Category: Entertainment

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a musical group of American Christians calling themselves the Texas Country Boys have been playing charity events in Ukraine. Tetiana Kukurika met with the band members to find out why Ukraine is so important to them. Anna Rice narrates her story. (Camera: Sergiy Rybchynski; Produced by:  Vitaliy
Hrychanyuk and Anna Rice )
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WARNGAU, Germany — Farmers and their horses walked in a festive parade through the small Bavarian town of Warngau on Sunday to honor their patron saint, St. Leonhard.

Their manes neatly combed, the massive horses were decorated with ribbons and greenery as they pulled the adorned carriages to a local church as part of the procession some 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Munich.

Farmers donned colorful regional costumes and hats decorated with tufts of animal hair called Gamsbart, or chamois beards, as townspeople joined in amid the pounding of hooves. After the procession, the revelry traditionally turned to toasts with schnapps.

Often called Leonhardiritt or Leonhardifahrt, the traditional pilgrimage dates back centuries in Bavaria and Austria. It was revived in Warngau in 1983, after an 80-year break, and takes place there each year on the fourth Sunday in October, ahead of the annual Nov. 6 feast day.

St. Leonhard (St. Leonard in English) is the patron saint of farmers, horses and livestock. Also known as St. Leonard of Noblac, he was a Frankish courtier who asked God to repel an invading army, according to the Catholic News Agency. His plea worked, and he converted to Christianity following what he believed was a miracle.

Other Bavarian towns have similar traditions. In Bad Tolz, southwest of Warngau, this year’s Nov. 6 procession will be the 169th in a row.

Bad Tolz’s pilgrimage is listed on the Nationwide Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the German Commission for UNESCO. Only cold-blooded horses — large draft horses like Clydesdales — are allowed in the procession, which begins at 9 a.m. when all of the town’s church bells ring.

The crowd journeys to a Leonhardi chapel for blessings and an open-air Mass. The tradition involves the entire town, from the youth to the clergy and the city councilors.

St. Leonhard mostly lived in monasteries and in seclusion in what is now France, though Bad Tolz calls him the “Bavarian Lord.” According to legend, his prayers were believed to be breaking the chains of captives. He is also the patron saint of prisoners, among other groups.

He died of natural causes around the year 559, and many Catholic churches have been dedicated to him throughout Europe.
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New York — “Venom: The Last Dance” showed less bite than expected at the box office, collecting $51 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, significantly down from the alien symbiote franchise’s previous entries.

Projections for the third “Venom” film from Sony Pictures had been closer to $65 million. More concerning, though, was the drop off from the first two “Venom” films. The 2018 original debuted with $80.2 million, while the 2021 follow-up, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” opened with $90 million even as theaters were still in recovery mode during the pandemic.

“The Last Dance,” starring Tom Hardy as a journalist who shares his body with an alien entity also voiced by Hardy, could still turn a profit for Sony. Its production budget, not accounting for promotion and marketing, was about $120 million — significantly less than most comic-book films.

But “The Last Dance” is also performing better overseas. Internationally, “Venom: The Last Dance” collected $124 million over the weekend, including $46 million over five days of release in China. That’s good enough for one of the best international weekends of the year for a Hollywood release.

Still, neither reviews (36% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) nor audience scores (a franchise-low “B-” CinemaScore) have been good for the film scripted by Kelly Marcel and Hardy, and directed by Marcel.

The low weekend for “Venom: The Last Dance” also likely insures that superhero films will see their lowest-grossing year in a dozen years, not counting the pandemic year of 2020, according to David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment.

Following on the heels of the “Joker: Folie à Deux” flop, Gross estimates that 2024 superhero films will gross about $2.25 billion worldwide. The only upcoming entry is Marvel’s “Kraven the Hunter,” due out Dec. 13. Even with the $1.3 billion of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the genre hasn’t, overall, been dominating the way it once did. In 2018, for example, superhero films accounted for more than $7 billion in global ticket sales.

Last week’s top film, the Paramount Pictures horror sequel “Smile 2,” dropped to second place with $9.4 million. That brings its two-week total to $83.7 million worldwide.

The weekend’s biggest success story might have been “Conclave,” the papal thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and directed by Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”). The Focus Features release, a major Oscar contender, launched with $6.5 million in 1,753 theaters.

That put “Conclave” into third place, making it the rare adult-oriented drama to make a mark theatrically. Some 77% of ticket buyers were over the age of 35, Focus said. With a strong opening and stellar reviews, “Conclave” could continue to gather momentum both with moviegoers and Oscar voters.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Venom: The Last Dance,” $51 million.

2. “Smile 2,” $9.4 million.

3. “Conclave,” $6.5 million.

4. “The Wild Robot,” $6.5 million.

5. “We Live in Time,” $4.8 million.

6. “Terrifier 3,” $4.3 million.

7. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $3.2 million.

8. “Anora,” $867,142.

9. “Piece by Piece,” $720,000.

10. “Transformers One,” $720,000.
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Baalbek, Lebanon — Since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, the famed Palmyra Hotel in east Lebanon’s Baalbek has been without visitors, but long-time employee Rabih Salika refuses to leave — even as bombs drop nearby.

The hotel, which was built in 1874, once welcomed renowned guests including former French President Charles de Gaulle and American singer Nina Simone.

Overlooking a large archaeological complex encompassing the ruins of an ancient Roman town, the Palmyra has kept its doors open through several conflicts and years of economic collapse.

“This hotel hasn’t closed its doors for 150 years,” Salika said, explaining that it welcomed guests at the height of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war and during Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006.

The 45-year-old has worked there for more than half his life and says he will not abandon it now.

“I’m very attached to this place,” he said, adding that the hotel’s vast, desolate halls leave “a huge pang in my heart.”

He spends his days dusting decaying furniture and antique mirrors. He clears glass shards from windows shattered by strikes.

Baalbek, known as the ‘City of the Sun’ in ancient times, is home to one of the world’s largest complex of Roman temples — designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

But the latest Israel-Hezbollah war has cast a pall over the eastern city, home to an estimated 250,000 people before the war.

Life at a standstill

After a year of cross-border clashes with Hezbollah, Israel last month ramped-up strikes on the group’s strongholds, including parts of Baalbek.

Only about 40 percent of Baalbek’s residents remain in the city, local officials say, mainly crammed into the city’s few Sunni-majority districts.

On October 6, Israeli strikes fell hundreds of meters (yards) away from the Roman columns that bring tourists to the city and the Palmyra hotel.

UNESCO told AFP it was “closely following the impact of the ongoing crisis in Lebanon on the cultural heritage sites.”

More than a month into the war, a handful of Baalbek’s shops remain open, albeit for short periods of time.

“The market is almost always closed. It opens for one hour a day, and sometimes not at all,” said Baalbek mayor Mustafa al-Shall.

Residents shop for groceries quickly in the morning, rarely venturing out after sundown.

They try “not to linger on the streets fearing an air strike could hit at any moment,” he said.

Last year, nearly 70,000 tourists and 100,000 Lebanese visited Baalbek. But the city has only attracted five percent of those figures so far this year, the mayor said.

Even before the war, local authorities in Baalbek were struggling to provide public services due to a five-year economic crisis.

Now municipality employees are mainly working to clear the rubble from the streets and provide assistance to shelters housing the displaced.

A Baalbek hospital was put out of service by a recent Israeli strike, leaving only five other facilities still fully functioning, Shall said.

‘No one’

Baalbek resident Hussein al-Jammal said the war has turned his life upside down.

“The streets were full of life, the citadel was welcoming visitors, restaurants were open, and the markets were crowded,” the 37-year-old social worker said.

“Now, there is no one.”

His young children and his wife have fled the fighting, but he said he had a duty to stay behind and help those in need.

“I work in the humanitarian field, I cannot leave, even if everyone leaves,” he said.

Only four homes in his neighborhood are still inhabited, he said, mostly by vulnerable elderly people.

“I pay them a visit every morning to see what they need,” he said, but “it’s hard to be away from your family.”

Rasha al-Rifai, 45, provides psychological support to women facing gender-based violence.

But in the month since the war began, she has lost contact with many.

“Before the war… we didn’t worry about anything,” said Rifai, who lives with her elderly parents.

“Now everything has changed, we work remotely, we don’t see anyone, most of the people I know have left.”

“In the 2006 war we were displaced several times, it was a very difficult experience, we don’t want this to happen again,” she said.

“We will stay here as long as it is bearable.”
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Bangkok — Thousands of well-wishers lined the banks of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River Sunday to watch King Maha Vajiralongkorn ride a glittering royal barge procession to mark his 72nd birthday.

A flotilla of 52 ornately decorated boats, paddled by more than 2,000 oarsmen decked out in scarlet and gold, carried the king and Queen Suthida in formation through the heart of the Thai capital to a Buddhist ceremony at Wat Arun, the city’s ancient Temple of Dawn.

The king, officially regarded as semi-divine but who came in for unprecedented criticism in street protests in 2020 and 2021, took his place on a century-old royal barge known as the “Golden Swan” to deliver robes to monks in a ceremony marking the end of Buddhist Lent.

Royal barge processions date back hundreds of years, but are held rarely, saved for the most significant occasions — most recently, the king’s coronation in 2019.

During the 70-year reign of the previous king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, only 16 barge processions were held.

King Vajiralongkorn turned 72 in July, completing his “sixth cycle” in the 12-year astrological calendar — a milestone regarded by Thais as important and auspicious.

Normally the intricately ornamented barges — their prows decorated with garudas, nagas and other mythical creatures from Buddhist and Hindu mythology — are kept in a museum.

But on days of national importance, navy oarsmen in sarongs, red tunics and traditional hats propel them through the water to the banging of drums, as perfectly coordinated golden paddles break the waters.

Only four of the barges are actually deemed “royal,” while the others are officially royal escort vessels.

The barge procession dates back to Thailand’s 1350-1767 Ayutthaya period. When Bangkok was built more than 250 years ago, kings used the boats to travel through the capital’s network of canals.

As Thailand modernized, the barges fell out of use, but king Bhumibol revived the tradition in 1957 to celebrate the 25th century of the Buddhist era.
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Rome — A major Vatican meeting gathering clerics and laity across the globe to discuss the future of the Catholic Church closes this weekend, thwarting discussion of women becoming priests or deacons in the world’s largest Christian denomination.

But that didn’t stop a half-dozen Catholic women from “ordination” in a secret ceremony in Rome that was not authorized by the Vatican.

Jesuit Father Allan Deck, a professor at the Los Angeles-based Loyola Marymount University, told VOA that the Catholic Church under Pope Francis’ leadership recognizes the need for adaptability to realize its spiritual mission in the world at this time of significant change.

“Not the first time that the church in its 2,000-year history has experienced very significant shifts,” he said. “The church, in order to accomplish its mission, has to engage people, circumstances and times. And it has to be capable of development, while at the same time remaining faithful to its mission and to the revelation that has been communicated to it. This is hard. This is what’s happening.”

While Catholic women participated over the past month in what many consider the most significant Catholic gathering since the 1960s — called the “synod on synodality” — many of their number were let down by a Vatican decision to sideline talk of the ordination of female priests or deacons, instead referring the matter to a future study group.

Bridget Mary Meehan, an American co-founder of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, told VOA that her organization has performed 270 ordinations of women in 14 countries since its creation in 2002.

“We wanted to share with Pope Francis that it is time to build a bridge between the international women priests’ movement and the Vatican,” she said. “We are on the same page as he is about a synodal church. We believe all are called, all are equal and all are co-responsible for the mission of the church — to be the face of Christ in the world in loving and compassionate service. One of these ways is ordained ministry.”

Advocates say women play a huge role in daily Catholic ministries — also called the diakonia — in education, pastoral care and hospitals worldwide. In some places, women are especially active because there are no priests, such as in the Amazon. But often their leadership is not recognized.

Meehan “ordained” six Catholic women from France, Spain and the United States on a barge on Rome’s Tiber River earlier this month to acknowledge their central role in ministry around the world.

“We did it because we felt that it’s time for us, after 22 years of serving the church in the diakonia ministry, to really share the good news that women are being ordained by Catholic communities who want to call them forward to ministry among them,” Meehan said.

“It’s like a renewal of ministry that is already in the midst of the Catholic Church. It’s already occurring,” she said.

Although Pope Francis has appointed more women to top jobs at the Vatican than any of his predecessors, he has ruled out female priests or deacons ministering in the Catholic Church.
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los angeles — Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died Friday at age 84.

Lesh’s death was announced on his Instagram account. He was the oldest and one of the longest-surviving members of the band that came to define the acid rock sound emanating from San Francisco in the 1960s.

Lesh “passed peacefully this morning. He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love,” the Instagram statement said.

The statement did not cite a cause of death, and attempts to reach representatives for additional details were not immediately successful. Lesh had previously survived bouts of prostate cancer, bladder cancer and a 1998 liver transplant necessitated by the debilitating effects of a hepatitis C infection and years of heavy drinking.

Lesh’s death came two days after MusiCares named the Grateful Dead its Persons of the Year. MusiCares, which helps music professionals needing financial or other kinds of assistance, cited Lesh’s Unbroken Chain Foundation, among other philanthropic initiatives. The Dead will be honored in January at a benefit gala ahead of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

Low profile

Although he kept a relatively low public profile, rarely granting interviews or speaking to the audience, fans and fellow band members recognized Lesh as a critical member of the Grateful Dead whose thundering lines on the six-string electric bass provided a brilliant counterpoint to lead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s soaring solos and anchored the band’s famous marathon jams.

“When Phil’s happening, the band’s happening,” Garcia once said.

Drummer Mickey Hart called him the group’s intellectual who brought a classical composer’s mindset and skills to a five-chord rock ‘n’ roll band.

Lesh credited Garcia with teaching him to play the bass in the unorthodox lead-guitar style that he would become famous for, mixing thundering arpeggios with snippets of spontaneously composed orchestral passages.

Fellow bass player Rob Wasserman once said Lesh’s style set him apart from every other bassist he knew of. While most others were content to keep time and take the occasional solo, Wasserman said Lesh was both good enough and confident enough to lead his fellow musicians through a song’s melody.

“He happens to play bass but he’s more like a horn player, doing all those arpeggios — and he has that counterpoint going all the time,” he said.

Lesh began his long musical odyssey as a classically trained violinist, starting with lessons in third grade. He took up the trumpet at 14, eventually earning the second chair in California’s Oakland Symphony Orchestra while still in his teens.

But he had largely put both instruments aside and was driving a mail truck and working as a sound engineer for a small radio station in 1965 when Garcia recruited him to play bass in a fledgling rock band called the Warlocks.

Armed with a cheap four-string instrument his girlfriend bought him, Lesh sat down for a seven-hour lesson with Garcia, following the latter’s advice that he tune his instrument’s strings an octave lower than the four bottom strings on Garcia’s guitar. Then Garcia turned him loose, allowing Lesh to develop the spontaneous style of playing that he would embrace for the rest of his life.

Traded leads

Lesh and Garcia would frequently exchange leads, often spontaneously, while the band as a whole would frequently break into long experimental, jazz-influenced jams during concerts. The result was that even well-known Grateful Dead songs like “Truckin’ ” or “Sugar Magnolia” rarely sounded the same two performances in a row, something that would inspire loyal fans to attend show after show.

“It’s always fluid. We just pretty much figure it out on the fly,” Lesh said, chuckling, during a rare 2009 interview with The Associated Press. “You can’t set those things in stone in the rehearsal room.”

Phillip Chapman Lesh was born on March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, California, the only child of Frank Lesh, an office equipment repairman, and his wife, Barbara.

He would say in later years that his love of music came from listening to broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic on his grandmother’s radio. One of his earliest memories was hearing the great German composer Bruno Walter lead that orchestra through Brahms’ First Symphony.

Musical influences he often cited were not rock musicians but composers like Bach and Edgard Varese, as well as jazz greats like John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Lesh had gravitated from classical music to cool jazz by the time he arrived at the College of San Mateo, eventually becoming first trumpet player in the school’s big band and a composer of several orchestral pieces the group performed.

But he set the trumpet aside after college, concluding he didn’t have the lung power to become an elite player.

Soon after he took up the bass, the Warlocks renamed themselves the Grateful Dead and Lesh began captivating audiences with his dexterity. Crowds gathered in what came to be known as “The Phil Zone” directly in front of his position onstage.

Although he was never a prolific songwriter, Lesh also composed music for the band and sometimes sang some of its most beloved songs. Among them were the upbeat country rocker “Pride of Cucamonga,” the jazz-influenced “Unbroken Chain” and the ethereally beautiful “Box of Rain.”

Lesh composed the latter on guitar as a gift for his dying father, and he recalled that Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, upon hearing the instrumental recording, approached him the next day with a lyric sheet. On that sheet, he said, were “some of the most moving and heartfelt lyrics I’ve ever had the good fortune to sing.”

The band often closed its concerts with the song.

Later tours

After the group’s dissolution following Garcia’s 1995 death, Lesh often skipped joining the other surviving members when they got together to perform.

He did take part in a 2009 Grateful Dead tour and again in 2015 for a handful of “Fare Thee Well” concerts marking both the band’s 50th anniversary and what Lesh said would be the last time he would play with the others.

He did continue to play frequently, however, with a rotating cast of musicians he called Phil Lesh and Friends.

In later years he usually held those performances at Terrapin Crossroads, a restaurant and nightclub he opened near his Northern California home in 2012, which was named after the Grateful Dead song and album “Terrapin Station.”

Lesh is survived by his wife, Jill, and sons Brian and Grahame.
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In the front-line city of Sumy, Ukraine, some residents are trying to create a sense of normalcy despite constant Russian shelling. One particularly determined Sumy native has created an oasis of art in his yard. Olena Adamenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Yuriy Andriushchenko       
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Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts, and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend. “Smile 2,” in its first weekend, and “Terrifier 3” in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d’Or winner “Anora” got the best per-theater average in over a year.

“Smile 2″ was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected $23 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror “Smile,” his debut. Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. “Smile” became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.

The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first’s $22 million.

Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as “The Wild Robot,” and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into “Terrifier 3,” which is not rated, instead. Either way, Damien Leone’s demon clown movie, which cost only $2 million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated $9.3 million, bringing its total to $36.2 million.

“Rumors like that are PR gold,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “There’s no better indication that that movie is red hot right now.”

The No.1 openings for “Smile 2” this weekend and “Terrifier 3” last were only possible because of the failure of “Joker: Folie a Deux.” That big budget sequel continued its death march in its third weekend, falling another 69% to earn $2.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $56.4 million.

Warner Bros. has a better performer in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which placed fourth in its seventh weekend with an additional $5 million, bringing its domestic total to $284 million. Star Michael Keaton also had another film open this weekend — the father-daughter dramedy “Goodrich” which stumbled in with only $600,000 from 1,055 locations.

Rounding out the top five was the romantic tearjerker “We Live In Time,” which expanded to 985 theaters following last weekend’s debut on 5 screens. The A24 release starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh earned $4.2 million over the weekend. Audiences were 85% under 35 and 70% female, according to exit polls. The well-reviewed film will expand further next weekend.

One of the other brightest spots of the weekend was Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which opened in six locations in New York and Los Angeles and earned an estimated $630,000. That’s a $105,000 per theater average, the best since “Asteroid City’s” $142,000 average last summer. The Neon release, a sensation at Cannes and a likely Oscar contender, stars Mikey Madison as a New York sex worker who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch.

After several weeks of would-be awards contenders and buzzy films (“Piece by Piece,” “Saturday Night,” “The Apprentice” among them) fizzling with audiences, “Anora’s” success is a promising sign that moviegoers will still seek out arty, adult fare.

“For moviegoers, there’s a lot on offer with something in every type of movie in every category,” Dergarabedian said. “I think we’re going to have a really strong home stretch with a great combination of movies big and small.”

The Walt Disney Co. also made a splash with several re-releases. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” got a place in the top 10 with $1.1 million, while “Hocus Pocus” made $841,000.

Next weekend will have a major studio comic book movie with “Venom: The Last Dance” as well as an awards movie in the papal thriller “Conclave” vying for audience attention.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Smile 2,” $23 million.

2. “The Wild Robot,” $10.1 million.

3. “Terrifier 3,” $9.3 million.

4. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $5 million.

5. “We Live In Time,” $4.2 million.

6. “Joker: Folie a Deux,” $2.2 million.

7. “Piece by Piece,” $2.1 million.

8. “Transformers One,” $2 million.

9. “Saturday Night,” $1.8 million.

10. “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” $1.1 million.
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NEW YORK — Cher, Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne were among this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, an elite group formally introduced into the music pantheon Saturday at a star-studded concert gala.

Kool & the Gang, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, and Peter Frampton round out the 2024 class of honorees, artists honored at the ceremony held in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the prestigious hall.

Big Mama Thornton, Alexis Korner and John Mayall received special honors for “musical influence,” as Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield received awards for “musical excellence.”

Suzanne de Passe, a trailblazer for women executives in the music business, who was big in Motown, won the night’s award for nonperforming industry professionals.

Dua Lipa kicked off the evening with a performance of Believe, with Cher joining the pop star onstage to finish her 1998 smash hit, which was credited as the first song to use auto-tune technology as an instrument.

“I changed the sound of music forever,” she said in her acceptance speech, less than a year after railing against the hall for not having yet added her to the ballot.

“It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” she quipped Saturday night.

Performers included Kelly Clarkson, Sammy Hagar, Slash and Demi Lovato, who all appeared for Foreigner.

A group of artists including Queen Latifah, De La Soul and Busta Rhymes also performed with the surviving members of the eclectic, pioneering hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest — Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White. 
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Britain’s six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy has revealed he has “two to four years” to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer which metastasized to his bones.

The announcement comes after the 48-year-old Scot said in February he was feeling “optimistic and positive” as he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer diagnosed last year.

However, the sprinter, who worked as a pundit with the BBC at last summer’s Paris Games, has now revealed he has known for more than a year that his cancer is incurable.

Despite his illness, Hoy says he remains positive and appreciating life.

“Hand on heart, I’m pretty positive most of the time and I have genuine happiness,” Hoy told The Times.

“This is bigger than the Olympics. It’s bigger than anything. This is about appreciating life and finding joy.”

“As unnatural as it feels, this is nature. You know, we were all born and we all die, and this is just part of the process.”

Hoy wrote a memoir about his life over the past year in which he describes how doctors discovered his cancer after initially finding a tumor in his shoulder.

The father of two also said he had an allergic reaction to his chemotherapy treatment, feeling “completely devastated at the end of it.”

On top of his own treatment, Hoy was dealt another blow when his wife Sarra Kemp was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November.

“But you remind yourself, aren’t I lucky that there is medicine I can take that will fend this off for as long as possible,” an optimistic Hoy said.

“I’m not just saying these words. I’ve learnt to live in the moment, and I have days of genuine joy and happiness.”

“It’s absolutely not denial or self-delusion. It’s about trying to recognize, what do we have control over?

“The fear and anxiety, it all comes from trying to predict the future. But the future is this abstract concept in our minds. None of us know what’s going to happen. The one thing we know is we’ve got a finite time on the planet.”

Hoy was at the vanguard of Britain’s era of domination in track cycling, winning gold medals at the Athens, Beijing and London Olympics. He also claimed 11 world titles during a glittering career.

Until 2021 Hoy was the most successful British Olympian and the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time before being overtaken by fellow Briton Jason Kenny who claimed his seventh Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games.
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KATHMANDU, Nepal — A Nepali teenager, the youngest person ever to scale all 14 of the world’s tallest peaks, says he wants to use his skills to benefit the Himalayan nation’s Sherpa community and turn out world-class athletes.

Sherpas, an ethnic group living mainly in the vicinity of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, are known for climbing skills that make them the backbone of mountain expeditions.

They fix ropes, ladders, carry loads, cook and guide foreign climbers, earning from a single expedition amounts that range from $2,500 to $16,500 or more, depending on experience.

“I want to see Sherpas as global athletes, not just guides,” said Nima Rinji Sherpa, 18, who last week climbed Shishapangma, the world’s 14th-highest peak at 8,027 meters, in Tibet.

“We deserve the same privilege as Western climbers,” added the 12th grader, who began climbing at the age of 16, and scaled all 14 peaks exceeding 2,438 meters in the last two years.

He said he planned to exploit his climbing skills to build contacts with donor agencies, mobilizing funds and support for schools, hospitals and activities to benefit the mountain community.

“I want to be a medium between the community and donor agencies,” Nima said on Wednesday, the lower portion of his face still black from burns caused by the sun’s reflections off the snow during his climb.

The son of a veteran Everest climber who now runs his own company organizing expeditions, Nima bested the record of Mingma Gyalu Sherpa of Nepal, who was 30 when he achieved the feat in 2019.

His most demanding effort was the 8,034-meter climb of Pakistan’s Gasherbrum II last year directly after having scaled Gasherbrum I, the world’s 11th highest peak at 8,080 meters, in 25 hours without proper rest and food, he said.

Nima said muscle cramps were his biggest physical challenge as his “fragile” teenage body had not finished growing, adding, “I am not as strong as I should be.”

He was caught in a small avalanche on Nepal’s Annapurna I peak this year after a fall of about 5-10 meters on Pakistan’s Nanga Parbat last year, but luckily escaped serious injury both times.

“I never push myself beyond my bounds,” he said. “There is (the need for) good judgment. There is (the need for) safety.”

This winter, Nima aims for an alpine-style climb of Nepal’s Mount Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest peak at 8,163 meters.

An 8,000-meter mountain has never been climbed in winter in alpine style, he said, referring to the technique in which climbers tackle the summit in one go, without oxygen and relying chiefly on themselves, with minimum support.
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ISTANBUL — With a farewell song of “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys, a Turkish radio station fell silent this week after nearly 30 years of broadcasts.

The final Acik Radyo broadcast on Wednesday came as a court upheld the Turkish media regulator’s order to revoke the Istanbul-based station’s license over the mention of “Armenian genocide” on air.

Following the court ruling on October 8, the Radio and Television Supreme Council, known as RTUK, informed Acik Radyo that it must stop broadcasting within five days.

The order to revoke the license silenced the independent radio station for the first time since it began terrestrial broadcasting in 1995.

“We are finishing now; thank you to all Acik Radyo listeners and supporters. Acik Radyo will remain open to all the sounds, colors and vibrations of the universe,” Omer Madra, the editor-in-chief, said on air before the last song played.

The license revocation is related to comments made on air by journalist Cengiz Aktar on April 24. Aktar said the day was “the 109th anniversary, the anniversary of the massacres of Armenians, that is, the deportations and massacres that took place in the Ottoman lands, the massacres that are termed genocide.”

“This year, the commemoration of the Armenian genocide was also banned, you know,” Aktar said.

In a statement to VOA’s Turkish Service, the RTUK said “the terms ‘genocide’ and ‘massacre’ were used for the 1915 Events, and the program moderator made no attempt to correct this.”

The term “1915 Events” is how Turkish officials usually refer to the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying that the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

April 24 is recognized as a commemoration day of the beginning of what many historians and countries, including the United States, Canada and France, recognize as the Armenian genocide.

Broadcasts cut

Turkey’s media regulator first imposed an administrative fine and five-day suspension on Acik Radyo in May over the guest’s statements.

RTUK said the broadcast violated the law by inciting public hatred and enmity by making distinctions “based on race, language, religion, gender, class, region and religious order.”

On July 3, the regulator moved to revoke the license, saying that Acik Radyo had failed to comply with the suspension.

In a statement, the radio station said that it had intended to comply and had paid the first installment of the administrative fine. It added that the failure to implement the suspension was a result of “technical inconvenience.”

An RTUK official told VOA that according to the law, if a media provider continues to broadcast after a suspension “the Supreme Council shall decide on revoking its broadcasting license.”

“As can be seen, the legislator did not grant the Supreme Board any discretion in this matter and made it mandatory to cancel the license in case the sanction is not applied,” the RTUK official told VOA.

Acik Radyo defended the guest’s statement as being in “the scope of freedom of expression.”

When Acik Radyo appealed the fine and suspension, a court in July ruled in the station’s favor.

But RTUK objected to the court ruling and, on October 8, the court ruled in favor of the regulator.

Umit Altas, Acik Radyo’s lawyer, called RTUK’s move “excessive intervention.”

“RTUK’s decision to revoke the license, which is the most severe penalty, is against all precedents. This has exceeded the proportionality criteria of both Turkey’s Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. License cancellation is the most severe decision. We think that it is not lawful to make such a decision,” Altas told VOA Turkish.

The station has appealed the most recent court decision, and its lawyer expects a verdict within a month.

Acik Radyo’s broadcast coordinator, Didem Gencturk, told VOA Turkish that the station is evaluating its options. She said that RTUK also requires internet broadcasters to obtain a license.

“We have the right to apply for different license forms as broadcasters. We hope to continue our broadcasts with one of these, even if not on a terrestrial [land-based] medium,” Gencturk said.

Supporters gather

On Wednesday evening, Acik Radyo’s listeners and supporters gathered in front of the outlet’s studios in Istanbul to show their solidarity.

Madra read a statement and called the license withdrawal “an attempt to silence the public voice.”

Madra added that the station is evaluating its options for continuing its broadcasts.

“There is no way that Acik Radyo will be silenced or be forgotten after the RTUK’s decision. Let me even say that we may be able to take [the license] back,” Madra told VOA Turkish.

Some of those who gathered outside the station had contributed to programming over the years.

“We are not giving in to despair. We will bring our broadcasts to our listeners and supporters as soon as possible,” said Yesim Burul, who produces “Sinefil,” a show on cinema, for Acik Radyo.

Murat Meric, who produces several music shows, called for solidarity and said he is preparing to continue his show.

Turkish actor Tulin Ozen told VOA Turkish she grew up with the station.

“I think the silencing of Acik Radyo is a shame for Turkey. I am here because I am against censorship in general. I am here because I am against being silenced,” Ozen said.

This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service.
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Buenos Aires, Argentina — The death of Liam Payne, who shot to stardom as a member of British boy band One Direction and grappled with intense global fame while still in his teens, sent shockwaves across the world Thursday as Argentine investigators continued their investigation at the scene.

Fans, music-industry figures and fellow musicians paid tribute to Payne, 31, who died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

As fans and media bombarded the Casa Sur Hotel in the trendy Palermo neighborhood of Argentina’s capital, the forensics unit worked inside on Thursday collecting evidence.

The Buenos Aires police said they found Payne’s hotel room “in complete disarray,” with packs of clonazepam, a central nervous system depressant, as well as energy supplements and other over-the-counter drugs strewn about and “various items broken.” They added that a whiskey bottle, lighter and cellphone were retrieved from the internal hotel courtyard where Payne’s body was found.

The day before, police said that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room,” without elaborating on how they came to that conclusion. The Associated Press could not confirm details of the incident, as the investigation is ongoing. The medical examiner’s office said it was conducting an autopsy.

Police said they had rushed to the hotel Wednesday in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time that had warned of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

A hotel manager can be heard on a 911 call recording obtained by The Associated Press saying the hotel has “a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol … He’s destroying the entire room and, well, we need you to send someone, please.” The manager’s voice becomes more anxious as the call goes on, noting the room has a balcony.

Payne was known as the tousle-headed, sensible one of the quintet that went from a TV talent show to a pop phenomenon with a huge international following of swooning fans. In recent years he had acknowledged struggling with alcoholism, saying in a YouTube video posted in July 2023 that he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment. Representatives for Payne did not immediately return emails and calls.

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, who performed with One Direction in 2014, said he was “shocked and saddened.”

“God bless Liam, thinking of all his loved ones. He will be dearly missed,” Wood wrote on X.

Paris Hilton also sent condolences on X, saying the news was “so upsetting.” The Backstreet Boys said in a social media post that their hearts go out to “Directioners around the world.”

Dozens of One Direction fans flocked to the Casa Sur Hotel after the news broke, forming lines that spilled into the cordoned-off street outside, where police stood sentinel. Forensic investigators were seen leaving the building, from where Payne’s body was removed around three hours after the fall. Young women filming with their cellphones expressed shock and heartbreak as a makeshift memorial with rows of candles and bouquets quickly grew.

“I didn’t think he was going to die so young,” 21-year-old Isabella Milesi told the AP.

Payne was one of five members of One Direction, which formed after each auditioned for the British singing competition “The X Factor” in 2010, two years after Payne’s first attempt to get on the show. Aged 16 the second time around, Payne sang Michael Bublé’s version of “Cry Me a River,” appearing nervous at the start but warming up with the audience’s cheers and applause.

After each singer failed to make it through the competition as a solo act, Simon Cowell and his fellow judges combined Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson into what would become one of the most successful boy bands ever — even though they lost the competition.

Each member had his own persona, with Payne — who hailed from Wolverhampton in England’s West Midlands region — known as the responsible one. The band became known for their pop sound and romantic hits including “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Night Changes” and “Story of My Life.”

Payne had prominent solos on songs including “Stole My Heart” and “Change Your Ticket,” co-writing several of the band’s hits. One Direction had six Top 10 hits on the Billboard charts by the time they disbanded in 2016 and a highly loyal fan base, known as “Directioners,” many of them teen girls.

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said 18-year-old Juana Relh, another fan outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it kills me.”

With his meteoric rise to fame, Payne had said that it took some time to adjust to life in the public eye.

“I don’t think you can ever deal with that. It’s all a bit crazy for us to see that people get in that sort of state of mind about us and what we do,” he said in a 2013 interview with the AP after recounting an experience where a fan was in a state of shock upon meeting him.

One Direction announced an indefinite “hiatus” in 2016, and Payne — like each of his erstwhile bandmates — pursued a solo career, shifting toward EDM and hip-hop.

While Styles became a huge solo star, the others had more modest success. Payne’s 2017 single “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo, reached the Billboard Top 10, and stayed on the charts for several months. He put out an album “LP1” in 2019, and his last release — a single called “Teardrops” — was released in March.

In 2020, to mark the 10th anniversary of One Direction, Payne shared a screenshot of a text message he sent to his father on the day he joined the group, which read: “I’m in a boyband.”

“What a journey … I had no idea what we were in for when I sent this text to my dad years ago at this exact time the band was formed,” he wrote.

Payne had a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne, with his former girlfriend, the musician Cheryl, who was known as Cheryl Cole when she performed with Girls Aloud. She was an “X Factor” judge during One Direction’s season, although their relationship began years later.

Payne was previously engaged to Maya Henry, from August 2020 to early 2022. Henry released a novel earlier this year that she said was based on their relationship.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, and his two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Former One Direction singer Liam Payne was found dead after the 31-year-old fell from his third-floor room balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentine police said on Wednesday.

Police said in a statement that they were called to the CasaSur hotel in the capital’s leafy Palermo neighborhood after being notified of an “aggressive man who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol.”

When they arrived, the hotel manager reported he had heard a loud noise from the inner courtyard and the police found that a man had fallen from the balcony of his room, the statement said.

In audio related to the case obtained from the Buenos Aires security ministry, a worker can be heard asking for police help.

“When he is conscious he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone,” the worker said, adding that the guest’s life was at risk because the room had a balcony.

Shooting to global fame as part of one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, Payne – like his band mates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson – went on to pursue a solo career after they went on an “indefinite hiatus” in 2016. Payne’s last single was “Teardrop,” released in March this year.

While many of the details surrounding the circumstances of his death remain unclear, Payne had spoken publicly about his struggles with mental health and using alcohol to cope with the pressures of fame.

His death led to an outpouring of grief from music industry stars and fans, including those among the crowd who gathered outside the hotel.

Violeta Antier said she had come straight away after being told Payne had died.

“I saw him two weeks ago at a Niall (Horan) concert, another One Direction member. He was there, I saw him,” she said.

“He was ok.”

Payne attended an October 2 concert by Horan in Buenos Aires. The two had posted videos together and with fans.

American singer Charlie Puth was among those expressing their grief.

“I am in shock right now. Liam was always so kind to me,” he said on Instagram. “He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I cannot believe he is gone.”

Payne auditioned for the British version of X Factor for a second time in 2010 at the age of 16 and was put into a group with his future band mates by music mogul Simon Cowell.

Cowell told Rolling Stone in a 2012 interview that he’d “always backed” Payne at the time of his first audition in 2008 but he didn’t quite make it because he had been too young.

“But I always knew that with confidence he would be a valuable member of this band, so I had no hesitation in bringing him back,” he said.

The band may have finished third in X Factor that year but it went on to have more than 29 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 with six in the top 10, including “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Story of My Life” and “Live While We’re Young.”

Payne’s co-writing credits include “Story of My Life” and “Night Changes”.

He teamed up with Rita Ora on the 2018 song “For You” and released his first studio album LP1 in 2019.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Payne’s One Direction and solo career helped garner him a net worth of some $70 million.

Payne had a son named Bear with British TV personality and Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.

Last year, he published a video to fans on his YouTube channel in which he spoke about his family, making new art and performing again after having given up alcohol. He thanked supporters for sticking with him through difficult times.

Earlier on Wednesday, Payne had appeared to post on Snapchat about his trip in Argentina, talking about riding horses, playing polo, and looking forward to returning home to see his dog.

“It’s a lovely day here in Argentina,” he said in the video.
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In South Africa, and elsewhere on the continent, albino people are a target; they face daily discrimination and sometimes even death. But young social media influencers and artists are trying to change the narrative, as Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg. Videographer: Zaheer Cassim
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Zimbabwe doesn’t have a thriving standup comedy scene tradition. But when Learnmore Jonasi was exposed to the art form in his native Zimbabwe, he knew that making people laugh was what he wanted to do. VOA reporter Keith Baptist caught up with him in Harare and has this story.
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