MEJICANOS, El Salvador — From the window of her tin-sided shop outside El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, Esmeralda Quintanilla watches artists get to work in her neighborhood on walls still pockmarked by bullet holes from the country’s civil war and gang conflict.
Armed with brushes, paint and spray cans, muralists and graffiti artists have already covered the walls of several of the 40 five-story units in a housing complex in the Zacamil neighborhood of the Mejicanos district.
“With the murals, everything looks really nice,” said Quintanilla, a 55-year-old seamstress who has lived in the neighborhood nearly half her life. “You start to see all this, and it gives the place a different image. I feel really happy, proud.”
The dozen murals already completed include a Mesoamerican pyramid, pixelated depictions of the Virgin Mary and works straight out of the artists’ imaginations.
The initiative in the once-violent neighborhood is led by a Salvadoran foundation that seeks to fill communities with art. Its aim in Zacamil is to create stories-high murals over the next two years on nearly every wall of the complex, which houses around 4,000 residents.
Zacamil got a break from decades of violence two years ago when President Nayib Bukele launched a nationwide crackdown on gangs. The state of emergency — which human rights groups have said Bukele must end amid reports of abuses — has put almost 82,000 alleged gang members in prison.
Even with the murals improving the neighborhood’s appearance, chronic infrastructure issues remain, with garbage piled up in the streets and storm drains clogged. TV antennas, power cables and clothes strewn out windows across clotheslines also dot the neighborhood.
Many Zacamil residents fled in 1989 when fighting between the Salvadoran army and the former leftist guerrilla group, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, nearly destroyed the Mejicanos district.
When they returned, many found homes damaged by two earthquakes in 2001 or invaded by gang members.
“There are always problems, but this is a facelift,” said a 70-year-old resident who declined to give his name.
El Salvador’s 12-year civil war from late 1979 to January 1992 killed more than 75,000 people.
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rio de janeiro — Rio de Janeiro’s main beaches bustle with commotion on sunny weekends. But activity ground to a near standstill on one stretch of sand. People held up their phones to record athletic feats they’d never before witnessed, or even imagined.
The game? Footvolley, a combination of soccer and beach volleyball. The athlete? A 3-year-old border collie named Floki.
Floki sparks wonder among bystanders because he hangs tough in a game that even humans struggle to get a handle on. Footvolley rules are essentially the same as beach volleyball, but with a slightly lower net and, like soccer, players are forbidden from using hands and arms. Floki springs up from the sand to drive the ball with his snout. He has become something of an internet sensation in Brazil, with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok.
Floki’s owner, Gustavo Rodrigues, is a footvolley coach, but swears he didn’t plan this. He had wanted an American Bully, a decidedly less sprightly breed. Floki came into Rodrigues’ life instead and quickly revealed his potential when, at just 2 months old, he started jumping after birthday balloons.
Rodrigues started Floki out on what’s called “altinha,” where a group standing in a circle juggles a soccer ball for as long as possible. In 2023, Floki made his debut in the much more complex, competitive game of footvolley — a hobby enjoyed by some Brazilian soccer stars after they retire, including World Cup winners Ronaldinho and Romario.
Footvolley players need poise, agility, coordination, timing, finesse. Covering one side of the court between just two people means quick sprints back and forth on soft sand under the baking sun. It’s no mean feat, but Floki was a natural. A star was born.
“He does things that even some professionals don’t — like positioning on the court,” said Rodrigues, 26. “Sometimes the ball goes from one side (of the court) to the other, and he doesn’t keep his back turned to it. He turns toward the ball to always hit it straight on.”
It’s clear this high-energy pup lives for this game. Even resting under the shade of the beach’s caipirinha bar, he was laser-focused on the action of the adjacent court’s match.
When playing, he barks at Rodrigues to pass him the ball and seems to at least understand the basic rules. At times, rather than passing back to Rodrigues for the third and final touch their opponents expect, he sneaks the ball over the net himself to score a point. Then he jumps into Rodrigues’ arms to celebrate.
One of the awestruck onlookers Sunday was Luiza Chioli, who had traveled to Rio from Sao Paulo. She already knew the famous Floki from TikTok, but hadn’t expected front-row seats to watch him while sipping her gin and tonic.
“Seeing social media, we had thought it was just cuts, that they used the best takes,” said Chioli, 21. “But we saw he played, performed the whole time, did really well. It’s really cool.”
As Floki’s follower count has grown, partnerships and endorsement deals have come rolling in. Rodrigues and Floki live in the inland capital Brasilia, but often travel to Rio — footvolley’s mecca — and other Brazilian states to show off his skills, do marketing appearances and create monetized social media content.
Floki’s Sunday began with almost an hour playing beside former footvolley champion Natalia Guitler, who’s been called Queen of the Beach. Between attempts to film her doing a trick pass to him, he scampered for drinks of water or to dip in the ocean. By the end, both she and Floki were scrambling for shade.
“We’re dead,” she said as she collapsed onto the sand next to a panting Floki. Someone passed her a phone to check out the best clips for her Instagram, where she has almost 3 million followers.
“Me and my bestie @dog_altinha playing footvolley,” she wrote in a later post showing their long rally, and which included her bicycle kicking the ball over the net.
After a rest and another footvolley session, Floki headed to a more remote beach to do a marketing shoot for Farm, a fashion designer that’s become the paragon of Rio’s breezy tropical style, both in Brazil and abroad.
Then Floki was on Instagram hyping a brand of dog popsicles, gnawing a banana-flavored one himself, and giving an altinha demonstration to mall shoppers. His evening stroll along Copacabana’s beachside promenade showed him straining against his leash, still evidently bursting with his boundless energy.
With their weekend marketing blitz in Rio over, Rodrigues and Floki would head back to Brasilia, where their influencer hustle takes a back seat to the hustle of playing competitive matches. They win about one in every three, Rodrigues said, and their opponents are always desperate to avoid being beaten by a dog.
“It generates talk, and people make fun,” said Rodrigues. “No one likes to lose a point to him, so people play their hearts out against us.”
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Mosul, Iraq — If they had tried to do this a few years ago, the group of Iraqi women enjoying a night out in Mosul would probably have risked severe punishment.
The northern city was under the harsh rule of the Islamic State group until the jihadists were ousted from their last major Iraqi bastion in 2017.
Seven years later, Mosul’s streets truly come alive at nightfall, and residents are rediscovering the art of having a good time.
Amira Taha and her friends have come to a restaurant with their children, to enjoy food and live music — complete with crooners — on a night out that would have been unthinkable under IS rule.
“There has been enormous change in Mosul,” Taha tells AFP. “We now have freedom and nights out like this have become common” because of “the very stable security situation.”
The city has new restaurants to go to, pleasure cruises on the river Tigris, and amusement parks that draw families keen to take advantage of the newfound stability.
Dressed in an electric blue suit, the 35-year-old mother says “people wanted to open up [to the world] and enjoy themselves.”
Reign of terror
On the stage, three Iraqi singers in suits and slicked-back hair take it in turns to entertain the diners with Iraqi and Arab pop songs.
The orchestra includes an electric organist, a violinist, and a musician playing the darbouka, a goblet-shaped drum.
When the jihadists took Mosul in 2014 they imposed a reign of sheer terror.
Music was banned, as were cigarettes. Churches and museums were ransacked and IS staged public stonings and beheaded perceived wrongdoers.
Even after Mosul was retaken in 2017 in a destructive and lengthy fight by Iraqi and international coalition forces, it took several years for its citizens to emerge from years of trauma.
Entire neighborhoods were devastated, and reconstruction became a lengthy process.
Mines had to be cleared before homes, infrastructure and roads could be rebuilt to allow hundreds of thousands of people to return to what is now a metropolis of 1.5 million people.
In the past, Taha says, “people would go home, shut their doors and then go to bed” because of fears over security.
But now, all around her on the restaurant’s lawns, families are seated at most of the tables.
Sometimes the men and women puff on water pipes as their children clap and dance.
Overlooking the restaurant is a brand-new bridge spanning the Tigris, a proud symbol of a Mosul being reborn.
Taking a gamble
Other cities in Iraq are in a similar situation, enjoying a return to normality after decades marked by war, sectarian violence, kidnappings, political conflict and jihadist extremism.
Ahmed — who goes by only his first name — opened a restaurant called “Chef Ahmed the Swede” in June, after spending “half of my life” in Sweden and taking a gamble.
Now he serves between 300 and 400 diners every day, Ahmed tells AFP.
“I’d always dreamt of coming back and starting my own business,” says the proprietor, who is in his 40s.
“People want to go out, they want to see something different,” he says.
At Ahmed’s, diners can choose from dishes inspired by Scandinavian and European cuisines, alongside old favorites such as pastas, pizzas and grilled meats.
Khalil Ibrahim runs an amusement park on the banks of the river.
“The city has seen radical changes over the past few years,” he says. “We’ve gone from destruction to reconstruction.”
Friday is the first day of the weekend, and the evening is pierced by the happy shrieks and laughter of children in dodgem cars, the Ferris wheel and other attractions.
“People used to go home early,” Ibrahim tells AFP. “But now they’re still arriving even at midnight.”
‘We can breathe’
His park opened in 2011, but it was “completely destroyed” in the war.
“We started again from scratch” with the help of private funding, he says.
As Mosul was still emerging from its jihadist nightmare, another tragedy befell the city.
In 2019 around 100 people, mostly women and children, died when a ferry taking families across the river to a leisure park capsized.
But today, pleasure boats ply the Tigris by night, their passengers admiring the riverbank lights of the restaurants and their reflection in the dark waters.
In small cafes, clients play dominoes or cards as they have a smoke.
“We’re comfortable here. We can breathe. We have the river, and that’s enough for us,” says day laborer Jamal Abdel Sattar.
“Some shops stay open until 3 in the morning, and some never close,” he adds. “When people got their first taste of security, they began to go out again.”
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince, who came to the United States from an orphanage in war-ravaged Sierra Leone and performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, has died, her family said in a statement. She was 29.
“Michaela touched so many lives across the world, including ours. She was an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her or heard her story,” her family said in a statement posted Friday on DePrince’s social media accounts. “From her early life in war-torn Africa, to stages and screens across the world, she achieved her dreams and so much more.”
A cause of death was not provided.
DePrince was adopted by an American couple and by age 17 she had been featured in a documentary film and had performed on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars.”
After graduating from high school and the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, she became a principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She then went to the Netherlands, where she danced with the Dutch National Ballet. She later returned to the U.S. and joined the Boston Ballet in 2021.
“We’re sending our love and support to the family of Michaela Mabinty DePrince at this time of loss,” the Boston Ballet said in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday. “We were so fortunate to know her; she was a beautiful person, a wonderful dancer, and she will be greatly missed by us all.”
In her memoir, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina, she shared her journey from the orphanage to the stage. She also wrote a children’s book, Ballerina Dreams.
DePrince suffered from a skin pigmentation disorder that had her labeled “the devil’s child” at the orphanage.
“I lost both my parents, so I was there [the orphanage] for about a year, and I wasn’t treated very well because I had vitiligo,” DePrince told the AP in a 2012 interview. “We were ranked as numbers, and number 27 was the least favorite and that was my number, so I got the least amount of food, the least amount of clothes and whatnot.”
She added that she remembered seeing a photo of an American ballet dancer on a magazine page that had blown against the gate of the orphanage during Sierra Leone’s civil war.
“All I remember is she looked really, really happy,” DePrince told the AP, adding that she wished “to become this exact person.”
She said she saw hope in that photo, “and I ripped the page out and I stuck it in my underwear because I didn’t have any place to put it,” she said.
Her passion helped inspire young Black dancers to pursue their dreams, her family said.
“We will miss her and her gorgeous smile forever and we know you will, too,” their statement said.
Her sister, Mia Mabinty DePrince, recalled in the statement that they slept on a shared mat in the orphanage and used to make up their own musical theater plays and ballets.
“When we got adopted, our parents quickly poured into our dreams and arose the beautiful, gracefully strong ballerina that so many of you knew her as today. She was an inspiration,” Mia DePrince wrote. “Whether she was leaping across the stage or getting on a plane and flying to third-world countries to provide orphans and children with dance classes, she was determined to conquer all her dreams in the arts and dance.”
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LONDON — Prince Harry was always something different.
From the moment he first appeared in public, snuggled in Princess Diana’s arms outside the London hospital where he was born in 1984, Harry was the ginger-haired scamp who stuck his tongue out at photographers. He grew to be a boisterous adolescent who was roundly criticized for wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party, and then a young man who gave up the trappings of royal life and moved to Southern California with his American wife.
Through it all, there was a sense that Harry was rebelling against an accident of birth that made him, in the harsh calculus of the House of Windsor, just “the spare.” As the second son of the man who is now King Charles III, he was raised as a prince but wouldn’t inherit the throne unless brother William came to harm.
Now the angry young man is turning 40, the halfway point in many lives, providing a chance to either dwell on the past or look forward to what might still be achieved.
For the past four years, Harry has focused mainly on the past, making millions of dollars by airing his grievances in a wildly successful memoir and a Netflix docu-series. But he faces the likelihood that the royal aura so critical to his image may be fading, said Sally Bedell Smith, author of “Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.”
“He is at a sort of crossroads,’’ Smith told The Associated Press. “And he appears to be struggling with how he wants to proceed.’’
How did we get here?
It wasn’t always this way.
Six years ago, Harry and his wife were among the most popular royals, a glamorous young couple who reflected the multicultural face of modern Britain and were expected to help revitalize the monarchy.
Their wedding on May 19, 2018, united a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II with the former Meghan Markle, a biracial American actress who had starred for seven years in the U.S. television drama “Suits.” George Clooney, Serena Williams and Elton John attended their wedding at Windsor Castle, after which the couple were formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
But the optimism quickly faded amid allegations that Britain’s tabloid media and even members of the royal household treated Meghan unfairly because of racism.
By January 2020, the pressures of life in the gilded cage had become too much, and the couple announced they were giving up royal duties and moving to America, where they hoped to become “financially independent.” They signed lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify as they settled into the wealthy enclave of Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California.
Since then, Harry has missed few opportunities to bare his soul, most famously in his memoir, aptly titled “Spare.”
In the ghostwritten book, Harry recounted his grief at the death of Princess Diana, a fight with Prince William and his unease with life in the royal shadow of his elder brother. From accounts of cocaine use and losing his virginity to raw family rifts, the book was rife with damning allegations about the royal family.
Among the most toxic was Harry’s description of how some family members leaked unflattering information about other royals in exchange for positive coverage of themselves. The prince singled out his father’s second wife, Queen Camilla, accusing her of feeding private conversations to the media as she sought to rehabilitate an image tarnished by her role in the breakup of Charles’ marriage to Diana.
The allegations were so venomous that there is little chance of a return to public duty, Smith said.
“He criticized the royal family in such a powerful and damaging way. You can’t un-say those things,” she said. “And you can’t unsee things like Meghan in that Netflix series doing a mock curtsey. It’s such a demeaning gesture to the queen.’’
Harry, who agreed not to use the honorific HRH, or “his royal highness,” after he stepped away from front-line royal duties, is now fifth in line to the British throne, behind his brother and William’s three children.
While he grew up in a palace and is said to be in line to inherit millions of dollars on his 40th birthday from a trust set up by his great-grandmother, applied developmental psychologist Deborah Heiser thinks that, in many ways, Harry is just like the rest of us.
Like anyone turning 40, he is likely to have learned a few lessons and has a good idea of who his real friends are, and that will help him chart the next phase of his life, said Heiser, who writes a blog called “The Right Side of 40” for Psychology Today.
“He has had a very public display of what a lot of people have gone through,” Heiser said. “I mean, most people are not princes, but … they have all kinds of issues within their families. He’s not alone. That’s why he’s so relatable.’’
Harry’s next chapter
Of course, Harry’s story isn’t just about the drama within the House of Windsor.
If he wants to write a new chapter, Harry can build on his 10 years of service in the British Army. Before retiring as a captain in 2015, the prince earned his wings as a helicopter pilot, served two tours in Afghanistan and shed the hard-partying reputation of his youth.
Harry also won accolades for establishing the Invictus Games in 2014, a Paralympic-style competition to inspire and aid in the rehabilitation of sick and wounded servicemembers and veterans.
Harry and Meghan made headlines this year with their two international trips to promote mental health and internet safety. While some in British media criticized them for accepting royal treatment in Nigeria and Colombia, the couple said they visited at the invitation of local officials.
Will Charles see the grandkids?
The prospects of reconciliation are unclear, although Harry did race home to see his father after Charles’ cancer diagnosis. And in what may be seen as a tentative olive branch, the paperback edition of “Spare” slated for October has no additions — so nothing new to stir the pot.
But plainly at this point, Harry is thinking about his family in California. He told the BBC about the importance of his two young children, Archie and Lilibet.
“Being a dad is one of life’s greatest joys and has only made me more driven and more committed to making this world a better place,” the prince said in a statement released by his spokesperson.
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RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil formally received on Thursday the return from Denmark of an Indigenous cloak made with 4,000 red feathers of the scarlet ibis bird, a sacred mantle that was taken by Europeans during the 17th century colonial era.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended the ceremony outside Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, marking the importance that Brazil gives to the item’s repatriation.
The cloak, a feathered ceremonial cape used in religious rituals of the Tupinamba people of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, was removed during the Dutch occupation of the area.
Its first mention comes in a Danish inventory in 1689, although it is thought to have been taken from Brazil some 50 years before.
By the 21st century it was held in the ethnographic collection of Denmark’s National Museum, the Nationalmuseet. In 2000, the museum lent the cloak out for an exhibition in Sao Paulo.
A Tupinamba leader saw it there and demanded its return. Last year, after lengthy diplomatic negotiations, the Danish museum announced it would donate the cloak to Brazil’s National Museum, and it was repatriated in July.
Some 170 Tupinamba traveled from southern Bahia to Rio to celebrate its return.
“It is crucial they return what isn’t theirs and rightfully belongs to us. Our heritage strengthens our identity,” said cacique, or chief, Jamopoty Tupinamba to Agencia Brasil on Wednesday.
From the first Portuguese voyages to Brazil in the early 16th century, Indigenous cultural items were taken to Europe as evidence of the “discovery” of new territories and then entered museums or private collections.
A fresco painted in 1674 on the ceiling of the Apollo Salon at the Palace of Versailles, the king’s throne room, depicts newly found America as a woman wearing a Tupinamba cloak as if it were a headdress.
According to cultural heritage activist Gliceria Tupinamba, there are another 10 such cloaks in Europe, held in museums and libraries in Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Denmark, where the National Museum still has one large and three partial ones.
“It took more than 20 years to get the cloak back. Its return is a symbol of the protection of our cultural and land rights that are under threat today in Brazil,” she said.
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london — An animal rights group trying to get real fur out of the bearskin caps worn by King’s Guards at Buckingham Palace took aim Thursday at the cost of the ceremonial garb.
The price of the caps soared 30% in a year to more than 2,000 pounds ($2,600) apiece for the hats made of black bear fur, the Ministry of Defense said in response to a freedom of information request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“Stop wasting taxpayer pounds on caps made from slaughtered wildlife and switch to faux fur today,” the group said in a statement.
A luxury fake fur maker has offered to supply the army with free faux bear fur for 10 years, PETA said.
Military willing to consider alternatives
The military said it was open to exploring alternatives if they pass muster in durability, water protection and appearance. But “no alternative has met all those criteria to date,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
The distinctive tall black hats, worn by guards in bright scarlet tunics, are seen by millions who watch the regular changing of the guard ceremony at the palace. They also appear at other royal events including the annual Trooping the Color ceremony honoring the monarch’s birthday in June.
The cost of the caps rose from 1,560 pounds ($2,035) each in 2022 to 2,040 pounds ($2,660) in 2023, the ministry said. More than 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) was spent on them in the past decade.
The price went up because of a contract change for fur that comes from bears killed in licensed hunts in Canada, the military said.
PETA, which has been pushing for more than two decades to scrap the fur hats, said each cap requires one bear pelt. The group claimed that the defense department is propping up the “cruel” Canadian bear-hunting industry.
The ministry denied that charge and said if it stopped buying the pelts, it would not reduce the numbers of bears being killed.
Petition calls for fake fur
Parliament debated the issue in July 2022 after an online petition with more than 100,000 signatures called for using fake fur in the caps.
“This hunting involves the violent killing of bears, with many bears being shot several times,” Martyn Day, then a Scottish National Party member of Parliament, said at the time. “It seems undeniable, therefore, that by continuing to purchase hats made from the fur of black bears the MOD is funding the suffering of bears in Canada by making the baiting and killing of those animals and the sale of their pelts a profitable pursuit for the hunters.”
Day said a poll at the time found 75% of the U.K. population found real bearskins were a bad use of taxpayer money and supported replacing the hats.
He noted that the late Queen Elizabeth II had ceased buying fur for her wardrobe.
Earlier this year, Queen Camilla, wife of King Charles III, pledged to buy no more fur products.
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Tokyo — The samurai in Shogun don’t swing their arms as they walk — just one of many authentic historical details that have helped make the hit television drama this year’s top Emmys contender.
The period drama, praised for its meticulous approach to accuracy, made TV history with 25 Emmy nominations, and has already swept up 14 prizes in minor categories ahead of Sunday’s gala.
Set in early 17th century feudal Japan, Shogun makes a break from decades of cliched and often bungled depictions of the country in Western-made film and television.
An army of experts including several wig technicians from Japan worked behind the scenes to make the series realistic, poring over sets, costumes and the actors’ movements.
Kyoto-based historian Frederik Cryns advised on everything from the types of kimonos to the position of tatami mats.
“My comments were compiled, and to my surprise, became a 2,100-page manual” that was followed almost to the letter, Cryns — a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies — told AFP.
Cryns said he had often felt a “sense of discomfort” when watching Japan-themed Hollywood movies because of their inaccuracy.
But Shogun — made by Disney-owned FX and co-produced by Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, who also stars in the series — is the most realistic production of its kind, according to Cryns.
“Honestly, tears welled up in my eyes after watching the show” for the first time, he said.
‘Independent’ women
Shogun, which means “general” in Japanese, was adapted from a popular novel by James Clavell, and filmed in Canada.
Some characters are inspired by real historical figures, including the protagonist Lord Toranaga (Sanada), who is based on Japan’s famous warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In the show, Toranaga fights for his life against his enemies with his allies, British sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and noblewoman Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai).
In one scene, instead of a regular sword, Mariko wields a naginata — a long pole with a curved blade on one end, used by women in Japanese warrior families.
“Women in medieval Japan were independent,” said Cryns, who recommended that weapon be used.
“Samurai went into battle, of course, but women would also fight with naginata when they had to protect their castle.”
As a movement supervisor, Japanese dancer and kabuki actor Hannojo trained some of the show’s main actors in Japan for three months.
He was also in Vancouver during filming to advise on “shosa” — stylized movements from kabuki, a traditional Japanese form of theatre.
“There are correct ways to walk, sit and stand in a kimono, but it’s difficult for young actors” who don’t have regular experience wearing such outfits, Hannojo said.
“For example, samurai don’t swing their arms when walking. They glide without moving the upper body.”
Some of the cast struggled with more graceful motions, such as when noblewomen would stand up straight from the floor without crouching, he said.
“It looks beautiful” and “Japanese people used to have muscles for that — but not anymore, because we sit on chairs!” he quipped.
‘120%’
Japanese is spoken in 70% of Shogun — a choice producer Eriko Miyagawa described as “groundbreaking.”
Even though most people might not notice, the crew strove to make even the props authentic because they “wanted to do 120 %,” she said.
For example, the writing on the scrolls was done by a Vancouver-based Japanese calligrapher using the handwriting of the historical figures on whom the characters are based.
Commitment to authenticity “came from the very top” within FX, according to Miyagawa.
“They chose Justin Marks (as showrunner) … who has an insatiable curiosity and respect for Japanese culture,” she said.
“They brought Hiroyuki Sanada and myself on as producers from the beginning,” she added. “That’s a big deal.”
FX is now working to develop more seasons of Shogun — but not everything in the first instalment is true to life.
Unlike the other samurai, Toranaga’s hair was not shaved in the middle — a creative decision made for visual reasons.
Miyagawa, who began her career as a translator for Kill Bill in 2003 and worked as a co-producer for Martin Scorsese’s Silence, said the team “probably couldn’t have pulled off” the series 10 years ago.
A previous TV miniseries adaptation of the novel made in 1980 was centered on Blackthorne’s perspective. And yes, the samurai did swing their arms.
“The world has changed and the market has evolved,” which “paved the way” for the show’s success, said Miyagawa.
“I like to think Shogun pushed this evolution forward.”
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“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” has just been renewed for its 25th season. It is the longest-running prime-time drama on U.S. television. The show’s lead character, Captain Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay, has become such a fixture in American life she was recently honored by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. VOA’s Maxim Adams reports. Videographer: Aleksandr Bergan
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Singapore — Pope Francis wrapped up an arduous 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Friday, defying health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore.
The 87-year-old pontiff flies home to Rome from Singapore, completing his longest trip in duration and distance since he became head of the world’s estimated 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 13 years ago.
The Argentine pope has relied on a wheelchair since 2022 because of knee pain and sciatica. He had a hernia operation in June 2023, and earlier this year he battled flu and bronchitis.
Occasionally, during his four-nation trip, the pope struggled to keep his eyes open when listening to late-night liturgical readings or to remain engaged during formal military parades.
But he was clearly energized by more freewheeling exchanges — cheerfully goading young people to shout out their agreement with his calls to help those in need.
In a lively final inter-religious meeting with young Singaporeans, the pope urged them to respect other beliefs, avoid being slaves to technology and to get out of their comfort zones.
“Don’t let your stomach get fat, but let your head get fat,” the pope said, raising a laugh from his audience.
“I say take risks, go out there,” he said. “A young person that is afraid and does not take risks is an old person.”
The historic tour, initially planned for 2020 but postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, has included 43 hours of flight time and a distance of 32,000 kilometers.
But neither the pace — 16 speeches and up to eight hours of time difference — nor the heat, nor multiple meetings have forced any rescheduling of his international odyssey.
On a trip that took him to the outer edges of the church’s world, the pope delivered a sometimes uncomfortable message for leaders not to forget the poor and marginalized.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority state, he visited the Istiqlal Mosque to deliver a joint message against conflict and climate change.
In sweltering Papua New Guinea, he donned a bird of paradise headdress in a remote, jungle village where he told inhabitants to halt violence and renounce “superstition and magic.”
Addressing political and business leaders, he insisted that the country’s vast natural resources should benefit the entire community — a demand likely to resound in a nation where many believe their riches are being stolen or squandered.
And in staunchly Roman Catholic East Timor, he addressed nearly half the population, drawing about 600,000 rapturous believers in the tropical heat to a celebration of mass on the island’s coast.
Francis addressed East Timor’s leaders, hailing a new era of “peace” since independence in 2002.
But he also called on them to do more to prevent abuse against young people, in a nod to recent Catholic Church child abuse scandals.
In the affluent city-state of Singapore, the pope called for “special attention” to be paid to protecting the dignity of migrant workers.
“These workers contribute a great deal to society and should be guaranteed a fair wage,” he said.
There are an estimated 170 million migrant workers around the world. Most live in the Americas, Europe or Central Asia.
But the Argentine pope was otherwise full of praise for the “entrepreneurial spirit” and dynamism that built a “mass of ultra-modern skyscrapers that seem to rise from the sea” in his final destination.
Sandra Ross, 55, a church administrator in Singapore, said she was still “feeling the warmth and joy” after attending mass led by the pope.
“I was deeply touched by Pope Francis’ courage and dedication to his mission, despite his health challenges. His spirit and enthusiasm are truly inspiring,” she said.
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Havana, Cuba — Socialist Cuba, the birthplace of salsa and other rhythms that have conquered the world, is now surrendering to the invasion of South Korean pop music.
Thirteen thousand kilometers of distance separate the Asian nation and the communist-run island, as well as a different language and cultural traditions. However, all of these barriers would seem to vanish in a split second thanks to K-pop’s infectious beat and elaborate choreography.
Korean popular music, or K-pop, has spread far and wide from its Asian roots as boy bands like BTS and NCT and their female counterpart Blackpink rival Taylor Swift for downloads and album sales globally.
But it was slow to catch on in Cuba, where salsa is king and internet speeds were glacial until recently.
On Saturday, far from Seoul, dozens of teenagers clad in plaid, prep school skirts, baggy bomber pants and heavy black eyeliner busted their best moves as images of the genre’s idols were projected on a large screen of a Havana dance club.
“K-pop has opened a new world to me,” said 24-year-old Fransico Piedra, who when not working with his father as a blacksmith dreams up meticulous dance steps. Known by his artistic name Ken he one day aspires to be a professional K-pop choreographer. “It’s a place where I can be myself, and share with friends the joy of laughter, song and dance.”
Many of the teenagers hope to follow in the footsteps of two Cuban groups — Limitless and LTX — that before the pandemic traveled to South Korea to partake in the K-POP World Festival, an annual talent competition.
K-pop — a catch all for musical styles ranging from R&B to rock — first penetrated the island when Cubans fell in love with South Korean soap operas about a decade ago. As internet speeds improved, and government controls eased, more young Cubans got online and started streaming videos like teenagers everywhere.
While Cuban kids may be mesmerized by K-pop, an older generation of leaders have had frostier ties to South Korea. The two countries only restored diplomatic relations that were severed following the 1959 Cuban revolution this year and have yet to exchange ambassadors.
Meanwhile, Cuba remains a staunch ally of North Korea, which views K-pop as a dangerous form of propaganda from a capitalist enemy with whom is has been locked in a military standoff since the 1950s.
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MIP Africa — an event that matches African film and TV creatives to the people and countries that produce their work, wrapped up last week [Sept. 4] with several signed deals. Industry members and legislators from film meccas worldwide attended the event, part of the larger Fame Week Africa conference for creative professionals. Reporter Vicky Stark has the story from Cape Town, South Africa.
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Beirut — At a shop nestled in a busy, crowded Beirut district, Hasan El-Makary is weighing out containers of warm, fragrant mufataka, a traditional sweet in the Lebanese capital that is rarely found in stores.
“I’ve been in this shop for 50 years, but we started specializing in mufataka 30 years ago,” Makary said from the humble shop with its aging decor and low ceiling.
A kind of rice pudding made with turmeric, tahini sesame paste, sugar and pine nuts, mufataka is traditional in Beirut but less known even outside the city.
Makary, 73, said he used to sell other sweets but as demand grew for mufataka, he abandoned the rest and now he and his cousin – who is also his business partner – just make the yellow pudding.
“At the beginning you add turmeric, that’s the main thing, then tahini, sugar and rice … we cook it slowly on fire,” he said.
The rice must be soaked overnight, and Makary said he comes to the shop at 5:00 a.m. to make the dish, which takes around four hours and requires regular stirring.
He said his father started making mufataka despite initially believing people would not pay money for a dish that is normally prepared at home.
Plastic containers of the pudding, which is eaten with a spoon, dotted trays and tables across the shop, waiting for customers who peered through a window to place their order from the busy street outside.
Customer Iman Chehab, 55, was picking up mufataka for her mother, who used to make it herself.
“She is elderly now and she can’t stir … it takes a lot of work,” said Chehab, who works in human resources management.
The dish is “something traditional for us who are from Beirut,” she told AFP.
Places like Makary’s shop “are the old face of Beirut that we love and always want to remember,” she added.
‘Heritage’
A few bustling neighborhoods away, Samir Makari, 35, is carrying on the family tradition.
At a gleaming shop also selling Arabic sweets like baklava, Makari attends to a huge copper pot of mufataka behind the counter, stirring it with a long, wooden-handled implement.
He weighs out and mixes the sugar, tahini paste and pine nuts in a second pot, later combining it all.
Mufataka used to be made just once a year on the last Wednesday in April, with families gathering by the sea at Beirut’s public beach, father and son said.
The occasion was “Job’s Wednesday,” a reference to the biblical figure also mentioned in the Koran and who is renowned for his patience, the younger Makari said, noting the virtue is also required for making mufataka.
On the wall of his shop, which he runs with his brother, were photos of his father and his grandfather at work.
He said he sometimes makes mufataka twice a day depending on demand, with some customers taking it outside Beirut to introduce it to those who do not know the dish.
At the original store, the elder Makary said he was happy his children had kept up the tradition.
Mufataka is part of “my heritage,” he said, and the family has “taken it from generation to generation.”
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NEW YORK — Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka beat American sixth seed Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in the U.S. Open women’s final on Saturday.
Sabalenka blocked out the wild cheers of the home crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium to break Pegula in the final game and win her first title at Flushing Meadows.
A year after coming up short in the final, the second seed fought back from a break down in both sets to claim victory and fell to the court in her moment of triumph.
The 30-year-old Pegula had waited a long time to reach her first major final but could not match her opponent’s raw power despite the noisy backing of the New York crowd.
The roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium was closed because of heavy rain, and the players traded breaks twice as they settled into the stormy affair in front of a celebrity-packed house.
Sabalenka held her serve through a four-deuce 11th game and fought through a spine-tingling 12th, mixing precision at the net with her usual power from the baseline before breaking her opponent on the fifth set point.
Pegula struggled with her rackets throughout the match, complaining to her coaches as she seemed unable to find the right tension on her strings, and it looked as though she would not put up a fight in the second set when Sabalenka went 3-0 up.
But the American found another level and brought the fans to their feet when she won the next five games in a furious fight back.
Sabalenka leveled when she sent over a forehand winner that just kissed the line on break point in the 10th game and sought to bring a swift end to the contest, holding serve and then applying pressure from the baseline in the final game.
The tears flowed immediately for Sabalenka as she claimed her third Grand Slam title after winning the Australian Open twice, and she high-fived fans as she ran up the stands to share a joyful celebration with her team.
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VENICE, ITALY — Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s first English-language movie “The Room Next Door,” which tackles the hefty themes of euthanasia and climate change, won the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.
Starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, the film received an 18-minute standing ovation when it premiered at Venice earlier in the week — one of the longest in recent memory.
Almodovar is a darling of the festival circuit and was awarded a lifetime achievement award at Venice in 2019 for his bold, irreverent and often funny Spanish-language features.
He also won an Oscar in the best foreign language category for his 1999 film “All About My Mother.”
Now aged 74, he has decided to try his hand at English, focusing his lens on questions of life, death and friendship. Speaking after collecting his prize, he said euthanasia should not be blocked by politics or religion.
“I believe that saying goodbye to this world cleanly and with dignity is a fundamental right of every human being,” he said, speaking in Spanish.
He also thanked his two female stars for their performances.
“This award really belongs to them, it’s a film about two women and the two women are Julianne and Tilda,” he said.
While “The Room Next Door” had been widely tipped to win, the runner-up Silver Lion award was a surprise, going to Italian director Maura Delpero for her slow-paced drama set in the Italian Alps during World War Two — “Vermiglio.”
Australia’s Nicole Kidman won the best actress award for her risqué role in the erotic “Babygirl,” where she plays a hard-nosed CEO, who jeopardizes both her career and her family by having a toxic affair with a young, manipulative intern.
Kidman was in Venice on Saturday, but did not attend the awards ceremony after learning that her mother had died unexpectedly.
France’s Vincent Lindon was named best actor for “The Quiet Son,” a topical, French-language drama about a family torn apart by extreme-right radicalism.
Road to Oscars
The best director award went to American Brady Corbet for his 3-1/2 hour-long movie “The Brutalist,” which was shot on 70mm celluloid and recounts the epic tale of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor played by Adrien Brody, who seeks to rebuild his life in the United States.
“We have the power to support each other and tell the Goliath corporations that try and push us around: ‘No, it’s three-and-a-half hours long and it’s on 70mm,” he told the auditorium Saturday.
The festival marks the start of the awards season and regularly throws up big favorites for the Oscars, with eight of the past 12 best director awards at the Oscars going to films that debuted at Venice.
The prize for best screenplay went to Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega for “I’m Still Here,” a film about Brazil’s military dictatorship, while the special jury award went to the abortion drama “April,” by Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili.
Among the movies that left Venice’s Lido island empty-handed were Todd Phillips’s “Joker: Folie à Deux,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, the sequel to his original “The Joker” which claimed the top prize here in 2019.
Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” with Daniel Craig playing a gay drug addict, and Pablo Larrain’s Maria Callas biopic “Maria,” starring Angelina Jolie as the celebrated Greek soprano, also won plaudits from the critics but did not get any awards.
The Venice jury this year was headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert.
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Six years after Jifeng Bookstore was forced to close its doors in Shanghai, the shop has reopened in Washington to bring debate and literature to a new audience. Liam Scott has the story for VOA News. Videographer: Yi Ruokun
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RIO DE JANEIRO — Sergio Mendes, the celebrated Brazilian musician whose 1966 hit “Mas Que Nada” made him a global superstar and helped launch a long, Grammy-winning career, has died after months battling the effects of long COVID. He was 83.
The death Thursday of the Brazilian pianist, songwriter and arranger was confirmed in a statement by his family.
“His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his loving children,” the statement said Friday. “Mendes last performed in November 2023 to sold out and wildly enthusiastic houses in Paris, London and Barcelona.”
Mendes was born in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro’s sister city, and studied classical music at a conservatory before joining jazz groups. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he began playing Bossa Nova as the genre was heating up in Rio’s nightclub scene with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto and others.
In 1962, they traveled to New York for a Bossa Nova festival at Carnegie Hall. During the trip, Cannonball Adderley invited Mendes to collaborate on the album “Cannonball Adderley and The Bossa Rio Sextet,” leading to his first American record, “The Swinger from Rio,” after signing with Atlantic Records.
Two years later, Mendes moved to California and formed Brazil ’64, which evolved into Brazil ’66 after he added two female vocalists. The group’s debut album, produced by Herb Alpert, featured “Mas Que Nada.” Sung entirely in Portuguese, “Mas Que Nada” was a mid-tempo Samba number originally released in 1963 by composer Jorge Ben Sor and updated three years later by Mendes, who had been playing the song in clubs and gave it a jazzier, more hard-hitting feel.
“I put a band together called Brasil ’66,” he told The Guardian in 2019. “I’d always had instrumental groups, but when I added the two female singers — Lani Hall and Bibi Vogel — it made a different kind of sound. We recorded the song in Los Angeles, with me, the drums, bass and guitar all performing live.”
Mendes’ version was a worldwide hit that helped perpetuate the Brazilian music boom of the 1960s. In 2006, a modern version of the song topped U.S. charts, as performed by the Black Eyed Peas. It was included in his album “Timeless,” produced by will.i.am and also featuring Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake and John Legend, among others.
“Sergio Mendes was my brother from another country,” trumpet player Alpert wrote on Facebook, along with a photo from decades ago, sitting next to Mendes at the piano. “He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance.”
Mendes’ other hits were an eclectic blend ranging from covers of the Beatles’ “The Fool on the Hill” and “With a Little Help from My Friends,” to his own Brazilian chant, “Magalenha.” Mendes also composed the soundtrack for the film “Pele,” featuring saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, and even produced an album recorded by the great Brazilian soccer player.
Mendes won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for “Brasileiro” and two Latin Grammy Awards. He also received an Oscar nomination in 2012 for Best Original Song for “Real in Rio,” from the animated film “Rio.”
“Brazilian soul was there,” pianist, singer, and songwriter Marcos Valle told GloboNews about Mendes’ music. Valle also noted that it was Mendes who helped open doors for other Brazilian artists of his generation, including himself, to reach foreign audiences.
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Music cassette tapes are making a comeback in the U.S, with more than 430,000 sold in 2023 – about five times the number sold just a decade ago. Cassette tapes are especially popular with younger generations who grew up with digital music. Karina Bafradzhian has the story. Videographer: Sergii Dogotar
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LONDON — Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein won’t face charges of indecent assault in Britain, prosecutors announced on Thursday.
The Crown Prosecution Service, which in 2022 authorized two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein, said it decided to discontinue proceedings because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.”
“We have explained our decision to all parties,” the CPS said in a statement. ”We would always encourage any potential victims of sexual assault to come forward and report to police, and we will prosecute wherever our legal test is met.”
Weinstein became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement in 2017 when women began to go public with accounts of his behavior. After the revelations emerged, British police said they were investigating multiple allegations of sexual assault that reportedly took place between the 1980s and 2015.
In June 2022, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to file two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein in relation to an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.
Unlike many other countries, Britain does not have a statute of limitations for rape or sexual assault.
Weinstein, who has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone, remains in custody in New York while awaiting retrial in Manhattan, prosecutors said in August.
After the retrial, he is due to start serving a 16-year sentence in California for a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles, authorities said. Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 while already serving a 23-year sentence in New York.
His 2020 conviction in Manhattan was thrown out earlier this year when the state’s top court ruled that the judge in the original trial unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Weinstein, the co-founder of the Miramax entertainment company and The Weinstein Company film studio, was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, having produced films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “The Crying Game.”
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When people think about the US state of Texas, they often think of cowboys in big hats and pointy-toed boots. But Texas is more than that. A study found that its biggest city, Houston, is the most diverse large city in the US. This is reflected in the immigrants and the many cuisines and cultures they brought with them to Texas. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports.
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SEOUL, South Korea — An Apple TV+ documentary series, “K-pop Idols,” premiering Friday, offers an intimate look at how the K-pop industry is embracing diversity while grappling with challenges in a field that demands perfection.
The six-part series features Korean American star Jessi and up-and-coming K-pop bands like Cravity and Blackswan, documenting the highs and lows of their careers.
K-pop is known for its blend of vocals with precise choreography.
Blackswan members Fatou and Nvee told The Associated Press they practice up to 10 hours daily, including choreography and vocal sessions before the “comeback” season which refers to a string of events to promote their latest songs.
The grueling practice starts early.
Once under contract, K-pop trainees enter a system that includes classes in manners, language, dance, and choreography. As of 2022, there were 752 K-pop trainees under entertainment labels, according to a Korea Creative Content Agency report.
Despite recent pushback against the perennial “dark side of K-pop” narrative, the documentary shows that some industry problems persist.
Former Blackswan member Youngheun said members had a curfew and were not allowed to drink or date. “We even had to report when we were getting our nails done and going to the convenience store in front of our house,” she shared in the documentary.
Rigid control extends to diet.
Blackswan member Gabi is seen eating a meal of egg, chicken breast and what resembles sweet potato sticks during her trainee period. “I am dieting because Mr. Yoon [the label’s head] told me I need to lose weight,” Gabi said.
The pressure applies to boy bands, too.
Cravity member Wonjin shared that he was given two weeks to lose weight to join the label. “I would eat like one egg a day […] I lost about 7kg,” he said in the documentary.
Bradley Cramp, one of executive producers of the documentary, noted that such restrictions exist in other competitive industries as well.
“I honestly don’t know one idol or elite sports athlete or entertainer that doesn’t deal with the issue of diet and self-image and mental health to some degree or another,” he told The Associated Press.
The documentary also touches on K-pop’s new challenge: embracing diversity.
Following BTS’ international success, K-pop labels have been actively recruiting foreign talents, which sometimes brings unfamiliar challenges.
In the documentary, Yoon Deung Ryong, the founder of Blackswan’s label DR Music, struggles to settle internal conflicts among members, which later escalated to online clashes between fans.
“If the company says, ‘don’t fight,’ they won’t fight,” he said, referring to traditional K-pop groups. He added that he can’t control a “multinational group” the same way because of language and cultural differences. There are currently no Korean members in Blackswan after member changes.
With K-pop’s global expansion, fundamental questions remain about the essence of K-pop.
“In a K-pop group, if there are no Korean members, I feel like it’s just a K-pop cover group, isn’t it?” Blackswan’s former Korean member Youngheun said in the documentary.
However, Cravity’s Hyeongjun disagrees. “If foreigners come to Korea and sing in other languages, I am not sure if I can call that K-pop, but since they [Blackswan members] are active in Korea and use Korean, they are K-pop.”
Cramp said social media has impacted K-pop’s ecosystem in various ways, including creating a “symbiotic relationship” between K-pop stars and fans, and forcing stars to live their lives “under a microscope.”
“There’s a desire to be real. But on the other hand, you have to obviously keep certain things kind of out of the public spotlight,” he told the AP. “You want to be famous, but yet at the same time, you still want your privacy and you want to be able to go and have dinner with your friends and have a good time and not be filmed doing it.”
“K-Pop Idols” is now available on Apple TV+.
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