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Private jets, commercial aircraft, and military planes were among more than two hundred aircraft showcased at the Dubai Airshow 2025. The event brought together manufacturers, operators, and industry leaders, with a focus on new aircraft design and the push toward more sustainable aviation.

One of the toured planes was a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) operated by Royal Jet. The BBJ is based on the Boeing 737 Max airframe, but unlike commercial versions, it's fitted with a custom interior designed for long-haul private travel. Inside, the aircraft includes a lounge area, a dining and meeting space, and a private bedroom with an en-suite shower.

Royal Jet pilot Ahmed Suhoul said, “This aircraft can accommodate nineteen guests. It is divided into three different areas: a VIP Majlis sitting room-style area in the front, a dining room or conference room towards the middle, and a full-size bedroom towards the back with a bathroom and a shower.”

While a regular airliner typically maintains a cabin altitude of around 6-8,000 feet, Boeing Business Jets keep the cabin at a lower equivalent altitude. The aim is to make long flights less tiring.

“The BBJ has its unique system where it lowers the cabin pressurization. So, it is not like what is in FlyDubai or any other airline who operates a 737. The cabin altitude on the BBJs are way much less than the normal airliners. Therefore, it reduces the fatigue and jet lag for the passengers so the passengers can fly through the night, sleep on board, arrive at their destination, ready for their next meeting in a few hours.”

A Royal Jet staff said a major appeal of private aviation is the ability to shorten the time spent in terminals. Protocol manager Khalid Al Sebeyi said, “Commercial goes normally through security, immigration, but for us, we finish all of these stake matters faster and then because the VIP does not feel that he is in an airport or somewhere, you know. He feels that it is a seamless journey and there are less touch points.”

The Dubai Airshow 2025 concluded on November 21.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

It may sound surprising, but children can get lupus, arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases, although they're not as common in children as adults. These youngsters' lives are often filled with hospital appointments and medicines, but a special summer camp allows them to enjoy life like other children.

Symptoms of these diseases in youngsters can sometimes be more severe, and treating growing bodies is challenging. Ethan Blanchfield-Killeen is 11 years old, and he has a form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. His family doctor suggested the camp, and he's enjoying every minute of it. I haven't gone before, and it's kind of like a new experience, you know? It's very fun to kind of go away and do activities I haven't done before, especially with different groups of kids, says Blanchfield-Killeen.

The camp is a partnership with Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. And a rheumatologist is on hand to give out medicines, do check-ups, and be present for any issues that may arise for the children.

Dr. Natalia Vasquez-Canizares, a Pediatric Rheumatologist at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, says at the camp the children can enjoy themselves without worrying about their illnesses. A lot of our patients have chronic diseases, and we wanted them to feel what it is to be in a summer camp, not being worried about their disease and going to the hospital,” she says.

Vasquez-Canizares says many people just aren't aware that children can have these chronic diseases. A lot of people are not aware that these diseases can happen. And most of the time they think it only happen in adulthood. Right? So, when I meet people that are like, wait, what? Can kids have arthritis? Can kids have lupus? It's like, yeah, they do,” she says.

The Frost Valley YMCA camp welcomes children throughout the summer to do rope courses, swim in the lake, garden, and other camp traditions.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Roblox is stepping up its age verification system for users who want to chat with other players and is implementing age-based chats so kids, teens, and adults will only be able to communicate with people around their own age.

The moves come as the popular gaming platform continues to face criticism and lawsuits over child safety, and a growing number of states and countries are implementing age verification laws.

The company had previously announced the age estimation tool, which is provided by a company called Persona, in July. It requires players to take a video selfie that will be used to estimate their age. Roblox says the videos are deleted after the age check is processed. Users are not required to submit a face scan to use the platform, only if they want to chat with other users.

Roblox doesn't allow kids under 13 to chat with other users outside of games unless they have explicit parental permission—and unlike different platforms, it does not encrypt private chat conversations, so it can monitor and moderate them.

While some experts have expressed caution about the reliability of facial age estimation tools, Matt Kaufman, chief safety officer at Roblox, said that between the ages of about 5 and 25, the system can accurately estimate a person's age within one or two years.

But of course, there's always people who may be well outside of a traditional bell curve. And in those cases, if you disagree with the estimate that comes back, then you can provide an ID or use parental consent in order to correct that, he said.

After users go through the age checks, they will be assigned to age groups ranging from under 9, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, and over 21. Users will then be able to chat with their age group or similar age groups, depending on their age and the type of chat.

Roblox had started enforcing age checks in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands in the first week of December and will do the same in the rest of the world in early January.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

For more than two decades, Susan Bushby, a 70-year-old housekeeper from a rural ski town in New Hampshire's White Mountains, took comfort in knowing she only had a short drive to reach the community health center.

The lodge-like medical building, which sits on a hill overlooking town, was like a second home for Bushby and many other patients. The front desk staff knew their names and never missed a chance to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. Staff photos of the wilderness that make this place such a draw hung on the walls, and bumping into a neighbor in the waiting room was routine.

But last October, this site of the Ammonoosuc Community Health Services in Franconia, a town of around 1,000 people, closed for good.

Officials blamed cuts in Medicaid, the federal program that millions of low-income Americans rely on for healthcare. The 1,400 patients, almost half of them older and some facing serious health challenges like cancer and early-stage dementia, must now drive at least 10 miles along rural roads to reach the nearest health center, which is also near a regional hospital. A second center is twice as far.

The closure of the Franconia center reflects the financial struggles facing community health centers and rural healthcare systems more broadly amid Medicaid cuts and a feared spike in health insurance rates. The government shutdown, which ended in November, was driven by a Democratic demand to extend tax credits, which ensure low- and middle-income people can afford health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.

Marsha Luce, whose family moved from the Washington, D.C. area in 2000, is especially concerned about the impact on her 72-year-old husband, a former volunteer firefighter who has had an ear and part of his jaw removed due to cancer. He also has heart and memory issues.

She worries about longer waits to see his doctor, Dr. Melissa Buddensee, and the loss of relationships built up over decades in Franconia.

I know specifically for Kirk, it’s, it's going to be a harder one because he, he likes dealing with Dr. Buddensee himself.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A prisoner is challenging an Australian state's ban on inmates eating Vegemite, claiming in a lawsuit that withholding the polarizing yeast-based spread breaches his human right to enjoy his culture as an Australian.

Andre McKechnie, 54, serving a life sentence, took his battle for the salty, sticky, brown byproduct of brewing beer to the Supreme Court of Victoria, according to documents released to The Associated Press.

Most Australians revere Vegemite as an unfairly maligned culinary icon, and more than 80% of Australian households are estimated to have a jar in their pantries. But inmates in all 12 prisons in Victoria are going without.

McKechnie is suing Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety and the agency that manages the prisons, Corrections Victoria. The case is scheduled for trial next year.

Vegemite has been banned from Victorian prisons since 2006, with Corrections Victoria saying it interferes with narcotic detection dogs. Vegemite also contains yeast, which is banned from Victorian prisons because of its potential to be used in the production of alcohol, the contraband list says.

A decade ago, Vegemite's then-U.S. owner, Mondelez International, rejected media reports that remote Australian Indigenous communities were using Vegemite to brew alcohol in bathtubs. Mondelez said in a statement that the manufacturing process killed the yeast and that Vegemite cannot be fermented into alcohol.

McKechnie is seeking a court declaration that the defendants denied him his right under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act to enjoy his culture as an Australian. He also wants a declaration that the defendants breached the Corrections Act by failing to provide food adequate to maintain McKechnie's well-being.

Manufactured in Australia since 1923 as an alternative to Britain's Marmite, Vegemite was long marketed as a source of vitamin B for growing children. The spread is beloved by a majority of Australians, but typically considered an acquired taste at best by those who weren't raised on it.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

More people are falling behind on paying their bills to keep the lights on and heat their homes, according to a new analysis of consumer data—a warning sign for the U.S. economy and another political headache for President Donald Trump.

Past due balances to utility companies jumped 9.7% annually to $789 between the April-June periods of 2024 and 2025, said The Century Foundation, a liberal think tank, and the advocacy group Protect Borrowers. The increase has overlapped with a 12% jump in monthly energy bills during the same period.

Consumers usually prioritize their utility bills along with their mortgages and auto debt, said Julie Margetta Morgan, the foundation's president. The increase in both energy costs and delinquencies may suggest that consumers are falling behind on other bills, too.

There's a lot of information out there about rising utility costs, but here we can actually look at what that impact has been on families in terms of how they're falling behind, Margetta Morgan said.

Troubles paying electricity and natural gas bills reflect something of an economic quandary for Trump, who is promoting the buildout of the artificial intelligence industry as a key part of an economic boom he has promised for America. But AI data centers are known for their massive use of electricity, and threaten to further increase utility bills for everyday Americans.

These troubles also come as Trump faces political pressure from voters fed up with the high cost of living. The president spoke about the economy and affordability issues at an event hosted by the McDonald's fast-food company.

We have it almost at the sweet spot, and prices are coming down on different things, Trump said at the event, adding that inflation has been normalized at a low level.

During Trump's first six months in office, there was a 3.8% increase in households with severely overdue utility bills.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The head of the Louvre Museum said that new security measures are being put in place at the Paris landmark after October’s stunning crown jewels heist.  The cameras—some 100 of them—will be up and running by the end of next year, while anti-intrusion systems are expected to already be in place, Louvre director Laurence des Cars said.

She described the systems as equipment that will prevent intruders from getting close to the museum buildings but did not offer specifics. The new surveillance cameras will try to ensure “complete protection of the museum’s surroundings,” she said.

“After the shock, after the emotion, after the assessment, it's time for action” at the world's most visited museum, des Cars told the Committee of Cultural Affairs of the National Assembly.

She said it was all part of more than 20 emergency measures that will be implemented. The new measures also include the creation of a “security coordinator” position at the museum, and the job was posted in November, she added.

On the day of the heist, it took thieves less than eight minutes to force their way through a window into the Apollo Gallery with the help of a freight lift and steal the 88 million euro ($102 million) trove.

Des Cars unveiled some new details about the security breach that allowed the October 19 robbery, saying the power tools used by robbers to cut through the display cases were disc cutters meant for concrete.

“It's a method that had not been imagined at all,” she said, referring to the time when the display cases in the Apollo Gallery were replaced in 2019. At the time, they had been designed primarily to counter an attack from inside the museum with weapons, she added.

Footage from museum cameras shows that during the robbery, the display cases “held up remarkably well and did not break apart,” she said. “Videos show how difficult it was for the thieves.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

From Stitches to witches to a robot device that can control parents, the top 15 toys predicted to be most in demand in the U.K. this Christmas have finally been revealed.

Controlling the mind of humans is often considered sinister rather than celebratory, but this game is set to be a real stocking-filler this Christmas for UK toy lovers. Human Controller by Tomy Toys is a simple concept of control by a digital pad using arrows. Commands are sent to the special helmet, which lights up and vibrates, effectively telling the wearer where to move. The game offers kids a fun opportunity to control their parents.

Benjamin Croucher-Phillips, Senior Brand Manager (Games) at Tomy Toys, gives the lowdown: “When you've lined them up perfectly and the chair is behind, you'll hit the central button, which will vibrate all three of the sensors. And that's when the human will know to sit. And they have to blindly trust that that chair is going to be there behind them and catch them.”

This is just one of the fifteen feted toys, games, and gadgets that are set to take the UK toy market by storm this festive season. Industry data tracking expert Circana says the UK toy industry is worth 3.9 billion pounds, with Christmas expected to account for 0.9 billion pounds of sales (or 23% of the total sales for the year).

In its 75th anniversary year, Formula 1 is unsurprisingly part of the festivities. Mattel’s Hot Wheels Racing F1 Grand Prix Circuit will no doubt be the centerpiece of many people’s celebration once the checkered flag of Christmas waves itself into our homes.

As Melissa Symonds, Executive Director of UK Toys at Circana, outlines, “One of the biggest trends we've seen in the toy market in the U.K. this year has been licensed toys. So this is coming from a number of areas. So we've had some massive movies this year, like Lilo and Stitch and Minecraft. All of this is driving the fact that a third of the total UK toy market is now licensed.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A new observation theater at a zoo in northern New Jersey lets visitors see animals get live medical treatments.

Veterinarians at the Turtle Back Zoo hope the new installation educates people on the care that animals receive at the zoo while inspiring kids to pursue medicine as a profession.

One morning, visitors peered through a large glass window into a new, spacious treatment room, watching as a middle-aged female turkey vulture with arthritis underwent a 30-minute wellness check. During the exam, she was anesthetized, X-rayed, had her eyes and wings examined, had blood drawn, and was microchipped.

The animal wound up at the zoo after breaking its wing in the wild.

The experience was new not only for the turkey vulture but also a novelty for many of the onlookers, because few zoos offer a window on veterinary care.

The Turtle Back Zoo, this year, joined the relatively few U.S. zoos that routinely give the public a view of veterinary care. While there's no exact count, it's perhaps a dozen or fewer of the 250 animal parks accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

In an era when social media campaigns and lawsuits have questioned the well-being of captive animals, some zoos see putting vets on view as a form of transparency.

The compact, suburban Turtle Back Zoo is recognized for its contributions to conserving clouded leopards and caring for ailing wild sea turtles. More whimsically, it's known for fostering a friendship between a cheetah and Labrador retriever that had a social media moment.

Opened in 1963, the county-owned zoo was threatened with closure amid financial problems and poor attendance in the mid-1990s. A steady march of renovations and additions in the 2000s turned things around, and it now draws nearly 1 million visitors per year.

In recent years, a need to upgrade the animal hospital evolved into a plan for a multi-million-dollar new building. Financed with county, state, and federal grants, it opened in April and lets visitors see into areas including the treatment and surgical rooms.

The Barry H. Ostrowsky Animal Wellness Center also includes rooms for quarantine, nursery, and data research.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Americans will be allowed to contribute more of their money to 401(k) and similar retirement savings plans next year. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said the maximum contribution that an individual can make in 2026 to a 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans will be $24,500. That's up from $23,500 this year.

People aged 50 and over, who have the option to make additional catch-up contributions to 401(k) and similar plans, will be able to contribute up to $8,000 next year, up from $7,500 this year. That means a 401(k) saver who is 50 or older will be able to contribute a maximum of $32,500 to their retirement plan annually, starting in 2026.

Workers between the ages of 60 and 63 will be allowed catch-up retirement plan contributions of up to $11,250 annually, unchanged from this year. The IRS also raised the 2026 annual contribution limits on individual retirement arrangements, or IRAs, to $7,500, up from $7,000 this year. The IRA catch-up contribution limit will include an annual cost-of-living adjustment of $100, increasing it to $1,100 in 2026.

The changes, among others, announced by the IRS, make it easier for retirement savers who use these types of tax-advantaged plans to set aside more of their income toward building their nest egg. That's especially helpful for older workers who got started saving for retirement later in life and can benefit from higher contribution limits.

Boosting the contribution rate on a 401(k) or IRA plan, even by 1%, can make a big difference over 10 or 20 years, assuming the saver remains employed and makes contributions the entire time.

The IRS also increased for 2026 the income ranges for determining whether someone is eligible to make deductible contributions to traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, or to claim the saver's credit, also known as the retirement savings contributions credit.

Taxpayers can deduct contributions to a traditional IRA if they meet certain conditions. If, during the year, either the taxpayer or the taxpayer's spouse was covered by a retirement plan at work, the deduction may be reduced, or phased out, until it is eliminated, depending on filing status and income, the IRS said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.