Berlin said Wednesday German maestro Christian Thielemann would succeed world-renowned conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim as general musical director of its State Opera following his...

Eurovision is over and done with for another year, with Sweden’s Loreen becoming the first female entry to win the song contest twice (first in 2012 with 'Euphoria', and then this year with 'Tattoo'), but the drama surrounding the beloved night of entertainment continues. First came the conspiracy theory that a victory for Loreen was “rigged” so Sweden could host the contest in 2024 – 50 years after ABBA’s success with 'Waterloo' – and now, there’s speculation that France’s entry gave the audience in Liverpool and everyone watching at home the middle finger. Well, it would be a step up from Ukraine’s entry Tvorchi, whose track 'Heart of Steel' only included a middle finger in terms of the lyrics, when vocalist Jeffery Kenny sings: “Sometimes you just gotta know / When to stick your middle finger up in the air.” During Saturday’s grand final, France’s representative La Zarra – who took to the stage with the track 'Evidemment' – didn’t look too thrilled with her country’s final position of 16th on the leaderboard, getting only 50 extra points from the voting public on top of their 54 points from the national juries. After co-host Graham Norton shared the result, an unenthused La Zarra was captured reacting to the news by raising one hand, before splaying out the fingers on the other with her middle finger pointing down. She then turned it around to have the offending digit pointing upwards, which then looked like she was flipping the bird, as it were. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Viewers soon expressed their glee at the potentially offensive gesture when they saw it: However, in an interview with the French news channel BFM TV, La Zarra – who was born in Canada to Moroccan parents – insisted the gesture had been misinterpreted, saying she has a “double culture”. “It’s not a negative gesture. On the contrary, it’s just a gesture of disappointment that we use between friends. “Afterwards, I can understand that overseas it is considered another gesture.” It’s not the first time that Eurovision fans have accused an act of doing something naughty, as 2021 winners Måneskin – from Italy – were hit with false and disproven claims that their lead singer took drugs at their green room table. The group said at the time that they were “really offended” by the accusations and that what had actually happened was that the group’s guitarist had broken a glass. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Here are 10 celebrities who have twins you may not know about

Ariana Grande has candidly opened up about how she used to 'hide' herself with cosmetic procedures, before falling in love with her lines and previous insecurities. “Full transparency, as a beauty person, as I do my lips, [I’ve] had a ton of lip filler over the years and Botox. I stopped in 2018 because I just felt so… [it was] too much. I just felt like hiding, you know,” she said in the video, welling up. “For a long time, beauty was about hiding for me, and now I feel like maybe it’s not since I stopped." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

'I'll do all the work. I'll clean the toilet. I'll serve the food. I'll fold the clothes,' said Tom Hanks about what he'd do to score a trip to space

Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles is changing its name to Peacock Theater and the open-air plaza next to it will be known as Peacock Place

Daly had earlier accused Moore of violating a court order that required her to inform him whenever Brooklyn would appear on TV shows or ads

He publishes his contract details amid a row about payments RTÉ made to his predecessor Ryan Tubridy.

The pronunciations of names like ‘Yves’ and ‘Geneviève’ aren’t hard once you’ve heard them a few times.

He may be one of Hollywood's legendary directors, but Martin Scorsese has also proven to be a big hit on TikTok - and now he has claimed to have been "tricked" into becoming a viral sensation. The 80-year-old has directed some of the iconic films of our time such as Shutter Island (2010), Goodfellas (1990), and The Wolf of Wall Street(2013), to name just a few. But recently, Scorsese has found a new audience on TikTok who love seeing him guess the meaning of slang words, ranking movies, guess feminine hygiene products or just generally acting like a 'silly goose.' @francescascorsese He’s a certified silly goose. ??#CapCut #fyp #trailer #martinscorsese #scorsese #bestdad #bestdadever #sillygoose And we all have Francesca Scorsese to thank - Scorsese's 24-year-old daughter who has roped her dad into making some entertaining content. Now, the director has jokingly claimed his daughter "tricked" into becoming a viral star. “I was tricked into that,” the director told the LA Times. “That was a trick. I didn’t know those things would go viral. They say it’s viral. I didn’t know.” “I was just doing it in the other room with her. I don’t know what they’re going to do. They always have those iPhone cameras in their hands. You’re not aware. I honestly did not know she was going to post it. They use the words ‘post it’, right?” Perhaps Scorsese can be convinced to make a TikTok account of his own, he would certainly have the audience to become an influencer if he wants to give up the day job... How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Subscribers will have access to behind-the-scene videos, exclusive content, and photos of Paige Spiranac that she does not post on social media

It's been a whirlwind week for Britney Spears and her fans, who have proudly completed her new memoir The Woman in Me within hours. The highly anticipated autobiography made waves across social media from the moment it was published on 24 October, with shocking revelations from start to finish. Some of which inevitably include Justin Timblerlake. And now he's made a notable move online. The pair dated from 1999 to 2002, before Timblerlake ended the relationship over text while Spears was working on her 'Overprotected' music video. Spears also gave the real heartbreaking meaning behind her hit 'Everytime,' in which she said she fell pregnant by the former NSYNC star. "I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated," she wrote. "But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young." Spears resorted to getting an abortion, adding: "I don’t know if that was the right decision. If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father." Now, Timberlake has turned off his Instagram comments, assumingly to avoid backlash after being criticised on X/Twitter following some of Spears' candid claims. According to the Daily Telegraph, Timberlake isn’t "too happy" with the autobiography, telling an insider he's "not okay with it" and it purely from her point of view. "Justin is not at all happy about what has come out in this book,” the source reportedly claimed. "Doing this book has given Britney life, and she really doesn’t care who is offended by anything in it because it is what happened. She was there and lived through it. No one can say anything. She has got this all out of her and is moving on now." How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.