- Ronaldo scores 133rd Portugal goal in Nations League win over Poland
- 40 nations contributing to UN Lebanon peacekeeping force condemn 'attacks'
- Eight dead as heavy rain thrashes Brazil after long drought
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- Morocco crush Central African Republic, Guirassy scores hat-trick
- Dupont scores quickfire hat-trick on Toulouse Top 14 return
- Ronaldo scores in Portugal's Nations League win as Spain sink Denmark
- Interim boss Carsley has not applied for England job
- Mets hurler Senga ready to take on Dodgers in game one of NL Championship Series
- Ronaldo on target again as Portugal defeat Poland in Nations League
- Guardians rip Tigers 7-3 to advance in MLB playoffs
- AFP, BBC win top French war reporting awards
- Carsley goes back to basics as humbled England face Finland
- Alex Salmond: the man who took Scotland to the brink of independence
- Scotland's former leader Alex Salmond dies aged 69: party
- UN warns of catastrophe as Israel fights a two-front war
- Croatia extend Scotland's losing streak
- South Africa, New Zealand boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes
- 'Very challenging': Israel faces Hezbollah in tricky terrain
- Farrell begins to feel at home as Racing 92 beat Toulon
- South Africa boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes with Bangladesh win
- Samson ton powers India to T20 series sweep after record total
- Djokovic to face Sinner in Shanghai final with 100th title in sight
- UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon: spokesman
- Pro-Conquest film fuels debate in Mexico over colonial legacy
- Samson ton powers India to record 297-6 in Bangladesh T20
- New Zealand enjoy perfect start to America's Cup defence over Britain
- Pogacar emulates icon Coppi with fourth straight Il Lombardia triumph
- UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict
- New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America's Cup opener
- Djokovic to face Sinner in blockbuster Shanghai Masters final
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
Hollywood heads to Cannes as off-screen drama soars
Hollywood stars jetted into Cannes on Tuesday as the world's most famous film festival gets under way in dramatic circumstances, including a fugitive director's daring escape from Iran, and a looming cloud of fresh #MeToo allegations.
The festival officially kicks off in the evening with an honorary award for Meryl Streep -- just one of a host of international A-listers flocking to the sun-drenched Cote d'Azur, where legendary directors George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola top the VIP guest list.
Coppola's decades-in-the-making epic "Megalopolis," an Ancient Rome-inspired saga set in a corrupt modern-day city, is the most anticipated of this year's entries for the top prize Palme d'Or.
"Cannes is important to him and he is important to Cannes. He comes as an artist," said festival head Thierry Fremaux, praising the 85-year-old director of "The Godfather".
"Megalopolis" is one of 22 films competing for the affections of a jury led by "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig.
Richard Gere will star in Paul Schrader's "Oh Canada", recent Oscar winner Emma Stone reunites with Yorgos Lanthimos in "Kinds of Kindness", and Demi Moore tries her hand at horror in "The Substance".
Outside the race for the Palme d'Or, George Miller's latest "Mad Max" instalment, "Furiosa", will get its world premiere on Wednesday, while Kevin Costner returns to the Western genre with "Horizon, an American Saga".
But darker, off-screen plotlines have emerged on the eve of the festival's 77th edition.
In a last-minute twist, director Mohammad Rasoulof -- also competing for the Palme d'Or -- announced on Monday he had escaped in secret from Iran, just days after being sentenced to eight years in prison on security offences.
Rasoulof had been under pressure from Iranian authorities to withdraw his latest film, "The Seed of the Sacred Fig", from Cannes.
"I am grateful to my friends, acquaintances, and people who kindly, selflessly, and sometimes by risking their lives, helped me get out of the border and reach a safe place on the difficult and long path of this journey," he wrote on Instagram.
Rasoulof's lawyer Babak Paknia told AFP that the director plans to attend the festival for the premiere next week.
- 'Festive moment' -
Meanwhile, France's film industry is in the midst of a belated #MeToo reckoning, with a string of accusations against its biggest star, Gerard Depardieu, and rumours in the run-up to Cannes of more accusations to come against high-profile figures.
Actor Judith Godreche, who has accused two directors of assaulting her when she was a teenager, is presenting a short film, "Moi Aussi" (Me Too) aimed at encouraging more women to come forward.
On Monday, nine women accused Alain Sarde, a major French film producer, of having raped or sexually assaulted them.
His lawyer did not respond immediately to the allegations, which were published by ELLE magazine.
Camille Cottin, star of hit television series "Call My Agent!" and an outspoken feminist, will host this year's festival.
She said there were a lot of issues she would like to address in her opening speech.
"But it's also supposed to be a festive moment... and I've only got four minutes," she told AFP.
Adding to the off-screen drama, a group of festival employees have called for a strike over pay and conditions that could cause disruption at the event.
Festival head Fremaux insisted the focus this year will be squarely on the movies.
"No controversies come from the festival," he told reporters. "We have taken care to ensure the main reason we're all here is cinema."
- Trump, Coppola, Stone -
Among the other entries for the Palme d'Or is "The Apprentice" -- a biopic of Trump's formative years from Iranian-born director Ali Abbasi. It stars Sebastian Stan, known for playing the Winter Soldier in Marvel films.
And "Emilia Perez" has quite the synopsis: a musical about a Mexican cartel boss undergoing a sex change to escape the authorities, directed by France's own Golden Palm winner Jacques Audiard. Pop superstar Selena Gomez appears in a supporting role.
But the hot ticket is undoubtedly Coppola's "Megalopolis", starring Adam Driver, on Thursday.
There is a growing anticipation over whether the veteran director -- who self-funded the lavish epic -- can match his masterpieces of the 1970s, when he twice won the Palme d'Or for "Apocalypse Now" and "The Conversation".
Film fans are also excited for new works from body-horror maestro David Cronenberg ("The Shrouds"), Italy's Paolo Sorrentino ("Parthenope") and Oliver Stone ("Lula", a documentary about Brazil's president).
Playing out of competition is "She's Got No Name", one of China's biggest-ever productions, which features megastar Ziyi Zhang tackling the highly sensitive topic of women's rights.
Legendary Japanese animators Studio Ghibli -- makers of "Spirited Away", "My Neighbour Totoro" and "Howl's Moving Castle" -- will receive an honorary Palme d'Or, the first offered to a group.
And the festival will round off on May 25 with a final honorary award for "Star Wars" creator George Lucas.
F.Bennett--AMWN