Arts and Culture

Relatives of the late President John F Kennedy slammed the centre’s board, saying the name cannot be changed under law.

Donald Trump’s name has been added to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, just one day after his hand-picked board members controversially voted to rename the arts venue, the first time a national institution has been named after a sitting US president.

Workmen added metal lettering to the building’s exterior on Friday that declared, “The Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

“Today, we proudly unveil the updated exterior designation – honoring the leadership of President Donald J Trump and the enduring legacy of John F Kennedy,” the centre said on social media.

Family members of former President Kennedy, who was killed by an assassin’s bullet in 1963, as well as historians and Democratic lawmakers, have criticised the move, saying only an act of Congress could alter the name of the centre, which was designated as a living memorial to Kennedy a year after his assassination.

“The Kennedy Center was named by law. To change the name would require a revision of that 1964 law,” Ray Smock, a former House of Representatives historian, told the Associated Press (AP) news agency. “The Kennedy Center board is not a lawmaking entity. Congress makes laws,” Smock said.

The AP reports that the law naming the centre explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the centre into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

Kerry Kennedy, a niece of former President Kennedy, said in a post on social media that she will remove Trump’s name herself when his term as president ends.

“Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder. Are you in?” she wrote on X.

Naming a national institution after a sitting president is unprecedented in US history. Landmarks such as the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and indeed, the Kennedy Center were all named after the deaths of the renowned US leaders.

Kennedy’s grandnephew, former Congressman Joe Kennedy III, also said the Kennedy Center, like the Lincoln Memorial, was a “living memorial to a fallen president” and cannot be renamed, “no matter what anyone says”.

Trump claimed on Thursday that he was “surprised” by the renaming of the Kennedy Center, even though he personally purged the centre’s previous board after calling it “too woke”.

He has also previously spoken about having his name added to the centre and appointed himself chairman of the centre’s board earlier this year.

Trump has sought to rein in the Kennedy Center since the start of his second term as part of an assault on cultural institutions that his administration has accused of being too left-wing.

Singer’s statement follows walkout by five countries after organisers cleared Israel to participate in next year’s contest.

Swiss Eurovision winner Nemo said they will return their 2024 victory trophy because Israel is being allowed to compete in the pop music competition.

The singer, who won the 2024 edition with operatic pop track, The Code, posted a video on Instagram showing them placing the trophy in a box to be sent back to the Geneva headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

“Eurovision says it stands for unity, for inclusion and dignity for all people,” Nemo said, adding that Israel’s participation amid its ongoing genocidal war on Gaza showed those ideals were at odds with organisers’ decisions.

The EBU, which organises Eurovision, cleared Israel last week to take part in next year’s event in Austria, prompting Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland to announce they would be boycotting the contest.

“When entire countries withdraw, it should be clear that something is deeply wrong,” Nemo said on Thursday.

On Friday, contest director Martin Green said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that organisers were “saddened that Nemo wishes to return their trophy which they deservedly won in 2024”.

“We respect the deeply held views Nemo has expressed and they will always remain a valued part of the Eurovision Song Contest family,” he added.

Next year’s Eurovision is scheduled to take place in Austria’s capital, Vienna, after Austrian singer JJ won the 2025 contest in Basel, Switzerland. Traditionally, the winning country hosts the following year.

“This is not about individuals or artists. It’s about the fact that the contest was repeatedly used to soften the image of a state accused of severe wrongdoing, all while the EBU insists that this contest is non-political,” said Nemo.

“Live what you claim. If the values we celebrate on stage aren’t lived off stage, then even the most beautiful songs become meaningless,” they added.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 70,369 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health authorities.

The country’s military has continued to attack the enclave despite a ceasefire with Palestinian group Hamas reached back in October.

A UNESCO panel backed Italy’s bid, recognising Italian cuisine as a social ritual that binds families, communities.

Italian cuisine, long cherished for its deep regional traditions, has been officially recognised by UNESCO as an “intangible cultural heritage” – a designation the country hopes will elevate its global prestige and draw more visitors.

“We are the first in the world to receive this recognition, which honours who we are and our identity,” Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement on Instagram on Wednesday.

“For us Italians, cuisine is not just food, not just a collection of recipes. It is much more, it is culture, tradition, work, and wealth,” Meloni said.

The vote by a cultural panel of UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – meeting in New Delhi capped a process Italy launched in 2023, with the government portraying the country’s culinary tradition as a social ritual that binds families and communities.

🔴 BREAKING

New inscription on the #IntangibleHeritage List: Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity, #Italy🇮🇹.

Congratulations!https://t.co/xoL14QjPPR #LivingHeritage pic.twitter.com/2iY86Obn3n

— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) December 10, 2025

‘Cooking is a gesture of love’

UNESCO did not single out any famous dishes or regional specialities. Instead, the citation focused on how much Italians value the everyday rituals around food: the big Sunday lunch, the tradition of nonnas teaching kids how to fold tortellini just right, and simply sitting down together to enjoy a meal.

“Cooking is a gesture of love; it’s how we share who we are and how we look after each other,” said Pier Luigi Petrillo, part of Italy’s UNESCO campaign and a professor at Rome’s La Sapienza University.

In its announcement, UNESCO described Italian cuisine as a “cultural and social blend of culinary traditions”.

“Beyond cooking, practitioners view the element as a way of caring for oneself and others, expressing love and rediscovering one’s cultural roots. It gives communities an outlet to share their history and describe the world around them,” it added.

The UNESCO listing could deliver further economic benefits to a country already renowned for its cooking and where the agri-food supply chain accounts for about 15 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).

It could also bring some relief to traditional family-run restaurants, long the backbone of Italian dining, which are facing a harsh economic climate in a market increasingly polarised between premium and budget options.

Honouring cultural expressions

Italy is not the first country to see its cuisine honoured as a cultural expression.

In 2010, UNESCO inscribed the “gastronomic meal of the French” on its intangible heritage list, calling out France’s tradition of marking life’s important moments around the table.

Other food traditions have been added in recent years, too, including the cider culture of Spain’s Asturian region, Senegal’s Ceebu Jen dish, and the traditional cheese-making of Minas Gerais in Brazil.

UNESCO reviews new candidates for its intangible-heritage lists every year under three categories: a representative list; a list for practices considered in “urgent” need of safeguarding; and a register of effective safeguarding practices.

At this year’s meeting in New Delhi, the committee evaluated 53 proposals for the representative list, which already includes 788 entries. Other nominees included Swiss yodelling, the handloom weaving technique used to make Bangladesh’s Tangail sarees, and Chile’s family circuses.

Hamnet, Sinners and One Battle After Another seen as top contenders, alongside films from Norway, France and South Korea.

The Hollywood award season in the United States is hitting high gear, with nominations unveiled for one of the biggest contests of 2026: the 83rd annual Golden Globes.

Often seen as a bellwether for the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes honour achievements in both television and filmmaking — a distinction that, with the advent of streaming over the last two decades, has become all the murkier.

Limping post-pandemic box office numbers and high-stakes mergers have also complicated the future of the motion picture industry, with streaming giants like Netflix making a play for the century-old studio Warner Bros.

Still, several big-name blockbusters and critical darlings topped this year’s Golden Globe nominations.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s political thriller One Battle After Another was a standout, making good on its star-studded cast to sweep five acting nods, plus nominations for Best Comedy, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It leads the field with nine nominations overall.

Anderson was not the only cinematic “auteur” to receive laurels from the Golden Globe Foundation.

Chloe Zhao’s historical tear-jerker Hamnet — based on the relationship between writer William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes — nabbed six nominations in drama categories.

And Ryan Coogler’s springtime crowd-pleaser Sinners — a vampire film and cultural commentary, wrapped in one — scored seven nods, including Best Drama, Best Director and Best Cinematic Achievement.

While the Golden Globes is often seen as a cozy, champagne-clacking affair for Hollywood titans, this year’s nominations also suggest an ever-more international scope for its honourees.

The meditative Norwegian drama Sentimental Value scooped up eight nominations, and the French nominee It Was Just an Accident, by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, earned four.

South Korea and Brazil also broke free from the Non-English Language Film category, scoring nominations in the acting, songwriting and animation competitions for films like KPop Demon Hunters, No Other Choice and The Secret Agent.

Some pieces of award bait, meanwhile, failed to deliver on their potential, including director Luca Guadagnino’s slippery, post-MeToo drama After the Hunt, which scored a single nomination for star Julia Roberts.

Likewise, the musical film Wicked: For Good — the sequel to last year’s award-season juggernaut — disappointed its expectations. While it scored nods in acting and song categories, it failed to land in contention for some of the biggest prizes, including Best Motion Picture: Comedy or Musical.

The 83rd annual Golden Globes are scheduled to air on January 11, 2026. Here is the full list of nominees:

Best Motion Picture: Drama

• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• It Was Just an Accident
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners
• The Secret Agent

Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy

• Blue Moon
• Bugonia
• Marty Supreme
• No Other Choice
• Nouvelle Vague
• One Battle After Another

Best Motion Picture: Animated

• Arco
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle
• Elio
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Little Amelie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

Best Motion Picture: Non-English Language

• It Was Just an Accident, France
• No Other Choice, South Korea
• Sentimental Value, Norway
• Sirat, Spain
• The Secret Agent, Brazil
• The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama

• Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby
• Jennifer Lawrence for Die My Love
• Jessie Buckley for Hamnet
• Julia Roberts for After the Hunt
• Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value
• Tessa Thompson for Hedda

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama

• Dwayne Johnson for The Smashing Machine
• Jeremy Allen White for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
• Joel Edgerton for Train Dreams
• Michael B Jordan for Sinners
• Oscar Isaac for Frankenstein
• Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy

• Amanda Seyfried for The Testament of Anne Lee
• Chase Infiniti for One Battle After Another
• Cynthia Erivo for Wicked: For Good
• Emma Stone for Bugonia
• Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue
• Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy

• Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon
• George Clooney for Jay Kelly
• Jesse Plemons for Bugonia
• Lee Byung-hun for No Other Choice
• Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another
• Timothee Chalamet for Marty Supreme

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

• Amy Madigan for Weapons
• Ariana Grande for Wicked: For Good
• Elle Fanning for Sentimental Value
• Emily Blunt for The Smashing Machine
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value
• Teyana Taylor for One Battle After Another

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

• Adam Sandler for Jay Kelly
• Benicio del Toro for One Battle After Another
• Jacob Elordi for Frankenstein
• Paul Mescal for Hamnet
• Sean Penn for One Battle After Another
• Stellan Skarsgard for Sentimental Value

Best Director for a Motion Picture

• Chloe Zhao for Hamnet
• Guillermo del Toro for Frankenstein
• Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident
• Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
• Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another
• Ryan Coogler for Sinners

Best Screenplay for a Motion Picture

• Chloe Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell for Hamnet
• Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident
• Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt for Sentimental Value
• Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another
• Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme
• Ryan Coogler for Sinners

Best Original Score for a Motion Picture

• Alexandre Desplat for Frankenstein
• Hans Zimmer for F1
• Jonny Greenwood for One Battle After Another
• Kangding Ray for Sirat
• Ludwig Goransson for Sinners
• Max Richter for Hamnet

Best Original Song for a Motion Picture

• Dream As One for Avatar: Fire and Ash
  • By Miley Cyrus, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson and Simon Franglen
• Golden for KPop Demon Hunters
  • By Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Park Hong Jun, Kim Eun-jae (EJAE) and Mark Sonnenblick
• I Lied to You for Sinners
  • By Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson
• No Place Like Home for Wicked: For Good
• The Girl in the Bubble for Wicked: For Good
• Train Dreams for Train Dreams
  • By Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• F1
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
• Sinners
• Weapons
• Wicked: For Good
• Zootopia 2

Best Television Series: Drama

• The Diplomat
• Pluribus
• Severance
• Slow Horses
• The Pitt
• The White Lotus

Best Television Series: Musical or Comedy

• Abbott Elementary
• The Bear
• Hacks
• Nobody Wants This
• Only Murders in the Building
• The Studio

Best Limited Series, Anthology or TV Movie

• Adolescence
• All Her Fault
• Black Mirror
• Dying for Sex
• The Beast in Me
• The Girlfriend

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series: Drama

• Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us
• Britt Lower for Severance
• Helen Mirren for MobLand
• Kathy Bates for Matlock
• Keri Russell for The Diplomat
• Rhea Seehorn for Pluribus

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series: Drama

• Adam Scott for Severance
• Diego Luna for Andor
• Gary Oldman for Slow Horses
• Mark Ruffalo for Task
• Noah Wyle for The Pitt
• Sterling K Brown for Paradise

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy

• Ayo Edebiri for The Bear
• Jean Smart for Hacks
• Jenna Ortega for Wednesday
• Kristen Bell for Nobody Wants This
• Natasha Lyonne for Poker Face
• Selena Gomez for Only Murders in the Building

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology or TV Movie

• Amanda Seyfried for Long Bright River
• Claire Danes for The Beast in Me
• Michelle Williams for Dying for Sex
• Rashida Jones for Black Mirror
• Robin Wright for The Girlfriend
• Sarah Snook for All Her Fault

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy

• Adam Brody for Nobody Wants This
• Glen Powell for Chad Powers
• Jeremy Allen White for The Bear
• Martin Short for Only Murders in the Building
• Seth Rogen for The Studio
• Steve Martin for Only Murders in the Building

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television

• Aimee Lou Wood for The White Lotus
• Carrie Coon for The White Lotus
• Catherine O’Hara for The Studio
• Erin Doherty for Adolescence
• Hannah Einbinder for Hacks
• Parker Posey for The White Lotus

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology or TV Movie

• Charlie Hunnam for Monster: The Ed Gein Story
• Jacob Elordi for The Narrow Road to the Deep North
• Jude Law for Black Rabbit
• Matthew Rhys for The Beast in Me
• Paul Giamatti for Black Mirror
• Stephen Graham for Adolescence

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television

• Ashley Walters for Adolescence
• Billy Crudup for The Morning Show
• Jason Isaacs for The White Lotus
• Owen Cooper for Adolescence
• Tramell Tillman for Severance
• Walton Goggins for The White Lotus

Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television

• Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?
• Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life
• Kevin Hart: Acting My Age
• Kumail Ali Nanjiani: Night Thoughts
• Ricky Gervais: Mortality
• Sarah Silverman: Postmortem

Best Podcast

• Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
• Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper
• Good Hang with Amy Poehler
• Smartless with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett
• The Mel Robbins Podcast
• Up First