RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - A cloud of uncertainty that has hung over Rio de Janeiro throughout the coronavirus pandemic has been lifted, but gloom remains - the annual Carnival parade of flamboyant samba schools won’t be held in February. And while the decision is being characterized as a postponement ...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Rio de Janeiro delayed its annual Carnival parade, saying Thursday night that the global spectacle cannot go ahead in February because of Brazil’s continued vulnerability to the pandemic. Rio’s League of Samba Schools, LIESA, announced that the spread of the coronavirus has made it impossible ...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to exempt the country’s largest national forest from a ban on timber harvests and road building in roadless areas, a move conservation groups denounced Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, under which the Forest Service falls, announced Thursday the upcoming ...

COPPER CENTER, Alaska (AP) - The hunter killed by a grizzly bear last weekend in a remote part of Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve was identified Thursday by park officials as a 22-year-old man from Ohio. The death of Austin Pfeiffer late Sunday was the first recorded fatal ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Items from the personal collection of Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully sold at auction for over $2 million, including World Series rings from the Dodgers' championships in 1955 and 1988. Each ring sold for $188,000 during online bidding that ended Wednesday, according to David Hunt, ...

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The Nevada Press Association released its complete list of 2020 award winners on Thursday and recognized the Las Vegas Review-Journal for its general excellence award in its urban category. Its reporter Arthur Kane and photographer L.E. Baskow were named the outstanding journalists and visual journalists ...

Whether opulent or minimalist in style, the houses that Jana Sophia Nolle photographs are displays of wealth. Plush rugs cover hardwood, hardback editions line built-in bookshelves, and tall windows reach from floor to ceiling. Even the stark rooms with few sculptures and seats signify a choice, rather than a necessity, and demonstrate the ability to furnish a room with just significant objects. Within these residences, though, Nolle reconstructs a contrasting shelter to illuminate a growing disparity. More

COPPER CENTER, Alaska (AP) - The hunter killed by a grizzly bear last weekend in a remote part of Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve was identified Thursday by park officials as a 22-year-old man from Ohio. The death of Austin Pfeiffer late Sunday was the first recorded fatal ...

When Victoria Villasana (previously) lays a long stitch on a vintage photograph, she’s connecting the pattern or geometric shape to a piece of history, culture, or philosophy. The Mexican artist transforms found black-and-white images of cultural icons and historical figures through vibrant embroideries. Turquoise fibers radiate from Nelson Mandela’s fist, a gold, chevron collar lines Chadwick Boseman’s shirt, and Yayoi Kusma sports a multicolor garment with varying dots and stripes. More

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - German airline Lufthansa says it will test the practice of offering on-the-spot coronavirus tests before boarding intercontinental flights in an attempt to find a way to get long-haul passengers flying again. The airline said Thursday it was working with partners in the pharmaceutical industry to obtain ...

HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) - A financially hurting Hawaii candy maker known for a memorable slogan is trying to shore up its business by offering a deal to vendors as the company faces difficulties because of the coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout. Hawaiian Host Inc. has asked vendors to settle invoices with ...

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - All the paintings, sculptures and other works that grace museums and galleries around the world are the visible tip of a huge art iceberg. Most of the institutions only have space to exhibit a fraction of their collections, meaning the majority of the art is locked ...

Spanish artist Àngela Maria Sierra, who works as Riso Chan, explores the human psyche through subtly layered foliage. “I always imagine that they are someone’s soul, what we don’t see, our nature,” Sierra says of the delicate botanical assemblages that she overlays onto her subjects’ faces and torsos. Each portrait begins with a focus on texture and pattern as the artist paints clusters of twigs and leaves with watercolor. She then scans those botanical elements and uses Procreate to superimpose the figure onto the original piece. More

Exploring our ‘new normal’ with a tender and stoic eye, Ingmar Björn Nolting’s delicate vignettes of daily life take us on a journey around Germany during the Covid-19 crisis.

GLEN JEAN, W.Va. (AP) - Southern West Virginia's hidden history will be highlighted during an event this weekend. The 12th annual Hidden History Weekend runs Friday through Sunday. The National Park Service says the free event is at New River Gorge National River, the National Coal Heritage Area, Hinton Historic ...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Two Australian scholars reportedly banned from China said Thursday they had no intention of traveling there for fear for their personal safety. The Chinese Communist Party’s English-language newspaper Global Times cited unidentified sources in reporting the two had been banned from entering China but did not ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Another mountain lion was found dead Wednesday on a Southern California freeway, prompting autthorities to say it was likely the latest of nearly two dozen cougars who have been struck while trying to cross roads that ring their territory. The mountain lion was found dead on ...

Kevin Love was back on the court in Cleveland. Karl Anthony-Towns got to work in Minnesota and his old coach started to mold his new team in New York. After six months without one, it felt so good for some NBA teams to practice again that even Allen Iverson might've ...

NEW YORK (AP) - Billie Jean King and eight other women of the “Original 9” are celebrating the 50th anniversary of signing $1 contracts and breaking away from the U.S. tennis establishment to form the Virginia Slims circuit in 1970. It helped launch the WTA Tour, which now offers millions ...

An eclectic array of installations recently popped up at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia, transforming the historic neighborhood into a temporary wonderland teeming with quirky characters, large-scale interventions, and optimism. A life-size piñata shaped like a 1984 Thunderbird is parked on 12th Street, cross-stitched roses trail across the brick facade of Building 99, and a typographic message casts shadows on a pavilion in a call for hope. Officially titled Mystery Island and the Marvelous Occurrence of Spontaneous Art, or MIMOSA, the entirely outdoor exhibition includes work from seven artists DAKU (previously), Justin Favela (previously), Kid Hazo with South Fellini, Reed Bmore, Liesbet Bussche, and Raquel Rodrigo (previously). More

HELSINKI (AP) - Finland has deployed coronavirus-sniffing dogs at the Nordic country’s main international airport in a four-month trial of an alternative testing method that could become a cost-friendly and quick way to identify infected travelers. Four dogs of different breeds trained by Finland’s Smell Detection Association started ...

PARIS (AP) - Paris police briefly evacuated the Eiffel Tower and blockaded the surrounding area Wednesday after a phone-in bomb threat. All tourists inside the monument were evacuated after an anonymous caller phoned police Wednesday morning and said a bomb had been placed inside the tower, according to an official ...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Sri Lankan authorities announced Wednesday that they will offer livestreams from the island nation's wildlife parks, in a move to help revive a tourism industry that has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic. The government's Tourism Promotion Bureau said livestreaming will initially cover four national ...

VIENNA (AP) - An Austrian consumer protection group said Wednesday it has filed four civil lawsuits against the country's government for failing to contain a coronavirus outbreak at an Alpine ski resort that has been blamed for thousands of infections worldwide during the early phase of the pandemic. The chairman ...

PARIS (AP) - Paris police have blockaded the area around the Eiffel Tower after a phone-in bomb threat. Police cars and tape surrounded the streets below the tower and the bridge stretching across the Seine River to Trocadero Plaza. Some tourists were still walking in the area, but it was ...