Chinese tourists used to flock to Hong Kong before the pandemic, bringing empty suitcases to fill with everything from baby milk powder, to cosmetics and nonprescription drugs. Large tour groups would descend on the city, sparking complaints from some locals. When Hong Kong reopened its borders earlier this year, many people were expecting an influx…

The giant pandas that have been living at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington for 23 years will return to China by the end of this year. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias takes a look at the diplomatic moves that brought them to the United States and how politics and new conservation strategies could impact the…

A Ukrainian composer has been commissioned to write an opera about mothers from that country going into Russia to rescue their forcibly detained children. The Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theater said Monday that 42-year-old Maxim Kolomiiets will compose the work to a libretto by George Brant, whose “Grounded,” with composer Jeanine Tesori, premieres at…

Jane Rosenberg started her courtroom sketch artist career drawing prostitutes in New York’s night court in 1980. Four decades later, she is still making court sketches, but these days some of her portraits are of much more well-known people. Nina Vishneva met with the artist to talk about her work. Anna Rice narrates the story. Camera: Natalia Latukhina, Vladimir Badikov …

A 2022 film highlighting the plight of a person with albinism in Zambia is streaming on Netflix. “Can You See Us” is based on the true story of a boy who becomes a successful musician despite obstacles caused by his genetic condition. Kathy Short reports from Lusaka. VOA footage by Richard Kille. …

Like many horrors before it, bad reviews didn’t scare off moviegoers from buying tickets for ” The Nun II.” The sequel to the 2018 hit, released in 3,728 theaters by Warner Bros., topped the box office in its first weekend in North American theaters earning an estimated $32.6 million, the studio said Sunday. AP’s Mark…

An Israeli delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to attend a U.N. conference on world heritage sites, in the first public visit by government officials to the kingdom, an Israeli official said.  The delegation is led by the head of Israel’s Antiquities Authority and includes diplomats, the official said. It is not a bilateral…

The Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival was awarded Saturday to a hilarious and shockingly explicit reworking of Frankenstein, Poor Things, starring Emma Stone as a sex-mad reanimated corpse. An ongoing Hollywood strike may have robbed Venice of its usual bevy of stars, but its strong selection showed the world’s oldest film festival could…

Budget for new public buildings includes allotment for original artworks …

Since its founding, the United States has incorporated art into its federal buildings. These days, one-half of one percent of a new building’s budget usually goes to funding original art designed specifically for that structure. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, it’s a tradition that helps preserve American culture for future generations. Camera: Adam Greenbaum …

Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien park area has been placed on a “Heritage Alert” list by a conservancy body that assesses international monuments and historic sites. The conservancy says the planned redevelopment will lead to “irreversible destruction of cultural heritage” with thousands of trees being felled. The plan approved earlier by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike would let…

Rescuers from across Europe rushed to a cave in Turkey on Thursday, launching an operation to save an American researcher who became trapped almost 1,000 meters below the cave’s entrance after suffering stomach bleeding. Experienced caver Mark Dickey, 40, suddenly became ill during an expedition with a handful of others, including three other Americans, in…

It has been nearly five months since civil war erupted in Sudan. The U.N. refugee agency estimates that by year’s end, 1.8 million people will have fled to neighboring countries. VOA’s Nairobi Bureau Chief Mariama Diallo reports on a group of Sudanese artists who came together recently to deal with the trauma of the war…

Thousands of Burning Man attendees readied to make their “exodus” on Monday as the counter-culture arts festival in the Nevada desert ends in a sea of drying mud instead of a party around its flaming effigy namesake, Reuters reported. Rain over the weekend turned the once hard-packed ground to pudding. One person died at the event…

Decommissioned in 1945, the Old City Hall Station remains the ‘jewel in the crown’ for NY transit system …

Spain’s men’s national team Monday denounced the “unacceptable behavior” of the country’s suspended football chief Luis Rubiales over his infamous World Cup kiss. Rubiales, 46, has defied expectations and refused to resign as president of the Spanish football federation (RFEF) after forcibly kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips following Spain’s victory in the Women’s World…

A guitar expert and two journalists have launched a global hunt for a missing bass guitar owned by Paul McCartney, bidding to solve what they brand “the greatest mystery in rock and roll.” The trio of lifelong Beatles fans are searching for McCartney’s original Höfner bass — last seen in London in 1969 — in order to…

Burning Man, the annual weeklong festival in Nevada closed its entrance Saturday due to flooding from recent storms. Some of the thousands of festivalgoers are being warned to shelter in place. Despite the weather, the event drew artists from around the world, including six Chinese artists who spoke with Genia Dulot before the rain set…

The third installment in the Denzel Washington-led “Equalizer” franchise topped the domestic box office this weekend with $34.5 million according to studio estimates Sunday. By the end of the Monday holiday, Sony expects that total will rise to $42 million. Labor Day signals the end of Hollywood’s summer movie season, which will surpass $4 billion…

The first production co-directed by Iranian and Israeli filmmakers had to be shot in secret to prevent possible interference by Tehran, directors Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv told Reuters Sunday. “Tatami,” a tense thriller centered on a world judo championship, got its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the weekend, receiving a…

The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace may draw tourists from far and wide, but Sunday visitors to the landmark were treated to a different sort of spectacle: a parade of corgis dressed up in crowns, tiaras and royal outfits. Around 20 royal fans and their pet corgis gathered to walk their dogs outside…

It seemed wistfully appropriate, somehow, that news of Jimmy Buffett’s death emerged at the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, the demarcation point of every American summer’s symbolic end. Because for so many, the 76-year-old Buffett embodied something they held onto ever so tightly as the world grew ever more complex: the promise of an…

The entrance to the Burning Man counterculture festival in the Nevada desert was closed and attendees were urged to shelter in place Saturday as flooding from storms swept through the area. The entrance will be closed for the remainder of the event, which began Aug. 27 and was scheduled to end Monday, according to the…

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song Margaritaville and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76. “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement…

An art exhibition in Rockville, Maryland, pays tribute to women in Iran who have been killed for speaking out against injustice. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. …

An original animated series from Africa has made its debut on the Netflix streaming platform. The series, dubbed “Supa Team 4,” was written by a young Zambian and takes place in a futuristic version of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. Kathy Short reports from Lusaka. VOA footage by Richard Kille. …

Hōkūle’a, a traditional Polynesian deep-sea canoe, is on a four-year-long voyage around the Pacific Ocean to raise awareness about climate change. During its stop in the U.S. state of Washington, local Native American tribes welcomed members of the crew. Natasha Mozgovaya has the story from Seattle. (Camera: Natasha Mozgovaya; Produced by: Natasha Mozgovaya, Jason Godman)…

Leading officials within the Spanish Football Federation asked suspended president Luis Rubiales to resign Monday because of his behavior at the Women’s World Cup, including kissing a player on the lips after Spain won the championship match. The heads of the regional bodies that make up the federation (RFEF) made the request in a collective…