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Roman Polanski Sued By Accuser For Different Case Of Alleged Rape In 1970s

"The trial is scheduled to take place on Aug. 4, 2025, following a lawsuit that accused Polanski of giving a (13-year-old girl) alcohol and raping her at his Benedict Canyon home. The complaint was filed last June in Los Angeles County Superior Court." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Amateur Ballerina Held By Russia After $50 Donation To Ukraine Charity

Russian authorities apparently accessed Ksenia Karelina’s phone and discovered she had donated approximately $50 to Razom, a pro-Ukrainian charity, in 2022. - The Guardian

Editor William Whitworth’s Outsized Influence On The Atlantic Magazine

Bill was a mentor to two generations of writers—writers of narrative reporting, primarily, but also novelists, biographers, intellectuals, essayists, and humorists. He expanded The Atlantic’s topical range and its cultural presence. - The Atlantic

Malachy McCourt, Author, Actor, And Professional Irish-American, Has Died At 92

"As an actor, talk show guest and broadcaster, Mr. McCourt was a boisterous and entertaining counterpart to his more dour and literary-minded brother Frank, a high school English teacher whose 1996 memoir about growing up dirt poor in Ireland (Angela's Ashes) became a publishing phenomenon." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Arnold Schoenberg’s Hollywood

He played tennis with George Gershwin, who idolized him. He delighted in the American habits of his children, who, to the alarm of other émigrés, ran all over the house. He taught at U.S.C., at U.C.L.A., and at home, counting John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Oscar Levant among his students. - The New Yorker

NY Times Co-Chief Art Critic To Retire After 32 Years, 4,500 Reviews

Roberta Smith started freelancing for The New York Times in 1986, after writing for Art in America and The Village Voice, and after a semester at the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program. Before writing full time, she also worked at MoMA; with Donald Judd, the celebrated Minimalist; and at the Paula Cooper Gallery. - The New York Times

Revered Editor And Writer William Whitworth Has Died At 87

Whitworth "wrote revealing profiles in The New Yorker ... and polished the prose of some of the nation’s celebrated writers as its associate editor before transplanting that magazine’s painstaking standards to The Atlantic, where he was editor in chief for 20 years." - The New York Times

Akira Toriyama, Creator Of The Hugely Popular Comic And Anime Dragon Ball, Has Died At 68

Dragon Ball got its start in 1984, and “to many fans, Son Goku's journey from a kid who fumbles his martial arts training to a high-flying hero who can shoot bolts of electricity from his hands mirrors their own struggles against self-doubt as they grew into adulthood.” - BBC

Petra Mathers, Author And Illustrator Of Many Children’s Books, Has Died At 78

"Mathers’s stories — whose subjects included a soulful museum guard (an alligator) who falls in love with the subject in a painting (another alligator) and a warmhearted chicken named Lottie and her best friend, Herbie, a duck — were … imbued with sly humor and wit.” - The New York Times

Juliette Binoche On Turning Spielberg Down Multiple Times, And That Oscar

"My mind wasn’t working when I went up to receive my Oscar . You’re in a space of awe, in this surprising state of not really knowing why it’s happening. … It was the surprise of my life." - The Guardian (UK)

Akira Toriyama, Legend Of Manga And Anime, Dead At 68

"There is hardly a space in pop culture today that hasn’t been touched by Akira Toriyama’s art. … He brought manga and anime into the global mainstream and broke down the walls that had once sealed off Japanese storytelling." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Steve Lawrence, Half Of Popular Jazz-Pop Duo Steve And Eydie, Is Dead At 88

"As a solo performer and with his wife, Eydie Gormé, (he) kept Tin Pan Alley alive during the rock era. … Steve & Eydie were known for their frequent appearances on talk shows, in night clubs and (in) Las Vegas, (singing) George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and other songwriters." - AP

The Making Of Keith Haring

Even as his fame grew, Haring remained dedicated to grass-roots activism: designing posters for anti-nuke rallies, anti-apartheid protests, safe sex promotions, and events for a myriad of LGBTQ causes. - ArtsFuse

The Oldest Oscar Nominee: John Williams And His 54 Nominations

Even though he’s not ready to surrender the staff-lined paper and pencil with which he’s written his scores, Williams, 92, is also the oldest person to be nominated for an Oscar. Ask Williams what the 54 nominations mean to him, and he says, “Well, I’ve lost 49 of ’em, or something like that.” - Variety

Guy Wildenstein, Of The Art-Dealer Dynasty, Convicted Of Tax Fraud In France

"The 78-year-old billionaire ... has been found guilty of money laundering and tax fraud, following a years-long saga seeking his prosecution." He was fined €1 million in addition to the back taxes he owes, authorities have seized €3.4 million in assets, and he will serve two years under house arrest. - Artnet

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