See No Evil 2 announcement
WWE Studios announces See No Evil 2 release date. The film will be available on Digital HD and Video On Demand Friday, October 17, and on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD) and DVD (plus Digital) on Tuesday, October 2. The film will star WWE star, Kane as well as Chelan Simmons, Greyston Holt and Danielle Harris. This film will center around Jacob Goodnight (Kane) as he rises from the dead in the city morgue after his killing spree at the Blackwell Hotel
US journalists detained
The Washington Post reports that four journalists, three of whom are American, are being detained in Iran. Jason Rezaian, a U.S. citizen who is a Tehran correspondent for the paper, and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, were detained earlier in the week, along with two freelance photojournalists. Washington Post foreign editor Douglas Jehl says:
We are deeply troubled by this news and are concerned for the welfare of Jason, Yeganeh and two others said to have been detained with them.
FAA lifts Israel flight ban
The United States lifts the bans on flights to and from Tel Aviv. The ban was in effect approximately one and a half days. Only United Airlines plans to resume flights to the area at this time. Delta, US Airways and other major carriers have not announced whether or not they will resume service to Israel. The FAA says it worked with other U.S. government agencies and officials to assess security in Israel and “carefully reviewed” new information and measures Israel was taking to “mitigate potential risks to civil aviation.”
Second plane carrying remains arrives
Planes carrying the remains of as many as 74 people lands a military base in Eindhoven, Netherlands. A lone bugler sounds the military farewell Last Post to mark the victims’ arrival, followed by a moment of silence.
Team Pharrell Voice mentor
Keys announces on Twitter that she will be a mentor for Team Pharrell on The Voice. Williams retweets Keys’ post on his Twitter page.
My friend @Pharrell invited me to be a mentor for his team on #TheVoice! His team killed it 😉 #AliciaKeysonTheVoice pic.twitter.com/EHnnjcKXmj
— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) July 23, 2014
Marian Anderson Award
Jovi wins the Marian Anderson Award for his humanitarian work in city of Philadelphia. The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation supports organizations such as Project HOME, Covenant House and Angel Network. Jovi:
A great honor to be recognized by the great city of Philadelphia…Through the `power of WE,’ we can end homelessness and hunger.
Black boxes not tampered with
Investigators say they were damaged but find no evidence that the flight data recorders have been tampered with. The Dutch Safety Board states:
The Cockpit Voice Recorder was damaged but the part that contains the data was intact. Nor was there any evidence or indication that (it) had been manipulated.
They will now begin the process of analyzing the data downloaded from the recorders.
Planes with remains arrive in Netherlands
Two military aircraft carrying 40 bodies arrive in the Dutch city of Eindhoven shortly before 4 p.m. (10 a.m. ET). A lone bugler was there, and a moment of silence was held across the country. Families of the victims and Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima are there when the planes arrive.
Black boxes delivered to UK
The two flight recorders are delivered to Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) headquarters in London. A Department for Transport spokeswoman tells AFP:
We can confirm that the two black boxes from MH17 have been delivered by the Dutch Safety Board to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch at Farnborough for download.
AAIB expects to send the details of their findings to the Dutch government in approximately 24 hours. Ukraine’s government says the black boxes were transferred to Britain under the observation of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organisation and that the vital data recorders were flown out of Kiev following an agreement between Malaysian, Dutch and Ukrainian officials and representatives from the ICAO:
Under the protocol it was determined that the objects called ‘black boxes’ were presented to the Ukrainian side but the Ukrainian side did not get involved with them and these objects did not remain under Ukrainian control for even one minute
Manimal announced
Ferrell and McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions, along with Miller’s Mosaic, receive the go ahead from Sony Pictures Animation to start a live-action/animation hybrid action-comedy based production of Manimal, the cult 1980s TV show about a man who fights crime using his ability to morph into animals. McKay:
I think it’s right down our alley, it’s what we do—it’s tongue-in-cheek and has an action component, but overall it’s a comedy. Like The Catcher In The Rye or The Sound And The Fury, Manimal has always been one of those elusive projects every producer dreams of taking to the silver screen,” said McKay. “I know the movie will be funny and entertaining, but will it be the first film to win a Pulitzer? We’ll just have to see.
No Russian government link
Three senior U.S. intelligence officials state that no direct link to the Russian government and the shooting down of the jet has been found. They believe the pro-Russian separatists are responsible, but they have no evidence to prove this. One official says:
There’s not going to be a Perry Mason moment. We don’t know who pulled the trigger.
FAA bans Israel flights
The FAA tells US airlines that they are prohibited from flying to and from Israel for at least the next 24 hours. This directive is in response to a rocket strike that landed close to the airport:
The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile from the airport.
CNN’s Atika Shubert reports that operations continue at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. After seeing a rocket intercepted near the airports, she says:
This is the environment that the planes are flying in and out of.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines both suspended service to Ben Gurion Airport prior to the FAA notice.
Body train arrives at base
The train carrying as many as 298 remains of the victims of flight MH17 arrives at an army base in Ukraine today. The remains will be unloaded and put on a plane to be flown to Netherlands.
Tinashe performs
Tinashe
Profit doubles
The company reports that its profits doubled due to an increase in both US and international subscribers. The recent price increase of $1 per month for US subscribers did not deter new users from signing up. The company added 570,000 U.S. customers in the second fiscal quarter, which ended June 30th, surpassing 50 million worldwide subscribers for the first time in the company’s history. It added 1.12 million customers in international markets.
Tops Forbes highest paid list again
Downey, Jr. returns from last year as the top earning actor on the Forbes list of Hollywood’s Highest Paid Actors. The 49-year old actor amassed $75 million between June 2013 and June 2014, which mostly came from his work in the Marvel film, Iron Man 3.
Earned $75 million over past year
Forbes estimates that between June 2013 and June 2014 Downey earned about $75 million, making him the highest paid actor in Hollywood for the second consecutive year. Downey stars in the Marvel movies Iron Man and Avengers, which have earned nearly $4 billion at the box office worldwide.
Others at the top of Forbes’ list of Top Earning Actors are Dwayne Johnson ($52 million), Bradley Cooper ($46 million), Leonardo DiCaprio ($39 million) and Chris Hemsworth ($37 million).
WebP speeds page load
Google is making web pages load faster with a new image format called WebP, which shrinks the size of graphic files by 35%. So far, Google has changed the Google Play store and Chrome Web store to the new format, while Facebook, Netflix, and eBay have begun supporting it. At its I/O developers conference last month, Google announced that it has converted most of YouTube’s thumbnail images to WebP, improving the site’s load time by 10%. Google says that alone has saved users a cumulative 140,000 hours each day.
Dutch forensics team arrives
Dutch forensics experts, accompanied by representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), arrive at the crash site. Wearing shirts bearing the insignia of the forensics unit of the Dutch national police and latex gloves and masks they conduct an inspection of bodies that lay in black bags piled on to three rail cars. Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, says pro-Russian rebels who control the area are preventing the trains from leaving.
Airline: $5,000 to victims’ families
Malaysia Airlines announces it will pay $5,000 to each victim’s family to “ease the immediate families of the passengers with their economic needs.” This payment will not be offset against any final compensation or affect families’ legal rights to any future claim. The airline says:
Funds have already been made available for this purpose.