Movie-going declines in some Eurozone countries

                                   Sir Ridley Scott's Prometheus is currently top at the UK box office

Cinema attendances are falling in some of the hardest-hit Eurozone countries, according to industry journal Variety.

Having declined by 10% in 2011, Italy's box office returns were down 12% between January and June this year to $372 million (£237.5m).

Spain tells a similar story. Its takings are also 12% down so far this year, having dropped by 2.7% in 2011.

"Two years of decline is not healthy," said David Hancock, senior film analyst at IHS Screen Digest.

"In fact, it does not happen very often in European or even worldwide box offices."

Other countries to suffer a double dip include Portugal, which dropped by 11% in the first half of this year following a 3% fall in 2011.

Ireland is down by approximately 7% this year, following consecutive declines in 2010 and 2011.

Yet according to media analyst Rentrak it is not all bad news. Europe's top film markets - the UK, France and Germany - are said to be holding up well.

There are hopes too that summer blockbusters like Sir Ridley Scott's Prometheus - currently top at the UK box office - will boost takings.

Analysts attribute falls in cinema attendance to rising unemployment in the under-25s.

Syria in civil war, says UN official Herve Ladsous

source by bbc:Syria is now in a state of civil war and the government has lost control of "large chunks" of cities, the UN's head of peacekeeping has told reporters.

It is the first time a UN official has formally voiced that view.
His comments came as UN monitors in Syria were fired on as they tried to reach the besieged town of Haffa.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia of supplying attack helicopters to the Syrian government.
She said the move would "escalate the conflict quite dramatically".
Russia maintains its arms shipments to Syria are unrelated to the conflict there.

Russia: We won't back a foreign force in Syria

             A Syrian man carries a wounded girl after an explosion targeted a military bus on June 8, 2012


source by (CNN) -- After days of international shuttling on what to do with the troubling situation in Syria, Russia's foreign minister said Saturday his country will never agree to foreign intervention.

Despite warnings of Syria spiraling into a civil war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a televised briefing in Moscow there was no alternative other than implementing Special Envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, despite its failures.

"The situation looks more and more grim," Lavrov said. "For the first time since the beginning of this crisis we see the question of foreign intervention. And our position remains unchanged. We will never agree to sanction the use of force in the U.N. Security Council."