National Entertainment

NEW YORK — On Dec. 31, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin to the World Health Organization. By Jan. 31, WHO declared an outbreak of a novel coronavirus a global health emergency.

LONDON — Britain’s culture minister thinks the Netflix TV series “The Crown” should come with a disclaimer: It’s a work of fiction.

LONDON — Dave Prowse, the British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, though not the voice, of arch-villain Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, has died. He was 85.

BRUSSELS — With nothing on their agendas for months to come, music festival organizers in Belgium want to use their know-how to help the country's coronavirus vaccination campaign.

NEW YORK — The co-author of the million-selling “Game Change” has a book of his own coming about the 2020 election.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 6-12: Dec. 6: Actor Patrick Bauchau (“The Pretender,” “Carnivale”) is 82. Country singer Helen Cornelius is 79. Actor James Naughton (“Hostages,” “Planet of the Apes”) is 75.

NEW YORK — If you were to choose a word that rose above most in 2020, which word would it be? Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster on Monday announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year.

Seven years after the release of the highly successful PlayStation 4, Sony has fired its latest salvo in the war to capture the hearts and minds of big-spending video game enthusiasts. The PlayStation 5 launched Nov.

LOS ANGELES — George Clooney is just like us, maybe. The star said he does his own haircuts with a device famously touted in infomercials.

NEW YORK — “Jeopardy!” record-holder Ken Jennings will be the first in a series of interim hosts replacing Alex Trebek when the show resumes production next Monday.