Entertainment

More Africans should have the opportunity to tell Africa’s story to the world through cinema, Mehret Mandefro has told RT.Mandefro is an Emmy-nominated producer and screenwriter and managing director of the Realness Institute, a Cape Town-based non-profit supporting filmmakers from the Global South.Speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Inventing the Future: Plots and Stories’ forum at the National Center Russia on Saturday, she said Africa, rich in culture and myth, has a vast and well-developed cinema industry but has long lacked opportunities for distribution beyond the continent. ...

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at the Super Bowl LX halftime show by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, calling it one of the worst ever.The performer, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, delivered an exclusively Spanish-language set in front of 70,000 spectators, supported by numerous Hispanic dancers. He was joined by another Puerto Rican pop star, Ricky Martin, as well as Lady Gaga, the only one to sing in English. The performance concluded with a parade of Latin American and Caribbean nations' flags while Bad Bunny held up a football inscribed with “Together we are America.”Trump, who is facing an intense backlash from left-wing celebrities and activists over his crackdown on illegal immigration, took to his Truth Social platform later in the day, describing the ha...

Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain was the victim of homicide and did not kill himself, according to media reports citing a new investigation.The grunge superstar died on April 5, 1994, aged 27, in his Seattle home. The official police probe concluded that Cobain had died of a shotgun wound to the head and ruled his death a suicide.The murder conclusion follows a review of autopsy findings and crime scene materials by a team of independent forensic scientists, launched and financed by Nirvana fan Michelle Wilkins, the leader of the “Who Killed Kurt?” research group.The evidence suggests that Cobain, who had struggled with a drug addiction, was incapacitated by a heroin overdose before being shot and the scene staged, Wilkins told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. Autopsy findings showed brain and li...

The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Luc Tardif, has said he would like Russia and Belarus to return to international competition “as soon as possible.”Since 2022, the International Olympic Committee has banned Russian and Belarusian national teams and allowed some individual athletes to compete under neutral status after passing a strict vetting process. The sanctions applied to the 2024 Paris Olympics and the current 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.“We want as soon as possible Belarus and the Russians back. Because first, it will mean that the world will be a little bit better,” Tardif told a press conference in Milan on Thursday. ...

The head of the sports division of Italian state broadcaster RAI has stepped down after a gaffe-filled commentary during the Olympics opening ceremony, the company announced on Thursday.Paulo Petrecca has faced anger from the network's journalists even before the latest embarrassment due to his reported close ties with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had already been accused of turning news channels into “TeleMeloni.”During the live RAI coverage of the Olympics opening, seen by more than nine million people, Petrecca mixed up the venue, mistook Italian actress Matilda De Angelis for US singer Mariah Carey, and confused International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry for the daughter of the Italian president. ...

The real name of the mysterious street artist, who has been hiding under the alias ‘Banksy’ for years, is David Jones, Reuters has claimed, citing the results of its own investigation.Banksy’s identity has fueled speculation since his first graffiti appeared in 1999. He has become one of the world’s most famous artists, with his artworks popping up in various locations around the globe, including conflict hot spots, selling for millions of dollars at auctions and being frequent targets of thieves.In its article on Friday, Reuters noted that Banksy’s actual name had been first mentioned by the Daily Mail in 2008, which identified him as Bristol-born artist Robin Gunningham.According to the agency, he had since then changed his ID and now carries a passport with the name ‘David Jones.’It’s o...

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has condemned the exclusion of celebrated Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova from an upcoming dance festival in Rome.The cancellation came just days ahead of the Bolshoi Theater star's appearance at the Les Etoiles gala, which brings together leading dancers from the world’s biggest ballet companies. Venice Biennale, the organizer of the event, said in a statement cited by media that the invitation had been lawful, as Zakharova is not subject to EU sanctions, whic...

The Oscar-winning documentary ‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’, about day-to-day life inside a Russian school, violated privacy laws concerning minors, Russian human rights officials said on Wednesday.The Russian Human Rights Council, a presidential advisory body, said parents alleged that Pavel Talankin, a former videographer at a school in the small town of Karabash in Russia’s Ural Mountains, and US filmmaker David Borenstein included footage of children in their film without consent.Talankin filmed various extracurricular activities as part of his job and took the video archive with him when he left Russia in 2024. The film he made with Borenstein using the footage won an Academy Award on Sunday.Russian officials alleged that the documentary violated the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the ...

Chuck Norris, the martial arts champion and action film star who became a pop culture phenomenon through his roles in numerous Hollywood classics and a wave of internet memes celebrating his legendary toughness, has died at 86.The actor passed away Thursday morning following a medical emergency on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, his family confirmed in a statement posted to his Instagram account.“While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace,” the statement read. “To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family.”Born Carlos Ray Norris on March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma, the fut...

The news sounds absurd, but it cannot be ignored: Chuck Norris has died.“To the world, he was a martial arts master, an actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family,” his relatives said in a statement. The cause of death has not been disclosed and may never be. That alone has sparked a strange curiosity: what on earth could have killed Chuck Norris?Apparently, time. Carlos Ray Norris was 86. Of those years, 67 were spent practicing karate. In one of his final videos, he is still boxing, still moving lightly, still insisting that he never grows old.Norris began his journey in the mid-1950s, while serving in the US military in South Korea. That was where he first took up karate. He return...