Around the world

United States

Sony cancels release of movie

Sony Pictures has canceled the release of The Interview, a comedy on the fictional assassination of the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The movie was scheduled to hit movie theaters on Dec 25, Christmas Day. The cancellation appears to be a victory for hackers who said they were incensed by the film and attacked Sony Corp last month, leaking documents and distributing unreleased films on the Internet.

Belgium

Obesity could be a disability at work

Europe's top court ruled on Thursday that obese people can be considered as disabled, meaning that they can be covered by an EU law barring discrimination at work. The decision followed a question from a Danish court, which was reviewing a complaint of unfair dismissal brought by Karsten Kaltoft, a child-minder, against a Danish local authority. Kaltoft, who never weighed less than 160 kg, argued that his obesity was one of the reasons he lost his job.

Singapore

Largest vessel on maiden voyage

The world's largest container ship, CSCL Globe, held a maiden voyage ceremony in Singapore on Thursday. The ship, which is 400 meters long and 60 meters wide, is the first of the five sister ships built by the Republic of Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries for China Shipping Container Lines. The vessel is bigger than four football fields combined, stands 10 storys high and is capable of carrying 19,100 containers.

United Kingdom

Move to tackle mobile 'not spots'

Britain's mobile phone network operators have agreed to spend 5 billion pounds ($8 billion) improving basic service coverage in rural areas where consumers cannot get a strong signal. The move is in response to a government pledge to tackle the problem. "Too many parts of the UK regularly suffer from poor mobile coverage leaving them unable to make calls or send texts," Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said.

Reuters - Xinhua - AFP

(China Daily 12/19/2014 page10)