Category Archives: Culture

Smokey Robinson denies four housekeepers’ allegations of sexual assault

Posted on by

The women have accused Motown star of sexual assault and employment violations. His attorney has called the lawsuit ‘an ugly method of trying to extract money’

Smokey Robinson has denied allegations of sexual assault, after four former housekeepers of the Motown star filed a lawsuit with claims including sexual battery, false imprisonment, negligence and gender violence.

The suit was filed in a Los Angeles court on 6 May. It also alleges a series of labour violations, including that Robinson and his wife, Frances, failed to pay the women minimum wage and overtime, submitted inaccurate wage statements and created a hostile work environment. The women are seeking financial damages.

Continue reading...

Brad Arnold, frontman with rock band 3 Doors Down, diagnosed with stage four cancer

Posted on by

Grammy-nominated and chart-topping singer says he has ‘no fear’ of illness in kidney and lung

Brad Arnold, the frontman with chart-topping US rock band 3 Doors Down, has been diagnosed with stage four cancer.

The singer said he has kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs. He discovered the illness after feeling unwell in recent weeks, “then I went to the hospital and got checked out and actually got the diagnosis that I had a renal carcinoma that had metastasised into my lung”.

Continue reading...

Jon Voight defends Trump’s film tariff plan: ‘Something has to be done’

Posted on by

Oscar-winning actor gives first interview to Variety since working with Trump on plan to shake up Hollywood

Jon Voight, the actor who inspired Donald Trump’s surprise statement about placing a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, has given his first interview on the supposed plan to “give people back their dignity and their jobs”.

“Something has to be done, and it’s way past time,” the 86-year-old actor told Variety while he was, according to the magazine, “driving through what sounded like a car wash”.

Continue reading...

Bedfordshire residents say they have been left out of Universal theme park consultation

Posted on by

Locals welcome plan but fear being pushed out of homes by theme park

When it was announced that Universal Pictures, one of the largest movie studios in the world, was opening its first theme park in Bedfordshire, fans were ecstatic.

Social media was filled with questions: Which film franchises will appear? How many rides would there be? Will there be a section dedicated to the Minions?

Continue reading...

RecipeTin Eats’ Nagi Maehashi beats Brooke Bellamy at publishing industry awards amid plagiarism allegations

Posted on by

Maehashi beat five finalists to take out prestigious prize after her second cookbook broke Australian records for first-week nonfiction title sales

Recipe book writer Nagi Maehashi has beaten cupcake queen Brooke Bellamy at the publishing industry’s annual awards, as Maehashi and other authors accuse Bellamy of plagiarism.

Maehashi won the illustrated book of the year a second time at the Australian book industry awards night in Melbourne on Wednesday for her most recent book, RecipeTin Eats: Tonight.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

Front row? Dublin orders tourists to leave statue’s cleavage alone

Posted on by

Touching breasts of city’s Molly Malone statue is supposed to bring luck, but not everyone is happy with tradition

Each time a tourist sidled up to the statue and reached for the most famous cleavage in Dublin, a voice called out: “No touching please.”

Two city council stewards stood vigil over the landmark on Tuesday to notify would-be gropers that Molly Malone was to be left alone. After years of supposedly bringing good luck to whomever touched the breasts, they were now off-limits.

Continue reading...

Denmark’s museum objects at risk from ‘extreme’ new mould, say conservators

Posted on by

The ‘epidemic for Golden Age paintings’ may already be a global problem, with the fungi a possible health hazard

A new type of “extreme” mould is sweeping through Denmark’s museums, threatening some of the nation’s most important paintings and cultural objects, conservators have warned.

Described as an “epidemic for Golden Age paintings”, the highly resistant mould covers objects in a white coating and has been detected in 12 of the country’s museums, including the National Museum of Denmark and Skagens Museum.

Continue reading...

Trump called for 100% tariff on foreign films a day after Jon Voight proposed ‘limited’ tariffs

Posted on by

Actor was assigned by Trump to come up with a plan to save Hollywood, but his proposal only included tariffs ‘in certain limited circumstances’

US president Donald Trump announced his 100% tariff on films “coming into our country produced in foreign lands” one day after meeting with actor Jon Voight to discuss his proposals to bring film production back to the US – which only suggested that tariffs could be used “in certain limited circumstances”.

The Midnight Cowboy and Heat actor, who was appointed a “special ambassador” to Hollywood by Trump, has been meeting with studios, streamers, unions and guilds for months to develop a plan to lure film and television productions back to the US. Production companies often seek more cost-effective locations or tax incentives in other countries such as Canada, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Hungary, Italy and Spain.

Continue reading...

Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha wins Pulitzer prize for commentary

Posted on by

Renowned poet and author wins prize for series of New Yorker essays on suffering of Palestinians in Gaza

The renowned Palestinian poet and author, Mosab Abu Toha, is among this year’s Pulitzer prize winners.

Abu Toha was awarded for a series of essays in the New Yorker documenting the lives and suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where he has lived nearly all his life.

Continue reading...

Scholz to hand over power in Germany to sound of feminist anthem Respect

Posted on by

Song made famous by Aretha Franklin is on military band’s set list for handover of chancellery to Friedrich Merz

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is to be played out of office by a military band who will perform tunes chosen by him that are intended to sum up his mood and political life.

Scholz will bow out to the Beatles, Johann Sebastian Bach and an Otis Redding hit made famous by Aretha Franklin.

Continue reading...

Two arrested over bomb plot targeting Lady Gaga concert in Rio attended by millions

Posted on by

Two people have been arrested in connection to an alleged planned attack on Brazil’s LGBTQ community at the singer’s Sunday concert, police say

Two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro, in what authorities believe was an attempt to target Brazil’s LGBTQ community.

The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop star’s career. It attracted an estimated 2.1 million fans to Copacabana beach and had crowds screaming and dancing along.

Continue reading...

Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

Posted on by

President calls films ‘national security threat’ and claims he called on commerce department to immediately enact tariff

Donald Trump on Sunday announced on his Truth Social platform a 100% tariff on all movies “produced in Foreign Lands”, saying the US film industry was dying a “very fast death” due to the incentives that other countries were offering to draw American film-makers.

In his post, he claimed to have authorised the commerce department and the US trade representative to immediately begin instituting such a tariff.

Continue reading...

Marvel’s Thunderbolts* tops US box office with $76m opening

Posted on by

Antihero reject movie starring Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan a ‘great reset’ as Alec Baldwin’s Rust falls flat

Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* opened with $76m in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday, kicking off the summer box office with a solid No 1 debut that fell shy of Marvel’s more spectacular launches.

All eyes had been on whether Thunderbolts* – a team-up of antihero rejects similar to Avengers – could restore the Walt Disney Company superhero factory to the kind of box office performance the studio once enjoyed so regularly. The results – similar to the debuts of Eternals ($71m) and Ant-Man and the Wasp ($75m) – suggested Marvel’s malaise won’t be so easy to snap out of.

Continue reading...

Lewis Capaldi makes surprise return to live performance at charity gig

Posted on by

The Scottish musician breaks health-related hiatus with gig in support of the suicide prevention charity Calm

Lewis Capaldi performed on stage for the first time in two years after making a surprise appearance at a charity gig in Edinburgh to raise funds for suicide prevention.

He appeared on Friday night at the concert – headlined by Tom Walker and Nina Nesbitt– at Edinburgh Assembly Halls, in aid of the charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm).

Continue reading...

Jill Sobule, I Kissed a Girl singer, dies in Minneapolis house fire aged 66

Posted on by

Musician whose hits also included the satirical anthem Supermodel from the Clueless soundtrack died early on Thursday

Jill Sobule, the singer-songwriter whose hits included the satirical anthem Supermodel from the Clueless movie soundtrack and the groundbreaking single I Kissed a Girl, has died in a house fire at the age of 66.

Sobule’s body was found in a home in Woodbury, Minnesota, on Thursday. Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.

Continue reading...

The Smashing Machine: Dwayne Johnson fights for an Oscar in first trailer

Posted on by

Actor makes dramatic bid for awards glory as UFC fighter Mark Kerr in biopic also starring his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt aim for awards glory in the first trailer for fact-based sports drama The Smashing Machine.

The wrestler-turned-actor plays the MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the film inspired by the 2002 documentary with the same name. Kerr won multiple awards and medals in his career and also struggled with substance abuse.

Continue reading...

Jo Cox family says Kneecap offering ‘half an apology’ over alleged call to kill MPs

Posted on by

Husband of murdered Labour MP says Belfast rappers’ talk of being unfairly targeted undermines their statement

Brendan Cox, the husband of the murdered MP Jo Cox, has said the Irish rap trio Kneecap have offered only “half an apology”, after criticism of comments in which they appear to call for politicians to be killed.

Kneecap apologised to Jo Cox’s family and that of the MP David Amess, who was also murdered, in the face of mounting criticism, including from Downing Street and Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader.

Continue reading...

‘If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off’: Terrence Howard explains why he declined Marvin Gaye biopic

Posted on by

The American actor told Bill Maher’s podcast that he had asked Quincy Jones about the singer’s sexuality and felt he couldn’t ‘play that character 100%’

The actor Terrence Howard has said that he declined the role of Marvin Gaye in a film, because he didn’t want to kiss another man.

Speaking to Bill Maher on his Club Random podcast, the actor said the “biggest mistake” of his career was turning down the leading role in a separate biopic of the singer Smokey Robinson – which Robinson had personally asked him to play.

Continue reading...

‘The eighth wonder of the world’: China’s terracotta warriors to march on Australia for blockbuster show

Posted on by

Perth will host huge exhibition of ancient treasures from first emperor’s tomb in June, with 40% of the artefacts leaving China for the first time ever

Two thousand years ago, in a bid to conquer death itself, China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang commissioned a city of the dead: a 49 sq km mausoleum guarded by an army of clay warriors, built to defend his tomb for eternity.

When farmers near Xi’an unearthed the first clay head in 1974, they cracked open one of humanity’s greatest archaeological mysteries, with more than 8,000 Terracotta Warriors discovered over the last 50 years. Now, fragments of that dream of immortality rise again – this time in Perth, where the largest exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors ever staged in Australia will head later this year

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

Gallagher brothers perform together for first time in 16 years in London working men’s club

Posted on by

Noel and Liam believed to have filmed promo video at Mildmay club in Newington Green ahead of summer’s sold-out Oasis tour

Liam and Noel Gallagher have performed together for the first time in 16 years in a working men’s club in north London, according to reports.

The brothers were pictured arriving at the Mildmay club in Newington Green, north London, on Thursday where they are believed to have filmed a promotional video for this summer’s sold-out Oasis reunion tour.

Continue reading...