In California, members of an under-the-radar, minority religious community are stepping into the public eye to advocate for making the state the first in the nation to outlaw caste bias. They are the Ravidassia — followers of Ravidass, a 14th century Indian guru who preached caste and class equality. There are about 20,000 members of…

The arrest of Byuhar, a popular rapper in Myanmar, has caused widespread alarm among his loved ones and fellow artists. The 38-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Min Oak Myanmar, had strongly criticized the Myanmar junta, calling them “incompetent fools,” on social media because of the worsening power outage situation in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.…

Female artists examine their lives and cultures in an exhibition featuring art from the Middle East and other areas, now on display in Los Angeles. The exhibition, called “Women Defining Women,” explores the roles of women in traditional societies and modern life. Mike O’Sullivan takes a look. …

Vinicius Junior is an idol to millions for his sublime goalscoring skills for Real Madrid but off the football pitch he has prompted a stark national debate over racism in Spain. The 22-year-old Brazilian player was reduced to tears after, once again, being the target of ugly abuse during a game between his team and…

For the first time since 1937, a Chinese man competed in the main draw of the French Open — and, actually, a total of three did, all playing opening-round matches on Monday. The first of the groundbreaking group in action on the red clay of the Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros was Shang Juncheng,…

For those seeking to live in the most sustainable way, there now is an afterlife too. A Dutch intrepid inventor is now “growing” coffins by putting mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, together with hemp fiber in a special mold that, in a week, turns into what could basically be compared to the looks of…

The Mogadishu Book Fair, an annual literary event that was launched in 2015, took place last week after a three-year break because of the COVID pandemic. The fair, meant to promote reading and Somali culture and heritage by bringing together literary creatives and young people, was held at the National Theatre of Somalia. Mohamed Sheikh…

“The Little Mermaid ” made moviegoers want to be under the sea on Memorial Day weekend. Disney’s live-action remake of its 1989 animated classic easily outswam the competition, bringing in $95.5 million on 4,320 screens in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. And Disney estimates the film starring Halle Bailey as the titular mermaid…

The chants of “monkey!” at the Spanish soccer stadium echoed across the Atlantic, reaching people on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. That’s where Vinícius Júnior, who is Black, grew up and launched his soccer career. Now, despite his global fame and millions, he was again the target of crude European racism. His city in…

Fantasy adventure “Brahmastra: Part One — Shiva” won a series of prizes as the glitzy International Indian Film Academy Awards show started in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Star songstress Shreya Ghoshal won best female playback singer for her turn in the romance-laced epic, which also took awards for music direction and lyrics. The show, studded…

Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony Saturday that bestowed the festival’s prestigious top prize on an engrossing, rigorously plotted French courtroom drama that puts a marriage on trial. “Anatomy of a Fall,” which stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove…

Police in Berlin said Friday that they have opened an investigation of Roger Waters on suspicion of incitement over a costume the Pink Floyd co-founder wore when he performed in the German capital last week. Images on social media showed Waters firing an imitation machine gun while dressed in a long black coat with a…

Memorial Day in the United States is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on everything from mattresses to lawn mowers. Auto club AAA said in a travel forecast that this holiday weekend could be “one…

The traveling art exhibition “Icons on Ammo Boxes” stopped in New York City in early May, featuring the work of Ukrainian artists Oleksandr Klymenko and Sonya Atlantova. The two paint traditional Christian icons on real ammunition boxes from the Ukranian front lines, symbolically portraying life overcoming death. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna…

Art from across Africa is on display in a newly renovated gallery at the Denver Art Museum in the U.S. state of Colorado. VOA’s Scott Stearns shows us what is on display. …

Tina Turner, the American-born singer who left a hardscrabble farming community and abusive relationship to become one of the top recording artists of all time, died on Wednesday at the age of 83. She died peacefully after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, her representative said. Turner began her career…

An art auction and New York gala have raised nearly $6 million to preserve and restore the childhood home of soul music legend and civil rights activist Nina Simone, organizers said Tuesday. The twin events brought in some $5.88 million — far more than the original $2 million organizers hoped to raise to restore the…

Ray Stevenson, who played the villainous British governor in “RRR,” an Asgardian warrior in the “Thor” films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBO’s “Rome,” has died. He was 58.   Representatives for Stevenson told The Associated Press that he died Sunday but had no other details to share Monday.   Stevenson was born in…

“The war never ends. Tomorrow it will start again,” remarks a character in “Goodbye Julia,” the first Sudanese film ever selected for Cannes. It explores the racism fueling decades of conflict in the country, and director Mohamed Kordofani admitted to “contradictory feelings” about walking the glitzy red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival while his…

Most filmmakers in the Cannes Film Festival’s top-rung competition are well-known directors who have been around for decades. One dramatic exception this year is Ramata-Toulaye Sy, a French-Senegalese filmmaker whose first film, “Banel & Adama,” landed among the 21 films competing for the Palme d’Or.  “It’s only now that I realize that being in competition…

While the world watched Kabul fall and the Taliban surge back to power in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, actor Jennifer Lawrence and producer Justine Ciarrocchi were asking themselves what they could do to support women’s rights.  “Jen’s first response was to find an Afghan filmmaker and give them a platform,” Ciarrocchi told…

The 10th installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise was off to the races this weekend, knocking “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” out of first place and easily claiming the No. 1 spot at the box office. “Fast X” earned $67.5 million in ticket sales from 4,046 North American theaters, according to estimates from…

Iranian American Sanaz Toossi won the Pulitzer Prize in drama Monday for her play English.  The play takes place in 2008 near Tehran, where four Iranian adults prepare for an English proficiency test.  It examines how family separation and travel restrictions push them to learn a new language and how that may change their identity. …

Mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry, a Black opera singer who blazed trails and broke barriers, has died, her son and publicist announced Monday. She was 86. The artist died on May 7 at a hospital in Vienna, having suffered a stroke in October, according to her adopted son David Lee Brewer, who was speaking to the press…

Authentic Ukrainian ethnic folk attire made a recent appearance on a runway at Metropolitan Fashion Week Seattle, held in the city’s suburb of Woodinville. Natasha Mozgovaya has more. …

As teqball continues its fast growth with its debut at the Southeast Asian Games, the young sport has drawn resentful glances from similar sports in the region that feel it is treading on their turf. Invented in Hungary in 2012, teqball is a nonmedal exhibition sport at this year’s SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,…

There is nothing like the promise of a chapter closing to draw people to the movie theater, especially when tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This weekend, ” Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which says goodbye to this iteration of the space misfits and its driving creative voice, director James Gunn, earned $114 million…

Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97. Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow. “He wanted to be at…