US Senate Republicans advance Trump bill toward passage
Thousands celebrate love and diversity at Budapest Pride, sending a clear message to Orban
Nick Thorpe
BBC Budapest Correspondent
ReutersBudapest advertises itself as a party town. On Saturday, the party spilled out onto the streets, and occupied, in the scorching heat of summer, the Elizabeth Bridge and the river banks and downtown areas on both shores of the Danube.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 mostly young people danced and sang their way from Pest to Buda.
A distance that usually takes only 20 minutes on foot stretched to three hours.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ban, many Budapest Pride participants told me, spurred them to attend an event they usually stay away from. Last year, just 35,000 took part.
Many banners mocked the Hungarian prime minister. It was like a peaceful revenge by some of those he has declared war on during his past 15 years in power.
“In my history class, I learnt enough, to recognise a dictatorship. You don’t need to illustrate it – Vik!” read one hand-made banner. “I’m so bored of Fascism,” read another.
T-shirts with Orban’s image, in bright eyeshadow and lipstick, were everywhere.
ReutersWhile the LGBT community with its vivid paraphernalia made up the core of the march, this year’s Pride turned into a celebration of human rights and solidarity.
“We don’t exactly look as though we were banned!” a beaming Budapest mayor, Gergely Karacsony, told the crowd, in a speech in front of the Budapest Technical University.
Today’s march could go down as the crowning moment of his political career. A city hall starved of funds and in constant struggle with the central government dared to host an event the government tried to ban, and won – for now at least.
“In fact, we look like we’re peacefully and freely performing a big, fat show to a puffed-up and hateful power. The message is clear: they have no power over us!” Karacsony continued.
Nick Thorpe, BBCAmong the attendees was Finnish MEP Li Andersson, who felt Orban was using arguments on family values as a pretext to ban the march.
“It’s important to emphasise that the reason why we are here is not only Pride – this is about the fundamental rights of all of us,” she said.
The ban was based on a new law, passed by the big majority held by Orban’s Fidesz party in parliament, subordinating the freedom of assembly to a 2021 Child Protection law that equated homosexuality with paedophilia, and therefore banned the portrayal or promotion of homosexuality in places where children might see it.
The police justified a ban on Saturday’s march on the grounds children might witness it. In response, the mayor cited a 2001 law stating events organised by councils do not fall under the right of assembly.
In the end, the police officers present at the march kept a discreet presence, looking on mournfully at a party from which they were excluded.
In another part of the city, Orban attended the graduation ceremony of 162 new police and customs officers, and new officials of the National Directorate-General for Policing Aliens.
“Order does not come into being by itself, it must be created, because without it civilised life will be lost,” Orban told the students and their families.
Earlier, he and other prominent Fidesz officials posted pictures of themselves with their children and grandchildren, in an attempt to reclaim the “pride” word.
“Post a picture, to show them what we’re proud of,” Alexandra Szentkiralyi, the head of the Fidesz faction in the Budapest Council, posted on Facebook, alongside a picture of herself in a rather plain “Hungary” T-shirt.
The police presence was restrained in Budapest on Saturday, but temporary cameras installed ahead of the march and mounted on police vehicles recorded the whole event.
Getty ImagesThe 18 March law that attempted to ban the Pride gave the police new powers to use facial recognition software. Fines of between £14 ($19) and £430 could be imposed on participants.
The pro-government media was scathing in its criticism of the day’s events, echoing remarks by leading Fidesz politicians that the march was a celebration of perversity, with nothing to do with freedom of assembly.
“Chaos at Budapest Pride,” proclaimed Magyar Nemzet, the government flagship.
“The notorious climate activist and more recently terrorist supporter Greta Thunberg posted on her Instagram page that she is also at Budapest Pride,” it continued.
“After the demonstration, this will be a question for the courts,” Zoltan Kiszelly, a political analyst close to the government, told the BBC.
“If the courts decide in favour of the mayor and the (Pride) organisers, then Orban can say, okay, we have to change the legislation again.”
If the courts decide for the government, however, the prime minister can be pleased with the law he pushed through – despite the fact Pride went ahead.
Senate prepares for crucial vote on Trump’s tax bill as Musk slams it as ‘completely irrational and harmful’
The Senate is preparing for a key procedural vote during a rare Saturday session as Republicans race to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds by his July Fourth deadline.
Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks. Not all GOP lawmakers are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks.
Ahead of the expected roll call, the White House released a statement of administrative policy saying it “strongly supports passage” of the bill that “implements critical aspects” of the president’s agenda. Trump himself was at his golf course in Virginia on Saturday with GOP senators posting about it on social media.
“It’s time to get this legislation across the finish line,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
But as the day dragged on, billionaire Elon Musk lashed out, calling the package “utterly insane and destructive.”
“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” the former top Trump aide said in a post.
The 940-page bill was released shortly before midnight Friday, and senators are expected to grind through the days ahead with hours of potentially all-night debate and countless amendments. Senate passage could be days away, and the bill would need to return to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House.
With the narrow Republicans majorities in the House and Senate, leaders need almost every lawmaker on board in the face of essentially unified opposition from Democrats.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans dropped the bill “in the dead of night” and are rushing to finish the bill before the public fully knows what’s in it.
Make-or-break moment for GOP
The weekend session could be a make-or-break moment for Trump’s party, which has invested much of its political capital on his signature domestic policy plan. Trump is pushing Congress to wrap it up, even as he sometimes gives mixed signals, allowing for more time.
At recent events at the White House, including Friday, Trump has admonished the “grandstanders” among GOP holdouts to fall in line.
The legislation is an ambitious but complicated series of GOP priorities. At its core, it would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump’s first term that would otherwise expire by year’s end if Congress fails to act, resulting in a potential tax increase on Americans. The bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350 billion to national security, including for Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
But the spending cuts that Republicans are relying on to offset the lost tax revenues are causing dissent within the GOP ranks. Some lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving health care through Medicaid. Meanwhile, conservatives, worried about the nation’s debt, are pushing for steeper cuts.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he remains concerned about the fundamentals of the package and will not support the procedural motion to begin debate. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has been opposed to the measure to raise the nation’s debt limit by $5 trillion. And Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., pushing for deeper cuts, said he needed to see the final legislative text.
GOP Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana said he would agree to proceeding to the bill only after being assured a provision for public lands sales he opposes would be taken out with an amendment.
After setbacks, Republicans revise some proposals
The release of that draft had been delayed as the Senate parliamentarianreviewed the bill to ensure it complied with the chamber’s strict “Byrd Rule,” named for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. It largely bars policy matters from inclusion in budget bills unless a provision can get 60 votes to overcome objections. That would be a tall order in a Senate with a 53-47 GOP edge and Democrats unified against Trump’s bill.
Republicans suffered a series of setbacks after several proposals were determined to be out of compliance by the chief arbiter of the Senate’s rules. One plan would have shifted some food stamp costs from the federal government to the states; a second would have gutted the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
But over the past days, Republicans have quickly revised those proposals and reinstated them.
The final text includes a proposal for cuts to a Medicaid provider tax that had run into parliamentary objections and opposition from several senators worried about the fate of rural hospitals. The new version extends the start date for those cuts and establishes a $25 billion fund to aid rural hospitals and providers.
Most states impose the provider tax as a way to boost federal Medicaid reimbursements. Some Republicans argue that is a scam and should be abolished.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that under the House-passed version of the bill, some 10.9 million more people would go without health care and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid. The CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which proposes steeper reductions.
Top income-earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the package would cost the poorest Americans $1,600, the CBO said.
SALT dispute shakes things up
The Senate included a compromise over the so-called SALT provision, a deduction for state and local taxes that has been a top priority of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states, but the issue remains unsettled.
The current SALT cap is $10,000 a year, and a handful of Republicans wanted to boost it to $40,000 a year. The final draft includes a $40,000 cap, but for five years instead of 10.
Many Republican senators say that is still too generous. At least one House GOP holdout, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, had said that would be insufficient.
Trump’s deadline nears
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who sent his colleagues home for the weekend with plans to be on call to return to Washington, had said they are “very close” to finishing up.
“We would still like to meet that July Fourth, self-imposed deadline,” said Johnson, R-La.
Johnson and Thune have stayed close to the White House, relying on Trump to pressure holdout lawmakers.
PSG vs Inter Miami: All you need to know about the FIFA Club World Cup match – team news, kick-off time, and predicted lineups | Football News
Who: Paris Saint-Germain vs Inter Miami
What: FIFA Club World Cup round of 16
Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, United States
When: Sunday, June 30 at 12pm (16:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 9am local (13:00 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.
FIFA’s Club World Cup serves up a treat in the round of 16 as Lionel Messi leads Inter Miami against his former club, Paris Saint-Germain.
The Argentinian international forward joined the French giants, and now first-time European champions, from the club he represented since childhood, Barcelona.
PSG’s coveted European success was not forthcoming, and Messi headed for new pastures with his 2023 move to Major League Soccer.
Now, Messi faces a PSG side shorn of many of the Galacticos recruited to seal European glory, but full of youthful exuberance and riding the crest of their Champions League wave.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the match.
Why does Messi’s Miami vs PSG carry such weight?
When PSG meet Inter Miami, it will mark a rare reunion of European football greats, all layered with old loyalties, recent regrets and the chance for Lionel Messi to settle a score.
Sunday’s game features a compelling contrast of eras – a PSG side powered by youth and energy fresh off their maiden Champions League title, and an Inter Miami team built around ageing-but-iconic former Barcelona stars.
On the PSG touchline, Luis Enrique comes face to face with four players he once led at Barcelona: Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
They are all now reunited under Miami coach Javier Mascherano, another figure from Luis Enrique’s treble-winning era at Camp Nou.
“Luis Enrique is a phenomenon,” Alba said this week. “I’m excited to see him and will give him a hug, but when the ref blows the opening whistle, we’ll try to beat him.”
Suarez, now 38, reflected on his former manager’s impact: “I already had a competitive DNA, but he injected even more into me,” he said.
Do the Barcelona contingent have history with PSG?
In another layer of intrigue, Miami’s contingent of former Barcelona players were all part of 2017’s “Remontada” against PSG.
That was PSG’s darkest night, when Barca thrashed them 6-1 in Spain after losing 4-0 in Paris in their last-16 Champions League tie.
That was when Miami’s veterans were at their peak.
Now, they rely on memory and rhythm, while PSG’s core has been reshaped by a rising generation: Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue and Vitinha have helped inject fresh energy into Luis Enrique’s system, culminating in a Champions League triumph just weeks ago.
How did PSG fare in the group stage?
The Parisian side arrive in Atlanta after a 1–0 loss to Brazil’s Botafogo in the group stage, which raised questions about fatigue following a long European season.
Though PSG remain heavy favourites on paper, that defeat showed cracks in a squad that has played more high-stakes matches than most of their rivals.
PSG took their group with wins in their opening games against Atletico Madrid and Seattle Sounders.
How did Inter Miami fare in the group stage?
Inter Miami finished second in their group behind Palmeiras with one win and two draws to their name.
The Messi-inspired 2-1 win against Porto was crucial to their progress.
Can Miami’s Argentina axis take down PSG?
“It will be an honour for me facing a great coach, one of the greatest I’ve had in my career,” said Mascherano of Luis Enrique.
Now in his first major club coaching role, Mascherano brings an emotional edge and tactical sharpness to a Miami side that, while physically limited by age, can still threaten, especially with Messi in form.
The Argentina great endured a turbulent two-year stint at PSG after leaving Barcelona in 2021. Though he won domestic silverware, Messi never found peace in Paris and, after his World Cup win in 2022, some fans turned on him.
“I didn’t enjoy myself at PSG,” Messi told reporters earlier this year. “It was a tough period.”
Mascherano believes that memory still drives him.
“When something’s stuck in his mind, Messi gives a little extra,” he said this week.
What went so wrong for Messi at PSG?
PSG had made it to the Champions League final and then semifinals in the two seasons prior to Messi’s arrival, so he looked like the final piece in the jigsaw.
Instead, they went backwards with him in the side, going out of Europe’s elite club competition in the last 16 two years running.
Having to fit in Messi, with his estimated annual salary of 30 million euros ($35.2 million) after tax, as well as Neymar and Mbappe, may have increased the star appeal, but it weakened them as a team.
Towards the end, the Barcelona legend was even being jeered by some sections of the PSG support who felt Messi’s commitment to the cause was not what it should have been.
Messi was a PSG player when he inspired Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in late 2022, but there were only flashes of his genius at club level in France.
His statistics stand up to any scrutiny, with 32 goals and 35 assists in 75 appearances, and he did win two Ligue 1 titles while helping increase PSG’s value as a brand.
Miami coach Javier Mascherano, meanwhile, believes the unhappy memory of his time in Paris could spur Messi on.
“It’s clear that for us it’s better if he plays angry, because he’s one of those players who, when he has something on his mind, gives an extra effort,” Mascherano told ESPN.
How did PSG fare last season?
PSG’s stunning 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan in Munich at the end of last month, which allowed them to win the UEFA Champions League for the first time, completed an incredible treble-winning season for the Qatar-backed side under the coaching of Luis Enrique.
How did Inter Miami fare last season?
Miami finished as the club with the most points in Major League Soccer’s (MLS) regular season, handing them a place at the Club World Cup instead of LA Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup, which is regarded as the highest prize in the MLS.
FIFA announced Miami’s addition to the Club World Cup in October after they broke MLS’s regular-season points record with a 6-2 win over New England Revolution to reach 74 points, one better than the previous record set by New England in 2021.
PSG team news
Ousmane Dembele has just resumed training after overcoming a hamstring injury, but may not even be fit enough for the bench.
Goncalo Ramos and Bradley Barcola are vying to start with Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in. Youngster Senny Mayulu was selected for the match against Seattle in Dembele’s role.
Inter Miami team news
Jordi Alba has returned from injury and will challenge youngster Noah Allen for the left-back position.
Drake Callender, Gonzalo Lujan and Yannick Bright are all still sidelined. Veteran goalkeeper Oscar Ustari will continue to deputise for the former.
PSG predicted starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Kvaratskhelia, Ramos, Doue
Inter Miami predicted starting lineup:
Ustari; Weigandt, Aviles, Falcon, Allen; Allende, Redondo, Busquets, Segovia; Messi, Suarez
PSG form guide (all competitions):
W-W-W-L-W
Inter Miami form guide (all competitions):
W-W-D-W-D
Snoop Dogg Resolves Copyright Dispute Involving Alleged Use of Two Backing Tracks on ‘BODR’ Album
Snoop Dogg has settled a copyright lawsuit with musician and producer Trevor Lawrence Jr. over two backing tracks allegedly used on the rapper’s 2022 album, BODR.
The parties filed a joint dismissal motion in the US District Court for the Central District of California on Tuesday (June 24), ending a dispute that was scheduled to go to trial in September.
The terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed, although the filing shows that each side agreed to cover their own legal fees.
In July last year, Trevor Lawrence Jr. sued Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus Jr.), Death Row Records (DRR) and blockchain platform Gala Music (BGP) as defendants over the alleged use of two backing tracks he created under the titles Pop Pop Pop Goes My 9 and Get This D with Hook.
Lawrence has worked with a number of well-known artists including Herbie Hancock, Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys, Lionel Richie, Ed Sheeran, and many more. The lawsuit states that Lawrence “often authors instrumental musical compositions and sound recordings based upon those compositions,” which, the complaint explains, are referred to as “backing tracks.”
Lawrence alleged he created the backing tracks Pop Pop Pop Goes My 9 and Get This D with Hook in 2010 and provided them to Snoop Dogg in 2020 for “potential in-studio experimentation.”
“Broadus [aka Snoop Dogg] responded positively” to the tracks “and requested that he be furnished with copies thereof,” according to the lawsuit, which you can read here.
The lawsuit claimed that Snoop Dogg’s representatives contacted Lawrence in January 2022 about licensing the tracks for the upcoming album. Lawrence requested a $10,000 producer fee plus 50% publishing rights, terms that were allegedly accepted by Snoop’s team.
However, Lawrence claimed that he “was not contacted by any representatives of Broadus or DRR between January 28, 2022 and February 11, 2022 or otherwise furnished with any paperwork to confirm the agreed-upon scope of use or terms of compensation for exploitation of the Lawrence Tracks as embodied in the Broadus Tracks.”
The dispute intensified when Death Row Records partnered with blockchain platform Gala Music to sell the album tracks as NFTs through “Stash Boxes” or digital bundles combining music with collectible tokens. Lawrence alleged this generated “tens of millions of dollars” in revenue without his authorization.
Snoop Dogg’s legal team disputed these claims, arguing the rapper had paid Lawrence a $20,000 “producer fee” before the album’s release. Lawrence cashed the $20,000 check, Snoop Dogg’s lawyers claimed in a December filing, according to Billboard.
“If Lawrence is entitled to any monies from defendants, it is the agreed-upon producer royalties offset against the $20,000 that he was already paid,” Snoop’s counsel said in the earlier filing cited by Billboard.
Music Business Worldwide
Dominik Kaiser, Finalist in Hungarian Nationals, Set to Attend Florida State University in the Fall
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Dominik Kaiser, a freestyle specialist from Hungary and multi-time finalist at Hungarian Nationals, has signed to swim for the Florida State Seminoles starting in the fall.
Kaiser represented Hungary at the 2022 World Junior Open Water Championships when he was 15, swimming a time of 49:14.70 in the 5k to finish 10th overall. He also helped Hungary to a 5th place finish in the mixed 4x1500m.
Late last year, The Hungarian National Federation had an issue with their open water swimmers at NC State, claiming that the university wouldn’t support their swimmers at the Open Water World Cup due to conflicts with the NCAA season. This led to those swimmers, David Bethlehem and Bettina Fabian, formally withdrawing from the Short Course World Championships and then eventually from NC State.
Although Kaiser hasn’t swam open water since 2022, he has continued to represent Hungary on the international stage. Most recently, he swam at the Barcelona stop of the 2025 Mare Nostrum Tour. There, he placed 59th in the 50 free (24.50), a new best, 72nd in the 100 free (53.73), and 41st in the 50 fly (25.85).
Most of Kaiser’s bests come from last year’s Hungarian National Championships (SCM). There, he clocked PBs in his 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 50 fly (25.37), 100 fly (56.50). He finalled in both the 100 and 200, coming in 8th and 7th, respectively. He also swam the 400 free and 800 free, although he was off his bests in both – in the former, he swam a 3:58.88 while in the latter he swam a time of 8:19.74 for 15th.
Best SCM times (and SCY conversion)
- 50 free – 24.20 (21.63)
- 100 free – 50.14 (45.17)
- 200 free – 1:50.52 (1:39.56)
- 400 free – 3:53.39 (4:26.73)
- 800 free – 8:03.17 (9:12.19)
- 1500 free – 15:27.79 (15:22.25)
This past season, Florida State was 18th at NCAAs, their best finish since coming in 14th in 2019, and their most recent top 20 showing. At ACCs, which welcomed Cal and Stanford this season, the Seminoles were 7th. To qualify for a second swim in Kaiser’s primary events, it took 42.78/1:34.41/4:20.80/16:03.21 across the 100/200/500/1650 frees. If Kaiser can translate his success to yards and match his PBs, he could step up in a big way for Florida State as the team scored no points in the mile this past season.
Though FSU doesn’t have a notable connection with Hungary specifically, many of their top swimmers hail from outside of the United States. Out of the 32 men on their roster this past season, 13 of them were international swimmers.
Kaiser will join Thomas Matheson (fly/distance free), Walter Kueffer (sprint free), Alex Heinrich (fly/free), and Ethan Silver (fly/IM) this fall.
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Top USA Road Trips
Here at HoneyTrek, we absolutely LOVE road trips. In fact, we have road tripped through all 50 US States (not to mention countless Canadian Provinces, Mexican states, and nearly 100 countries). The feeling of cruising down the backroads of America, windows down, solid tunes on the radio…that’s a vibe!
Below you will find our favorite USA road trips. If you want to dig deeper into any of these locations, just click the photo or the text link that says “take me on this road trip.”
We lived in New Jersey for 11 years, but after this 7-day road trip, we realized how much we had taken for granted. Nicknamed the Garden State, it boasts numerous outdoor recreational opportunities, including 130 miles of beaches, 12 national park sites, and the first national reserve. It’s the only state in the US where all the counties are considered metropolitan areas, so you are never shy of fine dining, cultural happenings, and things to do.
And did we mention it’s the Diner Capital of the World? You’re in for some good eats! Too often, people judge New Jersey by what they see from the turnpike…but hop on the backroads, follow our travel guide below, and you’ll see that a New Jersey Road Trip is full of fantastic and unexpected things to do.
➡️READ MORE about this New Jersey Road Trip 🚐🚗🛣️
Did you know that Orlando is America’s most-visited vacation destination? People, a Florida road trip has so much more going for it than amusement parks! More freshwater springs than anywhere in the world, the one and only Everglades, the oldest European city in the U.S., a melting pot of cultures from around the globe, and beach weather when most of the States is shoveling snow…why wouldn’t we spend our winter here? We set aside one month to road trip the Sunshine State, from the southernmost point to the northwestern border, and discover the places even more magical than Disney.
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After 3.5 years and 74,000 miles of road-tripping around North America, we’ve reached our 50th State! We started this grand USA road trip in April 2017, ventured everywhere from the Arctic Circle to the Florida Keys, and have finally made it to the Great Lakes state of Wisconsin! With Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and 15,000 other lakes scattered around WI, they are known for their freshwater adventures, but we quickly realized that’s just the beginning.
They have an International Dark Sky Park, billion-year-old rock formations, a 1,200-mile hiking trail, IMBA-ranked mountain biking, and more fruit and veggie farms than a vegan could dream of. For our 50th-state celebration, we went big and partnered with Travel Wisconsin for a 1,300-mile, two-week road trip around the state—in peak fall foliage, no less! We had an absolute blast and are excited to share our must-see stops for the ultimate Wisconsin road trip.
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Tennessee! Not only is this state home to The Great Smoky Mountains, their famed whiskey, and the birthplace of country music, blues, & rock n’ roll, but it’s also home to the majority of Anne’s family! With aunts, uncles, and cousins on one side of the state and our siblings and nieces on the other, this called for a cross-state road trip! Tennessee has 16 self-guided driving routes connecting 95 counties, plus Tennessee Music Pathways, tracing the state’s music history and legends. With plenty of inspiration for our route, we zigzagged from Knoxville to Memphis and discovered so many wonderful off-the-beaten-path places.
On our 10-day Tennessee road trip, we were struck by the volume of historic little towns finding their mojo. From the former mining boomtown of Monterey to the college town of Cookeville, locals all talked about the recent influx of creative people and hip businesses turning their sleepy cities around. Tennessee seems to breed and attract artistic people, and its towns are proud to celebrate them. We stumbled upon so many festivals, art workshops, free concerts, and community events that endeared us to these places even more.
See our favorite things to do across the state and start planning your own Tennessee road trip!
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“So, you two are in Chicago and driving to LA…are you gonna take Route 66?” My dad posed this question, and we felt silly that taking the country’s most iconic road trip hadn’t even crossed our minds. We had just hit our 50th state, and the Main Street of America was a brilliant homecoming. Zigzagging 2,448 miles across eight states, it’s a highway many of us have driven on–whether we’ve known it or not.
It was decommissioned in 1985 and slowly paved over by major interstates or bypassed entirely, putting many of its gems off the beaten track. Though that’s the beauty of the Mother Road, it’s a treasure hunt reserved for those with a sense of adventure and an appreciation for the past. Stay the course and you’ll be rewarded with neon motel signs, classic cars, glass-tank gas pumps, hole-in-the-wall diners, and the wonderful people keeping the spirit of the road alive.
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The Grand Circle road trip is like wrapping the best of the Southwest’s national park system up in a bow. Ancient volcanic mountains, protruding plateaus and buttes, and deeply carved canyons reveal themselves in a rainbow of colors. Civilizations dating back thousands of years, followed by the Navajo, Apache, Spanish, Mormons, crystal readers, and adrenaline junkies have created a multicultural mix unique to this part of the world. The Colorado Plateau has the densest concentration of national parks in the US and this Grand Circle tour connects the best of them.
➡️READ MORE about this Grand Circle Road Trip 🚐🚗🛣️
Everyone knows about iconic US road trips…like the Pacific Coast Highway or Route 66…but hugging the curves of the Cascade Range? This Oregon road trip has easily been one of our favorite legs on our 130,000-mile journey around the States. Within the Pacific Ring of Fire and running from Northern California to southern British Columbia, this mountain range is stunning across the board.
Though to tackle it without crampons or a month of vacation time, we’d vote for the Oregon route between Ashland and Terrebonne. Spunky towns, glaciated mountains, high desert, craft beer country, and more adventure than an adrenaline junkie knows what to do with, our Oregon Road Trip through this slice of the Cascade Range has it all.
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“Please close the gate behind you; don’t let the cows out,” said the note field on our back-country camping app. We shut it behind us and inched down the dirt road, hoping the heifers would clear a path. “Could this really be the way?” I said to Mike. We rounded the bend, and a river flowing around a rippled mountain with dashes of red and purple appeared, with a perfectly level campsite. It was one of the prettiest we’d seen in our first 500 days of our USA road trips, and no one was around. This was the theme of our Idaho road trip: beauty under the radar.
For example, they don’t have any national parks, though when you’re going through Patagonia-style mountain ranges with 40 peaks over 10,000 feet or rafting the deepest river gorge in North America, it seems the National Park Service must have made a mistake. And even crazier, this gorgeous state is mostly known for its potatoes! Something had to give…so we set the record straight with a month-long Idaho road trip. Here are our highlights from 1,500+ miles through the wildly underrated Gem State.
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“I had a dream of RVing Alaska,” said our mechanic and camper namesake, Buddy. With a slew of health issues, work, and grandbabies keeping him close to home, this forlorn 72-year-old man instilled an Alaskan wanderlust in us from our first day of RV ownership. We had to do an Alaska road trip for him and ourselves, we just didn’t know if this 1985 four-cylinder relic could make the arduous journey. Two summers of road-tripping went by, and, save for the southernmost ghost town of Hyder, the Last Frontier evaded us.
We’ll admit, it sounded intimidatingly far, rugged, vast, and out of our league, but you never know until you try. Trying to give Buddy the Camper the best odds, we got new tires, a brake job, and a full tune-up…and by July 7th, we were heading towards the Alaska Highway. Scaling the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and braving the unpaved roads of the Yukon, Buddy took the slow and steady approach. But after driving to the base of glaciers, boondocking on riverbanks, and blazing the gravel trail into the Arctic Circle, Buddy won the race.
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Everyone wants to visit Glacier National Park…like 3 million people a year. But what many park-goers don’t realize is that most of Western Montana was carved by the same glacial activity, offering so many other stunning mountains, lakes, rivers, and forests, with a fraction of the tourists. To help more people find the lesser-known gems and keep them pristine, we took our experience as off-grid RVers with a green heart and partnered with Glacier Country Tourism for a Montana road trip.
Over the course of 12 days, we traveled from the Bitterroot Mountains to the far north of Kootenai County, through three national forests, dynamic Native American territories, charming small towns, the biggest freshwater lake in the West, and a ton more in between. Here are some of our favorite Western Montana road trip destinations and the ways you can leave these places better than you found them.
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Who’s got a friend who moved to Colorado recently? Just about everyone…because it’s awesome. It’s a state where mountains erupt from the earth with red cliffs, snowy peaks, and sand dunes. Cities are as cosmopolitan as they are granola, with bankers leaving work early to hit the mountain bike trails and farm-to-table waiters serving to sustain their ski habit. Coloradans have got it figured out, between natural beauty, great weather, and a healthy lifestyle that leaves room for a few craft beers.
We’re perfectly happy as nomads, but towns like Denver, Fort Collins, and Steamboat Springs had us looking up real estate. We drove over 1,200 miles, zigzagging in every direction, and the state never ceased to amaze. We didn’t mean to be on a Colorado road trip for two months, but check out our favorite places and adventures, and you’ll see why it was so hard to leave.
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The California Gold Rush changed the country forever. 300,000 people came from across the US and every corner of the world to strike it rich. Dozens of towns sprang up overnight in what was once the backwaters of Mexico, sparsely populated with Native Americans. While the 1849 Gold Rush had terrible consequences for the indigenous people, a fact that can’t be overstated, the Rush is what gave California its foundation as the most diverse state in the country, its entrepreneurial spirit, and its love of adventure.
To get back to California’s Wild West roots and many of my favorite places as a Cali kid, we took a three-week Gold Country road trip! CA Highway 49 winds through the Sierra Nevadas, connecting dozens of 19th-century Gold Rush towns from Yosemite National Park to north of Lake Tahoe. So, in addition to historic sites, this route serves up gorgeous mountains, raging rivers, alpine lakes, and wine country for a trip that’s got it all!
See our guide for the best things to do in Gold Country, California, and get ready for one of the best USA road trips!
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Upper Peninsula Road Trip
For over a century in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, it was wilderness vs. industry. Mining, logging, and shipping dominated through the 1960s, but the UP has reemerged as the beautiful place it was meant to be and with battle scars that make it even cooler. The ruins of copper smelters crumble with the rocky shorelines, overgrown railroads appear deep in the forest, and shipwrecks add a sense of mystery to its Great Lakes.
The world’s largest freshwater lake by volume, Superior whips up some wild wind and waves, carving gorgeous cliffs and churning up gemstones. Agates are everywhere and florescent sodalite had us hunting the beaches until 3am. Going snorkeling, we weren’t looking for fish; the lake has rocks as colorful as coral and even sunken treasure to be found. And maybe what we loved most about the UP is the people’s pride for this place.
When we told our Facebook fans we were going on an Upper Peninsula road trip, comments poured in like we announced a trip to the moon. Anyone vaguely from the Midwest and beyond, chimed in with favorite hikes, must-try sandwiches, secret camping spots, and unforgettable moments…and now we’re just as proud to share our own UP stories and tips with you.
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Nevada Road Trip: Loneliest Road in America
Don’t let the title “Loneliest Road in America” fool you. Nevada’s Highway 50 has been a major thoroughfare since the Pony Express connected the West. And when mail by horse faded with the dawn of the telegraph and automobile, the route blazed a new trail as the first transcontinental highway, from New York to San Francisco. We’ll admit that we thought Route 66 held that claim to fame, but the Lincoln Highway came first, and Nevada’s section was a lynchpin to guiding travelers through the desert and over the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Why is Nevada’s Highway 50 called “The Loneliest Road in America”? In 1986, Life Magazine did a feature, damning this 287-mile stretch, saying, “There are no points of interest,” and warned that motorists would need “survival skills” to make it through this high desert. Well, as seasoned road trippers who’ve driven the Alaska Highway, the entirety of The Mother Road, and nine cross-country road trips, we knew better than to let some persnickety editor keep us or Nevada down! We’d taken a bite out of The Loneliest Road in America on previous Nevada trips and were excited to finally drive its full length and explore all its wonders with an eight-day road trip!
Follow our Route 50 Road Survival Guide from Great Basin National Park, through eight historic towns to numerous hot springs, sacred Native American sites, sand dunes, sagebrush saloons, and so many stops to make The Loneliest Road in America a bucket-list road trip.
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North Florida Road Trip
We thought we’d do our North Florida Road Trip for maybe three weeks…it turned into nearly six! And we didn’t lollygag anywhere either; we explored 36 different regions, and unique they were…from white sand beaches to swamps, springs, islands, savanna, hardwood hammocks, villages, and various “capitals” of the world. This is a bit of a Florida phenomenon; it’s home to the world capital of…manatees, sponges, shark bites, springs, cigars, horses, lightning–you name it. There are numbers to back up these claims, but you’ve also gotta credit the gusto of Floridians. They are proud of the wonders they have and, as semi-resident explorers of Florida this winter, we feel that pride too.
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SLO CAL Road Trip
We’ve driven Central California’s jaw-dropping section of the Pacific Coast Highway a few times, but never gave San Luis Obispo County the credit it deserves. Halfway between LA and San Francisco, it’s the heart of the Central Coast but often overshadowed by its big-city neighbors and legendary ocean road. We’ve even hopped out to wildlife watch at their unbelievable elephant seal colony, gawk at the ultra-luxe Hearst Castle, and marvel at the volcanic Morro Rock jutting out of the sea, but didn’t realize so many gems we’re hiding on this SLO CAL Road Trip.
This California road trip was going to be different. In partnership with the San Luis Obispo County tourism board, we dedicated 10 days to discover its vibrant little cities, beach towns, wine country, farmers markets, hiking trails, art exhibits, and down-to-earth people. Proven to be one of the happiest and healthiest places on Earth, the county seat of San Luis Obispo is among the few cities in the world to be designated a National Geographic “Blue Zone.” Why do its people live longer with fewer health complications? Check out our article “SLO CAL: Best of California’s Central Coast” and see what the good life is made of!
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Robots with Touch Capabilities Will Handle Waste Sorting
Sustainable development is based on several axes, including the use of renewable energies, water cycle management and the circular economy. The latter approach seeks to minimize waste generation in the quest for zero waste. To this end, the implementation of recycling policies is essential, but one of the stumbling blocks remains waste sorting. As the materials involved are of diverse origin and composition, they must be meticulously sorted.
This task is carried out by means of different techniques, such as magnetic separation, flotation by immersion in liquids, decomposition processes or manual separation. Fortunately, there are technological advances such as artificial intelligence or robotics that are making things easier in recycling plants. The goal is that none of the waste we produce ends up in a landfill, but rather that it lives a second life converted into other products and raw materials.
Most common types of urban waste
To understand the challenge faced by this type of recycling plant, it is useful to first explain the great diversity of waste and the different characteristics of the materials. Although there are many types, including construction waste or hazardous waste from industrial activity, a municipal waste sorting plant (MSW) mainly receives organic and inorganic waste:
1. Organic waste. This is waste of biological origin that can decompose naturally.
- Examples: Food scraps, fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, leaves or garden waste, among others.
2. Inorganic waste. In this case they are wastes that do not decompose naturally and are generally not biodegradable.
- Examples:
- Plastics: Bottles, containers, bags.
- Metals: cans, lids, metal objects.
- Glass: Bottles, jars, jars.
- Paper and cardboard: Newspapers, boxes, magazines.
- Textiles: Clothing, fabrics, synthetic fibers.
Robotics applied to waste classification
Curiously, in many cases, the most reliable way to separate waste is manually, by means of a human operator. Hence, researchers at Tsinghua University have set out to develop a robot capable of sorting garbage by mimicking the human sense of touch.
Humans possess several types of tactile sensitivity, one of which is thermal sensation. This allows us to sense wind, perceive heat and cold, and distinguish between different types of materials, such as wood and metal, due to the different thermal sensations they produce. The researchers have sought to mimic this ability by designing a robotic tactile sensing method that incorporates thermal sensations for more robust and accurate object detection. In addition, they have combined this type of sensor with others to maximize the efficiency of the system.
Thus, the new waste sorting technology uses a layered sensor that detects material on the surface, pressure sensitivity at the bottom and thermal changes in the middle layer. The developers have tested their system with a range of common waste, such as cardboard, leftover bread, plastic bags and bottles, orange peelings or expired medicines.
Supported by a sorting algorithm, the robot achieves 98.85% accuracy in identifying and sorting waste. All this opens the door to the development of efficient and autonomous recycling solutions that also benefit human health, as waste treatment exposes operators to hazardous chemical and biological substances.
The robot combines several technological innovations to replicate the complexity of human touch, a breakthrough that not only improves waste sorting, but also opens up new possibilities in touch-sensitive robotics. Thus, it has potential applications in other fields such as intelligent prosthetics for people with hand disabilities in providing them with an advanced tool to manipulate objects.
If you want to learn more about the potential of recycling and waste sorting technologies in fields such as construction, as well as the latest advances in renewable energies and drinking water production, subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.
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Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 81 people, according to Hamas-run health ministry
ReutersAt least 81 Palestinians have been killed and more than 400 injured in Israeli strikes across Gaza in the 24 hours until midday on Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
In one incident, at least 11 people, including children, were killed after a strike near a stadium in Gaza City, Al-Shifa hospital staff and witnesses told news agencies. The stadium was being used to house displaced people, living in tents.
Footage verified by the BBC shows people digging through the sand with their bare hands and spades to find bodies.
The BBC has contacted the Israeli military for comment.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he was hopeful a ceasefire could be agreed in the next week.
Qatari mediators said they hoped US pressure could achieve a deal, following a truce between Israel and Iran that ended the 12-day conflict between the countries.
In March, a two-month ceasefire collapsed when Israel launched fresh strikes on Gaza. The ceasefire deal – which started on 19 January – was set up to have three stages, but did not make it past the first stage.
Stage two included establishing a permanent ceasefire, the return of remaining living hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
On Thursday, a senior Hamas official told the BBC mediators have intensified their efforts to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, but that negotiations with Israel remain stalled.
A rally was organised on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv calling for a deal to free the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Organisers said “the time has come to end the fighting and bring everyone home in one phase”.
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks in Gaza continue. Friday evening’s strike near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City killed at least 11 people, hospital staff and witnesses said.
One witness said they were sitting when they “suddenly heard a huge explosion” after a road was hit.
“This area was packed with tents – now the tents are under the sand. We spent hours digging with our bare hands,” Ahmed Qishawi told the Reuters news agency.
He said there are “no wanted people here, nor any terrorists as they [Israelis] claim… [there are] only civilian residents, children, who were targeted with no mercy,” he said.
The BBC has verified footage showing civilians and emergency services digging through the sandy ground with their hands and spades to find bodies.
Fourteen more people were reported killed, some of them children, in strikes on an apartment block and a tent in the al-Mawasi area.
The strike in al-Mawasi killed three children and their parents, who died while they were asleep, relatives told the Associated Press.
“What did these children do to them? What is their fault?” the children’s grandmother, Suad Abu Teima, told the news agency.
More people were reported killed on Saturday afternoon after an air strike on the Tuffah neighbourhood near Jaffa School, where hundreds of displaced Gazans were sheltering.
The strike killed at least eight people, including five children, the Palestinian health ministry said.
One witness Mohammed Haboub told Reuters that his nephews, father and the children of his neighbours were killed in the strike.
“We didn’t do anything to them, why do they harm us? Did we harm them? We are civilians,” he told the news agency.
The health ministry said ambulance and civil defence crews were facing difficulties in reaching a number of victims trapped under the rubble and on the roads, due to the impossibility of movement in some of the affected areas.
ReutersThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not yet commented on these reported strikes.
The IDF released a statement on Saturday evening saying it had killed Hakham Muhammad Issa al-Issa, a senior figure in Hamas’s military wing, in the area of Sabra in Gaza City on Friday.
The IDF said he was one of the founding members of Hamas’s military wing, a member of Hamas’s general security council, and played a “significant role in the planning and execution” of Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
The Israeli military launched its bombardment of Gaza in response to the attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 56,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
US multinational corporations poised to benefit from minimum tax relief following G7 agreement
The world’s leading economies have agreed a deal to spare the US’s largest companies from paying more corporate tax overseas, throwing into doubt the status of the biggest global tax deal in over a century.
The agreement between Washington and other members of the G7 group of leading countries could fundamentally alter a landmark 2021 accord to set up a global minimum tax to crack down on avoidance by multinationals.
The G7 said on Saturday it had agreed to a “side-by-side solution” of taxation that would exempt American companies from some parts of the new global tax regime because of the taxes they pay in the US.
The G7 added that the agreement would “facilitate further progress to stabilise the international tax system”, including “constructive dialogue” on preserving “the tax sovereignty of all countries”.
The new arrangements are set to be discussed in the coming weeks at the OECD, the international organisation that reached the 2021 minimum tax accord but is dominated by G7 members, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Mathias Cormann, secretary-general of the OECD, described the G7 statement as “an important milestone in international tax co-operation”.
“This is a slam dunk for the United States,” said Robert Goulder, a tax attorney and contributing editor at Tax Analysts, a news service for tax professionals. “I think they’re celebrating by doing high-fives over at the Treasury.”
The shift came after the US included provisions in President Donald Trump’s sweeping “big beautiful bill”, referred to as Section 899, that would have allowed the US to retaliate against alleged discriminatory taxation elsewhere by imposing “revenge taxes” on foreign investments.
Ahead of the G7 statement, Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said he would ask Congress to remove the revenge tax measures from the US legislation because of the impending changes to the OECD deal.
He added that those revisions would save US companies $100bn in tax payments to foreign governments over the next decade.
UK chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Saturday that the G7 agreed that “there is work to be done in tackling aggressive tax planning and avoidance and ensuring a level-playing field”.
“The right environment for this work to happen is without the prospect of retaliatory taxation hanging over these talks, so the removal of Section 899 is welcome,” she added.
Markus Meinzer, director of policy at the Tax Justice Network, a campaign group, labelled the G7 deal a “hasty cave-in” that would leave the minimum tax deal “dead”.
He added: “The US is trying to exempt itself by arm-twisting others, which would make the tax deal entirely useless. A ship with a US-sized hole in its hull won’t float.”
But Manal Corwin, head of tax at the OECD, described the G7 statement as nonbinding, adding that any proposal would need to be approved by 147 countries at the OECD level.
“The G7 on their own cannot make this call,” she added.
The OECD agreement to establish a global minimum tax was reached by more than 135 countries in 2021 to prevent tax avoidance by multinationals and update the international tax system for a digital age.
It established a minimum tax rate of 15 per cent of global profits on the largest multinationals from the US and elsewhere, which was implemented by several countries last year.
Under provisions that particularly angered Republicans in the US, the OECD agreement allowed other countries to levy top up taxes on American companies deemed to be “undertaxed”.
But the OECD rejects the idea that other countries may now back out of the global minimum tax — or that US companies would be at an advantage to businesses from other countries that have adopted the regime.
“If anything, where we were before was uncertainty and an inability to move forward because of various threats of retaliation, that made it very hard and risked abandonment [of the minimum tax],” Corwin said.
She argued that any idea of the US tax system being a “light touch” was “not necessarily accurate”, maintaining that there were “many ways” in which it was stricter.
A French official added that the G7 accord had “made some nods to the US, [by] saying their tax law is helping them being compliant” with the OECD deal “which is a concession but . . . worth it”.
But Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel economics laureate who is also co-chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation, said the G7 accord was an indication that governments had “put the interests of multinationals ahead of those of small and medium businesses, their own citizens and average people around the planet”.
He added: “It is unacceptable that some governments are choosing to give up public revenues — especially now, and precisely from the most powerful economic actors.”
The G7 statement also anticipated continuing discussions on the taxation of the digital economy. Digital services taxes have been a point of tension between the US and other countries keen to increase levies on American tech giants.
Donald Trump, US president, said on Friday that he was cancelling trade talks with Canada after Ottawa said it would impose a new tax on tech companies.