Category Archives: Culture

‘He’s probably good’: Donald Trump Jr gets muted endorsement from his father for The Apprentice reboot

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Speculative reports say Amazon is considering relaunching the reality show once hosted by the US president, with his eldest son floated as a possible host

Amid speculative reports that Donald Trump Jr is being considered by Amazon to lead a reboot of The Apprentice, he’s already received a slightly muted endorsement from the reality show’s former host: his father.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Amazon was considering rebooting The Apprentice, which was hosted by the now US president Donald Trump between 2004 and 2015, for its streaming service Prime Video.

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Oscar belonging to co-director of Putin film missing after TSA makes him ship it

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Agents would not allow Pavel Talankin to carry statuette for Mr Nobody Against Putin on to flight from New York

The Oscar statuette belonging to Pavel Talankin, star and co-director of the Academy award-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, has disappeared after officials at New York’s John F Kennedy airport confiscated it before he boarded a flight, claiming it could be used as a weapon.

Talankin, whose documentation of Russia’s propaganda machine in grade schools won international acclaim, told Deadline that he had brought the statuette on several flights without incident. But when he arrived at JFK’s terminal 1 on Wednesday morning, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents said he could not take the 8.5lb trophy on board because it posed a security risk.

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Venice Biennale jury quits amid row over participation of Russia

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Decision follows backlash from Italian government and European Commission

The jury of the Venice Biennale has quit just days before the prestigious art exhibition is due to begin, amid a row over the decision to allow Russia to participate.

The resignation of the five-member international jury was announced late on Thursday in a brief statement by the Venice Biennale organisers, and came a day after the Italian culture ministry sent inspectors to Venice in search of information about the decision to allow Russia to have a pavilion at the event.

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German artist Georg Baselitz dies aged 88

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Prominent contemporary visual artist explored range of techniques across six decades of work

The German artist Georg Baselitz, whose expressive paintings and sculptures stirred controversy before winning him global acclaim and the admiration of politicians in high office, has died aged 88.

The Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, which had a longstanding professional relationship with the artist, confirmed his death on Thursday. It said Baselitz had “defined German visual art for a generation” and had died peacefully.

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Cynthia Erivo interrupts Dracula performance after spotting audience member’s camera

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Wicked star’s one-woman West End show was stopped in response to an increasingly common problem for theatres

A performance of Dracula in the West End on Monday night was halted after its star, Cynthia Erivo, spotted that an audience member appeared to be filming the show.

A representative for the production, in which Erivo plays all 23 roles, confirmed that there had been a short stop caused by the incident. A commenter on the forum Theatreboard, who said they had been at the show, wrote that Erivo – roughly an hour into the performance – “looked out into the audience and said: ‘Are you filming? Is someone filming?’ and stopped the show”. Another commenter said that they had attended Dracula – which is at the Noël Coward theatre – the following night and that there were extra reminders to the audience about taking photos and filming.

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Rebel Wilson rejects ‘absolutely outrageous’ phone-dumping accusation as defamation trial continues

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The Pitch Perfect actor is being sued by Charlotte MacInnes, the lead actor of Wilson’s directorial debut, The Deb

Hollywood star Rebel Wilson has rejected an “absolutely outrageous” accusation that she dumped her phone to avoid handing over key communications in a defamation case.

The Pitch Perfect star is being sued by Charlotte MacInnes, the 27-year-old lead actor of the musical comedy The Deb.

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Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library

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Dublin scholars find 1,200-year-old manuscript of Caedmon’s Hymn composed by Northumbrian cattle herder

A lost copy of a poem composed in the seventh century by a Northumbrian cattle herder – the earliest surviving poem in the English language – has been discovered in Rome.

Scholars from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) uncovered the manuscript that contains Caedmon’s Hymn at the National Central Library of Rome.

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Michael moonwalks to $217m opening weekend, shattering box office records for a biopic

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Michael Jackson biopic has shrugged off controversy, bad reviews and a troubled production to take $217m worldwide, including $97m in North America

Michael, the big-budget Michael Jackson biopic, has shrugged off bad reviews and a troubled production to launch with a $97m opening in North American theaters, contributing to its enormous $217m (£160m, A$303m) worldwide box office and shattering the record for the biggest biopic opening of all time.

The film, a highly authorised portrayal of the “king of pop” that was co-produced by the Jackson estate and stars Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, took $120.4m internationally and $97m domestic – combining to surpass Oppenheimer’s $180.4m worldwide opening weekend in 2023 and Bohemian Rhapsody’s $124m in 2018.

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Ukrainian action thriller billed as Saving Private Ryan for the drone age

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Killhouse is based on real-life story of civilian couple saved from battlefield by Ukrainian drone operators

It is being billed as Ukraine’s answer to Saving Private Ryan, updated for an age of drones.

The war movie Killhouse is an action thriller which shows off the latest in battlefield technology. Released this week, it features cameos by figures well known in Ukraine, including the nation’s former military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. One missing person is Donald Trump. The film is conveniently set in 2024, when Washington and Kyiv were allies.

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Palermo ‘honoured’ by rumours Dua Lipa and Callum Turner might marry there in June

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Italian newspapers claim singer and actor, who is tipped to be next James Bond, are planning ‘wedding of the year’ in the city

Last July, Dua Lipa shared a series of photos on Instagram while on holiday in Palermo with Callum Turner, the British actor she had become engaged to weeks earlier. In these photos, the pair appeared radiantly in love with each other – and the Sicilian capital.

There were pictures of the couple strolling through the city’s vibrant baroque alleys, admiring the ceiling frescoes in its striking cathedral and enjoying sunset boat trips. In another, a smiling Turner is holding a pair of ricotta-filled cannoli, the Sicilian dessert. One photo even captured the word ‘“amore” scrawled on a wall.

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Berlin culture minister resigns over irregular distribution of funds to fight antisemitism

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Auditor found Sarah Wedl-Wilson approved payments of public money to groups that had not been fully vetted

Berlin’s top culture official, British-born Sarah Wedl-Wilson, has stood down over a funding scandal involving the the irregular distribution of €2.6m in public money for programmes to fight antisemitism.

As culture senator for the Berlin regional government, Wedl-Wilson had already sacked a state secretary in her department, Oliver Friederici, over the affair this week, but the opposition called him a mere scapegoat.

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Slovenia to air films about Palestine instead of Eurovision song contest

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Ireland and Spain will also not broadcast Eurovision after decision to boycott live event over Israel’s participation

National broadcasters in Ireland, Spain and Slovenia will not air the Eurovision song contest this year, after they decided to boycott the event over Israel’s participation.

Having announced it would not submit a national entry, the Slovenian broadcaster RTV confirmed on Thursday it would implement a broadcasting blackout of the world’s largest live music event and instead show a series of films about Palestine.

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After collapse and controversy, Adelaide writers’ week has a new director: ‘I don’t envy anyone in this position’

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Rosemarie Milsom, who formed and runs Newcastle writers festival, will take over from Louise Adler after the literary festival imploded over invitation to Randa Abdel-Fattah

In January, as the implosion of Adelaide writers’ week made headlines around Australia and the world, Rosemarie Milsom was watching closely.

The Adelaide festival board, which oversees AWW, had overridden the literary festival’s director, Louise Adler, and disinvited the Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah over past comments she’d made about Israel and Zionism. This decision resulted not in a quieter, less-controversial festival as the board members may have hoped, but a boycott by 200-odd writers, the resignation of Adler – followed by the whole board – a potential defamation lawsuit against the South Australian premier and the collapse of AWW.

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David Malouf, Australian author of Remembering Babylon and Ransom, dies aged 92

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Acclaimed Brisbane-born writer was known for his work exploring his own childhood, great myths and colonial Australia

David Malouf, the acclaimed Australian author of books including Ransom, An Imaginary Life and the Booker prize-nominated Remembering Babylon, has died aged 92.

Malouf died on Wednesday, his publisher, Penguin Random House Australia, said in a statement on Thursday.

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‘The witches are back’: first look at Practical Magic 2 as Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return for spooky sequel

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The Kissing Booth’s Joey King and Game Of Thrones’ Maisie Williams star alongside the original cast members as the next generation of the cursed Owens family

The midnight margaritas are officially back on the menu. Within 24 hours of its debut, the first official teaser for Practical Magic 2 has surged into the Google Trends top 10, attracting millions of views and signalling an enthusiastic appetite for the return of the Owens family and all things witchy.

Academy Award winners Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman will return as sisters Sally and Gillian, with Kidman sharing a video of her and her fellow star on set last year, captioned: “The witches are back”.

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Music executive behind K-pop group BTS faces arrest in South Korea

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Police seek warrant for Bang Si-Hyuk over allegations he illegally gained millions in investor fraud scheme

South Korean police are seeking to arrest Bang Si-Hyuk, the chair of the agency behind the K-pop band BTS, as they expand an investigation into allegations that he illegally gained more than $100m (£74m) in an investor fraud scheme.

The Seoul metropolitan police agency confirmed it had asked prosecutors to request a court warrant for the arrest of Bang, the founder and chair of HYBE.

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Singer D4vd charged with murder of 14-year-old girl found in car

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Musician has been charged after the dismembered and decomposing body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in abandoned Tesla

The singer D4vd has been charged with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenage girl whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in the artist’s apparently abandoned Tesla in September.

The Los Angeles county district attorney’s office said the 21-year-old, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Rivas Hernandez, who was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died.

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John Keats’s love letters returned to owner after being stolen in the 1980s

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Romantic poet’s letters to Fanny Brawne, dated between 1819 and 1820, had been stolen from a Long Island estate

Eight original handwritten letters from the Romantic poet John Keats to his muse and “one passion”, Fanny Brawne, were returned to the family of John Hay “Jock” Whitney, the former US ambassador to the UK, on Monday after being stolen from Whitney’s home in the 1980s.

Keats’s letters, including the first letter he ever wrote to Brawne, are dated between 1819 and 1820. Valued at approximately $2m, the 37 letters are held in a gilt morocco-bound portfolio. Brawne was Keats’s neighbor in Hampstead, with whom he became infatuated and elevated to muse and goddess.

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Charlize Theron joins chorus of disapproval over Timothée Chalamet’s ballet comments

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The former ballet dancer said Chalamet’s comments were ‘reckless’ in an interview with the New York Times in which she also discussed her violent childhood

Actor and former ballet dancer Charlize Theron has joined the chorus of disapproval aimed at Timothée Chalamet over his remarks that appeared to disrespect performers of ballet and opera.

In an interview with the New York Times, Theron said: “Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day,” adding: “That was a very reckless comment on two art forms that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in 10 years, AI is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live.”

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Kanye West’s European tour in doubt as more concerts cancelled in Poland and Switzerland

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FC Basel and Polish stadium stop US rapper’s upcoming shows, after similar cancellations in France and UK over antisemitic comments

Kanye West’s upcoming concerts in Poland and Switzerland have been cancelled, as a growing number of European countries have stopped or postponed the US rapper’s performances amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments.

Swiss football club FC Basel, which is responsible for concerts and events that take place at its St Jakob-Park ground, told Reuters on Saturday that after reviewing a request for West to perform there in June, it decided against it.

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