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To: Wharf Rat who wrote (89456)	11/21/2006 12:25:29 PM
From: SiouxPal	Respond to of 361235

New film deal set to make Borat star Britain's highest paid celebrity By RICHARD SIMPSONLast updated at 14:20pm on 21st November 2006 Sacha Baron Cohen has become Britain's highest paid actor after securing himself a salary in excess of £16 million for his next film. The wage is based on a one-off payment of around £7 million for the rights to his new movie Bruno, plus a hefty 'back-end' deal which will see Baron Cohen pocket 15 per cent of box office takings. The new deal, with Universal Pictures, was thrashed out after Baron Cohen's latest film - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - proved box office gold, taking £60 million worldwide since its launch just two weeks ago. For 35-year-old Baron Cohen to earn his £16 million from the new film Bruno, it will only have to take the same amount over its entire worldwide run over a number of months. Universal successfully outbid DreamWorks, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros who were also said to have been clamouring to make the movie, inspired by the vast amount of publicity Borat received in the US before it even opened. Commenting on the deal, analysts at Forbes - which compiles America's rich list - said: 'Cohen could easily take home north of £16 million, including his advance and backend. 'That puts him in the elite ranks of Hollywood's biggest comedians and a likely candidate for inclusion in the Forbes Celebrity 100.' The wage is many millions more than seasoned British Oscar-winners such as Sean Connery, Antony Hopkins and Michael Caine have ever been paid for a single movie. And it by far eclipses the earning power of the likes of Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe and Pirates of the Caribbean stars Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom who are all tied up in the two most profitable film franchises in recent years. It also puts Baron Cohen in the highest echelons of America's top-earning movie stars. Among America's top comic movie actors, only the likes of Jim Carrey (who earned £13 million for Bruce Almighty), Mike Myers (who earned £13 million plus 21 per cent of gross earnings for Austin Powers in Goldmember) and Eddie Murphy (who earned £11 million and a 20 per cent share of takings for Nutty Professor II) compare. Bruno is Baron Cohen's latest creation. The outrageously camp character, who brands himself 'the voice of Austrian youth TV', first appeared on Borat's Television Programme in the UK and on the US version of Da Ali G Show. On his section, called 'Funkyzeit mit Bruno' (Funkytime with Bruno), he duped fashionistas into making ridiculous and contradictory statements. He duped one fashion designer into condemning the unfashionable to concentration camps and led a casting director into saying that Osama bin Laden was 'cool' and 'fashionable'. He encourages his subjects to contradict themselves, and he once convinced a fashion boutique owner to wrongly claim Madonna was one of her clients after saying nobody could prove it either way. Signing the deal completes a remarkable hat-trick for the British comedian, who lives in north London with fiancee, the actress Isla Fisher. His career took off after he appeared eight years ago on Channel A's Eleven O'Clock Show. Before the Borat film, Baron Cohen made his cinema debut in 2002 with Ali G Indahouse. Top earning British film stars/estimated per annum: 1. Sacha Baron Cohen £16+ million 2. Ewan McGregor £10m 3. Keira Knightley £10m 4. Orlando Bloom £8m 5. Sir Ian McKellen £8m 6. Hugh Grant £8m 7. Ralph Fiennes £7m 8. Catherine Zeta-Jones £6m 9. Daniel Radcliffe £6m 10. Sean Connery £6m 11. Anthony Hopkins £5m 12. Patrick Stewart £5m 13. Jude Law £4m 14. Kate Winslet £4m 15. Liam Neeson £4m 16. Kate Beckinsale £4m 17. Rachel Weisz £3m 18. Daniel Craig £2m 19. Dame Judi Dench £2m 20. Dame Helen Mirren £1.5m

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (89456)	11/21/2006 1:15:10 PM
From: SiouxPal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361235

US: Climate Change Climate Changing by Haider Rizvi There are signs that key U.S. officials are ready to take on global warming, even as much of the world community failed to show its will to deal with the impending threat at a recent global conference. Despite intense calls for new and radical actions, last week delegates at the UN-sponsored meeting in Kenya agreed on many outstanding issues, but not on further cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups widely described the outcome as a failure, but not all were expressing despair. Though equally unhappy with the results, some believe that meaningful global action on climate change is not a distant possibility. Come January, those in the world who are concerned about the slow pace of climate action could see the global response get a boost with the United States becoming a significant part of it, according to an environmental group that is part of the global campaign for a swift response to global warming. "With Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, changes in the federal policy are to be expected," said Gary Cook, director of the Climate Action Network, an umbrella organization representing over 350 environmental organizations worldwide. Cook and his colleagues hope that with environmentally conscious Democratic lawmakers holding key positions in the Senate, the United States will soon be making real progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, as well as moving the global agenda on climate change forward. The 1997 Kyoto treaty requires as many as 35 industrialized countries to cut emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The United States is not obligated to abide by the treaty because the George W. Bush administration does not recognize it. The Bush administration rejected Kyoto in 2001, arguing that it would harm the U.S. economy and that it should have also required reductions by poor but fast growing economies, such as India and China. Bush also repeatedly has said that more research was needed into the science of climate change. The United States is responsible for about 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, although its share in the global population is just 5 percent. Recent statements from Democratic Party leaders regarding appointments of lawmakers in the House and Senate bodies suggest that the analysis by environmentalists such as Cook could prove correct. Last week, for example, three Democratic senators who are likely to head committees dealing with environmental issues wrote to Bush urging him to push for mandatory federal limits on greenhouse gases. "The recent elections have signaled a need to change direction in many areas including global warming," they said in a letter telling the U.S. president that voters want the government to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those who signed the letter included Barbara Boxer of California, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. The three are likely to head the Senate's environment, energy, and homeland security bodies, respectively, when Democrats assume leadership positions in January. Boxer, who has introduced legislation that would mandate an 80-percent cut in U.S. emissions by 2050, has publicly declared that her committee's first hearing will be focused on global warming. Like Boxer, Bingaman is considered a staunch supporter of action on climate change. In fact, he was the only member of Congress to attend last year's UN climate negotiations in Montreal. "We pledge to work to pass an effective system of mandatory limits on greenhouses gases," Boxer and her colleagues told Bush in their letter. "We urge you to work with us...to signal to the world that global warming legislation is on the way." Supporters for action on climate change say that since the November 7 elections new opportunities have arisen for Democratic politicians to take effective actions on the state level, and that in many areas, indications are that they are willing to do so. While the most populous state of California has already embraced a climate action plan, Massachusetts' Democratic governor-elect Duval Patrick has expressed his willingness to align his state with a regional greenhouse gas initiative comprising seven other northeastern U.S. states. Moreover, in recent polls, voters in Washington state joined more than 20 other pro-alternative energy states by approving a ballot initiative requiring 15 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources. In Nairobi, while delegates failed to set a deadline for concluding international negotiations on further cuts in emissions beyond 2012, they did agree to continue their discussions in the future. As the next round of international talks takes place in Bali, Indonesia, in 2008, proponents of strong action against global warming say they hope that by then the United States may be in position to play an effective role in taking the world in a more positive direction. On the domestic front, when the new Congress assumes its responsibility in January, it will have to deal with a number of ambitious bills to support alternative energy production and limit greenhouse gas emissions that were introduced this year. Activists say they want the new Congress to adopt these and other aggressive measures on climate change proposals without any delay. "That is the way the U.S. can begin to make real progress in reducing its emissions," said Cook. Copyright © 2006 OneWorld.net Published on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 by OneWorld.net