A jury was seated Monday to hear the case against Jussie Smollett, who says he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in downtown Chicago that authorities say was a hoax concocted and staged by the former “Empire” actor. Two brothers, who worked with Smollett on the TV show, say he paid them $3,500 to pose as his attackers on a frigid night in January 2019. The men now stand at the center of the case that prosecutors will lay before jurors this week. Smollett, who arrived at the courthouse in Chicago on Monday with his mother and other family members, is accused of lying to police about the alleged attack and has been charged with felony disorderly conduct. The Class 4 felony carries a prison sentence of up to three years, but experts have said it is likely that if Smollett is convicted, he would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.  Twelve jurors plus three alternate jurors were sworn in and were expected to begin hearing opening arguments late Monday in a trial Judge James Linn said he expects to take about one week. During jury selection, Linn asked potential jurors if …

With an expanded definition to reflect the times, Merriam-Webster has declared an omnipresent truth as its 2021 word of the year: vaccine. “This was a word that was extremely high in our data every single day in 2021,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor-at-large, told The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s announcement.  “It really represents two different stories. One is the science story, which is this remarkable speed with which the vaccines were developed. But there’s also the debates regarding policy, politics and political affiliation. It’s one word that carries these two huge stories,” he said. The selection follows “vax” as word of the year from the folks who publish the Oxford English Dictionary. And it comes after Merriam-Webster chose “pandemic” as tops in lookups last year on its online site. “The pandemic was the gun going off and now we have the aftereffects,” Sokolowski said. At Merriam-Webster, lookups for “vaccine” increased 601% over 2020, when the first U.S. shot was administered in New York in December after quick development, and months of speculation and discussion over efficacy. The world’s first jab occurred earlier that month in the UK. Compared to 2019, when there was little urgency or chatter about vaccines, Merriam-Webster …

Virgil Abloh, fashion’s highest profile Black designer and the creative mind behind Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections, died on Sunday of cancer, Vuitton’s owner LVMH said. The French luxury goods giant said Abloh, 41, had been battling cancer privately for years. “Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom,” LVMH’s billionaire boss Bernard Arnault said in a statement. Abloh, a U.S. national who also worked as a DJ and visual artist, had been men’s artistic director for Vuitton, the world’s biggest luxury brand, since March 2018. His arrival at LVMH marked the marriage between streetwear and high-end fashion, mixing sneakers and camouflage pants with tailored suits and evening gowns. His influences included graffiti art, hip hop and skateboard culture. The style was embraced by the group as it sought to breathe new life into some labels and attract younger customers. In July this year, LVMH expanded his role, giving him a mandate to launch new brands and partner with existing ones in a variety of sectors beyond fashion. LVMH also bought a 60% stake in Abloh’s Off-White label, which it folded into the spirits-to-jewelry conglomerate. “For over two …

A documentary about pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong won a high-profile award Saturday in Taiwan at the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-speaking world’s version of the Oscars. Kiwi Chow’s “Revolution of Our Times” was named best documentary, prompting a long round of applause and shouts of support for Hong Kong from audience members at the glitzy event in Taipei. Chow, who sent a pre-recorded message from Hong Kong expressing thanks for the award, dedicated the film to Hong Kong’s people, saying he hoped it would bring them some comfort. “I cried a lot when I produced this film; several times I comforted myself with this film, to express my anger, hatred, to face my fear and trauma,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. Native Hongkonger Chow’s film follows several protesters and documents clashes with police during the 2019 demonstrations, and he has previously told Reuters he hoped the documentary would help the pro-democracy movement live on. It was shown at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in a surprise addition to the lineup. China introduced a sweeping national security law for Hong Kong over a year ago to crack down on what it deems subversion, secessionism, terrorism and collusion with …

Most Americans don’t have oysters on their Thanksgiving table, but, for a time, the mollusks were a key ingredient on the White House holiday menu.  “Oyster stuffing and various oyster elements were always included, especially in the later 19th century. Oysters were very popular,” says Lina Mann, a historian with the White House Historical Association. “I think that the location of Washington, D.C., near the Chesapeake Bay, which was a huge oyster hub, made it more of a regional sort of thing, but that has died out over the years.”  In addition to oysters, White House Thanksgiving meals have included other regional foods such as rockfish from the Potomac River, turtles from Maryland’s Eastern Shore and cranberries from Massachusetts. Because the holiday is often a more private affair, the White House Thanksgiving menu is not set. Presidential families often spend the day away from the White House, either out of town at their own private homes or at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.  In 1985, President Ronald Reagan spent Thanksgiving at his California ranch. The menu included turkey, cranberries, cornbread dressing, salad, mashed potatoes, monkey bread, string beans with almonds, and pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream.  In 1996, President Bill Clinton enjoyed Thanksgiving with family and friends at Camp David, where they …

“NFT” is 2021’s “Word of the Year,” Collins Dictionary announced Wednesday.  NFT is an abbreviation for non-fungible token, which according to the dictionary is “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible.” Perhaps the most well-known example of an NFT is “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” a collection of digital art made by graphic designer Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple. In March, an NFT for the piece sold for $69.3 million. Because of the blockchain technology, Beeple will continue to earn money each time his art changes hands. He gets 10 percent of the price after every sale. Another American artist, Anne Spalter, sells some work as NFTs. At first, she did not think NFTs were a good idea, but then changed her mind. She said the technology has made people who might never go to an art gallery in person interested in art. She did, however, say she remained “mystified” by how high the prices have gone for some pieces. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sold an NFT for his first tweet for $2.9 million.  “Whether the NFT will have a lasting influence …

For the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary, the 140-year-old Arts and Industries Building that has been closed for renovation since 2004 is reopening temporarily with an exhibition called Futures. The exhibition explores what our future may look like. Karina Bafradzhian visited the museum in Washington and has this story. Camera: Sergey Sokolov …

Jon Batiste might be the Grammys biggest surprise: The multi-genre performer and recent Oscar winner made such an impression on voters that he scored the most nominations with 11 on Tuesday. Batiste earned an album of the year nod for “We Are” along with record of the year with “Freedom,” a feel-good ode to the city of New Orleans. His nominations span several genres including R&B, jazz, American roots music, classical and music video. Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R. each came away with the second-most nominations with eight by the time the Recording Academy was done announcing its nominees for its Jan. 31 show. Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo both had seven nods. Along with Batiste’s surprise domination, another shock was The Weeknd nabbing three nominations after the pop star claimed he would not allow his label to submit his music. Earlier this year, he angrily slammed the Grammys, calling them “corrupt” after he received zero nominations despite 2020’s biggest single, “Blinding Lights.”  Even though The Weeknd said he would boycott future Grammys, he still became a nominee for his work on album of the year projects, including Doja Cat’s deluxe edition “Planet Her” and Kanye West’s “Donda.” His …

Amid growing speculation on the whereabouts of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, China’s Foreign Ministry warned against politicizing and speculating about the star’s wellbeing. “This is not a diplomatic matter,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing on Tuesday. “I believe everyone will have seen she has recently attended some public activities and also held a video call with IOC President (Thomas) Bach. I hope certain people will cease malicious hyping, let alone politicization,” Zhao added. On Monday the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) said it is still concerned about Peng despite her appearance and the International Olympic Committee call. “It was good to see Peng Shuai in recent videos, but they don’t alleviate or address the WTA’s concern about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion,” a WTA spokeswoman said in an e-mail. “This video does not change our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern.” Peng had not been seen since earlier this month after she accused Zhang Gaoli, a former Chinese vice premier, of forcing her to have sex several years …

A U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics would deal a blow to Seoul’s attempts to resume diplomacy with North Korea, experts said. Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden said that his administration was “considering” a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in February.  Such a boycott would mean the U.S. would not send government officials to the Winter Games although it would allow athletes to compete. Many human rights groups and some lawmakers in Congress called for a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, citing Beijing’s human rights abuses.  South Korea has been pushing for a declaration to end the Korean War. That war concluded with the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, which announced a cease-fire rather than complete peace.​ Diplomatic setback  In his address to the U.N. General Assembly in September, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said such a declaration could be a “catalyst” for the resumption of dialogue with North Korea.  Seoul sees an end-of-war declaration as the key to jump-starting nuclear talks with North Korea, which have been stalled since October 2019. It also believes the Beijing Olympics will offer a diplomatic venue where the leaders of the U.S., China, South Korea and North …

The Port-au-Prince international jazz festival, traditionally held in late January, has been postponed indefinitely because of gang violence that has plagued the Haitian capital for months, event organizers said Monday.  “We can’t take the risk, either for the 150 musicians or for our teams or for the public,” Milena Sandler, director of the Haiti Jazz Foundation, which organizes the festival, told AFP.     “We have been thinking for a while now that it would be difficult, even morally, to stage a festive event in this context,” said the head of the festival that brings together musicians from more than a dozen countries every year.     Long confined to the poorer districts of the capital, gangs have in recent months extended their reach and increased the number of kidnappings.   Their sway over the capital regularly prevents secure access to oil terminals, and the resulting fuel shortages have severely disrupted the transport sector and forced hospitals, businesses and schools to drastically reduce their activities.     In this chaotic context, the United States and Canada have recommended that their citizens living in Haiti have an emergency plan to leave the country.   Sandler nevertheless remained hopeful that the “Papjazz” will take place sometime in 2022.   “If the situation in the country does not allow for the usual …

For many musicians, like storytelling superstar Adele, the order of songs on an album is a matter of the keenest concern, affecting how a narrative is presented, how listeners react and ultimately how many albums are sold. That is a big reason why customers of Spotify saw “play” as the album default option Sunday on the world’s largest audio streaming service, so songs will be heard in the order they appear on an album — though users can still elect the “shuffle” option. Adele, whose much anticipated new album “30” shot to the top of the charts within hours of its release Friday, is among the artists who have campaigned for the “play” choice, and in announcing its change Spotify specifically mentioned her. “As Adele mentioned, we are excited to share that we have begun rolling out a new Premium feature that has been long requested by both users and artists to make play the default button on all albums,” a spokesman for the Swedish company said. “For those users still wishing to shuffle an album, they can go to the Now Playing View and select the shuffle toggle.” Adele took to Twitter to express her thanks. “We don’t create …

Members of Afghanistan’s women’s youth development soccer team arrived in Britain early Thursday after being flown from Pakistan with the help of a New York rabbi, a U.K. soccer club and Kim Kardashian West. A plane chartered by the reality star and carrying more than 30 teenage players and their families, about 130 people in all, landed at Stansted Airport near London. The Afghans will spend 10 days in coronavirus quarantine before starting new lives in Britain. English Premier League club Leeds United has offered to support the players. Britain and other countries evacuated thousands of Afghans in a rushed airlift as Kabul fell to Taliban militants in August. Many more people have since left overland for neighboring countries in hopes of traveling on to the West. Women playing sports was seen as a political act of defiance against the Taliban, and hundreds of female athletes have left Afghanistan since the group returned to power and began curbing women’s education and freedoms. Khalida Popal, a former captain of Afghanistan’s national women’s team who has spearheaded evacuation efforts for female athletes, said she felt “so happy and so relieved” that the girls and women were out of danger. “Many of those …

The head of the Women’s Tennis Association on Wednesday voiced concern over an email it received in which Chinese professional tennis player Peng Shuai was said to deny her previous allegations of sexual assault.  Peng, one of China’s biggest sport stars, said on social media earlier this month that former Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli coerced her into sex and that they later had an on-off consensual relationship.  Her post was quickly deleted and she had not been seen publicly or made a statement since then, alarming the global tennis community.  On Twitter, Chinese state-affiliated media outlet CGTN released what it said was an email Peng had sent to WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon in which she denied the allegations, and that she was not missing or unsafe, but just “resting at home.”   But in his own written statement, Simon said the email only raised his concerns as to Peng’s “safety and whereabouts,” and that he had a hard time believing she actually wrote the email.    Peng is a former World No. 1-ranked doubles player, taking 23 tour-level doubles titles, including Grand Slams at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014.  She hasn’t competed on tour since the Qatar …

China has been making patriotic movies for its domestic audiences while tightening control of its film industry, developments that have left Hollywood wondering whether its movies will still be welcome in China’s lucrative market. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details. …

Greece and U.S. tech giant Microsoft have teamed up to digitally revive one of the ancient world’s most sacrosanct sites: the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The ambitious project uses technology to immerse viewers in the world of ancient Olympia.  The collaboration between Microsoft and the Greek Culture Ministry will allow millions of visitors to immerse themselves in an experience that organizers say brings history to life.  At a recent news conference in Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Microsoft officials said they used artificial intelligence to map the site, augmenting reality to help restore the sacrosanct location as it might have looked some 2,000 years ago.   Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitostakis attended the launch and said the project would revive Greece’s greatest commodity — its history.  “Technology is opening up a completely different way of experiencing what our culture is all about. And the project in Olympia is so important because it demonstrates the power of technology to not just look at the site, but also the lives of people, how societies were organized,” Mitostakis said. Among the 27 monuments being featured are the original Olympic stadium, the temples of Zeus and Hera, and the workshop of the renowned sculptor Phidias.  Through data provided by Greek archaeologists, the sites are as close as possible to their original forms. In-person visitors are provided with smart glasses at the site so they can get an idea of what the locations would have looked like …

Zambia-born novelist Wilbur Smith chronicled dramatic adventures on the African continent, creating internationally acclaimed fiction that drew on his own action-packed life.  Smith died in South Africa at age 88, his publisher announced Saturday.  He gained recognition in 1964 with his debut novel “When the Lion Feeds,” the tale of a young man growing up on a South African cattle ranch that led to 15 sequels, tracing the ambitious family’s fortunes for more than 200 years. “I wove into the story chunks of early African history. I wrote about Black people and white. I wrote about hunting and gold mining and carousing and women,” he said in a biography on his official website.  He also leaned on meticulous historical research and his own extensive travels, establishing a method he would use over a career spanning five decades in which he wrote nearly 50 novels and sold about 130 million books.  Another golden rule came from his publisher, Charles Pick. “He said: ‘Write only about those things you know well.’ Since then I have written only about Africa,” Smith said.  Born hunter  Born on January 9, 1933, to a British family in what was then Northern Rhodesia, Smith encountered from an …

A judge has freed Britney Spears from the conservatorship that controlled her life and money for nearly 14 years. Here’s a look at how conservatorships operate, what’s unusual about hers, and how calls from her and her fans to #FreeBritney eventually worked. How do conservatorships work? When a person is considered to have a severely diminished mental capacity, a court can step in and grant someone the power to make financial decisions and major life choices for them. California law says a conservatorship, called a guardianship in some states, is justified for a “person who is unable to provide properly for his or her personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter,” or for someone who is “substantially unable to manage his or her own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence.” The conservator, as the appointee put in charge is called, may be a family member, a close friend or a court-appointed professional. Several states have recently used the attention that Spears has brought to the issue to reform their conservatorship laws.  How does Spears’ work? With a fortune of nearly $60 million comes secrecy, and the court closely guarded the inner workings of Spears’ conservatorship. Some …

Actress and model Gloria Hendry became the first African American to play a so-called James Bond girl, debuting in the 1973 movie Live and Let Die. In an interview with VOA, Hendry reflected on what the role meant for her and other Black actresses at the time. More from Genia Dulot in Los Angeles. Camera: Genia Dulot …

A fatal shooting during the production of a movie called “Rust” is raising questions about safety on movie sets. Authorities are still investigating the October 21st shooting south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with Tim Forrest, director of the film program at Central New Mexico Community College about safety measures on production sets. …

A pair of diamond bracelets that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, the famed wife of French King Louis XVI who met her fate at the revolutionary guillotine, sold for 7.46 million Swiss francs ($8.34 million) on Tuesday.  The opulent bracelets, among the rare pieces of jewelry from the ill-fated French royal that are still up for public sale today, were among standout features to a Christie’s auction in Geneva. They feature 112 diamonds and each weighs 97 grams (3.4 ounces) and include silver and gold.  The pair sold for much more than the presale estimate of between 2 million and 4 million Swiss francs ($2.2 million to $4.4 million). The final price included taxes and fees on top of the hammer price. The buyer was not identified. After Marie Antoinette’s death in the French Revolution in 1793, the bracelets that had been commissioned some 17 years earlier were passed on from her daughter Marie-Therese and kept within royal lineage for over 200 years, Christie’s said.  On Wednesday, as part of regular Geneva jewelry auctions, rival house Sotheby’s is set to put under the hammer a 26.8-carat oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds, and matching ear clips that once belonged to Grand …

The dramatic retelling of a decisive Korean War battle between Chinese soldiers and U.S.-led United Nations forces smashed box office records last month to become China’s third-highest grossing film of all-time, according to state media, amid a new push for patriotic-only historical accounts by the Communist Party.  Released over China’s National Day holidays in early October, The Battle at Lake Changjin is set during November 1950 and recounts how Chinese soldiers forced a retreat of U.N. forces from the Choisin Reservoir in present-day North Korea.  The film has already earned $875.5 million (5.6 billion RMB) since opening on September 30, according to the e-ticketing platform Maoyan, and it is still showing at some cinemas in China more than a month after opening.     The Battle at Lake Changjin was commissioned by the Chinese government ahead of the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary this year, and it is the latest in a series of patriotic war-time films to hit Chinese theatres in the last few years.  Other notable hits include The Korean War epic, The Sacrifice, The Eight Hundred, which recounts the 1937 Battle of Shanghai between invading Japanese forces and the National revolutionary Army, and The Wolf Warrior action film franchise about contemporary People’s Liberation Army soldiers. In China, the Korean War is officially known as the war to “Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea,” and …

The recent fatal accident on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie, Rust, prompts calls for a ban on the use of real guns in TV shows and films. Genia Dulot in Los Angeles spoke with master armorer Mike Tristano about safety on movie sets. Camera:Genia Dulot and Dana Preobrazhenskaya …

33,000 runners returned to the streets of New York City for the 50th New York City Marathon. The race was canceled last year due to the pandemic and with its return, the city is on an upswing. Tina Trinh reports. Camera: Esha Sarai​ Esha Sarai  contributed to this report. …