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BISHOPVILLE, S.C. (AP) — When J.D. Stevens flips on the lights in the shed by his South Carolina home, he feels the presence of his dad, who died nearly a decade ago. He also sees hundreds of thousands of buttons.They are sewn onto the original button suit on the mannequin that started it all. Nearby is the Chevrolet Chevette covered in buttons of all colors, big and small. There’s a walk-in outhouse with a toilet covered in buttons and a piano with buttons everywhere but the keys. There’s a button-covered hearse not too far from the coffin where white buttons…

Toby Neugebauer, CEO of Fermi (center left) and Rick Perry, former US energy secretary (center right) ring the closing bell during the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq in New York on October 1, 2025.© 2025 Bloomberg Finance LP Plenty of billionaires have been created by the artificial intelligence and data center booms—and now, the real estate underneath the data centers is generating ten-figure fortunes, too. At least two new billionaires joined the three-comma club on Wednesday after Fermi America, an Amarillo, Texas-based real estate investment trust cofounded by former energy secretary and Texas governor Rick Perry, went public on the…

PARIS (AP) — Showmanship returned to Chanel on Monday. At Paris Fashion Week, its new designer Matthieu Blazy opened the season’s most anticipated debut beneath colossal celestial bodies — Saturn with its rings, a full solar system suspended above a jet-black and a mirror-bright runway — staking a claim for theater from the first second. Reflections mirrored the cosmos beneath the runway, while a front row constellation — Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton, joined by Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos — gazed upward.By night’s end, the room rose in a standing ovation. As Vogue’s doyenne Anna Wintour has said,…

MIAMI (AP) — A rainbow-colored crosswalk meant to celebrate the history and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community in Miami Beach has been removed from the city’s iconic Ocean Drive entertainment district about two months after Florida officials ordered the removal of all street art throughout the state.Workers with the Florida Department of Transportation began tearing up the colorful pavers Sunday afternoon, just two days after Miami Beach officials learned they had lost their appeal against the state order. By Monday, the intersection was paved over in asphalt.Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez said city public works employees collected all of the…

Dr. Mark Harper recalls his first cold-water swim in the south of England 20 years ago. It was August, but the initial jolt from the plunge took his breath away. The shock to his system lasted a minute or two until he was “recombobulated and able to think about something other than the cold,” Harper says. A surprise sensation soon replaced his discomfort. “I remember getting out of the water the first time and feeling so good,” Harper, an anesthesiologist who has since researched the potential risks and rewards of taking a nippy dunk. “I wasn’t expecting that.”Claims about the…

NEW YORK (AP) — Some flavor crazes flirt with us and fade. Others stay and make themselves at home.It’s too soon to tell for sure, but the Dubai chocolate movement seems to have put down roots and is spreading at a brisk clip. The sweet flavors and thick texture that have made Dubai chocolate bars a hit are morphing into other kinds of confections too.Let’s back up for a minute. The original and now-classic Dubai chocolate bar was created by Fix Chocolatier in the United Arab Emirates in 2021, and by 2023 had exploded on social media. Rich and indulgent,…

PARIS (AP) — As France’s government unraveled in another episode of political instability Monday, the cogs of the luxury industry kept turning. At the Iéna Palace in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, Miuccia Prada’s Miu Miu offered its own brand of reassurance: business as usual, chic as ever at Paris Fashion Week.The opener was sober — a deep blue warehouse apron dress, all covered up and precise. It set the tone for a collection that was gamine yet grounded, playful but edged with pragmatism. Prada, a pioneering CEO as well as designer, made it clear: Miu Miu wasn’t just flirtatious this season,…

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — Tourists ride in hot air balloons over the ancient city of Luxor, in Egypt. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. Tourists chat as ground crew members retrieve their hot air balloon after landing on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor, Egypt, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) Tourists chat as ground crew members retrieve their hot air balloon after landing on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor, Egypt, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)Read More A colorful hot air balloon lands on the west bank of…

CHONBURI, Thailand (AP) — The humble water buffalo has become a prized show animal in Thailand. They were celebrated Monday at an annual buffalo racing festival and beauty pageant in the city of Chonburi. These days tractors have largely replaced the buffalo for heavy farm work. But the contests have sparked a renewed interest in the animals. The festival held at the end of the 11th lunar month celebrates the start of harvest season and the animals that once were vital to Thai agriculture. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. Thai buffalo racers start off a…

CHONBURI, Thailand (AP) — It was 5-year-old Tod’s first time competing in a beauty pageant and the bright red interior of his ears turned out and popped against his black fur.The main stud for his owner, food vendor and farmer Thawatchai Daeng-Ngam, Tod was one of the competitors Monday at the annual water buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, a city about an hour drive from Bangkok.Formerly considered humble draft animals, water buffaloes have become prized show animals in Thailand. They are celebrated at the festival, held at the end of the 11th lunar month to celebrate the beginning of the…