Ellen Wong is a Cambodian-Canadian actress well known in Hollywood. But as VOA’s Chetra Chap reports, her latest role hits very close to home. Camera: Chetra Chap …

“Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible” is a documentary that shows how Native American women at the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, Montana, take up boxing to defend themselves from abduction, rape and domestic abuse – an epidemic in Native American communities. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.Camera and Produced by:  Penelope Poulou  …

The head of the International Olympic Committee said he is “very confident” that spectators will be allowed to attend next year’s postponed Tokyo Olympic Summer Games — as long as they are vaccinated against COVID-19.   IOC President Thomas Bach made the pledge Monday in the Japanese capital after meeting Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for two days of talks to discuss the coronavirus  countermeasures organizers are putting in place for the Games.   Bach said the IOC “will undertake great efforts” to ensure all Olympic participants and visitors are vaccinated before they arrive in Japan next July, if a vaccine is available by then, so that spectators will have “a safe environment.”  The Tokyo Olympics were initially scheduled to be held between July and August of this year, but organizers and then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to postpone the event for a year as the pandemic began spreading across the globe.   Organizers’ hopes that the Games could still be held were boosted last week after Tokyo successfully hosted an international gymnastics competition. But public opinion surveys suggest most Japanese residents are opposed to staging the Games. Organizers said last week that participating athletes will not have to enter a mandatory 14-day quarantine period when they arrive. Tokyo Olympics …

Dustin Johnson finally clinched an elusive second major title Sunday with a five-stroke victory at the Masters, as he overcame a shaky start to his final round to end with a tournament-record low score at Augusta National.Johnson led throughout the final round, though only by one stroke early, and did not drop a shot in the final 13 holes on his way to a four-under-par 68 and an unprecedented 20-under-par 268 total.Australian Cameron Smith and South Korean Im Sung-jae both shot 69 to tie for second on 15-under.”I was nervous all day,” Johnson said in the traditional Butler Cabin interview before being presented with the green jacket by last year’s champion Tiger Woods.”I could feel it. The Masters to me is the biggest tournament, the one I wanted to win the most.”Having Tiger put the green jacket on you, it still feels like a dream…I couldn’t be more excited.”Johnson, from nearby Columbia, South Carolina, did not get to enjoy what would have been a magnificent reception from the gallery at the 18th green.Instead, he received polite applause from the several hundred people allowed on site, with paying patrons absent this year because of coronavirus restrictions.The victory, however, will go a …

The Miami Marlins hired Kim Ng as Major League Baseball’s first female general manager on Friday.”I entered Major League Baseball as an intern and, after decades of determination, it is the honor of my career to lead the Miami Marlins as their next general manager,” Ng said in a statement.Ng, 51, has more than 30 years of experience in the majors, working in the front offices of the Chicago White Sox (1990-96), New York Yankees (1998-2001) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2002-11), and in the MLB Commissioner’s Office (2011-20).Most recently she was the MLB senior vice president of baseball and softball development. She is the first woman hired to the general manager position by any of the professional men’s sports teams in the North American major leagues.”All of us at Major League Baseball are thrilled for Kim and the opportunity she has earned with the Marlins,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Kim’s appointment makes history in all of professional sports and sets a significant example for the millions of women and girls who love baseball and softball. The hard work, leadership and record of achievement throughout her long career in the national pastime led to this outcome, and we wish …

The Ivy League became the first Division I conference this year to cancel all winter sports, including men’s and women’s basketball.   The decision Thursday came 13 days before the scheduled start of the college basketball season. The league had decided this past summer, when it canceled fall sports, not to allow any of its sports to start play before early December.   “Regrettably, the current trends regarding transmission of the COVID-19 virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner,” the Ivy League presidents said in a joint statement.   “Student-athletes, their families and coaches are again being asked to make enormous sacrifices for the good of public health — and we do not make this decision lightly.   “While these decisions come with great disappointment and frustration, our commitment to the safety and lasting health of our student-athletes and wider communities must remain our highest priority.”   Coaches and athletes were informed of the news on video conference calls Thursday evening.   The news comes as the coronavirus cases are soaring across the U.S. Newly confirmed cases per day in the U.S. …

A new project is celebrating the linguistic culture of Australia’s Aboriginal communities by working to introduce Australians to everyday words and phrases from hundreds of Indigenous languages.The 50 Words Project is an interactive online language map. Words and phrases from across the continent are brought to life with recordings from Indigenous speakers. It is run by the University of Melbourne’s Research Unit for Indigenous Language and aims to maintain linguistic and cultural heritage. Jill Vaughan from the academic unit says she hopes it will help more Australians understand rich linguistic traditions. “It is, unfortunately, quite a common misconception that there is only one Indigenous Australian language, when, in fact, there are hundreds of languages, each with thousands and thousands of words,” she said. “It is also the case that for some Australians, they assume that Indigenous languages are just a relic of the past, and this isn’t the case at all.”  Researchers say the sounds used in Australia’s Indigenous languages are very similar across the country. Neighboring communities, however, can have very different words for the same things. Some Indigenous languages in Australia have faded away since European colonization, while others are spoken by just a handful of people and are considered critically …

Anyone can now own a small share of a great masterpiece. Vladimir Lenski has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Max Avloshenko …

Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo, the first female athlete to deliver the Olympic oath, in 1956, and the first woman to win a Winter Games medal for Italy four years earlier, has died at the age of 88. The Italian was hailed by her country’s alpine skiing federation as “one of the greatest post-war champions.” Chenal-Minuzzo won downhill bronze in the 1952 Oslo Olympics, going on to claim a second bronze at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games, that time in the giant slalom. FILE – Italian Alpine skier Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo reads the Olympic oath, on behalf of all the athletes taking part, at the opening ceremony of the seventh Winter Olympic Games, at Cortina, Italy, Jan.26, 1956.At the intervening 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games, she broke ground by delivering the Olympic oath. First pronounced by Belgian athlete Victor Boin (water polo, swimming and fencing) at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games, the Olympic oath of modern times was similar to that taken by the Olympic athletes of ancient times – but at the modern Olympic Games, the athletes swear on the Olympic flag, not on the entrails of a sacrificed animal. The modern Olympic oath, originally written by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president and founder Pierre de Coubertin, has …

For the first time, the United States Army has its own museum.  The National Museum of the United States Army opens on Veterans Day Wednesday in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The Army is the only U.S. military service that did not have a national museum. Located 32 kilometers from Washington, D.C., the museum traces the history of the country’s oldest military service, which began 245 years ago in 1775.The exterior of the National Museum of the United States Army at twilight. The simplicity and sharpness of the exterior allows reflections to be cast on the façade transforming the character of the building through every season and time of day.The large five-story complex features interactive and dramatic historical exhibits, along with thousands of documents, images, artwork and artifacts, big and small. They include an iconic Sherman tank used in World War II, a helicopter from the Vietnam War, an armored personnel carrier from the Iraq War in 2003, and a saddle for horseback riding by Army special forces in the mountains of Afghanistan in 2001.     A life-size exhibit illustrates American forces storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day during World War II.   Helmets, swords and medals are also featured, and even a watch that was found in a damaged section of the Pentagon after the 9/11 attacks.Cast figures, lighting effects, imagery, and sounds of distant battle recreate a setting based on a famous photograph of the Meuse-Argonne Allied Offensive during World War I.Although many exhibits focus …

Mali this year struggled with an Islamist insurgency, a worldwide pandemic, and an August military coup, all of which left most cultural events in the West African nation in shambles.But Mali’s annual International Festival of Slam and Humor, FISH, was merely delayed until November, after a post-coup curfew was lifted.Twenty-three-year-old Malian Aïcha Diarra first learned of competitive, performance poetry – Slam Poetry - when her high school held a contest.She has been a slam poet ever since and competes at FISH every year.  She performed on stage for the first time in nearly a year at this year’s festival, which she said brought her great joy.Diarra sees her art as a form of activism to highlight the struggles of Malian women and girls. Sitting on a graffiti-covered rooftop in Bamako, she says many of the topics in her poems are considered too bold in conservative Mali.But, she says, some people congratulate her for daring to talk about taboo subjects such as circumcision of young girls.Cultural crossroadsSlam Poetry is a relatively new music scene in Mali, a country with deep musical traditions that is seen as a cultural crossroads in Africa. Slam Poetry first appeared in Mali in 2006, years after it gained popularity in the United States, and FISH started in …

Mali – known for its music and cultural events – attracted artists from around West Africa to this year’s annual slam poetry festival. Reporter Annie Risemberg followed one young Malian poet who is bucking stereotypes in the conservative nation in this report from Bamako. …

The Collins English Dictionary has named “lockdown” its Word of the Year for 2020.   The word, which the dictionary said surged in usage from 4,000 logged uses last year to more than a quarter million this year, refers to “the containment measure implemented by governments around the world to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”   Several other pandemic-related words were also in the running such as “social distancing” and “coronavirus,” but lockdown won out in the end.     Not all the contenders were pandemic-related, with “BLM” (Black Lives Matter) and “Megxit” also vying for word of the year.   Megxit refers to Britain’s Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan Markle’s decision to step down as senior royals  and spend more time abroad.   Lockdown, the dictionary said in a news release, “with its heavy, clunking syllables and heavier associations, is the condition we’ve most dreaded in 2020 – a state of national stasis, where almost everything that constitutes normal public life is suspended.”  …

From a child of immigrants drawing on the walls of the family’s house to an Emmy-winning visual effects artist drawing for Hollywood, a Cambodian American talent represents a classic success story of the American dream. Now, she hopes to bring the dream to her motherland. VOA’s Chetra Chap reports.Camera: Sisovann Pin  …

“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek died Sunday after battling pancreatic cancer for nearly two years. He was 80.  Trebek died at home early Sunday with family and friends surrounding him, “Jeopardy!” studio Sony said in a statement.Trebek presided over the beloved quiz show for more than 30 years.He was a master of the format, engaging in friendly banter with contestants and appearing genuinely pleased when they answered correctly.He was also able to move the game along in a brisk no-nonsense fashion whenever people struggled for answers.The Canadian-born Trebek was more than qualified for the job, having started his game show career on “Reach for the Top” in his native country.  Moving to the U.S. in 1973, he appeared on “The Wizard of Odds,” “Classic Concentration,” “To Tell the Truth,” “High Rollers,” “The $128,000 Question” and “Double Dare.”  …

Baby Nancy, the first Black baby doll to have an Afro and other authentic features, was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame on Thursday, along with sidewalk chalk and the wooden block game Jenga. The 2020 honorees were recognized for their creativity and popularity over time. They were chosen by a panel of experts from among 12 finalists that also included bingo, Breyer Horses, Lite-Brite, Masters of the Universe, My Little Pony, Risk, Sorry!, Tamagotchi, and Yahtzee. Baby Nancy was the inaugural doll for Shindana Toys, a California company launched in 1968 by Operation Bootstrap Inc., the not-for-profit Black community self-help organization that emerged in the aftermath of the Watts riots in Los Angeles. By Thanksgiving, Baby Nancy was the bestselling Black doll in Los Angeles, and before Christmas, she was selling nationwide. The toy exposed a long-standing demand for ethnically correct Black dolls, according to the National Toy Hall of Fame, located in The Strong museum in Rochester, New York. Shindana Toys folded amid financial problems in 1983, but Baby Nancy “still stands as a landmark doll that made commercial and cultural breakthoughs,” curator Michelle Parnett-Dwyer said in a news release. Another inductee, sidewalk chalk, traces its …

The Dec. 7 season premiere at Milan’s La Scala opera house, a gala event that is one of Italy’s cultural highlights, is being canceled after a rash of COVID-19 infections among musicians and chorus members.The theater’s board of directors concluded Wednesday that the status of the pandemic and Italy’s virus-control measures, which include the closure of theaters, did not allow for “achieving a production open to the public and of the level and with the characteristics required” for the premiere.Lucia di Lammermoor had been on the program for the season’s opening. La Scala said the scheduled opening night performance and the shows set for the following days have been postponed.Politicians, business figures and other VIPs traditionally turn out for La Scala’s season premiere, an official holiday in Milan.The opera house reported a week ago that its entire orchestra had been told to quarantine after nine musicians tested positive for the coronavirus. The chorus was put under an earlier quarantine after 18 singers were confirmed to be infected.A government decree issued last month to battle a surge in COVID-19 infections shut down Italy’s theaters, cinemas and concert halls for a few weeks. Starting Thursday, Italian museums will also have to close …

A British court ruled Monday against Johnny Depp in his libel case against the owner of TheSun tabloid newspaper, which labelled him a “wife beater.” In a ruling, Justice Andrew Nicol said Depp has “not succeeded in his action for libel.” He added that the defendants had shown what they published was “substantially true.” Depp sued News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and the newspaper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article that accused him of assaulting his wife Amber Heard.   Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, Heard’s U.S. counsel, said in a statement that the verdict is “not a surprise” for anyone who followed the trial in the summer. “Very soon, we will be presenting even more voluminous evidence in the U.S.,” she said.   Depp is also suing Heard for $50 million in Virginia over a Washington Post story about domestic violence. The trial is due to be held next year. The Sun said the decision was a “stunning victory for press freedom” and that it had stood up and campaigned for victims of domestic abuse for more than 20 years. “Domestic abuse victims must never be silenced and we thank the Judge for his careful consideration …