PRETORIA, South Africa — Officials say South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison on parole and is now at home.

The Department of Corrections gave no more details of Pistorius’ release.

The announcement came at around 8:30 a.m., indicating officials released the world-famous double-amputee Olympic runner in the early hours. Pistorius has served nearly nine years for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013. He’d been sentenced to 13 years and five months.

He was approved for parole in November. Serious offenders in South Africa are eligible for parole after serving at least half their sentence.

Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, said in a statement that she had accepted Pistorius’ parole as part of South African law.

“Has there been justice for Reeva? Has Oscar served enough time? There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time served will bring Reeva back,” June Steenkamp said. “We who remain behind are the ones serving a life sentence.”

“With the release of Oscar Pistorius on parole, my only desire is that I will be allowed to live my last years in peace with my focus remaining on the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation, to continue Reeva’s legacy.”

Pistorius will live under strict conditions until the remainder of his sentence expires in December 2029, the Department of Corrections said. It emphasized that the multiple Paralympic champion’s release — like every other offender on parole — does not mean that he has served his time.

Some of Pistorius’ parole conditions include restrictions on when he’s allowed to leave his home, a ban on consuming alcohol, and orders that he must attend programs on anger management and on violence against women. He will have to perform community service.

Pistorius will also have to regularly meet with parole officials at his home and at correctional services offices and will be subjected to unannounced visits by authorities. He is not allowed to leave the Waterkloof district without permission and is banned from speaking to the media until the end of his sentence. He could be sent back to jail if he is in breach of any of his parole conditions.

South Africa does not use tags or bracelets on paroled offenders, so Pistorius will not wear any monitoring device, Department of Corrections officials said. But he will be constantly monitored by a department official and will have to inform the official of any major changes in his life, such as if he wants to get a job or move to another house.

Pistorius has maintained that he shot Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate, by mistake. He testified that he believed Steenkamp was a dangerous intruder hiding in his bathroom and shot through the door with his licensed 9 mm pistol in self-defense.

Prosecutors said he killed his girlfriend intentionally during a late-night argument.

Steenkamp’s family did not oppose his parole application in November, although June Steenkamp said in a victim statement submitted to the parole board that she didn’t believe Pistorius had been fully rehabilitated and was still lying about the killing.

Before the killing, Pistorius was held up as an inspiring role model after having had both of his legs amputated below the knee as a baby because of a congenital condition. He became a champion sprinter on his carbon-fiber running blades and made history by competing at the 2012 London Olympics.

But his murder trial destroyed his image. He was accused of being prone to angry outbursts and acting recklessly with guns, while witnesses testified about various altercations he had with others, including an argument in which he allegedly threatened to break a man’s legs.

Pistorius was first convicted of culpable homicide — a charge comparable to manslaughter — and sentenced to five years in prison for killing Steenkamp. After appeals by prosecutors, he was ultimately found guilty of murder and had his sentence increased, although that judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal still didn’t definitively rule that he knew it was Steenkamp behind the toilet door.

Pistorius was first sent to prison in 2014, was released on house arrest in 2015 during an appeal and was sent back to prison in 2016. He was initially incarcerated at the maximum security Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria but was moved to Atteridgeville early in his sentence because it is better suited to holding disabled prisoners.

Reaction to Pistorius’ parole has been muted in South Africa, a stark contrast to the first days and months after Steenkamp’s killing, which sparked angry protests outside of Pistorius’ court hearings calling for him to receive a long prison sentence. There is no death penalty in South Africa.

“He has ticked all the necessary boxes,” said Themba Masango, secretary general of Not In My Name International, a group that campaigns against violence against women. “And we can only wish and hope Oscar Pistorius will come out a better human being.”

“We tend to forget that there is a possibility where somebody can be rehabilitated.”
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NEW YORK — It’s small in stature, big on activity and known for a “smile,” and it’s ready to compete with 200 other dog breeds.

Say hello to the Lancashire heeler, the latest breed recognized by the American Kennel Club. The organization announced Wednesday that the rare herding breed is now eligible for thousands of U.S. dog shows, including the prominent Westminster Kennel Club show.

With long bodies and short coats that are often black and tan, the solidly built dogs are shaped a bit like a downsized corgi, standing around 30 centimeters at the shoulder and weighing up to about 7.7 kilograms. Historically, they were farm helpers that could both drive cattle and rout rats, and today they participate in an array of canine sports and pursuits.

“They’re gritty little dogs, and they’re very intelligent little dogs,” says Patricia Blankenship of Flora, Mississippi, who has bred them for over a decade. “It’s an enjoyable little breed to be around.”

Their official description — or breed standard, in dog-world parlance — calls for them to be “courageous, happy, affectionate to owner,” and owners say contented heelers sometimes pull back their lips in a “smile.”

They’re “extremely versatile,” participating in everything from scent work to dock diving contests, says United States Lancashire Heeler Club President Sheryl Bradbury. But she advises that a Lancashire heeler “has to have a job,” whether it’s an organized dog sport or simply walks and fetch with its owners.

The dogs benefit from meeting various different people and canines, added Bradbury, who breeds them in Plattsmouth, Nebraska.

Lancashire heelers go back centuries in the United Kingdom, where they’re now deemed a “vulnerable native breed” at risk of dying out in their homeland. Britain’s Kennel Club has added an average of just 121 Lancashire heelers annually to its registry in recent years, and the American Kennel Club says only about 5,000 exist worldwide.

Founded in 1884, the AKC is the United States’ oldest purebred dog registry and functions like a league for many canine competitions, including sports open to mixed-breeds and purebreds. But only the 201 recognized breeds vie for the traditional “best in show” trophies at Westminster and elsewhere.

To get recognized, a breed must count at least 300 pedigreed dogs, distributed through at least 20 states, and fanciers must agree on a breed standard. Recognition is voluntary, and some breeds’ aficionados approach other kennel clubs or none at all.

Adding breeds, or even perpetuating them, bothers animal rights activists. They argue that dog breeding powers puppy mills, reduces pet adoptions and accentuates canine health problems by compressing genetic diversity.

The AKC says it promotes responsibly “breeding for type and function” to produce dogs with special skills, such as tracking lost people, as well as pets with characteristics that owners can somewhat predict and prepare for. The club has given over $32 million since 1995 to a foundation that underwrites canine health research.
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Armenian Americans in Southern California celebrated their culture with a flowered float in the annual Rose Parade, moving on from a turbulent year that included Armenians’ exodus from their former enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan’s borders. Genia Dulot has our story from Pasadena.
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Paris — Notre Dame Cathedral got its rooster back Saturday, in a pivotal moment for the Paris landmark’s restoration.

The installation by a crane of a new golden rooster, reimagined as a dramatic phoenix with licking, flamed feathers, goes beyond being just a weathervane atop the cathedral spire. It symbolizes resilience amid destruction after the devastating April 2019 fire — as restoration officials also revealed an anti-fire misting system is being kitted out under the cathedral’s roof.

Chief architect Philippe Villeneuve, who designed this new rooster, stated that the original rooster’s survival signified a ray of light in the catastrophe.

“That there was hope, that not everything was lost. The beauty of the [old] battered rooster … expressed the cry of the cathedral suffering in flames,” Villeneuve said. He described the new work of art, approximately half a meter long and gleaming in the December sun behind Notre Dame Cathedral, as his “phoenix.”

Villeneuve elaborated on the new rooster’s significance, saying: “Since [the fire] we have worked on this rooster [the] successor, which sees the flame carried to the top of the cathedral as it was before, more than 96 meters from the ground. … It is a fire of resurrection.”

In lighthearted comments, the architect said that the process of design was so intense he might have to speak to his “therapist” about it.

Before ascending to its perch, the rooster — a French emblem of vigilance and Christ’s resurrection — was blessed by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich in a square behind the monument. The rooster — or “coq” in French — is an emotive national emblem for the French because of the word’s semantics — the Latin gallus meaning Gaul and gallus simultaneously meaning rooster.

Ulrich placed sacred relics in a hole inside the rooster’s breast, including fragments of Christ’s Crown of Thorns and remains of St. Denis and St. Genevieve, infusing the sculpture with religious importance.

The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dame’s most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly removed after the fire broke out. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christ’s head during the crucifixion. A sealed tube was also placed in the sculpture containing a list the names of nearly 2,000 individuals who contributed to the cathedral’s reconstruction, underscoring the collective effort behind the works.

Amid the rooster benediction ceremony, Notre Dame’s new restoration chief, Philippe Jost, also detailed pioneering measures taken to safeguard the iconic cathedral against future fires — in rare comments to the press.

“We have deployed a range of fire protection devices, some of which are very innovative in a cathedral, including a misting system in the attics, where the oak frame and in the spire are located,” Jost said. “And this is a first for a cathedral in France.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, who last week visited the site to mark a one-year countdown to its re-opening, announced that the original rooster will be displayed in a new museum at the Hôtel-Dieu. This move, along with plans to invite Pope Francis for the cathedral’s reopening next year, highlights Notre Dame’s significance in French history and culture.

The rooster’s installation, crowning a spire reconstructed from Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s 19th-century design, is a poignant reminder of its medieval origins as a symbol of hope and faith.

Its longstanding association with the French nation since the Renaissance further adds to its historical and cultural significance, marking a new chapter of renewal and hope for Notre Dame and the French people.
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Maya Train rail project opened partially to the general public Saturday, amid hours-long delays and huge cost overruns.

Passengers waiting for the twice-daily train to leave the resort of Cancun were left waiting on the platform for about five hours before being able to board. Officials apologized for the delayed and said it was due to trains being “reconfigured.”

Some passengers napped on the floor of the concrete platform. Some — many self-declared supporters of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — cheered when the train finally appeared in Cancun.

The train running in the other direction from the Gulf coast colonial city of Campeche was also delayed for hours, because only one side of the planned double rail line is finished. Officials estimated it would take about 5 1/2 hours to travel the 473 kilometers from Campeche to Cancun.

Meanwhile, the cost of the project has soared from original estimates of around $8.5 billion, to as much as $28 billion.

The 1,528-kilometer line, called the Maya Train, is meant to connect beach resorts and archaeological sites. However, only about one-third of it — the 473-kilometer stretch that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurated with dignitaries and the press Friday — has even been partly finished.

Officials pledged the rest of the line would be ready by the end of February. But even on the part López Obrador inaugurated Friday, just a single line of a planned double-line track has been finished, meaning one train has to wait on a siding while another passes.

The stretch running between Campeche and Cancun is about one-third of the entire project and covers the least controversial portion of the route, which crosses many environmentally sensitive areas.

A first-class ticket on one of the two trains from Cancun to Merida, the most popular stop, will cost the equivalent of $68. A first-class bus covers the route in about the same time and costs about $58, with buses leaving about every half hour from the city centers, rather than remote train stations on the outskirts.

That led to questions about whether the train will ever cover its operating costs, much less its construction budget.

Mexico’s army, which operates the train and built part of the railway, did not respond to a request for comment about the delays or cost overruns.

In comments Friday, López Obrador acknowledged, “Yes, things are lacking (on the train), of course,” and predicted it would take “three years, four years” for the train system to begin covering its operating costs under the best scenario.

Asked how much the construction cost of the project would be, the president said: “I don’t know … I don’t have the exact figure.”

Originally projected to cost $8.6 billion, by now $22.7 billion has been assigned to the project, and Treasury Secretary Rogelio Ramírez told local media the final cost would be around $28 billion.

Unlike the remaining two-thirds of the Maya Train, the part of the line inaugurated Friday already had an old train line running over much of the route. Many of the still-unfinished parts were cut through the jungle and built over sensitive, relic-filled cave systems, drawing objections from environmentalists.

López Obrador has raced to finish the Maya Train project before he leaves office in September, rolling over the objections of ecologists, cave divers and archaeologists.

The train runs along the Caribbean coast and threatens extensive caves where some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered. Because of the region’s limestone geology, it is riddled with caves that carry most of its water.

While officials have touted the train as utilitarian transport for freight and local residents, its only real source of significant income would be tourists. However, given its frequent stops, unwieldy route and lack of feasibility studies, it is unclear how many tourists will actually want to buy tickets.

“The train won’t help residents get to work or school, and besides, it’s very expensive,” SELVAME, a coalition of groups opposing the project, said in a statement Friday. “The train runs through the jungle, filling cenotes (sinkhole lakes) and underground rivers with concrete, without any studies.”

López Obrador has tried to rush through the project by exempting it from normal permitting, public reporting and environmental impact statements, claiming it is vital to national security.

In November 2021, his administration issued a broad decree requiring all federal agencies to give automatic approval for any public works project the government deems to be “in the national interest” or to “involve national security.”
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Cambodia has welcomed the announcement that New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will return more than a dozen pieces of ancient artwork to Cambodia and Thailand that were tied to an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquity trafficking network out of Southeast Asia.

This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the United States and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval.

Fourteen Khmer sculptures will be returned to Cambodia and two will be returned to Thailand, the Manhattan museum announced Friday, although no specific timeline was given.

“We appreciate this first step in the right direction,” said a statement issued by Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. “We look forward to further returns and acknowledgements of the truth regarding our lost national treasures, taken from Cambodia in the time of war and genocide.”

Cambodia suffered from war and the brutal rule of the communist Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and 1980s, causing disorder that opened the opportunity for its archaeological treasures to be looted.

The repatriation of the ancient pieces was linked to well-known art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was indicted in 2019 for allegedly orchestrating a multiyear scheme to sell looted Cambodian antiquities on the international art market. Latchford, who died the following year, had denied any involvement in smuggling.

The museum initially cooperated with the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations on the return of 13 sculptures tied to Latchford before determining there were three more that should be repatriated.

“As demonstrated with today’s announcement, pieces linked to the investigation of Douglas Latchford continue to reveal themselves,” HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Erin Keegan said in a statement Friday. “The Metropolitan Museum of Art has not only recognized the significance of these 13 Khmer artifacts, which were shamelessly stolen, but has also volunteered to return them, as part of their ongoing cooperation, to their rightful owners: the People of Cambodia.”

This isn’t the first time the museum has repatriated art linked to Latchford. In 2013, it returned two objects to Cambodia.

The Latchford family also had a load of centuries-old Cambodian jewelry in their possession that they later returned to Cambodia. In February, 77 pieces of jewelry made of gold and other precious metal pieces — including items such as crowns, necklaces and earrings — were returned. Other stone and bronze artifacts were returned in September 2021.

Pieces being returned include a bronze sculpture called the “Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Seated in Royal Ease,” made sometime between the late 10th century and early 11th century. Another piece of art, made of stone in the seventh century and named “Head of Buddha,” will also be returned. Those pieces are part of 10 that can still be viewed in the museum’s galleries while arrangements are made for their return.

“These returns contribute to the reconciliation and healing of the Cambodian people who went through decades of civil war and suffered tremendously from the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge genocide, and to a greater strengthening of our relationship with the United States,” Cambodia’s Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, Phoeurng Sackona, said in her agency’s statement.

Research efforts were already underway by the museum to examine the ownership history of its objects, focusing on how ancient art and cultural property changed hands, as well as the provenance of Nazi-looted artwork.
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA — Once the initial shock wore off on the price tag of Shohei Ohtani’s record-shattering $700 million, 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, details about the contract emerged that were nearly as stunning.

A total of $680 million — 97% of the money — was deferred until 2034-43 with no interest.

Had the Dodgers invented some kind of contract voodoo new to Major League Baseball?

Not really. But it appears to be a team-friendly deal that also has benefits for Ohtani as the Japanese superstar departs the Angels, heads 30 miles up Interstate 5 and establishes a new home with the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine.

“Thanks to his endorsements and other off-the-field revenue streams, he has the luxury to defer compensation,” said Michael Rueda, head of the U.S. division of sports and entertainment at Withers law firm. “But there’s always some risk.”

Part of Rueda’s job is giving financial advice to high-profile sports stars and celebrities. He said the Ohtani-Dodgers deal looks like a solid arrangement, even if there are tradeoffs for both sides.

Make no mistake, the 29-year-old Ohtani is a rich man and will be rich long into the foreseeable future, but money promised later is never the same as money in hand.

One example of Ohtani’s risk: Former Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux was out about $26 million in the 1990s when the franchise was in financial trouble and couldn’t pay the money it owed the hockey legend in a deferred deal.

Things eventually worked out. Lemieux converted his deferred salary into equity with the team, then partnered with Ron Burkle to pull the club out of bankruptcy. They eventually made a windfall after selling part of their stake in 2021 — but it’s a reminder that financial circumstances can change when 20 years pass. The Dodgers were certainly a fan-drawing juggernaut in 2023, but 2043 doesn’t come for a long time. L.A., after all, is only 12 years removed from filing for bankruptcy protection under former owner Frank McCourt.

There’s also at least some risk for the franchise: The New York Mets famously deferred $5.9 million that slugger Bobby Bonilla was owed in 2000 and — thanks to an 8% interest rate — will end up paying nearly $30 million total in annual installments until 2035.

In contrast, Ohtani’s deferred pay comes with no interest. That’s a potentially monstrous savings — maybe billions — on a deal that could have been much more costly. Ohtani’s deal with 8% interest would come out to nearly $3 billion by 2043.

“It’s interesting to me that the deferred money comes with no interest, from what I’ve read” Rueda said. “That’s giving up a lot of money.”

Ohtani’s other potential advantage from the contract is he receives $680 million of the $700 million after he’s done playing, which means he might not be living in California, where taxes are relatively high. Depending on where he lives from 2034-43, that could lead to sizable savings.

Rueda said there are many variables, particularly if he goes back to Japan.

“Tax is always a big part,” Rueda said. “The concept of moving to a different jurisdiction and avoiding the California state tax — yeah, that could be accurate.”
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Images of African senior citizens walking the runway created a buzz on social media, eventually going viral. These AI-generated pictures challenged the typical depictions of elderly Africans, showcasing them in an empowering way. Karina Choudhury has the story. Camera: Samuel Okocha.
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London — In 1979, British painter Martin Lever was only 9 years old when he moved to Hong Kong because his father was employed as a surveyor in the Hong Kong Housing Department. He tells VOA’s Cantonese service that growing up in the multicultural city gave him a very different upbringing, one he is grateful for to this day.

Lever returned to England to attend university and worked there for several years. But he returned to Hong Kong, where he pursued a career in the advertising industry. By the time he left in May 2022, he had spent a total of 36 years living in the Asian city.

Lever, who also goes by the Chinese name Li Wah, was not always an artist. He worked as a copywriter in international advertising companies in the 1990s, and later rose to the position of creative director. It was during his final years in advertising that he slowly became a full-time artist. Hong Kong has long been his muse, and his paintings of mostly urban street scenes, grassroots workers and elements of life capture Hong Kong’s characteristics in an abstract style.

Many Hong Kong people do not realize that most of their lives occur high in the sky, he said.

“They live on the 10th floor, work on the 20th floor and eat on the 30th floor,” said Lever. Hong Kong, when seen from a high altitude from the ground, is very different. Works derived from this concept have been popular, he said.

It wasn’t until more recently that he started to turn his attention to politics and the political turmoil of Hong Kong. Using his earlier perspectives, he created a series of works titled “Above the Protests,” scenes of Hong Kong’s mass demonstrations from above.

In 2021, he exhibited the work at the Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong. Before it began, he received a notice hinting that exhibits should avoid controversy. He had no choice but to rename the work “Above the Streets,” but that experience made him start to question just how much room there was for freedom of expression as an artist in Hong Kong.

Lever said he fully supported the peaceful demonstrations of the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. During the 2019 mass protests, while he was shocked by the violence on the streets, he believed that the root of the problem was then-Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s unwillingness to talk to the demonstrators. Lam regarded the incident as a matter of law and order.

Life in Hong Kong turned harder for him during the COVID-19 pandemic, as he was unable to visit his family in Britain. On his return to Hong Kong, he endured what he describes as a painful hotel quarantine, one of the reasons that made him decide to leave Hong Kong. After the National Security Law came into effect, his doubts about the future of Hong Kong grew stronger.

Lever said a lot of people wondered if the National Security Law was good or bad, also wondering if it was just a way to stop the violence until there could be a dialogue. But then he saw the targeting of those who had been critical of Beijing – pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, Catholic priests – and the closing down of the Apple Daily newspaper.

“And it was, like, ‘Why are they doing this? This is so unnecessary,’’’ Lever said. “I guess that’s the game China plays. That started to impact me; it made me angry, that this should not be happening in Hong Kong.”

He said some of his Western friends who still live in Hong Kong remained neutral about law-abiding people being jailed, songs and books being banned and media outlets being shut down. They could still go through life as usual, he said.

“But having grown up in Hong Kong and having benefited from having so many freedoms and opportunities that came for me because of that, having employed so many young Chinese guys and girls over the years in advertising, and to see that they are slowly now being denied some of the freedoms that we take for granted, it makes me very sad and very angry,” he said. “Upon leaving Hong Kong, I felt I had to express this through my art.”

In his new collection “Silent Protest,” the mouths of Hong Kong people standing in front of libraries, subways, banks and courts have become closed zippers or covered by Chinese national flag face masks, a metaphor for the ubiquity of deathly silence under Hong Kong’s National Security Law.

Lever’s paintings are filled with quotes from former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. He said this is because many of Mao’s sayings are the same as what young Hong Kong residents were demanding.

“Mao said things like anyone can criticize the Communist Party; he said we work for the people; he said New China must look after her youth,” he said. “The layers of irony in putting these two things together, I felt, was very powerful.”

Like Lever, many Hong Kong residents have now moved to the U.K., part of wave of mass emigration. Though he now lives in a small town in northeastern England, he is happy that he can always see some Hong Kong people living close to him. He said they seem to be satisfied with their new lives despite the challenges of being uprooted from their home.

Lever said he hopes that his new paintings will show the changes in Hong Kong to the outside world. He adds that he is not against the Hong Kong or Chinese governments, but just stating the facts.

“I know that there is a risk that maybe if this creates enough noise, maybe I would be blackballed too, which would be heartbreaking,” he said. “But if I was to be blackballed from Hong Kong for painting some paintings, then that would kind of underline the whole point of me doing this, because that’s a tragic situation.”

Lever’s artwork will be exhibited at The Crypt Gallery in London between December 15 and 17.
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“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — the unlikely pair of films that dominated the box office and spawned countless internet memes this summer — are expected to lead the newly revamped Golden Globes when nominations are unveiled Monday.

Collectively dubbed “Barbenheimer” after their theatrical releases happened to fall on the same date, both movies are likely to score highly with voters for the Globes, which kick off Hollywood’s film awards season.

“Barbie” — a vivid, feminist satire about the all-conquering line of plastic dolls — was 2023’s top-grossing movie, earning more than $1.4 billion globally. It is tipped to earn nods for its stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, as well as writer-director Greta Gerwig.

“Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s critically adored drama about the inventor of the nuclear bomb, managed a remarkable $950 million at the box office worldwide.

It should rack up nominations for cast members including Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr, as well as its director.

Organizers of the Globes will hope that the enduring hype and attention surrounding “Barbenheimer,” as well as other popular and acclaimed films such as “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Poor Things,” can shift the focus away from the gala’s recent notoriety.

The Golden Globes have endured a rough few years, after a Los Angeles Times expose in 2021 showed that the awards’ voting body — the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — had no Black members.

That revelation triggered the airing of a wide range of other long-simmering criticisms about the HFPA, including allegations of amateurism and corruption.

Earlier this year, the awards’ assets and trademarks were purchased and overhauled by a group of private investors including US billionaire Todd Boehly, and the HFPA was disbanded.

Hollywood-based former HFPA members have been banned from accepting gifts and will now be paid a salary to vote for their favorite films and shows, while more than 200 non-member (and unpaid) voters from around the world have been added to the Globes mix.

Cedric The Entertainer and Wilmer Valderrama will announce the Globes nominees on “CBS Mornings” from 1330 GMT.

One of the United States’ biggest national television networks, CBS has stepped in to become the new home of the Globes, after long-standing host NBC ended its deal to broadcast the event.

CBS bosses will be hoping for vastly improved ratings, after the 2023 Globes slumped to a new low of just 6.3 million viewers, even as other shows such as the Oscars recovered from pandemic viewership nadirs.

A new category for “best cinematic or box office achievement” has been added, paving the way for nominations for popular films that would not usually earn critical recognition, such as Universal’s $1.3 billion-grossing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” and Marvel superhero film “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.”

In another seeming bid to honor more household names, the number of nominees in each category has been increased.

A-listers such as Leonardo DiCaprio — the star of Martin Scorsese’s crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” — and Emma Stone for her turn in female Frankenstein-esque drama “Poor Things” are also widely expected to score nominations.

Others likely to feature are Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Timothee Chalamet (“Wonka”) and Natalie Portman (“May December.”)

The Globes also honor television, with dramas “Succession” and “The Last Of Us” likely to rack up nods, alongside comedies “The Bear” and “Ted Lasso.”

The 81st Golden Globes ceremony will take place in Beverly Hills on Jan. 7.
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For the first time in Hayao Miyazaki’s decades-spanning career, the 82-year-old Japanese anime master is No. 1 at the North American box office. Miyazaki’s latest enchantment, “The Boy and the Heron,” debuted with $12.8 million, according to studio estimates.

“The Boy and the Heron,” the long-awaited animated fantasy from the director of “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and other cherished anime classics, is only the third anime to ever top the box office in U.S. and Canadian theaters and the first original anime to do so. The film, which is playing in both subtitled and dubbed versions, is also the first fully foreign film to land atop the domestic box office this year.

Though Miyazaki’s movies have often been enormous hits in Japan and Asia, they’ve traditionally made less of a mark in North American cinemas. The director’s previous best performer was his last movie, 2013’s “The Wind Rises,” which grossed $5.2 million in its entire domestic run.

“The Boy and the Heron,” which earlier collected $56 million in Japan, for years was expected to be Miyazaki’s swan song. But just as it was making its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, Junichi Nishioka, Studio Ghibli vice president, said the previously retired Miyazaki is still working toward another film.

“The Boy and the Heron,” has been hailed as one of the best films of the year. The film, featuring an English dub voice cast including Robert Pattinson, Christian Bale, Dave Bautista and Mark Hamill, follows a boy who, after his mother perishes in World War II bombing, is led by a mysterious heron to a portal that takes him to a fantastical realm. In Japan, its title translates to “How Do You Live?”

Last week’s top film, “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” dropped steeply in its second weekend. The concert film, the second pop star release distributed by AMC Theatres following Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” collected $5 million in its second weekend, a decline of 76% from its $21 million opening.
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The Paris 2024 organizing committee president said Thursday that he still wanted the surfing competition at next year’s Olympics to take place in Tahiti, despite the controversy surrounding the construction of the judging tower at the site, where coral has been damaged. 

Speaking to media company Polynesie La Premiere, Tony Estanguet said he was going to pour “all [his] energy” into keeping the surfing in French Polynesia at the Tahiti site of Teahupo’o. 

Because Teahupo’o’s surf breaks offshore, the Olympic judges have to be out in the lagoon. Organizers intend to put them and television cameras on an aluminum tower that will be attached to the reef. 

That plan has sparked protests in Tahiti, with critics fearing for coral and other marine life. That criticism reached another level last week when organizers tried to test out a barge used to build the tower in the surfing lagoon and coral was damaged. That led local authorities to halt the construction. 

“We need to find a solution to respect environment,” Estanguet said. “As organizers, we need to adapt.” 

Critics on the island have voiced fears for coral reefs, fish and other aquatic life when the tower’s foundations are drilled into the seabed and mounted on concrete. Islanders pushed for the Olympics to use a wooden tower on existing foundations that have long been the setup for surfing competitions at Teahupo’o. They have collected more than 160,000 signatures with an online petition. 

But Estanguet said the old judging tower does not meet Olympic standards for security reasons. 

“We don’t want to compromise on safety — we won’t put anyone’s safety at risk,” Estanguet said. 

He said the objective would be to find a way to let the barge access the site without damaging the coral reef. 

Surfing’s governing body, ISA, said it “was saddened and surprised to see that a test undertaken by the French Polynesian government resulted in the coral reef at Teahupo’o being damaged.” 

ISA also welcomed the decision to pause all further testing and “urged intensified consultations to consider all available options.” 

The French towns of Lacanau and La Torche in continental France have both proposed to host the Games’ surfing events if the Tahiti site is finally abandoned. Estanguet said it’s not an option for now. 

“As a partner of the Polynesian government I want to put all my energy … to find the best solutions so we can have the surfing events in Tahiti,” Estanguet said. “We still have a bit of time to find another technical solution to have this tower installed while respecting the environment. This is the priority we all share.” 

For France, the Tahitian venue will allow the host country to highlight its long historical ties to the Pacific and involve its far-off overseas territories in the Summer Games. 

But the faraway Tahiti venue has also raised logistical and environmental questions because the rest of the Summer Games are focused in the host city, Paris, nearly 16,000 kilometers and 10 time zones away.
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Ryan O’Neal, the heartthrob actor who went from a TV soap opera to an Oscar-nominated role in Love Story and delivered a wry performance opposite his charismatic 9-year-old daughter, Tatum, in Paper Moon, died Friday, his son said.

“My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us,” Patrick O’Neal, a Los Angeles sportscaster, posted on Instagram.

Attempts to reach O’Neal representatives were not immediately successful.

No cause of death was given. Ryan O’Neal was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, a decade after he was first diagnosed with chronic leukemia. He was 82.

“My father, Ryan O’Neal, has always been my hero,” Patrick O’Neal wrote, adding, “He is a Hollywood legend. Full stop.”

O’Neal was among the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1970s, working across genres with many of the era’s most celebrated directors including Peter Bogdanovich on Paper Moon and What’s Up, Doc? and Stanley Kubrick on Barry Lyndon. He often used his boyish, blond good looks to play men who hid shadowy or sinister backgrounds behind their clean-cut images.

O’Neal maintained a steady television acting career into his 70s in the 2010s, appearing for stints on Bones and Desperate Housewives, but his longtime relationship with Farrah Fawcett and his tumultuous family life kept him in the news.

Twice divorced, O’Neal was romantically involved with Fawcett for nearly 30 years, and they had a son, Redmond, born in 1985. The couple split in 1997 but reunited a few years later. He remained by Fawcett’s side as she battled cancer, which killed her in 2009 at age 62.

With his first wife, Joanna Moore, O’Neal fathered actors Griffin O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal, his co-star in the 1973 movie Paper Moon, for which she won an Oscar for best supporting actress. He had son Patrick with his second wife, Leigh Taylor-Young.

Ryan O’Neal had his own best-actor Oscar nomination for the 1970 tear-jerker drama Love Story, co-starring Ali MacGraw, about a young couple who fall in love, marry and discover she is dying of cancer. The movie includes the memorable, but often satirized line: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

The actor had at times strained relationships with three of his children, including estrangement from his daughter, squabbles with son Griffin and a drug-related arrest sparked by a probation check of his son Redmond. The personal drama often over-shadowed his later career, although his attempts to reconcile with Tatum O’Neal were turned into a short-lived reality series.

Love Story is what made him a movie star.

The romantic melodrama was the highest-grossing film of 1970, became one of Paramount Pictures’ biggest hits and collected seven Oscar nominations, including one for best picture. It won for best music.

O’Neal then starred for Bogdanovich as a bumbling professor opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1972 screwball comedy What’s Up, Doc?

“So sad to hear the news of Ryan O’Neal’s passing,” Streisand, who also starred with O’Neal in the 1979 boxing romcom The Main Event, posted on Instagram. “He was funny and charming, and he will be remembered.”

The year after What’s Up, Doc? Bogdanovich cast him in the Depression-era con artist comedy Paper Moon.

In it, O’Neal played an unscrupulous Bible salesman preying on widows he located through obituary notices. His real-life daughter, Tatum, played a trash-talking, cigarette-smoking orphan who needs his help — and eventually helps redeem him.

Although critics praised both actors, the little girl’s brash performance overshadowed her father’s and made her the youngest person in history to win a regular Academy Award. She was 10 when the award was presented in 1974.

The elder O’Neal’s next major film was Kubrick’s 18th century epic Barry Lyndon, in which he played a poor Irish rogue who traveled Europe trying to pass himself off as an aristocrat.
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Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts.

Not only was Swift’s landmark Eras Tour the No. 1 tour both worldwide and in North America, but she also brought in a whopping $1.04 billion with 4.35 million tickets sold across 60 tour dates, the concert trade publication found.

Pollstar data is pulled from box office reports, venue capacity estimates, historical Pollstar venue ticket sales data, and other undefined research, collected from November 17, 2022, to November 15, 2023.

Representatives for the publication did not immediately clarify if they adjusted past tour data to match 2023 inflation in naming Swift the first to break the billion-dollar threshold.

Pollstar also found that Swift brought in approximately $200 million in merch sales and her blockbuster film adaptation of the tour, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” has reportedly earned approximately $250 million in sales, making it the highest-grossing concert film of all time.

According to their estimates, Pollstar predicts a big 2024 for Swift as well. The magazine projects the Eras Tour will once again reach $1 billion within their eligibility window, meaning Swift is likely to bring in over $2 billion over the span of the tour.

Worldwide, Swift’s tour was followed by Beyoncé in second, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in third, Coldplay in fourth, Harry Styles in fifth, and Morgan Wallen, Ed Sheeran, Pink, The Weeknd and Drake.

In North America, there was a similar top 10: Swift, followed by Beyoncé, Morgan Wallen, Drake, P!nk, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Ed Sheeran, George Strait, Karol G, and RBD.

Beyond the Swift of it all, 2023 was a landmark year for concert sales: worldwide, the top 100 tours of the year saw a 46% jump from last year, bringing in $9.17 billion compared to 2022’s $6.28 billion.

In North America, that number jumped from $4.77 billion last year to $6.63 billion.

Earlier this week, Swift was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Last month, Apple Music named her its artist of the year; Spotify revealed she was 2023’s most-streamed artist globally, raking in more than 26.1 billion streams since Jan. 1 and beating Bad Bunny’s three-year record.
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Is the year of Taylor Swift over now? Not yet.

Time magazine named Swift its person of the year on Wednesday, a week after Spotify announced she was the most-played artist on the streaming platform.

Swift was picked from a group of nine finalists that included Barbie, King Charles III and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.

“While her popularity has grown across the decades, this is the year that Swift, 33, achieved a kind of nuclear fusion: shooting art and commerce together to release an energy of historic force,” Time said about her selection.

Her year included the wildly popular Eras Tour and concert movie, the release of her reimagined “1989” album, and her closely watched relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. She’s even the subject of college courses.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was Time’s 2022 person of the year.
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Television producer-writer Norman Lear, whose ground-breaking hit comedy shows such as “All in the Family” and “Maude” addressed social issues such as race and abortion that had rarely been seen on U.S. television, died on Tuesday at the age of 101, according to media reports. 

Lear, one of the most influential people in television, died at his Los Angeles home of natural causes, Variety reported on Wednesday, citing his publicist. 

Lear, who won six Emmy awards for his work in television, was known for his campaigning for liberal causes, including voting rights, and worked well into his 90s. 

In 2017, he rebooted his 1970s TV series “One Day at a Time” to focus on a Cuban American family, and in 2020 he earned his sixth Emmy for a live special broadcast of “All in the Family” and “Good Times.” 

In February 2021, Lear received the Carol Burnett Award, a lifetime achievement award, at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony for his contributions to television. 

In addition to “All in the Family” and “Maude,” Lear dominated American TV screens in the 1970s and ’80s with the situation-comedy shows “Sanford and Son,” “The Jeffersons,” and the soap-opera spoof “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” At one point in the 1970s, Lear had eight shows on the air with an estimated 120 million viewers, Time magazine said. 

By drawing material from social themes of the time, Lear’s shows made network executives nervous because they had a depth and air of controversy. 

“For him to say that he didn’t have an impact on not only television, but society is … a little too humble,” said Rob Reiner, who had a co-starring role on “All in the Family” before becoming a film director. 

Lear and production partner Bud Yorkin put “All in the Family” on the air in January 1971 and the show would go on to win four Emmys for best comedy in its nine seasons. It was based on a British show, “Til Death Do Us Part,” and gave U.S. television one of its most memorable and controversial characters — Archie Bunker. 

Carroll O’Connor portrayed Archie as a crude, loud, blue-collar New Yorker who spouted racist, homophobic and antisemitic comments. He was cast against a scatter-brained wife he called “Dingbat,” a liberal daughter and an even more liberal son-in-law he referred to as “Meathead” and played by Reiner. 

“All in the Family” was the top-rated show on U.S. television for five straight years, according to CBS, and TV Guide ranked it fourth on its list of television’s all-time greatest shows.  

 

Born on July 27, 1922, in New Haven, Connecticut, Norman Milton Lear’s most lasting creation was partly based on fact. Many of the harsh words that came out of Archie’s mouth had first been spoken by Lear’s own father, Herman Lear, who went to prison for selling fake bonds, and frequently told his wife to “stifle” herself and called his son “the laziest white kid I ever saw.” 

“I grew up in a family that lived at the top of its lungs and the ends of its nerves,” Lear told Esquire magazine. Some critics said the Archie Bunker character put a laughing face on bigotry, but Lear said it only pointed to the complexity of humanity. 

A year after “All in the Family” started, Lear aired “Maude,” a spin-off that starred Bea Arthur as Archie’s acerbic sister-in-law and political opposite. 

As with Bunker, the character was like none previously seen on U.S. television. Maude was on her fourth husband, protested marijuana laws and had an abortion before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide. Her husband battled alcoholism, had two nervous breakdowns and attempted suicide. 

Black characters in U.S. television in the ’70s were mostly limited to minor roles until Lear made them the focus of some of his shows. 

“The Jeffersons” was another spin-off of “All in the Family” and featured an upwardly mobile Black couple who moved to Manhattan’s glitzy upper eastside neighborhood. The show’s lead character George was often rude and loud. Lear’s other hits included “Sanford and Son” a sitcom about a Black junkyard owner in a Los Angeles neighborhood, and “Good Times,” a portrayal of a working-class Black family in a Chicago housing project. 

Other Lear-produced hits included “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Fernwood 2 Night,” and the “All in the Family” spin-off “Archie Bunker’s Place.” But Lear also had flops such as “All That Glitters,”  “Sunday Dinner” and another “All in the Family” spin-off, “Gloria.” 

Lear, who grew up in Connecticut, dropped out of college in World War II to join the Army and flew 52 combat missions. He went to Los Angeles in 1950 with the intention of being a publicist but began writing for TV stars such as Danny Thomas, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Andy Williams.

Lear shifted focus in 1981 and founded the liberal activist group People for the American Way to boost voting rights and fight right-wing extremism. He also established the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication.

In 2001, he and a partner purchased an original copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and sent it on a three-year tour of U.S. schools, libraries and events. Lear is survived by his third wife, Lyn, and his six children. 
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The plight of fugitives and refugees has been part of the artist Dima Alekseevs’ work since he left Russia in 2016. He now lives in the U.S. Nina Vishneva visited the artist and has this report narrated by Anna Rice. (Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Elena Matusovsky; Produced by Elena Matusovsky, Anna Rice)  
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Millions around the world turn to Wikipedia when they want to better understand the world around them, and that apparently includes artificial intelligence — the most searched topic on the online encyclopedia in 2023.

“ChatGPT is one of the generative AI tools that is trained on Wikipedia data, pulling large amounts of content from Wikipedia projects to answer people’s questions,” says Anusha Alikhan, chief communications officer at the Wikimedia Foundation. “So, the fact that millions of people are going to Wikipedia to learn about ChatGPT is kind of an interesting twist.”

Wikipedia articles about ChatGPT garnered more than 79 million page views across all languages, according to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts and funds the site. The information found on Wikipedia is managed by volunteer editors around the world.

English-language Wikipedia drew more than 84 billion views in 2023, according to the nonprofit. The top five articles this year were ChatGPT; Deaths in 2023; 2023 World Cricket Cup; Indian Premier League; and the film “Oppenheimer.”

Cricket is a popular global sport, but this is the first time since Wikipedia started keeping track in 2015 that an article about the sport made the list.

The rest of the most popular topics in Wikipedia’s Top 25 include a couple of Indian movies, as well as the U.S. megahit film, “Barbie.” Two celebrities who died this year —Matthew Perry and Lisa Marie Presley — are on the list, as are two well-known people: singer Taylor Swift and businessman Elon Musk, who made headlines a lot this year. Sports events, the United States, and India also made the Top 25 list.

“It gives the world, in our opinion, a real deep dive into the topics that people were most interested in for the entire year,” Alikhan says. “We often say also that Wikipedia reflects the world.”

According to Wikipedia data, the top five countries that accessed the English Wikipedia in 2023 are the United States (33 billion page views); the United Kingdom (9 billion page views); India (8.48 million page views); Canada (3.95 billion page views); and Australia (2.56 billion page views).

Historical subjects that make the list are often connected to a current event, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called father of the atomic bomb.

“The fact that number seven on the list is J. Robert Oppenheimer speaks to the fact that it was, of course, connected to the ‘Oppenheimer’ movie,” Alikhan says. “The article about him was also very highly trafficked, in addition to the film. So typically, if there’s a historical article in the Top 25, it’s because it was related to a current event.”

Top 25 English Wikipedia articles that received the most pageviews in 2023:

ChatGPT  49 million page views

Deaths in 2023  43 million

2023 Cricket World Cup  38 million

Indian Premier League   32 million

Oppenheimer (film)   28 million

Cricket World Cup 25.9 million

J. Robert Oppenheimer 25.6 million

Jawan (film) 22 million

2023 Indian Premier League 21 million

Pathaan (film) 19.9 million

The Last of Us (TV series) 19.7 million

Taylor Swift 19 million

Barbie (film) 18 million

Cristiano Ronaldo 17 million

Lionel Messi 16.62 million

Premier League 16.60 million

Matthew Perry 16.45 million

United States 16.24 million

Elon Musk 14.37 million

Avatar: The Way of Water (film) 14.30 million

India 13.8 million

Lisa Marie Presley 13.7 million

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (film) 13.3 million

Russian invasion of Ukraine 12.79 million

Andrew Tate 12.72 million

 
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The Netherlands returned six artifacts including a cannon, a ceremonial sword and two guns taken from Sri Lanka more than 250 years ago on Tuesday, as part of efforts by the former colonial power to redress historical wrongs, officials said.

Sri Lanka asked the Netherlands to return the artifacts after the Dutch government approved the restitution of historic objects in 2021.

The artifacts were taken in 1765 from Kandy, the last kingdom of ancient Sri Lanka, when the Dutch besieged the palace, a statement from the Netherlands embassy said.

“The objects were wrongfully brought to the Netherlands during the colonial period, acquired under duress or by looting,” it added.

Sri Lanka is grateful to the government and the people of the Netherlands for returning the artifacts, said Buddhasasana Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Vidura Wickramanayake.

“There are more to come. Not only from the Netherlands but also from other countries like Great Britain. So we have already started negotiations and I hope they will be fruitful very soon,” he told reporters.

The artifacts will now be housed at the National Museum in Colombo and more are expected to follow.

“These objects represent an important cultural and historical value and they are back in Sri Lanka where they can be seen by the Sri Lankan public,” said Dewi Van de Weerd, Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation.

“The value of returning these objects is important because it is about addressing historical injustices.”

The Netherlands returned over 300 artifacts to Indonesia earlier this year, according to its government.

Returning artifacts to former colonized countries is a long running and often sensitive issue.

A dispute between Britain and Greece over the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures, known as the Elgin marbles, escalated last month, with both sides blaming the other for the cancellation of a planned meeting between their two leaders.

Greece has repeatedly called on the British Museum to permanently return the 2,500-year-old sculptures that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in Athens in 1806, during a period when Greece was under Ottoman Turkish rule.
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