Ecstatic Beyonce fans sang and danced in feverish excitement in Stockholm Wednesday in the final countdown to the superstar kicking off her first solo tour in seven years.. Many of the fans in Stockholm sported cowboy hats and rhinestones that sparkled in the spring sun, mimicking the look of the iconic performer's outfit in the ads announcing the 57-stop European and North American tour.
An Egyptian archaeologist on Wednesday released a documentary on the life of Cleopatra, the same day Netflix began streaming a controversial production depicting the ancient queen as black.. Following the release of a trailer for the Netflix production, an online petition accusing the streaming service of rewriting history had garnered more than 40,000 signatures by late April.
French actor Adele Haenel, who has for years spoken out against sexual abuse in the film industry, announced she was giving up movie acting over the industry's "complacency".. In a letter to culture weekly Telerama first published on Tuesday, Haenel said she wanted to "denounce the general complacency in our industry towards sexual abusers".
The Champs-Elysees in Paris will hold the world's biggest spelling test next month, organisers said Wednesday.. Competitors taking part in "the world's largest dictation" on June 4 will have to correctly write down a passage of French text read out by the organisers.
There were once again two popes at the Vatican Wednesday, at least briefly, when Pope Francis welcomed Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to his weekly audience.. Francis has sought to build ties with other churches and other faiths since becoming pope in 2013, following the resignation of his predecessor Benedict XVI. Benedict, who took the title emeritus pope, lived in the Vatican until his death on December 31, 2022. cmk-ar/ide/yad
Google is expected to enrich its popular online services with more artificial intelligence on Wednesday as it scrambles to catch up with rival Microsoft despite fears that AI poses a threat to society.. A prominent computer scientist dubbed "the godfather of artificial intelligence" recently quit his job at Google and spoke out about the dangers of the technology.
In a dimly lit Damascus cafe, Sharief Homsi kicked off comedy night with a quip about war-battered Syria's modern-day prince charming: an eligible bachelor with attractive supplies of fuel and electricity.. Every week, members of Syria's first stand-up comedy troupe crack jokes about daily struggles like power cuts and fuel shortages, lightening the mood for despondent Damascenes after 12 years of war.
Heroes and villains!
A host of rare works including the world's oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible and a Gustav Klimt waterscape making its auction debut headline New York's spring sales starting this week.. The Codex Sassoon is more than 1,000 years old and is one of only two codices containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible to have survived into the modern era.
Robert De Niro has become a father again at the age of 79, the "Raging Bull" actor said in a recent interview.. De Niro scored his first Oscar, for best supporting actor, in 1974's "The Godfather Part II," followed by another in 1981 for his leading actor role as boxer Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull."
