By Amarachi Orie and Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — The original illustration for the first edition of J.K. Rowling’s 1997 novel “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” has sold for a record-breaking $1.9 million. It had been expected to sell for up to $600,000 – the highest presale value ever placed on a Harry Potter-related item, according to
Continue Reading By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — Ten women participating in a beauty pageant is nothing new. Some pose candidly, some play to the camera, their beauty forever frozen in this moment in time. Like many other pageants held in countries around the world, the contestants are young, thin and embody many of the standards defining traditional “beauty.” But
Continue Reading Review by Brian Lowry, CNN (CNN) — A posted sign in a kitchen reads “Every Second Counts,” but “The Bear” is clearly in no hurry during its third season, proceeding at the slow-cooked pace of a show simmered in accolades and Emmys. Granted, the awards have come in a category in which the Hulu series
Continue Reading By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN (CNN) — It’s considered among the most beautiful cities in the world to visit, and it seems that Vienna may also be an unbeatable place to live. The Austrian city has been crowned the most liveable city in the world yet again in the annual list from the Economist Intelligence Unit
Continue Reading By Cindy VonQuednow, CNN (CNN) — The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted on Wednesday to preserve Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood home, where the star lived and died, as a Historic-Cultural Monument, saving it from demolition. The vote ends a nearly year-long saga and effort to save the home from destruction. Last summer, the city’s Department
Continue Reading By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN (CNN) — Bill Cobbs, a veteran Hollywood actor known for roles in “Demolition Man,” “That Thing You Do!” and “Air Bud,” among many others, has died, according to a family member. He was 90. The news was confirmed by Cobbs’ brother Thomas Cobbs, who wrote on Facebook that the actor died
Continue Reading By Alli Rosenbloom and Clare Foran, CNN (CNN) — Paris Hilton is opening up about her experience with past abuse as she continues to advocate for legislation that better protects children from suffering institutional abuse. On Wednesday, the actor, singer, DJ and model said that she will “be the voice for the children whose voices
Continue Reading By Marianne Garvey, CNN (CNN) — Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans are doing Christmas in summer. Amazon MGM Studios debuted the first trailer for “Red One,” starring Johnson, Evans and J.K. Simmons, who plays Santa Claus. According to the movie’s synopsis, after Santa Claus is kidnapped an E.L.F. Task Force Commander teams up with a
Continue Reading By Marianne Garvey, CNN (CNN) — Cyndi Lauper is still going strong. The singer and songwriter has a new documentary, she’s playing the Royal Albert Hall in the UK this week, performing at Glastonbury and will kick off a farewell tour later this year. Lauper reflected on her path to success – and some of
Continue Reading By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — Crew on board the world’s largest cruise ship, the Icon of the Seas, were called on to tackle a fire this week as the gigantic vessel was berthed in a port in Mexico. The “small fire” was “quickly extinguished” after it broke out on Tuesday, the ship’s operator Royal
Continue Reading By Kristen Rogers, CNN (CNN) — Sixty years ago this month, a young woman died alone from a self-induced abortion she and her lover had conducted on a motel room floor in Norwich, Connecticut. Her name was Gerri Santoro. Santoro’s death was one of many — all too many — which activists and healthcare workers
Continue Reading By Catherine Nicholls, CNN London (CNN) — When Elvis Presley’s debut album took the charts by storm in 1956, “Blue Suede Shoes” was its opening track. Now, the King’s very own blue suede shoes have sold for the princely sum of £120,000 (around $152,000) after they went up for grabs at British auction house Henry
Continue Reading By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN (CNN) — He hadn’t traveled any further than Canada before he was 20, but Stewart Johnson says he knew from early on that he “didn’t really want to live in the States.” The stand-up comedian, originally from Wisconsin, explains that he felt as though he’d “already seen” America, and was keen
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By Scottie Andrew and Sydney Bishop, CNN (CNN) — It was 1944 when the trolley first started to clang. “The Trolley Song,” a second-act standout from the 1944 movie musical “Meet Me in St. Louis,” was sung by Judy Garland in striking Technicolor. It was released back when gay was more commonly understood to mean
Continue Reading By Svitlana Vlasova and Radina Gigova, CNN (CNN) — Before Russia invaded Ukraine, visitors from abroad frequently travelled to see Chernobyl, the nuclear power station that disastrously went into meltdown in 1986. After the release of the HBO series “Chernobyl” in 2019, record numbers of visitors poured into the exclusion zone around the abandoned city
Continue Reading By Rosa Rahimi, CNN (CNN) — Céline Dion insisted that graphic footage of herself having a violent muscle spasm should stay in a new documentary about her life, the film’s director has said. In an interview with Variety, Irene Taylor, the director of “I Am: Céline Dion,” said the legendary singer insisted on keeping the “intensely revealing” moment
Continue Reading By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Actor Spencer Milligan, best known for playing Rick Marshall in 1970s kids’ TV show “Land of the Lost,” has died at age 86. Milligan was born September 10, 1937, in Oak Park, Illinois, and died on April 18, according an obituary posted on the website of a funeral home
Continue Reading By Suyin Haynes, CNN (CNN) — With coiffed black hair, pearls, a hand on her hip and a high-heeled pointed toe, a woman poses jubilantly for the camera on the steps outside her home. Her name is Susanna Valenti, and her home is Casa Susanna, located in the Catskills, in upstate New York. In the
Continue Reading By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN (CNN) — Eddie Murphy is a Hollywood veteran who has starred in many beloved films through his decades-long career. The intrepid actor does, however, consider his role of Axel Foley in the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise to be one that stands out among the rest. “Before ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ there had
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By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN (CNN) — Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s on-field embrace at the Super Bowl earlier this year looked like the stuff of rom-com magic. And now, it’s becoming just that. Well… sort of. The Hallmark Channel, along with the NFL, Skydance Sports and the Kansas City Chiefs – otherwise known as the
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