Ïîïóëÿðíûå ñîîáùåíèÿ

понедельник

MANSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Amtrak has canceled some service to and from Boston after a train struck a vehicle on the tracks.

The temporary track closure is affecting service at South Station, Back Bay Station and Route 128 Station on Monday morning.

Late Sunday, an Amtrak train heading from Washington, D.C., to Boston hit a vehicle in Mansfield, about 20 miles southwest of Boston. None of the 180 passengers or crew was injured. The condition of the people in the truck wasn't immediately clear.

Amtrak says it will take several hours "to remove the damaged rail equipment and to make any needed repairs to railroad property."

Delays were expected on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Providence and Stoughton line.

HONG KONG (AP) — The robots aren't the only part of the latest "Transformers" film that changed. Led by star Mark Wahlberg, a whole new cast was brought in to give a fresh start to the blockbuster franchise.

"Transformers: Age of Extinction" stars Wahlberg as a mechanic who strikes up a friendship with good-guy robot Optimus Prime.

Wahlberg said the idea of joining the franchise came while he and Bay were working on last year's film, "Pain and Gains."

"I've never done a sequel to any of the movies that I've done and this is my first installment in the series. So, still not really a sequel for me. Just thought it was fun to do something different and I really wanted to work with Michael."

The first three films were anchored by Shia LaBeouf, and Wahlberg has previously said he felt pressure about stepping into the shoes of other actors. Still he jumped at the opportunity, and while he's signed to do future installments, "I'm not doing it if Michael doesn't do it. So we'll see what happens."

At the film's worldwide premiere in Hong Kong on Thursday, Bay praised the 43-year-old Wahlberg as a leading man with maturity and gravitas.

As a father of four, Wahlberg saw his scenes with on-screen daughter Nicola Peltz as a sign of things to come and says he's fiercely protective of his own two daughters. "I'm not excited about that part of it," he admitted of their becoming teenagers.

The 19-year-old Peltz said she took Wahlberg's advice to come to the film set extra prepared.

"He told me, 'Before you go to set, know your script, know your lines, know everything about the script.' Because you'll go to set, sometimes Michael will pick a scene not supposed to be filmed in a month. He'll be like, 'Let's just shoot it today' So it's really good to be extra prepared on a Michael Bay film."

Another new addition, Kelsey Grammer, said he didn't mind playing a villain since he got the chance to work with Bay. "It's like throwing a lot of things up in the air @ one time, and somehow he pulls them back down, and sticks them in his movie. He's got so many ideas all the time. His mind is so quick and rich, and creative. It's kind of like a wild ride just to work with him."

Hong Kong and China plays an important backdrop in the latest installment, another indication of China's growing importance to Hollywood. The franchise's third film, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," earned $1.1 billion at the global box office, with $165 million from China, its second biggest market after North America.

But it hasn't been smooth. A Beijing property developer wants the film to be edited and for Chinese screenings to be suspended because it says the film's production partners failed to fulfill sponsorship obligations. The Beijing Pangu Investment Co. Ltd. owns the dragon-shaped Pangu Plaza featured in the film.

Production in Hong Kong also was briefly disturbed by two extortion attempts on the set last year. In one case, a man reportedly tried to throw an air conditioning over Bay's head. One assailant was later sentenced to 30 months in prison.

At a news conference Friday, Bay said he thought the sentence was harsh. "I personally wouldn't want them to be punished. He was on drugs and he probably didn't know what he was doing."

He also said that after the incident, people came up to him and apologized to him on behalf of Hong Kong.

Supporting actor Jack Reynor said despite the incident, the cast and crew had a great time on set. "Our experiences of Hong Kong were all very positive ones."

BRUSSELS (AP) — Several European foreign ministers on Monday threatened further sanctions if Russia fails to cooperate with Ukraine's proposed peace plan and doesn't stop the flow of arms and militants across its border into eastern Ukraine.

Russia is "conducting a propaganda war with full speed ahead and no signs of them closing the border," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

Armed militants and even tanks continue to cross the border into eastern Ukraine, he asserted. "If the Russians say they don't know how to close borders, I don't think that's a particularly credible statement," Bildt added.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the European Union will be able to agree further sanctions against Russia at a summit of the bloc's 28 leaders Friday, if necessary. "Those measures are ready to take," he said.

"We look to Russia to take actual action to stop the flow of arms over the border into eastern Ukraine, to encourage illegal armed groups to stop what they are doing there now," Hague said.

The EU meeting in Luxembourg Tuesday is also being attended by Ukraine's new Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin, who was set to brief his colleagues on the peace plan proposed by President Petro Poroshenko. It includes a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine and suggests a decentralization of power to give regions more political authority, and measures to protect the language rights of Russian speakers in the east.

"We now look to Russia to support the peace plan," Hague insisted.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius also called on Russia to stop the flow of militants and heavy weapons to avoid tougher sanctions.

The EU has so far ordered visa bans and asset freezes for a list of officials but has refrained from imposing broader economic sanctions. EU leaders will review the situation Friday.

___

Follow Juergen Baetz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jbaetz

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is encouraging more employers to adopt family-friendly policies by hosting a daylong summit Monday, even though the U.S. government doesn't always set the best example.

The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn't mandate paid leave for mothers of newborns, although Obama says he'd like to see that change.

"Only three countries in the world report that they don't offer paid maternity leave — three — and the United States is one of them," Obama said in his weekly address. "It's time to change that. A few states have acted on their own to give workers paid family leave, but this should be available to everyone, because all Americans should be able to afford to care for a family member in need."

California, Rhode Island and New Jersey have a system of paid leave, but it's unclear how Obama would fund a national system. Obama has not endorsed legislation that would create one funded by a payroll tax, and he pledged in his 2008 presidential campaign not to raise taxes on families making under $250,000 a year.

Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett said in a conference call with reporters Sunday that the president is trying to start a national conversation to explore the issue.

"Cost is an issue for any federal program and we need to make sure we do this in a way where we are not raising taxes on middle-class families," she said. "But we also know what a good investment in our workforce it would be if they had paid leave, and that investment will pay great returns."

While some companies offer paid family leave to attract workers, the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act only requires that employers provide unpaid leave for medical and family reasons.

When Obama came to the White House, he instituted six weeks of paid leave for his workers when they have a child, get sick or injured or need to care for an ailing family member, using his authority to set his staff's compensation under the personnel code. He does not have the power to award paid leave to other federal workers without congressional action since they are covered under a different section of law. The White House has supported the goal of legislation introduced by lawmakers to change that, but it has yet to get through Congress.

Despite the paid leave for White House staff, the challenges of balancing parenting and working are even evident there. The president's top aides include several dads of minor children but hardly any mothers with school-age kids — National Security Adviser Susan Rice being one prominent exception.

"It is a very challenging and demanding environment" for parents, Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said at a media availability hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. "And I think part of what we have to achieve here is to make it easier — that doesn't mean it's going to be easy — it's just going to be easier. And I think that's what the private sector acknowledges."

The summit being held at Washington's Omni Hotel will highlight businesses with family-friendly benefits to hold up as best practices — Obama says child care and flexible work schedules also are vital benefits. Executives representing Gap Inc., PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Johnson and Johnson, Goldman Sachs, Shake Shack, Cisco Systems and Intel Corp. are participating in panel discussions at the summit.

It also comes in a midterm election year focused on women voters, and the White House was devoting all its star power to the event. Obama planned to speak midday and have a meeting with business leaders. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, planned to open the event, first lady Michelle Obama will deliver a closing speech and several other administration officials are participating on panels.

Obama planned to issue a presidential memorandum Monday directing federal agencies to expand flexible work arrangements when possible. Obama also planned to urge Congress to pass legislation requiring employers to accommodate pregnant employees so they can continue to perform their jobs. He also is ordering the Labor Department to create an interactive map that shows the rights of pregnant workers in each state.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler at http://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Blog Archive