28 2GM Monday June 29 2020 | the times
Wo r l d
Villagers put out pride
flags after police ban
Spain Hundreds of people in
Villanueva de Algaidas, a village
of 4,000 near Malaga in southern
Spain, hung rainbow flags from
windows and balconies in support
of gay pride after police ordered
the mayor to take down one hung
by the council. The Spanish
supreme court ruled recently that
only official flags of Spain, its
regions or the EU can be flown
from council buildings. (Reuters)Slave trade island to
ditch ‘Europe’ name
Senegal Gorée, an island used in
the African slave trade between
the 15th and 19th centuries, is to
rename one of its main squares in
response to violence against black
people, including the killing of
George Floyd. Europe Square will
be called Liberty and Human
Dignity Square, its mayor said.
Gorée, just offshore from Dakar,
is listed as a “symbol of human
exploitation” by Unesco. (AFP)Pakistan shoots down
India drone in Kashmir
Pakistan The military said it shot
down an Indian spy drone over
the Hot Springs village on the
Kashmir border. It is the ninth
downing of an Indian drone this
year in the disputed region that is
claimed by both countries and
administered by Pakistan. Two
weeks ago, 20 Indian soldiers
died in clashes with China along
a different disputed border in the
Himalayas. (AP)Dozens of arrests at
Hong Kong protest
Hong Kong Police arrested 53
people after scuffles during a
relatively peaceful protest against
planned national security laws to
be implemented by China.
Fighting broke out in Mong Kok,
prompting police to use pepper
spray. The proposed law has
raised concerns Beijing is further
eroding the autonomy promised
when Britain returned Hong
Kong to China in 1997. (Reuters)Iceland gives president
big vote of confidence
Iceland Gudni Johannesson, the
Icelandic president, has won a
landslide election, early results
show. Since big bank failures in
2008, the island of 365,000
people has recovered some
economic and political stability,
which has helped the 52-year-old
former history professor. The
independent was indicated to
have won 90 per cent of the votes
for the largely symbolic role.Civilians among 100
mine victims, says UN
Libya Landmines have killed or
wounded more than 100 people,
including many civilians, south of
Tripoli, the UN said. The toll was
for casualties since early June, it
said after a meeting in Rome
between Stephanie Williams, the
interim UN envoy to Libya, and
Fayez al-Sarraj, the Government
of National Accord head. Victims
included mine disposal experts.
This month the Tripoli-based
GNA, recognised by the UN,
regained full control of the capital
and its suburbs after more than a
year fighting off an offensive by
Khalifa Haftar, a Gaddafi-era
warlord. Marshal Haftar’s forces
have been accused of laying
mines in residential areas. (AFP)Ben Hoyle
hope that some vestige of normality
will have been restored.
Twelve months ago the Father’s Day
weekend box office was topped by Men
in Black: International which made an
estimated $30 million, putting it just
ahead of The Secret Life of Pets 2 at
$28 million. Those returns were regard-
ed as anaemic after the previous year,
when Incredibles 2 made more than
$180 million at 4,410 locations in its
opening weekend.
In contrast this year Jurassic Park
took $517,600 at 230 sites and Jaws
made $516,300 at 187 locations, accord-
ing to data compiled by the Hollywood
news site Deadline. Drive-in cinemas
accounted for 160 of the top grossingThe listing introduces the house in
Queens, New York, as an
“Investor and builder op-
portunity” before de-
scribing its advanta-
ges: great location,
four bedrooms, two
bathrooms and a
basement.
There is, however,
one additional piece
of estate agent’s detail
to pay close attention to
for anyone considering the
$828,888 asking price: the “home is not
in liveable condition”. That verdict is
confirmed by accompanying pictures
ALAA BADARNEH/EPAHigher authority Members of the 800-strong Samaritan community pray on top of Mount Gerizim in the West Bank yesterday to mark Shavuot, commemorating the
handing of the Torah to the Jewish people. The Samaritans are a distinct religion based on the Old Testament. They have communities in the West Bank and in Israel
A 60-year-old Paralympian has died
while attempting her life’s ambition: to
row solo from Los Angeles to Hawaii.
Angela Madsen, an American who
won a bronze medal in shot put at the
Games, would have become the first
paraplegic and oldest woman to com-
plete the feat.
“We are processing this devastating
loss,” Debra Madsen, her wife, and Sor-
aya Simi, a film-maker who was docu-
menting her journey, said. “She told us
time and again that if she died trying,
that is how she wanted to go.”
In April, Madsen, the holder of six
Guinness World Records, set out to row
12 out of every 24 hours for up to fourParalympian dies aged 60
rowing solo across Pacific
months across the Pacific. She carried
all of her food and desalinated seawater
to drink. She had rowed 1,114 nautical
miles in 60 days when she died, about
halfway to Honolulu.
In her last satellite contact, she said
she needed to repair an anchor. She fail-
ed to re-establish contact and the US
coastguard found her body in the water
last week, tethered to her boat.
Madsen was paralysed from the waist
down in her twenties when surgery for
a back injury went wrong. She de-
scribed in her memoir, Rowing Against
the Wind, how she found fulfilment in
sport. “Whatever my purpose is in this
life, my differently-abled... body seems
to be the vehicle required for me to
achieve it,” she wrote.Charlie MitchellWhen the weekend box office gross
takings from cinemas in the United
States and Canada are tallied this
morning some familiar films are likely
to be on top of the rankings.
Last week Steven Spielberg’s dino-
saur adventure Jurassic Park was at No 1
for the fourth time, 27 years after its
initial release when it spent the last
three weekends of June 1993 as the
most popular film in North America on
the way to becoming what was, at the
time, the highest grossing film.
To claim the top spot this month it
narrowly held off another Spielberg
thriller from even earlier: Jaws, which
introduced the modern summer block-
buster format in 1975.
Jeff Goldblum starred in the original
Jurassic Park as the mathematician Ian
Malcolm, and is playing the role for the
fourth time in Jurassic World: Domin-
ion, due for release next year.
Jurassic Park and Jaws are
summer’s monster hits again
He told The Times yesterday: “It’s
lovely that folks still seem to be
enchanted with the amazing work of
Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton
[who wrote the novel the film was based
on], and many others. I’m so grateful for
my participation and to all the fans. My
hopes are high for Jurassic World: Do-
minion and for a world that works for
everyone.”
However, the prominence of Jurassic
Park, Jaws and other nostalgic choices
including Back to the Future, E.T. and
The Goonies in last weekend’s top ten
was not evidence of an unprecedented
rise in enthusiasm for vintage family
entertainment.
Rather it reflected the circumstances
of the film business during the corona-
virus pandemic and the efforts of cine-
ma owners to use cheaply available
catalogue titles to coax audiences back
into their auditoriums. They have little
choice: the big Hollywood studios have
postponed all their big summer releases
to later in the year or next year in the201 cinemas in North America last
weekend. They have been a peripheral
part of the industry for decades but are
now witnessing a resurgence because
they are seen as a safe alternative to
indoor cinemas in the coronavirus era.
At the start of the year June was ex-
pected to be dominated by three of the
biggest releases of the year.
Wonder Woman 1984 — which
reunites the actress Gal Gadot and the
director Patty Jenkins who made Wo n -
der Woman the first big hit driven by a
female superhero and the highest
grossing summer film of 2017 — has
been delayed to October. Soul, Pixar’s
latest animation, is now due in Novem-
ber. Top Gun: Maverick, marking Tom
Cruise’s return to the role that made
him arguably Hollywood’s biggest star,
has been delayed to December.
Others include Tenet, a science
fiction thriller directed by Christopher
Nolan which is expected to come out on
August 12, making it the earliest new
big-budget release on the schedules.United States
Ben Hoyle Los Angeles
New York house of horrors
up for sale (it’s dirt cheap)
that have been called “the scariest list-
ing photos ever”.
From a distance, the property at 50-
18 196th Street looks almost respecta-
ble and is available at considerably
below the average asking price
for a home in one of New
York’s best state school dis-
tricts.
Inside, dead vines have in-
vaded a kitchen covered in a
mystery filth that The New
York Post compared to “a
nightmare chamber from a
horror movie”. There are holes or
burn marks in the doors, floors, walls
and ceilings.
Records say the owners, DCG Realty
LLC, bought it for $675,000 in 2005.op-
e-ail
n to
ing the
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and ceilingsJeff Goldblum is
appearing in his
fourth Jurassic
Park due next year