Carrie Fisher may have been the “madcap Auntie Mame” to Mark Hamill’s “square” homebody, but despite their differences, the Star Wars siblings got along famously right till the end. While both skyrocketed to celebrity with their Star Wars roles in 1977 and remained inextricably linked through their on-screen family, Hamill …

The U.S. Olympic Committee on Friday said it would send a full team to compete at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February despite mixed messages this week from the White House about whether the U.S. would participate. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley had said it was an “open question” as …

New-York based Christie’s auction house said Friday that Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism was acquiring Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ, “Salvator Mundi,” a painting that sold for $450.3 million. The latest twist in a saga over the painting came after a report in the Wall Street Journal …

This is the Top Five Countdown! We’re on the march with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending Dec. 9, 2017. If you feel your week isn’t complete without a new song in the hit list, then you’ll be happy …

Last month, U.S. Catholic bishops voted unanimously to pursue sainthood for Oglala Lakota healer and visionary Nicholas Black Elk, who is credited with bringing hundreds of Native Americans to the Catholic faith. It is the realization of a dream for Catholic Lakota on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, among …

U.S. Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, is one of the country’s best known living icons of the fight for civil rights in the 1960s. But Lewis said Thursday he will refuse to attend Saturday’s opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum if President Donald Trump will be there.  Lewis …

The Rolling Stones have released an album of rarely heard radio recordings, but Keith Richards admits with a laugh: “I barely remember some of them.” “The Rolling Stones — On Air” was released last week. It features 32 songs that originally aired between 1963 and 1965 on BBC shows like …

South Korea’s winter Olympics organizers have worries other than a ban on Russia competing, poor ticket sales and tensions over North Korea. They fear it may be too cold. The Pyeongchang Games in February may feel like the coldest Olympics in at least three decades because the main stadium lacks …

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling on Thursday defended the decision to cast Johnny Depp in the next Fantastic Beasts movie after a backlash from fans unhappy about the circumstances of the actor’s recent divorce. In a statement on her personal website, Rowling said filmmakers had considered recasting the role of villain Gellert …

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science announced Wednesday that it has adopted its first code of conduct for its 8,427 members. Film academy chief executive Dawn Hudson introduced the new rules to members in an email. In October, the academy broke with tradition and made Harvey Weinstein just …

In nearly every major Academy Awards category this year there’s some trace of the sexual misconduct allegations that have swept through the movie industry.   Best supporting actor? That’s where Kevin Spacey was once considered a contender. Now he’s been scrubbed from Ridley Scott’s “All the Money in the World,” …

Garrison Keillor says Minnesota Public Radio shouldn’t have dismissed him last week without fully investigating what the radio station has called “multiple allegations.” Jon McTaggart, CEO of MPR’s parent company APMG, told employees Wednesday that the allegations against the 75-year-old former “A Prairie Home Companion” host covered an extended period …

Unreleased songs recorded by Jimi Hendrix between 1968 and 1970 will be released next year.   Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings announced Wednesday that they will release Hendrix’s “Both Sides of the Sky” on March 9, 2018. The 13-track album includes 10 songs that have never been released.   Hendrix …

A memoir by Japanese Emperor Hirohito that offers his recollections of World War II fetched $275,000, nearly double its expected top price, at an auction in Manhattan on Wednesday. The 173-page document was dictated to his aides soon after the end of the war. It was created at the request …

Han Solo is dead. Luke Skywalker is back, but changed. And Leia Organa’s story will soon be coming to an end.  The Star Wars that inspired four decades of passionate fandom appears to be slowly but surely fading as “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” prepares to descend on Dec. 15, …

Kiss co-founder and entrepreneur Gene Simmons has a new book out in which he hopes to reveal the principles of being rich and powerful. There’s no quick fix: You’re going to have to wake up early, dress better, turn off the TV and study.   “On Power” is part guidebook, …

Six women filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday, claiming that the movie mogul’s actions to cover up assaults amounted to civil racketeering. The lawsuit was filed at a federal court in New York seeking to represent a class of “dozens, if not hundreds” of women who say they …

Women who say they were sexually harassed or mistreated by powerful men in television news have banded together to form a support network aimed at changing a newsroom culture they say has given men a free pass to misbehave for decades. The women behind the Press Forward initiative tell The …

A jewel-encrusted medal owned and worn by George Washington is going on display in Philadelphia for the first time since it was presented to Washington in the city 233 years ago. The Diamond Eagle is the badge of office of the president general of the Society of the Cincinnati. The …

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is working on a book about his years in former President Gerald Ford’s administration. Threshold Editions tells The Associated Press on Wednesday that “When the Center Held” is scheduled for publication in May. Rumsfeld was chief of staff and then defense secretary under Ford, …

Johnny Hallyday, France’s biggest rock star for more than half a century and an icon who packed sports stadiums and all but lit up the Eiffel Tower with his pumping pelvis and high-voltage tunes, has died. He was 74. President Emmanuel Macron announced his death in a statement early Wednesday, …

Russia says it needs to carefully analyze a decision by the International Olympic Committee to ban Russia from competing as a country in the upcoming Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, before taking any measures. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday that the priority right now is on protecting …

Russia has been banned from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. Following a seventeen-month investigation, the International Olympic Committee or IOC ruled that Moscow had deliberately manipulated the global anti-doping program through a state-sponsored conspiracy. Russian officials have reacted with anger, accusing the IOC of being …

In the 1950s and ’60s, segregationist whites waved Confederate flags and slapped defiant bumper stickers on cars declaring Mississippi “the most lied about state in the Union.” Those were ways of defiantly pushing back against African-Americans who dared challenge racial oppression, and taking a jab at journalists covering the civil …

What do a former U.S. president, LeBron James and a guy who really, really likes chicken nuggets have in common? They all made the biggest splash on Twitter this year. Twitter on Tuesday released its top trending people and topics for 2017, ranging from sports to politics to Korean boy …