Why is Francis Ford Coppola mentioned?

The top prize of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France, the Palme d’Or, has been a-warded to the film Amour by the Austrian director Michael Haneke. Michael Haneke’s Love, or Amour, takes place in the apartment of an old couple as their lives reach their ends. Despite the gloomy-sounding theme, it was very well received by critics in Cannes. Michael Haneke won the Palme d’Or with The White Ribbon in 2009, and now joins the likes of Francis Ford Coppola as a two-time winner of the top prize.

A proposal to declare the South Atlantic sanctuary for whales has been defeated at the International Whaling Commission despite backing from most countries of the meeting. The Latin A-merican plan failed to get the 2/3 majority required. Environmental groups expressed disappointment at the outcome, but a BBC correspondent says some suggested in private that the ide-a had been merely symbolic as there’s no whaling taking place in the region.