“To Kill a Mockingbird,” a coming-of-age story about racism and injustice, overcame wizards and time travelers to be voted America’s best-loved novel by readers nationwide. The 1961 book by Harper Lee emerged as No. 1 in PBS’ “The Great American Read” survey, whose results were announced Tuesday on the show’s …

A judge on Tuesday rejected Bill Cosby’s bid for a new trial or sentencing hearing, leading the comedian’s wife, Camille, to again accuse the judge of bias against her husband. The ruling by the same judge that presided over Cosby’s trial also led the entertainer’s lawyers to file their appeal …

Sean “Diddy” Combs has pledged $1 million to a network of charter schools for a new location in the Bronx.   Capital Preparatory Schools has been approved to open in September with 160 6th and 7th graders. The goal is to expand to 650 students in grades six through 11 …

Graffiti covers the ruins of Cyrene in eastern Libya, a city founded by Greeks more than 2,600 years ago that once attracted tourists but is now neglected and the target of vandals. Insecurity and looting has hit Libya’s archaeological sites in the chaos and fighting that has followed the overthrow …

French film star Catherine Deneuve received Japan’s most prestigious art award on Tuesday at a ceremony in Tokyo, where she was greeted by Emperor Akihito. Deneuve received the Praemium Imperiale for her achievement in film and theater performances.   The 84-year-old Akihito, who is abdicating at the end of April, …

More than 40 years after working on the impeachment of Richard Nixon, former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman is back on the case. This time, it’s with a book: “The Case for Impeaching Trump.” “The book really forced me to think this through,” Holtzman, a New York Democrat and member of the …

When Washington’s $500 million Museum of the Bible held its grand opening in November 2017, attended by Vice President Mike Pence, there were questions even then about the authenticity of its centerpiece collection of Dead Sea Scrolls. Now the museum has been forced to admit a painful truth: Technical analysis …

For 150 years, the British Museum has housed one of the iconic, heavy-browed stone figures that Chile’s Easter Island is famous for. Now the islanders are hoping desperately to get it back. They plan to build a copy of the four-ton monolith and, potentially swap it for the real thing. …

78th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, has been transformed from an industrial area into an art mecca. Once home to a car manufacturer, its old metal doors and freight elevators serve as a setting for bright paintings and abstract sculptures. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. …

It’s been a mystery in the United States since the Great Depression: Who are the 11 men pictured in a famous photograph called “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper”? In the 1932 photo, the construction workers are enjoying their lunch break on a metal beam, 256 meters up in the air above …

Halloween may still be a few weeks away, but New York City is getting ready to be frightened. The Morgan Library and Museum is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s book “Frankenstein,” one of the most famous horror novels of all time. VOA’s Elena Wolf went to the exhibition …

There are more than 650,000 restaurants in the United States, enough to satisfy the pickiest eater. New venues open every day, yet staying in business with such tremendous competition is no easy task. One restaurant has been able to stay open for nearly 200 years. Karina Bafradzhian takes us to …

Melissa Madara was not surprised to receive death threats Friday as her Brooklyn witchcraft store prepared to host a public hexing of newly confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh this weekend. The planned casting of an anti-Kavanaugh spell, one of the more striking instances of politically disgruntled Americans turning …

Majority-Hindu Bali has long been considered more tolerant of different sexual identities compared with other parts of Indonesia, especially amid recent anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) crackdowns in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.  But a beauty pageant promoting HIV education and equality was this month shutdown by Islamic hardliners, …

Hundreds of people have lined up in New York City as rapper Cardi B handed out free winter coats. The Bronx-born rapper met with residents and fans on Thursday evening at the Marlboro Houses in Brooklyn during brisk fall weather.   The 26-year-old also was given balloons and a cake …

Supermodel Karlie Kloss has married businessman Joshua Kushner.   Kloss posted a photo of her in a wedding dress and Kushner in a tuxedo – both of them beaming – on Instagram and Twitter Thursday night. People magazine reports the couple married at a small ceremony in upstate New York …

Thousands of Bangladeshi music fans gathered in the capital on Friday to mourn the sudden death of one of the country’s most famous rock stars. Ayub Bachchu, widely known as AB among his fans, started his music career in 1978 and was one of the pioneers of the celebrated underground …

The four major U.S. professional sports leagues could reap a combined $4.2 billion annually as a result of legal sports betting, most of it indirectly from increased fan engagement, according to a casino industry survey released on Thursday. The findings could fuel a long-simmering feud between the gaming industry and …

The U.S. Mega Millions lottery jackpot swelled to $868 million, the second largest in U.S. history, after no winning ticket emerged in Tuesday night’s drawing. The Mega Millions jackpot rose from $667 million after no one had the six numbers drawn Tuesday, extending a winless streak for the top prize …

In West Africa, as in other parts of the continent, dancing is an important part of traditions. An ocean away, in Baltimore Maryland, a multi-generational family has made performing those dances part of their tradition.  All In the Family The Von Hendricks founded an African dance company six years ago. …

You could say baseball has struck out as America’s favorite pastime, because Americans would apparently rather watch TV than head to the ballpark. Most Americans prefer to fill their spare time watching television than doing just about anything else, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Nearly 80 percent …

In West Africa, like in other parts of the continent, dancing is an important part of the daily life and traditions. And in Baltimore Maryland, a multi-generational family is performing Senegalese and other West African dances. The Von Hendricks dance in local and national festivals. They recently started a school …

Anna Burns won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday with Milkman, a vibrant, violent story about men, women, conflict and power set during Northern Ireland’s years of Catholic-Protestant violence. Burns is the first writer from Northern Ireland to win the 50,000-pound ($66,000) prize, which is open to English-language …

Former Congresswoman Mary Bono has announced she is resigning as interim president and chief executive officer of USA Gymnastics after just five days on the job. “My withdrawal comes in the wake of personal attacks that left undefended, would have made my leading USAG a liability for the organization,” Bono …

Pippa Middleton, the sister of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, has given birth to a baby boy. A spokeswoman for Middleton and her husband James Matthews said Tuesday that their first baby had been born the day before.   Kensington Palace says that Prince William and Kate are “thrilled for …