AMAL CLOONEY

A heartfelt Patti LaBelle praised her lifelong friend Gladys Knight.

It’s going to be a “Beautiful Day” for the band U2 and four other artists when they receive this year’s Kennedy Center Honors in December.

For the first time, key players seeking accountability for atrocities during the Ukraine war have come together at an informal meeting of the U.N. Security Council to spur investigations into abuses that many Western countries blame on Russia.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will have a rare virtual encounter this week as they gather online with other Pacific Rim leaders to chart a path to recovery out of the crisis brought on by the pandemic.

Huma Abedin is ready to speak.

Journalists, human rights groups and other activists enthusiastically welcomed the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to two journalists at a time when media groups around the world face new pressures and crackdowns from the authorities.

British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has been named as one of 17 special advisers to the new chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

The International Criminal Court Prosecutor has opened a hearing of evidence against an alleged leader of a notorious militia blamed for atrocities in Darfur.

“The Midnight Sky,” which Clooney directed and stars in, is an apocalyptic sci-fi drama with some striking solitude. Debuting Wednesday on Netflix, “The Midnight Sky,” based on Lily Brooks-Dalton's novel “Good Morning, Midnight," is Clooney's seventh film as director and his biggest scaled production yet. ___AP: You finished shooting “The Midnight Sky” in February, right before the pandemic began. AP: What drew you to “The Midnight Sky”? I know people who are older -- older than me, even -- who live with real regret.

Clooney was honored Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, by co-stars and colleagues at the annual film benefit for the Museum of Modern Art, held virtually. MoMA’s annual film benefit raises funds to bring great works of film to the museum’s collection. Also giving virtual tributes Monday evening were actors Felicity Jones, Tiffany Boone, Kyle Chandler and Demian Bichir, who appear in “A Midnight Sky,” which Clooney stars in and directs. The benefit featured clips from some of Clooney’s many films: “Michael Clayton,” “Syriana,” "The Descendants,” “Gravity,” and “Good Night, and Good Luck,” among others. In earlier comments to The Associated Press, Clooney said “Good Night, and Good Luck” was probably his proudest professional accomplishment.

In a letter Friday to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, the human rights lawyer said she is quitting her role as the U.K.’s special envoy on media freedom over the government’s “lamentable” suggestion. Clooney, who married movie star George Clooney in 2014, becomes the latest lawyer to resign over the planned legislation. Richard Keen, the British government’s law officer for Scotland, and the head of its legal department, Jonathan Jones, have also quit in the past couple of weeks. The British government has admitted that the legislation could potentially break international law, but argues that it’s an insurance policy for that potential ‘no-deal’ scenario. As a result, the two sides agreed there would be some kind of regulatory border between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland, an agreement that the planned legislation could breach.

None of the pathways to a court have been studied, pursued, or seriously discussed at the United Nations, or by the Security Council, Clooney said. And Murad and Clooney said over 120,000 Yazidis who have returned to Sinjar desperately need health care, electricity, shelter, clean water, sanitation, education and opportunities to make a living. The international community must fulfill its promise to deliver justice for the Yazidi community. In addition, 57 nations are supporting a case brought by Gambia at the International Court of Justice under the Genocide Convention, and the International Criminal Court is investigating crimes in Myanmar, she said. Yazidi survivors deserve no less, Clooney said, stressing that government leaders, U.N. diplomats and all those with influence have a responsibility to respond.