Arrow season 3 spoilers: Oliver Queen is alive; What to expect when the series returns in January

Oliver fights Ra's al Ghul in the mid-season finaleThe CW (official stills)

Arrow mid-season finale promised viewers "the finest hour of television this show has ever produced" and it delivered.

Last Wednesday's episode titled The Climb left the viewers with a major question: Is Oliver Queen dead?

The fight between Oliver and Ra's Al Ghul begins at the top of Nanda Parbat, which was seemingly similar to a Batman Begins sequence. 

The Assassins leader delivers a final strike running his sword through Oliver's rib cage, and pushes the Green Arrow over the cliff.  In the last scene Oliver is seen falling off the cliff, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger.

Arrow season 3 mid-season finale review: Sara Lance's killer revealed; is Oliver Queen dead?

Stephan Amell, who plays Oliver, took to Twitter, and posted a cryptic tweet, further confirming his character's demise.

Spider-Man's new nemesis: Cairo living

 

He's used to beating all challenges and challengers, but life's become tough for Spider-Man - he's now a toktok driver negotiating the busy streets of Cairo.

This imagining is the work of a young Egyptian photographer, Hossam Atef, 20, whose photos of an actor in the superhero's costume dealing with the daily struggles of life in Egypt's capital have been proving a hit on Facebook.

Atef says he's trying to highlight how difficult life is for the ordinary residents of Cairo.

"Egyptians are struggling with high food prices and trying to find jobs," he says. "Superheroes would not be able to survive here."

Zambian Mulenga is out of the Nations Cup after crash

Zambian Nyambe Mulenga will miss the Africa Cup of Nations after breaking his leg in a road accident on Sunday.

The defender will be out of action for 12 weeks and will therefore not play a part at the 17 January to 8 February tournament in Equatorial Guinea. 

Mulenaga was one of three Zambia internationals involved in the crash.

Changwe Kalale and Satchmo Chakawa were also among passengers reportedly travelling to Lusaka on a minibus that collided with another vehicle in Kabwe. 

Mulenga, who plays for Zesco United, Kalale of Power Dynamos and Chakawa from Green Eagles were on board a Zesco United Football Club minibus.

Ebola serum supply reaches Liberia

Liberia has begun treating Ebola patients with serum therapy - a treatment made from the blood of recovered survivors. 

Doctors hope the experimental treatment could help combat the virus that has been sweeping West Africa and killing thousands of people.

Up to 13 December, 6,841 people had been reported as having died from the disease.

The total number of reported cases is more than 18,000.

Ugandan maid Jolly Tumuhiirwe jailed for assaulting toddler

Jolly Tumuhiirwe asked for forgiveness in court last week

A Ugandan maid has been sentenced to four years in jail for assaulting a toddler, in a case which sparked outrage across the country after a video was released.

Jolly Tumuhiirwe, 22, was filmed beating, kicking and stamping on the 18-month-old child.

On Friday, she told a court in Kampala the attack was revenge after she was beaten by the child's mother.

Nigerian oil workers go on strike

 

Fuel was sold on the black market during a previous strike

Nigeria's two main oil workers' unions have begun a nationwide strike, threatening to hurt the output of Africa's largest oil producer.

BBC reporters say long queues have formed at many petrol stations.

The unions, Pengassan and Nupeng, said the strike would continue until the government addressed its concerns.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Trailer: This Movie Isn't About What We Thought At All

The boys from Hot Tub Time Machine (or most of them, anyway) are soon coming back to theaters, and they're bringing all kinds of time travel weirdness with them. Find out what I mean by watching the brand new trailer below:

It's been a good long while since we last actually saw footage from Hot Tub Time Machine 2, as the first red band trailer was released back in July. The delay could partially be explained by the fact that the movie found its release date bumped from Christmas Day of this year to February of 2015. But did you catch the other bit of weirdness in this trailer? It makes the movie look like it has a completely different plot.

Going by this trailer alone, it looks like the movie picks up after the events of the first movie and finds Jacob (Clark Duke), Nick (Craig Robinson) and Lou (Rob Corddry) all becoming incredible successes thanks to their access to time travel. They decide to take a whirl in the hot tub for old time's sake, but instead of going to the past they wind up going to the future - where there lives are totally awful. In order to fix their situation, they must try and figure when things went totally wrong and fix it.

Michael Keaton Has The Best Reason Not To Be Jealous Of A New Batman

Michael Keaton just shut down every other Batman to follow him in what is undoubtedly the best response to any question... ever. After Christian Bale recently admitted to his own jealousy of Ben Affleck taking over the role of Batman in the new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Keaton was asked if he had any similar envy. And his response:

No. Do you know why? Because I’m Batman.

Leave it to Michael Keaton to know just what to say when it comes to the caped crusader. The interview with ShortList Magazine touched upon Keaton’s new film, Birdman as well as the 25th anniversary of Tim Burton’s Batman. And after assuring that he is Batman, Keaton adds, "I’m very secure in that." I imagine it went down something like this:



Though he wasn't the first, and definitely not the last, Keaton’s portrayal goes down in the books, especially for his memorable voice. Each Batman is a bit different from the previous adaptation, and each actor brings their own unique qualities to the role, but Keaton’s was always my personal favorite.

Keaton’s new role in the critically acclaimed film, Birdman, scored him a Golden Globe nomination this year. It’s an absolutely incredible performance that follows a washed-up movie star who had gained his fame from playing a deep-voiced superhero named Birdman. Sound familiar?

The actor attempts to make a Broadway comeback, and throughout his time in the theater is haunted by his own past in the form of the deep-voiced Birdman version of himself. This voice is happy throwback to those of us who loved Michael Keaton’s Batman. And not only is the voice similar and a storyline that includes an older actor who had once played a superhero, but also the way that the character associates himself with his previous role is eerily similar to a certain someone who responds, "I am Batman."

I can’t recall if the words "I am Birdman" were said in that exact chorus in the film, but a few times throughout Keaton’s character would squawk like Birdman, which had a similar effect. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you should, it’s terrific, and also a great use of that Keaton Batman voice. We’ll have to wait and see what Ben Affleck’s Batman will bring to the table in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, hitting theaters March 25, 2016. But deep down, we’ll always know who the real Batman is.

Mudslides and floods hit southern California

Heavy rains in southern California have triggered mudslides and flooding, killing one person and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes.
The body was found in a drainage canal in a southern suburb of Los Angeles.
Another hard-hit area was the town of Camarillo Springs, 50 miles (80km) north-west of Los Angeles, where a mudslide left 18 homes uninhabitable.
Laura Westbrook reports.

Zimbabwe's unstable diamond industry

Six years ago, hyperinflation in Zimbabwe was tearing the economy apart. But since then, diamonds have been discovered in the east of the country.
Initially they were classified as conflict diamonds. That label has now been lifted, but there have been other setbacks.
The BBC's Brian Hungwe looks at the ups and downs of Zimbabwe's diamond industry for Africa Business Report.