Haitian Italian designer Stella Jean returned to the Milan runway after a two-year hiatus with a tour de force that highlighted the talents of 10 new designers of color whose design history is tied to Italy.

Jean pledged in 2020 not to return to Milan Fashion Week, which opened Wednesday, until she was not the only Black designer. The We Are Made in Italy movement she founded with Black American designer Edward Buchanan and Afro Fashion Week Milano founder Michelle Ngomno ensured she would not be.

Maximilian Davis, a 27-year-old British fashion designer with Afro-Caribbean roots, is making his debut as the creative director for Salvatore Ferragamo. Filipino American designer Rhuigi Villasenor is bringing Bally back to the runway for the first time in 20 years. Tokyo James, founded by British Nigerian designer Iniye Tokyo James, is presenting a women’s-only collection.

Jean is headlining a runway show with Buchanan and five new We Are Made in Italy designers, including a Vietnamese apparel designer, an Italian Indian accessory designer and an African American bag designer. It is the third WAMI group to present their collections in Milan.

“We are making ourselves felt,” Jean told The Associated Press. “We invited all these young people. We created the space. There have been gains.”

Buchanan opened the show with jersey knitwear with a denim feel from his Sansonvino 6 line, followed by capsule collections by the latest group of Fabulous Five WAMI designers, and Jean’s creations combining Italian tailoring with artisanal references she sources around the globe.

Each of the new WAMI designers share a connection with Italy, either through family or by relocating to study or work here.

Italian Indian designer Eileen Claudia Akbaraly showed her Made for a Woman brand that makes ethically sourced raffia garments and accessories from Madagascar. New York-based designer Akila Stewart founded the FATRA bag brand that works with reused plastic waste. India-born Neha Poorswani designs shoes under the name “Runway Reinvented.” Vietnamese designer Phang Dang Hoang’s apparel line mixes Asian and Western cultures, and Korean designer Kim Gaeun’s Villain brand combines elements of traditional Korean costumes mixed with modern hip-hop culture.

“There are so many Italians who are not Italians, who are immigrants who feel Italian. I think that is so beautiful,” Stewart said.

The show closed on a celebratory note, with the models, designers and activists gathered on the runway, clapping and swaying to Cynthia Erivo’s song Stand Up.

Both Trussardi and Vogue Italia have used WAMI’s database of fashion professionals of color who are based in Italy, although the listings have not been employed as industrywide as the founders hoped. One of the designers from the first WAMI class, Gisele Claudia Ntsama, has worked in the design office at Valentino.

Giorgio Armani, who helped launch Stella Jean in 2013, pitched in with textiles for the new WAMI capsule collections to be displayed here. Conde Nast and European fashion magazine nss are helping to fund their production. The three WAMI founders are covering the rest from their own pockets after the fashion council offered a venue for the show but limited funding compared with previous seasons.

Ngonmo said Italian fashion houses too often confuse diversity — such as showcasing Black models — with true inclusivity, which would involve employing professionals in the creative process.

“I have a feeling they don’t understand at all what diversity means. They tend to confuse diversity with inclusion,” she said.

Buchanan said he holds on to his optimism but acknowledged that the post-pandemic market is difficult as stores are not investing in collections by new designers.

“We knew going into this that this was going to be a slow grow,” Buchanan said. “Working with the designers, we have to be transparent about what is ahead of them. … They are not going to be Gianni Versace tomorrow.”

Jean noted that the new designers for major fashion brands did not come up through the Italian system but from abroad. Despite the progress, she and her collaborators still see some resistance to hiring people of color in creative roles and to the idea that “Made in Italy” can involve homegrown Black talent.

“It is more glamorous to have someone from the outside,” she said.

Jean said she is also waiting for the Italian fashion council to follow through on an invitation to create a multicultural board within its structure. She said she feels the initial industry embrace of the diversity project has cooled.

“None of us believed the totality of the promises. Now we are entering a territory that we know well, when people feel free and comfortable not to maintain promises. It is obvious,” Jean said.

As for her future: “I am at a crossroads,” the designer said. “My traveling companions are outside the door that I was allowed to enter. For a while, being the only one in the room, you feel special. But when you see that many of those who are still outside the door are better than you, you understand that you were not special. You were very lucky.”
…

This day, this match, had to come, of course, for Roger Federer, and for tennis, just as it inevitably must for every athlete in every sport.

Federer bid adieu Friday night with one last contest before he heads into retirement at age 41 after a superlative career that included 20 Grand Slam titles and a statesman’s role. He wrapped up his days as a professional player with a loss in doubles alongside his longtime rival Rafael Nadal for Team Europe in the Laver Cup against Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock of Team World.

The truth is that the victors, the statistics and the score (OK, for the record it was 4-6, 7-6 (2), 11-9) did not matter, and were all so entirely beside the point. The occasion was, after all, about the farewell itself. Or, better, the farewells, plural: Federer’s to tennis, to the fans, to his competitors and colleagues. And, naturally, each of those entities’ farewells to Federer.

“It’s been a perfect journey,” Federer said. “I would do it all over again.”

When the match, and with it, his time in professional tennis, ended, Federer hugged Nadal, then Tiafoe and Sock. And then Federer began crying. As cascades of clapping and yells of affection came from the stands, Federer put his hands on his hips, his chest heaving. Then he mouthed, “Thank you,” while applauding right back toward the spectators who had chanted, “Let’s go, Roger! Let’s go!” during the concluding moments of a match that lasted more than two hours and ended at about 12:30 a.m.

The Swiss star announced last week that the three-day team event, which was founded by his management company, would be his final event before retirement, then made clear the doubles outing would be his last match. His surgically repaired right knee — the last of three operations came shortly after a loss in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July 2021, which will go down as his final official singles match — is in no shape to allow him to continue.

“For me, just personally, (it was) sad in the first moment, when I came to the conclusion it’s the best decision,” Federer said in an interview with The Associated Press this week about his emotions when realizing it was time to go. “I kind of held it in at first, then fought it off. But I could feel the pain.”

A couple of hours before Friday’s match, Federer tweeted: “I’ve done this thousands of times, but this one feels different. Thank you to everybody who’s coming tonight.”

He had said he wanted this to feel more like a party than a funeral, and the crowd obliged, rising for a loud and lengthy standing ovation when Federer and Nadal — each wearing a white bandanna, blue shirt and white shorts — emerged together from a tunnel leading out to the black court for the last match on Day 1 at the O2 Arena. The spectators remained on their feet for nearly 10 minutes, through the pre-match warmup, holding aloft phone cameras to capture the moment.

They came ready to roar for him, some with Swiss flags, some with homemade signs, and they made themselves heard with a wall of sound when Federer delivered a forehand volley winner on the match’s second point. Similar reactions arrived merely at the chair umpire’s announcement before the third game of “Roger Federer to serve,” and again when he closed that game with a 117 mph service winner.

Doubles requires far less movement and court coverage, of course, so the stress on his knee was limited Friday. Federer showed touches of his old flair, to be sure, and of rust, as to be expected.

As his parents and wife sat in front-row seats behind a baseline, there were a couple of early forehands that sailed several feet too long. There also was a forehand that slid right between Sock and Tiafoe and seemed too good to be true — and, it turned out, was: The ball traveled through a gap below the net tape and so the point was taken away from Federer and Nadal.

Although it amounted to, essentially, a glorified exhibition, all four doubles participants played as if they wanted to win. That was clear when Sock leaped and screamed after one particularly terrific volley or when Tiafoe sent a couple of shots right at Federer and Nadal.

But the circumstances did allow for moments of levity.

Federer and Nadal were able to laugh after a bit of confusion over which should go for a ball on a point they lost. After Nadal somehow flicked one back-to-the-net shot around the post, only for it to land barely wide, Tiafoe crossed over to extend a hand with congratulations for the effort.

In the first set, the two greats of the game couldn’t quite hear each other between points, so Federer trotted from the net back to the baseline to consult with Nadal, then pointed to his ear to signal to the fans what the issue was.

Before Federer, the men’s mark for most major tennis championships was 14 by Pete Sampras. Federer blew past that, accumulating eight at Wimbledon, six at the Australian Open, five at the U.S. Open and one at the French Open, setting a new standard that Nadal, now with 22, and Novak Djokovic, with 21, equaled, then surpassed, as part of a golden era for the sport.

Federer’s substantial resume includes 310 weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, a Davis Cup title and Olympic medals. Beyond the elegance and effectiveness while wielding a racket, his persona made Federer an ambassador for tennis, someone whose immense popularity helped attract fans.

Surely, there are those who would have found it particularly apt to see Federer finish across the net from Nadal, often an on-court nemesis but eventually an off-court friend. Maybe it could have taken place about 15 miles away at Centre Court of the All England Club, say, or in Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros, or Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park, or even Arthur Ashe Stadium, the centerpiece of the U.S. Open, the lone Grand Slam tournament at which they never faced off, somehow.

Perhaps they could have provided everyone with one final installment of a head-to-head matchup as memorable as any in the long history of their sport — or, indeed, any other.

Roger vs. Rafa — just one name apiece required — belongs up there with McEnroe vs. Borg (as it happens, the two Laver Cup team captains, John and Bjorn), Evert vs. Navratilova, Sampras vs. Agassi, Ali vs. Frazier, Magic vs. Bird, Brady vs. Manning, and so on.

Over the years, Federer and Nadal showed off individual greatness and compelling contrasts across their 40 matches, 14 at Grand Slam tournaments, nine in major finals: righty vs. lefty, attacker vs. grinder, seeming effortlessness vs. relentless intensity.

And yet, there was an unmistakable element of poetry with these two men who challenged each other and elevated each other performing as partners, slapping palms and sharing smiles.

“Two of the ‘GOATs’ playing together,” said Sock, using the popular acronym for “Greatest of All-Time.”

This goodbye follows that of Serena Williams, the owner of 23 major singles championships, at the U.S. Open three weeks ago after a third-round loss. It leaves questions about the future of a game he and she dominated, and transcended, for decades.

One key difference: Each time Williams took the court in New York, the looming question was how long her stay would endure — a “win or this is it” prospect. Friday WAS it for Federer, no matter the result.

“All the players will miss him,” said Casper Ruud, who beat Sock in singles 6-4, 5-7, 10-7.

The other results, which left Team Europe and Team World tied at 2-2: Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-1 in a match interrupted briefly when an environmental protester lit a portion of the court and his own arm on fire, and Alex de Minaur got past Andy Murray 5-7, 6-3, 10-7.

Due to begin playing shortly after the end of Murray’s loss, Federer and Nadal first provided him with some coaching tips, then watched part of that one on TV together in a room at the arena, waiting for their turn. When Federer and Nadal were in action, it was Djokovic’s turn to suggest strategic advice.

The last hurrah came after a total of 103 career singles trophies and 1,251 wins in singles matches for Federer, both second only to Jimmy Connors in the Open era, which began in 1968.

At the height of his powers, Federer appeared in a record 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals, winning eight, from 2005-07. Extend that to 2010, and he reached 18 of 19 major finals.

More than those numbers, folks will remember the powerful forehand, the one-handed backhand, the flawless footwork, the spectacularly effective serve and eagerness to get to the net, the willingness to reinvent aspects of his game and — the part of which he’s proudest — unusual longevity.

“I don’t think we’ll see another guy like Roger,” Tiafoe said. “The way he played, and the grace he did it with, and who he is as an individual.”
…

A movie portraying an all-female warrior unit that centuries ago defended the West African kingdom of Dahomey, what is today the country of Benin, is drawing both praise and criticism. VOA’s Penelope Poulou reports, “The Woman King” has an all-black and mostly female cast, a first for a major Hollywood motion picture. But some critics note it had little African involvement.
Produced by: Penelope Poulou
…

Australia is investigating claims by First Nations groups that mining and manufacturing industries are threatening significant cultural sites.   

Indigenous settlement of Australia dates back an estimated 65,000 years.

This vast history is documented in ancient songs, stories, dance and art, but development threatens part of the culture.

The federal government has appointed an independent investigator to gauge the threat of industrial expansion to 40,000-year-old Indigenous rock art in Western Australia.

It is a controversy that has been brewing for months. 

In August, the government rejected Aboriginal groups’ application for a 60-day moratorium to stop Perdaman, the multinational operator of a fertilizer plant, from relocating sacred rock art.  However, authorities in Canberra have now agreed to appoint an expert to assess whether the art is at risk, and whether it must be protected by a ministerial declaration. 

The site at the remote Burrup Peninsula, 1,500 kilometers north of Perth, has been recommended for a United Nation’s World Heritage listing. It is considered to be one of the world’s most significant collections of ancient rock carvings. 

The region has more than a million petroglyphs, or art carved, scratched or scoured from rock, spread over 37,000 hectares. First Nations elders have said the depictions are all connected, and that moving some of the carvings would damage their spiritual connection to the sites that tell stories of creation. 

Indigenous leader Raelene Cooper told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that sacred sites need to be shielded from industrial development.

“It is appalling that at this day and age we are still, as First Nations people, being told to sit in the back sit and that ain’t [is not] me,” Cooper said. “If there is anything that I could, I guess, advise for all of my country mob all over this continent we have a right and we have a story and we have a history here and our government needs to start acknowledging it.” 

The independent investigation could take months.  However, Perdaman already has official permission to start work on its Burrup Peninsula project. The fertilizer manufacturer has consulted with local Indigenous communities about its plans to relocate some rock carvings. It has not yet commented publicly on its operations. 

The Western Australian government supports the development, saying it has the appropriate environmental and heritage approvals.

The state government has also set up an extensive program to monitor the impact of emissions from local gas production on ancient petroglyphs in the area.  

A parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters by resources giant Rio Tinto in 2020 recommended new laws to protect thousands of sacred sites across Australia.

However, some legal experts believe not enough has been done and that economic interests continue to be placed ahead of First Nations culture.  

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said in July the new Labor government would implement new cultural heritage legislation, but a timeframe has yet to be set.
…

President Joe Biden met Friday with family members of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American detained in Russia, Paul Whelan, the first face-to-face encounter that the president has had with the relatives.

In a statement after the meetings, which were held separately, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden stressed to the families his “continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely.”

“He asked after the well-being of Elizabeth and Cherelle and their respective families during this painful time,” Jean-Pierre said. “The president appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Brittney and Paul from those who love them most, and acknowledged that every minute they are being held is a minute too long.”

Still, administration officials have said the meetings were not an indication that negotiations with Russia for their release have reached a breakthrough.

Earlier Friday, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said that Russia has not responded to what administration officials have called a substantial and serious offer to secure Griner and Whelan’s release.

“The president is not going to let up,” Kirby told reporters. “He’s confident that this is going to remain in the forefront of his mind and his team’s mind, and they’re going to continue to work as hard as they can.”

Griner has been held in Russia since February on drug-related charges. She was sentenced last month to nine years in prison after pleading guilty and has appealed the punishment. Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage-related charges that he and his family say are false. The U.S. government regards both as wrongfully detained, placing their cases with the office of its top hostage negotiator.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of announcing two months ago that the administration had made a substantial proposal to Russia. Though he did not elaborate on the proposal, a person familiar with the matter has said the U.S. has offered to release convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The administration carried out a prisoner swap last April, with Moscow releasing Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for the U.S. releasing a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, participated in both meetings. Biden sat down with Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of Paul Whelan. Then the president met with Cherelle Griner, the wife of Brittney Griner, as well as the player’s agent, Lindsay Colas, according to the White House.
…

A federal jury on Wednesday convicted R. Kelly of several child pornography and sex abuse charges in his hometown of Chicago, delivering another legal blow to a singer who used to be one of the biggest R&B stars in the world.

Kelly, 55, was found guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.

But the jury acquitted him on a fourth pornography count, as well as a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him of fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008. He was found not guilty on all three counts of conspiring to receive child pornography and for two further enticement charges.

His two co-defendants were found not guilty on all charges.

Jurors, who deliberated for 11 hours over two days, wrote several questions to the judge on Wednesday, at least one indicating the panelists were grappling with some of the case’s legal complexities.

One asked if they had to find Kelly both enticed and coerced minors, or that he either enticed or coerced them. Over objections from Kelly’s lawyer, the judge said they only need to find one.

At trial, prosecutors sought to paint a picture of Kelly as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to reel in star-stuck fans, some of them minors, to sexually abuse then discard them.

Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was desperate to recover child pornographic videos he made and lugged around in a gym bag, witnesses said. They said he offered up to $1 million to recover missing videos before his 2008 trial, knowing they would land him in legal peril. The conspiracy to hide his abuse ran from 2000 to 2020, prosecutors said.

Kelly associates Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown were co-defendants at the Chicago trial. Jurors acquitted McDavid, a longtime Kelly business manager, who was accused of conspiring with Kelly to rig the 2008 trial. Brown, a Kelly associate for years, was acquitted of receiving child pornography.

Kelly has already been convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

In Chicago, a conviction of just one count of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, while receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years. Judges can order that defendants sentenced earlier in separate cases serve their new sentence simultaneously with or only after the first term is fully served. Federal inmates must serve at least 85% of their sentences.

During closing arguments Tuesday, Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean likened the government’s testimony and evidence to a cockroach and its case to a bowl of soup.

If a cockroach falls into soup, she said, “you don’t just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup,” said told jurors.

“There are just too many cockroaches,” she said of the prosecution’s case.

The three defendants called only a handful of witnesses over four days. McDavid, who was on the stand for three days, may have damaged Kelly’s hopes for acquittal by saying that he now doubts Kelly was truthful when he denied abusing anyone after hearing the superstar’s accusers testify.

In her closing rebuttal, prosecutor Jeannice Appenteng cited testimony that Kelly’s inner circle increasingly focused on doing what Kelly wanted as his fame boomed in the mid-1990s.

“And ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls,” she said.

Four Kelly accusers testified, all referred to by pseudonyms or their first names: Jane, Nia, Pauline and Tracy. Some cried when describing the abuse but otherwise spoke calmly and with confidence. A fifth accuser, Brittany, did not testify.

Sitting nearby in a suit and face mask, Kelly often averted his eyes and looked down as his accusers spoke.

Some dozen die-hard Kelly fans regularly attended the trial. On at least one occasion during a break, several made hand signs of a heart at Kelly. He smiled back.

Jane, 37, was the government’s star witness and pivotal to the fixing charge, which accused Kelly of using threats and payoffs to get her to lie to a grand jury before his 2008 trial and to ensure she and her parents wouldn’t testify.

A single video, which state prosecutors said was Kelly abusing a girl of around 14, was the focal point of that trial.

On the witness stand for two days at the end of August, Jane paused, tugged at a necklace and dabbed her eyes with a tissue when she said publicly for the first time that the girl in the video was her at 14 and that the man was Kelly, who would have been around 30.

Some jurors in the 2008 trial said they had to acquit Kelly because the girl in the video didn’t testify. At the federal trial in Chicago, Jane said she lied to a state grand jury in 2002 when she said it was not her in the video, saying part of her reason for lying was that she cared for Kelly and didn’t want to get him into trouble.

Jane told jurors she was 15 when they first had intercourse. Asked how many times they had sex before she turned 18, she answered quietly: “Uncountable times. … Hundreds.”

Jane, who belonged to a teenage singing group, first met Kelly in the late 1990s when she was in junior high school. She had visited Kelly’s Chicago recording studio with her aunt, a professional singer. Soon after that meeting, Jane told her parents Kelly was going to be her godfather.

Jane testified that when her parents confronted Kelly in the early 2000s, he dropped to his knees and begged them for forgiveness. She said she implored her parents not to take action against Kelly because she loved him.

Defense attorneys suggested a desire for money and fame drove some government witnesses to accuse Kelly, and they accused several people of trying to blackmail him. They also suggested that at least one of his accusers was 17 — the age of consent in Illinois — when Kelly began pursuing her for sex.

Bonjean implored jurors not to accept the prosecution’s portrayal of her client as “a monster,” saying Kelly was forced to rely on others because of intellectual challenges, and that he was sometimes led astray.

“Mr. Kelly can also be a victim,” she said in her opening statement.

Prosecutors played jurors excerpts from three videos that Jane said featured her. Court officials set up opaque screens around the jurors so journalists and spectators couldn’t see the videos or the jurors’ reactions.

But the sound was audible. In one video, the girl is heard repeatedly calling the man “daddy.” At one point she asks: “Daddy, do you still love me?” The man gives her sexually explicit instructions.

Prosecutors have said Kelly shot the video that was also evidence in the 2008 trial in a log cabin-themed room at his North Side Chicago home around 1998.

Another accuser, Pauline, said Jane introduced her to Kelly when they were 14-year-old middle school classmates in 1998. At Kelly’s Chicago home later that year, Pauline described her shock when she said she first walked in on Kelly and a naked Jane. She said Kelly told her that everyone has secrets. “This is our secret,” she testified he said.

Pauline told jurors she still cares for Kelly. But as a 37-year-old mom, she said she now has a different perspective.

“If somebody did something to my kids,” she said, “I’m killing ’em. Period.”
…

A look at the fashion and passion of the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Monday.
…

Emmy Awards host Kenan Thompson and the ceremony’s producers are promising a feel-good event — a phrase not applicable to several of the top nominated shows.

The best drama contenders include the violently dystopian “Squid Game,” bleak workplace satire “Severance” and “Succession,” about a powerful and cutthroat family. Even comedy nominee “Ted Lasso,” the defending champ, took a storytelling dark turn.

But after several pandemic-constrained awards seasons, Monday’s 74th Primetime Emmy Awards (airing 8 p.m. EDT on NBC, streaming on Peacock) will be big and festive, executive producers Reginald Hudlin and Ian Stewart said.

They’re actually taking a page from last year’s scaled-down ceremony and its club-style table seating for nominees.

“They had a ball. They had a party. They celebrated themselves,” Stewart said, recalling a comment made by actor Sophia Bush at the evening’s end: “Oh, my God, I actually had fun at the Emmys.”

The tables will be back and again reserved for nominees and their “significants,” Stewart said, but there will be some 3,000 other guests seated traditionally in the temporarily reconfigured 7,000-seat Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

“When the nominees are having a great time that translates on screen,” Hudlin said, citing the “passionate, touching” speeches delivered by winners.

Thompson, the veteran “Saturday Night Live” cast member taking his first turn as Emmys host, said he wants to enjoy the ceremony and make sure others do.

“This should be a night of appreciating artistry and creativity and removing the stress of it all out. I get it — it sucks to lose, and everybody’s picking outfits and trying to do the red carpet thing,” Thompson said. “But at the same time, it’s an awesome thing to be in the room on Emmys night, and I don’t want that to get lost in the stress.”

He doesn’t expect anything mirroring the Will Smith-Chris Rock confrontation that cast a shadow over the Oscars earlier this year, Thompson said.

Although HBO’s “Succession,” which won the best drama series award in 2020, and “Ted Lasso” from Apple TV+ are considered the front-runners for top series honors, there’s potential for surprises. Netflix’s “Squid Game,” a global sensation, would be the first non-English language drama series to win an Emmy.

On the comedy side, ABC’s acclaimed newcomer “Abbott Elementary” could become the first broadcast show to win the best comedy award since the network’s “Modern Family” in 2014. It’s also among the few contenders this year, along with “Squid Game,” to field a substantial number of nominees of color.

At the Emmy creative arts ceremonies held earlier this month, the mockumentary-style show about educators in an underfunded Philadelphia school, won the trophy for outstanding comedy series casting. “Succession” won the drama series casting award.

“The Crown,” last year’s big winner, wasn’t in the running this time because it sat out the Emmys eligibility period. The dramatized account of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and family life will return for its fifth season in November, as Britain mourns the loss of its longest-serving monarch who died Thursday at age 96.
…

Carlos Alcaraz used his combination of moxie and maturity to beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3 in the U.S. Open final on Sunday to earn his first Grand Slam title at age 19 and become the youngest man to be ranked No. 1.

Alcaraz is a Spaniard who was appearing in his eighth major tournament and second at Flushing Meadows but already has attracted plenty of attention as someone considered the Next Big Thing in men’s tennis.

He was serenaded by choruses of “Olé, Olé, Olé! Carlos!” that reverberated off the closed roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium — and Alcaraz often motioned to the supportive spectators to get louder.

He only briefly showed signs of fatigue from having to get through three consecutive five-setters to reach the title match, something no one had done in New York in 30 years.

Alcaraz dropped the second set and faced a pair of set points while down 6-5 in the third. But he erased each of those point-from-the-set opportunities for Ruud with the sorts of quick-reflect, soft-hand volleys he repeatedly displayed.

And with help from a series of shanked shots by a tight-looking Ruud in the ensuing tiebreaker, Alcaraz surged to the end of that set.

One break in the fourth was all it took for Alcaraz to seal the victory in the only Grand Slam final between two players seeking both a first major championship and the top spot in the ATP’s computerized rankings, which date to 1973.

Ruud is a 23-year-old from Norway who is now 0-2 in Slam finals. He was the runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the French Open in June.
…

Strolling along the ancient ruins of Hatra in Iraq’s north, dozens of visitors admired the site, where local initiatives seek to turn over a new leaf after a brief but brutal jihadist rule.

Designated an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO, Hatra dates back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.

It is a two-hour drive from Mosul, the former “capital” proclaimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, which was recaptured in 2017 by Iraqi forces and an international coalition that backed them.

A tour of the site on Saturday, the first of its kind organized by a private museum in Mosul, aimed to boost tourism in the area.

Some 40 visitors, most of them Iraqis, were allowed to walk around the more than 2,000-year-old archaeological site in the golden hour of twilight.

The tourists took selfies in front of impressive colonnades and inspected the reliefs vandalized by IS jihadists.

“It has great history” allowing a peek into an ancient civilization, said Luna Batota, a 33-year-old on tour with her Belgian husband.

“A lot of history but at the same time a lot of unfortunate events took place here with IS,” she told AFP.

Batota works for a pharmaceutical company in Belgium, where she has lived since the age of nine.

Twenty-four years later, this is the first time she returns to her homeland.

Visiting Hatra stirred up “mixed feelings” for her, she said. “You see bullet holes, you see many empty bullets.”

An important religious and trading center under the Parthian empire, Hatra had imposing fortifications and magnificent temples, blending Greek and Roman architectural styles with oriental decorative elements.

In 2015, IS released a video showing its militants destroying a series of reliefs, firing at them and hacking away at a statue with a pickaxe.

In February, the authorities unveiled three restorations at the site: a Roman-style sculpture of a life-size figure and reliefs on the side of the great temple.

‘Not only war’ 

Five years after the defeat of IS, Mosul and its surroundings have regained a sense of normalcy, even as rehabilitation efforts suffer setbacks and many areas still bear the scars of the fight against the jihadists.

The tour of Hatra was organized by the Mosul Heritage House, a private museum inaugurated in June.

But even before it, the site drew individual visitors, according to one of the organizers, Fares Abdel Sattar, a 60-year-old engineer.

This new initiative seeks to “showcase the heritage and identity” of Mosul and its broader Nineveh province, he said.

After its rise to power in 2014 and the conquest of swathes of Iraq and Syria, IS faced counteroffensives in both countries. Iraqi forces finally claimed victory in late 2017.

As Iraq gradually opens up to foreign tourism, dozens of visitors — particularly from the West — are now exploring the country, with some even venturing into Mosul.

The Hatra group are pioneers, visiting at a time when the US, British and other governments are warning their citizens against travel to Iraq, citing the risks of terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict and civil unrest.

The tourism sector also suffered a setback with the case of British pensioner James Fitton, who was detained and condemned to 15 years in jail over pottery shards he picked at an archaeological site, before a court in July overturned the sentence and he flew back home.

Religious tourism to the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf has been thriving, mostly from Iran.

However, challenges remain and tourist infrastructure is still basic in Iraq, a country rich in oil but ravaged by decades of fighting.

“Mosul isn’t only war, IS, terrorism,” said Beriar Bahaa al-Din, a doctoral student in anthropology at the University of Exeter in Britain, on the Hatra visit.

“Mosul is a civilization, heritage, culture,” he added.

“This impressive site should be full of tourists from across the globe.”
…

Steven Spielberg finally turned the camera on his own childhood — from his parents’ troubled marriage to anti-Semitic bullying — as his new movie “The Fabelmans” received its world premiere on a star-studded Saturday at the Toronto film festival.

Considered one of Hollywood’s greatest living directors, with classics from “Jaws” to “E.T.”, Spielberg told a rapturous audience how he had long wanted to make such a deeply personal movie, but had eventually been motivated by the “fear” of the pandemic.

“I don’t think anybody knew in March or April of 2020 what was going to be the state of the art, the state of life, even a year from then,” said Spielberg.

“I just felt that if I was going to leave anything behind, what was the thing that I really need to resolve and unpack about my mom and my dad and my sisters?” he said after the screening at North America’s biggest film festival.

“It wasn’t now or never, but it almost felt that way,” said the 75-year-old.

The movie — which will be released in November — is technically semi-autobiographical, following young Sammy Fabelman and his family, although the parallels to Spielberg’s own life could hardly be more clear.

Like the real Spielberg, the Fabelmans move from New Jersey to Arizona and eventually California, with Sammy falling in love with filmmaking and honing his craft as a young director with the help of willing friends and improvised camera tricks.

“It was really using glue and spit, trying to figure out how to put things together,” recalled Spielberg after the film, which recreates many of the amateur movies he made as a teenager.

“I made all the behind-the-scenes stuff in this movie much better than the actual 8mm films I shot… it was a great do-over!”

‘Outsider’

While directing and filmmaking are a source of comfort and escapism for young Sammy, the movie tackles head-on his problems at home, including within the marriage of his parents — played by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano.

Another sequence recalls anti-Semitic taunts by two bullies at his California high school — a real-life incident Spielberg said he wanted to include in the film, without placing it center stage.

“Bullying is only a small aspect of my life. Anti-semitism is an aspect of my life but it isn’t any kind of a governing force in my life,” he said.

“It made me very, very aware of being an outsider growing up.”

Before the screening, Spielberg noted that “The Fabelmans” is his first-ever film to be officially entered at a film festival, marking a coup for the Toronto event.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), renowned for its large cinephile crowds as well as A-list stars, was hit badly by the pandemic, but this year has seen the return of packed audiences and red carpets.

No ‘swan song’

Earlier on Saturday, Jennifer Lawrence drew screaming fans to the red carpet for “Causeway,” an indie drama in which she plays a wounded Army engineer struggling to recover from conflict-zone trauma back in her hometown of New Orleans.

Daniel Craig and the star-studded cast of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” arrived in Toronto for the whodunit sequel’s premiere.

Director Rian Johnson and Craig’s gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc return for a new case featuring Edward Norton’s shady billionaire and his wealthy friends on a private Greek island.

Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monae and Leslie Odom Jr co-star in the second installment of a budding “Knives Out” franchise which has been taken over by Netflix.

“I’m gonna keep making these until Daniel blocks me on his phone,” joked Johnson after the premiere.

Similarly, Spielberg assured the Toronto audience that reports he could step away from Hollywood after finally making the “The Fabelmans” were wide off the mark.

“It is not because I have decided to retire and this is my swan song… don’t believe any of that!” he said.

TIFF runs until September 18.
…

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek defeated Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur to win her second Grand Slam title of the year with a straight sets victory in the U.S. Open final on Saturday.

Polish star Swiatek overcame a spirited second set from fifth seed Jabeur to win 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour, 52 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The victory followed Swiatek’s win at the French Open in June, making the 21-year-old the first woman since 2016 to win two Grand Slams in a single season.

Swiatek’s 10th career title also extended her remarkable record in tournament finals.

She has now won her last 10 finals, without dropping a set.

Swiatek collapsed on the court in relief after a win that saw her earn $2.6 million in prize money.

“I’m really glad it’s not in cash,” she quipped as she was presented with her winner’s cheque for a tournament she entered with low expectations.

“For sure this tournament was really challenging because it’s New York — it’s so loud, it’s so crazy,” said Swiatek who was also French Open champion in 2020.

“So many temptations in the city, so many people I’ve met who are so inspiring — it’s really mind-blowing for me and I’m so proud I could handle it mentally.”

But the loss was another agonizing near-miss for Jabeur, who had been bidding to become the first woman from Africa to win a Grand Slam.

The 28-year-old from Tunis also lost in the final of Wimbledon in July.

“I really tried but Iga didn’t make it easy for me,” Jabeur said. “She deserved to win today. I don’t like her very much today but it’s OK.”

The 28-year-old said she is already drawing up a battle plan for 2023.

At the Australian Open, she will have no points to defend having missed the 2022 tournament before she suffered a shock first round exit at the French Open.

Despite being the Wimbledon runner-up, ranking points were stripped from the event by the WTA after the All England Club banned Russian and Belarusian players.

“Points-wise, I don’t have defending points in Australia, in French Open, in Wimbledon, which is good. It’s a good thing. I’m definitely going for the No. 1 spot,” she said.

“I still have the Masters (WTA Finals in Fort Worth). I will maybe show myself there and build more confidence to really get ready for the next season because I feel like I have a lot to show.”

Jabeur, a late bloomer on the tour having still been outside the top 30 at the end of 2020, believes history shows that time remains on her side when it comes to her Grand Slam future.

“But I’m not someone that’s going to give up. I am sure I’m going to be in the final again and I will try my best to win it,” she said. 
…

This Monday, the cast and crew of the Broadway musical “Come From Away” have an appointment, as usual, with an aircraft carrier. 

Every year to honor Sept. 11, they help box thousands of meals for food banks across the city and perform for the volunteers aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid. 

“9/11 was a worldwide event. It was a time when we all felt helpless, and it was a time when we all wanted to help. And I think those sentiments continue right now,” said David Hein, who with his wife, Irene Sankoff, wrote the book, music and lyrics to “Come From Away.” 

The musical is set in the small Newfoundland town of Gander, which opened its arms to some 7,000 airline passengers diverted there when the U.S. government shut down airspace during 9/11. 

In a matter of a few hours, the town was overwhelmed by 38 planeloads of travelers from dozens of countries and religions, yet locals went to work in their kitchens and cleaned up spare rooms to offer space and food to the newcomers. 

Bittersweet visit

This year’s visit to the Intrepid by the New York cast will be bittersweet; it’s the last time the show will send representatives from Broadway. The show closes Oct. 2 after a five-year run. 

But it’s fitting that one of its last acts will be giving. Few shows have left such a legacy of connecting with the community — concerts for cancer victims, fundraisers for farmers facing drought and even cast members handing out dollar bills to the needy in the New York subway. 

“It’s been incredible to see us be inspired by the Newfoundlanders and then have this story inspire other people to do even more good,” Hein says. “It’s humbling to see that Shakespeare quote in action: ‘How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.’” 

Giving back from the beginning

Giving back was baked into the show since the first workshop at Sheridan College in Ontario, where a hat was passed to raise money for animal shelters overwhelmed with new kittens. A benefit concert planned for later this month at the Gander airport will do the same “because kittens never stop,” Hein says, laughing. 

Since its debut, the musical — under director Christopher Ashley, who won a Tony for his work — has not changed, but it has seemed to take on different issues, depending on real events swirling at the time. 

The show’s first preview at its pre-Broadway run at Seattle Rep — Nov. 13, 2015 — came just hours after 130 people were killed in a coordinated terrorist attack in Paris. Offstage, the creators wondered what to do. Should they say something? Change the show? 

“I think it was Chris Ashley who said, ‘I think we just put on the show. I think this show says look for the helpers. It says, remember there’s more of us trying to do good than there are people trying to do harm. It says so much just by telling the story.’” 

Broadway opening

When Ivanka Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saw it in 2017 on Broadway, the issue was immigration and walls. Trudeau got onstage and said he was pleased, “the world gets to see what it is to lean on each other and be there for each other through the darkest times.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic gave the musical a different color, a sense of entering a period of uncertainty and reinforcing the notion of a community coming together. It was no surprise to Sankoff and Hein that the show’s costume department immediately started sewing masks for front line workers. 

“At a time when people were actually out of work and terrified that their industry wasn’t going to come back, so many of our company were saying, ‘How can I also help?’” Sankoff says. 

While the terror attacks are ever-present in the musical, the focus is on the Canadian response. The words “World Trade Center” and “terrorist” are each uttered only once. The creators like to call it a “9/12 story.” 

“We really did not want to do a show that was about 9/11,” says Hein, who was with his wife in New York on that fateful day. “We wanted to do a show about Newfoundland and how they had responded because that gave us hope, contrasting what we had felt on that day.” ​

North American tour

The Broadway version may soon be gone, but the future is still bright for “Come From Away.” There’s a North American tour, a production in London and one touring Australia. A version in Finland opens this month, one recently opened in Holland, another in Argentina and one in Sweden. 

“What’s amazing is how universal this story is. You have to change elements of it within a language and within a culture. But the concept of welcoming strangers and a world coming together is something that people are, I think, really hungry for,” says Hein. 

He and his wife and their 9-year-old daughter will be spending the 9/11 anniversary in Gander, at one of several concerts and benefits planned to commemorate the 21st year after the attacks. 

“9/11 is a national day of service. But I think what we’ve also learned is that any day can be a day of service — at any moment,” says Hein. “Kindness is a daily practice and one that we can all use a reminder for each day.” 
…

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’s epic documentary about photographer Nan Goldin and her activism against the Sackler family and their art connections has been awarded the Golden Lion for best film at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. 

Poitras thanked the festival for recognizing that “documentary is cinema” at the ceremony Saturday evening in Venice. 

Runner up went to Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer,” the narrative debut from the documentarian about a young novelist observing the trial of a woman accused of infanticide. 

Cate Blanchett and Colin Farrell won the top acting prizes. Blanchett won for her performance as a renowned conductor in Todd Field’s “TÁR” and Farrell for playing a man who has broken up with by his longtime friend in Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin.” 

“Thank you so much, it’s such an enormous honor,” Blanchett said, having just flown back to Venice from the Telluride Film Festival where the film also played. 

Her performance as a successful woman in the world of international music whose reputation comes under threat has gotten nearly universal acclaim. 

“I’m shocked to get this and thrilled,” Farrell said in a live video message. McDonagh was on site to collect the prize before he got one of his own for the screenplay. 

Luca Guadagnino won the Silver Lion award for best director for the cannibal romance “Bones and All” starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, who also was recognized for her performance for best young actress. 

“I have a speech prepared because I’m nervous,” Russell said. “I’m grateful beyond belief to be standing here. So many of my heroes are in this room.” 

The jury also gave a special jury prize to “No Bears,” by imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panâhi. The acclaimed director was in July ordered by Iran to serve six-year prison sentence from a decade ago that had never been enforced. The order came as the government seeks to silence criticism amid growing economic turmoil and political pressure. 

Julianne Moore led the jury that selected Saturday’s winner from a pool of 23 films that included many Oscar hopefuls. The Oscar-winner presided over a jury that included French director Audrey Diwan, whose film “Happening” won the Golden Lion last year, author Kazuo Ishiguro (“Never Let Me Go”), who has been judging from his hotel room after testing positive for COVID-19, and Iranian actor Leila Hatami (“A Separation”). Also on the main jury were Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo (“The Inner Cage”) Argentinian filmmaker Mariano Cohn (“Official Competition”) and Rodrigo Sorogoyen (“The Candidate”). 

Premiering in competition at Venice has launched many successful Oscar campaigns in recent years, leading to nominations and even wins. Seven times in the last nine years the best director Oscar has gone to a film that world premiered at the festival, including Chloé Zhao, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro G. Iñarritu, twice, Guillermo del Toro and Damien Chazelle. It’s also debuted a handful future best picture winners like “Nomadland,” “The Shape of Water” and “Birdman.” 

The festival cemented several films, actors and directors, as strong awards contenders for the season to come. Brendan Fraser moved many to tears for his portrayal of Charlie, a reclusive English teacher who weighs 600 pounds and is attempting to mend things with his estranged, cruel daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale.” 
…

One of history’s most famous composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, has a Ukrainian connection. His son lived in Lviv for three decades. So Ukrainian musicians, with a bit of help from the caretakers of Mozart’s legacy, put together a very special tribute. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Camera: Yuriy Dankevych       
…

A multimedia exhibition of African American culture in the Western US state of Colorado includes works by an artist who found new direction during the coronavirus pandemic. VOA’s Scott Stearns has the story from Denver.
…

Cambodian Americans in California are coming together at a traditional night market, showcasing Khmer culture and sharing in recovery from past trauma inflicted by the Khmer Rouge. For VOA, Genia Dulot takes us there.

Camera and produced by: Genia Dulot
…

Watching the powerful historical testament to the horrors of war and the depths of human cruelty in “The Kiev Trial” at the Venice Film Festival, it can seem that little has changed.

The out-of-competition documentary by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa uses archival footage of a now-forgotten war crimes trial of 15 Germans held in Kyiv in 1946.  

But the atrocities that witnesses recount in the black-and-white film has echoes of war crimes that Ukraine accuses Russia of having committed on its soil in recent months.

The International Criminal Court is currently investigating war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.

“History repeats itself when we do not learn from history. When we don’t study and don’t want to know,” warned Loznitsa, speaking to journalists Sunday.   

This year, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, “we all realized we were (back) 80 years ago,” he said.

“We just started to repeat the same things. And it means we did not learn after the war.”

The trial was held in January 1946, just as the Allies’ groundbreaking Nuremberg Trials against Nazi war criminals were beginning  

Stalin sought to use the trials in Kyiv for his own propaganda purposes, Loznitsa said.

The Ukranian director relied on about three hours of footage shot by the Soviets to document the trial, including the arraignment, witness testimony, defense statements and verdict — and finally, the public hanging of the 15 defendants.

The atrocities occurred on different dates and in different places throughout Ukraine, including Babyn Yar, where nearly 34,000 Jews were shot to death in massive pits.

Babyn Yar was the subject of a documentary by Loznitsa last year that played at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Buried alive

In “The Kiev Trial,” witnesses describe the countless horrors inflicted on the local population by the Germans — children shot in their mothers’ arms, the elderly ordered to lie down in pits and shot by drunken firing squads, old men set upon by dogs, people thrown down a mine shaft, patients in a psychiatric hospital shot, and more.

The prosecutor asks one defendant why he felt it necessary to shoot the children in a town that his troops were razing to the ground.  

“Because they were all running around the village,” he replies.

A woman testifies how she played dead after the mass shooting at Babyn Yar. After being buried alive in a pit with the dead and wounded, she managed to crawl out and escaped.   

All 15 defendants are found guilty and given a sentence of death by hanging.  

Gallows are set up in a huge square and a massive crowd assembles to watch the public execution — including the film’s viewers, spectators to the footage.  

“It’s very, very tough but it’s important to watch it,” Loznitsa said.

 Loznitsa said one of the reasons that Russian forces were committing war crimes against Ukrainians today was because Russia itself was never held accountable for its past actions through the Soviet era, as Germany was.  

“Because this kind of trial did not happen, like the Nuremberg Trial, you have this country in such circumstances, how it is now,” he said.  

Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, a Russian director who is one of the producers of the film, agreed.   

“It’s happening because nothing has changed in Russia, in fact,” said Khrzhanovskiy, who is artistic director of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.  

“The head of the country is a KGB guy. Can you imagine that after the Second World War the head of Germany is somebody from the Gestapo?”  
…

The little-known story of a teenage scientist who passed U.S. nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union is the subject of a new documentary that premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week.

A Compassionate Spy, by celebrated U.S. filmmaker Steve James, hopes to reignite debate about nuclear weapons at a time of rising geopolitical tensions.

“Climate change and other issues have taken our attention away from that threat, but it’s always been there and it’s coming back,” James told AFP in Venice.

Ted Hall was just 19 when he was recruited to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II that led to the creation of the world’s first nuclear weapon.

Sympathetic to the Communist cause and fearing a future in which only the U.S. had the bomb, Hall decided to pass designs to Moscow.

The story has been largely forgotten, even though Hall came clean in the last years of his life in the 1990s.

“Many people will no doubt conclude that he should not have done it, that his fears of the U.S. becoming fascist or the U.S. pre-emptively striking the Soviet Union were not grounded,” said James, who is known especially for his landmark 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams.

“But there’s no question he did it for the right reasons — he didn’t do it for profit or fame, he did it because he had a genuine fear of what the U.S. is capable of.

“And ultimately, we’re the only ones who have dropped a nuclear bomb, so it’s not an unreasonable fear.”

Although the FBI long suspected Hall of espionage, it was never able to find conclusive evidence.

But the tension for him and his family was almost unbearable, especially when two other spies, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed in the U.S. in 1953.

The film makes clear the vastly different attitudes towards Russians in 1944, when the Soviet Union was a wartime ally, seen as heroically standing up to Nazism.

Hall later said he would not have done it had he known about the crimes of Joseph Stalin at the time.

“Maybe he was willfully naive,” said James. “But we have to remember, he was so young.”
…

The Washington, D.C., area is multicultural, with embassies, international businesses and a host of ethnic restaurants.

People from Ethiopia, El Salvador, the Caribbean and more live in the city and the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

To showcase the food, artisans and traditional dance of these many cultures, the Around the World Cultural Food Festival recently took place for the 6th year. The event is the largest outdoor cultural food festival in the Washington area.

With flags flying, 40 nations were represented at a park in historic Alexandria, Virginia. The event featured African countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Thailand, Lebanon, Jamaica and El Salvador were also included.

Corina Serbanescu, the event manager, said the festival provides the opportunity to learn about various cultures.

“Although the Washington area is multinational,” she said, “people don’t necessarily know about one another’s cultures, including the food.”

Feride Ozkan, owner of Istanbul Kitchen in McLean, Virginia, was giving visitors a taste of Turkish cuisine including chicken borek, made with vegetables and mozzarella cheese, and simit, a Turkish bagel.

“Turkish cuisine consists of a melting pot of cultures brought together over the centuries,” she said. “I’m serving food that I learned to cook from my mom that she learned from her mother.”

As Devin Holum from Washington took a bite of borek made with beef, he said, “I had a good time going to Turkey on vacation a few years ago … and I’m enjoying the food and feeling like I’m back in the country again.”

With a long line at another booth, Sus Grondin-Butler was serving Indonesian chicken satay. Considered a national dish of Indonesia, satay is made from skewered and grilled marinated meat.

“What makes Indonesian food unique is that each of the islands has their own style of cuisine. Some is sweeter, while other food is spicier,” she said. “Since Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, there is also that influence.”

Visitors were also given a taste of cultures through traditional dance performances.

As dancers shimmied and moved their hips, the Raqs El Hob dance company performed Egyptian belly dancing.

Adriane Whalen, artistic director of the Washington-based troupe, said, “There’s the beauty of the dance and the costumes, of course, but I also love that it celebrates women coming together. Some of the moves today can be seen in hip hop and jazz dancing.”

Shortly after, the colorfully clad Armonias Peruanas — which means Peruvian Harmony — kicked up their heels.

Lourdes Curay, the troupe’s director, said, “We have hundreds of dances that are unique from different regions of Peru, and we wanted the audience to see the richness of our country.”

Ricardo Martinez, who grew up in El Salvador, danced to the music.

“You can’t help but get on your feet because the music and dancing are so exciting.”

Another popular performance featured Indian dancers from the Kalavaridhi Center for the Performing Arts in Herndon, Virginia.

Kalavaridhi Center founder Sheela Ramanath was born in India.

“Traditional Indian dancing tells stories about right and wrong and draws a lot from Indian mythology,” she said. “The dances are also connected to nature, where every living creature is respected.”

Besides dance, vendors were showing off their artistic sides.

Henna artist Kavita Dutia immigrated from India to the United States 15 years ago.

“The art of applying henna on hands and feet is a very old custom,” she explained as she painted the design of a leaf on a young woman’s hand with a brown paste. “Henna brings happiness and joy to life.”

“I thought it would be fun to do this,” said Cara Shawly, a college student. “It’s pretty and like getting a tattoo but one you know won’t last forever.”

Items from around the world were being sold at the festival.

Monica Mensah from Ghana was selling traditional clothing and baskets. Her business is called Back to the Roots.

“I am here to showcase Ghana,” she said. “I want everyone to know that Ghana has a beautiful culture with peaceful, friendly and welcoming people.” 
…

Barack Obama is halfway to an EGOT.

The former U.S. president won an Emmy Award on Saturday to go with his two Grammys.

Obama won the best narrator Emmy for his work on the Netflix documentary series, Our Great National Parks.

The five-part show, which features national parks from around the globe, is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground.

He was the biggest name in a category full of famous nominees for the award handed out at Saturday night’s Creative Arts Emmys, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Attenborough and Lupita Nyong’o.

Barack Obama is the second president to have an Emmy. Dwight D. Eisenhower was given a special Emmy Award in 1956.

Barack Obama previously won Grammy Awards for his audiobook reading of two of his memoirs, The Audacity of Hope and A Promised Land. Michelle Obama won her own Grammy for reading her audiobook in 2020.

EGOT refers to a special category of entertainers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. To date, 17 people have done it.

The late Chadwick Boseman also won an Emmy for his voice work on Saturday. The Black Panther actor won for outstanding character voiceover for the Disney+ and Marvel Studios animated show What If…? 

On the show, Boseman voiced his Black Panther character T’Challa in an alternate universe where he becomes Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy.

It was one of the last projects for Boseman, who died in 2020 of colon cancer at age 43.
…

A cap designed for Black swimmers’ natural hair that was banned from the Tokyo Olympics has been approved for competitive races.

Swimming governing body FINA said on Friday the Soul Cap was on its list of approved equipment.

“Promoting diversity and inclusivity is at the heart of FINA’s work,” executive director Brent Nowicki said in a statement, “and it is very important that all aquatic athletes have access to the appropriate swimwear.”

The London-based Soul Cap brand was designed larger than existing styles to contain and protect dreadlocks, weaves, hair extensions, braids, and thick and curly hair.

Last year, British swimmer Alice Dearing was refused permission to wear a Soul Cap in the 10-kilometer marathon swim in Tokyo, with FINA suggesting the size could create an advantage.

The furor at that decision prompted an apology from the governing body and a promise to review the application.

Soul Cap welcomed the approval that has come more than one year later as “a huge step in the right direction” in a sport that historically has had few Black athletes.

“For a long time, conventional swim caps have been an obstacle for swimmers with thick, curly, or volume-blessed hair,” the company said. “They can’t always find a cap that fits their hair type, and that often means that swimmers from some backgrounds end up avoiding competitions or giving up the sport entirely.

“We’re excited to see the future of a sport that’s becoming more inclusive for the next generation of young swimmers.”
…

Jane Fonda said on social media Friday that she has cancer.

“So, my dear friends, I have something personal I want to share. I’ve been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and have started chemo treatments,” the 84-year-old actor wrote in an Instagram post.

“This is a very treatable cancer,” she added, “so I feel very lucky.”

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that begins in the white blood cells and affects parts of the body’s immune system.

Fonda acknowledged that unlike many, she is privileged to have insurance, and access to the best doctors and care.

“Almost every family in America has had to deal with cancer at one time or another and far too many don’t have access to the quality health care I am receiving and this is not right,” she said.

Fonda said she has begun a six-month course of chemotherapy, is handling the treatments well, and will not let it interfere with her climate activism.

Fonda has dealt with cancer before. She had a tumor removed from her breast in 2010 and has also had skin cancer.

Part of a legendary Hollywood family, Fonda gained fame for both her acting and her activism starting in the late 1960s.

She won Oscars for her performances in 1971′s Klute and 1978′s Coming Home.

She has also starred in the films Barbarella and 9 to 5, and in the Netflix series Grace and Frankie.
…

Serena Williams was eliminated from the U.S. Open on Friday in what may be the last match of her illustrious career but the impact she had on the game she dominated for over two decades will be felt for generations to come.

Williams, who made her professional debut in 1995 a year after her older sister Venus, has been one of the game’s most marketable stars. She has a slew of corporate partners and in 2019 became the first athlete to land on Forbes’ list of America’s richest self-made women.

Williams, 40, who also lost in the U.S. Open doubles competition alongside sister Venus, said in a Vogue article last month that she was “evolving away from tennis” and added in an Instagram post that “the countdown has begun.”

While Williams has not stated precisely when her last tournament is, U.S. Open organizers feted her with an elaborate farewell ceremony after her first-round match on Monday.

Williams revolutionized women’s tennis with a lethal mix of powerful serves, groundstrokes and superb athleticism and became the most successful player in the Open Era by collecting 23 Grand Slam titles, the most recent coming in 2017.

That success also inspired a generation of tennis players, including Naomi Osaka, who beat Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open final to claim the first of her four majors and remembers watching her childhood idol.

“When I was younger, the family event would be watching Serena and Venus,” said Osaka, who has Japanese and Haitian parents.

“So when I was watching that, that pushed me a lot. I never got to watch them play live, in a match, but I’ve gotten to watch their practices. Seeing that, seeing people that look like me, it’s definitely inspiring.”

Women’s rights

Throughout her career, Williams has been outspoken about the culture of racism that she and her family, including Venus, were subjected to within a predominantly white sport.

At the peak of her career, Williams began what amounted to a 14-year boycott of a marquee tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, after suffering racist jeers there in 2001, an incident which she said left her crying in the locker room for hours.

In 2018, she accused officials of allowing a culture of sexism to run rampant in the sport, with women players being penalized for things that her male counterparts would never be punished for.

After being handed a series of code violations during the U.S. Open final defeat by Osaka, Williams was particularly upset when she was docked a game for verbal abuse after telling the umpire he was “a thief” for taking a point off her for a previous infringement.

“I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality…. he’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief,'” Williams said at the time.

Tennis pioneer Billie Jean King was among many who praised her for exposing the “double standard” that disadvantages female players.

“In this society, women are not taught or expected to be that future leader or future CEO,” Williams told British Vogue in 2020. “The narrative has to change. And maybe it doesn’t get better in time for me, but someone in my position can show women and people of color that we have a voice because Lord knows I use mine.

“I love sticking up for people and supporting women. Being the voice that millions of people don’t have.”

Williams also pushed the boundaries of fashion on the tennis court, perhaps most notably at the 2018 French Open when she took the court wearing a skin-tight black catsuit with a red waistband – which she said helped her to cope with blood clots that threatened her life when she gave birth to her daughter just months earlier.

The thought of women players turning up in such unconventional tennis attire, however, ruffled the Roland Garros establishment, who then banned such outfits from the Paris major.

Author Howard Bryant, who wrote The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism, said in a report on tennis.com that Williams’ career will be seen as a dividing line when it comes to how women and Black athletes are talked about.

“With her standing, and her empire, she’s created a counter-voice and a new perspective,” Bryant said in the report.

“It’s changed how we scrutinize behavior. You can’t just gang up on her or make off-handed comments about her body. She has the stature of any great male athlete.

“In 100 years, if we ask, when did that shift happen, we’ll come back to Serena.”
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