Voice of America Arts & Entertainment

1. Cookie masters create gingerbread versions of New York icons

   Making decorative gingerbread houses is a Christmas tradition in several countries. A New York City museum has gone a step further by using the humble holiday cookie to construct a stunning tribute to the Big Apple. Aron Ranen has the story.

2. Arthur Frommer, travel guide innovator, has died at 95

   NEW YORK — Arthur Frommer, whose "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" guidebooks revolutionized leisure travel by convincing average Americans to take budget vacations abroad, has died. He was 95. Frommer died from complications of pneumonia, his daughter Pauline Frommer said Monday. "My father opened up the world to so many people," she said. "He believed deeply that travel could be an enlightening...

3. Teenage Buddhist lama marks last birthday in US before joining monastery in Himalayas

   ISANTI, Minn. — The young Buddhist lama sat on a throne near an altar decorated with flowers, fruits and golden statues of the Buddha, watching the celebrations of his 18th birthday in silence, with a faint smile.  Jalue Dorje knew it would be the last big party before he joins a monastery in the Himalayan foothills -- thousands of kilometers from his home in a Minneapolis suburb, where he...

4. Dwayne Johnson's $200 million-plus Christmas pic opens to $34.1 million

   Los Angeles — Moviegoers were not exactly feeling the Christmas spirit this weekend, or at least not based on their attendance at "Red One" showings.  The big budget, star-driven action comedy with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans sold $34.1 million in tickets in its first weekend in theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. It easily topped a box office populated mostly by...

5. Cultural experts urge UN to shield war-torn Lebanon's heritage 

   Beirut — Hundreds of cultural professionals, including archeologists and academics, called on the United Nations to safeguard war-torn Lebanon's heritage in a petition published Sunday ahead of a crucial UNESCO meeting. Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south — both strongholds of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah — hit close to ancient Roman...

6. Spy satellite images leads to the site of a historic battle in Iraq

   BEIRUT — Declassified 1970s-era U.S. spy satellite imagery has led a British-Iraqi archeological team to what they believe is the site of a seventh-century battle that became decisive in the spread of Islam throughout the region. The Battle of al-Qadisiyah was fought in Mesopotamia — in present-day Iraq — in the A.D. 630s between Arab Muslims and the army of the Sassanid Persian dynasty during...

7. Thailand's baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng now has an official song in 4 languages

   BANGKOK — In case you can't get enough of the little pygmy hippo Moo Deng from Thailand, there's now an official song featuring the internet's favorite baby animal — released in four languages for her global fans. The upbeat 50-second song Moodeng Moodeng, available in Thai, English, Chinese and Japanese versions, features simple lyrics like "Moo Deng Moo Deng, boing boing boing/ Mommy Mommy,...

8. Bela Karolyi, controversial Olympic gymnasts coach, dies at 82

   Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power in the sport, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given. Karolyi and wife, Martha, trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and...

9. Jake Paul beats boxing legend Mike Tyson

   ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Jake Paul beat boxing legend Mike Tyson by unanimous decision to win an intergenerational heavyweight battle in Texas on Friday that failed to live up to its enormous hype. The bout between the 27-year-old social media influencer-turned-prizefighter Paul and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Tyson was streamed live on Netflix and played out in front of a sold-out...

10. Japan's sake brewers hope UNESCO heritage listing can boost rice wine's appeal

    OME, Japan — Deep in a dark warehouse the sake sleeps, stored in rows of giant tanks, each holding more than 10,000 liters of the Japanese rice wine that is the product of brewing techniques dating back more than 1,000 years. Junichiro Ozawa, the 18th-generation head of Ozawa Brewery, founded in 1702, hopes sake-brewing will win recognition as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, when the...