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epa09980983 US actor Johnny Depp reacts as he leaves after closing arguments in the 50 million US dollar Depp vs Heard defamation trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, USA, 27 May 2022. Johnny Depp's 50 million US dollar defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard started on 10 April. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS

Johnny Depp reacts as he leaves after closing arguments on 27 May 2022 (Image: EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS)

Actor Johnny Depp has won more than $US10 million ($A14 million) in damages, achieving a near-total victory in a defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard to cap a six-week trial featuring graphic testimony about the stars' soured relationship.

A seven-person jury in Virginia also ruled for Heard on one counterclaim against Depp. The Pirates of the Caribbean film star depicted the decision as a vindication, and his former wife said it was "a disappointment".

Jurors awarded Depp $US15 million in damages from Heard, which the judge reduced to $US10.35 million to comply with state limits on punitive damages. The panel ordered Depp to pay Heard $US2 million in damages.

Depp, 58, had sued Heard for $US50 million and argued that she defamed him when she called herself "a public figure representing domestic abuse" in a newspaper opinion piece.

Heard countersued for $US100 million, saying Depp smeared her when his lawyer called her accusations a "hoax".

Depp denied hitting Heard, 36, or any woman and said she was the one who turned violent in their relationship.

He told jurors the allegations from Heard, best known for her role in Aquaman, had cost him "everything". A new Pirates movie was put on hold and Depp was replaced in the Fantastic Beasts film franchise, a Harry Potter spin-off.

"The jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled," Depp, who watched the verdict from Britain, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The best is yet to come and a new chapter has finally begun," he added, ending with the Latin phrase "Veritas numquam perit. Truth never perishes."

Actor Amber Heard hugs her lawyer Elaine Bredehoft after the verdict was read at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. The jury awarded Johnny Depp more than $10 million in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. It vindicates his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp before and during their brief marriage. But the jury also found in favor of Heard, who said she was defamed by a lawyer for Depp.(Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
Amber Heard hugs her lawyer Elaine Bredehoft after the verdict was read at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (Image: Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

Heard, seated in the courtroom between two of her lawyers, looked down as the verdicts were read.

"The disappointment I feel today is beyond words," she said in a statement. "I'm heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex-husband."

"I'm even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women," she said. "It is a setback."

Depp faced a different outcome in Britain less than two years ago, when he sued the Sun tabloid for calling him a "wife beater". A London High Court judge ruled that he had repeatedly assaulted Heard.

The two met in 2011 while filming The Rum Diary and wed in February 2015. Their divorce was finalised about two years later.

At the centre of the legal case was a December 2018 opinion piece by Heard in the Washington Post. The article did not mention Depp by name but his lawyer told jurors it was clear that Heard was referring to him.

The jury agreed with all of Depp's defamation claims, which cited a passage in the article and headline that read: "I spoke up against sexual violence - and faced our culture's wrath. That has to change."

Jurors rejected two of Heard's three counterclaims. They concluded she was defamed when an attorney for Depp told a media outlet that Heard staged property damage to show to police after an alleged fight.

"Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist," the statement said in part.

During six weeks of testimony, Heard's attorneys argued that she had told the truth and that her comments were covered as free speech under the US Constitution's First Amendment.

Jurors listened to recordings of the couple's fights and saw graphic photos of Depp's bloody finger. He said the top of the finger was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him in 2015.

Heard denied injuring Depp's finger and said Depp sexually assaulted her that night with a liquor bottle. She said she struck him only to defend herself or her sister.

Testimony was livestreamed widely on social media, drawing large audiences to hear details about the couple's troubled relationship.

Depp's lawyers filed the US case in Fairfax County, Virginia, because the Washington Post is printed there. The newspaper was not a defendant.

© AP 2022

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FILE - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walks past Commonwealth flags in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, England to mark Commonwealth Day in this image that was issued on Saturday March 6, 2021. After seven decades on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II is widely viewed in the U.K. as a rock in turbulent times. But in Britain’s former colonies, many see her as an anchor to an imperial past whose damage still lingers. (Steve Parsons/Pool via AP, File)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walks past Commonwealth flags in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, England (Image: Steve Parsons/Pool via AP, File)

While many people are familiar with the Queen's record as the longest-reigning living monarch, she also holds a raft of other records, including appearing on the most number of currencies.

Ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, marking her 75-year reign, Guinness World Records has revealed the raft of records she currently holds.

"Most countries to be Head of State of simultaneously" is one record she marked in November 2021, with 15 different countries.

Also among her records are "Longest-reigning living monarch", which she holds after acceding to the throne on February 6, 1952.

She became the longest-reigning living monarch in October 2016 after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.

She also holds the Guinness World Record for the most portrayed living monarch, having been played on stage and screen in productions ranging from Netflix's The Crown, the 2006 film The Queen, and even a cartoon cameo in The Simpsons in 2003.

The Queen appears on at least 33 currencies, according to Guinness World Records, making her the individual to have appeared on the most.

Her face is printed on currencies across the world, including Australia, Belize, New Zealand, and Canada.

Ternopil, Ukraine - March 08, 20187: England Queen Elizabeth II banknote closeup. Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
Image: RomanR/Shutterstock.com


She's also the oldest reigning queen, at 96, and the wealthiest Queen, with an estimated wealth of PS370 million ($A648 million) according to The Sunday Times Rich List, and has opened more Summer Olympic Games than any other individual, including the 1976 games in Montreal and the 2012 games in London.

Other royal-related records include the monarch's St Edward's crown, which is the world's most valuable.

It is considered priceless, but after a calculation of the value of each component part, cashnetusa.com in 2019 estimated its overall worth as PS3.51 million ($A6.1 million).

The memorial page of the official website of the British monarchy also holds the record for the most visited royal website globally. Some 14 million people clicked on in September 1997 following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The largest collection of royal memorabilia consists of more than 10,000 pieces and belongs to Jan Hugo in Australia, who has devoted her life to amassing British Royal family memorabilia since 1982.

On 25 December 2012, the Queen's annual Christmas message was broadcast in 3D for the first time.

Here is a list of the Guinness World Record titles held by the Queen:

1. Longest-reigning living Queen

2. Most countries to be Head of State, simultaneously

3. Most portrayed living monarch

4. Oldest reigning queen

5. Most currencies featuring the same individual

6. Most Summer Olympic Games opened by an individual

7. Oldest monarch, British

8. Wealthiest Queen

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This combination of two separate photos shows actor Johnny Depp, left, and Amber Heard in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va., Monday, May 23, 2022. Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a

A jury has reached a verdict in the long-running and very public lawsuit between Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)

A jury has ruled in favour of Johnny Depp in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, vindicating his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp before and during their brief marriage.

The jury also found in favour of Heard, who said she was defamed by Depp's lawyer when he called her abuse allegations a hoax.

Jury members found Depp should be awarded $US10.35 million ($A14 million) million in damages, while Heard should receive $US2 million.

The verdicts bring an end to a televised trial that Depp had hoped would help restore his reputation, though it turned into a spectacle of a vicious marriage.

Throughout the trial, fans -- overwhelmingly on Depp's side -- lined up overnight for coveted courtroom seats. Spectators who couldn't get in gathered on the street to cheer Depp and jeer Heard whenever either appeared outside.

Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." His lawyers said he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.

While the case was ostensibly about libel, most of the testimony focused on whether Heard had been physically and sexually abused, as she claimed. Heard enumerated more than a dozen alleged assaults, including a fight in Australia -- where Depp was shooting a "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel -- in which Depp lost the tip of his middle finger and Heard said she was sexually assaulted with a liquor bottle.

Depp said he never hit Heard and that she was the abuser, though Heard's attorneys highlighted years-old text messages Depp sent apologising to Heard for his behavior as well as profane texts he sent to a friend in which Depp said he wanted to kill Heard and defile her dead body.

In some ways, the trial was a replay of a lawsuit Depp filed in the United Kingdom against a British tabloid after he was described as a "wife beater." The judge in that case ruled in the newspaper's favour after finding that Heard was telling the truth in her descriptions of abuse.

In the Virginia case, Depp had to prove not only that he never assaulted Heard, but that Heard's article, which focused primarily on public policy related to domestic violence, defamed him. He also had to prove that Heard wrote the article with actual malice. And to claim damages he had to prove that her article caused the damage to his reputation as opposed to any number of articles before and after Heard's piece that detailed the allegations against him.

Depp, in his final testimony to the jury, said the trial gave him a chance to clear his name in a way that he the UK trial never allowed.

"No matter what happens, I did get here and I did tell the truth and I have spoken up for what I've been carrying on my back, reluctantly, for six years." Depp said.

Heard, on the other hand, said the trial has been an ordeal inflicted by an orchestrated smear campaign led by Depp.

"Johnny promised me -- promised me -- that he'd ruin my life, that he'd ruin my career. He'd take my life from me," Heard said in her final testimony.

© AP 2022

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stranger things kate bush

Stranger Things Season 4 dropped this week and its nostalgia for all things 80s has revived a hit song from 1985.

Kate Bush’s 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)' features in episode 4 of the series and a whole new generation of fans have gone wild for it, sending it to the number 1 spot on iTunes.

The song was released 37 years ago and was a hit around the world.

The song plays an important part in a scene because it's one of the character's favourite songs. If we say anything more, it will be a spoiler for Season 3 and for the actual scene in Season 4.

So here's your chance to decide if you'll turn back or keep going and hear more about the song and the scene that everyone's talking about. (It's just like those other mainstays of the 80s years, the Choose Your Own Adventure books!)

If you haven’t seen Stranger Things Season 3 yet, hurry up and watch it, because Season 4 is even better so far! Check out the trailer.

Spoilers coming below the trailer! You've been warned!

Ok, so Kate Bush’s song features in an emotionally haunting scene where Max (played by Sadie Sink) is grappling with the grief of losing her brother Billy (played by Australian actor Dacre Montgomery) at the end of Season 3.

The boys frantically go through Max’s mix tapes and play the song to try and bring her back to reality.

Stranger Things director Ross Duffer explained to Netflix’s Tudum why the song was perfect for the scene: “Music has a power to reach people, even when they’re in these catatonic states. We knew it needed to have a cinematic scope and build to it. But at the same time, it needed to be emotional, and Kate Bush’s lyrics are just so emotional.”

But Winona Ryder knew about Kate all along, of course.

It’s not the first time a Kate Bush song has featured in recent movies and TV shows.

'Women’s Work' - another hauntingly emotional song - first appeared in the 1988 movie 'She’s Having a Baby' starring Kevin Bacon but had a revival after it featured prominently in the Season 2 opening episode of 'The Handmaid's Tale' in 2018.

The following year, Kate Bush’s 1985 song 'Cloudbusting' featured in the next season of Handmaid’s Tale and was also used in the 2021 movie 'Palm Springs' starring Andy Samberg.

Have a listen.

Main image: Nettflix; AP Photo/EMI, Trevor Leighton