Wedding guests evacuated as dad kicked out of comedy club sets fire to hotel

The school week could be cut to four days in West Dunbartonshire, under shock proposals to help the local authority close its £14m budget gap.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief As the Berlin Film Festival and its accompanying European Film Market get under way at near normal levels for the first time since 2020, some things that seem new and different may not be. The ticketing system for festival and EFM badge holders has moved online and represents a new and frustrating institution for many participants this year – but it was in fact introduced in 2022, when the festival operated at a COVID-impacted smaller scale and the official market was held entirely online.

Ed Meza @edmezavar The Berlin Brandenburg Airport announced Thursday the cancellation of flights on Friday to and from Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart due to planned strikes at other German airports. Planned strikes on Friday have been announced at airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Hanover, Dortmund and Bremen. The move has the potential to impede industry travel to the Berlin Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday, as Munich and Frankfurt are the country’s main airline hubs, and serve thousands of transit passengers per day. The Berlin airport is advising passengers to check with their airlines. German news service Deutsche Welle reported that a number of airports, including Düsseldorf, Nüremberg, Erfurt-Weimar and Dortmund, suffered website disruptions due to a suspected hacker attack.

St Mirren Academy talent Dylan Reid has completed his impressive switch to English Premier League side Crystal Palace.

A barber who fired a staff member who regularly phoned in sick on Mondays for four years has been ordered to pay her £3,000. Christian Donnelly, 39, fired Celine Thorley, 25, from Acute Barbers after she developed a 'pattern' of not turning up for work after weekends.

Love Island contestant Tom is the bookies' favourite to pick Scots bombshell Lydia over Samie in tonight's recoupling.

Ed Meza @edmezavar International exhibitors gathered at Berlin’s majestic Kino International on the eve of the Berlin Film Festival on Wednesday to discuss challenges and innovative concepts that are pulling audiences back into theaters. Opening the Berlinale edition of Cinema Vision 2030 conference, Christian Bräuer, chairman of Germany’s AG Kino – Gilde e.V. cinema association, which organized the event, said the country’s cinemas were “still suffering from the effects of the pandemic and we still find ourselves in a world in crisis, we feel the consequences of the war, such as the massive increase in energy prices.” He therefore welcomed the opportunity to hear about new ideas and business models that could bolster the sector.

Paul Buccieri In the summer of 2019 I was training hard for a half Ironman in Lake Placid, N.Y. I felt like I was ingreat shape. The last week before a big race is a time when you’re supposed to start pacing yourself and give your body more rest. But I didn’t. I pushed myself. On a weekend day in mid-August, I was riding mybike down a road I had traveled many times before. The last thing I remember is that time seemed toslow down, and then everything went dark. Later, I was told a good Samaritan stopped and found menear where I went down. There are so many “as luck would have it” moments that day. As luck would have it, a kind motorist was willing to help someone they didn’t know. A hospital was nearby, and it just happened to be having a slow day; this also allowed me to meet a doctor who, as luck would have it, referred me to another specialist without delay. I quickly learned I had a heart problem — acute coronary syndrome with 70% blocked arteries. I had to have two stents placed. I was shocked. I have always been athletic, and training has been my solace. But more than that, it was my most creative space. Now I had to not just slow down but stop. And I would have to adjust to living with cardiovascular disease. I was lucky to be alive, but it was hard to imagine what life might look like now. It was a dark period.

Tara Weingarten So you’ve been nominated for a BAFTA Award or simply received an invitation to attend the posh Feb. 19 gala — well then, hats off to you. While in London, you’ll want to celebrate your good fortune with a proper spot of Da Hong Pao, a flute of festive bubbles and a fancy cress sandwich. Or maybe you didn’t snag a nomination or even an invite. But you’re in London! Well then, you’ll want to drown your sorrows in a proper spot of Da Hong Pao, a flute of festive bubbles and a fancy cress sandwich. See? Either way, you win. Put on your best Stella or Vivienne Westwood — for guys, make it Tom Ford — grab a Chanel bag from your closet and take a seat at one of these legendary tea emporiums to do some serious people-watching.

Ed Meza @edmezavar After a long break from feature films, director Uwe Boll is back and ready to roll with his latest project, a crime drama about two mismatched New York City cops on their first day as partners. “First Shift” stars Kristen Renton (“Sons of Anarchy”) and Gino Anthony Pesi (“Shades of Blue”) as the badge-carrying duo, she a transplant from Atlanta new to the Big Apple, he a jaded Brooklyn cop who prefers to work alone but forced to take on the new partner. Set to start shooting in New York City next month, “First Shift” has moved ahead of two other projects Boll has in the works, a South Africa-set thriller and a feature about Prohibition-era federal agent Eliot Ness — famously played by Kevin Costner and Robert Stack in the 1987 film and the 1959 series “The Untouchables” — during the latter part of his career.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The David Oyelowo-led “Bass Reeves” series at Paramount+ from Taylor Sheridan has cast Barry Pepper in a series regular role, Variety has learned exclusively. Along with Oyelowo, Pepper joins a cast that also includes Dennis Quaid, Forrest Goodluck, and Lauren E. Banks. The series is based on the true story of the titular lawman. Per the official description, “Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Nick Lieberman, a writer and director on the breakout Sundance comedy “Theater Camp,” has signed with Range Media Partners for representation. Sold out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival to Searchlight for $8 million and guaranteed a theatrical release, the feature earned an ensemble prize from the U.S. Dramatic jury. Equal parts scathing satire and heartwarming camp adventure for child performers, “Theater Camp” stars Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Gavlin, Patti Harrison, Jimmy Tatro and Ayo Edebiri. Lieberman and Gordon directed from a script by Lieberman, Platt, Galvin and Gordon. Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum produced via Gloria Sanchez Productions along with Erik Feig’s Picturestart. The film will screen at the forthcoming South by Southwest film festival before hitting theaters later this year.

Scots shops have been urged to stop selling single-use vapes amid growing concern over the environmental havoc they cause.

Charlie Amter The surviving members of New York trio Ivy are taking a look back this year at one of their most beloved albums, “Apartment Life,” which is celebrating a 25th anniversary. The group was one of two ’90s-era indie acts to feature the late Emmy- and Grammy-winning musician Adam Schlesinger, who in addition to being a key member of both Ivy and Fountains of Wayne wrote music for the 1996 Tom Hanks vehicle “That Thing You Do!” and “Crazy Ex Girlfriend,” among others. On March 3, Bar/None Records will drop a reissue of the set, with two previously unreleased tracks, and Variety can exclusively reveal that the band will also release a Record Store Day exclusive of the demo versions of “Apartment Life” (in the same sequence as the final studio record) on Saturday, April 22; the “Apartment Life” demos will also be available on streaming services from July 21 onwards. We share one of the demo version songs (“I’ve Got A Feeling”) below, and talk with the surviving members of Ivy, Andy Chase and Dominique Durand, about the record, how they got their masters back, and the song from the album that Schlesinger — who passed away in 2020 from coronavirus complications — said was his favorite.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Susan Wojcicki is stepping down as CEO of YouTube after nine years — and nearly 25 years at Google, which she joined as one of its first employees back when it was in start-up mode. Wojcicki announced her departure in a memo to YouTube staff Thursday. Neal Mohan, currently chief product officer at YouTube, will replace her as SVP and new head of YouTube. “I’ve decided to step back from my role as the head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she wrote. Wojcicki will continue to be involved with YouTube and parent company Alphabet. The exec wrote that she agreed with Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, to take on an advisory role at the internet giant. “This will allow me to call on my different experiences over the years to offer counsel and guidance across Google and the portfolio of Alphabet companies,” she wrote.

Kendall Jenner is clapping back against the most recent Photoshop fail accusations levied against her online. And she’s using longtime pal Hailey Baldwin Bieber to run interference for her!

Royal Mail workers have voted overwhelmingly to continue with a campaign of industrial action in the ongoing bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has admitted that he has requested for centre-back Steve Cook to be re-registered to his 25-man squad ahead of the visit of Manchester City this weekend.

The next generation of gaming is almost here, as Sony is gearing up to release its newest virtual reality headset. The PlayStation VR 2 will drop later this month, allowing gamers to fully immerse themselves in a host of new adventures.