We’re soaring with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending February 10, 2018. This is a rare week. Not only do we get a new No. 1 single, it’s also the Hot Shot Debut. Number 5: Bruno Mars Featuring Cardi …

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games have officially begun in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with a spectacular light show and the traditional parade of athletes entering the Olympic stadium. This year, Nigeria has its first team in the Winter Games — a women’s bobsled team. They’ll be hurtling down the ice at …

World champion and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has 19 medals to her name, but there’s one accolade that’s been out of her reach. Until now. VOA’s Tina Trinh met with the all-star gymnast to discuss her next big goal. …

Salt Lake City, Utah, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002, is considering making a bid for the Winter Games in 2026 or 2030. Rafael Saakov from VOA’s Russian Service recently visited the Salt Lake City venues to see what they look like 16 years after the Olympics. …

It will be lights out on part of the Statue of Liberty as work is done on the monument’s electrical system.   The National Park Service says the lights that illuminate the exterior of the statue will be turned off Thursday night. But the lights on the statue’s torch, crown …

When she emerged from obscurity in the rock formations of South Dakota in the early 1990s, the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was only beginning a long legal and physical journey. Known as Sue, named for the paleontologist Sue Hendrickson who discovered her, she eventually arrived as the star attraction …

An Egyptian startup is designing video games in which the object is not just to win, but to become aware of social issues. Faith Lapidus reports. …

Since 1931, the Gerber baby food baby has been one of the world’s most familiar and ubiquitous trademarks. This year’s Gerber spokesbaby is extra-special, he is 18-month-old Lucas Warren from Dalton, Georgia, and he has Down syndrome. Lucas was chosen from 140,000 entries from across the country, all happy and …

Bollywood’s first film on menstrual hygiene, due for release on Friday, has boosted business for entrepreneurs providing affordable sanitary pads to women in India, manufacturers said. Even the trailer for “Padman” – which depicts one of Hindi cinema’s most popular action heroes, Akshay Kumar, wearing a sanitary pad – has …

Female musicians in Nashville have long complained about the lack of representation on country radio, but now a collective of female songwriters are singing “Time’s Up.” The Song Suffragettes were formed in 2014 in response to a growing concern that women were being excluded by labels and radio and spurred …

Female musicians in Nashville have long complained about the lack of representation on country radio, but now a collective of female songwriters are singing “Time’s Up.” The Song Suffragettes were formed in 2014 in response to a growing concern that women were being excluded by labels and radio and spurred …

Billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as head of Wynn Resorts, less than two weeks after the Wall Street Journal published a report about decades of allegations of sexual misconduct. The Journal article detailed several incidents in which Wynn allegedly pressured staff to perform sex acts. The allegations include …

Disney on Tuesday announced it was expanding its “Star Wars” universe, hiring the creators behind HBO’s massive TV hit “Game of Thrones” to write a new series of films set in the galaxy far, far away. The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss …

Black Panther, the first black standalone Marvel superhero movie, won rave reviews Tuesday, with critics praising both its sense of adventure and its portrayal of a majestic Africa. Directed by Ryan Coogler and featuring a predominantly black cast including Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o and Angela Bassett, Black Panther was hailed by …

On the western edge of China, Sulita straps on his skis and heads out into a winter morning. The temperature is -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit). For much of the year, skiing is the only way to get around Khom, a village of wooden cabins heated by earthen stoves, five hours’ …

“Girls Trip” changed the game for Tiffany Haddish, and now she’s being honored as one of Essence magazine’s “game-changers” at its annual “Black Women in Hollywood” awards. “Girls Trip” was one of last year’s big hits and made Haddish a breakout star. The comedian is one of four women being …

Japanese media say the palace has announced that Princess Mako’s wedding will be postponed. Mako and her college classmate Kei Komuro announced their engagement last September. Mako is Emperor Akihito’s oldest grandchild. According to Japanese media, the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday that the wedding, planned for November, will be …

Tayari Jones, whose novel “An American Marriage” has been chosen for Oprah Winfrey’s book club, will always remember that phone call from last October. She was driving in Las Vegas, expecting to hear from books editor Leigh Haber of Winfrey’s magazine, “O,” for which Jones has written reviews. “But instead …

A shipload of North Korean musicians, singers and dancers arrived in South Korea on Tuesday to perform at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The arrival of the Mangyongbong 92 cruise ship was met by hordes of reporters and cameramen — and a small but boisterous protest by a group of South …

Documentarian Agnes Varda is not only the oldest person ever nominated for an Academy Award, she’s the first woman to receive an honorary Oscar and a competitive nomination in the same season. And while she’s quite delighted by the recognition, the 89-year-old notes that she is “not proud.” She is …

Drake had no trouble drawing crowds as he visited Miami to shoot a music video.   Images shared by fans on social media show Miami Senior High students singing along as Drake performs “God’s Plan” from a crane above the school’s baseball field. A drone captured Monday’s surprise concert by …

The president of the group that hands out the annual Oscars declared on Monday that some of the worst abuses in the movie industry were finally being “jack-hammered into oblivion.” John Bailey, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told more than 200 Oscar nominees that the …

Ruffled, sparkly rock star outfits worn by Prince and one of his famous white “Cloud” guitars are among memorabilia of the late superstar up for auction May 18 to kick off a two-day “music icons” sale, Julien’s Auctions announced Monday.   The auction will take place both online and live …

The first trailer of Solo: A Star Wars Story has finally arrived, offering a glimpse of the much-anticipated spinoff plagued by production troubles. After a 45-second ad for the latest Star Wars film played during Sunday’s Super Bowl, a 90-second teaser trailer premiered Monday on Good Morning, America. The footage …

The annual BMI Latin Awards will honor Luis Fonsi not only for his mega smash “Despacito” but for the string of hits he’s racked up over two decades. Fonsi is to receive the BMI President’s Award on March 20 in Beverly Hills, California. BMI says it is honoring Fonsi for …