Elizabeth Gilbert, Author of 'Eat, Pray, Love', Pulls New Book From Shelves After Backlash

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese mystery drama “Lost in the Stars” expanded in its second week on release and gave China its third biggest box office weekend of the year. The film earned $117 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was significantly up from its opening weekend of $70.7 million (RMB502 million) a week earlier and enough to make it the second biggest film on the planet, behind “Indiana Jones,” according to Comscore. After two weekends on release, it has accumulated $320 million. “Lost in the Stars” is a Chinese adaptation of a 1990 Russian movie “A Trap for the Lonely Man,” which itself was adapted from a Robert Thomas stage play. It sees a woman disappear while on an overseas trip with her husband. Just as mysteriously, she reappears at the moment that the search for her is running out of steam. But the man refuses to accept that she is the same woman and believes that she is an imposter.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Vice News has released the trailer for its documentary “Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story,” which will be showing at Karlovy Vary Film Festival next week. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival earlier in June and Nate Pommer, who directed alongside Eric Weinrib, was awarded a special jury mention. The jury said the film was being recognized “for the enduring use of art as a weapon against cant and authoritarianism.” The jury added: “We are grateful to the director for translating Gogol Bordello’s rebellious joy and rage at remaining human and vibrant in the face of everything time has thrown in its path.”

ESPN and the Associated Press.Among the players refusing to don Pride memorabilia were then-Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer, and Florida Panther players Eric and Marc Staal, who cited their religious beliefs. Three Russian players — Ilya Lyubushkin of the Buffalo Sabres, Denis Gurianov of the Montreal Canadiens, and Andrei Kuzmenko of the Vancouver Canucks — cited a Russian anti-gay “propaganda” law that prosecutes individuals for having engaged in activities or made statements perceived to “promote” LGBTQ rights or treating homosexuality as a normal occurrence.Additionally, the Chicago Blackhawks team did not wear their Pride-themed warmup sweaters in March because of security concerns over that same Russian law. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers also reversed course on wearing Pride-themed warmup gear.Bettman noted that teams will continue to host specialty nights such as Pride Night, Black History Night, Military Appreciation Night, and Hockey Fights Cancer Nights.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Izhar Harlev, the co-creator and head writer for “Mossad 101” and “The Gordin Cell,” is set to showrun “Maggiore,” a thriller series revolving around the sinking of a boat full of Israeli and Italian intelligence officers on Lake Maggiore in the Swiss Alps. Ordered by leading Israeli network Yes TV (“Fauda,” “Shtisel”), “Maggiore” is being developed and produced by Dafna Prenner at Israel’s Artza Productions, the banner behind Netflix’s hit show “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem”; Leo Maidenberg at Paris-based Place du Marché and Jad Ben Ammar at Kador (“Sisters in Arms“) and his new banner Talea Produzioni in Italy. The eight-part series will revolve around the sinking of the small boat on Lake Maggiore on May 28 and the chain of events that followed the tragedy. The boat sank after being hit by a violent storm. Out of the 23 passengers on board, four people drowned, including a former agent of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, two Italian intelligence officers and a Russian woman.

Vladimir Putin has said he is confident of being able to implement future plans in the war in Ukraine despite the Wagner rebellion. The leader broke his silence following the extraordinary events in Russia which seen armed mercenaries advancing on Moscow.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has been banished from Russia after Vladimir Putin dropped charges against him.

Yaya Toure has revealed he is leaving his role at Tottenham’s Academy to take up the position of assistant coach at Belgian side Standard Liege.

A 12-year-old boy known for busking on Market Street and wowing shoppers with his vocals has appeared on hit TV show America's Got Talent - and got a standing ovation from all the judges.

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC is making a film about a young British aid worker killed in the line of fire in Ukraine.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold its 3D family animation “A Mystery on the Cattle Hill Express,” directed by Will Ashurst, to Viva Kids for North America. The third part in the “Cattle Hill” series is a detective story about the little cow Clara and her friend Gavin who join forces with the world famous detective Agatha Chichester to unveil the thief of a revolutionary Nano-seed stolen from a high-tech laboratory train. New Europe has also sold the film to South Korea (First Run) and South Africa (Red Dot Digitals) and, as previously announced, France (Alba Films), Poland (New Horizons), JUST4KIDS in Benelux, Neo Films in Greece, Birfilm in Turkey, FILMS4YOU in Portugal and Arthousetraffic in Ukraine.

​A group of friends from Lincolnshire who met through a Boston dance school has raised more than £5,000 for children and families affected by the war in the Ukraine. The group from Boston Jive amassed the sum over the course of a year through a variety of fundraisers. After setting a target of £5,000, they moved beyond that sum last month with the help of a tandem skydive.

The FBI tried to… pic.twitter.com/1EOPB7DMyt“I said mom, all you ever do is read the New York Times,” Watters said. “Imagine reading the newspaper every day, and not knowing what the news is. … She didn’t know Biden had documents scattered all over Chinatown, or in the garage with the Corvette with the door open.

EXCLUSIVE: Russian state broadcaster RT has been blocked from recovering £2.9M ($3.6M) from its now-defunct UK operations after it was sanctioned by the British government.

Tucker Carlson and Fox News is heating up. The cable news network, which announced on April 24 that it had “agreed to part ways” with its star anchor, sent Carlson a cease-and-desist letter on June 7 over his newly launched Twitter show, according to a person familiar with the matter. Fox News did not respond to a request for comment. The letter arrived hours after Carlson’s first show posted on the social media platform on June 6. The episode, clocked at 10 minutes and 27 seconds, was taped in Carlson’s home studio in Maine and took swipes at everyone from Senator Lindsey Graham to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the mainstream media. It has notched 114.8 million views so far. A second episode, which posted on June 7 and runs slightly longer at 12 minutes and 38 seconds, boasts 54.9 million views to date, according to Twitter’s own measures.

pic.twitter.com/OAEmrjtfJxDue to the criticism, Gilbert made a “course correction,” removing the book from its publication schedule. “I do not want to add any harm to a group of people who have already experienced and who are all continuing to experience grievous and extreme harm,” Gilbert said.

EXCLUSIVE: A documentary maker involved in a car accident in Ukraine with presenter Clive Myrie has commenced legal action against the BBC and warned that the UK broadcaster is not doing enough to protect freelancers in warzones.

Sometimes actors won’t always reap the benefits of a career highlight.

The reaction to Boris Johnson’s abrupt exit from the UK Parliament where he was previously Prime Minister has been as polarised as you would expect of a politician who, according to his allies remained a unique election-winner and singlehandedly led the nation through Brexit and the Covid pandemic but, to his critics, signified deceit, corruption and all that is wrong with modern politics. 

Film and television writers from around the world will be picketing and rallying Wednesday in support of the Writers Guild strike, which is now in its 39th day.

Members of Stirling’s Ukrainian community took part in a ‘silent picket’ in the city centre on Tuesday following the breaching of a dam in the south of the country.