Arts & Culture

Country star Mickey Gilley, whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and a nationwide wave of Western-themed nightspots, has died. He was 86.Gilley died Saturday in Branson, Missouri, where he helped run the Mickey Gilley Gra…

Rich Strike came off a blistering pace at odds of more than 80-1 to beat 19 blue-blooded opponents and produce one of the biggest upsets in history while capturing the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs in Loui…

Yangon and Mandalay were eerily quiet on Wednesday despite the start of the three-day Thingyan holiday in Myanmar, as residents chose to boycott junta-led festivities and heed warnings by armed opposition forces that the cities could become the target …

Troy Kotsur made history on Sunday as the first deaf man to win an Oscar for his role in “CODA,” and Ariana DeBose took the supporting actress trophy for “West Side Story” as Hollywood returned to all-out glitz at this year’s Academy Awards.In “CODA,” …

For the first time in two years, the Academy Awards are rolling out the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre for what the film academy hopes will be a back-to-normal Oscars. Except for all the stuff that’s changed.The telecast for the 94th Academy …

American actor William Hurt, known for much-loved films such as “The Big Chill” and “A History of Violence,” has died at age 71, US media reported Sunday.Multiple outlets cited Hurt’s son, Will, who said in a statement: “It is with great sadness that t…

Scores of journalists arrested, at least two killed and several news outlets banned. Myanmar’s junta cracked down on the media at an alarming rate.And with militias across the country resisting military rule, reporting in Myanmar has become even more d…

With a flick of his brush, Ghanaian painter Daniel Anum Jasper armed actor Paul Newman with a pair of revolvers. Unfinished paintings of a bell-bottomed John Travolta and nunchuck-spinning Bruce Lee adorned the walls of his crammed Accra studio.Jasper,…

A virtual version of the handwritten notes for the song “Hey Jude” has been sold at auction in California for almost $77,000, the latest hammer price success for NFTs.Originally entitled “Hey Jules,” the Fab Four’s hit was written in 1968 by Paul McCar…

A 4-billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that caused a splash here on Earth decades ago contains no evidence of ancient, primitive Martian life after all, scientists reported Thursday.In 1996, a NASA-led team announced that organic compounds in the roc…

South Africa recorded more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, nearly double the number from one week earlier. The government is making a renewed push for people to get vaccinated, but so far is avoiding new lockdown measures, in an effort to …

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that 100,000 Americans died of drug overdose between May 2020 and April 2021 — a nearly 30% increase over the previous year.While not an official count, the CDC says it can confirm 98,000 dea…

U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced Friday its new COVID-19 pill showed an 89% reduction in risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or death in clinical trials and they plan to submit the drug to U.S. regulators for emergency use approval.In …

Facebook announced Thursday it was changing its name to Meta, rechristening itself as a digitally innovative company moving beyond 2D screens even as insider revelations paint the tech giant as apathetic toward hate speech, misinformation and mental he…

Families across Myanmar marked the October Harvest Moon Festival on Wednesday with heavier hearts this year amid the brutal crackdowns, arrests and detentions that have followed the military’s February coup.In accordance with Buddhist tradition, the Th…