U.K. Extends COVID Insurance Scheme, Adds Coverage for Actors Over 70; Distributes $21 Million in Cinema Grants

Acknowledging that California has repeatedly missed its stated Covid-19 vaccination targets, Governor Gavin Newsom made a bold commitment on Friday.

direct to your inboxThousands more people in Greater Manchester have received coronavirus vaccines as the regional programme continues to take shape. A total of 78 vaccination centres will open across the region next week - including a mass vaccination hub at the Etihad Tennis Centre in Manchester.

direct to your inboxPolice have warned people to be wary of scams linked to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.Officers say criminals are “already taking advantage” of the vaccine.They have warned those eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine to hang up if they are contacted by anyone asking for cash.Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has advised that GPs will confirm names and not ask for any further details when they call to book patients in for a vaccination.A post on the GMP Middleton Facebook

Thanksgiving and is also now available to rent on premium video on demand.Disney and Pixar’s “Soul,” which skipped U.S. theaters and is available for free for Disney+ subscribers, added $16.5 million internationally — a 114% increase from its opening in the same markets last weekend.

California Governor Gavin Newsom spent much of his Wednesday Covid-19 briefing discussing new plans to reopen schools. But amidst those details, he also reported the news that the state had recorded a shocking 432 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours.

Jamie Lang In today’s Global Bulletin, a citizen journalist is sentenced to four years of jail time by the Chinese government, ITV Hub posts record 2020 statistics and Irrfan Khan-starrer “The Song of Scorpion” gets a special re-release to honor the actor.TRIALZhang Zhan, a former lawyer-turned-citizen journalist, has been sentenced to four years in prison, becoming the first publicly acknowledged person to be tried and convicted for contradicting the Chinese government’s official account of

Kaitlyn Bristowe has a lesson to teach people about COVID-19… even allowing just one person you trust into your pod can bring the virus into your home.

The Oscar-contending documentary 76 Days, set in hospitals in Wuhan, China as the city endured lockdown after the eruption of Covid-19, is cinéma vérité par excellence. No sit-down interviews, no TV news reports spliced in—just the pure visual drama of medical workers and patients ensnared in an unprecedented crisis.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Anthony Chen’s “Wet Season,” which represents Singapore in the Oscar race for best international feature film.The movie world premiered in the Platform section at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is being represented in international markets by Memento Films International.Penned and directed by Chen, “Wet Season” revolves around a Chinese language teacher whose marriage and school

A Georgia college student jailed for four months in the Cayman Islands for neglecting to follow novel coronavirus-related quarantine guidelines faces stringent consequences because local officials "needed to make a statement," her grandmother told Fox News on Friday. Jeanne Mack, the grandmother of Mercer University student Skylar Mack, told Fox News’s Trace Gallagher the 18-year-old has posted negative results for COVID-19 each of the six times she’s been tested.

With a newly elected Democratic president, this is the season of speculation, where names are being floated as potential ambassador picks. And this time around, The Walt Disney Co.’s executive chairman Bob Iger is getting attention as a prospect for one of the highest profile foreign posts, China.

Hello International Insiders, hope you’re getting into the Christmas spirit. Tom Grater here delivering a sack full of attention-grabbing headlines from this week of film and TV news.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features EditorWhen Eli Goree was cast as Cassius Clay, the boxer who would become Muhammad Ali, in “One Night in Miami,” he was the most prepared actor you could find. That’s because he had begun almost two years prior, when he auditioned for the role of Ali in a different film, to be directed by Ang Lee.“I started preparing by gaining weight, learning the accent, going through the audition process,” Goree says.

Naman Ramachandran U.K. producers are in discussions with the government to extend the £500 million ($664.6 million) COVID-19 insurance scheme for Film & TV production.As first reported by Broadcast, producers are seeking to extend the deadline by six months, to June 2021.

EXCLUSIVE: UK producers are in talks with the government over extending Britain’s world-leading production insurance scheme, which opened the door to £1BN ($1.3BN) of shoots returning to work after the catastrophic coronavirus shutdown.

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As it did after One Day At a Time‘s first cancellation almost two years ago, series producer Sony Pictures TV tried hard to find a new home for the praised reimagining of Norman Lear’s beloved 1970s sitcom. The effort — considered a long shot — was not successful, and the cast and crew were informed today that the show has come to an end. One Day at a Time co-creators/exec producers/showrunners Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce shared the news withe the show’s fans.

WASHINGTON -- The National Zoo has struck a new extension of its longstanding agreement with the Chinese government that will keep the zoo's iconic giant pandas in Washington for another three years.But the agreement also calls for all three pandas — baby Xiao Qi Ji and parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian — to return to China at the end of 2023.“It will certainly be bittersweet,” said zoo spokeswoman Annalisa Meyer of the eventual departure of the trio.