“Ted”, l’ours en peluche impertinent, s’est emparé du box-office nord-américain en récoltant 54,1 millions de dollars de recettes dès sa première semaine d’exploitation. Joli carton aussi pour “Magic Mike”, le nouveau Soderbergh, qui, avec 39,2 millions de dollars, se voit propulsé à la deuxième place du classement.

Un ours en peluche détrône une princesse à la tête du box-office US… Réalisée par Seth MacFarlane, créateur de la série Les Griffin, la comédie pour adultes Ted a en effet récolté 54,1 millions de dollars pour son premier week-end dans les salles obscures. La deuxième place du podium est occupée par un autre nouveau venu : Magic Mike qui, avec 39,2 millions de dollars, effectue le plus gros démarrage d’un film mis en scène par Steven Soderbergh (au-dessus des chiffres d’Ocean’s Twelve). Premier il y a une semaine, troisième aujourd’hui, Rebelle, le film d’animation des studios Pixar, engrange 34 millions de dollars (131,7 millions au total) mais enregistre une baisse de fréquentation de 48,7%.

 

Quatrième, Madea’s Witness Protection, le dernier long métrage du comique noir américain Tyler Perry, dans lequel il incarne son personnage fétiche de Madea, rapporte pour sa part 26,3 millions de dollars. Il est suivi par Madagascar 3, bons baisers d’Europe qui a recueilli 4,4 millions de dollars de recettes ce week-end et se maintient, pour sa quatrième semaine, avec un cumul de 180 millions. Abraham Lincoln : Chasseur de Vampires est quant à lui sixième avec 6 millions de dollars supplémentaires, alors qu’à la septième place dégringole le Prometheus de Ridley Scott qui totalise 4,9 millions de dollars de recettes (118,3 millions depuis sa sortie).

 

Moonrise Kingdom (8ème), Blanche-Neige et le chasseur (9ème) et la nouveauté People Like Us (10ème), un drame familial avec Michelle Pfeiffer, complètent ce top 10 en encaissant respectivement depuis leur sortie en salles les sommes de 18,4 millions, 145,5 millions et 4,3 millions de billets verts.

 

Voir le tableau complet

G.M. avec www.boxofficemojo.com

*Les chiffres mentionnés dans l’article sont des estimations, publiées dimanche soir par la société spécialisée Exhibitor Relations.

La bande-annonce de “Ted”…

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Décidément, il a tout pour plaire, . Beau gosse au sourire éclatant, Président hype lors de soirées mondaines, le démocrate n’en reste pas moins un père de famille attentionné. Au lendemain de la fête des pères, il affirmait même que c’était de loin son «métier le plus important».

«Dans ma vie, j’ai été avocat, enseignant, sénateur, et maintenant Président des Etats-Unis. Je peux dire sans hésitation que le métier le plus difficile, le plus gratifiant, le plus important que j’aurai lors de mon séjour sur cette terre est d’être le père de Sasha et Malia», déclarait lundi Barack Obama, à l’occasion d’une allocution prononcée devant 300 invités au lendemain de la fête des pères.

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Un discours qui n’a pas manqué d’émouvoir son auditoire, mais aussi le monde entier. Car si Barack doit gérer la plus grosse puissance mondiale, mais aussi une dette colossale, le problème de la marée noire dans le Golfe du Mexique, plusieurs guerres, un début de carrière dans le rap, et autres pacotilles présidentielles, ce père de famille souhaite avant tout rester présent pour ses deux fillettes, Sasha 9 ans, et Malia bientôt 12 ans. Une responsabilité bien plus importante aux yeux de n’importe quel papa.

L’éducation des enfants a toujours été une priorité pour Michelle et Barack, et ce dernier ne veut pas louper une miette de la vie de ses princesses. À la naissance de sa fille aînée, celui qui a grandi sans figure paternelle (Barack sénior a quitté le foyer alors qu’il était tout petit, le laissant grandir auprès de sa mère et sa grand-mère), s’est promis d’éviter que ses filles ne souffrent de l’absence de leur père. «J’ai juré que je ferai tout pour leur donner ce que je n’ai pas eu: un père», confiait-il.

Alors qu’un décret prend plusieurs mois avant d’être appliqué, qu’une loi est adoptée après plusieurs années parfois, et qu’un Président est soumis au vote de son peuple une fois tous les quatre ans, quand on est papa, la sanction est immédiate. Mais les sourires et remerciements aussi. Car pour une petite fille, son papa est toujours le plus beau et le plus fort. Si ce métier-là nécessite une disponibilité à plein temps, une patience sans limite, un courage sans faille, et le tout sans aucun jour de congé, être papa reste le plus éprouvant mais aussi le plus merveilleux des métiers, celui auquel jamais aucun homme ne renoncera. Pas même Barack Obama, son agenda aussi rempli soit-il, et sa notoriété aussi importante soit-elle.

Mardi 22 juin 2010

EU and China team up on emissions trading

China’s pilot emissions trading system in a €25 million finance agreement with the European Commission.

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The European Commission and China have today (20 September) signed a €25 million financing agreement for the EU to provide expertise and assistance in setting up China’s pilot emissions trading system, along with other environmental goals.  

The agreement, signed in the margins of the EU-China summit taking place today, will see the EU participate in the development of China’s emissions trading system. The EU will also assist Chinese cities in adopting energy solutions and make resource use more efficient. Further cooperation will be taken in projects to reduce water and heavy metal pollution and to implement sustainable waste treatment.  

The cooperation comes as the EU and China are locked in a diplomatic battle over the EU’s decision to include foreign airlines in its own Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The EU is encouraging other countries to include aviation in their own emissions trading system or for a global market mechanism to be developed at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).  

Last month Australia and the EU signed an agreement to link their emissions trading systems to create the first intercontinental scheme. Australia’s ETS was launched 1 July. China’s ETS is only in a pilot phase, so any linkage with the EU ETS would be a long way off.  

“Today’s agreement is an important step for an ever closer co-operation towards a robust international carbon market,” said Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for climate action, after the signing. “Needless to say that it makes a significant difference when now also China wants to use carbon markets to reduce emissions cost-effectively and boost low-carbon technologies.”

The EU’s unconstitutional treaties

Measures taken to tackle the eurozone crisis up to now have trampled all over EU and national law.

As European leaders meet to discuss what they should do next to respond to the eurozone’s economic crisis, it is worth considering how its previous responses have placed the European Union in a deep constitutional crisis.

In December, for example, the stability treaty – ‘the treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance in the European monetary union’ – and the treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) were trumpeted as solutions to the crisis. They were, rather, examples of how to pretend to rescue the euro, fail to do so, and in the process throw European and national constitutional law overboard.

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Here are the four reasons why this is so.

Firstly, the two treaties are simple inter-governmental treaties; neither is a part of EU law, even though fiscal and monetary policies are already a fundamental competence of the Union. By taking fundamental decisions on the way European competences are organised and executed outside EU treaties, member states are opting out of Union law. They are therefore undermining the integrity of EU law. They are also undermining national constitutional law.

National constitutions establish a thick framework that conditions the way in which power is transferred to the EU and the way in which the EU operates and takes decisions. National constitutions leave no room for the transfer of sovereignty to mere inter-governmental processes. But that is what has been done through the stability and ESM treaties. The very choice of such a form is a breach of national constitutional law.

Secondly, Article 7 of the stability treaty radicalises the move towards ‘reversed qualified majority voting’ on fundamental decisions regarding economic policy co-ordination. In essence, any decision on whether a eurozone state has run an excessive deficit and whether sanctions should be imposed on it will now be adopted if the European Commission and a qualified minority of member states are in agreement. To take such a deeply political decision on the basis of the opinion of the Commission and a minority of states constitutes a radical breach of the democratic principle.

Thirdly, Article 8 of the stability treaty says that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will review whether member states have correctly introduced into their national constitutions a ‘golden rule’: thou shall not run budget deficits. This requires the ECJ to decide on the validity of decisions that national peoples take about their constitutions. If the French constitution is reformed to comply with the ‘golden rule’, and the Commission or one member state is still dissatisfied with that reform, the ECJ will be forced to review the validity of a democratic, constitutional decision taken by the French people. This contravenes the EU’s principle of respect of the constitutional identity of member states, and the primacy of decisions taken by the people. If the people are not sovereign, there is no democracy to speak of.

Fourthly, the ESM treaty conditions future financial assistance on ratification of the stability treaty. This breaches Union law, in particular, Article 122.2, which establishes that member states should receive assistance in case of exceptional events beyond their control. It was this article that was invoked to provide the legal basis of the Irish, Portuguese and second Greek bail-out programmes.

The implicit premise of each of these programmes was, therefore, that these countries’ fiscal troubles amounted to exceptional events beyond their control. If so, it surely cannot be that such an obligation is limited or constrained by a rule that is merely a provision of an international agreement outside Community law.

Agustín José Menéndez is a lecturer injurisprudence at the University of León and a fellow at ARENA, the Centre for European Studies at the University of Oslo.

The 18-year-old Scot is enjoying a breakthrough season at Stamford Bridge, with recognition in west London coming much sooner than he anticipated

Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour has revealed that he models his game on that of Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta.

Comparisons between the two are easy to make, given that both operate in the middle of the park.

Neither are there to make headlines, with their roles in the engine room intended to make life easier for those around them.

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Ball retention and creativity is the order of the day when it comes to players of Iniesta’s ilk, with the World Cup winner assured of a place in history as one of the very best when it comes to that skill set.

Gilmour hopes that he can one day follow in the illustrious footsteps of a Barca great, with the 18-year-old showing early promise at Stamford Bridge.

He has burst onto the scene as the latest teenage sensation in British football and is prepared to set the bar high when it comes to playing style.

Quizzed by BBC Sport as to who his idols are, Gilmour said: “It was always Iniesta.

“I just loved the way he played, how he got the ball, passing the ball.”

Chelsea believe that they have unearthed a talent cut from the same cloth as Iniesta.

Gilmour admits to boasting many of the same qualities, with the Scotland Under-21 international showcasing his flair, passing ability and penchant for a tackle across his senior outings.

“I like to get on the ball, drop deep a lot and create play, he said.

“I’ve always been told to work hard and everything else will fall in place.”

Two Man of the Match outings have been taken in by Gilmour across FA Cup and Premier League competition in meetings with Liverpool and Everton.

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He is up to seven competitive first-team outings for the season and admits that he did not expect a rise to prominence to be as meteoric as it has been.

The talented teenager added on breaking into Frank Lampard’s plans: “No I never expected it at all.

“I thought I was going to be in the U23s all season, but I went with the first team in pre-season and did really well.

“We came back and I was training with them a lot, and then the gaffer put me in the squad for the Sheffield [United] game. I was buzzing!”

Gilmour made his Premier League bow against the Blades on August 31, 2019.

A first start was taken in when facing Grimsby in the Carabao Cup, before a full debut was made in the English top-flight when making Lampard’s XI for a home date with Everton.

EU praises Zenawi

Commission’s president highlights contribution to development made by the controversial long-time leader of Ethiopia, who died today.

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The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, today (21 August) expressed “great sadness” at news of the death of Meles Zenawi, praising Ethiopia’s long-time leader for improving living conditions in Ethiopia and for his leadership in Africa.

Zenawi, who died in a Brussels hospital of an infection received while under treatment for an undisclosed ailment, was 57 and had been Ethiopia’s leader for two decades.

In a statement, Barroso described Zenawi as a “a respected African leader” who had “demonstrated his strong personal commitment over many years to improving the lives of not just his own but all African peoples, through his work on African unity, climate change, development and in promoting peace and stability, particularly in the Horn of Africa”.

Barroso singled out the material advances for Ethiopia’s people during Zenawi’s rule, using the UN’s Millennium Development Goals as the benchmark. Barroso said that Ethiopia, which has a population of 76 million, had “made great advances”.

In its 2010 report on Ethiopia’s progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Development Programme wrote that “the government has maximised its efforts and shown the highest level of dedication to bring about pro-poor economic growth”.

Barroso’s message of condolence made no reference to the many criticisms of Zenawi’s record on political and human rights. He did, though, make oblique reference to the limitations of Ethiopia’s political scene, saying: “I sincerely hope that Ethiopia will enhance its path of democratisation, upholding of human rights and prosperity for its people, and of further regional stabilisation and integration.”

In the latest elections, in May 2010, Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) supposedly secured 99.6% of the vote.

While the US and the EU voiced some criticism of an anti-terrorism law passed in 2009, official criticism of Zenawi’s policies has been muted. Zenawi himself praised China’s approach to development while insisting that his government respected the rule of law.

Richard Dowden, the director of the Royal African Society in the UK, writing of Zenawi in May, said that “aid donors love Meles. He is well-informed, highly numerate and focused. And he delivers.”

The US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch said that Zenawi had left a mixed legacy on human rights. While the country’s economic development had been “significant, albeit uneven”, civil and political rights have deteriorated sharply since 2005, with “mounting restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly”.

Leslie Lefkow of Human Rights Watch said that “donors” – such as the EU, which describes Ethiopia as “one of the largest beneficiaries of EU support” in Africa – “have too often said too little, too late about the dramatic deterioration in rights that we have witnessed over the past years”.

“Rather than focusing only on short-term stability, donors need to use their leverage to press Ethiopia’s new leadership to take steps now to ensure a truly stable Ethiopia in the long term,” she said.

Zenawi was one of the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which fought to end the military regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in the 1970s and 1980s, and he became Ethiopia’s president in a transitional government in 1991 when the regime was toppled. Four years later, he became prime minister.

Zenawi missed several important engagements in July before confirmation emerged in late July that he was receiving treatment in Brussels. There had been speculation about Zenawi’s condition since 2009, but he had appeared in no hurry to groom a successor. Indeed, in his last government re-shuffle in 2010, he promoted younger allies over the heads of longer-standing supporters, suggesting that he planned to run for re-election in 2015.

Zenawi’s deputy, Hailemariam Desalegn, has taken over as acting prime minister.

Desalegn is one of several people seen as possible long-term replacements for Zenawi. Others include Zenawi’s wife, Azeb Mesfin, and a personal friend, the health minister Tewodros Adhanom.

Relayée par , la lettre Media + annonce que le film Le Corniaud devrait être converti en 3D… mais il est devancé par le film « harD » Kama-Sutra, produit par Marc Dorcel qui promet d’y mettre les formes.

« Ben, elle va marcher beaucoup moins bien, forcément » maintenant, la version ordinaire, en 2D du Corniaud. Car, ainsi que l’on vient de l’apprendre, la rencontre au sommet du rire

– Bourvil, entre dans le 21 siècle entraîné par les fougueux jeunes Na’vis d’Avatar.

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La scène de l’accident promet d’être encore plus percutante. Et on pourra côtoyer avec émotion le duo de comique dans ce film sorti le 24 mars 1965 et diffusé depuis un milliard de fois à la télévision, dont la dernière en date, le 7 février, a réuni 6,7 millions de téléspectateurs. Et ils ont encore ri des pérégrinations d’Antoine Maréchal (Bourvil) qui, sur le point de en vacances en Italie, voit sa 2CV pulvérisée, façon puzzle, en plein Paris. Le fautif Léopold Saroyan (Louis de Funès) au volant de sa Bentley…

C’est la société 3D Lized, basée à Ivry-sur-Seine, dans le Val de Marne, et Cagnes-sur-Mer, dans les Alpes Maritimes, qui s’est attelée à ce projet de mise en relief du Corniaud. Elle maîtrise en effet un procédé qui “consiste à transformer n’importe quel contenu vidéo ou film en contenu relief. Le patrimoine de films cinématographiques, publicitaires ou encore institutionnels est considérable, c’est pour cela que 3Dlized propose de convertir ces données en relief afin de redonner une seconde vie à un film existant en lui ajouter une nouvelle composante esthétique et en immergeant l’audience. La remise en relief (ou conversion 2D-3D) transforme tout type de formats (Vidéo SD, HD, film 35mm ou même Imax) en un contenu relief de même résolution que le film original. Ce procédé est transparent et ne détériore pas la qualité originale.”

Elle se fait fort d’opérer de telles transformations de façon à « répondre à des règles de confort et de narration propre » à la nouvelle dimension du film. Et de préciser que « des procédés totalement automatiques fleurissent sur le marché, mais pour bien travailler une conversion, il est important de l’ajuster à la «grammaire» du film à convertir et par conséquent offrir un service de réalisation pour la dimension complémentaire du relief. »

On ne sait pas s’il s’embarrasse de telles subtilités, mais Marc Dorcel, le producteur de X, annonce qu’il sort son premier programme porno en trois dimensions. Intitulé Kama-Sutra, ce docu, sans vilain jeu de mots, qui dure 1h10, est commenté par Brigitte Lahaie. Il sera vendu en kiosques avec le magazine de Marc Dorcel qui, pour moins de 9 euros le tout, offrira une paire… de lunettes 3D.

Jean-Frédéric Tronche

Mercredi 17 février 2010

a deux lubies: la cause animale et le goût du scandale. Mission doublement accomplie ce week-end…

Samedi, Pamela Anderson a brisé la glace avec le Premier ministre canadien Stephen Harper en lui demandant ouvertement d’arrêter la chasse au phoque dans son pays. Si son soutien à la faune réchauffe les cœurs et séduit la banquise, au pays des kangourous la naïade échouée a suscité une levée de boucliers. En cause: une publicité dans laquelle notre sirène en bikini doré se fait arroser de lait pour vanter un nom de domaine Internet.

Ce n’est pas l’entreprise, un hébergeur de site professionnels, qui est incriminée, mais le contenu du spot taxé de «sexiste et rétrograde». Apparemment, la scène où Pam frotte son buste légendaire contre les seins de sa secrétaire a heurté la sensibilité des sujets de Sa Majesté.

A 42 ans, l’ex-sauveteuse de choc a déclenché l’indignation Après une seule et unique diffusion, l’Australia’s Advertising Standards Bureau, le CSA local, a reçu des centaines de plaintes. Les opposants, des Chiennes de Garde assurément, estiment que la femme est représentée comme un objet. «Évidemment, c’est le but que ce soit très coquin, suggestif, et que ça donne une représentation outrancière du sexe faible, mais nous pensons que la limite a été franchie», a déclaré au Herald Sun Fiona Jelly, la présidente du bureau de régulation de la publicité.

Obscène la prestation d’Anderson? A tel point que le clip licencieux a été immédiatement retiré de l’antenne et interdit jusqu’à nouvel ordre!

Pamela Anderson, pub censurée

Mais ce n’est pas la première fois que l’ex-playmate heurte les bienséances…

Comme vous le savez, la Blonde se donne à corps et à cris pour soutenir la cause qui lui tient à cœur: la protection des mammifères.

Malmenée par les bad boys, (

en tête mais aussi Kid Rock et Rick Salomon), la plantureuse vedette a trouvé du réconfort auprès des chiens, des chats et des chinchillas, qu’elle s’époumone à défendre, digne «fille de cœur» de son idole,

.

Ambassadrice de la PETA, l’actrice siliconée a donc accepté de jouer de ses charmes dans un spot anti-fourrure. Matraque à la main, micro-short et chemise ouverte en guise d’uniforme, la bombe plastique devenue hôtesse de l’air déshabille les passagers vêtus de cuirs et autres (ori)peaux et aguiche ceux qui ont la bonne idée de voyager dans le plus simple appareil.

Seulement voilà, la vidéo a été jugée trop hot pour les aéroports américains, et évincée de la grille des émissions programmées à bord des avions!

Consciente de son paradoxe, Pamela Anderson garde le sens des réalités (et celui de la povoc’): «J’ai une personnalité déchirée. Mes petits amis vous diraient que je suis tout le temps un personnage différent. La vie est toujours une interprétation pour moi. Je suis un peu exhibitionniste…», vient-elle de confier, lucide.

Justine Boivin

Mardi 2 mars 2010

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Découvrez le poster du nouveau film de Sam Raimi “Oz the Great and Powerful”.

Le premier poster officiel de Oz, The Great and Powerful a été dévoilé. Attendu en 2013, le film qui revisite le pays d’Oz a à son casting James Franco, Mila Kunis ou encore Rachel Weisz.

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Member states divided over duties on Chinese ceramics

Commission wants duties in place for five years.

A battle over whether Chinese producers of tableware should face punitive duties for the next five years hangs in the balance, with the European Commission struggling to persuade member states that European producers face unfair competition and need protection.

The EU’s member states have until 15 May to decide whether to give permanent status to duties that were provisionally imposed by the Commission in November. The decisive moment is, however, likely, to come today (4 April), when technical experts from the EU’s member states meet.

In November, the Commission used its right to continue with investigations and to impose provisional measures against Chinese exporters, even though the move was opposed by a majority of member states. The Commission is recommending that the duties should be imposed for five years, but on this occasion, the decision rests with the member states.

Voting will be by simple majority, with no weighting of votes according to population. When the anti-dumping advisory committee of the Council of Ministers voted on 23 October, 14 member states opposed provisional duties, nine voted in favour, and four abstained.

However, under the voting system for trade decisions, an abstention is equivalent to a vote in favour, so the effect was 14-13 against.The United Kingdom, which is both a substantial producer and importer, opposed the provisional duties and is expected to do so again.

The outcome could depend on another major producer and importer, Germany, which is thought likely to abstain, as it did in October.

That could leave the result in the hands of two islands with little production, Cyprus and Malta, which are seen as swing-voters.

Chinese imports were subject to quotas until 2004. In the nine years since, the sector has been transformed, with China’s share of the European market for porcelain and non-porcelain tableware rising from 22% to 67% in 2011, an advance that has recently been halted by radical restructuring and lowering of costs by European producers.

In the process, employment in the European  porcelain and non-porcelain industries has shrunk by about 10,000, to 25,000, according to Renaud Batier of the sector’s representative association, CeramieUnie, which brought the case to the European Commission.

Stuart Newman of the Foreign Trade Association (FTA), which represents smaller retailers and importers, argues that European producers’ loss of market share may reflect, among other influences, Europe’s economic crisis, changes in consumer behaviour and “poor business structures”.

This is not, however, the case of a European industry that is uncompetitive, Batier argues. Europe has competitive producers in every segment of the market, he says, and provisional duties have already contributed to recent decisions to build new factories in Europe.

The outcome may be affected by a decision by the Commission to suggest that duties should be lowered from 26% to 17% for Chinese producers that co-operate with the Commission. More than 400 did so during the period of provisional duties, thereby avoiding duties of 58%.

But some member states may be swayed by questions about data presented by CeramieUnie. Supporters of CeramieUnie’s complaint represented 33% of European production when the investigation began last February, substantially above the 25% threshold set by EU rules. They now account for over 50% of production.FTA contends, however, that CeramieUnie cleared the 25% threshold by omitting some production and included a company subject to a national anti-trust investigation.

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