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LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg will abdicate the throne after 25 years Friday in favor of his eldest son, Guillaume, who will become head of state of the tiny duchy at the heart of Europe.The 70-year-old current monarch will abdicate in a ceremony at the Grand Ducal Palace, built of yellow stone and decorated with spires and ironwork. Then Guillaume, 43, will be crowned and swear an oath to Luxembourg’s constitution before the 60 elected members of the Chamber of Deputies, the duchy’s parliament.The new grand duke will greet the public from a balcony overlooking a central…
NEW YORK (AP) — The curtain has been drawn. The stage lights are on. It’s time for “The Life of a Showgirl.”For Taylor Swift’s most dedicated audience, a new album means new opportunities to decode Easter eggs in her lyrics and music videos. The pop superstar’s 12th studio album has no shortage of clever clues and references to her public life and discography. Many are opaque, revealing just enough to inspire a myriad of fan theories. Others are concrete – explicit names and places worth exploring. Below, you will find a guide to those instances, and how they relate to…
Offshore crypto platforms with billions of dollars in assets are in the Indian government’s crosshairs, as the government’s financial watchdog moves against 25 exchanges for failing to register and comply with anti-money laundering obligations. The Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND) issued notices to 25 crypto exchanges — including BingX, LBank, CoinW, ProBit Global, BTCC, AscendEX, Zoomex, CEX.IO, and Poloniex — for failing to comply with the country’s anti-money laundering rules, the Indian finance ministry said on Wednesday. The regulator also ordered the platforms to withdraw their apps and websites from public access in India. However, most remained accessible as of…
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Nikos Chatzilias spends his days tending to buzzing bee colonies with a unique view out over the rooftops of Greece’s capital. He is among the dozens of Athenians who have embraced urban beekeeping to support local ecosystems, reconnect with nature and enjoy honey flavored by each neighborhood’s local plants and flowers. Chatzilias, 37, was a heavy honey consumer, eating it with bread and tea for breakfast and using it to replace sugar everywhere else, including in cookies and other sweets. He grew dissatisfied with run-of-the-mill product and decided to make his own, signing up for beekeeping…
Sequoia-backed AI design startup Visual Electric said that it is joining search startup Perplexity today. The company noted on its site that the team would be joining a new Agent Experiences group at Perplexity. Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity’s CEO, confirmed the acquisition with a post on X. Deal terms were not disclosed. The startup said that as part of the transition, it will shut down Visual Electric as a product in 90 days. It added that users will be able to export their data, and subscribers will get prorated refunds. Visual Electric was founded in 2022 by Colin Dunn, a former…
Who is Taylor Swift’s heir apparent? Her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” offers an answer. It’s Taylor Swift. Her last album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” ended with the cautionary “Clara Bow,” an allegory that seemed to suggest her tenure atop the cultural mainstream was inherited from stars of the past, like the namechecked Stevie Nicks — and that a new generation of younger, elastic female pop performers could soon take her place. In 2025, there are many to choose from: Consider Chappell Roan’s full-throated theatrics, Olivia Rodrigo’s fiery punk-pop feminism, Sabrina Carpenter’s cheeky sexuality. In the knotty themes…
Spacecoin says it reached a new milestone in its quest to build a decentralized communications backbone that could one day rival SpaceX’s Starlink. The company said this week that it successfully transmitted secured data via its first demonstration satellite, validating the spacecraft’s ability to execute encrypted transactions in orbit. The blockchain transaction, beamed from Chile to Portugal, served as a proof-of-concept for moving cryptographic signatures and encrypted data through space. “Can we send cryptographic signatures to space intact? Without it, we cannot build a decentralized network of communications satellites and fulfill the vision of building permissionless connectivity,” Spacecoin founder Tae…
Norwegian Cruise Line has announced plans to cancel months’ worth of sailings aboard four ships in 2026 and 2027.According to USA Today, Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Dawn will swap homeports in Florida between November 2026 and March 2027, resulting in “modified and enhanced itineraries” that will feature more stops at NCL’s revamped private island destination in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay. “Norwegian Gem will sail Caribbean and Bahamas cruises from Tampa, Florida, ranging from four to 11-day itineraries offering a wider variety of options for guests,” NCL said in a statement to USA Today, also confirming that “Norwegian Dawn will…
Ticktock! The Founder and Investor Bundle sale for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 ends tomorrow, October 3, at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, founders will no longer be able to register in bulk at a discount, and investors will drop back to the standard 15% savings. Don’t miss your chance to save more and supercharge your Disrupt experience as a community. Disrupt is the startup launchpad for founders and investors alike Disrupt 2025 will unite 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders from across the globe. It’s the ultimate launchpad for startups at every stage, where investors spot the next big opportunity first,…
OpenAI has sold $6.6 billion in shares held by current and former employees, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The sale pushed OpenAI’s total valuation to $500 billion, the highest ever achieved by a privately held company. Purchasers included SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX, and T. Rowe Price, the report said. The sale was not a conventional funding round, as the cash went to individuals holding shares or options in OpenAI rather than the company’s own coffers. Still, it’s a powerful retention tool for the company, which has faced significant pressure from Meta’s newly revitalized AI lab.…