MEDIA CULTURE

Veteran actors Judi Dench and Sian Phillips have become the first woman members of London's esteemed Garrick Club after it voted in May to allow women to join, the Guardian reported Tuesday.

French authorities Monday detained leading arthouse film directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon for questioning over accusations of sexual abuse, as a renewed #MeToo reckoning rocks France's film industry.

Acclaimed Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare -- an eternal bridesmaid for a Nobel literature prize -- died Monday of a heart attack aged 88, his editor and a Tirana hospital told AFP. Doctors tried to revive the writer when he was brought to the hospital with "no signs of life", but he was declared dead at 8:40 am (0640 GMT) local time, the hospital said.

Historic French fashion label Lanvin has named Britain's Peter Copping, who has worked with Nina Ricci, Oscar de la Renta, Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, as its new artistic director.