- 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'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
Mad Max, Meryl and #MeToo in strong day for women at Cannes
A blood-splattered "Mad Max" heroine, a Meryl Streep masterclass, a #MeToo figurehead -- the Cannes Film Festival showed the progress women have made in cinema on its first full day on Wednesday.
The festival was bracing for the world premiere of "Furiosa", the latest instalment of the post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" franchise, with Anya Taylor-Joy in the no-holds-barred title role playing alongside "Thor" star Chris Hemsworth.
While "Furiosa" plays out-of-competition, the race for festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, also gets underway on Wednesday with two films that put women's stories centre-stage.
They are being judged by a jury led by Greta Gerwig, the first woman to direct a $1 billion movie with "Barbie".
First up are "The Girl with the Needle", billed as the story of a Danish woman who set up an underground adoption agency after World War I, and "Wild Diamond" about a French teenager seeking fame on a reality TV show, from first-time director Agathe Riedinger.
- Streep masterclass -
One of the most iconic women in cinema, Meryl Streep, will also be delivering a masterclass a day after receiving an honorary Palme d'Or at the opening ceremony.
"I'm just so grateful that you haven't gotten sick of my face," Streep, 74, joked as she received the award from French actor Juliette Binoche.
And there is a screening of a short film about sexual violence, "Moi Aussi" ("Me Too"), by French actor Judith Godreche.
She has become a leading figure in France's #MeToo movement after accusing two directors of assaulting her when she was a teenager in the 1980s -- even appearing before the French Senate this year to call for greater protections on film sets.
It comes amid a wave of new allegations in France, most notably against veteran actor Gerard Depardieu, and persistent rumours that more big names will face accusations.
Godreche told AFP she has a nuanced view of the #MeToo movement.
"There is growing awareness, but sometimes things are announced in a way that feels too staged. It's not very spectacular being abused, it's not very funny, it's not very theatrical," she said.
- Gerwig hopeful -
The host of the opening ceremony, Camille Cottin, star of hit series "Call My Agent!" and an outspoken feminist, also took digs at the "biggest bad guy of all time: the patriarchy".
"The late-night work meetings in hotel rooms of all-powerful gentlemen are no longer part of the Cannes vortex," she said in her welcome address.
Gerwig, meanwhile, struck an optimistic note.
"Every year I cheer when there are more and more women being represented," she told reporters on Tuesday.
"Fifteen years ago, I couldn't have imagined the number of women represented not only at international festivals but in distribution and board conversations, and so I'm hopeful that it's just continuing."
Still to come at the 77th edition of the festival is the hotly anticipated return of "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola with his decades-in-the-making epic, "Megalopolis", on Thursday.
Also in the running for the top prize is a Donald Trump biopic, "The Apprentice", and new films from arthouse favourites David Cronenberg ("The Shrouds"), Italy's Paolo Sorrentino ("Parthenope"), as well as "Emilia Perez", an unlikely-sounding musical about a Mexican cartel boss having a sex change from French Palme d'Or-winner Jacques Audiard.
O.Norris--AMWN