ENTERTAINMENT

  Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  Cliched rappers spend money on bling and cars, but Senegalese-American artist Akon is looking skywards to splash his cash, investing in solar power projects across Africa. The rapper added The Gambia and Cape Verde to his Akon Lighting Africa initiative this weekend, a fund …

New York, United States | AFP |  Adele, who has become a global pop sensation with her songs of heartbreak, has confirmed years of speculation that she is married. The English singer has been in a long-term relationship with Simon Konecki, a former financier who founded drop4drop, a charity that …

Paris, France | AFP |  As the Paris fashion week autumn-winter shows reach their climax, we look at the biggest womenswear trends so far on the catwalk: – Mad hatters – Paris has fallen head over heels for hats. This week has seen an unprecedented sprouting of headwear on the …

New York, United States | AFP |  Ed Sheeran has smashed Spotify records with his new album “Divide,” which drew nearly twice as many listens on its first day as the previous leader. The world’s largest streaming service said that the pop singer’s album was heard nearly 57 million times …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | British film icon James Bond has entertained audiences for over five decades, but now the country’s foreign intelligence agency is asking cinema-goers to become spies themselves. MI6 on Friday unveiled a 58-second advertisement — entitled “But She Can” — that will be shown in …

Paris, France | AFP | The alleged “sadistic” mistreatment of scores of models who were forced to wait in a dark, cramped staircase at a Paris fashion week casting has sparked fresh criticism of how the industry functions. With fashion already under intense scrutiny over under-age and overly thin models, …

Washington, United States | AFP |  Media mogul Oprah Winfrey did not say she was running for president, but she didn’t rule it out either, raising the unlikely prospect of a titanic celebrity-on-celebrity duel with Donald Trump in 2020. In an interview with Bloomberg TV that aired Wednesday, host David …

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Rio’s Sambodromo parades are a fantasy of beautiful bodies and dreamlike costumes but the self-declared greatest show on Earth is prepared in a dirty street next to an open sewer. The contrast between what happens inside Rio de Janeiro’s specially built samba stadium …

Hollywood, United States | AFP | Coming-of-age drama “Moonlight” won the best picture Oscar on Sunday, but not before the film industry’s biggest night was marred by one of the worst fiascos in its history, as “La La Land” was mistakenly handed the award first. Until the final minute the …

Hollywood, United States | AFP | Two black film stars took the early acting honors at the 89th Oscars on Sunday, which began with a salvo of jokes by host Jimmy Kimmel targeting US President Donald Trump. Mahershala Ali won the best supporting actor prize for his turn as a …