There’s an old saying in theater that the show must go on.  But when a global pandemic hits and the playbook on large gatherings is re-written, shows like the circus cannot go on.  As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, performers in Brazil took a page from drive-in movie theaters to save their circus.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi …

There’s an old saying in theater that the show must go on.  But when a global pandemic hits and the playbook on large gatherings is re-written, shows like the circus cannot go on.  As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, performers in Brazil took a page from drive-in movie theaters to save their circus.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi …

Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” which had hoped to herald Hollywood’s return to big theatrical releases, has yet again postponed its release due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Warner Bros. said Monday that “Tenet” will not make its August 12 release date. Unlike previous delays, the studio this time didn’t announce a new target for the release of Nolan’s much-anticipated $200 million thriller. “Tenet” had already shifted from July 17, then July 31 and then Aug. 12. Nolan, a staunch advocate for the big-screen experience, has strenuously hoped that “Tenet” could lead the resumption of nationwide and global moviegoing.   But the surge of the virus across much of the U.S. has upended the industry’s aims for even a late-August return. Last week, California ordered its cinemas closed.   Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich said the studio will soon share a new “2020 release date” for “Tenet.” It may be a much different rollout, with the film opening in staggered international release. “We are not treating ‘Tenet’ like a traditional global day-and-date release, and our upcoming marketing and distribution plans will reflect that,” said Emmerich. Emmerich said the pandemic’s spread has forced the studio to reevaluate its plans. Warner Bros. …

After a four-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball kicks off its regular season Thursday with a 60-game schedule set to be played solely in U.S. stadiums. While many fans are anticipating the return of the game nicknamed the national pastime, there are widespread concerns about the safety of resuming a major sports league at a time when the United States is in the midst of a surge in coronavirus infections with several of the hotspots home to multiple teams. Among the top ten states with the highest per-capita increases in new cases in the past week are Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Texas and California, which together host 11 of the 30 MLB teams. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is set to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Washington as the defending World Series champion Nationals host the New York Yankees in the league’s opening game.  Fauci has been seen often in recent weeks wearing a Nationals mask. “Dr. Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout his distinguished career, so it is only fitting that we honor him as we kick off the 2020 season and defend our World Series Championship …

Nicki Minaj has a new release coming soon: her first child. The rapper took to Instagram on Monday to announce she is pregnant, posting photos of herself with a baby bump. One caption simply read: “#Preggers.” She also wrote on another post, “Love. Marriage. Baby carriage. Overflowing with excitement & gratitude. Thank you all for the well wishes.” Minaj married Kenneth Petty last year. They first dated as teenagers and reunited in 2018. Musically, Minaj has also had a winning year, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice. Her remix of Doja Cat’s “Say So” helped Minaj achieve her first-ever No. 1 on the Hot 100, despite releasing multiple hits throughout her career. She also reached the top spot with “Trollz,” her collaboration with 6ix9ine.   …

A new report by Human Rights Watch has outlined physical, verbal and even sexual abuses allegedly suffered by child athletes in Japan. Investigators say they uncovered numerous incidents of young athletes being punched, kicked, slapped, choked or struck with various objects and deprived of food and water, along with sexual abuse and harassment. They say the abuses led to victims suffering from depression, physical disabilities, lifelong trauma, and in a handful of cases, suicides.   There was no comment from Japan’s Olympic Committee. The report, titled, “I Was Hit So Many Times I Can’t Count,” says one instance of suicide involved a 17-year-old high school basketball player in Osaka who suffered repeated physical abuse at the hands of his coach.   The report from HRW comes seven years after Japanese sports authorities vowed to end the practice of corporal punishment in youth sports known as “taibatsu,” after allegations surfaced amid Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.   The report was based on interviews with 50 athletes from across several sports, as well as more than 700 athletes who participated in an online survey, including Olympians and Paralympians. The report was released the day the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — which have been postponed a year …

Pakistani authorities said Monday that archeologists have begun searching for the remains of a third-century, life-size Buddha statue that was found and destroyed by a group of religiously conservative laborers in the northwestern town of Mardan.The destruction of the rare idol occurred in a village near Takht-i-Bahi (Throne of Origins), which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for being an icon of the ancient Buddhist civilization.Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the site is located arrested four men Saturday after a video showing them vandalizing a Buddha statue with a hammer went viral on social media.“This design or art of sculpting the Buddha dates back to the second or third century A.D., so, it is around 1,700 years old,” Bakht Muhammad, a research officer at the provincial Directorate of Archeology and Museums, told VOA.  Muhammad said the provincial government has directed a team of archeological experts to also conduct a comprehensive survey starting Tuesday into whether more antiquities are in and around the village. He stressed that the area previously has not been listed as a conserved site.It will take about a month before the team is able to share the findings, Muhammad added.“It is not a big …

Rapper Kanye West, in his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, ranted against historical figure Harriet Tubman on Sunday, saying the Underground Railroad conductor “never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people,” comments that drew shouts of opposition from some in the crowd.West delivered a lengthy monologue, touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade and licensing deals, before a crowd in North Charleston, South Carolina. Whether he is actually seeking the nation’s highest office remains a question.Tubman is one of the most respected figures of 19th century America. An African American who escaped slavery, she helped enslaved Black men and women travel north to freedom and fought for the Union during the Civil War. She later became a supporter of women’s suffrage.  On abortion, West said that while he believes it should be legal, financial incentives to help struggling mothers could be a way to discourage the practice.”Everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars,” he said as an example.Wearing a protective vest and with “2020” shaved into his head, the entertainer appeared on a livestream of the event. Several hundred people gathered in a venue, where gospel …

Amber Heard began giving testimony at Britain’s High Court on Monday against ex-husband Johnny Depp, who she has accused of abusing her both physically and verbally during their tempestuous relationship. Depp, 57, is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, and the paper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the court in London over an April 2018 article that called him a “wife-beater.” The Hollywood star strongly denies abusing Heard. He was at the court to hear Heard’s evidence. In the first session of her testimony that is expected to last for three days, Heard denied accusations that she was a heavy drug-taker and drinker as well as being controlling and abusive herself.   She also described an incident in January 2015 in a hotel room in Tokyo over a prenuptial agreement between herself and Depp, and suggested there was an argument about it. “There was an argument in a hotel room in Tokyo that resulted in Johnny kneeling on my back and hitting me on the back of the head,” she said. In written testimony released as she took to the witness box, Heard said she worried Depp would kill her at various times during their relationship that saw …

The Tokyo Olympics next year will use the same venues and follow an almost identical competition schedule as the one originally planned for this year before the event was postponed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, organizers said Friday.However, organizers told an IOC session held by videoconference that it was too early to give details on coronavirus prevention measures during the games or on whether events would be in full or partly full stadiums, or behind closed doors.The International Olympic Committee and Japanese government decided in March to postpone the games until 2021 and organizers have been working to rearrange an event almost a decade in the making.The Olympics had been set to begin on July 24 this year.FILE – Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee CEO Toshiro Muto attends a news conference after a Tokyo 2020 executive board meeting in Tokyo, March 30, 2020.”Today, we are able to report that we have confirmed both the competition schedule and the use of all venues originally planned for this year, including the venue for the athletes village and the main press center,” said Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto.The new schedule means women’s softball will get competition underway at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) in …

Nigerian comedy siblings the Ikorudu Boiz went viral in June for their online parody the Hollywood action thriller “Extraction,” using household items and toys as props and their environment in Ikorodu, Lagos for sets.  The video has so far been viewed more than 11 million times on Twitter. Nigeria’s own film industry — Nollywood — has also had to get creative with staying productive and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.    Actor Bashir Datti rehearses his lines as 10 others, including a camera crew,  set up a scene in an open field on the outskirts of Jos, Nigeria.  Datti said the coronavirus has cost him a lot of work.   “This is my first set since this corona of a thing started and what I experienced today is that it is not an easy task,” Datti said. “We’ll just learn to live with the virus, life goes on, we need to adjust ourselves and keep on going, because if you say that because of the fear of the virus, you will not come on set, you have nothing to do apart from film making.”  Movie audiences sit in their parked cars as they watch “Living in Bondage” at a drive-in cinema, following the relaxation of lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Abuja, Nigeria, May 20, 2020.Nollywood produces …

Nigeria’s aspiring young filmmakers have been gaining international attention while the Nigeria’s film industry, known as Nollywood, has been coping with the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Adjusting the world’s second most productive film business to social distancing has been costly but it’s also sparking more creativity.  Ifiok Ettang reports from Jos, Nigeria. Camera: Ifiok Ettang …

From New York to Alabama to Oregon, many tangible displays of African American culture and heritage are in deep disrepair. Due to a lack of recognition and funding, these spaces are slowly being lost before their full story can be told. But a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation will help maintain 27 historic sites that showcase African American perseverance, activism and contributions to the nation.    The trust’s This Jan. 29, 2019, photo shows homes in Africatown in Mobile, Alabama, established by the last boatload of Africans abducted into slavery and shipped to the United States.“These 27 sites represent examples of Black resilience, activism and excellence. And as a collection, they begin to elevate the historic landscapes and buildings that tell an underrecognized and unappreciated story about the United States,” says Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.   Over the past two years, 65 historic African American sites received more than $4.3 million to help preserve and restore places that exemplify Black life and cultural heritage.Grant recipient “While We Are Still Here” seeks to preserve Harlem history, including buildings that housed a cross section of Black America. (Courtesy While We Are Still Here)Educator Booker T. Washington and Sears Roebuck president Julius Rosenwald built schools like grant recipient May’s Lick in Maysville, …

Last year saw record representation of LGBTQ characters in the 118 films released by major studios, according to a new study by GLAAD. But for the third straight year, the racial diversity of LGBTQ characters has waned and transgender characters again went unseen. GLAAD called the decrease in non-white LGBTQ characters “concerning.” In 2019, 34% of LGBTQ characters were people of color. That’s down from 42% in 2018 and 57% in 2017. “GLAAD is calling on the studios to ensure that within two years at least half of their LGBTQ characters are people of color,” said the advocacy group that tracks representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the media. For the third year in a row, transgender characters were also absent from major studio releases. But overall, GLAAD found higher rates of inclusion than it has in the eight years its been tracking studio films. Of the 118 films studied, 22 (18.6%) included lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer characters. That’s a slight increase from 18.2% in 2018. But none of the studios studied — the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, STX Films and United Artists Releasing — received a …

Nick Cannon apologized to the Jewish community late Wednesday for his “hurtful and divisive” words, a day after ViacomCBS severed ties with him for the remarks made on a podcast.  The Anti-Defamation league and some Jewish leaders had condemned what they called anti-Semitic theories expressed by Cannon and demanded the apology.”First and foremost I extend my deepest and most sincere apologies to my Jewish sisters and brothers for the hurtful and divisive words that came out of my mouth during my interview with Richard Griffin,” Cannon said on his Twitter account.”They reinforced the worst stereotypes of a proud and magnificent people and I feel ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from. The video of this interview has since been removed.”ViacomCBS cut ties with the TV host and producer Tuesday in response to his comments on a podcast where he discussed racial bias.  Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s associate dean, told The Associated Press that Cannon reached out to him Wednesday and during a 30-minute telephone conversation he apologized to the Jewish community and Cooper asked him to post it on social media.  “He started out the right way, he said the right things. …

Rap superstar Kanye West has qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline. But confusion remains over whether he’s actually running.  A representative for West filed the necessary paperwork and paid the $35,000 filing Wednesday afternoon, which was the deadline for a spot on the state’s Nov. 3 presidential ballot, said Oklahoma Board of Elections spokeswoman Misha Mohr. He was one of three independent presidential candidates to pay the filing fee prior to the deadline, she added. The others were concert pianist Jade Simmons and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce. The filing came a day after New York Magazine’s  “Intelligencer” quoted West adviser Steve Kramer saying “he’s out” and noting that the staff he had hired were disappointed. However, TMZ reported that the West campaign had filed a “Statement of Organization” Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, stating that a Kanye 2020 committee would serve as principal campaign committee for a West candidacy. West has already missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, and it’s unclear if he is willing or able to collect enough signatures required to qualify in others. FILE – Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West arrive at …

In the digital age, you can take acting lessons from Samuel L. Jackson or enjoy basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar personally wishing you a happy birthday. Online firms like Cameo and MasterClass are democratizing access to celebrities by turning the famous into gig economy workers. Tina Trinh reports …

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) remains fully committed to staging the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 and is considering multiple scenarios for them to take place safely, IOC President Thomas Bach said Wednesday. Japan and the IOC postponed the Tokyo Games until 2021 in March because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers have since spoken of trying to simplify the event — which had been due to start on July 24 — to reduce costs and ensure athletes’ safety. Bach said the IOC’s coordination commission had reported “very good work in progress” and that more details would be given to a full IOC session which will take place by video conference on Friday. Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, attends a meeting of IOC’s executive board in Lausanne, Switzerland, July 15, 2020.”We remain fully committed to celebrating Tokyo 2020 next year in July and August,” Bach told reporters in a conference call. “The entire IOC is following the principle we established before the postponement (in March) that the first priority is about the safety of all participants.” “We continue to be guided by the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) and based on this advice we are preparing multiple scenarios,” he …

New York Philharmonic’s first and only African-American principal player took a stand of his own for the Black Lives Matter movement. In a black-and-white video posted on social media platforms, clarinetist Anthony McGill called on musicians to #taketwoknees for Black lives. Elena Wolf has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.VIDEOGRAPHER: Dmitrii Vershinin, Elena Matusovsky  …

“Glee” star Naya Rivera ‘s 4-year-old son told investigators that his mother, whose body was found in a Southern California lake Monday, boosted him back on to the deck of their rented boat before he looked back and saw her disappearing under the water, authorities said.  “She must have mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself,” Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said at a news conference.  The boy, Josey Hollis Dorsey, was found asleep and alone in a life vest on the drifting pontoon boat about three hours after they launched on Lake Piru northwest of Los Angeles, setting off a five-day search that ended with the discovery of the body of the 33-year-old floating near the surface early Monday, authorities said.  The mother and son had gone swimming, which was permitted in that part of the lake, Ayub said. She was not wearing a life vest.  Authorities believe that Rivera drowned accidentally, and that her body was most likely trapped in the vegetation under the lake for several days before floating to the top, Ayub said.  Divers had already thoroughly searched the area where she was eventually found, but …

Anthropologist Lawrence Kuznar isn’t a fan of Confederate statues, but he feels Americans have a lesson to learn from them. “I’m not necessarily against taking them down,” says the professor of anthropology at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, who is in the process of retiring.“It’s easy to get emotional and excited in a group and go tear down a monument. It absolutely does nothing to address a deep racial and political divide that really seems to be tearing this country apart. Even lawfully removing them, I think, should be done in a thoughtful way.” As the Black Lives Matter protests gained momentum nationwide in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in police custody, some demonstrators took it upon themselves to bring the statues down. Other monuments are being removed by local authorities. Overall, dozens of statues have been removed, and countless others vandalized nationwide.  Isaiah Bowen, right, takes a shot as his dad, Garth Bowen, center, looks on at a basketball hoop in front of the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, June 21, 2020.In addition to Confederate statues, other monuments that are viewed as symbols of oppression and systemic racism are also being targeted. On Independence Day, a crowd tore down a statue …

A New York state judge lifted a stay on Monday that had temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s niece from publishing a book offering an unflattering look at the U.S. president and his family. Justice Hal Greenwald of the state Supreme Court in Poughkeepsie, New York, denied the request to stop publication and canceled the temporary restraining order he issued on June 30 against Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, at the request of Robert Trump, the brother of the president. Simon & Schuster was due to release the book on Tuesday. Robert Trump said previously that the release of “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” would violate a confidentiality agreement tied to the estate of his father, Fred Trump Sr., who died in 1999. Mary Trump, a trained psychologist, is Fred Trump’s granddaughter. “Notwithstanding that the Book has been published and distributed in great quantities, to enjoin Mary L. Trump at this juncture would be incorrect and serve no purpose,” Greenwald said in his decision. “It would be moot. … To quote United States v. Bolton, 2020, ‘By the looks of it the horse is not just out of the barn, it is out of the country,’” he wrote. Mary Trump’s attorney, Theodore Boutrous, said in a statement: “The court got it right in …

After a Paris auction house defied his requests and those of Nigerian authorities to halt the sale of artifacts over questions of provenance, a scholar says he’ll push harder for repatriating cultural treasures. “For those who think the story is over, it’s not. We are just beginning,” said Chika Okeke-Agulu, a Princeton University professor of African and American diaspora art, whose Twitter petition for #BlackArtsMatter has drawn thousands of supporters.   Okeke-Agulu’s comments followed Christie’s June 29 auction, which included the sale of Nigerian artifacts, including two Igbo sacred statues. The pair sold to an anonymous buyer for $239,000, NigeriaIn mid-June, five activists dislodged a funeral pole at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris, demanding its return to Africa. The activists face trial in September. Such demands have echoes that are both global and longstanding. Greece, for example, has fought for two centuries to reclaim the ancient Elgin marbles from Britain. ‘Complex debates’ Nigeria “was saddened” by the Christie’s sale, the lawyer representing the country’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the closing press conference at the G5 Sahel summit on June 30, 2020, in Nouakchott, Mauritania.Okeke-Agulu contends that Nigeria’s government needs to do more to halt …

The body of “Glee” star Naya Rivera was found Monday at a Southern California lake, authorities said.  Ventura County Sheriff’s officials confirmed at an afternoon news conference that the body that search crews found floating in the northeast corner of Lake Piru earlier in the day was the 33-year-old Rivera.  The discovery came five days after the 33-year-old Rivera disappeared on Lake Piru, where her son was found July 8 asleep and alone on a rented pontoon boat, authorities said.  Authorities said the following day that they believed Rivera had drowned, and they had shifted to working to find her body rather than find her alive.  The body was flown 40 miles (64 kilometres) to the coroner’s office in Ventura, where an autopsy would be conducted, Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Buschow said. Rivera’s family has been notified of the discovery.  The lake an hour’s drive from Los Angeles was searched by dozens of divers working in waters with little visibility, with help from sonar and robotic devices combing the bottom and helicopters and drones searching above.  “I can’t imagine what it’s like for her parents, her family,” Buschow said. “It takes an emotional toll on the search teams too.”  Rivera played …