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Glamour and grit with The Weeknd and Ken Loach at Cannes

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Glamour and grit with The Weeknd and Ken Loach at Cannes

They are starring in “The Idol” — a highly anticipated TV series from Sam Levinson, the director of “Euphoria” — the first two episodes of which will be shown in a world premiere on the Croisette.

The jury, which has already seen 11 of the 21 films in the running, is about to discover “Club Zero” by Austria’s Jessica Hausner and “Dead Leaves” by Finland’s Aki Kaurismaki.

Two-time winner Ruben Ostlund is serving as this year’s jury president, with “Captain Marvel” actress Brie Larson, celebrated American actor Paul Dano and Afghan writer and director Atiq Rahimi among the members of his team.

No film has yet received unanimous acclaim among critics to follow last year’s winner, Ostlund’s class satire “Triangle of Sadness”.

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“The Zone of Interest” by British director Jonathan Glazer emerged as an early favourite, with his Auschwitz-set psychological horror film retracing the daily life of the death camp’s commandant Rudolph Hoess and his family to examine the “banality of evil”.

Chinese director Wang Bing was also hailed for his monumental three-and-a-half-hour documentary “Youth (Spring)” looking at the lives of migrant factory workers in China.

American director Todd Haynes is one of the darlings of international critics, with his “May December”, starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, taking the viewer on a rollercoaster of moral ambiguity.

On the performance side, German actress Sandra Hueller impressed critics with her roles as the Auschwitz commandant’s wife in “The Zone of Interest” and as a widow accused of having killed her husband in “Anatomy of a Fall” by France’s Justine Triet. 

Only one film so far has come in for a near unanimous drubbing: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire’s “Black Flies”.

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Starring Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan, critics considered the New York paramedic thriller to be too heavy and cliche-ridden.

Ten films will be trying their luck for the Palme d’Or prize, including entries from previous laureate directors, Germany’s cult favourite Wenders and Italy’s Moretti.

Britain’s Ken Loach could become the first to win a third Palme d’Or, after “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” in 2006 and “I, Daniel Blake” in 2016.

The 86-year-old director, who has dedicated his career to portraying political struggles and working-class subjects, has said “The Old Oak” could be his final film.

The return of French director Catherine Breillat is also eagerly awaited, as is the starry cast of Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” with Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton and Margot Robbie expected to grace the red carpet.

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The winners are due to be announced on Saturday evening.

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Batman wins EU trademark dispute with Italian designer

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Batman wins EU trademark dispute with Italian designer

Caped crusader Batman won a trademark fight with an Italian clothing retailer after Europe’s second-top court sided with an EU patent office, ruling that the Batman logo is distinctive enough to warrant its EU trademark.

Warner Bros Discovery’s DC Comics, which registered the Batman logo with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) more than two decades ago, faced a challenge from Commerciale Italiana Srl in 2019.

The Italian company had asked EUIPO to annul the trademark for clothing and carnival items, saying that it lacked a distinctive character.

After EUIPO rejected its application, Commerciale Italiana Srl took its grievance to the Luxembourg-based General Court. Judges backed the EU trademark body.

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“The evidence submitted to the General Court is not sufficient to show that the EU trade mark representing a bat in an oval surround was devoid of distinctive character on the date of filing of the application for registration,” the Court ruled. “For the relevant public, that distinctiveness makes it possible to associate, according to EUIPO, the goods covered by the trade mark with DC Comics and to distinguish them from those of other undertakings.”

The Italian company can appeal to the EU Court of Justice, Europe’s highest, on points of law.

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Taylor Swift accidentally swallows a bug during Chicago show

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Taylor Swift accidentally swallows a bug during Chicago show

American singer Taylor Swift accidentally swallowed a bug during her concert.

During her Sunday night Eras Tour performance at Soldier Field Chicago, the Grammy-winner briefly paused for a mild coughing fit. “I swallowed a bug,” explained the singer as she turned away from the crowd to cough. “I’m so sorry. It’s totally fine. It’s just stupid.”

“That was delicious,” the singer joked, as the crowd erupted in laughter. She added, “Is there any chance none of you saw that?”

Swift was in the middle of introducing the newest member of her band, pianist Karina DePiano, when the offending bug flew into her mouth.

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“This is going to happen again tonight,” Swift warned the audience. “There’s so many bugs. There’s 1,000 of them.”

The Grammy winner then finished the introduction and segued into the Evermore era of the show. Later, she introduced DePiano properly, coughed a bit more, and moved on to singing “Tolerate It.”

At the risk of consuming more bugs, Swift has several stops ahead on her Eras tour — including newly added concerts in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, where she’ll be joined by pop singer Sabrina Carpenter. In announcing those eight additional dates on Twitter, Swift promised “LOTS more international dates to come soon!”

As the name implies, Swift has divided The Eras Tour concert into sections paying tribute to every phase of her 17-year music career. The tour originally scheduled to end in August with the Los Angeles shows now allow the singer a few weeks off before continuing on to Latin America. The additional dates bring the Eras tour total concert count to 60, an especially impressive feat given the reported 3 hour length of her onstage performance.

While swatting flies onstage will certainly keep her busy, the “Mastermind” singer has more than just concerts on her summer agenda. Swift is fast approaching another album release, with her latest re-recording, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), set to debut on July 7. Earlier this week, she revealed that Fall Out Boy and Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams will be featured on two separate bonus tracks.

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Iftikhar Thakur got emotional talking about Madina

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Iftikhar Thakur got emotional talking about Madina

 Iftikhar Thakur is a famous Pakistani comedian and actor. He is considered one of the accomplished comedians of Pakistan. He has worked internationally as well.

Recently, he appeared in a podcast where he got emotional while talking about his visit to Madina. He said that he has been to more than forty countries but no place is like Madina.

He said, “my blood pressure was constantly getting low when I was visiting Baab Ul Salam. I was in shivers while visiting Roza E Rasool, it was a task for me to cross that place because of respect, it’s another feeling which I can’t explain. He started crying while sharing his experience of visiting Madina.

He further said that your life remains in peace till you are in Madina. 

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He got emotional on various occasions in the podcast while describing his experience in the holy city. The podcast host also started crying on his narration. Iftikhar Thakur said that he cried a lot seeing Bab Ul Bilal. 

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