Country Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Cannes Film Market, which runs alongside the festival, has named Switzerland as Country of Honor for the 2024 edition that’s set to run May 14-22. As part of the tribute, Cannes will highlight Switzerland’s contributions to the audiovisual industry and provide a platform for emerging Swiss talents and projects in development.

Police say an aid worker whose body was discovered in Ukraine was murdered while working in the war-torn country.

The English National Opera (ENO) will be coming to Greater Manchester. The globally-renowned company, which is currently based in London's West End, has announced that it is now working with local leaders on a plan to make the city-region its main home by 2029.

Celebrities have a whole lot to say about the war between Israel and Hamas. Unfortunately, some of it is offensive. Unfortunately, some of it is flat wrong.

Thousands of Scottish addresses are too dangerous for ambulance crews to attend without police back-up shock figures reveal.

Dick Clark Productions is expanding its talent division with two new appointments. Sara Kantathavornis joining the company as senior vice president, talent strategy and Jeremy Lowe has been promoted to vice president, talent and partnerships. Lowe and Kantathavorn will work closely together in their new roles.

Brenda Lee is making history!

Jaden Thompson The 30th Slamdance Film Festival has announced its complete 2024 lineup, including 32 features, 75 shorts and five episodic titles. Slamdance will take place in-person at Yarrow Hotel in Park City and in Salt Lake City, Utah from Jan. 19-25, and online screenings will be offered on the Slamdance Channel from Jan.

The trailer for True Detective: Night Country has finally arrived!

Georgia Toffolo has opened up about her relationship with new boyfriend James Watt, admitting she hopes he will be 'the one'. The 29-year-old former Made in Chelsea star, who goes by the nickname Toff, met her BrewDog founder partner James Watt after being set up on a blind date by a friend over the summer. Toff and the brewery entrepreneur have since gone public with their relationship, sharing a series of loved-up pics, including some from a romantic trip to the Maldives.

When the temperature plummets and the nights creep in, sometimes a holiday is what is needed to shake off the winter blues.

Darius Rucker. “You have to pinch yourself when you hear something like that — it just blows your mind. I’m just a kid from South Carolina.” Between Hootie & the Blowfish’s 1994 debut album, “Cracked Rear View” (21 times platinum), and his inescapable 2013 single, “Wagon Wheel” (11 times platinum), Rucker has provided the sound for two massive musical phenomena.

Mark Sutherland Awards season has been in full swing in the U.K., and the highlight of the month was the glittering Music Industry Trust Awards, held in London last month. The awards honor individuals for their contribution to the U.K.’s musical and cultural landscape, while raising vital funds for the BRIT Trust and Nordoff & Robbins.

Extinction Rebellion have targeted BAE’s Govan shipyard with a graffiti protest over its contribution to climate change as well as the war in Gaza.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has said that a £15 increase in the BBC licence fee would be "high". Her comments come after reports that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is planning to block a 9% rise in the annual charge.

K.J. Yossman Canal+ is launching in the Netherlands, offering a mix of live TV and streaming on one platform.

Christopher Vourlias The first edition of the Alternativa Film Project wrapped with an award ceremony this weekend in Almaty, the cultural capital of Kazakhstan, with filmmakers from Central Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region being feted as part of a new initiative launched by the California-based tech company inDrive, best known for its ride-hailing app. The event marked a successful close to what organizers hope will be an ongoing non-profit initiative aimed at supporting emerging filmmakers from under-developed film industries.

Lana Del Rey has reflected on being cut off at Glastonbury earlier this year, suggesting she wasn’t aware the consequences would be quite so severe if she started late.Del Rey’s performance, in which she headlined The Other Stage, was abruptly cut short after she came on stage 30 minutes late and ran beyond the site’s strict curfew. Organisers cut off her microphone and switched off the screens while she was midway through performing ‘White Mustang’, which was met by booing from the crowd.Del Rey then lead the crowd in an acapella singalong of ‘Video Games’ and walked into the crowd as they continued to sing and hugged and took photos with fans.Now, Del Rey has spoken more about the incident in a new interview with the Sunday Times, which she admitted that she was still frustrated by almost six months on.“I’ve heard of curfews before,” she said.

Dolly Parton has spoken out about the political background of her new song, ‘World on Fire’.In a new interview with Vulture, the country legend was responding to superlatives, and named ‘World On Fire’ as the song that “best embodies your own mythology”. ‘World On Fire’ appears on her new album ‘Rockstar’, which became her highest-charting album at number 3 and gaining four stars from NME.“I write a lot of uplifting songs, but I think ‘World on Fire’ makes a statement because people often say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you’re political’,” she said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Political drama thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the South Korean box office for a second weekend with a $13 million haul. Its second weekend outing topped its first session, when it earned $11.2 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). And the film (aka “Seoul Spring”) increased its share of the weekend’s total cinema market to a crushing 81%. Separately, ComScore calculated that the film’s single country receipts made it the seventh highest grossing film in the world over the weekend. After two weekends on release, “12.12: The Day” has garnered $34.2 million, making it already the sixth ranking film in Korea this year and the third biggest Korean-produced picture.

A mystery pneumonia strain rampaging through China is now threatening the UK - with experts suggesting we could see another “Covid-like” pandemic.

It's set to be another cold start to the week in Greater Manchester - with Met Office snow and ice warnings remaining in place until lunchtime today.

Taylor Swift has arrived at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin!

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Freida Pinto took a break from her jury duties at the Red Sea Film Festival to talk to Variety about her career and her hopes for the future. The Indian actor shot to world fame for her starring role in Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008) and remains committed to the breadth of cinema. “I’ve always looked at cinema globally,” she tells Variety.

Locked up in Strangeways for the brutal crime of gouging a man's eye out, John Fury was determined to change. It was the former bare knuckle boxer's third spell in prison - but he vowed it would be his last.

Another weather warning has been issued for parts of Greater Manchester as the cold snap continues in the north of England. Met Office forecasters have warned up to 15cm of snow could fall on higher ground overnight.

A couple have revealed how they spent just £165 for a weekend away in two countries. Jamie MacLeod and his wife Sarah got more bang for their buck when they were able to vacation in Marrakesh and Barcelona for less than a train ticket from Edinburgh to London.

Michaela Zee A movie about George Santos is in the works at HBO Films, Variety has confirmed. HBO Films has optioned the rights to Mark Chiusano’s book “The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos,” which was published on Nov. 28.

Ben Croll After recovering from a prolonged health scare, and newly based in Western Europe, Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev stepped back onto the international stage at this year’s Marrakech Film Festival. Better still, the director of Oscar nominated films “Loveless” and “Leviathan” will soon step back behind the camera, as he readies the oligarch drama “Jupiter,” his first film made outside of his native country. Variety spoke with the filmmaker in Marrakech.

Karim Debbagh‘s leading Tangier-based line producer Kasbah Films has secured a raft of U.S. and U.K. projects that will lense in Morocco, including “Lords of War,” the sequel to “Lord of War,” starring Nicolas Cage as the world’s most notorious arms dealer.