The last privately owned Leonardo da Vinci painting and one of fewer than 20 by the Renaissance artist known to still exist is hitting the auction block, Christie’s announced Tuesday. Salvator Mundi, an ethereal portrait of Jesus Christ that dates to about 1500, is expected to sell for about $100 …

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is accused of raping three women in a report published Tuesday by the New Yorker. The accusation comes as Weinstein is engulfed in a scandal involving his decades-long sexual harassment of women in the film industry. Actresses Asia Argento and Lucia Evans went on-the-record in the …

The Hollywood establishment, slow to react to the initial sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, began speaking out against him more forcefully Monday after the powerful studio boss was fired by his own company. Among those weighing in were his longtime allies and beneficiaries Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Kevin Smith …

A satirical look at the European Union and its bureaucracy, which opens with a pig running amok in one of Brussels’ main squares, has won the prestigious German Book Prize. Austrian writer Robert Menasse scooped a 25,000 euro prize for his novel Die Hauptstadt (The Capital) on Monday, on the …

Is it time to say arrivederci to Christopher Columbus? A movement to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day has gained momentum in some parts of the U.S., with Los Angeles in August becoming the biggest city yet to decide to stop honoring the Italian explorer and …

When singer Meghan Linsey first started her country duo Steel Magnolia, a partnership with the National Rifle Association was suggested as a way to grow their audience.   The proposal, which she refused, was a commonplace example of how intertwined gun ownership is with country music.   The mass shooting …

Harvey Weinstein has been fired from The Weinstein Co., effective immediately, three days after an expose detailed decades of allegations of sexual abuse against the movie mogul.   In a statement, the company’s board of directors announced his termination Sunday night, capping the swift downfall of one of Hollywood’s most …

One of Hollywood’s most powerful movie producers, Harvey Weinstein, has been fired by the board of the company he founded after a news report recounted his decades-long sexual harassment of women in the film industry. The 65-year-old Weinstein oversaw production of some of the most critically acclaimed and financially successful …

“Last Flag Flying”, a comedy-drama about Vietnam war veterans, will resonate with Trump’s America, despite, or perhaps because of, its period setting, actor Bryan Cranston said on Sunday after a screening at the London Film Festival. Set in the United States in December 2003 — when U.S. forces in Iraq …

A movie secretly shot inside an Australian-run detention center for asylum seekers highlights the plight of thousands of “forgotten” refugees who have been marooned for years on remote Pacific islands, its co-directors said on Sunday. “Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time”, which had its international premiere at the London Film …

When Israel’s envoy told UNESCO delegates last July that fixing the plumbing in his toilet was more important than their latest ruling, it highlighted how fractious geopolitics are paralyzing the workings of the agency. Whoever wins the race to replace Irina Bokova as head of the U.N.’s cultural and education …

The rise and fall of flamboyant, ferocious Ezekiel Dlamini, a black South African boxer known as “King Kong” who was jailed for murder, inspired a 1959 musical whose black cast performed for multi-racial audiences, testing the apartheid system of that era. Now the musical that helped to propel the careers …

According to the American Medical Association, a big anti-smoking effort launched more than 50 years ago saved more than 8 million lives in the US. Before 1964, when the official data on smoking and its link to cancer was published, 42 percent of American adults smoked a cigarette on a …

Batman, Superman and Spiderman aren’t the only superheroes of the comic book world. At New York Comic Con, plenty of women were on hand to remind the industry of their own hero status. VOA’s Tina Trinh reports. …

The Chinese Basketball Association is on tour in the US, with teams playing against US professional squads. Calla Yu from VOA’s Mandarin Service was at a recent game in the Washington area. …

Mick Fleetwood was 16 when he left school, told his parents he wanted to pursue a career in rock ‘n’ roll, and went to London in search of gigs. A common tale, true, but this one has a happy ending. Fleetwood fell in with some talented blues enthusiasts, paid [barely] …

“Hamilton” musical creator Lin-Manuel Miranda on Friday released a new song for hurricane relief charity efforts in Puerto Rico featuring many of the music industry’s biggest Latin stars. Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Rita Moreno Luis Fonsi and many others sing on the English- and Spanish-language song “Almost Like …

In 1982, iconic filmmaker Ridley Scott imagined the dystopian world of 2019 as overcrowded, cynical, polluted and inhabited not only by humans but also by their genetically engineered look-alikes — a disposable workforce, called replicants. Almost at the doorstep of 2019, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve creates Blade Runner 2049, a sequel …

We’re cranking up the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending Oct. 7, 2017. Three consecutive weeks, three consecutive Hot Shot Debuts in the Top Five – that’s incredible, and it’s not even our biggest story! Number 5: Luis Fonsi, Daddy …

In 1982’s iconic Blade Runner, filmmaker Ridley Scott imagined the dystopian world of 2019 as overcrowded, polluted and inhabited not only by humans but by their genetically engineered lookalikes – a disposable workforce called replicants. Almost at the doorstep of 2019, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve creates Blade Runner 2049, a sequel …

Accepting the Golden Globe best actress award in 2012 for “The Iron Lady,” Meryl Streep took a moment to thank the almighty – “God, Harvey Weinstein.” For decades, Weinstein has held a lofty position in Hollywood as one of the industry’s most powerful figures – an old-school, larger-than-life movie mogul …

In 1982’s ‘Blade Runner,’ filmmaker Ridley Scott imagined the dystopian world of 2019 as overcrowded, polluted and inhabited by humans and their genetically engineered look-alikes. As 2019 nears, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve creates ‘Blade Runner 2049.’ As the lines between humanity and artificial intelligence are blurred again, both films probe the …

The saga of two families pitted against a barbaric social hierarchy in the Mississippi Delta after World War II explores a racial divide that is relevant even today, the filmmaker of new movie Mudbound said. “I feel like Mudbound kind of comments on who we are now,” director and co-writer Dee Rees …

A leading Iranian chess player, barred from her homeland’s team after she refused to wear a headscarf, will now compete as a player for the United States, the US Chess Federation said. Dorsa Derakhshani, 19, who was born in Tehran, was forbidden from playing by the Iranian Chess Federation following …

George Clooney will be the 46th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award.   The American Film Institute announced Thursday it will honor the actor-director at a gala tribute in Los Angeles in June.   The 56-year-old Clooney may be on the young side for lifetime achievement awards, but this …