Day: November 24, 2020

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Dschoint Ventschr Continues Tradition With ‘Radiograph of a Family’

Firouzeh Khosrovani’s “Radiograph of a Family,” the story of an Iranian family divided by secularism and religion, Western culture and Islamic revolution, found an ideal co-producer in Zurich-based company Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion.

The film, which premieres in the feature-length competition of the documentary festival IDFA, focuses on the filmmaker’s parents, a secular progressive father and devout Muslim mother. It recounts the family’s life in Switzerland, where her father Hossein studied radiology in Geneva and where Khosrovani spent her early years. While he was very much at home in the French-speaking city, her mother Tayi remained a stranger in a strange land, yearning to return to her native country, and increasingly active in the revolutionary fervor that would soon usher in a new political reality in Iran.

The film’s subject matter and connection to Switzerland made it a perfect fit for Dschoint Ventschr. Established in 1994 by filmmakers Samir and Werner

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Police release name of Saginaw’s 22nd homicide victim of 2020

SAGINAW, MI — Police have released the name of Saginaw’s latest homicide victim while police still seek suspects in the killing.

The Michigan State Police has confirmed Brett Schust, 35, suffered fatal gunshot wounds in the 1000 block of Lindsay Drive the night of Friday, Nov. 20.

About 8 p.m. that day, Saginaw police officers and MSP troopers responded to a reported shooting at Schust’s residence. MSP Lt. Lizabeth Rich said two males had a scuffle with Schust and fled the scene in a black SUV before police arrived.

Schust was taken to an area hospital where he died of his wounds.

Schust’s death marked the 22nd homicide of the year in Saginaw.

Saginaw had nine homicides throughout 2019, 15 in 2018, 16 in 2017, 11 in 2016 and eight in 2015.

The case is being investigated by the Major Crimes Unit, comprising of detectives from the Saginaw Police Department

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BBC Series ‘Line of Duty’ Wraps COVID-Interrupted Shoot

In today’s bulletin, “Line of Duty” wraps filming; ViacomCBS and Morena team on “The Kellys”; Netflix is set to change its Spanish billing system; Woodcut and Spark merge; DAZN buys key soccer rights; and Berlin sets Shooting Stars jury.

Jed Mercurio‘s hit police procedural “Line of Duty” has completed shooting its sixth season, complying with U.K. government COVID-19 protocols, and will debut on the BBC in 2021.

Kelly Macdonald (“Giri/Haji”) is the next guest series lead. She plays Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson, the senior investigating officer on an unsolved murder case whose unconventional conduct attracts the attention of AC-12, the anti-corruption internal affairs unit around which the series revolves. The series regulars include Adrian Dunbar, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure.

The shoot shut down for five months at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and resumed in August. The series is made for BBC One by

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Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to charges, admits role in opioid epidemic

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Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, the powerful prescription painkiller that experts say helped touch off an opioid epidemic, will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion (Oct. 21)

AP Domestic

Purdue Pharma, the company that invented the painkiller OxyContin, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three federal criminal charges and admitted its role in fueling the decades-long opioid epidemic that has taken hundreds of thousands of American lives.

Steve Miller, chairperson for Purdue’s Board of Directors, admitted via video conference to a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, that the company had not run an effective program to avoid the illegal diversion of prescription drugs to the black market, had reported misleading information to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to boost its manufacturing quotas and had impeded that agency’s effort to fight the burgeoning epidemic. 

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New York City’s first Black mayor, David Dinkins, dies at 93

NEW YORK — Few American leaders have faced the battery of urban ills that confronted David Dinkins when he became New York City’s first Black mayor in 1990.

AIDS. Crack cocaine. A soaring murder rate. Rampant homelessness. Racial discord.

Dinkins was elected with high hopes of turning things around, but he became a lightning rod for criticism in his one tumultuous term in office, especially for his handling of a riot in Brooklyn.

It wasn’t until years later that he started getting credit for his efforts to reduce crime, heal divisions and lay the groundwork for the prosperous, tourist-friendly place that New York City became.

Dinkins died Monday night at age 93, according to his assistant at Columbia University, where he taught after leaving office, and by Mayor Bill de Blasio, his onetime staffer. The former mayor’s death came just weeks after the death of his wife, Joyce, who died

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Obama memoir sells a record 1.7 million copies in first week

Former President Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” sold more than 1.7 million copies in North America in its first week, roughly equal to the combined first week sales of memoirs by his two immediate predecessors and among the highest ever for a nonfiction book.

Crown announced Tuesday that it had increased its initial print run from 3.4 million copies to 4.3 million. Sales also include audio and digital books.

“A Promised Land,” the first of two planned volumes, was published Nov. 17 and sold nearly 890,000 copies just in its first day. Among former White House residents, only Obama’s wife Michelle approaches his popularity as a writer. Her “Becoming,” published in 2018, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and is currently in the top 20 on Amazon.com.

George W. Bush’s “Decision Points” sold 775,000 copies its first week and Bill Clinton’s “My Life” topped 1 million in eight

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Feliz Navidad? Coronavirus Christmas could limit parties in Spain -newspaper

MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish government is to propose a “different” Christmas and New Year under coronavirus restrictions with just six people at parties, although it hopes the “soul and spirit” of the season will shine, El Mundo newspaper reported on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a face mask walks next to closed Sidecar Factory Club, reading on its rolling door “The last concert?”, at Real square, after Spain’s Catalonia region allowed bars, restaurants, gyms and cinemas to reopen from Monday, gradually easing some of the restrictions put in place to tackle the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Barcelona, Spain, November 23, 2020. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Governments across Europe, which accounts for a quarter of reported global infections and deaths, are trying to navigate a fine line between avoiding super-spreading the virus over the holidays while allowing families to celebrate Christmas.

On Tuesday, Spain added 12,228 coronavirus cases to its

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‘Little Fish’ Trailer: Chad Hartigan’s Pandemic-Set Sci-Fi Romance


Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell play a couple navigating memory loss from a mysterious disease in this drama with “Eternal Sunshine” vibes.

IFC Films

The phrase “eerily prescient” is overused, but for “Little Fish” — a romantic drama set during a global epidemic — it’s apt. Directed by Chad Hartigan, purveyor of Sundance favorites “Morris From America” and “This Is Martin Bonner,” “Little Fish” revolves around a global epidemic that leads to memory loss and charts a young couple’s fight to hold onto each other despite the disease. That blend of romantic and cerebral sci-fi earned the film comparisons to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

Here’s the official synopsis: “Imagine waking up in a world where a pandemic has broken out, which strikes with no rhyme or reason, and causes its victims to lose their memories. Imagine waking up and not remembering the person you love. This is the

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‘Small Town Saturday Night’ country singer Hal Ketchum dead at 67

Nov. 24 (UPI) — County music artist Hal Ketchum has died of complications from dementia, his wife, Andrea, announced in a Facebook post. He was 67.

Ketchum, known for songs including “Small Town Saturday Night” and “Past the Point of Rescue,” died Monday night at his home, Andrea Ketchum wrote in a post on the artist’s Facebook page.

“With great sadness and grief we announce that Hal passed away peacefully last night at home due to complications of Dementia,” Andrea Ketchum wrote. “May his music live on forever in your hearts and bring you peace.”

Ketchum’s wife announced in April 2019 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and would be retiring from performing.

Ketchum, born in Greenwich, N.Y., was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in January 1994.

The Grand Ole Opry memorialized Ketchum in a tweet Tuesday that included a quote from

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Home prices see biggest spike in 6 years in September

People walk into a house for sale in Floral Park, Nassau County, New York, on Sept. 6, 2020.

Wang Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Covid-induced demand from homebuyers over the summer caused an exceptionally strong spike in home prices.

Values jumped 7% annually in September, up from a 5.8% annual gain in August, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index. That is the largest annual gain since September 2014. Prices are now nearly 23% higher than their last peak in 2006.

The 10-City Composite was up 6.2% year over year, up from 4.9% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 6.6% gain, up from 5.3% in the previous month. There was no reading for Detroit, due to data collection issues resulting from the pandemic.

This index is a three-month running average, so it represents prices from July through September, when

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