Africa’s largest film festival, Fespaco, recently celebrated its 25th edition. The main venue, as always, was the old and respectable Cine Burkina, in the heart of the capital Ouagadougou. The city used to have at least nine dedicated cinemas — now only two remain. It is a picture that is …

IOC member Frank Fredericks has stepped down from his role overseeing the 2024 Olympic bidding process after a $300,000 payment from a banned track official was revealed. Fredericks says “Paris and Los Angeles are presenting two fantastic candidatures and I do not wish to become a distraction.” The Namibian sprinter, …

The Oklahoma City bombing nearly 22 years ago was an act of domestic terror by U.S. military veteran Timothy McVeigh and his accomplice, Terry Nichols. The bombing destroyed one third of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people and injuring 680 others. In …

Actor Alec Baldwin said that his impersonation of U.S. President Donald Trump on NBC’s sketch show “Saturday Night Live” has revived his “dead” comedy career after he wrapped up sitcom “30 Rock” in 2012. “I didn’t realize in the comedy terms that I was dead,” Baldwin told Reuters on Monday …

Pop star George Michael died from natural causes, according to a British coroner. Specifically, the singer died of “dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver,” according to Darren Salter senior coroner for Oxfordshire, where Michael died last Christmas at the age of 53. The heart conditions named interfere with the …

For generations, the circus meant big entertainment – elephants, lion tamers, dancing bears, high-wire acts. But times, and tastes, have changed. In May, after nearly a century and a half, the Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus – “the greatest show on earth” – will close. But circuses are alive and …

The world’s most famous sled dog race started Monday with 71 mushers setting off from the heart of Alaska and embarking on a nearly 1,000-mile trek across the wilderness.   The grandson of a co-founder of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was the first competitor on the trail.   …

Live from Los Angeles, it’s La La Land live! Lionsgate announced Monday that “La La Land In Concert: A Live-to-Film Celebration” will come to the Hollywood Bowl on May 26-27. The live shows will be conducted by composer Justin Hurwitz, who won two Academy Awards last month for his work …

Adele has officially announced she and longtime partner Simon Konecki are married, weeks after hinting at a wedding.   Adele casually dropped the news while chatting with the audience at her show in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday. She was discussing her song, “Someone Like You,” which describes her feelings following …

Chinese authorities have shut down activist Ye Haiyan’s blogs and forced her to move from one city to another. Left with few options, she now produces socially conscious paintings to make a living and advocate for the rights of sex workers and people with HIV or AIDS. Using calligraphy brushes, …

A Palestinian guest house packed with artwork of the elusive British graffiti artist Banksy unveiled itself Friday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, with a sneak peek of what the owner sarcastically called the “hotel with the worst view in the world.” Wisam Salsaa, 42, said the nine-room establishment …

If there are hooligans planning to crash the 2018 World Cup football (soccer) finals in Russia, a Russian lawmaker thinks he has a solution. Parliament member Igor Lebedev has even drawn up rules for what he calls “draka” – the Russian word for “fight.” There would be 20 unarmed fighters …

On the dusty streets of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou soldiers searched visitors to the pan-African Fespaco film festival on Thursday night after they’d emptied their pockets and passed through a metal detector. Close by a soldier manned a heavy machinegun mounted to the back of a military pick-up. Other international …

Strathmore arts and culture center in North Bethesda, Maryland, is best known for its music center. But alongside music concerts and performances the mansion is a venue for showcasing visual arts, including its annual juried exhibition. Mandana Tadayon tells us more …

“I am the most presidential person you will ever see,” says a man in a dark suit and red tie, sounding much like President Donald Trump. He’s sporting Trump’s characteristic hairdo, but exaggerated, resembling more of the teased bouffant style popular in the 1960s. The audience at this performance in …

Since leaving the White House in 2009, former President George W. Bush has transformed his post-presidential perch into an easel for artwork, which helps him raise awareness and funds to ease soldiers’ transition to civilian life, and to treat the wounds of war. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports. …

A group of Aboriginal transgender women have traveled more than 3,000 kilometers to take part in Sydney’s world-famous Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. They have spent decades fighting for recognition within the indigenous community on the remote Tiwi Islands. About 30 transgender women from the islands off the coast of …

Paula Fox, a prize-winning author who created high art out of imagined chaos in such novels as Poor George and Desperate Characters and out of the real-life upheavals in her memoir Borrowed Finery, has died at age 93.   Her daughter, Linda Carroll, told The Associated Press that Fox died …

National parks traveler Mikah Meyer says visiting Everglades National Park in southern Florida was like stepping back in time. Time standing still   “It’s this huge section of [protected] land … it takes up the entire southwestern corner of Florida and essentially before human interaction, everything south of Orlando looked …

Art lovers from around the world descend on New York City every March for several art fairs. One of the longest running and most popular fairs is the Armory Show, which hosts more than 200 galleries from 30 countries. For visitors, who are expected to reach 65,000 this year, the …

Miriam Colon, a pioneering actress in U.S. Latino New York theater who starred in films alongside Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, died Friday.   Her husband, Fred Valle, told The Associated Press that Colon died early Friday in a New York hospital because of complications from a pulmonary infection. She …

Alison Krauss has a surprising rule about road trips: The driver does not command the stereo.   “Whenever I have young people in the car, they’re always in control of the music,” said Krauss, who has more Grammy Awards than any other woman. “It’s like sharing yourself.”   That rule …

Angels Flight, LA’s beloved little railroad, had its cameo in the hit musical “La La Land” and now it’s almost ready for its close-up.   The narrow-gauge railroad that for more than a century hauled people 298 feet up and down the city’s steep Bunker Hill was shut down in …

Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he will not be back for another season of NBC’s reality show The Celebrity Apprentice, blaming U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing role as executive producer for low ratings. Action movie star Schwarzenegger took over as host of Celebrity Apprentice last year. His first season, which premiered …

Everglades National Park, in southern Florida, includes more than half a million hectares of wetlands. National parks traveler Mikah Meyer immersed himself in the River of Grass with treks through mud-filled swamps and close encounters with some of the parks’ avian and reptilian residents, and talked with VOA’s Julie Taboh …