World

Angelina Jolie returns to the limelight at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday as Maria Callas, "La Divina", whose rich voice, glamorous persona, and tragic love affair mesmerized audiences around the world.

In "Maria", the modern-day movie star will strive to capture the transcendent dramatic presence and tormented life of one of opera's most resplendent divas in a biopic from Chilean director Pablo Larrain.

Iranian authorities on Wednesday indicted a leading woman filmmaker and her actress daughter with violating the Islamic dress code by appearing in public without the veil, the judiciary said.

"The Tehran prosecutor charged filmmaker Rakhshan Banietemad and her daughter, the actress Baran Kosari, after they removed their hijab in public," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported.

The Venice Film Festival kicks off Wednesday with a devilish debut of Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice" sequel and a surge of star power for the glitzy competition on the sun-splashed Lido.

Lady Gaga, George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Julianne Moore and Brad Pitt are among the A-listers expected in Italy's watery city for the world's longest-running movie festival, known as "La Mostra".

Kung-fu daredevil, Hollywood star and Guinness world-record holder, and now Hong Kong-born actor Jackie Chan is set to be a torchbearer in the lead-up to Wednesday's opening ceremony of the Paralympics in Paris.

The 70-year-old commands a huge following in France and beyond, his signature blend of comedy and martial arts transcending language barriers.

Goulash-flavoured gelato, anyone? Curious customers are flocking from all over Hungary to taste the summer's wackiest taste sensations -- a small ice cream parlor serving up savory Hungarian staples.

Robert Reinhardt and his taste-bud challenging flavors have become an overnight hit, creating a buzz on social media.

Leftist parties in France on Tuesday accused President Emmanuel Macron of election theft and announced mass protests after he rejected Nouveau Front Populaire's proposed candidate for prime minister, even though the left-wing coalition won the most seats in a snap parliamentary contest last month.

The left-wing parties that formed NFP in June to fight off the surging far-right expressed outrage at Macron's decision, with the Jean-Luc Mélenchon-led La France Insoumise (LFI) Party condemning Macron's dismissal of a leftist government as a "coup" and urging a "firm response from French society."

H.R. McMaster — the three-star general who served as former President Donald Trump's national security adviser for a little more than a year — is shedding new light on how the 45th president of the United States was viewed by the rest of the world.

The New York Times is reporting that in his new book, At War With Ourselves, McMaster wrote that Trump was often outmaneuvered by world leaders who used flattery to take advantage of him. This was particularly true with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2018, McMaster described how he once saw Trump writing a complimentary letter to Putin to go with a copy of a New York Post article in which he called Trump a "good listener" while criticizing the American political system.

The Paris Paralympics begin on Wednesday with a spectacular opening ceremony in a city still on a high after the highly successful Olympics.

A new generation of Paralympians will join seasoned veterans competing in many of the same venues that hosted Olympic sports.

For many people, dancing the tango while on a visit to Buenos Aires is on the bucket list. The only problem: the steps are tricky to learn and venturing unversed onto a "milonga" dance floor can be a brutal experience.

Enter the Argentine capital's "taxi dancers" -- professionals who accompany novice dancers for a night out on the town.

The threat of a "megaquake", a series of typhoons, and a week-long national holiday have some Japanese scrambling to buy rice -- the nation's cherished staple food -- with the government warning Tuesday against panic buying.

"We could only procure half the usual amount of rice this summer and bags of rice get quickly sold out," a clerk at a branch of the popular Fresco supermarket chain told AFP in the Japanese capital.

A U.S. soldier who fled to North Korea last year will plead guilty to desertion at a court martial as part of a plea deal, his lawyer said.

Private Second Class Travis King ran across the border from South Korea into the North in July last year while on a sightseeing tour of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.

Russia has criticized France over the detention of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was arrested at a Paris airport on Saturday over accusations of failing to curb criminal activity on the platform. The Russian embassy said it had asked for access to Durov but received no response, saying "the French side is refusing to cooperate".

French judicial authorities on Sunday extended the detention of the Russian-born founder and chief of Telegram Pavel Durov after his arrest at a Paris airport over alleged offences related to the popular but controversial messaging app.