Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

R. Kelly’s fate in jury’s hands in sex trafficking trial

A jury considering whether R. Kelly ran an illegal, decades-long racketeering scheme targeting women and underage girls for sex ended its first day of deliberations on Friday without reaching a verdict on the R&B superstar. The seven-man, five-woman jury in Brooklyn will resume deliberations on Monday, after spending more than 3-1/2 hours behind closed doors on Friday.

Britney Spears’ calls and texts were monitored, new documentary says

A security firm hired by Britney Spears’ father monitored the pop singer’s phone calls and text messages during the court-sanctioned conservatorship she has lived under since 2008, according to a New York Times documentary released on Friday. In “Controlling Britney Spears,” Alex Vlasov, a former Black Box Security employee who said he worked with the singer’s team for nearly nine years, said the company “mirrored” the pop singer’s phone on an iPad by logging in to her iCloud account. A listening device also was placed in her bedroom, Vlasov said.

Autopsy shows ‘The Wire’ actor Michael K. Williams died of drug overdose

An autopsy has confirmed actor Michael K. Williams, who played the shotgun-toting drug dealer Omar Little in the HBO crime drama “The Wire,” died of an overdose of drugs, the New York City medical examiner’s office said on Friday. His death was accidental, Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said in an email.

Elon Musk says he and musician girlfriend Grimes are ‘semi-separated’

Elon Musk and his girlfriend, Canadian singer Grimes, are “semi-separated” after three years together, the billionaire chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX told Page Six in a story published on Friday. The publication quoted Musk as saying the pair, who began dating in May 2018, remain on good terms and are co-parenting their one-year-old son, named X Æ A-Xii Musk.

China urges cartoon producers to resist ‘unhealthy’ content

China’s broadcasting regulator said it will encourage online producers to create “healthy” cartoons and clamp down violent, vulgar or pornographic content, as Beijing steps up efforts to bring its thriving entertainment industry to heel. The National Radio and Television Administration said in a notice posted late on Friday that children and young people were the main audiences for cartoons, and qualified agencies need to broadcast content that “upholds truth, goodness, and beauty”.

Singer Natalie Imbruglia mixes motherhood with ‘personal’ new album

Natalie Imbruglia thought audiences might throw tomatoes at her when she first started out in the 1990s, but more than 20 years later the Australian singer-songwriter is still making music, releasing her sixth studio album on Friday. “Firebird” is Imbruglia’s first record of original music since 2009. It was written before the COVID-19 pandemic but mostly recorded during the lockdown in Oxfordshire, England, where she lives.

New comic book highlights life of U.S. President Jimmy Carter

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is starring in his own comic book set to be released days before he turns 97 on Oct. 1. The Democrat, who was in office from 1977-1981, is the latest icon to join to TidalWave Comics’ “Political Power” series.

Jagger calls Watts the rock that held the Rolling Stones together

The Rolling Stones get back on the road this weekend without drummer Charlie Watts, whom frontman Mick Jagger called the rock that held the band together. In interviews with Rolling Stone music magazine writer David Fricke, Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood talked for the first time about their memories of Watts, who died in London a month ago at age 80.

Cinema returns to Somalia after decades of shut-downs and strife

Dozens of Somalis posed for selfies and chattered excitedly in rows of red, plush seats as they waited for the start of their country’s first movie screening in three decades.

Among the crowd in the National Theatre were 24-year-old Kaif Jama, the writer, and star of both films on the program – the horror story “Hoos”, about a single woman moving into an empty house, and a not-so-romantic comedy called “Date from Hell”.

Prada strips dresses back, foulard inspires Versace in Milan

Prada deconstructed dresses at Milan Fashion Week on Friday, using elements including trains and corsets in a spring collection that explored seduction through clothes. Co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, who joined the Milan-based, Hong Kong-listed luxury group last year, added silk trains on miniskirts, put corset lacing on the front of jackets, and mimicked brassiere cups on knitwear.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)