Chile Granny Finds Solace, Celebrity in Online Gaming
Voice of America
María Elena Arévalo, 81, plays Free Fire, a popular online video game, at home at her home in Llay-Llay, Valparaiso Region, Chile, on Dec. 19, 2023.
Few players of the online video game Free Fire would know that one of their most ferocious opponents -- a lithe, gun-wielding warrior in a short kimono and fang mask -- is in reality an 81-year-old grandmother from rural Chile.
People move the dead body of a police personnel killed in an attack by militants while guarding polio vaccinators, in Karak of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Dec. 16, 2024.
Flight attendant Dre Zulaica, front left, greets a participant and her guardian during the United Airlines annual "fantasy flight" to a fictional North Pole at Denver International Airport, in Denver, Colorado, Dec. 14, 2024. Flight attendant Kaori Kiguradze welcomes participants during the United Airlines annual "fantasy flight" to a fictional North Pole at Denver International Airport, in Denver, Colorado, Dec. 14, 2024. Participants deplane during the United Airlines annual "fantasy flight" to a fictional North Pole at Denver International Airport, in Denver, Colorado, Dec. 14, 2024.
Olivia DeMattio, outside Simple Coffee in Mendham, New Jersey on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, is one of many New Jersey residents who have seen large drones at night over their houses and businesses.
FILE - A member of a group of hackers uses his computer at the group's office in Dongguan, China, Aug. 4, 2020. Hundreds of thousands of Rhode Island residents' personal and bank information were likely hacked by an international cybercriminal group, said state officials.
FILE - A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken Jan. 6, 2020.
FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2013, photo, various cuts of beef and pork are displayed for sale in the meat department at a discount market in Arlington, Va.
FILE - Members of the Women's March group protest in support of access to abortion medication outside the Federal Courthouse on March 15, 2023, in Amarillo, Texas.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland attend a news conference in Sydney, Dec. 12, 2024.
As tourists discover Finland's Santa Claus Village, some locals call for rules to control the masses
Tourists gather at Santa Claus Village, a winter-themed amusement park perched on the edge of the Arctic Circle, in Rovaniemi, Finland, Dec. 4, 2024.
The U.N. Development Program features the Timbuktoo GreenTech Hub and Africa Centre on its website on Dec. 10, 2024.
FILE - A monarch butterfly flexes its wings in a garden in Marple Township, Pa., on July 11, 2021.