Welcome to the Beijing Hour, coming to you live from the Chinese capital.

Coming up on our program this evening.

South Korean president calls for closer business ties with China.

Egypt braces for mass rival protests ahead of Morsi's one year in office.

US Senate passes immigration reform bill.

Business, EU leaders meet to tackles unemployment at a two-day summit in Brussels.

Sports, Chinese ace Li Na through to the third round at Wimbledon.

Entertainments, more superhero movie news as Captain Planet looks set to go to the big screen.

Plus Special reports takes a look at the researchers around the world trying to perfect the development of synthetic complex organ parts.

 

 

Weather

      

 

Beijing will have thundershowers tonight with a low of 23 degrees Celsius. Tomorrow also thundershowers with a high temperature of 30.

Meanwhile Shanghai will have light rain to moderate rain tonight, with a low of 22,　light rain tomorrow, with a high of 29.

Lhasa will have light rain tonight, 10 degrees the low, showers tomorrow with a high of 22.

Elsewhere in the world, staying in Asia

Islamabad, thundershowers, with a high of 34.

Kabul, sunny, 31.

Over in Australia

Sydney, rain, highs of 16.

Canberra, rain, 11.

Brisbane, rain, 19.

And finally, Perth will be sunny with a high of 22.

 

 

Top News

      

 

South Korean president calls for closer business ties with China

 

South Korean President Park Geun-hye is calling for closer business ties with China.

She made the comments at a business forum in Beijing.

The self-taught Mandarin speaker opened her speech with a Chinese idiom spoken with the host language, saying "friends first, business second".

President Park is calling on the Chinese business circle to work with the South Korean side to create a trade structure "immune from the outside turbulences".

The two sides are working on signing a free trade agreement.

China is South Korea's biggest trading partner, while South Korea is China's third.

Bilateral trade reached over 250 billion US dollars last year.

Meantime, President Park has met with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

It is the second meeting between the two leaders this week.

The two leaders have once again pledged to enhance bilateral relations, saying the two sides share lots of common interests.

 

 

16th China India border talks underway in Beijing

 

Representatives from China and India are in Beijing for another round of border issue discussions.

It is the 16th talk of its kind and the first after the Chinese leadership change in March.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi leads the Chinese delegation.

"President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit this March. And not long ago, Premier Li Keqiang paid a visit to India. All this are believed to have injected new momentum to our bilateral ties."

The latest talks come in the aftermath of a recent military stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops on the Himalaya border, which ended with both sides pulling back.

In previous talks, the two sides had signed a political guideline to the border issue.

And during the on-going meeting both sides will try to work out a framework, which will lead to a demarcation of the boundaries.

Reports say no major agreements are likely before the new Indian leadership change after the upcoming election next May.

But insiders say the change won't affect the Indian government's position on the guidelines agreed with Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying is both sides should be making every efforts to maintain peace and stabilty as well as maintaining bilateral ties.

 

 

China sex tape official and blackmailers jailed

 

A former government official embroiled in a sex video scandal has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for bribery in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

55-year-old Lei Zhengfu was found to have appeared in a sex video that was posted online in November.

The woman in the video was found to be hired by property developers.

Lei reportedly asked another property developer to pay hush money of 3 million yuan to the blackmailers.

Prosecutors say this money amounted to a bribe.

Meantime, six people involved in the case have received jail terms ranging from 18 months to ten years for blackmailing government officials.

The woman in the sex video, Zhao Hongxia, has been given a jail term of two years with a two-year reprieve.

 

 

Old Summer Palace relics returned to China

 

Two bronze relics stolen from China in 1860 have been returned by their French collector.

The sculptures, a rat and a rabbit head, are part of the original 12 bronze heads of zodiac animals which graced a water-clock fountain in the old Summer Palace in Beijing.

They are set to be put on display at the National Museum of China in Beijing.

The heads were stolen by British and French troops who ransacked the Old Summer Palace or Yuan-mingyuan in 1860.

So far, seven parts of the group sculptures have been sent back to China.

The other five remain unaccounted for.

 

 

Egypt braces for mass rival protests ahead of Morsi's one year in office

 

Egypt is bracing rival massive protests ahead of President Mohammed Morsi's first year in office this coming Sunday.

Morsi's supporters say they are going to hold "open-ended" rallies while the opposition protests this weekend is set to call for the president to resign.

In the buildup to this weekend's demonstrations, one person died and a number of others were injured in clashes in northern Egypt yesterday.

Troops have been deployed in the capital Cairo and other cities.

The military has warned to intervene if violence goes out of control.

In a speech marking his first year in office yesterday, Morsi said the unrest was "threatening to paralyze" the country.

Morsi became Egypt's Islamist president on June 30th of last year after narrowly defeating Hosni Mubarak's last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq.

It was considered the country's freest elections.

Now for more on the situation in Egypt, we are joined on the line by David Siddhartha Patel, professor of government with Cornell University.

…

Back anchor: David Siddhartha Patel, professor of government with Cornell University.

 

 

US Senate passes immigration reform bill

 

US President Barack Obama is urging the House of Representatives to follow the Senate by passing an immigration reform bill.

In a rare show of bi-partisanship, the bill was passed with the support of all 52 Senate Democrats, 14 Republicans and 2 independents.

The bill offers legalization to millions of people who came to the US illegally.

But first they must pay fines and taxes and undergo background checks.

The Senate bill also expands ways for people to come to the country legally.

The bill will authorize tens of billions of dollars to further militarize the border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigration in the future.

However, some migrant activists in Mexico say bolstering border security will have no effect on the flow of migrants to the US.

"We believe quite simply that increasing the number of people patrolling the border will mean the deaths of Mexicans, it will mean violations, abuse of power and the people who don't manage to cross will stay within the reach of organised criminals in Mexico."

The immigration bill is also likely to face a tough road in the more conservative House.

The Republican majority in the House is considering their own immigration bills.

So far none of the House bills gives legal status to those undocumented immigrants.

President Obama has made immigration a top priority for his second term, asking Congress to deliver a bill for him to sign by autumn.

 

 

Ecuador ends preferential trade rights with Washington

 

Ecuador are ending preferential trade rights with the US, saying they are being politically blackmailed over the future of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Betty Tola is Ecuador's minister of political affairs.

She says Snowden's passage to the capital Quito is far from confirmed.

"We ratify that the government of Ecuador has not authorised any form of safe passage or document that permits (former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward) Snowden's transfer to our country. Edward Snowden's request for asylum has been processed because the petitioner is not in Ecuadorean territory as the law requires."

Reportedly, there are divisions in the Ecuadorian government over offering Snowden asylum.

Leftists are said to see him as an anti-imperialist hero, while centrists fear diplomatic and economic damage to the small South American nation.

In recent weeks, US congress has threatened to drop the Andean Trade Preference Act if Ecuador does give asylum to Snowden.

The ATPA was due for renewal in July, but President Rafael Correa has now said his government is renouncing it completely.

 

 

China's top legislature sheds light on elevator safety

 

Anchor

China's legislature have finished the third reading of a draft law on the safety of special equipment.

It comes amid public concerns over recent fatal elevator accidents.

Zhang Wan has more.

Reporter:

Many people who live in a residential building in Chaoyang district became worried recently following an accident caused by two elevators that had been in use for over two decades.

One of the two elevators stopped working, leaving only one elevator to serve hundreds of residents in the building every day. Some people complained that they often came across scary situations such as the door of the elevator failed to close, or the elevator suddenly dropped at a fast speed.

"Yesterday we were stuck in the elevator, my son therefore refused to take the elevator any more, so I have to walk upstairs with him now."

"The problems of the elevators not only delay us going to work, it will probably cause an accident some day."

China has the world's largest number of elevators, with the figure soaring from 350,000 in 2002 to 2.45 million at the end of 2012. The rate of accidents in every 10,000 elevators dropped from 1.56 to 0.15 in the past 10 years.

Legislators believe the creation of the law is very timely, as aging equipment and poor maintenance in some apartment buildings pose potential threats to safety. At least five people have died from elevator-related accidents in the past two months.

Senior engineer Yang Yongzhi at Beijing Special Equipment Inspection and Testing Center says production, installation and maintenance are the three key points to ensure the safety of elevator operation.

"Property management companies should sign contracts with qualified elevator maintenance companies, who will be responsible for the daily maintenance of the elevators. Meanwhile, property management companies are obliged to monitor and check the maintenance procedures. Maintenance companies are expected to conduct maintenance every 15 days. I think it would be better for property management companies to inform residents of any investments towards elevator maintenance."

Over the past few years, most elevator accidents were caused as a result of poor maintenance rather than equipment defects. In many cases, property management companies selected elevator maintenance companies without the proper credentials in order to save on costs.

However, according to the latest draft, those in charge of maintaining elevators should be fully qualified and strictly observe technical standards so as to ensure elevator safety.

The draft law obliges producers, sellers and users of special equipment to obtain state-issued licenses and certifications. It also clarifies the compulsory implementation of technological safety standards, which are also applicable to imported special equipment.

The draft proposes a recall mechanism for defective equipment and requires that worn-out equipment or potentially dangerous equipment be discarded.

Those violating the law could be fined up to 2 million yuan or about 325,000 US dollars in serious cases, while some legislators called for more fines to raise the cost of breaking the law.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.

 

 

Biz Reports

      

 

Asian Stock

 

Chinese shares ended in positive territory Friday after a losing streak that lasted for seven consecutive trading days, as the central bank anchored market sentiment with assurances that it will adjust liquidity and ensure stability.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.5 percent.

The Shenzhen Component Index added 2 percent.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng rose 1.8 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia,

Japan's benchmark Nikkei-225 surged 3.5 percent, as worries on China, Fed policy retreat

In South Korea, the benchmark KOSPI gained 1.6 percent.

In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times edged up 1.04 percent

Finally, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 0.2 percent.

 

 

EU leaders kick off jobs summit after budget compromise

 

EU leaders have kicked off a two-day summit designed to try to tackle unemployment.

The meeting comes on the heels of EU officials agreeing to both banking changes and their long-term budget.

French President Francois Hollande.

"There were two big decisions which were taken in the last hours -- the first on banking union, which will be extremely useful to protect savers and to avoid taxpayers paying for banking crises for which they are responsible. There was also an agreement on the budget, which will allow us to do more for youth employment. Finally there was an agreement to properly apply the growth pact. So when there's growth, youth employment and control of finance France is satisfied."

Following late-night talks in Luxembourg, European Union finance ministers have agreed on how to share the costs of future bank failures among investors and wealthy savers.

At the same time, negotiators for the European Parliament, the European Commission and EU member governments have also clinched a deal on a 960 billion euro, 7-year budget for the bloc through 2020.

The budget deal includes a provision which will allow the EU to quickly disburse billions of euros to help Europe's 5.6 million unemployed youth.

Unemployment among people under 25-years old is over 40-percent in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

 

 

EU unemployment and the EU summit

Anchor:

EU leaders have reached a deal on the 2014-2020 budgets at the EU summit in Brussels.

The deal is designed to speed up spending on youth employment.

A total of 26-million people on the continent are unemployed.

Nearly a quarter of young people aged 18 to 25 in the EU have no job.

In Greece and Spain it is more than half.

Tens of thousands of young Europeans are now on the move in search of work.

It is estimated more than 100-thousand Spanish graduates have already left their country.

The unemployment level in Spain is heading towards 28-percent.

Now for more on this situation, we are joined live on the line with Mike Bastin, Visiting Professor at China's University of International Business and Economics.

…

Back Anchor:

That was Mike Bastin, Visiting Professor at China's University of International Business and Economics.

 

 

German retail sales increase in May

 

Latest figures from the German Federal Statistical Office shows German retail sales increased in May.

The adjusted retail sales in May 2013 grew by 0.8 percent from the previous month.

Compared with a year earlier, turnover in retail trade was 0.4 percent larger.

This is another positive sign for the German economy's recovery.

 

 

PBOC to maintain "prudent" monetary policy: Zhou Xiaochuan

 

China's central bank chief says it will continue to implement prudent monetary policies.

However, Zhou Xiaochuan also says pre-emptive adjustments and fine tuning will be conducted in an appropriate way when necessary.

He says the bank will work with other departments to guide financial institutions to maintain a reasonable lending level.

Multiple tools will also be used to adjust liquidity and keep the market stable overall.

 

 

Headline News

      

 

South Korean president calls for closer business ties with China

 

South Korean President Park Geun-hye is calling for closer business ties with China.

She made the comments at a business forum in Beijing.

The self-taught Mandarin speaker opened her speech with a Chinese idiom spoken with the host language, saying "friends first, business second".

President Park is calling on the Chinese business circle to work with the South Korean side to create a trade structure "immune from outside turbulences".

The two sides are currently working on to sign a free trade agreement.

China is South Korea's biggest trading partner, while South Korea is China's third.

Bilateral trade reached some 250 billion US dollars last year.

 

 

16th China India border talks underway in Beijing

 

Representatives from China and India are in Beijing for another round of border issue discussions.

It is the 16th talk of its kind and the first after the Chinese leadership change in March.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi leads the Chinese delegation.

The latest talks come in the aftermath of a recent military stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops on the Himalaya border, which ended with both sides pulling back.

 

 

China sex tape official and blackmailers jailed

 

A former government official embroiled in a sex video scandal has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for bribery in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

55-year-old Lei Zhengfu was found to have appeared in a sex video that was posted online in November.

The woman in the video was found to be hired by property developers.

Lei reportedly asked another property developer to pay hush money of 3 million yuan to the blackmailers.

Prosecutors say this money amounted to a bribe.

Meantime, six people involved in the case have received jail terms ranging from 18 months to ten years for blackmailing government officials.

The woman in the sex video, Zhao Hongxia, has been given a jail term of two years with a two-year reprieve.

 

 

Old Summer Palace relics returned to China

 

Two bronze relics stolen from China in 1860 have been returned by their French collector.

The sculptures, a rat and a rabbit head, are part of the original 12 bronze heads of zodiac animals which graced a water-clock fountain in the old Summer Palace in Beijing.

They are set to be put on display at the National Museum of China in Beijing.

The heads were stolen by British and French troops who ransacked the Old Summer Palace or Yuan-mingyuan in 1860.

So far, seven parts of the group sculptures have been sent back to China.

The other five remain unaccounted for.

 

 

Newspaper Picks

      

 

China Daily

"Major online retailer uses electronic invoicing"

China's e-commerce giant 360buy Jingdong Mall has started using electronic invoicing for individual buyers as e-commerce in the country rapidly grows.

The major online retailer says electronic invoicing is available to customers buying books and video products in Beijing.

The move hopes to promote electronic invoicing and improve e-commerce development

Shanghai Daily

 "Importance of parents role in sex education for teenagers stressed"

A recent survey shows about 90-percent of Shanghai parents never discuss sex with their children.

Not surprisingly, over 80-percent of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 learn about sex from the Internet.

The survey says parents' poor awareness of sex education and their focus solely on their child's school performances are among the reasons for unexpected teenage pregnancy.

Experts say sex education is very important for middle school students and a family's role in it is of paramount importance.

Daily Mail

 "Babies with three parents could be born by 2015"

The first baby with three parents could be born as early as 2015 after a landmark decision to move ahead on a controversial genetic treatment.

Britain could become the first country to sanction the creation of babies with three genetic parents, despite fears it might lead to 'designer babies'.

The Government will publish draft-regulations later this year.

The techniques replaces defective DNA in the mother's egg with material from a donor egg. The resulting healthy child would effectively have two mothers and a father.

Associated Press

 "NASA launches sun-watching satellite from California"

NASA launched a satellite to explore a little-studied region of the sun and to better forecast space weather capable of disrupting communications systems on Earth.

The 7-foot-long Iris, weighing 400 pounds, carries an ultraviolet telescope that can take high-resolution images every few seconds.

Unlike NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which observes the entire sun, Iris will focus on a little-explored region which lies between the surface and the corona, the glowing white ring that's visible during eclipses.

 

 

Special Reports

      

 

Lab Grown Organs amid Shortages

Anchor

Researchers around the world are now working on trying to perfect the development of synthetic complex organ parts.

CRI's Laiming explains.

Reporter:

The Red Cross Society of China has announced the country's first online volunteer organ-donor registry this month, amid a shortage of organs for transplant. But China is not the only country facing this difficulty; in the United States, chronic shortages have pushed scientists to tap into the body's own ability to regenerate itself.

Researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina are trying to grow organs in a lab. Using a process called "decellularisation" on pig livers, the doctors strip the pig's cells off its liver but leave the underlying structure behind.

The hope is to seed the remaining structure with human liver cells to see if those cells will grow and multiply into a fully functioning human liver. PhD candidate Abritee Dhal at Wake Forest University explains their choice of test animal:

"Pigs, their size is closer to a human liver. So if we're able to decellularise and put human cells back in there, it could help with the shortage of organs."

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is also trying to make kidneys with the use of a 3D printer. The "ink" that comes out of the printer is made of various cells and a gel-like material to help support them.

The ability to grow and implant complex organs like hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys in humans is still a long way off. But there has been some success so far in creating simpler, hollow body parts. For example, there are people living with custom-made, lab-grown blood vessels, windpipes and bladders in the US.

To engineer those, scientists can take cells from a patient's own bone marrow or a biopsy of the needed body part and grow those cells on a biodegradable, synthetic scaffold. The scaffold is produced by a 3D printer in the exact size and shape needed.

Director of the Institute Dr. Anthony Atala explains how the biodegradable scaffold works:

"Our preference is to use a patient's own cells, and the patient's own organ specific cells because those cells already know what to do. A windpipe cell already knows that it's a windpipe cell, and it's going to create a windpipe cell for that patient that will not be rejected or kicked out."

With luck, this may help end the waiting game for donor organs, which some patients unfortunately never receive.

For CRI, I'm Luo Laiming.

 

 

Sports

      

 

Li Na Reach Wimbledon Third Round

 

Anchor:

Chinese ace Li Na and other top players are through to the third round at Wimbledon.

However, this year's tournament is over for rising Chinese star Peng Shuai.

CRI's Tu Yun has more from the All-England Club.

Reporter:

Sixth seeded Li Na recovered from a second-set meltdown to clinch a 6-2, 1-6, 6-0 victory over Simona Halep of Romania.

"Welcome to the crazy women's tennis tour (smiling). End of the first set, she called official. I thought, Maybe she be retire or something. I was already like lose concentration on the court, you know. When one set all, Wake up, she okay, she kick your ass already in the second set. So you should ready for a final set."

However, 24th-seeded Peng Shuai wasn't able to fight her way back after losing the tiebreak in the first set to 71st-ranked Marina Erakovic.

"I think that tiebreak did affect my later performance. There were two points that I thought I played well at first, but eventually lost. Then I felt weak afterwards. "

Peng Shuai went down 7-6, 6-2.

The tournament saw most shocking day in recent memory on Wednesday, with men's defending champion Roger Federer and 3rd seeded Maria Sharapova among several stars bowing out of the event.

Those remaining on court are still trying to digest the surprise upsets.

Women's No. 1 Serena Williams.

"The first thing I do is I'm like, Okay, Serena, stay focused. This happened before. I don't know when. I want to say it was the US Open, though. A lot of players were losing. I was like, Okay, be on your toes and be ready for everything."

The defending champion is also through to the 3rd round after powering through France's Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2.

On the men's side, World No.1 Novak Djokovic, 7th-seeded Tomas Berdych and 8th-placed Argentinean Juan Martin Del Potro are all through.

Several matches had to be postponed due to rain.

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun at Wimbledon.

 

 

China in action against Australia at the Stankovic Cup

 

In basketball,

The Chinese men's national team is now battling against Australia at the six-day Stankovic Continental Champions Cup in Northwest China's Lanzhou.

China come into this match after opening the tournament with a 79-67 win over Puerto Rica last night.

While Australia narrowly edged Argentina 62-59 in their tournament opener.

Later on the Argentinians will play Germany in the second match.

Germany will try to extend their lead after beating Nigeria 61-56 in their opening match.

The Stankovic Cup is an annual international basketball tournament organized by the International Basketball Federation.

All 6 participating teams from six continents will play 1 round robin for a total of 15 games.

The team vwho scores the highest will become the champion of this competition.

China is the defending champion at this tournament.

 

 

Anthony Bennett becomes first Canadian to top the NBA draft

 

In basketball, Anthony Bennett has made history as the first Canadian to come first in the NBA draft.

The 20-year-old forward from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was taken with the number one overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Bennett was considered one of the best rounded prospects from this year's draft class, equally adept at scoring from down low as he was shooting from the outside.

"I'm just as surprised as everybody else. I didn't really have any idea who is going number one or who is going number two, you know I heard everything was up for grabs but I'm just real happy, glad that I have this opportunity and I just got to thank God for everything."

Bennett jumped over touted centers Nerlens Noel of Kentucky and Ukrainian Alex Len of Maryland to land as top pick.

Len went to Phoenix at no. 5, but Noel fell out of the top five completely.

The Orlando Magic took athletic guard Victor Oladipo as the second pick.

Washington picked Georgetown star Otto Porter Jr. as their no. 3, And the Charlotte Bobcats chose Indiana center Cody Zeller as their no. 4.

 

 

Spain sets up Confed Up final against Brazil after beating Italy in the semifinals

 

At the Confederations Cup in Brazil,

Spain pulled off a thrilling semifinals victory over Italy, winning 7-6 on penalties.

90 minutes of regulation time and extra time wasn't enough for either team to get a point on the board.

The goalkeepers were that good and the two teams were that evenly matched.

The Brazilian crowd was firmly behind underdog Italy, and the Italians deserved the support.

They were playing some high-quality, high-tempo football against the no. 1 ranked Spain, who everyone had thought would have little problem dispatching the Italians.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli,

"This is our way of playing. We don't always win, but we always try. We have to find more continuity and this has to be based on our determination and conviction. Tonight we showed we are on par with the best team in the world."

After the 30 minutes of extra time ended with the teams still even at 0-0, a string of penalties began.

Twelve perfect shots in a row, and then Italian defender Bonucci ballooned his over the goal.

Spain's Navas answered by firing a perect shot into the corner to send the world champions on to the finals against Brazil.

The final match will take place at Maracana Stadium in Rio on Sunday.

 

 

Entertainment

      

 

Captain Planet Film in the Works

Movie audiences may soon be treated to a new live version of the older animated superhero Captain Planet.

The 90s cartoon is famous for its strong environmental message with each episode teaching kids to respect and cherish Earth.

The superhero Captain Planet was joined by 5-kids from around the world who each had magical rings which harnessed different Earth elements.

In times of need they could call on Captain Planet to help keep the planet clean and safe from evildoers.

Several big stars voiced characters throughout the series including Jeff Goldblum, Mark Hammil, Tim Curry, and Whoopie Goldberg.

A film adaptation of the cartoon was attempted in the 1990s, but never progressed past the script-writing stage.

No word yet on any details including when we can expect to see it in theaters nor who will appear in the film.

 

 

Saturn Awards Given Out for Film

The winners for the Saturn Movie Awards for 2012 have been announced.

Though it seems strange to honor a year of films 6-months after the year has ended, the Saturn Awards are important because they honor sci-fi films which are impressive though often overlooked at the Academy Awards.

It was a good night for filmmaker Joss Whedon who had a few major wins with The Avengers claiming Best Science Fiction Film and Cabin in the Woods claiming the Best Horror Film prize.

Whedon also took home the Best Director trophy for The Avengers.

Life of Pi won for Best Fantasy film and the newest James Bond film Skyfall took home the award for Best Action/Adventure film.

Other notable wins include Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress in the Hunger Games film adaptation and Best Actor going to Matthew McConaughey for his role in Killer Joe.

Filmmaker Tim Burton's film Frankenweenie secured the award for Best Animated Film and Quentin Tarantino received the Best Writing award for Django Unchained.

 

 

Leo Dicaprio and Jaime Foxx Team Up for Another Movie

And speaking of Django Unchained, actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Jaime Foxx are once again teaming up in a new film.

The Django actors will appear in crime thriller Mean Business on North Ganson Street a film adaptation of author S. Craig Zahler's gritty novel.

Zahler will apparently adapt his own book for the movie version.

DiCaprio will not only act but also produce the film through his production company Appian Way.

In the film he'll play a hardened detective who finds himself sent to a rough-and-tumble fringe town where he teams up with a similar edgy detective.

The pair must combine their efforts to discover who is behind the recent string of police murders.

 

 

Ringo Starr Announces Children's Book Based on Song

Ex-Beatles drummer Ringo Starr is set to publish a children's book based on one of his most famous songs.

Simon and Schuster Children's Books have announced they will release a picture book based on the song Octopus' Garden, 45 years after it's release.

An audio CD will accompany the book giving children and fans alike a unique storytelling experience.

The CD will include never before heard music from Ringo as well as a track in which Ringo reads the story.

Illustrator Ben Cort, famous for his work on Aliens Love Underpants which has sold over a million copies in 19 languages, will illustrate the book.

The often reclusive drummer made a statement saying he's ecstatic to team up with Cort and Simon &Schuster to bring the world further adventures in the Octopus' Garden.

The book will be released later this year in the UK and in January of 2014 in the US.

 

 

50 Shades of Grey Film Adaptation Has Release Date

Fans of the erotic novel series 50 Shades of Grey will be happy to hear a release date has been set for the sexy film adaptation.

The film is set to seduce its way into US theaters summer next year.

Three books appear in the series by author EL James and so trilogy is planned for the film versions as well.

Universal Pictures and Focus Features have already acquired the rights to the sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.

Author James will also coproduce the film.

Lead roles have not yet been cast though rumor has it producers are eyeing Gilmore Girl Alexis Bledel, and Black Swan Mila Kunis as leading lady Ana Steele.

Only God Forgives' Ryan Gosling and Rules of Attraction actor Ian Somerhalder are contestants for the role of Christian Grey.