That line, however, often frayed at the edges.

“Everyone coming to me is like ‘I’m from Italy, you’re a legend there and we’re so happy to have your song,’” he told The Associated Press on Friday amid rehearsals for the Eurovision final.Cash said that if U.S. singer Sabrina Carpenter can have a hit about espresso in her Grammy Award-winning 2024 hit of that name, he too should be able to sing about coffee.

“She should be singing about Big Gulps,” he joked. As Europeans, “we’re the OGs. (Coffee) originated from Italy.“The thing is, coffee is for the world,” he said. “Everyone can drink coffee. Americans, Europeans, and this brings us together.”Italian themes are in vogue at Eurovision this year — another competitor is Italian DJ Gabry Ponte, representing tiny San Marino with “Tutta L’Italia.”

Many Italians have embraced the cheery catchiness of “Espresso Macchiato,” even though most would never dream of adding milk to espresso, widely considering macchiato a tourists’ drink.“We Italians are nice and we laugh at these things,” said Francesco Malferrari, enjoying an espresso — no milk — in a Rome cafe. “Yes, there are some stereotypes, but we in Italy are used to it, so in reality we smile.

“But this year we have to root for Lucio Corsi,” the glam rocker who is Italy’s Eurovision competitor. “Because we are for Italy, so let’s root for Lucio Corsi. But let’s have an espresso and laugh it off.”

first covered Eurovision in Athens in 2006, when it was won by masked Finnish metal band Lordi with “Hard Rock Hallelujah.” She has been a fan ever since.In 2021, Rodriguez established a partnership between the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar and CNAG, the National Center for Genomic Analysis in Barcelona. Rodriguez collects patients’ blood samples and delivers the extracted DNA to Barcelona, where scientists sequence it, storing the answers it holds in a large database. Almost 1,300 participants—patients and families—have enrolled in his study of rare disease in West Africa.

Rare disease researcher Pedro Rodriguez, left, examines Ibrahima Ndiaye, 8, in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)Rare disease researcher Pedro Rodriguez, left, examines Ibrahima Ndiaye, 8, in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

In the Gambia, Fatou Samba’s sons Adama, 8, and Gibriel, 4, like to play soccer and feed the sheep in their backyard. On a recent afternoon, they took turns playing with a toy airplane and a globe. Adama, who hopes to be a pilot, pointed to where he wanted to go: the U.S. Outside, he started to climb a pile of bicycles propped up against the wall, and Gibriel followed.“We’re climbing Mount Everest,” Adama said.