LL Cool J relearned ‘how to rap’ on his first album in 11 years, ‘The FORCE.’ Here’s how
NEW YORK (AP) — LL COOL J, the Grammy award winning rapper, actor and author, will release his first new album in 11 years, “The FORCE” on Sept. 6 — 40 years into his hip-hop career. He’s always tinkered in the studio, he tells The Associated Press, but over the last two years, the pursuit became more serious. A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg came to him in a dream, resulting in LL COOL J enlisting Dawg’s band mate Q-Tip to produce the album, which is out Sept. 16. He says this album is about showing people that rap veterans can still contribute to and have an impact on modern hip-hop.
The son of Asia’s richest man is set to marry in the year’s most extravagant wedding
MUMBAI, India (AP) — Global celebrities, business tycoons and politicians are arriving in India’s financial capital to attend the wedding of the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, the world’s ninth richest man. Anant Ambani is marrying his longtime girlfriend, Radhika Merchant, in what many have dubbed the wedding of the year. The celebrations in Mumbai are the culmination of months of wedding events that featured performances by popstars Rihanna and Justin Bieber. The wedding guest list includes former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, the Kardashians, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake and David Beckham. Ambani is Asia’s richest man with a net worth of $116 billion.
These Picassos prompted a gender war at an Australian gallery. Now the curator says she painted them
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An Australian art museum curator has divulged that she was the creator of three paintings that she presented as works by Pablo Picasso — and which prompted a gender discrimination case when she only permitted female gallery patrons to view them. The paintings were part of an exhibition called the Ladies Lounge at the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania curated by Kirsha Kaechele, who said this week that inquiries from the Picasso Administration about the works had prompted her to confess she had painted them. The paintings have been displayed at the museum for more than three years.
On NYC beaches, angry birds fight drones patrolling for sharks and struggling swimmers
NEW YORK (AP) — A new initiative to monitor swimmers and sharks on New York City beaches with surveillance drones is bringing a backlash from shorebirds. City officials say the drones had been repeatedly swarmed by birds that have forced pilots to ground the devices on several occasions since the program launched in May. The city is now avoiding known nesting areas, but the attacks have not stopped. Wildlife experts cautioned the drones could provoke a stress response in the birds forcing them to abandon their nests. Attacks have mostly been carried out by American oystercatchers. The beach is also home to piping plovers, a federally designated endangered species.
Serena Williams hosts an ESPY awards show celebrating landmark year for women’s sports
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Led by host Serena Williams, The ESPYS celebrated a landmark year for women’s sports, with Simone Biles, A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Dawn Staley and JuJu Watkins among the honorees on Thursday nigh at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The three-hour show on ABC was delayed when President Joe Biden’s nationally televised news conference started late. Host Serena Williams told jokes during her monologue and later sang. The show experienced a technical glitch in its closing minutes and as a result Williams’ goodnight and the credits were cut off during the live telecast in the East and Central time zones. ABC said the problems would be corrected for tape-delayed viewing in the West.
Shelley Duvall, star of ‘The Shining’ and ‘Nashville,’ dies at 75
The intrepid, Texas-born movie star Shelley Duvall has died at 75. Her wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and she co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” Her longtime partner, Dan Gilroy, says Duvall died Thursday in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas. Her friend, the publicist Gary Springer, says the cause was complications from diabetes. Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s staff members, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” encountered her as at a party in Houston in 1970. She would go on to become Altman’s protege.
Booming Turkish TV drama industry captures hearts and minds worldwide and boosts tourism
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has emerged as a leading exporter of television dramas, bolstering the nation’s international image and drawing millions of viewers and tourists to its historical and cultural sites which are backdrops to many of the shows. Their success has fueled a burgeoning billion-dollar industry. Experts say the industry is also greatly enhancing Turkey’s soft power on a global scale. A leading analytics firm says the global demand for Turkish series increased by 184% between 2020 and 2023. Markets include the United States, Canada, Greece, India and Pakistan. Haley Uganadi, the founder of a fan platform called “Dizilah,” says the appeal of the dramas comes from themes that focus on family, friendship, and love.
On stage, one of Japan’s biggest Kabuki stars changes roles in an instant. Offstage, it took decades
TOKYO (AP) — Onstage, Danjuro Ichikawa, one of the biggest stars of Japan’s Kabuki theater, is a virtuoso in switching roles. In his latest production, he plays 13 parts, including a princess, a sushi chef and a fox. He hobbles offstage as a feeble old man, then dashes back on moments later as a fierce warrior. He gets in a few sword fights, dies tragically more than once, and takes flight on wires. But offstage, he’s wondering if it’s time for the often rigid role of a Kabuki star to change. Danjuro has made efforts to update Kabuki in “Hoshiawase Jusandan,” at the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo through July 24, trimming longer scenes and modernizing some dialogue.
A second critically endangered Chinese pangolin is born in the Prague zoo in less than 2 years
PRAGUE (AP) — A second Chinese pangolin was born in the Prague zoo in less than two years and is doing well, defying the odds and surprising park officials. The female of the critically endangered mammal was born July 1, the second Chinese pangolin born in captivity in Europe following her sister, Cone, in February last year. The pangolins are difficult to breed in captivity and Prague became only the second European zoo to keep them. The pangolins arrived came after Prague decided to revoke a sister-city agreement with Beijing and signed a similar deal in 2020 with the Taiwanese capital. The deal caused tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
A stegosaurus nicknamed Apex will be auctioned in New York. Its remains show signs of arthritis
NEW YORK (AP) — The nearly complete fossilized remains of a 161-million-year-old stegosaurus discovered in Colorado in 2022 will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York next week. Sotheby’s officials have named the dinosaur Apex. They say it stands 11 feet tall and measures 27 feet nose to tail. Apex was discovered in May 2022 on private land near the town of Dinosaur, Colorado. The excavation was completed in October 2023, Sotheby’s said. Experts believe stegosauruses used their fearsome tail spikes to fight, but this specimen shows no signs of combat. The fossil does show evidence of arthritis, suggesting that Apex lived to an advanced age.
