LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Tom Stoppard, one of Britain’s best-known playwrights, has died at the age of 88. Below are some tributes and reactions.
“Tom Stoppard was my favourite playwright. He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him.”
Stoppard’s agent said it was an honour to work with him.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family. He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language.”
THEATRE CRITIC MARK SHENTON
“For over 50, 60 years he’s dominated the theatre,” Shenton told Sky News. “And the cinema as well. He had a phenomenal impact. He was probably Britain’s leading playwright.”
“We are so sad to learn of the death of Tom Stoppard,” The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain said. “A recipient of our Outstanding Contribution to Writing in 2017, he was presented by fellow playwright and former WGGB President (David Edgar) who said of him: ‘Like no one else, he has challenged, dazzled and amazed.’”
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox on Monday said he will run for a seat in the Bahamas’ House of Assembly in an election due to be held no later than October.
“As a candidate and as a leader for the Bahamas I will demand transparency, honesty, integrity while demanding a level of excellence from all of us,” Fox wrote on social media.
“This is bigger than party politics. This is the Bahamas versus the world. Imagine a nation where every Bahamian feels secure, safe, empowered, and proud.”
Fox, who was born in Canada to a Bahamian father and Canadian mother, played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association as a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
Under the Bahamas’ parliamentary system, Fox will run to represent one of 39 constituencies but he did not specify which one.
Prime Minister Philip Davis will decide the date of the election, which must occur within five years of the last election in 2021.
Earlier in November, Fox announced he was forming the Good Neighbors Party with an agenda focused on regional integration in the Caribbean.
He was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Fox won three NBA titles with the Lakers from 2000 to 2002 and retired in 2004.
While in the NBA, he launched an acting career and has since starred in films and television shows like “Ugly Betty,” “Greenleaf” and “One Tree Hill.”
Fox has continued to live in the Los Angeles area but has a home in the Bahamas, where he was appointed ambassador at large for sports in 2022.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
The latest twist came Monday in the high-profile case of animal welfare activist Zoe Rosenberg, who awaits sentencing for her role in taking four chickens from a Perdue Farms processing facility in Petaluma: a celebrity endorsement.
Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, one of Hollywood’s most esteemed actors, released a statement through the group Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, urging the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office to prosecute Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry facility for “years of documented cruelty,” rather than focusing its attention on activists such as Rosenberg.
“Criminalizing people for rescuing suffering animals is a moral failure,” Phoenix wrote. “Compassion is not a crime. When individuals step in to save a life because the system has looked the other way, they should be supported — not prosecuted. We have to decide who we are as a society: one that protects the vulnerable, or one that punishes those who try.”
In addition to circulating the statement to media outlets, DxE posted it on Facebook and Instagram. By 3 p.m. Monday, the post had been shared more than 1,800 times, and had attracted nearly 2,000 comments, most of them supportive of Phoenix’s message.
Carla Rodriguez, the Sonoma County district attorney, said her office had not heard directly from the actor, and she had not spoken to him.
Zoe Rosenberg talks to supporters outside the Sonoma County Hall of Justice after being found guilty of felony conspiracy. Photo taken in Santa Rosa Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press Democrat)
Rosenberg, a 23-year-old Cal student billed by Berkeley-based DxE as an “animal cruelty investigator,” was convicted Oct. 29 by a Sonoma County jury on charges of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanors. She is set to be sentenced Dec. 3 and could face up to 4½ years for her actions at the Petaluma Poultry processing plant during a 2023 incursion there by activists.
If it seems odd to see a movie star insinuate himself into the legal affairs of Sonoma County, it fits Phoenix’s lifelong support of animal welfare. He has been vegan since the age of 3.
When he won the Best Actor award for his dark portrayal of the title character in the movie “Joker,” he took the opportunity to speak out on animal agriculture.
“We go into the natural world, and we plunder it for its resources,” Phoenix told the audience in Hollywood while accepting his Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony. “We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.”
The next day, Phoenix backed up his words with action. In partnership with the activist group LA Animal Save, he helped remove a cow and newborn calf from a slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera, with permission from the owner, and relocated the animals to the Farm Sanctuary property in Acton. Both locations are in Los Angeles County.
Phoenix won other awards for “Joker” in 2020, and he took up the cause of animal liberation at each step. Before the British Academy Film Awards, known as the BAFTAs, he helped drape a 400-square-foot banner from London’s famed Tower Bridge, declaring “Factory farming destroys our planet. Go vegan.”
Direct Action Everywhere insists producers such as Petaluma Poultry run factory farms that are too large to ensure animal welfare. Local dairy and poultry businesses vehemently disagree, a debate that came to a head in 2024 when DxE members championed Measure J, which sought to sharply limit the size of those operations in Sonoma County. The measure suffered a resounding defeat at the polls.
A month before the BAFTA demonstration, Phoenix thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which at the time hosted the Golden Globe Awards, for adopting vegan standards at its 2020 ceremony.
“But we have to do more than that,” he urged the Golden Globes audience that night. “Together we can hopefully be unified and actually make some changes. It’s great to vote. But sometimes we have to take that responsibility on ourselves.”
A DxE spokesperson said Phoenix’s statement on behalf of Rosenberg was coordinated by his social impact advisor, Michelle Cho.
Petaluma Poultry was locally owned until 2011, when it was acquired by Perdue Farms, the Maryland-based agribusiness giant. The company still buys its chickens from local farms. DxE has claimed for years that conditions at the Petaluma facility are cruel to the birds and unhealthy for consumers.
Perdue Farms denies such claims and has petitioned the courts to prevent DxE demonstrators from protesting at the homes of Petaluma Poultry executives.
Direct Action Everywhere activists protest at the Santa Rosa home of Jason Arnold, Petaluma Poultry director of operations, on March 22. (Direct Action Everywhere) Direct Action Everywhere
“Petaluma Poultry is very committed to proper animal care,” local spokesperson Rob Muelrath said on behalf of the company. “Our birds have room to move around, access to the outdoors, and things to keep them engaged. They’re raised on a healthy diet without antibiotics.”
Muelrath added that the facility is regularly visited by U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors, and by Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit that rates welfare standards at farms, ranches and other businesses related to meat production.
The Sonoma County Superior Court judge in Rosenberg’s trial, Kenneth Gnoss, prohibited her attorneys from introducing documentation DxE had collected at the processing plant in Petaluma.
Her attorneys argued she acted out of moral duty to save animals she believed were suffering. She said after the verdict, she had no regrets about her actions.
Her legal team is planning to appeal.
“The jury found Zoe Rosenberg guilty on all counts,” Muelrath wrote to The Press Democrat. “The break-in was a well-planned, deliberate breach of private property with the intent to steal — a criminal act that was deliberate, strategic, and bordering on corporate espionage or agro-terrorism.”
Phoenix’s filmography also includes starring roles in “Walk the Line,” “Her,” “The Master” and, most recently, “Eddington.”
You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) -FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were in attendance at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, arriving on the red carpet with Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali before touring the paddock and McLaren’s garage.
“This is a fantastic event to celebrate not just these drivers and teams but also the great competition F1 is,” Noem told Reuters.
“We’re just glad everyone could come and do it securely.”
Patel said he was “absolutely” an F1 fan and that he supported McLaren.
Asked whether he would switch allegiances when the American team Cadillac joins the grid next year, Patel hedged.
“I’ll have to see how they do,” he said.
Security at major events in Las Vegas has been heightened since a gunman killed 58 people and wounded more than 500 more at a country music festival in 2017 in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
The third edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is held along the Las Vegas Strip, has drawn a raft of celebrities including Beyonce and Jay-Z, who met with Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton before the race, and actress Cynthia Erivo of Wicked fame.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said golf legend Jack Nicklaus will lead some work to restore two golf courses at Joint Base Andrews, a military base near Washington, D.C., just outside the capital.
Trump met Nicklaus, whose Nicklaus Design is one of the world’s largest golf course design and construction companies, at the military base for an aerial tour, the White House said.
Before leaving the White House for Andrews, Trump told reporters that Nicklaus would be involved in rebuilding the base’s two golf courses and other recreational facilities, which he said were “in very bad shape.”
Trump, an avid golfer, owns 18 golf courses, including a dozen in the United States, one in Ireland, two in Scotland and one in the United Arab Emirates.
He did not provide further details about the work planned for Joint Base Andrews or how it would be funded, although he said it could be done for “very little money.”
The White House, Defense Department and Nicklaus Design did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has undertaken various construction projects at the White House, including renovating the Lincoln Bedroom’s bathroom, paving over the Rose Garden and decorating the Oval Office in gold.
In his most ambitious renovation project, Trump in October ordered the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom, a project that drew sharp criticism for not going through a proper review.
Trump has said the $300 million construction of the new ballroom will be funded by private donations from companies and wealthy individuals.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Sergio Non and Chris Reese)
Getting pregnant at 44 is not that common, but it happened to Claire Danes, who is now 46 years old. In addition to her older children, 12-year-old Cyrus and 7-year-old Rowan, The Beast in Me star Danes is mother to a 2-year-old daughter whose name she has kept private.
When she got pregnant, it came as something of a shock to her, she said on the SmartLess podcast in an episode published November 17. “We had this oopsy-daisy third baby,” she said. A pregnancy at an advanced age can be emotionally complex. “I was so ‘old’ when it happened. I was 44,” she recounted, adding that “I didn’t think it was possible” to get pregnant at that age.
Initially, she was surprised and even embarrassed by the news, mainly because of her age and the social stigma attached to it, and also because neither she nor her husband Hugh Dancy, who is 50, was trying to have another child.
“I did not foresee this at all, and it was weird. Suddenly I felt a kind of funny shame,” she explained. “Like I was naughty. Like I had been caught fornicating past the point I was meant to. No, it was weird, like I had discovered an edge I wasn’t quite conscious of, like I was going outside the parameters a little bit.”
Since her third pregnancy came after two sons, Danes expected to have another boy, she said. “I got really, really lucky. I mean, my OB-GYN was like, ‘You know you’re having another boy.’ But no!” she recounted. “I would have been delighted” to have another boy, she said, “but I am more delighted” with her daughter. “She’s pretty cool. She loves a tutu.”
Danes and Dancy met in 2006 on the set of Evening, where they played two lovers. In a 2017 interview with Marie Claire, the actress recalled realizing during a bike ride with Dancy in Rhode Island that she was in love. “I just had this dumb epiphany, like, I’m really just happy,” she said of the moment. They were married in France in 2009, four years before the birth of their first child.
In a 2013 interview, she confessed that she was glad she waited to have children until later in her life, when she was more mature and could take the time she wanted and needed to focus on her family. “I’ve always wanted to have kids, but I’m glad I didn’t until now,” she said then. “When I was thinking about [working and being a mother] originally, I was really nervous about it. I think I would make a lousy stay-at-home mom.”
She said that she didn’t think it would “suit” her, and emphasized her love of her chosen career. “I feel so fortunate, in that I’ve had this arrow-straight focus that I wanted to act.”
Jimmy Fallon greets me at the door. He looks like I usually picture him, save for the lack of his typical Tonight Show desk: He’s suited and smiling, wearing a cornflower blue tie, right hand mid-gesture. He is also, importantly, made of wax.
So begins my surreal journey through the Times Square location of Madame Tussauds on Wednesday, in pursuit of Jeff Goldblum and his waxen twin.
The actor has inspired plenty of memorable works of art, both sanctioned (a 25-foot statue lounging in London in 2018 in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park) and not (approximatelyhalfofEtsy, where one can find Goldblum-themed prayer candles, Goldblum-dinosaur hybrid art, jewelry of Goldblum’s character in The Fly, and much more).
“It just makes me wonder off the top of my head, I don’t know, have I done something to offend the great Madame Tussaud? It’s not that I think I’m entitled to my own figure, of course, I wouldn’t think that, but I don’t want to also think that I’m unwaxable,” he said on the show.
This week at the unveiling of his beeswax brother, Goldblum’s fears were dispelled and his waxability confirmed.
The elevator doors open to the 7th floor, and I nod to Chris Hemsworth (wax) dressed as Thor. Very large. Smaller, guarding a portal, is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. From there, the theme of the floor abruptly shifts to New York City: Lou Reed (wax) stands near Andy Warhol (wax), whose bothered expression suggests he’s not thrilled to see me. Marilyn Monroe (wax) stands over a grate and holds her just-billowing skirt down across the room from a seated and expectant Holly Golightly (wax), who doesn’t seem to notice a grinning Selena Gomez (wax) standing just outside the Tiffany’s display window. Drew Barrymore (wax) is there in a flowing rainbow gown, and Whoopi Goldberg (wax) stands guard just before the doorway to my final destination.
In here, it’s Christmas. There’s Mariah Carey (wax) in a Mrs. Claus getup, and a tuxedoed Leonardo DiCaprio (wax) next to a lit-up tree, not far from F. Scott Fitzgerald (wax) seated on a green leather couch. Swing a left at the mid-axel Michelle Kwan (wax), and there he is: Jeff Goldblum (wax). Later, he’ll be packed into a shipping crate and sent to his permanent home at the Madame Tussaud’s outpost in Orlando, Florida, but for today’s grand unveiling, he stands, clad in all black, on a plush butter yellow carpet in front of a forest green velvet curtain strung with white twinkle lights.
(CNN) — Friends, family and fans gathered Thursday to honor the late Chadwick Boseman receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
Thursday was declared “Chadwick Boseman Day” in Hollywood, and his “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” costar Viola Davis, his “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler and Boseman’s widow Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman spoke during the emotional ceremony.
“I have to believe that Chadwick is still alive,” Davis said. “I can’t use the word ‘gone’ or ‘death’ really when thinking about him.”
Davis noted that they worked on their Oscar-winning movie “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” just before he passed, and said Boseman “was always trying to engage me on the set” talking about the “cap of success” and having the types of conversations that she believes people have when they know they “possibly are transitioning.”
The late actor, she said in her tribute, was a “mighty mighty elixir that sort of stirred up the alchemy that we’re all in search of, which is meaning.”
“I celebrate him today. And I say to him, I hope all the angels in heaven just sang him to a beautiful rest,” Davis said. “And I thank him for what he left behind in me, which is a burning ember that always guides me to a higher meaning of my work and my purpose.”
“This star, as beautiful as it is on the Walk of Fame, shines a whole lot less brighter than Chadwick is in heaven,” she concluded her speech.
Coogler, Boseman’s friend who directed him in the “Black Panther” Marvel film, asked for attendees’ understanding as he emotionally talked about the late star.
“When I think of Chadwick Boseman I think of three things: leadership, teaching and generosity,” Coogler said. “He was an incredible leader.”
The famed “Sinners” director said Boseman was “ageless,” and joked he didn’t know his age until he went to one of his birthday parties. He also told a story about Boseman sneaking past stars like Sylvestor Stallone, Michael B. Jordan (who was present at Thursday’s ceremony) and others to get into Coogler’s hotel room during a big press tour for the 2015 film “Creed.”
Boseman, Coogler said, wanted to meet with him to talk about working together on “Black Panther” and managed to evade even the press that were were present.
“I was so impressed by that and I asked him how he got past everybody and he smiled and said, ‘That was the Panther,’” Coogler said, chuckling.
Boseman’s wife was the last to take the podium, and had a heartfelt message for her late husband.
“Chad, today we recognize a lifetime of artistry. We recognize your skill and your devotion and we cement your legacy as a hero and icon,” she said. “You lived with honor and you walked in truth. You were as brilliant as you were beautiful and as courageous as you were kind. We love you, we miss you and we thank you.”
She then invited her husband’s brothers, Derrick and Kevin Boseman, to help with the unveiling of the star.
In addition to portraying T’Challa in “Black Panther” and other Marvel movies as well as his Academy Award-nominated turn in Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Boseman had a robust film and television career, and portrayed Thurgood Marshall, James Brown and Jackie Robinson on film before his untimely passing.
“So it goes ‘New Year’s Day’ verse and chorus, ‘Manuscript’ bridge into ‘Long Live’ bridge, into the down verse of ‘Long Live,’ into ‘Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you,’ into ‘Long Live’ chorus but slowed down to half time, ‘New Year’s Day’ chords underneath it, into the last verse of ‘The Manuscript,’” Swift rattles off in the trailer’s final clip as her mother watches with a stunned expression that may be one of horror or one of admiration, but is probably both.
After a beat, Andrea says, “That’s complicated,” not even bothering to remove her balled-up fist from where it’s resting on her chin as she listens to her daughter’s grand plan for the supersized surprise song mash-up that she performed for the final night of the tour in Vancouver on December 8, 2024.
An incredibly successful artist, Swift occupies a singular position in our cultural consciousness, with her work and very life drawing just as much public criticism as they do fervent fan adoration. She’s incredibly private about her personal life—remember the rumor that she left her apartment building in a gigantic suitcase so as not to be photographed outside? I sure do!—while sharing other experiences and feelings in painstaking detail, whether through her song lyrics and letters or documentaries and interviews. Consider that she spent nearly two hours chatting with then boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason Kelce, on their New Heights podcast in August—sharing not only the title, cover art, and release date for her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, but also Travis’s dream pet, a “really specific type of otter.” (In short: a wild one he rescues, thus earning its unending devotion.)
After the recording, later in the day, Travis proposed to her. A few short weeks later, she shared that too.
All of this is to say that just when it seems like Swift has shown all her cards and there’s nothing left to reveal, the singer produces yet more compelling work. The original Eras Tour concert film had its theatrical run extended, then extended again, and you’d think, perhaps, that the appetite for a three-plus-hour filmed show would be sated, but here comes The Eras Tour | The Final Show, another full-length filmed concert, this one including the Tortured Poets Department set that Swift added to the tour after that album’s release. The new concert film will be released on December 12 on Disney+, as will the first two of episodes of the six-installment docuseries, just in time for Swift’s 36th birthday on December 13.
The Philly Specials won’t record new holiday tunes this year, but the trio of current and former Eagles linemen is keeping their charitable Christmas spirit alive with a spinoff endeavor.
Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson are selling gifts this year, including plush toys of their likenesses, greeting cards and box sets of the Philly Specials’ previously released albums. The proceeds benefit Philadelphia-area charities. Since 2022, sales of the albums and money earned from streaming has raised more than $10 million, which as been donated to over 75 charities in the region, including Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Children’s Crisis Treatment Center.
The plushies depict Kelce, Mailata and Johnson each wearing a green Christmas sweater with his jersey number on the front and last name embroidered on the back. They are sold in sets of three for $49. The box set with vinyl and CD copies of all three holiday albums along with Christmas magnets is $99.
The stuffed players sets are available for pre-sale and are expected to ship out Thanksgiving week. Other items can be purchased now on the Philly Specials website.
The Philly Specials have released three albums: “A Philly Special Christmas” in 2022, “A Philly Special Christmas Special” in 2023 and “A Philly Special Christmas Party” in 2024.
“Making music with my friends and donating to organizations committed to making the lives of Philadelphia families and students brighter during the holidays has been a highlight of the past three years,” Mailata said in a statement. “We are looking forward to bringing the joy back again this year with proceeds from the new plushies and a few other surprises.”
The trio became an unlikely music sensation during recent holiday seasons, and music legends like Stevie Nicks, Bon Jovi and Patti LaBelle have contributed to their Billboard-topping albums. They released their third and final album in November 2024.
On Thursday, the Philly Specials posted the first video of what will be a weekly Instagram series that reflects on their journey to musical stardom. It all began with a locker room conversation between Kelce and another former Eagles player, Connor Barwin, now the team’s head of football development and strategy, they say.
“We were just hoping to raise some money,” Kelce says in the video. “We had no idea what the expectation was. We just wanted to have fun.”
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Britain’s Prince William expressed optimism on Wednesday about tackling global environmental challenges at a star-studded event in Rio de Janeiro for the fifth edition of his EarthShot Prize.
William’s first visit to Latin America comes shortly before Brazil hosts the UN climate summit COP30 next week.
“I understand that some might feel discouraged in these uncertain times,” William said during the ceremony for the award, founded in 2020 and inspired by a visit to Namibia.
“I understand that there is still so much to be done. But this is no time for complacency, and the optimism I felt in 2020 remains ardent today.”
Named in homage to John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” goal, the award was intended to foster significant environmental progress within a decade that has now reached its midpoint.
The prize, which aims to find innovations to combat climate change, and tackle other green issues, awards five winners 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) each to drive their projects.
Pop stars Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes, Brazilian musicians Gilberto Gil, Seu Jorge and Anitta, along with former Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, were among those who appeared or performed at the ceremony.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and London Mayor Sadiq Khan also attended.
William will attend the UN climate summit in place of his father, King Charles. On his trip, he announced initiatives for Indigenous communities and environmental activists, and visited landmarks in Rio.
(Reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo and Michael Holden in London; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
LONDON (Reuters) -Prince William heads to Brazil next week for the awards ceremony for his multi-million-dollar environmental prize, hoping to refocus attention away from the scandal of his uncle Andrew and back on the royals’ causes.
William will visit some of Rio de Janeiro’s most famous landmarks on what will be the British heir’s first Latin American trip.
The aim is to turn the spotlight onto a line-up of environmental projects before the annual awards ceremony for the prince’s Earthshot Prize.
The visit comes days after King Charles stripped his younger brother of his title of prince and evicted him from his mansion, banishing his sibling from public life to try to prevent any further damage to the royal brand from Andrew’s ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
During his three-day trip, William will seek to focus on his main philanthropic environmental cause, which aims to find innovations to combat climate change, and awards five winners 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) each to drive their projects.
William will visit Sugarloaf mountain, the Maracana soccer stadium, the Christ the Redeemer statue and the Copacabana beach where he will play volleyball, a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.
His wife Kate, who is in remission after cancer treatment, will not be joining him.
South America is an uncommon destination for the British royals who tend to focus overseas trips on Europe or the foreign realms where the king is head of state, such as Canada.
William has never been to Brazil or Latin America before, while Charles last went there in 2009.
This year, the Earthshot events will take place a week before the United Nations COP30 climate summit which is also being held in Brazil and which the prince will attend in place of his father.
“With its energy, its people and its iconic landscapes it is the perfect place to celebrate amazing environmental innovation and host our biggest and best Earthshot ever,” Jason Knauf, chief executive of the Earthshot Prize, said.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 5 which will feature a host of celebrities and performances from Australian popstar Kylie Minogue and Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil.
Organisers say the summit surrounding the event will attract more than 1,000 global leaders, some of the world’s biggest philanthropists along with global mayors and world-leading scientists.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
It was December 29, 1975, and, as he recounted, “I was drunk and driving my car here in California in a blackout, no clue where I was going, when I realized that I could have killed somebody—or myself, which I didn’t care about—and I realized that I was an alcoholic.” The two-time Oscar winner woke up in a hotel room without even knowing how he got there. Not long after, at a party in Beverly Hills, he remembers telling one of his agents, “I need help.”
Hopkins recalls that night in sharp detail: “It was 11 o’clock precisely—I looked at my watch—and this is the spooky part: Some deep powerful thought or voice spoke to me from inside and said: ‘It’s all over. Now you can start living. And it has all been for a purpose, so don’t forget one moment of it.’”
Since then his life has changed dramatically. And for years now, every Dec. 29, he has celebrated on social media one more year of sobriety, encouraging those struggling with alcoholism to seek help: “Having fun is wonderful, having a drink is fine. But if you are having a problem with booze, get help,” he said, for example, in a 2024 social media video.
A few years earlier, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, he celebrated 45 years sober, posting a video message on X (formerly Twitter) urging people to be resilient. “It’s been a tough year, full of grief and sadness for many, many, many people,” he said then. “But 45 years ago today I had a wake-up call. I was heading for disaster. I was drinking myself to death. I got a message, a little thought, that said, ‘Do you want to live or die?’ I said I wanted to live. And suddenly the relief came and my life has been amazing.”
High school students with big dreams and unstoppable drive have until October 31 to apply for the 2026 Disney Dreamers Academy, a life-changing mentorship program held at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. This transformative, multi-day experience offers students the chance to explore their passions and gain inspiration for their future careers.
The program is open to U.S. high school students ages 13 to 19, who will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Walt Disney World—along with one parent or guardian. A panel of distinguished leaders will review all applications, and 100 participants will be selected and announced in early 2026.
Now entering its 19th year, Disney Dreamers Academy continues to empower students from diverse backgrounds through days filled with inspiration, discovery, and personal growth. Participants engage in hands-on learning, career exploration, and leadership development, discovering how to dream bigger and achieve more. Students are introduced to career fields ranging from STEM and business to entertainment and the arts, while learning directly from educators, executives, celebrities, and Disney cast members who offer real-world insight and mentorship.
Throughout the program, Dreamers develop essential life skills—leadership, communication, and networking—to help turn their aspirations into action.
The Disney Dreamers Academy reflects Walt Disney World’s commitment to uplifting diverse communities, inspiring young people to dream boldly, pursue their passions, and make a meaningful impact on the world around them.
(Reuters) -June Lockhart, who became the archetypal TV mom of the 1950s and 1960s with her roles on the campy sci-fi series “Lost in Space” and alongside a collie and a little boy on the family drama “Lassie,” died this week at age 100, her family announced on Saturday.
She died of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, California, according to a spokesperson for the family.
Lockhart portrayed planet-hopping mom Maureen Robinson on producer Irwin Allen’s “Lost in Space,” which ran from 1965 to 1968 and was later very popular in syndication. From 1958 through 1964 she had played Ruth Martin, the mother of the young main character Timmy, on “Lassie.”
“Lost in Space,” which aired in the years leading to the first moon landing in 1969, adapted the castaway novel “The Swiss Family Robinson” to a space theme: a family is sent from Earth to colonize a distant planet but a stowaway sends the craft wildly off course.
Clad in a silvery space suit, Lockhart played the wife of the mission leader, portrayed by Guy Williams, whose three children, played by Billy Mumy, Angela Cartwright and Marta Kristen, join in the journey.
The series started as a serious foray into science fiction but became sillier in the second and third seasons as it focused on Mumy’s youthful Will Robinson, buffoonish stowaway Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) and the show’s popular robot. At the first hint of trouble, the robot would exclaim, “Danger, Will Robinson!”
Lockhart fondly remembered the goofy 1968 episode titled “The Great Vegetable Rebellion” featuring a villainous carrot that plotted to turn the family into plants.
“The ‘Vegetable Rebellion’ is definitely my favorite because we laughed so very hard through all of the shooting,” Lockhart told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2004. “In fact, Guy and I laughed so much and so often that we had to do take after take, which did not sit well with Irwin. So as punishment he wrote us out of the next two episodes. We got paid but we weren’t in them.”
Lockhart was born in New York on June 25, 1925. Her parents were actors — her father Gene Lockhart is best remembered as the judge in the 1947 holiday classic “Miracle on 34th Street” — and she made her film debut at age 12 alongside them in a 1938 version of “A Christmas Carol.”
As a young actor, she played supporting roles in major films including the 1944 Judy Garland movie “Meet Me in St. Louis,” one of the leading musicals of that decade, and starring roles in B movies like “She-Wolf of London” (1946).
She won a Tony Award in 1948 for her performance in the Broadway play “For Love or Money” and later was twice nominated for Emmy awards.
Lockhart replaced Cloris Leachman as the adoptive mother of Timmy, played by Jon Provost, in the fifth season of the long-running series “Lassie.”
After “Lost in Space,” she played a doctor for the final two seasons of the sitcom “Petticoat Junction” and had a recurring role on the soap opera “General Hospital.”
Lockhart also had a small role in the 1998 big-budget film version of “Lost in Space.”
Lockhart, a space aficionado who attended NASA space shuttle launches, learned that despite all the rubbery monsters and far-fetched plot lines, “Lost in Space” inspired future astronauts.
“I spend a lot of time at NASA with the astronauts,” she told the New Jersey newspaper the Record in 2002, “and to a man, or woman, they say that watching ‘Lost in Space’ made them know what they wanted to do when they grew up. So when I’m down there, of course, they treat me like a duchess. It’s wonderful.”
After appearing on a quiz show in the 1950s with members of the White House press corps, she was given an open invitation to attend White House press briefings, and for many years did so.
During former actor Ronald Reagan’s presidency, she said he confessed to her his regret about a scene he played in a 1942 movie with her father in which Reagan’s character smashed a tomato filled with chocolate sauce into Gene Lockhart’s face.
“The president told me, ‘I felt bad I had to do that to your father because the idea of chocolate sauce and tomato sauce together is repulsive,’” she told the Chicago Tribune in 1987.
Lockhart married twice, with both marriages ending in divorce.
(Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non and Matthew Lewis)
MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish police said on Friday they had recovered a 1919 Pablo Picasso painting that went missing earlier this month ahead of its planned display at a temporary exhibition in southern Spain.
The small framed “Still Life with Guitar” was part of a larger shipment of artworks moved from Madrid to Granada. The exhibit’s organisers filed a police complaint on October 10 once they noticed it missing after the crates were unpacked.
In a post on X, police said the painting may not have been loaded onto the transport truck before the shipment left Madrid. The historical heritage brigade was continuing its investigation, the statement said, without indicating whether police believed any crime had been committed.
Police released pictures of forensic experts examining the painting while wearing full sterile bodysuits and masks.
The police had registered the painting, which is owned by a private collector, in Interpol’s global database of Stolen Works of Art containing nearly 57,000 items.
The CajaGranada Foundation holding the exhibition said its security camera footage showed only 57 works being unloaded from the vehicle when it arrived, instead of the 58 expected.
(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Peter Graff)
(Reuters) -American media personality Kim Kardashian said she had been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, U.S. media outlets reported on Thursday.
Kardashian revealed her diagnosis during a teaser for the seventh season of her reality show, “The Kardashians,” which premiered on Hulu, the reports said.
It was not clear whether Kardashian was experiencing symptoms or not, they said.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports. Kardashian’s agent, public relations representative and attorney did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Earlier this year, she gave evidence in the trial of a gang called the “grandpa robbers”, who were accused of stealing jewellery worth millions of euros from her at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week in 2016.
(Reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
“I’m happy it’s over,” Kardashian, 45, said about her divorce. But she added: “My ex will be in my life no matter what. We have four kids together.”
Kardashian filed for divorce in 2021. Earlier this month, she said on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she was “not feeling safe” in her marriage. The couple had been married since 2014.
What is a brain aneurysm?
A brain aneurysm is a bulge or weak area in an artery in or around the brain. They are formed when the walls of an artery become thin or weak,theCleveland Clinic says.
Leading health organizations do not list stress as a cause of aneurysms, but prolonged stress may contribute to high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of ruptured brain aneurysms. A ruptured brain aneurysm, which causes bleeding in the brain, can be fatal.
About 1 in 50 Americans are estimated to be living with unruptured brain aneurysms. About 30,000 people a year have ruptured brain aneurysms, according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.
Aneurysms are most common in people ages 30 to 60, and are more likely among women. Heavy drinking, smoking and drug use, especially cocaine, put people at higher risk for brain aneurysms. Additional risk factors include polycystic kidney disease, Marfan syndrome and other inherited conditions.
Brain aneurysms may be hard to detect because they often don’t cause symptoms. Sometimes they are only found during imaging for other medical issues or after a rupture occurs, the Mayo Clinic says.
Symptoms of unruptured brain aneurysms may include headaches, vision changes, enlarged pupils, pain above the eye, numbness or tingling in the head or face and seizures.
Ruptured aneurysms are sometimes signaled by a “thunderclap headache,” a rapid-onset, severe headache, the Cleveland Clinic says. Other symptoms may include nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, blurred or double vision, light sensitivity, confusion and loss of consciousness. People with these symptoms should get immediate medical attention.
Emergency surgery is needed to treat a ruptured brain aneurysm. Brain aneurysms that are small and haven’t ruptured may not require immediate treatment, just monitoring, the Cleveland Clinic says.
(Reuters) -Luxury goods giant LVMH is exploring a sale of its 50% stake in Fenty Beauty, which it co-owns with Grammy Award-winning singer and entrepreneur Rihanna, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The company is working with investment bank Evercore on the sale, three of the people said. All four asked not to be identified because the process is confidential.
In 2017, Rihanna, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, launched Fenty Beauty with the help of Kendo Brands, LVMH’s in-house beauty incubator. She and LVMH each own half of the company, sources said.
LVMH and Evercore declined to comment. Fenty Beauty and representatives for Rihanna did not immediately return requests for comment.
Fenty Beauty, which generated around $450 million of net sales in 2024, could be valued at somewhere between $1 billion to $2 billion, two of the people said.
Barbados-born Rihanna, who also owns lingerie brand Savage X Fenty, started Fenty Beauty to create a makeup line that works for a wider range of skin tones and types, including Black, Hispanic and Asian women. The products, which include makeup, skincare, haircare and fragrance, are sold in Sephora and on Amazon.
Elf Beauty bought Hailey Bieber’s company Rhode for $1 billion earlier this year.
(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York, Editing by Dawn Kopecki and Chris Reese)
They’re not in the same friend group. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic, Saira MacLeod/WWD via Getty Images
Gwyneth Paltrow supports dating single moms whether or not they are billionaires. Cinema’s prodigal daughter, Paltrow did not bother to Google Timothée Chalamet before starring alongside him in Josh Safdie’s upcoming sports drama Marty Supreme, her first major non-Marvel movie in a decade. “Everyone makes fun of me because I don’t know anything,” she told British Vogue in an October 15 profile. When she first met him “at the costume test,” she said she was “asking him questions, trying to get to know him.” “I was like, ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’” she recalled. “And he was like, ‘I do.’” Well, Gwyneth, we have a timelinée for you.
While his girlfriend’s identity was breaking news to some, Paltrow was more intrigued to learn that she has kids. “I was like, ‘That’s so cool. I really love to hear that [from] a young man like you,’” Paltrow remembered saying. “I understand a 45-year-old who has his own kids going out with a woman with kids, but it’s a cool choice to go out with a young woman who has two kids. I respect it. I think it’s kind of punk rock. But my point is I didn’t know [it was] Kylie Jenner.” Who other than Gwyneth Paltrow is going to claim it’s “punk” to date one of the most famous women in the world?
