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KFC has been taking a licking from fried chicken rivals like Raising Cane's, but the global fast-food chain has a plan to return to the top of the U.S. pecking order. The Kentucky-born brand opened a new restaurant in McKinney, Texas, to serve as a test lab in its home market. Called Open House, it serves breakfast—a U.S. first for KFC—and stays open late. The menu will feature new drinks like boba-filled refreshers and crunchy-topped milkshakes, an expanded lineup of tenders and sauces, and new side dishes like fried green beans and spicy pickles. The restaurant has double drive-thru lanes and a mobile order pickup station. But KFC designed it to encourage customers to stay a while. After ordering at a digital kiosk, they can sit and wait for employees to bring the food to their table. There is also a photo booth and a counter selling branded merch. KFC did not say how much of Open House's design or menu will eventually reach the rest of its 3,424 U.S. restaurants. The new beverages are likely to spread more widely; the company already introduced a similar drink menu in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Turkey, and other markets. The Texas concept and gleaming, multi-story flagships set to open in Dubai, Seoul, and London show KFC is trying to make grabbing fast food more of an experience. "People don't remember what they eat, but they remember how they were feeling when they were eating," KFC Chief Concept Officer Christophe Poirier, who leads new restaurant design, said. Poirier said KFC is automating tasks like ordering so employees can focus on hospitality. Ideally, KFC will function more like an Apple Store or a luxury retailer, he said, without the stressful lines or grumpy cashiers that plague the fast-food industry. "You leave the retailer and say, 'Wow. The product is amazing, but beyond that, the service was amazing. For 10 or 15 minutes I was feeling like a king,'" he said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

For more than two decades, truck driver Joe Macken spent his free time building a massive scale model of his native New York City out of balsa wood and foam board. When he finished, his daughter convinced him to show off the sprawling basement creation—encompassing over 800,000 structures—on TikTok. The video clips almost immediately went viral. Now, Macken's model is on display at the Museum of the City of New York, which reached out to him after seeing his TikTok videos gain more than 10 million views in one week. “He Built This City,” as the exhibit is called, opened in February along Manhattan's museum row near Central Park. “I never really thought about finishing it because I had so much fun building it,” he said on a recent visit to the exhibit. The museum's chief curator, Elisabeth Sherman, said the model is a rare piece that appeals to both social media followers and traditional museum-goers. “I think people always want to get their arms around this whole city, this city that is impossible to know, impossible to grasp, and this is a way to see it from a bird's-eye view,” she said. “We rarely have anything these days that reaches everyone in that way. We love that kind of energy it brings.” All five boroughs and parts of New Jersey and suburban Long Island are laid out in street-level detail across more than 300 large foam boards, interconnected like puzzle pieces. The entire model is 50 feet long (15 meters) and nearly 30 feet (9 meters) wide, with each inch on the model representing about 160 feet (49 meters). Macken says the inspiration for the model goes back to an elementary school trip to the Queens Museum to see the Panorama of the City of New York, the famed scale model built for the 1964-1965 World's Fair, complete with an overhead, helicopter-style gondola ride. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

More than a dozen words long used in Bermuda and across the Caribbean got an official nod from the Oxford English Dictionary. First in line is "bimpert," a Bermudian word of unknown origin that is used to describe a stupid or foolish person. People on the tiny island in the North Atlantic often use it in this traditional phrase: "A bimpert is justah wuffless bye," which roughly translates to: an idiot is just a worthless boy. Among other dark words that made the list is "jablesse," defined as "a malevolent shape-shifting female spirit with one cloven hoof, which at night is said to assume the form of a beautiful woman to lure men to their deaths." It is derived from "diablesse," the French word for female demon. Another supernatural entry is "douen." It is "typically depicted as short in stature, with backward-pointing feet, and wearing a large hat, believed to lure children into the forest by calling their names," according to the dictionary. It is a variation of the Spanish word "duende," which means elf. Avionne George, a 45-year-old maintenance technician in Trinidad, said formal recognition of such words helps preserve tradition for the younger generations. "Most of them are ignorant of certain terms from long ago like 'douen.' They don't know about 'la jablesse.'" Sherwin Williams, a construction worker in Trinidad, said the inclusion of such words in the Oxford English Dictionary would help people around the world understand their Trinidadian origins. "People recognize us by our slang," he said. There are some 500,000 words and phrases in the Oxford English Dictionary, which details the history of words, some of which go back to the 11th century. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Walmart is aiming to assuage customers' fears about its new pricing technology as it rolls out digital price labels at its stores. In a statement posted on the company's website, Walmart Inc.'s CEO John Furner vowed that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer isn't using personal information like income, shopping history, or a customer's willingness to pay to set prices, and it won't be doing so in the future either. “We don’t set different prices based on who you are or the time of day, and we won’t,” Furner wrote. “Whether you’re buying groceries or electronics on a hot afternoon or in a sudden rush for an item, it’s never a reason to charge you more.” The pledge from Walmart comes as concerns are mounting from some shoppers, consumer advocates, and lawmakers skeptical about the rollout of digital price labels by the discounter and other stores. Digital price labels are rapidly replacing paper shelf tags at U.S. supermarkets and let stores change prices instantly from a central computer instead of having workers swap out paper labels by hand. Furner noted that Walmart is also holding its artificial intelligence shopping assistant Sparky to the same promise and won't be using the bot to raise a customer's price or hide lower-priced options that meet their needs. Furner said such practices would violate the company's “everyday low prices” business model. He also noted that prices can change: Walmart lowers them when it can pass savings along, or sometimes raises them because an item costs more to buy or to transport, he said. Walmart said in March that 2,300 Walmart U.S. locations already use digital shelves, and it expects this technology to be chain-wide within the next year. Walmart executives have repeatedly said it uses electronic shelf price tags to help the retailer change prices consistently and match what rings up at checkout. It also saves workers time and reduces labor costs by replacing paper tags. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

OpenAI said it has paused training of its latest artificial intelligence models as reports of AI agents going rogue mount. The decision to halt development came just hours after the company disclosed that it was reviewing several incidents from the summer in which OpenAI agents searching federal government websites acted in unexpected ways beyond what was asked of them while gathering and distributing information. Separately, AI evaluator Transluce said agents that appeared to come from OpenAI tried unsuccessfully to hack into a Department of Education website, a detail that OpenAI has not confirmed. OpenAI said in a statement that it will resume training “only when we are confident that we have additional safeguards” in place, adding that it expects it will have to “hit pause” again as AI develops and other issues emerge. AI labs are facing pressure from lawmakers and tech experts to slow development so they can build guardrails to stop agents from acting on their own, hacking websites, and disclosing nonpublic information. The heads of both OpenAI and rival Anthropic have called for a slowdown too. It is the second time that OpenAI has halted development of its models. The first came in July after disclosure of a cyberattack targeting AI startup Hugging Face, a now-notorious incident that raised fears the industry was losing control. In a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump agreed to share information on AI dangers and coordinate efforts to keep it safe. Trump believes AI fears are overblown, though, and later suggested that he plans no crackdown of his own. The U.S. is not going to be “putting on brakes,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “They want to stop our progress because we’re leading China by a lot, and we’re going to keep it that way.” The latest OpenAI incidents did not appear to involve the disclosure of any nonpublic information but were concerning enough for the company to warn the federal agencies involved. In the Department of Education incident, OpenAI agents found API “developer keys” to access government data, though ultimately only publicly available information was gathered. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote opened his refinery to public ownership, seeking to raise $1.6 billion from retail investors across Africa in the continent’s biggest initial public offering, or IPO. Dangote, Africa’s richest man, dubbed the IPO “for the people” and said he wants everyone to be able to own a share. Retail investors can buy shares in the sprawling Lagos-based refinery for 5,250 naira ($4) per share, with a minimum purchase of 10 shares. Dangote retains an 87% stake in the refinery, Africa’s largest. The refinery’s scale and potential returns, especially as global oil prices have risen following the U.S.-Iran war, have generated excitement among retail investors. Nigeria relied for decades on foreign refining of its oil because of decrepit state-run refineries, many of which operated below capacity or remained stagnant for years because of poor maintenance. But when the $19 billion refinery began production in 2024, it transformed the energy-rich country of more than 210 million people from an importer of refined oil into an exporter. The IPO has raised questions about Dangote retaining significant ownership and the refinery’s valuation after the offering. At $49 billion, the valuation is more than twice what it cost to build the refinery. Refinery officials have denied that its valuation is inflated. The Dangote refinery reached its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day earlier this year. Dangote announced plans last year to increase capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, a move officials say would make it the world’s largest refinery, surpassing India’s Jamnagar plant. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

As the Venice Film Festival approached its final weekend, the event's director Alberto Barbera, spoke about an increase in the number of younger cinemagoers who attended the annual celebration of the silver screen. "I'm here since 2012, and I saw the changing of the audience of the festival, which is more and more made by very young people from 16 years on, around 25, 30 years. They are passionate. They are here because they love movies," said Barbera. "They have the same curiosity and passion that we had when we started to go to festivals 50 years ago." Moreover, there is a program that the festival offers to help young cinephiles to attend the festivities. "The Biennale, 10 years ago, improved the program to support the attendance of young people. For example, we give a discount on the accreditation for a student of the Italian university, any kind of university, not only student of cinema (...) We started with 1,000 students. Now we are around 2,800 students that are attending the festival. We help them to find rooms, low-cost rooms in Venice." The Associated Press talked to some of these young attendees on the Venice Lido and asked them why they love cinema so much. "During the last years, cinema became really more attractive for young people, maybe because cinema is open to more actual themes," said 27-year-old film student Pablo Traversa, who admittedly loves going to the theater to "quit from the outside world for at least two hours." "I think it's magic because you can stop thinking about other things in your everyday life and you can feel like the main characters of another story," echoes fellow 27-year-old Domenico Gallo. Some of the youngsters love dressing up to visit the film theater. Asia, a 22-year-old film student, remembers watching Greta Gerwig's 2023 comedy "Barbie" dressed in theme with the movie. "Everybody was in pink, and all the generations got mixed up, because there were older women mostly and younger girls. So, it was really lovely to see, and also it was lovely to see also like men dressing up in pink or with Barbie shorts." This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Beijing is banning the possession of drones within city limits in new rules announced that further tighten its regulations on drones, which already include a May ban on sales of the devices. The ban on possession will come into effect in mid-November. Beijing has barred unauthorized drone flights, citing security reasons, and has designated the city’s administrative area as restricted airspace. The latest revised rules come after a fatal accident in late June when a small aircraft crashed into a Beijing skyscraper, killing the pilot and injuring 13 others. Under regulations approved in March and which came into effect on May 1, existing drone owners in Beijing had to register their devices with their real names and identities, but owners have been allowed to keep their registered drones under strict requirements. However, according to the revised regulations approved last month, which will be effective from November 15, the possession or storage of drones or key components within Beijing's city limits will also be banned. The revised rules were released by authorities. Authorities can confiscate the drones of those who do not comply and can impose fines on individuals and companies. Beijing authorities will be offering subsidies for existing drone owners to sell their devices at designated buyback locations, according to the state-owned newspaper Beijing Daily. Drone owners can also consider scrapping and recycling their drones with a small subsidy provided, or shipping them outside of Beijing before the new rules come into effect. Drone users can still fly drones outdoors in other parts of the country, but real name registrations are required. Beijing, the Chinese capital, often has more stringent security rules than other parts of China. Bringing drones into Beijing from outside the city, including by tourists, is already prohibited. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep across the continental United States, according to a major scientific report. A warming Earth is accelerating the melting of the planet’s two major ice sheets, with five-sixths of the melt not coming from hotter air, but from warmer waters eating away at the ice sheets from below and the sides, with glaciers flowing into the oceans, according to a study in the journal Scientific Data. That’s bad news for future sea level rise, the study’s authors said. “The ice sheets are melting away fast,” said study co-author Eric Rignot, an ice scientist at University of California, Irvine. “We are melting the polar regions; sea level is rising worldwide and will exacerbate the vulnerability of coastal regions.” The numbers behind the melt are both mind-bogglingly huge and deceptively small. All that melted ice turned into nearly 3 quadrillion gallons of water (11.3 quadrillion liters), which pushed global sea levels up about an inch (3.1 centimeters) since 1979, on top of other climate factors raising ocean heights, the report said. An inch may not sound like much, but for every third of an inch (or centimeter) of sea level rise, another 2 to 3 million people get flooded at least once a year, said lead study author Ines Otosaka, an ice scientist at Northumbria University in England. The Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland is now retreating up to 164 feet (50 meters) a day, Otosaka said. The international collaboration of polar scientists, headed by the European Space Agency, had in the past only looked at ice sheet melt since the 1990s based on European satellite data. But by incorporating NASA satellites, the scientists were able to chart ice sheet volumes in Antarctica back to 1979 and in Greenland back to 1972. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The number of people aged 100 or older in Japan surpassed a record 100,000 this year, the latest government figures show, underscoring the country's rapidly aging and declining population. The Health and Welfare Ministry statistics released show Japan now has 107,677 centenarians, up 7,914 from the previous year and exceeding the 100,000 mark for the first time. Nearly 88% of them are women. Kyoto resident Fuyo Kishimoto was recently recognized as the oldest Japanese woman at age 114. Japan's oldest male is 112-year-old Hikaru Kato from Kumamoto in southern Japan. The figures were released to mark this year's September 15 Respect for the Aged Day, when healthy and active centenarians are honored by the government with a letter from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and a silver sake cup. "I'm very pleased that many people are living long, healthy, and active lives," Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno told reporters, citing progress in medical technology, healthy lifestyle, and diet as contributing factors. Ueno noted the importance of maintaining a sustainable social security system as the population continues to age and decline. Many younger people, however, are not optimistic about their future. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research released the results of a survey indicating more than 20% of both men and women who are single and aged between 18 and 34 have no intention of ever marrying, with nearly half saying they see no benefit in marriage. Ueno acknowledged that the reasons for marriage reluctance among young people include the high costs of raising and educating children and the mental and physical burden on working parents. He said the government will continue addressing their concerns and attempt to turn around problems related to Japan's aging population and dwindling births. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A Japanese military transport ship docked on the island of Borneo as part of a disaster relief mission to help fight wildfires in Indonesia that are causing a toxic haze impacting people’s health in other countries. Japan deployed 300 crew members, landing ship JS Kunisaki and three CH-47 helicopters, which arrived in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The mission in Indonesia marked the first known overseas firefighting operation carried out by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, or JSDF. “To this end, we will learn from the Indonesian military’s operational experience and work in coordination and cooperation with them, striving to ensure that the Indonesian people can lead stable lives as soon as possible,” Col. Syunji Nakahara, the commander of the disaster relief activities, said at a port in Mempawah district. Japan and Indonesia have also been increasingly strengthening their military cooperation ties, with the two sides discussing the Japanese sale of its used destroyers. Indonesia has been plagued by forest and land fires for decades, but an intensifying El Niño pattern this year and a prolonged dry season worsened the impact of the fires. Toxic haze and smoke have caused a health crisis in neighboring countries. The smoke has drifted as far as the Philippines, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away, and breached Malaysia’s emergency-level threshold for air pollution, forcing authorities to declare an emergency in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo. The air pollution has also affected several areas on the island of Sumatra, forcing schools to suspend learning activities at school. The toxic haze has affected more than 1.4 million students across the country. Japan's firefighting efforts will support Indonesian authorities in reaching areas that are difficult for ground teams to access. The JSDF said in a statement that the three CH-47 Chinook helicopters from Japan will start conducting firefighting operations on Borneo as soon as preparations are complete. “Through these operations, we will dedicate ourselves to supporting the affected people of Indonesia and preventing further damage,” a written statement from the JSDF said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

When children forget their lunch, can't solve a math problem, or don't know how to get somewhere, the instinct for parents can be to step in immediately. But sometimes, the problem is an opportunity. Developmental experts and educators say children need chances to struggle with everyday problems because figuring them out is a skill that has to be practiced. The challenge for parents is knowing when to help and when to step back. There is a difference between helping children through difficult situations and removing the problem before they have a chance to try. At a time when an answer or AI-generated help can be seconds away, giving children room to figure things out for themselves can be hard to do. What independence looks like depends on a child’s age, abilities, and circumstances, but experts say it means learning to plan, make decisions, solve problems, recover from mistakes, and figure out what to do next. Children have unprecedented access to information, while technology has given parents more ways to monitor their kids' lives. They can track their children’s locations, see grades in real time, and email teachers immediately. That means parents can intervene before their children have had a chance to realize there is a problem, let alone figure out a solution. There is a downside to that convenience, said Dr. Dana Suskind, a professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Chicago and author of the book Human Raised. “I think the most important thing we can give children is not the answer, but the experience of figuring it out,” Suskind said. When parents swoop in, she said, children are deprived of opportunities to practice skills like pausing before acting, remembering what worked previously, and trying new solutions. If children rarely have to struggle, it can lead to severe anxiety when they have to figure out something on their own, said Dr. Stephanie Carlson, director of the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Allowing children to be bored, frustrated, impatient, or nervous can support their learning and better prepare them for adulthood, experts say. Boredom can facilitate creativity and play while helping children build confidence and resilience, said Kiryn Hoffman, CEO of the National Children’s Museum in Washington, D.C. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Almost 1 billion Africans still rely on wood, charcoal, and other fuels that produce harmful smoke, according to the International Energy Agency. But across Africa, cleaner cooking stoves are being brought into homes by cutting the price of electric and efficient biomass models. For mother of two Mary Kavutha, cooking inside her own kitchen was a luxury she didn’t have until recently. Two years ago, the Nairobi businesswoman still relied on charcoal, taking the stove outside because the smoke made indoor cooking difficult. Now, breakfast starts with an induction cooker, switched on at the wall and controlled with the turn of a dial. The change wasn’t driven by climate policy, but by the daily calculations that shape household life here. Things like cost, speed, safety, and whether she can cook near her children without filling the home with smoke. Kavutha says charcoal used to cost her about 150 Kenyan shillings, or 1 dollar and 15 cents, each day. Electricity tokens worth 100 Kenyan shillings, or about 80 cents, now last into the next day and cover several meals. Kavutha says, “When I compare it with the charcoal, it is very cheaper. Because, like in a day when I was using the charcoal, I find that I am using around 150 Kenya shillings ($1.15) with the charcoal per day. And with this one (induction stove), when I buy a token of 100 Kenya shillings ($0.8), it lasts me to the second day. You find that I have used it (in preparing) my breakfast.” Kavutha’s switch is part of a wider push to make clean cooking affordable, not only available. The financing behind it works through carbon credits. When households use less charcoal, firewood, or other polluting fuels, clean cooking companies can calculate the emissions avoided, have those reductions verified, and sell credits linked to them. That expected revenue helps companies raise money in advance, lowering the price paid by customers who might not be able to afford a stove upfront. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The management team at the Paris venue for Celine Dion's grand concert comeback has been bracing to deliver devastating news to hundreds of her fans: ‘Sorry, you appear to have been scammed; your tickets are fake.’ The Grammy-winning star's long-awaited return to the concert stage after years away from touring has unleashed massive pent-up demand for tickets. It was a perfect storm for scammers who have wormed their way into fans' online communities and set up fraudulent ticketing websites to manipulate and rob fans of both their money and hopes of being able to say, “I was there.” The Plenitude Arena, hosting Dion for 16 dates in September and October and another 10 in May, said the highest risk of scams is when tickets first go on sale—which was April for the upcoming concerts and June for the 2027 series—and in the shows' immediate build-up. The shows sold out immediately, although a few VIP packages with Champagne and other perks are still available for between 1,099 euros and 2,990 euros (US$1,276 and $3,473) on the arena's website. One other possibility was to buy tickets from people who no longer want theirs. But the arena says the only way to do that safely is on three sites that are authorized for resales: AXS France, Ticketmaster France, and Fnac Spectacles. Generally, just 4% to 8% of people who buy tickets for the arena end up not wanting or not being able to use them. Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm that works with the international police agency Interpol and others, and the Plenitude Arena both say they found an array of fraudulent websites that impersonated official ticketing platforms as well as the official sites for Dion and for the arena. The concert series was a major milestone for the 58-year-old Quebec-born singer, her first since she revealed in 2022 her diagnosis with stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Families’ interest in their kids’ education is falling in many high-income countries as school systems struggle with plunging test scores, according to newly released results from a standardized test taken by 15-year-olds around the world. Over 760,000 teenagers in dozens of countries took the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) last year. Results released show average scores in math, reading, and science are all at their lowest point in PISA history among highly developed economies. That includes continued declines in reading and math scores in the U.S. China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea scored the highest marks on the test. Estonia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand also did well. The key to why scores are falling so widely may be found in an accompanying survey taken by students. Compared with the 2022 results, almost every country saw a drop in families' support for their kids' education, especially for boys, as measured by questions about how often parents talk to their kids about their schoolwork or take an interest in their learning. “Parents see themselves more as a client of the school, not as someone who takes personal interest,” said Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which runs the PISA test. Students who said a family member asks them at least weekly what they did in school that day scored around 35 points higher on the PISA science test—equivalent to over a year and a half of learning—compared with students whose families take less interest. That number includes adjustments for socioeconomic differences. Digital distraction is another factor. Over a quarter of students in high-income countries complained that their classmates got distracted by digital devices in most or every science class. In countries with strong policies controlling the use of cellphones in schools, distraction rates were lower. There’s undoubtedly a strong association between students using digital devices for leisure and lower test scores, Schleicher said. When tech is used for learning, however, the results are more nuanced. Countries where high schoolers reported using digital devices for around two to three hours per day in school saw higher test scores, but scores fell once tech use climbed beyond that. This article was provided by The Associated Press.