President Donald Trump has presented medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees during an Oval Office ceremony. The recipients include actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.… Continue Reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix has struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to buy the legacy Hollywood giant’s studio and streaming business for $72 billion. The merger, announced Friday, would bring two of the industry’s biggest players in film and TV under one roof. Beyond its namesake television and motion picture division, Warner owns HBO Max and DC Studios. And Netflix has rose to dominance as a household name ubiquitous to on-demand content, while building of its own production arm to release popular titles like “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.” The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of approximately $82.7 billion.… Continue Reading
NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News says it will host a prime-time “town hall” event next week with Erika Kirk, widow of assassinated activist Charlie Kirk. She will be interviewed by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss for the event, scheduled to be telecast at 8 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 13. Kirk has taken over as head of the conservative group Turning Point USA, which was founded by her husband. She’ll be questioned by young evangelicals and religious and political leaders, as part of an invited CBS audience. Charlie Kirk was shot on Sept. 10 while speaking to a group of college students in Utah.… Continue Reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump has decorated the White House for the holidays, and her theme is “Home Is Where the Heart Is.” The first lady’s decor also nods to next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and founding of the United States of America. In a change this year after the East Wing was torn down, the official White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room also honors Gold Star families that lost a member during active-duty military service. The East Room is decorated with patriotic colors and eagles and other national symbols to highlight the coming America250 celebration.… Continue Reading
“Zootopia 2″ broke box office records with a massive Thanksgiving weekend opening. The Disney sequel earned $96 million in North America over the weekend and $156 million over the five-day Thanksgiving frame. Since its Wednesday opening, it has made $556 million globally, making it the highest international opening for an animated movie. “Wicked: For Good” also performed well, earning $62.8 million domestically over the weekend. The two sequels made Thanksgiving weekend a bright spot in an otherwise challenging year for theaters. “Zootopia 2″ arrives nearly a decade after the original, featuring a bunny cop voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin and a scheming fox voiced by Jason Bateman.… Continue Reading
LONDON (AP) — British playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for 1998’s “Shakespeare In Love” has died. He was 88. In a statement Saturday, United Agents said Stoppard died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset in southern England, 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,” they said. “It was an honor to work with Tom and to know him.” The Czech-born Stoppard was often hailed as the greatest British playwright of his generation and was garlanded with honors.… Continue Reading
NEW YORK (AP) — The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade features Labubu and “KPop Demon Hunters” this year, filling New York’s sky and streets. The parade starts on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and ends at Macy’s Herald Square. It includes 32 balloons, 27 floats, and 11 marching bands, all leading to Santa Claus. It airs on NBC and streams on Peacock and Telemundo. Performers include Conan Gray, Lainey Wilson, Ciara and Busta Rhymes. New balloons feature Buzz Lightyear and Pac-Man, while new floats include Labubu and “Stranger Things.” Marching bands come from various states and Panama.… Continue Reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Beast Philanthropy, the charitable organization started by MrBeast founder Jimmy Donaldson, and the Rockefeller Foundation are announcing a strategic partnership. The idea is to pair Donaldson’s unique ability to capture youth attention spans with the foundation’s 112-year history of using its resources and technology to tackle global problems. The exact issues they plan to tackle together are still being hammered out and there is no shared grantmaking to announce yet. Dr. Rajiv Shah, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, says MrBeast can help them engage young people, inspire hope and communicate their work more accessibly. Donaldson hopes the Rockefeller Foundation can help him be more efficient and make “real, lasting change.”… Continue Reading
A widely used Internet infrastructure company said that it has resolved an issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from ChatGPT and the online game, “League of Legends,” to the New Jersey Transit system early Tuesday. Around 10 a.m. ET, Cloudflare said it was “continuing to monitor for errors to ensure all services are back to normal.” Others platforms that experienced outages Tuesday included the social media site X, Shopify, Dropbox, Coinbase, and the Moody’s credit ratings service. Moody’s website displayed an Error Code 500 and instructed individuals to visit Cloudflare’s website for more information.… Continue Reading
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A beloved figure in American roots music, Todd Snider has died at 59. His record label announced Saturday that Snider died Friday. Known for his cosmic-stoner songwriting and freewheeling tunes, Snider’s career spanned three decades. He combined folk, rock, and country, creating songs recorded by artists like Jerry Jeff Walker and Tom Jones. Snider was diagnosed with pneumonia after a violent assault led to a canceled tour. He was later arrested in Salt Lake City for threatening hospital staff. Snider’s albums showcased his unique style and humor. His last album released in October.… Continue Reading