the on-air and online influence of the radio and television service. The BBC World Service, which started as the "Empire Service" in 1932, airs news and discussions around-the-clock in 28 languages, reaching about 190 million people a week. "We have clear differences with the BBC on governance of the World Service .. It remains to be seen whether they will indeed safeguard the distinct nature of the World Service," the committee said in a report on Monday. Full Story | Top |
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