More than 200 Indonesian musicians have started a movement against a draft bill on music law (RUU Permusikan) being considered in the legislature that they say could limit freedom of expression. Mondo Gascaro, a composer and music producer, and one of the people who initiated the National Coalition against the …

Five months after fire gutted Brazil’s 200-year-old National Museum, the site that once held some of the nation’s greatest treasures remains a ruin of scorched walls, twisted metal and piles of ash.   Museum director Alexander Kellner said Tuesday that plans to rebuild the structure have just gotten underway, starting …

A movie premiering in Berlin tells the true story of a young boy from a famine-stricken village in Malawi who studies books about energy then builds a wind turbine that enables farmers to irrigate their land. Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” tells the story of …

Cardi B has deactivated her Instagram account following social media criticism of her winning a Grammy for best rap album. Some people said the 26-year-old rapper didn’t deserve the Grammy over other nominees. The criticism was amplified by a now-deleted BET tweet that pitted Cardi B against her longtime rival …

The top films in 2018 featured more female and people of color in lead roles than ever before, according to a new study from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. In a report released Tuesday, researchers found that women were the lead or co-lead in 40 of the …

George Clooney is frustrated by the way the media is treating Megan Markle, comparing it to how the media covered Princess Diana.   Clooney told reporters the American actress who became the Duchess of Sussex is “a woman who is seven months pregnant and she has been pursued and vilified …

Hulu is teaming with Marvel to make four separate animated series based on comic book characters like Howard the Duck. Director Kevin Smith and comics Chelsea Handler and Patton Oswalt are among the people who have signed deals with the streaming service to help produce the cartoons. Smith will work …

Totalitarian regimes and their mark on the human psyche, nostalgic depictions of life in Mexico City riddled with socio economic and racial divisions and the toll of poverty and war on children and families are themes of this year’s Oscar nominees in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. VOA’s …

Women returned at the Grammys on Sunday as female acts won album of the year and best new artist, while rap also triumphed, with Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” becoming the first rap-based song to win record and song of the year. Kacey Musgraves’ “Golden Hour” picked up album of …

Women returned at the Grammys on Sunday as female acts won album of the year and best new artist, while rap also triumphed, with Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” becoming the first rap-based song to win record and song of the year. Kacey Musgraves’ “Golden Hour” picked up album of …

The National Enquirer committed neither extortion nor blackmail by threatening to publish intimate photos of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, an attorney for the head of the tabloid’s parent company said Sunday. Elkan Abromowitz, an attorney for American Media Inc. chief executive David Pecker, said on Sunday a “reliable source” well-known …

The music world hit the red carpet Sunday for the Grammys, with hip-hop royalty and a bevy of talented women leading the pack — and early awards going to top nominees Brandi Carlile and Lady Gaga. In the pre-gala ceremony in Los Angeles, at which most of the more than …

Some 6,000 languages are spoken in the world, and nearly half of them are endangered, according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. One of them is Theron Musuweu Kolokwe’s native tongue, Subiya, a Bantu language spoken by more than 30,000 people along the Zambezi River in …

Rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake may lead the nominations, but Sunday’s Grammy Awards looks set to be a showcase for girl power. Outspoken rapper Cardi B, whose music and personal life has dominated pop culture for the past two years, leads the charge on music’s biggest night with a live …

Americans have not needed iceboxes to keep food cold for nearly a century, ever since refrigerators became widely available. But that doesn’t stop folks in Holderness, N.H., from carrying out a winter task that’s been done for more than 120 years — harvesting ice for the summer months. Faith Lapidus …

Wearing a headscarf and a smile, Muslim movie director and writer Lena Khan stands out when she walks in Hollywood circles. “It’s very hard to be a female filmmaker in Hollywood, that is for sure,” she said. “I think they feel like you don’t have as much authority, or you …

The Hollywood film industry is hard for anyone to break into. There may be a few more hurdles if you are a woman and Muslim. One filmmaker found success both in Hollywood and in her own community. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports from Los Angeles. …

The Vatican’s former doctrine chief has penned a “manifesto of faith” to remind Catholics of basic tenets of belief amid what he says is “growing confusion” in the church today. Cardinal Gerhard Mueller didn’t name Pope Francis in his four-page manifesto, released late Friday. But the document was nevertheless a …

Albert Finney, one of the most respected and versatile actors of his generation and the star of films as diverse as “Tom Jones” and “Skyfall,” has died. He was 82. From his early days as a strikingly handsome and magnetic screen presence to his closing acts as a brilliant character …

Excess rainwater flowing into streams and waterways — carrying pollutants and contaminants — is a problem for urban areas across the country. To combat it, an increasing number of cities across the U.S. are initiating programs like rooftop gardens to help absorb the rain, and in some cases also grow …

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the National Enquirer is threatening to publish revealing photographs of him unless his private investigators back off the tabloid. Bezos detailed the revelations in a Thursday post on Medium.com. He accuses the Enquirer of “extortion and blackmail.” The National Enquirer published a story last month …

Legendary baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, the first black manager in the U.S. major leagues, died Thursday in Los Angeles at 83. He had been suffering from bone cancer and was in hospice care at his home. Even if he had not become baseball’s first African-American manager, Robinson’s feats …

Filmmaker Woody Allen has filed a $68 million lawsuit against Amazon for breach of contract, accusing the streaming giant of canceling a film deal because of a “baseless” decades-old allegation that he sexually abused his daughter. Allen says Amazon sought to terminate the deal in June, and has since refused …

F.A. Cole was 11 when her stepmother told her to dress up for a special occasion near her hometown of Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was, instead, a traumatic occasion, Cole recalls 34 years later. Her stepmother turned her over to a small group of women, who led her into a …

Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, one of the most popular film stars in the world, is engaged to her boyfriend, an art gallery director, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday. Her future husband is Cooke Maroney, 34, her representative confirmed to People Magazine, the publication reported on its website. Lawrence, 28, was …