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 …

Scottish movie legend Sean Connery, who shot to international stardom as the suave, sexy and sophisticated British agent James Bond and went on to grace the silver screen for four decades, has died aged 90. The BBC and Sky News reported his death on Saturday. “I was heartbroken to learn this morning of the passing of Sir Sean Connery. Our nation today mourns one of her best loved sons,” said Scottish First Minster Nicola Sturgeon. “Sean was a global legend but, first and foremost, he was a patriotic and proud Scot.”    Connery was raised in near poverty in the slums of Edinburgh and worked as a coffin polisher, milkman and lifeguard before his bodybuilding hobby helped launch an acting career that made him one of the world’s biggest stars.    Connery will be remembered first as British agent 007, the character created by novelist Ian Fleming and immortalized by Connery in films starting with “Dr. No” in 1962.   FILE – In this file photo taken on Oct. 22, 1982 British actor Sean Connery is seen during the making of the film “Never say, never again” in Nice.As Bond, his debonair manner and wry humor in foiling flamboyant villains and cavorting …

The Plastic Bag Store isn’t really a store but an art installation. Nina Vishneva, in this story narrated by Anna Rice reports on this unique piece of art that’s all about plastic. Camera: Alexander Barash, Natalia Latukhina …

Scholars are urging government curators not to shy away from controversial issues in the production of new exhibits as the Hong Kong Museum of History undertakes a two-year revamp of its popular Hong Kong Story exhibition.Occupying 7,000 square meters in eight galleries on two floors, the permanent exhibition of the Hong Kong Story has attracted more than 10 million local and overseas visitors since its launch in 2001, according to the museum website. It has now been temporarily closed, starting October 19, for an extensive renovation.  Visitors wearing masks to help protect against the coronavirus walk past an earth sculpture, at the Hong Kong Museum of History, in Hong Kong, Oct. 16, 2020.The old exhibition showcased exhibits starting from the Devonian period 400 million years ago up to 1997. It only caused a stir in the public when the exhibition was officially closed this month, even though the decision was announced in 2015. The revamp is a regular exercise of history museums conducted every 20 years, according to John Carroll, a professor in the University of Hong Kong’s History Department and an expert in museology.Coming at a time when Hong Kong is reeling from intense turmoil after yearlong massive protests …

The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first Major League Baseball World Series in more than three decades Tuesday night, shaking off a slow offensive start to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in Game 6. For five innings, the Rays appeared to be in control in their bid to force a deciding seventh game in the series with pitcher Blake Snell allowing just one hit and zero runs. But the Dodgers rallied in the sixth inning, scoring a run on a wild pitch by Rays reliever Nick Anderson and a second run on a fielder’s choice one batter later. Star outfielder Mookie Betts, who came to the Dodgers in an offseason trade, pushed the lead to 3-1 with a home run in the eighth inning. Tampa Bay’s only run came by way of a first-inning home run by Randy Arozarena, who emerged as a star during the postseason with nine total home runs. The Rays had more chances early in the game with multiple runners on base in the first two innings.  But Dodgers pitchers were able to hold the Rays in check, striking out 16 total batters and allowing just two hits in the final eight innings.Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 to win the baseball World Series in Game …

With a bit of rejiggering, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump played host Sunday to hundreds of superheroes, unicorns, skeletons and even a miniature version of themselves as part of a Halloween celebration at the White House. In years past, the president and first lady personally handed out candy to the costume-clad kids. This year, the treats were provided separately as participants walked along a path on the South Lawn.   The kids still briefly met the president and first lady, who waved and offered words of encouragement from a safe distance about how much they liked the costumes. Trump and the first lady have both recently recovered from COVID-19. Trump was particularly pleased with a young boy with a distinctly Trump head of hair and a partner who did her best Mrs. Trump impersonation. The president motioned for them to turn and pose for the cameras, and they happily agreed. Another tot, a true princess it appeared, was so smitten with the cameras that she kept waving at them as she walked along, never noticing the VIPs behind her. The spooky celebration was changed up a bit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Guests older than …

Jerry Jeff Walker, a Texas country singer and songwriter who wrote the pop song “Mr. Bojangles,” has died at age 78.Walker died Friday of cancer, family spokesman John T. Davis told The Associated Press.”He had battled throat cancer for many years, and some other health issues,” Davis said Saturday.Walker emerged from New York’s Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, and he was a founding member of the band Circus Maximus. He moved to Texas in the 1970s and in 1972 scored a hit with his version of the Guy Clark song “L.A. Freeway.”Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band in 1973 recorded an album live in Texas called “Viva Terlingua” that became a classic of the country-rock scene. Walker had since released more than 30 albums.In 1986, he formed independent music label Tried & True Music and released albums under it.Walker was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2017, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, he told the Austin American Statesman in 2018.”I guess I took my singing for granted, and now I don’t,” he told the newspaper.In 2017, it was announced that Walker had donated more than 100 boxes of his music archives to The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, including …

A bilingual virtual festival featuring American and Russian playwrights is taking place as tensions between the two countries are high and serving as a reminder of how art can bridge differences. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. Camera: David Gogokhia      …

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said the Olympic Games are not about politics and must guard against becoming a “marketplace of demonstrations.” Against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement to protest racial injustice, calls have increased this year for a change to Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which bans any form political protest during the Games. World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe said earlier this month he believes athletes should have the right to make gestures of political protest during the Games, contrary to official IOC policy. “The Olympic Games are firstly about sport. The athletes personify the values of excellence, solidarity and peace,” Bach wrote in The Guardian. “They express this inclusiveness and mutual respect also by being politically neutral on the field of play and during the ceremonies. At times this focus on sport needs to be reconciled with the freedom of speech all athletes also enjoy at the Games. “The unifying power of the Games can only unfold if everyone shows respect for and solidarity to one another. Otherwise, the Games will descend into a marketplace of demonstrations of all kinds, dividing and not uniting the world.” Bach said he experienced the “political …

AFI FEST, one of Hollywood’s most prestigious film festivals and part of the American Film Institute, was held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.  VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke to the festival’s organizers and filmmakers about the challenges and advantages of the online platform.  Camera:  Penelope Poulou   Producer: Penelope Poulou …

Ghosts, goblins and other costumed kids are welcome to trick or treat at the White House on Sunday during a Halloween event that has been rejiggered to include coronavirus precautions. The gates to the South Lawn will be opened to children from military families, frontline workers and others, from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Melania Trump announced Friday. Extra precautions have been added to the spooky celebration. President Donald Trump and the first lady — both recently recovered from COVID-19, the disease brought on by the coronavirus — will welcome guests at some point during the event. Guests older than 2 are required to wear face coverings and practice social distancing. The same goes for all White House personnel working the event, while any staff handing out candy will also wear gloves. Hand sanitizer will be available along the route and social distancing measures will be in place. Participating federal departments will use a “no-touch” approach. NASA will display space-related items, including an inflatable rocket. Costumed-clad kids can wave to the Agriculture Department’s Smokey Bear and pick up Junior Ranger badges from the Interior Department’s station. The Education and Labor departments will offer photo opportunities, and the Transportation department will …

AFI FEST, one of Hollywood’s most prestigious film festivals and part of the American Film Institute, was held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.  VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke to the festival’s organizers and filmmakers about the challenges and advantages of the online platform.  Camera:  Penelope Poulou   Producer: Penelope Poulou …

Playwright and “The Walking Dead” star Danai Gurira, Tony Award-winning director Stephen Daldry and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner playwright Lynn Nottage are spearheading a night of music and short monologues as part of a national get-out-the-vote effort. The hourlong, nonpartisan “Act Out: Vote 2020” will be performed by Yvette Nicole Brown, Ryan J. Haddad, Brian Tyree Henry, Lloyd Knight, Sandra Oh and Ephraim Skyes. The event will be available to stream for free at ActOutVote2020 on Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. ET and then live on YouTube until Nov. 2. “Voting matters for every election,” said Nottage in a statement, “but this Nov. 3 is even more important. We believe that if the entire theatrical community — a community that has been shut down for 6 months and will be shut down for a year more — voted, we could help make real, necessary change.” In addition to Nottage and Gurira, the writers include Luis Alfaro, Ngozi Anyanwu, Will Arbery, Jocelyn Bioh, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, Ryan J. Haddad, David Henry Hwang, Lisa Kron, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Martha Redbone, Heidi Schreck and Rhiana Yazzie. Gurira, in a statement, said the effort “is our attempt to amplify American voices in this …

German police and museum officials reported Wednesday that vandals have damaged more than 70 artworks and artifacts at some of Berlin’s most renowned museums.  The targeted attacks were kept quiet by authorities for more than two weeks.Christina Haak, deputy director of Berlin’s state museums, told reporters that at least 63 works at the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, and the Neues Museum were all sprayed with what she described as an oily liquid that left stains. She said there was no thematic link between the targeted works and “no pattern is discernible” to the perpetrator’s approach.The museums are all part of the Museum Island complex, a UNESCO world heritage site in the heart of Germany’s capital that is one of the city’s main tourist attractions.Police said they initially decided not to go public about the incident out of “tactical considerations related to the investigation.” Local media in Berlin broke the story late Tuesday. On Wednesday, police asked witnesses to come forward with any accounts of suspicious people or events they noticed October 3.German media have noted that the Pergamon Museum has in recent months been targeted by conspiracy theorists. Attila Hildmann, an activist who has railed against government measures to …

Spanish DJ Jose Padilla, who became famous for pairing relaxed music with sunset views on the holiday island of Ibiza, has died of cancer. He was 64.”It is with great sadness that we bring you the news that Jose passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday night here on his beloved island of Ibiza,” said a message published on his Facebook page late on Monday.Born in Barcelona in 1955, he moved to Ibiza when he was 20 and began working as a DJ in a yearslong career which ultimately saw him nominated for a Latin Grammy.He shot to fame in the 1990s when he became the resident DJ at the Cafe del Mar bar in San Antoni de Portmany, which is known for its sweeping sunset views of the Mediterranean.It was there that he made a name for himself with his compilations of “chillout” music, drawing hordes of partygoers to the bar and spawning albums that sold around the world.”Jose Padilla chilled a generation of clubbers, and his art touched the lives of millions. He will always be remembered as the Godfather of Chillout,” the Cafe del Mar tweeted.Padilla went public with his colon cancer diagnosis in a tweet …

Music has featured prominently in Tanzania’s political campaigns this year ahead of the Oct. 28 general elections.The ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), or Party of the Revolution, has trotted out the biggest number of musicians during rallies by incumbent President John Pombe Magufuli. CCM opened Magufuli’s campaign in late August with a stadium-filled special concert of 200 songs by more than 100 artists from the Afro-pop music genre widely known as Bongo Flava.But it is Tundu Lissu, the presidential candidate of Tanzania’s main opposition Chadema party, speaks to the media at his home in Dar es Salaam, Sept. 9, 2020.Tumaini Makene, Lissu’s campaign manager, says a DJ played “One Love” at a rally in southern Tanzania and the candidate broke into an impromptu reggae dance, stoking a frenzy among the huge crowd. The song, released on the 1977 album “Exodus,” has since become a staple of Lissu’s campaign, often used to open rallies or else to calm the crowd when it seems to go out of control.Tanzania’s electoral campaigns have been particularly music-heavy this year.  The ruling CCM party commands the biggest attractions, pulling large crowds to rallies featuring popular Bongo Flava musicians such as Diamond Platnumz, Ali Kiba …

As the Afghan Taliban tries to negotiate a political settlement with the government, many musicians in the country are worried about the impact a deal will have on their ability to work, as VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports from Kabul.Videographer:  Ahmad Javed, Rahim Gul Sarwan  Producer: Marcus Harton …

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays will face off in Major League Baseball’s World Series beginning Tuesday. The Dodgers secured their spot with a dramatic victory Sunday night, defeating the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in the deciding seventh game of the National League Championship Series. Los Angeles at one point trailed in the series three games to one, and Atlanta shot out to an early 2-0 lead in game 7.   But the Dodgers battled back, with centerfielder Cody Bellinger breaking a 3-3 tie with a seventh-inning home run, and pitcher Julio Urias throwing three scoreless innings to close out the win. The American League Championship Series also went to seven games, with Tampa Bay holding off a late rally Saturday to beat the Houston Astros. The Rays led that series three games to none before Houston won three in a row to push the series to seven games. Tampa Bay rookie Randy Arozarena was the star with four total home runs, including a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 7 to give the Rays a lead they would not relinquish. After a season cut to 60 games because of the coronavirus, the playoffs have delivered the teams with the two top records in the league to the World Series. The matchup also includes two teams at opposite …

Live music is slowly coming back to the streets of New York City – in a new, pandemic-inspired way. With the city concert venues still closed, New York Philharmonic decided to put its world-class musicians on a truck to perform on city roads and intersections. Anna Nelson has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Natalia Latukhina, Vladimir Badikov   …

Billie Eilish’s debut album continued its winning streak, picking up the top Billboard 200 album honor at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards. Eilish was at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday night to accept the honor for “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” It won the top prize at the Grammy Awards in January. She thanked her fans for “believing in me and caring about me,” adding that when it comes to winning awards, “never ever take these for granted.” Eilish wore a mask as she spoke in front of an empty venue — because of the coronavirus pandemic — and she’s up for more honors throughout the night. Kelly Clarkson, who is hosting, kicked off the show singing Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love,” which became a dance hit last year after Whitney Houston’s cover of the song was remixed by Norwegian DJ-producer Kygo and became an international hit. Clarkson was joined by drummer Sheila E. and a cappella group Pentatonix for the performance of the song, which earned Houston, who died in 2012, a posthumous nomination for top dance/electronic song. Post Malone, who will perform later in the show, is the top nominee with 16, including bids for top artist, top male artist, top rap artist …