The founder and all-female editorial board of the Vatican’s women’s magazine have resigned to protest what they call a campaign to discredit them and put them under the direct control of men. The editorial committee of Women Church World, a monthly supplement to the Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano, claims the daily’s new editor has sabotaged the magazine after it denounced sexual abuse of nuns by the clergy. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
…

From: MeNeedIt

In Japan, every emperor’s era has its own name – appearing in places such as coins, official paperwork and newspapers – and with abdication coming at the end of April, speculation is swirling about what the new “gengo” will be.

Although the Western calendar has become more widespread in Japan, many people here count years in terms of gengo or use the two systems interchangeably. Emperor Akihito’s era, which began in 1989, is Heisei, making 2019 Heisei 31.

The new era name is one of biggest changes — practically and psychologically – – for Japan at the start of Crown Prince Naruhito’s reign on May 1. On April 30, Akihito will abdicate, ending an era in the minds of many Japanese.

The new name is so secret that senior government officials involved in the decision must surrender their cell phones and stay sequestered until it is broadcast, media reports say.

City offices and government agencies, which mostly use gengo in their computer systems and paperwork, have been preparing for months to avoid glitches.

To make the transition easier, authorities will announce the new gengo – -two Chinese characters the cabinet chooses from a short list proposed by scholars — a month early, on April 1.

“We’ve been working on this change for about a year,” said Tsukasa Shizume, an official in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka, where the era name will be changed on 55 kinds of paperwork in 20 administrative sections. The month-long lead time should be sufficient, he said.

Fujitsu and NEC Corp. have been helping customers ensure the switch doesn’t crash their systems.

Programs have been designed to make it easy to change the gengo, said Shunichi Ueda, an NEC official.

“If people want to test their computer systems, they can use a trial gengo and see if it works,” he said.

Most major companies use the Western calendar in their computer systems, so it won’t affect them as much, although smaller companies might run into some problems, he said.

In Tokyo’s Minato ward, officials will cross out Heisei on thousands of documents and stamp the new gengo above it.

National mood

The era name is more than just a way of counting years for many Japanese.

It’s a word that captures the national mood of a period, similar to the way “the ’60s” evokes particular feelings or images, or how historians refer to Britain’s “Victorian” or “Edwardian” eras, tying the politics and culture of a period to a monarch.

“It’s a way of dividing history,” said Jun Iijima, a 31-year-old lawyer who was born the last year of Showa, the era of Akihito’s father, Emperor Hirohito. “If you were just counting years, the Western system might be sufficient. But gengo gives a certain meaning to a historical period.”

The 64-year Showa era, which lasted until 1989, has generally come to be identified with Japan’s recovery and rising global prominence in the decades after World War II.

The imperial era name is also a form of “soft nationalism,” said Ken Ruoff, director of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University.

“It’s one of these constant low-level reminders that Japan counts years differently and Japan has a monarchy,” he said.

The gengo characters are carefully chosen with an aspirational meaning. Heisei, which means “achieving peace,” began on Jan. 8, 1989, amid high hopes that Japan would play a greater role in global affairs after decades of robust economic growth.

Soon afterward, Japan’s economic bubble popped, ushering in a long period of stagnation and deflation. The rise of China and South Korea diminished Japan’s international prominence, and a series of disasters – including the 1995 Kobe earthquake and 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises – has marred Heisei’s image.

Fading use

In daily life, usage of the gengo system is slowly declining as Japan integrates into the global economy.

A recent Mainichi newspaper survey showed that 34 percent of people said they used mostly gengo, 34 percent said they used both about the same, and 25 percent mainly the Western calendar.

In 1975, 82 percent said mostly gengo. Both calendars use Western months.

Japanese drivers licenses have started to print both dates, instead of just gengo.

Iijima, the lawyer, says legal paperwork uses the era name because that’s what the court system uses. But in daily life he uses both. For global events, he thinks in terms of the Western calendar – like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – and uses both dating systems for domestic events.

He is indifferent about what characters will be chosen for the next gengo.

But remembering that his grandparents suffered during World War II, he hopes that it will be an era without war, that Japan will keep up economically with China and India and that it will grow into a “mature,” more tolerant place.

“I hope Japan can become a society where minorities can live more easily,” he said.
…

From: MeNeedIt

In Japan, every emperor’s era has its own name – appearing in places such as coins, official paperwork and newspapers – and with abdication coming at the end of April, speculation is swirling about what the new “gengo” will be.

Although the Western calendar has become more widespread in Japan, many people here count years in terms of gengo or use the two systems interchangeably. Emperor Akihito’s era, which began in 1989, is Heisei, making 2019 Heisei 31.

The new era name is one of biggest changes — practically and psychologically – – for Japan at the start of Crown Prince Naruhito’s reign on May 1. On April 30, Akihito will abdicate, ending an era in the minds of many Japanese.

The new name is so secret that senior government officials involved in the decision must surrender their cell phones and stay sequestered until it is broadcast, media reports say.

City offices and government agencies, which mostly use gengo in their computer systems and paperwork, have been preparing for months to avoid glitches.

To make the transition easier, authorities will announce the new gengo – -two Chinese characters the cabinet chooses from a short list proposed by scholars — a month early, on April 1.

“We’ve been working on this change for about a year,” said Tsukasa Shizume, an official in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka, where the era name will be changed on 55 kinds of paperwork in 20 administrative sections. The month-long lead time should be sufficient, he said.

Fujitsu and NEC Corp. have been helping customers ensure the switch doesn’t crash their systems.

Programs have been designed to make it easy to change the gengo, said Shunichi Ueda, an NEC official.

“If people want to test their computer systems, they can use a trial gengo and see if it works,” he said.

Most major companies use the Western calendar in their computer systems, so it won’t affect them as much, although smaller companies might run into some problems, he said.

In Tokyo’s Minato ward, officials will cross out Heisei on thousands of documents and stamp the new gengo above it.

National mood

The era name is more than just a way of counting years for many Japanese.

It’s a word that captures the national mood of a period, similar to the way “the ’60s” evokes particular feelings or images, or how historians refer to Britain’s “Victorian” or “Edwardian” eras, tying the politics and culture of a period to a monarch.

“It’s a way of dividing history,” said Jun Iijima, a 31-year-old lawyer who was born the last year of Showa, the era of Akihito’s father, Emperor Hirohito. “If you were just counting years, the Western system might be sufficient. But gengo gives a certain meaning to a historical period.”

The 64-year Showa era, which lasted until 1989, has generally come to be identified with Japan’s recovery and rising global prominence in the decades after World War II.

The imperial era name is also a form of “soft nationalism,” said Ken Ruoff, director of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University.

“It’s one of these constant low-level reminders that Japan counts years differently and Japan has a monarchy,” he said.

The gengo characters are carefully chosen with an aspirational meaning. Heisei, which means “achieving peace,” began on Jan. 8, 1989, amid high hopes that Japan would play a greater role in global affairs after decades of robust economic growth.

Soon afterward, Japan’s economic bubble popped, ushering in a long period of stagnation and deflation. The rise of China and South Korea diminished Japan’s international prominence, and a series of disasters – including the 1995 Kobe earthquake and 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises – has marred Heisei’s image.

Fading use

In daily life, usage of the gengo system is slowly declining as Japan integrates into the global economy.

A recent Mainichi newspaper survey showed that 34 percent of people said they used mostly gengo, 34 percent said they used both about the same, and 25 percent mainly the Western calendar.

In 1975, 82 percent said mostly gengo. Both calendars use Western months.

Japanese drivers licenses have started to print both dates, instead of just gengo.

Iijima, the lawyer, says legal paperwork uses the era name because that’s what the court system uses. But in daily life he uses both. For global events, he thinks in terms of the Western calendar – like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – and uses both dating systems for domestic events.

He is indifferent about what characters will be chosen for the next gengo.

But remembering that his grandparents suffered during World War II, he hopes that it will be an era without war, that Japan will keep up economically with China and India and that it will grow into a “mature,” more tolerant place.

“I hope Japan can become a society where minorities can live more easily,” he said.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Chicago police have dropped all charges against television actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of falsely reporting that he had been the target of a hate crime.

Smollett’s attorneys announced the news Tuesday, saying their client’s record had been “wiped clean.”

A spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor’s office said, “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.” She added that Smollett will forfeit a $10,000 bond payment.

But Chicago police as well as mayor Rahm Emanuel have spoken out angrily about the development. “This is without a doubt a whitewash of justice,” Emanuel said, complaining that the grand jury in the case heard “only a sliver” of the evidence.

Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson said, “Do I think justice was served? No. What do I think justice is? I think this city is still owed an apology.”

Smollett, who is black and gay, responded publicly to the decision, thanking family, friends and fans who supported him and vowing, “I have been truthful and consistent on every level since day one. I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I have been accused of.”

Smollett reported in January that he had been sent a threatening letter and was then attacked on the street by two men he didn’t know who wrapped a rope around his neck and attempted to pour bleach on him while yelling racial and homophobic slurs. He also said they yelled, “this is MAGA country,” referring to President Donald Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Police later said that Smollett had staged the attack himself, paying two physical trainers $3,500 to carry it out.

Smollett plays a gay character on the television show Empire, which is filmed in Chicago.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Chicago police have dropped all charges against television actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of falsely reporting that he had been the target of a hate crime.

Smollett’s attorneys announced the news Tuesday, saying their client’s record had been “wiped clean.”

A spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor’s office said, “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.” She added that Smollett will forfeit a $10,000 bond payment.

But Chicago police as well as mayor Rahm Emanuel have spoken out angrily about the development. “This is without a doubt a whitewash of justice,” Emanuel said, complaining that the grand jury in the case heard “only a sliver” of the evidence.

Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson said, “Do I think justice was served? No. What do I think justice is? I think this city is still owed an apology.”

Smollett, who is black and gay, responded publicly to the decision, thanking family, friends and fans who supported him and vowing, “I have been truthful and consistent on every level since day one. I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I have been accused of.”

Smollett reported in January that he had been sent a threatening letter and was then attacked on the street by two men he didn’t know who wrapped a rope around his neck and attempted to pour bleach on him while yelling racial and homophobic slurs. He also said they yelled, “this is MAGA country,” referring to President Donald Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Police later said that Smollett had staged the attack himself, paying two physical trainers $3,500 to carry it out.

Smollett plays a gay character on the television show Empire, which is filmed in Chicago.
…

From: MeNeedIt

What should have been a giant leap for womankind has turned into a stumble on the path to equality after U.S. space agency NASA canceled the first all-female spacewalk due to a lack of a spacesuit in the right size.

Anne McClain and Christina Koch had been due to step into history books in a spacewalk Friday, during the final week of Women’s History Month.

But McClain will now give up her place on the mission to her male colleague Nick Hague, NASA announced late Monday.

“Mission managers decided to adjust the assignments, due in part to spacesuit availability on the station,” NASA said in a statement.

“McClain learned during her first spacewalk that a medium-size hard upper torso — essentially the shirt of the spacesuit — fits her best. Because only one medium-size torso can be made ready by Friday, March 29, Koch will wear it.”

Nearly 60 years after the first human blasted off into space, less than 11 percent of the 500 plus people who have traveled to space have been women, and spacewalk teams have either been all-male or male-female.

McClain and Koch were both part of the 2013 NASA class that was 50 percent women.

NASA said the decision to change the plan was made in consultation with McClain after a spacewalk last week.

“Anne trained in M and L and thought she could use a large but decided after Friday’s spacewalk a medium fits better,” wrote spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz on Twitter.

“In this case, it’s easier (and faster!) to change spacewalkers than reconfigure the spacesuit.”

The NASA announcement was met with disappointment and anger by many following the much-anticipated mission on social media, with some arguing an all-female spacewalk was overdue.

Others said they were sad that a milestone moment on women’s space exploration had been deferred, but safety came first.

“I’m super disappointed about the all-woman spacewalk not happening as scheduled this Friday but I’m also super supportive of astronauts having the authority to say ‘I would be safer using a different piece of equipment’,” wrote Emily Lakdawalla, a senior editor at the U.S. nonprofit The Planetary Society.

“An all-woman spacewalk WILL eventually happen.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

What should have been a giant leap for womankind has turned into a stumble on the path to equality after U.S. space agency NASA canceled the first all-female spacewalk due to a lack of a spacesuit in the right size.

Anne McClain and Christina Koch had been due to step into history books in a spacewalk Friday, during the final week of Women’s History Month.

But McClain will now give up her place on the mission to her male colleague Nick Hague, NASA announced late Monday.

“Mission managers decided to adjust the assignments, due in part to spacesuit availability on the station,” NASA said in a statement.

“McClain learned during her first spacewalk that a medium-size hard upper torso — essentially the shirt of the spacesuit — fits her best. Because only one medium-size torso can be made ready by Friday, March 29, Koch will wear it.”

Nearly 60 years after the first human blasted off into space, less than 11 percent of the 500 plus people who have traveled to space have been women, and spacewalk teams have either been all-male or male-female.

McClain and Koch were both part of the 2013 NASA class that was 50 percent women.

NASA said the decision to change the plan was made in consultation with McClain after a spacewalk last week.

“Anne trained in M and L and thought she could use a large but decided after Friday’s spacewalk a medium fits better,” wrote spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz on Twitter.

“In this case, it’s easier (and faster!) to change spacewalkers than reconfigure the spacesuit.”

The NASA announcement was met with disappointment and anger by many following the much-anticipated mission on social media, with some arguing an all-female spacewalk was overdue.

Others said they were sad that a milestone moment on women’s space exploration had been deferred, but safety came first.

“I’m super disappointed about the all-woman spacewalk not happening as scheduled this Friday but I’m also super supportive of astronauts having the authority to say ‘I would be safer using a different piece of equipment’,” wrote Emily Lakdawalla, a senior editor at the U.S. nonprofit The Planetary Society.

“An all-woman spacewalk WILL eventually happen.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

The seven women busily making and packing sanitary napkins in a small manufacturing unit in Kathikhera village had never heard that word while growing up. That is no surprise: menstruation is a taboo subject in village homes. 

That is why when the venture was launched over two years ago, several women quit after being taunted by villagers for doing “dirty work.” Those who persevered did not dare acknowledge what they were doing. 

“We used to tell everyone we are making diapers. When people came to buy them we were very embarrassed to admit that we are actually making pads,” says 22-year-old Rakhi Tanwar. “I did not even tell my father and brother about the work I was doing.” 

The venture was born in a village home after a crowd funding initiative by a student group in the United States helped purchase a machine to make affordable sanitary napkins. The group also funded a documentary that was set in the village. Made by Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi, it bagged the Oscar in the short documentary category this year. 

In this small conservative community, getting the unit going was a struggle until the arrival of the film crew and the making of the movie gradually revolutionized attitudes toward menstruation. The film chronicles the impact of the cultural stigma that surrounds the subject: an estimated 20 per cent adolescent girls drop out of school after puberty and menstrual hygiene poses a challenge due to lack of access to sanitary products. 

Sneha, the protagonist of the documentary, testifies to the silence that surrounds the subject: her mother never told her about menstruation. She recalls how she was ridiculed for her work. “Sometime I came home and almost wept at the way people treated me. I was often tempted to leave. People looked at me with such contempt,” says the village girl who had never imagined her work would one day make her walk down the red carpet in Los Angeles.

There has been a dramatic change since those early days. “Those who did not want to hear about this subject or talk to us now converse about it more openly to us and to each other,” she says. “It is treated as a normal topic. This is a huge opportunity. This is what we wanted, that it should not be considered a “dirty” subject.” 

The women who were once turned away from village homes when they went to explain about sanitary products now get a willing ear. Sanitary pads, which in India, are usually discreetly kept under a shelf, are openly displayed in the Kathikhera village shop and even men turn up to buy them for their wives. Mothers say they will discuss the topic with young daughters. 

“I never shared anything with my friends also,” says Rakhi laughing shyly. “But these foreigners who came to make the movie have removed the shame we used to feel.”

The quiet social revolution taking place in Kathikhera has been made possible due to the efforts of a social entrepreneur in South India who devised a machine to make low-cost sanitary napkins after he discovers his wife uses rags.

​Besides menstrual hygiene, there have been other gains from the project: financial independence and a new-found determination to achieve goals among the women involved in the Kathikhera project. They use only their first name because they say they want to have their own identity. Sneha aspires to become a police officer, although she says women’s issues will always be a part of her mission. Rakhi, who wants to be a teacher, is using the $35 salary a month from her work at the factory to fund her postgraduate studies. 

The unit is providing the first ever avenue of employment in a village where women were confined to housework. 

The road has not been easy for women like Sushma, a mother of two who lives in an extended family. It was never supportive of her work and her husband insisted she must do all the housework despite the job she took on. But the recognition that came to the village after the Oscar award have changed all that. “Now my family allows me come to work early. My sisters-in-law willingly do my share of the housework,” says Sushma, who is determined to carry on with her job.

Officials and village elders have become more open to discussing women’s issues with Action India, the charity that helped set up the venture. “When we used to hold meetings to create awareness about menstrual hygiene, they used to say that we are spoiling their women,” recalls Suman, a social worker with the group that focuses on reproductive health issues. She says they were accused of promoting the venture to make profits while burdening households with more expenses. “Now that atmosphere has changed. They want to join hands with us. They ask us about our problems.” 

As a quiet village that had never heard of the world’s biggest film awards basks in the stardust that has fallen on it since the Oscar win, the hope is that the documentary’s bigger message will resonate in other parts of rural India. The winds of change are blowing. Action India has already set up one more pad making unit in a neighboring village with the aim of transforming lives for more young women.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Larry Cohen, the maverick B-movie director of cult horror films “It’s Alive” and “God Told Me To,” has died. He was 77.

Cohen’s friend and spokesman, the actor Shade Rupe, said Cohen passed away Saturday in Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones.

Cohen’s films were schlocky, low-budget films that developed cult followings, spawned sequels and gained esteem for their genre reflections of contemporary social issues.

His 1974 “It’s Alive,” about a murderous mutant baby, dealt with the treatment of children. Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Hitchcock’s frequent composer, supplied the score.

His New York-set 1976 satire “God Told Me To” depicted a series of shootings and murders carried out in religious fervor. Andy Kaufman played a policeman who goes on a shooting spree during the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There were also aliens.

In Cohen’s 1985 film “The Stuff,” Cohen skewered consumerism with a story inspired by the rise of junk food. It’s about a sweet yogurt-like substance that’s found oozing out of the ground and is then bottled and marketed like an ice cream alternative without the calories. The “stuff” turns out to be a parasite that turns consumers of it into zombies.

“It wasn’t just going to a studio like a factory laborer and making pictures and going home every night,” Cohen told the Ringer last year. “We were out there in the jungle making these movies, improvising, and having fun, and creating movies from out of thin air without much money.”

“You’ve gotta make the picture your way and no other way,” he added, “because it can’t be made otherwise.”

Cohen’s approach — he would often shoot extreme scenes on New York City streets without permits or alerting people in the area — made him, like Roger Corman, revered among subsequent generations of independent genre-movie filmmakers. A documentary released last year, “King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen,” paid tribute to Cohen.

“Larry Cohen truly was an independent freewheeling movie legend,” the writer-director Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead,” ″Baby Driver”) said on Sunday, praising him “for so many fun, high-concept genre romps with ideas bigger than the budgets.”

The New York-native Cohen began in television, where he wrote episodes for series like “The Fugitive,” ″The Defenders” and “Surfside 6.” New York would be the setting for many of Cohen’s films, including 1982′s “Q,” in which a giant flying lizard nests atop the Chrysler Building.

Cohen’s 1973 blaxspoitation crime drama “Black Caesar,” scored by James Brown, was about a Harlem gangster. He and star Fred Williamson reunited the next year for “Hell Up in Harlem.”

Cohen later directed Bette Davis’ last film, “Wicked Stepmother,” in 1989. More recently, he wrote the 2002 Colin Farrell thriller “Phone Booth” and 2004′s “Cellular,” with Chris Evans.

Cohen was often his own producer, director, writer and sometimes prop-maker and production manager. “Otherwise,” he told the Village Voice, “I’d have to sit down with producers, and producers are a real pain in the ass, believe me.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

Jordan Peele has done it again. Two years after the filmmaker’s “Get Out” became a box-office sensation, his frightening follow-up, “Us,” debuted with $70.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The opening, well above forecasts, had few parallels. It was the largest debut for an original horror film (only the “It” remake and last year’s “Halloween” have surpassed it in the genre) and one of the highest openings for a live-action original film since “Avatar” was released 10 years ago.

In today’s franchise-driven movie world, seldom has a young director been such a draw. But moviegoers turned out in droves to see what kind of freak-out Peele could muster in his sophomore release.

“Peele has really crafted an extraordinary story that I think once again is going to capture the cultural zeitgeist,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal. “He is recognized as just an amazing talent. He crafts films that make you think, that are extraordinarily well-acted, well-written and are amazingly entertaining.”

“Us” took over the top spot at the box office from “Captain Marvel,” which had reigned for two weeks. The Marvel Studios superhero release slid to second place with $35 million in its third week. In three weeks of release, it’s made $910 million worldwide, and will soon become the first $1 billion release of 2019.

Other holdovers — the animated amusement “Wonder Park” and the cystic fibrosis teen romance “Five Feet Apart”— trailed in third and fourth with about $9 million each in their second week.

But the weekend belonged overwhelming to “Us,” which more than doubled the $33.4 million domestic debut of 2017′s Oscar-winning “Get Out.” The former “Key & Peele” star’s first film as writer-director, “Get Out” ultimately grossed $255.4 million on a $4.5 million budget.

“Us” cost $20 million to make, meaning it’s already a huge hit for Peele and Universal Pictures, which notched its third No. 1 release of the year following “Glass” and “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.”

It’s also, as Peele has said, more thoroughly a horror film. While “Us” has drawn very good reviews (94 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences gave it a relatively low “B″ CinemaScore. Paul Dergarabedian chalked that up mainly to moviegoers feeling shell-shocked when they emerged from the theater.

“Us” stars Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as vacationing parents whose family is faced with eerie doppelgangers of themselves. The film added $16.7 million from 47 international territories.

While “Us” was propelled by a number of things, including Nyong’o and buzz out of its SXSW premiere, the main selling point was Peele. The 40-year-old director already has an imprimatur matched only by veteran filmmakers like Clint Eastwood.

“It’s really difficult for a director to become a superstar whose name gets people in theater, and Jordan Peele has done just that,” said Dergarabedian. “He’s a superstar director with a brand all his own, and that’s with two feature films under his belt. That’s pretty astonishing. That just doesn’t happen.”

After a sluggish January and February, the overall box office has rebounded thanks to “Captain Marvel” and “Us.” The weekend was up 15.3 percent from last year, according to Comscore.

The weekend followed an especially tumultuous week in Hollywood. On Monday, Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara stepped down following a sex scandal. On Wednesday, the Walt Disney Co. completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

In absorbing one of the six major studios in 20th Century Fox, Disney quickly made many layoffs and shuttered Fox 2000, the Fox label behind hit book adaptations like “Hidden Figures” and “Life of Pi.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.

1. “Us,” $70.3 million ($16.7 million international).

2. “Captain Marvel,” $35 million ($52.1 million international).

3. “Wonder Park,” $9 million ($5 million international).

4. “Five Feet Apart,” $8.8 million ($6.2 million international).

5. “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” $6.5 million ($6 million international).

6. “A Madea Family Funeral,” $4.5 million.

7. “Gloria Bell,” $1.8 million.

8. “No Manches Frida,” $1.8 million.

9. “Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” $1.1 million ($6.2 million international).

10. “Alita: Battle Angel,” $1 million ($1.6 million international).

 
…

From: MeNeedIt

Efforts to control the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are hitting a roadblock, says Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The medical charity group says security forces and a climate of community mistrust are hampering efforts to combat the outbreak. Meanwhile the country of Madagascar is struggling to curb a measles outbreak. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
…

From: MeNeedIt

A business in Washington, D.C., is working to empower women who have been victims of gender-based violence by targeting the growing number of consumers who are socially and environmentally conscious. Handmade handicrafts are imported from countries where women are vulnerable. Access to a broader market gives victims more opportunities for a better future.
…

From: MeNeedIt