Breaking News

The White House has said that a US counterterrorism operation in January killed two hostages who were being held by al-Qaeda.
Dr Warren Weinstein, an American held by the militants since 2011, was one of those killed in the raid in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The other hostage was Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian national held since 2012.
President Barack Obama is to speak later about the incident.

Mark Ruffalo Talks About Possibility of Hulk Standalone Movie

A lot of actors have taken on the role of the incredible Hulk, whose alter ego is the smart and unassuming Dr. Bruce Banner, but none of those films have really resonated well with audiences, that is, until Mark Ruffalo came along and portrayed him in the original Avengers film.

Since then, fans have been wondering when Marvel Cinematic Studios will decide to create a standalone film for the ruthless green monster slash superhero, just like his fellow Avengers members Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans).

This is what Ruffalo discussed in an interview with Collider. Ruffalo remains optimistic that his character Hulk will be given the spotlight at some point in time, but he reasoned that there won't be any solo movies right now since Marvel does not really have any rights to a Hulk standalone movie.

"That's still Universal's property, so there's that issue," he explained. "That's a big impediment to moving forward with that. Now I don't think that's insurmountable, by the way, but I don't know where it's going from here for me."

When asked how many movies he has lined up as the Hulk, the actor seemed even more optimistic about the character's future and said that a lot of doors can actually open for Banner, depending on the situation.

"I think it's four now, but that could always go further. That could include different-I could show up in another character's movie; I could do Avengers 3 and 4; I could do a Hulk standalone; I could do a combination of those things. That's four or five, I think," he said.

Meanwhile, a lot of superheroes have already confirmed appearances in Captain America: Civil War, such as Iron Man, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen), so fans have been calling it "Avengers 2.5." And while everybody seems to be all set to make a cameo, the Hulk's appearance has not been guaranteed.

"I don't know if I'm in it yet. I don't know. Sometimes these things happen at the last minute in this world. I really don't know where I fit in from here on out, and I'm not sure they do," Ruffalo admitted.

There have actually been rumors that the Hulk will be killed off in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron film, or if not, then either on Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 or 2. But the way Ruffalo is talking, it seems like his character won't be saying goodbye to fans just yet.

LIBYA

Some 400 migrants are feared drowned after their boat capsized off Libya, survivors have told Save the Children.
The Italian coast guard had rescued 144 people on Monday and immediately launched an air and sea search operation in hopes of rescuing others.
Save the Children said that many of the survivors were "young men, probably minors".
The European Union says that more than 7,000 migrants have been plucked from the Mediterranean since Friday.
Survivors say the latest tragedy happened after the boat, carrying about 550 migrants in total, flipped a day after leaving the Libyan coast.
Nine bodies have already been recovered, but no more survivors have been found since the search was launched.

Meanwhile the EU's Frontex border agency said that people smugglers had fired shots into the air to warn away a coast guard vessel attempting to rescue migrants.
The incident on Monday happened some 60 nautical miles off Libya after an Italian coast guard ship came to the rescue of 250 migrants as traffickers attempted to retrieve a boat.
The coast guard vessel was already carrying 342 migrants from a previous rescue.
Frontex says the incident shows that traffickers are running out of boats.
More than 280,000 people entered the EU illegally last year, many fleeing from conflicts in from Syria, Eritrea and Somalia.