‘Tom & Jerry’ gives box office some life with $13.7M opening

 A not-so-distant recovery for movie theaters could be glimpsed Sunday, as Warner Bros.′ live-action-animation hybrid “Tom & Jerry” debuted with $13.7 million in ticket sales, the best domestic opening of the year.

The better-than-expected opening came despite just 42% of U.S. theaters being open, according to data firm Comscore. “Tom & Jerry” also played in 2,475 North American cinemas simultaneously as it did in the home, where it’s streaming on HBO Max for a month.

Yet “Tom & Jerry” still managed the second-best opening of the pandemic following Warner Bros.′ “Wonder Woman 1984,” which launched with $16.7 million in December while also landing on HBO Max. The next-closest debuts — “Tenet,” “The Croods: A New Age” — eked out about $10 million on opening weekend.

“With half of the theaters still closed, the pandemic still a threat, and Torm & Jerry’ available at home, this is a very good opening,” said David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Under normal circumstances, this weekend would comfortably be above $35 million — a positive sign for the business and for theatrical’s pullover home entertainment.”

“Tom & Jerry” has also made $25.1 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $38.8 million, according to studio estimates. The film, directed by Tim Story and based on the characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, stars Chloë Grace Moretz.

Theaters in some crucial markets are also about to come online. On Friday, New York City theaters will be allowed to open at 25% capacity for the first time since they closed last March. Next week, Disney launches the animated “Raya and the Last Dragon” in theaters and on Disney+ for $30, not counting the subscription cost.

Though Warner Bros. was criticized by some for abandoning movie theaters when it announced plans to send all 2021 films to both HBO Max and cinemas, the studio is presently a lifeline to theaters. The studio’s films — including “The Little Things,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Wonder Woman 1984” — accounted for roughly 80% of domestic ticket sales over the weekend.

Private rental bookings are helping the modest return of moviegoing. Family, friends and “pods” have booked an entire theater. Warner Bros. said “Tom & Jerry” has already seen more than 10,000 such bookings.

 

NEW YORK (AP)

………………………………………………………………

Caster Semenya fight against testosterone rule is ‘for all women’

 A lawsuit by South Africa’s two-times Olympic 800 metres champion Caster Semenya in the European Court of Human Rights that challenges restrictions of testosterone in female athletes is a “fight for all women”, her lawyer has said.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Gregory Nott said on Sunday a ruling by the governing body of athletics that prohibits Semenya from competing in certain track events due to her high natural testosterone is “a human rights violation”.

“This is Caster’s fight but she believes it’s a fight for all woman who faced derogatory or prejudicial attacks upon themselves,” he said, speaking from Johannesburg. “She sees it as a fight for all women in a similar situation as herself.”

Earlier this week, the 30-year-old athlete took the case to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the 2018 rules from World Athletics which banned Semenya and other female athletes with differences of sexual development from races between 400 metres and a mile unless they take hormone-suppressing drugs, daily contraceptive pills, or have surgery.

Semenya was legally identified as female at birth and has identified as female her whole life. She says her testosterone is merely a genetic gift.

Because of her refusal to lower her natural testosterone, Semenya has been barred from running in the 800m since 2019, when she was the dominant runner in the world over two laps.

“We have been surprised by [the lack of emphathy and support from World Athletics] because, after all, she falls under the rubric of world athletics,” Nott said.

“One would anticipate they would stand by the athlete – particularly such as one like Caster – who is an iconic figure not only in her homeland but around the world.”

World Athletics has previously denied it was targeting Semenya.

Semenya has previously unsuccessfully challenged those rules at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

“I hope the European court will put an end to the longstanding human rights violations by World Athletics against women athletes,” Semenya said in a statement on Thursday.

“All we ask is to be allowed to run free, for once and for all, as the strong and fearless women we are and have always been,” she added.

No dates have been set yet for the hearing of the case.

Meantime, the athlete is yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

She had already decided to compete in the 200m even before the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We believe Caster will be seen at the Olympics, whether it will be running the 200m or 1,500m or whatever it may be, but we believe Caster will be running her agenda and objectives,” Nott said, describing the athlete as “an indomitable spirit”.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

………………………………………………………………

Israeli-owned ship docked in Dubai after mysterious blast

 An Israeli-owned cargo ship that suffered a mysterious explosion in the Gulf of Oman came to Dubai’s port for repairs Sunday, days after the blast that revived security concerns in Mideast waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran.

Associated Press journalists saw the hulking Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray sitting at dry dock facilities at Dubai’s Port Rashid. Although the crew was unharmed in the blast, the vessel sustained two holes on its port side and two on its starboard side just above the waterline, according to American defense officials.

It remains unclear what caused the blast, but the incident comes amid sharply rising tension between the U.S. and Iran over its unraveling 2015 nuclear deal. Iran has sought to pressure President Joe Biden’s administration to grant the sanctions relief it received under the accord with world powers that former President Donald Trump abandoned.

From the shore, AP journalists could not immediately see damage to the vessel. The dock blocked the view of the vessel’s starboard side down to the waterline and the port side could only be seen from a distance. The blue and white ship was anchored near Dubai’s storied floating hotel, the Queen Elizabeth 2. An Emirati coast guard vessel was seen sailing behind the ship, with Dubai police and Emirati armed forces vehicles parked nearby.

Emirati officials did not respond to requests for comment on the vessel docking in the country.

Friday’s blast on the ship, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo vessel, recalled a string of attacks on foreign oil tankers in 2019 that the U.S. Navy blamed on Iran. Tehran denied any role in the suspected assaults, which happened near the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil chokepoint.

Israeli officials indicated Sunday that Iran was responsible for the explosion on the ship. In a speech for an army intelligence unit, Israeli military Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi indirectly referred to the incident, accusing Iran of carrying out “operations against civilian targets.”

“Just this past weekend we received a reminder on one of these fronts from one of the greatest threats in the region, Iran, and we received a reminder that Iran doesn’t just represent a nuclear threat,” he said.

Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and U.N., Gilad Erdan, told Israel’s Army Radio that “it was no secret that the Iranians are trying to harm Israeli targets,” alleging the explosion on the ship bore the hallmarks of previous Iranian attacks.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for firing a ballistic missile and nine bomb-laden drones at “sensitive sites” in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh the night before. The group’s military spokesman Yahia Sarei added that another six explosive drones targeted “military positions” in the southwestern cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait. The Saudi interception of the missile set off an apparent explosion over Riyadh that startled residents and scattered shell debris, without causing casualties.

The Helios Ray had discharged cars at various ports in the Persian Gulf before making its way out of the Middle East toward Singapore. The blast hit as the ship was sailing from the Saudi port Dammam out of the Gulf of Oman, forcing it to turn to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, for inspection.

Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the ship. The country’s hard-line Kayhan daily, whose editor-in-chief was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, alleged the Helios Ray was “possibly” on an “espionage” mission in the region, without offering any evidence to support the claim. The Sunday report speculated the ship may have been “trapped in an ambush by a branch of resistance axis,” referring to Iranian proxies in the region.

Iran also has blamed Israel for a recent series of attacks, including a mysterious explosion last summer that destroyed an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at its Natanz nuclear facility and the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear program two decades ago.

Iran’s repeated vows to avenge Fakhrizadeh’s killing have raised alarms in Israel, particularly as the Gulf sees an increase in Israeli traffic following the country’s normalization deals with the UAE and Bahrain.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)

………………………………………………………………

Spacewalking astronauts prep station for new solar wings

 Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Sunday to install support frames for new, high-efficiency solar panels arriving at the International Space Station later this year.

NASA’s Kate Rubins and Victor Glover emerged from the orbiting lab lugging 8-foot (2.5-meter) duffle-style bags stuffed with hundreds of pounds of mounting brackets and struts. The equipment was so big and awkward that it had to be taken apart like furniture, just to get through the hatch.

“We know it’s super tight in there,” Mission Control radioed.

The astronauts headed with their unusually large load to the far port side of the station, careful not to bump into anything. That’s where the station’s oldest and most degraded solar wings are located.

Glover quickly began putting the struts together in the shape of a triangle, using a cordless power drill, and Rubins bolted the completed piece to the space station.

With more people and experiments flying on the space station, more power will be needed to keep everything running, according to NASA. The six new solar panels — to be delivered in pairs by SpaceX over the coming year or so — should boost the station’s electrical capability by as much as 30%.

Rubins and Glover had to assemble and bolt down the struts for the first two solar panels, due to launch in June.

The eight solar panels up there now are 12 to 20 years old — most of them passed their design lifetime and deteriorating. Each panel is 112 feet (34 meters) long by 39 feet (12 meters) wide. Tip to tip counting the center framework, each pair stretches 240 feet (73 meters), longer than a Boeing 777′s wingspan.

Boeing is supplying the new roll-up panels, about half the size of the old ones but just as powerful thanks to the latest solar cell technology. They’ll be placed at an angle above the old ones, which will continue to operate.

A prototype was tested at the space station in 2017.

The views from Rubins’ new high-definition helmet camera were stunning, particularly those showing the vivid blue Earth 270 miles (435 kilometers) below. “Pretty fantastic,” observed Mission Control.

Sunday’s spacewalk was the third for infectious disease specialist Rubins and Navy pilot Glover — both of whom could end up flying to the moon.

They’re among 18 astronauts newly assigned to NASA’s Artemis moon-landing program. The next moonwalkers will come from this group.

Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris put in a congratulatory call to Glover, the first African American astronaut to live full time at the space station. NASA released the video exchange Saturday.

“The history making that you are doing, we are so proud of you,” Harris said. Like other firsts, Glover replied, it won’t be the last. “We want to make sure that we can continue to do new things,” he said.

Rubins will float back out Friday with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to wrap up the solar panel prep work, and to vent and relocate ammonia coolant hoses.

Glover and Noguchi were among four astronauts arriving via SpaceX in November. Rubins launched from Kazakhstan in October alongside two Russians. They’re all scheduled to return to Earth this spring.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)

………………………………………………………………

In Nigeria, an agonising wait for parents of 300 abducted girls

 Families in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state are desperately waiting for news of their kidnapped daughters after more than 300 schoolgirls were taken by gunmen from a government school on Friday, the latest in a series of mass school abductions to hit the country.

Some parents and other relatives on Sunday gathered at the all-girls boarding school in the Jangebe village amid speculation that the children had regained their freedom after being held in a forest.

“There have been rumours flying around that the girls have been found; the government denied them but these rumours refuse to go away,” Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the school, said.

With police coordinating a joint rescue operation with the military and helicopters combing the forest, Idris said a number of government ministers had arrived in Zamfara to meet local officials. “Senior officials confirmed to Al Jazeera that some progress has been made and [expressed hope] in the next 24 hours the girls will be back home,” Idris added.

A team of security experts tour the school a day after the kidnapping [Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters]

Locals say more than 100 gunmen in military uniforms invaded the village early on Friday morning before heading to the school’s hostel for the sleeping students.

Humaira Mustapha’s two daughters – Hafsa and Aisha, 14 and 13 respectively – were among the 317 schoolgirls abducted.

“Whenever I think about my daughters I’m filled with indescribable grief,” Mustapha told AFP news agency, making no effort to wipe away the tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Whenever I serve food to their younger sister, tears keep flowing from my eyes because I keep thinking about the hunger and thirst they are going through,” said the 30-year-old mother of three.

“I’m appealing to the governor to do everything to rescue our daughters who are facing real danger to their lives,” Mustapha added. “As a mother, my anguish is crushing me.”

‘Scared of going back to school’

Aliyu Ladan Jangebe said his five daughters aged between 12 and 16 were at the school when the kidnappers stormed in. Four were taken away but one escaped by hiding in a bathroom with three other girls, he told The Associated Press news agency.

“We are not in [a] good mood because when you have five children and you are able to secure (just) one. We only thank God … But we are not happy,” said Jangebe.

“We cannot imagine their situation,” he said of his missing daughters. Residents of a nearby village said the kidnappers had herded the girls through the town like animals, he said.

Masauda Umar was among the schoolgirls who managed to escape. “I was coming out from the door and I met somebody but ran back and hid under my bed,” she said. “I’m scared of going back to school because of what happened, but I will go back if the government makes it safe.”

One resident at the village said the gunmen also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing soldiers from responding to the mass abduction.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the government’s priority is to get all the hostages returned safe and unharmed.

The girls’ abduction has caused international outrage, with the United Nations chief calling for the girls’ “immediate and unconditional release” and safe return to their families.

Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings in recent years. On Saturday, 24 students, six staff and eight relatives were released after being abducted on February 17 from the Government Science College Kagara in Niger state.

In December, more than 300 schoolboys from a secondary school in Kankara, in northwestern Nigeria, were taken and later released. The government has said no ransom was paid for the students’ release.

The most notorious kidnapping was in April 2014, when 276 girls were abducted by the Boko Haram armed group from the secondary school in Chibok in Borno state. More than 100 of those girls are still missing.

Boko Haram is opposed to Western education and its fighters often target schools. Other organised armed groups, locally called bandits, often abduct students for money. The government says large groups of armed men in Zamfara state are known to kidnap for money and to press for the release of their members held in jail.

Nigeria’s criminal networks may plot more such abductions if this round of kidnappings go unpunished, say analysts.

“While improving community policing and security, in general, remains a mid-to-long-term challenge, in the short term authorities must punish those responsible to send a strong message that there will be zero tolerance toward such acts,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan-based think-tank.

………………………………………………………………

US: Crisis deepens for Cuomo; AG wants to lead harassment probe

 The crisis enveloping Gov. Andrew Cuomo deepened Sunday as the state’s attorney general demanded he grant her the authority to investigate claims he sexually harassed at least two women who worked for him.

Democrats statewide appeared to be abandoning Cuomo in large numbers as Attorney General Letitia James rejected two proposals by the governor for an investigation of his conduct.

Under the governor’s first plan, announced Saturday evening, a retired federal judge would have reviewed his workplace behavior. In the second proposal, announced Sunday morning in an attempt to appease legislative leaders, Cuomo said he had asked James and the state’s chief appeals court judge, Janet DiFiore, to jointly appoint a lawyer to investigate the claims and issue a public report.

But James said that plan didn’t go far enough, either.

“I do not accept the governor’s proposal,” she said. “The state’s Executive Law clearly gives my office the authority to investigate this matter once the governor provides a referral. While I have deep respect for Chief Judge DiFiore, I am the duly elected attorney general and it is my responsibility to carry out this task, per Executive Law. The governor must provide this referral so an independent investigation with subpoena power can be conducted.”

The governor’s office didn’t immediately comment.

The plan for James and DiFiore, who was appointed to her position by Cuomo, to choose an investigator jointly, also met a cascade of criticism from fellow Democrats who called for him to relinquish all control of the investigation to James.

Under state law, the state attorney general needs a referral from the governor in order to investigate his conduct.

State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate majority leader and a Democrat from suburban Westchester County, said through her spokesperson, “We support the AG and her call for referral.”

The calls for an investigation into Cuomo’s workplace behavior intensified after a second former employee of his administration went public Saturday with claims she had been harassed by the governor.

Charlotte Bennett, a low-level aide in the governor’s administration until November, told The New York Times that Cuomo asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life, including whether she ever had sex with older men.

Her accusation came days after another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, a former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor, elaborated on harassment allegations she first made in December. Boylan said Cuomo subjected her to an unwanted kiss and inappropriate comments.

The 63-year-old Cuomo said in a statement Saturday he had intended to be a mentor for Bennett, who is 25. He has denied Boylan’s allegations.

A group of more than a dozen Democratic women in the state Assembly said in a statement: “The Governor’s proposal to appoint someone who is not independently elected, has no subpoena authority, and no prosecutorial authority is inadequate.”

Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, said on Twitter, “As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee I think it’s wholly inappropriate for Chief Judge DiFiore — who was appointed by the Governor and who would have a constitutional role in potential future proceedings — to be part of the investigation process.”

Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Island, tweeted, “The NY Attorney General should not need a referral to begin a criminal investigation. This is an issue I have been working on for some time, and will be introducing legislation tomorrow.”

 

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)

………………………………………………………………

Italy’s Sardinia to open up as infections fall

 While new COVID-19 cases surge in Italy’s north, the island of Sardinia has earned coveted ’’white zone” status, allowing for evening dining and drinking at restaurants and cafes and the reopening after months of the closure of gyms, cinemas and theaters.

Earlier this year, the Italian government added ’’white zone” status to its color-coded system of restrictions on businesses and schools, with “red zone” designation carrying the strictest measures.

Starting on Monday, the region of Sardinia, with an incidence of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 residents, will be able to allow the most liberties since the second wave of coronavirus infections last fall prompted the government to tighten restrictions nationwide after easing them during summer.

The Health Ministry report covering the third week of February shows nationwide incidence was 145 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and several regions had far higher incidence.

The Mediterranean island of Sardinia is a popular vacation destination. Last summer, crowds at seaside discos and clubs there were cited as a factor in the climb in an explosion of cases in Italy in the last months of 2020.

ROME

………………………………………………………………