Author: Ohart

Thousands of girls in Canada have been married before turning 18, researchers said Monday, warning that a rise in unofficial child marriages could make the practice harder to prevent and call into question the country’s global leadership.More than 3,600 marriage certificates were issued to girls younger than 18 in Canada between 2000 and 2018, found a study from McGill University in Montreal.Yet that number is just the tip of the iceberg, as more and more child marriages in recent years have been common-law unions, informal arrangements that provide fewer rights, it found.At least 2,300 common-law partnerships, defined legally as relationships where a couple has lived together for at least a year, involved children under 18 as of 2016, the study showed.The findings contrast with Canada’s positioning as a global leader in the United Nations-backed drive to end child marriage worldwide by 2030, said Alissa Koski, co-author of the study.”Our results show that Canada has its own work to do to achieve its commitment to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (on ending child marriage),” the university professor said.”All the while it is advocating for an end to child marriage elsewhere, the practice remains legal and ongoing across Canada,” Koski said.Canada’s Office of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality was not immediately available for comment.The country committed at least $62.5 million to tackle child marriage worldwide from 2011 to 2016 and has led or supported several U.N. resolutions on the issue in recent years, according to Girls Not Brides, a global campaign group.Girls who marry young are often pulled out of school and are at higher risk of marital rape, domestic abuse and pregnancy complications, activists have said.Canadian law permits children to marry from the age of 16 with parental consent or a court order.About 95% of child marriages in Canada were informal as of 2016, compared with less than half in 2006, the study found.The shift could be in response to growing public disapproval of children entering wedlock, according to the authors, who said informal unions could be more harmful than formal marriage as they offered less social, legal and economic protection.In Quebec, individuals in common-law unions are not entitled to alimony or property if the union ends, the authors said.”This raises questions about how best to address the issue,” the authors said in a statement. “Preventing common-law unions among children will require different and innovative approaches that address the deeper motivations for this practice.”Worldwide, an estimated 12 million girls are married every year before the age of 18 – nearly one girl every three seconds.U.N. experts have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to an extra 13 million child marriages over the next decade.
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In Japan, an annual Shinto ritual of soul purification this year included prayers for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing guidelines forced a much smaller gathering than in previous years, but as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, believers still turned out – and stripped down – for the annual observance.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi 
 
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Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has landed on the cover of the February issue of Vogue magazine, but her team says there’s a problem: the shot of the country’s soon-to-be No. 2 leader isn’t what both sides had agreed upon.  
 
Instead of the powder blue power suit Harris wore for her cover shoot, the first African American woman elected vice president is instead seen in more casual attire and wearing Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers, which she sometimes wore on the campaign trail.
 Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris is our February cover star! Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AUpic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) January 10, 2021Harris’ team was unaware that the cover photo had been switched until images leaked late Saturday, according to a person involved in the negotiations over how Harris would be featured on the cover. Harris’ office declined comment and the person spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity.
 
In a statement, Vogue said it went with the more informal image of Harris for the cover because the photo captured her “authentic, approachable nature, which we feel is one of the hallmarks of the Biden-Harris administration.”  
 
But the magazine said it released both images as digital magazine covers to “respond to the seriousness of this moment in history, and the role she has to play leading our country forward.”
 
Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, posed in the light blue suit in front of a gold backdrop for the magazine’s cover. She also posed, more casually dressed in slacks, a blazer and sneakers in front of a pink and green background, for photos that were planned for inside the magazine, the person said. Pink and green are the colors of Harris’ college sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.  
 
Vogue has released both images online, but the photo of a sneaker-clad Harris is the one that will grace the cover of the fashion bible’s print edition.  
 
The person with knowledge of the negotiations said Harris’ team has expressed to Vogue its disappointment over the magazine’s decision.  
 
The cover also generated outrage on social media as posters expressed disappointment in how the magazine decided to present the nation’s first female vice president on its cover.  
 
Harris is set to be sworn in as vice president on Jan. 20.
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Dr. Dre says he will be “back home soon” after the music mogul received medical treatment at a Los Angeles hospital for a reported brain aneurysm.
The rapper and producer said in a social media post Tuesday night that he’s thankful for the “well wishes.” TMZ reported that he suffered a brain aneurysm Monday and was recovering at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
“I’m doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team,” he said. “I will be out of the hospital and back home soon. Shout out to all the great medical professionals at Cedars. One Love!!”
His representative has not immediately responded to an email.
Several music artists and athletes paid tribute to Dre on social media on Tuesday. Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and LeBron James offered prayers toward Dre’s recovery.
Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, has produced hits for Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and more. He’s won six Grammys.
Born in the Southern California city of Compton, he broke out on the music scene as a co-founding member of N.W.A., producing the group’s groundbreaking 1988 debut album, “Straight Outta Compton.”
Dre produced his own hits and multiplatinum albums, along with crafting music for many others including Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Nas, Busta Rhymes, the Game and Anderson .Paak. He also found success outside of the rap genre, producing pop hits for Gwen Stefani and Mary J. Blige.
Dre founded Beats Electronics in 2008 with Jimmy Iovine and six years later they launched a streaming subscription service, Beats Music. Apple acquired both in a $3 billion deal in 2014.
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The 2021 Grammy Awards will no longer take place this month in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in March due to a recent surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. The Recording Academy told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the annual show would shift from its original January 31 broadcast to an unspecified date in March.  The Grammys will be held in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. Los Angeles County, the epicenter of the crisis in California, has surpassed 10,000 COVID-19 deaths and has had 40% of the deaths in California. It is the third state to reach the 25,000 death count.  An average of six people die every hour from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, which has a quarter of the state’s 40 million residents. County health officials fear the incoming Christmas and New Year’s surge. FILE – Trevor Noah will host the 2021 Grammy Awards. (Comedy Central)The Daily Show host and comedian Trevor Noah is set to host the 2021 Grammys, where Beyoncé is the leading contender with nine nominations. She scored nominations for song and record of the year with Black Parade, which she released on Juneteenth, while Savage — her No. 1 collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion — picked up bids for record of the year, best rap song and best rap performance. Beyoncé’s Black Is King, which aired on Disney+, is nominated for best music film, while Brown Skin Girl, a song dedicated to dark- and brown-skinned women, is nominated for best music video. Her daughter Blue Ivy Carter sings on Brown Skin Girl and also earned a Grammy nomination. Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch, Jhené Aiko,  Post Malone, Renée Zellweger,  Billie Eilish and her producer-brother Finneas also scored nominations. First-time nominees include The Strokes, Megan Thee Stallion and Harry Styles. Since the pandemic, a number of awards shows were postponed and later revamped due to COVID-19 restrictions. The BET Awards was the first major awards show during the pandemic and was a success thanks to its artsy, highly produced, well-crafted pre-taped performances. The MTV Video Music Awards featured Lady Gaga winning awards and performing onsite in a mask, and the Latin Grammys pre-taped several performances the week of the show, handing out some of its awards to the winners who attended the show. Performers at the upcoming Grammys will be announced at a later date.
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Tanya Roberts, who captivated James Bond in “A View to a Kill” and appeared in the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” has died, several hours after she was mistakenly declared dead by her publicist and her partner. She was 65. Lance O’Brien, her companion of nearly two decades, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Cedars-Sinai Medical Center reached out to him on Monday at 9:30 p.m. PST to inform him that Roberts had passed away. “She was my soulmate, she was my best friend. We haven’t been apart for two days” in their years together, a tearful O’Brien said. Roberts’ death was related to a urinary tract infection, publicist Mike Pingel said. He had been at the hospital Tuesday morning with O’Brien to pick up Roberts’ personal effects. Roberts collapsed at home on December 24 after walking her dogs and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai. She had been reported dead on Sunday, but Pingel said that was based on a mistake by O’Brien, who believed Roberts had slipped away during what was expected to be a final visit. Numerous outlets, including The Associated Press, reported Roberts’ death Monday, based on information Pingel received from O’Brien. O’Brien, who’d been unable to see Roberts in the hospital because of COVID-19 restrictions, was allowed to visit Sunday as her condition worsened. The actor did not have the virus, he said. When he got the call Sunday that she was failing, O’Brien said he was “emotionally shocked because I was expecting her to come home.”  Acting careerRoberts played geologist Stacey Sutton opposite Roger Moore in 1985’s “A View to a Kill,” where she held a gun on Bond after tricking him into thinking she was in a shower. The character later joined him to stop bad guys on an airship over San Francisco. Roberts also appeared in such fantasy adventure films as “The Beastmaster” and “Hearts and Armour.” She replaced Shelley Hack in “Charlie’s Angels,” joining Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd as third Angel Julie. She also played comic book heroine Sheena — a female version of the Tarzan story — in a 1984 film. A new generation of fans saw her on “That ’70s Show” from 1998 and 2004, playing Midge, mother to Laura Prepon’s character Donna.  Roberts, a huge animal rights activist, is survived by O’Brien. 
 
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Andrew Savoia, a 24-year-old Arlington, Virginia, cello player has taken social media by storm, posting TikTok videos of himself performing instrumental covers of modern pop and hip- hop songs. One of his first viral videos, cover of “Come Get Her” by the hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd, had over 3 million views. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. Camera: David Gogokhia, Artyom Kokhan
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Andrew Savoia, a 24-year-old Arlington, Virginia, cello player has taken social media by storm, posting TikTok videos of himself performing instrumental covers of modern pop and hip- hop songs. One of his first viral videos, cover of “Come Get Her” by the hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd, had over 3 million views. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. Camera: David Gogokhia, Artyom Kokhan
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The Midwestern state of Indiana this year will be host to the entire men’s college basketball tournament, also known as March Madness, the NCAA announced Monday.The college athletic group is attempting to create a “bubble,” or an isolation zone, in an attempt to protect the college athletes from contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.“If we’re going to be able to do it, it’s got to be done safely,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “The more you can limit travel the better. To do it in the middle of the country makes it easier for everybody. … You want to be there, you want to be part of it. It’s going to be an historic event.”The sporting event, which was canceled last year at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, is one of America’s most celebrated sporting competitions. The NCAA tournament spans 67 basketball games, culminating with the national championship.Organizers decided to move away from playing the games in 13 venues across the country to just a few sites in or near the city of Indianapolis as a way to control the environment for the games.FILE – In this Feb. 11, 2020, file photo, NCAA President Mark Emmert testifies during a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on intercollegiate athlete compensation on Capitol Hill in Washington.In a video call, NCAA President Mark Emmert said, “Last year, we had to rip March Madness away from all the teams and all the fans at the very last minute.” He said it was a painful but necessary decision.Emmert said they “want to deliver this year on the promise of March Madness” because teams and fans “deserve it.”The tournament begins March 14 with Selection Sunday, when the teams will be placed into groups. The tournament culminates with the Final Four, with the championship games scheduled for April 3 and April 5.The NCAA has not yet released the full schedule for the games. It also said a limited number of family members of players and coaches will be able to attend the games.The NCAA said it will work with local authorities to provide COVID-19 testing for players, coaches and staff. It is also running a “Mask Madness” program that will provide thousands of masks to attendees and participants to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.“This is going to be complicated and difficult; there’s no question about that,” NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt said.Indianapolis has hosted seven men’s Final Fours since 1980 as well as early-round games and regional championships. 2021 March Madness makes the city the No.1 all-time host.The NCAA plans to host the corresponding women’s event in San Antonio, Texas.March Madness will be televised on U.S. television networks.
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Tanya Roberts, who captivated James Bond in “A View to a Kill” and later played Midge Pinciotti in the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” has been hospitalized after falling at her home. The actor had mistakenly been reported dead by her publicist earlier Monday. Later Monday afternoon, Roberts’ publicist, Mike Pingel, told The Associated Press that Roberts, 65, was alive as of 10 a.m. PST but was in a poor condition. He had said earlier Monday that she had collapsed in her home December 24 and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was believed to have died Sunday.  Pingel said Robert’s husband, Lance O’Brien, told him that he held his wife and she seemed to him to “slip away.”  The publicist said he is awaiting further updates on Roberts’ condition. Multiple media outlets, including the AP, reported Roberts’ death. The AP removed its obituary and sent an advisory noting that the actor was still alive. One of Roberts highest-profile roles was playing geologist Stacey Sutton opposite Roger Moore in 1985’s “A View to a Kill.”  Roberts also appeared in such fantasy adventure films as “The Beastmaster” and “Hearts and Armour.” She replaced Shelly Hack in “Charlie’s Angels,” joining Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd as third Angel Julie. She also played comic book heroine Sheena — a female version of the Tarzan story — in a 1984 film. A new generation of fans saw her on “That ’70s Show,” playing Midge, mother to Laura Prepon’s character, Donna. 
 
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Tanya Roberts, who captivated James Bond in “A View to a Kill,” appeared in the final season of “Charlie’s Angels” and later played Midge Pinciotti in the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” has died in Los Angeles. She was 65.
Roberts’ death Sunday was announced by her publicist, Mike Pingel. She collapsed in her home and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. No cause of death was given, but Pingel said it was not due to COVID-19.  
One of her highest profile roles was playing geologist Stacey Sutton opposite Roger Moore in 1985’s “A View to a Kill,” where she held a gun on Bond after tricking him into thinking she was in a shower. The character later joined him to stop bad guys on an airship over San Francisco.
 
“We are saddened to hear of the passing of Tanya. She was a very lovely person,” Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli wrote in tribute. Britt Ekland, who starred opposite Moore in 1974’s “The Man with the Golden Gun,” tweeted: “Once a Bond Girl always a Bond Girl!”
“One of my favorite memories with Tanya was driving in the car and Duran Duran’s ‘A View to a Kill’ theme song came on the radio — we both sang along. Priceless,” Pingel said.  
Roberts also appeared in such fantasy adventure films as “The Beastmaster” and “Hearts and Armour.” She replaced Shelly Hack in “Charlie’s Angels,” joining Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd as third Angel Julie. She also played comic book heroine Sheena — a female version of the Tarzan story — in a 1984 film.
A new generation of fans saw her on “That ’70s Show,” playing Midge, mother to Laura Prepon’s character Donna. On Twitter, Topher Grace, one of the the show’s stars, called Roberts “truly a delightful person to work with.” He added: “I had never acted before and, to be honest, a little nervous around her. But she couldn’t have been kinder. We’ll miss you Midge.”
Roberts, a huge animal rights activist, is survived by her husband, Lance O’Brien. “Tanya and I have never been apart. This is too much to handle. Her animals are lost without her and so am I,” he said in a statement.
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Gerry Marsden, frontman of 1960s group Gerry and the Pacemakers, has died aged 78, the singer’s friend Pete Price announced Sunday. Liverpool-born Marsden, who died after a short illness, had a 1960s hit with his cover of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, which originally featured in their musical Carousel. Liverpool FC fans adopted the Gerry and the Pacemakers’ version of the song, which became one of the most famous football anthems in the world. It is still sung regularly by Liverpool supporters before and during matches. Marsden re-recorded the track in April 2020 in tribute to Britain’s National Health Service during the coronavirus pandemic. He also wrote the 1960s hit “Ferry Cross the Mersey” at a time when The Beatles had made Liverpool pop music’s most important city. It was Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein who signed up Gerry and the Pacemakers. As part of the “Merseybeat” groups, Gerry and the Pacemakers also broke into the American market.Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney tweeted that “Gerry was a mate from our early days in Liverpool. He and his group were our biggest rivals on the local scene.””His unforgettable performances of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Ferry Cross the Mersey remain in many people’s hearts as reminders of a joyful time in British music,” he added.Liverpool football club, on their Twitter account, said, “It is with such great sadness that we hear of Gerry Marsden’s passing.”Gerry’s words will live on forever with us. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”The famous song was also adopted by fans of other European football teams including Celtic in Scotland, Borussia Dortmund and Feyenoord.Marsden’s friend and broadcaster Price announced the death when he wrote on Instagram: “It’s with a very heavy heart after speaking to the family that I have to tell you the legendary Gerry Marsden MBE, after a short illness which was an infection in his heart, has sadly passed away.”I’m sending all the love in the world to Pauline and his family. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”Marsden received his MBE at Buckingham Palace in 2003 for services to charities in Liverpool and beyond. 
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The ongoing controversy over the money left behind by Prince when he died without a will is heating up again after Internal Revenue Service calculations showed that executors of the rock star’s estate undervalued it by 50%, or about $80 million.The IRS determined that Prince’s estate is worth $163.2 million, overshadowing the $82.3 million valuation submitted by Comerica Bank & Trust, the estate’s administrator. The discrepancy primarily involves Prince’s music publishing and recording interests, according to court documents. Documents show the IRS believes that Prince’s estate owes another $32.4 million in federal taxes, roughly doubling the tax bill based on Comerica’s valuation, the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis, Minnesota, reported. The IRS also has ordered a $6.4 million “accuracy-related penalty” on Prince’s estate, citing a substantial undervaluation of assets, documents show. Prince’s death of a fentanyl overdose on April 21, 2016, created one of the largest and most complicated probate court proceedings ever in Minnesota, the state where he lived. Estimates of his net worth have varied from $100 million to $300 million. With Prince’s probate case dragging on, his six sibling heirs have grown increasingly unhappy, particularly as the estate has doled out tens of millions of dollars to lawyers and consultants. Comerica and its lawyers at Fredrikson & Byron in Minneapolis maintain their estate valuations are solid. Comerica sued the IRS this summer in U.S. Tax Court in Washington, saying the agency’s calculations are riddled with errors. “What we have here is a classic battle of the experts — the estate’s experts and the IRS’ experts,” said Dennis Patrick, an estate planning attorney at DeWitt LLP in Minneapolis who is not involved in the case. Valuing a large estate, Patrick added, “is way more of an art than a science.” Comerica, a Dallas-based financial services giant, has asked the tax court to hold a trial in St. Paul. A trial could dramatically lengthen the settlement of Prince’s estate and generate more legal fees at the expense of Prince’s heirs, Patrick said.
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Pope Francis reappeared Friday after chronic sciatic pain forced him to miss the Church’s New Year services and made no mention of his ailment as he delivered his traditional appeal for world peace.
 
The pope was unable to attend services Thursday and again Friday morning because of the sciatica – a relatively common problem that causes pain along the sciatic nerve down the lower back and legs.
 
It was believed to be the first time since he became pope in 2013 that Francis, who turned 84 last month, has been prevented by health reasons from leading a major papal event.
 
However, he showed no sign of discomfort as he delivered a noon address and prayer, standing at a lectern in the library of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
 
“Life today is governed by war, by enmity, by many things that are destructive. We want peace. It is a gift,” Francis said, adding that the response to the global coronavirus crisis showed the importance of burden-sharing.
 
“The painful events that marked humanity’s journey last year, especially the pandemic, taught us how much it is necessary to take an interest in the problems of others and to share their concerns,” he said.
 
The noon blessing is normally given from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, but it was moved indoors to prevent any crowds gathering and limit the spread of COVID-19.
Francis highlighted in particular his worries about Yemen, which has been blighted by six years of violence that has pitted a Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
 
At least 22 people were killed in an attack on Aden airport Wednesday, which triggered a fresh round of coalition air raids.
 
“I express my sorrow and concern for the further escalation of violence in Yemen, which is causing numerous innocent victims,” Francis said. “Let us think of the children of Yemen, without education, without medicine, famished.”
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The world’s 7.8 billion people are bidding a hearty farewell to 2020, but without the usual fanfare and public gatherings because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.The start of 2021 in Russia saw most public events cancelled. However, in Kaluga, considered the country’s New Year’s Eve capital, celebrations for tourists were set to continue even though residents wanted to see events canceled. The city is 150 kilometers southwest of Moscow.Turkey greeted the New Year by starting a four-day lockdown, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said law enforcement would crack down on illegal hotel parties.Dubai kicked off 2021 with its annual fireworks show near the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, but some said virus mitigation rules made the event less fun.“People come to Dubai because it’s open, but there are so many rules,” Bashir Shehu, 50, who was visiting from Abuja, Nigeria, with his family, told The Associated Press. “We pray that next year we can celebrate with some real freedom.”In India, celebrations to ring in 2021 were toned down because of curfews, a ban on beach parties and other travel restrictions. In major cities, hotels and bars were shut down at 11 p.m. local time, and AP reported that drones were monitoring people’s movement in Mumbai, where large gatherings were prohibited.Japan rang in the new year quietly because of rising cases.Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, had asked people not to attend countdown ceremonies. “The coronavirus knows no year-end or New Year’s holidays,” she said.South Korea, where the government banned gatherings of more than five, saw a different New Year’s Eve as a traditional bell-ringing in Seoul was canceled for the first time since 1953. Beaches where South Koreans flock to watch the sun rise were closed, with some outlets announcing plans to broadcast it instead. Ski resorts and other tourist spots were closed.World Bids Farewell to Year 2020Pandemic restrictions limiting crowds and many people bidding farewell to a year they’d prefer to forget. In Taiwan, officials held a fireworks show near the iconic Taipei 101 tower. A New Year’s morning flag-raising ceremony took place in front of the Presidential Office Building, but it was limited to government officials and invited guests.Taiwan has had seven deaths and fewer than 1,000 infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is monitoring the outbreak of the virus that causes COVID-19.Hong Kong canceled public celebrations for the second year in a row. Last year, it was due to public security concerns. Restaurants closed at 6 p.m. local time, and live performances were canceled. Gatherings were limited to two people, but the AP reported crowds were still present in shopping areas.The small central Pacific island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati were first to welcome 2021 because of their location on the international date line, with the bigger regional powers of New Zealand, Australia, Japan and South Korea following.Auckland eventsNew Zealand’s port city of Auckland rang in the new year with a major laser light show and fireworks display at the iconic Sky Tower, as residents celebrated the island nation’s successful response to the coronavirus outbreak that so far has resulted in just 2,162 coronavirus infections and 25 deaths.Many of the traditional celebrations around the world that mark the beginning of the new year have either been curtailed or called off, as public officials struggle to contain a rising surge in the number of infections.In Australia, the million people who normally gather at the Sydney Harbor to watch the world-famous fireworks display over the city’s renowned Opera House watched the proceedings from home. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced earlier this week that the public would not be allowed at the harbor because of an outbreak at its Northern Beach suburbs.The pandemic forced the cancellation of the midnight fireworks show over Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, as well as the pyrotechnics over the River Thames in London, which has been under a strict lockdown that curtailed Christmas celebrations and shopping sprees.Across the Atlantic, New York City’s historic Times Square is banning visitors from gathering to witness the traditional “ball drop” that counts down the final minute of the outgoing year. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, officials have called off the annual New Year’s Eve beach party, which normally attracts hundreds of thousands of people with live music and a spectacular fireworks display.
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This New Year’s Eve is being celebrated like no other, with pandemic restrictions limiting crowds and many people bidding farewell to a year they’d prefer to forget.Australia was among the first nations to ring in 2021 because of its proximity to the International Date Line. In past years 1 million people crowded Sydney’s harbor to watch fireworks that center on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Locations on the harbor were fenced off, popular parks closed and famous night spots eerily deserted. A heavy police presence populated the otherwise quiet site, which resembled a ghost town. A 9 p.m. fireworks display was scrapped but a seven-minute pyrotechnics show at midnight brought momentary cheer as fireworks spectacularly lit up the iconic Harbor Bridge and its surroundings.World Bids Farewell to Year 2020Pandemic restrictions limiting crowds and many people bidding farewell to a year they’d prefer to forget. People were only allowed in downtown Sydney if they had a restaurant reservation or were one of five guests of an inner-city resident. People weren’t allowed in the city center without a permit.Some harborside restaurants are charging up to 1,690 Australian dollars ($1,294) for a seat, Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Wednesday. Sydney is Australia’s most populous city and has its most active community transmission of COVID-19 in recent weeks. Melbourne, Australia’s second-most populous city, cancelled its fireworks this year.  For the first time in many, many years we made the big decision, difficult decision to cancel the fireworks,'' Melbourne Mayor Sally Capp said. We did that because we know that it attracts up to 450,000 people into the city for one moment at midnight to enjoy a spectacular display and music. We are not doing that this year,” she added. New Zealand, which is two hours ahead of Sydney, and several of its South Pacific island neighbors have no COVID-19, and New Year celebrations there are the same as ever. In Chinese societies, the Lunar New Year celebration that falls in February in 2021 generally takes precedence over solar New Year, on Jan. 1. While celebrations of the Western holiday have been growing more common in recent decades, this year will be more muted.  Beijing is holding a countdown ceremony with just a few invited guests, while other planned events have been canceled. And nighttime temperatures plunging to -15 Celsius (-5 Fahrenheit) will likely discourage people from spending the night out with friends.Taiwan is hosting its usual New Year’s celebration, a fireworks display by its capital city’s iconic tower, Taipei 101, as well as a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building on New Year’s morning. The flag raising will be limited to government officials and invited guests after a traveler who recently arrived in Taiwan was found to be infected with the new variant of the coronavirus.The island has been a success story in fighting the pandemic, registering only seven deaths and 700 confirmed cases of COVID-19.Hong Kong, with its British colonial history and large expatriate population, has usually seen raucous celebrations along the waterfront and in bar districts. For the second year running, however, New Year’s Eve fireworks have been canceled, this time over coronavirus rather than public security concerns.Hong Kong social distancing regulations restrict gatherings to only two people. Restaurants have to close by 6 p.m. and live performances and dancing are not allowed. But crowds still throng shopping centers.Much of Japan was welcoming 2021 quietly at home, alarmed after Tokyo reported a record number of daily coronavirus cases at about 1,300. It was the first time that daily cases in the capital have topped 1,000.Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike asked people to skip countdown ceremonies and expressed concern about crowds of shoppers.“The coronavirus knows no yearend or New Year’s holidays,” she said.Many people skipped what’s customarily a chance to return to ancestral homes for the holidays, hoping to lessen health risks for extended families.Rural restaurants saw business drop, while home deliveries of traditional New Year’s “good luck” food called “osechi” boomed.Emperor Naruhito is delivering a video message for the new year, instead of waving from a balcony as cheering crowds throng outside the palace.Train services that usually carry people on shrine visits overnight, as well as some countdown ceremonies, were canceled.Meiji Shrine in downtown Tokyo, which normally attracts millions of people during New Year holidays and is usually open all night on New Year’s Eve, closed at 4 p.m. this year.In South Korea, Seoul’s city government canceled its annual New Year’s Eve bell-ringing ceremony in the Jongno neighborhood for the first time since the event was first held in 1953, months after the end of the Korean War.The ceremony, in which citizens ring a large bell in a traditional pavilion when the clock strikes midnight, normally draws an estimated 100,000 people and is broadcast live.Authorities in eastern coastal areas closed beaches and other spots where hundreds of thousands of people typically gather on New Year’s Day to watch the sunrise. The southeastern city of Pohang instead planned to broadcast live the sunrise at several beaches on its YouTube channel.South Korea’s central government banned private social gatherings of more than five people and shut down ski resorts and major tourist spots nationwide from Christmas Eve until Jan. 3 to help bring a recent viral resurgence under control.Millions of Indians planned to usher in the new year with subdued celebrations at home because of night curfews, a ban on beach parties and restrictions on movement in major cities and towns after the new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus reached the country.In New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, hotels and bars were ordered to shut at 11 p.m. The three cities have been the worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic.Drones were keeping watch on people’s movements in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital. Large gatherings were banned, but there were no restrictions on visiting friends, relatives and public places in groups of not more than four people, police said. Face masks and social distancing were mandatory, they said.Many revelers flocked to Goa, a former Portuguese colony and popular backpacking destination with numerous beach resorts. Authorities decided against imposing a curfew with coronavirus infections largely controlled there.In Sri Lanka, public gatherings have been banned due to a resurgence of COVID-19, and health and law enforcement authorities urged people to limit celebrations to close family members. Health officials have warned of legal action against hotels and restaurants that hold parties.Officials have also closed schools and restricted public transport in response to the renewed outbreak.
 
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During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from1992 to 1995, tens of thousands of refugees came to the United States. In this story narrated by Anna Rice, Dino Jahic reports they brought some unique culinary traditions to the U.S. 
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Dawn Wells, who parlayed her girl-next-door charm and wholesome beauty into enduring TV fame as the sweet-natured desert island castaway Mary Ann on the classic 1960s sitcom Gilligan’s Island, died Wednesday at age 82, her publicist said. 
 
Wells, who won the title of Miss Nevada in 1959 and competed in the Miss America contest, died from complications of COVID-19, publicist Harlan Boll said in a statement. 
 
Born in the gambling city of Reno, Wells played Kansas farm girl Mary Ann Summers, one of seven castaways stranded after their boat, the S.S. Minnow, became battered in a storm during what was supposed to be a three-hour tour from Hawaii. Wells beat out actors including Raquel Welch for her role. 
 Gilligan’s Island ran for three seasons (1964-1967) with a cast that also included Bob Denver as the zany Gilligan, Alan Hale Jr. as the Skipper, Jim Backus as millionaire Thurston Howell III, Natalie Schafer as his posh wife, Russell Johnson as the Professor and Tina Louise as movie star Ginger.The death of Wells leaves Louise, 86, the sole survivor of these cast members. FILE – In this 1965 file photo, Dawn Wells, center, poses with fellow cast members of “Gilligan’s Island,” Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr., in Los Angeles.The 98 episodes invariably involved their efforts in vain to get off the island, even as a parade of guest stars dropped in and had no trouble getting out. The show drew the wrath of critics, but its innocent fun caught on with viewers at a time of tumult in America after the assassination of a president and during the rise of the Civil Rights Movement and the escalation of the Vietnam War. Wells, playing a cheerful brunette Midwestern farm girl, appeared in the series wearing short shorts, midriff tops and pigtails. Louise, playing a buxom red-haired sensation akin to Marilyn Monroe, wore slinky, form-fitting dresses. The two inspired what became an enduring pop culture question for men: “Ginger or Mary Ann?” 
 
Wells said that question was the most common topic mentioned to her by fans. “Mostly they’ll pick a favorite, Ginger or Mary Ann. For some reason, they feel they have to make a choice,” Wells told Forbes magazine in 2016. 
 
Wells had effusive praise for Denver and her other cast mates but was not especially close to Louise, who distanced herself from the Ginger character and declined to appear in various Gilligan’s Island reboots with her former co-stars. 
 
“We had nothing against each other,” Wells told the Los Angeles Times in 2014. “We didn’t have much in common.” 
 Gilligan’s Island was canceled by network executives despite respectable ratings, then became ubiquitous in syndicated reruns. 
 
“A misconception is that we must be wealthy, rolling in the dough, because we got residuals. We didn’t really get a dime,” Wells told Forbes. 
 
Wells said she was paid $750 a week, adding, “Sherwood Schwartz, our producer, reportedly made $90 million on the reruns alone.” 
 
Like some of her co-stars, she suffered from typecasting in Hollywood in the years after the series ended, appearing in TV guest spots and stage work before taking roles in B-movies. 
  FILE – This Oct. 2, 1978, photo shows the cast of “Gilligan’s Island,” from left, Russell Johnson, Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Alan Hale Jr., Bob Denver, Judith Baldwin replacing original cast member Tina Louise, and Dawn Wells.In light of the show’s steady popularity in the 1970s, three made-for-TV movies were made with progressively far-fetched plots involving Soviet satellites and visiting basketball players: Rescue from Gilligan’s Island (1978), The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island (1979) and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island (1981). 
 
Wells also lent her voice to the animated Gilligan’s Planet (1982) in which the castaways become stranded on a faraway planet. 
 
Wells also capitalized on her fame by writing, Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook, and later, for the 50th anniversary of the series in 2014, the book, What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to Life. 
 
Wells was born Oct. 18, 1938, in Reno, studied theater at the University of Washington, and headed to Hollywood after her beauty pageant success. 
 
She embraced her pop culture status but said there was more to her than just being Mary Ann. 
 
“I’m deeper, smarter, more ambitious, funnier. I think if you meet me for 15 minutes, there is nothing you won’t know: what you see is what you get,” she told Forbes. 
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French couturier Pierre Cardin, who made his name by selling designer clothes to the masses, and his fortune by being the first to exploit that name as a brand for selling everything from cars to perfume, died on Tuesday aged 98. In a career spanning more than 60 years, Cardin drew scorn and admiration from fellow fashion designers for his brash business sense, and influenced catwalks with his space-age, futuristic bubble dresses and geometrical cuts and patterns. Cardin, who was a mentor to designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, was active in fashion circles until the last, still taking young designers under his wing, attending parties and events and regularly visiting his Paris office by Jaguar. FILE – French fashion designer Pierre Cardin poses in front of his 1954-1956-1957 fashion creations in his museum called “Past-Present-Future” in Paris, Nov. 12, 2014.Cardin was the first designer to sell clothes collections in department stores in the late 1950s, and the first to enter the licensing business for perfumes, accessories and even food – which later drove profits for many other fashion houses. “It’s all the same to me whether I am doing sleeves for dresses or table legs,” a telling quote on his website once read. Hard as it may be to imagine decades later, Armani chocolates, Bulgari hotels and Gucci sunglasses are all based on Cardin’s realization that a fashion brand’s glamour had endless merchandising potential. Over the years his name has been stamped on razor blades, household goods, and tacky accessories – even cheap boxer shorts. He once said it would not bother him to have his initials, PC, etched into rolls of toilet paper, and he was also the inspiration for a phallus-like perfume flask. His detractors accused him of destroying the value of his brand and the notion of luxury in general. But he seemed largely unaffected by criticism. “I had a sense for marketing my name,” Cardin told Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in 2007. “Does money spoil one’s ideas? I don’t dream of money after all, but while I’m dreaming, I’m making money. It’s never been about the money.” He maintained that he built his business empire without ever asking a bank for a loan. Born near Venice on July 2, 1922, to French parents of Italian descent, Cardin was educated in the not-so-glamorous French city of Saint Etienne. He went to work for a tailor in nearby Vichy at age 17 and dreamt for a time of becoming an actor, doing some work on the stage as well as modeling and dancing professionally. ‘Beauty and the beast’ When he came to Paris in 1945, he made theatrical masks and costumes for Jean Cocteau’s film, “Beauty and the Beast,” and a year later joined the then-unknown Christian Dior. His first big commercial venture, when he teamed up with the Printemps department store in the late 1950s, led to him being briefly expelled from the rarified guild of French fashion designers, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. Couturiers in that club were forbidden at that time to show outside their Paris salons, let alone in department stores. He also blazed a trail outside France long before other fashion multinationals in search of new markets. He presented a collection in Communist China in 1979 when it was still largely closed to the outside world. And just two years after the Berlin Wall came down, in 1991, a Cardin fashion show on Moscow’s Red Square attracted a crowd of 200,000. Cardin also expanded into new businesses, buying fabled Paris restaurant Maxim’s in the 1980s and opening replica outlets around the world. He leveraged the investment further by launching Minim’s, a chain of fancy fast-food joints that reproduced the Belle Epoque decor of the original exclusive Paris eatery. His empire embraces perfumes, foods, industrial design, real estate, entertainment and even fresh flowers. True to his taste for futuristic designs, Cardin also owns the Palais des Bulles, or Bubble Palace, a residence-cum-events-venue woven into the cliffs on one of the most exclusive strips of the French riviera. Not too far away, there is also a chateau in the village of Lacoste that once belonged to the Marquis de Sade. In February this year he teamed up with a designer seven decades his junior. Pierre Courtial, 27, unveiled a collection at Cardin’s studio on Paris’s chic Rue Saint-Honore, with pieces that echoed some of the veteran designer’s geometrical esthetics. Cardin said he still rated originality above anything else. “I’ve always tried to be different, to be myself,” he told Reuters. “Whether people like it or not, that’s not what matters.” 
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Health experts in South Sudan are criticizing organizers of a weekend concert in Juba where tens of thousands of people gathered in clear violation of the health ministry’s COVID-19 protocols.Tanzanian music star Diamond Platnumz attracted all kinds of fans to the outdoor event at the Doctor John Garang Mausoleum, including President Salva Kiir.The vast majority of concert goers ignored health ministry and World Health Organization directives to social distance or wear masks, although President Kiir wore a face covering.Dr. Angelo Guop Kouch, director of South Sudan’s Public Health Emergency Operation Center, which manages COVID-19 cases in the country, said the gathering was not advisable, saying “health authorities should be involved when there are such activities in the country because of the crowd.”A World Health Organization epidemiologist in South Sudan, Dr. Joseph Wamala, said new strains of COVID-19 have emerged that can spread more easily in South Sudan.“The identification of this new strain is really a reason for countries to reinforce measures to limit spread through the recommended measures; using the mask, observing respiratory etiquette,” Dr. Wamala told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.To date, COVID-19 has had a relatively light impact on South Sudan, with just 3,511 confirmed cases and only 63 deaths.But that situation could quickly change, says Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Thuou Loi Cingoth. “People are dying of COVID-19 and right now we have people who are in critical condition in our facility affected by COVID-19. Now, whether we are going to go to the stage of asking the law enforcement agencies to ensure that measures against COVID-19 are adhered to by the public, I still don’t know. But it is our appeal that the public listen,” Dr. Loi told South Sudan in Focus.Saturday’s concert was an “absolute violation of our declared and official position as the Ministry of health,” Dr. Loi added.One of the concert organizers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the concert was organized by the K2 company belonging to the brother of South Sudanese businesswoman Achai Wiir, and that it was difficult to maintain protective measures because turnout was far more than organizers had anticipated.
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Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Americans increasingly seem to be tuning out warnings against travel during what is traditionally one of the busiest periods of the year.On Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration said it screened close to 1.3 million air travelers at U.S. airports Sunday. It was the highest number in more than nine months. The TSA also reported that more than 10 million people have flown since December 18.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans against travel during the holiday season, fearing that to do so would help spread the coronavirus.”The best thing for Americans to do in the upcoming holiday season is to stay at home and not travel,” Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager, said in a news briefing in early December. “Cases are rising. Hospitalizations are increasing, Deaths are increasing. We need to try to bend the curve, stop this exponential increase.”According to National Public Radio, it was unclear if a travel surge over Thanksgiving caused a spike in cases. It reported that in some areas, there appeared to be a surge, while in others, there wasn’t.The American Automobile Association, known as AAA, predicted that an estimated 85 million Americans would travel over the Christmas season, most of them by car, but according to the Associated Press, actual numbers were not yet available.As of Monday, the United States had more than 19 million coronavirus cases and 333,326 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
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The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way people work, dress and relax. Fashion was one of the first to adapt to the new house-bound reality, making sweatpants the new American go-to attire. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Max Avloshenko, Natalia Latukhina, Alexander Barash 
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As Monica Harvey watched, crowds flocked to a Sam’s Club in northern Arizona where she works, picking shelves clean of toilet paper and canned goods. Native American seniors couldn’t move fast enough, and Harvey saw their faces fall when they reached empty shelves.The Navajo woman wanted to help tribal elders get household staples without leaving their homes and risking exposure to COVID-19, so she started Defend Our Community, a group that delivers supplies.Tribes across the nation are working to protect elder members who serve as honored links to customs passed from one generation to the next. The efforts to deliver protective gear, meals and vaccines are about more than saving lives. Tribal elders often possess unique knowledge of language and history that is all the more valuable because tribes commonly pass down their traditions orally. That means losing elders to the coronavirus could wipe out irreplaceable pieces of culture.”When you lose an elder, you lose a part of yourself,” said Harvey, who lives in Leupp, Arizona, east of Flagstaff. “You lose a connection to history, our stories, our culture, our traditions.”Harvey remembers her own grandfather explaining the stories behind Navajo songs and teaching her Navajo words from the songs. She often listened to her grandparents speaking Navajo while she practiced the words under her breath.In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation has increased food distributions to elders and offered financial aid to those who were struggling to pay rent or utilities. Concern for elders is also apparent in the tribe’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plans. Participants and workers in the tribe’s elder program are first in line for the shots, along with hospital workers and first responders. Next are those whose first language is Cherokee and others considered “tribal treasures,” an honor given to members who keep Cherokee art, language and other culture alive through their work.An effort among the Blackfeet in Montana is helping the tribe’s 600-plus members connect with elders who need support. Connecticut’s Mashantucket Pequot Nation is providing its citizens with masks and telemedicine, delivering meals to their doors and organizing home visits to give flu vaccines.”Elders are like libraries. Losing one is like a library burning down,” said Loren Racine, creator of a Facebook page offering help in the Blackfeet community.FILE – A sign on a door warns people to wear face coverings, at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Arizona, April 18, 2020.Roy Boney, Jr., who manages a Cherokee language program, said the majority of Cherokee speakers are elders. They make up a small pool of people the program relies on to teach the language he calls the “beating heart” of Cherokee identity.”For decades our language has been taken from us through forced assimilation,” Boney said. “Elders hold our history and culture but also our language…Our elders are precious.”Almost half of the Cherokee who received care from the tribe’s health services but died from the coronavirus were fluent Cherokee speakers. Losing even a handful of speakers can be devastating for language preservation and other cultural practices, Boney said.”With them goes so much information in terms of language knowledge, dialect, specialized knowledge of medicine and traditional practices,” he said. “All these things we’re trying to revitalize and save, they’re the heart of all of it.”Mashantucket Pequot elders shifted to a virtual format for the intergenerational gatherings where they tell traditional stories. An elders council also helps to organize Pequot language bingo nights and Schemitzun, the annual Festival of the Green Corn.”When we heard how COVID-19 was spreading, we were immediately concerned for our elders and how losing them would affect the tribe, so we immediately started working to protect them,” said the tribe’s chief medical officer, Setu Vora.The tribe has no known COVID-19 deaths.Pequot elders play an important role in the effort to revive the tribe’s language, which is no longer widely spoken. Elders still remember relatives who spoke the language and can verify the definitions and context of certain words. A handful of the tribe’s 2,000 members are becoming somewhat proficient in Pequot as they research and reclaim new words, Vora said.Karen Ketcher was among 28 Cherokee Nation elders who have died from the coronavirus. She was weeks shy of her 71st birthday and had decades of experience working for the tribe and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Her knowledge was unmatched and invaluable, said her granddaughter, Taryn King.”There’s so much at stake when this virus hits our communities,” said King, 31, of Stilwell, Oklahoma. She described elders as “the glue that holds our communities together.”At work, Ketcher was affectionately called “Granny.” She was the go-to person for questions about Cherokee policies, tribal governance and how to apply for grants. She also was the first stop for snacks, help mending holes in sweaters or questions about community relations.One co-worker, Kamisha Hair, went into Ketcher’s office shortly before the tribe temporarily closed it in March because of the pandemic. She assured Ketcher things would be OK and implored her to pray.The two hugged and said they loved each other. Ketcher died in April.Relatives held a small outdoor service for her. When they returned to town, other Cherokees had lined the streets to pay their respects.”Losing an elder like Granny is like losing a piece of your identity,” Hair said. “It dies with them, and you can never get it back.”
 
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Barry Lopez, an award-winning writer who tried to tighten the bonds between people and place by describing the landscapes he saw in 50 years of travel, has died. He was 75.Lopez died in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday after a years-long struggle with prostate cancer, his family said.Longtime friend Kim Stafford, former Oregon poet laureate, said Lopez’s books “are landmarks that define a region, a time, a cause. He also exemplifies a life of devotion to craft and learning, to being humble in the face of wisdom of all kinds.”An author of nearly 20 books on natural history studies, along with essay and short story collections, Lopez was awarded the National Book Award in 1986 for Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape. It was the result of almost five years of traveling the Arctic.His final work was Horizon, an autobiography that recalls a lifetime of travel in more than 70 countries.’Desire simply to go away’Born in 1945 in Port Chester, New York, Lopez grew up in California’s San Fernando Valley and, after his mother remarried, New York City. In Horizon, he wrote that in those formative years, he developed “a desire simply to go away. To find what the skyline has cordoned off.”His later years were spent with his wife, Debra Gwartney, in a wooded area along the McKenzie River east of Eugene. After years of writing about the natural world and humans’ effect on climate change, he mourned the loss of acres of timber, not to mention personal papers, in the September 2020 Holiday Farm fire.The wildfire damaged Lopez’s home so badly that he couldn’t live in it. The blaze also destroyed a building that stored his original manuscripts, personal letters, photos and a typewriter he used to write his books. The IBM Selectric III was quickly replaced with an identical model by his friends.”Just an incredible body of work and memories,” said his stepdaughter Stephanie Woodruff. “Very meticulously kept and organized. That [loss] was devastating, certainly. He wrote every single book on a typewriter.”In 2013, Lopez wrote the essay Sliver of Sky, revealing he had been sexually abused by a family friend for several years starting when he was 7. Lopez said the essay was an attempt at catharsis.Crowning achievementWoodruff said the essay possibly helped lead to Horizon, a book more than two decades in the making. In a 2019 review, The Associated Press said the book felt like the crowning achievement of Lopez’s illustrious career, describing it as part travel journal, part history, part science lecture, part autobiography and completely unique.”I do think that [the essay] released something in him to really ground and round out and complete ‘Horizon,’ ” Woodruff said. “Everything he wrote was personal, of course.”In a statement Saturday, his family encouraged financial support for the McKenzie River Trust, with which Lopez had worked on conservation efforts.Lopez is survived by his wife, four stepdaughters and an older brother. A younger brother died in 2017.
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COVID-19 was the main protagonist of the film industry during 2020. This nefarious character dominated the saga of Hollywood’s struggles at the box office with moviegoers staying home and theater chains going bust. On the plus side, films focused on stories about minorities and gender equality, reflecting the diversity of moviegoing audiences. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more. 
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Among the celebrity philanthropists who donate extreme amounts of money to education and lifting others, Chuck Feeney’s name is not as well-known as Bloomberg, Gates or Buffett.Those billionaires — Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett — are highly recognizable names of great wealth, and their efforts are well-known.But Feeney, 89, has donated more than $8 billion in the past 38 years more quietly, espousing the slogan “Giving While Living” through his Men look at cosmetic products in a Duty Free store at the Fraport airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 14, 2012.Numerous educational programs have benefited from Atlantic Philanthropies, but none more than Cornell, where Feeney graduated from its vaunted hotel management program. Cornell has received $1 billion from Feeney’s generosity.“Physical markers of his giving are sprinkled around all corners of Cornell’s campus, funding everything from student scholarships to North and West Campus living facilities, hospitality research support, the Martin Y. Tang Welcome Center and athletics programs,” the university reported to the Cornell Daily Sun. Feeney’s giving was “transformative,” said Cornell President Martha Pollack, and “deserves the highest recognition we can give,” the Cornell Daily Sun reported.Feeney has been giving internationally, too.“While his generosity towards Ireland and Cornell University is well-known, his relationship with the people of Vietnam has flown relatively under the radar,” blogged John W. Conroy in 2017.In Vietnam, Feeney’s contributions rebuilt medical facilities, expanded libraries and increased educational opportunities.“Viet Nam was the right place at the right time with the right people,” wrote Lien Hoang in a book for Atlantic Philanthropies. “The energy and commitment to change, the unfair legacy of brutal conflict, and the possibilities to improve responses to fundamental human needs in health and education were all evident.” Feeney “has been the savior of our people and we will never forget that,” Conroy quoted Dr. Tran Ngoc Thanh, Da Nang Hospital director.In Cuba, AP awarded $5.8 million in November to Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC), “a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California that has worked to promote US-Cuba health collaboration and highlight Cuba’s public health contributions to global health equity and universal health,” according to its website.That brings AP’s total contribution to MEDICC to $16.7 million since 2002.Feeney is not alone, just less public, about his philanthropy.Last week, MacKenzie Scott, former wife of world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, donated $4.2 billion to groups helping the vulnerable, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scott last year signed a “giving pledge” to donate the bulk of her wealth to charity. In a round of donations early this year, Scott gave nearly $1.7 billion to groups devoted to race, gender and economic equality, as well as other social causes.She is among other donors who have signed the pledge, saying they intend to donate much of their wealth in their lifetimes. Issues include “poverty alleviation, refugee aid, disaster relief, global health, education, women and girls’ empowerment, medical research, criminal justice reform, environmental sustainability, and arts and culture,” according to the pledge website.Included are Canadian Marcel Arsenault whose foundation promotes good governance to prevent war; Sudanese-British Mo Ibrahim who is dedicated to good governance and leadership in Africa; Emirati billionaire Mohammed Bin Musallam Bin Ham Al-Ameri who is dedicated to helping the underprivileged; Chinese investment banker Dong Fangjun who helps drop-out students, among others, from impoverished families; entrepreneur You Zhonghui, the first Chinese woman to sign the pledge; Emiratis Badr Jafar and Razan al Mubarak, who promote good governance and transparency in the Gulf Region; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Indian entrepreneur and owner of biotech company Biocon Limited; and others. 
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