Organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Wednesday unveiled a cherry-blossom shaped torch for the Games as the city prepares for the famed flower season to begin in coming days. The top part of the torch is shaped in the traditional emblem of the sakura, or cherry blossom using the …

Jordan Peele’s sweet spot as a filmmaker are the “pit in your stomach” moments. That thing that happens when you realize the woman stirring the tea isn’t just there for conversation. When you notice that the help is a little off. Or, as in his new film Us, when you …

Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) chief Tsunekazu Takeda, who is expected to announce plans to step down on Tuesday, is also set to resign as a member of the International Olympics Committee, Kyodo News reported. French prosecutors questioned Takeda in Paris and placed him under formal investigation in December for suspected …

Like Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz,” the Southern California city of Lake Elsinore is being overwhelmed by the power of the poppies.   About 150,000 people over the weekend flocked to see this year’s rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near the city of about …

When you think of a chess champion, you generally picture a serious gentleman in a suit and tie, stroking his beard while he stares at the board, contemplating his next move. New York’s newest champ defies all those categories — he’s an 8-year-old smiling Nigerian refugee who lives in a …

Dick Dale, whose pounding, blaringly loud power-chord instrumentals on songs like “Miserlou” and “Let’s Go Trippin’” earned him the title King of the Surf Guitar, has died at age 81. His former bassist Sam Bolle says Dick Dale passed away Saturday night. No other details were available. Dale liked to …

Fox News weekend host Jeanine Pirro’s show didn’t air a week after her comments questioning U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar over her wearing a Muslim head covering. No explanation was given. Pirro’s show, “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” was replaced Saturday night by other programming. The Fox News schedule for the upcoming …

As rising nationalism and the crisis surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union intensify divisions on the continent, a new exhibit in the French capital looks instead at a powerful unifier: Music. The music the came with the postwar colonial migrations helped turn two of Europe’s most important hubs, London …

As rising nationalism and the crisis surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union intensify divisions on the continent, a new exhibit in Paris looks instead at a powerful unifier. Music arriving with postwar colonial migrations helped turn two of Europe’s most important hubs, London and Paris, into multicultural melting pots. …

A Pakistani immigrant who came to the U.S. as an impoverished young adult now helps feed the homeless and needy in his popular Washington restaurant. As a Muslim American, he says he’s simply heeding the will of God; to serve his fellow men with what he has. Which in his …

“I hope I die before I get old,” The Who sang in their 1965 hit “My Generation.” But more than 50 years on, the veteran rock band’s two surviving original members are set for a new tour named “Moving On!” and the release of their first album of new music …

The Hallmark Channel cut ties Thursday with favored star Lori Loughlin, a day after her arrest in a college admissions scam put the family-friendly network and extended Hallmark brand in uncomfortable proximity to a headline-grabbing scandal. “We are saddened by the recent allegations surrounding the college admissions process,” Hallmark Cards …

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty in a Chicago court on Thursday to new charges that he falsely reported to police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault on a city street. Wearing a navy suit and dress coat, Smollett, 36, appeared serious and quiet …

South Korea’s entertainment industry was upended this week after a celebrity’s cell phone, which was in for repairs, revealed widespread alleged acts of sexual misconduct. YG Entertainment, which is tied closely to the stars at the center of the scandal, has seen its stock fluctuate this week as high-profile K-pop …

In the U.S. these days, cheese is emerging as a product and point of pride that in some circles. That was clear at the United States Championship Cheese Contest held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, last week. A crowd of approximately 500 people packed into a ballroom to see a U.S. …

Italy’s art police say they have identified six suspects in connection with a 2017 Modigliani exhibit that was comprised mostly of fakes. The Carabinieri art squad announced Wednesday that the suspects include an artist who may have counterfeited works of Amedeo Modigliani; two collectors, including an American who procured most …

Pete Kaiser has become the latest Alaska Native to win the Iditarod dog sled race. Kaiser won the race for the first time early Wednesday, crossing the finish line in Nome after beating back a challenge from the defending champion, Norwegian musher Joar Ulsom. Crowds cheered and clapped as Kaiser …

Most people wouldn’t consider the global refugee crisis a laughing matter, but American comic actor Ben Stiller says humor can help draw people’s attention to it. Humor can help tell the stories of the more than 25 million refugees around the world, said the actor in an interview with the …

The first and only ice hockey team in Kenya continues to defy the odds by playing and practicing the sport in one of the few ice rinks found across Eastern and Central Africa. This pioneer team is now inspiring a new generation of ice hockey players who hope to expand …

Tick tock, tick tock. The Tokyo Olympic clock has hit 500 days to go.   Organizers marked the milestone on Tuesday, unveiling the stylized pictogram figures for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. The pictogram system was first used extensively in 1964 when the Japanese capital lasted hosted the Olympics _ just …

The first and only ice hockey team in Kenya continues to defy the odds by playing and practicing the sport in the only solar ice rink in Eastern and Central Africa. This pioneer team is now inspiring a new generation of ice hockey players who hope to expand the sport …

When Washington resident Joshua Clark snuggles with his son in a comfy armchair and reads to him, it brings back uncomfortable memories. Reading for fun “I remember my mom almost forcing me to read books [for] those summer reports right before you got back to school, and it was tough,” …

Kelly Catlin, an Olympic track cyclist who helped the U.S. women’s pursuit team win a silver medal at the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro, has died at the age of 23. USA Cycling announced her death in a statement Sunday, saying the community has “suffered a devastating loss.” …

Five minutes late, Darrell Todd Maurina sweeps into a meeting room and plugs in his laptop computer. He places a Wi-Fi hotspot on the table and turns on a digital recorder. The earplug in his left ear is attached to a police scanner in his pants pocket. He wears a …

Julia Ruth Stevens, the last surviving daughter of Hall of Fame baseball slugger Babe Ruth and a decades-long champion of his legacy, has died at age 102, her family has announced. Tom Stevens said Sunday that his mother died Saturday morning at an assisted living facility in Henderson, Nevada, after …