3 mins read

The epic La Tomatina food fight drew foreigners to paint a small Spanish town red

BUÑOL, Spain | Thousands of revelers — including many lured by a Bollywood film — descended on a small Spanish town on Wednesday for the annual La Tomatina food fight, where they painted Buñol red with tons of overripe tomatoes. Loaded trucks plodded through the crowd with people in their cargo beds throwing tomatoes at […]

2 mins read

Rupert Grint will become Ron Weasley again — this time, on Broadway

NEW YORK | Rupert Grint — the original Ron Weasley from the “Harry Potter” movies — will slip into his old role on Broadway next year in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Grint, who starred in all eight ” Harry Potter ” movies from 2001 to 2011, will join the play at the Lyric […]

5 mins read

Movie Review: What’s up, flop? The toon-human hybrid ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ should’ve stayed on shelf

Some Hollywood decisions defy logic. Like, who looked at the world of Looney Tunes, those unhinged cartoons of our youth, and thought: Let’s add a bunch of personal injury lawyers. Such is the premise of the clunky, too-earnest, live-action-toon-hybrid “Coyote vs. Acme,” a film initially mothballed by the studio only to later be featured in […]

4 mins read

Judge grants Blake Lively $400,000 of $8M in legal fees she sought in film fight with Justin Baldoni

NEW YORK | Blake Lively will get just over $400,000 of the $8 million she sought in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni after they settled their fight over the production of their 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Lewis J. Liman explained in a written decision […]

7 mins read

In Dolly Parton’s theology, God and acceptance shared the same stage

LOS ANGELES | In her 1994 memoir, Dolly Parton recounts in vivid detail the place where she found God. It was an abandoned church, in rural Tennessee where she grew up, that had become known as a haven for sex, drugs and violence. Rather than see the used condoms on the floor, the out-of-tune piano […]

6 mins read

Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across the art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo

TOKYO | Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations around the world, has died, her studio said Thursday. She was 97. Kusama died Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, Yayoi Kusama Studio said, without specifying the cause of death. “She continued to paint until her […]

7 mins read

Zelenskyy’s direct plea helped unlock Russia sanctions in the Senate. What’s next is uncertain

WASHINGTON | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the U.S. Capitol hours after Lindsey Graham’s funeral to an unusually attentive audience. Half the Senate gathered for the closed-door meeting. Senators set their mobile phones down and focused their attention. Along with representatives from the House, they listened as Zelenskyy fielded questions about his country’s strategy […]

4 mins read

Britons get the chance to read Jason Arday’s story for themselves as memoir is published in the UK

LONDON | Britons who saw Professor Jason Arday’s life and death dissected by weeks of headlines covering allegations about his academic qualifications and personal accomplishments can now read his version of the story. Simon & Schuster will on Thursday publish Arday’s memoir “Great and Unfortunate Things,” which tells the story of how an autistic boy […]

3 mins read

Pakistani investigators visit hospital nursery where fire killed 14 newborns

ISLAMABAD | Investigators appointed by Pakistan’s prime minister were making a visit Thursday to the hospital nursery where a fast-moving fire killed 14 newborns, as grieving families and the public sought answers about the cause of the blaze and the safety measures at the major government facility. The fire early Wednesday was confined to the […]

6 mins read

Regional powers seek off-ramp from Iran war, and other Middle East developments

Qatar and other regional powers sought an off-ramp from the war with Iran on Thursday as another tanker attack was reported in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranian government dismissed the Trump administration’s latest sanctions. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon even as the country’s strikes on […]