A Tibetan male character from the "Doctor Strange" comic books presented such a political minefield to Marvel that in the film version they cast a Caucasian woman in the role, reflecting the pressures Hollywood movie makers perceive when trying to appeal to the Chinese market.

One of the film's screenwriters has suggested that the casting of British actress Tilda Swinton as sorcerer the Ancient One was partly done to avoid potentially offending China's government and moviegoers, who now represent the world's second-largest annual box office after North America.

Romania's culture minister has tendered his resignation amid a bitter dispute at the country's main opera house involving internationally renowned ballerina Alina Cojocaru.

Vlad Alexandrescu announced that he would be stepping down in a posting on his Facebook page Wednesday, after he failed to solve a conflict at the Bucharest National Opera that has seen three shows canceled so far.

China, Russia and India are among 11 countries targeted by the Obama administration for leaving American producers of music, movies and other copyrighted material open to rampant piracy.

The U.S. is placing the 11 countries on a "priority watch list" that subjects them to extra scrutiny and could lead to sanctions if the U.S. brings cases to the World Trade Organization.

A popular Lebanese rock band says Jordanian authorities have banned them from performing because their songs promote religious and sexual freedom.

Jordan's Antiquities Department initially told Mashrou' Leila ("Night Project") it could not perform at a Roman Theater in the capital Amman because the show contradicts the venue's "authenticity."

A network of activists monitoring the Syria conflict says militants from the Islamic State group have seized five villages from Syrian rebels close to the Turkish border.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday the extremist group took five villages in Azaz district, where rebels hold an enclave host to tens of thousands of internally displaced civilians.

In a front-runner's rout, Republican Donald Trump roared to victory Tuesday in five contests across the Northeast and confidently declared himself the GOP's "presumptive nominee." Hillary Clinton was dominant in four Democratic races and now is 90 percent of the way to the number she needs to claim her own nomination.

Trump's and Clinton's wins propelled them ever closer to a general election showdown. Still, Sanders and Republicans Ted Cruz and John Kasich, vowed to keep running, even as opportunities to topple the leaders dwindle.

Lebanese banks began taking measures against persons or institutions in accordance to a U.S. law that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with Hizbullah, banking sources said on Wednesday.

The sources told al-Mustaqbal daily that the measures are being taken on accounts in Lebanese Liras and foreign currencies.

French television has broadcast what it says is a video taken from inside the Paris restaurant where jihadi Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up on Nov. 13, killing himself and wounding several others.

The footage broadcast by France's M6 on Sunday appears to show a man walking into the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant crowded with Friday night diners, looking down and covering his eyes before an explosion at his back propels his body forward.

Yemeni officials say forces loyal to the country's internationally recognized government have retaken the southern coastal city of Mukalla, driving out al-Qaida militants a year after they captured it.

The officials say the forces entered the city late on Monday, following dozens of airstrikes against al-Qaida positions in and outside the city by a Saudi-led coalition fighting on the side of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

"For a thousand years," Abdullah Sheikh's family has been working the land the same way — flooding fields in Egypt's Nile Delta and planting seeds by hand.

But now a small, relatively cheap plow has changed all that, allowing him to nearly double the yields of his two acres of wheat, arranging it in neat, raised beds with smaller furrows that require a third less water. "It saves us much labor, seeds and effort," Sheikh said, calling it a "blessing" for his family, eight of whom help work the plot.