Anita Kerr, Leader of Famed Backup Chorale the Anita Kerr Singers, Dies at 94

Warnings of potential winter blackouts across the UK has caused the sale of portable batteries to climb, with costing thousands already selling out.

Liz Truss faces a tough clash with Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions today, having been forced to junk her entire economic strategy and with her leadership in peril.

Marta Balaga Fifth Season has acquired international distribution rights to Elisa Viihde original series “The Man Who Died.” The company, formerly known as Endeavor Content, is behind “The Lost Daughter” or “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” It also handles global distribution for such hit shows as “Killing Eve,” “The Morning Show” or “Normal People.”  Based on the bestselling book by Antti Tuomainen, the six-episode series is led by Jussi Vatanen, who will next be seen in Aki Kaurismäki’s upcoming feature “Dead Leaves.” Saara Kotkaniemi and Sara Soulié, his co-star in Solar Films’ drama “Forest Giant,” also star.   

Hybe’s BigHit Music has announced that the seven members of BTS will enlist in full military service in South Korea after more than two years of debate over whether or not they should be granted an exemption.In a statement issued this morning, the label says: “BigHit Music is proud to announce today that the members of BTS are currently moving forward with plans to fulfil their military service. After the phenomenal concert to support Busan’s bid for the World Expo 2030 [this weekend], and as each individual embarks on solo endeavours, it’s the perfect time and the members of BTS are honoured to serve”.The oldest member of the group, Jin, will be the first to enlist in the military after he completes promotional activities for his recent solo album later this month.Under South Korean law, all able-bodied men must begin serving around two years in the military at some point between the ages of eighteen and 28.

The members of K-pop band BTS will serve their mandatory military duties under South Korean law, their management company said Monday, effectively ending a debate on exempting them because of their artistic accomplishments.

Julian Lennon thinks the world is the "worst" he's lived in now because of the "veiled threats from Russia" and North Korea's missile tests. The 'Saltwater' singer - who is the son of the late John and Cynthia Lennon - doesn't understand why people "do not want peace" and despite all the conflict going on around the globe, he's still trying to stay "hopeful" for the future. Asked if he finds it hard to summon optimism, he told Independent.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief While the Busan International Film Festival was busily hailing a return to normality the slump at South Korea’s commercial box office deepened dramatically over the most recent weekend. Cinemagoing nationwide was worth only $4.20 million between Friday and Sunday, the lowest weekend total since April and a time before Korean cinemas shed their COVID restrictions. The weekend’s top film “Life Is Beautiful” managed the lowest first place score of any film this year, with a weekend haul of just $777,000, according to data from Kobiz, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief SM Entertainment, one of the leading agency groups in Korean entertainment, said Friday that it will terminate a contract with Lee Soo-man, a year early, at the end of 2022. “SM Entertainment [..] will sever ties with its chief producer Lee Soo-man at the end of this year,” Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. Lee was one of the key figures in the early discovery of Korean pop talent in the mid-1990s, developing the agency system that has hatched numerous idol groups, and has remained one of the biggest executive names in the K-pop business. The four leading agencies are brand names in their own right, organize concerts for their stables of performers, and maintain a far more visible presence than music management firms in most other countries.

Heo Chan is leaving VICTON.

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EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Urban Sales has sold Japanese director Chie Hayakawa’s dystopian drama Plan 75 to KimStim for North America, in addition to several other territories. The film won a Camera d’Or Special Mention when it premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, and is also Japan’s submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Comedy action film “Confidential Assignment 2: International” claimed its fifth successive weekend victory at the South Korean box office as only U.S. horror film “Smile” was able to break into the top five.The CJ Entertainment-distributed “Confidential Assignment 2” managed $1.64 million over the Friday to Sunday period, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). That represented a 27% share of the market. “Confidential Assignment 2” recorded a 27% weekend on weekend decline. That pushed its cumulative total to $47 million, earned form $6.52 million ticket sales since release on Set. 7, 2022.

North Korea has fired two short range missiles toward its eastern coast hours after the U.S. military concluded military training exercises with South Korea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement they detected the two missiles launched between 1:48 a.m.

Magnolia Network star Joanna Gaines has become hugely popular alongside her husband Chip Gaines.MORE: Magnolia Network star Joanna Gaines shares adorable family video that has fans saying the same thingBut the home renovation star and businesswoman has also suffered from anti-Asian hatred after growing up in Texas as half-Korean.WATCH: Fixer Upper: The Castle coming soon on Magnolia Joanna shared in 2021, at a time of rising anti-Asian rhetoric in America, that she remembered "as a little girl being out with my mom and seeing how in a moment, a person's harsh look or an underhanded comment would attempt to belittle her rich story and her beautiful culture"."We can't take lightly the power that our words and actions carry. The world needs who we were ALL made to be and all the amazing and beautiful differences we each bring with us," she continued in an Instagram post alongisde a throwback picture of her and her mom.MORE: Fixer Upper star Joanna Gaines shares how she 'nurtured' herself back from a place of 'unbalance'MORE: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's lavish Nashville home could rival a palace"Maybe if we say it enough, it will ring true and become the message that softens even the hardest of hearts," she concluded.Joanna's words came as she annunced her second children's book The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be had been transalated into Korean.

South Korean sales company Finecut has picked up international rights to webtoon adaptation Brave Citizen (working title), produced by leading Korean OTT platform Wavve, on the eve of Busan’s Asian Film & Contents Market that runs October 8-11.

EXCLUSIVE: Great Divide, which explores the wave of anti-Asian racism that sprang up in the wake of Covid, has wrapped principal photography on location in Jackson, WY.

Paramount’s Network 10 Preps Aussie ‘Taskmaster’ 

North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday morning local time, just two days after Pyongyang sent an intermediate-range ballistic missile flying over Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.  About 40 missiles have been launched by North Korea this year, including six in the past two weeks, but Tuesday's test marked the first time in five years that the country has sent a missile over Japan.  The U.S. and South Korea staged joint drills on Wednesday in response, with the USS Ronald Reagan moving into waters east of South Korea.