National Lifestyle

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A contrast: At the National Speech and Debate Tournament, two high school students take the stage.

It’s a rite of passage for all comedians: Work like crazy on the stand-up circuit, hit it big, record live specials for a streaming platform, and then write a book that can never quite measure up to your live act.

Best-selling author Isabel Allende has been beloved for decades by millions of passionately loyal readers for her strong female protagonists and epic story lines stretching across the Americas.

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors. The Associated Press

For Americans planning cruise ship vacations this spring or summer, there could be reason to worry about more than rough seas, experts say. Recent government cuts included top staff at the Vessel Sanitation Program, which is run by the U.S.

While cutting together scenes for the new series “Forever,” Mara Brock Akil, who has created shows like “Girlfriends,” “Being Mary Jane,” and “The Game,” recalls asking her video editor to pause for a moment. Was there a problem? No.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 11-17: May 11: Singer Eric Burdon (The Animals, War) is 84. Actor Pam Ferris (“Call the Midwife”) is 77. Actor Shohreh Aghdashloo (“24″) is 73. Actor Frances Fisher (“Resurrection,” ″Titanic”) is 73.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — For more than a decade, passengers at New Zealand ’s Wellington Airport have boarded flights below the figures of two giant, hovering eagles from the Hobbit films, one bearing a bellowing wizard Gandalf.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A bloody civil war and the tragic death by suicide of an ousted president served as inspiration for Isabel Allende's new novel, “My Name is Emilia del Valle.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — At the National Speech and Debate Tournament, two high school students take the stage.