Time magazine has jointly named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its 2020 “Person of the Year.”   Time’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal says Biden and Harris won the honor for “changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world.” Felsenthal notes, “Every elected President since FDR has at some point during his term been a Person of the Year, nearly a dozen of those in a presidential election year. This is the first time we have included a Vice President.” Time’s other Person of the Year candidates were President Donald Trump; frontline health care workers and Dr. Anthony Fauci; and the movement for racial justice.   Time named Trump Person of the Year for 2016, the year he won the presidency, writing that Trump had “upended the leadership of both major political parties and effectively shifted the political direction of the international order.” Also Thursday, Time named the Korean boy band BTS its Entertainer of the Year and named Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James its Athlete of the Year. …

As a way to wrap up 2020, Washington’s Artechouse – the first US museum of digital and experiential art – transformed its space into a unique exhibition designed to help people combat COVID-19 anxiety. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.Camera: Artyom Kokhan, Sergey Sokolov    …

Players have taken a knee, unfurled slogans and demanded tougher action only to find soccer — their working environment — remains infected with racism. The tipping point might just have come, with elite players in Paris taking the extraordinary step of refusing to continue playing. At the end of a year of striking gestures against racial injustice and discrimination, the Champions League produced one of soccer’s most powerful shows of solidarity against racism on Tuesday when players from Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir left the field and didn’t return. “The walk off by both Basaksehir and PSG together lays down a marker in Europe,” Piara Powar, executive director of the anti-discrimination Fare network, told The Associated Press. “Many players are fed up with half measures to tackle racism and are more prepared than ever to exercise their right to stop a match.” The flashpoint came 14 minutes into the game when the fourth official — Sebastian Coltescu of Romania — was accused of using a racial term to identify Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo before sending him off for his conduct on the sidelines. Webo is Black. “You are racist,” Basaksehir coach Okan Buruk said to Coltescu. An enraged Webo …

Athari Alkhaldi stands out amid a sea of men and falcons at the Middle East’s top falconry competition: the first Saudi woman to qualify and participate in the event. “With my participation … I proved I am here, that women can join this field, that it’s not only restricted to men,” she said, alongside her falcon Ma’aned. Falconry is an important part of the desert heritage of Arabs of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries going back thousands of years. The two-week King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival, which gathers more than 4,000 falcons from the Gulf and further afield, honored Alkhaldi’s presence with an award for the first female to make a qualifying competition flight with her bird. Alkhaldi first participated last year, but her bird refused to take flight. Determined, she returned this year and her bird successfully flew. “Dealing with the birds, it is not easy … they are sensitive and need special treatment,” she said, adding that it requires patience and persistence. “Falconry has been a well-known heritage since ancient times. We take pride in it.” she said. The government-backed festival, in its third-year, has 22.7 million Saudi riyals ($6 million) in prize money to give out during beauty …

Bob Dylan’s entire catalog of songs, which reaches back 60 years is being acquired by Universal Music Publishing Group.  The catalog contains 600 song copyrights including “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” and “Tangled Up In Blue.”The influence of Dylan’s body of work may only be matched by that of the Beatles.  Financial terms were not disclosed Monday, but the catalog may be the most prized in the music industry. Four years ago, when Michael Jackson’s estate sold the remaining half-share that it owned in the artist’s catalog, it fetched $750 million.”Brilliant and moving, inspiring and beautiful, insightful and provocative, his songs are timeless—whether they were written more than half a century ago or yesterday,” said Sir Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group, in a prepared statement.  Dylan’s songs have been recorded more than 6,000 times, by various artists from dozens of countries, cultures and music genres, including the Jimi Hendrix version of “All Along The Watchtower.”The transaction’s announcement comes a few weeks after the singer-songwriter’s musings about anti-Semitism and unpublished song lyrics sold at auction for a total of $495,000.Dylan, first entered the public consciousness with New York City’s Greenwich Village …

A plea from Dr. Anthony Fauci for people to “wear a mask” to slow the spread of the coronavirus tops a Yale Law School librarian’s list of the most notable quotes of 2020. The list assembled by Fred Shapiro, an associate director at the library, is an annual update to “The Yale Book of Quotations,” which was first published in 2006. Also on the list is “I can’t breathe,” the plea George Floyd made repeatedly to police officers holding him down on a Minneapolis street corner. Several quotes from the presidential campaign appear including Joe Biden telling a student: “You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.” Shapiro said he picks quotes that are not necessarily admirable or eloquent, but rather because they are famous or particularly revealing of the spirit of the times.The List  1. “Wear a mask.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci, CNN interview, May 21. 2. “I can’t breathe.” — George Floyd, plea to police officer, Minneapolis, May 25. 3. “One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear,” President Donald Trump, referring to the coronavirus in remarks at an African American History Month reception at the White House, Feb. 27. 4. “I see the disinfectant that knocks …

Against the backdrop of a pandemic’s blight and wounds from an acrimonious election, a group of acclaimed actors on Sunday will gather online for a reading of a religious text with remarkable relevance to the current moment: the Book of Job.Audience members may be drawn to the production by the casting of Bill Murray as Job, the righteous man tested by the loss of his health, home and children, but the real star is the format. Staged on Zoom, it’s aimed at Republican-leaning Knox County, Ohio, with participation from locals including people of faith, and designed to spark meaningful conversations across spiritual and political divides.After the performance, a half-dozen people from the area will be asked to share their perspective on the ancient story in a virtual discussion. It’s then thrown open to others, and ultimately to some of the tens of thousands of people signed in, no matter their location.  The structure of a dramatic reading followed by open-ended dialogue is a fixture of Theater of War Productions, the company behind the event. Artistic director Bryan Doerries is an alumnus of Kenyon College in Knox County and chose the area to focus on bridging rifts opened by the election …

Christmas tradition won out over the coronavirus in Prague on Saturday with a COVID-19-compliant, socially distanced St. Nicholas giving out presents to excited children.Under normal circumstances, St. Nicholas, a bearded man accompanied by the devil and an angel, would give children in the Czech Republic presents in exchange for a song or a poem.But with coronavirus measures around the world throwing up obstacles to festive celebrations, Prague-based circus company Cirk La Putyka opted for a drive-through solution.”Over the past nine months we have been looking for different ways to approach the audience,” company director Rosta Novak told AFP.”This is just another way to do that at a time when theaters can’t play and bands cannot perform,” he added.Members of circus company Cirk La Putyka dressed as devils entertain people during their drive-through performance, Dec. 5, 2020, in Prague.In line with tradition, cars first drove through “hell,” with devils performing acrobatic tricks and fire shows.Then they proceeded to “heaven” with angels and finally to St. Nicholas himself.The children received presents at the final stop, many of them sticking their heads out of windows to relish the experience.Driving a van full of children, Ondrej Prachar said they had all been thrilled.”It was …

After interviewing Dan Quayle in Arizona for his documentary on the vice presidency, filmmaker Jeffrey Roth was rushing to the airport to catch a flight to Wyoming, where he had an appointment with Dick Cheney the next morning.He had little time to spare. Suddenly, traffic halted for a motorcade to pass. It was Vice President Mike Pence and his entourage.Roth appreciates the irony. At least, he can now. He made his flight, “President in Waiting” is finished and set to debut on CNN Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern.He interviewed all six living vice presidents and four presidents about a job that for much of American history was considered a joke, an appendage to government with few real duties other than being available to become the world’s most powerful figure at a moment’s notice.”Ben Franklin, when the Constitution was written, said, ‘we should refer to the vice president as ‘his superfluous excellency,’” President-elect Joe Biden, who served eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president, says in the film.Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (2008 photo)Roth’s doc includes several similar quotes, including the classic by John Nance Garner, Franklin Roosevelt’s first vice president, who said the job was “not worth a bucket …

In a sign of just how much coronavirus lockdowns have affected the movie industry, Warner Bros. announced Thursday that it would make its entire roster of 2021 movies available for streaming on HBO Max in the U.S. the same day they are released in theaters.After a month on HBO Max, the movies will be shown only in theaters.Some of the upcoming titles include The Matrix 4, Godzilla vs. Kong and In the Heights.The move may have been sparked by the disappointing performance of the action-thriller Tenet, which was released in theaters in September.Many of the nation’s movie theaters reopened in late summer, but not in the key markets of New York and Los Angeles. The Associated Press reported that since their reopening, 60% of theaters have closed again.“No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do,” Ann Sarnoff, chief executive of WarnerMedia Studios, said in a statement. “We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theaters in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021.”Warner Bros., the second-biggest studio in terms of market share, called the move a “unique one-year plan.” …

Even in Africa’s most vibrant cinematic market,Ife stands out. The tale of love between two Nigerian women is so controversial the filmmakers scrapped plans to release it locally.  VOA‘s Anita Powell has more from Johannesburg.Videographer: Zaheer Cassim, Producer:  Zeheer Cassim, Marcus Harton …

Poverty, drugs, alcohol, frequent disappearances of young women and the absence of law enforcement are all issues plaguing the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota. But women there are trying to make the future better and brighter as they work to create “a girl society” that is aimed at helping girls aged 10 to 18. Camera: Vladimir Badikov; Video Editor: Matvey Kulakov; Produced by: Joy Wagner  …

Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968, died Wednesday. He was 86.He died at his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, according to family friend Michael Roth. No cause of death was announced.Johnson was among the world’s greatest athletes from 1955 through his Olympic triumph in 1960, winning a national decathlon championship in 1956 and a silver medal at the Melbourne Olympics that same year.His Olympic career included carrying the U.S. flag at the 1960 Games and lighting the torch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to open the 1984 Games. Johnson set world records in the decathlon three different times amid a fierce rivalry with his UCLA teammate C.K. Yang of Taiwan and Vasily Kuznetsov of the former Soviet Union.Johnson won a gold medal at the Pan American Games in 1955 while competing in just his fourth decathlon. At a welcome home meet afterward in Kingsburg, California, he set his first world record, breaking the mark of his childhood hero, two-time Olympic champion Bob Mathias.Devoted to KennedyOn June 5, 1968, Johnson was working on Kennedy’s presidential campaign when the Democratic candidate was shot in …

Poverty, drugs, alcohol, frequent disappearances of young women and the absence of law enforcement are all issues plaguing the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota. But women there are trying to make the future better and brighter as they work to create “a girl society” that is aimed at helping girls aged 10 to 18. Camera: Vladimir Badikov; Video Editor: Matvey Kulakov; Produced by: Joy Wagner  …

People magazine has named George Clooney, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Selena Gomez and Regina King as the “2020 People of the Year.” The magazine revealed its list Wednesday morning as part of a year-end double issue with four covers. The four will be celebrated for their positive impact in the world during a challenging 2020.US actor and activist George Clooney speaks at a press conference about South Sudan in London, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019. The largest multinational oil consortium in South Sudan is “proactively participating in the destruction” of the country, the…Clooney, Fauci, Gomez and King will be separately featured on the magazine covers of the issue, which is out Friday. Clooney has received some Oscar buzz for his upcoming film “The Midnight Sky,” but the actor was also in spotlight for his advocacy work. He donated $500,000 to the Equal Justice Initiative in wake of George Floyd’s death and $1 million for COVID-19 relief efforts in Italy, London and Los Angeles. As the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Fauci provided steady guidance during the turbulent pandemic. As the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he has been one of the nation’s leading sources of information about …