On April 30, 1828: A group of Cherokee men gathered inside a cave near present-day Fort Payne, Alabama, for a secret ritual before a game of stickball. To record the event, team leaders inscribed words and phrases on the cave walls, using a writing system invented by the Cherokee visionary Sequoyah. What do they mean?

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood, California. About 250 people attended the ceremony, which was the brainchild of Hollywood power player, Louis B. Mayer, who headed the MGM film studio. Tickets went for $5, which would be $73 in today’s dollars. Best Picture went to World War I drama Wings , Best Actor went to German actor Emil Jannings for his work in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh . Best Actress went to American actress Janet Gaynor for her work in  7th Heaven, Street Angel , and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans .

U.S. officials have effectively banned Chinese telecom titan Huawei from building next-generation 5G mobile networks in the United States and are warning other countries about the company’s national security risks.

President Donald Trump says there is “no infighting whatsoever” about his Middle East policies and that as tensions with Iran continue, he is “sure that Iran will want to talk soon.”

VIDEO: The mystery about the authenticity of a painting has been solved after 25 years. A painting given by a private collector to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1957 is indeed by Vincent Van Gogh. New imaging technology helped confirm the painting’s authenticity after years of doubt and debate. VOA traveled to Hartford to see the Van Gogh painting “Vase with Poppies.”

U.S. and European law enforcement agencies say they have dismantled a global cybercrime network that used malicious software to steal an estimated $100 million from businesses around the world.