The coronavirus crisis has accelerated a rethink among high-end brands of how collections are presented, with some opting out of costly events and restricting the number of clothing ranges they produce.

Dior, one of the LVMH conglomerate's biggest labels, said it was maintaining its calendar of industry fashion weeks that brings buyers and bloggers to Paris, and would produce other collections in between.

It will premiere a mid-season "cruise" range in the Italian city of Lecce on July 22 with a streamed live show, Chief Executive Pietro Beccari said, after a presentation planned for May was postponed.

"We would like to send a message of support, of hope, of optimism and of rebirth," Beccari said. "I'm thinking about big suppliers but also the small ones, many tiny family businesses of artisans in France and in Italy ... many of them didn't know and still do not know how to survive."

High-end brands often rely on firms to manufacture luxurious cloth or products that require special treatment, such as items covered in feathers or tinted by hand.

Dior planned to go ahead with a womenswear fashion show usually held in Paris in September, Beccari said, adding that by then it might even bring in a front-row audience.

"Fashion week is important not only for the fashion family, it's also important for the city where the shows are," Dior's designer Maria Grazia Chiuri said.

Fashion events are usually big business for cities like Paris, with hotels normally rammed during that period.

(Reporting by Sarah White; editing by Barbara Lewis)

The Golden Globes ceremony, which kicks off Hollywood's awards season, will take place on Feb. 28 instead of its usual slot on the first Sunday in January, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which hands out the trophies, said in a statement.

Last week the Oscars, the highest honors in the film industry, were postponed to April 25 from Feb 28. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the delay would allow filmmakers more time to finish their movies after production was shut down worldwide in mid-March and movie theaters were closed.

The HFPA said it would give details on a new date for Golden Globe nominations and eligibility criteria in the coming weeks.

The Golden Globes, handed out at a boozy dinner in Beverly Hills, will be hosted by comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Other award shows, including Britain's BAFTA event, have also shifted their dates for 2021 to fall closer to the Oscars.

Hollywood movies and TV shows were given the green light two weeks ago to resume production in the Los Angeles area with detailed guidelines on social distancing and frequent testing.

The three main movie theater chains have said they plan to reopen in the United States from July 10 with strict social distancing rules and with movie-goers required to wear masks.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Franklin Paul)

"There is no truth to this story," the Canadian pop star, 26, wrote in a lengthy series of Twitter posts on Sunday. He said he would be taking legal action.

"Every claim of sexual abuse should be taken very seriously and this is why my response was needed. However this story is factually impossible and that is why I will be working with twitter and authorities to take legal action," Bieber added.

Bieber, who shot to fame at age 13, was responding to an accusation on Saturday on Twitter by a woman called Danielle. Danielle wrote that she was sexually assaulted by the singer at a hotel in Austin, Texas, on March 9, 2014, after he made a surprise appearance at the South by Southwest music festival.

The Twitter posting has since been deleted and Danielle, who said she was 21 and Bieber was 20 at the time and that she was posting anonymously, could not be traced for further comment.

Bieber on Sunday produced detailed hotel receipts, emails and news reports that he said backed up his claim that he was staying with his then-girlfriend Selena Gomez and other friends at different locations in Austin the day of the alleged assault.

The singer's representatives did not reply to a request for further comment on Monday.

The "Love Yourself" singer married childhood sweetheart Hailey Baldwin in 2018 and in February released his first album in four years after canceling a world tour and retreating from the public eye to deal with depression and the effects of early fame.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Howard Goller)

The initiative, called "Global Goal: Unite For Our Future," is aiming to raise billions of dollars in private and public donations to help lessen the impact of the pandemic on marginalised communities.

Speaking at an online panel ahead of the event, pop star Miley Cyrus said the pandemic was hitting the world's poor and marginalised people the hardest. She urged donors committing funds for tests, treatments and vaccines to ensure they are developed in ways that everyone everywhere has access to them.

Researchers and drugmakers across the globe are working on more than 100 potential vaccines against COVID-19, which has so far killed more than 463,000 people.

Hosted by actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, the virtual concert will feature Cyrus, Chloe x Halle, Christine and the Queens, Coldplay and Shakira and others, and include actors Charlize Theron and Hugh Jackman as well as retired soccer star David Beckham.

"We need our world leaders to commit the billions of dollars needed to develop and equitably deliver testing, treatments and vaccines,” said Hugh Evans, Global Citizen's chief executive.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said the concert would coincide with a pledging summit, at which artists, scientists and world leaders will "commit to helping the world end coronavirus, while leaving no one behind."

The EU is increasingly taking a role as a champion of global cooperation in efforts to control and end the pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus, while the United States and China are focused more on national initiatives.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Peter Cooney)

(Reuters) - Tom Petty's family slammed President Donald Trump for using the late rock star's hit "I Won't Back Down" at his sparsely attended rally in Tulsa, sending the campaign a cease and desist warning.

"Trump was in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind," the late rocker's family said on Twitter late Saturday.

"Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate," said the tweet signed by Petty's widow Dana, ex-wife Jane and his daughters Adria and Annakim. "Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind."

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The campaign played the song at Saturday's rally, which drew an underwhelming crowd that left many seats empty at the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena.

Trump, who hoped to reinvigorate his re-election campaign, criticized anti-racism protests that have engulfed much of the country since the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody.

Petty wrote the 1989 song "for the underdog, for the common man and for EVERYONE," his family said on Twitter. "We believe in America and we believe in democracy. But Donald Trump is not representing the noble ideals of either."

Lyrics of the song speak of resisting oppression: "I've got just one life in a world that keeps on pushin' me around. But I'll stand my ground. And I won't back down."

"We would hate for fans that are marginalized by this administration to think we were complicit in this usage," Petty's family said on Twitter.

Canadian singer Neil Young objected to Trump's use of his 1989 song "Rockin' in the Free World" when he announced his presidential campaign in 2016. Trump's campaign said it had paid to license it. Rock band R.E.M. and pop singer Rihanna have also objected to Trump's use of their songs.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

In a statement first published on Twitter by men's team captain Virgil van Dijk, the players said they would no longer speak with the Veronica Inside programme after the host compared a prominent Dutch black activist to "Black Pete".

Black Pete is a fictional character in Dutch winter holiday celebrations usually portrayed by white people wearing black face paint - a tradition criticised this week by U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson as offensive.

"This is not on the edge, this has nothing to do with humour, this is not the language of football," said Liverpool defender Van Dijk.

The national football association KNVB told national broadcaster NOS that it stood behind the players.

Veronica Inside host Johan Derksen said earlier on Friday that he did not regret his comments.

"I didn't think the joke was really that bad, for me," he told newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

"This is a storm in a teacup that will blow over," he said.

Several show sponsors, including supermarket retail giant Ahold, said on Friday they would stop advertising during the show, which is aired by Talpa, a company owned by billionaire Dutch media mogul John de Mol.

"We are in discussions with the channel and have indicated that we do not wish to advertise during this program," Ahold said in a statement. "There is no room for discrimination at Albert Heijn," it said, referring to the largest Dutch supermarket chain.

Procter & Gamble said it would no longer advertise its Gillette razor blades during the program, broadcaster NOS reported. P&G could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

LONDON (Reuters) - There won't be any moshing going on, but entertainment company Live Nation Entertainment are rolling out a series of gigs across the UK where fans can be together to get their fix of live events from the safety of their own designated area.

Known for staging A list music stars' concerts and festivals such as Wireless and Reading and Leeds, Live Nation say artists just want to get back on stage and they hope 'Utilita Live From The Drive-In' will be a way they can do just that.

"You know we can do all of these streams, we can do everything on Facebook.. which is great. But there is nothing that compares to you seeing your favorite musician or band on that stage," Live Nation promoter Peter Taylor told Reuters.

There will be a mix of gigs including live music from artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Kaiser Chiefs and The Streets, as well as science show - Brainiac Live, staged across 12 UK venues in cities including London, Birmingham and Edinburgh this summer.

A maximum of 300 cars will be allowed at each show, meaning both organizers and artists have had to make some profound changes to their way of doing things.

"That's going to feel very kind of imitate in terms of what we're used to if you go into an arena or stadium," said Taylor.

"We have our artists who are working to a very different financial model than what they normally would. A lot of them are doing kind of different versions of their show," he said.

Many live concerts around the world have had to be canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Taylor says that Utilita Live From The Drive-In will be a good source of employment for the whole industry: "It's been about making sure that our eco-system can be supported as much as possible."

Taylor said they have been able to postpone some of their bigger tours, such upcoming shows from musician Harry Styles and Dua Lipa, to 2021 and are still able to sell tickets for these shows.

(The story refiles to corrects typo in final paragraph).

(Reporting By Sarah Mills; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

The actor, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1981 film "Chariots of Fire", had died from a Parkinson's related illness, the paper said.

"It is with great sadness that the actor Sir Ian Holm CBE passed away this morning at the age of 88," his agent told the paper. "He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely."

Holm began his career on stage working as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company and gained international exposure when he was cast as android Ash in the 1979 "Alien" film.

His role as an athletics coach in "Chariots of Fire" won him a British Academy film award (Bafta) and an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor, while he played Bilbo Baggins in two of The Lord of the Rings films, a role he reprised in the recent "The Hobbit" film series.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Kate Holton)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The "Into the Wild" bus is no longer in the wild.

Alaska officials on Thursday airlifted from a remote trail outside Denali National Park the wrecked bus made famous by the 1996 book and 2007 movie "Into the Wild," removing an object that drew hundreds of fans and sightseers.

Too many people were putting themselves at risk trekking to the site where adventurer Christopher McCandless died of starvation in 1992, officials said.

"We encourage people to enjoy Alaska’s wild areas safely, and we understand the hold this bus has had on the popular imagination," Alaska Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige said in a statement.

"However, this is an abandoned and deteriorating vehicle that was requiring dangerous and costly rescue efforts. More importantly, it was costing some visitors their lives,” Feige said.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Alaska Army National Guard worked jointly to remove the 1940s-era bus.

Over the years, several people making pilgrimages to the bus became injured or stranded. Two drowned in river crossings. In April a stranded Brazilian tourist was evacuated, and in February five Italian tourists were rescued.

The local mayor called the bus removal “a big relief.”

"For public safety, we know it’s the right thing,” Denali Borough Mayor Clay Walker told Reuters. “At the same time, it is part of our history and it does feel a little bittersweet to see a piece of our history go down the road.”

The bus was hauled to the trail about 60 years ago by a road crew, Walker said. ”It turned into a perilous attraction that needed to be addressed,” he said.

The ultimate fate of the dilapidated bus is unknown. The Department of Natural Resources statement said it is being kept in a “secure location” pending a decision about its disposal.

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Regal Cinemas, owned by Cineworld Group Plc, also said it would mandate masks for employees and customers to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

On Thursday, AMC, the world's largest movie theater operator, had said it would only encourage mask wearing except in states where authorities required it. The policy drew immediate criticism from people who said they would not feel safe if others around them were not wearing masks.

AMC said Friday that it had listened to reactions from its customers and scientists and reversed course.

"It is clear from this response that we did not go far enough on the usage of masks," AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said in a statement. "As we reopen theatres, we now will require that all AMC guests nationwide wear masks."

AMC plans to reopen 450 theaters in the United States on July 15, and the remaining 150 theaters in the country in time for the opening of Walt Disney Co's "Mulan" on July 24 and Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" on July 31.

Regal plans to reopen its theaters on July 10.

On Thursday, AMC's Aron said in an interview with Variety https://bit.ly/319SN7Zmagazine that the company did not want to get into a "political controversy" by forcing people to wear masks inside movie halls.

Several Twitter users accused the movie chain of not doing enough to protect customers' health.

Actor Elijah Wood, in response to AMC's statement, tweeted: "And masks, you should require masks. Has nothing to do with politics, but rather, public health."

(Reporting by Shradha Singh and Neha Malara in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Leslie Adler)

Shia LaBeouf, Missy Elliott and "American Pie" singer-songwriter Don McLean were also among the 35 stars of film, television and music announced for the honor on Thursday by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which administers the tourist attraction.

The late Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and Pulitzer Prize-winning "Fences" playwright August Wilson will be given stars posthumously.

They will join more than 2,600 celebrities, including Charlie Chaplin, Jennifer Aniston, Jimi Hendrix and rapper Snoop Dogg, whose names are inscribed on pink and bronze stars embedded on the sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard in a tradition that started in 1960.

Ceremonies unveiling the stars on the Walk of Fame were suspended in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. The unveilings that were postponed for six unnamed celebrities will be rescheduled at a later date, officials said.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Warner and DC will produce and distribute an original slate of narrative scripted podcasts exclusively for the streaming service, Spotify Technology SA said in a statement https://bit.ly/2AN1uKu.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Spotify's shares jumped 8.5% on the news.

The company said that 19% of its total monthly active users listened to podcasts in the first quarter, up sequentially from 16%.

Spotify's push into podcasts has helped it drive subscription at a time when many are home-bound due to the coronavirus outbreak, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek had earlier said.

Spotify, which has more than 1 million podcasts on its platform, has been adding muscle to its podcast catalog by inking several partnerships, including those with Joe Rogan and Kim Kardashian West.

The company has launched 78 original podcasts in the first quarter and is vying to become the Netflix of audio content. To add more shows, it has made several acquisitions last year, enabling it to outpace rival Apple Music.

(Reporting by Neha Malara; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Arun Koyyur)

But Lebanon's Jimmy Keyrouz said he took heart from the themes of his movie "Broken Keys", which tells its own story of finding hope in the midst of disaster.

The film follows a young man called Karim living somewhere in Iraqi and Syrian territory occupied by Islamic State militants and dreaming of escaping to Europe to become a musician.

At the start of the film, the fighters smash up his piano. He then tries to rebuild the instrument to sell it to fund his journey.

"If I was to summarise the spirit of the film in one sentence or saying I would say: 'Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass - it's about learning to dance in the rain'," Keyrouz told Reuters TV, quoting artist and author Vivian Greene.

"I guess it sums up the film pretty well and sums up our situation. You just gotta keep working, keep moving forward."

Keyrouz said he filmed part of "Broken Keys" in the Iraqi city of Mosul. "We filmed at the last area that ISIS (Islamic State) fought, and even there in some places we smelled ... dead bodies under the rubble."

Cannes chose the film for its 2020 lineup, alongside works by Wes Anderson and other star directors.

But the world's biggest cinema showcase, usually held in May on the French Riviera, called off its events during the lockdown.

Organisers this month published the list of their 56-film line-up, saying they still wanted to use the festival's cachet to help promote the movies.

"I can only be very happy and grateful for Cannes to have supported and selected the film, despite not having the festival," Keyrouz said, adding that he was still hoping to start releasing the film later this year.

(Reporting by Imad Creidi and Maria Semerdjian; Writing by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian artist Jozsef Szurcsik lost four of his friends in a matter of weeks to COVID-19 and the tremendous pain and grief he feels has transformed his art.

Szurcsik, who teaches at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and is one of the country's top contemporary artists, has always tried to reflect on the relationship between the human soul and the landscape in his often surreal paintings.

He says his creative process has been deeply impacted by the grief he now feels.

Before he painted with a plan in his mind, but now images of skulls, burning heads and pained faces simply flow from his brush. Unintentionally, some of the faces in his paintings reflect the features of lost ones, he said.

"I have four friends who were important to me, there are four people whose passing away is very shocking... If this epidemic had not happened they could have been with us for a long time," he said.

He can still hardly talk about his loss. One of his friends who died was little over 40 years old.

Hungary, which has a population of around 10 million, had recorded 4,079 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, including 568 deaths.

Szurcsik, who makes etchings, lithographs, oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, and also painted sculptures, said the new imagery of his paintings worked as a kind of therapy.

"I did not want to visualize a concrete figure, far from it... and still there are figures who resemble those whom I will not meet anymore," he said.

He said society is split between those who belittle or even doubt the seriousness of the coronavirus, and those who believe it is a deadly reality.

"There are those who deny the virus and those who believe in it, experiencing on their own skin and through their losses... staying alive but suffering the pain."

(Reporting by Krisztina Fenyo; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Just two months after she moved to the Spanish capital the country went into lockdown, depriving her and thousands of others who work in the arts of a job and shattering her plans for 2020.

Confined to her flat and filled with disappointment and boredom, Yara, 39 decided to create a YouTube channel for her show "Leo the Lion and his Friends".

She shot and uploaded videos with children's stories, poems and songs and captured an audience of youngsters.

"It helped me, it was therapeutic and stopped me from feeling down and it gave me a creative outlet," Yara said.

"I think that in times of crisis creativity surges and you start working with what you have at home. As I'm a puppeteer, fortunately I have a lot of puppets I can work with."

She can't wait to start performing in front of children again, and experience the reaction of a live audience.

Spain has suffered one of the world's worst COVID-19 outbreaks but has been gradually reopening since May. The lockdown will end on June 21 but certain restrictions will remain in place, such as social distancing and the use of masks.

(Reporting by Michael Gore, Elena Rodriguez and Catherine Macdonald; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

LONDON (Reuters) - Vera Lynn, the singer who became a symbol of hope in Britain during World War Two and again during the coronavirus pandemic with her song "We'll Meet Again", died at the age of 103 on Thursday.

Known as the Forces' Sweetheart, Lynn struck a chord with soldiers fighting overseas and with the public back home through her performances and records, including "The White Cliffs of Dover".

To mark her 100th birthday in 2017, a giant image of Lynn as a young woman was projected onto those white cliffs and a new album released.

She was back in the headlines in April when Queen Elizabeth used words from Lynn's song to tell the country "We will meet again" and urged people to show resolve during the coronavirus lockdown.

Lynn died on Thursday morning surrounded by close relatives, her family said in a statement to British media.

The queen is to send a private message of condolence to Lynn’s family, Buckingham Palace said. The office of heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said they were remembering the singer.

"Dame Vera Lynn’s charm and magical voice entranced and uplifted our country in some of our darkest hours," Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter. "Her voice will live on to lift the hearts of generations to come."

She died on the day Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron marked the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle's call for resistance to the Nazi occupation of France during World War Two.

Decca Records, which worked with Lynn since her earliest releases, paid tribute to its "brightest and most enduring star".

Lynn was born Vera Welch on March 20, 1917, the daughter of a plumber in London's East End, and was singing in working men's clubs at the age of seven.

She began radio broadcasts and singing with bands in the late 1930s. But it was her wartime songs that won her fame and led to British tanks trundling into battle with "Vera" painted on their sides and more than 1,000 written offers of marriage from servicemen.

In 1941, she began a weekly radio broadcast from London called "Sincerely Yours" in which she relayed messages from British troops serving in all war theatres to their loved ones.

She also toured Burma in 1944 and was later presented with the Burma Star medal.

Captain Tom Moore, a veteran of that campaign who this year raised more than 33 million pounds for the National Health Service during the pandemic, tweeted: "She had a huge impact on me in Burma and remained important to me throughout my life."

'EVERYONE PULLED TOGETHER'

Ironically, Lynn's biggest hit had a German title and came after the war. "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart", backed by a soldiers' chorus, sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and made Lynn the first British performer to top the U.S. hit parade.

The song made her a star in the United States in the 1950s. But the noisy advent of rock and roll eventually elbowed aside her more sedate brand of nostalgia.

In 1975 - amid a chorus of press disapproval that it had taken so long - Lynn was given the title of Dame of the British Empire.

Always modest about her contribution to Britain's wartime effort, she told an interviewer in 1984: “"Everyone pulled together and tried to live their lives as normally as possible."

Lynn never sought publicity and lived quietly for most of her life on England's south coast near Brighton with Harry Lewis, the man she had married in 1941 - a clarinet player who became her manager.

Known locally in the village of Ditchling as Mrs Lewis, she had a passion for gardening and detective novels.

“"I was lucky," she said. “"I had a talent; it lifted me out of the bracket I was born into.

“"And when I got my house and a little car, I thought, well that's all I want."

(Writing by Michael Holden, Guy Faulconbridge, Peter Griffiths and Andrew Heavens; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

In contrast to major outbreaks seen in other big cities around the world, Hong Kong has reported a relatively small number of infections, recording 1,121 cases and four deaths. The border remains virtually shut but life is slowly returning to normal.

Dozens of visitors were seen queuing to get into the park on Thursday morning, many of them families with children.

"In the past few months I missed coming here so much," said annual pass holder Vicky Lam, 36, as she waved at staff wearing Disney character costumes.

The park says its shopping and dining locations will have reduced capacity and that it will implement social distancing measures in any queues and throughout its facilities.

It will also carry out disinfection more frequently and make hand sanitisers available for visitors, who are required to go through temperature screening and wear a face mask.

Hong Kong's Disneyland resort, which reported losses for at least the past three years according to annual reports available on its website, is owned by a joint venture, Hongkong International Theme Parks Ltd, in which the local government has 53% stake and Walt Disney Co holds the rest.

Without tourists, business for Disneyland in Hong Kong is likely to remain subdued. It will have to rely on a domestic market that was struggling with recession after months of often-violent pro-democracy protests even before the coronavirus blow.

Ocean Park, the city's other theme park, reopened on Saturday after lawmakers approved a HK$5.4 billion ($697 million) bailout plan last month to keep it running for another year.

Shanghai's Disneyland, which is able to attract visitors from outside the city, re-opened in May.

(Reporting by Joyce Zhou; Editing by Edmund Blair)

"Elmo's World News," airing over the next few weeks in 13 languages across Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, will share activities, play, and advice on how to manage "big feelings" like frustration and sadness.

"Children are at home spending a lot more time indoors than before and families are really struggling with how to help them keep learning, keep engaged, how to play in new ways," said executive producer Scott Cameron.

In the 25-minute special, Elmo hosts a news show from his bedroom, with Cookie Monster playing a special correspondent showing his "Things That Make Me Happy" activity box.

Grover plays a weather reporter who learns how to play inside, while Basma and Jad, the stars of the "Ahlan Simsim" Arabic version of "Sesame Street," show how to manage feelings with dance.

Schools and daycare centers have been closed for months in multiple nations because of the coronavirus, cutting children off from friends and leaving parents and family members in the role of teachers.

Cameron said the universal message of the show was the importance of play.

"Playing helps you manage some of the big feelings that are coming up for children and caregivers, because play is such a powerful way for kids to express things that they might not otherwise be able to express," he said.

"Elmo's World News" follows a "Sesame Street" coronavirus special aired in the United States, Australia, Canada and the UK in April that featured guests Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anne Hathaway and Tracee Ellis Ross.

"Elmo's World News" is a collaboration with the Lego Foundation.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Nathan Frandino, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

The District Attorney's Office said in a statement that it had declined to file sexual assault charges against Masterson in two other cases because of insufficient evidence and because of the statute of limitations.

Masterson, 44, got his break-out role in the 1998-2006 television comedy series "That 70s Show," in which he played a rebel adolescent. He could not immediately be reached for comment on the charges.

In a statement issued to Variety, Tom Mesereau, Masterson's attorney, vowed to fight the charges.

"Mr. Masterson is innocent, and we're confident that he will be exonerated when all the evidence finally comes to light and witnesses have the opportunity to testify," Mesereau said in the statement. "The people who know Mr. Masterson know his character and know the allegations to be false."

The three rape charges together carry a maximum prison sentence of 45 years to life in prison if Masterson is convicted, the District Attorney's office said.

All of the alleged rapes took place at Masterson's Hollywood Hills home, the statement said. They involve the alleged rape of a 23-year-old woman between January and December 2001, a 28-year-old woman in April 2003, and a 23-year old woman between October and December 2003. The charges did not name the women.

Masterson, who has been married to actress Bijou Phillips since 2011, was written out of the Netflix comedy series "The Ranch" in December 2017 when a police investigation on the allegations against him first came to light.

Dozens of actors, politicians, businessmen and musicians have lost their jobs since 2017 when sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein fueled the #MeToo movement. Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault in February and sentenced to 23 years behind bars.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Howard Goller)

The show, to be available exclusively on Spotify, will be connected to West's work with The Innocence Project, a nonprofit that fights wrongful convictions, the representative said.

Best known for developing beauty and fashion products and chronicling her life with her sisters on TV’s "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," West became interested in criminal justice reform after helping to win the release two women from prison. She is currently studying to become a lawyer through a California apprenticeship program.

The new podcast will highlight the investigative work of TV producer Lori Rothschild Ansaldi, West's representative said.

No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Spotify, which has over 700,000 podcasts on its platform and reaches nearly 300 million monthly users, has been investing in big names to draw audiences to non-musical content. In May, it signed a deal for exclusive rights to a popular podcast by comedian Joe Rogan.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Ayanti Bera and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Devika Syamnath and Tom Brown)