The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most successful teams in NBA history, are being sold to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and investor Joshua Kushner in a deal valued at a reported $12.5 billion. The sale announced on Wednesday would mark a record-breaking valuation for a North American sports franchise and comes only about […]
Category: English Entertainment
Rod Stewart cancels tour dates after heart surgery
British rock star Rod Stewart, 81, has cancelled forthcoming US tour dates after having a heart operation, his social media announced. A message posted late Tuesday on his Instagram page said the raspy-voiced rocker, known for hits such as “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”, has “successfully undergone a routine coronary stent procedure”. This procedure is […]
California calls Paramount’s threat to leave state ‘blackmail’
California accused Paramount of “blackmail” on Tuesday over a reported threat to pull the company out of the state because of lawsuits aimed at stopping its mega-merger with Warner Bros. A dozen US states have launched legal action to block a $110 billion move that would see the firm swallow the storied Hollywood studio, claiming […]
Spotify to launch badge identifying AI music
Streaming giant Spotify said Tuesday it would launch a new “AI Persona” badge in mid-September clearly identifying content producers that are AI-generated and not real people.”Listeners have been clear in telling us that they don’t like seeing an artist profile that seems human, only to find out that the persona is AI-generated,” Spotify said in a […]
Meta pushes global AI vision amid race with OpenAI, Anthropic and China
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg laid out a vision for how the United States and the social media giant could win a global race to dominate AI amid fierce competition from China. In a long essay published Monday about the future of artificial intelligence, Zuckerberg called for the US to compete against China, prevent “government tyranny” […]
Tupac Shakur murder trial begins 30 years after rapper’s death
The trial of a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur finally began on Monday, 30 years after one of America’s most high-profile unresolved killings. The proceedings, expected to last a month, will likely not make clear who fired the shots that killed the California hip-hop legend on the night […]
Ithaca bets on hometown hero Odysseus for tourism boom
Standing on the ferry as it waits to dock on the Greek island of Ithaca, Giorgia Ongarato is only too keen to talk about the “Odyssey” — the epic poem that inspired Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film. The Italian lawyer said it was her dream to come to Ithaca, widely believed to be the same island […]
Thirty years on, a trial finally opens in Tupac Shakur’s killing
A former gang leader goes on trial Monday in Las Vegas over the decades-old murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, one of America’s most high-profile unresolved murders. The proceedings, expected to last a month, will likely not make clear who fired the shots that killed the hip-hop legend on the night of September 7, 1996 while […]
Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, who fled Nazis, honoured in London
With its grand facade, the 1930s London mansion block looks like countless others. But one flat hides a tale of one of the darkest chapters in 20th century European history. Famed Austrian writer Stefan Zweig lived in flat number 71, at 49, Hallam Street, for three years until 1939 after fleeing his homeland as Nazi […]