Most Americans understand the Palestinian people in context of their decades long conflict with Israel. To provide more context, a museum in Washington D.C. is shining a light on its culture and heritage; one artifact at a time. More on this museum from VOA’s Imron Jadoon …

The recent film release, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” by Marielle Heller, is based on the Esquire magazine article, “Can you say..Hero?” that award-winning journalist Tom Junod wrote in 1998 about Fred Rogers. Rogers is an American TV personality who spoke to children and advocated empathy, understanding and reconciliation. …

The largest concentration of black African churches outside of Africa can be found in South London. Each week, about 20,000 people attend one of the mostly Pentecostal churches in the city. Reporter Marthe van der Wolf has more from London.   …

A battered Fender Stratocaster played by the late Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia could fetch up to $400,000 at an auction in Los Angeles next week.The guitar, nicknamed Alligator because of the distinctive green alligator sticker on the front, was played by Garcia on the Grateful Dead’s 1972 European tour …

Kenya’s island of Lamu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is under threat, activists say. Authorities are constructing major projects on the mainland, including a port and an oil pipeline. They also hope to build the region’s first coal-fired power plant. While the infrastructure is likely to boost the local economy, some …

The highly anticipated final chapter in the Skywalker film saga will feature a significant role for Princess Leia, the beloved “Star Wars” character played by late actress Carrie Fisher.Writer and director J.J. Abrams said he had enough unused footage of Fisher from the filming of 2015 movie “The Force Awakens” …

Moviegoers have been offered rolling seats, 3D glasses and even rain and smells in recent years as theater chains seek to fill seats.Now comes an immersive experience that gets its U.S. launch in Los Angeles next week. It features laser projection and giant LED panels that line each side of …

A documentary on Taylor Swift will kick off the next Sundance Film Festival, where new films including the Will Ferrell-Julia Louis Dreyfus remake of the Swedish film “Force Majeure” and Benh Zeitlin’s long-awaited follow-up to “Beasts of the Southern Wild” are set to premiere.Programmers for the preeminent showcase for independent …

The resistance is rising.”Rise of the Resistance,” the highly anticipated Star Wars-based ride at Walt Disney World is debuting Thursday, three months after a land opened at the theme park resort based on the galaxy far, far away.The ride’s story-line follows a band of rebels fighting the First Order and …

Placido Domingo has sought to blame the allegations of sexual harassment against him on cultural differences between countries, adding that there are places nowadays where “one can’t say anything to a woman.”In an interview published Wednesday in Spanish leading daily El Pais, the Madrid-born tenor said “here (in Spain) it’s …

Sweden’s prison board says U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky won’t be able to perform in the Swedish prison where he was held until convicted of assault in a June street brawl in Stockholm.Citing logistical and security issues, Vilhelm Grevik of Sweden’s Prison and Probation Service told the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet …

South Korean actor Cha In-ha was found dead in his home, police said on Wednesday, the country’s third young celebrity to die in the past two months amid growing debate about the intense social pressures artists face.While South Korea’s pop culture mostly projects a wholesome image on stage and screen, …

Martin Scorsese’s sprawling crime epic “The Irishman” has been named best picture by the National Board of Review.The awards, announced Tuesday by the National Board of Review, handed Netflix its second major honor in Hollywood’s quickening awards season. On Monday evening, Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” won best feature at the …

Cicely Tyson, Seth MacFarlane and Walt Disney Co. chief executive Bob Iger will be joining the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame.Geraldine Laybourne, who helped create the Nickelodeon channel and co-founded Oxygen Media, and veteran TV director Jay Sandrich also were announced Tuesday as inductees. Sandrich’s credits include “The Mary Tyler …

Drake is the king of streaming: the rapper has been named Spotify’s most-streamed artist of the decade. Spotify announced Tuesday that Drake has been streamed 28 billion times in the last 10 years. Ed Sheeran came in second, while Post Malone, Ariana Grande and Eminem round out the Top 5. …

The woman who caused Prince Andrew’s fall from grace is appealing to the British public to support her case, saying she was an underage victims of sex trafficking by her one-time boss Jeffrey Epstein. The late financier and convicted sex offender died in jail while awaiting a new trial on …

No other ballet dancer has crossed over into mainstream popular culture quite like Misty Copeland.That was Copeland at the recent American Music Awards, dancing a passionate duet with partner Craig Hall as Taylor Swift sat at the piano singing her hit “Lover.”She’s also working on a new silent film with …

 Climate change, gun violence, the very nature of democracy and an angsty little movie star called Forky helped propel “existential” to Dictionary.com’s word of the year. The choice reflects months of high-stakes threats and crises, real and pondered, across the news, the world and throughout 2019. “In our data, it …

A medium-sized hunting dog breed called the Shiba Inu once faced extinction in Japan because of war and disease.   Now the breed is a pet owner rage in Taiwan. The size and temperament of the fluffy orange-and-white dogs mesh with people’s apartment lifestyles in dense Taiwanese cities, the dog …

A tiny wooden relic that some Christians believe to be part of Jesus’ manger arrived Saturday in its permanent home in the biblical city of Bethlehem 1,400 years after it was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope.Sheathed in an ornate case, cheerful crowds greeted the relic with …

A new statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks will stand in downtown Montgomery.The city said the statue will be unveiled Sunday at 1 p.m. at Montgomery Plaza at the Court Street Fountain.The unveiling coincides with the anniversary of Parks’ historic Dec. 1, 1955 arrest for refusing to give up …

A South Korean court sentenced two K-pop stars to prison terms Friday for sexual relations with a woman who was unable to resist.Thirty-year old Jung Joon-young and 29 year old Choi Jong-hoon were convicted of committing “special quasi-raping,” which means multiple people collaborating to have illicit sexual intercourse with a …

Chinese-owned video app TikTok says it has unblocked a U.S. teenager and restored her viral video condemning China’s treatment of its Muslim minority.                     The video was removed for 50 minutes Wednesday due to a “human moderation error,” according to a statement from Eric Han, an American who heads …

A TikTok post by a young woman, pretending to give eyelash curling advice while actually condemning China’s crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang, has gone viral on the Chinese-owned app that has been accused of censoring anti-Beijing content.The clip by US teen Feroza Aziz, who describes herself as “17 Just a …

Every year in November, Americans get a day off to give thanks.  The Thanksgiving Day holiday originated centuries ago, with a harvest celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621.  For many Americans, the holiday is also a time to celebrate the arrival of the first immigrants to the the New World. …