Visitors to the US for the World Cup are elated to see that school buses are just as yellow as they are in the movies. Fans from abroad are going viral for getting excited about commonplace Americana, reminding Americans that their everyday existence has global cultural cachet.

A German fan known as Freddy, who amassed a huge following for eagerly documenting his visits to Taco Bell, Waffle House, and Walmart—and reportedly got invited to visit the White House—is far from the only foreigner whose mind is busy comprehending:

• Alongside the Statue of Liberty and national parks, Southern gas station chain Buc-ee’s has been a major attraction, inspiring awe with its massive size and apparently curing one Frenchman of his snobbism after he tried the Beaver Nuggets.
• This lad from the UK was overjoyed to drive a RAM truck while listening to country music on the radio, while one of his compatriots praised 7-Eleven’s Big Gulp drinks.
• A Japanese visitor wasn’t prepared for complimentary bottomless chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant that left him full before the main course.
• Aside from the positive experiences, there’s some culture shock. For instance, a post from one Swede wondering why items in a pharmacy had to be locked away got 1 million views.

The quintessentially American ranch dip…is getting so much love from overseas visitors that the TSA asked travelers this week to check ranch bottles that exceed the 3.4-ounce limit for liquid carry-ons.

Cultural learnings go both ways

Bostonians gleefully embraced the invasion of kilt-donning Scottish fans, aka the Tartan Army, whose pub thirst prompted an emergency beer delivery to the Sam Adams Taproom in the city’s downtown this week. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu met with her counterpart from Glasgow on Thursday to sign a sister city letter of intent to cheers of “no Scotland, no party.”

Big picture: The warm vibes from overseas soccer fans come after the US saw 5.5% fewer international visitors in 2025 than the previous year amid strict border policies, international tensions, and economic issues.—SK

US–Iran talks delayed due to Lebanon clashes. Vice President JD Vance postponed a planned trip to Switzerland for nuclear talks with Iranian officials that were slated to begin yesterday, after Iran insisted that Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon must stop before the talks can begin. Iran maintains that Lebanon must be part of any peace deal, but Israel has said it will continue to have a presence there. The situation in Lebanon escalated overnight before the planned talks, as Hezbollah launched a drone attack that killed four Israeli soldiers, and Israel retaliated with more than 150 strikes. Following the delay of the talks, US officials said the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was back on.

UK election sets up leadership fight. Though no formal leadership challenge has begun yet, an ambitious Labour Party politician’s victory in a special election yesterday may have set the UK on course to have its sixth prime minister in seven years. The win puts Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in Parliament, where he can try to unseat the unpopular Prime Minister Keir Starmer as head of the Labour Party and therefore as the country’s leader. Starmer vowed not to quit, saying, “I don’t think that is a good thing for the country, to plunge us into chaos.”

Amazon drops film about Sam Altman after investing in OpenAI. Amazon MGM Studios has dropped Luca Guadagnino’s nearly finished movie Artificial, starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Altman, which will now be shopped to other studios. Amazon said the movie “will be better served if it were released by a different studio” and that it’s “working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home.” But the timing of the decision raised more Hollywood eyebrows than Botox, as it comes months after Amazon agreed to invest $50 billion in OpenAI as part of a partnership that also accelerates OpenAI’s use of Amazon Web Services.—AR

For the first time ever, a majority of two-parent households in the US (52%) feature both mom and dad collecting full-time paychecks, according to a new Pew Research Center report. Mothers with bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees are increasingly reshaping the breadwinning dynamics.

Women are earning more college degrees than men, which has helped drive up the number of households with two parents working full time from 46% a decade ago (and 31% in 1975). The survey of 2,242 working parents, which excluded same-sex couples because the sample size was too small, revealed how two incomes can help—and challenge—childcare responsibilities:

• Seventy percent said parenting-related tasks are handled during work time (e.g., changing a diaper during a Zoom call).
• Fifty-nine percent said work-related tasks are handled while with their children (e.g., converting a PDF at a piano recital).
• Fifty-four percent said it’s difficult to balance work and family tasks (the other 46%, presumably, were lying).

As one mom told Pew: “I’m supposed to work like I don’t have kids and supposed to parent like I don’t have a job.”

Despite the agita, 83% still see swimming in two paychecks as a positive.

WFH FTW: Only 24% of respondents said they have “a lot” of flexibility to telework. Most said having that as an option would be extremely or very helpful.—DL