Death of ex-One Direction member Liam Payne at 31 shocks fans around the world

Buenos Aires, Argentina — The death of Liam Payne, who shot to stardom as a member of British boy band One Direction and grappled with intense global fame while still in his teens, sent shockwaves across the world Thursday as Argentine investigators continued their investigation at the scene. Fans, music-industry figures and fellow musicians paid tribute…

One Direction singer Liam Payne dead after falling from Buenos Aires hotel balcony

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Former One Direction singer Liam Payne was found dead after the 31-year-old fell from his third-floor room balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentine police said on Wednesday. Police said in a statement that they were called to the CasaSur hotel in the capital’s leafy Palermo neighborhood after being notified of…

South African artists, influencers with albinism fight stigma

In South Africa, and elsewhere on the continent, albino people are a target; they face daily discrimination and sometimes even death. But young social media influencers and artists are trying to change the narrative, as Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg. Videographer: Zaheer Cassim …

Zimbabwean comedian wows audiences on America’s Got Talent

Zimbabwe doesn’t have a thriving standup comedy scene tradition. But when Learnmore Jonasi was exposed to the art form in his native Zimbabwe, he knew that making people laugh was what he wanted to do. VOA reporter Keith Baptist caught up with him in Harare and has this story. …

In Hiroshima, Nobel Prize brings survivors hope, sense of duty

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Almost eight decades after an atomic bomb devastated her hometown of Hiroshima, Teruko Yahata carries the scar on her forehead from when she was knocked over by the force of the blast. The U.S. bombs that laid waste to Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945, and to Nagasaki three days later,…

Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole heritage will be celebrated at 50th annual festival

new orleans, louisiana — Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole heritage takes center stage this weekend when the Festivals Acadiens et Creoles marks a half-century of honoring and celebrating the culture through music, arts, food and community.  What started as a one day concert in 1974 to entertain 150 French-speaking journalists gathered in Lafayette — considered the heart…

Nazi-looted Monet artwork returned to family generations later

NEW ORLEANS — On the eve of World War II, Nazis in Austria seized a pastel by renowned impressionist artist Claude Monet, selling it off and sparking a family’s decadeslong search that culminated Wednesday in New Orleans. At an FBI field office, agents lifted a blue veil covering the Monet pastel and presented Adalbert Parlagi’s granddaughters…

Alexey Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir

new york — Russian dissident Alexey Navalny, who was President Vladimir Putin’s top political opponent before his death in February, believed he would die in prison, according to his posthumous memoir, which will be released October 22. The New Yorker published excerpts from the book Friday, featuring writing from Navalny’s prison diary and earlier. “I will…

Taylor Swift, Hulk Hogan. Can celebrities sway US voters?

From pop superstar Taylor Swift to former wrestler Hulk Hogan, celebrity endorsements have been a feature of this year’s U.S. presidential race. But whether they will have any kind of impact on the election is difficult to predict. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports. …

Nobel Prize winner Han Kang’s books fly off the shelves in South Korea

seoul, south korea — South Koreans flocked to bookstores Friday and crashed websites in a frenzy to snap up copies of the work of novelist Han Kang in her home country, after her unexpected win of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. However, the author herself was keeping out of the limelight. The country’s largest bookstore…

Hurricane Milton disrupts Yom Kippur plans for Jews in Florida

WINTER PARK, Florida — Many Jews worldwide will mark Yom Kippur in fasting and prayer at their synagogues this weekend. But for the faithful in Florida, destructive Hurricane Milton has disrupted plans for observing the Day of Atonement — the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith — that begins Friday evening and caps…

Chinese entries skyrocket at this year’s Taiwan Golden Horse Awards

Taipei, Taiwan — Organizers of Taiwan’s premier film festival report a huge increase this year in entries from China, despite a ban imposed by Beijing six years ago on participation in the festival by Chinese filmmakers and actors. As many as 100 Chinese entries had been submitted for Golden Horse Awards in recent years, in defiance…

DC’s Hirshhorn Museum bustles with bright Brazilian art

The vibrant world of yellow-skinned giants, surreal landscapes and a massive mechanical zoetrope have taken over the Hirshhorn Museum in the largest U.S. showcase of work by Brazilian twin brothers OSGEMEOS. It’s the most comprehensive display of the siblings’ art ever presented in the United States. Maxim Adams has the story. Camera: Sergii Dogotar. …

Gauff rallies to reach China Open final; Sinner, Alcaraz win in Shanghai

BEIJING — Coco Gauff rallied Saturday from a set down for the third consecutive match as she beat Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the final of the China Open. The sixth-ranked Gauff will play Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in Sunday’s final as the 20-year-old American bids for her second WTA-1000 level…

Peru celebrates 2 decades of a fast-growing breed of guinea pigs eaten as a delicacy

LIMA, Peru — Peru on Thursday celebrated two decades since the creation of a genetically modified breed of guinea pig, a rodent whose meat has formed a part of the diet of people in the Andean nation for thousands of years. The genetically modified breed of guinea pig — known as cuy locally — is called…