WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND — When Victoria Azarenka walked into Court 15 Monday morning for her first Wimbledon match in two years, she was greeted by polite clapping. When the two-time Grand Slam champion from Belarus finished off a three-set victory more than 2½ hours later, Azarenka shook her racket with her right hand and pumped her…

HANOI, July 3 (Reuters) – Vietnam has banned Warner Bros’ highly anticipated film “Barbie” from domestic distribution over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday. The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas…

Indiana Jones, and executives at the Walt Disney Co. and Lucasfilm, made a somewhat dispiriting discovery this weekend. Moviegoers didn’t rush to the theater in significant numbers to see “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and say goodbye to Harrison Ford as the iconic archaeologist.  The film, reportedly budgeted north of $250 million, came…

SYDNEY — China rallied to claim its first women’s basketball Asia Cup title since 2012 as it beat five-time defending champion Japan 73-71 in an epic final on Sunday. Trailing at halftime it appeared China may fall for a third consecutive time in a title game as reigning champion Japan scored the last 14 points…

A Japanese actor, artist and designer has opened a Ukrainian restaurant in Tokyo called Smachnogo. Her one and only goal: to provide jobs to Ukrainian evacuees arriving in Japan after the start of Russia’s invasion. Iuliia Iarmolenko has the story. Camera: Susumu Miyazu, Justyna Feicht. Video editing: Oleksii Osyka, Anna Rice. …

FIFA revealed eight different armbands highlighting social causes that sides will be able to wear at the women’s World Cup as world football’s governing body seeks to avoid a row that erupted at last year’s men’s World Cup. Captains from a number of European countries, including England and Germany, planned to wear a “OneLove” armband…

Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for “Little Miss Sunshine,” has died. He was 89. His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father’s death through the actor’s publicist on…

Hollywood actors may be on the verge of joining screenwriters in what would be the first two-union strike in the industry in more than six decades, with huge consequences for film and television production. Here is a look at how it could play out, and why it’s happening. What’s happening with actors’ negotiations? The contract…

A screenwriters’ strike in Hollywood has been going on for two months,  grinding scripted TV production basically to a halt and costing California millions in losses each day. Angelina Bagdasaryan has more in this story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian         …

Members of the U.N.’s cultural agency are gathering Thursday for the start of two days of meetings in Paris that are expected to include a vote to accept the return of the United States to the organization. The United States withdrew in 2018 complaining of anti-Israel bias and mismanagement at the agency. Before leaving, the…

Actor Julian Sands, who starred in several Oscar-nominated films in the late 1980s and ’90s including “A Room with a View” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” was found dead on a Southern California mountain five months after he disappeared while hiking, authorities said Tuesday. An investigation confirmed that it was Sands whose remains hikers found Saturday…

A portrait of an unnamed woman by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt sold for 85.3 million pounds ($108.4 million) on Tuesday, setting a record price for any work of art sold at an auction in Europe, London-based auction house Sotheby’s said.   The painting, which had been given a guide price of 65 million pounds ($82.9…

Italy’s culture and tourism ministers have vowed to find and punish a tourist who was filmed carving his name and that of his apparent girlfriend in the wall of the Colosseum in Rome, a crime that resulted in hefty fines in the past. Video of the incident went viral on social media. The message reading…

The United States will be playing for an unprecedented three-peat at this year’s Women’s World Cup. It won’t be easy for the No. 1 team in the world. Co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the quadrennial tournament kicks off on July 20 and features an expanded field of 32 teams, up from 24. There are…

UNESCO member states meet later this week on the Biden administration’s bid to rejoin the Paris-based U.N. scientific and cultural body, a move that will inject hundreds of millions of welcome dollars into its coffers and give the United States a say in shaping programs ranging from climate change to education and artificial intelligence. Few…

Elton John gave the final concert at Britain’s legendary Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, bringing down the curtain on the annual spectacular with what could be his final U.K. performance. “I never thought I’d ever play Glastonbury,” he told the crowd. “It’s a very special and emotional night for me — it might be my very…

When the International African American Museum opens to the public Tuesday in South Carolina, it becomes a new site of homecoming and pilgrimage for descendants of enslaved Africans whose arrival in the Western Hemisphere begins on the docks of the Lowcountry coast. Overlooking the old wharf in Charleston at which nearly half of the enslaved…

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” slung its webs back atop the box office ranks while “The Flash” saw a drop faster than the film’s speedy character.  The Spidey animated sequel — starring Shameik Moore as the teenage webslinger Miles Morales — reclaimed the No. 1 spot in its fourth week in North American theaters, scoring $19.3…

Zion Rose is well aware that the percentage of Black U.S. players in Major League Baseball has been on the decline for decades. But the 18-year-old catcher from Chicago, still sweaty from a workout during MLB’s Draft Combine this week at Chase Field in Phoenix, said he’s got some news: That’s not going to be…

Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans to welcome millions more pilgrims to Islam’s holiest sites. But as climate change heats up an already scorching region, the annual Hajj pilgrimage — much of which takes place outdoors in the desert — could prove even more daunting. The increased number of pilgrims, with the associated surge in international…

The confessionals where generations of Belgians admitted their sins stood stacked in a corner of what was once Sacred Heart Church, proof the stalls — as well as the Roman Catholic house of worship — had outlived their purpose. The building is to close for two years while a cafe and concert stage are added…

At Tyler Malek’s ice cream parlors, one cook’s trash is another chef’s frosty treat. The head ice cream maker at the Portland, Oregon-based Salt & Straw uses the whey leftover from yogurt makers in upstate New York to make his lemon curd flavor. For chocolate barley milk, he mixes in the remnants of rice and…

The Metropolitan Opera in New York not only organizes concerts and campaigns to support Ukraine but also has offered four Ukrainians an internship. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …

Titans of business, fashion, entertainment and more made the guest list for Thursday’s big White House dinner in honor India’s Narendra Modi, with the likes of designer Ralph Lauren, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and tennis legend Billie Jean King rubbing shoulders with tech leaders from Apple, Google and Microsoft.  Shyamalan powered past reporters as he…

Introduced in Nigeria by the U.S. Peace Corps in the 1960s, baseball is slowly becoming a sport of note, thanks to the efforts of a few dedicated enthusiasts of the game. Timothy Obiezu reports from Ekiti state. …

Drone photographers and videographers from around the world submitted more than 65,000 pieces of work in an annual online competition. VOA’s Julie Taboh highlights some of the winning entries. Editing: Adam Greenbaum  …

Four temples from ancient Rome, dating back as far as the 3rd century B.C. stand smack in the middle of one of the modern city’s busiest crossroads. But until Monday, practically the only ones getting a close-up view of the temples were the cats that prowl the so-called “Sacred Area,” on the edge of the…

A new film charts the response of the large Iranian community in Los Angeles to the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Paris, Iranian communities across the world are coming together to try the help their countrymen and women back home. Camera: Vahid Karami …