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Facebook Tweet Email Link Kyiv  —  US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are meeting Friday for a summit in Alaska aimed – on the US side at least – at bringing an end to the grinding war that has followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of 2022. Any peace deal around Ukraine would need to involve agreement on territory, with Russia currently occupying almost a fifth of Ukraine’s land. Last Friday, Trump suggested a ceasefire deal could involve “some swapping of territories,” but it is not yet clear what areas he was referring to, and Ukraine has categorically rejected ceding…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Costs were sharply on the rise for producers and manufacturers in July, a sign that higher prices could soon filter down to American consumers. US inflation on the wholesale level picked up steam last month, with prices rising by the fastest monthly pace since June 2022, new data showed Thursday. The latest Producer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices paid to producers, jumped 0.9% from June, lifting the annual rate to 3.3%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The PPI serves as a potential bellwether for the prices consumers may see in…

Facebook Tweet Email Link On the surface, downtown Clarksdale, Mississippi, looks largely the same as it did decades ago: a collection of historic brick buildings lining wide avenues faded to postcard sepia. But local Bubba O’Keefe has a retort ready for visitors to his hometown who eye the city’s aesthetic as anything but authentic Southern charm. “People come here and say, ‘Oh my gosh, this place is going down,’” says O’Keefe, the tourism director for this Mississippi Delta city of 14,000, with an implied wink. “I say, ‘Well, you should have seen it 25 years ago. We’re on the way…

Facebook Tweet Email Link A switch flips when Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London steps onto an NFL field. His easygoing demeanor and infectious smile quickly fade once the wideout leaves the sideline. When it’s time to ball, the London who his teammates all know and love all but disappears, and is replaced by an alter ego who thrives on menacing competitiveness and physicality. The duality of London’s approach is working for him. The fourth-year Falcons player is riding the wave of his best season with the organization, recording a staggering 100 catches for 1,271 yards and a career-high nine…

Facebook Tweet Email Link SRINAGAR, India Reuters  —  At least 46 people died and more than 200 were missing following sudden, heavy rain in Indian Kashmir, officials said on Thursday, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week. The incident occurred in Chasoti town of Kishtwar district, a stopover point on a popular pilgrimage route. It comes a little over a week after a heavy flood and mudslide engulfed an entire village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. The flood washed away a community kitchen and a security post set up in the village, a…

Facebook Tweet Email Link AP  —  Call it a symphony for dissolution. American thrash metal giants Megadeth have announced their forthcoming album will be their last. They will also embark on a farewell tour in 2026. “There’s so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional,” Megadeth founder and frontman Dave Mustaine shared in a statement Thursday. “Most of them don’t get to go out on their own terms on top, and that’s where I’m at in my life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of…

Facebook Tweet Email Link The writing has been on the wall for a long time: South Korea’s birth rate has dropped throughout much of the past decade, spelling trouble for the military as regional threats and global conflicts simmer. Now, a new report has found that the number of South Korean troops declined by 20% in the past six years, in large part because of the dwindling pool of young men – reflecting the shrinking workforce and swelling elderly population in one of the world’s most rapidly aging countries. The Defense Ministry report attributed the drop to “complex factors” including…

Facebook Tweet Email Link DENVER AP  —  A group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths may seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists say there’s no reason to be spooked — the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus. The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasizing horns. Viral photos have inspired a fluffle of unflattering nicknames, including “Frankenstein bunnies,” “demon rabbits,” and “zombie rabbits.” But their affliction is nothing new, with the virus inspiring ancient…

Facebook Tweet Email Link A rare Martian meteorite, billed as the largest piece of Mars on Earth, captured attention when it fetched millions from an anonymous bidder at a recent Sotheby’s auction. But the move has caused Niger, the country in West Africa where the space rock was initially found, to question the legality of its export. The Nigerien government has opened a formal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the meteorite’s sale last month, describing it as “comparable to illicit international trafficking.” The space rock sold for $5.3 million, including taxes and fees, to an anonymous bidder at…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Hong Kong  —  A court in Hong Kong adjourned a national security trial hearing of media mogul Jimmy Lai on Friday due to concerns about his health after his defense said he had been experiencing heart palpatations. Lai, a pro-democracy firebrand and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily, showed up in court visibly thinner on Friday morning for the start of closing arguments of his landmark national security case. The hearing, which was already delayed on Thursday due to a major rainstorm, lasted roughly 15 minutes after the court heard about the 77-year-old’s health conditions from…