Reuters People News Summary

Following is a summary of current people news briefs. Harvey Weinstein hires two new attorneys ahead of sex assault trial

Harvey Weinstein, the former Hollywood movie mogul, has hired two lawyers from a Chicago-based firm to join the legal team representing him in his September trial on rape and sexual assault charges, his representatives said on Thursday. Weinstein's spokeswoman, Juda Engelmayer, confirmed to Reuters that he had retained Donna Rotunno and Damon Cheronis ahead of the scheduled criminal trial. Rotunno and Cheronis could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters on Thursday evening. Elton John blasts Putin for calling liberal values 'obsolete'

British singer Elton John said on Friday he was deeply upset by Russian President Vladimir Putin's comment that liberal values were "obsolete" and had been rejected by the majority of people in Western nations. In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, Putin said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had erred by adopting a liberal policy toward immigration from the Middle East.