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KORMAKITIS, Cyprus (AP) — Ash dangled precariously from Iosif Skordis’ cigarette as he reminisced with fellow villagers in a language on the edge of extinction, one that partly traces its roots to the language Jesus Christ once spoke.The 97-year-old Skordis is one of only 900 people in the world who speak Cypriot Maronite Arabic, or Sanna. Today, his village of Kormakitis is the last bastion of a language once spoken by tens of thousands of people across dozens of villages.The tongue, an offshoot of Syrian Arabic that has absorbed some Greek, has been passed from generation to generation in this…

Investors interpreted Trump’s comments to mean Nippon Steel had received his approval for its takeover of US Steel.United States President Donald Trump has expressed support for Nippon Steel’s $14.9bn bid for US Steel, saying their “planned partnership” would create jobs and help the US economy. Shares of US Steel soared 21 percent on Friday after Trump’s comments as investors interpreted the president’s post on Truth Social to mean Nippon Steel had received his approval for its long-planned takeover, the last major hurdle for the deal. “This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will…

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has taken its first concrete action to deliver sanctions relief for Syria, following a surprise policy pivot earlier this month. On Friday, the US Department of the Treasury announced sweeping relief to an array of individuals and entities, which it said will “enable new investment and private sector activity consistent with [Trump’s] America First strategy”. The US State Department, meanwhile, concurrently issued a waiver to a 2019 law, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, that would “enable our foreign partners, allies, and the region to further unlock Syria’s potential”. Trump surprised the…

A series of new executive orders seeks to fast-track approvals to grow the US’s nuclear energy sector, a lengthy process.United States President Donald Trump has signed a series of new executive orders aimed at boosting nuclear energy production in the country, while rolling back regulations. Friday’s orders, signed by Trump at an Oval Office event, called on the nation’s independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission to cut down on regulations and fast-track new licences for reactors and power plants. One order requires the body to make decisions on new nuclear reactors within 18 months. That would severely pare down a process that…

It was the second time in one day that the FTC pulled out of litigation begun during the Biden administration.The Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission is abandoning a Biden-era effort to block Microsoft’s purchase of Call of Duty video game maker Activision Blizzard. In an order issued Thursday, the FTC said it had determined that “the public interest is best served by dismissing the administrative litigation in this case.” It was the second time in one day that the FTC pulled out of litigation begun during the administration of former President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Earlier Thursday, the FTC said it…

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations.The American Civil Liberties Union’s West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court.The vaccine exemption was among several executive orders issued by Morrisey on his first full day in office in January.“Governors do not rule by decree,” ACLU-West Virginia legal director Aubrey Sparks said in a statement.…

A United States judge has issued a temporary restraining order against an effort to prevent Harvard University from enrolling foreign students. Friday’s ruling comes in response to an emergency petition filed earlier in the day in the federal district court of Boston, Massachusetts. In that petition, Harvard sought immediate relief after the administration of President Donald Trump barred it from using a federal government system, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, that is required for the enrolment of international students. US District Judge Allison Burroughs agreed with Harvard that the school and its students may suffer harm if the Trump…

“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said of Elon Musk during an interview with The Financial Times earlier this month. Gates indirectly referenced Musk’s role in gutting the federal agency United States Aid for International Development (USAID), where billions of dollars had gone towards global poverty reduction and the eradication of diseases for decades. That is, until Musk led the charge for President Donald Trump’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to dismantle USAID in February. “And unless we reverse pretty quickly,…

NEW YORK (AP) — Ask someone for their thoughts: Could it now cost you a nickel? If you want to call somebody stingy, would you say they’re a quarter-pincher? And if they spend money unwisely, are they now dime-wise but pound-foolish?OK, maybe those are some minor, small-stakes, dare we say penny-ante concerns in the wake of the U.S. Treasury confirming Thursday that it will stop making shiny new penny coins after the current production run is complete. But it is the end of an era in the United States. While there will still be over a billion already existing pennies…

Longtime Apple designer Jony Ive holds more than 12,000 patents related to the user interface and product design of projects he’s worked on over last three decades.Paul Harris/Getty Images The man who designed the iPhone is about to join Forbes’ billionaires list. On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that it’s acquiring legendary Apple designer Jony Ive’s artificial intelligence hardware startup io in an all-stock deal that values the company at $6.5 billion and will likely push Ive’s net worth to ten digits in the coming years. Forbes estimates that Ive owns 11% of io and is set to receive shares of OpenAI…