NEW YORK — Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been hit with three federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.   Combs, 54, was arrested in Manhattan by federal agents on Monday night, following a year in which his career was derailed by several lawsuits accusing him of physical and sexual abuse.  Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lawyer, said he was disappointed with the decision to pursue an “unjust prosecution” of the rapper and producer.  “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community,” Agnifilo said on Monday night. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.”  Agnifilo added that Combs voluntarily relocated to New York in anticipation of the charges.  Combs, who has also been known as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, was a major figure in hip-hop in the 1990s and 2000s. He founded the label Bad Boy records, and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher …

Osaka, Japan — Japan celebrated on Monday the record-breaking Emmy Awards triumph of “Shogun”, although many confessed not having watched the series about the country’s warring dynasties in the feudal era.   “Shogun” smashed all-time records at the television awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, taking home an astounding 18 statuettes and becoming the first non-English-language winner of the highly coveted award for best drama series.   Lead Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Lord Toranaga, became the first Japanese actor to win an Emmy, while Anna Sawai achieved the same for her performance as Lady Mariko.   “As a Japanese, I’m happy Sanada won,” Kiyoko Kanda, a 70-year-old pensioner, told AFP in Tokyo.    “He worked so hard since he moved to Los Angeles,” she said.   “In ‘Last Samurai’, Tom Cruise was the lead, but it’s exciting Sanada is the main character in ‘Shogun’,” Kanda added.   But she admitted that she only watched the trailer.   The series is available only on Disney’s streaming platform, which is relatively new in Japan.   “I want to watch it. I’m curious to know how Japan is portrayed,” Kanda said.   Otsuka, who declined to give her first name, said she, too, has not …

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LOS ANGELES — “Hacks” won the comedy series at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, topping “The Bear,” which took home several of the night’s honors. “Shogun” won the best drama series win, collecting a whopping 18 Emmys for its first season, just one of several historic wins. Hiroyuki Sanada won best actor in a drama for “Shogun” on Sunday night at the Emmy Awards, and Anna Sawai won best actress as they became the first two Japanese actors to win Emmys. Their wins gave the FX series momentum going into one of the night’s top awards, where “Shogun” won best drama series. “The Bear” came back for seconds in a big way at the ceremony four times including best actor, best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a comedy, while British upstart “Baby Reindeer” won four of its own, including best limited series. The star of FX’s “The Bear” Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy for the second straight year, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeated as best supporting actor. A surprise came when Liza Colón-Zayas won best supporting actor over major competition. “How could I have thought it would be possible to be in the presence of Meryl Streep and …

LOS ANGELES — The 76th annual Emmy Awards were handed out Sunday at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. “Shogun” set a single season record for most wins with 18. “Shogun” won best drama series, and Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai won acting awards for their roles. “Hacks’’ won the award for best comedy series. ”Baby Reindeer” and “The Bear’’ won four awards apiece. Early winners included Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jeremy Allen White and Liza Colón-Zayas, who won awards for their work in the comedy series “The Bear.” Stars presenting Emmys to their peers included: Billy Crystal, Viola Davis, Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, Maya Rudolph and Martin Sheen. Several actors and shows, including Rudolph, won last week. Rudolph won her sixth Emmy Award at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys for her voice work on “Big Mouth.” Jamie Lee Curtis also picked up a supporting actress Emmy last weekend for her appearance on “The Bear.” Here’s a list of winners at Sunday’s Emmys: Supporting actor in a comedy series Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear” Supporting actor in a drama series Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show” Actor in a comedy series Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear” Supporting actress in a comedy series Liza Colón-Zayas, “The Bear” Supporting actress in …

Los Angeles — Hollywood will dole out the annual Emmy Awards, the highest honors in television, Sunday at a red-carpet ceremony where the historical drama “Shogun” and restaurant tale “The Bear” are poised to dominate the night. “Shogun,” a lavish epic about a power struggle in 17th-century Japan, is the front-runner to take the night’s top trophy for best drama series, according to awards pundits. Reigning best comedy champion “The Bear” is expected to claim that prize again. Both shows debuted on the FX cable network and stream on Hulu, setting up a big night for owner Walt Disney and its TV chief Dana Walden. Sunday’s ceremony will take place just eight months after the last Emmys, which aired in an unusual January slot because of disruptions caused by Hollywood labor strikes. Back on a September schedule, the show will air live from downtown Los Angeles on Disney’s ABC starting at 5 p.m. Pacific time Sunday (12 a.m. GMT on Monday). “Schitt’s Creek” father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy will host the festivities. Producers have promised cast reunions from shows past, such as “Happy Days,” and other moments to celebrate the history of television. Olympic gold medalist swimmer Caeleb Dressel and …

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What is Art? It’s an age-old question: is it paint on canvas, ceramics or sculpture? The fun part is – art can be anything – and can even be created with a chainsaw. That’s the medium of one artist from the U.S. state of Virginia. Maxim Adams has the story. (Camera: Andrey Degtyarev; Produced by: Andrey Degtyarev, Anna Rice) …

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MEJICANOS, El Salvador — From the window of her tin-sided shop outside El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, Esmeralda Quintanilla watches artists get to work in her neighborhood on walls still pockmarked by bullet holes from the country’s civil war and gang conflict. Armed with brushes, paint and spray cans, muralists and graffiti artists have already covered the walls of several of the 40 five-story units in a housing complex in the Zacamil neighborhood of the Mejicanos district. “With the murals, everything looks really nice,” said Quintanilla, a 55-year-old seamstress who has lived in the neighborhood nearly half her life. “You start to see all this, and it gives the place a different image. I feel really happy, proud.” The dozen murals already completed include a Mesoamerican pyramid, pixelated depictions of the Virgin Mary and works straight out of the artists’ imaginations. The initiative in the once-violent neighborhood is led by a Salvadoran foundation that seeks to fill communities with art. Its aim in Zacamil is to create stories-high murals over the next two years on nearly every wall of the complex, which houses around 4,000 residents. Zacamil got a break from decades of violence two years ago when President Nayib Bukele …

rio de janeiro — Rio de Janeiro’s main beaches bustle with commotion on sunny weekends. But activity ground to a near standstill on one stretch of sand. People held up their phones to record athletic feats they’d never before witnessed, or even imagined. The game? Footvolley, a combination of soccer and beach volleyball. The athlete? A 3-year-old border collie named Floki. Floki sparks wonder among bystanders because he hangs tough in a game that even humans struggle to get a handle on. Footvolley rules are essentially the same as beach volleyball, but with a slightly lower net and, like soccer, players are forbidden from using hands and arms. Floki springs up from the sand to drive the ball with his snout. He has become something of an internet sensation in Brazil, with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok. Floki’s owner, Gustavo Rodrigues, is a footvolley coach, but swears he didn’t plan this. He had wanted an American Bully, a decidedly less sprightly breed. Floki came into Rodrigues’ life instead and quickly revealed his potential when, at just 2 months old, he started jumping after birthday balloons. Rodrigues started Floki out on what’s called “altinha,” where a group standing …

Mosul, Iraq — If they had tried to do this a few years ago, the group of Iraqi women enjoying a night out in Mosul would probably have risked severe punishment. The northern city was under the harsh rule of the Islamic State group until the jihadists were ousted from their last major Iraqi bastion in 2017. Seven years later, Mosul’s streets truly come alive at nightfall, and residents are rediscovering the art of having a good time. Amira Taha and her friends have come to a restaurant with their children, to enjoy food and live music — complete with crooners — on a night out that would have been unthinkable under IS rule. “There has been enormous change in Mosul,” Taha tells AFP. “We now have freedom and nights out like this have become common” because of “the very stable security situation.” The city has new restaurants to go to, pleasure cruises on the river Tigris, and amusement parks that draw families keen to take advantage of the newfound stability. Dressed in an electric blue suit, the 35-year-old mother says “people wanted to open up [to the world] and enjoy themselves.” Reign of terror On the stage, three Iraqi singers …

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince, who came to the United States from an orphanage in war-ravaged Sierra Leone and performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, has died, her family said in a statement. She was 29. “Michaela touched so many lives across the world, including ours. She was an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her or heard her story,” her family said in a statement posted Friday on DePrince’s social media accounts. “From her early life in war-torn Africa, to stages and screens across the world, she achieved her dreams and so much more.” A cause of death was not provided. DePrince was adopted by an American couple and by age 17 she had been featured in a documentary film and had performed on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars.” After graduating from high school and the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, she became a principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She then went to the Netherlands, where she danced with the Dutch National Ballet. She later returned to the U.S. and joined the Boston Ballet in 2021. “We’re sending our love and support to the family of Michaela …

LONDON — Prince Harry was always something different. From the moment he first appeared in public, snuggled in Princess Diana’s arms outside the London hospital where he was born in 1984, Harry was the ginger-haired scamp who stuck his tongue out at photographers. He grew to be a boisterous adolescent who was roundly criticized for wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party, and then a young man who gave up the trappings of royal life and moved to Southern California with his American wife. Through it all, there was a sense that Harry was rebelling against an accident of birth that made him, in the harsh calculus of the House of Windsor, just “the spare.” As the second son of the man who is now King Charles III, he was raised as a prince but wouldn’t inherit the throne unless brother William came to harm. Now the angry young man is turning 40, the halfway point in many lives, providing a chance to either dwell on the past or look forward to what might still be achieved. For the past four years, Harry has focused mainly on the past, making millions of dollars by airing his grievances in a wildly …

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil formally received on Thursday the return from Denmark of an Indigenous cloak made with 4,000 red feathers of the scarlet ibis bird, a sacred mantle that was taken by Europeans during the 17th century colonial era. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended the ceremony outside Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, marking the importance that Brazil gives to the item’s repatriation. The cloak, a feathered ceremonial cape used in religious rituals of the Tupinamba people of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, was removed during the Dutch occupation of the area. Its first mention comes in a Danish inventory in 1689, although it is thought to have been taken from Brazil some 50 years before. By the 21st century it was held in the ethnographic collection of Denmark’s National Museum, the Nationalmuseet. In 2000, the museum lent the cloak out for an exhibition in Sao Paulo. A Tupinamba leader saw it there and demanded its return. Last year, after lengthy diplomatic negotiations, the Danish museum announced it would donate the cloak to Brazil’s National Museum, and it was repatriated in July. Some 170 Tupinamba traveled from southern Bahia to Rio to celebrate its return. “It is …

london — An animal rights group trying to get real fur out of the bearskin caps worn by King’s Guards at Buckingham Palace took aim Thursday at the cost of the ceremonial garb.  The price of the caps soared 30% in a year to more than 2,000 pounds ($2,600) apiece for the hats made of black bear fur, the Ministry of Defense said in response to a freedom of information request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  “Stop wasting taxpayer pounds on caps made from slaughtered wildlife and switch to faux fur today,” the group said in a statement.  A luxury fake fur maker has offered to supply the army with free faux bear fur for 10 years, PETA said.  Military willing to consider alternatives The military said it was open to exploring alternatives if they pass muster in durability, water protection and appearance. But “no alternative has met all those criteria to date,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.  The distinctive tall black hats, worn by guards in bright scarlet tunics, are seen by millions who watch the regular changing of the guard ceremony at the palace. They also appear at other royal events including the annual …

Tokyo — The samurai in Shogun don’t swing their arms as they walk — just one of many authentic historical details that have helped make the hit television drama this year’s top Emmys contender. The period drama, praised for its meticulous approach to accuracy, made TV history with 25 Emmy nominations, and has already swept up 14 prizes in minor categories ahead of Sunday’s gala. Set in early 17th century feudal Japan, Shogun makes a break from decades of cliched and often bungled depictions of the country in Western-made film and television. An army of experts including several wig technicians from Japan worked behind the scenes to make the series realistic, poring over sets, costumes and the actors’ movements. Kyoto-based historian Frederik Cryns advised on everything from the types of kimonos to the position of tatami mats. “My comments were compiled, and to my surprise, became a 2,100-page manual” that was followed almost to the letter, Cryns — a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies — told AFP. Cryns said he had often felt a “sense of discomfort” when watching Japan-themed Hollywood movies because of their inaccuracy. But Shogun — made by Disney-owned FX and co-produced by Japanese …

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” has just been renewed for its 25th season. It is the longest-running prime-time drama on U.S. television. The show’s lead character, Captain Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay, has become such a fixture in American life she was recently honored by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. VOA’s Maxim Adams reports. Videographer: Aleksandr Bergan …

Singapore — Pope Francis wrapped up an arduous 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Friday, defying health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. The 87-year-old pontiff flies home to Rome from Singapore, completing his longest trip in duration and distance since he became head of the world’s estimated 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 13 years ago. The Argentine pope has relied on a wheelchair since 2022 because of knee pain and sciatica. He had a hernia operation in June 2023, and earlier this year he battled flu and bronchitis. Occasionally, during his four-nation trip, the pope struggled to keep his eyes open when listening to late-night liturgical readings or to remain engaged during formal military parades. But he was clearly energized by more freewheeling exchanges — cheerfully goading young people to shout out their agreement with his calls to help those in need. In a lively final inter-religious meeting with young Singaporeans, the pope urged them to respect other beliefs, avoid being slaves to technology and to get out of their comfort zones. “Don’t let your stomach get fat, but let your head get fat,” the pope said, raising …

One Washington teacher’s attempt to help one student has turned into something much larger. VOA’s Philip Alexiou has this story of a chess academy for kids. (Camera and produced by: Philip Alexiou) …

NEW YORK — He had some help: Morgan Wallen tops the 2024 Country Music Association Awards nominations with seven. For a third year in a row, Wallen is up for both the top prize — entertainer of the year — and the male vocalist categories. Rounding out the entertainer of the year categories are Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson. Post Malone’s massive radio hit, “I Had Some Help,” which features Wallen, is the main reason why the country singer leads the pack this year. It is up for single, song, musical event and music video of the year. His last nomination is a second one in the musical event category, for his collaboration with Eric Church, “Man Made a Bar.” Single of the year is awarded to the artist, producer and mix engineers; song of the year is given to the songwriters. Ahead of the nominations announcement, some fans speculated that Beyoncé, whose landmark country-and-then-some reclamation Cowboy Carter was released during the eligibility window, could receive a nomination at the 2024 CMAs. She did not. Earlier this year, the album hit No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart, making her the first Black woman to top …

NEW YORK — James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, The Lion King and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93. His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York’s Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear. The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor. He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of The Gin Game having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work. “The need to storytell has always been …

Havana, Cuba — Socialist Cuba, the birthplace of salsa and other rhythms that have conquered the world, is now surrendering to the invasion of South Korean pop music. Thirteen thousand kilometers of distance separate the Asian nation and the communist-run island, as well as a different language and cultural traditions. However, all of these barriers would seem to vanish in a split second thanks to K-pop’s infectious beat and elaborate choreography. Korean popular music, or K-pop, has spread far and wide from its Asian roots as boy bands like BTS and NCT and their female counterpart Blackpink rival Taylor Swift for downloads and album sales globally. But it was slow to catch on in Cuba, where salsa is king and internet speeds were glacial until recently. On Saturday, far from Seoul, dozens of teenagers clad in plaid, prep school skirts, baggy bomber pants and heavy black eyeliner busted their best moves as images of the genre’s idols were projected on a large screen of a Havana dance club. “K-pop has opened a new world to me,” said 24-year-old Fransico Piedra, who when not working with his father as a blacksmith dreams up meticulous dance steps. Known by his artistic name Ken …

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