'Looper' filmmaker Rian Johnson to write/direct 'Star Wars: Episode VIII'

LOS ANGELES: "Looper" filmmaker Rian Johnson will write and direct "Star Wars: Episode VIII," the second installment in the new trilogy of "Star Wars" films produced by Walt Disney Co, a source with knowledge of the plans said on Friday.

Johnson, 40, who also wrote and directed 2005´s "Brick" and 2008´s "The Brothers Bloom," will also write the initial script for the third installment of the trilogy, "Episode IX."A Disney spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

"Episode VIII" is the second of three films that Disney announced after purchasing "Star Wars" creator George Lucas´ Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.05 billion, and will follow "Star Wars:Episode VII," currently in production with director J.J. Abrams.

The films are expected to expand the saga that was first released in 1977 and has become embedded in pop culture.

Disney will also produce stand-alone "Star Wars" films that will be released between the three new trilogy films, the first of which will be directed by "Godzilla" filmmaker Gareth Edwards.

More than 100 youths charged in NY gang wars

NEW YORK: More than 100 members of three New York City street gangs who waged years of deadly turf wars have been charged.

The three gangs operating in west Harlem were accused of two homicides, 19 non-fatal shootings and 50 incidents in which firearms were used, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Wednesday.

The 103 indictments capped a 4.5-year investigation.

Many of those charged were taken into custody Wednesday.

"The deadly and dangerous feud between the Manhattanville and Grant Houses dates back decades," Vance said. "In the last four years, it has escalated into a bloody turf war marked by violence for the sake of violence.

"He said prosecutors and investigators analyzed more than 40,000 prison calls, screened hundreds of hours of surveillance video and reviewed more than a million pages of social media exchanges.

The gangs in some cases recruited members as young as 10 and 14 to carry out violent crimes, authorities said.