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DISNEY

Norway-inspired Disney breaks box office record

Frozen, a new Disney film heavily inspired by Norway, has set a new box office record for a debut on the US's Thanksgiving weekend, taking $66.7m between Friday and Sunday last week.

Published: 2 December 2013 14:05 CET
Norway-inspired Disney breaks box office record
The stunning Norwegian landscape in Disney's Frozen - The Walt Disney Company
The film, which retells the story of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, is set in a world of icy fjords,  Norwegian stave churches, traditional costumes, the Northern Lights, gløgg, and even lutefisk. 
 
Disney sent some of its cartoonists to Norway for two weeks to soak in the local sights as they dreamt up the visual world of the film.  

“We have a partnership with Disney,” says Per-Arne Tuftin at Innovation Norway told NRK. “In all their press materials they say they are inspired by Norway and they are spending millions of dollars to promote the movie.” 

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NORTHERN LEAGUE

Northern League leader lashes out over frozen bank accounts

The leader of the far-right Northern League has accused magistrates of trying to derail the party ahead of general elections after a Genoa court froze several of its bank accounts.

Published: 15 September 2017 15:38 CEST
Northern League leader lashes out over frozen bank accounts
Northern League leader Matteo Salvini. Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP

The court froze the accounts after a request by prosecutors in connection to the July conviction of Umberto Bossi, the party’s founder, and two others for fraud.

Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said the court was trying to stop the party’s advance as it enjoys a “historic high” in popularity in the run-up to general elections, which are due before May 2018.

A recent poll suggested that the party, which mostly campaigns on an anti-immigrant platform, would win 15 percent of the vote if an election was held now.

“They are trying to get rid of us from newspapers, from TV, from radio and from parliament,” he was quoted by La Repubblica as saying.

“But they won’t succeed. In a democracy it’s the citizens who decide who wins and who loses.”

Bossi was handed a jail term of two years and three months for using thousands of euros in public money to fund an extravagant lifestyle. His son, Renzo, was also convicted in the case and given a one and a half year sentence.

Francesco Belsito, the party’s ex-treasurer, received the longest sentence of three years.

Prosecutors alleged that Bossi had used more than €200,000 in funds provided by the state to political parties to pay personal expenses between 2009 and 2011.

Belsito was found to have embezzled nearly half a million euros, while Renzo Bossi more than €140,000, including several thousands to pay traffic tickets and €77,000 to buy a diploma in Albania.

Bossi, once a key ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, was forced out of his party in 2012 after the allegations emerged. Salvini has led the party since then.