Entertainment

Beijing is gearing up for the Eurasian Cinema Academy award screenings, which will showcase six feature-length films that garnered the Diamond Butterfly in various categories at the inaugural ceremony in Moscow last year.Touted by the organizers as an alternative to mainstream ‘woke’ Western film awards, the event promotes works that reflect both “national” and “universal spiritual and moral values” under the motto: “Any truth without love is a lie.”Renowned Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov played a seminal role in the creation of the Eurasian Cinema Academy and the Diamond Butterfly award with support from Russia’s Culture Ministry and Foreign Ministry.The screenings are scheduled to run August 28 through August 30 at the Art-House Cinema of the China Film Art Research Center in Beijing....

Ukraine has imposed sanctions on the creators of the popular Russian children’s cartoon Masha and the Bear, claiming it is part of Moscow’s propaganda campaign.The animated series, loosely based on a traditional Russian folk tale, follows the adventures of a mischievous little girl and a retired circus bear. It is one of the most popular children’s shows online, with one episode, Recipe for Disaster, having been viewed more than 4.6 billion times on YouTube.Last month, Netflix acquired the rights to two more seasons and extended licensing agreements for existing seasons and spin-offs, prompting criticism from Kiev.In a statement on Thursday, Ukraine’s presidential sanctions commissioner, Vladislav Vlasyuk, said the latest round of restrictions targeted five individuals and four entities in...

Jurors in a Las Vegas court have heard an audio recording of Duane Davis, aka ‘Keffe D’, who is on trial for the murder of US rapper Tupac Shakur, telling detectives that his late nephew Orlando Anderson pulled the trigger.The hip-hop superstar was shot four times while stopped at a red light in a car with record company executive Suge Knight on the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996. Shakur later succumbed to his wounds.A tape dated 2008 was presented in Clark County District Court on Thursday and features detectives telling Davis that their discussion is confidential, and that “nothing you say today can be used against you.” The former senior figure in the South Side Compton Crips street gang is heard saying that he was in the car, together with Anderson and two other men, when it pull...

Russian junior figure skaters have won gold medals in all four disciplines at an ISU Junior Grand Prix event in China, following a four-year absence from the competition due to an international ban. The event concluded in Xi’an on Saturday, with the Russians competing as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs).Polina Shesheleva and Egor Karnaukhov claimed the pairs title after finishing first in both the short program and free skate. They earned a combined 191.84 points, ahead of China’s Chen Yuxuan and Dong Yinbo, who took silver with 157.52.Lev Lazarev won the men’s competition with 250.21 points after also topping both programs. New Zealand’s Li Yanhao finished second with 230.89 points, while Japan’s Daiya Ebihara took bronze with 219.76.Sofia Dzepka secured the women’s title with 213.28 po...

Cristiano Ronaldo told an interviewer this past weekend that 2026-27 could be his last season. I half-expected him to add: “As a man.” But he’s unlikely to show up in the Irish Women’s Premier League, for now. Yet there’s a European flavor to the latest ‘thing’ to hit the American sports scene, where two men have ‘become women’ in order to prove a point.Slam Dunk for WokeThe Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has never had a more remarkable season than the current one. There was DiJonnai Carrington’s bad sportswomanship in posting “White Privilege” on her X account shortly after being ejected from a game for clotheslining Sophie Cunningham, and the ensuing racebaiting and stupidity that accompanied it. However, it was the latter woman who suffered the wrath of the wokerati when...

Dutch public broadcaster Avrotros has pulled out of next year’s Eurovision song contest, arguing that the event can “no longer be considered neutral” given the severe humanitarian suffering in Gaza.In a statement on Monday, Avrotros criticized Eurovision organizers for failing to establish clear rules for countries involved in military conflicts, saying its continued participation was no longer consistent with the broadcaster’s values of “trustworthiness, independence and humanity.”This year’s contest became embroiled in a series of scandals linked to Israel’s participation amid its continued military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon. Five countries – Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, and Slovenia – boycotted the event in May in protest against West Jerusalem’s actions. ...

After enduring years of character assassinations by the right, Hunter Biden is in the throes of a chaotic media blitz that’s included Twitter-trolling, posting on Substack and appearances on a number of far-right podcasts, from Hitler worshipper Nick Fuentes and Russia stooge Tucker Carlson to conspiracy theorist Candace Owens. Is Joe Biden’s wayward son trying to land a lucrative podcast deal or taking one last stand to clear his name as his father battles cancer? Whatever the reason, the latest stop on Biden’s no-holds-barred media tour saw the 56-year-old sit down with Bill Maher on his HBO series “Real Time” Friday night. And their conversation got off to a rollicking start. “Your obituary, the third word will be ‘laptop.’ I know everything about the laptop — more thing...