French couturier Hubert de Givenchy, a pioneer of ready-to-wear who designed Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” has died at the age of 91.   The house of Givenchy paid homage to its founder in a statement as “a major personality of the world of French haute …

The most talked-about athlete in the Paralympics barely plays, but who cares? The diminutive but hard-nosed reserve forward on South Korea’s sled hockey team proudly admits he’s just happy to be here. After all, Choi Kwang Hyouk has come a long way. He escaped one of the most brutal and …

Masked Mexican rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, wearing a purple three-piece suit, is paired with Britney Spears in a Wonder Woman costume. Their child is a tiny albino Marcos, smoking a pipe and wearing a turban with his own little ski mask, his body the black-suited torso of James Bond.   …

Comedian Kathy Griffin is embarking on her comeback, nine months after she provoked outrage — and lost much of her work — by posing with a fake severed head that appeared to depict President Donald Trump. Griffin announced on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher Friday night that she had just …

We’re rolling out the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart for the week ending March 10, 2018. Number 5: BlocBoy JB & Drake “Look Alive” For the first time in a month, we get a newcomer. It happens in fifth place, where BlocBoy JB and …

Barack Obama and Netflix reportedly are negotiating a deal for the former president and his wife, Michelle, to produce shows exclusively for the streaming service. The proposed deal was reported Friday by The New York Times, which cited people familiar with the discussions who were not identified. The report sent …

Ethiopia recently held the second edition of the African Circus Arts Festival, which saw 11 circus troupe artists from six African countries perform at the event. Hundreds of Addis Ababa residents came out to see acrobats, hoopers, jugglers and contortionists among other acts on stage, when the circus came to …

That galaxy far, far away keeps expanding. In the latest in a flurry of “Star Wars” spinoffs, the Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that Jon Favreau will write and executive produce a live-action “Star Wars” series for the company’s planned streaming platform.   Disney is readying a streaming service to …

The action was hot and heavy — especially heavy — as competition began Thursday in Thailand’s King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament, a quirky charity event whose proceeds benefit the beasts who are the games’ stars. The game deviates from standard polo in several aspects, aside from the mounts weighing upward …

Roman Catholic women led by former Irish president Mary McAleese demanded a greater decision-making role for women in the Church on Thursday, urging Pope Francis to tear down its “walls of misogyny”. McAleese was the key speaker at a symposium of Catholic women called “Why Women Matter”, attended by hundreds …

The White House says Melania Trump will present the International Women of Courage Award later this month. The first lady also will deliver remarks at a March 21 State Department ceremony recognizing women who have shown courage and leadership in pressing for women’s rights worldwide. The State Department award began …

The 90th annual Academy Awards were, by any definition, a moment of triumph for Latinos. Guillermo del Toro became the third Mexican-born filmmaker to win best director, and it was his lavish Cold War fantasy “The Shape of Water” that was crowned best picture. Pixar’s box-office smash “Coco,” the biggest …

Storm Reid tried to play it cool when Ava DuVernay told her she’d gotten the lead role in Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” but it wasn’t long before the tears started flowing. “I flipped out,” says Reid, now 14 and in the ninth grade. The Atlanta-native started acting at age …

Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and pop singer Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line will be performing at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April. The ACMs announced the first round of performers Wednesday, which also included Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Maren Morris and Thomas Rhett. Rexha and …

Architect and educator Balkrishna Doshi, best-known for his innovative work designing low-cost housing, has been awarded the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the first Indian to win architecture’s highest honor in its 40-year history. The award was announced Wednesday by Tom Pritzker of the Chicago-based Hyatt Foundation. Doshi has been an …

After Chinese New Year in Cambodia, Cambodians believe powerful spirits ascend to possess the living. …

Ava DuVernay didn’t pick up a camera until the age of 32. It’s an extraordinary fact, considering the trajectories of most Hollywood directors. Orson Welles filmed Citizen Kane at 25. Steven Spielberg was 27 when he made Jaws. A 23-year-old John Singleton directed Boyz N the Hood. It was already …

She is known as “nonna” in Italian, “abuelita” in Spanish and “Grandma” in English. But across cultures, the grandmother is the matriarch and foundation on which the family unit is built. In ethnically diverse East Boston, home to a large immigrant community, a new mural serves as a visual tribute …

The piercing note of a shofar – a ram’s horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies – cuts through the mountain air of the Galilee. Here in northern Israel, shepherdess Jenna Lewinsky is raising a flock of Jacob Sheep, pictured here, as a religious calling. With anything up to six horns …

Jimi Hendrix, “Both Sides of the Sky” (Experience Hendrix/Sony Legacy)   Elvis has left the building but Jimi is still busy in the studio. Or so it would seem from the staggering number of posthumous Hendrix albums that record labels, bootleggers and — for the past two decades — his …

Grammy-winning Latin rapper Residente will receive the BMI Champion Award at the BMI Latin Awards this month.   The performing rights organization says in a statement Tuesday that Residente will be the first act to receive the honor in the 25-year history of its Latin Awards. The event takes place …

With her brusque style, salty language and emphasis on discipline, 92-year-old youth soccer coach Maria Angelica Ramos is helping to turn young children into fully fledged footballers in Peru. Ramos, known by her players as “the Old Lady,” has been a coach for almost half a century, most of them …

British inventor Trevor Baylis, the creator of the wind-up radio, died Monday at the age of 80. Acquaintances say Baylis died of natural causes after a lengthy illness. Baylis developed the BayGen radio in the early 1990s after seeing a television program about the spread of AIDS in Africa and …

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 70th birthday is coming up and it turns out there is something the composer really wants on his special day. More work.   The man behind such blockbuster shows as “Cats,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “School of Rock” has shows in London’s West End, Broadway …

McDormand received the Oscar for Best Actress Sunday night — and promptly lost it. A man named Terry Bryant is in jail on $20,000 bail for allegedly trying to steal McDormand’s award during the Governor’s Ball in Hollywood, the post-show party. Bryant posted video of himself waving the Oscar around, …