Mitch Seavey won his third Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, becoming the fastest and oldest champion at age 57 and helping cement his family’s position as mushing royalty. The Seward, Alaska, musher brought his dogs off the frozen Bering Sea and onto Front Street in the Gold Rush …

Walt Disney has shelved the release of its new movie “Beauty and the Beast” in mainly Muslim Malaysia, even though film censors said Tuesday it had been approved with a minor cut involving a “gay moment.” The country’s two main cinema chains said the movie, due for to begin screening …

Ed Sheeran will guest star in the upcoming season of “Game of Thrones.” The show’s producers made the announcement Sunday night during a panel discussion at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Texas.   Producer David Benioff told the audience that they’ve been trying to get the 26-year-old British …

Kim Kardashian West is opening up about being held at gunpoint during a jewelry heist in Paris last year.   In a preview of next week’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” Kardashian West recalls seeing the gun “as clear as day.” Kardashian West emotionally describes the episode to her sisters …

The trendsetting South by Southwest music festival is all about the next big thing, but the heated politics of the moment is stealing the show. Tensions over immigration have put a heavy air over the typically breezy weeklong music bash that begins Monday and includes headliners The Avett Brothers, Weezer …

Hundred of devotees in northern India’s holy city of Mathura rejoiced over the Hindu festival of colors, ‘Holi’, on Sunday, as they gathered in large numbers at the mythical birth place of Lord Krishna. Though ‘Holi’ is a single-day affair elsewhere in India, it is almost a 10-day festival across …

Joni Sledge, who with her sisters recorded the enduring dance anthem We Are Family, has died, the band’s representative said Saturday. She was 60.   Sledge was found dead in her home by a friend in Phoenix, Arizona, Friday, the band’s publicist, Biff Warren, said. A cause of death has not …

You’ve heard of Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood, but have you heard of Eastleighwood? Eastleigh is a primarily Somali district of Nairobi known to some as little Mogadishu. A group of young people there has been making films to counter stereotypes and radicalization. Rael Ombuor has the story for VOA from …

A new visitors’ center on the Eastern Shore explores the history of one of Maryland’s most famous figures, the Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist and Civil War spy Harriet Tubman.   The $21 million Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center is in Church Creek, about a two-hour drive from Baltimore. It …

The sequel to all-time box office champion “Avatar” has been delayed again and will not be arriving in movie theaters as expected in 2018, director James Cameron has said. Cameron told the Toronto Star that he was working on all four planned movie sequels simultaneously and had no firm release …

Robert James Waller, whose best-selling, bittersweet 1992 romance novel “The Bridges of Madison County” was turned into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood and later into a soaring Broadway musical, has died in Texas, according to a longtime friend. He was 77.   Scott Cawelti, of Cedar Falls, …

We’re coming on strong with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending March 11, 2017. Last week, if you recall, we had a big new entry in fourth place. Well, THIS week, we have a big new entry in fourth …

Archaeologists from Egypt and Germany have found a massive eight-meter statue submerged in ground water in a Cairo slum that they say probably depicts revered Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. The discovery, hailed by the Antiquities Ministry as one of the most important ever, …

Ever wonder what it’s like to ride on a swamp buggy? Just hop on board with national parks traveler Mikah Meyer and his friends as they explore the swamplands at Old Cypress National Preserve in southern Florida. …

Since January of this year, thousands of school children in India’s northeastern state of Assam have pored over an illustrated story of how two young girls from a relief camp were lured by a man who told them of the good life they could lead in a big city, home …

Driving through the ancient swamplands of the Big Cypress National Preserve in southern Florida made national parks traveler Mikah Meyer feel like he was in another world. Ghostly landscape “Because it was so early, it was super foggy,” he said. “We couldn’t see more than 20- 30 feet in front …

Senior citizens who move to Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville, Maryland, have a chance to start new careers in television. No matter what they did before retiring, they’re encouraged to participate in creating a range of programs broadcast on channel 972, a closed circuit 24-hour TV station. Faiza Elmasry has …

Before leaving her home each day to teach art to children, Mariluce Maria de Souza must factor in extra time to account for the shootings and other eruptions of violence that occur daily in Alemao, Rio de Janeiro’s largest complex of slums, or favelas. The 35-year-old mother sometimes has to …

Lagos has long been known as Nigeria’s pop culture hub. It’s the home of Nigeria’s film industry, Nollywood, as well as many of the country’s top musicians and artists. But a group of rappers and fashion designers is creating a scene of their own in Kaduna, in northern Nigeria, some …

Today, woman around the world are celebrating International Women’s Day.  U.N. agencies are calling for greater efforts to ensure gender equality and end hunger and poverty. …

You may not particularly recall Nov. 16, but Broadway actor Michael Luwoye will never forget it. It was a Wednesday and he certainly earned his salary that day. Luwoye played the title role in the mega-hit musical “Hamilton” at the matinee and then suited up a few hours later to …

A lawyer for Scarlett Johansson’s husband Romain Dauriac says he’s “shocked” that the star filed for divorce.   Johansson’s filing in a New York City court on Tuesday states that her marriage to Dauriac is “irretrievably broken.” The move follows a January announcement that the couple split last summer after …

It’s clear the U.S. women’s long-time reign as the world’s number-one ranked soccer team is being seriously challenged. Number-three France did not just beat the Americans in a friendly tournament hosted by the United States, but did it convincingly.  The French scored twice in the first 10 minutes Tuesday night …

Jackie Chan says letting more Hollywood movies into the Chinese market would pressure Chinese filmmakers to make better films. China sets a quota on the number of foreign movies allowed to be shown in the country, trying to fend off a cinematic wave that could swamp local filmmakers and loosen …

Two of the most celebrated actors of their generation, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, will star together for the first time in new Steven Spielberg political drama “The Post,” according to Hollywood trade magazine Variety. The film will focus on the Washington Post’s publication of the 1971 Pentagon Papers, which …