PARIS & NEW YORK & SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 19, 2024--
AMTD Group Inc., AMTD IDEA Group (NYSE: AMTD; SGX: HKB), AMTD Digital Inc. (NYSE: HKD) (“AMTD Digital”), and World Media and Entertainment Group (“WME”), the multi-media, entertainment and cultures platform of AMTD Group, are proud to announce that, "The Last Dance", the new movie produced by WME, enjoys enormous widespread acclaim following its release in Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR. Not only has it shattered 9 major Hong Kong movie records, but its Hong Kong and Macau box office has also exceeded 65 million HKD within eleven days after the public release.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241119477840/en/
New records include:
1. Highest box office record on opening day for a Hong Kong film;
2. Highest accumulated box office record on opening day for a Hong Kong film;
3. Highest attendance record on opening day for a Hong Kong film;
4. Most screenings on opening day for a Hong Kong film;
5. Highest attendance record in a single day for a Hong Kong film;
6. Highest box office record on opening day for Chinese and Western films in 2024;
7. Highest attendance record on opening day for Chinese and Western films in 2024;
8. Highest single-day box office record for Chinese and Western films in 2024;
9. Highest single-day attendance record for Chinese and Western films in 2024.
AMTD serves as a Production Company of the Movie, while Dr. Calvin Choi, founder of AMTD IDEA Group and AMTD Digital serves as a Producer.
About AMTD Group
AMTD Group is a conglomerate with core business portfolio to span across media and entertainment, education and training, and premium assets and hospitality areas.
About AMTD IDEA Group
AMTD IDEA Group (NYSE: AMTD; SGX: HKB) represents a diversified institution and digital solutions group connecting companies and investors with global markets. Its comprehensive one-stop business services plus digital solutions platform addresses different clients’ diverse and inter-connected business needs and digital requirements across all phases of their life cycles. AMTD IDEA Group is uniquely positioned as an active superconnector between clients, business partners, investee companies, and investors, connecting the East and the West. For more information, please visit www.amtdinc.com or follow us on X (formerly known as “Twitter") at @AMTDGroup.
About AMTD Digital Inc.
AMTD Digital Inc. (NYSE: HKD) is a comprehensive digital solutions platform headquartered in France. Its one-stop digital solutions platform operates four main business lines including digital solutions services, digital media, content and marketing services, digital investments as well as hospitality and VIP services. For AMTD Digital’s announcements, please visit https://ir.amtdigital.net/investor-news.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward- looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “aims,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “likely to,” and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the beliefs, plans, and expectations of AMTD IDEA Group and AMTD Digital Inc., are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the filings of AMTD IDEA Group and AMTD Digital Inc. with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and AMTD IDEA Group and AMTD Digital Inc. do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
(Graphic: Business Wire)
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday formally lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons, a move that follows U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russian territory with American-supplied longer-range missiles.
The new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles early Tuesday at a military facility in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, adding that air defenses shot down five of them and damaged one more.
While the doctrine envisions a possible nuclear response by Russia to such a conventional strike, it is formulated broadly to avoid a firm commitment to use nuclear weapons and keep Putin's options open.
The approval of the document demonstrates Putin’s readiness to tap his nuclear arsenal to force the West to back down as Moscow presses a slow-moving offensive in Ukraine as the war reached its 1,000th day.
Asked Tuesday if a Ukrainian attack with longer-range U.S. missiles could potentially trigger a nuclear response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov answered affirmatively, pointing to the doctrine’s provision that holds the door open for it after a conventional strike that raises critical threats for the "sovereignty and territorial integrity: of Russia and its ally, Belarus.
Commenting on whether the updated doctrine was deliberately issued to follow Biden’s decision, Peskov said the document was published “in a timely manner” and that Putin instructed the government to update it earlier this year so that it is “in line with the current situation.”
Putin first announced changes in the nuclear doctrine in September, when he chaired a meeting discussing the proposed revisions. He has previously warned the U.S. and other NATO allies that allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied longer-range weapons to hit Russian territory would mean that Russia and NATO are at war.
Washington has permitted Ukraine to use the longer-range weapons on targets inside Russia after declaring that thousands of North Korean troops were deployed in the Russian region of Kursk to fight an incursion by Kyiv's forces.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the revised nuclear doctrine as the “latest example of irresponsibility” from “the depraved Russian government,” according to spokesperson Camilla Marshall.
“Russia’s the one that continues to escalate this war, and the use of North Korean troops is just one example of that,” Marshall said. “He could remove his troops, roll back his tanks and end the onslaught and needless bloodshed in both Ukraine and Russia. … We would urge him to do so.”
The updated doctrine says an attack against Russia by a nonnuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation.”
It says any massive aerial attack on Russia could trigger a nuclear response but avoids any firm commitment and mentions the “uncertainty of scale, time and place of possible use of nuclear deterrent” among the key principles of the nuclear deterrence.
The document also notes that aggression against Russia by a member of a military bloc or coalition is viewed as "an aggression by the entire bloc," a clear reference to NATO.
At the same time, it spells out conditions for using nuclear weapons in greater detail compared with previous versions of the doctrine, noting they could be used in case of a massive air attack involving ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and other flying vehicles.
The formulation appears to significantly broaden the triggers for possible nuclear weapons use compared with the document's previous version, which stated Russia could tap its atomic arsenal if case of an attack with ballistic missiles.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for more than 30 years and has relied on Russian subsidies and support, has allowed Russia to use his country’s territory to send troops into Ukraine and to deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons.
Since Putin sent troops into Ukraine, he and other Russian voices have frequently threatened the West with Russia’s nuclear arsenal to discourage it from ramping up support for Kyiv.
Russian hawks called for toughening the doctrine for months, arguing the previous version failed to deter the West from increasing its aid to Ukraine and created the impression that Moscow would not resort to nuclear weapons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with New People party's leader Alexey Nechaev in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Moscow-appointed head of Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Yevgeny Balitsky during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
