Author: Ohart

Brazil’s National Museum said Wednesday that centuries-old Torah scrolls, considered to be some of Judaism’s oldest documents, had been moved before a massive fire ravaged the place and gutted much of the largest collections of national history artifacts in Latin America. 

Questions about the fate of the scrolls had swirled since Sunday night’s blaze at the museum, which used to be the home of Brazil’s royal family. Amid an ongoing investigation and unable to access much of the now destroyed museum, officials have been reluctant to give any account of how specific artifacts fared in the fire or disclose information on other material that may have been in other locations. 

“The Torah is being kept in a safe place,” according to a museum statement sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday, adding it had been removed nearly two years ago. The statement did not say where it had been transferred.

A spokesman at the Israeli Embassy in the capital Brasilia said it didn’t have more information on the Torah, Judaism’s holy book.

Brazilian scholars have said the scrolls originated in Yemen and possibly date back to the 13th century.

The museum’s website says the nine scrolls, written in Hebrew, were acquired in the early 19th century by the country’s last monarch, Dom Pedro II. The website, which had apparently not been updated, also said the scrolls were not part of an exhibit, but rather kept in a safe in the director’s office. 

Avraham Beuthner, from the Jewish organization Beit Lubavitch in Rio de Janeiro, told the AP that university officials told him the Torah was being housed at a university library near the museum. The museum is part of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. 

Beuthner said he had been fielding calls from Jews in Israel and several Latin American countries since the fire inquiring about the relic.

“Thank God it’s safe,” he said, adding that university officials had promised to soon allow Jewish community leaders to see where the Torah is being held.

 

The good news came as museum officials said they feared as much as 90 percent of Latin America’s largest collection of treasures might have been lost in the fire. Aerial photos of the main building showed only heaps of rubble and ashes in the parts of the building where the roof collapsed. 

Firefighters on Tuesday “found fragments of bones in a room where the museum kept many items, including skulls,” said Cristiana Serejo, the museum’s deputy director. “We still have to collect them and take them to the lab to know exactly what they are.” 

In its collection of about 20 million items, one of the most prized possessions is a skull called Luzia, which is among the oldest fossils ever found in the Americas.

With the cause of the fire still under investigation, the disaster has led to a series of recriminations amid accusations that successive governments haven’t sufficiently funded the museum, and it has raised concerns that other institutions might be at risk. Officials have said it was well known that the building was vulnerable to fire and in need of extensive repair.

A UNESCO group of specialists in recovery and reconstruction are expected to arrive in Brazil next week, according Maria Edileuza Fontele Reis, the organization’s ambassador in Brazil. 

The group “has experience working with pieces of national heritage in areas of war, such as in Iraq, and areas impacted by fire,” Fontele Reis told the AP in a phone interview.
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Reality television star Kim Kardashian West, who successfully pushed President Donald Trump to grant a pardon for a drug offender earlier this year, returned to the White House on Wednesday for a meeting with senior aides as part of the administration’s efforts on criminal justice reform.

 

       Kardashian West, who may have felt right at home with the drama-infused atmosphere in the West Wing as it grapples with the fallout from Bob Woodward’s new book, participated in a listening session on clemency and prison reform with several staffers, including the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

 

       “The discussion is mainly focused on ways to improve that process to ensure deserving cases receive a fair review,” according to Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary.

 

       Among the others in attendance were CNN commentator Van Jones, Shon Hopwood, a lawyer who served time in prison for bank robbery and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, who has been instrumental in steering Trump’s Supreme Court picks, including Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearings have begun on Capitol Hill.

       But the headliner was Kardashian West, who last visited the White House three months ago to press for a pardon for 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson. At the time, the reality star, dressed in black, posed for an instantly iconic — and seemingly somber — photo with Trump in the Oval Office, though there were no plans for her to meet with the president on Wednesday.

 

       One week after Kardashian West’s visit, Trump granted Johnson clemency, freeing her from prison after a more than two-decade stint on drug charges.

 

       “When I looked at Alice, I said we can’t just stop with one person. We have to change the laws,” Kardashian West said in a statement released by (hash)cut50, a group that looks to reduce incarceration time.

 

       The pardon for Johnson was one of several instances where the president has used his constitutional power to pardon federal crimes. Trump in May pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza and suggested he was considering a commutation for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a pardon for lifestyle guru Martha Stewart. He has not yet acted on either front.

 

       “We are working to build support for prison reform, sentencing reform, and fair treatment of people coming home from prison,” said Van Jones. “When you have prominent people like Kim helping voiceless people behind bars — like Chris Young who she is advocating for today — that’s incredibly powerful.”

 

       Kardashian West on Tuesday told “Wrongful Conviction” podcast host Jason Flom that she’s advocating for Young, who was sentenced to life without parole after being arrested for marijuana and cocaine possession.

 

       “It’s so unfair. He’s 30 years old. He’s been in for almost 10 years,” she said.

 

       Kardashian West later tweeted an image from the meeting, writing “It started with Ms. Alice, but looking at her and seeing the faces and learning the stories of the men and women I’ve met inside prisons I knew I couldn’t stop at just one. It’s time for REAL systemic change”

 

       Young was one of 32 people charged by federal prosecutors in a drug trafficking investigation. Prosecutors say he was buying cocaine or crack from a major drug supplier at a gas station in December 2010. He was convicted in 2013 on drug charges and also pleaded guilty to being a felon with a gun.

 

      Young, who was 26 at the time, received a life sentence in August 2014 from then-U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp, who has since left the bench and has very publicly opposed the mandatory minimum sentencing he had to hand down.

 

       “What I was required to do that day was cruel and did not make us safer,” Sharp tweeted in June.

 

       Young previously had been arrested at both 18 and 19 on both felony and misdemeanor drug possessions charges. For those two arrests combined, he had been slated to serve 14 years through community corrections.

 

       Kushner has added prison reform to his broad portfolio, though others in the administration — namely Attorney General Jeff Sessions — support the toughest possible sentences for drug and other convictions. The president’s son-in-law has had an interest in prison reform since his own father, Charles Kushner, was incarcerated for 14 months after being convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.

 

       TMZ first reported Kardashian West’s White House visit Wednesday.
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Kenyan artist Michael Soi is criticizing China’s relationship with Africa through his collection of paintings at Nairobi’s Circle Art Gallery that depict the interest that China is showing in Africa. The 74-piece collection underscores China’s heavy involvement in the continent by depicting Africa as a woman being lured by China.
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Firefighters found bone fragments from a collection in the still-smoldering National Museum, an official said Tuesday, raising hopes that a famed skull might somehow have survived a massive blaze that turned historic and scientific artifacts to ashes.

Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, and officials have said much of Latin America’s largest collection of treasures might be lost. Aerial photos of the main building showed only heaps of rubble and ashes in the parts of the building where the roof collapsed.

The firefighters “found fragments of bones in a room where the museum kept many items, including skulls,” said Cristiana Serejo, the museum’s vice director. “We still have to collect them and take them to the lab to know exactly what they are.” 

In its collection of about 20 million items, one of the most prized possessions is a skull called Luzia, which is among the oldest fossils ever found in the Americas. 

Museum spokesman Marcio Martins noted that the collection contains hundreds of skulls, and all material would first need to be examined by the Federal Police, who are investigating the still-unknown cause of the fire. Experts will then examine them to determine their identity.

Some objects were rescued from the flames on Sunday night by a professor who rushed into the blaze. Paulo Buckup, a professor of zoology at the museum, recounted Tuesday how he and a few other people pulled out mollusks and marine specimens, going into and out of the building several times until it became too dangerous. He said the group tried to identify in the dark the most irreplaceable objects, but said they only saved a “minuscule portion of the heritage that was lost.” 

Many have already said that regardless of what is salvaged, the loss will be immeasurable. Marina Silva, a candidate for president in upcoming elections, called it a “lobotomy of Brazilian history.” 

The Globo newspaper wrote in an editorial published Tuesday: “The size of the catastrophe is vast: It struck the national memory, through the loss of the important historical collection; it affected the sciences, interrupting research; and it represents a cultural loss impossible to quantify. We only know that it is enormous.”

The disaster has led to a series of recriminations about who was to blamed, and it has raised concerns that other institutions might be at risk. The national development bank announced Tuesday that it would make $6 million available for museums looking to upgrade their security or fire-prevention plans. 

Investigators were first allowed to enter the main building Monday, but it is still off-limits to researchers. Instead, some scientists were focusing attention on an annex on the site, where vertebrate specimens were housed. The fire didn’t reach the area, but it caused the electricity to fail, threatening some artifacts, said Marcelo Wexler, a researcher in the vertebrate department.

“We have animals that need to be frozen, and they were rotting without electricity,” Wexler said.

In a sign of the enormity of the task ahead, a man created a stir when he arrived on the scene carrying a document he said belonged to the institution that he had found across the street. A group of journalists crowded in to see the piece of paper, which was burned at the edges and contained printed text and was in a clear plastic folder. It was not clear what it was or if it was authentic.

“I came here to give it back. I am sure there is much more that flew around,” said Felipe Silva, who said he was a guard at the museum. 

Even as efforts turned to searching the rubble, firefighters were still occasionally directing water at the building, where some embers were still burning. Eduardo Rosse, a fire official, said that was normal for a blaze of this size.

Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte, a museum official, said Monday that anything held in the main building was probably destroyed, and Serejo told the G1 news portal that 90 percent of the collection may have been destroyed.

But on Tuesday, she held out some hope, telling journalists that staff members were “reasonably optimistic about finding some more items inside.”

She added that UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency, had offered financial and technical assistance. French and Egyptian officials also have offered help. The museum was home to Egyptian artifacts, and Egypt’s ministries of foreign affairs and antiquities have expressed concern over the fate of those objects.

With the cause still under investigation, many already have begun to fix blame, saying years of government neglect left the museum underfunded and unsafe. 

Roberto Leher, rector of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, to which the museum was linked, said it was well known that the building was vulnerable to fire and in need of extensive repair. In fact, two years ago, federal prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro began investigating safety conditions in the building. 

The institution had recently secured approval for nearly $5 million for a planned renovation, including an upgrade of the fire-prevention system, but the money had not yet been disbursed.

On Monday, government officials promised $2.4 million to shore up the building and promised to rebuild the museum.
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Mormon church founder Joseph Smith insisted on introducing polygamy in the early 1800s despite knowing the societal risks and getting pushback from other leaders and his first wife, recounts a new church history book unveiled Tuesday.

A nearly 600-page book that covers early church history from 1815-1846 doesn’t dwell on polygamy, but doesn’t skip over it either. That’s noteworthy and marks The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ latest attempt to be more transparent about sensitive issues of its past. 

Quentin L. Cook and Dale Renlund, high-ranking leaders with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the parts about plural marriage provide the full story within the context of what was happening at that time in history.   

“There is discussion of how it began, how it was viewed by the individuals and its part of the history of the restored gospel,” said Renlund, a member of a top governing panel called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “It’s taken in that context without shying away from it. So, a person can get a clear view of what was going on and when and why.”

The book recounts founder Joseph Smith’s introduction of plural marriage after he received what he believed was a revelation from the Lord. The book details how his wife, Emma Smith, and many leaders recoiled and questioned the direction.

At one point, the faith’s polygamous practices led an excommunicated Mormon to publish an expose about the religion and give lectures titled, “The secret wife system at Nauvoo,” the new book says. Some Mormon leaders denied the allegation because polygamy was being practiced secretly and they were unaware.

Previous acknowledgments

The book’s recognition of polygamy — which the faith banned in 1890 and prohibits today — is the most recent example of the Utah-based faith acknowledging polygamous roots.

The faith published an online essay in 2014 that provided a detailed account of polygamous practices during the 1830s and 1840s in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. That essay acknowledged that while most of Smith’s wives were between 20 and 40 years old, he had one who was 14 years old.  

That young bride isn’t mentioned in the new book, but it does tell the story of his marriages to a pair of sisters who were older teens.

In 2015, the church included a small display about plural marriages when it opened its renovated history museum.

The book is a robust and honest version of early church history and while it doesn’t dwell on polygamy, it’s notable that it provides the history of plural marriages in a straightforward way, said Patrick Mason, a professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University in California who is the chair of Mormon Studies at the college.

Steven E. Snow, executive director of the church history department, said the book provides the whole story behind a difficult time and one that is not well understood.

“If people read this, they’ll understand we’ve been pretty forthright in our telling of the story,” Snow said.

Future books

The book is the first of four planned volumes that will retell the story of the faith. The first volume covers Joseph Smith’s “first vision” in which he said he received a visit from God and Jesus in 1820 in the woods of upstate New York that led to the foundation of the religion. It also tells the story of when Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were fatally shot by a mob in 1844.

The last multi-volume history of the faith was published in 1930 — when church membership was less than 1 million with most members in the American West. Today, the faith counts 16 million members with more than half outside the U.S. The book is available in 14 languages.

Snow said the book “draws on the power of narrative, but is not fiction,” with every scene and dialogue backed by historical research. 
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Prosecutors in Los Angeles said Tuesday that they would not pursue a sexual assault charge against actor Kevin Spacey because the statute of limitations has run out.

Spacey has been accused of assaulting a male colleague in 1992.

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office said it was also declining to charge another actor, Steven Seagal, on allegations of assaulting a teenage girl in 1993 for the same reason. Seagal denies the charge.

Spacey is facing other sexual assault charges, and also is under investigation for alleged misconduct in London.

The Oscar-winning star of such films as American Beauty was fired from the television series House of Cards earlier this year, and his appearance in the film All the Money in the World was edited out.

Spacey apologized last year for trying to seduce a teenage actor in 1986, and his spokesman said Spacey was seeking treatment. 
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The United Nations considers marriage before the age of 18 to be a human rights violation. While the highest occurrence is in the least developed nations, child marriage is also a reality in the United States. Researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health found some 78,000 American children between the ages of 15 and 17 are or have recently been married. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more on the effects of being married so young in the U.S.
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Brazilians are mourning the destruction of Rio de Janeiro’s National Museum in an overnight fire. Much of the collection of historic, scientific and cultural artifacts, among the largest in Brazil, is believed to have been destroyed. It was not immediately clear what started the fire late Sunday, but many are blaming the government for years of financial neglect. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Yemenis file into a makeshift cinema for the first time since fighting broke out in their city of Aden more than three years ago – and watch some of their own story reflected back at them on the projector screen.

The film they have come to see is “Ten Days Before the Wedding” – a gripping drama about a young couple from the southern port city whose marriage plans are nearly derailed by the country’s civil war and other troubles.

It is the first film publicly screened there since the conflict erupted, and the first local Yemeni production in years.

The story rings true for the audience of men and mostly veiled women, sitting on chairs in a hall which is normally used for real-life weddings and other events.

“We lived through each stage of the movie, which talks about each one of us, so we felt as though the film represented us and we were a part of it,” says audience member Nour Sareeb.

The story follows the romance between Rasha and Mamoun and branches out to cover broader issues including the country’s economic collapse and the prospects of rebuilding after violence.

Characters wrestle with falling incomes, rising prices and the problems of raising a dowry.

“We’ve all suffered because of the war, it has affected us all, but we all have ambition and hopes that the country will get better. We all aspire to be happy in this country,” Nour adds.

“We are with you”

Yemen has been devastated by a conflict in which President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi’s government, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, is fighting to drive the Iran-aligned Houthi group out of the capital Sanaa and other cities it seized in 2014.

Violence dropped off in Aden after pro-government fighters recaptured it from Houthi forces in 2015, though battles erupted again earlier this year as southern separatists fought government troops nominally on the same side of the larger war.

The threat of attacks by militants remains, including some from hardline groups opposed to the Western-tinged world of cinema. And economic decline exacerbated by a weakening currency triggered protests this week that paralyzed activity in Aden and nearby areas.

In such an environment, finding investors for the film was not easy, says director Amr Gamal.

“We had to oppose these ideas that make you fear producing anything in the arts and we had to strive and work hard,” he tells Reuters.

“We met with the production team and decided to do it after everyone’s agreement. They all told me ‘We are with you,’ and we were surprised to find that the people in the street supported us,” he adds.

The film premiered in Aden during last month’s Eid al-Adha Muslim festival and has been running ever since.

The United Nations says the war has created the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, and rights groups say both sides have inflicted indiscriminate violence. More than 10,000 people have been killed, while hunger and disease have spread.
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“These people aren’t just rich. They’re crazy rich.”

It was another crazy, rich weekend at the U.S. box office for the romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians.”

The Warner Bros. film stayed in first place this Labor Day Weekend, bringing in an estimated $22.2 million.

The movie stars Constance Wu as Rachel Chu, who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend and discovers his family is quote “crazy rich” and famous.

The film has raked in $110 million since it opened last month.

For three weekends in a row, shark drama “The Meg” held onto second place at the box office.

The film about a massive prehistoric shark took a bite out of competition this weekend, earning $10.5 million.

Coming in third is Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible Fallout”. The Paramount production earned an estimated $7 million.
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The 18th Asian Games came to close in Indonesia Sunday with a glittering ceremony emphasizing the country’s diversity and the ties linking the 11,000 athletes who competed for 45 nations.

Indonesia, which agreed four years ago to hold the Asian Games after Vietnam backed out for financial reasons, is riding high on the success of the games.

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is running for re-election next year, has already announced plans to bid to host the 2032 Olympics.

China, Japan and South Korea topped the medal count, and host Indonesia had its best Asian Games, finishing fourth.

China took home 289 medals, including 132 golds. Japan trailed with 205 total medals and 75 golds. South Korea went home with 177 medals, including 49 golds, and Indonesian athletes won 98 medals, including 31 golds.

The star of the games was Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee, who won eight medals overall, including  six gold. She will be among the most watched athletes as Japan prepares for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

One of Indonesia’s richest men, billionaire Michael Bambang Hartono, was the oldest medalist at 78, in the card game bridge.

He is 66 years older than 12-year-old Indonesian skateboarder Bunga Nyimas, whose bronze medal in the street event made her the youngest athlete to medal.

The next Asian Games will be held in in Hangzhou, China, in 2022.
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Archeologists in Egypt say they have unearthed one of the oldest-known villages in the Nile Delta, dating back to before the pharaohs.

The antiquities ministry said the Neolithic site was discovered in Tell el-Samara, about 140 kilometers north of Cairo.

A joint Egyptian and French team found several storage silos containing animal bones and food, indicating human habitation as early as 5,000 B.C, the antiquities ministry said Sunday.

That would be about 2,500 years before the pyramids were built at Giza.

“Analyzing the biological material that has been discovered will present us with a clearer view of the first communities that settled in the delta and the origins of agriculture and farming in Egypt,” said Nadia Khedr, a ministry official responsible for Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities on the Mediterranean.

The new discovery stoked hopes of reviving tourism, which has waned after the unrest that followed the 2011 Egyptian uprising.
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Coen brothers fans get six movies for the price of one in “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” an anthology of Western stories starring, among others, James Franco, Liam Neeson, Tyne Daly and Tom Waits.

The movie, by the team that pulled off an acclaimed remake of the John Wayne Western “True Grit” in 2010, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week where it is one of three Netflix movies competing for the Golden Lion.

“In the States it’s getting a theatrical release,” Ethan Coen told a news conference when asked how he felt about the movie going onto the streaming service.

“We’re movie people and it’s important to us that people who want to see it on a big screen are able to do so,” said Ethan, who wrote and directed “Buster Scruggs” with brother Joel – a successful creative partnership that goes back 35 years.

“Different companies have different business models and different ways that they exploit the product, but the more there are, the more different ways, it’s just that much healthier for the business,” said Joel.

Critics gave a cautious thumbs up to the film.

“If you were going to be cynical about it, you might say ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ is still a Netflix series” it’s just one that the Coens are forcing you to binge-watch,” said Variety’s Owen Gleiberman.

“The movie runs 135 minutes, and since the episodes are uneven in quality (though the best of them seize and hold you), you may feel, at moments, that it’s too much of a just-okay thing.”

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called “Buster Scruggs” “a hilarious, beautifully made, very enjoyable and rather disturbing anthology … vignettes that switch with stunning force from picturesque sentimentality to grisly violence.”

The Venice Film Festival runs to Sept 8.
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Every culture has its own wedding ceremony traditions. In India and Pakistan, weddings can be costly, and traditions such as a dowry can prevent women from getting married because of their family finances. Now, a nongovernmental organization in Srinagar, Kashmir, is helping Indian parents and couples lower the financial burden by organizing marriage events where more than 100 couples tie the knot. VOA’s Zubair Dar takes us to one of these ceremonies in this report, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
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Indonesia will bid to host the 2032 Olympics following the success of the Asian Games held in Jakarta and Palembang over the past two weeks, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Saturday.

Jokowi made the announcement at a meeting in Bogor with the presidents of the International Olympic Committee and the Asian Olympic Committee.

“With the experience we have in organizing the 18th Asian Games, we are sure Indonesia can also host a bigger event,” Jokowi said in a statement after the meeting.

IOC President Thomas Bach welcomed the candidacy of Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, saying that the Asian Games provided a “strong foundation” for the country’s 2032 bid.

“Because with this Asian Games, with this great success, Indonesia has shown that they have all the ingredients to hold the Olympics successfully,” Bach said.

About 12,000 athletes from 45 nations and territories as well as several thousand officials and journalists took part in the games that end Saturday. As host, Indonesia provided a spectacular opening ceremony and also exceeded its own expectations in winning 30 golds, placing fourth on the medal table.

Indonesia, projected to be among the world’s 10 biggest economies by 2030, used the games to shift perceptions, paving the way for a tilt at even bigger sports hosting baubles.

Tokyo is hosting the 2020 Olympics with Paris and Los Angeles already selected to host the following two Games in 2024 and 2028, respectively.

Massive problems with 2016 Olympics in Brazil, a developing country with endemic corruption, may count against Indonesia’s chances. It cost Brazil about $20 billion to host the Olympics, a bill that is likely to raise objections in Indonesia, where poverty remains widespread.
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In Minnesota, Hmong farmers have banded together to make a better living. Originally from China, the Hmong are an Asian ethnic group that migrated to Vietnam and Laos in the 18th century. But they have never had a country of their own. After the Vietnam War ended, many resettled in the U.S. and now, decades later, Hmong farmers are at the center of a local food economy in Minnesota. VOA’s June Soh has more in this report narrated by Carol Pearson.
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Family, loved ones, celebrities and political leaders, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, were among the thousands who gathered at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple Friday for an all-day funeral to honor Aretha Franklin. The star-studded event with performances by Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson and Faith Hill among others was at times somber and often joyful, a larger than life tribute to the woman known and loved around the world as the “Queen of Soul.” VOA’s Cindy Saine has more.
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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke Friday to those mourning the loss of soul singer Aretha Franklin at an hours-long extravaganza of a funeral service in her native Detroit, Michigan. 

“She lived with courage. Not without fear, but overcoming her fears,” Clinton said of Franklin, who died August 16 of pancreatic cancer at age 78. “She lived with faith. Not without failure, but overcoming her failures. She lived with power. Not without weakness, but overcoming her weaknesses.”

Clinton spoke of her generosity of spirit and her willingness to acknowledge fellow musicians and performers who had not achieved her legendary fame. He also made sure to note: “She worked her can off.” 

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, actress Whoopi Goldberg and a host of musicians were also among those at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple for a tribute and memorial to Franklin that was expected to last six hours or more.

Franklin was dressed in different outfits during several days of public viewings, and her funeral brought a fourth costume change. While the week has been filled with tribute concerts and other high-profile celebrations of the singer and her remarkable life, funeral organizers said Friday’s funeral would be a religious service, not entertainment.

Bishop Charles Ellis III, pastor of Greater Grace Temple, told The Associated Press before the service: “It is my goal and my aim to ensure that people leave here with some kind of spiritual awakening. … This is not a concert; this is not a show; this is not an awards production. This is a real life that has been lived.”

Franklin continued to receive a royal goodbye. She was to be buried in a bronze casket plated with 24-karat gold. Franklin’s name and the title “Queen of Soul” were embroidered into the champagne-colored velvet lining the interior.

Franklin’s body was brought to the church in a white hearse that carried the body of her father, the Reverend C.L. Franklin, in 1991 and civil rights leader Rosa Parks in 2005; and like them, she will be buried in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery.
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Thousands of mourners have come to pay their respects to music legend Aretha Franklin, who will be laid to rest Friday in Detroit, Michigan. A star-studded roster of performers and speakers are scheduled to attend. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.
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Before the world marks the end of Aretha Franklin’s life at her funeral Friday, fans gathered a day early to celebrate her in the place where her faith was forged and her voice was first discovered, singing signature gospel classics like Amazing Grace and Precious Lord.

The line for the public viewing at New Bethel Baptist Church stretched for more than a half mile Thursday afternoon. Fans wearing a variety of T-shirts bearing Franklin’s image mourned her loss with a smile. There were spontaneous bursts into song and cheers for the Queen of Soul as they waited to enter the sanctuary.

Shouts of “We love you!” “Ree Ree!” and “Let the Queen through!” could be heard as the white 1940s Cadillac hearse drove down Linwood Street and pulled up to the front of New Bethel. The crowd jockeyed to snap photographs and cellphone videos of Franklin’s bronze casket as it was taken into the church just before noon.

‘A lifelong fan’

“I had to be here,” said Joyce E. Stroud, who traveled from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to say goodbye to the icon she first met at a concert in California many years ago.

“I met Aretha when I was 23 years old in San Francisco at the Fillmore West when she did that historic three-day concert,” Stroud said. “That was the first time I was introduced to her and I’ve been a lifelong fan.”

Several dignitaries were also expected to pay their respects at Thursday’s viewing, which was opened to the public after the tremendous outpouring of support throughout the week. Thousands attended the two days of public viewings at The Wright Museum.

The sight would’ve been truly humbling, even for a diva, said Michael Eric Dyson, a friend of Franklin’s who attended the New Bethel viewing and will speak at her service.

“She would be deeply honored and appreciative of the fact that people, for three days, have poured out of every vestibule and crevice of this city and country to travel long miles to recognize her genius,” he said.

Linda Swanson, executive vice president of Swanson Funeral Home, echoed the sentiment. The funeral home, which has been in Detroit for 60 years, also handled the arrangements for Franklin’s father, the Reverend C.L. Franklin, who preached at New Bethel from 1946 to 1979.

“We, the Swanson family, also love the citizens of Detroit, and so it just swells our hearts with pride and joy to see the city turning out to honor this queen eternal,” she said.

Photos, roses

Inside New Bethel, the scene was reverent, with gospel music softly playing as a sea of ushers guided mourners into the red-carpeted inner sanctum, decorated with pictures of Franklin and more lavender and pink roses, which also surrounded her at the public viewing earlier this week at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Ever the performer, Franklin gave viewers yet a third outfit change — this time, a sparkling rose gold gown. Matching earrings complimented short cropped curls, and the ensemble was completed with gold-sequined Christian Louboutin heels. She has also worn head-to-toe red in honor of her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, and baby blue.

Upon exiting the church, fans were able to write notes of support and condolence on posters taped to the wall.

The Swanson Funeral Home has declined to say what Franklin’s final outfit will be for Friday’s service, but it will almost certainly be different. The funeral is expected to begin at 10 a.m. at Greater Grace Temple and will last at least five hours.
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Prince Harry and his wife Meghan attended a performance of the hit musical Hamilton on Wednesday to raise money for a charity which works with children affected by HIV in southern Africa.

At the end of the show, Harry and the musical’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda  addressed the audience, said a statement from Harry’s Kensington Palace residence.

Hamilton is an unconventional take on the life of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States, blending, hip-hop and rap, rhythm and blues and ballads.

The London production, housed in the refurbished Victoria Palace Theatre, is the show’s first foray outside of the United States after successful runs in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as Broadway in New York.

Harry married Hollywood actress Meghan Markle in May, at a royal wedding that included a gospel choir and other nods to her African American heritage.
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The drama “Operation Finale” revisits history and brings to life the dramatic capture, by Mossad operatives, of Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of the Nazi Holocaust. Filmmaker Chris Weitz and scriptwriter and historian Matthew Orton offer a dramatic rendition of the historic events that took place in Argentina, 15 years after the end of World War II. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with the cast about the significance of these events in postwar history and their retelling on film today.
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Muslims living in United States are sharing the happiness and joy of the Eid celebration with non-Muslims, especially when Muslims sacrifice an animal and share the meat with the poor and needy. VOA’s Vardha Khalil recently visited a residential area in Silver Spring, Maryland, where a local Muslim organization distributed more than 2700 kilos of meat to the community. Khalil files this report.
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Thousands of revelers hurled at least 145 tons of tomatoes at each other Wednesday during the annual “Tomatina” festival in the eastern Spanish town of Bunol.

With a firecracker blast marking the start of “La Tomatina” shortly before noon local time, at least six trucks loaded with tomatoes drove through Bunol’s main street, providing red ammunition for the revelers to fight each other for the next hour.

The event takes its origins from a spontaneous food fight that broke out amongst villagers in 1945. It was banned for a time during the 1950s at the height of General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, but has gained popularity again since it was reinstated, drawing a huge international crowd.

The Tomatina attracts thousands of participants and onlookers from Spain and around the world to Bunol, one of the country’s prime tomato-producing areas. The Reuters news agency reports that at one time, the festival involved up to 45,000 participants. Now, it has become a ticketed event with only 22,000 available slots, 5,000 of which go to local residents.

 
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Cardi B has apologized to the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. for portraying the civil rights leader’s wife, Coretta Scott King, in a comedy skit.

News outlets report the Bronx rapper was featured in “The Real Housewives of Civil Rights,” a two-minute parody that surfaced Tuesday on TMZ. Tuesday was the 55th anniversary of the March on Washington and King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The sketch from comedian Rip Michaels’ new series Off the Rip portrays pettiness between Coretta Scott King and Malcolm X’s wife, Betty Shabazz, and ends with a joke about Dr. King sleeping with “The Iggy Azalea of the Civil Rights Movement.”

But Bernice King later thanked Cardi B on Twitter for reaching out and apologizing, and said she looked forward to talking with her.
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Bobi Wine, the Ugandan pop star who opposes the long-time president, has “a kidney problem” that needs urgent medical attention abroad, his lawyer said Wednesday, two days after the singer was freed from detention on crutches.

A medical report confirms “the suspicion of a kidney problem” now afflicting the singer, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, Medard Sseggona told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

 

Ssentamu, who is being treated at a private facility in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, also reported that in detention “they squeezed his manhood,” he said. “He was suffering pain in the hips.”

 

“All efforts are underway” to get the papers necessary for him to travel abroad for specialized care, he said.

 

Ssentamu, through his lawyers and colleagues, has alleged severe torture at the hands of security personnel during his detention. But he himself has not made any public statement since he was arrested on Aug. 14 in the northwestern town of Arua for his alleged role in an incident in which the presidential motorcade was pelted with stones.

 

Ssentamu was freed on bail Monday after being charged with treason alongside 32 other suspects arrested following the alleged stone attack on the presidential convoy. Ssentamu’s driver was shot and killed in the aftermath of the incident, allegedly by the security forces. The government says the killing is being investigated.

 

A trial date has not yet been fixed for the treason charges. Ssentamu and his co-accused will still be required to appear before a magistrate’s court on Thursday. The magistrate will consider the evidence and decide if the case should go to the High Court for trial.

 

Since winning a seat in parliament last year Ssentamu has drawn big crowds while campaigning for several opposition candidates who have won election. He is challenging the long rule of President Yoweri Museveni by appealing to young people frustrated by the lack of jobs and opportunities. His supporters, citing his popularity with the youth, are urging him to run for president in 2021.

 

Like Museveni, Ssentamu was in Arua to campaign in a local election to choose a legislator. The eventual winner of that vote, Kassiano Wadri, has also been charged with treason and is yet to be sworn in. Two other lawmakers have been similarly charged.

 

Another lawmaker arrested alongside Ssentamu, Francis Zaake, is hospitalized with injuries his colleagues describe as serious. The nature of those injuries has not been revealed.

 

The allegations of torture have angered Ssentamu’s followers, who see him as the victim of government intolerance. The speaker of Uganda’s parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has written to Museveni urging the arrest of alleged perpetrators within the security forces.

 

In the letter she said that Zaake “remains gravely ill” and Ssentamu “has visible signs of torture and beatings.” Unless the accused officers are arrested and presented in court, she warned, “it will be very difficult to conduct government business” in parliament.

 

Ssentamu’s arrest sparked protests in Kampala and elsewhere demanding his release, with scores of people detained as security forces cracked down on demonstrators.

 

Dozens of top international musicians, including Angelique Kidjo, Chris Martin, Chrissie Hynde and Brian Eno, signed a letter demanding Ssentamu’s release, and a social media campaign to (hash)FreeBobiWine was launched.

 

Museveni, a U.S. ally on regional security who took power by force in 1986, has been elected five times. Although he has campaigned on a record of establishing peace and stability, some worry that those gains are being eroded the longer he stays in power.

 

The 74-year-old Museveni is now able to seek re-election in 2021 because parliament passed legislation last year removing a clause in the constitution that had prevented anyone over 75 from holding the presidency. Ssentamu publicly opposed that decision.

 

Museveni recently accused “unprincipled politicians” of luring youth into rioting.

 

 
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