Category: Новини

Disney announced Friday that all of its films slated for release by the end of the year will be exclusively screened in cinemas first, bringing relief to theaters anxious to reconnect with audiences after the coronavirus pandemic devastated their industry.The animated film Encanto will be released on the big screen Nov. 24 and will not appear on Disney’s on-demand video platform until Dec. 24, the company said in a statement.Other planned projects, including The Last Duel by Ridley Scott, Eternals by Marvel Studios and West Side Story by Steven Spielberg, will be screened in theaters for at least 45 days before they are released elsewhere.The decision was eagerly awaited by traditional cinemas after the entertainment giant recently chose to release a series of big productions such as Black Widow, Jungle Cruise and Cruella on its Disney+ platform, diverting part of their revenue.Black Widow actor Scarlett Johansson has sued Disney, accusing the company of breach of contract and costing her millions of dollars in box office revenue after it released the film on its video platform.Two years ago, Disney was producing content for both theaters and television channels, but it now has direct access to its audience via streaming, a trend accelerated by the pandemic.In mid-August, Disney boss Bob Chapek said he favored “flexibility” and the ability to “follow the consumer wherever he goes.”During a presentation of the company’s financial results, he said “when theaters reopened, there was immense reluctance from the public to return.”Warner Bros. studios has also been heavily criticized for its decision to release all of its new movies for the rest of the year on its HBO Max platform. 
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United States Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone said Friday the body hopes to “equalize” World Cup prize money for its men’s and women’s national teams as part of efforts to settle ongoing litigation with its women footballers. In an open letter addressed to U.S. fans, Parlow Cone said the gulf in prize money paid out by FIFA in the men’s and women’s tournaments was “by far the most challenging issue” facing U.S. Soccer in pay negotiations with men’s and women’s teams. The question of World Cup prize money formed a prominent part of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. women’s soccer team in 2019, which accused the USSF of “stubbornly refusing” to pay its men and women players equally.  FILE – Cindy Parlow Cone of U.S. Soccer attends a meeting of the organization’s board of directors in Chicago, Dec. 6, 2019.A federal judge later rejected the claim of pay discrimination, but the U.S. women have appealed. The 2019 lawsuit cited the discrepancy in World Cup prize money payments paid to the two teams in 2014 and 2015.  The U.S. men received $5.375 million for reaching the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup, while the women received $1.725 million for winning the 2015 tournament. The USSF has argued that its hands are tied because the prize money is set by FIFA, which awarded $38 million to France for winning the 2018 men’s World Cup in Russia, but only $4 million to the American women for winning the 2019 Women’s World Cup. “FIFA alone control those funds,” Parlow Cone said in her letter on Friday. “And U.S. Soccer is legally obligated to distribute those funds based on our current negotiated collective bargaining agreements with the men’s and women’s teams.” However, Parlow Cone said U.S. Soccer wants to bring the men’s and women’s national teams together to “rethink how we’ve done things in the past.” “To that end, we have invited the players and both Players Associations to join U.S. Soccer in negotiating a solution together that equalizes World Cup prize money between the USMNT and USWNT,” she wrote. “Until FIFA equalizes the prize money that it awards to the Men’s and Women’s World Cup participants, it is incumbent upon us to collectively find a solution. “U.S. Soccer is ready and willing to meet with both groups of players as soon as possible and as often as needed to determine that innovative solution.”  Parlow Cone said the USSF had wanted to negotiate a single collective bargaining agreement covering men’s and women’s teams but had met resistance. Accordingly, the USSF is negotiating separate agreements. U.S. Soccer said the body “will be offering the USMNT and the USWNT the exact same contract, just as we have in past negotiations.”  “That means offering CBAs that include equalized FIFA prize money, identical game bonuses and identical commercial and revenue sharing agreements.” A spokeswoman for the U.S. women’s team said Parlow Cone’s letter showed that the USSF “finally acknowledged that they pay women less than men and must correct this ongoing disparity by reaching an equal pay collective bargaining agreement and resolving the ongoing lawsuit.  “Letters to fans are not a substitute.” 
 
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It will be the Big Apple battle of teenagers in Saturday’s U.S. Open final after Britain’s Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to reach the title clash at a major, joining Canadian Leylah Fernandez as the duo continued their giant-killing spree.The final under the lights at the colossal Arthur Ashe Stadium between Fernandez and Raducanu will be the first major final in the Open Era across both the men’s and women’s game to feature two unseeded players.It will also mark the first Grand Slam final to be contested by two teenagers since the 1999 U.S. Open between Serena Williams and Martina Hingis.Both Raducanu, 18, and Fernandez, who turned 19 this week, were yet to be born then.”We first encountered each other because I was born in Toronto and she was Canadian, so we kind of, like, made a little relationship back then,” said Raducanu, whose parents moved to England when she was two-years-old.”But, yeah, then I played her at junior Wimbledon. Obviously since then we’ve both come very far in our games and as people. Yeah, I’m sure it’s going to be extremely different to when we last encountered each other.”But we’re both playing good tennis so it will be a good match.”Fernandez was the first to book her spot with yet another upset on Thursday as she took down second seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(3) 4-6 6-4 in the first semi-final on Thursday night.Raducanu did not take much longer, wrapping up her contest against Greek Maria Sakkari 6-1 6-4 in 84 minutes to become the first British woman to reach a major final since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977.Playing in just her fourth tour-level tournament, Raducanu has not dropped a set in New York – the first woman to make the U.S. Open final without dropping a set since German Angelique Kerber in 2016.”Honestly I just can’t believe it. A shock. Crazy,” she said, beaming from her ubiquitous smile. “To be in a Grand Slam final at this stage of my career, yeah, I have no words.”Their fearless tennis has endeared both to the fans and the crowd will have a tough choice in deciding who they would want to back on Saturday.”They are both young. They play fearless. They have nothing to lose playing against us,” said Sakkari. “I have to give credit to both of them, both of the young girls, that they take their chances. They’re out there fighting for that title.”A win in the final would see Raducanu jump to 24th in the rankings, a massive climb after starting the hardcourt major ranked 150th in the world.Left-handed Fernandez, who can make her top-20 debut by climbing to number 19 with the U.S. Open title, has been no less impressive.The Canadian had shown en route to the semi-final that she can beat anyone, with victories over four-time major winner and defending champion Naomi Osaka, three-time Grand Slam winner Kerber in the fourth round and fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals.She looked at sea against the power of big-hitting Sabalenka at the start of the match, but soon found her groove as her Belarusian opponent squandered her chances.It was her third win in four matches against top-five players in the world.”Impossible is nothing,” she said. “Like my dad would tell me all the time there’s no limit to my potential to what I can do. Every day we just got to keep working hard, we got to keep going for it.”I think I’ve been doing some things incredible. I don’t know. It’s like I think one word that really stuck to me is ‘magical’ because not only is my run really good but also the way I’m playing right now.”
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Derek Jeter was simply Derek Jeter on his special day — smooth as silk. On a cloudy Wednesday afternoon, with fans chanting his name, the former New York Yankees star shortstop and captain was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after a long wait necessitated by the pandemic.Greeted by raucous cheers in a crowd that included NBA luminaries Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing, several of his former teammates, and Hall of Fame Yankees manager Joe Torre on the stage behind him, Jeter took the stage after fellow inductees from the Class of 2020 Ted Simmons, Larry Walker and the late Marvin Miller were honored. Jeter was touched by the moment and acknowledged how different the ceremony seemed in the wake of the recent deaths of 10 Hall of Famers.”I’m so honored to be inducted with you guys and linked to you forever,” he said. “The Hall of Fame is special because of those who are in it. We’ve lost way too many Hall of Famers over the last 20 months. These are all Hall of Famers who would have or could have been here, so for that reason it’s not the same.”What was the same was the adoration displayed by the fans, who always marveled at his consistency.Salute to fans”I had one goal in my career, and that was to win more than everyone else, and we did that, which brings me to the Yankee fans,” Jeter said as the fans erupted again. “Without question, you helped me get here today as much as any individual I’ve mentioned.”He gave much of the credit to his parents, who were in the audience with Jeter’s wife, Hannah, and their two young daughters.”Mom, you taught me any dream is attainable as long as you work harder than everyone else. You drilled that in my head over and over and over and you led me to believe it,” Jeter said. “You told me never to make excuses, you wouldn’t allow me to use the word ‘can’t.’ Dad, you’ve been the voice of reason. You taught me to be patient, to listen and think before I speak. You’ve always been there for advice and to this day you’re the first person I go to. I know when I retired you said you played every game with me and I know you recall from time to time telling me, ‘You keep building that resume.’ Look where it’s gotten us today.”The ceremony was delayed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it didn’t matter much to Walker, the second Canadian elected to the Hall of Fame. He gave up hockey when he was 16 to focus on baseball. He was selected in his 10th and final year on the writers’ ballot after a stellar career with Montreal, Colorado and St. Louis that included 383 homers and three batting titles.’Go after those dreams'”It’s taken a little longer to reach this day [but] for all your support I’ve received throughout the years from my home country, I share this honor with every Canadian,” said Walker, who retired in 2005. “I hope that all you Canadian kids out there that have dreams of playing in the big leagues that see me here today gives you another reason to go after those dreams. To my adopted home, the United States, I thank you for allowing this Canadian kid to come into your country to live and play your great pastime. I think we’re all pretty fortunate to have two amazing countries side by side.”Simmons, 72, who starred in a 21-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves, punctuated his speech to thank four pioneers of free agency — Curt Flood, Catfish Hunter, Andy Messersmith and Marvin Miller — “who changed the lives of every player on this stage today by pushing the boundaries of player rights.””Marvin Miller made so much possible for every major league player from my era to the present and the future,” the former catcher said. “I could not be more proud to enter this great hall with this great man. Even though my path has been on the longer side, I wouldn’t change a thing. However we get here, none of us arrives alone. I’m no exception.”Transformed the gameMiller, who transformed baseball on the labor front by building a strong players union and led the charge for free agency in the mid-1970s, was honored posthumously. Four years before he died at 95 in 2012, Miller respectfully asked to be removed from consideration for the Hall of Fame after being passed over several times.”One thing a trade union leader learns to do is how to count votes in advance. Whenever I took one look at what I was faced with, it was obvious to me it was not gonna happen,” Miller, head of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966 to 1983, wrote in 2008. “If considered and elected, I will not appear for the induction if I’m alive. If they proceed to try to do this posthumously, my family is prepared to deal with that.”The family didn’t. Instead, Don Fehr, who was hired by Miller to be the union’s general counsel in 1977 and succeeded him eight years later, had the honor.”Of all the players I had the privilege to represent, I want to thank you, Marvin,” said Fehr, now the head of the National Hockey League Players Association. “Baseball was not the same after your tenure as it was before. It was and is much better for everyone. You brought out the best of us and you did us proud.”The virus forced the Hall of Fame to cancel last year’s ceremony and this year’s was moved from its customary slot on a Sunday in late July to a midweek date.
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The first trial in the “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions bribery scandal will begin this week, with the potential to shed light on investigators’ tactics and brighten the spotlight on a secretive school selection process many have long complained is rigged to favor the rich.Jury selection is beginning Wednesday in federal court in Boston in the case against two parents — former casino executive Gamal Abdelaziz and former Staples and Gap Inc. executive John Wilson — who are accused of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to help get their kids into the University of Southern California by falsely presenting them as athletic recruits.Though they were among dozens of prominent parents, athletic coaches and others arrested across the country when the case exploded into the headlines over two years ago, theirs is the first to go to trial. Defense attorneys are expected to argue that their clients believed their payments were legitimate donations and that USC’s treatment of their children was routine for parents with deep pockets.”The government appears to want to present its one-sided evidence that the ‘school wasn’t okay’ with granting preferential admissions treatment for donations while at the same time blocking the defendants’ evidence that, in fact, the school was okay with this arrangement,” the two executives’ lawyers wrote in a court filing.Prosecutors say the defense is merely trying to muddy the waters in a clear-cut case of lying and fraud.Since March 2019, a parade of wealthy parents has pleaded guilty to paying heavily to help get their children into elite schools with rigged test scores or bogus athletic credentials. The group — including TV actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and Loughlin’s fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli — have received punishments ranging from probation to nine months behind bars. Now, prosecutors face the challenge of convincing a jury that two of the few remaining parents still fighting are guilty. Abdelaziz, of Las Vegas, is accused of paying $300,000 to the sham charity run by the scheme’s mastermind — admissions consultant Rick Singer — to get his daughter into USC as a basketball recruit. Prosecutors say Abdelaziz signed off on an athletic profile that touted the girl as a star, even though she didn’t even make the cut for her high school varsity team. Wilson, who heads a Massachusetts private equity firm, is charged with paying $220,000 to have his son designated as a USC water polo recruit and an additional $1 million to help get his twin daughters into Harvard and Stanford. Prosecutors say Singer told Wilson he couldn’t secure spots for both girls on Stanford’s sailing team because – according to Singer — the coach “has to actually recruit some real sailors so that Stanford doesn’t … catch on.” An attorney for Abdelaziz declined to comment ahead of the trial, and a lawyer for Wilson didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. Defense attorneys have argued in court documents that their clients had no knowledge of any false information submitted about their children. They say USC can’t be a victim of fraud because the school regularly rewarded donors by giving their kids special treatment in admissions.Prosecutors have accused the defense of trying to turn the case into a trial on USC’s admissions policies instead of whether the parents agreed to lie and trump up their children’s athletic credentials. USC has said it wasn’t aware of Singer’s scheme until 2018 when it began cooperating with investigators.The judge told the defense at a recent hearing that “USC is not on trial.” The parents’ attorneys would be allowed to introduce evidence that the school admitted other unqualified students whose parents donated, the judge said, only if the defendants were aware of it at the time they paid the alleged bribes.Opening statements are expected on Monday. Among issues likely to influence jury selection is the wealth of the defendants.Defense attorneys had sought to block prosecutors from introducing evidence about their incomes, wealth, spending or lifestyles, saying it would do nothing other than “unfairly prejudice the jury.” But U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said such evidence could show the parents were motivated “to have their children admitted to elite universities so they could maintain or improve their status in the community.” Singer, the admissions consultant who began cooperating with the FBI in 2018 and recorded his phone calls with parents, has pleaded guilty and was long expected to be a key witness for the government. But prosecutors have not yet said whether they intend to call him to the stand.Defense attorneys have seized on notes revealed in court documents last year in which Singer claimed investigators told him to lie to get parents to make incriminating statements. In the notes Singer took on his phone in 2018, Singer said the agents instructed him to say he told the parents the payments were bribes. The agents have denied pressuring Singer to lie, but putting Singer on the stand could present the defense with an opportunity to attack his credibility. “He can be directly confronted on statements suggesting that he may have in fact been pressured in saying certain things … which could be devastating to the prosecution if the jury believes that,” said Brad Bailey, a former federal prosecutor in Massachusetts who isn’t involved in the case.But at the same time, not calling Singer could be even more problematic for prosecutors by allowing the defense “to raise more questions that really could result in reasonable doubt,” said Bailey, now a defense attorney. Wilson is also fighting another legal battle after filing a defamation lawsuit against Netflix in April over its portrayal of him in its “Operation Varsity Blues” documentary. Wilson’s lawyers wrote that Singer deceived him and insist that his son was not a fake athlete, but “an invited member of the United States Olympic water polo development program” with grades and test scores that “were more than sufficient to gain admission to USC.” Another parent who was supposed to go on trial with Abdelaziz and Wilson pleaded guilty last month to paying $500,000 to get her son into USC as a football recruit though he wouldn’t really play on the team. Marci Palatella, the chief executive officer of a California liquor distribution company, was the 33rd parent to plead guilty in the case.Three other parents are scheduled to go to trial in January. The sprawling Varsity Blues case has been prosecuted out of Boston because authorities there began investigating the scheme years ago thanks to a tip from an executive targeted in a securities fraud probe.
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