The Japanese summer delicacy of roasted eel, braised with a tangy sauce and sprinkled with prickly mountain pepper, is in question as the creatures with their mysterious migrations become increasingly endangered.    Soaring demand for Japanese eel, or Anguilla japonica, helped put the creatures on the International Union of Conservation …

“Despacito” is easily the song of the summer with the success of the hit stretching beyond Spanish-speaking audiences to make it the year’s most recognized song in the U.S. and elsewhere. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s song, which has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 13 weeks and counting, …

Glen Campbell, the grinning, high-pitched entertainer whose dozens of hit singles included “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Wichita Lineman” and whose appeal spanned country, pop, television and movies, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 81.   Campbell’s family said the singer died Tuesday morning in Nashville and publicist Sandy Brokaw confirmed …

Films by Greta Gerwig, Sean Baker and Agnes Varda are headed to the 55th New York Film Festival. The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the selections of 25 films for its main slate on Tuesday, including eight directed by women. The festival, held annually at Lincoln Center, is one …

Deep below London’s bustling streets, a piece of once-vital communications technology will soon be roaring back into life after years of disuse — a train. The train operates on the “mail rail” line — a 6.4-mile underground train track that once transported letters and parcels 70 feet below ground to …

A group of volunteers are dedicating their time and sewing skills to preserve old garments. As Faiza Elmasry reports, the Textile Project in Harford County in Maryland, makes connections between the past and the present. Faith Lapidus narrates. …

Hackers using the name “Mr. Smith” posted a fresh cache of stolen HBO files online Monday, and demanded that HBO pay a ransom of several million dollars to prevent further such releases. The data dump included what appear to be scripts from five “Game of Thrones” episodes, including one upcoming …

The estate of Michael Jackson says a 3-D version of the late singer’s iconic “Thriller” video is set to debut at the Venice Film Festival more than 30 years after its original premiere.   The estate says the “latest available technology” was used to convert the 14-minute short film from …

“Ditch your car” is one of the first bits of advice from author Edward Abbey, for anyone wanting to visit Utah’s vast desert landscapes. “You can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the … contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over …

Two members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were briefly detained Monday after rallying for the release of a Ukrainian filmmaker outside his Siberian prison. During Sunday’s protest in Yakutsk where Oleg Sentsov is serving his sentence, the band members unfurled a banner on a nearby bridge that …

In a vast network of tunnels carved into the rocks under the Maltese capital Valletta, faded maps of the Mediterranean hint at the place’s role in directing key battles in World War II. Malta is now restoring the 28,000 square meters (300,000 square feet) of tunnels, planning to open a …

Israel said Sunday it plans to ban Qatar’s flagship Al-Jazeera network from operating in the country over allegations it incites violence, joining Arab nations that have shut down the broadcaster amid a separate political dispute. The news organization, in turn, said it will take legal action. Communications Minister Ayoob Kara …

As a steady flow of visitors slowly made their way through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on a recent morning, some contemplated a special exhibition on the Khmer Rouge terror in Cambodia, which wiped out almost a fifth of the population. Helen Wedgewood, an American tourist, was among those in …

The music video for the No. 1 hit song Despacito has a new record — it’s become the most popular clip on YouTube of all-time with more than 3 billion views. YouTube announced Friday that Luis Fonsi’s ubiquitous song with Daddy Yankee has surpassed previous record holder See You Again, the …

The Western state of Utah is home to stunning red rock formations shaped by geological forces over millions of years. Some of the most beautiful are at five of the state’s most popular national park sites, known as “The Mighty 5.” At Arches National Park alone, there are more than …

Steve Jobs – who helped usher in the era of personal computers – has been the subject of movies and books, but his complicated life, and the ubiquitous objects he left behind, also turn out to be the stuff of opera. “Steve Jobs’ life was complicated and messy,” notes Grammy-nominated …

Agatha Christie lived here once, but only memories remain of the time the world’s best-selling fiction writer spent among the ruins of the ancient Iraqi city of Nimrud. The mud-brick house where the British author of Murder on the Orient Express once stayed is long gone. If she were alive …

A New Orleanslike musical funeral procession with a band set in Vietnam and a transgender fire-eater are all a part of a multimedia traveling exhibit by a Ho Chi Minh City-based artist collective called The Propeller Group. The exhibit is showing at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of …

There is an emerging contemporary art scene in Vietnam, and it includes a collective of Ho Chi Minh City-based artists who come from multicultural backgrounds called The Propeller Group. While the group rarely shows its work in Vietnam because of censorship, there is a traveling exhibit of its work in …

The art of French painter Henri Matisse is enough to draw a visitor to any gallery. The painter was drawn to art himself and during his lifetime gathered a collection of objects from around the world that inspired his art. London’s Royal Academy of Arts has staged a unique exhibit …

This year’s Kennedy Center honorees will include two singers, a television writer, a dancer — and for the first time, a hip-hop artist. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday announced the recipients of the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors. They are: hip-hop artist LL Cool J, …

Upmarket fashion magazine Vogue has featured an unexpected new model in its latest edition — London’s first female police chief. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has posed in her uniform for the glossy magazine as part of a feature that celebrates women at the top of their game. Dick, 56, …

Donald Trump once questioned the wisdom of taking vacations. “What’s the point?” he asked. But now the president is getting ready to join the annual August exodus from this town he calls “the swamp.” Trump is due to set out Friday on his first extended vacation from Washington since the …

We’re in the mix with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending August 5, 2017. Lo and behold, we get a new song this week to supercharge our lineup. It happens in fifth place, where French Montana and Swae Lee …

The art of beadwork goes back centuries. In Baltimore, Maryland, American artist Joyce Scott continues the art form by creating elaborate beaded pieces that often focus on social and political injustices. …