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Pussy Riot members sent to far-flung prison colonies

Written By Unknown on Senin, 22 Oktober 2012 | 22.19

A lawyer for the two jailed Pussy Riot band members says they have been transferred to prison colonies hundreds of kilometres from Moscow to serve their sentence.

Mark Feygin said Monday that Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were transferred during the weekend from Moscow prison, where they were kept since March. Feygin said prison authorities informed him that Alekhina had been sent to the Perm region in the Urals and Tolokonnikova to the central province of Mordovia. He could not confirm the information with his clients.

Alekhina, Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in August for performing a protest prayer against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral in February, and given two-year sentences.

Samutsevich was released on appeal earlier this month.


22.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bollywood romance movie mogul Yash Chopra dies at 80

Bollywood movie mogul Yash Chopra, whose classic love tales made him the Indian film industry's 'King of Romance,' has died after contracting dengue fever. He was 80.

Chopra's earliest major hits included the 1975 action film Deewar (Wall) and the romance Kabhi Kabhie — Love is Life in 1976, both of which helped establish Amitabh Bachchan as Bollywood's biggest star. The popular 1989 film Chandni (Moonlight) had Chopra's signature touches: romance, music and a European setting.

Bollywood celebrities, directors and hundreds of fans gathered at Chopra's house in south Mumbai to pay their condolences before the funeral to be held later Monday.

Bachchan posted a remembrance to his "friend first, a creative legend later" on his blog early Monday and recalled his 44-year association with Chopra.

"...all that shall remain will be that which he gave life to — his creativity, his emotion, his poetry on film and above all his humanity," the entry said.

He also directed Dil To Pagal Hai (The Heart Is Mad), Lamhe (Moments) and Veer-Zaara, which won the popular award at the International Indian Film Academy and the Golden Lotus award at India's National Film Awards. His final film, Jab Tak Hai Jaan (As Long As I Am Alive), is scheduled for release across India next month.

Dengue and other ailments

Chopra died Sunday in Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital. In addition to dengue, he suffered kidney ailments, according to Dr. Prakash Jiyavani.

"He passed away due to dengue and multiple organ failure," the Press Trust of India quoted a hospital spokesman, Sudhir, as saying. The spokesman uses only one name.

Chopra started his film career in the 1950s under the tutelage of his elder brother, late filmmaker B.R. Chopra. He founded his own studio Yash Raj Films and launched it with Daag: A Poem of Love in 1973, which won him one of his four Filmfare Awards for best director.

Chopra's films of the 1980s were shot in what were exotic locales for millions of Indians who had few opportunities to travel abroad. Chopra had the main protagonists of his films traipsing through tulip fields in the Netherlands or singing and dancing near Switzerland's idyllic lakes.

A popular legend among film-goers in India was that Chopra had shot so often in Switzerland that one of the lakes had been renamed Chopra lake.

He is survived by his wife and two sons. Elder son Aditya Chopra is a successful film director, and Uday Chopra runs the international branch of the family's production house.


22.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Women still a minority in film, figures show

Statistics released at the St. John's International Women's Film Festival show women filmmakers are still a small minority.

The five-day festival, which closed this weekend, has been supporting and promoting female artists since 1989.

Festival chair Noreen Golfman says there are a lot of false assumptions made about opportunities for women in Canada. Festival chair Noreen Golfman says there are a lot of false assumptions made about opportunities for women in Canada. (CBC)

Of the 139 Canadian films released in 2010 and 2011, only 17 per cent were directed by women, and just one fifth of the screenwriters involved were female, statistics released by the festival show.

"I think there are a lot of false assumptions out there about opportunities for women," said festival chair Noreen Golfman. "The statistics repeatedly bear out how limited the opportunities really are."

The picture is even bleaker for minorities, with only two of the films in the same period being put out by a First Nations or minority woman.

This is the first time these statistics have been put together in Canada.

"It says that we're not taking advantage of the talent we have," said Rina Fraticelli of Women in View, the organization that compiled the figures.

"We're not exploiting all of this innovative diversity — the young talent coming through, the accomplished, experienced talent that we have."


22.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Russell Means, aboriginal activist and actor, dies at 72

Russell Means, a former American Indian Movement activist who helped lead the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee, reveled in stirring up attention and appeared in several Hollywood films, has died. He was 72.

Means died early Monday at his ranch in in Porcupine, S.D., Oglala Sioux Tribe spokeswoman Donna Solomon said.

Means, a Wanblee native who grew up in the San Francisco area, announced in August 2011 that he had developed inoperable throat cancer. He told The Associated Press he was forgoing mainstream medical treatments in favor of traditional native remedies and alternative treatments away from his home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Means was an early leader of AIM and led its armed occupation of the South Dakota town of Wounded Knee, a 71-day siege that included several gunbattles with federal officers. He was often embroiled in controversy, partly because of AIM's alleged involvement in the 1975 slaying of Annie Mae Aquash. But Means was also known for his role in the movie The Last of the Mohicans and had run unsuccessfully for the Libertarian nomination for president in 1988.

AIM was founded in the late 1960s to protest the U.S. government's treatment of Native Americans and demand the government honour its treaties with tribes. Means told the AP in 2011 that before AIM, there had been no advocate on a national or international scale for aboriginal Americans, and that they were ashamed of their heritage.

"No one except Hollywood stars and very rich Texans wore Indian jewelry," Means said. "And there was a plethora of dozens if not hundreds of athletic teams that in essence were insulting us, from grade schools to college. That's all changed."

The movement eventually faded away, the result of Native Americans becoming self-aware and self-determined, Means said.

Paul DeMain, publisher of Indian Country Today, said there were plenty of activists before AIM but that the group became the "radical media gorilla."

"If someone needed help, you called on the American Indian Movement and they showed up and caused all kind of ruckus and looked beautiful on a 20-minute clip on TV that night," DeMain said.

Means said he felt his most important accomplishment was the founding of the Republic of Lakotah and the "re-establishment of our freedom to be responsible" as a sovereign nation inside the borders of the United States. His efforts to have his proposed country recognized by the international community continued at the United Nations, he said, even as it was ignored by tribal governments closer to home, including his own Oglala Sioux Tribe.

But others may remember him for his former organization's connection to Aquash's slaying. Her death remains synonymous with AIM and its often-violent clashes with federal agents in the 1970s.

Authorities believe three AIM members shot and killed Aquash on the Pine Ridge reservation on the orders of someone in AIM's leadership because they suspected she was an FBI informant. Two activists — Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham — were both eventually convicted of murder. The third has never been charged.

Means blamed Vernon Bellecourt, another AIM leader, for ordering Aquash's killing. Bellecourt denied the allegations in a 2004 interview, four years before he died.

DeMain, an Indian journalist who researched the case, said AIM's leaders know who ordered Aquash's killing but have covered up the truth for decades.

Also in 1975, murder charges were filed against Means and Dick Marshall, an AIM member, in the shooting death of Martin Montileaux of Kyle at the Longbranch Saloon in Scenic. Marshall served 24 years in prison. Means was acquitted.

In addition to his presidential bid, Means also briefly served as a vice presidential candidate in 1984, joining the Larry Flint ticket during the Hustler magazine publisher's unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination.

But Means always considered himself a Libertarian and couldn't believe that anyone would want to call themselves either a Republican or a Democrat.

"It's just unconscionable that America has become so stupid," he said.

His acting career began in 1992 when he portrayed Chingachgook alongside Daniel Day-Lewis' Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans. He also appeared in the 1994 film Natural Born Killers, voiced Chief Powhatan in the 1995 animated film Pocahontas and guest starred in 2004 on the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Means recounted his life in the book "Where White Mean Fear to Tread." He said he pulled no punches in his autobiography, admitting to his frailties and evils but also acknowledging his successes.

"I tell the truth, and I expose myself as a weak, misguided, misdirected, dysfunctional human being I used to be," he said.


22.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ottawa won't intervene after CRTC rejects BCE-Astral deal

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 21 Oktober 2012 | 22.19

BCE Inc. said it will ask the federal cabinet to intervene after the CRTC rejected its proposed $3.4-billion takeover of Astral Media, saying it would place too much power in the hands of one company and threaten the competitive media landscape in Canada.

"BCE failed to persuade us that the deal would benefit Canadians," said Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the CRTC, in a statement explaining the commission's decision to block the bid.

"It would have placed significant market power in the hands of one of the country's largest media companies.

"We could not have ensured a robust Canadian broadcasting system without imposing extensive and intrusive safeguards, which would have been to the detriment of the entire industry."

BCE issued a press release Thursday night saying the CRTC's decision should not stand.

BCE president and CEO George Cope, left, and Ian Greenberg, president and CEO of Astral Media Inc., were all smiles after announcing BCE's proposed takeover of Astral in a deal worth $3.38 billion last March. The CRTC has nixed the deal.BCE president and CEO George Cope, left, and Ian Greenberg, president and CEO of Astral Media Inc., were all smiles after announcing BCE's proposed takeover of Astral in a deal worth $3.38 billion last March. The CRTC has nixed the deal. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

"[BCE] is appalled that the CRTC would come to a decision that so negatively impacts Canadian consumers and the national broadcast industry, contravenes its own policy and is tainted by behind the scenes lobbying by Bell's cable rivals," the release stated.

In the House of Commons Friday, Paul Callandra, parliamentary secretary to Heritage Minister James Moore, said "there's no legal ability for cabinet to overturn this decision."

The proposal was one of the biggest takeover bids ever submitted to the CRTC and the first major decision for Blais, the newly installed commissioner.

The deal would have meant that BCE owned in total 107 radio stations, two national television networks and 49 pay channels.

In radio, it would have become the largest commercial radio operator in Canada, with more than 25 per cent of commercial revenues, and bigger than the second and third largest rivals together.

BCE made no local programming promises

Blais said BCE made no commitments on local programming or the promotion of emerging local artists.

The CRTC said BCE — owner of Bell Canada, the CTV television network, numerous specialty TV stations and the former Chum radio stations, as well as being the largest internet service provider in Canada — already has 33.7 per cent of the English television viewing audience, well ahead of its nearest rival, Shaw Communications, with 21.9 per cent.

Had it succeeded in acquiring Astral Media's 25 channels, including The Movie Network, HBO Canada and French-language Super Ecran, Family Channel and Disney Junior and more than 80 radio stations into the BCE fold, it would have gained 42.7 per cent of the English viewing audience. The combination would also have given it 33.1 per cent of the French TV market.

"That convergence, integration and scale may lead to a point at which the size of an entity on a national level becomes so large that it hinders effective and healthy competition," the regulator said.

Rogers commended the CRTC for its decision, which it called "courageous."

"I was very surprised," independent analyst Gavin Graham of Graham Investment Strategies told CBC News.

"The expectation here was fairly widespread they would approve it with some restrictions."

Astral is still for sale, Graham believes, so an offer from a consortium of communication companies with a pre-arranged plan for sharing the assets might be something the CRTC would be willing to accept.

Telecom analyst Iain Grant said the CRTC hasn't delivered a ruling of this magnitude since 1992 when it approved competition for long-distance calling.

"This is a defining moment for the CRTC," said Grant, managing director of the SeaBoard Group.

"They have stared at Canada's largest corporation and one of the largest deals in Canada and said no."

In public hearings last month, BCE officials said the acquisition still left sufficient "diversity of voices" in the broadcasting system, and pledged tangible benefits by adding $200 million in funding for programs.

The CRTC said in its decision that combining the two companies would have created a situation where a company of BCE's size and scale would be able to exert its market power unfairly.

BCE cited Netflix in making deal

The decision was a blow to BCE. It had argued it needed to expand to take on foreign competitors like Netflix. In its decision, however, the CRTC said BCE did not demonstrate that it needed to be bigger in order to compete.

The decision will be welcome news for BCE's competitors.

Rogers, Telus and Quebecor all opposed the deal. They argued it would give BCE too much control over the country's broadcast sector. Opponents had run a campaign of television, newspaper and online ads to bolster their case that the BCE deal would ultimately harm consumers. Calgary-based Shaw Cable had supported the deal.

BCE accuses the CRTC of allowing senior officials to meet with cable companies multiple times in the days before the commission began public hearings on the takeover bid, but denied BCE any such consultations.

The company said that calls "into question the impartiality of the entire process."

CRTC rulings can be appealed within 30 days to the Federal Court of Appeal.

With files from The Canadian Press
22.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel wed in Italy

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have married in southern Italy, they revealed to People magazine on Friday.

"It's great to be married, the ceremony was beautiful and it was so special to be surrounded by our family and friends," the couple said in a statement released to People.

Sexy Back singer Timberlake, 31, and Total Recall actress Biel, 30, have been romantically linked since 2007. Timberlake proposed in December 2011, but details of the nuptials were closely guarded until the last minute.

They were spotted in Italy earlier this week, but have not revealed what day the ceremony went ahead. Reuters reports they threw a party for guests at the Borgo Egnazia resort near Bari, Italy.

Timberlake, who rose to fame in the boy band N'Sync, forged a successful solo music career before moving into film roles in The Social Network and Trouble With the Curve. He previously had relationships with pop singer Britney Spears and actress Cameron Diaz.

Biel began her screen career in TV series 7th Heaven and then moved into movie roles with Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003 and rom-com New Year's Eve and the Total Recall remake this year.


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Honens Piano Competition expands with live webcasts, $100K prize

The Honens International Piano Competition is blazing a new path online and has streamlined its focus on shaping well-rounded young pianists in an attempt to stand out in a cluttered field of music contests.

Calgary-based Honens, which debuted in 1992, is relatively young in the world of classical music competitions, but has already made a name for itself for its devotion to building the careers of its chosen laureates. The contest was established in 1991 through a gift of $5 million from the late Calgary philanthropist Esther Honens.

Now held every three years, it is showcasing its most recent 10 contenders through live webstreaming of their semifinal and final recital performances. The live webcasts, which began Wednesday, are part of a budding new practice worldwide.

"The Tchaikovsky and the Van Cliburn have really lead the way with really high end big studio productions… We're doing it on a shoestring budget, but I think the results are amazing," Honens artistic director Stephen McHolm told CBC News.

Russia's International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, are definitely established leaders among international contests. The Russian competition simultaneously broadcast from St. Petersburg and Moscow during its 2011 edition, while a reported 20 million viewers took in the 2009 Van Cliburn competition online, so adopting live streaming is a case of "keeping up the Joneses," says McHolm.

Honens has recorded and posted performances by its competitors on the web in the past, but this year is a first attempt at live streaming. The competition teamed up with the Banff Centre, CBC Radio as well as Medici.tv, which offers Europeans free live broadcasts of concerts, operas, ballets and similar programming.

"We're already getting comments from people across the country saying 'Wow, it's so great. It's like I'm in the front row,'" McHolm noted.

"There are music lovers around the country and the world who can't make it to Calgary in October. It's all part of helping build the profile of both Honens and the artists that we serve… We're doing this for them in the end."

Amid the organization's overall attempt to ramp up its online presence — which also includes blogposts on CBC Music and increased social media outreach — staff have found fans in unexpected places. For instance, McHolm said, they've discovered that almost half the "likes" on the Honens Facebook page originate from Brazil.

"We get all these comments," he said, adding that it turned out a large portion of the audience for Wednesday's livestream was tuning in from South America.

"It's great! I think we'd better do a tour of South America," he laughed.

Boosted cash prize, new interview segments

Meanwhile, in hopes of "raising the bar" and carving out a more prominent place on the international scene, Honens organizers have also made some significant changes, including:

  • choosing just one laureate and increasing the cash value of the grand prize to $100,000 (versus multiple laureates and $35,000, $25,000 and $17,500 awarded to the three winners in 2009).
  • incorporating interview segments with the contestants, which are factored into the judging process.
  • bringing fewer semi-finalists to Calgary to compete.
  • ending the practice of commissioning a new piece for the semi-finalists' competition repertoire.

Unlike some competitions, Honens seeks to develop and promote what it calls "complete artists": accomplished, creative musicians able to stir minds and spirits, who demonstrate an open, entrepreneurial spirit and are willing and capable communicators. They're also versatile and adaptable: able to fill in at the last minute for an ailing colleague, for instance, or perform alongside a vocalist or musician with a completely different style.

"We're looking for a different kind of artist… We're looking for someone who has that capacity and that drive to be more than just fast fingers," McHolm said.

"This is someone who leaves you always wanting more. It's something intangible," he added, calling the quality "that goosebump factor."

Award-winning French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, a laureate from the first Honens competition in 1992 who has returned as a juror several times, is a good example.

Stephen McHolm, artistic director of the Honens International Piano Competition. Stephen McHolm, artistic director of the Honens International Piano Competition. (Honens)

"He represents the kind of artist we are looking for: that complete artist with a unique voice," said McHolm.

In addition to the boosted $100,000 cash prize, the 2012 Honens laureate will also be enrolled in a development program. Estimated to be worth $500,000, it will include a range of career-building opportunities, including mentoring and coaching from established musicians, concert engagements, meetings with and auditions for important conductors and industry figures, as well as potential tours abroad and/or recordings.

"We certainly don't have the profile of the Tchaikovsky or the Queen Elizabeth [music competitions]. We haven't been around for that period of time. Unlike Tchaikovsky or Chopin, Honens is not a name that people know or associate with music necessarily," McHolm acknowledged, referring to another rival contest, the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.

"We have a lot of work to do to make people think of Honens like they do with Chopin."


22.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sami filmmaker brings 1st feature doc to ImagineNATIVE

Finnish filmmaker Katja Gauriloff has had quite a run this year. Her first feature length documentary film Canned Dreams had its international premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, where ImagineNATIVE Film +Media Arts Festival's Jason Ryle first saw the film and was "completely blown away."

Gauriloff, a Sami filmmaker, presented her last work at Toronto's ImagineNATIVE festival back in 2008. A Shout into the Wind followed the lives of the Skolt Sami people, an endangered people trying to survive and striving to hold onto their indigenous lifestyle in the harsh climate of northern Finland. This verité documentary was her first foray into this genre, and her fourth film. It is an evocative and thought-provoking reflection on the struggle of indigenous peoples striking the balance between traditional and modern life.

Gauriloff, 40, was born in Inari, Northern Lapland, where her grandmother is a famous Skolt Sami traditional storyteller. She studied film directing at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences, School of Art and Media and has been involved in filmmaking for over 14 years.

Her latest feature documentary Canned Dreams screened at Hot Docs earlier this spring and Hot Docs is co-presenting the film at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

The film is an intense look at processed food and its levels of production. The gaze is neutral as the filmmaker travels across Europe and South America to show where every ingredient in a canned good comes from.

"If there was one film that I'd like to see again is Canned Dreams," says Ryle, executive director at ImagineNATIVE. "It's an incredible documentary, really masterfully made, and the content of the documentary is very current. It's a film that we can all relate to, but it's also something that we've never really considered before. I really like work that takes something everyday and completely flips it and makes us think about things that we never thought about, and that's what Canned Dreams does."

Canned Dreams will be screening Friday at 7:15 PM at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. For tickets and more information, please visit the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts site.


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Ottawa won't intervene after CRTC rejects BCE-Astral deal

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 20 Oktober 2012 | 22.19

BCE Inc. said it will ask the federal cabinet to intervene after the CRTC rejected its proposed $3.4-billion takeover of Astral Media, saying it would place too much power in the hands of one company and threaten the competitive media landscape in Canada.

"BCE failed to persuade us that the deal would benefit Canadians," said Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the CRTC, in a statement explaining the commission's decision to block the bid.

"It would have placed significant market power in the hands of one of the country's largest media companies.

"We could not have ensured a robust Canadian broadcasting system without imposing extensive and intrusive safeguards, which would have been to the detriment of the entire industry."

BCE issued a press release Thursday night saying the CRTC's decision should not stand.

BCE president and CEO George Cope, left, and Ian Greenberg, president and CEO of Astral Media Inc., were all smiles after announcing BCE's proposed takeover of Astral in a deal worth $3.38 billion last March. The CRTC has nixed the deal.BCE president and CEO George Cope, left, and Ian Greenberg, president and CEO of Astral Media Inc., were all smiles after announcing BCE's proposed takeover of Astral in a deal worth $3.38 billion last March. The CRTC has nixed the deal. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

"[BCE] is appalled that the CRTC would come to a decision that so negatively impacts Canadian consumers and the national broadcast industry, contravenes its own policy and is tainted by behind the scenes lobbying by Bell's cable rivals," the release stated.

In the House of Commons Friday, Paul Callandra, parliamentary secretary to Heritage Minister James Moore, said "there's no legal ability for cabinet to overturn this decision."

The proposal was one of the biggest takeover bids ever submitted to the CRTC and the first major decision for Blais, the newly installed commissioner.

The deal would have meant that BCE owned in total 107 radio stations, two national television networks and 49 pay channels.

In radio, it would have become the largest commercial radio operator in Canada, with more than 25 per cent of commercial revenues, and bigger than the second and third largest rivals together.

BCE made no local programming promises

Blais said BCE made no commitments on local programming or the promotion of emerging local artists.

The CRTC said BCE — owner of Bell Canada, the CTV television network, numerous specialty TV stations and the former Chum radio stations, as well as being the largest internet service provider in Canada — already has 33.7 per cent of the English television viewing audience, well ahead of its nearest rival, Shaw Communications, with 21.9 per cent.

Had it succeeded in acquiring Astral Media's 25 channels, including The Movie Network, HBO Canada and French-language Super Ecran, Family Channel and Disney Junior and more than 80 radio stations into the BCE fold, it would have gained 42.7 per cent of the English viewing audience. The combination would also have given it 33.1 per cent of the French TV market.

"That convergence, integration and scale may lead to a point at which the size of an entity on a national level becomes so large that it hinders effective and healthy competition," the regulator said.

Rogers commended the CRTC for its decision, which it called "courageous."

"I was very surprised," independent analyst Gavin Graham of Graham Investment Strategies told CBC News.

"The expectation here was fairly widespread they would approve it with some restrictions."

Astral is still for sale, Graham believes, so an offer from a consortium of communication companies with a pre-arranged plan for sharing the assets might be something the CRTC would be willing to accept.

Telecom analyst Iain Grant said the CRTC hasn't delivered a ruling of this magnitude since 1992 when it approved competition for long-distance calling.

"This is a defining moment for the CRTC," said Grant, managing director of the SeaBoard Group.

"They have stared at Canada's largest corporation and one of the largest deals in Canada and said no."

In public hearings last month, BCE officials said the acquisition still left sufficient "diversity of voices" in the broadcasting system, and pledged tangible benefits by adding $200 million in funding for programs.

The CRTC said in its decision that combining the two companies would have created a situation where a company of BCE's size and scale would be able to exert its market power unfairly.

BCE cited Netflix in making deal

The decision was a blow to BCE. It had argued it needed to expand to take on foreign competitors like Netflix. In its decision, however, the CRTC said BCE did not demonstrate that it needed to be bigger in order to compete.

The decision will be welcome news for BCE's competitors.

Rogers, Telus and Quebecor all opposed the deal. They argued it would give BCE too much control over the country's broadcast sector. Opponents had run a campaign of television, newspaper and online ads to bolster their case that the BCE deal would ultimately harm consumers. Calgary-based Shaw Cable had supported the deal.

BCE accuses the CRTC of allowing senior officials to meet with cable companies multiple times in the days before the commission began public hearings on the takeover bid, but denied BCE any such consultations.

The company said that calls "into question the impartiality of the entire process."

CRTC rulings can be appealed within 30 days to the Federal Court of Appeal.

With files from The Canadian Press
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Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel wed in Italy

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have married in southern Italy, they revealed to People magazine on Friday.

"It's great to be married, the ceremony was beautiful and it was so special to be surrounded by our family and friends," the couple said in a statement released to People.

Sexy Back singer Timberlake, 31, and Total Recall actress Biel, 30, have been romantically linked since 2007. Timberlake proposed in December 2011, but details of the nuptials were closely guarded until the last minute.

They were spotted in Italy earlier this week, but have not revealed what day the ceremony went ahead. Reuters reports they threw a party for guests at the Borgo Egnazia resort near Bari, Italy.

Timberlake, who rose to fame in the boy band N'Sync, forged a successful solo music career before moving into film roles in The Social Network and Trouble With the Curve. He previously had relationships with pop singer Britney Spears and actress Cameron Diaz.

Biel began her screen career in TV series 7th Heaven and then moved into movie roles with Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003 and rom-com New Year's Eve and the Total Recall remake this year.


22.19 | 0 komentar | Read More
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