Seville (Spain) (AFP) – Top Spanish fashion designers Victorio and Lucchino, who have dressed singers and aristocrats, inaugurated a museum dedicated to their works in their southern home region of Andalusia
The museum housed in a centuries-old former convent in the southern city of Palma del Rio displays a retrospective of their creations, which are characterised by bright colours and the use of lace and ruffles.
It includes fabrics, dress prototypes, shows, accesseries and jewellery from a career spanning nearly five decades.
"It is a nice finishing touch to our professional careers, a satisfaction, to leave a vestige of our work to future generations," Jose Luis Medina del Corral, 68, who goes by the alias Lucchino, told AFP before the museum's opening.
Lucchino and Jose Victor Rodriguez Caro, 72, who goes by the alias Victorio, met as teenagers in the 1960s and soon became a couple, united by their passion for fashion.
They joined forces in 1975 to create the Victorio y Lucchino brand, and burst onto the international scene a decade later by taking part in the New York International Fair.
Their creations have since appeared on catwalks in Japan, Germany, Italy and the United States, worn by top models such as Claudia Schiffer and Elle McPherson.
The duo's customers have included one of Spain's most famous singers, Rocio Jurado who died in 2016, and Spain's late Duchess of Alba, one of Europe's wealthiest aristocrats.
The new Victorio and Lucchino museum brings together dresses, fabrics, footwear, jewelry and other accessoriesCRISTINA QUICLER AFP
She wore a salmon-coloured dress with a moss-green sash by Andalusian designers at her 2011 wedding to a civil servant at her palace in Seville.
The designers say they have long drawn inspiration from the culture of Andalusia, Spain's centre for flamenco and bullfighting.
"Every creator lives from the land where he lives," said Victorio who was born in Palma del Rio.
Riyadh (AFP) – When Saudi doctor Safi took a new job at a hospital in the capital, she decided to offset her standard white lab coat with a look she once would have considered dramatic.
Walking into a Riyadh salon, she ordered the hairdresser to chop her long, wavy locks all the way up to her neck, a style increasingly in vogue among working women in the conservative kingdom.
The haircut –- known locally by the English word "boy" –- has become strikingly visible on the streets of the capital, and not just because women are no longer required to wear hijab headscarves under social reforms pushed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.
As more women join the workforce, a central plank of government efforts to remake the Saudi economy, many describe the "boy" cut as a practical, professional alternative to the longer styles they might have preferred in their pre-working days.
For Safi, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym to preserve her anonymity, the look also serves as a form of protection from unwanted male attention, allowing her to focus on her patients.
"People like to see femininity in a woman's appearance," she said. "This style is like a shield that protects me from people and gives me strength."
A practical time-saver
At one salon in central Riyadh, demand for the "boy" cut has spiked –- with seven or eight customers out of 30 requesting it on any given day, said Lamis, a hairdresser.
"This look has become very popular now," she said. "The demand for it has increased, especially after women entered the labour market. "The fact that many women do not wear the hijab has highlighted its spread" while spurring even more customers to try it out, especially women in their late teens and twenties, she said.
The lifting of the headscarf requirement is just one of many changes that have reordered daily life for Saudi women under Prince Mohammed, who was named as the heir to his 86-year-old father, King Salman, five years ago.
Saudi women are no longer banned from concerts and sports events, and in 2018 they gained the right to drive.
The kingdom has also eased so-called guardianship rules, meaning women can now obtain passports and travel abroad without a male relative's permission.
Such reforms, however, have been accompanied by a crackdown on women's rights activists, part of a broader campaign against dissent.
Getting more women to work is a major component of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 reform plan to make Saudi Arabia less dependent on oil.
The plan initially called for women to account for 30 percent of the workforce by the end of the decade, but already that figure has reached 36 percent, assistant tourism minister Princess Haifa Al-Saud told the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.
"We see women today in every single job type," Princess Haifa said, noting that 42 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises are women-owned.
Many working women interviewed by AFP praised the "boy" cut as a tool for navigating their new professional lives.
"I am a practical woman and I don't have time to take care of my hair," said Abeer Mohammed, a 41-year-old mother of two who runs a men's clothing store.
"My hair is curly, and if my hair grows long, I will have to spend time that is not available to me taking care of it in the morning."
'Show of strength'
Saudi Arabia has traditionally outlawed men who "imitate women" or wear women's clothing, and vice versa.
But Rose, a 29-year-old shoe saleswoman at a Riyadh mall, sees her close-cropped hair as a means of asserting her independence from men, not imitating them.
The 'boy' haircut has become strikingly visible on the streets of the Saudi capitalFayez Nureldine AFP
It "gives me strength and self-confidence... I feel different, and able to do what I want without anyone's guardianship", said Rose, who did not want to give her full name.
"At first my family rejected the look, but over time they got used to it," she added.
Such acceptance partly reflects the influence of Arab stars like actress Yasmin Raeis or singer Shirene who have adopted the style, said Egyptian stylist Mai Galal.
"A woman who cuts her hair in this way is a woman whose character is strong because it is not easy for women to dispense with their hair," Galal told AFP.
Nouf, who works in a cosmetics store and preferred not to give her family name, described the message of the "boy" cut this way: "We want to say that we exist, and our role in society does not differ much from that of men."
Short hair, she added, is "a show of women's strength".
Juan-les-Pins (France) (AFP) – Paul Anka -- the silky-voice crooner who wrote such evergreen classics as "She's a Lady" and the lyrics to "My Way" -- has been around the block since he scored his first global number one in 1957.
But it has taken the Canadian 80 years to headline one of the world's top jazz festivals alongside legends like George Benson, Gilberto Gil and Van Morrison.
"It's gonna be a thrill for me" to play the Juan Jazz Festival on the French Riviera -- Anka told AFP from his home in Los Angeles.
Indeed, the line-up is a gathering of pure jazz royalty, from Herbie Hancock to Diana Krall, Stacey Kent and the genius Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan.
But Anka's roots are pure pop, going straight to the top of the hit parade -- as it was then called -- with his debut smash, "Diana", when he was only 16.
The song ushered in the era of teeny bopper stars, with Anka the first teenager ever to score a number one hit in Britain.
'My Way'
The song told of Anka's unrequited love for an older woman who was "out of my league" -- Diana Ayoub was 19 at the time -- and he used to pine for her after spotting her at his Orthodox church in Ottawa.
The son of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, Anka grew up speaking French, which is how he came to write the English version of one of the 20th century's most sung songs, "My Way".
His take on the standard, which was originally recorded by the French singer Claude Francois as "Comme d'habitude", became Frank Sinatra's signature standard, as well as a hit for Elvis and the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious.
"I have a great history with France, with French people and the music," said Anka.
"I have to do some of the original hits that first took me to France when I was a young boy -- 'Diana', 'You Are My Destiny' and 'My Way' of course," he added.
Sorry Trump
Anka was slated to sing "My Way" at Donald Trump's inauguration as US president in 2017 before pulling out, although he avoided saying whether he supported him.
"You've got a better chance of getting a sunrise past a rooster on that one," he said.
While his full-on romantic standards such as "(You're) Having My Baby" may be slightly cheesy to some, his songs and celebrity have endured.
"Put Your Head on My Shoulder" inspired a viral TikTok challenge last year, and "She's a Lady" -- which he also wrote -- is one of Welsh singer Tom Jones's biggest crowd-pleasers.
Anka also popped up on stage next to Lisa in a 1995 episode of "The Simpsons" called "Treehouse of Horror VI" in which he co-starred.
The singer was and is still friends with some of France's musical greats, and hinted that he would pay homage to some of them during his show in Juan-les-Pins.
"You'll see when I do my show... I was connected to all the French singers from (Charles) Aznavour, to Johnny Hallyday ("the French Elvis"), Gilbert Becaud and Mireille Mathieu, whom I wrote an album for.
"One of my favourites was Michel Colombier," a prolific Hollywood film composer who "wrote a couple of albums with me".
Anka said he wanted to "get the sense of the audience" before deciding what to play, although there would be a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. "I can't be selfish and do what I want for myself.
"I want to be eclectic... I don't know if I will have time to sing anything from the new album, and I don't know if anyone will be interested," quipped the singer, who has just recorded a new television special.
Hammamet (Tunisia) (AFP) – Young musicians, dancers, actors and comedians from across the Arab world took to the stage in Tunisia to express their visions of freedom, more than a decade after the Arab Spring uprisings.
The show, performed under the stars at a seaside theatre in the resort of Hammamet and broadcast across the region, featured winners of an online video competition to complete the phrase: "I will only be free when..."
It was the latest in a string of talent and debate programmes organised by media action group Munathara ("debate"), which aims "to spark much-needed conversations about rights, freedoms and social change in the Arab world", according to founder Belabbas Benkredda.
"Public debates even about fundamental rights can be very polarising, especially on social media," the 43-year-old Algerian-German said.
Munathara was born in 2012, the year after the Arab Spring revolts, kicked off by the ouster of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which had sparked high hopes for democracy in a region with an overwhelmingly young population.
But ironically, as Munathara marked its 10th anniversary with the show in Hammamet on Saturday, it was overshadowed by President Kais Saied consolidating a power-grab that has sparked fears for Tunisia's democratic gains.
Other countries in the region have seen the rise of even more repressive systems than before, while others have witnessed devastating civil wars.
'Freedoms under attack'
Munathara was founded at "a time of great hope and aspiration -- but the optimism has given way to cynicism, including among youth", Benkredda said.
"The Arab world's Gen Z came of age politically amid increasing despair and social division."
Syrian refugee and stand-up comedian Mohamed al-Kurdi, one of the performers in Saturday's show, said that today, "young people's freedom is restricted, and not just in the Arab world".
"All over the world freedoms are under attack," the 23-year-old added, sitting at the edge of a stage bathed in spotlights during a break from rehearsals.
Kurdi, whose TikTok account "MidoKrdi" has over 2.3 million followers, said that rather than dealing with politics, he wanted to discuss "the limits we impose on ourselves: fear of failure, fear of success. These things rein in our freedom."
For Saturday's event, he teamed up with fellow comedian and actress Dana Ali Makki, 22, in a comedy act about an overbearing husband and his wife.
Makki, from the southern Lebanese region of Nabatiyeh, said she believed young Arabs had slightly more freedom than a few years ago.
"People can be a bit different from their parents and from the society and culture they grew up in," she said.
"There's more subversion against customs, traditions, religion and society."
Asked how she defined her own freedom, she said: "I'm free when I'm able to say whatever I want, loudly, without being afraid of anyone. Free of all the restrictions society imposes, especially on women."
'Learn to resist!'
The show, the fourth of its kind, also served as a showcase for up-and-coming talent, such as Ahmed al-Qrinawi from Gaza, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade for the past 15 years.
He was a twice-published poet when he started teaching himself the oud -- a kind of lute widely played in the Middle East -- at the age of 22.
He would sit under a shelter he built on the family's roof in Gaza City, to avoid the disapproving ears of his conservative family.
To learn music theory, he used copies of music books borrowed from friends at a music school he couldn't afford to attend.
Last weekend, three years later, he appeared on stage playing an unusual seven-stringed oud, home-made with the help of a carpenter friend.
He said he had only heard about the competition shortly after the deadline, and composed, recorded and submitted his song in just an hour.
Fortunately, judges accepted the entry, and he went on to become one of the winners and perform with a professional band.
"I will only be free when I have a normal country, where death doesn't keep an eye on me," runs the first line of his song.
"In Gaza there's no freedom," Qrinawi said.
"Freedom's not just about food and drink. You can get a bird and put it in a cage and bring it food, but it's still in captivity."
For Lebanese actress and comedian Makki, who has a tattoo on her forearm reading "resist", the show was a chance to deliver another message.
"You can't stay in your house with your hands tied or stay silent," she said.
Mariah Carey sparkled as her peers inducted the beloved diva into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame, part of a class that also includes Pharrell, Steve Miller and the Isley Brothers.
This edition of the gala that honors the composers behind pop culture's most indelible hits was years in the making, after the 51st annual edition originally slated for 2020 was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A true industry award and who's who of music, the Songwriters Hall of Fame gala foregoes a televised event in favor of a festive dinner and intimate concert.
But even without a broadcast, the Manhattan ballroom was glowing with star power, not least thanks to Carey, who strutted the stage in a glittering, curve-hugging gown as she accepted the coveted honor.
Carey -- whose songwriting talent has long been overshadowed by her elastic vocal range and pop star image -- doubled as the night's stand-up comedian, making light of her own reputation as high-maintenance, at one point donning sunglasses to make a point about the less than ideal lighting.
But she struck a more earnest note in celebrating her fellow inductees and songwriters more broadly, calling them "unsung heroes."
For artist Jimmy Jam, who along with Terry Lewis produced a slew of massive hits including for Janet Jackson, Carey is among an elite class of songwriters whose work is timeless.
"There's nobody that's more savvy than her, that works harder, that knows all the intricacies of writing and is passionate about it," he told AFP on the red carpet.
Carey chose self-taught singing prodigy Liamani Segura to perform at the ceremony in her honor, and the 13-year-old led the crowd through a medley of the Long Island-born singer's smashes including "Fantasy," "One Sweet Day" and, of course, "All I Want For Christmas Is You."
Earlier in the night, inductee Miller shredded through his space dream of a hit "Fly Like An Eagle," after being inducted by his friend, the actor Bryan Cranston.
"It's really the highest honor -- the most intellectual honor," Miller, 78, told AFP on the red carpet of entering the songwriting pantheon. "It means the most to me."
- 'Sense of direction' - Miller's performance followed a showstopper of an opening from St. Vincent, who inducted the Eurythmics -- the duo comprised of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart -- after delivering a spot-on version of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" that had Lil Nas X on his feet, a shock of blond curls bobbing atop his pale pink suit.
Lil Nas X accepted a special honor for gifted young songwriters on the night that also celebrated the songwriting talents of Rick Nowels, the songwriter behind megahits including Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness" along with "Heaven Is a Place On Earth" and "Circle in the Sand" by Belinda Carlisle.
Motown icon Smokey Robinson lit up the room with a set honoring Mickey Stevenson, whose success includes the classic "Dancing In The Street."
And Usher joined artist of the moment Jon Batiste in celebrating The Neptunes -- the duo of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo -- taking the audience through a hip-swaying medley of hits they wrote and produced including Usher's "U Don't Have To Call."
The ever-luminous Pharrell, wearing a showstopping cherry red leather suit, gave a lengthy ode to songwriting and advised young writers to push forward: "When that sparkle hits you feel it in your bone, you feel it in your body... you feel this sense of direction."
Earlier in the night, he told AFP it felt "surreal" to accept the accolade.
This year's gala comes at a time that the songwriting and publishing side of the music business that's oft-overlooked is experiencing roaring success, with catalogs seen as coveted assets for investors.
Jody Gerson, the Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing -- which in recent years has acquired catalogs including those of Neil Diamond and Sting -- accepted the night's publishing honor, and praised the songwriters that make her work possible.
And Paul Williams -- the songwriting legend behind hits like "Rainy Days and Mondays" from The Carpenters as well as the Muppet classic "Rainbow Connection" -- hailed songwriting's ability to connect.
"People respond to what we create, and that's the biggest prize of all," he said in accepting the night's highest honor, a lifetime achievement prize of sorts for songwriters already inducted. "We feel a little less alone in this world, while sharing a stack of vulnerabilities and dreams and self-doubt."
"Endless love songs -- I mean I write co-dependent anthems, I'm sorry," he quipped. "'I won't last a day without you' is not a healthy thought -- I've done some therapy."
But jokes aside, Williams was unequivocal in emphasizing the importance of his fellow lyricists: "My God, we never needed your songs more than right now."
Paris (AFP) – The packed stands at Epsom and Royal Ascot are just the images a sport wants beamed worldwide but away from the prestigious meetings racing faces a challenging time in attracting new spectators.
Worryingly for the 'Sport of Kings' the crown seemed to have lost a bit of its lustre with disappointing crowds for both the York and Chester festivals in May with high quality racing spread over several days.
At Chester attendance over the four days was 35,000, down 35% on the 53,500 that were at the corresponding fixture in 2019.
Ordinary midweek meetings are suffering too as racing like other sports and entertainment venues battle to attract footfall with the public ever more wary of spending money due to a cost of living crisis.
Rod Street, CEO of Great British Racing (GBR) which is the sport's central promotional and marketing body tasked with increasing engagement with and participation in horse racing, told AFP the decline in attendances is a concern.
"The cost-of-living crisis is certainly a factor," he said.
"Also following two years of extended lockdown periods (due to Covid-19), every sporting, leisure and entertainment offering is competing at once.
"We also believe that, after two years, people have got out of the habit.
"As ever, it is rarely one factor that affects the trend but rather several."
Street had laid out at the beginning of the year in GBR's manifesto they would target the 25-34 age group, though he concedes delivering the killer argument to persuade them to come racing is not easy.
"It is a considerable challenge," he said.
"Our consumer research informs us that the 25-34 year-old market demonstrates the best opportunity for growth, as this demographic consistently expresses an appetite to consider racegoing.
"Consideration is the stage that follows awareness and precedes purchase, so this insight is important.
"We will target broader ethnic groups in this age category that better represent society, making our catchment as wide as possible."
William Woodhams, CEO of Fitzdares bookmakers, says much needs to be done to make going racing more attractive to the public.
"It does feel lacklustre at the moment," he told AFP.
"Apart from key meetings we don't seem to be getting the right cross-section of the public.
"I do think the food and beverage offerings are pretty dire and attempts with bands etc don't really land well.
"The sport is entertainment enough and we just need to make the whole experience better."
'Excitement and drama'
Woodhams, drawing on his experience of six years with luxury goods firm LVMH, does not believe that racecourses offer value for money.
"For the very best experience you pay well over the odds and there should be more value at the entry level," he said.
"People under 30 should be paying £20 ($24) for entry, a free bet and a drink."
Entry fees vary -- the vast majority of racecourses offer free entry to Under-18's -- but extras quickly add to the costs.
Goodwood for example is £12-26 entry but a bottle of water is £2.50 the cheapest pint is £6 and a hamburger £9 as cited by The Racing Post.
Goodwood, York, Ascot and other high profile racecourses push the boat out to welcome spectators but that is not the case for other racetracks according to Woodhams and Qatar Racing's manager David Redvers.
"Several racecourses do a good job but many smaller ones are concentrating too much on the fact they receive a great majority of their income through media rights," Redvers said.
"For them it is actually a pain to have crowds and they would far rather have fewer bums on seats and not worry about infrastructure and expenses and get their money through TV rights."
The Jockey Club -- which owns 15 racecourses including Aintree and Cheltenham and puts on 340 racing fixtures a year -- would not fit into that category as they spend £7 million a year on marketing to attract spectators.
Indeed in the first four months of 2022, paid attendance across their racecourses was up by three percent on the same pre-pandemic period (2019).
For Street and Woodhams the future for racing is not a gloomy one -- for the latter it is "100 percent the most premium sport".
"Challenging but potentially rewarding," says Street of the future.
"It is unrealistic to think that everyone that comes through the gates will become a more engaged fan, but the more we do to get people closer to the excitement and drama of the sport and its tremendous characters, the better our chance of developing more lifelong fans."
Beverly Hills (United States) (AFP) – It's a dispute that plays out in towns the world over: a new property owner wants to alter a much-loved landmark against the wishes of locals. It's his money. It's their community.
So far, so familiar.
But this is Beverly Hills, where the perfectly manicured mansions of celebrities and socialites populate one of the world's most desirable zip codes. Oh, and the property in question is worth $40 million.
"It is extremely beautiful," said preservationist Alison Martino, who grew up four blocks away from the North Roxbury Drive house bought in 2020 by Eric Baker, the co-founder of internet-based ticket empire StubHub.
"It's on a double lot, which makes it very stately and it's pushed back from the street. It almost looks like a park. It's the most beloved house in Beverly Hills."
To the visitor, the whole city looks a little like a park; lavish homes nestle on tree-lined streets that are peopled chiefly by Lululemon joggers and the occasional member of household staff.
- Elvis, Sinatra, Madonna -
The enclave of Beverly Hills began life a little over a century ago, and soon established itself as byword for luxury; an oasis for the well-heeled who made their money in the newly burgeoning film industry, but found nearby Hollywood a bit tawdry.
Over the years, it has been home to a Who's Who of entertainment, counting Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Madonna and Jennifer Aniston as residents.
Today, minibuses ferrying star-spotting tourists whizz through the neighborhood, with guides pointing out the present and former homes of the famous.
When Lucille Ball moved to Beverly Hills, she wanted that house, but it wasn't for sale, so she bought the house across the street so she could look at it," said Martino.
$39.1 million
The object of Ball's desire is a Regency Revival home constructed 80 years ago by Beverly Hills master builder Carleton Burgess.
The 9,000-square-foot spread sits among fabulous lawns and boasts its own full-size tennis court, a pavillion and a swimming pool.
Previous owners annually festooned the house with Christmas decorations, Martino says, welcoming the neighbors over to see.
But in 2020, Baker slapped down $39.1 million for it -- almost double its previous sale price -- adding a glistening centerpiece to a property portfolio that reportedly already included two swanky Beverly Hills spots.
Now, he appears set on making changes to his North Roxbury Drive pad -- despite what the neighbors think.
Last year he applied for a "certificate of ineligibility," a pass that would allow major work on the house without the need to get a green light from the city's cultural heritage commission.
His exact plans for the property are not known, and his Los Angeles-based lawyer did not repsonded to AFP requests for comment, but locals fear he wants to take a wrecking ball to the place.
"They want to tear it down so they can build a bigger, more modern house with the latest architecture," wrote one commentor on Martino's Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page.
"The thought of this impeccably well-maintained historical building and grounds being demolished sickens me."
Others mutter darkly about not wanting something that "looks like an embassy compound" with a building that goes right up to the street.
"Even with all the money in the world, you don't get to do whatever you want," said life-long Beverly Hills resident Rebecca Pynoos. "Our cultural heritage shouldn't be sold to the highest bidder."
2am meeting
Feelings are running so high that a recent planning meeting went on until 2am.
After seven hours of back-and-forth, much of which hinged on whether or not the house was sufficiently well-known to merit preservation, councillors voted to bring the matter back for further consideration on June 21.
The discussion on Tuesday night looks set to be lengthy -- councillors have been presented with a 727-page document that includes a missive from actor Diane Keaton.
"I am pleading with you... This charming and historic home needs to be preserved for us and future generations," she writes.
For campaigner Jill Tavelman Collins, the argument over the North Roxbury Drive house is emblematic of a larger issue in Beverly Hills.
"We've lost Lucille Ball's house, we've lost Jimmy Stewart's house... there's so little left on Roxbury that is from that time and I think it's pulling at everyone's heartstrings," she said.
"I think it's like the straw that broke the camel's back."
Baz Luhrmann's rock'n'roll biopic "Elvis" hip-swiveled to the top of the box office on its opening weekend in North America, taking in an estimated $30.5 million in a rare tie with "Top Gun: Maverick," industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.
The nearly three-hour long extravaganza by director Luhrmann, known for glitzy films like "Moulin Rouge!" and "The Great Gatsby," brought in nearly double the average for the musical biography genre, said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
Despite being a "risky proposition," in part for casting relative newcomer Austin Butler as Elvis Presley alongside Tom Hanks as his exploitative manager, Colonel Tom Parker, the film has impressed audiences and critics, Gross said.
"This is the Baz Luhrmann show, a music, dance and sex appeal spectacular -- it's a hit," he said.
"Elvis" was locked in a dead heat with "Top Gun: Maverick" -- the crowd-pleasing sequel to the original 1986 film that once again features Tom Cruise as cocky Navy test pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.
It also earned an estimated $30.5 million in its fifth weekend of release.
It is now the highest grossing film of the year worldwide, breaking the $1 billion mark with nearly $522 million in ticket sales in North America and $484 million overseas.
In third place was "Jurassic World Dominion," Universal's sixth installment in the "Jurassic Park" franchise, at $26.4 million.
The latest dinosaur frightfest stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard alongside franchise originals Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.
Fourth spot went to horror film "The Black Phone" starring Ethan Hawke as a serial killer, which earned $23.4 million on its opening weekend.
"Lightyear," Pixar and Disney's latest computer-animated offering from the "Toy Story" empire, took the fifth position with $17.7 million in its second week.
The spinoff from the wildly successful animation series stars Chris Evans and has taken $88.8 million domestically and $63 million overseas, after a lackluster opening.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" ($1.7 million)
Nearly 60 years after preaching virtues of patience and modesty as Mary Poppins and governess Maria, Julie Andrews declared herself "gobsmacked" to have her career honored at a glitzy Hollywood gala.
"I didn't know or think that it would ever come," the 86-year-old told AFP on the red carpet before receiving the American Film Institute's life achievement award in Los Angeles, bestowed upon one silver screen legend each year.
"But it's just as well, because you can't go around expecting awards and things like that."
In fact, Andrews won the Oscar for best actress with her very first big-screen role -- 1964's "Mary Poppins" -- having rapidly progressed from child singer touring British music halls, to Broadway starlet spotted by Walt Disney.
A year after playing the magical and squeaky-clean nanny, and still in her twenties, Andrews sealed a permanent place among Tinseltown's elite with "The Sound of Music."
Five of the actors who played the Von Trapp children -- a wealthy Austrian family in need of governess Maria's singing lessons, and help in evading the Nazis -- attended Thursday's ceremony, along with four of Andrews' real-life offspring.
Andrews went on to star in a number of films during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, with some racy -- even topless -- scenes, which shocked audiences more used to her straight-laced characters.
In 2000 she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to acting and entertainment.
Following a personal disaster when her vocal chords were damaged in an operation, Andrews revived her career with "The Princess Diaries" (2001) and its sequel in 2004.
Her voiceover work as Queen Lillian in the "Shrek" animated film series, Gru's mother in the "Despicable Me" franchise, and Lady Whistledown in the hugely popular Netflix series "Bridgerton" earned her a new generation of young fans.
Andrews was due to receive the AFI award -- billed as "the highest honor for a career in film -- in 2020 and again in 2021, but the gala was postponed both times due to the pandemic.
"When they asked me even two-and-a-half years ago -- and Covid is what kept us from doing it then -- I was gobsmacked," she said.
Washington (AFP) – NASA is officially joining the hunt for UFOs.
The space agency announced a new study that will recruit leading scientists to examine unidentified aerial phenomena -- a subject that has long fascinated the public and recently gained high-level attention from Congress.
The project will begin early this fall and last around nine months, focusing on identifying available data, how to gather more data in future, and how NASA can analyze the findings to try to move the needle on scientific understanding.
"Over the decades, NASA has answered the call to tackle some of the most perplexing mysteries we know of, and this is no different," Daniel Evans, the NASA scientist responsible for coordinating the study, told reporters on a call.
While NASA probes and rovers scour the solar system for the fossils of ancient microbes, and its astronomers look for so-called "technosignatures" on distant planets for signs of intelligent civilizations, this is the first time the agency will investigate unexplained phenomena in Earth's skies.
With its access to a broad range of scientific tools, NASA is well placed not just to demystify UFOs and deepen scientific understanding, but also to find ways to mitigate the phenomena, a key part of its mission to ensure the safety of aircraft, said the agency's chief scientist, Thomas Zurbuchen.
The announcement comes as the field of UFO study, once a poorly-regarded research backwater, is gaining more mainstream traction.
Last month, Congress held a public hearing into UFOs, while a US intelligence report last year cataloged 144 sightings that it said could not be explained. It did not rule out alien origin.
NASA's study will be independent of the Pentagon's Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, but the space agency "has coordinated widely across the government regarding how to apply the tools of science," it said in a statement.
A paucity in the number of UFO observations make it difficult at present for the scientific community to draw conclusions.
Therefore, said astrophysicist David Spergel, who will lead the research, the first task of the group would be identifying the extent of data out there from sources including civilians, government, nonprofits and companies.
Another overarching goal of NASA is to deepen credibility in this field of study.
"There is a great deal of stigma associated with UAP among our naval aviators and aviation community," said Evans.
"One of the things we tangentially hope to do as part of this study, simply by talking about it in the open, is to help to remove some of the stigma associated with it, and that will yield obviously, increased access to data, more reports, more sightings."
The Foreign Post is the newspaper of the International Community in the Philippines, published for foreign residents, Internationally-oriented Filipinos, and visitors to the country. It is written and edited to inform, to entertain, occasionally to educate, to provide a forum for international thinkers.
