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LONDON — Britain's Maggie Smith, the double Oscar-winner who shone on stage and screen for more than seven decades, has died in hospital in London, her sons announced on Friday, prompting a flood of tributes.

"It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith," Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement.

"She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning."

Over the course of her career, Smith won a Tony, two Oscars, three Golden Globes and five Baftas.

And she achieved late-career international fame for her depiction of the acerbic Dowager Countess of Grantham Violet Crawley in the hit television series "Downton Abbey".

Britain's King Charles III called her "a national treasure" who was admired around the world. Paying tribute to her "warmth and wit that shone through both on and off the stage", he posted a photograph of him sharing a joke with the actor.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer also called her a "true national treasure" while the Bafta TV and film academy saluted "a legend of British stage and screen".

Born in 1934 in Oxford in central England, the daughter of an Oxford professor of pathology, Smith made her stage debut in 1952 with the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

She won a best actress Oscar for the 1969 drama "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" based on Muriel Spark's novel, and best supporting actress for her role in the 1978 Neil Simon comedy "California Suite".

"An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end," her sons, both actors, said.

"She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother."

'One-of-a-kind' 

Famed for her scene-stealing charisma, Smith's long and successful career got started with a string of successes in London's West End and on Broadway in the 1950s.

She famously appeared opposite Laurence Olivier in an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello" in 1959.

This led to her joining Olivier's celebrated 1960s National Theatre company where she earned critical acclaim alongside her husband, the actor Robert Stephens.

Smith's marriage to heavy-drinking Stephens, with whom she had her two sons, collapsed in 1973 and they divorced two years later.

She remarried shortly after to the screenwriter Beverley Cross, who died in 1998.

Despite her serious acting reputation, Smith also appeared in lighter Hollywood hits such as 1992's "Sister Act" and the 1993 sequel "Sister Act 2".

Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in both films, wrote on Instagram: "Maggie Smith was a great woman and a brilliant actress.

"I still can't believe I was lucky enough to work with the 'one-of-a-kind'," she added.

UK actor Kristin Scott Thomas, who appeared alongside Smith in "My Old Lady" said her co-star "saw through the nonsense and razzmatazz" of acting.

"She had a sense of humour and wit that could reduce me to a blithering puddle of giggles. And she did not have patience with fools," she wrote on Instagram.

'Thank you, Maggie' 

In recent decades, some of her best-known films included "Gosford Park" (2001), "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2012) and "The Lady in the Van" (2015).

From 2001, her role as Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" films introduced her to a younger generation.

"Somehow I thought she'd live forever," Harry Potter author JK Rowling posted on X, formerly Twitter. "RIP Dame Maggie Smith."

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe also paid tribute.

"I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her, and to spend time around her on set," he said in a statement.

"The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie."

'Great genius' 

It was "Downton Abbey", which ran from 2010, that made her an international star again, unable to go out without being recognised.

"It's ridiculous," she told the British Film Institute in 2017. "I led a perfectly normal life until Downton Abbey.

"I would go to theatres, I would go to galleries and things like that on my own. And now I can't," she said.

Julian Fellowes, creator and writer of Downton Abbey, said Smith had a "marvellous instinctive grasp, she could make you cry your eyes out one minute and laugh like a drain the next without turning into someone different.

"I realised I was working with a great genius," he added.

Actor Hugh Bonneville, who played the son of the dowager duchess in the period drama, said: "Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.

Smith was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1990 by Queen Elizabeth II.

PARIS — Brigitte Bardot, the 1960s French cinema icon who left the silver screen behind her a half-century ago, says as her 90th birthday approaches that she now “flees humanity” in favour of “silent solitude”.

Dedicating most of her time to animal rights activism through her foundation, Bardot still regularly makes headlines, including with statements of support for France’s far right.

She told AFP in a telephone interview from her home in Saint-Tropez that she hopes to see a ban on eating horse meat in her home country before she dies.

Q: Saturday September 28 is a special day, you’ll be celebrating your 90th birthday...

A: “That’s kind of you, but I’m fed up with this birthday! I’ve had enough of it, because it’s harassing, people are asking things of me from all sides. Luckily I don’t turn 90 every day!”

Q: A lot of people are thinking of you!

A: “That’s lovely, but after a while there’s no end to it! I’ve been saying to myself for some time that I’d rather be turning 20.”

Q: If you were 20, we’d see you in the cinema again.

A: “No, that’s all finished with! I’m very happy to have reached such a venerable age!”

Q: What does that age feel like to you?

A: “I really don’t think about it. Every day is the same to me... it comes just as easily as before... I watch the time pass and I think I’m doing very well!”

Q: What has you doing well?

A: “I’d sooner say what’s got me doing badly... For example, animals don’t have it easy every day, things aren’t getting better. What does me good is my way of seeing life, being interested in nature, fleeing humanity. 

I flee humanity and I have a silent solitude that’s just right for me.”

Q: What would be the nicest birthday present for you?

A: “The nicest present I could have been given, after 50 years of begging governments, different presidents, would be the abolition of eating horses.

When I gave up cinema it was the first thing I asked for. For us not to keep killing and eating horses in France.

And look, I haven’t got anything! That would have been a wonderful present for me.”

Q: Do you think you’ll see a ban in your lifetime?

A: “I’ve been shouting for 50 years and haven’t got anything. I don’t have time to wait another 50 years.”

Q: Are you disappointed by politics?

A: “I’m disappointed that no-one has at least had the idea of doing something.

It’s been swept under the carpet... I would have liked to achieve a result before leaving you all for good. I deserve it!”

Q: The French public’s view of animals is changing...

A: “Among the public, it’s marvelous. They’ve got it, they’ve supported me. They’re wonderful. They write me letters that do me such good. I can’t thank them enough for the courage they’ve lent me.”

Q: For them, you’re still the cinema icon of the 1960s. What do you remember from that time?

A: “I turned that page more than 50 years ago. I’m very proud of the first chapter in my life, which I made a success of and now grants me the global fame that helps me a lot with protecting animals.”

Q: Would you choose the same career if you had to do it all over again?

A: “I don’t ask myself questions! There are more interesting things in life, and once it’s done, it’s done.”

Q: Aren’t you worried about what comes next?

A: “I live from day to day and I’m doing very well like that. I take things as they come.”

Q: Is being very old the way you imagined it?

A: “I couldn’t care less about age! I didn’t even notice it coming. It’s not here.”

Q: Do you have anything to say about Paul Watson, the anti-whaling activist held in Greenland?

A: “It’s a very serious problem that pains me greatly. A flagrant injustice is being inflicted on him! Norway, Iceland and Japan are contravening the moratorium [on whale fishing] that was signed by the whole world. And Paul Watson is the one accused of a crime! It’s unbelievable.”

LOS ANGELES, United States — “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, the dark comedy about a ghoulish spirit summoned when his name is called three times, has landed its third week at the top of the North American box office, industry watchers said on Sunday.

The long-awaited Tim Burton follow-up to the popular 1988 original took in $26 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations estimated.

Michael Keaton again incarnates the creepily hilarious title character, in a cast including “Beetlejuice” veterans Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara, plus newcomers Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe.

Not far behind, animated action film “Transformers One”, the latest installment in the franchise based on the 1980s toy line, earned $25 million in its debut weekend.

Its all-star cast of voice actors, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson, take audiences on a journey through the Autobots’ origins.

Third place went to “Speak No Evil”, a new psychological horror film from Blumhouse and Universal Pictures, which took in $5.9 million.

In fourth at $4.5 million was horror-thriller “Never Let Go”, starring Halle Berry as a mother protecting her two sons, all of whom must remain tethered via rope to a house in the woods to keep safe from the evil that lurks outside.

And in fifth, down two spots from the prior week, was superhero comedy “Deadpool & Wolverine”, at $3.9 million.

PARIS — Paris Fashion Week starts Monday in a swirl of rumours of musical chairs at some of the sector's most fabled brands.

Falling profits at the two luxury giants LVMH and Kering have sent a shudder through the industry, fuelling talk of a "Game of Thrones" among top designers.

Celine's Hedi Slimane and Simon Porte Jacquemus -- the young French designer who made tiny handbags and tiny everything else a thing -- are being talked of to fill Karl Lagerfeld's empty chair at Chanel after Virginie Viard, who took the reins after the Kaiser's death in 2019, bowed out in June.

Tongues are also likely to wag at the spring-summer shows over where John Galliano might go, with his contract at Maison Margiela nearing its end.

Rising young French star Victor Weinsanto -- dubbed "The Jacquemus of the East" because he comes from the eastern region of Alsace -- kicks off the nine-day marathon of 66 shows, not to mention the myriad of off-calendar shows and presentations.

The starriest affair Monday, however, is likely to be sponsor L'Oreal's show in front of the Paris Opera, with the cosmetic giant's ambassadors Jane Fonda, Kendall Jenner and Eva Longoria likely to be among the guests.

The first of the big-hitters follow Tuesday with Dior and Saint Laurent, the packed calendar reflecting Paris's crushing dominance over rivals Milan, New York and London.

And there is no let-up at the end: Chanel opens the final day on October 1 by returning to the vast Grand Palais, the scene of some of Lagerfeld's most jaw-dropping shows, after an absence of four years.

The brand is shelling out 30 million euros ($33.5 million) for the right to stage its shows at the iconic Belle Epoque edifice, which reopened after a major facelift to host fencing and taekwondo at the Paris Olympics and Paralympic Games.

With Viard -- long Lagerfeld's right-hand woman -- gone, observers expect a collection drawn from Chanel classics.

In contrast, there could well be fireworks from Alessandro Michele, the mercurial Italian designer who transformed Gucci, who may be keen to make his mark with his debut show for Valentino.

Party at Disneyland

Equally hotly anticipated is French duo Coperni, who are staging their show at Disneyland Paris on the final night, with an after-party in the theme park that promises to go on into the wee hours.

Designers Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastien Meyer pulled off a coup with their outfit for Belgian singer Angele for the Olympics closing ceremony, and are clearly in a mood to celebrate.

"It all began with a dream," they wrote on Instagram. "Disneyland Paris is all about entertainment and emotion. We are working closely with the Disney teams to create a magical moment to share with all of you."

Another hot duo, the Olsen twins, the Los Angeles child actors turned designers, have kept their place for their luxury line The Row in fashion week proper thanks to a cash injection from the owners of Chanel and L'Oreal.

Missing, however, will be Victoria/Tomas, which went out of business in June after eight years on the Paris podium.

Despite winning the Pierre Berge and the ANDAM prizes last year, Avellano will also be absent along with longtime fixture Y/Project, who have lost their star designer Glenn Martens to Diesel.

Paris will also be without Givenchy this time, with its new British designer Sarah Burton, a stalwart at Alexander McQueen for a quarter of a century, just made creative director.

Paris hipsters Acne Studio are back on the catwalk, however, after flirting with canape and champagne presentations.

LOS ANGELES, United States — The Oscars Academy will hold its first award ceremony outside the United States next month, handing out prestigious annual student awards in London.

The gala on October 14 in the British capital’s Leicester Square will be an international first for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose membership has grown sharply more global in recent years.

Winners, pre-announced this week, will include “Au Revoir Mon Monde”, a French animation about a man trapped in a giant fish costume attempting to race across a city as the world ends in a mysterious meteor shower.

Others include an experimental movie about teenage sexual awakening from Taiwan, a short film set during China’s 1910 plague outbreak, and a documentary from a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Gold, silver and bronze placements for the winners will be announced at the ceremony, with all winning films eligible to compete at the main Oscars next March.

While the 51st Student Academy Awards will be the first full, live award show taking place overseas, segments of Oscars telecasts have previously been presented from overseas.

Diana Ross performed a song from Amsterdam in 1976, Michael Caine introduced the 1991 Oscars from a historic Paris cafe, and the following year’s ceremony even featured a live presentation honoring “Star Wars” creator George Lucas from aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

One-fifth of Academy members are now from outside the US, and more than half of the new members invited to join this year were also from overseas, including “Anatomy of a Fall” director Justine Triet and the film’s star Sandra Hueller.

Past winners at the Academy’s student awards include a young Spike Lee, “Back To The Future” filmmaker Robert Zemeckis and 007 director Cary Fukunaga.

The invite-only Academy — whose members have achieved excellence in their respective fields, from acting and directing to costume design and makeup — votes for each year’s Oscar prizewinners.

NEW YORK — Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain imprisoned pending trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges, after a judge denied his appeal on Wednesday.

Judge Andrew Carter upheld the previous day’s ruling that the bail package proposed by his defense team — which included a $50 million bond secured by his Miami home — was insufficient given his history of violence and substance abuse, and the possibility of witness tampering.

“It did not go our way,” Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo told journalists outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan following the ruling.

He vowed to keep pushing for Combs’s release on bail and also said he would urge the trial to move forward “as quickly as possible”.

“Wherever he is, his resolve is the same. He believes he’s innocent,” Agnifilo said, adding that the prison conditions Combs is being held in are “inhumane”.

On Tuesday, the 54-year-old Combs was indicted on three criminal counts that allege he sexually abused women and coerced them into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.

Along with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, Combs is charged with one count of transporting victims across state lines to engage in prostitution.

Prosecutors say Combs was the don of a criminal enterprise that ensnared women and forced them to commit sex acts under the threat of violence, financial insecurity and reputational ruin.

Combs has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors are likening his crimes to those of the late Jeffrey Epstein, convicted sex cult leader Keith Raniere, and fellow musician R. Kelly, who received more than three decades in prison for racketeering, sex trafficking and child sex crimes.

It’s a remarkable fall from grace for the artist credited with playing a key role in the commercialization of hip-hop, who produced a constellation of famous proteges including The Notorious B.I.G.

MILAN, Italy — Who will take over at Chanel and where will Pierpaolo Piccioli go now that he has left Valentino?

The fashion world is awash with such questions at a time of turmoil as sales slump and artistic directors play musical chairs.

Resignations, new appointments — the swirl of changes has begun to resemble a fashion version of “Game Of Thrones” as Milan Fashion Week begins.

Not a month has gone by this year without its share of shock announcements: Piccioli left Valentino in March after more than two decades, with the Roman luxury brand announcing within a week the arrival of former Gucci head Alessandro Michele, whose official debut comes in Paris later this month.

At Chanel, Virginie Viard, who took the reins after Karl Lagerfeld’s death in 2019, bowed out in June, leaving vacant the top position at France’s iconic privately run label.

Amid a flood of rumours as to who could take over the house of Coco Chanel, the name of Simon Porte Jacquemus, the young French designer with his namesake label, keeps being mentioned.

Also in June, Dries Van Noten, the cult couturier from Antwerp, took his last bow, retiring after nearly 40 years at the top.

Just last week, the suspense surrounding Givenchy — which has been without an artistic head since the departure of American designer Matthew Williams in January — finally ended.

British designer Sarah Burton, who spent more than two decades at Alexander McQueen, will take the helm of the French haute couture brand.

In Milan this week, both Tom Ford and Blumarine are not showing on the catwalk, due to recent changes at the top.

Tom Ford announced two weeks ago that Haider Ackermann would be its new artistic director — with his first collection for autumn 2025 in Paris — while David Koma is to take the helm at Blumarine, following the sudden exit of Walter Chiapponi after just one season.

Dismissed artistic directors are often subject to non-compete agreements of one to two years with the risk of a heavy financial penalty, preventing them from taking over rivals right away.

But nothing prevents new employers from covering this cost themselves in order to allow a candidate to start work immediately.

In this context, rumours are rife. How much longer will Kim Jones remain at Fendi? What about John Galliano, whose contract at Maison Margiela is nearing an end and whom some predict will end up back at Dior or Fendi?

“Artistic directors must make the numbers in one season, two at the most, and if the results are not there, on to the next one,” said Alessia Pellarini, founder of The AP Archive, which rents out thousands of iconic fashion pieces.

The work of an artistic director at the top of an iconic brand “takes time”, said Pellarini, with an ability to understand its history and heritage and to “offer something new but without turning everything upside down”.

“This short-term vision to meet market demands only lowers the cultural quality of the offer,” she said.

A former Fendi design director, Pellarini noted that, even amid the musical chairs seen in the industry, “the typical profile continues to be a white European man”.

Some designers are eschewing luxury and heading to bigger but more mainstream brands.

Britain’s Clare Waight Keller, the former Chloe and Givenchy designer who made Meghan Markle’s wedding dress, this month became creative director of Uniqlo, the Japanese casual brand.

Meanwhile, Spanish fast-fashion retailer Zara said it was doing a limited collection from Italy’s Stefano Pilati, the former creative director at Yves Saint Laurent and Zegna.

San Francisco, United States — Meta on Tuesday announced the creation of "Teen Accounts," designed to better protect underage users from the dangers associated with Instagram.

The hugely popular photo-sharing app is accused by many experts and authorities of damaging the mental health of its youngest users.

"'Teen Accounts' is a significant update, designed to give parents peace of mind," Antigone Davis, Meta vice-president in charge of safety issues, told AFP.

Under the new policy, users age 13 to 15 will have private accounts by default, with tighter safeguards on who can contact them and what content they can see.

Teens who want a public profile and fewer restrictions, because they want to become influencers, for example, will need to obtain permission from their parents. The new rules apply for both existing and new users to the platform.

"This is a big change. It means making sure that we do this really well," Davis said.

3 billion IDs

For the past year, pressure has been building across the globe against the social media giant founded by Mark Zuckerberg and its rivals.

Last October, some forty US states filed a complaint against Meta's platforms, accusing them of harming the "mental and physical health of young people," due to the risks of addiction, cyber-bullying or eating disorders.

Australia, meanwhile, will soon set the minimum age for its social networks at between 14 and 16.

For the time being, Meta refuses to check the age of all its users, in the name of confidentiality.

"When we have a strong signal that someone's age is wrong, we're going to ask them to verify their age, but we don't want to make three billion people have to provide IDs," Davis said.

In her opinion, it would be simpler and more effective if age checks were carried out at the level of the smartphone's mobile operating system, i.e. Google's Android or Apple's iOS.

"They actually have significant information about the age of users. And if they were to share that broadly across all the apps that teens use, that would provide peace of mind for parents."

It is not clear whether the new protections will be enough to reassure governments and online safety advocates, such as Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center.

"Instagram is addictive. Instagram leads kids down dangerous rabbit holes, where they are shown not what they want to see, but what they can't look away from," he said.

His group represents 200 parents whose children committed suicide "after being encouraged to do so by videos recommended by Instagram or TikTok."

Bergman points to the many cases where young girls have developed serious eating disorders.

Meta now prevents the promotion of extreme diets on its platforms, among other measures taken in recent years.

These measures are "baby steps, but nevertheless, steps in the right direction," he told AFP.

In his view, all that's needed is for groups to make their platforms less addictive, "and therefore a little less profitable."

This can be done without the platforms losing their quality for users, he said.