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.

There’s been a roller-coaster day of trading in shares in the social networking site Facebook after one of the world’s biggest ever business floatations. Facebook shares jumped by more than 10% within minutes of making their stock market debut on New York’s Nasdaq exchange, but they later dropped back to close just 23 cents above their initial offering price. It’s early days yet, but this won’t be seen as a good start.