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  • Ghislaine Maxwell declines to answer questions from a House committee, offers testimony for clemency

    Ghislaine Maxwell declines to answer questions from a House committee, offers testimony for clemency

    WASHINGTON — Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, declined to answer questions from House lawmakers in a deposition Monday, but indicated that if President Donald Trump ended her prison sentence, she was willing to testify that neither he nor former President Bill Clinton had done anything wrong in their connections with Epstein.

    The House Oversight Committee had wanted Maxwell to answer questions during a video call to the federal prison camp in Texas where she’s serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, but she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions that would be self-incriminating. She’s come under new scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how Epstein, a well-connected financier, was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years.

    Amid a reckoning over Epstein’s abuse that has spilled into the highest levels of businesses and governments around the globe, lawmakers are searching for anyone who was connected to Epstein and may have facilitated his abuse. So far, the revelations have shown how both Trump and Clinton spent time with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but they have not been credibly accused of wrongdoing.

    During the closed-door deposition Monday, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement to the committee that “Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”

    He added that both Trump and Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing,” but that ”Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”

    Maxwell’s appeal hits pushback

    Democrats said that was a brazen effort by Maxwell to have Trump end her prison sentence.

    “It’s very clear she’s campaigning for clemency,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat.

    Another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia, described Maxwell’s demeanor during the short video call as “robotic” and “unrepentant.”

    Asked Monday about Maxwell’s appeal, the White House pointed to previous remarks from the president that indicated the prospect of a pardon was not on his radar.

    And other Republicans push backed on the notion quickly after Maxwell made the appeal.

    “NO CLEMENCY. You comply or face punishment,” Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida wrote on social media. “You deserve JUSTICE for what you did you monster.”

    Maxwell has also been seeking to have her conviction overturned, arguing that she was wrongfully convicted. The Supreme Court rejected her appeal last year, but in December she requested that a federal judge in New York consider what her attorneys describe as “substantial new evidence” that her trial was spoiled by constitutional violations.

    Maxwell’s attorney cited that petition as he told lawmakers she would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.

    Family members of the late Virginia Giuffre, one of the most outspoken victims of Epstein, also released a letter to Maxwell making it clear they did not consider her “a bystander” to Epstein’s abuse.

    “You were a central, deliberate actor in a system built to find children, isolate them, groom them, and deliver them to abuse,” Sky and Amanda Roberts wrote in the letter addressed to Maxwell.

    Maxwell was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a low-security prison camp in Texas last summer after she participated in two days of interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

    The Republican chairperson of the committee, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, had also subpoenaed her at the time, but her attorneys have consistently told the committee that she wouldn’t answer questions. However, Comer came under pressure to hold the deposition as he pressed for the committee to enforce subpoenas on Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After Comer threatened them with contempt of Congress charges, they both agreed to sit for depositions later this month.

    Comer has been haggling with the Clintons over whether that testimony should be held in a public hearing, but Comer reiterated Monday that he would insist on holding closed-door depositions and later releasing transcripts and video.

    Lawmakers review unredacted files

    Meanwhile, several lawmakers visited a Justice Department office in Washington Monday to look through unredacted versions of the files on Epstein that the department has released to comply with a law passed by Congress last year. As part of an arrangement with the Justice Department, lawmakers were given access to the over 3 million released files in a reading room with four computers. Lawmakers can only make handwritten notes, and their staff are not allowed in with them.

    Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, spent several hours in the reading room Monday morning. He told reporters as he returned to the Capitol that even if all the House members who triggered the vote on releasing the files “spent every waking hour over at the Department of Justice, it would still take us months to get through all of those documents.”

    Democrats on Raskin’s committee are looking ahead to a Wednesday hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi, where they are expected to sharply question her on the publication of the Epstein files. The Justice Department failed to redact the personal information of many victims, including inadvertently releasing nude photos of them.

    “Over and over we begged them, please be careful, please be more careful,” said Jennifer Freeman, an attorney representing survivors. “The damage has already been done. It feels incompetent, it feels intimidating and it feels intentional.”

    Democrats also say the Justice Department redacted information that should have been made public, including information that could lead to scrutiny of Epstein’s associates.

    Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who sponsored the legislation to force the release of the files, said that after reviewing the unredacted versions for several hours, he had found the names of six men “that are likely incriminated by their inclusion.” He called on the Justice Department to pursue accountability for the men, but said he could potentially name them in a House floor speech, where his actions would be constitutionally protected from lawsuits.

    Massie, along with California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, said they also came across a number of files that still had redactions. They said that was likely because the FBI had turned over redacted versions of the files to the Justice Department.

    Khanna said “it wasn’t just Epstein and Maxwell” who were involved in sexually abusing underage girls.

    Release of the files has set in motion multiple political crises around the world, including in the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer is clinging to his job after it was revealed his former ambassador to the U.S. had maintained close ties to Epstein. But Democratic lawmakers bemoaned that so far U.S. political figures seem to be escaping unscathed.

    “I’m just afraid that the general worsening and degradation of American life has somehow conditioned people not to take this as seriously as we should be taking it,” Raskin said.

  • Seahawks ride their ‘Dark Side’ defense to a Super Bowl title, pounding the Patriots 29-13

    Seahawks ride their ‘Dark Side’ defense to a Super Bowl title, pounding the Patriots 29-13

    SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Defense won this championship.

    Devon Witherspoon, Derick Hall, Byron Murphy and the rest of Mike Macdonald’s ferocious unit pummeled Drake Maye, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 on Sunday to win the franchise’s second Super Bowl.

    Sam Darnold threw a touchdown pass to AJ Barner, Kenneth Walker III ran for 135 yards and Jason Myers made all five of his field-goal tries.

    Uchenna Nwosu punctuated a punishing defensive performance by snagging Maye’s pass in the air after Witherspoon hit his arm and ran it back 45 yards for a pick-6.

    Seattle’s “Dark Side” defense helped Darnold become the first quarterback in the 2018 draft class to win a Super Bowl, ahead of Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson.

    Labeled a bust, dumped by two teams and considered expendable by two others, Darnold proved his doubters wrong while helping the Seahawks go 17-3.

    After leading the NFL with 20 turnovers in the regular season, Darnold didn’t have any in three playoff games. He wasn’t particularly sharp against a solid Patriots defense but protected the ball and made enough plays, finishing 19 of 38 for 202 yards.

    The Seahawks sacked Maye six times, including two apiece by Hall and Murphy. Hall’s strip-sack late in the third quarter set up a short field and Darnold connected with Barner on 16-yard scoring toss to make it 19-0.

    Julian Love’s interception set up another field goal that made it 22-7 with 5:35 left.

    The Patriots (17-4) punted on the first eight drives, excluding a kneel-down to end the first half.

  • ‘Take the vaccine, please,’ a top U.S. health official says in an appeal as measles cases rise

    ‘Take the vaccine, please,’ a top U.S. health official says in an appeal as measles cases rise

    WASHINGTON — A leading U.S. health official on Sunday urged people to get inoculated against the measles at a time of outbreaks across several states and as the United States is at risk of losing its measles elimination status.

    “Take the vaccine, please,” said Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator whose boss has raised suspicion about the safety and importance of vaccines. “We have a solution for our problem.”

    Oz, a heart surgeon, defended some recently revised federal vaccine recommendations as well as past comments from President Donald Trump and the nation’s health chief, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about the efficacy of vaccines. From Oz, there was a clear message on the measles.

    “Not all illnesses are equally dangerous and not all people are equally susceptible to those illnesses,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But measles is one you should get your vaccine.”

    An outbreak in South Carolina in the hundreds has surpassed the recorded case count in Texas’ 2025 outbreak, and there is also one on the Utah-Arizona border. Multiple other states have had confirmed cases this year. The outbreaks have mostly impacted children and have come as infectious disease experts warn that rising public distrust of vaccines generally may be contributing to the spread of a disease once declared eradicated by public health officials.

    Asked in the television interview whether people should fear the measles, Oz replied, “Oh, for sure.” He said Medicare and Medicaid will continue to cover the measles vaccine as part of the insurance programs.

    “There will never be a barrier to Americans get access to the measles vaccine. And it is part of the core schedule,” Oz said.

    But Oz also said, “We have advocated for measles vaccines all along” and that Kennedy “has been on the very front of this.”

    Questions about vaccines did not come up later in a Kennedy interview on Fox News Channel’s The Sunday Briefing, where he was asked about what kind of Super Bowl snack he might have (probably yogurt). He also said he eats steak with sauerkraut in the mornings.

    Critics of Kennedy have argued that the health secretary’s longtime skepticism of U.S. vaccine recommendations and past sympathy for the unfounded claim that vaccines may cause autism could influence official public health guidance in ways contrary to the medical consensus.

    Oz argued that Kennedy’s stance was supportive of the measles vaccine despite Kennedy’s general comments about the recommended vaccine schedule.

    “When the first outbreak happened in Texas, he said, get your vaccines for measles, because that’s an example of an ailment that you should get vaccinated against,” Oz said.

    The Republican administration last month dropped some vaccine recommendations for children, an overhaul of the traditional vaccine schedule that the Department of Health and Human Services said was in response to a request from Trump.

    Trump asked the agency to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations and consider revising U.S. guidance accordingly.

    States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While federal requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the administration’s guidance on vaccines.

    U.S. vaccination rates have dropped and the share of children with exemptions has reached an all-time high, according to federal data. At the same time, rates of diseases that can be protected against with vaccines, such as measles and whooping cough, are rising across the country.

    Kennedy’s past anti-vaccine activism

    Kennedy’s past skepticism of vaccines has come under scrutiny since Trump first nominated him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

    During his Senate confirmation testimony last year, Kennedy told lawmakers that a closely scrutinized 2019 trip he took to Samoa, which came before a devastating measles outbreak, had “nothing to do with vaccines.”

    But documents obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press undermine that testimony. Emails sent by staffers at the U.S. Embassy and the United Nations said that Kennedy sought to meet with top Samoan officials during his trip to the Pacific island nation.

    Samoan officials later said Kennedy’s trip bolstered the credibility of anti-vaccine activists before the measles outbreak, which sickened thousands of people and killed 83, mostly children under age 5.

    Mixed messaging on autism, vaccines

    Oz’s comments mark a broader pattern among administration officials of voicing discordant and at times contradictory statements about the efficacy of vaccines amid an overhaul of U.S. public health policy.

    Officials have walked a fine line in criticizing past U.S. vaccine policy, often at times appearing to express sympathy for unfounded conspiracy theories from anti-vaccine activists, while also not straying too far from established science.

    During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said no single vaccine causes autism, but he did not rule out the possibility that research may find some combination of vaccines could have negative health side effects.

    But Kennedy, in Senate testimony, has argued that a link between vaccines and autism has not been disproved.

    He has previously claimed that some components of vaccines, like the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal, may cause childhood neurological disorders such as autism. Most vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella do not contain thimerosal. A federal vaccine advisory board overhauled by Kennedy last year voted to no longer recommend thimerosal-containing vaccines.

    Administration public health officials often cite the need to restore trust in public health systems after the coronavirus pandemic, when vaccine policy and the general public health response to the deadly pandemic became a highly polarizing topic in American politics.

    Misinformation and conspiracy theories about the public health system also spread during the pandemic, and longtime anti-vaccine activist groups saw a swell in interest from the wider public.

    Kennedy, who for years led the anti-vaccine activist group Children’s Health Defense, has been criticized for ordering reviews of vaccines and public health guidelines that leading medical research groups have deemed settled science.

    Public health experts also criticized the president for making unfounded claims about highly politicized health issues. During a September Oval Office event, Trump asserted without evidence that Tylenol and vaccines are linked to a rise in the incidence of autism in the United States.

  • Investigation continues a week after Savannah Guthrie mother was reported missing

    Investigation continues a week after Savannah Guthrie mother was reported missing

    TUCSON, Ariz. — The urgent investigation into the apparent kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie continued Sunday, a week after the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing in Arizona.

    Savannah Guthrie solemnly told the potential kidnappers in a social media video released Saturday that the family was prepared to pay for her safe return. Flanked by her siblings, Guthrie said “we received your message” and that: “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

    An FBI spokesperson said Savannah Guthrie was referring to a message that was sent to the Tucson-based television station KOLD on Friday. The station declined to share details about the message’s contents as the FBI conducted its review.

    Detectives and agents continued to perform follow-up work at multiple locations as part of the investigation, according to an email Sunday from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. The agency said in the email to media that it would not yet provide details about that work.

    “Investigators have not identified any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to this case,” read the email.

    Two marked sheriff’s cars and another vehicle arrived at Nancy Guthrie’s house around midday Sunday and at least two people went to the back of the home for more than 20 minutes before leaving without comment.

    Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will last weekend from her home just outside Tucson. DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s front porch was a match to her, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said.

    Multiple press outlets have received alleged ransom letters during the past week. At least one letter made monetary demands and established Thursday evening and Monday evening as deadlines. Law enforcement officials declined to affirm that the letters were credible but said all tips were being investigated seriously.

    The disappearance of the well-known TV host’s mother has fixated Americans over the past week. Candles remained lit early Sunday near Nancy Guthrie’s home, next to a sign expressing support for the family.

    The White House said President Donald Trump called and spoke with Savannah Guthrie last week. The president told reporters on Friday that there are clues in the case “that I think are very strong.”

    Authorities say they have growing concerns about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs daily medication. She is said to have a pacemaker and has dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

    The video released Saturday was the third this week that pleaded with potential kidnappers.

  • Brad Arnold, 47, lead singer of Grammy-nominated rock band 3 Doors Down, has died

    Brad Arnold, 47, lead singer of Grammy-nominated rock band 3 Doors Down, has died

    LOS ANGELES — Brad Arnold, the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated rock band 3 Doors Down, died Saturday, months after he announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer. He was 47.

    The band said in a statement that Mr. Arnold “passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, in his sleep after his courageous battle with cancer.”

    3 Doors Down formed in Mississippi in 1995 and four years later received a Grammy nomination for the breakout hit “Kryptonite.” Mr. Arnold wrote the song in math class when he was 15 years old, according to the band statement.

    Their debut album, The Better Life, sold over 6 million copies. A second Grammy nomination came in 2003, for the song “When I’m Gone.”

    The band said Mr. Arnold “helped redefine mainstream rock music, blending post-grunge accessibility with emotionally direct songwriting and lyrical themes that resonated with everyday listeners.”

    3 Doors Down released six albums, most recently Us and the Night in 2016. Singles included “Loser,” “Duck and Run,” and “Be Like That,” which appeared on the soundtrack for the 2001 film American Pie 2.

    While promoting their fifth album, Time of My Life, Mr. Arnold said he considered himself lucky to have carved out a career in the music business.

    “If you do something as long as we’ve done it, you can’t help but get better at it, you know?” Mr. Arnold told the Associated Press in 2011.

    In 2017, 3 Doors Down performed at the first inauguration concert of President Donald Trump.

    Mr. Arnold announced his cancer diagnosis last May, saying clear cell renal carcinoma had metastasized to his lungs. The band was forced to cancel a summer tour.

    “His music reverberated far beyond the stage, creating moments of connection, joy, faith, and shared experiences that will live on long after the stages he performed on,” the band said.

  • Voters are worried about the cost of housing. But Trump wants home prices to keep climbing

    Voters are worried about the cost of housing. But Trump wants home prices to keep climbing

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump wants to keep home prices high, bypassing calls to ramp up construction so people can afford what has been a ticket to the middle class.

    Trump has instead argued for protecting existing owners who have watched the values of their homes climb. It’s a position that flies in the face of what many economists, the real estate industry, local officials, and apartment dwellers say is needed to fix a big chunk of America’s affordability problem.

    “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes, and they can be assured that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump told his cabinet on Jan. 29.

    That approach could bolster the Republican president’s standing with older voters, a group that over time has been more likely to vote in midterm elections. Those races in November will determine whether Trump’s party can retain control of the House and Senate.

    “You have a lot of people that have become wealthy in the last year because their house value has gone up,” Trump said. “And you know, when you get the housing — when you make it too easy and too cheap to buy houses — those values come down.”

    But by catering to older baby boomers on housing, Trump risks alienating the younger voters who expanded his coalition in 2024 and helped him win a second term, and he could wade into a “generational war” in the midterms, said Brent Buchanan, whose polling firm Cygnal advises Republicans.

    “The under-40 group is the most important right now — they are the ones who put Trump in the White House,” Buchanan said. “Their desire to show up in an election or not is going to make the difference in this election. If they feel that Donald Trump is taking care of the boomers at their expense, that is going to hurt Republicans.”

    The logic in appealing to older voters

    In the 2024 presidential election, 81% of Trump’s voters were homeowners, according to AP VoteCast data. This means many of his supporters already have mortgages with low rates or own their homes outright, possibly blunting the importance of housing as an issue.

    Older voters tend to show up to vote more than do younger people, said Oscar Pocasangre, a senior data analyst at liberal think tank New America who has studied the age divide in U.S. politics. “However, appealing to older voters may prove to be a misguided policy if what’s needed to win is to expand the voting base,” Pocasangre said.

    Before the 2026 elections, voters have consistently rated affordability as a top concern, and that is especially true for younger voters with regard to housing.

    Booker Lightman, 30, a software engineer in Highlands Ranch, Colo., who identifies politically as a libertarian Republican, said the shortage of housing has been a leading problem in his state.

    Lightman just closed on a home last month, and while he and his wife, Alice, were able to manage the cost, he said that the lack of construction is pushing people out of Colorado. “There’s just not enough housing supply,” he said.

    Shay Hata, a real estate agent in the Chicago and Denver areas, said she handles about 100 to 150 transactions a year. But she sees the potential for a lot more. “We have a lack of inventory to the point where most properties, particularly in the suburbs, are getting between five and 20 offers,” she said, describing what she sees in the Chicago area.

    New construction could help more people afford homes because in some cases, buyers qualify for discounted mortgage rates from the builders’ preferred lenders, Hata said. She called the current situation “very discouraging for buyers because they’re getting priced out of the market.”

    But pending construction has fallen under Trump. Permits to build single-family homes have plunged 9.4% over the past 12 months in October, the most recent month available, to an annual rate of 876,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

    Trump’s other ideas to help people buy houses

    Trump has not always been against increasing housing supply.

    During the 2024 campaign, Trump’s team said he would create tax breaks for homebuyers, trim regulations on construction, open up federal land for housing developments, and make monthly payments more manageable by cutting mortgage rates. Advisers also claimed that housing stock would open up because of Trump’s push for mass deportations of people who were in the United States illegally.

    As recently as October, Trump urged builders to ramp up construction. “They’re sitting on 2 Million empty lots, A RECORD. I’m asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get Big Homebuilders going and, by so doing, help restore the American Dream!” Trump posted on social media, referring to the government-backed lenders.

    But more recently, he has been unequivocal on not wanting to pursue policies that would boost supply and lower prices.

    In office, Trump has so far focused his housing policy on lobbying the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rates. He believes that would make mortgages more affordable, although critics say it could spur higher inflation. Trump announced that the two mortgage companies, which are under government conservatorship, would buy at least $200 billion in home loan securities in a bid to reduce rates.

    Trump also wants Congress to ban large financial institutions from buying homes. But he has rejected suggestions for expanding rules to let buyers use 401(k) retirement accounts for down payments, telling reporters that he did not want people to take their money out of the stock market because it was doing so well.

    There are signs that lawmakers in both parties see the benefits of taking steps to add houses before this year’s elections. There are efforts in the Senate and House to jump-start construction through the use of incentives to change zoning restrictions, among other policies.

    One of the underlying challenges on affordability is that home prices have been generally rising faster than incomes for several years.

    This makes it harder to save for down payments or upgrade to a nicer home. It also means that the places where people live increasingly double as their key financial asset, one that leaves many families looking moneyed on paper even if they are struggling with monthly bills.

    There is another risk for Trump. If the economy grows this year, as he has promised, that could push up demand for houses — as well as their prices — making the affordability problem more pronounced, said Edward Pinto, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank.

    Pinto said construction of single-family homes would have to rise by 50% to 100% during the next three years for average home price gains to be flat — a sign, he said, that Trump’s fears about falling home prices were probably unwarranted.

    “It’s very hard to crater home prices,” Pinto said.

  • Japanese prime minister’s party secures supermajority in lower house in landslide victory

    Japanese prime minister’s party secures supermajority in lower house in landslide victory

    TOKYO — The governing party of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi secured a two-thirds supermajority in a key parliamentary election Sunday, Japanese media reported citing preliminary results, earning a landslide victory thanks to her popularity.

    Takaichi, in a televised interview with public television network NHK following her sweeping victory, said she is now ready to pursue policies to make Japan strong and prosperous.

    NHK, citing results of vote counts, said Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament. That marks a record since the party’s foundation in 1955 and surpasses the previous record of 300 seats won in 1986 by late Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

    A smiling Takaichi placed a big red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters, as accompanying party executives applauded.

    Despite the lack of a majority in the other chamber, the upper house, the huge jump from the preelection share in the superior lower house would allow Takaichi to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan’s economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China and she tries to nurture ties with the United States.

    Takaichi said she would try to gain support from the opposition while firmly pushing forward her policy goals.

    “I will be flexible,” she said.

    Takaichi is hugely popular, but the governing LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled with funding and religious scandals in recent years. She called Sunday’s early election after only three months in office, hoping to turn that around while her popularity is high.

    Popular leader

    The ultraconservative Takaichi, who took office as Japan’s first female leader in October, pledged to “work, work, work,” and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger fans who say they weren’t previously interested in politics.

    The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist alliance and a rising far right, was too splintered to be a real challenger. The new opposition alliance of LDP’s former coalition partner, Buddhist-backed dovish Komeito, and the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is projected to sink to half of their combined preelection share of 167 seats.

    Takaichi was betting with this election that her LDP party, together with its new partner, the Japan Innovation Party, would secure a majority.

    Akihito Iwatake, a 53-year-old office worker, said he welcomed the big win by the LDP because he felt the party went too liberal in the past few years. “With Takaichi shifting things more toward the conservative side, I think that brought this positive result,” he said.

    Takaichi’s policies

    The prime minister wants to push forward a significant shift to the right in Japan’s security, immigration, and other policies. The LDP’s right-wing partner, JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, has said his party will serve as an “accelerator” for this push.

    Japan has recently seen far-right populists gain ground, such as the anti-globalist and surging nationalist party Sanseito. Exit polls projected a big gain for Sanseito.

    The first major task for Takaichi when the lower house reconvenes in mid-February is to work on a budget bill, delayed by the election, to fund economic measures that address rising costs and sluggish wages.

    Takaichi has pledged to revise security and defense policies by December to bolster Japan’s offensive military capabilities, lifting a ban on weapons exports and moving further away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.

    She has been pushing for tougher policies on foreigners, anti-espionage laws, and other measures that resonate with a far-right audience, but ones that experts say could undermine civil rights.

    Takaichi also wants to increase defense spending in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure for Japan to loosen its purse strings.

    She now has time to work on these policies, without an election until 2028.

    Divisive policies

    Though Takaichi said that she’s seeking to win support for policies seen as divisive in Japan, she largely avoided discussing ways to fund soaring military spending, how to fix diplomatic tension with China, and other issues.

    Her rightward shift is unlikely to redirect Japan’s foreign policy and Takaichi is expected to maintain good relations with South Korea given shared concerns about threats from North Korea and China. But Seoul would worry about a Japanese attempt to revise the country’s pacifist constitution or to further build up military because of Japan’s wartime past, said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

    In her campaign speeches, Takaichi enthusiastically talked about the need for proactive government spending to fund “crisis management investment and growth,” such as measures to strengthen economic security, technology, and other industries. Takaichi also seeks to push tougher measures on immigration, including stricter requirements for foreign property owners and a cap on foreign residents.

    Sunday’s election “underscores a problematic trend in Japanese politics in which political survival takes priority over substantive policy outcomes,” said Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan University politics professor. “Whenever the government attempts necessary but unpopular reforms … the next election looms.”

    Impact of snow

    Sunday’s vote coincided with fresh snowfall across the country, including in Tokyo. Record snowfall in northern Japan over the past few weeks blocked roads and was blamed for dozens of deaths nationwide.

  • Iran sentences Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi to 7 more years in prison

    Iran sentences Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi to 7 more years in prison

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran sentenced Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to over seven more years in prison after she began a hunger strike, supporters said Sunday, as Tehran cracks down on all dissent following nationwide protests and the deaths of thousands at the hands of security forces.

    The new convictions against Mohammadi come as Iran tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program to avert a threatened military strike by U.S. President Donald Trump. Iran’s top diplomat insisted Sunday that Tehran’s strength came from its ability to “say no to the great powers,” striking a maximalist position just after negotiations in Oman with the U.S.

    Mohammadi’s supporters cited her lawyer, who spoke to Mohammadi. The lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed the sentence on X, saying it had been handed down Saturday by a Revolutionary Court in the city of Mashhad. Such courts typically issue verdicts with little or no opportunity for defendants to contest their charges.

    “She has been sentenced to six years in prison for ‘gathering and collusion’ and one and a half years for propaganda and two-year travel ban,” he wrote. She received another two years of internal exile to the city of Khosf, some 460 miles southeast of Tehran, the capital, the lawyer added.

    Iran did not immediately acknowledge the sentence. Supporters say Mohammadi has been on a hunger strike since Feb. 2. She had been arrested in December at a ceremony honoring Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate who had been based in Mashhad. Footage from the demonstration showed her shouting, demanding justice for Alikordi and others.

    Mohammadi a symbol for Iranian activists

    Supporters had warned for months before her December arrest that Mohammadi, 53, was at risk of being put back into prison after she received a furlough in December 2024 over medical concerns.

    While that was to be only three weeks, Mohammadi’s time out of prison lengthened, possibly as activists and Western powers pushed Iran to keep her free. She remained out even during the 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel.

    Mohammadi still kept up her activism with public protests and international media appearances, including even demonstrating at one point in front of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where she had been held.

    Mohammadi had been serving 13 years and nine months on charges of collusion against state security and propaganda against Iran’s government. She also had backed the nationwide protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which have seen women openly defy the government by not wearing the hijab.

    Mohammadi suffered multiple heart attacks while imprisoned before undergoing emergency surgery in 2022, her supporters say. Her lawyer in late 2024 revealed doctors had found a bone lesion that they feared could be cancerous that later was removed.

    “Considering her illnesses, it is expected that she will be temporarily released on bail so that she can receive treatment,” Nili wrote.

    However, Iranian officials have been signaling a harder line against all dissent since the demonstrations. Speaking on Sunday, Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei made comments suggesting harsh prison sentences awaited many.

    “Look at some individuals who once were with the revolution and accompanied the revolution,” he said. ”Today, what they are saying, what they are writing, what statements they issue, they are unfortunate, they are forlorn (and) they will face damage.”

    Foreign minister strikes hard-line tone

    The news about Mohammadi came as Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington this week, with Iran expected to be the major subject of discussion, his office said.

    While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian praised the talks Friday in Oman with the Americans as “a step forward,” Araghchi’s remarks show the challenge ahead. Already, the U.S. moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, other ships, and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.

    “I believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination, and pressures from others,” Araghchi said. ”They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers. The secret of the Islamic Republic’s power is in the power to say no to the powers.”

    ‘Atomic bomb’ as rhetorical device

    Araghchi’s choice to explicitly use an “atomic bomb” as a rhetorical device likely wasn’t accidental. While Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful, the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran had an organized military program to seek the bomb up until 2003.

    Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%, the only nonweapons state to do so. Iranian officials in recent years had also been increasingly threatening that the Islamic Republic could seek the bomb, even while its diplomats have pointed to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran wouldn’t build one.

    Pezeshkian, who ordered Araghchi to pursue talks with the Americans after likely getting Khamenei’s blessing, also wrote on X on Sunday about the talks.

    “The Iran-U.S. talks, held through the follow-up efforts of friendly governments in the region, were a step forward,” the president wrote. “Dialogue has always been our strategy for peaceful resolution. … The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect, but it does not tolerate the language of force.”

    It remains unclear when and where, or if, there will be a second round of talks. Trump, after the talks Friday, offered few details but said: “Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly — as they should.”

  • Hard hats and dummy plates: Reports of ICE ruses add to fears in Minnesota

    Hard hats and dummy plates: Reports of ICE ruses add to fears in Minnesota

    MINNEAPOLIS — For days, Luis Ramirez had an uneasy feeling about the men dressed as utility workers he’d seen outside his family’s Mexican restaurant in suburban Minneapolis.

    They wore high-visibility vests and spotless white hard hats, he noticed, even while parked in their vehicle. His search for the Wisconsin-based electrician advertised on the car’s doors returned no results.

    On Tuesday, when their Nissan returned to the lot outside his restaurant, Ramirez, 31, filmed his confrontation with the two men, who hide their faces as he approaches and appear to be wearing heavy tactical gear beneath their yellow vests.

    “This is what our taxpayer money goes to: renting these vehicles with fake tags to come sit here and watch my business,” Ramirez shouts in the video.

    A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to inquiries about whether the men were federal immigration officers. But encounters like Ramirez’s have become increasingly common.

    As the sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota continues, legal observers and officials say they have received a growing number of reports of federal agents impersonating construction workers, delivery drivers, and in some cases anti-ICE activists.

    Not all of those incidents have been verified, but they have heightened fears in a state already on edge, adding to legal groups’ concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.

    “If you have people afraid that the electrical worker outside their house might be ICE, you’re inviting public distrust and confusion on a much more dangerous level,” said Naureen Shah, the director of immigration advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is what you do if you’re trying to control a populace, not trying to do routine, professional law enforcement.”

    A ‘more extreme degree’ of deception

    In the past, immigration authorities have sometimes used disguises and other deceptions, which they call ruses, to gain entry into homes without a warrant.

    The tactics became more common during President Donald Trump’s first term, attorneys said, prompting an ACLU lawsuit accusing immigration agents of violating the U.S. Constitution by posing as local law enforcement during home raids. A recent settlement restricted the practice in Los Angeles. But ICE deceptions remain legal elsewhere in the country.

    Still, the undercover operations reported in Minnesota would appear to be a “more extreme degree than we’ve seen in the past,” said Shah, in part because they seem to be happening in plain sight.

    Where past ruses were aimed at deceiving immigration targets, the current tactics may also be a response to the Minnesota’s sprawling networks of citizen observers that have sought to call attention to federal agents before they make arrests.

    At the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the city’s central hub of ICE activity, activists told the Associated Press they had seen agents leaving in vehicles with stuffed animals on their dashboards or Mexican flag decals on their bumpers. Pickups with lumber or tools in their beds were also frequently spotted.

    In recent weeks, federal agents have repeatedly shown up to construction sites dressed as workers, according to Jose Alvillar, a lead organizer for the local immigrant rights group, Unidos MN.

    “We’ve seen an increase in the cowboy tactics,” he said, though he noted the raids had not resulted in arrests. “Construction workers are good at identifying who is a real construction worker and who is dressing up as one.”

    Using vintage plates

    Since the start of the operation in Minnesota, local officials, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, have said ICE agents had been seen swapping license plates or using bogus ones, a violation of state law.

    Candice Metrailer, an antiques dealer in south Minneapolis, believes she witnessed such an attempt firsthand.

    On Jan. 13, she received a call from a man who identified himself as a collector, asking if her store sold license plates. She said it did. A few minutes later, two men in street clothes entered the shop and began looking through her collection of vintage plates.

    “One of them says, ‘Hey, do you have any recent ones?’” Metrailer recalled. “Immediately, an alarm bell went off in my head.”

    Metrailer stepped outside while the men continued browsing. A few doors down from the shop, she saw an idling Ford Explorer with blacked out windows. She memorized its license plate, then quickly plugged it into a crowdsourced database used by local activists to track vehicles linked to immigration enforcement.

    The database shows an identical Ford with the same plates had been photographed leaving the Whipple building seven times and reported at the scene of an immigration arrest weeks earlier.

    When one of the men approached the register holding a white Minnesota plate, Metrailer said she told him that the store had a new policy against selling the items.

    Metrailer said she had reported the incident to Minnesota’s attorney general. A spokesperson for DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

    A response to obstruction

    Supporters of the immigration crackdown say the volunteer army of ICE-tracking activists in Minneapolis has forced federal agents to adopt new methods of avoiding detection.

    “Of course agents are adapting their tactics so that they’re a step ahead,” said Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director of ICE enforcement and operations in New York City. “We’ve never seen this level of obstruction and interference.”

    In nearly three decades in immigration enforcement, Mechkowski said he also hadn’t seen ICE agents disguising themselves as uniformed workers in the course of making arrests.

    Earlier this summer, a spokesperson for DHS confirmed a man wearing a high-visibility construction vest was an ICE agent conducting surveillance. In Oregon, a natural gas company published guidance last month on how customers could identify their employees after reports of federal impersonators.

    In the days since his encounter, Ramirez, the restaurant worker, said he has been on high alert for undercover agents. He recently stopped a locksmith who he feared might be a federal agent, before quickly realizing he was a local resident.

    “Everybody is on edge about these guys, man,” Ramirez said. “It feels like they’re everywhere.”

  • U.K. leader’s chief of staff quits over appointment of Mandelson as ambassador despite Epstein ties

    U.K. leader’s chief of staff quits over appointment of Mandelson as ambassador despite Epstein ties

    LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘s chief of staff resigned Sunday over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

    Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain’s most important diplomatic post in 2024.

    “The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement. “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

    Starmer is facing a political storm and questions about his judgment after newly published documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the U.K. government’s business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis.

    Starmer’s government has promised to release its own emails and other documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which it says will show that Mandelson misled officials.

    The prime minister apologized this week for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.”

    He acknowledged that when Mandelson was chosen for the top diplomat job in 2024, the vetting process had revealed that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein continued after the latter’s 2008 conviction. But Starmer maintained that “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of that relationship at the time.

    A number of lawmakers said Starmer is ultimately responsible for the scandal.

    “Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions,” said Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.

    Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister, ambassador, and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, has not been arrested or charged.

    Metropolitan Police officers searched Mandelson’s London home and another property linked to him on Friday. Police said the investigation is complex and will require “a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.”

    The U.K. police investigation centers on potential misconduct in public office, and Mandelson is not accused of any sexual offenses.

    Starmer had fired Mandelson in September from his ambassadorial job over earlier revelations about his Epstein ties. But critics say the emails recently published by the U.S. Justice Department have brought serious concerns about Starmer’s judgment to the fore. They argue that he should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place.

    The new revelations include documents suggesting Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein after the 2008 global financial crisis. They also include records of payments totaling $75,000 in 2003 and 2004 from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson or his husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva.

    Aside from his association with Epstein, Mandelson previously had to resign twice from senior government posts because of scandals over money or ethics.

    Starmer had faced growing pressure over the past week to fire McSweeney, who is regarded as a key adviser in Downing Street and seen as a close ally of Mandelson.

    Starmer on Sunday credited McSweeney as a central figure in running Labour’s recent election campaign and the party’s 2004 landslide victory. His statement did not mention the Mandelson scandal.