Moment Banksy confirms his real name in unearthed BBC interview

Christopher Vourlias While the war in Ukraine has upended global geopolitics and ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the West, the impact has been especially profound across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where many inhabitants have themselves been the victims of Moscow’s aggression in the past. In Kazakhstan, which shares the world’s longest land border with Putin’s rogue state and was the last of the former Soviet republics to achieve independence, the past two years have not only seen the disruption of traditional political and economic ties but accelerated a process of uncoupling from Russian language and culture.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Variety Hitmaker of the Year SZA, Karol G and Peso Pluma are among the big honorees in the Recording Industry Association of America’s year-end tally and its “Class of 2023,” recognizing the top albums, singles and first-timers who earned their first Gold & Platinum certifications in 2023. Highlights include: SZA has the most certifications with 15 titles, including the Top Album with 3x Platinum SOS and Top Single with 5x Platinum “Kill Bill” Peso Pluma scored the highest album certification for a first-time artist with his Platinum collection, “Génesis” Karol G scored the top Latin album with 5x “Platino Mañana Será Bonito,” while Carin Leon & Grupo Frontera’s collaboration “Que Vuelvas” is the top Latin single.

Christopher Vourlias Siberian-born entrepreneur Arsen Tomsky is not your typical tech mogul. The CEO of the California-based technology company inDrive got his start far from Silicon Valley, when he designed a ride-hailing app in his native Yakutsk to compete with the cartels that controlled the local taxi industry.

Naman Ramachandran Greek non-profit creative incubator Oxbelly has revealed the participants of its 2023 retreat for writers in episodic, fiction and poetry. Founded by producer and Faliro House founder Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Oxbelly is known for its screenwriters and directors labs — which run under the artistic direction of Athina Rachel Tsangari — and draws a number of international filmmakers every summer to Greece.

Christopher Vourlias Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, an emerging generation of filmmakers born and raised in the independent countries of Central Asia is giving an exhilarating charge to the region’s cinema and helping to put their unheralded industries on the map. Leading Kazakh film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva says these “children of independence” are bringing a “new attitude” to the screen and giving a jolt of energy to emerging industries that for decades were under Moscow’s thumb.

Golden Globes took the first step into its future on Monday morning with the announcement of the nominees for the 81st edition of the awards ceremony — but if anyone expected the Globes to completely abandon its did-not-see-that-coming reputation, they were sorely disappointed. No musicals were nominated for best musical or comedy, but “May December” — a melodrama with a deliberately confrontational score — was nominated in that category.

Lena Dunham and her husband Luis Felber have co-created a romantic comedy series titled “Too Much” for Netflix. Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe are set to star. “Too Much” follows Jessica (Stalter), a New York workaholic in her mid-30s who is reeling from a broken relationship that she thought would last forever and slowly isolating everyone she knows.

Scott Brown has told the Celtic doomsayers that it would be unwise to go after the Hoops at this stage.

A retired Lanarkshire miner has won a major battle against an energy giant which overcharged him thousands of pounds for heating bills.

A Paisley postcode is the fourth highest ‘red flag’ address in the country – deemed too dangerous for ambulance crews to attend without police back-up.

A six-year-old boy has been mauled to death by two dogs at the home of a family friend.

Despite the moniker, 'good' cholesterol could increase your risk of dementia, according to new research.

ITV have confirmed Nigel Farage had no chance of winning after he placed third in the 2023 series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Once the former politician and GB News host was booted off the show, Tony Bellew took second place and Sam Thompson was crowned the winner. It's now been revealed Sam was the clear frontrunner in the final as before Nigel was kicked out of camp, he had just 25.78% of the public vote.

They might play mother and daughter Sarah Barlow and Bethany Platt on Coronation Street, but actors Tina O'Brien and Lucy Fallon looked more like sisters on a recent night out.Tina, 40, and her on-screen daughter Lucy, 28, proved that they are the best of pals as they attended the Coronation Street Christmas party at The Refuge restaurant in Manchester last week Mum of one Tina looked sensational in a red sparkly dress which featured a corset that led into a satin skirt with a huge bow around the waist. She wore strappy silver shoes and had her long blonde hair styled into glamorous curls, whilst her makeup featured a smoky eye look.

Cardi B and Offset have officially split — again.The “Up” singer revealed that she’s been “single for a minute” in a new Instagram Live on Sunday, and said she doesn’t “think” her now-estranged husband cheated on her with fellow rapper Chrisean Rock.“I don’t know if y’all have been getting clues from me from my Live, I mean… or from my Instagram Stories, where I put certain music. When it comes to events and stuff, I don’t think it’s true, I don’t care to find out because I have been single for a minute now,” she told her fans.“I have been afraid to… not afraid but I just don’t know how to tell the world.

The 2024 Golden Globes announced the nominations on Monday, but one major category was missing: host.The ceremony is fast approaching, set for Jan. 7 (8 p.m. on CBS), and there’s been no celeb emcee announced.

Craig Revel Horwood disagreed with his fellow judges at the Strictly Come Dancing semi-final as he opted to save Annabel Croft over Bobby Brazier - despite judges Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas voting in favour of saving the latter. Craig, 58, was the third judge to vote, leaving head judge Shirley, 62, to cast the deciding vote.

Golden Globe Awards were officially announced Monday with Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” topping taking the lead with a whopping nine nominations. The nominees were revealed at a press conference hosted by “That ’70s Show” alum Wilmer Valderrama and comedian Cedric the Entertainer. The official Golden Globes ceremony is set to take place on Jan.

Olivia Rodrigo is the latest artist to find herself in the Tiny Desk Concert studio, bringing songs from her Grammy-nominated Guts to the NPR audience. "I was saying earlier, I've never been starstruck by a room before," she says at one point as she references the many artists who have gone before her.

Former Tottenham Hotspur boss Tim Sherwood is backing Manchester City to retain their Premier League crown after getting back on track against Luton Town on Sunday afternoon.

Netflix's latest true crime offering explores the life of disgraced Italian surgeon, Dr Paolo Macchiarini.

Andre 3000’s recent pivot to wordless New Age jams has sparked discussion amongst rap fans and rappers alike about aging in hip-hop, and the value of older perspectives in an industry that’s all too often perceived as a young person’s game. In a GQ profile ahead of his instrumental record New Blue Sun, Andre explained that rapping has increasingly felt “inauthentic” as he approaches 50 — a statement that a range of middle-aged rappers, from Open Mike Eagle to Lil Wayne, expressed disappointment about.

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign's joint album will be released on Friday, December 15, according to a statement West made in Miami during an impromptu playback over the weekend. The FADER has reached out to reps of both artists for comment.

A huge brawl broke out at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool at the weekender - with one man punched in the face.

A man who was arrested after a stabbing outside a leisure centre in Irlam has been released from custody, police have confirmed.

The body of a man found on a playing field has triggered a murder inquiry. Today forensic officers were working on a verge on the edge of sports fields at Broughton Rugby and Cricket Club in Higher Broughton.

Leaked Zoom footage of a Nike meeting involving Travis Scott and John McEnroe went viral this weekend, leaving many on social media to think that 2023's most unlikely beef was between going down in front of them. It's not an unfair assumption. In the video Scott and McEnroe are discussing their Mac Attack sneaker collab.

The 2024 Golden Globe nominations have officially been announced!

The 10 celebrities who have been named to Google’s top trending searches list for 2023 have been revealed.

ABC has renewed and cancelled a lot of television shows this year, and we’re recapping the biggest decisions so far.

Five tones. That’s all it took for John Williams to convey a sense of a wider form of communication that stretches from the Earth to the Cosmos. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a film about (among many things) communication and the power of the universal language of music in particular. It is fitting, then, that the Royal Albert Hall would make room for Steven Spielberg’s 1977 Sci-Fi classic in its season of live orchestral performances this year. Not only is it a wonderful chance to revisit one of Spielberg’s finest, but it offers a means to greater appreciate just how emotionally complex William’s work is in this tale of making connection with beings not of this world. Seeing a film with a live orchestra is an experience that everyone should embark upon, be it your first time seeing the film for your 100th. It is a uniquely immersive experience, bringing you into the film in a way that no other screening format can quite muster. Music, and particularly the music of John Williams, is often used to heighten emotion and elevate scenes to their peak resonance, and the tangibility of seeing an orchestra play the score as the film progresses brings you even closer to those emotions in a truly profound fashion.The film and the score all build-up to one of the finest finales put to screen with the eventual meeting between our characters and the aliens who have been telegraphing their arrival. The moments of witty government conspiracy and deeply touching and devastating family drama give way to the meeting of human and alien, as the human race communicates to the huge, foreboding and colourful mothership through the medium of music. It is a sequence that never loses its grandeur on repeat viewing, a moment in which the

Meryl Streep has broken a Golden Globes record. Her own. Streep came in to today’s Globes nominations with 32 noms and eight wins and she has now notched her 33rd nomination — for her supporting turn as aspiring actress Loretta Durkin in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.

The nominations for the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards were revealed Monday morning, helping to kick awards season into high gear.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association displayed a fair amount of consensus with the Recording Academy when it unveiled its first Golden Globe nominations for Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television, giving nominations to such recently Grammy-nominated comedians as Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes and Sarah Silverman.

EXCLUSIVE: Squid Game: The Challenge producer Studio Lambert has promoted a trio of senior execs as drama boss Sue Hogg steps back from the day to day.

With only two weeks until Christmas, it’s definitely time to start thinking about your Christmas day looks or New Year’s Eve outfits if you haven’t already. If you want that celeb style on a budget then you’re in luck because George has dropped the most gorgeous sequin maxi dress that rivals Hailey Bieber’s £1.2k gown from 16Arlington. And to make it even better, it’s only £55 here or you can shop the dress in your local Asda store.The George dress features silver sequin embellishments alongside a keyhole cutout around the chest area, making it similar to the 16Arlington one.