Sony Pictures is expanding its Spider-Man universe with a new spin-off on Madame Web.
According to Collider, screenwriters Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are penning the script for the film.
The duo are also behind "Morbius", Jared Leto's Spider-Man spinoff about a living vampire.
Madame Web is a clairvoyant mutant who excels in predicting the future specifically of Spider-themed superheroes, having mentored not only Peter Parker's web-slinger, but also multiple generations of heroes calling themselves Spider-Woman
The character was introduced in 1980's "The Amazing Spider-Man No. 210" comics.
Apart from Morbius, which releases on July 31, 2020, Sony is working on "Venom 2", featuring Tom Hardy and multiple "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" projects.
News of "Madame Web" spin-off comes weeks after Sony's high-profile split with Marvel Studios over the use of Spider-Man in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films.

'Spider-Man' spin-off 'Madame Web' in works at Sony

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It's hard to regard Ellie as a menace.
When Greg Manteufel is frustrated or feeling down, she sits by him. At night, she sleeps under his covers. At dinner, she's there next to him, knowing he'll throw something her way. She belies the stereotype of the vicious pit bull.
"We love her like she's our daughter," he said of the dog.
And yet, Ellie may be the reason Manteufel nearly died.
Gravely ill, he lost parts of his arms and legs, as well as the skin of his nose and part of his upper lip. The cause was capnocytophaga (cap-noh-seye-TOE'-fah-gah), a germ from Ellie's mouth or from another dog he encountered.
Capnocytophaga is commonly found in the saliva of cats and dogs and almost never leads to people getting sick, unless the person has a compromised immune system. But Manteufel was perfectly healthy. In fact, he doesn't think he'd ever used his health insurance before he fell ill.
The case is extremely rare and doctors at his hospital, Froedtert & the Medical College of ...

Researchers find genetic link in rare reaction to pet germ

The British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which had been held off the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas for more than two months, set sail Friday, the provincial maritime organisation said.
The ship's seizure was widely seen as a tit-for-tat move after authorities in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar detained an Iranian tanker on suspicion it was shipping oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.
Tehran repeatedly denied the cases were related but a Gibraltar court last month ordered the Iranian tanker's release despite an 11th-hour US legal bid to keep it in detention.
"The Stena Impero started sailing from the mooring towards the Persian Gulf's international waters as of 9:00 am (local time) today," Hormozgan province's maritime organisation said on its website.
"Despite the vessel's clearance, its legal case is still open in Iran's courts," the organisation added.
The Swedish-owned tanker's captain and crew have "given a written, official statement that they have no claims." .

British-flagged tanker sets sail after Iran release

Turkey's tourism minister said Friday he was unconcerned by the collapse of British tour operator Thomas Cook as he unveiled ambitious plans to make the country one of the world's top holiday destinations.
"Nobody should be concerned by this," said Mehmet Ersoy, speaking at a conference in Istanbul to outline Turkey's tourism strategy.
"By 2020, we will see an increase in the number of visitors to Thomas Cook destinations." He said Turkey was holding talks with EasyJet, British Airways and others in the coming days to finalise plans for more flights into areas affected by the Thomas Cook collapse, particularly the resort of Dalaman.
Thomas Cook, which declared bankruptcy last weekend, leaving hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers stranded around Europe, represented around three percent of Turkey's tourist intake.
Turkish tourism has recently recovered from a sudden 25-per cent decline in 2016 caused by a spate of terrorist attacks and political unrest.
At the heart of the new ...

Turkey shrugs off Thomas Cook collapse amid booming investment

Kartik Sharma carded a super four-under 68 to make amends for opening day's 77 to lead four Indians into the weekend rounds of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships golf tournament here on Friday.
Left-handed Sharma, who will play for the International Team at the Junior President's Cup in December, had five birdies against one late bogey and was placed tied 29th.
Rayhan Thomas, runner-up last year, struggled once again even after a fine start with two birdies in first three holes.
He finished with a second straight 73 and was tied 33rd at two-over 146.
Also making the cut were Harshjeet Singh Sethie (76-76) and Girraj Khadka (81-72). But GN Basvaraju (81-77) and Vinay Yadav (79-84) missed the cut.
The lead stayed with Australian Blake Windred, who overcame a rough round with a birdie-birdie finish on eighth and ninth. He was under par and stayed in lead at 10-under.
He was trailed by Korea's Jun Min Lee (68-67) and Ren Yonezawa (68-67) at nine-under.
On Thursday , Sharma had started 

Sharma, Thomas among four Indians to make cut at Asia-Pacific golf

Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap progressed to the men's singles semi-finals of the Korea Open World Tour Super 500 with a straight-game win over former world no 2 Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen here on Friday.
In a clinical display, the 33-year-old from Hyderabad, who is the lone Indian left in fray, outsmarted Jorgensen 24-22 21-8 in 37 minutes to make it to his second semifinal of the season. He had reached the last four at the India Open Super 500 tournament.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist will now face world no 1 and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan on Saturday.
A former World No 6, Kashyap, who was promoted from the qualifying round, had last played Jorgensen five years ago at the Denmark Open.
The Indian entered the match with a 2-4 record against Jorgensen, a 2015 World Championship bronze medallist.
In the first game, the duo engaged in short rallies initially and spilt the first 8 points. A couple of backhand error and Kashyap was lagging 5-8.
Another ...

Badminton: Kashyap seals Korea Open semi-finals spot

Researchers have produced some of the first evidence for the famed naturalist Charles Darwin's hypothesis that domestication and natural selection -- the process by which organisms better adapted to their surroundings survive and create more offspring -- work in the same ways.
The research, conducted by an international team, including those from Northwestern University in the US, found that natural selection acts on the same genes that control the sense of smell in wild roundworms as also found previously in domesticated worms in the lab.
The study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, was carried out using a combination of laboratory experiments, computational genomic analysis, and field work.
The researchers showed that natural selection acted on signal-sensing receptors rather than parts further down the genetic process.
The study was performed on the model organism C.elegans -- a one-millimetre-long roundworm typically found in gardens and compost piles, feeding 

Study in roundworms provides evidence for Darwin's hypothesis

An Indian national here was sentenced to four months of jail on Friday for molesting an air hostess on a flight from Kochi to Singapore in 2017, according to a media report.
Vijayan Mathan Gopal, a quality assurance engineer, was found guilty after a trial in which he was charged with three counts of outraging the modesty of the 22-year-old victim while on a Scoot flight on November 2, 2017, Channel News Asia reported.
The victim had testified during the trial that she had gone to Gopal to tell him firmly not to press the call light button for assistance again, after he did so repeatedly.
He stroked her face and said "you are so beautiful", before cupping her face with his hands, the report said.
This made her feel "angry, uncomfortable and very disgusted", but she could not push him away as he was a passenger, and instead leaned back and raised her voice, saying: "Sir, sir, sir."
He replied: "Do not throw your anger at me", and "I'm the boss of this flight".
The victim tried to stand 

Indian man jailed in Singapore for molesting air hostess on flight in 2017: report

More than half of Europe's endemic tree species, including the horse-chestnut, risk extinction, conservationists warned Friday, blaming invasive species, unsustainable logging and urban development for their decline.
In an update to the tree section of its "Red List" of threatened species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said that out of the 454 tree species native to Europe, 42 per cent could disappear from the continent.
And a full 58 percent of the tree species endemic to Europe, meaning that they only exist on the continent, were now considered threatened with extinction.
Even more worrying, the update found that 15 percent of them, or 66 species, were considered "critically endangered", or just a step away from going extinct.
The report comes amid a growing sense of urgency to address global environmental degradation, with fires raging in the Amazon and following UN warnings in May that climate change, habitat loss and other factors are pushing one ...

Over half of Europe's endemic trees risk extinction: Experts

French people lined up at the presidential palace to pay their respects to former head of state Jacques Chirac on Friday, a giant of politics for three decades whose death sparked tributes to a complex but hugely charismatic leader.
Chirac, president from 1995 to 2007, died on Thursday aged 86 after a long period of ill health, with President Emmanuel Macron in an address to the nation praising "a man whom we loved as much as he loved us".
Even opponents hailed his charm and qualities as a political fighter, as well as how he stood up to Washington in 2003 by opposing the Iraq war.
But others also questioned how much he had actually achieved during a long period in office, with his career also shadowed by a graft conviction over his stint as Paris mayor.
Ahead of a public ceremony on Sunday, the French presidency threw open the doors of the Elysee Palace for anyone wanting to sign a book of condolence for Chirac.
Hundreds queued on Thursday evening with a long line stretching down the 

French queue at Elysee Palace to pay tribute to Chirac

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Friday there was no cause for concern over protests against his rule that are planned for later in the day.
"There are no reasons for concern. Egypt is a strong country thanks to Egyptians," he told reporters with a smile, shortly after his return from the UN General Assembly in New York.
Rare protests against Sisi's rule erupted last week in Cairo and other major cities, prompting a crackdown that has seen nearly 2,000 arrests, according to Human Rights Watch.

Egypt's Sisi says protests 'no reason for concern'

India along with other members of the IBSA bloc has reaffirmed its commitment to promote reforms in all international organisations, including the UN, World Trade Organisation and G20 to achieve more "inclusive, and responsive" international governance architecture.
In a meeting of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo and South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor held on Thursday on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly here, they stressed that right to development and equality of opportunities are critical means to achieve such goals, the IBSA said in a joint statement.
"Our countries continue to engage together as positive forces for change. The multilateral system needs to be reformed, so as to ensure that it works effectively for all states and peoples," the statement said.
The countries also expressed their commitment to promoting the reform of the multilateral system through ...

India, Brazil, South Africa call for reforms at international fora, including UN, G20 and WTO

Defending champion Rahil Gangjee moved into sole lead at the Panasonic Open Golf Championship with a flawless eight-under 63 while Ajeetesh Sandhu climbed to tied sixth here on Friday.
Sandhu holed an ace and then parred the next six before snatching a final birdie on way to 66.
Viraj Madappa (74-68) at tied 58th also made the cut, while Shiv Kapur (72-71) was one shot off the projected line at even par with some players yet to finish.
Khalin Joshi (71-73) and S Chikkarangappa (71-75) missed the cut.
As Gangjee went through the day with eight birdies, Sandhu had two birdies against a bogey on front nine and added another birdie on 10th. Then came the ace on 211-yard Par-3 11th hole.
Gangjee zoomed to the top with a 63 that took him to a nine-under total and a one-shot lead at the halfway stage at the Higashi Hirono Golf Club.
Japan's local hero Ryo Ishikawa shot a course record-tying 62 to move into second place alongside countryman Shugo Imahira (69), Korea's Sanghee Lee (67) and Lu .

Gangjee takes lead in Japan, Sandhu gets hole-in-one

Hong Kong's beleaguered leader Carrie Lam faced her public with humility, but she may not get the response she hoped for.
In a face-off with an antagonistic audience, Lam quietly took blow after blow as citizens at a town hall session Thursday vented anger at her refusal to give more concessions to finally end more than three months of anti-government protests that have rocked the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
After the dialogue ended, Lam stayed holed up in the building for another four hours to avoid confrontation with angry protesters outside.
But analysts say Lam's hope of using the community engagement to buy some goodwill that will diffuse tensions ahead of rallies planned this weekend in the lead-up to October 1 celebrations of China's National Day is unlikely to succeed.

Hong Kong leader's town hall fails to persuade protesters

A senior adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has dismissed concerns about tensions arising from Parliamentary debates over Brexit, telling supporters that it isn't surprising that people are upset about the country's failure to leave the European Union.
The prime minister has been accused of whipping up division with his charged language about Brexit opponents in the House of Commons this week.
But Dominic Cummings told backers at a book launch that the only way to calm tensions is for lawmakers to respect the results of the 2016 referendum.
He says the current chaos is "a walk in the park" compared with the 2016 referendum campaign in which the country narrowly voted to leave the EU.
Three years later, Britain and its politicians remain bitterly divided over how, or whether, to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Adviser to Johnson dismisses concerns about Brexit tensions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reaffirmed India's support for giving priority to diplomacy, dialogue and confidence- building for maintaining peace and security in the Persian Gulf amidst tensions in the region, as he held in-depth talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Modi met Rouhani on the sidelines of the high-level 74th Session of the General Assembly on Thursday amidst fresh tensions between Iran and the United States.
"Delighted to meet President @HassanRouhani. We had in-depth discussions on the full range of India-Iran ties, and regional & global matters," the prime minister tweeted.
The two leaders discussed bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest.
According to an official press release, the prime minister reiterated India's support for giving priority to diplomacy, dialogue and confidence building in the interest of maintaining peace, security and stability in the Gulf region, which is of vital importance ...

PM Modi reaffirms India's support to diplomacy, dialogue for maintaining peace in Persian Gulf

Many in China might rather forget the chaotic and bloody decades under the rule of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic.
But 70 years after he declared the founding of Communist China, his face and figure are on memorabilia sold in shops and stalls across the country.
The instantly recognisable face of the "Great Helmsman" has had something of a kitsch makeover and can be found on posters, fans, ornaments, mugs and plates across the capital.
The image of choice is usually Chairman Mao in his later years, portly with a receding hairline, looking sombre in a traditional "Mao suit".
Occasionally he beams out from the infamous "sun" picture which places the Communist leader at the centre with rays of light blazing out from behind him.
Stallholders at Beijing's Panjiayuan antique market in Beijing tout goods with Mao next to iconic images of China, including his "little red book" and Shanghai women in traditional qipao dresses from the 1920s.
Current President Xi Jinping can ...

Retro is in as Mao kitsch skips off shelves

Russia on Friday said it detained more than 260 North Korean fishermen off its Far Eastern coast for poaching.
The mass arrests came after Russia detained more than 160 North Korean fishermen in the Sea of Japan last week.
The FSB security service said that it stopped "three schooners and five motorboats with 262 North Koreans onboard", Russian news agencies reported.
The fishermen did not resist arrest and were brought to the Far Eastern port of Nakhodka, it said.
Around 30,000 squid were seized along with illegal fishing equipment from the North Koreans, the security service added.
Last week, the FSB said three Russian coastguards were injured in a clash with a North Korean fishing boat, which it accused of carrying out an "armed attack."
Coastal patrols, planes and special forces were used to detain two schooners and 11 motorboats that carried 161 North Koreans.
They were also brought to Nakhodka and the FSB later said that one of the North Koreans injured in the clash died from ...

Russia detains over 260 North Korean fishermen

The French public will be invited to pay homage to late former president Jacques Chirac at an open ceremony at the Invalides monument in Paris on Sunday afternoon, his family told AFP.
The former leader, who died Thursday at the age of 86, is set to be buried on Monday in a private ceremony at the cemetery of Montparnasse in southern Paris alongside his daughter Laurence, who died in 2016, Chirac's son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux said Friday.

France to hold public ceremony for Chirac in Paris on Sunday: Family

Beijing on Friday rejected an AFP report that Chinese hackers were suspected of being behind a series of cyber attacks on European aerospace giant Airbus.
"In recent years, there have been many reports about cyber attacks in the media. In these reports, without any evidence, the parties concerned always pin the label of cyber attack on China and smear China," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.

China rejects 'smear' after Airbus hacking report

The remains of Zimbabwe's ex-president Robert Mugabe who died early this month, have been moved from his Harare house to his rural village ahead of burial expected this weekend, his family said Friday.
After weeks of wrangling between government and his family over the final resting place for the country's founding leader, the Mugabes have opted to entomb him at his birth place and rural home, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of the capital Harare.
The body was moved by road on Thursday evening under police and military vehicles escort, according to a video clip shared on Twitter.
It was the second time it made its way back to Kutama village in Zvimba district where Mugabe was born 95 years ago.
When the body was first taken home last week for the public to pay their last respects, it was airlifted by a military helicopter.
"The body arrived (at the village) around 1900 hours, yesterday," family spokesman and Mugabe's nephew Leo Mugabe told AFP on Friday.
Justice Minister Ziyambi ..

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