India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has confirmed the world’s most populous nation will bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Mumbai on Saturday, Modi said …
For 400 years, Indigenous North Americans flocked to a group of ceremonial sites in what is present-day Ohio to celebrate their culture and honor their dead. On Saturday, the sheer magnitude of the ancient Hopewell culture’s reach was lifted up …
Even after long periods in Beijing, Manya Koetse still felt like an outsider. At parties and over hotpot, her Chinese friends discussed memes and other social media trends, but Koetse didn’t know what they were talking about. “I just felt …
The International Olympic Committee, or IOC, on Thursday banned the Russian Olympic Committee after the ROC recognized regional organizations from four annexed Ukrainian territories. The ban takes effect immediately. On Oct. 5, the ROC recognized the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, …
It has been 25 years since the body of Matthew Shepard was discovered in Laramie, Wyoming. The gay college student had been tied to a fence post, tortured, and left to die. The murder drew national attention to violence against …
Three books that explore and celebrate the diversity of American culture were awarded Kirkus Prizes on Wednesday night, with each winner receiving $50,000. James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, a novel set in an eclectic Pennsylvania town in …
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday inaugurated the first church built with government backing in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey’s 100-year history as a post-Ottoman state. The Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church’s opening marks an important cultural and political moment for both …
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has brought colorful displays to the New Mexico sky in an international event that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators every year. The event started Saturday with a drone light show before sunrise followed by …
If stones could talk, sing and tell stories, Yogi Trivedi believes the marble and limestone that adorn the spires, pillars and archways of the stunning Hindu temple in central New Jersey would compose a paean to the divine. The tales …
Human rights campaigners across the world welcomed the awarding of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian women’s rights campaigner who is jailed in Tehran. Henry Ridgwell reports. …
When the megaphone called out for the daily Islamic prayers, the nonbeliever grabbed his prayer beads and ambled through the streets to join others at the mosque in Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest city. Formerly a Muslim, he now identifies as …
Two children scribbled petitions to St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata in the sanctuary where the young saint is venerated in this central Italian mountain village. Andrea, 6, asked for blessings for his family and pets, while Sofia, 9, offered thanksgiving for winning …
The U.S. State Department is marking the 60th anniversary of its Office of Art in Embassies, a government partnership with art communities to promote democratic values. VOA’s Saqib Ul Islam shows us two of its traveling exhibitions that were on …
It’s been more than 20 years since “Spy Kids” made its way to movie theaters around the world. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez has rebooted the franchise to attract a new generation. VOA’s Veronica Villafañe spoke with the director and has more …
Imprisoned activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for fighting the oppression of women in Iran. “She fights for women against systematic discrimination and oppression,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who announced the …
For years, Chinese officials have referred to the Tiananmen massacre as “political turmoil” and have attempted to make the violence of June 4, 1989, disappear. Estimates of the death toll range from several hundred people to more than 10,000, though …
A photo of Dick Butkus sneering behind his facemask filled the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1970 NFL preview, topped by the headline, “The Most Feared Man in the Game.” Opponents who wound up on the business end of his bone-rattling …
Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga received the Africa Freedom Prize in Johannesburg on Thursday, which is awarded to individuals who “have shown remarkable courage and dedication to advancing the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights on the African continent.” Tsitsi …
Norwegian author Jon Fosse has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy highlighted what it said were Fosse’s “innovative plays and prose, which give voice to the unsayable.” “His immense oeuvre written in Norwegian Nynorsk and …
It’s been 15 years since the world’s elite gas balloon pilots have gathered in the United States for a race with roots that stretch back more than a century. The pilots will be launching for this year’s Gordon Bennett competition …