MARLY-LE-ROI, France: No more munching, crunching and slurping at the movies in France.
The country’s increasingly fraught fight against an unprecedented surge in coronavirus infections is putting a stop to eating and drinking at French cinemas, just as they show signs of recovering from the brutal economic bashing of lockdowns last year.
COVID-19 measures kicking in Monday, once France’s New Year’s celebrations are out of the way, will mean an enforced rest for popcorn machines and ice creams left in cold storage. The ban of at least three weeks on eating and drinking also applies to theaters, sports venues and public transport.
For cinema owners hoping to lure back movie fans who switched to home-viewing during the pandemic, not being able to tempt them with candies and soft drinks is another blow. French cinemas sold 96 million tickets in the eight months they have been reopened this year, a jump of 47 percent compared to 2020. But ticket sales are still down 55 percent compared to 2019, before the pandemic, the National Center for Film and Moving Images said Thursday in its look at French cinemas’ annual sales.
Benoit Ciné Distribution, which supplies 70 percent of France’s cinemas with popcorn, sweet treats and drinks, was deluged with both order postponements and delivery requests from movie houses expecting good sales on the final weekend before the food and drink ban, with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Matrix Resurrections” featuring on billboards.
“It’s like being told to apply the emergency brake to the high-speed train,” said Vincent Meyer, a director at Benoit.
Against raging coronavirus infections, the government is hoping its latest measures will also apply a brake on the fast-spreading omicron variant, but without derailing France’s economic recovery that is a vote-getter for President Emmanuel Macron, facing reelection in April.
As well as the food and drink ban, there’ll once again also be limits on crowd numbers at public venues, with no more than 2,000 allowed indoors and 5,000 outdoors. The limits don’t apply to election campaign rallies, infuriating some musicians who will no longer be allowed to perform for stand-up crowds. Some suggested, only half-jokingly, that they may rebrand their concerts as political rallies.
France’s COVID-19 death toll is already at more than 123,000 people. New infections are higher than they have ever been and hospitals are again overburdened with the gravely sick. Many health experts had called for stricter measures than those announced by the government this week, with some pushing for renewed closures of schools and businesses. France reported another 206,243 coronavirus infections Thursday, just shy of the record 208,000 cases set Wednesday.
Michel Enten, manager of the Le Fontenelle cinema in the town of Marly-le-Roi west of Paris, was relieved to stay open, even if he’ll no longer be able to sell cotton candy, popcorn, ices and drinks. He says he has lost about half of his clientele during the pandemic. He expects the ban on food and drinks to hit larger cinemas particularly hard and says it may even help lure back fans to smaller, arty cinemas like his.
“There are lots of people who hate hearing the sounds of popcorn in the auditoriums,” he said. “Perhaps we will win over new movie fans, people who were watching Netflix and are saying to themselves, ‘Now there’s no more popcorn, let’s run to the cinema.’“
Cinemagoers said they understood the need for new measures, although some struggled to see any logic in not being able to indulge their sweet cravings in cinemas or theaters when restaurants are still allowed to serve food and drinks.
“It’s going to be strange to just go to the cinema and do without all these little moments,” Vincent Bourdais said as he lined up in Marly-le-Roi for “Spiderman.”
“Often, when one imagines the cinema, one thinks of the auditorium, the beautiful posters, the popcorn, the smells.”
Cut! Popcorn, candy ban hits French cinemas’ virus recovery
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Cut! Popcorn, candy ban hits French cinemas’ virus recovery

- COVID-19 measures kicking in Monday will mean an enforced rest for popcorn machines and ice creams
- The ban of at least 3 weeks on eating and drinking applies to theaters, sports venues and public transport
’Leap together,’ Kermit the Frog says in commencement address at University of Maryland graduation

- Kermit, who was created in 1955 and became the centerpiece of the Muppets franchise, is no stranger to the school
- Muppets creator Jim Henson graduated from Maryland in 1960 with home economics as his major
COLLEGE PARK, Maryland: Kermit the Frog knows it’s not easy being green — or graduating from college and entering the real world, especially during a time of economic uncertainty and political turmoil.
Members of the University of Maryland’s class of 2025 received their diplomas Thursday evening with sage advice from the amphibious Muppet ringing in their ears.
“As you prepare to take this big leap into real life, here’s a little advice — if you’re willing to listen to a frog,” the beloved Muppet said. “Rather than jumping over someone to get what you want, consider reaching out your hand and taking the leap side by side, because life is better when we leap together.”
The university announced in March that Kermit, who was created in 1955 and became the centerpiece of the Muppets franchise, would be this year’s commencement speaker. He is also no stranger to the school.
Muppets creator Jim Henson graduated from Maryland in 1960. A home economics major, he fashioned the original frog puppet from one of his mother’s coats and a Ping-Pong ball cut in half, according to a statement from the university. Henson died in 1990.
A bronze statue of Henson and Kermit sitting on a bench is a well-known feature of the College Park campus.
In a video announcing the speaker pick, Kermit is described as an environmental advocate, a bestselling author, an international superstar and a champion of creativity, kindness and believing in the impossible.
His speaker bio calls him “a star of stage, screen and swamp” whose simple mission is to “sing and dance and make people happy.”
“I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will experience the optimism and insight of the world-renowned Kermit the Frog at such a meaningful time in their lives,” university President Darryll J. Pines said in a statement.
In tune with nature: expert sounds out all of Ireland’s bird species

- Some clips show birds mimicking other animals like dogs, people and other bird species
COBH, Ireland: On a mission to record all of Ireland’s bird species, many of which are dying out, Irishman Sean Ronayne calls his unique audio archive a tool to both raise alarm and bring hope.
According to conservation bodies, some 63 percent of Ireland’s birds are currently either red or amber-listed, meaning they are at severe or moderate extinction risk.
“Birds are in trouble in Ireland like they are across the world, the loss of wildlife — sonically and physically — is devastating to me,” said the 37-year-old.
“But I focus on hope and beauty, which is essential,” the ornithologist told AFP at his home near Cobh (pronounced “Cove“) in County Cork.
More than four years into his recording project he has sampled 201 different Irish bird species, stocking over 12,000 audio clips from around the country, Ronayne told AFP.
Just two remain to be documented: the great skua, and red-breasted merganser.
“If people realize just how spectacular wildlife is, there’s no way they would let it disappear, attitudes would change,” Ronayne said.
Ireland may be famed for its green fields, but Ronayne paints a bleak picture — “realistic” he says — of a degraded landscape and a bird population decimated by vanishing habitats.
Most of Ireland comprises intensively farmed fields bounded by trimmed hedgerows, drained and mined peatlands, overgrazed uplands, and minimal native woodland, he told AFP.
Non-native conifer plantations — approximately nine percent of Ireland’s 11 percent forest cover — are also a biodiversity villain, described by Ronayne as “a species-poor industrial cash-crop.”
“I try to show people the beauty of what we’re erasing and what we must stand up and fight for,” said the wildlife expert.
Last year he published an award-winning book, released two albums, and made an acclaimed documentary film. His talk tour is currently selling out venues around Ireland.
“Wildlife sound is such a great engaging tool to connect people to nature itself and get them acquainted with everything that’s on their doorstep,” Ronayne told AFP.
“If you know your neighbor you’re more likely to help them in times of need,” he said.
At the shows Ronayne, who was diagnosed with a form of autism as an adult, presents the story of his life and how nature is woven through it.
He also plays audio of warbles, tweets, trills, screeches and chirps, and mystery sounds, inviting the audience to guess the origin.
Some clips show birds mimicking other animals like dogs, people and other bird species.
“Some species in my collection can mimic 30 to 40 other species in their song,” he said.
Laughter is common at his talks, but also tears and grief as listeners learn of Ireland’s endangered birdlife.
Ronayne regularly holds “dawn chorus” walks, bringing small groups into silent forests far from road noise to experience the birdlife waking up.
A gradually building cacophony of sound, the dawn chorus is “a reflection of the health of a given environment,” he told AFP in an old woodland near his home while waiting for sunrise.
“The more sonically diverse it is, the healthier the habitat is,” he said.
After unpacking his audio recorder, parabolic microphone and tripod, he quickly identified the melodies of song thrushes, robins, blackbirds, goldcrests and others as they greeted the day.
“Chiffchaff! Did you hear that?! There’s a grey wagtail!” he exclaimed, head twitching toward each sound in the lifting gloom.
Ronayne also hides recorders for weeks and even months in remote untouched places where birds congregate.
On Ballycotton beach near Cobh, migrating birds swirled overhead before settling on an adjacent lagoon.
Ronayne carefully placed a waterproof recorder — able to run for up two weeks — in grass by the shore.
“They have to fly right over here to there,” he said pointing upwards at their route.
“After I collect it I’ll be able to monitor the birds, capture their calls, and tell environmental stories from the audio,” he said.
Back home, he scrolled on a computer showing thousands of archived sonogram clips — visual representations of sound — of birdsong audio.
Each entry included data on the behavior, calls and protected status of each bird: many either red or amber.
“First we must realize how wonderful nature is, then how fragile it is, and how much we have kicked it down,” Ronayne told AFP.
“When we as a society fall back in love with nature, and respect it as we once did, beautiful things will happen.”
Disney delays next two Marvel ‘Avengers’ movies

- “Avengers: Doomsday” now will come out on December 18, 2026
LOS ANGELES: Walt Disney’s movie studio has postponed the release of the next two installments in Marvel’s blockbuster “Avengers” series, the company said on Thursday.
“Avengers: Doomsday” now will come out on December 18, 2026, about seven months later than its previous date of May 1. “Doomsday” will bring Robert Downey Jr. back to the franchise as the villain, Doctor Doom.
Disney also moved “Avengers: Secret Wars” to December 17, 2027 from May 2, 2027.
The new schedule was chosen to give the filmmakers more time to complete the superhero movies, which are among the biggest Disney has ever made, a source familiar with the matter said. “Doomsday” is already in production.
“Avengers: Endgame,” released in 2019, is the second-highest grossing movie of all time with $2.8 billion in global ticket sales, behind “Avatar” with $2.9 billion.
YouTube hires former Disney veteran to oversee sports and media

- The platform has also expanded beyond traditional video sharing and into live TV
Alphabet’s YouTube has hired long-time Walt Disney executive Justin Connolly to serve as its global head of media and sports, the company said on Thursday, as the video service pushes further into sports and traditional media.
Connolly will manage the platform’s relationships with major media companies as well as take charge of the company’s growing live-sports portfolio, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The popular video sharing platform has been aggressively pursuing live sports for the past few years, alongside competitors such as Netflix and Amazon, in a bid to take advantage of its massive user base and large sports audience.
YouTube inked a $14 billion NFL streaming deal in 2022, which enables it to stream big football matches, while Amazon and other media firms also rushed to secure big sports streaming deals.
The platform has also expanded beyond traditional video sharing and into live TV, music and podcasts, and generates billions in advertising revenue from its vast content reserves.
Connolly spent over two decades at ESPN and Disney and exited his role as head of platform distribution earlier this week as Disney gears up to launch its ESPN sports streaming platform.
Lawyer says worker accused of helping New Orleans jailbreak was unclogging toilet, not aiding escape
Lawyer says worker accused of helping New Orleans jailbreak was unclogging toilet, not aiding escape

- Behind the toilet was a hole that 10 men slipped through in Friday’s escape
- Williams told law enforcement during an interview that an inmate had threatened to “shank” him
NEW ORLEANS: A worker charged with aiding the New Orleans jailbreak by 10 prisoners shut off water to unclog a toilet, not to allow the men to cut the pipe to create an opening for their escape, the employee’s lawyer told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the jailbreak.
Authorities previously said that Williams had been instructed by one of the inmates to turn off the water to a toilet. Behind the toilet was a hole that 10 men slipped through in Friday’s escape.
“It would seem obvious to me that filling up the toilet, clogging the toilet, was a portion of the escapee’s plan,” attorney Michael Kennedy said. “They would know that whoever the maintenance person was would have to turn off the water ... because it was overflowing into the tier.”
Williams told law enforcement during an interview that an inmate had threatened to “shank” him if he did not turn off the water, authorities said.
Williams had plenty of opportunity to not only report the threat but also the escape plan, authorities said. They asserted that because Williams turned the water off, the inmates were “able to successfully make good” on their escape.