Diego Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time before drug and alcohol addiction marred his career, died Wednesday at his home in Argentina after suffering a heart attack, his lawyer said. He was 60. Beloved in his homeland after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, and adored in Italy for taking Napoli to two Serie A titles, Maradona was a uniquely gifted player who rose from the tough streets of Buenos Aires to reach the pinnacle of his sport. He died four years to the day after one of his political heroes, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and 15 years to the day after another troubled but talented football folk hero, George Best, whom Maradona cited as one of his boyhood inspirations. FILE – Former Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona poses during the photo call for the documentary “Maradona” during the 61st International film festival in Cannes, southern France, May 20, 2008.Maradona had recently battled health issues and underwent emergency surgery for a subdural hematoma several weeks ago. He suffered a heart attack at his home in the outskirts of Buenos Aires on Wednesday, acquaintances of the former player said. His death was confirmed by his …

The show must go on. This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City will take place but not as we know it. The characteristic crowds of people who line the streets to catch a glimpse of the parade will be missing because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said in a statement on Wednesday. Spectators of the annual event will have to view the parade on television. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker will host Thursday’s event, which is scheduled for broadcast from 9 a.m. until noon in all time zones across the United States. Macy’s also plans to restrict the parade to its storefront on 34th Street in New York City, cutting out its signature 4-kilometer route. Also, this year, high school and college marching bands will be absent. In partnership with the city, Macy’s promised to deliver a safe 94th Thanksgiving Day Parade. This included figuring out which roads to block to prevent people from entering the parade area. Program lineups involving musical performances, balloons, floats and an appearance by Santa Claus will not change. This year, late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon and The Roots band are scheduled to open the program with musical performances from entertainers including Patti LaBelle, Keke Palmer and Dolly …

Argentina’s Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football (soccer) players of all time, has died at the age of 60. The attacking midfielder died of a cardiorespiratory issue, according to reports in the Argentine press.  The legend underwent what was described as successful surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain earlier this month, according to the BBC. Maradona had long battled alcohol and drug addiction. In 1986, Maradona, who came from humble roots, led the Argentine side to a World Cup title in Mexico.During the tournament, he scored what many consider one of the all-time greatest goals against England when he sliced through the English defense. In that same game, he scored the controversial “hand of God” goal when he got away with what appeared to be a handball leading to a score. In 1990, he led his team to the final, but lost to West Germany. He was set to captain the Argentine team in the 1994 World Cup, but failed drug tests. Playing for his home country, he scored 34 goals in 91 appearances. He appeared in four World Cups. During the peak of his club career, he played for European powerhouses Barcelona and Napoli, during which he helped the Italian side …

The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she had a miscarriage in July, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others. Meghan described the miscarriage in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Wednesday, writing that “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.” The former Meghan Markle and husband Prince Harry have an 18-month-old son, Archie. The duchess, 39, said she was sharing her story to help break the silence around an all-too-common tragedy. Britain’s National Health Service says about one in eight pregnancies in which a woman is aware she is pregnant ends in miscarriage. “Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” Meghan wrote. “In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.” In a startlingly intimate account of her experience, the duchess described how tragedy struck on a “morning that began as ordinarily as any other day: Make breakfast. Feed the dogs. Take vitamins. Find that missing sock. Pick up the rogue crayon that rolled under the table. Throw my hair in a ponytail before getting my son …

These days, with a pandemic raging, this is what life can look like:  out the days in loungewear. Wearing minimal makeup because no one sees much of you. Considering an investment in home exercise equipment because gyms are closed or restricted. The pandemic has forced people to spend more time with themselves than ever. Along the way, it has reshaped and broadened the way many think about and prioritize how they treat themselves — what has come to be called self-care. The pandemic-era incarnation of self-care isn’t about buying a signature outfit, wearing a trendy shade of lipstick or getting a perfect haircut. It has, for many, put the purpose and meaning of life front and center, reconfiguring priorities and needs as the virus-inflected months drift by. No longer are worries about longevity and fears of mortality mere hypotheticals. They are 2020’s reality. It is that daunting reality that has skyrocketed the importance of “me” time: stress-baking the latest viral creation, tending to a garden, learning a new skill, getting dressed like you’re going out just to feel some semblance of normalcy. “People are social beings. And while the social fabric has been torn down, and you can’t be a …

Beyonce led nominations for the 2021 Grammy Awards on Tuesday with nine nods, followed by Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and rapper Roddy Ricch, who got six apiece. Swift and British singer Dua Lipa will compete for the top prize – album of the year – along with R&B singer Post Malone, British band Coldplay, female band Haim, avant-garde British artist Jacob Collier, American soul band Black Pumas and American alternative R&B singer Jhene Aiko. The biggest shutout was Canadian singer The Weeknd, who had been widely expected to rack up several nominations for his critically acclaimed, commercially successful album After Hours. FILE – The Weeknd arrives at the Oscars on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.Bob Dylan was also a no-show despite the acclaim for his first album of new music in eight years, Rough and Rowdy Ways. K-pop sensation BTS got a nod for their single Dynamite in the best pop group performance field but were left out of the top three categories. The Grammys, the highest honors in the music industry, will be handed out January 31 at a ceremony in Los Angeles hosted by Trevor Noah. Beyonce’s nominations came mostly from her song Black Parade, which celebrated Black culture and activism and …

In a scene that could have been taken from the science fiction classic “2001: A Space Odyssey,” officials in Utah have discovered a mysterious metallic monolith in the remote southeastern part of the state.Public safety workers spotted the object November 18 from a helicopter while conducting a count of bighorn sheep, according to a Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources crew members walk near a metal monolith they discovered in a remote area of Red Rock Country in Utah, Nov. 18, 2020.So far, there is no indication of who could have placed the 3- to 3.6-meter-tall monolith in that location.“It is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from,” the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a statement.“That’s been about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying,” pilot Bret Hutchings told KSL-TV.He added that the object appeared to be manmade and probably did not have any scientific purpose, calling it “more of an art form than any kind of alien life form.”For now, officials are not revealing the exact location of the monolith …

Weeks after the passing of legendary Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, Sony Pictures Television has announced that popular contestant and “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” tournament winner Ken Jennings will serve as the first of a series of interim guest hosts when the trivia game show returns to production on Monday. “Alex believed in the importance of Jeopardy! and always said that he wanted the show to go on after him,” said Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards. “We will honor Alex’s legacy by continuing to produce the game he loved with smart contestants and challenging clues. By bringing in familiar guest hosts for the foreseeable future, our goal is to create a sense of community and continuity for our viewers.” Trebek died November 8 from pancreatic cancer, after being first diagnosed in March 2019. His last day in studio was October 29. A long-term replacement host will not be named at this time, said the studio. Jennings has long been a favorite to assume Trebek’s iconic position at the Jeopardy! podium, having first emerged on the scene in the early 2000s with a 74-game winning streak and an all-time record for highest winnings in regular-season play with $2.52 million in earnings. He also became a consulting producer on the show after winning the “GOAT!” tournament earlier this year. Other names, including Anderson Cooper …

Taylor Swift won her third consecutive artist of the year prize at the American Music Awards, but she missed the show for a good reason: She said she’s busy re-recording her early music after her catalog was sold. In a video that aired during Sunday’s awards show, the pop star said “the reason I’m not there tonight is I’m actually re-recording all of my old music in the studio where we originally recorded it. So it’s been amazing. And I can’t wait for you to hear it.” Last year music manager Scooter Braun — who manages Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande — announced that his Ithaca Holdings company had acquired Big Machine Label Group, the home to Swift’s first six albums. This month Braun said he has sold the master rights to Swift’s first six albums to an investment company; Swift acknowledged the sale on social media and said she would not work with the new buyers because Braun was still involved. Instead, she headed back to the studio. Swift beat out Bieber, Post Malone and Roddy Ricch to win the top award. She also won favorite music video and favorite pop/rock female artist, winning three honors and tying Bieber, …

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 …

Delmonico’s, America’s very first restaurant, is also one of its most influential, according to Yale University history professor Paul Freedman. “It defined what elegant food was in the 19th century United States, and that has influenced, to some extent, the food that is eaten today,” Freedman says. Founded in 1830, Delmonico’s invented lobster Newberg and baked Alaska, and continues to serve those and other dishes at its New York City location. “America’s first real successful restaurant … Delmonico’s is kind of a no-brainer because it’s the first restaurant, but it’s also very enduring,” Freedman says. “It’s created in the 1830s, but in 1890, it’s still considered the best restaurant in the U.S. A lot of restaurants elsewhere called themselves, like, the Delmonico’s of Indianapolis, and it becomes a shorthand term for fancy.” Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City in an undated photo. (Courtesy Delmonico’s)In his book, “Ten Restaurants That Changed America,” Freedman names nine other restaurants that have had a far-reaching influence on what Americans eat. Yale University Professor Paul Freedman, author of “Ten Restaurants That Changed America.” (Courtesy Yale University)“I chose them both for just the delight of restaurants as places, but also as a way of talking about American history,” he says. “Because …

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.”  …