Coachella 2025 lineup: Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott to headline in April

Other acts include Charli xcx, Megan Thee Stallion, Missy Elliott, Shaboozey and Blackpink members Jennie and Lisa

Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott will headline Coachella 2025.

Scott, whose prominent billing comes with the description “designs the desert”, will reportedly design an immersive experience called CatcusCon, Rolling Stone reported, and will perform after Green Day’s set on the Saturday nights.

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Author Kamel Daoud sued over claim he used life of wife’s patient in novel

Woman says French-Algerian writer’s prize-winning Houris uses her story as she told it to therapist Aicha Dehdouh

Two complaints have been filed in Algeria against the French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud, the winner of France’s most prestigious literary award, and his wife, a therapist, alleging that they used a patient’s life story as the basis for his prize-winning novel.

The writer, the first Algerian novelist to be awarded the Prix Goncourt, won this year’s prize for his novel Houris, a fictional account of a young woman who lost her voice when an Islamist cut her throat during the country’s brutal 1992-2002 civil war.

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Mother of Rust cinematographer fatally shot by Alec Baldwin refuses to attend film’s world premiere

Three years after Halyna Hutchins was killed on set, Olga Solovey says there has been ‘no justice for my daughter’ and claims Baldwin has not apologised

The mother of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was fatally shot on the set of the film Rust by actor Alec Baldwin, has refused to attend the film’s world premiere on Wednesday, alleging the star has still not apologised to her over her daughter’s death.

Rust will premiere at the Camerimage festival in Poland, an event focusing on achievements in cinematography, three years after the prop gun Baldwin was holding went off and fatally injured Hutchins, the film’s cinematographer, on the set of the western in New Mexico. Tickets to the premiere sold out quickly on Tuesday.

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Prado show aims to highlight true colours of polychrome sculpture

Madrid Exhibition intends to rescue the technique – coloured paint applied to statues – from centuries of indifference

In a darkened corner of the Prado, not far from an outsized crucifixion and a sculpture of a dead, recumbent Christ with eyes of glass, teeth of ivory and fingernails of horn, is another depiction of Jesus that is remarkable in its poignancy, its humanity and its history.

The tiny, painted terracotta scene, titled Los primeros pasos de Jesús (Jesus’s First Steps), is domestic rather than divine and shows a chubby, beaming infant ambling towards his equally beaming father. Its creator was the Spanish baroque artist Luisa Roldán who, despite becoming the first female sculptor to the royal court in 1692, is only now making her debut in the hallowed Madrid museum.

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Sandra Gilbert, co-author of The Madwoman in the Attic, dies aged 87

The writer was also a renowned academic and poet as well as being one of the leading figures of second wave feminism

Sandra Gilbert, the American poet and literary critic who co-authored the landmark second wave feminist text The Madwoman in the Attic, has died aged 87.

The 1979 book – written with Susan Gubar, who would become a longtime collaborator of Gilbert’s – explored the way that female writers of the 19th century used images and characters embodying madness and rebellion, representing a rejection of oppression.

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Shuntaro Tanikawa, giant of Japanese poetry, dies aged 92

The poet also wrote the lyrics for the Astro Boy theme song and translated Peanuts into Japanese

Shuntaro Tanikawa, who pioneered modern Japanese poetry, poignant but conversational in its divergence from haiku and other traditions, has died aged 92.

Tanikawa, who translated the Peanuts comic strip and penned the lyrics for the theme song of the animation series Astro Boy, died on 13 November, his son Kensaku Tanikawa said on Tuesday. The cause of death, at a Tokyo hospital, was old age.

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Ed Sheeran: I wish I wasn’t on 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid

Singer says his ‘understanding of the narrative’ around Do They Know It’s Christmas? has changed since 2014 appearance

Ed Sheeran has said he would rather not be on the forthcoming 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, aligning himself with criticism of it as dehumanising and damaging to Africans.

Sheeran is one of an all-star cast to be drawn from three previous recordings of the song, in 1984, 2004 and 2014 – he appeared on the latter version. Producer Trevor Horn has mashed up three sets of performances into a new “Ultimate Mix”, which will be released on 25 November, and also features George Michael, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O’Connor and many more.

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Australian authors group give every federal politician five books to encourage nuance in Middle East debate

Exclusive: Group of more than 90 including writers Tim Winton and Charlotte Wood have paid for every federal senator and MP to receive curated package

Some of Australia’s most prominent authors are among a group of more than 90 writers and literary supporters who have paid for every federal parliamentarian to receive a carefully curated package of books on the Middle East to expand their knowledge of the history of the conflict.

Each of the 227 MPs and senators is being given the same five books – nonfiction, fiction and reference works – as part of the campaign to encourage wider reading on the origins of the Middle East conflict among Australia’s political leaders.

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Wise told Morecambe he wanted to split up comedy act in 1950, letter reveals

Items up for auction from Eric Morecambe’s family home show Ernie Wise had doubts about pair’s future

They became arguably the greatest comedy duo Britain has ever produced but if Eric Morecambe had listened to a young and despondent Ernie Wise they would have split up before ever getting properly started.

A poignant 1950 letter from Wise to Morecambe is part of a remarkable treasure trove of memorabilia to be auctioned in the new year.

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Vladimir Shklyarov, Russian ballet star, dies aged 39 after falling from building

St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre says dancer was taking painkillers for an injury and fell from fifth floor

The acclaimed Russian ballet dancer Vladimir Shklyarov has died aged 39.

Shklyarov died after falling from the fifth floor of a building on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Mariinsky Theatre told the news outlet Fontanka at the weekend.

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‘You should be afraid’: poison pen letters reignite UK actors’ fund feud

Police notified after former trustees and current chief executive of Actors’ Benevolent Fund were sent notes

A bitter feud that tore apart an illustrious actors’ charity has been reignited by the emergence of poison pen letters threatening former trustees.

The annual meeting of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund (ABF) takes place on Tuesday after at least three years of turmoil with little prospect that it will pass off uneventfully.

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Dozens of stars backed Harris’s campaign and yet she lost. Is the era of celebrity endorsements over?

Focus on A-list talent such as Swift and Beyoncé may have reinforced an out-of-touch vision, or maybe celebrity support holds no political power

The names read like a who’s who of A-list talent about to walk a red carpet or attend Vanity Fair’s famous post-Oscar party. Oprah Winfrey, Megan Thee Stallion, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Springsteen and many, many more.

These are just some of the bold-face name celebrities who backed Kamala Harris’s failed run for the White House, making it one of the most star-studded political campaigns in US history. Even the world’s biggest current star – singer Taylor Swift – got behind Harris.

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Saoirse Ronan ‘absolutely right’ about women’s safety fears, says Gladiator combat trainer

Paul Biddiss, who trained Paul Mescal and Day of the Jackal star Eddie Redmayne, says streetwise women are more aware of surveillance and harder to follow

He has trained would-be assassins and marshalled invading hordes, Napoleonic forces and Roman regiments, but movie military adviser Paul Biddiss found himself in the midst of his biggest Hollywood skirmish last month when the actor Saoirse Ronan made a powerful intervention about women’s personal safety.

Ronan, a guest on Graham Norton’s BBC chatshow sofa, sparked a nationwide debate about women’s security fears when she interrupted fellow actors as they discussed techniques that Biddiss had taught the casts of both Gladiator II and the new drama series The Day of the Jackal.

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The Gruffalo’s illustrator launches book to help UK pupils learn German

Axel Scheffler says he hopes Wuschel auf der Erde will encourage more children to learn his first language

Axel Scheffler, the illustrator behind the international children’s bestseller The Gruffalo, has launched a book to help primary school pupils learn German.

Wuschel auf der Erde: A New Adventure in Learning German tells the story of a friendly alien called Wuschel arriving on Earth from a distant planet with a mission to learn German. Through Scheffler’s distinctive illustrations, children are introduced to their first German words, such as die Maus (mouse) and der Spielplatz (playground), in a fun and interactive way.

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How will BBC revamp Match of the Day when Gary Lineker leaves?

Plan is forming for digitally focused show to expand and grow the brand in a fractured media landscape

When the BBC confirmed the news this week that Gary Lineker was leaving Match of the Day at the end of this season, the presenter’s official reaction was limited to a terse 21-word statement that he was “delighted” at signing a new contract to cover the FA Cup and 2026 World Cup.

The former England striker was – unsurprisingly – more expansive about leaving the BBC’s flagship football programme after 25 years on his own podcast, the Rest is Football, on Thursday. “All things have to come to an end,” he mused. “I think the next contract, they’re looking to do Match of the Day slightly differently. So I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.”

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Snow White star Rachel Zegler apologises for angry Trump post

West Side Story actor soon to take on iconic Disney role backs down after re-election response led to backlash

The West Side Story and Snow White actor Rachel Zegler has apologised after criticising Donald Trump and his supporters.

The 23-year-old, currently starring in Broadway’s re-imagined Romeo + Juliet, had posted a lengthy response to the re-election of Trump and the “four years of hatred” he would bring about in America.

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UK court sides with Icelandic firm over artist’s spoof corruption apology

Judge considering complaint by fishing firm Samherji rules artist Odee unlikely to be able to defend work as parody

The property rights of Iceland’s largest fishing company prevail over the right to artistic expression of an artist who spoofed the firm’s website to draw attention to a high-profile corruption scandal, London’s high court has ruled.

For his 2023 work We’re Sorry, the Icelandic artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, who goes by the moniker Odee, copied the corporate identity of Samherji, a major supplier to Britain’s fish and chips industry, and uploaded on to the spoof website a statement titled “Samherji Apologizes, Pledges Restitution and Cooperation with Authorities”.

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Gulag History Museum in Moscow temporarily closed ‘for safety reasons’

Kremlin critics fear move is part of Russia’s efforts to whitewash Soviet past and shut independent cultural institutions

Moscow’s award-winning Gulag History Museum announced its surprise closure on Thursday, a move critics attribute to the Kremlin’s efforts to whitewash Russia’s Soviet past.

The closure was officially put down to alleged violations of fire safety regulations but comes amid an intense campaign by Russian officials against independent civil society and those who question the state’s interpretation of history.

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Evaristos united: namesakes Bernardine and Conceição meet at book festival

Celebrated authors discuss the somewhat connected stories of their shared surname at literary event in Rio

Born more than 5,500 miles apart, the Booker prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, 65, and Brazil’s most celebrated living Black author, Conceição Evaristo, 77, share the same surname, though they are – as far as is known – unrelated.

But their surnames’ stories are somewhat connected, and shed light on aspects of the history of Brazil, the country that received the largest number of enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade.

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