Lenovo shares have dropped by as much as 15% as investors question its recent acquisitions.
Last month, Lenovo, the world’s biggest PC maker, struck two major deals totaling about $5.2 billion.
It bought IBM’s low-end business server for $2.3 billion, and a week later purchased US mobile phone company Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91 billion.
Google had paid $12.5 billion for the Motorola handset business less than two years ago.
Investors had started selling Lenovo shares last week on news of the Motorola deal, due to questions surrounding Motorola’s profitability.
Lenovo shares have dropped by as much as 15 percent as investors question its recent acquisitions
The firm’s shares fell 8% in Hong Kong on Thursday ahead of the market’s closure for the new year holiday. When the market reopened on Tuesday they dropped more than 15% at one point, before recovering slightly to stand at 8.62 Hong Kong dollars.
Questions have been raised as to how Lenovo will integrate the acquisitions into its overall corporate strategy.
The Chinese company turned around IBM’s ThinkPad brand, and that was seen as key to Lenovo overtaking Hewlett-Packard as the world’s top PC maker in 2012.
In addition to Lenovo’s recent deals, there has been a report that the PC maker is in talks with Japan’s Sony to acquire its Vaio laptop business.
In a statement, Sony said: “The press report on a possible PC business alliance between Sony and Lenovo is inaccurate.”
Blondie are to collect Godlike Genius award for their life’s work at the NME Awards in London later this month.
The veteran group, who are celebrating their 40th year together, will receive the magazine’s Godlike Genius award at a ceremony on February 26.
“It’s out of proportion, but it’s nice to be recognized,” said lead singer Debbie Harry.
Arctic Monkeys are frontrunners for the awards with eight nominations, including best British band.
Blondie are to collect Godlike Genius award for their life’s work at the NME Awards in London
Previous recipients of NME‘s lifetime achievement accolade have been largely British and include Joy Division, Paul Weller and Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
“I find it particularly interesting that there aren’t many Americans who’ve been given this award before, so that’s flattering,” added Debbie Harry.
NME‘s editor Mike Williams said the band had been chosen in their anniversary year, adding: “They rewrote the rule book in the late ’70s by dragging punk rock to the top of the charts.”
Mike Williams called Debbie Harry, 68, “the most iconic front-woman rock ‘n’ roll has ever produced”.
Blondie shot to fame in the late 1970s with a string of hits including Heart of Glass, Picture This and Hanging on the Telephone.
Super Bowl XLVIII, which saw the Seattle Seahawks triumph over the Denver Broncos, was the most-watched television event in US history, the Fox TV network has said.
The event drew 111.5 million viewers on Sunday night, it said.
It is the fourth time in five years that a Super Bowl game has set a viewership record, correspondents say.
Super Bowl XLVIII half-time show also set a record with 115.3 million viewers watching Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform live.
Super Bowl XLVIII was the most-watched television event in US history
Those figures beat the 110.8 million delivered by Beyonce last year and the prior record of 114.0 million set by Madonna two years ago.
Initially it was feared that the one-sided nature of the 43-8 Seahawks victory might have drained some suspense from the annual telecast, but the final numbers showed that once again the Super Bowl set a new benchmark for viewing figures.
Experts say that the previous five Super Bowls are now the five most watched TV programmes in US history, eclipsing the long-running record holder for most-watched TV programme – the M*A*S*H finale in 1983 – which now ranks sixth.
Fox said that about 2.3 million people watched its webcast of the game, peaking at the end of the third quarter.
According to New York City police, up to 70 bags of suspected heroin have been found inside Philip Seymour Hoffman’s apartment a day after his death.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, was found dead at his Greenwich Village home on Sunday with a syringe in his arm.
A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out on Monday. Police suspect Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an overdose.
The lights along theatre marquees on New York’s Broadway were to be dimmed on Wednesday in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
New York City police have found up to 70 bags of suspected heroin inside Philip Seymour Hoffman’s home
Philip Seymour Hoffman earned three Tony award nominations for his work in New York theatre.
The actor is survived by his partner Mimi O’Donnell and their three children. In a statement, his family said: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil.”
Julia Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the New York City Medical Examiner, said she was unsure when the results of Monday’s post-mortem examination, or autopsy, would be available.
“Sometimes we have to perform additional testing,” she said.
The post-mortem examination could explain how Philip Seymour Hoffman died apparently soon after injecting suspected heroin.
Toyota has announced it is expecting record annual earnings for 2013 as the weaker Japanese yen helps to boost sales abroad.
For the financial year ending March, it expects operating profit to reach 2.4 trillion Japanese yen ($23.7 billion).
The ongoing weakness in the yen also helped Toyota post better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, with operating profit of 600 billion yen.
That is nearly five times higher than earnings in the same quarter one year ago.
Toyota has announced it is expecting record annual earnings for 2013 as the weaker Japanese yen helps to boost sales abroad
Toyota said in a statement that its revised forecast is due to “progress in our recent profit improvement activities through cost reduction and marketing efforts, in addition to the change in our assumption of foreign exchange rates to reflect the depreciation of the yen.”
The Japanese currency has fallen by around 9% against the US dollar this year.
Toyota sold 9.98 million vehicles during 2013. That’s 270,000 more than its closest rival – US car giant General Motors.
Sales figures helped Toyota retain its position as the world’s largest carmaker by sales for two straight years.
New details about Philip Seymour Hoffman’s apparent drug overdose emerged Monday.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, was found dead in his New York City apartment just after 11:30 a.m. Sunday – with a hypodermic needle still in his arm.
According to law enforcement sources, authorities at the scene found roughly 50 bags of heroin, numerous syringes, addiction treatment medication, blood pressure medication, and a muscle relaxant.
Officials also discovered a few books about Truman Capote, the legendary author Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Academy Award for playing in the eponymous 2005 film.
Law enforcement officials also said that toxicology tests will likely determine Philip Seymour Hoffman’s cause of death.
A city police lab is testing unused heroin found in the actor’s apartment to determine potency.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York City apartment on Sunday
It was too soon Monday to know if the heroin Philip Seymour Hoffman injected was tainted, if he mixed levels between two heroin “brands,” or if the actor took too much of the drug.
Authorities also found six bottles of prescription drugs – including the blood pressure medication clonidine hydrochloride; the addiction treatment drug buprenorphine; the attention-deficit disorder treatment drug vyvanse; the anti-anxiety drug hydroxyzine; and the muscle relaxer methocarbamol.
Three of the bottles had a prescription to Philip Seymour Hoffman on them, but the vyvanse, buprenorphine and hydroxyzine did not. It was not immediately clear if the latter three drugs were prescribed to Philip Seymour Hoffman but just not properly labeled.
Philip Seymour Hoffman had spoken openly about past substance abuse battles, saying he quit using drugs and alcohol and “got sober” at 22 years old.
However, in early 2013, Philip Seymour Hoffman checked himself into rehab for 10 days.
At the time, Philip Seymour Hoffman told TMZ that he had begun using prescription medicines, and his use escalated to heroin.
Russia has urged Ukraine’s opposition leaders to end their campaign of “ultimatums and threats” and to step up negotiations with the government.
Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow was concerned by activists’ attempts to “inflame” the situation.
Protesters in Kiev have repeated their calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych, who is now back at work after four days of illness.
The EU and the US are considering a big loan to help debt-laden Ukraine.
Russia has urged Ukraine’s opposition leaders to end their campaign of “ultimatums and threats” and to step up negotiations with the government
“We are looking at how we could support the Ukraine in the times of the crisis when it comes to the economic and political situation,” a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Monday.
No further details of the plan have been revealed, but both EU and US officials said it would be conditional on Kiev embracing “real reform”.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso insisted that the EU was not going to enter into a “bidding competition” with Russia to win Ukraine’s loyalty.
Russia promised a $15 billion aid package to Ukraine last year, but has indicated the next tranche will not be given until a new government is formed, following the resignation of the prime minister and cabinet last week.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has warned the US may default on its debt by the end of the month if Congress does not raise its borrowing limit.
Jack Lew said he could rely on emergency measures to pay US debts after the limit is reinstated on February 7.
But he anticipated the treasury’s reserves would quickly be exhausted as it issues annual income tax refunds.
Congress suspended the debt limit in October as part of a deal to reopen the federal government after a shutdown.
The $16.7 trillion cap will be reinstated on Friday.
“Without borrowing authority, at some point very soon, it would not be possible to meet all of the obligations of the federal government,” Jack Lew said at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington on Monday.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has warned the US may default on its debt by the end of the month if Congress does not raise its borrowing limit
The treasury secretary said the US treasury department could resort to accounting mechanisms to avoid breaching the limit until the end of February.
But soon after, the US will only be able to pay its debt and other obligations with cash on hand.
And in the spring, Jack Lew noted, the US issues tax refunds to Americans who overpaid income taxes last year, straining its cash reserves.
While Republicans have in the past demanded budget cuts in return for agreeing an increase in the borrowing limit, the party’s leaders have signaled reluctance to do so this time around.
In any case, the White House has said it will not negotiate budget policy in exchange for raising the debt limit.
Jack Lew argued that dramatically cutting back on the federal government’s spending was unnecessary for the moment.
“I’m not sure this is the year for the long-term fiscal challenge to be dealt with,” he said, adding the US deficit had been declining.
“I actually believe that we’ve made so much progress in the short and medium term, we have a little time to deal with the longer term.”
During the partial government shutdown in October, Republican lawmakers threatened to block a rise in the debt limit unless the Democrats agreed to undermine or repeal President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform law.
The iconic London’s buses are to become cashless from this summer, Transport for London (TfL) has said.
TfL predicts that, because of the Oyster card, the number of cash fares on buses will fall to less than 1% this year.
That compares with 20% of journeys being paid by cash 10 years ago.
The iconic London’s buses are to become cashless from this summer
TfL said it would introduce a “one more journey” feature that will allow passengers to make one more bus trip if there are insufficient funds on their Oyster card.
The decision comes following a public consultation last year in which 37,000 people responded.
When the idea was first proposed, there were concerns about the impact on vulnerable people and the lack of places in outer London to top up an Oyster card.
Last December, buses began to accept payment via contactless debit cards.
Independent security research Brian Krebs suggests that thousands of guests at US hotels may have had their credit and debit data stolen.
The cache of data seems to have gone astray from computers belonging to White Lodging Services said Brian Krebs.
The service company runs 168 franchised hotels in the US for the Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and Westin chains.
White Lodging said it was currently conducting an investigation into how the data had been taken.
Brian Krebs suggests that thousands of guests at US hotels may have had their credit and debit data stolen
Brian Krebs said White Lodging’s role in the breach emerged as banking industry fraud investigators were looking into a sustained pattern of purchases made on faked cards in Marriott hotels. Oddly, said Brian Krebs in a blogpost, the fraudulent purchases were made only at Marriott hotels in six separate cities rather than across the entire chain.
Further investigation revealed that the common factor in all those hotels was they were run by Indiana-based White Lodging.
The fraudulent purchases were made at the gift shops, restaurants and other shops at the hotels and were not used to pay for rooms, said Brian Krebs.
In a statement issued to Brian Krebs, White Lodging said: “We will provide meaningful information as soon as it becomes available.”
In a separate statement, Marriott said it was “working closely” with its franchisee on the investigation.
The latest breach comes in the wake of other much larger attacks on US retailers that saw payment card details for millions of customers stolen.
Best Animated Feature: Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production: Chipotle Scarecrow, Chipotle Creative Department, Moonbot Studios
Best Animated Short Subject: Get A Horse!,Walt Disney Animation Studios
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Commercial: Despicable Me 2, Cinemark - Universal Pictures
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children: Disney Sofia the First - Disney Television Animation
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children’s Audience: Adventure Time, Cartoon Network Studios
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Futurama,20th Century Fox Television
Best Animated Video Game: The Last of Us, Naughty Dog
Best Student Film Wedding Cake, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, Viola Baier, Iris Frisch
Animated Effects in an Animated Production: Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Louis Flores, Jason Mayer, The Croods, DreamWorks Animation
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: Michael Balog, Ryan Hopkins, Patrick Conran, Florian Witzel, Pacific Rim, Industrial Light & Magic
Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production: Kureha Yokoo, Toy Story of Terror!,Pixar Animation Studios
Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production:
The 41st annual Annie Awards
Jakob Jensen, The Croods, DreamWorks Animation
Character Animation in a Live Action Production: Jeff Capogreco, Jedrzej Wojtowicz, Kevin Estey, Alessandro Bonora, Gino Acevedo, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Gollum,Weta Digital
Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Paul Rudish, Disney Mickey Mouse, Disney Television Animation
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: Carter Goodrich, Takao Noguchi, Shane Prigmore, The Croods, DreamWorks Animation
Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Angus MacLane, Toy Story of Terror!, Pixar Animation Studios
Directing in an Animated Feature Production: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Frozen,Walt Disney Animation Studios
Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Christopher Willis, Disney Mickey Mouse, Disney Television Animation
Music in an Animated Feature Production: Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck, Frozen,Walt Disney Animation Studios
Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Angela Sung, William Niu, Christine Bian, Emily Tetri, Frederic Stewart, The Legend of Korra, Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: Michael Giaimo, Lisa Keene, David Womersley, Frozen,Walt Disney Animation Studios
Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Daniel Chong, Toy Story of Terror!, Pixar Animation Studios
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Dean Kelly, Monsters University, Pixar Animation Studios
Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Tom Kenny as the voice of Ice King, Adventure Time, Cartoon Network Studios
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: Josh Gad as the voice of Olaf, Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Lewis Morton, Futurama, 20th Century Fox Television
Writing in an Animated Feature Production: Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises,Studio Ghibli/Touchstone Pictures/The Walt Disney Studios
Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Illya Owens, Disney Mickey Mouse, Disney Television Animation
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production: Greg Snyder, Gregory Amundson, Steve Bloom, Monsters University, Pixar Animation Studios
Winsor McCay Award: Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg, Phil Tippett
June Foray Award: Alice Davis
Ub Iwerks Award Dragonframe
Special Achievement Award Creative Talent Network (CTN) Animation eXpo
Frozen was the big winner at the 41st annual Annie Awards, taking five prizes including best animated feature.
The 3D film, which is nominated for two Oscars and won a Golden Globe last month, has taken more than $864 million around the world.
Frozen beat Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine, A Letter to Momo, The Croods, Monsters University and The Wind Rises to win the main prize.
The Annie Awards are Hollywood’s top animation honors for both film and TV.
Frozen‘s other prizes were in the music and production design categories, as well as voice acting for Josh Gad’s Olaf the Snowman and best directing for Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, who also wrote the script.
Frozen was the big winner at the 41st annual Annie Awards, taking five prizes including best animated feature
Pixar won five awards, including two for Monsters University and three for an ABC special called Toy Story of TERROR.
DreamWorks Animation got three awards for its hit film The Croods, in the character animation, character design and animated effects categories.
The International Animated Film Society, which published the full list of winners on its website, also honored several live action films including The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for character animation and Pacific Rim for animated effects.
Legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki won a writing Annie for The Wind Rises, which he has said will be his last film.
In the TV categories, Fox TV show Futurama won best general-audience animated show, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time was named best children’s show, while Disney’s Sofia the First was voted best show for pre-school children.
Steven Spielberg was honored for his exceptional contribution to animation, with manga artist and director Katsuhiro Otomo also among several winners of special awards.
Fellow actors paid tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman after he was found dead at his home in New York on Sunday.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, was found by a friend who called emergency services. He was declared dead at the scene.
A police spokesman said investigators found two small plastic bags and a substance suspected of being heroin.
Robert De Niro was among many stars expressing their sorrow, describing him as “a wonderful actor”.
“I’m very, very saddened by the passing of Phil. He was a wonderful actor. This is one of those times where you say: <<This just shouldn’t be>>,” he said.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is survived by his partner Mimi O’Donnell, and their three children.
Fellow actors paid tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman after he was found dead at his home in New York
Jennifer Lawrence, who starred with Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Hunger Games, described him as “such a incredible actor.”
“You played an excellent Plutarch. So sad,” she wrote.
Julianne Moore, who co-starred with Philip Seymour Hoffman in Boogie Nights, Magnolia and The Big Lebowski, said: “I feel so fortunate to have known and worked with the extraordinary Philip Seymour Hoffman, and am deeply saddened by his passing.”
George Clooney, who appeared alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Ides of March, said: “There are no words… It’s just terrible.”
Director Mike Nichols, who directed Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War and in Death of a Salesman, said: “No words for this. He was too great and we’re too shattered.”
Kevin Costner told the Associated Press: “Philip was a very important actor and really takes his place among the real great actors. It’s a shame.
“Who knows what he would have been able to do? But we’re left with the legacy of the work he’s done and it all speaks for itself,” he added.
Philip Seymour Hoffman had candidly spoken in the past of his struggle against drug addiction, including a 2006 interview in which he told CBS he had at times abused “anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all”.
Ride Along has topped the North American box office for a third consecutive week.
The film, starring Kevin Hart and rapper Ice Cube, took $12.3 million over the Super Bowl weekend, bringing its total domestic haul to $93 million.
Disney animation Frozen climbed back up the chart to two, benefitting from the release of a sing-along version.
The film has now taken more than $360 million in the US over 11 weeks.
Frozen is now the fourth highest-grossing animated release in the US.
Its soundtrack is currently number one in the Billboard 200, while its signature track Let It Go – sung by Idina Menzel – has been nominated for a best song Oscar, with the film itself up for best animated feature.
Ride Along has topped the North American box office for a third consecutive week
Zac Efron chick flick That Awkward Moment opened at number three earning $9 million.
Animated squirrel comedy The Nut Job fell one place to four, while Mark Wahlberg’s Afghanistan war drama Lone Survivor slipped three places to number five.
The only other entry in the top 10 was Labor Day at seven.
Starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, the drama is an adaption of Joyce Maynard’s novel of the same name about an escaped convict who takes refuge in the home of a depressed single mother.
Next weekend’s release of 3D animation The Lego Movie is expected to knock Ride Along from the top spot.
South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela left an estate valued at more than 46 million rand ($4.13 million), a public reading of his will has revealed.
Executor Justice Dikgang Moseneke, summarizing what he said was a 40-page document, said he was “not aware of any contest” to the will.
Close personal staff each get 50,000 rand. Schools Nelson Mandela attended are due to receive 100,000 rand.
Nelson Mandela died in December at the age of 95.
Nelson Mandela left an estate valued at more than 46 million rand
He left behind an estate that includes an upmarket house in Johannesburg, a modest dwelling in his rural Eastern Cape home province and royalties from book sales, including his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.
Nelson Mandela also left 100,000 rand to each of four other educational institutions, for bursaries and scholarships.
The mood of the Mandela family when the will was read was “charged with emotions but it went well,” said the executor, who added that the Mandela family were “well pleased” by his will.
The family trust will receive 1.5 million rand, plus royalties.
The ANC will also receive some royalties, to be used at the discretion of the party’s executive committee, to spread information about the principles and policies of the ANC, particularly about reconciliation.
There is a 90-day period in which Nelson Mandela will can be contested.
According to the European Commission, the extent of corruption in Europe is “breathtaking” and it costs the EU economy about 120 billion euros annually.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem is now presenting a full report on the issue.
Writing in Sweden’s Goeteborgs-Posten daily, Cecilia Malmstroem said corruption was eroding trust in democracy and draining resources from the legal economy.
For the report the Commission studied corruption in all 28 EU member states.
“The extent of the problem in Europe is breathtaking, although Sweden is among the countries with the least problems,” Cecilia Malmstroem wrote.
The level of corruption across the EU was eroding trust in democracy and draining resources from the legal economy
The Commission says it is the first time it has produced such a report. It also makes recommendations on how to tackle corruption.
National governments, rather than EU institutions, are chiefly responsible for fighting corruption in the EU.
The EU has an anti-fraud agency, OLAF, which focuses on fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget, but it has limited resources. In 2011 its budget was just 23.5 million euros.
Cecilia Malmstroem said that in some countries public procurement procedures were vulnerable to fraud, while in others party financing was the main problem, or municipal bodies were badly affected. And in some countries patients have to pay bribes in order to get adequate medical care, she wrote.
The EU study includes two major opinion polls, which indicated that three-quarters of EU citizens consider corruption to be widespread in their country.
Four out of 10 of the businesses surveyed described corruption as an obstacle to doing business in Europe.
In Sweden, 18% of people surveyed said they knew someone who had received a bribe, compared with a European average of 12%, Cecilia Malmstroem said.
Despite that finding, she said Sweden “is undoubtedly one of the countries with the least problems with corruption, and other EU countries should learn from Sweden’s solutions for dealing with the problem”, pointing to the role of laws on transparency and openness.
Organized crime groups have sophisticated networks across Europe and the EU police agency Europol says there are at least 3,000 of them.
A student has been detained in Moscow after entering a secondary school and taking more than 20 fellow pupils hostage, Russian police say.
The gunman killed one police officer and one biology teacher, police said. Another policeman was shot and injured.
The hostages the gunman took have been released, police said.
The incident, on the outskirts of Moscow, comes as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympic Games, due to start in Sochi this week.
The gunman is believed to be a pupil at School No. 263 on the northern outskirts of Moscow.
The gunman entered the Moscow secondary school and took more than 20 fellow pupils hostage
“The person who took 20 people and a teacher hostage is a student in the upper classes at the same school,” an interior ministry spokesman said on state TV.
“He has been neutralized and all the students have been freed,” he said.
“One policeman was fatally wounded during the operation and died in hospital, and a teacher at School No. 263 was also killed,” he added.
It is not clear how the teacher and the policeman died.
A school official told Russian television that all children and teachers had been evacuated from the school after the incident.
The gunman opened fire on police officers who arrived at the scene, reports say.
12 Years a Slave has won the most prizes at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards last night.
It was named film of the year, while Chiwetel Ejiofor won actor of the year, and co-star Lupita Nyong’o won best supporting actress.
British director Steve McQueen said he had “felt so much love for this film in this country”.
The awards took place exactly four weeks before the Oscars in Hollywood.
12 Years a Slave is considered the front-runner for best picture, and it has nine nominations in total, including Steve McQueen for best director.
It also has 10 nominations for the Bafta Film Awards, two weeks away on February 16.
The London Critics’ Circle ceremony, at London’s May Fair Hotel on Sunday, began on a somber note as news broke of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death in New York.
When film critic Jason Solomons opened the awards by paying tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman, guests stood in spontaneous appreciation.
Steve McQueen’s film 12 Years A Slave took home film of the year at the Critic’ Circle Film Awards
Philip Seymour Hoffman won a best supporting actor award at last year’s event for his performance as a cult leader in The Master.
Among the stars on the red carpet were Steve Coogan, Naomie Harris, Andy Serkis, John Hurt and Gary Oldman – who was honoured with the Dilys Powell award for excellence in film.
Cate Blanchett was named actress of the year for her performance in Blue Jasmine and Judi Dench won British actress of the year.
Alfonso Cuaron was named director of the year for his 3D space thriller, Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The film also took the best technical achievement award.
Clio Barnard’s low-budget drama The Selfish Giant, a contemporary English fable about two excluded schoolboys who start working for a dodgy local scrap dealer, was named British film of the year.
Conner Chapman, the teenage star of The Selfish Giant who was plucked from obscurity from his school in Bradford, was named young British performer of the year.
Wolfgang Porsche and his cousin and Porsche board member Ferdinand Piech are being sued by seven hedge funds over its failed takeover bid for Volkswagen.
They are seeking 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in compensation.
Porsche has been accused of misleading markets in the run-up to its takeover bid for VW in 2008.
Porsche initially dismissed speculation it was seeking to takeover VW, but later revealed that it owned or had positions on almost 74% of VW shares.
Some investors had bet against Volkswagen shares, expecting them to fall in the absence of any firm takeover bid from Porsche.
However, Porsche’s disclosure of an increased holding triggered an unprecedented stock market squeeze on VW shares as investors rushed to buy them to cover their short positions.
Wolfgang Porsche and his cousin Ferdinand Piech are being sued by seven hedge funds over its failed takeover bid for Volkswagen
Porsche, which has earlier faced similar cases, has denied any wrongdoing.
“Porsche SE and its supervisory board members will defend themselves with all available legal means,” the carmaker said.
Porsche’s attempt to take over Volkswagen eventually failed as it fell short of acquiring the required 75% stake.
The global financial crisis and the slump in the automotive sector made it difficult for the carmaker to raise enough money to buy the remaining stake.
Nevertheless, it accumulated large amounts of debt in the process and was sued by investors who accused it of misleading them.
In a dramatic turnaround of events, the firms agreed a deal in 2009 under which Volkswagen agreed to take over Porsche.
Volkswagen acquired a 49.9% stake in Porsche in 2009.
In 2012, the firms agreed another deal, under which Volkswagen bought the remaining 50.1% stake in Porsche for 4.46 billion euros plus one VW common share.
Super Bowl XLVIII has been dominated by the Seattle Seahawks which thrashed a badly misfiring Denver Broncos 43-8.
Marshawn Lynch’s one-yard touchdown run and Malcolm Smith’s 69-yard interception return helped Seattle into a deserved 22-0 lead at the break.
Percy Harvin returned the second-half kick-off 87 yards for another touchdown to all but end a horribly one-sided affair in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Super Bowl XLVIII has been dominated by the Seattle Seahawks which thrashed a badly misfiring Denver Broncos 43-8
It was the first Super Bowl staged outdoors in a cold-weather state.
Pre-match fears of an 82,500-strong crowd having to endure sub-zero conditions proved groundless, with the temperature at the roofless MetLife Stadium just outside New York hovering around 7C (44F).
The week leading up to biggest annual event in the US sporting calendar was also dominated by talk of whether Denver’s top-rated offence – led by veteran quarterback Peyton Manning – could be contained by Seattle’s number one-ranked defence.
Denver found their answer when they ran into a hard-hitting, rampant Seattle defense hoping to win the club’s first NFL championship title.
Police officers revealed that Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead of an apparent heroin overdose with a hypodermic needle still stuck in his arm inside a Greenwich Village apartment on Sunday.
Screenwriter and friend David Bar Katz called 911 around 11:30 a.m. after he and a female friend found Philip Seymour Hoffman in his underwear on a bathroom floor at 35 Bethune St., sources said.
The pair went to check on the actor after he missed an appointment to pick up his three kids from longtime girlfriend Mimi O’Donnell.
Police found five empty glassine envelopes in a garbage can, two more under the bed and one on a table in the apartment, where Philip Seymour Hoffman — who has repeatedly struggled with substance abuse — was living recently.
They also found a charred spoon in the kitchen sink, sources say.
The envelopes were marked “Ace of Spades,” which sources said is a brand of heroin that hasn’t been seen on the streets since around 2008 in Brooklyn.
There was no note, and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death is believed to be accidental.
Philip Seymour Hoffman publicly admitted that he nearly succumbed to substance abuse after graduating from NYU’s drama schoo
The building is less than three blocks from the three-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath apartment on Jane Street that Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, and Mimi O’Donnell, a costume designer, bought for $4.4 million in 2008.
In a statement released by his manager, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s family called his death “a tragic and sudden loss”.
“We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone,” the statement said.
“Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers.”
The Lionsgate entertainment company — for which Philip Seymour Hoffman co-starred in The Hunger Games franchise — called him “a singular talent and one of the most gifted actors of our generation”.
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s work on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 was largely complete and he had seven days of shooting left on Part 2, and his death is not expected to affect their scheduled openings in November of this year and November 2015, respectively.
In 2006, Philip Seymour Hoffman publicly admitted that he nearly succumbed to substance abuse after graduating from NYU’s drama school, but got sober in rehab.
Thailand’s general election has been disrupted by protests with voting being halted in parts of Bangkok and the south, but officials say that 89% of polling stations operated normally.
Some six million registered voters were affected by the closures, the Election Commission said.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the vote to head off weeks of mass protests.
Her party is widely expected to win but legal challenges and a lack of a quorum of MPs may create a political limbo.
Security has been heavy throughout Thailand, with vast areas under a state of emergency.
“The situation overall is calm and we haven’t received any reports of violence this morning,” National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabutr told Reuters.
Security officials said about 130,000 personnel had been deployed across Thailand on Sunday, including 12,000 in Bangkok.
Thailand’s general election has been disrupted by protests with voting being halted in parts of Bangkok and the south
There has been little campaigning for the election and it was unclear how many Thais had turned out.
Yingluck Shinawatra, who won the last election in 2011, voted soon after polls opened near her Bangkok home.
Protests prevented voting from taking place in 438 of Bangkok’s 6,671 polling stations, and there was no voting at all in nine southern provinces.
The government said there was no disruption in the north and north-east of the country.
Yingluck Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai party has overwhelming support in these regions, while the south and parts of the capital are strongholds of the opposition Democrat Party, which is boycotting the election.
Demonstrators blocked access to voters at some polling stations in the capital and prevented ballot papers reaching those polling stations.
Some voters expressed frustration when they found their local polling stations blocked.
Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, has renewed claims the filmmaker “abused” her as a child in 1992.
In an open letter, Dylan Farrow accuses Woody Allen of molesting her in a “dim, closet-like attic” at the age of seven.
Dylan Farrow, now 28, also criticizes Hollywood’s continued celebration of “a predator [who] brought chaos into our home”.
Woody Allen, now 78, was investigated over the abuse allegations at the time of the incident, but was not charged.
A panel of psychologists, appointed by US prosecutors and the police, concluded that Dylan Farrow had not been molested.
The case caused controversy when a prosecutor later said there had been “probably cause” to charge Woody Allen, but he had chosen not to, in order to protect the child.
The movie director has always maintained his innocence. He has previously accused Mia Farrow of fabricating the claims after their highly publicized break-up in 1992.
Dylan Farrowopens her letter, published on the New York Times website, by asking: “What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie? Before you answer, you should know: when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house.
“He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he s**ually abused me.”
Dylan Farrow accuses Woody Allen of molesting her at the age of seven
Dylan Farrow, who now lives in Florida under a different name, said she developed an eating disorder and was self-harming following the incident.
“That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up,” she writes.
She said she decided to break her silence after two decades, when Woody Allen’s latest film, Blue Jasmine, was nominated for an Oscar last week.
Dylan Farrow explained that Hollywood had made her “torment worse” by turning “a blind eye” to her story.
“Each time I saw my abuser’s face – on a poster, on a t-shirt, on television – I could only hide my panic until I found a place to be alone and fall apart. But this time, I refuse to fall apart,” she says.
Dylan Farrow also takes aim against actors who have appeared in Woody Allen’s movies.
“What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?”
Last month, Diane Keaton accepted a lifetime achievement award for Woody Allen, who has a reputation for being notoriously reclusive.
Diane Keaton’s move sparked a major debate on social networks. It drew heavy criticism from Woody Allen’s biological son with Mia Farrow, Ronan, who tweeted: “Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?”
Dylan Farrow’s letter has already sent ripples through Hollywood.
Blue Jasmine star Cate Blanchett responded to the piece saying: “It’s obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace.”
Meanwhile, hosts at the Writers Guild Awards ceremony included references to the scandal in their puns on Saturday night.
Mia Farrow became romantically involved with Woody Allen in the early 1980s. The pair, who never married and kept separate homes, jointly adopted Dylan and her brother, Moses.
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow split in 1992 amid revelations that Allen had an affair with another adopted daughter of the actress, Soon-Yi.
The molestation allegations surfaced shortly after the breakup.
