Author: Ohart

Yvonne Staples, whose voice and business acumen powered the success of the Staple Singers, has died at age 80.

 

The Chicago funeral home Leak and Sons says she died Tuesday at her home in Chicago.

 

Staples’ family gospel group had a string of Top 40 hits and scored their first No. 1 with “I’ll Take You There” in the early 1970s.

 

She also performed with her sisters Mavis and Cleotha and their father Pops on other hits, including “Respect Yourself.”

 

The Chicago Sun-Times reports the family was active in civil rights and performed at the request of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2005.

 

A family friend says Yvonne Staples was “no nonsense” but “had a heart of gold.”
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The art scene in the Democratic Republic of Congo is vibrant and flourishing, but talented local artists still struggle for international recognition. VOA’s Anita Powell takes us to the studios of some of Kinshasa’s top talents, including 25-year-old art sensation Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga.
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Across the globe—“the selfie” has become a social media phenomenon. While it’s considered bad manners in some places, there’s a venue in Los Angeles where it is welcomed at all times. Genia Dulot visited the brand new Selfie Museum there.
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Last October, Jason Aldean was in a Las Vegas hospital visiting some of the victims injured in a mass shooting at a country music festival a week earlier.

On that Sunday afternoon, the country star turned to his longtime manager, Clarence Spalding.

 

“He looked at me and said, ‘This will be the hardest thing I ever do,'” Spalding recalled. “And it was.”

 

Aldean, the reigning Academy of Country Music’s entertainer of the year with a new album out this Friday, has built his career and reputation on his live shows that entertain tens of thousands every year. He had returned to meet face-to-face with those who had survived a terrible trauma during his performance at the festival, which had left him with lingering feelings of guilt.

 

In one room, a woman was still in a coma as he stood by her bed. Aldean recorded a message on her cell phone, promising to bring her to a show when she got better. Those moments in those hospital rooms were heavy with emotion, Spalding said.

 

“Jason would walk in and somebody who had been shot in the arm, leg, face or wherever would just start crying because it was such an emotional thing to see him,” Spalding said.

 

Aldean was onstage when the gunman started shooting with high-powered weapons at the fans from hotel room window across the street from the outdoor Route 91 Harvest Festival. That night in October, 59 people were killed and hundreds more injured in what has become the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in modern history.

 

The Macon, Georgia-born star has been singing about small-town, working class life since he started in Nashville two decades ago, and said he now feels a connection to the survivors of another recent shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

 

“Unless anybody has witnessed anything like that or been a part of it, it’s really hard for people to really understand where you’re coming from on that stuff,” Aldean said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “It’s like the kids from the school in Florida, that shooting. I get it, man. I understand how they are feeling.”

 

About 40 members of his band and crew, as well as his pregnant wife, Brittany, were all there at the festival. Spalding said two of their tour buses were shot, as well as their lighting board and stage. Aldean’s bass player found a bullet fragment in his bass guitar.

 

The aftermath for Aldean has been complicated. He said he felt thankful that his family, crew and friends weren’t injured, but also guilt for all the people who were there because they wanted to see him play. And then he felt anger and disbelief.

 

“You start doing that thing, like, ‘Man, did that really happen? It seems so crazy,'”‘ Aldean said. “You just sit there and relive it a thousand times a day.”

His recovery was helped by talking with his wife and his band and crew about what they experienced. And then he met those survivors.

 

“Going back to the hospital, going back to Vegas and seeing those people. Seeing some of the strength they were having. People laid up in the hospital and smiling and laughing and just being glad they were alive. That sort of stuff helped me to look at it in a different view,” Aldean said. “Those people are here and pushing on.”

 

Two months to the day after the shooting, Aldean’s son, Memphis, was born and finally Aldean found some relief from the spiraling thoughts in his head.

 

“Really to me, he just gave me something else to focus on. Something else to think about on a daily basis,” Aldean said.

And although other country musicians have spoken out about the need for gun control since the shooting, Aldean has avoided wading into the political debates about guns. “It’s a no-win situation,” Aldean said. “I think no matter what you say, whether you’re for gun control or not, I mean, you’re setting yourself up to be crucified in the public eye or in the media.”

 

However, Aldean, who is a gun owner, said there are flaws in the nation’s laws regarding gun ownership that need addressing.

 

“It’s too easy to get guns, first and foremost,” Aldean said. “When you can walk in somewhere and you can get one in 5 minutes, do a background check that takes 5 minutes, like how in-depth is that background check? Those are the issues I have. It’s not necessarily the guns themselves or that I don’t think people should have guns. I have a lot of them.”

 

But his concern is that these tragedies are just used as fodder for the political arguments that have dominated any discussion about gun control.

 

“Nobody is looking at what the actual issue is and really how to come to an agreement and make a smart decision,” Aldean said.

 

This Friday, Aldean is releasing his eighth studio album, “Rearview Town,” which he had been working on all throughout last year in between touring. It features his bluesy new single, “You Make It Easy,” which was co-written by Florida Georgia Line, as well as “Drowns the Whiskey,” a duet with Miranda Lambert. Aldean said the title track appealed to him as a metaphor for his own life.

 

“‘Rearview Town’ just kind of says you’re sort of putting some of the things that have kind of weighted you down and been on your shoulders,” Aldean said. “You’re putting that behind you and you’re moving on and looking forward to everything in store.”
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The fine print of YouTube’s terms of service has a warning that goes unheeded by millions of children who visit YouTube to watch cartoons, nursery rhymes, science experiments or videos of toys being unboxed.

“If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the service,” the terms say. “There are lots of other great web sites for you.”

In a complaint filed Monday, child advocates and consumer groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and impose potentially billions of dollars of penalties on Google for allegedly violating children’s online privacy and allowing ads to target them.

“Google profits handsomely from selling advertising to kid-directed programs that it packages,” said Jeff Chester, director of the Center for Digital Democracy, one of the groups that drafted the complaint. “They created a successful model monetizing kids’ data.”

Television networks also run ads during cartoons and other programs aimed at kids.

The difference? YouTube does so with a lot of data collection. Its business model relies on tracking IP addresses, search history, device identifiers, location and other personal data about its users so that it can gauge their interests and tailor advertising to them. But a 1998 federal law prohibits internet companies from knowingly collecting personal data from kids under 13 without their parents’ consent.

The coalition accuses YouTube of violating that law and deliberately profiting off luring children into what Chester calls an “ad-filled digital playground” where commercials for toys, theme parks or sneakers can surface alongside kid-oriented videos.

YouTube said in an emailed statement that it “will read the complaint thoroughly and evaluate if there are things we can do to improve. Because YouTube is not for children, we’ve invested significantly in the creation of the YouTube Kids app to offer an alternative specifically designed for children.”

That toddler-oriented YouTube Kids app, launched in 2015, offers more parental controls but is not as widely used — and features a selection of the same videos and channels that kids can also find on the regular YouTube service.

‘Day of reckoning’

Although it’s not known if the FTC will take action, the complaint comes at a time of increased public scrutiny over the tech industry’s mining of personal data and after the FTC opened an investigation last month into Facebook’s privacy practices.

For that reason, the FTC “may be more reinvigorated and ready to take these issues seriously,” said Josh Golin, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which drafted the complaint along with the Center for Digital Democracy and a Georgetown University law clinic. Several other groups have signed on, including Common Sense Media, which runs a popular website for families, and the advocacy division of Consumer Reports.

“I think the day of reckoning has arrived,” said U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who co-authored the 1998 law and says he wants the FTC to look into the YouTube complaint. “Americans want to know the answers as to whether or not the privacy of their children is being compromised in the online world.”

FTC spokeswoman Juliana Gruenwald Henderson said the agency looks forward to reviewing the letter. She said the FTC already has brought more than two dozen cases for violations of the 1998 law. It has settled child privacy cases with Yelp, mobile advertising network inMobi and electronic toy-maker VTech.

None of those services are as popular for kids as YouTube, which has toddler-themed channels with names like ChuChuTV nursery rhymes, which as of last week counted more than 16 million subscribers and 13.4 billion views. It also has many channels that cater to preteens.

Kandi Parsons, a former FTC attorney who now advises companies on child-privacy compliance, said that because YouTube is a general-audience service, it could be hard to determine if parents are curating content for their kids to watch or letting them use it on their own. Parsons said the FTC so far hasn’t gone after kid-directed channels within broader media websites, though that doesn’t mean it won’t.

Consumer advocates say Google knows what it is doing. They point to its “Google Preferred” program that allows advertisers on YouTube to pay extra to get their ads on the most popular videos. The program includes a “Parenting & Family Lineup” that has featured channels such as ChuChu TV, Fox’s BabyTV and Seven Super Girls, whose topics include “fluffy unicorn slime.”

YouTube does block children who identify themselves as under 13 from posting video, by prohibiting them from creating an account to begin with, but an account isn’t needed merely to watch.

“It’s laughable if Google execs claim that they think the parent is in charge of the online viewing behaviors of tens of millions of children,” Chester said. “Children are watching this content by themselves. Google is trying to look the other way.”

 
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A topless protester with “Women’s Lives Matter” written on her body jumped a barricade and got within a few feet of Bill Cosby on Monday as the comedian walked into a suburban Philadelphia courthouse for the start of his sexual assault retrial.

 

The woman ran in front of Cosby toward a bank of TV cameras but was intercepted by sheriff’s deputies and led away in handcuffs. The European feminist group Femen claimed the protester as one of its own.

 

Cosby seemed startled by the commotion as a half-dozen protesters chanted at him.

 

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt praised deputies for their quick action but urged court officials to increase security.

 

“It’s a different world. Things have changed,” Wyatt told The Associated Press, referring to recent mass shootings and other episodes. “You never know who’s going to want to make a name for themselves.”

 

The protester, Nicolle Rochelle, 39, of Little Falls, New Jersey, was charged with disorderly conduct, authorities said. Inna Shevchenko, a Paris-based leader of Femen, told The Associated Press that the activist was seeking to defend Cosby’s alleged victims, calling the protest “our contribution to the global revolt launched by (hash)MeToo.”

 

The disruption came ahead of opening statements, which were delayed while the judge sorted through allegations raised late Friday that a juror told a woman during jury selection that he thought Cosby was guilty. Cosby’s lawyers want the juror removed from the case.

Prosecutors have lined up a parade of accusers to make the case that the man revered as “America’s Dad” lived a double life as one of Hollywood’s biggest predators.

 

Cosby is fighting back with a new, high-profile lawyer and an aggressive strategy: attacking Andrea Constand as a greedy liar and casting the other women testifying as bandwagon accusers looking for a share of the spotlight.

“You’ve seen previews and coming attractions, but things have changed,” said professor Laurie Levenson of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

 

Cosby’s first trial last spring ended with jurors unable to reach a unanimous verdict after five days of tense deliberations on charges that the man who made millions of viewers laugh as wise and understanding Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” drugged and molested Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

 

The 80-year-old comedian, who has said the sexual contact was consensual, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

 

His retrial is taking place in a radically changed and potentially more hostile environment. The (hash)MeToo movement caught fire four months after the first trial, raising awareness of sexual misconduct as it toppled Harvey Weinstein, Sen. Al Franken, Matt Lauer and other powerful men.

 

Nearly every potential juror questioned for the case this time knew about (hash)MeToo.

 

Kristen Houser of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center said that could help prosecutors overcome the skepticism some jurors had last time about Constand’s yearlong wait to report her allegations to the police.

 

“The (hash)MeToo movement is amplifying what experts have been saying for decades: People are ashamed, they’re confused, they can’t believe somebody they trust would hurt them, and then they worry that others won’t believe them,” Houser said.

 

After limiting the focus of the first trial, Judge Steven O’Neill has been willing to let both sides push the retrial well beyond Constand’s allegations.

 

This time, O’Neill is letting prosecutors have five additional accusers testify — including model Janice Dickinson — as they attempt to show Cosby made a habit of drugging and violating women. The judge allowed just one other accuser to take the stand last time.

 

“This one will be harder for the defense,” Levenson said. This time, Constand “is not alone, and there is strength in numbers.”

 

In another difference, the judge this time is letting Cosby’s legal team call as a witness a former co-worker of Constand’s at Temple University who said Constand spoke of setting up a “high-profile person” so she could sue and enjoy a big payday. Constand’s lawyer has said the co-worker is lying.

 

The judge also decided the jury can hear the answer to one of the biggest questions hanging over the case: How much did Cosby pay Constand to settle her lawsuit against him more than a decade ago? The two sides agreed at the first trial not to mention the lawsuit.

 

Cosby lawyer Tom Mesereau, who won an acquittal in Michael Jackson’s 2005 child molestation case, said the jury will learn “just how greedy” Constand was.

 

In a twist, the judge hinted that he might not allow jurors to hear Cosby’s lurid deposition testimony about giving Quaaludes to women before sex. He said he would rule on it during the trial. Cosby testified in 2005 and 2006 as part of Constand’s lawsuit.

 

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand and Dickinson have done.
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When Bill Cosby’s retrial on sexual assault charges begins on Monday, the man once known as “America’s Dad” will face the same judge and district attorney in the same Pennsylvania courtroom as he did last June when a hung jury failed to reach a verdict.

But the familiar trappings cannot disguise the reality that Cosby’s second trial on charges that he assaulted a former friend in 2004 will have significant differences from his first.

Cosby’s second trial will also play out against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, which last autumn prompted a wave of sexual assault and misconduct accusations against dozens of powerful men in Hollywood, business and politics.

The movement has also stirred a national dialogue about the way society treats people who step forward to tell stories of sexual abuse.

More than 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual assaults dating back decades. The entertainer, now 80, has denied all of the accusations, saying any sexual encounters he may have had were consensual.

The Pennsylvania case, brought by Andrea Constand, a former administrator at Temple University, Cosby’s alma mater, is the only criminal prosecution to result from the accusations, most of which are too old to allow for charges.

At the second trial, five other Cosby accusers are expected to take the stand under oath and detail their accusations against him. Their testimony could bolster the prosecution’s argument that the celebrity best known for his role as the benign patriarch on “The Cosby Show” was a serial predator who preyed on vulnerable women.

The trial judge, Steven O’Neill, allowed prosecutors to call only one of the other accusers to the stand during the first trial. She told jurors that Cosby drugged and assaulted her in1996, in much the same manner that Constand testified Cosby did to her in 2004 at his home.

This time, prosecutors had sought to call as many as 19 other accusers, while defense attorneys objected to allowing any to appear, arguing that they would unduly prejudice the jury.

O’Neill ruled that prosecutors could call up to five women from a group of eight accusers that includes former model and television personality Janice Dickinson.

Such “prior bad act” witnesses are typically barred for fear jurors will be more likely to convict a defendant based on past behavior, rather than the specific charges before them. In rare cases, judges have permitted such testimony to show a defendant engaged in a pattern of behavior, using a particular modus operandi.

“It’s not a good day for the defense whenever a judge allows these types of witnesses to be called,” said Douglas Sughrue, a Pittsburgh-based defense lawyer. “You’re obviously now not just fighting one victim.”

Studies have shown that mock juries are far more likely to convict defendants after hearing from multiple prior accusers, particularly in sexual crime cases, according to Aviva Orenstein, a law professor at Indiana University and an expert in trial evidence.

“Even if he were able to discredit each individual woman, at a certain point, the jury is going to think, where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” she said.

The #MeToo movement has also stressed a need to be more receptive to accusers’ accounts.

“There’s no doubt the environment is more sensitive,” Sughrue said. “Your audience is maybe more sensitive to it, they’re maybe more aware of it.”

The defense case will also have some major differences, starting with the lawyers. Cosby’s new attorney is Los Angeles-based Tom Mesereau, best known for successfully defending singer Michael Jackson at his 2005 child molestation trial.

The defense has said it would seek to portray Constand as a liar motivated by a desire to get a piece of Cosby’s fortune.

That strategy got a boost this week when the judge said he would allow testimony from a woman who claims Constand mused aloud about falsely accusing a famous man to get money.

He also said  the defense could introduce evidence of Cosby’s payment to Constand to settle her civil lawsuit, a detail that has been kept from public view, including the jury from thefirst trial.

This story was written by Reuters.
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Outrage, compassion, a desire for justice: these are some of the motivations of 10 women honored by the U.S. State Department this year with the International Women of Courage Award. Mike O’Sullivan spoke with several recipients at a recent stop in Los Angeles.
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Comedy is a field dominated by men, but that’s changing. Among the trendsetters is Suzie Afridi, a Palestinian-American stand-up comedian. Afridi says she’s probably not living the life her parents wanted for her when she was growing up in the West Bank. But she says how else would a feminist Palestinian Christian, married to a Muslim man, trying to raise a cross-cultural 9-year-old, express herself, except by making people laugh? VOA’s Samina Ahsan takes a look at Afridi’s unlikely journey.
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From a refugee camp in Pakistan to an exhibit at the Smithsonian, Saeeda Etebari has had a remarkable journey, even more extraordinary because she is deaf in a region where there is less opportunity for people with disabilities and also a woman in a field dominated by men. Munaza Shaheed profiles the talented young jewelry-maker.
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The 2018 World Cup of freestyle wrestling opened Saturday in the U.S. state of Iowa without Russia and Iran, two traditionally strong teams in the sport.

Iran, the six-time defending champ, pulled out in March without citing a reason, although many tied it to the resignation of the Iranian federation president, Rasoul Khadem, over issues related to the country’s state policy of refusing to compete against Israeli competition.

Khadem quit in protest after United World Wrestling (UWW) ruled that an Iranian wrestler threw a match at the Under-23 World Championships in November to avoid having to face an Israeli opponent and temporarily banning the athlete and his coach.

Russia pulled out of the tournament a week ago after saying it did not have enough time for the visa process needed to get the athletes cleared for the journey to Iowa City.

UWW invited Mongolia and India to replace Iran and Russia the annual meet, considered the second-biggest event outside of the World Championships, which will be held in Hungary in October.

“Our team was poised to do well [even if] Russia and Iran [were competing], so that’s a little bit disappointing,” said Rich Bender, the director of USA Wrestling.

“Certainly, in light of the current political situation and the relations between our governments and the drama around what’s going on in our State Departments, with their embassy and ours, this was not the year to wait until the last minute to apply,” he said of the Russians.

Bill Zadick, the U.S. freestyle coach, said, “It’s disappointing that they [Russians and Iranians] weren’t able to make it to the event because they have great wrestling traditions.”

“Despite our difference in politics on the government side, our federations share a brotherhood and have a really positive relationships that I think both sides value,” he added.

The U.S. team beat India in its first match, while Mongolia beat Kazakhstan.

Some material for this report came from AP, Sioux City Journal, Des Moines Register and Interfax.
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A bus carrying a group of Canadian junior hockey players collided Friday with a semi-trailer on a rural highway in Saskatchewan, killing 14 people, Canadian media reported citing police.

Fourteen more were injured, including three critically, in the accident involving the Humboldt Broncos team bus, which was heading north for a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff game against the Nipawin Hawks, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police inspector Ted Monroe said at a news conference late Friday that there were “fatalities among the passengers on the bus” and “a number of serious injuries.”

 

“It is a significant accident, we had a tractor trailer and a bus collide,” Monroe told reporters, declining to go into further detail about the victims.

Police said the crash took place about 28 kilometers (18 miles) north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan as the bus was traveling on highway 35.

“This is much bigger than anyone can begin to imagine,” Broncos team president Kevin Garinger told the Canadian broadcaster CBC. “We are just in utter disbelief and shock at the loss that’s fallen upon us.”

The Broncos team is comprised of 24 players, all from Canada, with the youngest age 16 and the oldest 21.

“It’s a horrible accident, my God,” said Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks hockey team. “It’s very, very bad.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his sadness at the tragic incident involving such young athletes.

The Saskatchewan league is a feeder system for higher levels of hockey with many graduating to play at U.S. and Canadian colleges and major junior league level, while some go on to the National Hockey League. Former NHL players like defenseman Chris Chelios, goaltender Ron Hextall, forward Rod Brind’Amour and hall of fame goaltender Glenn Hall all played in the SJHL.

Friday’s fatal smash brought back memories of a single vehicle bus crash in December 1986, also in Saskatchewan, that killed four members of the Western Hockey League Swift Current Broncos.

A memorial was placed on the side of the highway at the site of the crash, about four kilometers east of Swift Current. 

The Swift Current Broncos expressed their condolences.

“Humboldt Broncos weighing heavy in our hearts and minds tonight,” the team said on Twitter.

Former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy, who survived when the Swift Current bus skidded off the highway in snowy conditions, also sent a message of support.

“Sending all my thoughts and prayers to those impacted with the @HumboltBroncos bus crash,” Kennedy said.

This story was written by the Agence France Presse.
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Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. And in Pakistan where the sport is called football, there’s no shortage of fans. Although football is still considered a man’s game in Pakistan, in Lyari town in the country’s largest city of Karachi, it’s gaining rapid popularity with a new group of fans — young girls. Shayan Salim has the details.
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The anticipation around Cardi B’s debut album has been scorching hot, so when the breakthrough artist finally debuted the full album at a party late Thursday, she told the DJ to make sure the sound level was perfect.

“DJ, make it a little loud ’cause I don’t feel it in my bones,” she said after the second track played, while the DJ worked on the sound.

That’s when Cardi B’s silly and likable personality — which has helped her skyrocket on social media and the pop charts — shined brightly. She went into karaoke-mode, singing some of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” even getting the audience of music industry players in New York City to participate.

But the DJ needed two more minutes.

“Two minutes? What the [heck] I’m supposed to do with two minutes? I’m running out of jokes. I’m running out of entertainment,” she said, then reminded the crowd that she’s performing on Saturday Night Live this weekend.

Cardi B, the 25-year-old Bronx rapper, released her major-label debut album, “Invasion of Privacy,” on Friday. It comes 10 months after she dropped “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” the ubiquitous rap song that topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in October, making her one of three females to top the pop charts with a song last year.

When that Grammy-nominated song came up during the listening, she skipped it: “I know you heard it 1,000 times. I put it on my album because that’s the song that made me rich. … That song changed my life.”

The next track, “Be Careful,” was released last week and was met with controversy when an older version of the song by rapper Pardison appeared online. Some of the lyrics were directly used on Cardi B’s song and some wrote that she stole the song, though Pardison was listed as a co-writer on the track.

“I don’t know where Pardison is at, but Pardison is a big part of the song. You know, I heard the record and I was like, ‘…I want that record for me. So, you know, I flipped it and I made it into a girl version,” she said.

“I don’t give [expletive], ghostwriter, co-writer, [people], I don’t give a [expletive],” she said. “What you need to do is ask your favorite rappers about their ghostwriters.”

Thursday’s event was tightly packed, as attendees bumped shoulder to shoulder while dancing to Cardi B’s new songs and drinking out of large red cups. The scene outside was similar as people waited in the cold to get inside the white-hot event, then were met with the heavy smell of marijuana as the door opened and some people were allowed to enter.

Bartenders and waitresses at Common Ground mimicked Cardi B’s style: They dressed in the short, green wig and black-and-white plaid shirt Cardi B sports on her new album cover.

“Isn’t it funny? This is the spot I first met my man at,” said Cardi B, referring to her fiance Offset of the multi-platinum rap trio Migos.

“Thank you everybody for coming out. I worked so hard on this album. … This music industry [stuff] is a roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster. It’s more crazier than the streets,” she said.

“Invasion of Privacy” also includes the hit “Bartier Cardi,” while Chance the Rapper, SZA, J. Balvin, Bad Bunny, Kehlani and YG make guest appearances. Cardi B, who developed a following on social media after stripping and appeared on the reality show Love and Hip Hop, has also had major success with the songs “Finesse” with Bruno Mars, “No Limit” with G-Eazy,” and MotorSport” with Migos and Nicki Minaj.

“In barely a year this woman has broken so many records. This girl has so many Hot 100 [hits]. … She’s worked her [butt] off,” said Julie Greenwald, the chairman and COO of Atlantic Records, home to Ed Sheeran, Missy Elliott, Kelly Clarkson, Coldplay and Sia.

“We are so proud of this album,” she added, before calling Cardi B “the first lady of Atlantic Records.”
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Lin-Manuel Miranda thought he had a migraine. It turns out the Broadway star really had shingles.

Miranda tweeted on Thursday that he had been diagnosed with shingles, saying he it caught early and that he had been quarantined from his 8-week-old son.

The Associated Press had reported that he also said on Twitter his ophthalmologist had blurred his eyes and that he was wearing a mask during treatment. But Miranda tweeted Friday that his mask reference and accompanying “Phantom of the Opera” gif were a joke, and his blurred eyes a part of his medical exam. He tweeted, “Sorry. I’m fine. Not wearing a mask.”

Miranda said he was staying with parents nearby.

The 38-year-old wrote the book, music and lyrics and starred in the Broadway smash “Hamilton.”
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President Donald Trump, a constant critic of what he calls “fake news,” will skip the White House Correspondents’ Dinner for a second year in a row.

White House Correspondents’ Association president Margaret Talev said in a statement Friday that the “White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year’s dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend.”

Trump had said he “probably won’t do it” in an interview on the “Bernie and Sid” radio show on 77 WABC Radio that was taped Thursday and aired Friday. 

Saying the press is “so bad” and “so fake,” Trump said: “I want to get it straightened out with the press before I do it.”

Talev said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will attend to represent the administration at the head table.

The annual dinner, a fundraiser for college scholarships and a venue for reporting awards, mixes politicians, journalists and celebrities and is typically attended by the president and first lady. Remarks by a comedian, often roasting the president, and a humorous address by the president himself, often roasting the press and political opponents, have highlighted the event, which C-SPAN has carried live.

Trump skipped the event last year, holding a rally in Pennsylvania instead. Prior to that, Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to skip the annual dinner, as he was recovering after being shot during an assassination attempt.

If he attended, Trump would likely be a prime target of jokes, with the camera showing his reaction to one-liners. Before he entered politics, the former reality star attended the event and in 2011 was on hand — and appeared humiliated — as former President Barack Obama lobbed joke after joke at his expense.

Trump did attend the annual Gridiron Club Dinner earlier this year, delivering a speech at the annual white-tie affair featuring journalists and officials. At that event, Trump offered a series of good-natured one-liners in his remarks.

Among his quips: “I was very excited to receive this invitation and ruin your evening in person. That’s why I accepted.”
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Hundreds of disbelieving fans flocked to the home of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on Thursday in protest against the five-year jail term given on the action hero for poaching endangered antelopes.

Khan’s army of devotees took selfies outside the Galaxy apartment complex in the Indian film capital Mumbai as their hero was taken off to spend the night in jail in Rajasthan.

Police set up barricades outside the building overlooking the Arabian Sea where actors and tycoons are the main residents.

The Bollywood elite also rallied behind the 52-year-old star of blockbusters such as Sultan and one of the world’s most highly paid actors.

Many fans were angry and stunned at the jail term imposed by a court in the Rajasthan city of Jodhpur over the killing of two rare black bucks 20 years ago.

Mohammad Arif Khan, 26, traveled from his home in Uttar Pradesh vowing to spend three days in Mumbai in the hope that his hero will be released.

“Khan’s absence will have a big impact and mistakes do happen. But he has paid for his crimes and shouldn’t be made to go to jail. The decision is extremely appalling and not a good one,” he said.

“Salman Khan is a good man and a humanitarian who runs his own charity helping people.”

‘A great star’

He added: “The court and the government should take note of all his good deeds as his absence will affect not just Bollywood but also those in need of help and who get assistance from his charity.”

Many fans wore “Being Human” T-shirts named after his charity.

Seventeen-year-old student Abdul Rashid said Khan’s “loyal fans” will stand by him.

“I am not sure where our justice system is headed as the … punishment doesn’t feel justified for killing an animal. I was at the airport last night and met Salman. He waved at us. He is such a great star and impacts all our lives by helping needy people. He should not be punished.”

Sagar Raza Khan, a 50-year-old writer, said the verdict had come out of the blue as the case has been going on so long.

“He’s already suffered enough and should not have to go through it again. His family will again face a lot of suffering if he is incarcerated. Plus, his impact on Bollywood is too huge to be ignored.”

Sheikh Alimuddin, 43, traveled from rural Maharashtra to get to Khan’s home.

“Khan is an epitome of kindness and has helped cancer patients and children requiring medical assistance. There are numerous ongoing cases where the guilty have not been punished.”

Alimuddin called the guilty verdict and punishment “sensationalized.”

Financial losses

Jaya Bachchan, a veteran Bollywood actor and lawmaker, said so much money was invested in Khan’s films that “there will be losses.”

“After 20 years, they have realized he is guilty. But law takes its own course, what can one say. He does a lot of charity. I am worried for the producers,” Bachchan told reporters.

Leading Bollywood director Subhash Gai said he was “extremely shocked” at the jail term.

Gai called Khan “a most loved person” in the film industry, but also said he had “full trust” in India’s appeal procedure.

Actor Arjun Rampal said on Twitter he felt “helpless” over the action taken against Khan.

“The last thing @BeingSalmanKhan is, is a criminal. I feel this is too harsh. I do hope he gets the relief he deserves.”
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The woman who police say shot three people at YouTube’s headquarters was prolific at producing videos and posting them online, many of them bizarre, such as a clip in which she removes a revealing purple dress to expose fake breasts with the message, “Don’t Trust Your Eyes.”

In others, Nasim Aghdam exercises, promotes animal rights and explains the vegan diet, often in elaborate costumes or carrying a rabbit.

The videos have become central to the motive authorities have settled on for the shooting: Aghdam’s anger with the policies of YouTube – the world’s biggest online video website.

Nasim Aghdam, who was in her late 30s, posted the videos under the online name Nasime Sabz, and a website in that name decried YouTube’s policies, saying the company was trying to “suppress” content creators.

“Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!” one of the messages said. “There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!”

People who post on YouTube can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos, but the company “de-monetizes” some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

YouTube had no comment about any actions related to Aghdam’s videos.

Nasim Aghdam also ran a Farsi-language public channel on the messaging app Telegram, which had 6,000 followers. Telegram reportedly has some 40 million users in Iran. In one post she says, “Internet crackdown and filtering is increasing in the West.”

Police who found Nasim Aghdam sleeping in her car early Tuesday in the city of Mountain View about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from YouTube headquarters said she was calm and said nothing about being angry with YouTube or having any plans to harm others or herself.

“It was a very normal conversation. There was nothing in her behavior that suggested anything unusual,” said Mountain View Police Chief Max Bosel.

Later that day, Aghdam went to a gun range before walking through a parking garage into a courtyard at YouTube’s campus south of San Francisco, where she opened fire with a handgun and wounded three people, police said. She then killed herself.

Two women wounded in the shooting were released Wednesday from a San Francisco hospital. The third victim, a 36-year-old man, was upgraded from critical to serious condition.

The suspect’s father, Ismail Aghdam, told the Bay Area News Group he warned police the day before the attack that his daughter was upset with how YouTube handled her videos and might be planning to go to its offices.

Police in Mountain View said they spoke to Ismail Aghdam twice after contacting the family to report finding his daughter and that he never told them she could become violent or pose a threat to YouTube employees. During her 20-minute interview with officers, Nasim Aghdam said she was having family problems and had left her home, police said.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Wednesday searched two homes where Nasim Aghdam had lived – one in Menifee, which is southeast of Los Angeles, and another in 4S Ranch, north of San Diego.

Nasim Aghdam referenced a since-deactivated website, PeaceThunder, in a 2014 interview promoting veganism. The state attorney general’s website shows a charity group named PeaceThunder affiliated with Nasim Aghdan was dissolved at her request in 2011. She gave no reason but said she was its only member and the group had no assets.

John Rundell, who lives next door to the family in Menifee, said the parents, son and daughter moved from San Diego about five years ago, but he hadn’t seen Nasim Aghdam in months.

The entire family was “very, very friendly,” according to Rundell, who spoke most often with the father, an electrical contractor. Topics of conversations included Persian cooking.

“They were just perfect neighbors,” Rundell said. “If I had to pick neighbors, I’d have them all around.”

Nasim Aghdam painted the house after the family moved in and Rundell said he gave her his own paint to finish the job. She once told Rundell that her pet rabbit was unhappy and asked where he got his.

The family turned away reporters outside the family home in Menifee Wednesday. A woman named Leila who identified herself as an aunt said Nasim Aghdam was a “really good person” and had no history of mental illness. She did not give her last name.

The family later distributed a statement saying they were “in absolute shock and can’t make sense of what has happened.”

“Although no words can describe our deep pain for this tragedy, our family would like to express their utmost regret, sorrow for what has happened to innocent victims,” the statement read.

Nasim Aghdam walked onto the YouTube property through a parking garage and it’s not clear whether she encountered any security.

The company said Wednesday it will increase security at its headquarters and offices around the world.
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Kim Kardashian West has shared the first photo of her family.

The reality star posed with husband Kanye West, daughters North and Chicago, and son Saint in the photo, which was taken on Easter.

 

Kardashian wrote on Facebook : “I don’t think you really understand how hard it is to take a good family pic.” She said it was all they got before “all three kids started crying.”

 

The 37-year-old said she thought she also cried.

 

She also tweeted that while she was holding her baby, Chicago, in one hand, her other hand had ahold of Saint, who kept running away.
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Saudi Arabia’s first movie theater in more than 35 years will open on April 18 in the capital Riyadh.

AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest movie theater chain, said Wednesday it has been granted the license to open up to 40 theaters in 15 Saudi cities over the next five years. 

The deeply conservative Muslim kingdom had some cinemas in the 1970s but its powerful clerics managed to force them to close. 

The theaters won’t initially be segregated by gender like most Saudi public spaces, AMC’s chief executive officer Adam Aron said. But there might be some show times set aside exclusively for single gender audiences. 

The move to reopen cinemas is part of a modernization drive by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon, who is seeking to boost domestic spending in an era of low oil prices.

Saudi Arabians are avid consumers of Western media and culture. Despite the cinema ban, Hollywood films and recent television series are widely watched at home and discussed.

To serve a population of more than 32 million, the majority of whom are under the age of 30, Saudi Arabia wants to set up around 350 movie theaters with more than 2,500 screens by 2030, which it hopes will attract nearly $1 billion in annual box office sales.

 
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A new television documentary about Elvis Presley takes advantage of the vast collection of footage, pictures, documents and music from his estate to give a behind-the-scenes look at the king of rock ‘n’ roll.

“Elvis Presley: The Searcher,” a two-part, three-hour documentary, will premiere April 14 on HBO. Director Thom Zimny, who worked on several Bruce Springsteen documentaries, had full access to Graceland’s vault and made ample use of it to unearth little-seen footage.

“That was one of the exciting parts because every day I was discovering new gems of Elvis Presley’s archives,” Zimny said.

“He came up with pieces of footage that Priscilla and I had never seen before, and we grew up with Elvis,” said Jerry Schilling, one of Elvis’ longtime friends and an executive producer on the documentary along with Priscilla Presley, his ex-wife.

Along with his family and friends, Zimny interviewed studio musicians, producers, engineers and directors, as well as artists like Springsteen, Tom Petty and Emmylou Harris. Zimny uses only voiceovers for the narration instead of seeing the interviewees’ faces to keep the focus on the music and footage of Elvis over his career.

“Most documentaries, you see people talking, and I think that takes you out of the film,” Priscilla Presley said. “So you do get distracted, where here, you take on the flow, you can see what’s going on visually and you’re not taken out of that moment, and I think that’s brilliant.”

Zimny makes heavy use of footage from Elvis’ 1968 television special, considered his comeback to music after a long period of movie acting.

“He had been out of performing for years, almost 10 years,” Presley said. “This to him was the make or break of his career.”

Zimny said he had no limitations on addressing any aspect of Elvis’ career, and the film does touch on the controlling influence of his manager Colonel Tom Parker as well as Elvis’ prescription drug abuse.

Priscilla said Presley began using prescription drugs when he was given them during his Army stint. Even after years of using medications, she said Elvis never realized his addiction.

“He didn’t think he was addicted,” Presley said. “It was a part of his life, really. There was no Betty Ford. There were no rehab centers. But he didn’t think he had to go to a rehab center. There were prescribed to him. The doctors knew what they were giving to him. So that was pretty much a part of his life.”

Presley said there’s still a lot for music fans to learn about the star, who died in 1977.

“He was in uncharted territories,” Presley said. “There was no other that reached the heights that he did as far as changing style, changing music.”
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Record producer, Ian Brennan, and his wife Marilena Delli, a photographer and documentary filmmaker, are on a quest for the unknown and unfamiliar. Their passion for discovering uniqueness in human stories and music has taken them to far-flung places around the world, from Malawi to record songs by prisoners, to rural Rwanda and Cambodia to give voice to genocide survivors.

Music to his Ears

For a music lover like Ian Brennan, hearing a good song is a rewarding adventure, even if it’s in a language he doesn’t understand. He believes it’s better for us, neurologically and sociologically, to listen to diverse music, which is not what is offered by the commercial music business.

“What we get with the recorded music is by nature repetition, hearing not only the same song, not only the same singer, but the same performance of the same song over and over and over again. But there is a lot more to the world than that.”

Photo Gallery: Unfamiliar Music

The greatest music, Brennan adds, comes from everyday life, from people’s traditions or just their own emotions.

“I think there is so much untapped potential, untapped creativity in the world that to hear from just a small sliver of people is kind of a disservice for everyone.”

Rwandan Experiences

Brennan began exploring that untapped potential about 10 years ago, when he accompanied his wife, who is half Italian, half Rwandan, and her mother, a genocide survivor, to Rwanda.

“My Mom lost all her family,” says Delli. “When we decided to go there, I was shooting a documentary called The Rwanda Mama, about my Mom’s return to Rwanda 30 years apart. She actually discovered that her best friend, who she thought died in the genocide in 1994, was alive and that was the reason why she decided to go back.”

During this trip, the couple had a chance to listen to a local artist, Adrien Kazigira, the lead singer of the Rwandan band, The Good Ones. Brennan went to his farm to record Kazigira’s songs.  

“He’s one of the most gifted roots writers, folk writers, I think in any language in the world. But unfortunately, because he sings in Kinyarwanda and not in English, he’s not heard by many people as he probably should be,” Brennan says.

Together, they produced two albums and are working on the third.  “Sara,” from the group’s first album, is one of Brennan’s most favorite songs. It’s a love song, he explains, that communicates a variety of complicated emotions. “It’s specifically about a woman who had contracted AIDS and was sent away by her lover and her family and spent the little money that she had to a witch doctor to try to cure herself. And it’s someone who truly loves and cares about her, trying to convince her not to leave, not to be banished.”

Prison Music

In Malawi, Brennan and Delli teamed up again, as they worked on different projects where he recorded the music and she photographed the artists.

“We did Malawi’s Mouse Boys, who have released three albums,” he says. “We also did the Zomba Prison Projects which were with the individuals from the maximum security prison in Malawi, whose first album was surprisingly nominated for a Grammy award, which was something that was deserved, but not expected.”

The couple prefers projects where they work with people who are not identified as musicians, or people who may not have ever sung in public or written songs before.

“That was true of the Zomba Prison Project,” Brennan says. “We worked with over a hundred individuals and produced two albums.  Also in Tanzania, when we worked on the Tanzania Albinism Collective (Project). It’s incredible the music that can come forward from someone when they’re given the opportunity to be listened to, and to be heard.”

Different Languages, Similar Experiences

Though in different languages and with different melodies, Brennan says most of these songs convey similar feelings and experiences.  Genocide survivors in Cambodia who survived the Khmer Rouge, for example, share some similar experiences with the individuals in Rwanda who survived the three genocides there.

He points to “Defeat the Giant,” by Cambodian artist Soun San, as an example. The song gives voice to genocide victims anywhere.

“Soun San was the master musician from Cambodia,” Brennan says. “He was injured during the Khmer Rouge, but survived. His voice is, I think, an important one and one that I think more people would want to hear. We had set up for him to come to the UK last summer to perform, but unfortunately, between the time he was invited and he got his passport and booked the flight, he fell ill and passed away a month or so before the event.”

For their next project, Brennan and Delli are heading to Pakistan.

“We also have a release coming from Ustad Saami from Karachi, who is a 75-year-old vocal master,” Brennan says. “He sings a lot of pre-Islamic music in Sanskrit, pre-Sanskrit and in Farsi. He’s a very, very gifted and very rare individual because the music that he sings no one else does or really even can.”

Delli is excited about these projects, not only because she loves traveling, but because she believes these projects can make the world a better place. “I just think music is a wonderful way to connect people all over the world and a wonderful instrument to touch people’s heart and overcome hatred and prejudice.”

Having such a calling while discovering the sounds of different cultures and meeting unique artists encourages the couple to keep searching the world for hidden music.
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A U.S. media broadcast group ordered local news anchors to read a statement expressing concern about “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing the country,” — then accused other networks and some members of the media for pushing their own biases. Deadspin, a sports news and blog web site, created a mashup video that shows anchors around the country all reading the same statement. The video has since gone viral as VOA’s Jill Craig. reports.
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With her arms crossed and poised for action, “Wonder Woman” television actress Lynda Carter was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday as her most famous superhero character enjoys a big-screen revival.

Carter, 66, was introduced by longtime friend and CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves and Patty Jenkins, the director of last year’s blockbuster film “Wonder Woman.”

“It seems impossible but I have been in entertainment for more than 50 years — do the math,” Carter told the audience along Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles before the unveiling of the emblematic terrazzo and brass star.

“I have loved it all!” the former Miss World USA exclaimed.

Carter’s “Wonder Woman” character, which first appeared on the pages of DC Comics in 1941 and debuted as a TV series starring the actress in 1976, is seen as a forerunner to the empowered heroines that are taking center stage in Hollywood.

Jenkins, 46, said Carter inspired her as a girl and showed her that she did not have to choose between being rebellious or feminine, or attractive or strong.

“Her Wonder Woman made me believe I could have whatever I wanted, and even more importantly, it made me unashamed to want it,” Jenkins said.

“Wonder Woman” was only on U.S. television for three seasons, first on ABC and later on CBS where it finished in 1979. But the series, along with Carter’s performance, have given “Wonder Woman” a long legacy as a feminist symbol.

At times choking with emotion, Carter thanked her friends and family for their support as well as a nod to the men who helped stand behind women’s stories.

“From all of the wonder women out there, we love our men who stand with us and champion our causes and our voices,” Carter said.

“This is a day that I shall never forget,” she concluded.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and is major tourist attraction.
…

Jason Clarke plunged into frigid waters, repeatedly, for his role as the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in “Chappaquiddick.”

The Australian actor said his research about the accident that thwarted Kennedy’s presidential chances included jumping into Poucha Pond, the same waters the Massachusetts Democrat’s car crashed into in July 1969, killing Mary Jo Kopechne.

Clarke said the indie film, which is in limited release on Friday, doesn’t try to sensationalize the accident, which Kennedy failed to report for 10 hours.

He said the film sticks “to the facts as much as we could and to play it out without scandalizing, without going to the tabloid of it.”

“This man committed this act and he worked his way out of it with help and with his own moral journey to the other side, where he then became one of the longest-serving senators in history. I don’t think — partisanship aside — you can’t take away from what he did.”

Kennedy went to Martha’s Vineyard to race in the Edgartown Regatta and on the evening of July 18, 1969, attended a party at a rented house on Chappaquiddick Island. Guests included Kennedy friends and several women, including Kopechne, who had worked on the presidential campaign of his brother Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated a year earlier.

Kennedy and Kopechne, 28, left the party together and a short time later their car plunged into Poucha Pond. Kennedy escaped from the submerged vehicle and said he made several futile attempts to rescue Kopechne, who was trapped inside.

Kennedy, who died in 2009, later described his failure to report the incident to police for 10 hours as “indefensible.”

Clarke visited the bridge and pond as part of his research for the film, even jumping in.

“It’s pretty much unchanged apart from the bridge itself has got guard rails and wider. There’s no other buildings. The Dike House is still there, the same place. It’s dark. There’s no lights on the road,” he said. “The water is dark and the current is strong.”

“I think I held my breath for five seconds to see where I came up. And I came up a big distance away,” Clarke said.

Kennedy’s underwater escape was recreated in the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Mexico. Clarke said the scene was hard to shoot not only because of the ocean’s cold water, but also because he had to get out of the car while upside down.

The film, an Entertainment Studios release, spends more time on the aftermath of the accident. Clarke said viewers should leave theaters with a greater understanding of Kennedy.

“You can be with Ted a bit. You cannot just externalize it and say bad, horrible, disgusting man. You might want to at the end, but you can be there for it: on the phone afterwards, the walk back, the swim, the lies, the made-up story — or perhaps it’s actually really what did happen. But you can actually stay there with Ted. Not enough to be a Kennedy, but enough to almost touch him,” he said.

Jim Gaffigan, who plays attorney Paul Markham, one of the co-hosts of the party that Kennedy and Kopechne left together, agreed.

“We all have earlier versions of ourselves that we’re not crazy about. At least I do,” he said. “So there is something very interesting about the journey that Ted goes through, and being exposed to his relationship with his father,” he said. “Look, it’s not a documentary, but there is an attempt to be objective and ask objective questions.”
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A museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico — a once-secret New Mexico city that developed the atomic bomb which helped end World War II — has put an exhibit from Japan on hold because of its theme of abolishing nuclear weapons.

The Los Alamos Historical Museum confirmed Monday that it will not host a traveling exhibit organized by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum until all parties can work out their differences over the theme.

The exhibit, which features articles of clothing, exposed plates, and other personal items from victims, aims to draw attention to the horrors of the bombs that destroyed both cities.

Heather McClenahan, executive director of the Los Alamos Historical Museum, said the museum’s board of directors felt uncomfortable about the exhibit’s call to abolish nuclear bombs. The New Mexico city is still home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the nation’s premier nuclear weapons research centers.

The exhibit dispute comes as the Los Alamos National Lab competes with the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina to continue production of plutonium pits. Those are critical cores which trigger nuclear warheads.

No new pits have been made since 2011. The Energy Department wants to ramp up production to 80 pits a year by 2030.

“The Los Alamos Historical Society will continue its dialogue with the museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in hopes that we can overcome cultural and linguistic differences and host exhibits that are respectful to all of our communities’ concerns and stories,” McClenahan said. “In other words, we hope this is not the end but the beginning of delving together into our history and the questions it raises.”

Requesting mutual respect

She said the historical society will not send an exhibit about Los Alamos scientists to Hiroshima and Nagasaki without significant dialogue and input from their museums.

“We would ask that the same respect be afforded to our community,” McClenahan said.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum official Tomonori Nitta told The Associated Press that officials were informed by the Los Alamos museum in mid-February that its board meeting turned down a current plan and that the Japanese museum missed a deadline for funding needed to hold an exhibit in 2019.

The sides also failed to reach consensus on nuclear disarmament details to be included as part of the event, Nitta said.

Nitta said that it is mainly up to the Los Alamos side to figure out ways to resolve the issue, and that he hoped that an exhibit can still happen sometime after 2019.

“If 2019 doesn’t work, we still hope to achieve an exhibit at a later occasion,” Nitta said. “We will continue to cooperate so that we can clear the hurdles and hold an exhibit.”

Takatoshi Hayama, an official at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, said no details have been decided and that officials are still hoping to put on an exhibit.

“We only wish people from around the world to see our exhibit and learn the reality of atomic bombings and their consequences,” he told the AP from Nagasaki.

The traveling atomic bombing exhibit is taking place in Budapest, Hungary, through end of August, before moving to France and Belgium later this year. The atomic bombing exhibits have been held in 12 other cities in the U.S.

In the 1940s, scientists working in the then-secret city of Los Alamos developed the atomic bomb as part of the World War II-era Manhattan Project. The secret program provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb. Facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Hanford, Washington, were also involved in the project.

The two atomic bombs were later dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II. More than 210,000 people in both Japanese cities were killed.

 
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