MILAN (AP) — Venice’s renowned La Fenice opera house is breaking ties with contentious incoming music director Beatrice Venezi, who has ties to Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, following months of protests by musicians.

My kids love this dish from my cookbook ”Familia” because of the crispy chicken skin. You are essentially creating a confit where the chicken cooks in its own fat.

HAVANA (AP) — On a recent afternoon, a group of elderly residents slipped through the wooden doors of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Old Havana and gathered for a modest meal of ground meat, rice, red beans and crackers topped with mayonnaise — all finished with a cup of strong Cuban coffee.

A former FBI agent is offering the first detailed account of how investigators identified the people believed to have carried out the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. In a new book, Geoffrey Kelly argues the theft was the work of a loose network of Boston-area criminals, not international masterminds, and traces how the stolen art moved through violent criminal circles. His account sheds light on key suspects, investigative missteps and lingering questions, including the actions of a security guard that night. More than three decades later, the paintings remain missing — artworks Kelly calls the “perfect fugitives.”

An amateur pop choir in Serbia is finding unexpected success across the country. Its motto is simple: Anyone can sing. While community choirs are common elsewhere, they are rare in Serbia. The choir's no-stress, fun approach has attracted hundreds, mostly women of all ages. Since starting four years ago, Pop Hor has spread to 10 towns. There are no auditions, and newcomers don’t need to read music. Founder Nenad Azanjac says many join for stress relief and a sense of belonging. The choir often performs at festivals and events, bringing joy and reducing stress for its members.

Barriers to tourism for people living with disabilities can range from the obvious, such as an out-of-service elevator, to an outing that’s too long or a setting that’s too loud. Tourist destinations that want to be truly accessible need to accommodate visitors with visible and invisible disabilities. In recent years, museums and other cultural institutions worldwide have added specialized guides and barrier-free tours for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, use wheelchairs, or with autism or dementia. Tourism agencies dedicated to serving these populations have sprung up, too. Disabled travelers also have created their own websites to share and exchange information.

TOKYO (AP) — This is how Japan wakes up. It's called Radio Taiso — Exercise Radio in English — a simple yet dynamic way to start the day.

It’s the final year of an event that bills itself as the largest powwow in North America, and the winners of the pageant that headlined it for decades are mourning the end of the tradition. The last Gathering of Nations kicked off on Friday in New Mexico. The Miss Indian World pageant has drawn hundreds of young women from across the U.S. and Canada to share knowledge of their cultures and compete for the title and beaded crown that have become iconic in Indian Country. The pageant crowned its last winner in 2025. Organizers have said the time has come for the events to end, but gave no other details.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner has produced viral moments that were funny, cringeworthy or undeniably tense and that endure across social media. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush welcomed jokes, while George W. Bush brought some of his own. Comedians Stephen Colbert and Michelle Wolf created tension in the room. And President Barack Obama's mockery of Donald Trump set the stage for the reality TV star's move into politics. The dinner began a few years after World War I. Some years were forgettable and relegated to C-SPAN archives.

BEIJING (AP) — Atlanta will have giant pandas again.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Late every summer, hulking white bears gather outside a tiny Alaska Native village on the edge of the continent, far above the Arctic Circle, to feast on whale carcasses left behind by hunters and to wait for the deep cold to freeze the sea.

Xaneri Merino, a transgender woman and artisan from southern Mexico, was once punished for weaving in her Indigenous community, where men are largely barred from weaving. Today, she uses the backstrap loom to explore identity and resilience while teaching others to turn weaving into a form of personal expression and LGBTQ+ resistance. Merino was expected to tend cattle or work in the fields. Yet her grandmother defied those rigid gender norms, passing on to her the ancestral practice of the backstrap loom — an ancient, portable device operated using a strap secured around the weaver’s waist.