ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI — The world’s largest rodent is having a big moment. The capybara – a semi-aquatic South American relative of the guinea pig — is the latest in a long line of “it” animals to get star treatment during the holiday shopping season. Shoppers can find capybara slippers, purses, robes and bath bombs. There …
Read more “Capybaras take their turn as the holiday season’s ‘it’ animal”
The National Building Museum has unveiled a new exhibition featuring over 2,500 rare artifacts. It’s called “Visible Vault: Open Collections’ and offers a glimpse into the history of architecture and construction. Maxim Adams has the story. Camera: Sergii Dogotar …
For Ukrainian teens displaced by war, adjusting to life in a new country is a complex journey. In New York City, there’s a school helping many of these students find a second home. Johny Fernandez reports from the Big Apple. …
DOHA, QATAR — It could only have been her. Marta won the inaugural FIFA award for the best goal in women’s soccer — named after the Brazil great. The 38-year-old was given the Marta Award at FIFA’s “The Best” awards on Tuesday for her goal for Brazil in an international friendly against Jamaica in June. Prior …
Read more “First winner of FIFA’s Marta Award? Marta, of course”
Denver, Colorado — Dozens of kids cheered on a festively decked-out plane in Denver on Saturday when the pilot announced their destination for the day: the North Pole. More than 100 children, some of whom have serious health issues, were then taken on a roughly 45-minute flight near the city before landing back at Denver International …
Read more “‘North Pole’ flight takes kids to Santa in transformed Denver airport hangar”
The Spider-Man spinoff “Kraven the Hunter” got off to a disastrous start in North American theaters this weekend. The movie starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson earned only $11 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, making it one of the worst openings for a Marvel-adjacent property. Its box office take was even less than the film “Madame Web.” …
Read more “‘Kraven the Hunter’ flops while ‘Moana 2’ tops the box office again”
NEW YORK — Alice Brock, whose Massachusetts-based eatery helped inspire Arlo Guthrie’s deadpan Thanksgiving standard, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, has died at age 83. Her death, just a week before Thanksgiving, was announced Friday by Guthrie on the Facebook page of his own Rising Son Records. Guthrie wrote that she died in Provincetown, Massachusetts, her residence for …
Read more “Alice Brock, who helped inspire Arlo Guthrie’s classic ‘Alice’s Restaurant,’ dies at 83”
A piece of art that is little more than a banana duct-taped to a wall sold at auction for $6.2 million on Wednesday to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, Sotheby’s said, furthering the universal conversation about what constitutes art. “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, first rocked the art world upon its debut at Miami’s Art …
Read more “Duct-taped banana goes for $6.2 million in Sotheby’s art auction”
Making decorative gingerbread houses is a Christmas tradition in several countries. A New York City museum has gone a step further by using the humble holiday cookie to construct a stunning tribute to the Big Apple. Aron Ranen has the story. …
ISANTI, Minn. — The young Buddhist lama sat on a throne near an altar decorated with flowers, fruits and golden statues of the Buddha, watching the celebrations of his 18th birthday in silence, with a faint smile. Jalue Dorje knew it would be the last big party before he joins a monastery in the Himalayan foothills …
Read more “Teenage Buddhist lama marks last birthday in US before joining monastery in Himalayas”
Los Angeles — Moviegoers were not exactly feeling the Christmas spirit this weekend, or at least not based on their attendance at “Red One” showings. The big budget, star-driven action comedy with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans sold $34.1 million in tickets in its first weekend in theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. It easily topped …
Read more “Dwayne Johnson’s $200 million-plus Christmas pic opens to $34.1 million”
Beirut — Hundreds of cultural professionals, including archeologists and academics, called on the United Nations to safeguard war-torn Lebanon’s heritage in a petition published Sunday ahead of a crucial UNESCO meeting. Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south — both strongholds of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah — …
Read more “Cultural experts urge UN to shield war-torn Lebanon’s heritage “
BEIRUT — Declassified 1970s-era U.S. spy satellite imagery has led a British-Iraqi archeological team to what they believe is the site of a seventh-century battle that became decisive in the spread of Islam throughout the region. The Battle of al-Qadisiyah was fought in Mesopotamia — in present-day Iraq — in the A.D. 630s between Arab Muslims …
Read more “Spy satellite images leads to the site of a historic battle in Iraq”
BANGKOK — In case you can’t get enough of the little pygmy hippo Moo Deng from Thailand, there’s now an official song featuring the internet’s favorite baby animal — released in four languages for her global fans. The upbeat 50-second song Moodeng Moodeng, available in Thai, English, Chinese and Japanese versions, features simple lyrics like “Moo …
Read more “Thailand’s baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng now has an official song in 4 languages”
Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power in the sport, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given. Karolyi and wife, Martha, trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in …
Read more “Bela Karolyi, controversial Olympic gymnasts coach, dies at 82”
OME, Japan — Deep in a dark warehouse the sake sleeps, stored in rows of giant tanks, each holding more than 10,000 liters of the Japanese rice wine that is the product of brewing techniques dating back more than 1,000 years. Junichiro Ozawa, the 18th-generation head of Ozawa Brewery, founded in 1702, hopes sake-brewing will win …
Read more “Japan’s sake brewers hope UNESCO heritage listing can boost rice wine’s appeal”
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Jake Paul beat boxing legend Mike Tyson by unanimous decision to win an intergenerational heavyweight battle in Texas on Friday that failed to live up to its enormous hype. The bout between the 27-year-old social media influencer-turned-prizefighter Paul and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Tyson was streamed live on Netflix and played out …
Read more “Ireland’s Jake Paul beats boxing legend Mike Tyson”
CHANGCHUN, China — Crouch through the small metal door and walk down the dark tunnel, and even before you step into the abandoned air raid shelter, the air reverberates with pounding techno beats. Young Chinese holding booze and cigarettes shake and sway in a red-lit passageway, below a big screen rolling through quotations from Chairman Mao. …
Read more “China’s underground raves include street techno, quotes from Chairman Mao”
ROME — The ancient Roman Colosseum will be the venue of gladiator fights — albeit staged — for the first time in two millennia under a $1.5 million sponsorship deal with Airbnb that aims to promote “a more conscious tourism.” But some visitors to the monument Thursday, as well as housing activists, were skeptical about the …
Read more “A criticized Airbnb deal will let users play gladiator in Rome’s Colosseum”
new york — Lou Donaldson, a celebrated jazz saxophonist with a warm, fluid style who performed with everyone from Thelonius Monk to George Benson and was sampled by Nas, De La Soul and other hip-hop artists, has died. He was 98. Donaldson died Saturday, according to a statement on his website. Additional details were not immediately …
IQUIQUE, Chile — Over a thousand years ago, the hundreds of giant geoglyphs carved into the desert in northern Chile were a bustling scene. They marked sources of water in the vast arid landscape and were where locals came together to trade skins, animals and fish. Now the carvings are scarred with hundreds of tire tracks …
Read more “Locals move to protect Chile’s giant desert geoglyphs scarred by off-roaders “
New York — “Venom: The Last Dance” has not been a blockbuster in North American theaters. But in a lethargic fall moviegoing season, even a so-so performing superhero sequel can rule the box office for three straight weeks. For the third weekend in a row, “Venom: The Last Dance” was the No. 1 movie at the …
Read more “‘Heretic’ debuts with $11 million, but ‘Venom’ sequel tops box office again”
NEW YORK — For some television viewers, size apparently does matter. Forget the 165-centimeter TVs that were considered bigger than average a decade ago. In time for the holidays, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out more XXL screens measuring more than 2.4 meters diagonally. That’s wider than a standard three-seat sofa or a king-size bed. Supersize …
Read more “With the holidays approaching, US stores stock more supersize TV sets”
MEXICO CITY — Cassandra Garduño squinted in the sunlight, her pink boots smudged by dirt as she gazed out over her family’s chinampa — one of the islands first built up by the Aztecs with fertile mud from the bottom of a lake that, later drained, would one day become Mexico City. Food from these islands …