Belarus Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Manori Ravindran International Editor European training program School of Film Advancement (SOFA), which aims to strengthen regional film industries across Europe with a focus on Eastern partnership, has launched its ninth edition and 2022-2023 project selection. The first SOFA workshop, running through Sept. 30, kicked off on Sunday outside the Polish capital of Warsaw. After two virtual years, the program returns with an expanded edition that comprises a line-up of 16 projects and 20 participants, composed of up-and-coming film industry executives, curators and cultural managers from 17 countries including Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Bangladesh, Switzerland and Germany.

Manchester United have confirmed that on-loan goalkeeper Martin Dubravka has pulled out of the Slovakia squad because of injury.

The Queen's state funeral is set to be one of the biggest international events the UK has ever seen.

President Joe Biden has arrived in London, where he will join other world leaders at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. 

Ukraine's First Lady will attend Queen Elizabeth's funeral on behalf of her country. While President Volodymyr Zelensky will remain in his war-torn country as global leaders say a final farewell to the British monarch - who died on 8 September aged 96 - his wife Olena Zelenska will join dignitaries at the service on Monday (19. 09.

Six countries have not received invitations to the Queen's state funeral on Monday September 19.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't been invited to Queen Elizabeth's funeral. The 69-year-old politician and other Kremlin representatives have all been blacklisted by Buckingham Palace, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Dignitaries from Belarus and Myanmar have also been overlooked by the palace, while Iran will only be represented at the funeral on an ambassadorial level.

Rafael Nadal and Coco Gauff joined a charity match to raise money for the efforts in Ukraine on Wednesday night, raising £1 million ($1. 2 million) through the Tennis Plays for Peace exhibition at the US Open.

US Open for inviting Belarusian world No 22 Victoria Azarenka to compete in their upcoming charity match to raise money for the efforts in Ukraine. Marta Kostyuk and Lesia Tsurenko said they would be snubbing the exhibition after organisers failed to ask if they were comfortable with a Belarusian playing, and slammed Azarenka for failing to condemn the war in the past.

The latest piece of the international Warner Bros. Discovery management puzzle has slotted into place, as the wider reshaping of the business continues. WBD General Manager Warner Bros. Discovery CEE, Baltics and Middle East (CEE MENAT) Jamie Cooke, who took on his post in June, has unveiled his team. Senior roles have gone to the likes of Lee Hobbs and long-serving Warner Bros. sales exec Roni Patel.

A "heartbroken" pet owner has been forced to put her five dogs to sleep after being the first person in the UK to be diagnosed with a rare animal-borne disease.

EXCLUSIVE: The Ukrainian Institute has lambasted the organizers of a prestigious German filmmaker residency program for inviting Russians and Belarusians to take part as well as Ukrainians, slamming the emergency program for the “perpetuation of both an outdated Soviet perspective and Russia’s colonial logic.”

A heartbroken grandmother was left with no choice but to put down her family's five dogs after becoming the first person in the UK to be diagnosed with a rare animal-borne disease, writes The Mirror.

Daniil Medvedev to play. Instead, they opted to host a fund-raising event with the hopes that players from the two nations could be convinced to support a charity match to donate to the efforts in Ukraine.

Ethan Hawke dropped by “The Late Show” on Tuesday, where he shared his unorthodox idea to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

LIVE – Updated at 19:33Follow all the action as the women’s semi-finals take place on Thursday at Wimbledon. Ons Jabeur, the No 2 seed, opened the action on Centre Court against her good friend Tatjana Maria. Both players had reached a grand slam semi-final for the first time in their careers, but Jabeur was clear favourite.

Venus Williams was not afraid to call out these questions. After winning her first-round match with fellow tennis star Jamie Murray against Michael Venus and Alicja Rosolska on Saturday, the tennis pro shut down an eyebrow-raising line of questioning during a press conference at Wimbledon.«Are you in it to win it? Or is it the first target to get past the third round where Serena and Andy became a cropper?» a reporter asked the duo in a video of the exchange from the BBC that has since gone viral. The question references Venus' sister Serena Williams and Jamie's brother Andy Murray, who were both defeated in earlier rounds of the tennis tournament's singles competition.«What kind of question is that?» Venus asked, looking over at Jamie seemingly confused.«We're in it for a stroll,» she sarcastically responded to the reporter.

Jessica Kiang However many books and movies take it as their subject, a historical travesty on the incomprehensible scale of the Holocaust must always contain within it an uncountable number of untold stories. Given this wealth of untapped dramatic potential, it’s all the more perplexing that American director Jake Paltrow should choose to refer to his family’s Jewish heritage (the Paltrows have Belarusian and Polish Jewish ancestry) with “June Zero,” a polished, well-performed but thinly stretched attempt to communicate the seismic impact of Adolf Eichmann’s 1962 execution on Israeli society.

Serena Williams is keeping it positive after her unexpected Wimbledon loss. The 40-year-old athlete made her comeback to the annual tennis tournament after pulling out of 2021's Wimbledon due to a leg injury she sustained during her match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.Her time at the tournament was cut short, however, when she was defeated by France's Harmony Tan in her first singles match. The match went on for three hours and 11 minutes and marks the third time Williams failed to advance past the first round of a Grand Slam.On Tuesday, the tennis legend opened up about her return to the courts on Instagram, calling it «insane and intense.»«Not the result I came for, but my goodness I enjoyed that,» she wrote in the caption alongside a picture of herself waving to the crowd.

Serena Williams is back on the court! The tennis champion has officially returned to the game since she pulled out of 2021's Wimbledon after injuring her right leg during her match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.On Tuesday, the 40-year-old earned a win alongside Ons Jabeur in the Eastbourne International doubles tournament. The duo defeated Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo and Czech player Marie Bouzková in three sets.After the match, Williams told the BBC she had feared for her career while recovering from the 2021 injury.The mother of one admitted that she had experienced doubts about whether she would be able to return during the past year, saying, «I would be dishonest if I said it wasn't.

Serena Williams is getting back to the tennis courts! It's been almost a year since the 40-year-old tennis champion last competed in a major tennis tournament —  she pulled out of 2021's Wimbledon after injuring her right leg during her match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.The injury followed Williams' announcement that she would not compete at the Tokyo Olympics, which were held in July and August. Then in December, the Twitter account for the Australian Open shared a statement from Williams announcing her decision to withdraw from the January event on medical advice.Now, the four-time Olympic gold medalist is hinting to fans that she’ll be back at Wimbledon this year to compete in the major tournament!On Tuesday, Williams posted a photo of her sneaker-clad feet, writing, «SW and SW19.

Serena Williams is not quite ready to hang up her racket and walk away! Despite rumors that she might not return to the tennis court, she will in fact be making a comeback, and to the most famous court of them all.MORE: Serena Williams revisits unbelievable spring fashion – including stunning backless dressDespite being excluded from the original entry list, the star has confirmed she will be participating in Wimbledon for the 21st time, as a wildcard.Tennis fans weren't convinced she would be joining the iconic competition after an injury at last year's games, which forced her out of her first-round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich.WATCH: Serena and daugter Olympia are matchy-heavenMORE: Serena Williams celebrates daughter Olympia's achievement with husband Alexis OhanianSerena has not been active in competitive tennis since the ankle injury a year ago. However, both the official Wimbledon page as well as Serena confirmed her participation.Aliaksandra, the tennis player competing against Serena when she slipped and injured herself, is from Belarus, and is one of the players banned by Wimbledon this year because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been supported by Belarus.The athlete celebrated the news of her comeback on Instagram with a photo of her Nike shoes as she stood on grass, which she captioned with: "SW and SW19.

LIVE – Updated at 09:58Day Two of the French Open featured an all-star line-up with Emma Raducanu making her senior debut on clay as she overcame an almighty scare against Czech qualifier Linda Noskova. Raducanu trailed by a set and a break at one stage in a gruelling match that lasted over two and a half hours, but the Briton eventually prevailed 6-7 7-5 6-1 to seal her place in the second round. There was good news on the British front for Cameron Norrie too, who made it safely through to the second round with a straight sets victory over Manuel Guinard.

The International Coalition For Filmmakers At Risk (ICFR) has demanded “an end to a growing environment of fear and insecurity” in Iran after two documentary creators were arrested then released on bail, preventing them from travelling or working.

UPDATED with WTA, ATP, All England Club statements: Exactly one month ago the All England Club, which puts on Wimbledon, announced that in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine it would not allow Russian or Belarusian players to take part in this year’s event.

Pussy Riot’s Masha Alyokhina has escaped from Russia as president Vladimir Putin continues to crack down on dissidents in the country.Alyokhina, along with her bandmates, has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times over the past decade and more for publicly protesting Putin’s rule, most recently last year when she was detained for 48 hours after attending protests encouraging others to protest on social media.Amid the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new story in The New York Times reveals that Alyokhina was under house arrest and, when authorities decided to turn that into a 21-day jail sentence last month, she decided to flee Russia.The story outlines Alyokhina’s escape, which included posing as a food courier and being placed on Russia’s wanted list after being refused entry into Belarus on account of her Russian passport having been confiscated by authorities.The report then reveals that Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson was able to assist Alyokhina in getting her a travel document from a European country that allowed her to travel freely from Russia to the EU. It adds that she has now travelled to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.“I still don’t understand completely what I’ve done,” she said in the piece.

Vladimir Putin has sparked further rumours that his health is deteriorating, after footage seemed to show him suffering hand and leg tremors in a recent meeting.

Novak Djokovic is not happy with Wimbledon.

Naman Ramachandran Russian and Belarusian players will not be allowed to participate in this year’s Wimbledon tennis championship in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Given the profile of the championships in the United Kingdom and around the world, it is our responsibility to play our part in the widespread efforts of government, industry, sporting and creative institutions to limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible,” the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the committee of management of the championships, said in a statement on Wednesday.“In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ support of the war, Wimbledon is reportedly planning to bar Russian and Belarusian players from the Grand Slam tennis tournament which begins in London on June 27. Sportico reported that the event, organized by the All England Club, will break from the rest of the tennis world by refusing to allow Russians to compete — this would include current world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev. The New York Times, citing a highly placed international tennis official, said the ban is expected to extend to Belarusian players as well.

Pink Floyd have come back together and released a new track in order to raise funds for Ukraine Humanitarian Relief. The track is called ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up’ and features a sample of Andriy Khlyvnyuk, singer with the Ukrainian band Boombox.From the classic Pink Floyd line-up, David Gilmour and Nick Mason are both involved in the new recording.

Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in a rocket strike on an eastern Ukrainian train station used for evacuating civilians. More than 30 people have been killed and dozens injured in the Donetsk region, in the city of Kramatorsk, when two rockets hit the station, according to the head of Ukraine’s railways Olexander Kamyshin.

Hey Hey Rise Up,” will debut online at midnight in the U.K., with all proceeds going to Ukrainian humanitarian relief.The vocals are by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox, whose viral March 30 Instagram video featured him singing a Ukrainian protest song from World War I in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square. The single takes its title from the last line of “The Red Viburnum In the Meadow,” which translates as “Hey, hey, rise up and rejoice.”“It’s a really difficult and frustrating thing to see this extraordinarily crazy, unjust attack by a major power on an independent, peaceful, democratic nation.

Steam,  Valve has explained that it’s an issue with the company’s own bank. Earlier in the month, Ukrainian Steam developers started receiving emails from Valve that  read: “Due to the current environment, we are unable to send bank payments to Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.”One such developer based in Ukraine, Stas Shostak, has since received another email from Valve, which apologised and explained the situation. According to the company, Valve’s bank has started requiring “intermediary bank information” for payments to accounts in Ukraine and Russia, as the bank “will no longer be allowing payments to Belarus.”So Valve clarified, it really is a technical problem and it's gonna be okay till April payment.

Eurovision is back and, potentially, bigger than ever.

the band’s Twitter account states.The included works that are set to be leaving Russian and Belarusian streaming platforms are Pink Floyd studio albums “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” (1987), “The Division Bell” (1994) as well as 2014’s “The Endless River.” Gilmour has released four solo studio albums in his career, the most recent being “Rattle That Lock” in 2015. His entire solo discography is also being removed from streamers.Last week, Gilmour tweeted in support of Ukraine, writing, “Russian soldiers, stop killing your brothers.