Originally slated for release in Russia on Jan. 25, “The Death of Stalin,” has just been banned by the Kremlin’s Culture Ministry. At the Sundance Film Festival where it was recently screened, British director Armando Iannucci and the film’s cast tell Rafael Saakov that they’re still hopeful the movies can …

Elton John is retiring from the road after his upcoming three-year global tour, capping nearly 50 years on stages around the world. He calls it a “way to go out with a bang.” “I’ve had a good run, I think you’d admit that,” John said Wednesday, adding that he wanted …

A movie produced by a German film student about the 2015 Mandera bus attack in Kenya has just been nominated for an Oscar. The short film, Watu Wote, or Swahili for “All of Us,” tells the story of how average Kenyans resisted Al Shabab. The film premiered in Nairobi Tuesday …

South African jazz trumpeter and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela dies at the age of 78. Among his greatest hits were the anthem “Bring Him Back Home,” demanding Nelson Mandela’s freedom from jail. But he recorded countless other solos and worked with other big names, including Senegalese and American superstars Youssou …

Ursula K. Le Guin, the award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer who explored feminist themes and was best known for her Earthsea books, has died at 88.   Le Guin died suddenly and peacefully Monday at her home in Portland, Oregon, after several weeks of health concerns, her son, Theo …

You may not know her name, but you know her face. Connie Sawyer, known in Hollywood as the oldest working actress in show business, has finally ended her career.  Sawyer died late Monday at her home in Los Angeles at 105. She began her career as a singer and comedienne …

Some of the nation’s largest recording studios have joined forces in an effort to stop a music streaming service aimed at fitness enthusiasts from using songs by Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Green Day and other stars. In a federal lawsuit filed in Atlanta, Sony Music Entertainment and more than a dozen …

Winning the best new artist Grammy is a goal for most breakthrough performers, but for some of its recipients, it can create pressure to match previous success or surpass it. That’s why some feel that winning the award is a slight curse. The Recording Academy has been known for picking …

Love, hate and hot sauce are themes of a 19th-century comic opera being produced this week as a kickoff to New Orleans’ 300th anniversary. It’s also the 150th anniversary for Tabasco sauce and the New Orleans Opera’s 75th.  Tabasco: a Burlesque Opera had been stuck in an attic for more than …

Spam, trout, fried chicken, moon pies and anything slathered in mayonnaise — those are some of the flavors of South Korea’s home cooking that might seem just a bit familiar to the U.S. athletes and hordes of westerners preparing to descend upon the small Asian country for the 2018 Olympic …

Russia said on Tuesday it had canceled the release of Death of Stalin, a dark, satirical movie from British director Armando Iannucci, saying many Russians would find it an insulting mockery of the country’s Soviet past. The film, which focuses on backstabbing and infighting among the Soviet leader’s closest allies as they vie for …

Marc Cohn is rightly proud of his Grammy Award but it’s not the most valuable thing in his house. The trophy sits in a heaving bookcase right above a copy of Bob Dylan’s “The Lyrics.” That thick volume was once owned by Dylan, who presented it to Cohn with a …

 Nicanor Parra, a Chilean physicist, mathematician and self-described “anti-poet” whose eccentric writings won him a leading place in Latin American literature, died Tuesday. He was 103.   His death was confirmed by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who expressed her condolences. Her government ordered national flags to be flown at half-staff …

Movies from Chile, Lebanon, Russia, Hungary and Sweden are competing in the Academy Awards race for best foreign-language film. Five nominees announced Tuesday include Chilean director Sebastian Lelio’s drama with a transgender heroine, “A Fantastic Woman”; Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri’s forceful “The Insult”; and Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s stark divorce …

Hugh Masekela, the trumpeter, composer and anti-apartheid activist known as the “father of South African jazz” has died at the age of 78 in Johannesburg. A statement by released by his family Tuesday said Masekela, affectionately called “Bra Hugh,” passed away “after a protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer.” …

Polo Ralph Lauren unveiled Team USA’s Olympic parade uniforms Monday and social media haters can leave the ugly sweater jokes back in Sochi. Roundly mocked in 2014 for a chaotic, patchwork cardigan sweater, the brand went classic red, white and blue this time around for the opening ceremony and white …

She waited 90 years and saw a trail of men and Disney princesses get there before her, but on Monday Minnie Mouse finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Minnie Mouse made her movie debut in the 1928 film “Steamboat Willie,” and her co-star and beau Mickey …

U.S. singer-songwriter Neil Diamond, one of pop music’s all-time best-selling artists, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and plans to retire from touring, his official website said on Monday. The onset of the disease has made it difficult for him to travel and perform on a large-scale, a statement on …

“The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson is going from Middle Earth to the Western Front, transforming grainy black-and-white footage of World War I into 3-D color for a new documentary film.   Jackson’s movie, announced Monday, is among dozens of artworks commissioned by British cultural bodies to commemorate …

Film star Cate Blanchett, singer-songwriter Elton John and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan received awards at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Monday for their work raising awareness about human rights issues. Blanchett, an Australian, received a Crystal Award for her work with people who have fled their homes. …

Bill Cosby has performed in public for the first time since a sex abuse scandal embroiled him in 2015, telling stories and honoring old friends in his hometown on Monday as a retrial looms in his criminal sexual assault case.   The 80-year-old entertainer took the stage Monday night at …

Three USA Gymnastics board members resigned on Monday in the wake of its former team physician sexually abusing female gymnasts, a step the organization said would support its reform efforts. USA Gymnastics has been criticized by several of the sport’s top gymnasts during the sentencing hearing of former team doctor …

Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, winner of the National Book Award for fiction, is now a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle prize. Other finalists announced Monday include Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West for fiction, Roxane Gay’s Hunger for autobiography and Masha Gessen’s The Future is History, winner of the …

Kid Rock has donated about $122,000 from sales of merchandise promoting his potential U.S. Senate campaign to a voter-registration organization.   The Detroit-area rocker, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, teased the public for months. At a September concert, he was introduced as Michigan’s “next senator.”  In October, he confirmed …

Just a few years ago, she was reportedly executed by a North Korean firing squad. Now, Pyongyang’s top pop diva is a senior ruling party official and a surprise headliner in the run-up to the South Korean Winter Olympics. Hyon Song Wol, the photogenic leader of Kim Jong Un’s hand-picked …