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  • Thursday, Sep. 28, 2023
Disney World government will give employees stipend after backlash for taking away park passes
Crowds fill Main Street USA in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom on the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Oct. 1, 2021. Facing backlash, Walt Disney World’s governing district will pay a stipend to employees whose free passes and discounts to the theme park resort were eliminated under a policy made by a new district administrator and board members who are allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP, File)
By Mike Schneider
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- 

Facing a backlash, Walt Disney World's governing district will pay a stipend to employees whose free passes and discounts to the theme park resort were eliminated under a policy made by a new district administrator and board members who are allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The stipend will be $3,000 a year, which is around the equivalent value of the theme park passes, Glen Gilzean, district administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, told board members during a meeting Wednesday evening. The board then unanimously approved the stipend.

Board members said they had taken to heart the criticism of employees who said the free passes gave them lasting memories with their families and allowed relatives to see the fruits of their work. Without the free passes, the parks would be unaffordable, many employees said.

"We heard you and have worked to respond accordingly," said board member Ron Peri.

Employees More

  • Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2023
Striking Hollywood actors vote to authorize new walkout against video game makers
Striking writers take part in a rally in front of Paramount Pictures studio, Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in Los Angeles. A tentative deal was reached, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, to end Hollywood’s writers strike after nearly five months. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Striking actors have voted to expand their walkout to include the lucrative video game market, a step that could put new pressure on Hollywood studios to make a deal with the performers who provide voices and stunts for games.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists announced the move late Monday, saying that 98% of its members voted to go on strike against video game companies if ongoing negotiations are not successful. The announcement came ahead of more talks planned for Tuesday.

Acting in video games can include a variety of roles, from voice performances to motion capture work as well as stunts. Video game actors went on strike in 2016 in a work stoppage that lasted nearly a year.

Some of the same issues are at play in the video game negotiations as in the broader actors strike that has shut down Hollywood for months, including wages, safety measures and protections on the use of artificial More

  • Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2023
Musk's X is the biggest purveyor of disinformation, EU official says
Workers install lighting on an "X" sign atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, Friday, July 28, 2023. A top European Union official said Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, that the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, is the biggest source of fake news and urged owner Elon Musk to comply with the bloc's laws aimed at combating disinformation. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
By Kelvin Chan, Business Writer
LONDON (AP) -- 

A top European Union official said Tuesday that the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, is the biggest source of fake news and urged owner Elon Musk to comply with the bloc's laws aimed at combating disinformation.

Ahead of upcoming elections, Google, TikTok, Microsoft and Meta also have more to do to tackle disinformation, much of it coming from Russia, which is using social media to wage a "war of ideas" against democracy, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said.

Moscow's disinformation operation "is a multimillion-euro weapon of mass manipulation aimed both internally at the Russians as well as at Europeans and the rest of the world," she said at a press briefing in Brussels.

With elections scheduled in Slovakia and Poland in the coming weeks and a bloc-wide vote next year, big online platforms must address the risk of online meddling, she said.

The Kremlin and other malicious actors "will try to use More

  • Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2023
Mino Jarjoura joins Pulse Films as global president, commercials & music videos
Mino Jarjoura
LOS ANGELES -- 

Mino Jarjoura has joined Pulse Films as global president, commercials and music videos.
 
Jarjoura has spent much of his career working with some of the most inspiring minds in film and advertising. He joins Pulse with a track record of successful creative projects, and event-based advertising. He has produced and/or executive produced over 40 Super Bowl commercials, and garnered an Academy Award nomination for his work producing long-time friend Bryan Buckley’s short film, Asad, featuring an all-Somali refugee cast. The project was also lauded by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for its profound impact on collective understanding.
 
Based in Los Angeles, Jarjoura is charged with leading Pulse’s world class commercial and music video international teams. With a focus centered around supporting the company’s global director roster, and building a new growth strategy, he will also continue to uphold and evolve the Pulse Films legacy of More

  • Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2023
Effie UK unveils 2023 awards finalists
LONDON -- 

Effie UK has unveiled the 2023 Effie Awards U.K. finalists, having received more submissions from a broader sweep of entrants than any other year. These 40 shortlisted entries have been through to the final round of judging, with the winner announcements and celebration taking place on November 9.

The Positive Change category is the most hotly contested, with eight entries competing – more than any other category. Among the finalists are not-for-profits CALM and Mayor of London, alongside high-profile brands such as Ariel, Tesco and Vodafone--showing how widespread the idea of purposeful campaigns now is, and how businesses are taking their powers of influence seriously.

Reflecting the increased importance of long-term investment and future-facing innovation to drive growth, other categories with fierce competition are Sustained Success, and New Product or Service, both with four finalists.

Havas London is the most short-listed More

  • Monday, Sep. 25, 2023
Getty took a leading AI image-maker to court. Now it's also embracing the technology
This photo provided by Getty Images shows an example of the company's artificial intelligence image-generator. The Seattle-based photo stock company is taking a two-pronged approach to the threat and opportunity that AI poses to its business. On Monday, Sept. 25, 2023 it joined the small but growing market of AI image makers with a new service that enables its customers to create novel images trained on Getty’s vast library of human-made photos. (Getty Images via AP)
By Matt O'Brien

Anyone looking for a beautiful photograph of a desert landscape can find many choices from Getty Images, the stock photography collection.

But say you're instead looking for a wide angle shot of a "hot pink plastic saguaro cactus with large arms that stick out, surrounded by sand, in landscape at dawn." Getty Images says you can now ask its artificial intelligence image-generator to make one on the spot.

The Seattle-based company is taking a two-pronged approach to the threat and opportunity that AI poses to its business. First, it sued a leading purveyor of AI-generated images earlier this year for what it alleged was "brazen infringement" of Getty's image collection "on a staggering scale."

But on Monday, it also joined the small but growing market of AI image makers with a new service that enables its customers to create novel images trained on Getty's own vast library of human-made photos.

The difference, said Getty More

  • Monday, Sep. 25, 2023
Sophia Loren has successful surgery after fracturing a leg in a fall at home, agent says
Italian actress Sophia Loren smiles during a photo call for "Human Voice," (Voce Umana) at the 67th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2014. Film legend Sophia Loren is recovering from successful surgery for a leg fracture after she fell in her Switzerland home, an agent for the 89-year-old Italian actor said Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
ROME (AP) -- 

Film legend Sophia Loren is recovering from successful surgery for a leg fracture after she fell in her Switzerland home, an agent for the 89-year-old Italian actor said Monday.

Agent Andrea Giusti said in an email that Loren fell in a bathroom on Sunday and the surgery was performed later that day. The operation "went very well and now we only need to wait," Giusti said.

The actress broke both her hip and a thigh bone, the agent said.

It wasn't immediately clear when Loren would be discharged from the hospital.

Loren has lived in a Swiss villa near Lake Geneva for decades. Earlier this month, she appeared, looking radiant, with Italian designer Giorgio Armani in Venice at a fashion show held on the sidelines of the city's annual film festival.

She celebrated her 89th birthday last week. She was scheduled to appear at a restaurant that bears her name in Bari, a city in southern Italy, this but her fall forced a More

  • Sunday, Sep. 24, 2023
Usher to headline the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show in Las Vegas
Usher performs at the 51st annual Songwriters Hall of Fame induction and awards gala at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel on Thursday, June 16, 2022, in New York. The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Sunday that Usher will headline the 2024 Super Bowl on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium. The music megastar, who has won eight Grammys, said he's looking forward to performing on the NFL's biggest stage. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
By Jonathan Landrum Jr., Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Usher has a new confession: The Grammy winner will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in Las Vegas.

The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Sunday that Usher would lead the halftime festivities from Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11. The music megastar, who has won eight Grammys, said he's looking forward to performing on the NFL's biggest stage.

"It's an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list," Usher said in a statement. "I can't wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they've seen from me before."

Usher spring boarded into superstardom with "Confessions," which sold more than 10 million units in the U.S. and earned him eight nominations at the 2005 Grammys, winning him three. He lost album of the year to Ray Charles' final album "Genius Loves Company," released two months after the legend died.

"Confessions" ranks among one of the best-selling music More

  • Friday, Sep. 22, 2023
Director Agnieszka Holland denounced by right-wing leaders as her "Green Border" opens in Poland
Polish director Agnieszka Holland poses with the 'Special Jury Prize' award for "Zielona Granica" "(Green Border") after the closing ceremony for the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)
By Vanessa Gera
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- 

Right-wing Polish leaders amplified their denunciations of a new feature film by director Agnieszka Holland as it premiered in the country Friday, accusing the work of defaming Poland with its exploration of a migration crisis along the border with Belarus.

"Green Border" won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. Government officials in Poland have harshly criticized the film for weeks, although most of them acknowledge not having seen it.

Holland was born in Poland and worked on films there but lives in France. "Green Border" is a harrowing exploration of human suffering in the border zone of forests and swamps between Belarus and Poland, and its fictional characters include depictions of Polish security officials mistreating migrants from the Middle East.

In an unusual move, Poland's most powerful politician, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, called a press conference Friday devoted to denouncing the film. He More

  • Friday, Sep. 22, 2023
Amazon Prime Video will soon come with ads, or a monthly charge to dodge them
Amazon's Prime Video streaming app on an iPad is seen in Baltimore on March 19, 2018. Amazon says that it will now start charging $2.99 per month in order for users in the U.S. to watch Prime Video ad free. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
By Michelle Chapman

Amazon Prime Video will include advertising during shows and movies starting early next year, joining other streaming services that have added different tiers of subscriptions.

Members of Amazon Prime can pay $2.99 per month in the U.S. to keep their service ad-free, the company said Friday.

Streaming services are in a heated tug-of-war over viewers and users are growing more adept at jumping in and out of those services, often depending on price. The platforms risk losing customers with price hikes, but they could lose them if they don't generate new content that wins over users.

Disney will begin charging $13.99 a month in the U.S. for ad-free Disney+ in mid-October, 75% more than the ad-supported service. Netflix already charges $15.49 per month for its ad-free plan, more than twice the monthly subscription for Netflix with ads.

Amazon said limited advertisements will be aired during shows and movies starting early next More

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