Europe’s far-right political parties unofficially launched their campaign Sunday for European Union elections in Spain with strong messages against illegal migration and the bloc’s climate policy while declaring their support for Israel in its war against Hamas.

French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tried to rally voters at an event organized by Spain’s far-right Vox party in Madrid ahead of the European Union’s parliamentary elections June 6-9. Analysts say the vote across the bloc’s 27 nations could see a strong rise of the far right.

“We are in the final stretch to make 9 June a day of liberation and hope,” said the French presidential candidate. “We have three weeks left to convince our respective compatriots to go out and vote.”

Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party has foundations in Benito Mussolini’s fascism, spoke in Spanish via video conference and called for young people to vote. “You are the only possible future for Europe,” Meloni told them.

How many people named Kyle can fit in one place? For one Texas city, not enough.

Another attempt by the city of Kyle, Texas, to break the world record for the largest gathering of people with one name fell short Saturday despite 706 Kyles of all ages turning up at a park in the suburbs of Austin.

The crown is currently held by a town in Bosnia that got 2,325 people named Ivan together in 2017, according to Guinness World Records.

It’s not the first time the Kyles have come gunning for the Ivans. Last year, the official count at what has become known as the Gathering of the Kyles clocked in at 1,490 in the fast-growing Texas city that is about 37 miles south of Austin, the state’s capital.

The U.S. is regularly tapping a ready and captive workforce — the 2.2 million prisoners it currently has behind bars.  

But these prisoners doing some of the country’s dirtiest and most dangerous jobs often are not covered by even the most basic protections such as workers’ compensation.  

This leaves them with little recourse when things go wrong – including when they were maimed, raped or even killed on the job, an AP investigation finds.

If you’re looking for a little bit of that “Top Gun: Maverick” spectacle and thrill at the movie theater this summer, you’re in luck. A groundbreaking new documentary, “The Blue Angels,” is flying onto IMAX screens for one week, through May 22.

Using IMAX-certified cameras mounted on a helicopter, the filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to the U.S. Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, both on the ground and in “the box,” the tightly guarded performance airspace. Unlike in a Hollywood movie, there were no staged recreations, second takes or computer-generated shots. And they had about “5% of the budget” “Top Gun” had, those involved estimated.

A Vermont university has bestowed the honorary degree of “doctor of litter-ature” on Max the cat, a beloved member of its community, ahead of students’ graduation on Saturday.

A Vermont university has bestowed the honorary degree of “doctor of litter-ature” on Max the cat, a beloved member of its community, ahead of students’ graduation on Saturday.

Vermont State University’s Castleton campus is honoring the feline not for his mousing or napping, but for his friendliness.

“Max the Cat has been an affectionate member of the Castleton family for years,” the school said in a Facebook post.

Simone Biles will compete for the first time in 2024 at this weekend’s U.S. Classic. Getting there has required a new mindset, at times a literal mother’s touch and constant vigilance to work on herself, work she now understands has no expiration date.

“I couldn’t run away from it, you know,” Biles told The Associated Press, reflecting on her experience confronting her mental health in Tokyo. “I just owned it and said ‘Hey, this is what I’m going through. This is the help that I’m going to get.’”

Francis Ford Coppola on Thursday will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival a film on which he has risked everything, one that’s arriving clouded by rumors of production turmoil. Sound familiar?

Other films are debuting in Cannes with more fanfare and hype, but none has quite the curiosity of “Megalopolis,” the first film by the 85-year-old filmmaker in 13 years. Coppola put $120 million of his own money into it.

Forty-five years ago, something very similar played out when Coppola was toiling over the edit for “Apocalypse Now.” The movie’s infamous Philippines production, which would be documented by Coppola’s late wife, Eleanor, was already legend. The originally planned release in December 1977 had come and gone. Coppola had, himself, poured some $16 million into the $31 million budget for his Vietnam-set telling of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.”

Something stopped Michael McDonald from telling his story publicly — him. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with multiple Grammys just didn’t think he had one.

McDonald, a member of both Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers who became a singular soul solo artist with such hits as “On My Own″ and “Sweet Freedom,” believed he was just a small player in the history of rock.

“I was afraid that, ‘Well, how much of a story is here, really?’ My experience is pretty much me living vicariously through other people’s accomplishments,” McDonald said in an interview.

Prodded by a friend — actor and comedian Paul Reiser — McDonald is finally owning his story this spring in the unvarnished and humble memoir “What a Fool Believes,” out May 21.

The iconic Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip will shut its doors this summer, the end of an era for a property credited with helping transform Sin City into an ultra-luxury resort destination.

The July 17 closure will clear the way for major renovations and construction on the 80-acre property, which is to reopen in 2027 as the Hard Rock Las Vegas, featuring a hotel tower in the shape of a guitar soaring nearly 700 feet above the heart of the Strip.

“We’d like to thank the Las Vegas community and team members for warmly welcoming Hard Rock after enjoying 34 years at The Mirage,” Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, said Wednesday in a statement announcing the closure.

It will be the second time this year that a Strip casino shutters.

A set of quintuplets from New Jersey are now all graduates of the same school in their home state — albeit with different majors.

The Povolo quintuplets received their degrees Monday from Montclair State University, where they all had received full academic scholarships. Born just minutes apart on the Fourth of July, the two girls — Victoria and Ashley and — and three boys — Ludovico, Michael and Marcus — admit it’s been an “emotional” time as a chapter of their lives comes to a close.

But the tight-knit Totowa family says the school also gave them the chance to discover their own academic interests and extracurricular activities.

“We are fortunate enough to all be graduating with diplomas and that kind of thing, and doing it with our very best friends — these are definitely my best friends, so doing it all together is awesome,” Ludovico Totowa said about his siblings. Their college commencement was also special because they missed out on their graduation from Passaic Valley Regional High School, which did not held a ceremony that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.