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Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' to premiere at Cannes

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Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' to premiere at Cannes

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly half a century after Francis Ford Coppola won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, he will return to the French Riviera festival to premiere his self-financed epic “Megalopolis.”

The premiere was confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday by a person close to the project who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to make the announcement. Hollywood trade Deadline first reported that “Megalopolis” will screen in competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 17.

‘THE GODFATHER’ DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA SAYS HE IS ‘DONE’ WITH THE FILM FRANCHISE

The French film festival didn’t immediately respond to messages Tuesday. Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux is set to announce the competition lineup Thursday in Paris. Fremaux last week told Variety that he hoped to program “Megalopolis” at this year’s festival.

Francis Ford Coppola arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Nearly half a century after Francis Ford Coppola won the Cannes Film Festivals Palme d’Or, he will return to the French Riviera festival on May 17, 2024, to premiere his self-financed epic “Megalopolis”.  (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

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“‘Megalopolis’ is a project that he wanted to achieve for so long and he did it independently, in his own way, as an artist,” Fremaux said. “He built the legend of the Cannes Film Festival and it would be an honor to welcome him back, as a filmmaker who comes to present his new film.”

That “Megalopolis” is to screen in competition means the 85-year-old Coppola will be eligible for Cannes’ Palme d’Or 45 years after he won it for “Apocalypse Now.” Coppola split the Palme that year with Volker Schlöndorff’s “Die Blechtrommel,” but he won Cannes’ top prize outright 50 years ago, for “The Conversation.”

In recent weeks, Coppola has screened “Megalopolis” for friends and family and begun shopping it to distributors. The project, which he first began conceiving in the early 1980s, cost a reported $120 million to make. Coppola put up his money with the help of his wine empire to realize a passion project about the rebuilding of a metropolis. It stars Adam Driver and Giancarlo Esposito, and includes a starry cast of Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter and Dustin Hoffman.

The Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off May 14, has previously announced premieres for George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and Kevin Costner’s “Horizon, an American Saga.” Earlier Tuesday, the festival said George Lucas will receive an honorary Palme d’Or.

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is deepening a push into enterprise software, signaling to investors at Google’s annual ​cloud conference that AI agents — human-like digital assistants — are a lynchpin of its strategy to monetize artificial intelligence.
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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Some landlords in England are apparently advertising “Muslim-only” apartments online, according to a local media report.

An investigation by The Telegraph found that alleged listings posted in London on Facebook, Gumtree and Telegram feature phrases such as “only for Muslims,” “for 2 Muslim boys or 2 Muslim girls,” and “Muslims preferred.”

Other ads appeal to Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, while some job vacancies on the platforms are advertised for men only.

Some listings specify “Hindu only,” in addition to posts that likely use religious subtext by stating: “The house should be alcohol and smoke-free.”

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IS MAMDANI’S SOCIALIST PUSH FOR RENT CONTROLS ABOUT TO WRECK THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING MARKET?

On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” “one double room is available for Muslims,” and “suitable for Punjabi boy.” A Meta spokesman told Fox News Digital that Facebook then removed the company’s page “for violating the platform’s policies on discriminatory practices.”

Apartment buildings in Westminster, London, U.K. (John Keeble/Getty Images)

The ads run afoul of Britain’s Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, race and other protected characteristics.

“These adverts are disgusting and anti-British. It goes without saying that there would be a national outrage if the tables were turned,” Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s economic spokesman, told The Telegraph. “All forms of racism are unacceptable, and no religious group should get a special exemption to discriminate in this way.”

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Houses and properties line Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London, U.K. Some landlords in the city are illegally advertising for “Muslim only” tenants across the city, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)

One landlord told The Telegraph to “go away” when asked about an ad for a “Muslims only” room for $1,150, and whether it was available to renters of other faiths.

A spokesperson for Gumtree told the newspaper that the company has clear policies in place that prohibit unlawful discrimination.

On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“We take reports of inappropriate listings very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “The ads referenced appear to relate to private rooms within shared homes, where existing occupants may express preferences about who they live with. This is different from renting out an entire property, which is subject to stricter rules under the Equality Act.”

Telegram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

Europe’s critical raw materials crisis has a partial answer sitting in the waste stream — but the continent has been too slow to see it.

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Dorota Włoch, CEO of Eneris Surowce, was direct: recycling is no longer optional.

Unlike plastics, metals can be recovered and reused indefinitely, making urban mining — the recovery of raw materials from existing products and waste — increasingly valuable, particularly for batteries.

“From recycling, we recover metallic aluminium and so-called black mass, which is a concentrate of metals, mainly cobalt-nickel. These are some of the most valuable battery metals. And batteries are crucial today, not only in the automotive sector, but also in storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar,” she said.

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‘Europe is 25 years late’

Włoch put the scale of the problem plainly. “Deposits are critical — any machine can be bought, but natural resources are not. They are non-transferable and non-renewable. If we use them, they simply disappear,” she said.

Europe’s belated recognition of that reality has cost it dearly.

“The regulation of critical raw materials came 25 years after other regions of the world had invested heavily in deposits. Europe was too passive. Today we are catching up, but the regulations are often so demanding that countries like Poland have difficulty implementing them.”

Who benefits most from extraction?

Poland holds significant reserves of raw materials critical to the modern economy, such as copper, coking coal, nickel, platinum group metals, helium, rhenium, lead and silver.

But the minerals needed most for the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, exist only in limited quantities, forcing imports.

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Arkadiusz Kustra, dean of the faculty of civil engineering and resource management at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, told a panel at the European Economic Congress that awareness of the full supply chain, and who profits from it, was now essential.

He pointed to Serbia as a case study.

“Serbia has lithium deposits and is already in talks with Mercedes or Stellantis,” he said. Belgrade is using that leverage to attract investment in battery factories and car plants, keeping more of the value chain at home.

The goal, Kustra argued, should be regional supply chains that retain added value locally.

“You can earn the least at the beginning and the most from the end customer,” he said.

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The bigger obstacle is Chinese dominance.

“Margins in critical raw materials largely go to the Chinese, who control more than 90% of processing and trading, even though they do not own most of the deposits,” he said.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo — among the world’s most resource-rich countries — Chinese entities control around 90% of deposits.

The panel also pointed to growing interest in new supply partnerships, with Poland eyeing assets in the Congo region and the Americas.

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