Twelve years after the inaugural Earth Hour observance in Australia, countries around the world continue joining the grassroots gesture against manmade CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. This year in the Philippines, armed with lightsabers, fans of the movie Star Wars joined the world with a nod to a galaxy far, far …

On a Sunday morning, a crane lowered a rusty remnant of the Holocaust onto tracks outside Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage — a vintage German train car like those used to transport men, women and children to Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps. The windowless boxcar is among 700 Holocaust …

U.S. donors and Cuban builders have completed one of the longest-running joint projects between the two countries at a low point in bilateral relations. Officials from the Boston-based Finca Vigia Foundation and Cuba’s National Cultural Heritage Council cut the ribbon Saturday evening on a state-of-the-art, $1.2 million conservation center on …

The streets around The Stonewall Inn are quiet now. But 50 years ago in June 1969, this popular gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village was the site of violent confrontation when an unprovoked police raid triggered widespread outrage, resulting in several days of riots and demonstrations. Many believe the …

The Rolling Stones are postponing their latest tour so Mick Jagger can receive medical treatment.   The band announced Saturday that Jagger was told by doctors “he cannot go on tour at this time.” The band added that Jagger “is expected to make a complete recovery so that he can …

Stevie Nicks, who became the first woman inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Janet Jackson, the latest member of the Jackson clan to enter the hall, called for other women to join them in music immortality on a night they were honored with five all-male …

Agnes Varda, the French New Wave pioneer who for decades beguiled, challenged and charmed moviegoers in films that inspired generations of filmmakers, has died. She was 90. Varda’s production company, Cine-Tamaris, said Varda died early morning Friday at her home in Paris from cancer. With a two-tone bowl haircut, the …

President Donald Trump says the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice will review the case of Jussie Smollett, after Chicago police dropped charges against the television actor who was accused of falsely reporting being a target of a hate crime. Writing on Twitter, Trump called the case “outrageous” …

A huge fan of rock legends Queen, Peng Yanzi rushed to see Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about the band’s late lead singer, Freddie Mercury, while he was traveling in Britain last October. It was a touching film that made him cry hard, Peng says. He loved it enough to watch …

The founder and all-female editorial board of the Vatican’s women’s magazine have resigned to protest what they call a campaign to discredit them and put them under the direct control of men. The editorial committee of Women Church World, a monthly supplement to the Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano, claims the …

She is from the eastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania and he is from Afghanistan. Together they make beautiful music, blending classical Eastern beats with Western style. VOA’s June Soh introduces you to an unusual musical duo, Tabla for Two, in this report narrated by Carol Pearson. …

Chicago police have dropped all charges against television actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of falsely reporting that he had been the target of a hate crime. Smollett’s attorneys announced the news Tuesday, saying their client’s record had been “wiped clean.” A spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor’s office said, …

The seven women busily making and packing sanitary napkins in a small manufacturing unit in Kathikhera village had never heard that word while growing up. That is no surprise: menstruation is a taboo subject in village homes.  That is why when the venture was launched over two years ago, several …

A documentary “Period. End of Sentence,” which won an Oscar last month, centers on a small village in Uttar Pradesh state in Northern India where a machine to make affordable sanitary napkins was installed with the help of a crowdfunding initiative by a student group in the United States. The film, made by Iranian-American …

When polo comes to Lagos, the champagne flows and exuberant fashion colors adorn the green fields. While most Nigerians would never trade their love of soccer, the commercial capital still hosts the biggest polo tournament in West Africa, with trophies fiercely disputed against a backdrop of glitz and glamour for …

Larry Cohen, the maverick B-movie director of cult horror films “It’s Alive” and “God Told Me To,” has died. He was 77. Cohen’s friend and spokesman, the actor Shade Rupe, said Cohen passed away Saturday in Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones. Cohen’s films were schlocky, low-budget films that developed …

Jordan Peele has done it again. Two years after the filmmaker’s “Get Out” became a box-office sensation, his frightening follow-up, “Us,” debuted with $70.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The opening, well above forecasts, had few parallels. It was the largest debut for an original horror …

A business in Washington, D.C., is working to empower women who have been victims of gender-based violence by targeting the growing number of consumers who are socially and environmentally conscious. Handmade handicrafts are imported from countries where women are vulnerable. Access to a broader market gives victims more opportunities for …

The U.S. President’s Guest House, commonly known as Blair House, has played a significant role in the history of American diplomacy. Milena Gjorgjievska visited the unique place and learned more about whom it has hosted and what events it has witnessed since it was built in 1824. …

Native American leaders are banding together to pressure U.S. officials to ban oil and gas exploration around a sacred tribal site that features massive stone structures and other remnants of an ancient civilization but are facing the Trump administration’s pro-drilling stance.  Creating a formal buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical …

The Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Thursday launched a campaign to fight prejudice. The move coincided with International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Begun with the French city of Bordeaux, the UNESCO billboard campaign features a variety of faces — old and young, men and women, …

An exhibition of art about Michael Jackson is opening in Germany amid fresh controversy over the singer’s alleged abuse of children. Curator Nicholas Cullinan said Thursday the show at Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle was conceived long before the recent broadcast of HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland,” which details Jackson’s alleged molestation of two …

Dubai found itself entangled in the sex abuse case against American R&B singer R. Kelly on Thursday after the performer asked a U.S. judge to allow him to come to the Arabian Peninsula sheikhdom to perform shows and “meet with the royal family.” Officials in Dubai and the wider United …

An American woman has filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, accusing the prestigious institution of “shamelessly” profiting from photos of her ancestors who were slaves in the 19th century. Tamara Lanier of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for “wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation” of images of her …

Labrador retrievers aren’t letting go of their hold on U.S. dog lovers, but German shorthaired pointers are tugging on the top ranks of doggy popularity, according to new American Kennel Club data. Labs topped the list for the 28th year in a row. Yet there’s been plenty of movement over …