Centuries on and it turns out that long-held assumptions about some of the people of Pompeii should not have been set in stone. New DNA analysis of skeletal remains in the doomed Roman town has revealed that some of the victims of Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in A.D. 79 have been wrongly identified, highlighting how much modern day thinking has been projected onto the ancient world. “We show that the individuals’ sexes and family relationships do not match traditional interpretations,” wrote the authors of the research published Thursday in the journal Current Biology . “Modern assumptions about gendered behaviors may not be reliable lenses through which to view data from the past,” they added. Pompeii's victims were later immortalized by archaeologists wh...

LONDON — Few have expressed glee at Donald Trump’s election win like Europe’s far right . In President-elect Trump, these ascendant insurgents across the pond see a key ally, someone who shares their mix of authoritarianism, populism and extreme hostility to immigration . “We have big plans for the future!” posted Hungary’s Prime Minister Vikor Orbán, an influential Trump friend and ally , calling it “a much needed victory for the World!” Asked what these “plans” were, András László, a lawmaker in Orbán’s Fidesz party, told NBC News on Thursday that his leader had left it “deliberately vague.” It would broadly involve a “continuation” of their first-term partnership, he said, “to help persecuted Christians around the world, and to promote ...

At President-elect Donald Trump’s election night celebration on Tuesday, a list of alternative media stars with massive followings of young Americans received an impromptu shoutout. “I want to thank some people real quick: The Nelk Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin’ With The Boys and, last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan,” Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts promotion company, said on stage. The names — shows and personalities that hosted Trump on their programs during the campaign — comprise a who’s who of the most influential shows among young American men. And in an election in which his campaign specifically courted that demographic, the shoutout hinted at what has so far been borne out in exit polling data. Trump...

Black men had been perceived as a voting bloc ripe for Donald Trump to attract after many expressed concerns a year ago about Joe Biden’s re-election efforts. An NBC News poll at that time showed that at least 20% of Black men would support Trump — an alarming number for Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris took over from Biden, who stepped aside under pressure in July. In the end, however, the poll from November 2023 held true: 78% of Black men selected Harris in Tuesday’s presidential election, according to the NBC News National Exit Poll. That figure was below Biden’s 2020 mark of 80%. For one Black pollster, the reasons behind Harris’s performance are not complicated. Alvin Tillery, a professor of political science at Northwestern University and founder of the su...

Police are still searching for 43 monkeys that escaped from a research facility in South Carolina on Wednesday, as the head of the company revealed that the outbreak happened when a staff member failed to secure a door properly. Police in Yemassee, Beaufort County, confirmed Thursday night that the primates were in the wooded region surrounding the Alpha Genesis facility, in a rural area on the edge of Yamassee. Locals were urged to lock windows and doors and not to interact with the monkeys and instead call 911 immediately upon spotting any of the escaped primates. "These animals are highly sensitive and easily startled, we recommend that the public avoid the area to prevent frightening them further," police said. "The staff at Alpha Genesis are currently attempting to ent...

Kirk Herbstreit, the chief analyst on ESPN's "College GameDay" and a co-host of "Thursday Night Football," announced the death of his golden retriever, Ben, a service dog whose appearances at football stadiums in recent years made him a beloved four-legged friend to the sports world. Ben was diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma in March and died Thursday after the cancer spread throughout his organs, Herbstreit said on X. He was 10 human years old. "I’ve had dogs my whole life but Ben was 1 (of) 1," Herbstreit said. "He was smart-loving-gentle-patient-inquisitive-and welcoming to all. Always a big smile and a soft tail wag."Ben had surgery in late July to remove two cancerous masses on his spleen and intestine, Herbstreit said on X in September . He said that while it had been...

NEW DELHI, India — India ’s three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie ’s controversial book “The Satanic Verses” has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban. The India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous. The Delhi High Court was hearing a 2019 case challenging the import ban of the book in India. According to a Nov. 5 court order, India’s government told the Delhi High Court that the import ban order “was untraceable and, therefore could not be produced.” As a result, the court said it had “no other option except to presume that no such notification exists.” “The ban has been lifted as of Nov. 5 because t...

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denied wrongdoing on Thursday in a burgeoning influence-peddling scandal involving him and his wife that is severely hurting his approval ratings and providing political munition to his rivals. The political firestorm coincides with South Korea facing a slew of critical foreign policy issues, such as Donald Trump ’s election win to become the next president of the United States and North Korea ’s reported entry into the Russia-Ukraine war . The scandal centers around allegations that Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee exerted inappropriate influence on the conservative governing People Power Party to pick a certain candidate to run for a parliamentary by-election in 2022 at the request of Myung...

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named co-campaign chair Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, one of the most important nonelected posts in Washington. She will be the first woman in that role. Wiles, 67, a Florida native, is one of the most respected operatives in Republican politics. Along with helping helm Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, she was his state director in Florida during the previous two contests. “Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Trump said in a statement Thursday. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative and is universally admired and respected.” Trump called his 2020 campaign “successful,” even tho...

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s dramatic victory has scrambled next week’s three-way contest to replace Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s longest-serving leader who is stepping down at the end of the year. Two of McConnell’s trusted lieutenants — Senate Minority Whip John Thune, of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican leader, and Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, who previously held that role — as well as Sen. Rick Scott, a conservative from Trump’s home state of Florida, are all running to be Senate leader after Republicans recaptured the majority in Tuesday’s election. A third John who was considered a potential candidate, GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso, of Wyoming, decided not to run for the top job and will run for the No. 2 majority wh...