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Take 2: Tarantino re-files Gawker suit
5/2/2014 6:05:03 AM
- Last month, a federal judge dismissed his original suit
- The suit seeks more than $1 million
- "This time they went too far," Tarantino says, of Gawker
(CNN) -- Aaaand ... take 2!
Not one to give up, director Quentin Tarantino has filed an amended lawsuit against the gossip website Gawker for linking to the leaked screenplay for his next movie, "Hateful Eight."
Last month, a federal judge dismissed his original suit, ruling that Tarantino had failed to prove that Gawker's actions was direct copyright infringement.
The judge, John F. Walter of the Central District of California, then gave Tarantino's lawyers until Thursday to refile.
And so, they did. And they're seeking more than $1 million.
Tarantino's lawyers are arguing that Gawker encouraged a reader to 'leak' a copy of the screenplay, downloaded it, and then made it available to the public by linking to it.
"Gawker has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people's rights to make a buck," the amended lawsuit says. "This time they went too far."
How it all began
"Hateful Eight" is a Western that Tarantino said he was hoping to take on as his next project. It's in the same genre as his 2012 hit "Django Unchained," a movie that won him an Oscar for writing and a Golden Globe for best screenplay.
He told the gossip site Deadline that he'd given the script to only six people, including actors Michael Madsen, best known as the killer in Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs;" and Tim Roth, for whom "Reservoir Dogs" was his breakthrough role.
Somehow, the script leaked. It was posted through a site that lets users anonymously upload and download files.
In January, Gawker linked to the website hosting the script. "Here Is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Sript," the headline on the story read.
Although Gawker didn't post the script to its own site, Tarantino's lawyers charged the script wouldn't have been widely accessible if Gawker hadn't linked to it.
"Rather than merely publishing a news story reporting that plaintiff's screenplay may have been circulating within certain limited Hollywood circles without his permission, Gawker crossed the journalistic line, first by requesting that a reader 'leak' an infringing copy directly to Gawker, then second, after obtaining a link to and itself directly downloading an infringing PDF copy, and then third, by promoting itself to the public as the first source to download and read the entire screenplay illegally and directing the public to do so."
Tarantino sued.
What happened next
Gawker responded saying Tarantino's suit was without merit. It wasn't guilty of actual copyright infringement.
The judge agreed. On April 22, he threw out the original suit, saying Tarantino's lawyers had failed to prove "direct infringement."
Now, comes the amended suit. Tarantino's lawyers are claiming both direct and contributory infringement.
What's happening now
The question before the judge now is this: Does a site that downloads copyrighted material violate the rights of an author?
Whether the "Hateful Eight" project is indeed scrapped is unclear.
Last last month,Tarantino held a three-hour reading of the script and told audience members he was working on changes to it. He said making the film is still possible.
For now, though, there's the lawsuit to contend with.
Lights, camera, (legal) action!
CNN's Alan Duke, Gregory Wallace and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
1983 Michael Jackson song released
5/2/2014 2:08:11 AM
- Jackson wrote, recorded "Love Never Felt So Good" with Paul Anka in 1983
- The release has "a magic combination of the new and the original production," label says
- Old Jackson song is "right at home with the disco-soul inflected music of today," Epic says
- Epic has a deal with Jackson's estate to mine his archives for new albums
Los Angeles (CNN) -- A song Michael Jackson recorded 31 years ago is out, the first single from the upcoming Xscape album.
Jackson wrote, recorded and produced "Love Never Felt So Good" with Paul Anka in 1983, but it has been "contemporized" by Anka and Jackson estate co-executor John McClain, according to an Epic Records news release.
The song has "a magic combination of the new and the original production that retains the track's analog, early 80s feel, while also sounding right at home with the disco-soul inflected music of today," the label said.
The track debuted during the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Thursday night. Online music services, including iTunes, have it for downloading starting early Friday morning, Epic said.
Jackson and Anka worked on the song at about the same time they wrote and recorded "This Is It," which eventually because the theme song to a documentary based on Jackson's preparations for a tour that never happened because of his death.
Jackson died at age 50 on June 25, 2009, while preparing for his "This Is It" comeback tour.
Eight previously unheard Michael Jackson songs, originally recorded between 1983 and 1999, will be released on the new album May 13, Epic Records announced in March.
Epic Chairman L.A. Reid chose several producers with the "gravitas, depth and range to creatively engage with Jackson's work" to update the recordings for release, Epic said.
New Michael Jackson album coming in May: 'Xscape'
Timbaland is the lead producer, with contributions from Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon and McClain, the release said.
Sony's Columbia Epic Records -- Jackson's record label for three decades -- signed a longterm deal with Jackson's estate to posthumously release music from the large archives of his recordings.
Reid "was granted unlimited access to the treasures representing four decades of material on which Jackson had completed his vocals," the announcement said.
"New" music is not always met with a warm reception from fans and the Jackson family. Some questioned the authenticity of the vocals on a 2010 album, although the estate and the record company said sound experts verified Jackson's voice.
Brunei adopts sharia law amid outcry
5/2/2014 7:47:49 AM
- Brunei has become the first East Asian country to adopt sharia law
- The sharia-based penal code will eventually include death by stoning
- International human rights groups have publicly condemned the move
(CNN) -- Brunei has become the first East Asian country to adopt sharia law, despite widespread condemnation from international human rights groups.
The Islamic criminal law is set to include punishments such as flogging, dismemberment and death by stoning for crimes such as rape, adultery and sodomy. The religious laws will operate alongside the existing civil penal code.
During a ceremony Wednesday morning, the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, announced the commencement of the first phase of the sharia-based penal code, according to the government's official website.
The oil-rich kingdom, located on the island of Borneo, has a population of just 412,000 people. The country already follows a more conservative Islamic rule than neighboring Muslim-dominated countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, and has implemented strict religiously-motivated laws, such as the banning of the sale of alcohol.
Stringent laws
In response to the new set of laws, human rights group Amnesty International said that it will "take the country back to the dark ages."
"It (the law) makes a mockery of the country's international human rights commitments and must be revoked immediately," Amnesty's regional deputy director Rupert Abbott said in a statement released after the announcement.
Most parts of the new Islamic code will apply to both Muslims and non-Muslims, affecting people from the Christian and Buddhist communities. Around 70 percent of people in Brunei are Malay Muslims, while the remainder of the population are of Chinese or other ethnic descent.
The Sultan, who is also the Prime Minister, first announced the law in October 2013. As per its provisions, sexual offenses such as rape, adultery and sodomy will be considered punishable acts for Muslims. Consensual sex between homosexuals will also be criminalized, with death by stoning the prescribed punishment.
In announcing the implementation of sharia law, the government website quoted the Sultan as saying that his government "does not expect other people to accept and agree with it, but that it would suffice if they just respect the nation in the same way that it also respects them."
Widespread condemnation
LGBT advocacy groups in Asia have voiced their opposition to Brunei's implementation of sharia law.
"It may open the floodgates for further human rights violations against women, children, and other people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity," officials from the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) and Islands of South East Asian Network on Male and Transgender Sexual Health (ISEAN), said in a joint statement released last week.
The United Nations has also publicly condemned the move.
"Under international law, stoning people to death constitutes torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and is thus clearly prohibited," Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a press briefing in Geneva last month.
Anti-women provisions
He further expressed concerns about the implementation of sharia law's impact on women.
"A number of UN studies have revealed that women are more likely to be sentenced to death by stoning, due to deeply entrenched discrimination and stereotyping against them."
More than 40,000 people have attended briefing sessions organized by the government in the last four months to understand the provisions under the new Islamic criminal law, the country's religious affairs minister said during a ceremony to mark the laws' implementation.
Ukrainian helicopters shot down during 'anti-terror op'
5/2/2014 11:01:51 AM
- Russian President Vladimir Putin slams operation as a "criminal act," spokesman says
- "We are being stormed, we have got casualties," Slavyansk's self-declared mayor says
- Defense Ministry says two military officers have been killed, two helicopters brought down
- The military has taken nine checkpoints around Slavyansk, interior minister says
Slavyansk, Ukraine (CNN) -- Two helicopters were brought down in the flashpoint city of Slavyansk on Friday, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said, as Ukrainian security forces launched their most intensive effort yet to try to dislodge pro-Russian separatists.
Residents of Slavyansk were warned to stay home and avoid windows as the latest phase of the authorities' "anti-terrorist operation" got under way.
Conflicting reports are emerging, but it appears the operation has already claimed its first casualties.
Two Mi24 helicopters have been taken down with mobile air defense systems, killing two military officers and injuring others, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry website. Another army helicopter, an Mi8, was damaged but no one was hurt, it said.
Militants took one badly injured pilot hostage after his helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing, the ministry said, and efforts to free him are ongoing.
"The terrorists opened fire at Ukrainian units with some heavy guns, including grenade launchers and portable air defense systems," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a post on his official Facebook page.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti earlier reported that one Russian separatist was killed and another wounded in Slavyansk.
The self-declared mayor of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, said his city was under attack in a video statement published by local media and posted to YouTube.
"We are being stormed, we have got casualties. I'm asking children, women and the elderly not to leave their homes and I ask armed men to provide us all the assistance they can," he said.
"I think we will be able to successfully stand up for our city. Thank you for your attention, thank you for your assistance, we will win."
The operation, also targeting the town of Kramatorsk, appears to be the most significant yet by the Ukrainian military against pro-Russian militia groups that have taken effective control of swaths of eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the operation "as a criminal act" Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian state news agency ITAR-Tass.
Peskov also accused Kiev of fatally undermining an international deal agreed to last month in Geneva, Switzerland, which called for illegal militia groups to disarm and vacate seized buildings.
Peskov said that while Russia is working to de-escalate the conflict, Kiev authorities "have started shelling peaceful settlements from warplanes, have started a punitive operation, actually ruining the last hope for viability of the Geneva accords," the news agency reported.
Peskov also said that Russia was unable to get in touch with a special presidential envoy, Vladimir Lukin, in southeastern Ukraine. Lukin was sent there Thursday to negotiate a possible release of foreign military observers, he said.
Pro-Russian activists in Slavyansk have held a team of Western observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe captive for the past week.
Russian news agency Interfax reported that Lukin was fine and not in danger.
Human shield allegation
In his Facebook post, Avakov said nine checkpoints that were under control of pro-Russian separatists in Slavyansk have been taken back by Ukrainian forces, who now encircle the town.
The operation is being conducted by the Interior Ministry, the national guard and the army, he said.
Avakov urged residents not to go outside and to be careful at windows while the operation continues. The separatists are hiding among the civilian population and "shoot from the windows of residential apartments," he said, aware that the Ukrainian forces have been told not to fire toward homes.
Ukraine's security service, the SBU, also accused separatist leaders of ordering activists to use residents as human shields in the city and at checkpoints.
The service said the downing of a military helicopter indicated that those shooting were "highly professional foreign military, rather than peaceful residents with hunting guns, as the Russian leadership says."
A CNN team north of Slavyansk saw Ukrainian military units on the road, and heard the sound of two explosions that may have been rocket-propelled grenades.
As part of efforts to isolate the town, trains will be blocked and road traffic is being kept to a minimum, Avakov said.
What the Ukrainian authorities want from the separatists has not changed, he said -- release the hostages, turn in weapons, vacate seized administrative buildings and allow the normal functioning of the city.
Previous phases of the "anti-terror operation" by the Ukrainian forces have not resulted in any significant gains, despite official claims of success.
Donetsk clashes
On Thursday, pro-Russian activists and Ukrainian riot police clashed at the prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Donetsk as simmering tensions escalated into violence.
At least one police officer was injured as the separatists seized control, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said, adding that shots were fired and small grenades and stones were used in the attack.
The regional health authority said 26 people were injured, four of them with gunshot wounds.
Earlier in the day, crowds marched through Donetsk, demanding greater autonomy for the restive eastern region.
Many in the region view the interim government in Kiev as a "junta" that seized power thanks to backing from ultranationalist groups, and they are angered by its actions.
Separatist leaders want to hold a referendum on May 11 on Ukraine becoming a federal state.
Eastern Ukraine was a heartland of support for pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych, ousted in February after months of protests by people upset that he had turned away from Europe in favor of Moscow.
The crisis has sparked deep divisions in Ukraine. Many also want to see the country remain united, but unhappiness about government corruption and ineffectiveness runs deep.
The interim government has said it'll look at constitutional reforms ahead of national elections due on May 25.
IMF approves $17.1 billion bailout
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov acknowledged this week that the central government has effectively lost control of the country's Donetsk and Luhansk regions to the pro-Russian separatists.
He signed a decree introducing military conscription Thursday in a bid to beef up Ukraine's military, citing "real and potential threats to Ukraine."
Besides the threat from pro-Russian separatists, NATO estimates that Russia has some 40,000 troops massed near Ukraine's border.
In a key sign of international support for the Kiev authorities, the International Monetary Fund approved a $17.1 billion bailout for Ukraine on Thursday.
The bailout, which is conditional on reforms, should also unlock $15 billion in additional international funding, IMF chief Christine Lagarde told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
Lagarde also said that "clearly there have been consequences" for the Russian economy as a result of its intervention in Ukraine.
Russia annexed Ukraine's southeastern Crimea region in March after a controversial referendum. Its actions have prompted fears that it may seek also to intervene directly in eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population.
READ: Why NATO is such a thorn in Russia's side
READ: Opinion: Putin's empire building is not a new Cold War
READ: Amanpour blog: $17 billion Ukraine bailout approved
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reported from Slavyansk and Victoria Butenko from Kiev, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London. CNN's Arwa Damon in Donetsk and Claudia Rebaza in Kiev contributed to this report. CNN's Boriana Milanova also contributed.
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