LONDON — British writer Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for fiction on Tuesday with “Orbital,” a short, wonder-filled novel set aboard the International Space Station that ponders the beauty and fragility of the Earth. Harvey was awarded the 50,000-pound ($64,000) …

new york — Lou Donaldson, a celebrated jazz saxophonist with a warm, fluid style who performed with everyone from Thelonius Monk to George Benson and was sampled by Nas, De La Soul and other hip-hop artists, has died. He was 98.  …

IQUIQUE, Chile — Over a thousand years ago, the hundreds of giant geoglyphs carved into the desert in northern Chile were a bustling scene. They marked sources of water in the vast arid landscape and were where locals came together to …

Manchester, England — Taylor Swift came out top at the 2024 MTV EMAs on Sunday, walking away with best artist, best U.S. act, best live act and best video for “Fortnight” (featuring Post Malone).  Swift, who is currently finishing up her …

New York — “Venom: The Last Dance” has not been a blockbuster in North American theaters. But in a lethargic fall moviegoing season, even a so-so performing superhero sequel can rule the box office for three straight weeks. For the third …

NEW YORK — For some television viewers, size apparently does matter. Forget the 165-centimeter TVs that were considered bigger than average a decade ago. In time for the holidays, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out more XXL screens measuring more than …

MEXICO CITY — Cassandra Garduño squinted in the sunlight, her pink boots smudged by dirt as she gazed out over her family’s chinampa — one of the islands first built up by the Aztecs with fertile mud from the bottom of …

NEW DELHI — The decadeslong ban of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in his native India is now in doubt — not because of a change of heart more than two years after the author’s near-fatal stabbing, but because of what amounts …

paris — As dusk falls over the City of Light, a new spectacle is illuminating Saint-Sulpice church, a monument whose interiors are even larger than Notre Dame’s — and arguably just as breathtaking.  The cavernous walls of the neoclassical gem on …

Washington/Istanbul — Local authorities in Turkey’s metropolitan Istanbul province banned a screening of the LGBTQI-themed movie “Queer” on Thursday because of concerns that it would endanger public peace and security. The screening of “Queer,” a film directed by Italian director Luca …

AMSTERDAM — Amsterdam police said Friday that five people were hospitalized and 62 arrested after what authorities described as systematic violence by antisemitic rioters targeting Israeli fans following a football match. The Dutch and Israeli leaders denounced the violence, and condemnation …

NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees flocked to rivers and bodies of water across India to pray to the sun god as part of the Chhath festival this week. In Noida, on the outskirts of the capital New …

BUENOS AIRES — Three people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction who died after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires last month, Argentine …

UNESCO – the U.N. agency for the protection of cultural heritage – says it is concerned that museums in Sudan are being looted during the ongoing civil war. VOA gained access to one damaged and apparently ransacked museum. VOA’s Henry …

Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, has died at …