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☆ Marisa Abela took singing lessons every day for four months to sound like Amy Winehouse in 'Back to Black'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Olivia Singh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewMarisa Abela embodies late music icon Amy Winehouse in the new biopic "Back to Black," and yes, the actor really sings in the film. Here's how Abela transformed her voice for "Back to Black" — and why the film controversially uses her vocals instead of Winehouse's. Abela wasn't a trained musician prior to 'Back to Black'Actor Marisa Abela and director Sam Taylor-Johnson on the set of "Back to Black." According to the "Back to Black" production notes, Abela took two-and-a-half-hour singing lessons every day for four months. AdvertisementThe decision to use Abela's vocals instead of dubbing in Winehouse's wasn't made lightlyMarisa Abela as Amy Winehouse in "Back to Black."

Persons: —, Marisa Abela, Amy Winehouse, Sam Taylor, Winehouse, Abela, Abela wasn't, Johnson, Dean Rogers, Frank, Taylor, Jamie Matthewman, Anne, Marie Speed, Sarah Green, Giles Martin, Ben Parker, Stephen Colbert, Martin, Winehouse's wasn't, Abela's, that's, Speed Organizations: Service, Business, Hollywood

☆ Ethiopian military pushes back militiamen in two Amhara towns
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A partial view of the Lalibela town in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri//File PhotoADDIS ABABA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's military has pushed local militiamen out of two towns in the Amhara region, residents said on Wednesday, in its first big battlefield breakthroughs since fighting erupted last week. A local official in Gondar said the military was "almost in full control of the city". Another Gondar resident said he had seen the military enter the city centre on Tuesday afternoon. Two Lalibela residents told Reuters that ENDF troops entered the town on Wednesday morning following intense fighting on Lalibela's outskirts the previous day.

Persons: Amhara's, Africa's, Spokespeople, Fano, ENDF, Bahir Dar, Aaron Ross, William Maclean, Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan Organizations: REUTERS, Tiksa, Ethiopian National Defence Force, Ethiopian Airlines, Bahir, Reuters, Fano, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Amhara Region, Ethiopia, ADDIS ABABA, Amhara, Gondar, Lalibela, Fano, Tigray, Lalibela's, Bahir

☆ Brazilian citizen scientists see humpbacks return decades after mass killings
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Leonardo Benassatto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Like other citizen scientists, as they are known, Cardoso uses the photographs to collect information on the numbers of the marine mammals, helping researchers and scientists track the surging numbers of humpbacks in the area. "These animals survived whaling with a very, very small population remaining... something between 300 to 500 animals," Palazzo, of the Humpback Whale Institute in the state of Bahia, said. Palazzo says the surge of whales in Ilha Bela is great news for marine conservation, not only in Brazil, but worldwide. "It shows that if we can do effective protection for marine species, most of them will recover," he said. Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto; Additional reporting and writing by Steven Grattan; Editing by Sharon SingletonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Julio Cardoso, Cardoso, we've, Jose Truda Palazzo, Palazzo, Ilha Bela, Leonardo Benassatto, Steven Grattan, Sharon Singleton Organizations: ILHA, Whale Institute, Thomson Locations: ILHA BELA, Brazil, Bela's, Bahia, Antarctica, Patagonia, Australia, Ilha

☆ Retail crime is a 'spiraling problem' in Kansas, the state's AG says, as rising drug use leads to a surge in shoplifting in Wichita
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Organized retail crime is rising in Wichita, Kansas, according to a report by CNN. "To see this much retail crime, it's shocking," Captain Casey Slaughter, who leads Wichita Police Department's property crimes bureau, told CNN. Organized retail crime at retailers was 26.5% higher in 2021 than in the previous year, according to a study by the National Retail Federation. Target said organized retail crime has led to more than $400 million in profit losses in 2022. Local crime officials say that drugs, and in particular fentanyl, a synthetic drug like heroin but 50 times more potent, appear to be driving a lot of the retail crime.

Persons: —, Kris Kobach, Captain Casey Slaughter, Slaughter, Joe Sullivan, Sullivan, Cabela's, Robert Lee, Lee Organizations: CNN, Service, Kansas, Wichita Police, National Retail Federation, Target Locations: Wichita , Kansas, San Francisco, Wichita, Sedgwick, Sedgwick County

☆ Malta parliament debates 'abortion law,' protesters hit the streets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We are here to be the voice of the unborn child," said 19-year-old university student Maria Formosa, one of the speakers at the rally. “Through abortion, life is always lost.”Traditionally Catholic Malta is the only member of the European Union which bans abortion in all circumstances, even when a woman's life or health is endangered by her pregnancy. Her doctors said her life was at risk and she was eventually transferred to Spain where she had an abortion. She later sued the Malta government, calling on the courts to declare that banning abortion in all circumstances breaches human rights. Reporting by Christopher Scicluna; Editing by Alvise Armellini and David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Reuters GraphicsMelissa Benhaim, a 32-year old publicist in Miami, started her holiday shopping slightly later than usual this year. A Saturday shopping day between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year gives shoppers extra time to hold out for better bargains. Holiday shopping is expected to slow broadly. Reuters GraphicsBut toy prices, even with discounts, are up about 2.4%, DataWeave found. Shoppers are paying $16.99 for the toy this year at Kohl's, after discounts, compared to $11.54 last year, according to DataWeave.

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