News Brief for May 2017

May 2017 News

May's Headlines saw Donald Trump's problems grow with the Russian scandal and an overseas trip. Manchester, England was devastated by a terrorist attack on a concert where young girls were killed. In Business Bitcoin surged to a new high and the G7 summit saw world leaders get their first taste of Trump. On the sporting front the French Open took center stage along with the world of motor racing. The world of entertainment saw the Cannes Film Festival shine a light on stars of the big screen while the music world lost Chris Cornell. Lastly the WannaCry cyber attack made technology headlines with hundreds of business affected by the quick moving ransomware.

The Big Stories of May 2016

May saw the refugee crisis continue as thousands fled war torn countries along with more natural disasters striking from landslides to wild fires and earthquakes.

Headlines

Natural disasters claimed hundreds of lives around the world with landslides in Sri Lanka and wild fires in Canada and a deadly earthquake in Ecuador. Elsewhere the refugee crisis made headlines with boats capsizing during the perilous trip to Europe. Another aviation disaster struck with a plane from Egypt to Paris disappearing and parts of it's wreckage and victims found in the Mediterranean Sea.

Business

The world of business was quiet with the Panama Papers and it's consequences to the world's wealthy slowly engulfing more victims. The build up to the G7 meeting revealed priorities with countries adding to the agenda.

Sports

The sports world prepared with anticipation for the Olympics taking concerns into account over fears of the Zika virus while Brazil itself struggled with corruption charges in government before the Olympics.

Entertainment

Celebrities were kept busy with the Cannes Film Festival as they made their way on the publicity tour selling their wares in France while on the other side of the world at the Billboard Music Awards artists paid their respects with tributes to fallen artist Prince.

Technology

On the technology front we saw Google announce it's latest offerings at the I/O 2016 event which saw them playing catch up with other tech companies. In the cyber world criminals made off with millions in a massive ATM attack while the hacker responsible for hacking celebrity accounts and distributing nude photos pleaded guilty in court.

Style

The style world enjoyed themselves at the annual Met Gala in New York where celebrities were dressed in the best designer offerings for the red carpet. Later the fashionable crowd headed for the warm weather in the South of France for the Cannes Film Festival which saw the beautiful people of showbiz mingle with gorgeous models on the famous red carpet at Cannes.

Red Carpets Saturated with Celebrities

The entertainment world was filled with buzz as the Cannes Film Festival continued to delight and the Billboard Music Awards kept celebrities on their toes.

Events & Awards

We begin this week with the Cannes Film Festival and the red carpet where we saw the lovely Emma Stone in Oscar de la Renta and Charlize Theron in leather at the Mad Max: Fury Road screening along with a bevy of other beauties all groomed especially for the spotlight. The beautiful Natalie Portman had tongues wagging in a sheer dress along with Cate Blanchett in one of Giles Deacon's designs. But even with so many glamorous celebrities there has been some controversy of the fashion kind after some women were told they couldn't wear flat shoes on the red carpet annoying many. Onto the movies themselves, Woody Allen found success with his "Irrational Man" while Natalie Portman made her directorial debut with "A Tale of Love and Darkness" and though most films were well received Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey was booed at the screening of his film "Sea of Trees". Elsewhere in France the 22nd amfAR Cinema Against Aids Gala held in France presenting another opportunity to dazzle on the red carpet as most did.

Over in the States the Billboard Music Awards were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas with performances by Simple Minds and Estelle along with Meghan Trainor and John Legend performing a duet. On the awards front winners included Sam Smith for top new artist saying thanks via cue cards and Taylor Swift who was the biggest winner of the night also releasing her highly anticipated new music video for bad blood.

Farewells, Sad and Soon to Be

This week also saw the end of an era when the Late Show with David Letterman came to an end with much fanfare and with many celebrity appearances from a celebrity filled top 10 list to Bill Murray covered in cake and more. TV land lost another great in the form of the Mad Men finale which also aired this week and closed on the famous ad jingle "I'd like to buy the world a coke".

Finally we end this week with careers in jeopardy as controversy surrounded George Stephanopoulos with his $105 million contract and Bill Cosby met his match with model Janice Dickinson suing him for defamation.

Celebrity Awards & Revelations

Awards and celebrity revelations start this weeks Entertainment breakdown. From the musically talented to magical movie moments, Hollywood's been busy this week.

Hitting all the Notes

We start this week with the Billboard Music Awards which featured everyone from Ricky Martin had everyone moving to "Vida" and Katy Perry performing "Birthday" to One Republic rocking to "Counting Stars". There was even a performance by a Hologram of Michael Jackson. The awards were given out with Justin Timberlake taking multiple awards and Jennifer Lopez receiving the Icon Award.

Outside of award ceremonies Paul McCartney had to cancel his tour of Japan due to illness. Paul is expected to make a full recovery and back on his feet in days. Macklemore battled Anti-Semitism rumours after he dressed in a "Jewish" stereotype costume while Sum 41 singer Deryck Whibley was hospitalized after years of alcohol abuse took it's toll on his liver and kidneys. Lastly Tony Braxton believes God gave her son Autism because she had an abortion years ago.

The Beautiful People

Sometimes things work out beautifully like when Will Ferrell and his double, Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer, Chad Smith battled in a "Drum-off" on the The Tonight Show. We even had Brad Pitt and Matthew McConaughey acting very neighbourly while in New Orleans with Brad tossing a beer to Matthew from his balcony. And finally because some celebrities aren't full of themselves an Australian journalist managed to create a short video of various celebrities wishing his bride to be luck for the wedding.

But sometimes it's not all fun and games. After last weeks video footage of Solange attacking Jay Z in an elevator, Beyonce and her sister Solange made up with a smiling photo on Instagram, however, there was no love lost when Charlie Sheen had a mini melt down going on a rampage when Rhianna declined to meet Charlie and his fiancee.

Child Protective Services have started an investigation on Will Smith's 13-year-old daughter, Willow, after a photo of her and 20-year-old man lying in bed together appeared online. In a shocking revelation Pamela Anderson has revealed that she was molested at age 6 and raped at 12.

Big Screen News

Along with the usual screenings and parties at the Cannes Film Festival America Ferrera had an unfortunate incident when a prankster crawled under her dress and had to be pulled out by security.

Thanks to a massive opening weekend of $93 million the sequel to Godzilla has been given the green light. Director of The Hunger Games has confirmed that the movie will go on without Seymour Hoffman while a spin-off of Harry Potter will be directed by Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron.

And finally an Omen sequel is in the works with former The Walking Dead showrunner but won't have anything to do with the original sequel from 1978.