An American artist is using a unique glass thread technique to create beautiful luminous glass vessels. Toots Zynsky helped invent a special machine that produces the threads which are a signature of her pieces.  Her most recent art reflects her love of birds, especially those that are endangered.  VOA’s Deborah …

John Altobelli’s team knew there was only one way to honor its late coach — by playing on his favorite day.Altobelli’s Orange Coast College baseball team opened its season as scheduled on Tuesday against Chula Vista Southwestern. The game occurred two days after Altobelli, his wife and their 13-year-old daughter …

Ricky Martin’s wide smile began to fade as the Puerto Rican superstar talked about his next album.It’s influenced by the U.S. territory’s political turmoil as people struggle to recover from Hurricane Maria and a recent 6.4 magnitude earthquake that killed one person and destroyed hundreds of homes amid a 13-year …

Legendary British broadcaster and entertainer Nicholas Parsons, best remembered as host of the BBC radio game show “Just a Minute,” has died after a brief illness at 96.Parsons introduced the show in 1967 and hosted nearly 1,000 episodes before retiring this past September.The game requires celebrity panelists to talk about …

Her name was Gianna Maria Onore Bryant. The world, now and forever, knows her as Gigi. Her dad, Kobe Bryant, called her Mambacita. He was Mamba, of course, and she was going to be basketball’s female version of him. She was going to play at Connecticut and head to the …

An artist known for work depicting his native Bolivia has died after being struck by a car in northern Virginia. Alfredo Da Silva died Sunday. He was 84. Alexandria Police say he died at the scene after he was struck by a car Sunday morning. Police said Tuesday that the …

Fans call it The House that Kobe Built, and since Kobe Bryant’s shocking death in a helicopter crash mourners by the thousands have gathered outside the glistening steel-and-glass edifice where the Los Angeles Lakers legend made so much basketball history.The arrivals at downtown Staples Center began soon after word spread …

The pilot of the helicopter that crashed and killed basketball superstar Kobe Bryant apparently climbed to avoid a cloud layer just before slamming into a hillside, federal investigators say.Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday the copter was about 700 meters off the ground before it plunged …

For a city already familiar with losing a basketball hero, Kobe Bryant’s death made a particularly strong impact in the Italian town of Rieti.Nicknamed “the center of Italy” for its geographic location amid the Appenine Mountains, Rieti was the first stop on Bryant’s seven-year childhood tour of the country.It’s where …

Harvey Weinstein “got offended”  when his repeated advances were rebuffed, Mimi Haleyi testified Monday when she took the witness stand as one of the key accusers whose allegations of sexual assault led to charges and the trial of the former movie mogul.      Former production assistant Mimi Haleyi testified …

John Altobelli, the longtime baseball coach at Orange Coast College, was killed along with his wife and daughter in the helicopter crash Sunday that also took the lives of retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and Bryant’s daughter, Gianna.The 56-year-old Altobelli died along with his wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa, who …

Controversy and sadness were part of this year’s Grammys show before it even began Sunday.”Here we are together on music’s biggest night celebrating the artists that do it best, but to be honest with you we are all feeling crazy sadness right now,” host Alicia Keys said at the top …

Sports fans around the world are struggling to find words to describe how they feel about the sudden death of retired U.S. basketball legend Kobe Bryant.Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were among nine killed Sunday in a helicopter crash in the hills outside Los Angeles. They reportedly were on …

Performers including Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish are among those expected to be named winners at the 62nd Grammy Awards Sunday night.Singer/songwriter Alicia Keys will host the music award ceremony, which will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles at 8pm Eastern time.Lizzo, who released her …

The sports world is stunned and in deep mourning after retired U.S. basketball legend Kobe Bryant was killed Sunday in a helicopter crash in the hills outside Los Angeles.The L.A. County sheriff’s department says Bryant was one of five killed when the private helicopter went down in Calabasas, about 65 …

The war film drama “1917” by Oscar winning filmmaker Sam Mendes has received 10 Oscar nominations making it one of the top Oscar contenders. The film follows two young soldiers during World War ONE on a mission to alert 1600 British soldiers that they are led into a trap by …

It’s the defense’s go-to question at Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial: If the once-revered Hollywood mogul is a revolting sexual predator, as prosecutors and scores of women allege, why did some of his accusers keep interacting with him for years after their alleged assaults?      Prosecutors hope to give jurors …

Actress Annabella Sciorra confronted Harvey Weinstein in court Thursday after keeping her rape accusation against the former Hollywood honcho largely hidden for decades.      For more than a quarter-century, she told only few friends that the once-revered producer had pinned her to a bed and violated her, until she …

For many people, pets are part of the family. So when pets die, it makes sense that some owners might want pictures to help them remember their favorite fur babies. Maxim Moskalkov found an artist who can help. …

For many people, pets are part of the family. So when pets die, it makes sense that some owners might want pictures to help them remember their favorite fur babies. Maxim Moskalkov found an artist who can help. …

Terry Jones, a founding member of the anarchic Monty Python troupe who was hailed by colleagues as “the complete Renaissance comedian” an d “a man of endless enthusiasms,”  has died after a battle with dementia.Jones’ family said the 77-year-old died Tuesday evening at his home in London. In a statement, …

Two women who have accused Cuba Gooding Jr. of sexual misconduct will be allowed to testify at his trial on charges that he groped three other women at Manhattan bars in 2018 and 2019, a judge ruled Wednesday.      An April 21 trial date was set for Gooding, who …

Harvey Weinstein spawned the (hash)MeToo movement. Now, the former film titan is starring in the biggest trial of its era – a landmark moment in a global reckoning that has empowered women while shining a light on power dynamics in workplaces from Hollywood Boulevard to Main Street.Opening statements and the …

Jeanine Cummins’ “American Dirt,” one of the year’s most anticipated and debated novels, is Oprah Winfrey’s new pick for her book club.“American Dirt,” published Tuesday, tells of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who loses much of her family to a murderous drug cartel and flees north on a terrifying …

More than a half-century later, Tommie Smith and John Carlos are cemented into Olympic lore — their names enshrined in the Olympic Hall of Fame in the United States, their portrait an indelible fixture on the universal sports landscape.As for that raised-fist salute that transformed them into Olympic icons, while …