Olivia Newton-John, the singer and “Grease” star who died on Monday in the United States, will receive a state memorial service in Australia, Victorian state Premier Dan Andrews announced Thursday. In a Twitter post, Andrews said he had spoken with Newton-John’s family and they had accepted the offer of a state ceremony. “It will be more of a concert than a funeral — fitting for a Victorian who lived such a rich and generous life,” Andrews said. Details are yet to be finalized. Newton-John’s niece Tottie Goldsmith previously told CNNRead more

Jeffrey Toobin, who rejoined CNN as a legal analyst after stepping away in the wake of exposing himself to colleagues in a Zoom call, said Friday that he was leaving the network after 20 years. Toobin announced the move in a tweet, saying he was glad to spend his last day on the air with friends Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon. “Love all my former colleagues,” he wrote. Toobin was fired by The New Yorker magazine in 2020 after the news came out that he was spotted masturbatingRead more

Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” drew death threats from Iran’s leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose. Police identified the attackerRead more

The family of country singer Naomi Judd filed an amended court petition Friday to seal police reports and recordings made during the investigation into her death. The family filed the petition in Williamson County Chancery Court, saying the records contain video and audio interviews with relatives in the immediate aftermath of Judd’s death and releasing such details would inflict “significant trauma and irreparable harm.” The petition was filed on behalf of the singer’s husband Larry Strickland and her daughters Ashley and Wynonna Judd and was a more detailed follow-up toRead more

A man once briefly married to Britney Spears was convicted Friday of aggravated trespassing and battery at the pop star’s June wedding. Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded no contest to the two misdemeanor counts in a California court. The Ventura County judge sentenced him to the 64 days he has already served in jail. Prosecutors dropped charges of felony stalking and misdemeanor vandalism. Spears married longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari at her home in Thousand Oaks, California, on June 9, in front of several dozen guests including Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, ParisRead more