Scotch whisky brands still being sold in Russia despite outrage from Ukraine campaigners

Rod Stewart has taken to social media to delight his fans with the news of his new whisky brand which will launch next month. The crooner posed beside his new tipple and encouraged his Instagram followers to get ahead of the game in securing a pre-order.

Coronation Street star Sally Carman-Duttine has been branded a 'special person' by fans as her role away from the ITV soap was uncovered. The actress, known for playing Abi Webster, took to Instagram with a snap of herself and two other women as she paid them a visit as a patron for their domestic abuse services.

Ofgem is lowering its energy price cap from the current £3,280 per year to £2,074 for the average household in Scotland, England and Wales from July to reflect tumbling wholesale price. The regulator announced its latest energy price cap on Thursday as campaigners warned consumers are likely to feel little relief with bills remaining well above pre-pandemic levels.

The Cannes Film Festival red carpet is usually accustomed to protests and demonstrations. Last year there were multiple.

Sean Penn will star in the Ukranian war movie “War Through the Eyes of Animals,” TheWrap has confirmed. The picture, due for release in late 2023 or early 2024, is part of a nine-part anthology that will be helmed by nine Ukrainian filmmakers concerning the ongoing conflict against Russia.

announced the fresh round of sanctions late Sunday. The paper said the new list is a “tit-for-tat retaliation for the latest curbs imposed by the United States,” and points out how Vladimir Putin appears to be “adopting perceived enemies of former President Donald J.

Top tennis player Daniil Medvedev on Sunday claimed his first clay-court title by winning the Italian Open. As the Russian hoisted the trophy at the award presentation, the speakers at the stadium blasted Pet Shop Boys’ 1992 dance hit Go West, a rendition of Village People’s song of the same name.

Christopher Vourlias XYZ Films has acquired North American sales rights to “StayOnline,” from Ukrainian director Anton Skrypets, which uses the innovative Screenlife format to tell the story of a young Kyiv woman who risks her life to help a boy whose parents have gone missing after the Russian invasion. “StayOnline” was co-written by Skrypets and Eva Strelnikova, who also served as director of photography. It was produced by Marina Kvasova and Alla Lypovetska of the Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP). The film begins when a young woman volunteering in Kyiv is given one of the thousands of laptops donated by ordinary Ukrainians to support the war effort. She’s asked to install a sensitive military application and deliver the laptop to her brother serving on the frontline.

Every year, on the third Thursday of May, Ukraine celebrates the Day of Vyshyvanka. The occasion pays tribute to the country's original folk traditions and sees citizens wearing embroidered Ukrainian clothes, including the Vyshyvanka, a loose-fitting shirt, which is often in black or white and features geometric patterns stitched around the edges.  This year’s celebration was seen as a symbol of national unity against the Russian invasion.

Christopher Vourlias With a Ukrainian cinema union issuing a strident call on Thursday for participants of the Cannes Film Market to halt all business with Russia rather than support “terrorism,” industry professionals are again weighing the moral cost of working in the country against the financial upside of releasing films in the lucrative Russian market. Many U.S. and foreign companies quietly continued to do business with the pariah state after the Ukraine invasion or resumed the dealmaking that was put on pause once the war began. Honoring contracts that were signed before fighting commenced or working through third-party distributors in other jurisdictions, they’ve ensured that a steady stream of foreign content — including Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” and A24’s Oscar-winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — continues to reach Russian movie theaters.

Christopher Vourlias Ukraine’s cinema union issued an open letter on Thursday calling on participants of the Cannes Film Market to halt all business with Russia. The statement asserted that releasing films in Putin’s pariah state is akin to “support for terrorism” amid its ongoing war of aggression in the Eastern European nation. The letter, which was written by the Ukrainian League of Cinemas, singled out a number of leading international indie distributors and sales agents — including Lionsgate, STXInternational, FilmNation, A24 and Pathé — whose films have been released in Russia since the start of the war. “Continuing to do business in Russia means supporting the Russian terrorist state with taxes,” the statement read. “These taxes are then turned into weapons with which peaceful Ukrainian cities are destroyed, and our friends and colleagues are killed and maimed.”

Ukraine war and the momentous burst of rebellion against the Iranian regime prompted by the death of Mahsa Amini are reverberating profoundly at the Cannes Film Festival. At the festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night, legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve paid tribute to the war’s victims by reciting a poem from Ukrainian poet Lessia Oukraïnka, solemnly declaring: “I no longer have either happiness or freedom, only one hope remains to me: to return one day to my beautiful Ukraine.” One year ago, Cannes got off to an emotional start with remarks from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

A drunk soldier was PAVA sprayed after swinging a wild punch at a police officer trying to remove him from an airport bus.

Christopher Vourlias A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of Oscar-nominated film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theater director Ivan Vyrypaev, accusing the two of “spreading false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to the Associated Press, both men — who each reside outside Russia — will be placed in custody once they are either detained by Russian authorities or extradited from abroad. A source close to Rodnyansky said the producer is currently in Cannes, but he could not immediately be reached for comment. Rodnyansky currently splits his time between Ukraine, Europe and L.A., where his production shingle AR Content is based. The Kyiv-born producer, who spent nearly three decades living and working in Russia, fled the country just days after its invasion of Ukraine, after receiving a tip that his outspoken criticism of the war had landed him in the Kremlin’s crosshairs.

A Russian court has issued a warrant for the arrest of prominent international film producer Alexander Rodnyansky as well as theater director Ivan Vyrypaev for “spreading false information about the war” in Ukraine.

Iranian director Ali Abbasi has responded to Russia’s unexplained ban of his serial killer thriller Holy Spider just days after its theatrical release.

The Eurovision Song Contest took place in Liverpool on Saturday with Sweden’s Loreen topping the leader board with her song ‘Tattoo’ and in doing so winning the event for a second time, something only one other performer has ever done. The UK’s Mae Miller, meanwhile, came second from last, just above Germany.Speaking at a press conference following the show, Loreen said: “Everything feels surreal. I am seriously overwhelmed.

Mike McCahill Guest Contributor The theme of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, ‘United by Music,’ announced both the annual musical extravaganza’s all-embracing intentions and its status as a joint endeavor. With 2022 winners Ukraine unable to host in Kyiv due to the war, the U.K. – last year’s runners-up, thanks to Sam Ryder’s soaring “Space Man” – stepped in to reinstall this ever more spectacular circus (along with multiple Ukrainian creative personnel) in Liverpool, birthplace of the Beatles. A declaration that this was to be the glitziest of collabs was served via a prologue that paired Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, reworking last year’s winning entry “Stefania”, with the Princess of Wales, apparently providing piano accompaniment from within Windsor Castle. Soft power-a-go-go.

TVORCHI took to the stage at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.The electronic music duo – comprised of producer Andrii Hutsuliak and vocalist Jimoh Kehinde – performed their song ‘Heart Of Steel’ at this year’s contest, placing sixth in the final tally with 243 votes. Just 10 minutes before their performance went down, reports of Ternopil being bombed started to emerge.

Eurovision fans were scratching their heads as they spotted a familiar face. As the results came in during the grand final hosted by the UK for Ukraine a famous face stood out to them.