Actor George Clooney calls for boycott of Brunei-owned hotels

WASHINGTON, United States - American actor George Clooney has called for a boycott of nine Brunei-owned hotels over the sultanate's imposition of the death penalty for gay sex and adultery.

"Every single time we stay at or take meetings at or dine at any of these nine hotels we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery," Clooney wrote on website Deadline Hollywood.

"I've learned over years of dealing with murderous regimes that you can't shame them. But you can shame the banks, the financiers and the institutions that do business with them and choose to look the other way," he added.

The nine hotels are located in the US, Britain, France and Italy.

Brunei will implement the harsh new penal code -- which also mandates amputation of a hand and foot for theft -- starting next Wednesday.

Homosexuality is already illegal in the tiny sultanate, but it will now become a capital offense. The law only applies to Muslims.

Brunei first announced the measures in 2013, but implementation has been delayed as officials worked out the practical details and in the teeth of opposition by rights groups.

In addition to film-making chops that have netted him two Oscars, Clooney is known for his globe-trotting political activism, especially his tireless campaigning to draw attention to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

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George and Amal Clooney on justice mission for women and gay people

EDINBURGH - Celebrity couple George and Amal Clooney said on Thursday they wanted to use their star power to push for justice globally for women, children, LGBT+ people, religious minorities, and journalists.

The 57-year-old Hollywood actor said some countries were using courts to do "really rotten things" and it was important to "shine a light" on where this was happening.

The couple's Clooney Foundation for Justice, set up in 2016, plans to this year launch, TrialWatch, a project to monitor trials and create an index to track which countries are using courtrooms to oppress minorities and government critics.

Amal Clooney, an international human rights lawyer, said it was important to expose injustices and the countries using courts to target vulnerable people, human rights defenders, and press freedom.

"We now have the highest number of journalists in jail in the world since records began," she told a charity gala organized by the People's Postcode Lottery in Edinburgh.

The Clooneys, who married in 2014, said they were both committed to using their fame to raise awareness about human rights abuses and corruption.

Amal Clooney, 41, said her job was less glamorous than it might seem as it mainly involved piling through vast amounts of paperwork but their fame could be used to their advantage.

"It helps when we want to engage governments to act or business leaders," said the British-Lebanese lawyer.

Her actor husband also played down the glamour of fame, joking about being the father of one-year-old twins, but acknowledged that he had always been determined to use the public spotlight to do good.

"I didn't grow up wealthy," he said. "If you end up getting lucky, you should share that luck."

The Clooneys were in Scotland to collect an award from the People's Postcode Lottery for their humanitarian work.

Britain's People's Postcode Lottery is one of several charity lotteries set up in Europe since 1989 by the Netherlands-based social enterprise Novamedia.

The lottery awards cash prizes and also donates about 32 percent of sales to charity, which has totaled more than 400 million pounds ($530 million) since 2005.

The organization has given money to some of George Clooney's other charities and has also made a grant to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters.

($1 = 0.7602 pounds)

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Clooneys donate $500,000 to student gun reform march

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - Hollywood star George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal on Monday pledged $500,000 to help fund a student march on Washington, giving a huge boost to what is considered an unprecedented youth mobilization against gun violence.

The "March for Our Lives" is scheduled to take place on March 24, with sister rallies planned across the country demanding that US Congress come up with effective legislation to address the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

It comes after a 19-year-old armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida last week, and is being organized by surviving students.

The teenagers, who have grown up with mass shootings at US schools, have vowed to make the tragedy a turning point in America's deadlocked debate on gun control.

"Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School," Clooney said in a statement.

"Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country," he added.

"In the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we're donating $500,000 to help pay for this groundbreaking event. Our children's lives depend on it."

'OVERWHELMED'

The pledge from the Clooneys, one of the biggest A-list couples on the planet, who announced the birth of their twins in London last June, comes after other celebrities have called for greater gun controls since the Florida shooting.

"We want to express extreme gratitude for the amazing donation that George Clooney and his family have made," tweeted the Never Again account representing survivors of the Florida shooting.

"We are overwhelmed with the support, and we can't wait to march."

US Congress is deadlocked on the gun debate, accomplishing nothing even after last October's killing of 58 people by a gunman in Las Vegas who had amassed 47 firearms to commit the worst mass shooting in recent US history.

The White House says President Donald Trump is supportive of efforts to improve background checks for gun purchases, but many want far more deep-seated reforms.

The students organizing the March 24 rally say they are fed up "waiting for someone else" to take action to stop the US epidemic of mass school shootings, and are demanding a "comprehensive and effective bill" in Congress to address gun violence.

"Politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns," their mission statement said. "Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear." 

"Change is coming. And it starts now, inspired by and led by the kids who are our hope for the future. Their young voices will be heard."

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Amal and George Clooney welcome boy and girl twins

LOS ANGELES - Amal Clooney on Tuesday gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, the first children for the international human rights lawyer and her movie star spouse.

"This morning Amal and George welcomed Ella and Alexander Clooney into their lives. Ella, Alexander and Amal are all healthy, happy and doing fine," George Clooney's publicist Stan Rosenfield said in an email.

He added cheekily, "George is sedated and should recover in a few days."

Amal Clooney, 39, and the 56-year-old Oscar-winning star of films like "Ocean's Eleven" and "Three Kings" married in Italy in 2014, making them one of the world's biggest celebrity couples.

Rosenfield did not say where the twins were born but the couple appear to have been spending much of their time recently in England, where they have one of several homes.

The couple adopted a low profile during the pregnancy, keeping the news private for months before it was confirmed in February by the actor's close friend, Matt Damon.

Amal Clooney largely continued her work as a human rights lawyer, addressing the United Nations in March and urging the international community to investigate crimes committed by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Nevertheless, celebrity news media speculated for months about the sex of the twins, where they would be born and in which country they will be raised.

On Tuesday, social media lit up with congratulatory messages and "Ella and Alexander" was among the top trending topics on Twitter in the United States.

Many contributors praised the choice of names as a refreshingly normal departure from a trend that has seen celebrity babies given names like Apple, Audio, Bronx, North West and Rocket.

"Good lord, the Clooneys have given their twins lovely ordinary names. Shocking. And they call themselves celebrities...," wrote British journalist Nicola Jane Swinney on Twitter.

Comedian Ellen DeGeneres posted a Twitter message saying, "Congratulations, George and Amal, or as I’m now calling you, Ocean’s Four."

Congratulations also came from actress Mia Farrow and U.S. journalist Katie Couric.

People magazine reported on Tuesday that former U.S. President Barack Obama paid a long, private visit with the Clooneys at their home in the countryside west of London on May 27.

George Clooney canceled a visit to Armenia for a humanitarian event this past weekend, saying in a message to organizers that "if I came there and my wife had twins while I was there, I could never come home."

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Additional reporting by Melissa Fares in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)

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Amal Clooney pregnant with twins: family friend

Amal Clooney, the prominent Lebanese-British human rights lawyer and wife of American actor George, is pregnant with twins, a family friend said on Wednesday.

"She's pregnant with twins," the friend said, asking to remain anonymous and without providing any further details about the sexes of the babies or due date.

The 39-year-old rights lawyer and 55-year-old Hollywood star tied the knot in Venice in 2014.

Amal's clients include former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Australian Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

After her wedding, she threw her legal clout and celebrity behind a series of high-profile cases including Britain's possible restitution of the Elgin Marbles to Greece.

She defended Al-Jazeera reporter Mohamed Fahmy after he was jailed in Egypt and was part of the legal team for former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed following his toppling in 2012.

She has also defended the cause of young Yazidi women who were abused by fighters of the Islamic State jihadist group.

Amal was born in Lebanon before her family moved to Britain when she was three years old.

Actor, director and producer George was married to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1993, before his role in hit television series "ER" propelled him to international stardom.

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The ultimate Golden Globes fashion accessory: Amal Clooney

LOS ANGELES - Amid a wave of nominees and stars wearing red and white, all eyes were on the new Mrs. George Clooney as she made her red carpet debut in a striking black Christian Dior gown at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday.

Amal Clooney, who married Clooney in a lavish Italian ceremony last year, offset her one-shouldered flowing gown with her own white opera gloves as she accompanied her husband, who will receive a lifetime achievement award on Sunday.

The human rights lawyer added a "Je Suis Charlie" pin on her purse while Clooney wore one on his lapel, in support of the victims of the attack on French satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" last week.

Since getting engaged, Amal Clooney has earned praise for her high fashion picks, opting for French, Italian and British designers and becoming a staple on best dressed lists. Her gloves on Sunday set off their own viral Twitter trend, #GoldenGloves.

"Amal is the big 'get' in the fashion world right now," said Eric Wilson, fashion news director at InStyle fashion magazine.

"Wearing gloves on a red carpet, as simple as it sounds, is a very dramatic move," he added.

White was the chosen hue for the chilly night.

Nominee Emily Blunt spun a Grecian twist on the classic white dress in a draped Michael Kors gown, while Kate Hudson opted for a flesh-baring Versace fitted dress with cutouts.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus kept a sleek look in one-shouldered Narciso Rodriguez, while Rosamund Pike divided critics with her white Vera Wang dress with cutouts.

Sienna Miller in Miu Miu and a pregnant Keira Knightley in Chanel opted for white with floral prints.

Red, often regarded as a risky choice for stars for fear of blending into the carpet, was featured in all silhouettes, from Helen Mirren in a fitted Dolce and Gabbana embellished gown to "Girls" stars Lena Dunham in a backless satin Zac Posen and Allison Williams in a strapless sequined Armani Prive number.

Viola Davis won praise for her fitted strapless Donna Karan embellished red gown, while Taylor Schilling opted for a deep red Ralph Lauren halterneck gown with a flowing skirt.

But welcome pops of color amid the red and white came from nominees such as Amy Adams, who opted for a periwinkle Versace one-shouldered gown, and Naomi Watts in a yellow Gucci column accessorized with a Bulgari snake necklace.

Maggie Gyllenhaal opted for a dusky pink strapless dress and Anna Kendrick channeled her "Into The Woods" character Cinderella in a blush pink embellished Monique Lhuillier gown.

Last year's red carpet darling Lupita Nyong'o stood out in a purple Giambattista Valli gown covered in ruffled flower motifs, which Wilson said led the trend for texture tonight.

"There's a real movement in 3-D texture in fashion, and it looks like Lupita is wearing fireworks," he said. "She wears bright colors so beautifully, it's quite stunning."

Jessica Chastain led the metallic trend in a bronze Versace plunging number, while Reese Witherspoon went for all out glamour in silver sequined fitted Calvin Klein.

Jennifer Lopez shimmered in a plunging silver Zuhair Murad dress while best actress nominee Julianne Moore wore a gun-metal Givenchy gown.

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Hollywood set for Globes after website 'winner' glitch

LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood is holding its breath ahead of Sunday's Golden Globes, with dark comedy "Birdman" leading the race for awards glory ahead of next month's all-important Oscars.

While an eve-of-show computer glitch appeared to suggest two other films could take the top prizes, "Birdman" is still in strong position, earning a string of accolades and other nominations leading up to the Globes.

Unusually rainy weather looks set to dampen the arrival of A-listers on the red carpet in Beverly Hills for the Globes, second only to the Oscars in terms of Tinseltown awards buzz.

"Birdman," which stars former "Batman" Michael Keaton as a washed-up film actor trying to revive his career on stage, has earned the most nominations with seven.

Coming-of-age drama "Boyhood" and Nazi code-breaking thriller "The Imitation Game" starring Britain's Benedict Cumberbatch are also hotly tipped to take home trophies with five nods apiece.

British actors feature strongly at the Globes: Cumberbatch and his co-star Keira Knightley are among a batch of British nominees in both the film and television categories.

Comic actresses Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will be hosting the show for the third straight year at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the festivities will begin at 5 p.m. (0100 GMT Monday).

Some industry experts have highlighted the lack of a clear frontrunner, in contrast to previous years like in 2012, when "The Artist" had a virtual lock on Best Picture prizes straight through to the Oscars.

"It seems like a real toss-up," Tom Nunan of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television told AFP, adding that actors in this year's race had all turned in "career-best performances."

Did glitch reveal winners?

This year's crop of nominated movies is heavy on true stories: four of the five Globes best drama contenders are based on real-life events. Among the historical figures featured are British geniuses Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing, and Martin Luther King Jr.

In the best musical or comedy category, the widely acclaimed "Birdman" still seems to be the film to beat.

The movie also earned nods for best actor for Keaton, best supporting actor (Edward Norton), best supporting actress (Emma Stone) and best director (Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu).

Its rivals include Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Disney's dark musical fairytale romp "Into the Woods," "Pride" and "St Vincent"

On the drama side, the best film contenders are: "Boyhood," "Foxcatcher," "The Imitation Game," "Selma" and "The Theory of Everything."

Barely 48 hours before the curtain goes up for the 72nd Globes ceremony, a website glitch appeared to suggest that "Selma" and "Into the Woods" could be set for best film honors.

The films were briefly posted on the Globes website as winning the best drama and best musical/comedy film awards, before the captions were taken down, according to industry journal Variety.

A spokesman said the films were chosen "randomly" from nominees' lists as Web technicians fine-tuned the website ahead of the show, and that the captions should not have been live.

Open TV field

On the small screen, "Fargo" took the most nominations with five.

In the television categories, critics see a free-for-all now that the widely acclaimed "Breaking Bad" is no longer on the air or in the running.

Victories for either "House of Cards" for best drama series and "Orange is the New Black" for best comedy would be sweet for online streaming giant Netflix as it battles the traditional broadcast and cable networks.

Unlike the Oscars, which are voted on by some 6,000 industry members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Globes are selected by fewer than 100 journalists from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).

But a Globes win can still provide a huge boost for an Oscars campaign.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Thursday. The Academy Awards will then be held on February 22.

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Tequila and cigars: Clooney's stag party in Venice

VENICE - George Clooney said goodbye to bachelorhood in Venice on Friday with a stag party at his favorite restaurant with a host of Hollywood chums.

The actor had swept into the floating city on Friday with his British fiancée Amal Alamuddin on a watertaxi dubbed "Amore", zipping up the Grand Canal to cheers from fans at the start of nuptials set to draw out over the weekend.

As evening approached and girls across the world sobbed, he set out in black tie for an all-boys do with friends to celebrate one of his last nights as a single man.

After shaking off paparazzi, Clooney headed to Da Ivo near Saint Mark's Square where his security detail was spotted lurking as the star and friends dined on the venue's prized Venetian and Tuscan delicacies.

He was then reported to have headed to the luxurious Cipriani hotel where he was set to sleep, but not before rounding off the evening with some shots and cigars.

The 53-year-old actor had 100 cases of his own tequila label flown in for his wedding and was expected to crack open bottles of the award-winning tipple at the stag party.

Clooney's Lebanon-born bride-to-be was spotted in a long red gown heading off to her own soiree at the fresco-adorned Aman hotel with close friends including Ellen Barkin -- who threw the 36-year-old human rights lawyer a hen party several weeks ago.

Matt Damon, Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber -- tipped to be Clooney's best man -- were just a few of the stars in Venice for the wedding, with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and musician Bono tipped to follow on Saturday.

- 'When I fall in love' -

The couple are expected to be officially married in a civil ceremony on Monday, but will have to work hard not to succumb to a hangover before then with a party for 130 or so guests at a reception on Saturday.

The rich and famous will be escorted by police boats to the exclusive seven-star Aman resort within the 450-year-old Palazzo Papadopoli to keep over-excited Clooney admirers and hundreds of photographers at a distance.

They'll be met with lashings of fizz and canapes in the garden, an oasis sheltered from the bustle of the canal, before sitting down in the main library to a sumptuous five-course dinner, according to a source close to the hotel.

The Aman's restaurant will be turned into a nightclub where they'll dance the night away, with Lana Del Rey reportedly preparing to serenade the couple and Clooney dedicating the song "When I fall in Love" to Alamuddin.

A string orchestra and jazz trio are also expected to perform a number of songs, including the uber-romantic "Smoke gets in your eyes", a ballad made famous by The Platters in 1958.

Rome's former mayor Walter Veltroni, a long-term friend of Clooney's, will be performing the civil ceremony, which is likely to be held in the town hall, the stunning Ca' Farsetti 14th century palace opposite the Aman hotel.

Alamuddin moved to Britain as a three-year-old and her rights work has involved representing Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Clooney was married once before, to "Mad Men" actress Talia Balsam, but the pair split in 1993, just before his breakout role in "ER" propelled him to the status of global sex symbol.

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'Gravity,' 'Her' share top prize from L.A. film critics

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named "Gravity" and "Her" as the year's best films on Sunday and chose Bruce Dern, Cate Blanchett and French actress Adele Exarchopoulos for top acting honors in the latest of a series of early awards leading up to Hollywood's biggest prize, the Oscars.

In making their choices, the critics declared ties in three top categories, including best picture, best actress and best supporting actor.

The Los Angeles critics also named Alfonso Cuaron best director for "Gravity," the outer space-set box office hit which also won the awards for best cinematography and best editing.

Earlier this week the New York Film Critics Circle chose "American Hustle," about 1970s con artists forced to work with the FBI, as the year's best film and gave its best actress award to Blanchett, while the National Board of Review named Spike Jonze's "Her" as 2013's best film.

"Her," a quirky love story about a withdrawn Los Angeles writer played by Joaquin Phoenix, and his computer operating system, will be released in selected U.S. theaters later this month.

Best screenplay went to "Before Midnight," written by director Richard Linklater and his two stars, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.

Dern won best actor for his turn as an ornery old man convinced he has won a fortune in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska."

In one of two acting ties, Exarchopoulos, star of the lesbian love story "Blue is the Warmest Color" and Blanchett, who won raves for Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine," were both named best actress.

"Blue is the Warmest Color" also won the prize for best foreign language film. The French film also won the Cannes Film Festival's top award, the Palme d'Or.

The other acting tie was for best supporting actor, with Jared Leto as a transsexual fighting HIV in "Dallas Buyers Club" and James Franco as a gangster drug dealer in the comic drama "Spring Breakers" sharing the prize.

Lupita Nyong'o was named best supporting actress for "12 Years a Slave."

"Stories We Tell," a Canadian film about myth, memory and family storytellers, won best documentary, and "Ernest & Celestine" took the prize for best animated film.

Best score was won by "Inside Llewyn Davis," while the critics picked "Her" for best production design.

Earlier on Sunday both the Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online both gave their best picture prize to "12 Years a Slave," another Oscar contender and winner of the Toronto International Film Festival's top prize.

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Review: 'Gravity' an incredible lost-in-space adventure

"Gravity" tells of the unenviable situation experienced by medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and her astronaut mission commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) when an accidental disaster caused by a shower of satellite debris destroys their space station, leaving them floating in deep space.

Director Alfonso Cuaron has created a masterpiece that knows when to move for excitement and when to stop for meditation. We enjoy the breathtaking ride through the dangerous outer frontiers. We also get to look inwards to the essence of our own minuscule humanity in stark contrast to the vastness of the universe. We will feel agoraphobia and claustrophobia at the same time, while Stone and Kowalski struggle to keep themselves alive.

"Gravity" is not much of a story to be told by mere words, but a story that needs to be experienced best via the medium of film, and all its modern abilities.

This film employs the best of cinematographic technique (by Emmanuel Lubezki), editing efficiency (by Cuaron himself and Mark Sanger), top-of-the-line 3D visual and eerie sound effects to re-create the harshness of outer space. The musical score by Stephen Price can be both soaring and quiet as the scene called for it. I truly see ALL the technical Oscars going to this fantastic team that created the most convincing atmosphere for this film to come to life.

There may be some scientific principles amiss as some incredible coincidences arise to move the story forward. However, we care so much for our two characters that these minor details done in the name of artistic license can be overlooked with no big deal. The film successfully makes us feel emotionally connected with them. We really feel we are out there with them, and we want to escape this scary and hopeless situation with them. Just allow yourself to be immersed in this unique milieu.

Bullock comes up with a precious performance of a lonely person desperately confronting the biggest fears of her life in the bleakest of situations ever. Her range of emotions ran the gamut from fearful despair to hopeful determination. She is front, center and everything this movie is about. She did not lose her sense of humor when we also needed it. This has got to be a Best Actress performance of the highest merit.

Supporting Bullock is Clooney as that believable voice of calm and reassurance we all need. With him there, Ryan felt she can overcome any adversity she faced. His wit and charm carried Ryan through her ordeal, and this was palpable enough to carry the whole audience along the ride with her.

"Gravity" might as well be declared the Best Picture of this award season already. As of now, it can already be considered a lock for the big prize because of its audacity of scope, its technical excellence, its memorable performances, and above all, its images full of artistry and symbolism.

This film needs to be seen on the big screen for the best effect. Watching this in 3D (and most likely, IMAX) will actually further enhance your viewing experience. 10/10.

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

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