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Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene’s devastating pathway through western North Carolina, a vibrant tourist attraction offering visitors a serene escape in the Blue Ridge Mountains is being torn down.Like many other beloved sites in the region, the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge in Rutherford County crumpled from the relentless floods and winds from remnants of Helene last September. Now, the town of Lake Lure said Thursday that it will start its demolition of the historic structure later this month.While the three-arched bridge dates back to 1925, it didn’t become the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge until almost a century later. Once…

Sam Altman, left, and Elon Musk.Muhammed Selim Korkutata | Anadolu | Getty ImagesSam Altman has dismissed longtime rival Elon Musk’s warnings that OpenAI is set to dominate Microsoft, after the companies announced that OpenAI’s latest AI model will be incorporated into Microsoft products.On Thursday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that OpenAI’s GPT-5 service would be launching across platforms including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry — prompting a response from Musk that “OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive.”Nadella sought to downplay the issue. “People have been trying for 50 years and that’s the fun of…

Revolut cards is seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on March 29, 2024. Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesLONDON — Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told CNBC there hasn’t been a “falling out” with the U.K. government over delays to fintech giant Revolut’s long-awaited bank license.Last week, the Financial Times reported that a meeting arranged by British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves with Revolut and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) — an arm of the BOE that oversees banks — was cancelled after an intervention from Bailey.Authorizing Revolut as a fully licensed bank has become an important issue for…

The launch of the adidas-designed home and away kits has been the most successful in the club’s history, with unprecedented levels of demand across the world.The home kit outstripped sales of last year’s launch by more than 700 per cent, with orders from 150 countries to date.A total of 80 per cent of purchases have been made via the club’s ecommerce platforms, and LFC’s flagship Anfield store had its busiest week ever at the newly refurbished outlet, which was reopened in time for the new kit launches.The home and away kits are available to purchase on LFC’s official online store,…

PALM COAST, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman is accused of posing as a licensed nurse and giving medical care to thousands of patients, authorities said.Autumn Marie Bardisa, 29, of Palm Coast, participated in medical services involving 4,486 people from June 2024 until January 2025, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.“This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in announcing the arrest. Bardisa was apprehended in the driveway of her home Tuesday and is jailed on multiple charges that include practicing health care without a license, sheriff’s officials…

After more than five months of a near-total closure of Gaza’s borders, leading to the deaths of dozens of Palestinians from starvation or malnutrition, Israel has finally allowed a small number of merchants to bring limited goods into Gaza. This week, we awoke to find food items on market shelves that had been absent for five months. The scenes were surreal. People stood before crates of sugar, pressed dates and feta cheese as if seeing them for the first time in their lives. Some reached out cautiously to touch them and inquire about prices, while others simply stared, uncertain whether…

Real Madrid have agreed a new long-term contract with Club World Cup breakout star Gonzalo García that makes him a fully-fledged first-team player, the Spanish giants announced Friday.The 21-year-old has been rewarded with a pay rise after his impressive performance during the tournament in the United States, sources told ESPN, and the club will also significantly increase his release clause to prevent other clubs from tempting him away.García, whose new deal runs through the summer of 2030, is already training with the first team ahead of the start of LaLiga against Osasuna.The player has earned his promotion from the youth…

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. Jorge Silva | ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Russia to cease its war in Ukraine expires on Friday, as markets watch whether the White House will proceed with steep penalties on Moscow’s oil clients.Increasingly frustrated with the Kremlin, Trump has pledged “secondary tariffs” of “about 100%” on Russia’s trade partners, if Moscow does not end its invasion in Ukraine, setting an initial 50-day timeline that was later shortened.Bloomberg News reported Friday that…

Egypt has signed a record $35bn gas deal with Israel, almost tripling its gas imports from the Israeli Leviathan gas fields and marking the largest export deal in Israel’s history. The deal, which was announced on Thursday by Israeli energy company NewMed, will see 130 billion cubic metres (bcm) worth of gas piped from the Leviathan offshore field to Egypt through to 2040. NewMed is one of three co-owners of the field, along with Israeli company Ratio and Chevron. It holds 45.34 percent of the gas reservoir. This is a significant expansion of an existing deal struck between Egypt and…

Liverpool Women have appointed Gareth Taylor as their new head coach. Liverpool have been without a permanent head coach since Matt Beard was sacked in February, with Amber Whiteley taking interim charge for the remainder of last season. Taylor was axed by Manchester City Women in March ahead of their Women’s League Cup final against Chelsea.The 52-year-old had been in charge of the club since 2020 and led City to an FA Cup win that year and League Cup success in 2022. Under Taylor, City missed out on the 2023/24 WSL title to Chelsea on goal difference.Liverpool begin their Women’s…