George Michael freed from jail, vows new start

George Michael

LONDON, Oct 11(breakingnews99.com) - British pop singer George Michael was released from prison on Monday after serving four weeks for driving under the influence of cannabis.

The 47-year-old was sentenced to eight weeks in jail last month after he smashed his car into the facade of a London shop in July.

"I'm coming out here on my own so that you realize I'm going to start again," Michael told reporters outside his home in north London.

The singer was freed from Highpoint Prison in Suffolk, in eastern England, from where he told fans earlier this month: "in the last three weeks, there have been no tears, no anxiety, no bullying -- in fact, not so much as a sleepless night for me."

"On the contrary, I've been treated with kindness by fellow inmates and prison staff alike ..."

At his sentencing on Sept. 14, a judge told Michael he would spend four weeks behind bars and the remainder of his term on licence. He was also banned from driving for five years and fined.

A former frontman for the band Wham!, Michael has sold an estimated 100 million albums as a solo artist. He hinted in a statement last week that he would return to the recording studio after years without releasing new material.

The star has a history of drug and driving offences. He was banned from driving for two years in 2007 and sentenced to 100 hours of community service after admitting to driving when unfit due to drugs.

In 2008, Michael apologized to fans after being arrested and cautioned by police for possession of drugs, promising to "sort himself out."

Winner of a Grammy award, Michael is famous worldwide for hits like "Careless Whisper" and "Faith."http://breakingnews99.blogspot.com

Bosnian minister cancels Jolie's filming permit

Bosnian minister

SARAJEVO, Oct 14 (breakingnews99.com) - A Bosnian minister canceled on Wednesday a permit for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie to shoot parts of her debut feature film in Bosnia, citing incomplete paperwork. 

The Oscar-winning actress has begun shooting the film in Budapest and her production company said it was a love story between a Serbian man and a Bosnian woman who meet on the eve of the Bosnian war, which killed 100,000 people between 1992 and 1995.

The filming should conclude in November in Bosnia.

Jolie has said the film would not meddle in politics, but an association of female victims from the Bosnian war has already objected to what it says are details of the plot.

"In the film, a victim is really falling in love with her torturer," Bakira Hasecic, president of the Women Victims of War association, was quoted as saying in Wednesday's Oslobodjenje daily newspaper.

But Sarajevo-based producer Scout Film said the film's narrative had nothing to do with the group's accusation and said it was a love story. Jolie has offered to meet the women to reassure them about the movie's content.

Hasecic urged authorities to ban the shooting of the film in Bosnia "because of the script which offends a female war victim and distorts the truth about what that woman has suffered in a detention camp," according to the paper.

It was not immediately clear whether Hasecic had seen a copy of the script herself.

Gavrilo Grahovac, the outgoing culture and sports minister of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation, canceled permission for the shooting.

"Since the request (for the shooting) is not in accordance with the law, it is incomplete and not accompanied by the necessary script, Minister Gavrilo Grahovac decided to annul the permit," the ministry said in a statement.

SCRIPT PASSED TO MINISTRY

The statement said Scout Film may reapply to provide necessary documentation to the ministry for the film which will be based on her own screenplay and will be acted solely by people from the region.

"We were informed today that we need to amend the documentation and I have just forwarded the script to the ministry," said Edin Sarkic, the Scout Film executive producer and location manager, adding the ministry had never asked for a script but only for a synopsis.

"I hope the film will get the green light after the officials see the script," Sarkic told Reuters by telephone.

"The film has nothing to do with the allegation made by this women's association. As we said before, it is only a love story."

Saying the movie was being filmed in Hungary, Jolie's Los Angeles-based spokesman said it was "not true" that that there had been any protest about the movie.

When asked about Hasecic's complaint, he said she "brought something up, and UNHCR have been on the phone with her."

Jolie, who is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, sent a letter to the women's group last week to reassure them about her film and proposed to meet them the next time she comes to Sarajevo.

"Don't judge me before you see the film," Jolie said in a letter read to the women by Naveed Hussain, the UNHCR representative in Bosnia, and published in Oslobodjenje.

Jolie arrived in Sarajevo in August for a surprise visit and met members of Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency to discuss ways to help thousands of returning war refugees.

The actress visited returnees in eastern Bosnia in April with her partner Brad Pitt and promised then to come back.

Harry Potter 3D release cancelled

Dhaka, Oct 9 (breakingnews99.com) -- The 3D version of the next Harry Potter film has been ditched so as not to delay its release in standard 2D, Warner Bros Studios has said.

The studio said it could not complete the 3D conversion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in time for its 19 November UK and US release date, BBC reports.

Warner Bros said it did not want to keep fans waiting for the film.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will still be released in both 2D and 3D on 15 July 2011, it added.

This second instalment will now be the first film in the Harry Potter series to be 3D.

In a statement on Friday, the studio said: "Despite everyone's best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality.

"We do not want to disappoint fans who have long anticipated the conclusion of this extraordinary journey.

"We, in alignment with our filmmakers, believe this is the best course to take in order to ensure that our audiences enjoy the consummate Harry Potter experience."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was expected to be the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, but in the past week author JK Rowling has revealed she might write more books about the boy wizard.

Rowling told US chat show host Oprah Winfrey that the characters were still in her head and she "could definitely" write several new books about them.

"I'm not going to say I won't," she said.

Harry Potter's planned conversion to 3D comes amid a growing trend towards making blockbuster films available in both 2D and 3D.

In September the Film Distributors' Association said that 3D films had helped boost UK box office takings by 8% so far this year compared with the similar period of 2009.

It said that £786m had been generated between January and August, and that three of the year's top five films had been in 3D, which had helped to boost revenue as tickets are more expensive.