In February, after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Brazilian ballet dancer David Motta Soares booked an urgent flight to Turkey and left behind his dream job as soloist at Russia's world-famous Bolshoi ballet. Fearing that he would not be able to exit Russia as international airlines began to cancel flights in response to the invasion, which Russia calls a "special operation," Motta Soares said he fled to wherever he could. "I didn't know where to go," he told Reuters on a break from rehearsals in Rio de Janeiro. "I was scared. ... There was no way out."

It took Tom Cruise 36 years to head back to the danger zone, and movie critics said Thursday it was worth the wait to see "Top Gun" back on the big screen. The sequel to the 1986 blockbuster, called "Top Gun: Maverick," earned a 96% positive rating from 76 reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website. The film is set to debut in cinemas on May 27. In the movie, the 59-year-old Cruise reprises his role as Pete Mitchell, the cocky Navy pilot who has never risen through the ranks because of his penchant for bucking authority. Mitchell, whose code name is Maverick, is asked to train a group of young fighter pilots for a specialized mission. Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press called the new film "a textbook example of how to make a sequel."

A 48-year-old Nepali woman scaled Mount Everest for the 10th time on Thursday, breaking her own record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain by a female climber, her hiking company said. Lhakpa Sherpa last climbed the 8,848.86-metre (29,031.69-foot) mountain in 2018. A fellow Nepali, Kami Rita Sherpa, holds the men's record of 26 climbs. "Lhakpa has broken her own record and become the first woman to achieve 10 summits," her brother Mingma Gelu Sherpa, an official of her Seven Summit Club hiking agency, told Reuters.

An highly-anticipated adaptation of Irish author Sally Rooney's debut novel "Conversation with Friends" premieres this weekend, following in the footsteps of her book-turned-television hit "Normal People". Alison Oliver and Sasha Lane star as ex-girlfriends and now best friends Frances and Bobbi, who meet older married couple Melissa and Nick, played by Jemima Kirke and Joe Alwyn, during a Dublin poetry night. The story follows their different relationships as their lives become intertwined. Reuters spoke to the actors about the series, which premieres on the BBC and Hulu on May 15, and pleasing fans of the book.

NEW YORK, May 12: The United States has now recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally, crossing a once-unthinkable milestone about two years after the first cases upended everyday life and quickly transformed it.

Claire Danes says her first role after nearly a decade in hit drama "Homeland" was both "wonderful" and "scary", going from playing a CIA officer to a grieving 19th century British widow in new mini-series "The Essex Serpent". The 43-year-old actress won numerous awards for her portrayal of intrepid bipolar protagonist Carrie Mathison in the 2011-2020 show.

From a "Star Wars" X-Wing spacecraft model to a "Thor" hammer, a treasure trove of entertainment memorabilia from much-loved movies is going up for auction in Hollywood next month. More than 1,800 items are being offered at the June 21-24 auction, which film and TV memorabilia company Propstore estimates will raise more than $9 million.

May 11: Four Russian regional governors resigned on Tuesday as the country braces for the impact of economic sanctions.

Musical "A Strange Loop," the story of a Black gay man and his mental struggles as an artist, landed a leading 11 Tony nominations on Monday as Broadway prepared to honor its first season following a long pandemic shutdown. "A Strange Loop," winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for drama, will compete for best musical with "MJ," a biographical musical that features two dozen Michael Jackson hits, and race relations story "Paradise Square."

COLOMBO, May 10: Streets were calm on Tuesday in the Sri Lankan commercial capital of Colombo, following a day of clashes that killed five people and injured more than 200, police said, in violence that prompted Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign.

Actors Jodie Comer, Sean Bean and Matthew Macfadyen were among the winners at the British Academy Television Awards in London on Sunday night. Bean won the leading actor prize for prison drama "Time", which also scooped the award for mini-series. Comer, who rose to fame playing an assassin in "Killing Eve", won leading actress for "Help", a drama set in a care home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doctor Strange and his questionably effective book of spells has summoned a blockbuster $185 million at North American movie theaters over the weekend, reaffirming the box office dominance of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe after a shakier, pandemic-battered year for the franchise.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, May 9: About 60 people were feared dead after a bomb struck a school in eastern Ukraine, authorities said, while Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to lead celebrations on Monday marking the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

KATHMANDU, May 8:  Russian climber Pavel Kostrikin died at Camp I of Mount Everest, the first reported death of a foreigner on the world's highest peak in the current climbing season that began in March, a Nepali official said on Sunday.

KYIV, May 8: All women, children and elderly civilians have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, after a week-long effort rescued hundreds of people during an ongoing Russian assault at the plant.

KYIV, May 7: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said diplomatic efforts were underway to save the remaining fighters holed up inside the Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol, as more civilians were evacuated from the bombed-out plant.

SEOUL/TOKYO, May 7: North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Saturday, South Korea's military said, three days before the inauguration of South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who has vowed to take a hard line against the North.

BRUSSELS, May 6: The European Commission has proposed changes to its planned embargo on Russian oil to give Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic more time to prepare for the shift in their energy supplies, three EU sources said on Friday.

NEW DELHI, May 6: The Asian Games scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September have been postponed until 2023 because of the COVID-19 situation, the governing Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said on Friday.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing Tesla (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk's $44 billion takeovers of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the deal.