NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

George Michael died of natural causes

LONDON

George Michael died of natural causes as the result of heart disease and a fatty liver, a British coroner said Tuesday.

Darren Salter, senior coroner for the county of Oxfordshire in southern England, said a post-mortem has found that the singer died of “dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.”

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the left ventricle of the heart becomes stretched and weakened, limiting the heart’s ability to pump blood. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.

The former Wham! singer-songwriter was found dead at his country home in Oxfordshire on Dec. 25. He was 53.

Russia restricts ‘Beauty and Beast’

MOSCOW

Children under age 16 won’t be able to go to the new Disney film “Beauty and the Beast” in Russia because it includes a gay character, the Russian Culture Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry told The Associated Press in an emailed statement that its decision for the 16-plus rating followed petitions by lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, known for his ultraconservative views, petitioned for the live-action film to be banned.

In a letter released Saturday by the RIA Novosti news agency, Milonov protested the screening of a movie that disseminates “overt and shameless propaganda of sin and sexual perversion under the guise of a fairy tale.”

Associated Press