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Facebook Tweet Email Link Anchorage, Alaska AP  —  An Alaska man might have walked away as the biggest winner of last week’s high stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage. He rode off with a new motorcycle, courtesy of the Russian government. Putin’s delegation gifted Mark Warren, a retired fire inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage, a Ural Gear Up motorcycle with a sidecar, one week after a television crew’s interview with Warren went viral in Russia. The motorcycle company, founded in 1941 in western Siberia, now assembles its bikes in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan,…

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A flotilla of hundreds of historic ships was heading into Amsterdam on Wednesday, kicking off a five-day festival celebrating the Dutch capital’s maritime history.Vessels from all over the world, their masts and rigging decorated with flags, left the North Sea coastal town of Ijmuiden to begin their hours-long journey up the North Sea Canal and into Amsterdam’s Ij waterway for SAIL 2025, the first edition in a decade.A puff of orange smoke erupted into the sky and ships’ horns sounded as the replica three-masted clipper Stad Amsterdam passed through a lock to mark the official start of…

VIENNA (AP) — The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place in Vienna.Austria’s public broadcaster ORF, which will organize the world’s largest live music event, announced the location Wednesday morning.Following Austrian singer JJ’s victory with “Wasted Love” in Basel this spring, the music competition will be held in May 2026 at the Wiener Stadthalle. “After thorough examination and based on a unanimous jury assessment, ORF has concluded that Vienna’s bid is the most attractive not only in terms of infrastructure and logistics, but also economically,” ORF Director General Roland Weissmann said.Innsbruck also applied to host the event. It will be…

A Florida judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed against embattled HR and payroll provider Deel. And while Deel described this as a “Rippling-aligned” and “Rippling-supported” lawsuit, this is not the infamous lawsuit filed by its rival earlier this year that involved an alleged corporate spy. Rippling CEO Parker Conrad even went so far as to write “This litigation has nothing to do with Rippling, we are not a party to it, did not fund it,” in a tweet. (Rippling representatives declined further comment.) Still, this is some good news for Deel. In January, a lawsuit was filed in Florida…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Agreement at the White House Monday on the next step – a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – seemed broadly unanimous. Then came the Russian response. “The idea was discussed that it would be appropriate to study the opportunity of raising the level of representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian sides,” said Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, briefing reporters on US President Donald Trump’s call with Putin. No mention of either leader by name, or any indication the “representatives” could be raised to that level. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov…

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Drumming, dancing, and bright lights. Pakistan’s centuries-old tradition of honoring Sufi saints comes alive during annual festivals known as Urs.In the eastern city of Lahore, as many as one million people pour into a shrine complex that is the final resting place of Hazrat Ali Hajveri, known as Data Ganj Bakhsh or simply Data Sahib, for a three-day celebration of his life.Processions arrive in Lahore from across Pakistan, with devotees reciting Quranic verses and offering ceremonial cloths at Ali Hajveri’s grave. Some perform a dhamaal — a ritual dance accompanied by drumming. They spin around until…

Facebook Tweet Email Link AP  —  A Yosemite National Park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan while some visitors face potential prosecution for alleged violations of protest restrictions that have been tightened under President Donald Trump. Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66-foot wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park’s main thoroughfare for about two hours on May 20 before taking it down voluntarily. A termination letter they received last week accused Joslin of “failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct”…

The U.K has dropped its demand for special access to Apple’s cloud systems, or a “backdoor,” following negotiations with the Trump administration, according to U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard.  “As a result, the U.K. has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties,” Gabbard wrote in a post on X. She also claimed that she worked along President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the negotiations. Over the past few months, I’ve been working…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Paju, South Korea  —  Captured during the Korean War and imprisoned for decades for refusing to renounce his political beliefs, 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop now has a single dying wish: to return to North Korea and be buried alongside his comrades. Ahn has spent most of his life resisting what he calls the American “occupation” of South Korea – first as a soldier in the North Korean army, and later as a dissident in the country that captured him. His refusal to renounce his unwavering support for North Korea condemned Ahn to more than four decades behind…

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — At a recent opening of the newest Rastafari place of worship just outside Kenya’s capital, some of the faithful gathered to sing rhythmic songs, read Scripture and exchange teachings on the appropriate way to live. The rare event — opening a tabernacle made of wooden poles and roofed with iron sheets — illustrated the community’s expanding ranks in a country where until recently Rastafari was not considered a legitimate religion.Things changed in 2019 with a court ruling in favor of a petitioner who cited discrimination when her school demanded that she cut her dreadlocks, often preferred…