“John Wick: Chapter 4,” the fourth installment in the Keanu Reeves assassin series, debuted with a franchise-best $73.5 million at the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Lionsgate film, starring Reeves as the reluctant-but-not-that-reluctant killer John Wick, exceeded both expectations and previous opening weekends in the R-rated franchise. Since first launching in 2014 with “John Wick” ($14 million on its opening weekend), the Chad Stahelski-directed series has steadily grown as a ticket-seller with each sequel. The 2017 follow-up opened with $30.4 million, and the 2019 third chapter, “Parabellum,” …

Choirs from across the world joined their voices to sing for peace in Ukraine Sunday, with nearly 300 singers gathering in Madrid where the initiative began a year ago.  Under cloudless blue skies, singers from 46 choirs in and around the Spanish capital gathered outside the Reina Sofia art museum and began singing at midday (1000 GMT) in an event involving thousands of others across Europe and Latin America. This year, choirs joined from 81 locations in nine countries, with 1,000 singers from Ukraine joining their voices with others from …

A former Formula One champion has been fined nearly $1 million in damages for racist and homophobic remarks about Lewis Hamilton, the sport’s only Black driver. Nelson Piquet, 70, a three-time Formula One champion, used a Brazilian racial and homophobic slur in a 2021 television interview about a crash, involving Hamilton and Max Verstappen, who is in a relationship with Piquet’s daughter. Piquet’s comments went viral, and he has since apologized. World champion Hamilton called for “archaic mindsets” to change after footage of the interview emerged. A court statement noted …