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Few East-West meetings have ended with less clarity than Fridays Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. What was clear, though, was that Vladimir Putin was well satisfied.

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The chief will remain after a lawsuit challenged the Justice Departments attempt to install a new leader as part of an effort to put the agency under federal control.

President Trump gave President Vladimir Putin a warm public reception, effectively ending his diplomatic isolation over the past three years for his invasion of Ukraine. But Mr. Putin did not agree to stop the war.

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A warning flag flies on the beach as people swim in Condado, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)2025-08-16T09:00:53Z SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Erin became a Category 3 hurricane in the Caribbean early Saturday and is expected to strengthen further during the day, the National Hurricane Center reported.The storm is currently 170 miles (275 kilometers) northeast of Anguilla with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph). It is moving west-northwest at 20 mph (31 kph).It is currently not forecast to hit land, but strong winds are affecting nearby islands, prompting forecasters to warn of possible flooding and landslides.. The NHC said it currently expected Erin to become a Category 4 storm later Saturday but to eventually swerve away from the continental United States.Tropical storm watches are in place for St. Martin and St. Barthelemy and Sint Maarten. Up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) are expected, with isolated totals of up to 6 inches (15 centimeters), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Locally, considerable flash and urban flooding, along with landslides or mudslides, are possible, the NHC said.Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said Erin is forecast to eventually take a sharp turn northeast that would put it on a path between the U.S. and Bermuda. All of our best consensus aids show Erin turning safely east of the United States next week, but itll be a much closer call for Bermuda, which could land on the stronger eastern side of Erin, he said. Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, but the first to reach hurricane status.Erin is forecast to explode into a powerful Category 4 hurricane as it moves across very warm waters in the open Atlantic. Water temperatures at the surface and hundreds of feet deep are several degrees higher than the historical average, said Alex DaSilva, Accuweathers lead hurricane expert.This years season is once again expected to be unusually busy. The forecast calls for six to 10 hurricanes, with three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph). The U.S. government has deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution as forecasters issued a flood watch for the entire U.S. territory from late Friday into Monday.Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Prez Pea said 367 shelters have been inspected and could be opened if needed.The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that it closed six seaports in Puerto Rico and two in the U.S. Virgin Islands to all incoming vessels unless they had received prior authorization.Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas said they prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to track the hurricane.These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement, said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamas disaster risk management authority.

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Activists with Free DC work on a banner as they gather outside Washington Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Washington, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-08-16T04:01:52Z WASHINGTON (AP) The left sees President Donald Trumps attempted takeover of Washington law enforcement as part of a multifront march to autocracy vindictive authoritarian rule, as one activist put it and as an extraordinary thing to do in rather ordinary times on the streets of the capital. To the right, its a bold move to fracture the crust of Democratic urban bureaucracy and make D.C. a better place to live.Where that debate settles if it ever does may determine whether Washington, a symbol for America in all its granite glory, history, achievement, inequality and dysfunction, becomes a model under the imprint of Trump for how cities are policed, cleaned up and run, or ruined.Under the name of his Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, Trump put some 800 National Guard troops on Washington streets this past week, declaring at the outset, Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals. Grunge was also on his mind. If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty, and they dont respect us.He then upped the stakes by declaring federal control of the districts police department and naming an emergency chief. That set off alarms and prompted local officials to sue to stop the effort. I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive, Police Chief Pamela Smith said. On Friday, the Trump administration partially retreated from its effort to seize control of the Metropolitan Police Department when a judge, skeptical that the president had the authority to do what he tried to do, urged both sides to reach a compromise, which they did at least for now. Trumps Justice Department agreed to leave Smith in control, while still intending to instruct her department on law enforcement practices. In a new memo, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the force to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law. In this heavily Democratic city, local officials and many citizens did not like the National Guard deployment. At the same time, they acknowledged the Republican president had the right to order it because of the federal governments unique powers in the district.But Trumps attempt to seize formal control of the police department, for the first time since D.C. gained a partial measure of autonomy in the Home Rule Act of 1973, was their red line. When the feds stepped inFor sure, there have been times when the U.S. military has been deployed to American streets, but almost always in the face of a riot or a calamitous event like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Trumps use of force was born of an emergency that he saw and city officials and many others did not. A stranger to nuance, Trump has used the language of emergency to justify much of what hes done: his deportations of foreigners, his tariffs, his short-term deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles, and now his aggressive intervention into Washington policing.Washington does have crime and endemic homelessness, like every city in the country. But there was nothing like an urban fire that the masses thought needed to be quelled. Violent crime is down, as it is in many U.S. cities. Washington is also a city about which most Americans feel ownership or at least that they have a stake. More than 25 million of them visited in 2024, a record year, plus over 2 million people from abroad. Its where middle schoolers on field trips get to see what they learn about in class and perhaps to dance to pop tunes with the man with the music player so often in front of the White House.Washington is part federal theme park, with its historic buildings and museums, and part downtown, where restaurants and lobbyists outnumber any corporate presence. Neighborhoods range from the places where Jeff Bezos set a record for a home purchase price to destitute streets in economically depressed areas that are also magnets for drugs and crime.In 1968, the capital was a city on fire with riots. Twenty years later, a murder spree and crack epidemic fed the sense of a place out of control. But over the last 30 years, the citys population and its collective wealth have swelled. A cooked-up emergency?Against that backdrop, Philadelphias top prosecutor, District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, assailed Trumps moves in Washington.Youre talking about an emergency, really? Krasner said, as if speaking with the president. Or is it that youre talking about an emergency because you want to pretend everything is an emergency so that you can roll tanks?In Washington, a coalition of activists called Not Above the Law denounced what they saw as just the latest step by Trump to seize levers of power he has no business grasping. The onslaught of lawlessness and autocratic activities has escalated, said Lisa Gilbert, co-chair of the group and co-president of Public Citizen. The last two weeks should have crystallized for all Americans that Donald Trump will not stop until democracy is replaced by vindictive authoritarian rule. Fifty miles northeast, in the nearest major city, Baltimores Democratic mayor criticized what he saw as Trumps effort to distract the public from economic pain and Americas falling standing in the world.Every mayor and police chief in America works with our local federal agents to do great work to go after gun traffickers, to go after violent organizations, Brandon Scott said. How is taking them off of that job, sending them out to just patrol the street, making our country safer?But the leader of the D.C. Police Union, Gregg Pemberton, endorsed Trumps intervention while saying it should not become permanent.We stand with the president in recognizing that Washington, D.C., cannot continue on this trajectory, Pemberton said. From his vantage point, Crime is out of control, and our officers are stretched beyond their limits.The Home Rule Act lets a president invoke certain emergency powers over the police department for 30 days, after which Congress must decide whether to extend the period. Trumps attempt to use that provision stirred interest among some Republicans in Congress in giving him an even freer hand.Among them, Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee drafted a resolution that would eliminate the time limit on federal control. This, he told Fox News Digital, would give the president all the time and authority he needs to crush lawlessness, restore order, and reclaim our capital once and for all.Which raises a question that Trump has robustly hinted at and others are wondering, too: If there is success in the district at least, success in the presidents eyes what might that mean for other American cities he thinks need to be fixed? Where does where could the federal government go next?___Associated Press writer Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump, right, and Russia's President Vladimir Putin depart at the conclusion of a joint press conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)2025-08-16T02:17:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) The much-anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin began with a warm welcome and a flyover by screaming jets at a U.S. military base in Alaska but ended with a thud Friday after they conceded that they had failed to reach any agreements on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war.After about 2 1/2 hours of talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the two men appeared before reporters for what had been billed as a joint news conference but they took no questions.We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to, there are just a very few that are left, Trump said. We didnt get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.Putin, welcomed into the U.S. after being shunned by Western allies since early 2022 for ordering the invasion of Ukraine, thanked Trump for hosting the meeting and suggested with a chuckle that the next time the two sit down it could be in Moscow.Here are key takeaways from the summit: A warm welcome underscoring the friendly Trump-Putin relationshipPutin got a red carpet welcome and even rode in Trumps presidential limousine from the tarmac to the summit venue. There, the pair were joined by two of their top aides: Secretary of State and national security adviser Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff for Trump and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and national security adviser Yuri Ushakov for Putin.Putin, who spoke first after the meeting concluded, lauded the historical relationship between the United States, Russia and the former Soviet Union, recalling joint missions conducted by the two countries during World War II. He said the U.S. and Russia share values, a standard talking point for Russian officials when trying to woo Trump and his aides. Putin also noted that Trump has frequently said the Ukraine war wouldnt have happened had he won the 2020 election. I think that would have been the case, the Russian leader said, a comment sure to please Trump.However, there is no indication and no way to prove that Moscow would have acted differently toward Ukraine had Democrat Joe Biden not been elected.Trump touts progress but concedes there was no dealTrump had gone into the meeting hoping to get Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or at least a commitment from Russia to enter into negotiations to reach one. Instead, Trump conceded that we havent quite got there and said he would be conferring with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders about next steps.Trump said he and Putin had made some significant progress toward the goal of ending the conflict but gave no details on what that entailed and had to acknowledge that they had been unable to bridge substantial gaps. I believe we had a very productive meeting, Trump said. We havent quite got there, but weve made some headway. So, theres no deal until theres a deal.In a subsequent conversation with Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, Trump again offered no details on his discussions with Putin. With diplomatic progress creeping along, time is on Putins sideAmid drawn-out diplomatic moves to end the war, time is appears to be on Putins side. That gives a leg up to Russian forces, who have used their larger numbers to slowly grind down defenses in eastern Ukraine 3 1/2 years into the conflict.Putin got a pleasant reception from the leader of the free world on U.S. soil and walked away hours later without either providing details on what they discussed, whether a ceasefire was any closer to reality or what the next steps would be. Putin praised Trump for the friendly tone of the talks Trump said nothing publicly about the killing of Ukrainian civilians in Moscows attacks and for understanding that Russia has its own national interests. Putin said Moscow and Washington should turn the page, with relations having sunk to the lowest point since the Cold War.Putin appearing in the U.S. for the first time in 10 years was celebrated as a sign that Moscow was no longer a pariah on the global stage. In a social media post, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told followers that the Western press would be on the verge of losing their minds. For three years, they talked about Russias isolation, and today they saw the red carpet being rolled out to greet the Russian president in the United States, she said. There were no details and no questionsBoth men said the talks were productive but the lack of any announcement of solid achievements was revealing. The news conference ended up being less than 15 minutes of rather standard diplomatic comments and gave no indication that any concrete results were achieved and offered little departure from their previous comments on the war in Ukraine.Trump has made it a feature of his second term to parry questions from reporters in front of world leaders, but in the clearest sign of his disappointment, the president abruptly cut short his plans to take questions. Trump had gone into the summit saying here was a 25% chance that the summit would fail and that it was meant to be a feel-out meeting, but he had also floated the idea of bringing Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting if things went well. Its unclear what comes next.___Associated Press writers Katie Marie Davies, Dasha Litvinova and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

People attend funeral prayers for the victims of Friday's flash flooding, at a village near Pir Baba, Buner district, in Pakistan's northwest, Saturday, Aug.16, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)2025-08-16T04:49:37Z BUNER, Pakistan (AP) Flooding in a northwest Pakistani district has killed at least 220 people, officials said Saturday, as rescuers pulled 63 more bodies overnight from homes flattened by flash floods and landslides.One eyewitness, who escaped the deluges in Buner, described seeing floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders and tons of rocks crashing down.Pakistan has received higher-than-normal monsoon rainfall this year, which experts link to climate change, triggering floods and mudslides that have killed some 541 people since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.Hundreds of rescue workers are still searching for survivors in Buner, one of several places in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where torrential rains and cloudbursts caused massive flooding on Friday, said Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency services. Dozens of homes were swept away. First responders have been trying to recover bodies from the worst-hit villages of Pir Baba and Malik Pura, where most of the fatalities were, said Kashif Qayyum, a deputy commissioner in Buner. Local police officer Imtiaz Khan, who narrowly escaped the deluges, said floodwaters carrying hundreds of boulders struck and flattened homes within minutes. A stream near Pir Baba village in Buner swelled without warning. At first, we thought it was a normal flash flood, but when tons of rocks came crashing down with the water, 60 to 70 houses were swept away in moments, Khan told The Associated Press, adding that many bodies were left mutilated. Our police station was washed away too and if we hadnt climbed to higher ground, we would not have survived.Rescuers said they saw large swathes of Pir Baba village destroyed, wrecked homes, and giant rocks filling the streets as the water started to recede. It was not just the floodwater, it was a flood of boulders as well, which we saw for the first time in our lives, said Sultan Syed, 45, who suffered a broken arm. Mohammad Khan, 53, said the floods came so fast that many could not leave their homes.Most victims died before reaching the hospital, said Mohammad Tariq, a doctor in Buner. Many among the dead were children and men, while women were away in the hills collecting firewood and grazing cattle, he said.Mourners attended mass funerals on Saturday, while authorities supplied tents and food items to flood-affected people in Buner. Local cleric Mufti Fazal said he led funeral prayers at multiple locations since Friday morning. Before yesterdays floods, the area was bustling with life. Now, there is grief and sorrow everywhere.Schoolteacher Suleman Khan lost 25 members of his extended family, saying he and his brother survived only because they were away from home when the floods hit his village Qadar Nagar.According to the provincial disaster management authority, at least 351 people have died in rain-related incidents this week across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan. Nearly 300 kilometers (about 186 miles) away in Indian-controlled Kashmir, rescuers scoured the remote village of Chositi in the district of Kishtwar on Saturday, looking for dozens of missing people after it was hit by flash floods two days ago, killing 60 and injuring some 150, about 50 in critical condition. Thursdays floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage in the area. Authorities have rescued over 300 people, while some 4,000 pilgrims have been evacuated to safety. Such cloudbursts are increasingly common in Indias Himalayan regions and Pakistans northern areas, and experts have said climate change is a contributing factor.Pakistani officials said rescuers since Thursday have evacuated more than 3,500 tourists trapped in flood-hit areas across the country.Many travelers have ignored government warnings about avoiding vulnerable regions in the north and northwest.Pakistan witnessed its worst-ever monsoon season in 2022. It killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage.___Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Ishfaq Husain in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, and Channi Ananad in Chositi, India, contributed to this report.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell speaks at the police headquarters in New Orleans, Feb. 2, 2022. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP, File)2025-08-16T04:03:02Z NEW ORLEANS (AP) Months before New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was set to leave office because of term limits, she has been indicted in what prosecutors allege was a yearslong scheme to conceal a romantic relationship with her bodyguard.Prosecutors say bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie was being paid as if he was working when he and Cantrell were really alone in apartments and visiting vineyards, hiding their communication by sending encrypted messages through WhatsApp and then deleting them. Although the pair have said their relationship was strictly professional, the indictment described it as personal and intimate.The first female mayor in New Orleans 300-year history has been charged with conspiracy, fraud and obstruction. Vappie was already facing charges of wire fraud and making false statements. He has pleaded not guilty. A grand jury returned an 18-count indictment Friday that added Cantrell to the case. The City of New Orleans said in a statement that it was aware of the indictment and that the mayors attorney was reviewing it. Cantrell hasnt sent out a message on her official social media feed on X since July 15, when she said the city was experiencing historic declines in crime. She and her remaining allies have said that she has been unfairly targeted as a Black woman and held to a different standard than male officials.Here are things to know about the mayor and the indictment: Vineyard trips and alone time with bodyguard The indictment paints a detailed picture of Cantrell and her bodyguard traveling to vineyards and spending time alone in apartments at the same time it says Vappie was being paid as if he was working.Vappie reminisced in a WhatsApp exchange cited in the indictment about joining Cantrell in Scotland in October 2021, saying that was where it all started.Cantrell had told local reporters she needed a security detail due to COVID, saying her travel accommodations were a matter of safety, not of luxury. The following year, instead of Cantrell attending a conference in Miami, authorities said the pair rendezvoused on Marthas Vineyard. Vappies travel to the island was covered by the city to attend a separate conference. The times when we are truly (traveling) is what spoils me the most, the mayor wrote to him that month.That same year, they also visited several California wineries, according to the indictment. After a trusted staff member posted a photo of the three of them on social media, one of Cantrells associates asked them to remove it.They met in an apartment while Vappie claimed to be on duty, and Cantrell arranged for him to attend 14 trips, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson said. The trips, he added, were described by her as times when they were truly alone.In all, New Orleans taxpayers paid more than $70,000 for Vappies travel, Simpson said.The pair used WhatsApp for more than 15,000 messages, including efforts to delete evidence, make false statements to FBI agents, and ultimately to commit perjury before a federal grand jury, he said. A turbulent second term as mayorCantrell, a Democrat, won a historic election in 2017 by portraying herself as a candidate for the people and not of the citys political class. Her mayoral tenure started strong with her securing tens of millions of dollars for city infrastructure improvements and taking decisive steps during the pandemic. There wasnt strong opposition to her 2021 election for a second term.But it was around that time that the wheels started to come off her administration. After Hurricane Ida pounded south Louisiana in 2021, residents were left without trash collection for weeks, while crime rates were surging.Meanwhile, Cantrell drew criticism for taking first-class trips abroad at the citys expense, violating a policy that requires city employees to use cheaper fares. She eventually agreed to repay the difference. A WVUE television investigation also found she was using a city-owned apartment as a part-time residence.Cantrell survived a recall campaign launched in 2022 by disgruntled Black Democrats and largely funded by wealthy white Republicans. She is also among more than 100 people brought up on corruption charges in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans two decades ago, said Rafael Goyeneche, a former prosecutor who is president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a watchdog group that provided photographs and information to federal authorities in the latest case.New Orleans long history of corruption cases Although Cantrell is New Orleans first mayor to be charged while in office, this is far from the first corruption case to impact the city.Public corruption has crippled us for years and years, Simpson said. And this is extremely significant.In 2014, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to a decade in prison for bribery, money laundering, fraud and tax crimes. The charges relate to actions during his two terms as mayor from 2002 to 2010. He was released early in 2020 during the pandemic. In 2022, Rodney J. Jack Strain, a former Louisiana sheriff, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a federal bribery conviction. He also received four life sentences for earlier convictions for raping boys. After serving five terms, he admitted he used his authority as sheriff to steer profits from a $1 million work-release contract to himself, his family and two deputies.G. Thomas Porteous Jr., a federal judge from New Orleans, was impeached and removed from the bench after the U.S. Senate in 2010 determined he took money from attorneys and bail bondsmen and lied in a personal bankruptcy filing, among other offenses. He never faced criminal charges as a result of the probe, which ran from 1999 to 2007. He died in 2021. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A sculpture of Thomas Edison stands at the entrance to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)2025-08-16T04:08:52Z FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) Thomas Edison and Henry Ford are famous for their innovations in electricity generation and automobiles respectively, but they were also at the forefront of a massively popular trend in Florida: Rich people from up north spending the cold winter months in the Sunshine State.Edison first visited Fort Myers in 1885 after a doctor suggested spending time in Floridas warmer climate for health reasons, and he built a house along the Caloosahatchee River the next year. Ford made many visits to southwest Florida to see Edison and purchased the property next door in 1916.Southwest Florida became their vacation spot, Edison and Ford Winter Estates marketing director Lisa Wilson said. Edison spent most of the year in New Jersey, while Ford lived in Michigan.They came down here to escape the cold like many snowbirds do today. But they worked when they were here, so it wasnt just vacation time, Wilson said. Stay up to date with the latest U.S. news by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. Before spring breakersFort Myers was basically a group of farmers living in an abandoned military fort, using tallow lamps for light, when Edison first visited, Edison and Ford Winter Estates historian Isaac Hunter said.The following year after he built his home, he had a generator installed across the street, Hunter said. There were about 350 residents, almost all of them came over to the property to watch the lights get turned on.While Edison never powered the rest of the city, his illuminated home gave neighbors an appetite for electricity, Hunter said. About a decade later, a local business man bought a generator for his canning plant and eventually develop a rudimentary grid to power the city. Edisons first connection to Ford came in 1891, when Ford was working as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit, Hunter said. The job involved no direct contact with Edison, but they eventually met at a meeting in 1896. Ford left the company to further develop his automobile designs, but his admiration for Edison continued. Henry Ford was a huge fan of Thomas Edison, and as he started to work on automobiles and become a bigger, bigger name in the world, he continued to contact Thomas Edison, write letters, ask him advice, Hunter said.They became friends in 1914, when Edison invited Ford and his family to Fort Myers.Friends and neighborsAs Edison, Ford and another visitor, naturalist John Burroughs, were getting acquainted in southwest Florida, they decided to go on a camping trip, setting off into the Everglades in a parade of Fords Model Ts.There werent roads. The Tamiami Trail, Alligator Alley did not exist in 1914, Hunter said. So theyre driving through Florida wilderness. They got about halfway out. Marshland, forest, they were miserable.They finished their camping trip at Edisons estate. The trip may not have been a complete success, but it began a decade-long tradition of trips throughout the U.S. and led to Ford buying the property next door to Edison in 1916.Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, later joined Edison, Ford and Burroughs, and the quartet became known as the Vagabonds. The trips gave the industrialists a chance to discuss business and eventually reach the conclusion that the U.S. needed its own source of rubber. Where the rubber meets the roadBesides the obvious use of rubber in tires, it was used in practically all industrial manufacturing.All of these gentlemen, they used rubber every single day, Hunter said.The U.S. at the time had been purchasing latex and other botanical rubber supplies from overseas, but the disruption of that supply caused by World War I demonstrated how important it was for the U.S. to have its own source. And since rubber was made out of plants, Edison, Ford and Firestone concluded that southwest Florida would be an ideal place to grow and test many different plants.They opened the Edison Botanical Research Laboratory in 1927 and tested over 17,000 different samples of rubber plants, Hunter said.Edison eventually settled on goldenrod as the best natural source of latex. He envisioned farmers planting and harvesting the crop, but this never happened. Edison passed away in 1931, and the the lab shut down a few years later, around the time a petroleum-based synthetic rubber was developed, Hunter said.This process, especially in the 30s, was cheaper, faster, and it really took up the rubber production of the United States, Hunter said. A lasting legacyEdisons widow deeded his Florida property to the city of Fort Myers for public use in 1947 for $1, and it was opened for tours a short time later.The neighboring Ford property was sold and occupied as a private residence for several decades until the city bought it in 1988. A nonprofit organization took over administration of the entire property in 2003 and oversaw a $14 million restoration project.Thomas Edison and Henry Ford really put this city on the map, and today its an international tourist destination, Wilson said.Visitors can explore a museum featuring some of Edisons 1,093 patents, including the phonograph and the incandescent light bulb, along with the research lab and gardens.

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Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives to hold a Pentecost vigil in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Saturday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)2025-08-16T05:02:20Z VATICAN CITY (AP) When Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young people at a recent Holy Year celebration with an impromptu popemobile romp around St. Peters Square, it almost seemed as if some of the informal spontaneity that characterized Pope Francis 12-year papacy had returned to the Vatican.But the message Leo delivered that night was all his own: In seamless English, Spanish and Italian, Leo told the young people that they were the salt of the Earth, the light of the world. He urged them to spread their hope, faith in Christ and their cries of peace wherever they go.As Robert Prevost marks his 100th day as Pope Leo this weekend, the contours of his pontificate have begun to come into relief, primarily where he shows continuity with Francis and where he signals change. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that after 12 sometimes turbulent years under Francis, a certain calm and reserve have returned to the papacy. Leo seems eager above all to avoid polemics or making the papacy about himself, and wants instead to focus on Christ and peace.That seems exactly what many Catholic faithful want, and may respond to what todays church needs. Hes been very direct and forthright but hes not doing spontaneous press hits, said Kevin Hughes, chair of theology and religious studies at Leos alma mater, Villanova University. Leo has a different style than Francis, and that has brought relief to many, Hughes said in a telephone interview. Even those who really loved Pope Francis always kind of held their breath a little bit: You didnt know what was going to come out next or what he was going to do, Hughes said. An effort to avoid polemicsLeo has certainly gone out of his way in his first 100 days to try to heal divisions that deepened during Francis pontificate, offering messages of unity and avoiding controversy at almost every turn. Even his signature issue confronting the promise and peril posed by artificial intelligence is something that conservatives and progressives alike agree is important. Francis emphasis on caring for the environment and migrants often alienated conservatives.Closer to home, Leo offered the Holy See bureaucracy a reassuring, conciliatory message after Francis occasionally authoritarian style rubbed some in the Vatican the wrong way.Popes come and go, but the Curia remains, Leo told Vatican officials soon after his May 8 election. Continuity with Francis is still undeniableLeo, though, has cemented Francis environmental legacy by celebrating the first-ever ecologically inspired Mass. He has furthered that legacy by giving the go-ahead for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that should generate enough electricity to meet Vatican Citys needs and turn it into the worlds first carbon-neutral state.He has fine-tuned financial transparency regulations that Francis initiated, tweaked some other decrees to give them consistency and logic, and confirmed Francis in deciding to declare one of the 19th centurys most influential saints, John Henry Newman, a doctor of the church.But he hasnt granted any sit-down, tell-all interviews or made headline-grabbing, off-the-cuff comments like his predecessor did. He hasnt made any major appointments, including to fill his old job, or taken any big trips. In marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki last week, he had a chance to match Francis novel declaration that the mere possession of nuclear weapons was immoral. But he didnt. Compared to President Donald Trump, the other American world leader who took office in 2025 with a flurry of Sharpie-penned executive decrees, Leo has eased into his new job slowly, deliberately and quietly, almost trying not to draw attention to himself.At 69, he seems to know that he has time on his side, and that after Francis revolutionary papacy, the church might need a bit of a breather. One Vatican official who knows Leo said he expects his papacy will have the effect of a calming rain on the church. Maria Isabel Ibarcena Cuarite, a Peruvian member of a Catholic charismatic group, said it was precisely Leos quiet emphasis on church traditions, its sacraments and love of Christ, that drew her and upward of 1 million young people to Rome for a special Jubilee week this month. Ibarcena said Francis had confused young people like herself with his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Such gestures went beyond what a pope was supposed to do and what the church taught, she thought.Leo, she said, has emphasized that marriage is a sacrament between men and woman. Francis was ambiguous, but he is firm, she said. An Augustinian popeFrom his very first appearance on the loggia of St. Peters Basilica, Leo has insisted he is first and foremost a son of St. Augustine. It was a reference to the fifth century theological and devotional giant of early Christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo, who inspired the 13th century religious Augustinian order as a community of mendicant friars.Like the other big mendicant orders of the early church the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites the Augustinians spread across Christian Europe over the centuries. Today, Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer, living in community, and journeying together in search of truth in God.In nearly every speech or homily since his May 8 election, Leo has cited Augustine in one way or another.I see a kind of Augustinian flavor in the way that hes presenting all these things, said Hughes, the theology professor who is an Augustine scholar.Leo joined the Augustinians after graduating from Augustinian-run Villanova, outside Philadelphia, and was twice elected its prior general. He has visited the Augustinian headquarters outside St. Peters a few times since his election, and some wonder if he will invite some brothers to live with him in the Apostolic Palace to recreate the spirit of Augustinian community life there.A missionary pope in the image of FrancisLeo is also very much a product of the Francis papacy. Francis named Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014 and then moved him to head one of the most important Vatican jobs in 2023 vetting bishop nominations. In retrospect, it seems Francis had his eye on Prevost as a possible successor.Given Francis stump speech before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio essentially described Prevost in identifying the churchs mission today: He said the church was called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic but also the existential peripheries. Prevost, who hails from Chicago, spent his adult life as a missionary in Peru, eventually becoming bishop of Chiclayo.He is the incarnation of the unity of difference, because he comes from the center, but he lives in the peripheries, said Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.Cuda said during a recent conference hosted by Georgetown University that Leo encapsulated in word and gesture the type of missionary church Francis promoted.That said, for all Leo owes to Bergoglio, the two didnt necessarily get along.Prevost has recounted that at one point when he was the Augustinian superior, the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese.And I, as prior general, said I understand, Your Eminence, but hes got to do something else and so I transferred him somewhere else, Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024.Prevost said he naively thought the Francis wouldnt remember him after his 2013 election, and that regardless hell never appoint me bishop due to the disagreement.Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him as pope, the first North American pope following the first South American.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. NICOLE WINFIELD Winfield has been on the Vatican beat since 2001, covering the papacies of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the Francis pontificate and traveling the world with them.

Cancelled and delayed Air Canada flights are seen on the departure board at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Dorval, Que., Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)2025-08-16T05:15:34Z TORONTO (AP) Air Canada suspended all operations as more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike early Saturday after a deadline to reach a deal passed, leaving travelers around the world stranded and scrambling during the peak summer travel season.Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesman Hugh Pouliot confirmed the strike has started after no deal was reached, and the airline said shortly after that it would halt operations.A bitter contract fight between Canadas largest airline and the union representing 10,000 of its flight attendants escalated Friday as the union turned down the airlines request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which would eliminate its right to strike and allow a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract. Flight attendants walk off the jobFlight attendants walked off the job around 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports. Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu met with both the airline and union on Friday night and urged them to work harder to them to reach a deal once and for all.It is unacceptable that such little progress has been made. Canadians are counting on both parties to put forward their best efforts, Hajdu said in a statement posted on social media.Pouliot, the spokesman for the union, earlier said the union had a meeting with Hajdu and representatives from Air Canada earlier Friday evening.CUPE has engaged with the mediator to relay our willingness to continue bargaining despite the fact that Air Canada has not countered our last two offers since Tuesday, he said in a email. Were here to bargain a deal, not to go on strike. Travelers are in limboA complete shutdown will impact about 130,000 people a day, and some 25,000 Canadians a day may be stranded abroad. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.Montreal resident Alex Laroche, 21, and his girlfriend had been saving since Christmas for their European vacation. Now their $8,000 trip with nonrefundable lodging is on the line as they wait to hear from Air Canada about the fate of their Saturday night flight to Nice, France.How long the airlines planes will be grounded remains to be seen, but Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has said it could take up to a week to fully restart operations once a tentative deal is reached.Passengers whose travel is impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airlines website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. But it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full due to the summer travel peak.Laroche said he considered booking new flights with a different carrier, but he said most of them are nearly full and cost more than double the $3,000 they paid for their original tickets.At this point, its just a waiting game, he said.Laroche said he was initially upset over the unions decision to go on strike, but that he had a change of heart after reading about the key issues at the center of the contract negotiations, including the issue of wages.Their wage is barely livable, Laroche said. Sides say theyre far apart on payAir Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal.Both sides say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes arent in the air.The airlines latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that it said would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada. But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didnt go far enough because of inflation. ___Associated Press airlines writer Rio Yamat reported from Las Vegas.

President Donald Trump listens as Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference at Joint Base Elmendorf- Richardson, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)2025-08-16T06:48:07Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday after a Russia-U.S. summit ended without an agreement to stop the fighting in Ukraine after 3 1/2 years.In a reversal only few hours after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said an overall peace agreement, and not a ceasefire, was the best way to end the war. That statement echoed Putins view that Russia is not interested in a temporary truce, and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes Moscows interests into account.Trump and Ukraines European allies had been calling for a ceasefire ahead of any negotiations.Zelenskyy, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he held a long and substantive conversation with Trump early Saturday. He thanked him for an invitation to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war. It will be Zelenskyys first visit to the U.S. since Trump berated him publicly for being disrespectful during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28. Trump, who also held calls with European leaders Saturday, confirmed the White House meeting and said that if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.Trump rolled out the red carpet on Friday for Putin, who was in the U.S. for the first time in a decade and since the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But he gave little concrete detail afterward of what was discussed. On Saturday, he posted on social media that it went very well.Trump had warned ahead of the summit of very severe consequences for Russia if Putin doesnt agree to end the war. Zelenskyy seeks European involvementZelenskyy reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not at the summit.It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America, he said. We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraines security.He didnt elaborate, but Zelenskyy previously has said that European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter future Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop.Zelenskyy said he spoke to Trump one-on-one and then in a call with other European leaders. In total, the conversations lasted over 90 minutes.Trump puts onus on Zelenskyy and EuropeTrump said in Alaska that theres no deal until theres a deal, after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an understanding on Ukraine and warned Europe not to torpedo the nascent progress. During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelenskyy to get it done, but said there would also be some involvement from European nations. In a statement after speaking to Trump, major European leaders said they were ready to work with Trump and Zelenskyy toward a trilateral summit with European support. The statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the European Unions two top officials said that Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees and welcomed U.S. readiness to provide them.It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory, they said. International borders must not be changed by force. They did not mention a ceasefire, which they had hoped for ahead of the summit.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon, noting that Moscows forces launched new attacks on Ukraine even as the delegations met.Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing, she said.Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the summit confirmed that while the U.S. and its allies are looking for ways to peace, Putin is still only interested in making the greatest possible territorial gains and restoring the Soviet empire. Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their gains, capturing the most territory since the opening stages of the war.Vladimir Putin came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war, said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. He will consider the summit outcome as mission accomplished. Questions on a Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin meeting Zelenskyy voiced support for Trumps proposal for a trilateral meeting with the U.S. and Russia. He said that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.But Putins foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television Saturday that a potential meeting of Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy has not been raised in U.S.-Russia discussions. The topic has not been touched upon yet, he said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.Zelenskyy wrote on X that he told Trump that sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war.Russian officials and media struck a largely positive tone, with some describing Fridays meeting as a symbolic end to Putins isolation in the West.Former President Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russias Security Council, praised the summit as a breakthrough in restoring high-level dialogue between Moscow and Washington, describing the talks as calm, without ultimatums and threats.Russian attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, using one ballistic missile and 85 Shahed drones, 61 of which were shot down, Ukraines air force said. Front-line areas of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Chernihiv were attacked. Russias Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 29 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Sea of Azov overnight.___Morton reported from London. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Emma Burrows in London ontributed. SAMYA KULLAB Kullab is an Associated Press reporter covering Ukraine since June 2023. Before that, she covered Iraq and the wider Middle East from her base in Baghdad since joining the AP in 2019. twitter instagram mailto

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)2025-08-16T12:29:47Z ATLANTA (AP) Fight! Fight! Fight!Its not just Donald Trumps mantra anymore. As the Republican president pushes states to redraw their congressional districts to the GOPs advantage, Democrats have shown they are willing to go beyond words of outrage and use whatever power they do have to win.Democrats in the Texas Legislature started it off by delaying, for now, Republican efforts to expand the GOP majority in the states delegation and help preserve party control of the U.S. House through new districts in time for the 2026 midterm elections.Then multiple Democratic governors promised new districts in their own states to neutralize potential Republican gains in Washington. Their counter has been buoyed by national fundraising, media blitzes and public demonstrations, including rallies scheduled around the country Saturday.For everyone thats been asking, Where are the Democrats? -- well, here they are, said U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, one of several Democrats who could be ousted under her states new maps. For everyone whos been asking, Where is the fight? well, here it is. There is no guarantee Democrats can prevent the Republican-powered redistricting, just as Democrats on Capitol Hill has not been able to stop Trumps moves. But its a notable turn for a party that, by its own leaders admissions, has honored conventional rules and bypassed bare-knuckled tactics. So far, progressive and establishment Democrats are aligned, uniting what has often been a fragmented opposition since Republicans led by Trump took control of the federal government with their election sweep in November. Leaders on the left say the approach gives them a more effective way to confront him. They can challenge his redistricting ploy with tangible moves as they also push back against the Republicans tax and spending law and press the case that he is shredding American democracy. Weve been imploring Democrats where they have power on the state and local level to flex that power, said Maurice Mitchell, who leads the Working Families Party at the left flank of mainstream U.S. politics. Theres been this overwrought talk about fighters and largely performative actions to suggest that theyre in the fight.This time, he said, Democrats are taking real risks in protecting all of our rights against an authoritarian president who only understands the fight. Pairing fiery talk with actionTexas made sense for Republicans as the place to start a redistricting scuffle. They dominate the Statehouse, and Gov. Greg Abbott is a Trump loyalist. But when the presidents allies announced a new political map intended to send five more Republicans to the U.S. House, state Democratic representatives fled Texas, denying the GOP the numbers to conduct business in the Legislature and approve the reworked districts.Those legislators surfaced in Illinois, New York, California and elsewhere, joined by governors, senators, state party chairs, other states legislators and activists. All promised action. The response was Trumpian. Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Kathy Hochul of New York welcomed Texas Democrats and pledged retaliatory redistricting. Pritzker mocked Abbott as a lackey who says yes, sir to Trump orders. Hochul dismissed Texas Republicans as lawbreaking cowboys. Newsoms press office directed all-caps social media posts at Trump, mimicking his signature sign off: THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.U.S. Rep. Al Green, another Texas Democrat who could lose his seat, called Trump egomaniacal. Yet many Democrats also claimed moral high ground, comparing their cause to the Civil Rights Movement.State Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., invoked another Texas Democrat, President Lyndon Johnson, who was willing to stand up and fight for civil rights laws in the 1960s. Then, with Texas bravado, Romero reached further into history: Were asking for help, maybe just as they did back in the days of the Alamo. Whatever it takesA recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that about 15% of Democrats own voters described the party using words like weak or apathetic. An additional 10% called it ineffective or disorganized.Beto ORourke, a former Texas congressman who is raising money to support Texas Democrats, has encouraged Democratic-run statehouses to redraw districts now rather than wait for GOP states to act. On Friday, California Democrats released a plan that would give the party an additional five U.S. House seats. It would require voter approval in a November election.Maximize Democratic Party advantage, ORourke said at a recent rally. You may say to yourself, Well, those arent the rules. There are no refs in this game. F--- the rules. ... Whatever it takes.Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin acknowledged the shift. This is not the Democratic Party of your grandfather, which would bring a pencil to a knife fight, he said.Andrew ONeill, an executive at the progressive group Indivisible, contrasted that response with the record-long speeches by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. and the Democratic leader of the U.S. House, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, in eviscerating Trump and his package of tax breaks and spending cuts. The left had its hair on fire cheering those moments, ONeill recalled, but were left even more frustrated in the aftermath.Trump still secured tax cuts for the wealthy, accelerated deportations and cut safety net programs, just as some of his controversial nominees were confirmed over vocal Democratic opposition.Now, ONeill said, there is some marriage of the rhetoric weve been seeing since Trumps inauguration with some actual action.ONeill looked back wistfully to the decision by Senate Democrats not to eliminate the filibuster when our side had the trifecta, so a simple majority could pass major legislation. Democratic President Joe Bidens attorney general, Merrick Garland, he said, was too timid in prosecuting Trump and top associates over the Capitol riot. In 2016, Democratic President Barack Obama opted against hardball as the Senates Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, refused to consider Obamas nomination of Garland to the Supreme Court.These unspoken rules of propriety, especially on the Democratic side, have created the conditions that enabled Trump, Mitchell said.Fighting on all frontsEven on redistricting, Democrats would have to ignore their previous good-government efforts and bypass independent commissions that draw boundaries in several states, including California. Party leaders and activists rationalize that the broader fights tie together piecemeal skirmishes that may not, by themselves, sway voters. Arguing that Trump diminishes democracy stirs people who already support Democrats, ONeill said. By contrast, he said, the GOP power grab, can be connected to unpopular policies that affect voters lives.Green noted that Trumps big package bill cleared the Senate by one vote and the House by a few, demonstrating why redistricting matters. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said Democrats must make unseemly, short-term power plays so they can later pass legislation that bans gerrymandering nationwide ... bans super PACs (political action committees) and gets rid of that kind of big money and special interest that helped get us to this place. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, added that a Democratic majority would wield subpoena power over Trumps administration. In the meantime, said U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, voters are grasping a stark reality.They say, Well, I dont know. Politics doesnt affect me, she said of constituents she meets. I say, Honey, it does If you dont do politics, politics will do you. BILL BARROW Bill Barrow covers U.S. politics. He is based in Atlanta. twitter mailto

Welcome back to the Abstract! Here are the studies that stood out to me this week, covering everything from silver to scat.First, a story about an ancient Andean tradition that will somehow end with a full-sized replica of a person posthumously made with his own hair. Enjoy the ride!Then: the health risks of climate change for children; youll never guess what came out of this otters butthole; and wow, Vikings sure were good at raiding, huh.The tangled origins of Inka khipusHyland, Sabine et al. Stable isotope evidence for the participation of commoners in Inka khipu production. Science Advances.For thousands of years, Andean peoples have woven intricate patterns, known as khipus, that encode information into clusters of knots and multi-colored threads. Made from cotton, wool, and often human hair, khipus are an idiosyncratic form of writing used for a range of purposes like arithmetic, census-keeping, calendrical cycles, and more.Spanish invaders, who overthrew the Inka empire in the 16th century, reported that only high-ranking bureaucratic men became khipu-makers (khipukamayuqs)though this assertion has been challenged in the past by Indigenous sources.Now, a strand of human hair woven into a 500-year-old khipu has resolved this centuries-old question. Scientists performed an isotopic analysis of the hair, revealing that the individual who wove it into the khipu was likely a low-status commoner with a simple plant-based diet. The discovery confirms that khipus were made by people from different classes and backgrounds, and that Inka women probably made them as well.Khipukamayuqs have been viewed primarily as imperial male elites who played key roles in running the empire, said researchers led by Sabine Hyland of the University of St. Andrews. However, the indigenous chronicler, Guaman Poma de Ayalawho lived in the 16th centurystated that women also made khipu records, explaining that females over fifty [kept] track of everything on their [khipu], the team added.Hyland and her colleagues found a solution to the discordant accounts in a khipu called KH0631, which was made around the year 1498. Though the provenance of the khipu is not known, the primary cord was made of human hair, allowing them to unravel the diet of this ancient khipukamayuq from the elemental composition of their tresses.The primary cord of KH0631. Image: Sabine HylandThe sampled strand was more than three feet long, and would have taken about eight years to grow. Carbon and nitrogen analysis of the hair indicated that it belonged to an individual that ate a plant-based diet consisting primarily of tubers and greens with little consumption of meat or high-status plants such as maize, according to the study. Strontium analysis showed little marine contribution to the diet, indicating that the individual likely lived in the highlands. Overall this diet is a characteristic of low-status commoners, unlike the diet of high-status elites who consumed considerably more meat and maize, the researchers said.The team speculated that this long-haired khipukamayuq could have just been a proto-vegan, but that wouldnt explain why there was so little maize in their diet given elites were professional beer drinkers.Obligatory drinking of maize beer formed a central feature of Inka ceremonies of governance in which high-ranking khipukamayuqs participated, the researchers said. Given the symbolic importance of hair in the Andes, and the frequent use of hair on the primary cord to indicate the khipukamayuq, our results indicate that the creator of KH0631 was likely a non-elite commoner suggesting that khipu literacy in the Inka Empire may have been more inclusive and widespread than hitherto thought.IIn addition to broadening our understanding of khipukamayuq origins, the study is full of amazing insights about veneration of hair in Inka culture.Hair in the ancient Andes was a ritually powerful substance that represented the individual from whom it came, the researchers said. Historically, when human hair was incorporated into a khipus primary cord, it served as a signature to indicate the person who created the khipu.For important ceremonies, the Inka emperor sacrificed his own hair, they added. His hair clippings were saved during his lifetime; after death, they were fashioned into a life-size simulacrum revered as the emperor himself.I strongly suggest we revive this funerary practice, so start saving your hair clippings for your wake.In other newsThe kids are not going to be alrightReichelt, Paula et al. Climate change and child health: The growing burden of climate-related adverse health outcomes. Environmental Research.The climate crisis is a tragedy for people of all ages, but kids are among the most exposed to harm. A new study provided an exhaustive review of climate-related threats to babies, children, and adolescents, which include: food insecurity, malnutrition, water scarcity, bad air quality, infectious diseases, exposure to extreme weather, displacement, trauma, and mental illness.Children are particularly affected by adverse environmental influences, as their immature organ systems are less able to cope with thermal stress and disease, said researchers led by Paula Reichelt of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research. Moreover, their developmental stage makes them especially vulnerable to long-term consequences; early-life nutrient or health disruptions can lead to permanent impairments in growth and development.A visual summary of climate-related threats to children. Image: Reichelt, Paula et al.Due to the relatively modest global efforts by political decision-makers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, further global warming and the associated negative developments in child and adolescent health are likely, the team concluded.Relatively modest is doing a lot of work in that sentence. While I recognize the allure of doomerism or tuning out from these horrible realities, I recommend carrying around a manageable dose of incandescent rage at all times over the world were leaving behind to kids who had nothing to do with this mess.Parasite lost (in otter poop)Wise, Calli et al. North American river otters consume diverse prey and parasites in a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay. Frontiers in Mammal Science.You have to love a study that was inspired by an otter crapping out a weird red worm on a dock in the Chesapeake Bay. Curious about the poopy parasite, researchers sought out other otter latrines and discovered that these furry floaters eat a lot of parasites, probably because infected prey is often easier to catch. In this way, otters efficiently remove parasites from ecosystems; it may be a bummer for any infected prey on the otter menu, but is beneficial to the wider population.This study is the first to characterize river otter latrines and diet in a tidally influenced estuarine habitat within the Chesapeake Bay, said researchers led by Calli Wise of Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.Our results indicate that river otters consume a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic fauna, primarily consisting of finfish and crustaceans, but also including frogs and ducks, the team said. Multiple parasite species were identified, including parasites of river otters and those infecting prey, indicating that parasites likely play an important role in both prey availability and otter health.Tl;dr: Otters are parasite vacuums. Yet another reason to love these cuddly creatures and forgive their more unsavory attributes.Some Viking booty, as a treatKershaw, Jane et al. The Provenance of Silver in the Viking-Age Hoard From Bedale, North Yorkshire. Archaeometry.Well end, as all things ideally should, with treasure. A new study tracks down the likely origins of a hoard of gold and silver itemsincluding a sword pommel, jewelry, and several ingotsthat were stashed by Vikings in the English town of Bedale, North Yorkshire, more than 1,200 years ago.The Bedale Hoard. Image: York Museums TrustVikings are well-known for their epic raids (source: Assassins Creed: Valhalla) and this particular hoard included far-flung loot sourced from across Europe and the Middle East.The results indicate a dominant contribution of western European silver, pointing to the fate of loot seized by the Vikings during their raids on the Continent in the ninth century, said researchers led by Jane Kershaw of the University of Oxford. Nonetheless, Islamic silver is also present in several large ingots: silver from the eastthe product of long-distance trade networks connecting Scandinavia with the Islamic Caliphatepermeated Viking wealth sources even in the western part of the Viking overseas settlement and should be seen as a significant driver of the Viking phenomenon.The Vikings were not only extracting wealth locally; they were also bringing it into England via long-distance trade networks, the team concluded.With that Viking spirit in mindskl, and see you next week.

Photo courtesy of Cody Seiya. Design by Sam Donndelinger.Subscribe nowCody Seiya did not feel welcome in Provincetown.Is that for yellow pride? a man sneered at Seiya in the middle of Ptowns tea dance, referring to a yellow bandanna he was wearing around his neck.It wasnt the first time Seiya, a 33-year-old gay Asian American, had experienced racism from other queer men. Years earlier at Rage, a now-closed gay club in West Hollywood, another white man asked him what he was doing there.Its not Gameboi night, the man said to him, referring to the Asian-themed weekly party the venue hosted.Photo courtesy of Seiya.That was really the first time that I really felt some sort of divide, Seiya told Uncloseted Media. Were already such a marginalized community, and then to just marginalize even further; it was just really disappointing.Seiyas experience isnt unique. A 2022 report from The Trevor Project found that more than half of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) LGBTQ youth reported discrimination based on their race and/or ethnicity in 2021. And another study from the Williams Institute found that nearly one in five AAPI LGBTQ adults do not feel safe in the U.S.This discrimination is a silent epidemic, according to Gene Lim, a researcher at the Australian Research Center for Sex, Health and Society.Theres a lot of shame around experiencing sexual racism, on top of the fact that its an inherently distressing situation, Lim told Uncloseted Media. That congeals into a sense of isolation.Feelings of exclusion take a mental health toll: 40% of AAPI youth seriously considered suicide in the U.S. in 2021, and 16% attempted it.Photo by Cody Kinsfather.Seiya says hes carried those instances of racism with him and that theyve impacted his self-perception in queer spaces.[It gave] this sense of otherness and discomfort whenever I was in a predominantly white space. Its still something I deal with to this day.Danny Maiuri, a 41-year-old queer Korean American man, says hes conscious of his racial identity when he visits Fire Island, a popular gay vacation spot on Long Island, N.Y.I remember times just getting asked the really basic Where are you from? And I just kind of explained, I live in New York, and then you get the But like, were you born here?A Long History of RacismRacism toward Asian people has permeated American society since the first Chinese immigrants arrived in California in the 1800s.Sexual racismor discrimination in romantic partner selectionis most common among men who have sex with men (MSM), according to Thomas Le, an assistant professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr College.A lot of what Asian American men report in the U.S. is some ostracization because of the elevation of white men, and masculinity and muscularity being prized, Le told Uncloseted Media.Lim says this fixation on whiteness stems from racialized hierarchies in queer spaces, where Eurocentric features are often favored over Asian features.Asian MSM [must] navigate a sexual field where the hierarchy of desire is really racialized, Lim told Uncloseted Media. And they can feel disadvantaged in a way that is insurmountable.Nineteenth-century immigration laws and cultural norms in the U.S. excluded Asian American men from participating in male-dominant professions like mining and field work. Instead, they assumed roles typically associated with women.This segregation fomented in the American mind an image of the Asian man as feminine and has translated into the racist stereotypes about body image and dating preferences of gay men.Asian men are often assumed to be bottoms or twinks or to have small penis sizes because of this emasculated image. And a 2011 analysis on race-based partner preferences among MSM found that Asian men were preferred by 12% of participants, a dramatic drop off from preferences for white and Black men, preferred by 52% and 48% of participants, respectively.Subscribe nowRacist Stereotypes and the Medias White Beauty StandardIn American media, Hollywood has reproduced caricatures of Asian people for years. Long Duk Dong, the Asian character in Sixteen Candles, was portrayed as sexually inept. Leslie Chows diction in The Hangover is heavily accented, and his nudity is the punchline of a joke with the implication that Asian men are sexually inferior.While media representations have shifted away from overtly racist caricatures, and have even centered queer Asian male relationships like in Boys Love anime, the absence of Asian portrayals in the media and the abundance of white characters have shaped attraction among a generation of queer people.Le says white, muscular men dominated popular media and defined what it meant to be attractive through the 1990s and 2000s.Representation is really important it has this really understated effect on the erotic habitus for a lot of queer men, says Lim, referring to the learned component of sexual desire. A lot of queer Asian men do grow up implicitly measuring themselves against a Eurocentric standard.This experience was a reality for Filipino American Kalayaan Mendoza in college.Growing up in a majority non-white neighborhood in San Jose, Calif., Mendoza had never compared himself with white people. But at UC Santa Barbara, a school where AAPI people composed less than one-fifth of the undergraduate student body, Mendoza remembers attempting to fit in by adhering to white beauty standards.[I was] trying to be as American as possible and not to be seen as the other, not to be seen as a perpetual foreigner, Mendoza, now 46, told Uncloseted Media. No matter how much I tried and no matter how many times I bleached my hair, no matter how many blue contacts I boughtI would never be white.I just remember feeling extremely depressed, he says. I almost dropped out.The pressure to assimilate to a white beauty standard is also ingrained in porn.Pornography is generally one kind of common avenue for young queer men to explore sexuality, says Le. Some develop racialized attractions based on that.White actors are far more frequently cast in porn than actors of color. Because of that, many queer men hold white people as the beauty standard.This is what Mendoza discovered when he attempted to decolonize his dating preferences, which he describes as unlearning his racial biases shaped by colonialism. He says he questioned why he was so attracted to whiteness even though he grew up around people of color. A lot of that was, quite frankly, because of the sexualized media or the porn.Photo by Cody Kinsfather.Seiya says he has experienced racism working in the porn industry.They just automatically assume that I am a bottom or submissive because I am Asian, he says. I just find it demoralizing and very limiting.Sex and DatingWhen it comes to dating, queer Asian men often find it difficult to decipher if they are being seen for who they are or if they are being fetishized.Dating apps compound these effects. The design of most platforms are such that users must make quick judgments based on minimal information on a users profile. Because of this, Lim says many users fall upon their prejudices.As a way to receive more matches or chats, some Asian men attempt to fit into stereotypes that paint them as effeminate, such as the lady boy or the femme boy.Gay men do this all the time, they try to embody an archetype, says Lim. And an archetype is fertile ground for someone to project their own fantasies onto.Maiuri says he constantly questions whether his sexual interactions are shaped by his own desires or if hes assuming a role based on preconceived notions.He feels that many men assume that all Asian men are bottoms and submissive, and he constantly asks himself, Am I fulfilling this role because this is what I actually enjoy? Or was this something that was just put on me and Ive adapted to?Although gay culture remains white-centric, there are signs of change.A lot of queer Asian American men actually are creating their own communities, says Le. [Theyre] really being intentional about finding a community with other queer men of color.Mendoza says that finding other queer people of color at college helped him to cultivate a positive self-image.Thats why, quite frankly, I feel like Im alive today, he says.Maiuri says that while often criticized as a boogeyman of the mental health crisis, social media is actually having positive effects in facilitating connections between young men of similar experiences and slowly providing more examples of queer Asian men.The good part of it has been that connection and kind of finding identity and finding examples online for some folks to find ways to navigate [their] identity, says Maiuri.Seiya has come a long way from that weekend in Provincetown. He recently returned to the gay vacation hotspot for its fifth annual Frolic Weekend, a queer men of color takeover event.That was really special to recontextualize the space for myself, Seiya says. We deserve to take up space instead of shrinking ourselves.If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

Proponents of two ballot initiatives in Ohio to overturn the states ghost prohibition of same-sex marriage and add LGBTQ+ discrimination protections to the states constitution were given the green light last week to start collecting signatures.Its the latest development in a months-long effort to get what was once a single measure on Ohios 2026 general election ballot. Related GOP governor vetoes several anti-LGBTQ+ measures while letting others become law The original and ambitious ballot initiative addressing both issues was split in two by the Republican-dominated Ohio Ballot Board in July, in what some characterized as an effort to undermine the two goals by requiring double the number of signatures supporters needed to collect to qualify for the ballot.Organizers will now need to garner nearly a million signatures in at least half of the states counties for the two amendments. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Backers of both goals were divided on the question of bundling them together in the first place.Ohios Republican Attorney General Dave Yost announced the initiatives compliance with state law on Friday, allowing signature collection to start. He added, This certification should not be construed as an affirmation of the enforceability, constitutionality, or wisdom of the proposed amendment.Lis Regala, a trans organizer for the group behind the initiatives, Ohio Equal Rights, applauded the AGs swift action.Ohio Equal Rights is grateful for AG Yosts prompt attention to such an important matter to all Ohioans, he told LGBTQ Nation after the announcement. This efficient and appreciated response lets us continue to work with the community to build a state where fairness is a lived reality.The approved ballot initiatives are titled the Ohio Equal Rights Amendment and the Ohio Right to Marry Amendment. The group noted AG Yosts acknowledgement of the appropriateness of the Right to Marry title, affirming what should be self-evident: that marriage is a fundamental right deserving of equal rights protection. We thank AG Yost for this recognition.The Ohio Right to Marry Amendment would wipe the states dormant same-sex marriage ban from the books in anticipation ofattempts to overturnObergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Courts 2015 decision granting marriage equality nationally.The proposal follows Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alitos calls for the high court to revisit the decision. Jim Obergefelloriginallyfiled his case in Ohio against then-public health director for the state, Rick Hodges. The Ohio Equal Rights Amendment would update the federalEqual Rights Amendment(ERA), which was ratified by the Ohio legislature in 1974 and bans discrimination based on sex, to include LGBTQ+ and other protected classes. The required three-quarters of U.S. states have approved the ERA, but the amendment hasnt been added to the U.S. Constitution, following missed deadlines and other disputes.Ohio state Rep. Terrence Upchurch, a Democrat representing Cleveland, called Republicans vote to split the measure in July a political ploy designed to thwart transgender protections.Republicans divided the measure because of politics, he told theCincinnati Enquirer. Its one issue. Its cut and dry, he said. Out state Sen. Nickie Antonio, the Democrats Minority Leader and Ohios first and only currently out gay lawmaker, questioned the wisdom of putting discrimination protections before Ohios voters at all. Shes co-sponsored legislation that would have lawmakers address the issue.I struggle with asking the majority of people, the majority of the population, to grant equality by a vote to a marginalized group, Antonio said. I will continue to fight for the Ohio Fairness Act, because I think its the right thing to do.AG Yost is currently the defendant in a case challenging Ohios House Bill 68, which bans gender-affirming medical care for trans youth. In March, the Tenth District Court of Appeals ruled in the plaintiffs favor, declaring H.B. 68 unconstitutional on its face.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Aston Villa held Newcastle United to a 0-0 draw after having Ezri Konsa sent off. Join us for all the highlights and big moments on the first weekend of the new Premier League season.