PARIS — Paris is getting a colorful splash of Olympic creative spirit with nearly 30 vibrant street art pieces that have popped up on bustling metro station walls, a large billboard at the airport and in front of City Hall. One shows a drawing of French fencer Ysaora Thibus in action. Another has canoers paddling down…
Sex eligibility rules for female athletes are complex, legally difficult
PARIS — Women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics has highlighted the complexity of drafting and enforcing sex eligibility rules for women’s sports and how athletes like Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan are left vulnerable in the fallout. When eligibility for women’s events has come into question, it often has been a legally…
Tightrope walker marks Twin Towers stunt, 50 years on
NEW YORK — Renowned French high-wire artist Philippe Petit marked the 50th anniversary of his famous walk between New York’s Twin Towers with a performance in a Manhattan cathedral, accompanied by live music from Sting. Petit walked between the spires of the World Trade Center skyscrapers, 1,350 feet up, on August 7, 1974. A photographer captured…
COVID-hit Lyles misses out on a double; US team breaks 100-medal mark
PARIS — Sprinter Noah Lyles revealed he had COVID-19 after missing out on another gold medal for the United States at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. Elsewhere, French basketball star Victor Wembanyama moved closer to his dream of a first gold after helping Les Bleus beat Germany to set up a dream final against the U.S.…
Plot to attack Taylor Swift show in Austria linked to Islamic State
VIENNA, AUSTRIA — The 19-year-old Austrian who masterminded a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift fans at a concert in Vienna with a bomb or knife had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, authorities said on Thursday. The main suspect, who has North Macedonian roots, made a full confession in custody, Austria’s general director…
Shah Rukh Khan to be honored at Locarno Film Festival
Geneva — Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival opens on Wednesday with Shah Rukh Khan, Jane Campion, Alfonso Cuaron and Irene Jacob set to be honored with special awards. Founded in 1946, Locarno is one of the world’s longest-running annual film festivals and focuses on auteur cinema. Held on the shores of Lake Maggiore, in the Italian-speaking Ticino…
With $97M in 2nd weekend, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ sets record
New York — After 10 days in theaters, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is already the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever, not accounting for inflation. In its second weekend, the Marvel Studios blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman continued to steamroll through movie theaters, collecting $97 million according to studio estimates Sunday. That raised its two-week total to…
Olympic and faith leaders seek reset after opening ceremony outcry, while chaplains welcome athletes
PARIS — Faith leaders gathered with Olympic officials Sunday morning in front of Notre Dame Cathedral to celebrate how “faith and sport can complement each other,” in the words of International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. The 2024 Paris Games got off to a rocky start with many religious groups around the world, including the Vatican.…
Aerosmith ends touring, citing permanent damage to singer’s voice
LOS ANGELES — Aerosmith says Steven Tyler’s voice has been permanently damaged by a vocal cord injury last year and the band will no longer tour. The iconic band behind hits such as “Love in an Elevator” and “Livin’ on the Edge” posted a statement Friday announcing the cancellation of remaining dates on its tour and…
Vitriol about female boxer fuels concern of backlash against LGBTQ+, women athletes
PARIS — LGBTQ+ athletes, officials and observers have warned that a deluge of hateful comments misidentifying female boxer Imane Khelif in the Paris Olympics as transgender or a man could pose dangers for the LGBTQ+ community and female athletes. The concerns come as famous figures — from former U.S. President Donald Trump to Harry Potter author…
Marchand captures 4th Olympic swimming gold
NANTERRE, France — The party for Léon Marchand spread beyond the pool, quickly sweeping across Paris. At Stade de France, hosting the first night of track and field, an enormous ovation broke out when Marchand won his fourth gold medal of the Olympics. The roar was so loud that the first heat of the 400-meter run…
Young fencer shows NY grit on Paris 2024 stage
EAUBONNE, France — Growing up in cutthroat New York gave Lauren Scruggs the competitive mindset needed to claim an unexpected fencing silver medal on her Olympic debut in Paris. The 21-year-old Queens native shared the podium with fellow American Lee Kiefer, who retained her Olympic title in the women’s individual foil event gold medal bout on…
Drag queen in Olympic opening ceremony has no regrets, calls it ‘a photograph of France in 2024’
Paris — As a gay youth growing up in central France, Hugo Bardin never felt he lived in a world that represented who he was — a world in which he had a place. And that is why Bardin, who performs as the drag queen Paloma, felt it was meaningful and important to be part of…
Ancient secrets unearthed in vast Turkish cave city
Midyat, Turkey — Through a basement door in southeastern Turkey lies a sprawling underground city — perhaps the country’s largest — which one historian believes dates back to the ninth century before Jesus Christ. Archaeologists stumbled upon the city-under-a-city “almost by chance” after an excavation of house cellars in Midyat, near the Syrian border, led to…
Edna O’Brien, Irish literary giant who wrote ‘The Country Girls,’ dies at 93
NEW YORK — Edna O’Brien, Ireland’s literary pride and outlaw who scandalized her native land with her debut novel “The Country Girls” before gaining international acclaim as a storyteller and iconoclast that found her welcomed everywhere from Dublin to the White House, has died. She was 93. O’Brien died Saturday after a long illness, according to…
Frank Stewart photos captured culture of jazz, church and Black life in US
CHADDS FORD, Pa. — At first glance, it looks like an aerial photo of a cemetery destroyed by war, with charred coffins ripped from broken concrete vaults and arched marble tombstones flattened by a bomb blast. Then, the viewer begin to discern details: the coffins and vaults are actually parts of a keyboard. Instead of names…
Princess Leia bikini costume from ‘Star Wars’ movie set sells for $175K
HOUSTON — The gold bikini-style costume that Carrie Fisher wore as Princess Leia while making “Return of the Jedi” in the “Star Wars” franchise has sold for $175,000, according to the auction house that handled the sale. The costume was made famous when Fisher wore it at the start of the 1983 film when Leia was…
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ smashes R-rated record with $205M North American debut
Defying downturn, auction houses bid high on Hong Kong
HONG KONG — Three of the world’s top auction houses are racing to expand in Hong Kong, eager to woo young Asian buyers even as the global art market retreats from pandemic-era highs. In the span of two months, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams will each see the culmination of yearslong efforts to upgrade their regional headquarters…
India’s Charaideo Moidam royal burial mounds designated World Heritage Site
NEW DELHI — The Charaideo Moidam royal burial complex and shrines, built by northeast India’s Ahom dynasty, has been inscribed as a new World Heritage Site, the United Nations’ cultural agency said on Friday. UNESCO experts, who are deliberating on a list of sites nominated for the World Heritage Site tag, announced the decision in Indian…
3 in Gospel Music Hall of Fame quartet among 7 killed in plane crash
Puerto Rico bans discrimination against those who wear Afros, other styles
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s governor on Wednesday signed a law that prohibits discrimination against people wearing Afros, curls, locs, twists, braids and other hairstyles in the racially diverse U.S. territory. The move was celebrated by those who had long demanded explicit protection related to work, housing, education and public services. “It’s a victory…
Former US diplomat and author Martin Indyk dies at 73
NORWICH, Conn. — Veteran diplomat Martin S. Indyk, an author and leader at prominent U.S. think tanks who devoted years to finding a path toward peace in the Middle East, died Thursday. He was 73. His wife, Gahl Hodges Burt, confirmed in a phone call that he died from complications of esophageal cancer at the couple’s…
Video game performers to strike over artificial intelligence concerns
LOS ANGELES — Hollywood’s video game performers voted Thursday to go on strike, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections. The strike — the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen…
YouTube star sets Domino installation world record
YouTube star Lily Hevesh has been mesmerizing viewers with domino creations for 15 years. Last weekend, at the National Building Museum in Washington, she completed her most ambitious project yet: she brought down an installation of 100,000 dominoes and set a world record. Maxim Adams reports. Camera: Dmitry Shakhov, Artem Kohan. …
Drill team cultivates sense of identity for Chinese American girls
In the Pacific Northwest, there is a marching group that has thrilled parade audiences for more than 70 years. The Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team has brought a sense of community and identity for generations of Chinese American girls. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya reports. …
Toronto Film Festival lineup includes movies from Angelina Jolie, Mike Leigh
Ukraine’s largest music festival returns with break from inescapable reality of war
Kyiv, Ukraine — This year, Ukraine’s largest music festival struck a different chord. Gone were the international headliners, the massive performance halls and the hundreds of thousands of visitors. Instead, beloved local artists graced the stage this past weekend at the Atlas Festival — the first since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 — for a…