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NEW YORK (AP) — “Happy Gilmore” was born on the range.When Adam Sandler was a kid growing up in New Hampshire, his father was an avid golfer. He’d often take his son along to hit balls at the driving range. But Sandler was uninterested in the sport, and usually got antsy.“Why don’t you bring a friend?” his dad told him. So Sandler took his buddy, Kyle McDonough, a star hockey player who’d later turn professional.“He never played before but he was cracking the ball so far,” Sandler recalls. “So when I started becoming a comedian and me and (Tim) Herlihy…

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) ahead of a roundtable event as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 15, 2025. Ken Cedeno | ReutersThe Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday said it will officially remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from all flu shots distributed in the U.S. – even though there is no evidence of harm from the ingredient. While few jabs still contain thimerosal, the move eliminates a vaccine option for…

PayPal announced Wednesday it has partnered with global wallet companies to create a platform called PayPal World that is designed to make cross-border commerce easier. The platform will allow users to pay others using their local wallets and payment systems. The company said the launch partners include India’s NPCI International Payments Limited, which operates mobile payments framework UPI (Unified Payment Interface); China’s Tenpay Global (Tencent’s payment arm), which operates the Weixin (WeChat) payment ecosystem in the country; PayPal; and Venmo. The company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Latin America’s Mercado Pago, a fintech company that enables card…

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Ozzy Osbourne’s fans had sensed the end was near.At his final show just a few weeks ago, admirers watched the heavy metal icon perform while seated on a black throne and knew it would likely be the last time they saw the lead singer of Black Sabbath. He died Tuesday at age 76.So there was little surprise Wednesday as they made pilgrimages to sites around Birmingham, the city in central England where Osbourne grew up and the band was formed.Outside the Crown Pub, where Black Sabbath played its first gig, Daria DeBuono, 59, and Stephen Voland,…

A Sold sign in front of a home under construction at the Waterways subdivision in Gulf Shores, Alabama, US, on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. Micah Green | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesReal estate experts are weighing in on a potential end to capital gains tax on home sales — as floated by President Donald Trump this week — and whether it could help unlock the housing market.The capital gains tax on homes hasn’t changed in roughly 30 years, but the National Association of Realtors has been pushing for it. They calculate that 15% of current homeowners would be hit with the…

by Sarah Kuta Last updated: 1:50 PM ET, Tue July 22, 2025 Celebrity Cruises has unveiled the identity of the man who will sail its newest ship, Celebrity Xcel.When the ship debuts in November, it will have Kyriakos (Kirk) Matragkas—also known as Captain Kirk—at the helm. Matragkas was born in Piraeus, Greece, and grew up on the water with his father. He later graduated from the world’s oldest marine academy in Hydra.  Matragkas joined Celebrity Cruises in 2000 to help launch the Celebrity Millennium and has been a beloved figure for the brand ever since. When he’s not working, Matragkas likes to read,…

Gupshup, a business messaging startup that began its journey in India over two decades ago and became a unicorn four years ago, has raised a new $60 million round — but is keeping its new valuation under wraps. In 2021, Gupshup raised two funding rounds within four months, securing $340 million from prominent investors, including Tiger Global, Fidelity Management, Think Investments, and Malabar Investments. These rounds — the startup’s first in roughly a decade — valued Gupshup at $1.4 billion. However, Fidelity, which led the round following its unicorn milestone, slashed its internal valuation of the startup at least three…

BOSTON (AP) — In the latest in series of Trump administration inquiries targeting Harvard University, the State Department said Wednesday it is investigating whether the Ivy League school will remain part of a government program that provides American visas for students and researchers from other countries.Harvard has faced mounting sanctions and scrutiny from Washington since rejecting demands from a federal antisemitism task force in April. Harvard has filed a lawsuit challenging $2.6 billion in federal cuts and has accused the Republican administration of waging a retaliation campaign. The statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not say why his…

CNN  —  Ukraine has seen the first major anti-government protests since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion over three years ago, as a move by President Volodymyr Zelensky to curb anti-corruption agencies sparked fury across the nation. Defiant crowds gathered in the capital Kyiv on Tuesday, as well as Lviv in the west, with smaller groups gathering in Dnipro in the east and Odesa in the south, after Ukraine’s Parliament — the Verkhovna Rada — approved a bill that grants oversight of two key anti-corruption agencies to the prosecutor general, a politically appointed figure. Critics say the move will hamper…

Heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne died this week at 76, just weeks after his farewell show and about five years after announcing he had Parkinson’s disease. Here’s what to know about the disease:What is Parkinson’s?Parkinson’s is a neurologic disease that robs people of control over their movements. It typically starts with tremors and is characterized by slow movement, a shuffling gait, stiff limbs, balance problems and slurred speech.Who gets it?About 1 million Americans are living with Parkinson’s, and 10 million people worldwide, the Parkinson’s Foundation. estimates. It usually appears after age 60, although sometimes it can develop before age 50.…