Reuters Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

A devastating wildfire earlier this week caused "unmeasurable" damage to a number of Easter Island’s famous stone head statues.  "It's unquantifiable, unmeasurable, the damage there is, it's irrecoverable," said Pedro Edmunds, mayor of Easter Island, a territory of Chile located 2,000 miles from the coast. "Because what the fire does is heat the rock and the rock cracks." Scientists will visit the island to assess the extent of the damage and determine what they can do to repair or salvage the statues damaged by the fire, but Edmunds said there may be no "solution."  Edmunds also blamed a lack of support from Chile’s government as a cause of the damage, saying the state has remained "absent" and could have helped plan to "prevent these problems." Damaged Moai statues are seen after a wildfire at a local park in Easter Island, Chile, in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters on October 7, 2022.

bring accusations against Spacey, is seeking $40 million in his civil trial – the first time Spacey has faced a jury after multiple men leveled misconduct allegations.“I was this 14-year-old child and I had no desire to have any kind of experience like this in my life,” Rapp testified, according to Reuters. “It was incredibly frightening and very alarming and totally antithetical to anything else that I had ever experienced.”The encounter with Spacey, who was 26 at the time, “disrupted my sense of belonging” in theater, Rapp added.

filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. earlier this month, also revealed how much debt it has piled up — $8.81 billion as of June 30, down slightly from $8.9 billion at the end of December, Reuters reported.

Christopher Vourlias The Nordic screen industries are riding a tide of recent success, from Joachim Trier’s dual Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” (Norway), and Juho Kuosmanen’s Cannes prize winner “Compartment No. 6” (Finland), to Apple TV’s hit Norwegian crime drama “Exit.” But the Nordics have a ways to go on diversity and inclusion and can do more to support emerging talents — including taking a more mindful approach toward how on-set practices can create an unhealthy work environment. Those were the key takeaways of a panel discussion on Sept. 21 at the Finnish Film Affair, the industry arm of the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy. Moderated by Finnish TV presenter Andrea Reuter, the event brought together three up-and-coming film professionals from Nordic countries to discuss the hopes and challenges for the next generation of filmmakers from the region.

Grammy-winning singer R. Kelly was found guilty in Chicago today on six of 13 counts related to child pornography and luring underage girls to have sex with him, according to Reuters. Each child pornography conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in Chicago.

Gustavo Arnal has died.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Top international news agencies, including the Associated Press and Reuters, are up in arms against the Venice Film Festival over what they claim are restrictions to access footage of the fest’s star-studded red carpet activities and press conferences. In past years, the agencies have been able to give their clients more or less unlimited amounts of Venice footage, excluding live feeds. Upon arrival on the Lido this year, with no forewarning, agency video teams collected their red carpet accreditation on opening day and were then handed a form to sign telling them there is a 90-second limit, the groups allege. The 90-second limit is allegedly due to Italian media regulation that was always in existence, but is only being enforced this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Leading media agencies Getty, AP and Reuters held impromptu talks with the Venice Film Festival yesterday over “unprecedented” new restrictions on them at red carpets and in press conferences.

Plus-one status! Gerard Piqué and Clara Chia’s romance has continued to heat up, even attending a wedding together.

Still adjusting. Shakira‘s ex-partner Gerard Piqué already seems to be moving on with someone else after their split — and the singer isn’t happy about it.

cancer according to Reuters. An employee at Miyake’s office told AFP that his funeral has already taken place with ‘only relatives participating’ in accordance with his wishes. Miyake rose to prominence in the 1980s thanks to his simplistic pleated style of clothing.

A Spanish prosecutor is reportedly set to seek a maximum of 8 years in prison and a $23 million fine against superstar singer Shakira for tax evasion, according to documents seen by Reuters.

Having her day in court. Shakira is facing eight years and two months in prison should she be convicted in her expected trial for alleged tax evasion.

Reuters reports. “I’d like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare.” Griner has been in Russian custody since February and her next court hearing is set for July 14, per the outlet.

Zack Sharf Chris Evans is taking a stand against anyone criticizing “Lightyear” for featuring a gay kiss between two female characters. The actor recently told Reuters that film and TV viewers who opposite diversity and more inclusive on-screen representation are “idiots” who will eventually “die off like dinosaurs.” Evans said it’s important not to pay any attention to such toxic viewers and criticisms.As Variety exclusively reported in March, Pixar restored the gay kiss in “Lightyear” after uproar from staffers over the decision to remove it. The kiss is brief and is included during a montage sequence that depicts the life of Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBaidu, operator of China’s dominant search engine, has reportedly put up for sale its entire stake in iQiyi, the country’s second largest conventional video streaming platform. IQiyi has close to 100 million subscribers, nearly all in mainland China.The sale plan was revealed as an exclusive report by the Reuters news agency.

President Joe Biden is hitting back at Elon Musk‘s comments about the economy.

Going their separate ways. Shakira and her longtime partner, Gerard Piqué, have split after 12 years together.

The Queen will no longer attend a thanksgiving church service on Friday to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, Buckingham Palace has announced.

Elon Musk has announced that he has paused his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

Naman Ramachandran The Twitter deal is temporarily on hold, billionaire Elon Musk posted on Friday.“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk posted on Twitter.Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuyn— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022In the tweet, Musk provided a link to a May 2 Reuters article quoting Twitter’s filing on Monday. “Twitter Inc estimated in a filing on Monday that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter,” the Reuters piece said.Musk has been vocal about cleaning the platform of spam bots.

Financial Times.Per Reuters, the deal is reportedly worth upwards of $4 billion.The deal establishes new company FL Entertainment, with a value of about $7 billion, a figure that includes debt. It totals out to nearly $4 billion in equity value, according to executive Francois Riahi.The new company will also include Betclic, an online gambling company.

Sacré bleu! Or will it be Sacré BIg Blue?

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorElon Musk, the mega-billionaire Twitter power user who last week clinched a deal to acquire the company, has floated a new idea for the social network make money.Musk on Tuesday posted that Twitter may impose “a slight cost” for companies or government accounts to use the service, without elaborating.“Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing,” Musk tweeted. “Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users.”To be sure, it’s just Musk spitballing at this point about what may happen once he closes the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.

High street store Primark has warned its customers about some future changes being made in its shops. The retailer, which recently teamed up with Greggs to create a unique experience, has announced that it will increase prices on its upcoming autumn and winter collection.

It looks like Elon Musk‘s Twitter takeover might actually happen as sources are saying that those behind the social media platform will accept his $43 billion cash buyout.

Naman Ramachandran The 11-member Twitter board met on Sunday to consider billionaire Elon Musk’s $43 billion takeover offer for the social media company, according to reports.Musk “wooed many of the social media company’s shareholders with financing details on his $43 billion acquisition offer,” according to Reuters which quoted people familiar with the matter. “The company’s decision to engage with Musk… does not mean that it will accept his $54.20 per share bid,” according to Reuters.

a New Yorker article by Ronan Farrow in which six different women accused Moonves of sexual misconduct in incidents going back decades. In December, CBS denied him a $120 million severance package after the board reviewed the findings of an investigation conducted by two law firms hired by the network.

Reuters and obtained by TheWrap, show InfoWars deeply in the red — with assets of less than $50,000 against liabilities between $1 million and $10 million. The two other Jones companies were IWHealth (AKA Infowars Health) and Prison Planet TV.The paperwork was filed Sunday in the Southern District of Texas.

Billionaire Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for about US$41 billion in cash, saying the social media company he has often criticized needs to go private to see effective changes.