Only a few days after Elton John announced he will retire from touring in three years, another venerable music figure is throwing in the touring towel — Paul Simon. Simon, 76, took to social media Monday to say his upcoming tour will be his last, citing the personal toll of …

“Grid kids” are replacing “grid girls” in Formula One as the motorsport series continues to change ahead of the new season. F1 says youngsters from motorsport clubs, who for example are already competing in karting, will stand alongside drivers on the grid before races this season. Monday’s announcement comes after …

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl victory set off a celebration that has been 58 years in the making. Just as Nick Foles and the Eagles clinched a surprising 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots in Minneapolis for the team’s first Super Bowl title Sunday night, the scene more than …

A Ram truck ad that used a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., is drawing a backlash. The ad shows people doing service-oriented tasks set against audio of King’s speech, which urges people to be “great” by serving the greater good rather than being successful. It was supposed to highlight …

North and South Korea face a widening linguistic divide after 70 years of division, and that is a challenge for the rivals’ first-ever joint Olympic team as it prepares for the Pyeongchang Winter Games. The Canadian coach of the joint women’s hockey team said Monday her squad has made a …

This year’s Oscar nominees in the Best Actress and Supporting Actress categories play complex and empowered women. Their critical acclaim and success at the box office point to the power of female characters in the narrative coming out of Hollywood these days.  In the Oscar-nominated drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri,” …

The underdog Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to win the 52nd edition of the U.S. National Football League’s annual Super Bowl championship. The win gave the Eagles, representing the National Football Conference, their first-ever Super Bowl trophy after two previous appearances.  Eagles quarterback Nick …

The heir to “Titanic” is … “Jumanji: Welcome the Jungle”? For the first time since James Cameron’s 1998 disaster epic, a December release has topped the weekend box office in February. Seven weeks after first opening in theaters, Sony Pictures’ “Jumanji” again took the top spot at the North American …

The second half is underway in Superbowl LII (52) and the underdog Philadelphia Eagles are leading the favored New England Patriots 22 to 12. The game to determine the American football championship has been a lot closer than the halftime score indicates. This year’s game is being played in Minneapolis, …

It’s -11 degrees Celsius here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but it feels like -20. The sun has set and the wind is whipping — anywhere else and that would be the perfect excuse to stay indoors.  But here, on the eve of the biggest football game of the year, the biggest …

For a lot of people, there’s nothing better than a piece of candy. Sweets go back to the ancient Egyptians, who ate honey with sesame seeds. In the United States, candy has a fascinating history that can be traced back centuries at the True Treats Historic Candy store in Harpers …

Dozens of designers from Haiti and around the world showcased their spring-summer collections against a lush tropical background during the recent Haiti Fashion Week. The January 28-31 event in Petionville focused on the theme “Innovation” and “haute couture” this year. Event founder Maguy Durce said her main goal was to …

A provocative film that chronicles racism and brutality in the 1920s has been released in Australia. Set in the red dust of the outback, “Sweet Country” is the story of an Aboriginal herder who goes on the run after killing a white landowner in self-defense. The film is a historical, …

After a season that started in early September, the NFL’s final game is just around the corner. Minneapolis, Minnesota, is hosting the single biggest event in American sports, despite local disappointment that the home team came one win short of a Super Bowl appearance. But that didn’t stop fans from …

James Ivory didn’t see “Call Me By Your Name” with an audience until the week before he was nominated for its screenplay. He caught it at a New York theater with a good audience, he says, that applauded at the end. It was his first tangible taste of the adulation …

All five former members of the Spice Girls have met up amid rumors of a plan to reunite the girl-power group. Photos posted by several group members on social media showed Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham, Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm, Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton, Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown and Geri “Ginger …

Britain’s Prince Andrew says an Oct. 12 wedding date has been set for his daughter, Princess Eugenie. Andrew, the third child of Queen Elizabeth II, announced the date Friday on his official Twitter account. Eugenie, the 27-year-old daughter of Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, will marry Jack Brooksbank at …

February in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is cold — the kind of cold that stings your face and burns your lungs as soon as you walk outside. Today’s temperature is minus 10 degrees Celsius, and local business owner Brad Rohles is getting ready for work. Boots? Check. Heavy jacket? Check. Gloves? Check. …

Minneapolis is known for being cold — extremely cold. But when the temperatures drop and the wind chill bites, how do local residents cope and still carry on with their day-to-day lives? VOA’s Brian Allen will take you up into the sky, or more specifically, up into the Skyway to …

Investigators in the unsolved 1981 drowning death of actress Natalie Wood have named her husband, actor Robert Wagner, as a “person of interest” in a case that stunned the nation. Wood’s body was found floating off Santa Catalina Island the morning after she disappeared from a yachting party with Wagner, …

Haiti’s teen women’s soccer team made history this week when it qualified for the country’s first FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup berth. Star midfielder Sherly Jeudy scored the winning goal to lead the team to a 1-0 victory over Canada in the third-place game Sunday at the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship, held …

Wanda Sykes, Gabourey Sidibe and Danny Glover will be among the readers for an audio edition of speeches and essays by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “The Radical King” is a collection of 23 works by King that go beyond civil rights and emphasize his belief in the redistribution …

To say winter gets really cold in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the midwestern, American state of Minnesota is an understatement. On this day, with temperatures hovering at around minus two or three degrees Celsius, it’s enough to make most people run and hide some place …

A Massachusetts grandmother worried that no one would believe her story of meeting Beyonce before the Grammys — until a picture of her star-struck reaction appeared on the singer’s Instagram page . The picture shows Beyonce and Jay-Z strolling down a hotel hallway past Shrewsbury resident Susan Monaghan, her mouth …

Fans attending the Super Bowl in Minneapolis will have the chance to go through security screening off-site, and out of the elements. NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier says this is the first time remote satellite checkpoints are being used for a Super Bowl, and she says it’s by far …