George Clooney in feud with writers union

LOS ANGELES — Actor George Clooney has quietly withdrawn from the Writers Guild of America after the union rejected his request for a writing credit on his new film “Leatherheads,” Daily Variety reported in its Friday edition.

Clooney opted to become a “financial core status” nonmember last fall, which means that he is still covered by the basic contract, the trade paper said.

But he loses his voting rights, and cannot run for office or attend membership meetings, according to the WGA’s constitution. He must continue to pay his dues, but gets a break on “non-germane” WGA activities, such as political and lobbying efforts. His decision is also irrevocable.

Clooney, 46, directed, produced and stars in “Leatherheads,” a screwball period football comedy that opens across North America on Friday. Despite mixed reviews, it is expected to be the top draw at the weekend box office.

Sri Lanka sets date for elections in war-torn east

COLOMBO, April 3 (Reuters) – Residents in Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged east will vote in provincial council elections for the first time in two decades next month, election officials in the island nation said on Thursday.

The elections, part of the government’s blueprint for devolution in minority Tamil areas that it hopes will go hand-in-hand with its push to win a 25-year civil war, come after the army drove Tamil Tiger rebels out of the area last year.

Snowmobiler found alive after five-day search

A man lost in the Manitoba wilderness for five days credits survival skills he learned from a television show for helping him come out of the harrowing experience alive.

Christopher Traverse, 24, survived for days in the Interlake bush — battling a snowstorm and freezing temperatures without food, water, or matches.

He went missing last Friday after becoming separated from family members travelling by snowmobile from Anderson Lake south to Gypsumville, about 250 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Quebec, Nova Scotia join phone and drive ban

TORONTO — Driving and talking on a handheld cellphone no longer mix in Quebec and Nova Scotia, and Manitoba is considering a similar ban amid compelling evidence that distracted motorists are a danger on the road.

But just as Quebec and Nova Scotia join a growing number of jurisdictions that require drivers to use a headset or speaker system when talking on cellphones, critics say the move might not go far enough. Research studies suggest that the risk does not stem solely from whether one or both hands are on the steering wheel. Rather, conversation is what distracts drivers.

Telephones are by their nature distracting and are impossible to use without impairing driving ability, said Raynald Marchand, general manager of programs at the Canada Safety Council.

Tom Thomson’s death under the microscope

Toronto — Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist, Michael Pollanen, yesterday added potential new fuel to the fire of conspiracy theories surrounding the July, 1917, death of Canadian artist Tom Thomson.

In a submission to the educational website http://www.canadianmysteries.ca, Pollanen said a coroner’s opinion that Thomson probably died of an accidental drowning was unjustified. Accidental drowning was the official conclusion reached by the doctor who examined Thomson’s body after it was pulled from Algonquin Park’s Canoe Lake eight days after he disappeared.

Producers to help draft guidelines, minister says

OTTAWA — The Canadian Heritage Minister says she would wait a full year to wield new powers to deny film and television producers tax credits if their works do not jibe with taxpayer sensibilities – should those powers be granted to her.

And during that time, Josée Verner told the Senate banking committee yesterday, she would allow members of the entertainment industry to draft guidelines to establish what would not qualify for the credits, and how those guidelines should be applied.

Film producers and actors alike say they fear a provision tucked away in an omnibus tax bill before the Senate committee will be used to cut off tax benefits for productions that contain graphic sex and violence or other content the government finds offensive.

Seinfeld unhurt after his vintage car flips

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. — Jerry Seinfeld was in a harrowing rollover wreck but was unhurt after the brakes on one of his vintage cars failed, police and the comedian’s wife said.

Seinfeld was driving alone on Skimhampton Road when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat BTM stopped working Saturday evening, East Hampton Town Police Chief Todd Sarris told the New York Post. Seinfeld tried the emergency brake, to no avail, and then swerved to keep the car from careering into the road’s intersection with the busy Montauk Highway, Chief Sarris said.

The two-door sedan flipped over and came to a stop just yards from the highway, Chief Sarris said, adding that the comic’s manoeuvre “probably avoided a very serious accident.”

Shatner On How Hip Surgery Has Effected His Riding

Shatner On How Hip Surgery Has Effected His Riding