Celebrities of Armenian descent including Cher and the Kardashians lent their support this week to “The Promise,” a period drama centered around the massacre of Christian Armenians during World War I in what is now Turkey. “The Promise,” out in U.S. theaters on April 21, stars Oscar Isaac as an …

Is the Force still strong with Luke Skywalker?   The first trailer for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” dropped on Friday, showcasing a morose and withdrawn Skywalker. The two-minute teaser , unveiled by director Rian Johnson at the “Star Wars Celebration” fan event in Orlando, Florida, offered few clues to …

This is the Top Five Countdown! We’re igniting the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop singles chart, for the week ending April 15, 2017. If you like new music, you’ll love this week’s lineup: we greet two new songs. Number 5: KYLE and Lil Yachty “iSpy” …

Grammy-winning guitarist and singer Glen Campbell is releasing his final studio album, recorded shortly after his Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis in 2011.   The record label, Universal Music Enterprises, announced Friday that the album, “Adios,” will be released on June 9. Campbell hasn’t performed since 2012 and is in a long-term …

The magic of nature and its wildlife often takes great patience for the humans who want to revel in it. Disneynature’s new film, Born in China, is a perfect example of that. The documentary is a little over an hour, but it was shot over three years. Dame Jane Goodall, …

Texas has a wealth of oil and gas production facilities, hundreds of ranches … and 14 national park sites that protect and preserve some of America’s most precious natural, cultural and historic land and waterscapes. National parks traveler Mikah Meyer, who’s on a mission to visit all of the more …

The local publisher of Vogue Arabia has announced Manuel Arnaut as its new editor-in-chief a day after the surprise exit of its former editor. Arnaut is currently the editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest Middle East, which like Vogue Arabia, is a publication of Conde Nast International.   In a statement released …

More than 50 U.S. cities will be hosting Make Music Day, a free one-day outdoor festival celebrating music and music-making. The annual event is June 21, the summer solstice. Highlights of Make Music Day in the U.S. will include Sousapaloozas in Chicago; Cleveland; Madison, Wisconsin; Minneapolis-St. Paul; New York; and …

University of Michigan mechanical engineering students have made one of the most popular puzzle games much larger. And tougher to solve. Seven former and current students unveiled a 1,500-pound Rubik’s Cube during a ceremony Thursday inside the G.G. Brown engineering building on the Ann Arbor campus. The massive, mostly aluminum …

Twenty years ago on April 13, 1997, American athlete Tiger Woods made history, winning one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments, the Masters, in Augusta, Georgia. He became the youngest golfer to win – and he did it by 12 strokes, a record that still stands. ​That day, Woods not only shot …

The International Olympic Committee said Thursday that it still planned to hold its annual meeting in Lima despite the devastating recent floods in Peru. The 2024 Olympic hosting vote between Los Angeles and Paris is set for September 13, the opening day of the IOC session. Peru’s suitability for the …

Russia’s lack of progress in cleaning up its doping culture and introducing a satisfactory testing regime continues to impede the country’s reinstatement to athletics, the IAAF said Thursday. Providing its latest update on Russia’s state-sponsored doping system, the  International Association of Athletics Federations also criticized the country’s decision to make …

“Star Wars” is beefing up its girl power through a new series of animated short movies featuring the sci-fi saga’s heroines including Princess Leia, Rey and Jyn Erso. Walt Disney Co. and Lucasfilm announced on Thursday that “Star Wars Forces of Destiny” will focus on the “untold stories of everyday …

Actress and gospel singer Linda Hopkins, who won a Tony Award in 1972 for the musical “Inner City,” died Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to her great-niece Hazel Lindsey. She was 92. Inspired by blues singer Bessie Smith, Hopkins wrote and starred in 1974’s one-woman musical “Me and Bessie,” and …

One afternoon when she was about seven years old, Linda Poolaw and her older brother, Robert, stepped off of the school bus to find their father, Kiowa Indian photographer Horace Poolaw, waiting in ambush, his camera in hand. “He put cowboy hats on our heads and gave us pistols to …

The Saudi princess at the helm of the newly launched Vogue Arabia has apparently left her post as editor-in-chief after just two print issues of the luxury fashion magazine. When asked about the reported departure Thursday by The Associated Press, publisher Condé Nast International said: “We will ensure you receive …

The National Portrait Gallery is putting up a photograph of American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, often referred to as “The First Lady of Song.” The portrait is on view beginning Thursday, ahead of the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald’s birth. Fitzgerald, who died in 1996 at the age of 79, would …

Bill Cosby has lost his bid to question his accuser in court before his sexual-assault case goes to trial near Philadelphia.   The 79-year-old comedian’s lawyers lost their appeal on the issue of whether accuser Andrea Constand should have been forced to testify at a preliminary hearing last year.   …

 Dozens of animators work into the night in India’s southern city of Hyderabad, fueled by caffeine and huddled over computer screens in a darkened studio to put the finishing touches on India’s biggest and most ambitious film. The makers of “Baahubali 2” hope its top-notch visual effects will wean Indian …

Every night, the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland glistens with an array of lights from the waterside restaurants and shops, creating lovely water reflections. But during the Light City festival, illuminated sculptures and colorful interactive light displays add to the beauty along the waterfront. …

British actor Jude Law has been cast to play a young version of Hogwarts’ venerable headmaster Albus Dumbledore, a key character in the second film of J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts movie spinoff, Warner Bros. said Wednesday. Law, 44, best known for his role as Dr. John Watson in the Sherlock …

American artist Ryan Mendoza, who has moved the former house of the late civil rights icon Rosa Parks from Detroit to Berlin, says he would like to return it to the United States one day. Parks’ refusal in 1955 to give up her bus seat in Alabama for a white …

Last year, Sheryl Crow started a petition on Change.org to shorten the U.S. presidential election cycle. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter said she was exhausted by the mudslinging and divisive language that had dominated the discussion about the candidates.   “I felt like it was becoming so hateful that I had to …

China, Japan and South Korea may have their differences, but they mostly see eye-to-eye on cherry blossoms. In all three north Asian countries, people flock to parks, gardens and temples to enjoy the beauty of the pinkish-white petals, often in the lingering chill of early spring. The shared natural heritage …

Silence and stillness settled over the deep, sun-baked gorge as a pair of photographers sat on a cliff, waiting.  Then the rumbling started. As it grew louder, they scrambled into position. Within seconds, a thunderous roar reverberated from the steep, narrow canyon as an F-18 fighter jet streaked through it, …