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Glastonbury Festival Kicks off as Thousands of Fans Stream in 

Festivalgoers arrive on the opening day of the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm in the village of Pilton in Somerset, southwest England, on June 26, 2024. (AFP)
Festivalgoers arrive on the opening day of the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm in the village of Pilton in Somerset, southwest England, on June 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Glastonbury Festival Kicks off as Thousands of Fans Stream in 

Festivalgoers arrive on the opening day of the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm in the village of Pilton in Somerset, southwest England, on June 26, 2024. (AFP)
Festivalgoers arrive on the opening day of the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm in the village of Pilton in Somerset, southwest England, on June 26, 2024. (AFP)

Thousands of people began pouring into Worthy Farm in southwest England as the Glastonbury music festival kicked off on Wednesday, with hundreds of artists including Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Shania Twain set to enthrall fans.

The festival, which sells out of tickets within minutes even before its line-up is revealed, will close on Sunday with R&B singer SZA slated to perform hits such as "Kill Bill" and "The Weekend" on the main Pyramid stage.

This year's edition will also feature Afrobeats sensation Burna Boy, rapper Little Simz, American electro-rock group LCD Soundsystem, English singer PJ Harvey and K-pop group Seventeen, in one of Glastonbury's least rock-heavy line-ups in recent years.

Sunny weather welcomed fans who arrived at Worthy Farm carrying rucksacks and camping gear.

James Trusson, 30, a sound engineer from Somerset who had queued overnight to be one of the first to arrive, said he had been coming to Glastonbury for 11 years and he would keep coming back because there was something going on in every field.

"It's just that magic you just don't get at any other festival," he said. "There's not a better feeling really. It's magical."

Known affectionately as Glasto, the festival was started by dairy farmer Michael Eavis in 1970, opening the day after guitar legend Jimi Hendrix died, with artists performing to 1,500 people who had bought 1-pound tickets which included free milk from the farm.

More than 50 years since and with its current capacity of over 200,000 people, the site becomes a colorful and sometimes muddy little city of tents for five days almost every June.

Fans spent 355 pounds ($450) for tickets this year, which sold out in under an hour in November.

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Entertainment

'Charlie's Angels' Stars Reunite for Show's 50th Anniversary

Aired over five seasons between 1976 and 1981, 'Charlie's Angels' became a cultural phenomenon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
Aired over five seasons between 1976 and 1981, 'Charlie's Angels' became a cultural phenomenon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
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'Charlie's Angels' Stars Reunite for Show's 50th Anniversary

Aired over five seasons between 1976 and 1981, 'Charlie's Angels' became a cultural phenomenon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
Aired over five seasons between 1976 and 1981, 'Charlie's Angels' became a cultural phenomenon. VALERIE MACON / AFP

The stars of legendary American crime drama "Charlie's Angels" reunited Monday at Los Angeles' PaleyFest to celebrate 50 years since the show catapulted the trio to fame.

Aired over five seasons between 1976 and 1981, the show became a cultural phenomenon that left its mark on television and starred Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd -- who joined after Farrah Fawcett left the show to pursue a movie career.

The series followed three powerful women who left the daily grind of the Los Angeles police force to become private detectives working for a mysterious boss named Charlie Townsend who spoke to them through an intercom.

It hoped to highlight the strength of women and fight against the archetype that women needed rescuing, Smith -- who played Kelly Garrett -- told AFP on the red carpet at Hollywood's legendary Dolby Theatre.

"Women came into their own, it was groundbreaking (and a) game changer for women," she said.

"Here we were chasing danger (and) we were not being rescued. We were not a wife, a nurse, a secretary, a girlfriend... we were these strong women that could take down a 200-pound man."

Jackson, 77, said she had "never doubted" the show's potential or that it would become a hit big enough to captivate audiences half a century later.

"It was unique, it was unusual, and the three of us had chemistry... we're still sisters today," the 77-year-old who played Sabrina Duncan told AFP.

Although the cast of "Charlie's Angels" changed several times, Smith, Jackson and Ladd formed the series' most enduring trio with Fawcett, who died in 2009, returning as a guest star in a few episodes as Ladd's older sister.

PaleyFest, organized by the Paley Center for Media, celebrates the best of American television.

Entertainment

Major Sponsors Drop Kanye West London Gigs as PM Voices Concern

Kanye West is due to play three nights at the Wireless festival in London. JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX / AFP/File
Kanye West is due to play three nights at the Wireless festival in London. JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX / AFP/File
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Major Sponsors Drop Kanye West London Gigs as PM Voices Concern

Kanye West is due to play three nights at the Wireless festival in London. JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX / AFP/File
Kanye West is due to play three nights at the Wireless festival in London. JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX / AFP/File

Drinks giants Pepsi and Diageo on Sunday pulled out of sponsoring a music festival in London headlined by US rapper Kanye West, who has a history of “antisemitic” outbursts.

The disgraced 48-year-old hip-hop star -- now known as Ye -- is due to play three nights at the Wireless Festival in London in July as part of a European comeback tour.

A spokesperson for Pepsi, the festival's top sponsor, told AFP on Sunday that the brand "has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival", without giving a reason.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed concern about West's appearances, while campaigners against “antisemitism” urged the government to stop the rapper entering the UK.

Starmer told The Sun newspaper it was "deeply concerning Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism".

He added that "antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly".

Diageo, whose labels Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan were slated to be partner brands, also dropped out.

"We have informed the organizers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless Festival," a spokesman told AFP.

The festival's operating company, Live Nation, has not so far responded to a request for comment from AFP.

Festival organizers announced West's appearance on social media last month, prompting criticism from Jewish organizations and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Campaign Against Antisemitism, a British charity, on Sunday urged Starmer not to be a "bystander" and to ban West from entering the country.

"Surely this is a clear case," the charity said on X, suggesting West could be banned as a non-citizen whose presence is not "conducive to the public good".

West's European tour has already provoked controversy. In France, the mayor of Marseille said the rapper was "not welcome" for a concert there in June.

West has expressed regret over his “antisemitic” rants, which he blamed on his bipolar disorder.

In May 2025, he released a song called "Heil Hitler" to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

The song was banned by major streaming platforms.

Entertainment

It’s-a-Hit: ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Box Office Blasts off with $372.5 Million Globally

This image released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover, and Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, in a scene from "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." (Nintendo and Illumination/Universal Pictures via AP)
This image released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover, and Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, in a scene from "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." (Nintendo and Illumination/Universal Pictures via AP)
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It’s-a-Hit: ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Box Office Blasts off with $372.5 Million Globally

This image released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover, and Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, in a scene from "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." (Nintendo and Illumination/Universal Pictures via AP)
This image released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover, and Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, in a scene from "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." (Nintendo and Illumination/Universal Pictures via AP)

Mixed reviews didn’t dissuade mass audiences from buying tickets to the “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which scored the biggest opening of the year for a Hollywood movie. The Illumination and Nintendo co-production earned $130.9 million over the weekend and a massive $190.1 million in its first five days in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Universal Pictures released the sequel globally on Wednesday, capitalizing on kids’ spring break vacations in the week leading up to the Easter holiday. With an estimated $182.4 million from 80 overseas markets, the film is looking at an astronomical $372.5 million debut — the latest hit for the PG rating. Mexico is leading the international bunch with $29.1 million from 5,136 screens, followed by the UK and Ireland with $19.7 million.

The animated sequel is the industry’s biggest debut since “Avatar: Fire and Ash” launched over Christmas. The Chinese movie “Pegasus 3,” which was not a Motion Picture Association release, has the slight edge for the 2026 global record, however.

It’s also a dip from the first film, which opened to $204 million domestically during the same five-day time frame in 2023 ($147 of that was from Friday, Saturday and Sunday). “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” went on to be the second biggest movie of 2023, with over $1.3 billion in box office receipts.

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which features returning voice actors Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Day, had a massive footprint in the US and Canada, where it played in 4,252 theaters, including 421 IMAX and 1,345 premium large format screens. It also cost around $110 million to make, not including marketing and promotion expenses. But it arrived on a wave of less-than-stellar reviews. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is currently sitting at a lousy 40%. Ticket buyers were more enthusiastic, however.

The family audience gave the movie five out of five stars according to PostTrak exit polls, while general audiences gave it four stars and an A- on CinemsScore. Audiences skewed male (61%) overall, although when it came to families attending there were slightly more moms (52%) than dads.

Last year, the first weekend in April hosted the launch of another video game blockbuster, “A Minecraft Movie,” which had a bigger three-day debut ($162.8 million) but didn’t have a “Project Hail Mary” in a strong second place, meaning the weekend overall is still up around 5%.

As expected, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ended the two-week reign of the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi hit “Project Hail Mary,” which landed in second its third weekend in theaters where it added $29.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $216.3 million.

Third place went to A24’s provocative new movie “The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, which made an estimated $14.4 million from 3,087 theaters. The film’s stars have been on a massive and charming press blitz to promote their R-rated movie about an engaged couple grappling with an unnerving revelation, which cost a reported $28 million to produce. The reveal has drummed up a fair amount of cultural discourse. While reviews have been more positive than not (82% on Rotten Tomatoes), it got a less promising B CinemaScore.

“Hoppers” and “Reminders of Him” rounded out the top five.