Skip to main content

Barbra Streisand won’t attend Cannes Palme d’Or ceremony after a knee injury

CANNES, France (AP) — Barbra Streisand announced on Sunday that she will not attend the Cannes Film Festival ‘s closing ceremony later this week where she was to receive an honorary Palme d’Or, after sustaining a knee injury.

The festival organizers said they would still honor the singer-actor despite her absence, according to a press release that carried Streisand’s statement.

“On the advice of my doctors, as I continue recovering from a knee injury, I am sadly unable to attend the Festival de Cannes this year,” she said in the statement. “But I am deeply honored to receive the honorary Palme d’Or and had so been looking forward to celebrating the remarkable films of the 79th edition.”

“I was also very much looking forward to spending time with colleagues whom I so admire — and, of course, returning to France, a place I have always loved,” Streisand added. “My heartfelt thanks to the Festival, and to everyone who continues to support and champion the art of cinema.”

During its opening ceremony, the Cannes Film Festival gave Peter Jackson an honorary Palme d’Or.

It also surprised John Travolta on Friday with one ahead of the premiere of his directorial debut, “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” at the Cannes festival.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
Read Next Story

Related News

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary

Women are the first caregivers in this Ebola outbreak and the most at risk