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. …

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…

Malaysia honors new king in coronation marked by pomp

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Traditional pomp and cannon fire Saturday marked the coronation of Malaysia’s billionaire King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, who pledged to govern fairly during the five-year term he will serve under a unique rotating monarchy system. Ibrahim, 65, was sworn in on January 31. Saturday’s coronation at the national palace formalized his role as…

Actor Bob Newhart, famous for deadpan humor, dies at 94

LOS ANGELES — Bob Newhart, who fled the tedium of an accounting job to become a master of stammering, deadpan humor as a standup comedian and later as a U.S. television sitcom star, died on Thursday at the age of 94, his publicist said. Newhart died at his home in Los Angeles after a series of…

US advisory council ends Nigeria visit, signs student exchange deal

Abuja, Nigeria — Members of a U.S. presidential advisory council have approved a student exchange deal between an American college and a Nigerian university as part of the council’s effort to strengthen collaboration on education, health, entrepreneurship and development between Africa and Africans living abroad. The council also visited a health facility supported by the United…

5 killed, dozens injured in clashes over Bangladesh jobs quota system

DHAKA, Bangladesh — At least 5 people were killed and dozens injured in two separate incidents in Bangladesh as violence continued Tuesday on university campuses in the nation’s capital and elsewhere over a government jobs quota system, local media reports said quoting officials. At least three of the dead were students and one was a pedestrian,…

Iran’s Shiite Muslims mark Ashoura with mourning, processions

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian Shiite Muslims on Tuesday commemorated Ashoura, a remembrance of the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, that gave birth to their faith. More than 1,340 years after Hussein’s death, Tehran and other cities across the country were adorned with symbols of Shiite piety and repentance. Red flags represented Hussein’s…

Violent clashes over quota system in government jobs leave scores injured in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Police fired tear gas and charged with batons during violent clashes between a pro-government student body and student protesters overnight, leaving dozens injured at a public university outside Bangladesh’s capital, police and students said Tuesday. The violence spread early Tuesday at Jahangir Nagar University in Savar, outside Dhaka, where the protesters were demanding…

Germany says it saw fewer security problems than expected during Euro 2024

BERLIN — German authorities had fewer security problems and crimes to deal with than they expected at the European Championship, the country’s top security official said Monday. The tournament ended on Sunday with Spain beating England 2-1 in the final in Berlin and no reports of serious disturbances. That capped a month-long event that mostly saw…

Argentina wins record 16th Copa America title, beats Colombia 1-0

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Argentina won its second straight Copa America championship, overcoming Lionel Messi’s second-half leg injury to beat Colombia 1-0 Sunday night on Lautaro Martínez’s 112th-minute goal. Messi appeared to sustain a non-contact injury while running and falling in the 64th minute and covered his face with his hands when he sat on the…

Shannen Doherty, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ star, dies at 53

Los Angeles — Shannen Doherty, the “Beverly Hills, 90210” star whose life and career were roiled by illness and tabloid stories, has died at 53. Doherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane. She had had breast cancer for years. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved…

Israel’s Holocaust memorial opens a facility to store artifacts, photos and more

JERUSALEM — Israel’s national Holocaust museum opened a new conservation facility in Jerusalem on Monday that will preserve, restore and store its more than 45,000 artifacts and works of art in a vast new building, including five floors of underground storage. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, serves as both a museum and a research…