Author: Ohart

Former Congresswoman Mary Bono has announced she is resigning as interim president and chief executive officer of USA Gymnastics after just five days on the job.

“My withdrawal comes in the wake of personal attacks that left undefended, would have made my leading USAG a liability for the organization,” Bono said in a statement Tuesday.

Bono’s selection to lead USA Gymnastics had almost immediately come under fire by several high-profile gymnasts, including Olympic gold-medal winners Simone Biles and Aly Raisman.

Raisman objected to the choice of Bono, pointing out the former GOP lawmaker’s association with a law firm that advised USAG during the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

Both Biles and Raisman were among the hundreds of girls and young women molested by the physician.

“My teammates & I reported Nassar’s abuse to USAG in 2015,” wrote Raisman. “We now know USOC (the U.S. Olympic Committee) & lawyers at Faegre Baker Daniels (Bono’s firm) were also told then, yet Nassar continued to abuse children for 13 months!? Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?”

Nassar is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges and state charges of sexual abuse.

“Survivors, current gymnasts, families, coaches, gymnastics community & fans deserve better,” Raisman wrote Monday.

Biles, meanwhile, took issue with Bono’s response to Nike’s advertising campaign featuring former American football player Colin Kaepernick, who was the first to kneel during the playing of the national anthem to draw attention to injustice, social inequality and police brutality.

Bono posted a photo of herself blacking out a Nike logo on a golf shoe. Biles tweeted in response: “*mouth drop* … don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president, or any sponsors or anything.”

Bono’s departure is another blow for USA Gymnastics, which has struggled to rebuild in the aftermath of the Nassar scandal.

Bono served as U.S. Representative from Southern California for 15 years. She won her first term in a special election to fill the vacancy left by the death of her husband, former pop star and lawmaker Sonny Bono.
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Pippa Middleton, the sister of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, has given birth to a baby boy.

A spokeswoman for Middleton and her husband James Matthews said Tuesday that their first baby had been born the day before.

 

Kensington Palace says that Prince William and Kate are “thrilled for Pippa and James.”

 

The new baby will be a cousin to William and Kate’s three children – George, 5, Charlotte, 3, and 5-month-old Louis.

 

The baby was born on the day the palace announced that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting their first child.

 
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It’s the 50th anniversary of the iconic moment when two African American Olympic athletes raised their fists in defiance to bring attention to racial oppression in the U-S-. It happened at their medal ceremony at the 1968 summer Olympics. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo examines the significance of the moment in history.
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Blind Paralympic cyclist Shawn Cheshire recently faced her biggest challenge — a rim-to-rim hike through the Grand Canyon. She and her fellow hikers spoke with VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan about the experience.
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American rapper Kanye West and socialite wife Kim Kardashian are visiting Uganda and bringing some much-wanted, positive attention to the East African country. Deadly election-related violence in August caused many tour groups to cancel trips, dealing a blow to the economy. Uganda’s tourism body is hoping the couple’s stay will attract more visitors.

A cartoon in a Ugandan newspaper depicts Kanye West sipping a local beer and thinking “Uganda is gold,” while wife Kim Kardashian, in a red bikini, takes a selfie under the sunset.

Meanwhile, in a reversed Safari, wild African animals compete to get a good look at the celebrity couple.

The sketch underscores the attention West and Kardashian’s visit is bringing to Uganda, where the rapper says he will record a new album.

Amos Wekesa of Great Lakes Safari said the couple’s superstar presence can be used to boost tourist numbers.

“So we need to be able to exploit that. If 100,000 people came here because of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, we would probably expect over $200 million and that would probably create not less than 2,000 jobs in the country. Whatever they are filming right now will stay online for a very long time and it will continue to market Uganda as a key destination.”

 

Tourism groups canceled planned visits to Uganda after violence erupted in August in relation to a local election.

 

Clashes broke out between security forces and youth supporters of the musician-turned-politician known as Bobi Wine. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was arrested and charged with treason for allegedly throwing rocks at President Yoweri Museveni’s car.

 

West on Monday met Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for three decades, and gave the president a new pair of white sneakers.

Social media posts made fun of the gift, noting the president is known for wearing odd-looking shoes.

Echoing opposition calls for Museveni to step down, one post read, “We hope that this pair of sneakers can inspire him to sneak out of power.”

It was not clear if West would meet fellow musician Wine, who is trying to get permission from authorities to hold a concert while on bail.

West made headlines last Thursday when he met with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office. The rapper stunned reporters by giving Trump a big hug, pounding the president’s desk, and using profanity.

On the streets of Kampala, not everyone was aware of the celebrity couple’s visit to Uganda, but, Leah Kahunde voiced excitement.

“Kim Kardashian herself has a following bigger than Uganda’s population. So imagine a whole country’s population is eyes on Uganda. That means a lot for my country. And also the tax base and maybe more revenue, that way they might stop milking us and trying to tax us just to make up for expenditure. So it’s a plus for our tourism industry.”

While in Uganda, West and Kardashian are staying in the country’s largest national park, Murchison Falls.

John Ssempebwa is the deputy executive director for Uganda’s Tourism Board. He offered an explanation as to why he thought the couple chose Uganda.

“The Murchison Falls National Park is where the River Nile squeezes into the narrowest of rocks. And makes this thundering sound that can be heard kilometers away. It’s the only place in the world, where it’s actually raining fish. Fishes coming in pushed by this speed of water, so huge, falling. And guess what’s down there waiting for them? The fattest crocodiles in the world.”

Posting on her snapchat, Kardashian wrote, “Dear world, there is another heaven in Uganda.”
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More Americans are moving to smaller cities in search of a better quality of life.

They’re leaving places like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York for mid-sized cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

A huge draw for these second-tier cities is that the cost of housing consumes a much smaller chunk of people’s salaries. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of the people who move do so for housing-related reasons. They’re looking for a new or better home, cheaper housing, or to buy a home rather than rent.

It costs about $4,100 a month to rent a place in Manhattan. That’s almost two-thirds of New York City’s median household income of $83,500. Buying a home is even more out of reach. The average cost of a home in the area is $1.1 million.

More than half a million people left the New York boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens over a five-year period between 2012 and 2017.

In Los Angeles, the metropolitan county with the largest outbound net domestic migration, rent costs about $2,100 a month — about 38 percent of average income. Houses cost around $630,000, almost 10 times the average annual salary of $66,000.

LA County lost about 381,000 people over a five-year period.

According to the report, the cost of living can be a lot less expensive in the Phoenix area, which welcomed more net domestic newcomers over the past five years — 221,000 people — than any other part of the country.

The average household income in Phoenix is about $63,000, rent is about $1,100 a month, and the median price of a house is $280,000 — that’s $350,000 less than in the LA metropolitan area.

In the Las Vegas area, the rent ($1,000) will only consume 21 percent of the average salary ($57,000) and purchasing a house would set a buyer back about $273,000.

 

The analysis found that housing is about two times cheaper in the top markets that attracted people than in the areas that are losing the most in terms of population.

Chicago appears to be an exception. People are leaving the Windy City to get away from high taxes. Property taxes are higher there than almost anywhere else in the United States.

It is not as though the places that are losing people are suffering due to the exodus. Eight of the 10 counties with the biggest net population losses are still growing overall because of births and immigration.
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Pope Francis has created seven new saints in a canonization ceremony at the Vatican.  The new saints included two important Church figures who were strong voices in the favor of the poor: Pope Paul VI and Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero. 

Before tens of thousands of faithful in Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Francis elevated to sainthood seven people including Pope Paul VI and murdered Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.  Both were controversial figures in the church.

Large tapestries with the images of the seven new saints hung from St. Peter’s Basilica as is customary during a canonization ceremony.  The other five lesser-known new saints were from Italy, Germany and Spain.  They included an Italian orphan who died from bone cancer when he was just 19 years old.  

Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera and Spain’s Queen Sofia attended the ceremony.

Pope Paul VI was the third pope to be declared saint by Francis since his election in 2013.  He was best known for having presided over the final sessions of the Second Vatican Council, the church meetings in the 1960s that reformed the Catholic Church and opened it to the world.

Francis said Paul VI, like the apostle, spent his life for Christ’s Gospel, crossing new boundaries and becoming its witness in proclamation and in dialogue, a prophet of an extroverted Church looking to those far away and taking care of the poor.

In a sign of the importance Pope Francis placed on Romero and Paul, Francis wore the blood-stained rope belt Romero wore when he was murdered in 1980 and also used Pope Paul’s staff, chalice and vestment.  Both men strongly influenced Francis and he praised them for their courage in turbulent times and their dedication to social justice and the poor.

Romero was killed in San Salvador by a right-wing death squad.  He had often denounced violence, repression and poverty in his homilies.  He became an icon for Latin America’s peasants.   

In his homily, Pope Francis praised Romero for “disregarding his own life to be close to the poor and to his people.”

 
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Halloween is a popular holiday in the United States. Hauntworld.com estimates there are more than 4,000 Halloween “fee-based” attractions in the U.S., with the overall industry generating more than $1 billion. VOA’s Jill Craig takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of a popular haunted forest in Maryland, where people pay up for a night of fright.
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Call it Vollywood? Vietnam’s movie scene is growing quickly, with an explosion of theaters across the country, more filmmakers entering the market, and more global attention from the 2017 blockbuster “Kong,” which was set and filmed here.

Search for “Vietnam movies” online and most of the results are not films made by Vietnamese people, but Hollywood depictions of the Vietnam War, like Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Born on the Fourth of July. Many of the films are shot in the United States, and all of them are stories about Americans, with Vietnamese characters sprinkled around the backdrop.

This has been a thorn in the side of locals who want Vietnam to have its own place in the world of cinema. That is starting to happen.

​Academy Awards submission

Ngo Thanh Van, who came to international prominence with her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has turned to directing. Her newest film, The Tailor, has been submitted as Vietnam’s official entry for next year’s Academy Awards, in the foreign language category.

“Making movies in the Vietnamese market is a risky business, not just for me,” Van, who also had a role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, told the news site Zing. “But it is because it is difficult that I want to put all my heart into doing it.”

Increasing demand

Increasing interest comes from both Vietnamese creators and Vietnamese customers. Domestic theater chain CGV reported a 30 percent jump in profits for 2017 compared to the year before. While it is just one company, it controls close to half the cinemas in the Southeast Asian country. Critics call it a monopoly, but that also means its growth is reflective of the industry’s growth at large. Besides CGV, owned by South Korea’s CJ Group, movies are screened by a crowded playing field that includes BHD, Galaxy, Skyline, Cinestar, Cinebox, Lotte and others.

The theaters are feeding consumer demand in an economy that expands nearly 7 percent every year. That has also brought the likes of Netflix and rival streaming service iflix to serve Vietnamese viewers.

“When a country develops, the next developmental need will be entertainment, so it is important to capture this demand,” investment advisory Investar wrote in an analysis of the film industry. “In Vietnam, many big cinemas have started to flourish, and the investment flow in this field is increasing.”

​Diaspora comes home

The growth of Vietnamese cinema coincides with more visibility of the Vietnamese diaspora in films abroad. The Netflix hit To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before stars a Vietnamese-American born in the Mekong Delta town of Can Tho. In Downsizing, Matt Damon plays opposite Hong Chau, who deploys a thick Vietnamese accent but earned a Golden Globe nomination.

And some of that diaspora is coming home. Vietnam has seen American actors, directors, producers and film editors return or resettle here in recent years, most famously the brothers Johnny Tri and Charlie Nguyen. Filmmakers from France, a former colonizer of Vietnam, have also relocated, such as a pair of French-Vietnamese who set up an animation studio in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Watching Vietnamese movies is one of the fun, relaxing and effective ways to express Vietnamese patriotism,” entertainer Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen said on her Facebook page. “If you support Vietnamese movies, the movies will be profitable, and investors will put in more money.”

She added that Vietnam has plenty of scenic locales that would be a cameraman’s dream.

​Dream locale

Kong: Skull Island is a good example. The latest installment of the brobdingnagian gorilla franchise was filmed around Vietnam, including shots of the limestone cliffs and malachite green waters of Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The film is also a telling symbol of a Vietnamese shift. Although it is set in the Vietnam War, Kong was not received as a war drama, but celebrated for everything else: The gripping ape-fueled action, the performances of Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson, and the majestic scenery. Vietnam is happy to provide that, rather than just another battlefield backdrop.

Vietnamese-language films have gone global here and there, from Cyclo to The White Silk Dress. Locals hope those are just the start of a thriving industry.

“We know that Vietnamese movies are not yet equal with neighboring countries, because we are still in a period of opening up,” Ky Duyen said. “But that does not mean that we will not catch up or even surpass them.”

India has Bollywood. Nigeria has Nollywood. It might soon be time for Vollywood.
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Afghan women too many times have been seen by some as victims. Victims of domestic violence, cultural limitations, political restrictions and more. Their voices often go unheard, but not in a play produced in Washington called ‘Women of Troy: Voices From Afghanistan.’ It is a story of Afghan women’s bravery and resilience, told through music and poetry. VOA’s Zheela Noori has more in this report.
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Summer in the United States is a time for festivals, featuring music, games and food. And in one West Virginia town that can entail very unusual food. We’re talking about fare such as spicy bear and deer stew, rich turtle soup, alligator gumbo, possum and elk. The main ingredients are roadkill … animals killed along the local highways by passing cars. Evgeny Baranov went to this unusual event and tried some of the delicacies. Anna Rice narrates.
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The world was watching, July 20, 1969, as a grainy black and white TV image showed American astronaut Neil Armstrong step onto the moon’s surface and plant a U.S. flag. A new biopic follows his life, chronicling his courage, spirit of adventure and razor-sharp focus under pressure that paved the way to the historical Apollo 11 space mission. “First Man,” also shows the years of comradeship, commitment and sacrifice that galvanized the American spirit and awed the world. Penelope Poulou reports.
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored 19 student filmmakers at the 45th Student Academy Awards on Thursday night.

The winners are eligible to compete for a 2018 Academy Award in the animated short, live action short and documentary short categories. They join a list of Student Academy Award alumni that includes Pete Docter, Cary Fukunaga, Spike Lee, Trey Parker, Patricia Riggen and Robert Zemeckis.

Seven hundred film academy members sifted through more than 1,500 entries from 400 schools to arrive at the winners, who come from a variety of countries including China, India, Switzerland, France and Mongolia. 

The Student Academy Awards are designed to help spotlight emerging global talent in the entertainment industry.
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President Donald Trump welcomed musicians Kid Rock and country star John Rich to the White House on Thursday as he signed legislation overhauling the way music is licensed and songwriters compensated.

 

Trump signed the Orrin B. Hatch Music Modernization Act on Thursday. The bill won wide bipartisan support in the House and Senate and is backed by the music industry. It’s named after the retiring Utah senator, who is also a musician.

 

Also joining the president were Mike Love of the Beach Boys, singer Sam Moore and the Christian group MercyMe.

 

The legislation creates a new independent entity that will license songs to companies that play music online.

 

The nonprofit collective will then pay songwriters, including those who wrote pre-1970s classics before music copyrights protected their work.

 

 
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Cardi B and Post Malone marked major breakthroughs in the last year, but the rap stars won’t compete for best new artist at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

Cardi B, who earned two nominations at this year’s Grammys held in February, was not eligible for nomination because of her previous nominations. The Grammys, which has adjusted the rules of best new artist over the years to keep up with the changing musical landscape, state that “any artist with a previous Grammy nomination as a performer” would not qualify. If Cardi B had not released an album around the time she earned her first pair of nominations for “Bodak Yellow,” she could have qualified. But because she had enough music to be eligible for best new artist at the 2018 show and earned prior nominations, she was not qualified to enter the category.

A person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly discuss the topic, said Cardi B was submitted for best new artist at this year’s show, though she didn’t earn a nomination. The award went to Alessia Cara, while nominees included SZA, Khalid, Lil Uzi Vert and Julia Michaels.

Post Malone was also submitted for best new artist at this year’s show but didn’t garner a nomination. Because he had never earned a Grammy nomination, he met the criteria to be a best new artist contender for the upcoming awards show, but at a Grammy nominations meeting held this month his inclusion in the category was met with debate, the person said. Malone lost in a vote by music industry players — ranging from executives to producers to publicists — and will not compete for the coveted honor. Some felt because the hitmaker had success with his 2016 debut, “Stoney,” as well as the hit songs “Congratulations” and “White Iverson” — released in 2015 — he had already past new artist status.

A representative for Post Malone declined comment Wednesday. A representative for Cardi B did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The first round of voting for the 2019 Grammy nominations begins Oct. 17. Nominees will be announced Dec. 5 and best new artist will include eight contenders instead of five for the first time. The show airs live on Feb. 10.

The best new artist rules state that an artist can be submitted three times and is eligible so long as they have only released three albums or 30 tracks. Some artists, for example, earned nominations with second and third albums since those records marked their major breakthroughs as rising acts on the music scene.

Malone was also a hot topic at the Grammys meeting for his recent album, “Beerbongs & Bentleys,” which was kicked out of the rap category and pushed into the pop genre, the source said. Best rap album nominees must contain 51 percent or more of rap music, and the Grammys rap committee felt “Beerbongs” leaned more toward the pop genre with its the production, sound and melodies. The diverse album also includes singing, elements of R&B and rock and veers outside of rap with songs like the guitar-tinged “Stay.” The person said the larger Grammys committee listened to the entire 18-track album — which includes the No. 1 hits “Rockstar” and “Psycho” as well as “Better Now,” currently No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart — and voted that it would compete in pop instead of rap.

The best rap album category is expected to feature stiff competition since the genre has heavily dominated the pop charts in the last year, with albums by Drake, Eminem, XXXTentacion, Cardi B, Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, J. Cole and Migos being proposed as possible nominees.

It was not clear where Malone’s singles would land — they could appear in rap or pop, or both. Over the years more and more musicians have had songs from a single album appear in different genre categories. Beyonce’s “Lemonade” album had tracks compete in rock, pop, R&B and rap categories, while Justin Timberlake and Rihanna’s nominations have ranged over the years from dance to pop to R&B to rap.

 
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As an impoverished blind child in Florida, Ray Charles grew up listening to the country and western stars on the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts. That music of his childhood stayed close to his heart for the rest of his career, and it was his landmark two-volume set, “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” that changed country music in the ’60s.

Charles, who died in 2004, will be the subject of a new public television special airing in February. During a special taping Monday at the Grand Ole Opry, a diverse cast of singers, including Darius Rucker, Ronnie Milsap, Charlie Wilson, Boyz II Men, LeAnn Rimes, Cam and more, honored the soul genius.

 

The rare tribute from the country music institution was in partnership with the Ray Charles Foundation, whose president Valerie Ervin said getting the recognition from the Opry was a priority for her.

 

“The Opry meant everything to him. He loved everybody at the Opry,” Ervin said. “`He loved country music, so to have it here, it just seals it for me. I felt what he felt back in 1962 when he really wanted to be a part of the country world and there was no better place to do it than the Opry.”

 

Charles’ decision to record a collection of country songs from artists like Hank Williams and Eddy Arnold was good timing for the genre, said Diane Pecknold, professor of women’s and gender studies at the University of Louisville.

 

“He came along at a time when the Country Music Association was aggressively working to recast the image of its audience,” Pecknold said. “The industry and the popular culture at large tended to view the country music audience as backward hicks, racists, retrograde people generally.”

 

Recorded in New York with lush strings and backing choir, Charles doesn’t just reinvent the songs, he left his unique mark on them, fusing soul and jazz, country lyrics and orchestral pop. Fifty years later, the album still holds up as one of the greatest of the genre.

 

The record spent 14 weeks on the top of the Billboard albums chart. “I Can’t Stop Loving You” spent five weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts and 16 weeks at No. 1 on the R&B charts and won the 1962 Grammy Award for best rhythm and blues recording. The first volume sold more than 1 million records, so a second volume came out shortly after. Country publishing suddenly became in high demand as other artists sought to replicate Charles’ success.

 

“He was more successful than anyone in taking country music to pop audiences,” said Pecknold.

 

Rucker, who hosted the TV special, said that artists like Charles and Charley Pride were instrumental in his own path to country music.

 

“Ray went out on a limb and took a chance and nobody wanted him to do it,” Rucker said. “He did it anyway. It still stands the test of time. And now for some place like the Opry to pay tribute to Ray is huge.”

 

Later in the 1980s, Charles would hit the country charts with another album of country songs, “Friendship,” including a No. 1 country hit duet with Willie Nelson on “Seven Spanish Angels.”

 

The TV special includes a riveting performance of that song by Nelson’s son, Lukas Nelson, who shared photos of his dad and Charles from his last birthday. From Travis Tritt’s energetic performance of “I’m Movin’ On,” to Chris Young’s version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” the country performers let out their best soulful renditions for the special.

 

Boyz II Men had the daunting task of taking on “Georgia On My Mind,” arguably one of Charles’ best recordings, and the trio of singers with their harmonic vocal runs did justice to the classic.

 

“One of Ray’s greatest characteristics is how he is able to take his time and for you to ingest everything that he said,” said Shawn Stockman, of the R&B group. “He did exactly what he needed as opposed to trying to do too much.”

 

The tribute, 14 years after his death, raises questions about why he has been left out of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Most of the performers on the special believe he deserves a spot among the country legends for exposing the genre to a much broader world.

 

“I would never tell the Country Music Hall of Fame who to put in, but I think all the artists, if they let Ray in, they would understand and believe that Ray should be there,” Rucker said.

 

Ervin said that Charles did say that he wanted to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, but he was proud of his work in the genre no matter what.

 

“His attitude was, ‘I know what I did for the country music world, so if I am never in there, I am OK,'” Ervin said.
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Taylor Swift kicked off her week with a rare political post on social media, and at the American Music Awards she continued the conversation by encouraging fans to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.

Swift won artist of the year at the fan-voted show on Tuesday in Los Angeles, beating out Drake, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons and Post Malone for the top prize.

“This award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people, and you know what else is voted on by the people,” she said, “the midterm elections on November 6.”

Swift announced on Sunday that she was voting for Tennessee’s Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, breaking her long-standing refusal to discuss anything politics.

Voting was a hot topic at the AMAs. Host and Golden Globe-winning “black-ish” actress Tracee Ellis Ross wore a shirt that said, “I am a voter,” and comedian-actor Billy Eichner told the audience, “The biggest election of our lifetime is happening.”

“Please grab your friends and tell them to vote. Now is the time. If you believe in equality for women, for people of color, for the LGBTQ community. If you believe that climate change is real and that we need to do something about it,” he said onstage before presenting an award.

“And you can go to Vote.org like Taylor Swift told you to,” he added.

Swift kicked off the AMAs with a performance of “I Did Something Bad,” while Cardi B picked up the night’s first award, favorite hip-hop/rap artist, which she dedicated to her daughter.

“I really want to thank my daughter,” said Cardi B, who gave birth to Kulture Kiari Cephus in July. “I gotta prove people wrong. They said I wasn’t going to make it after I had a baby.”

The rapper hit the stage to give a festive and colorful performance of her No. 1 hit, “I Like It,” where she was joined by J Balvin and Bad Bunny, who was wheeled onstage inside a shopping cart. Cardi B’s husband, Offset of the rap trio Migos, danced along in the audience with group member Quavo as Cardi B worked the stage with vibrant dance moves, including the salsa.

Cardi B returned the favor, screaming happily when Migos was named favorite pop/rock duo or group, beating out Maroon 5 and Imagine Dragons, later in the show.

“We did not know we was winning this at all,” said Quavo, also giving a shout-out to group member Takeoff, who didn’t attend the AMAs.

“I want to thank you sexy lady,” Offset said, pointing to Cardi B.

Like Cardi B’s performance, rising newcomer Ella Mai also won over the crowd when she sang the year’s biggest R&B hit, “Boo’d Up,” starting the performance as she walked down the aisle of the Microsoft Theater. Khalid, Quavo and Offset were some of the audience members dancing along, while others sang and some even filmed her with their phones.

Others who shined onstage included R&B singer Ciara, who showed off her skilled dance moves and was joined by a fierce Missy Elliott. Carrie Underwood was in perfect form vocally, and Camila Cabello – who won new artist of the year – gave a heartful, touching and vocally impressive performance of the ballad “Consequences,” earning her a standing ovation.

The three-hour show closed with a rousing tribute to Aretha Franklin, who died in August. Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and CeCe Winans were among the musicians who paid tribute to the Queen of Soul’s gospel roots and her iconic album, “Amazing Grace.”

Rapper-singer XXXTentacion, who was fatally shot in June, was also honored: He won favorite soul/R&B album for his 2017 debut, “17.” It was days after he was named best new artist at the BET Hip-Hop Awards.

His mother, Cleopatra Bernard, said she was honored to accept the award on behalf of her son. “I’m so nervous,” Bernard said as the audience cheered her on.

Post Malone, who wore a baby blue suit and performed, won favorite pop/rock male artist, Underwood was named favorite country female artist, Khalid picked up favorite soul/R&B male artist, and Kane Brown won favorite country male artist.

Other performers included Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Shawn Mendes and twenty one pilots. 
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The voices of the witnesses are quiet. Their heads are projected on screens behind a chain-link fence in complete darkness at the site of a former monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Their topic: the most painful moments in the history of Czechoslovakia.

 

A multimedia exhibition is marking the 100th anniversary of the creation of Czechoslovakia by focusing on the nation’s experience with two totalitarian regimes in the turbulent 20th century: the Nazi occupation in World War II and Communist rule.

 

“The Memory of the Nation” has been created by the Post Bellum nonprofit organization, which has been recording oral histories of those who witnessed key historical moments. It starts in 1939, beginning with the Nazi invasion, and goes until the end of the communist regime in 1989.

 

“The 20th century is full of traumas,” said Jana Holcova, a Post Bellum spokeswoman.

 

Czechoslovakia was created as an independent state on Oct 28, 1918, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed at the end of World War I. It ceased to exist in 1993, after the region peacefully split into two nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

 

Here’s a look at the exhibit that runs through Dec 9.

 

A Fitting Place to Contemplate History

 

Visitors to the exhibit have a rare chance to see the huge, rarely-opened underground space just under the former Stalin monument site at Prague’s Letna Park.

The almost 16-meter (over 52-foot) granite statue of Stalin with other figures behind him, once considered the biggest representation of the brutal dictator outside the Soviet Union, was unveiled in 1955 after six years of work. Its creator, Otakar Svec, killed himself shortly before that, following the example of his wife.

After Stalin’s Soviet successor, Nikita Khrushchev, denounced Stalin’s personality cult, the monument that was visible from many parts of Prague became a political problem. It was demolished in 1962.

 

The space has been closed for decades. City Hall has proposed that the National Gallery turn it into a center for contemporary art while Post Bellum has suggested the current exhibition be expanded into a museum to totalitarianism. No final decision has been made.

 

Traumatic Moments in a Nation’s Past

 

In one section, a video map with sound allows visitors to glimpse a bit of what it was like to be a RAF pilot shooting down a Nazi plane in World War II during the Battle of Britain, in which many Czechs participated. Other sections illustrate Nazi cruelty, an interrogation by the feared Communist-era secret police or the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, which crushed the liberal reforms known as the Prague Spring. A moment from the country’s 1989 anti-Communist Velvet Revolution, which was led by Vaclav Havel, comes at the end as a relief.

Witnesses speaking on the screen include Holocaust survivors, political prisoners and a communist investigator. Subtitles are in Czech and English.

The Wall That Divides

The project includes a 5-meter (over 16-foot) high wall that runs for 50 meters (164 feet) and prevents people from seeing the elegant, cobblestoned city of Prague at a popular viewing spot.

 

Martin Hejl, art director of the exhibition, said the wall symbolizes the country’s totalitarian period, its suffocating censorship, the divisions of its people and “archetypical sites such as the Berlin Wall.”
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African-American sports pioneer George Taliaferro — the first black player to be drafted by the National Football League — has died at 91.

Taliaferro was a college football superstar for the University of Indiana when the Chicago Bears chose him in the 13th round of the 1949 NFL draft.

It was the first time any team picked a black player in the annual draft.

But Taliaferro had already signed to play for the Los Angeles Dons of the rival All-America Football Conference and never played for the Bears.

When the smaller league went out of business, Taliaferro joined the NFL. He played six seasons for teams in New York, Dallas, Baltimore and Philadelphia — playing seven different positions. 

When his sports career ended, Taliaferro earned a master’s degree at Howard University and held high-ranking positions at several top universities.

The first black player to break modern professional football’s color barrier was Kenny Washington, who was not drafted by but was signed directly by the Los Angeles Rams in 1946. 
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Former FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali is taking his charity project worldwide to build on its work of bringing soccer to Syrian refugees in Jordan.

The prince detailed plans Tuesday for the Association Football Development Program Global to fund projects, donate equipment and provide expert management at a launch at Arsenal’s home stadium in London.

The NGO’s partners include War Child UK, which helps former child soldiers in Africa, the UEFA Foundation for Children, streetfootballworld and the Spanish league.

The prince’s original focus was in Asia, with funding from FIFA payments as a member of its executive committee from 2011-15. He decided to go global after meeting soccer officials on his FIFA election campaigns in 2015 and ’16.

“I realized you could really broaden the work to the entire world where there are so many similar challenges,” Prince Ali told The Associated Press in a telephone interview ahead of the launch event.

Central Africa is a target with the War Child Football Club project aiming to kick off in seven countries with help from AFDP Global.

Prince Ali said he is open to working with professional clubs who can apply to partner on projects.

“We are not going to limit ourselves to anything,” he said. “There is absolutely no politics involved. And it’s not limited to any place — it could be a project with inner-city kids in the U.K.”

The Zaatari refugee camp of 80,000 people displaced from Syria has been the program’s core work with 5,000 children now playing soccer, including on a field for girls opened in recent weeks.

“It’s an unfortunate situation but I’m very proud of what it has become,” said Prince Ali, who has no immediate plans to work with FIFA.

“We want to work independently but if we are asked to, then sure,” he said. “Any work we do has to be really physically tangible on the ground.”

UEFA has supported the Zaatari camp, and its president, Aleksander Ceferin, praised AFDP for “giving these children opportunities that they otherwise would not have had.”

After losing FIFA elections first against Sepp Blatter and then in a five-candidate contest won by Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali does not expect to try a third time.

“My focus is on this project,” said the Jordanian soccer federation president, who also heads the West Asian group of FIFA member federations.
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FIFA announced a new global strategy for women’s football on Tuesday in an effort to create revenue streams and increase grassroots participation.

FIFA said in a statement that it would work closely with member associations through workshops and special initiatives to “encourage female empowerment” through football.

“The women’s game is a top priority,” FIFA’s secretary general Fatma Samoura said. “We will work hand-in-hand with our 211 member associations around the world to increase grassroots participation, enhance the commercial value of the women’s game and strengthen the structures surrounding women’s football to ensure that everything we do is sustainable and has strong results.”

FIFA said it would look to double the number of female players to 60 million by 2026 and ensure all member associations have developed “comprehensive women’s football strategies” by 2022.

The sport’s governing body also hopes to broaden female representation in their regulatory framework, with at least one third of FIFA committee members to be women by 2022.
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If you are listening to music, chances are you’re on YouTube.

A music consumer report by the industry’s global body IFPI published Tuesday found that 86 percent of us listen to music through on-demand streaming.

And nearly half that time, 47 percent is spent on YouTube.

Video as a whole accounted for 52 percent of the time we spent streaming music, posing challenges to such subscription services as Spotify and SoundCloud.

But while Spotify’s estimated annual revenue per user was $20 (17.5 euros), YouTube’s was less than a dollar.

The London-based IFPI issued a broader overview in April that found digital sales for the first time making up the majority of global revenues thanks to streaming.

The report published Tuesday looked into where and when we listen to music.

It found that three in four people globally use smartphones, with the rate among 16- to 24-year-olds reaching 94 percent.

The highest levels were recorded in India, where 96 percent of consumers used smartphones for music, including 99 percent of young adults.

But music does not end when we put away our phones, with 86 percent globally also listening to the radio.

Copyright infringement was still a big issue, with unlicensed music accounting for 38 percent of what was consumed around the world.

“This report also shows the challenges the music community continues to face — both in the form of the evolving threat of digital copyright infringement as well as in the failure to achieve fair compensation from some user-upload services,” said IFPI chief Frances Moore.

The report noted that “96% of consumers in China and 96% in India listen to licensed music.”

It did not, however, say how many of those consumers also listened to music that infringed copyrights.

Overall, the average consumer spent 2.5 hours a day listening to music, with the largest share of it consumed while driving, the industry report said.
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The IOC has picked its first African host of any Olympics, formally awarding the 2022 Youth Games to Senegal.

Senegal President Macky Sall was present on Monday to see International Olympic Committee members confirm the executive board’s preference from four candidates.

Senegal will host the youth games in three places: Dakar; a new city of Diamniadio, close to the capital; and the coastal resort of Saly.

Sall said a 50,000-seat Olympic Stadium will be built for the government-backed project.

The games budget is estimated at $150 million, the IOC executive director of Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi, said at a news conference. 

Senegal’s games are likely to be held in late May. This would be at the end of the dry season to “greatly reduce the prevalence of tropical diseases,” IOC vice president Ugur Erdener told the membership.

Erdener pointed to Senegal’s “booming economy” and better conditions than the other bidders from Botswana, Nigeria and Tunisia.

The construction project includes a rail link and an athletes village which will become university accommodation.

“It is not required to have a detailed budget at this stage,” Erdener said, though noting that Senegal’s government has “full understanding of the magnitude” of its task.

One IOC member from Africa said the whole continent would share the responsibility of its first Olympics, comparing it to soccer’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“In Africa, when a family organizes a party all the neighbors chip in and they help organizing the event,” said Lydia Nsekera of Burundi, who also sits on FIFA’s ruling council, responding to a fellow IOC member’s question about Senegal’s economic indicators.

“It doesn’t matter, everyone will be there to help President Macky Sall organize and stage these games.”

Nsekera is a candidate to lead the African group of national Olympic bodies, ANOCA, in an election next month.

The 2022 decision was taken at a two-day IOC meeting on the sidelines of the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics.

In reports by past and future Olympic organizing committees about their work, the Pyeongchang Winter Games reported an operating profit of $55 million.

Pyeongchang organizing president Lee Hee-beom said the games in South Korea beat its target from sponsorship and donations, and raised almost $1 billion.

The IOC executive board has agreed to give its share of the surplus to sports in South Korea.

Three Pyeongchang venues still lack a long-term plan for use, including two skating arenas and the Alpine skiing downhill course. The slope at Jeongseon was promised to be replanted with trees and restored as a forest.

“This obviously has always been a concern,” Dubi said of the legacy planning. “It has been the case for many months and it will continue to be the case.”

Organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics said they hope to propose new sports for its medal program to the IOC “early next year.”
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Taylor Swift’s decision to break her silence on politics triggered a storm on Monday, with fans and commentators divided over whether one of pop music’s biggest stars should have spoken out.

Swift, 28, has notably stayed out of the U.S. political fray in contrast to her more vocal peers, like Democratic supporters Katy Perry and Beyonce, and Republican backer Kid Rock.

But on Sunday Swift told her 112 million Instagram followers that she was backing — and would vote for — two Democrats running in Tennessee in the U.S. congressional midterm elections on Nov. 6.

“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” Swift wrote.

The “Speak Now” singer said she was a supporter of gay rights and women’s rights, and against racism.

“I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love,” Swift wrote, saying she would vote for Democrats Phil Bredesen for the U.S. Senate and Jim Cooper for the House of Representatives.

Bredesen, a former Tennessee governor, is facing Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn in what has become an extremely close race for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Bob Corker.

Swift said in her comments that while she typically tries to support women running for office, Blackburn’s voting record “appalls and terrifies me.”

Swift’s comments got 1.5 million likes on her Instagram page. But they enraged many conservatives, especially those in the country music community where Swift got her start as a teenager and went on to win 10 Grammys.

“What I used to love about Taylor Swift is she stayed away

from politics,” Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative non-profit student organization Turning Point, said on Fox News television on Monday.

Some sought to play down Swift’s influence outside her predominantly young girl fan base.

“So @taylorswift13 has every right to be political but it won’t impact election unless we allow 13 yr old girls to vote,” tweeted former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who twice sought the Republican presidential nomination.

Former “Star Trek” actor George Takei was among those welcoming Swift’s declaration ahead of what are expected to be polarizing elections in November.

“Guys, things have gotten so dire that even Taylor Swift had to say something,” Takei tweeted.

Model Chrissy Teigen, actress Blake Lively and singer Perry were among those adding “likes” to Swift’s Instagram post.

Swift is currently on a world tour to support her top-selling 2017 album “Reputation,” and will perform live at the American Music Awards show in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

“Respectfully, be quiet and sing!” wrote a Twitter user named Janice @theemporersnew. “I guess you’re more pop than country now anyway. You’re country fans are gonna be disappointed.”
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Citing new evidence, Bill Cosby has asked the Pennsylvania judge who sent him to prison for up to 10 years for sexual assault to grant him a new trial, or to reduce his sentence because of alleged procedural errors.

In court papers filed late on Friday, Cosby’s lawyers said the judge abused his discretion by failing to adequately consider the 81-year-old entertainer’s age and failing eyesight, and should have recused himself from sentencing. Cosby’s attorneys have previously taken issue with the judge’s wife being a psychiatrist who works with sexual assault victims.

“By undervaluing the mitigating impact of age and disability and overestimating any present danger to the community,” Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven O’Neill imposed a term whose harshness violated statutes and sentencing rules, they said in an 11-page motion.

Cosby is the first celebrity to be convicted of sexual abuse since the start of the #MeToo movement on social media, the national reckoning with misconduct that has brought down dozens of powerful men in entertainment, politics and other fields while demanding greater respect for and representation of women.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele intends to file a response, but otherwise has no comment, said his spokeswoman, Kate Delano.

After a jury found Cosby guilty in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault of his one-time friend Andrea Constand, O’Neill on Sept. 25 branded him a “predator” and sentenced him to three to 10 years in prison.

The once-beloved comedian, known as “America’s Dad” in the 1980s and 1990s during the run of his hit television sitcom, was marched out of court in shackles and began serving his sentence immediately.

In seeking a new trial, attorneys Peter Goldberger and Joseph Green said they had found evidence which shows that a recording of a phone call with Cosby made by Constand’s mother, Gianna, and played at the trial was not authentic.

During the recorded call, Cosby suggested that he would be willing to pay for Constand to attend graduate school.

The lawyers also resurrected their claim that Cosby was not at his home when Constand said he assaulted her and that if there was an incident, it would have occurred outside of the state’s 12-year statute of limitations.

Even if the judge rejects their request for a new trial, the attorneys said his sentence should be vacated and reduced.
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The largest city named for Christopher Columbus has called off its observance of the divisive holiday that honors the explorer, making a savvy move to tie the switch to a politically safe demographic: veterans.

Ohio’s capital city, population 860,000, will be open for business Monday after observing Columbus Day probably “for as long as it had been in existence,” said Robin Davis, a spokeswoman for Democratic Mayor Andrew Ginther. City offices will close instead on Veterans Day, which falls on Nov. 12 this year.

Native Americans and allied groups have long used Columbus Day to elevate issues of concern to them. That includes a peaceful protest of prayers, speeches and traditional singing in 2016 at Columbus City Hall — underneath the statue of the explorer that sits out front — to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline and to urge Ohio to support more renewable energy.

The decision to stop observing the holiday was not triggered by the national movement to abolish Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day as a way of recognizing victims of colonialism, Davis said. Columbus Day marks the Italian explorer’s arrival in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492.

“We have a number of veterans who work for the city, and there are so many here in Columbus,” Davis said. “We thought it was important to honor them with that day off.” And, she said, the city doesn’t have the budget to give its 8,500 employees both days off, she said.

Columbus made its announcement Thursday in a two-paragraph news release focused on the impact on trash pickup and parking enforcement schedules. In that way, it avoided much of the consternation that has taken place elsewhere around the holiday.

An attempt in Akron to rename the holiday grew ugly last year, dividing the all-Democratic city council along racial lines. Five black members voted to rename the holiday and eight white members voted not to, keeping the holiday in place.

A similar effort twice failed in Cincinnati before a vote Wednesday finally recognized Columbus Day as the renamed Indigenous Peoples Day. It became the second Ohio city to do so, after the liberal college town of Oberlin in 2017. Cleveland, which has a large Italian-American population, continues to host a major Columbus Day parade.

Organizers of the 39-year-old Columbus Italian Festival, traditionally held on Columbus Day weekend, were not given advance notice of the city’s decision, said board member Joseph Contino.

“It’s very in vogue politically right now to do that. It’s not PC for me to say anything against indigenous peoples,” he said. “You can kick Christians, you can kick Catholics. That’s the message that it sends to us and that’s what it feels like; we’re Europeans and we lop Indians’ heads off. Which is just not true.”

Contino said he viewed the decision on the holiday as a missed opportunity.

“If you’re mayor of a city and its name is Columbus, why wouldn’t you capitalize on that? Use it to unite everybody,” he said. “Use this day to celebrate the entire culture, celebrate Italians and indigenous both.”

Tyrone Smith, director of the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, said the city’s decision is another step in embracing its growing diversity.

“The past is the past. It may not be pretty at times, but we cannot hold what happened back then against today’s society, regardless their bloodline,” he said. “The fact that the city of Columbus is taking action is a victory for everyone.”

 
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