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Scientist and global activist Jane Goodall, who turned her childhood love of primates into a lifelong quest for protecting the environment, has died at the age of 91, the institute she founded said on Wednesday. Goodall died of natural causes while in California on a speaking tour, the Jane Goodall Institute said in a social media post. “Dr. Goodalls discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” it said on Instagram. The primatologist-turned-conservationist spun her love of wildlife into a lifelong campaign that took her from a seaside English village to Africa and then across the globe in a quest to better understand chimpanzees, as well as the role that humans play in safeguarding their habitat and the planet’s health overall. Goodall was a pioneer in her field, both as a female scientist in the 1960s and for her work studying the behavior of primates. She created a path for a string of other women to follow suit, including the late Dian Fossey. She also drew the public into the wild, partnering with the National Geographic Society to bring her beloved chimps into their lives through film, TV, and magazines. She upended scientific norms of the time, giving chimpanzees names instead of numbers, observing their distinct personalities, and incorporating their family relationships and emotions into her work. She also found that, like humans, they use tools. “We have found that after all there isn’t a sharp line dividing humans from the rest of the animal kingdom,” she said in a 2002 TED Talk. As her career evolved, she shifted her focus from primatology to climate advocacy after witnessing widespread habitat devastation, urging the world to take quick and urgent action on climate change. “We’re forgetting that we’re part of the natural world,” she told CNN in 2020. “There’s still a window of time.” In 2003, she was appointed a Dame of the British Empire and, in 2025, she received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. Kenya-bound Born in London in 1934 and then growing up in Bournemouth on England’s south coast, Goodall had long dreamed of living among wild animals. She said her passion for animals, stoked by the gift of a stuffed toy gorilla from her father, grew as she immersed herself in books such as “Tarzan” and “Dr. Dolittle.” She set her dreams aside after leaving school, unable to afford university. She worked as a secretary and then for a film company until a friend’s invitation to visit Kenya put the jungle – and its inhabitants – within reach. After saving up money for the journey, by boat, Goodall arrived in the East African nation in 1957. There, an encounter with famed anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey and his wife, archaeologist Mary Leakey, set her on course to work with primates. Under Leakey, Goodall set up the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve, later renamed the Gombe Stream Research Centre, near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania. There she discovered chimpanzees ate meat, fought fierce wars, and perhaps most importantly, fashioned tools in order to eat termites. “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans,” Leakey said of the discovery. Although she eventually paused her research to earn a PhD at Cambridge University, Goodall remained in the jungle for years. Her first husband and frequent collaborator was wildlife cameraman Hugo van Lawick. Through the National Geographic’s coverage, the chimpanzees at Gombe Stream soon became household names – most famously, one Goodall called David Greybeard for his silver streak of hair. Nearly thirty years after first arriving in Africa, however, Goodall said she realized she could not support or protect the chimpanzees without addressing the dire disappearance of their habitat. She said she realized she would have to look beyond Gombe, leave the jungle, and take up a larger global role as a conservationist. In 1977, she set up the Jane Goodall Institute, a nonprofit organization aimed at supporting the research in Gombe as well as conservation and development efforts across Africa. Its work has since expanded worldwide and includes efforts to tackle environmental education, health, and advocacy. She made a new name for herself, traveling an average of 300 days a year to meet with local officials in countries around the world and speaking with community and school groups. She continued touring to the end of her life, speaking at Climate Week in New York City just last week. She later expanded the institute to include Roots & Shoots, a conservation program aimed at children. It was a stark shift from her isolated research, spending long days watching chimpanzees. “It never ceases to amaze me that there’s this person who travels around and does all these things,” she told the New York Times during a 2014 trip to Burundi and back to Gombe. “And it’s me. It doesn’t seem like me at all.” A prolific author, she published more than 30 books with her observations, including her 1999 bestseller “Reason For Hope: A Spiritual Journey,” as well as a dozen aimed at children. Goodall said she never doubted the planet’s resilience or human ability to overcome environmental challenges. “Yes, there is hope It’s in our hands, it’s in your hands and my hands and those of our children. It’s really up to us,” she said in 2002, urging people to “leave the lightest possible ecological footprints.” She had one son, known as ‘Grub,’ with van Lawick, whom she divorced in 1974. Van Lawick died in 2002. In 1975, she married Derek Bryceson. He died in 1980. Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh, Reuters
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Not even half of the spots in the 48-team field have been claimed. The schedule of matches wont be finalized until December. And other than host nations U.S., Canada and Mexico, nobody has any idea where or when theyll be playing. Millions of soccer fans worldwide evidently dont seem to mind any of those points. Tickets to next years FIFA World Cup officially go on sale Wednesday. The buyers will be those who were selected, out of 4.5 million applicants in a lottery that took place last month, to have the first formal chance to purchase tickets over the next few days. FIFA said lottery winners have been, or will soon be, informed by email. There are unique questions for consumers heading into the tournament, particularly about how they’ll get visas, if necessary, to visit the U.S. as the country cracks down on immigration. There are also more traditional concerns such as who, when, and where and none of those will be answered until the draw on Dec. 5. FIFA knows many fans wont fret about those answers; they just want tickets now and will figure out the rest later. These are not only outstanding figures, but also a strong statement, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on social media, reacting to the 4.5 million applicants for a spot in the purchase window that opened Wednesday. The whole world wants to be part of the FIFA World Cup 26, the biggest, most inclusive and most exciting event ever. From Canada, Mexico and the United States, to countries big and small across every continent, fans are proving once again passion for football truly unites. In divided times, the notion of soccer being something that truly unites will be put to the test. Here are some things to know as tickets go on sale. Whats for sale? Fans can purchase seats in one of four categories; Category 1 is the best seats, Category 4 is somewhere around the tops of stadiums. Ticket prices will range initially from $60 for group-stage matches to $6,730 for the final but could and almost certainly will change as soccers biggest event utilizes dynamic pricing for the first time. There are other ways to get tickets other than shelling out big bucks. American Airlines announced last month that its AAdvantage loyalty program members can redeem miles for World Cup tickets, starting Oct. 13 for executive platinum and concierge key members, then Oct. 14 for platinum pro, platinum and gold members, followed on Oct. 15 by all members. And starting Thursday, some Verizon customers will have access to free World Cup tickets and other perks. The telecommunications giant is a World Cup sponsor and will simply start dropping free ticket chances to its customers through its app. For me, there are few things as exciting as experiencing football live, whether thats on or o the pitch, and so I am proud to partner with Verizon to celebrate their plans to give fans unprecedented access to the tournament, said soccer icon David Beckham, part of Verizons promotion for the World Cup. Whos in? The U.S., Mexico and Canada all automatically qualified as host nations. Also in so far: defending champion Argentina, Japan, New Zealand, Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, South Korea, Brazil, Australia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Tunisia, Colombia, Paraguay and Morocco. That leaves 30 spots still unclaimed. FIFA said fans from 216 countries and territories applied to be part of the first ticket lottery. The top three nations of interest, to no surprise, were the hosts: the U.S., Mexico and Canada, in that order. The rest of the top 10, also in order of application totals: Germany, England, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Spain and Italy. Nobody has said how many tickets FIFA plans to sell in this first window. Availability wont be depleted; based on the listed stadium attendance figures, there are roughly 7.1 million seats to fill for the 104 matches around 16 North American venues, though its unknown how many of those seats will be available for sale to the public. Will visitors travel to the US? There is an immigration crackdown unfolding across the U.S., which could dampen overseas interest in traveling to the country. U.S. tourism officials already have noted a drop in overseas visitors this year and even organizers in some U.S. host cities have acknowledged that political dynamics may have an impact on attendance. Adding to some of the uncertainty, President Donald Trump, who has a close relationship with Infantino, has suggested that the host cities could be changed if he wants to move some events away from places his administration considers unsafe. The U.S. cities that are scheduled to host are East Rutherford, New Jersey; Inglewood, California; Foxborough, Massachusetts; Houston; Arlington, Texas; Atlanta; Seattle; Santa Clara, California; Philadelphia; Kansas City, Missouri; and Miami Gardens, Florida. If any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup we wont allow it to go there, Trump said last week. Well move it around a little bit. But I hope thats not going to happen. The State Department says that the safety and security of the United States along with World Cup matches, athletes, fans, and venues are the top priorities with regard to its role in the World Cup process. It also suggests that travelers who need a visa should start applying now, and officials have said the U.S. is trying to ensure an efficient, smooth, and effective visa process. Whats next? A second phase, called an early ticket draw, likely will run from Oct. 27-31, with purchase time slots from mid-November to early December. A third phase, termed a random selection draw, will start after the final draw of teams on Dec. 5 determines the World Cup schedule. Tickets also will be available closer to the tournament on a first-come, first-served basis. FIFA also said it will start an official resale platform. Some tickets already have been snagged; hospitality packages have been sold since May. The world will come together in North America, Infantino promised, like never before. The tournament runs from June 11 through July 19. Tim Reynolds, AP sports writer
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It’s official: AOL‘s dial-up internet has taken its last bow. AOL previously confirmed it would be pulling the plug on Tuesday (Sept. 30) writing in a brief update on its support site last month that it routinely evaluates” its offerings and had decided to discontinue dial-up, as well as associated software optimized for older operating systems, from its plans. Dial-up is now no longer advertised on AOL’s website. As of Wednesday, former company help pages like connect to the internet with AOL Dialer appeared unavailable and nostalgic social media users took to the internet to say their final goodbyes. AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many households to the World Wide Web for the first time when its dial-up service launched decades ago, rising to prominence particularly in the 90s and early 2000s. The creaky door to the internet was characterized by a once-ubiquitous series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone line used to connect your computer online along with frustrations of being kicked off the web if anyone else at home needed the landline for another call, and an endless bombardment of CDs mailed out by AOL to advertise free trials. Eventually, broadband and wireless offerings emerged and rose to dominance, doing away with dial-up’s quirks for most people accessing the internet today but not everyone. A handful of consumers have continued to rely on internet services connected over telephone lines. In the U.S., according to Census Bureau data, an estimated 163,401 households were using dial-up alone to get online in 2023, representing just over 0.13% of all homes with internet subscriptions nationwide. While AOL was the largest dial-up internet provider for some time, it wasn’t the only one to emerge over the years. Some smaller internet providers continue to offer dial-up today. Regardless, the decline of dial-up has been a long time coming. And AOL shutting down its service arrives as other relics of the internet’s earlier days continue to disappear. Microsoft retired video calling service Skype just earlier this year as well as Internet Explorer back in 2022. And in 2017, AOL discontinued its Instant Messenger a chat platform that was once lauded as the biggest trend in online communication since email when it was founded in 1997, but later struggled to ward off rivals. AOL itself is far from the dominant internet player it was decades ago when, beyond dial-up and IMs, the company also became known for its Youve got mail catchphrase that greeted users who checked their inboxes, as famously displayed in the 1998 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan by the same name. Before it was America Online, AOL was founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1985. It soon rebranded and hit the public market in 1991. Near the height of the dot-com boom, AOL’s market value reached nearly $164 billion in 2000. But tumultuous years followed, and that valuation plummeted as the once-tech pioneer bounced between multiple owners. After a disastrous merger with Time Warner Inc., Verizon acquired AOL which later sold AOL, along with Yahoo, to a private equity firm. AOL now operates under the larger Yahoo name. A spokesperson for Yahoo didn’t have any additional statements about the end of AOL’s dial-up when reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday, directing customers to its previous summer announcement. At the time, Verizon sold AOL in 2021, an anonymous source familiar with the transaction told CNBC that the number of AOL dial-up users was in the low thousands” down from 2.1 million when Verizon first moved to acquire AOL in 2015, and far below peak demand seen back in the 90s and early 2000s. But beyond dial-up, AOL continues to offer its free email services, as well as subscriptions that advertise identity protection and other tech support. Wyatte Grantham-Philips, AP business writer
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