“At the actual breakup of the Beatles, it was painful,” Paul McCartney said during a 1990 television interview. “We likened it to a divorce.” Twenty years earlier on April 10, McCartney signaled the end of the Fab Four during his unveiling of his solo album “McCartney.” On April 9, McCartney released …

The biggest U.S. news story of 2016 — the tumultuous presidential campaign — yielded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for the Washington Post reporter who not only raised doubts about Donald Trump’s charitable giving but also revealed that the candidate had been recorded crudely bragging about grabbing women.   David …

Herbie Hancock has twice before visited Havana to perform intimate solo-duet concerts with his Cuban counterpart Chucho Valdes, but at the end of April the two renowned jazz pianists will be collaborating on a grander scale.   Hancock and Valdes will be serving as artistic directors for the 6th International …

Rapper Drake and EDM duo The Chainsmokers are the top contenders at the Billboard Music Awards with 22 nominations each.   Dick clark productions announced Monday that the performers set a record for most nominations in a year. The 2017 awards show will air live May 21 from the T-Mobile …

The United States, Mexico and Canada will make a bid to jointly host FIFA’s 2026 World Cup. Held every four years, the U.S. last hosted the prestigious event in 1994 and Mexico in 1986. Canada has never hosted a men’s World Cup, and no World Cup has ever been jointly …

People born into the digital age are unlikely to have experienced the magic that happens when the needle of a turntable touches a record’s grooves. But this 150-year-old technology has been enjoying a revival around the world. One of the companies producing quality turntables is located in the Czech Republic. …

Veteran Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia finally captured his first major title, winning Sunday’s Masters championship in Augusta, Georgia, in a sudden death playoff over Britain’s Justin Rose. The two players are long-time friends and they both finished regulation at 9-under-par. On the first extra hole, where they again played the …

Chuck Berry fans are getting their chance to pay their respects to the rock ’n’ roll visionary, roughly three weeks after his death at age 90 near his hometown of St. Louis.   Fans of the legend behind such classics as Johnny B. Goode, Sweet Little Sixteen and Roll Over …

Family, friends and fans paid their final respects to the rock `n’ roll legend Chuck Berry on Sunday, celebrating the life and career of a man who inspired countless guitarists and bands. The celebration began with a public viewing at The Pageant, a music club in Berry’s hometown of St. …

Late rapper Tupac Shakur and 1960s protest singer Joan Baez were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Friday on a night where nostalgia was mixed with calls to political action. Former Journey frontman Steve Perry reunited on stage with his “Don’t Stop Believin’” bandmates for the …

Don Rickles, the master insult comic who created laughs with ridicule and sarcasm in a decades-long career that earned him the facetious nickname “Mr. Warmth,” died on Thursday at his Los Angeles home from kidney failure, his publicist said. He was 90. Rickles, who said he developed his brand of …

Paul O’Neill, who founded the progressive metal band Trans-Siberian Orchestra that was known for its spectacular holiday concerts filled with theatrics, lasers and pyrotechnics, has died. He was 61.   University of South Florida police spokeswoman Renna Reddick said O’Neill was found dead in his room by hotel staff at …

Pop star Britney Spears may not be topping the charts these days, but she’s still big enough to influence elections in another country. Because of a July 3 Spears concert in Tel Aviv, a first for the singer, Israel’s Labor Party decided to push back primary voting by a day. …

Iranian-American Nilou Motamed began her second year as editor-in-chief of Food & Wine, an American lifestyle magazine dedicated to covering new trends in food, drink, travel, design and entertaining. In an interview with VOA Persian journalist Saman Arbabi in New York, the 45-year-old Motamed explains how her Iranian roots inspired …

Ahmad Ahmad was elected head of Confederation of African Football last month …

A court paved the way Wednesday for Poland’s government to take control of a new World War Two museum that has been the focus of a major ideological standoff over how to remember the war. The conflict has pitted the creators of the Museum of the Second World War — …

Country star Alan Jackson, actor-singer-guitarist Jerry Reed and songwriter Don Schlitz will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year. Their selection was announced Wednesday. Jackson, 58, from Newnan, Georgia, broke out in 1990 with his neo-traditional style of honky-tonk country music that earned him several …

The Pew Research Center says Muslims are soon to rival Christians as the largest religious group worldwide, with higher birth rates among Muslim families predicted to increase the Muslim population to a number ties with Christians by 2060. Pew said in a study released Wednesday that by 2060 Muslims will …

It’s a game that is deadly serious.   In this make-believe world, humanity teeters on the brink of destruction.  With each flip of a card, virulent and deadly diseases get a fiendish chance to advance across the globe. In this world, Yaianni and his friends are valiant public health officials, …

Get ready for solar eclipse mania. Destinations in the path of the Aug. 21 eclipse, which will be visible in the U.S. along a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina, are going wild with plans for festivals, concerts and viewing parties.   Hotels in Casper, Wyoming, are charging five …

Nearly 200 independent movie theaters across the United States on Tuesday screened the film version of George Orwell’s “1984” novel about a dystopian future, in what organizers said was a stand against U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The United State of Cinema, which arranged the screenings in 44 U.S. states …

Like Russia’s star Alex Ovechkin, the International Ice Hockey Federation thinks NHL players need not miss the 2018 Winter Olympics — though team owners likely now need a “game-changer” offer on the table.  “We are continuing to try to find solutions,” the governing body’s general secretary Horst Lichtner told The …

Scripps National Spelling Bee winners aced “gesellschaft” and “feldenkrais” to be named co-champions of last year’s competition, but it was the word “tie” that gave organizers a headache. On Tuesday, the contest revealed new rules aimed at preventing ties after the annual competition ended in a dead heat three years …

Tom Brady’s Super Bowl jersey was stolen again – this time by Rob Gronkowski in full view of 37,000 screaming Red Sox fans. The New England Patriots quarterback was showing off the recently re-acquired uniform top during the pregame ceremony on opening day at Fenway Park on Monday when Gronkowski …

It’s OK, Carolina, you can open your eyes. An unwatchable game turned into a beautiful night for the Tar Heels, who turned a free-throw contest into a championship they’ve been waiting an entire year to celebrate.      Justin Jackson delivered the go-ahead 3-point play with 1:40 left Monday and …