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  • Long story short: ‘Joe Dirt’ tribute takes top prize in mullet contest

    Long story short: ‘Joe Dirt’ tribute takes top prize in mullet contest

    HARRISBURG — A packed crowd celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle Monday in a contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.

    The short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back coiffure, once the province of Canadian hockey players and hair metal bands, attracted about 150 competitors and more than a thousand spectators for the day’s “mane” attraction.

    The top award, in the form of the rear bumper of a Corvette, went to 10-year-old Drew Fleschut of Dallas, Luzerne County — who wore a red-and-black shirt in an homage to movie character Joe Dirt and carried Joe’s trademark mop.

    Contestants were evaluated for the style of their cut, any props or accessories, their presentation and their overall sense of commitment, said judge Brittany Goldberg.

    “This is for fun,” said Goldberg, owner of Heavy Metal Hair Salon in Philadelphia. “It’s about the camaraderie and everyone having a laugh and a good time.”

    Ben Barley, a 7-year-old first grader from Red Lion, Pa., waits with his father, Robert Barley, for the start of a mullet judging contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg on Monday.

    There were magic tricks, customized T-shirts, and even a “skullet” — a mullet sported by a balding man. One kid didn’t want to leave the stage. Another took the occasion to pick his nose. Some danced the worm, some dabbed, and a few ripped off their shirts, pro-wrestling style.

    Brittni Williamson of Harvey’s Lake brought along her 3-year-old son Mason, who ended up with a mullet when the hair on the back of his head grew more quickly than the rest of his hair when he was a baby.

    “We just clean it up in the front and keep the party going,” Williamson said. Mason didn’t win, but he did get to accomplish his New Year’s resolution by feeding a cow.

    Butter sculpture at Pennsylvania Farm Show honors nation’s 250th birthday

    Ben Barley, 7, of Red Lion arrived at the event wearing a T-shirt featuring his name and the words “MULLET LIFE 6-7,” a nod to both his hairstyle and the bafflingly popular youth catchphrase. He said he’d been working on his mullet for two years.

    Kyle Wertman said he was inspired to go with a mullet while watching old professional wrestling footage of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He gets a lot of comments about it in his hometown of Murrysville.

    “They like to fluff the curls in the back, ‘Look at this thing, it’s got a mind of its own,’” said Wertman, 43, who works in sales and service of industrial air compressors.

    It’s taken Lancaster resident Brayden Shaner, 14, about four years to grow his mullet, which was good enough for third-place in the teenager category.

    “I like it because it’s different,” he said. “You don’t see, walking through the grocery store, people with a mullet. I think the girls like it.”

    Though mullets likely have been around longer than there have been barbers, the Oxford English Dictionary cites hip-hop legends the Beastie Boys for helping popularize the term mullet with the song “Mullet Head” on their 1994 recording, Ill Communication. As the venerable dictionary notes, it’s a term that is slang, humorous “and frequently derogatory.”

    The contest, in its third year, is one of the few at the Pennsylvania Farm Show open to people who live outside the state.

    Meredith Nelson smiles at her son, “Mikey Mullet,” an 8-year old-contestant from South Jersey in Monday’s hairstyle contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
  • Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment

    Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment

    WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

    The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

    The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.

    Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.

    “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

    It’s a sharp departure from the Fed’s understated response to Trump this year. The central bank has attempted to placate the administration by dialing back some policies, such as efforts to consider the impact of climate change on the banking system, that the administration clearly opposed.

    The renewed attacks on the Fed’s independence, and Powell’s full-throated defense, reignite what had appeared to be a dormant battle between Trump and the chair he appointed in 2017. The subpoenas will renew fears that the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics will be compromised, which could undermine global investors’ confidence in U.S. Treasury securities.

    “We expect the dollar, bonds and stocks to all fall in Monday trading in a sell-America trade similar to that in April last year at the peak of the tariff shock and earlier threat to Powell’s position as Fed chair,” Krishna Guha, an analyst at Evercore ISI, an investment bank, wrote in a note to clients.

    “We are stunned by this deeply disturbing development which came out of the blue after a period in which tensions between Trump and the Fed seemed to be contained,” Guha added.

    In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

    Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented step, though she has sued to keep her job and courts have ruled she can remain in her seat while the case plays out. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case Jan. 21.

    At the Senate Banking Committee hearing in June, Chairman Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, said the Fed’s building renovation included “rooftop terraces, custom elevators that open into VIP dining rooms, white marble finishes, and even a private art collection.”

    Powell disputed those details in his testimony, saying “there’s no new marble. … there are no special elevators” and added that some of the controversial items are “not in the current plan.” In July, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to Powell that his testimony about changes to the building plans “raises serious questions about the project’s compliance” with previous plans approved by a planning commission.

    Still, later that month, Trump visited the building site and, while standing next to Powell, overstated the cost of the renovation. Later that day, Trump, speaking to reporters, downplayed any concerns with the renovation. He said, “they have to get it done” and added, “Look, there’s always Monday morning quarterbacks. I don’t want to be that. I want to help them get it finished.”

    When asked if it was a firing offense, Trump said, “I don’t want to put that in this category.”

    The Justice Department in a statement Sunday said it can’t comment on any particular case, but added that Attorney General Pam Bondi “has instructed her US Attorneys to prioritize investigating any abuse of tax payer dollars.”

    Timothy Lauer, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, said they don’t comment on ongoing investigations.

    With the subpoenas, Powell becomes the latest perceived adversary of the president to face a criminal investigation by the Trump administration’s Justice Department. Trump himself has urged prosecutions of his political opponents, obliterating institutional guardrails for a Justice Department that for generations has taken care to make investigative and prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House.

    The potential indictment has already drawn concern from one Republican senator, who said he’ll oppose any future nominee to the central bank, including any replacement for Powell, until “this legal matter is fully resolved.”

    “If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the Banking Committee, which oversees Fed nominations. “It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.”

  • Death toll from protests in Iran hits at least 544, activists say, as Trump says Iran wants to talk

    Death toll from protests in Iran hits at least 544, activists say, as Trump says Iran wants to talk

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown targeting demonstrators there, a move coming as activists said the death toll in protests rose to at least 544.

    Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    “The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

    Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

    “I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

    He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

    There was no immediate acknowledgment from Iran of the offering for a meeting. The massive ongoing U.S. military deployment to the Caribbean is a factor that the Pentagon and Trump’s national security planners must consider. Tehran also warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators. Trump meanwhile said the Islamic Republic reached out and proposed negotiations.

    More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran cross-checking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

    With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

    Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

    Defiance in parliament

    The threat to strike the U.S. military and Israel came during a parliamentary speech by Mohammad Baagher Qalibaf, the hard-liner speaker of the body who has run for the presidency in the past.

    He directly threatened Israel, calling it “the occupied territory.”

    “In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”

    Lawmakers rushed the dais in parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”

    It remains unclear how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after its air defenses were destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    The U.S. military has said in the Mideast it is “postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and U.S. interests.” Iran targeted U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June, while the U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.

    Israel, meanwhile, is “watching closely” the situation between the U.S. and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to journalists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.

    “The people of Israel, the entire world, are in awe of the tremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran,” said Netanyahu, a longtime Iran hawk.

    At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV mentioned Iran as a place “where ongoing tensions continue to claim many lives,” adding that “I hope and pray that dialogue and peace may be patiently nurtured in pursuit of the common good of the whole of society.”

    Demonstrations were held in some international capitals in support of the protesters. A spokesperson said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was “shocked” by reports of violence against protesters resulting in “scores of deaths” and called on Iranian authorities to use maximum restraint and restore communications.

    Protests in Tehran and Mashhad

    Online videos sent out of Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, purportedly showed demonstrators gathering in northern Tehran’s Punak neighborhood. There, it appeared authorities shut off streets, with protesters waving their lit mobile phones. Others banged metal while fireworks went off.

    In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city some 450 miles northeast of Tehran, footage purported to show protesters confronting security forces. Protests also appeared to happen in Kerman, 500 miles southeast of Tehran.

    Iranian state television on Sunday morning had correspondents appear on the streets in several cities to show calm areas, with a date stamp shown on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included.

    The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

  • Erich von Däniken, Swiss writer who spawned alien archaeology, has died at 90

    Erich von Däniken, Swiss writer who spawned alien archaeology, has died at 90

    BERLIN — Erich von Däniken, the Swiss author whose best-selling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90.

    Von Däniken’s representatives announced on his website on Sunday that he had died the previous day in a hospital in central Switzerland.

    Von Däniken rose to prominence in 1968 with the publication of his first book Chariots of the Gods, in which he claimed that the Mayans and ancient Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed in advanced technology that allowed them to build giant pyramids.

    The book fueled a growing interest in unexplained phenomena at a time when thanks to conventional science humankind was about to take its first steps on the Moon.

    Chariots of the Gods was followed by more than two dozen similar books, spawning a literary niche in which fact and fantasy were mixed together against all historical and scientific evidence.

    Public broadcaster SRF reported that altogether almost 70 million copies of his books were sold in more than 30 languages, making him one of the most widely read Swiss authors.

    While von Däniken managed to shrug off his many critics, the former hotel waiter had a troubled relationship with money throughout his life and frequently came close to financial ruin.

    Born in 1935, the son of a clothing manufacturer in the northern Swiss town of Schaffhausen, von Däniken is said to have rebelled against his father’s strict Catholicism and the priests who instructed him at boarding school by developing his own alternatives to the biblical account of the origins of life.

    After leaving school in 1954, von Däniken worked as a waiter and barkeeper for several years, during which he was repeatedly accused of fraud and served a couple of short stints in prison.

    In 1964, he was appointed manager of a hotel in the exclusive resort town of Davos and began writing his first book. Its publication and rapid commercial success were quickly followed by accusations of tax dodging and financial impropriety, for which he again spent time behind bars.

    By the time he left prison, Chariots of the Gods was earning von Däniken a fortune and a second book, Gods from Outer Space, was ready for publication, allowing him to commit himself to his paranormal passion and travel the world in search of new mysteries to uncover.

    Throughout the 1970s von Däniken undertook countless field trips to Egypt, India, and above all Latin America, whose ancient cultures held a particular fascination for the amateur archaeologist.

    He lectured widely and set up societies devoted to promoting his theories, later pioneering the use of video and multimedia to reach out to ever-larger audiences hungry for a different account of history.

    No amount of criticism dissuaded him and his fans from believing that Earth has been visited repeatedly by beings from outer space, and will be again in the future.

    In 1991 von Däniken gained the damning accolade of being the first recipient of the “Ig Nobel” prize for literature — for raising the public awareness of science through questionable experiments or claims.

    Even when confronted with fabricated evidence in a British television documentary — supposedly ancient pots were shown to be almost new — von Däniken insisted that, minor discrepancies aside, his theories were essentially sound.

    In 1985 von Däniken wrote Neue Erinnerungen an die Zukunft — New Memories of the Future — ostensibly to address his many critics: “I have admitted (my mistakes), but not one of the foundations of my theories has yet been brought down.”

    Although his popularity was waning in the English-speaking world by the 1980s, von Däniken’s books and films influenced a wave of semi-serious archaeological documentaries and numerous popular television shows, including The X-Files, which featured two FBI agents tasked with solving paranormal mysteries.

    His last major venture, a theme park based on his books, failed after just a few years due to lack of interest. The Mystery Park still stands, its human-made pyramids and otherworldly domes rotting as tourists prefer to explore the charms of the nearby town of Interlaken and the imposing Swiss Alps that surround it.

    Erich von Däniken is survived by his wife of 65 years, Elisabeth Skaja, daughter Cornelia, and two grandchildren.

  • Retouched images of Netanyahu’s wife, distributed by the state, ignite a fiery ethics debate

    Retouched images of Netanyahu’s wife, distributed by the state, ignite a fiery ethics debate

    JERUSALEM — The photos seemed destined for posterity in Israel’s state archives.

    In the snapshots, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is joined by his wife, Sara, as well as U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee and a group of Israeli soldiers, as they light Hannukah candles at Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews pray. The leaders exchange triumphant looks.

    But something is off.

    Sara Netanyahu’s skin is poreless, her eyes overly defined and her hair perfectly coiffed — a look officials acknowledge is the result of heavy retouching.

    Critics say the issue isn’t the use of photo-editing software, which is common on the social media accounts of celebrities and public figures. They say it’s the circulation of the images in official government announcements, which distorts reality, violates ethical codes, and risks compromising official archiving and record-keeping efforts.

    “All the pictures to this day in the archives in Israel are authentic pictures of reality as it was captured by the lenses of photographers’ cameras since the establishment of the state,” said Shabi Gatenio, the veteran political journalist who broke the story in the Seventh Eye, an Israeli site that covers local media. “These images, if entered into the database, will forever infect it with a virtual reality that never existed.”

    Since the manipulation of images was revealed, the government has taken the unprecedented step of crediting Sara Netanyahu in its releases that include manipulated images. And it’s not clear if the official archive will include images of her taken during the second half of last year, when Gatenio said the editing appears to have begun.

    Mrs. Netanyahu’s personal spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

    Nitzan Chen, director of the Government Press Office, told the Associated Press that images of the prime minister are never manipulated and that his office would not upload any retouched photos to the official archive.

    Personal Photoshop habit enters political realm

    Sara Netanyahu, 67, has long used photo-editing software on her images. Her social media account is filled with images in which her face appears heavily retouched.

    But the topic raised eyebrows since her Photoshop habit entered the public record.

    Gatenio said he first noticed this last July, when the couple visited President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., and again in September, as Sara Netanyahu joined her husband on the tarmac ahead of a trip to New York for the U.N. General Assembly.

    At the time, the prime minister’s office released a video of the send-off along with a photo, credited to Avi Ohayon, an official government photographer.

    Comparing the photo to the raw video, Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, said the image had been post-processed, bearing local manipulations to smooth her skin and remove wrinkles.

    Since then, photos showing Mrs. Netanyahu meeting with Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, in Washington also appear to have been retouched, Farid said.

    “There’s been some Photoshop editing to — let’s call it — ‘beautify,’ lighten, smooth the face,” Farid said.

    “Is it nefarious? No. Is it a problem? Yes. This is about something bigger than, ‘she Photoshopped her face to make herself look younger.’ This is about trust. Why should I trust any official photo coming out of that administration?”

    Chen, the head of the Government Press Office, said office lawyers are trying to determine how to handle and properly identify photos “processed by people other than GPO photographers.”

    He said the Justice Ministry is also examining the “criteria, limitations, and possibilities” of the edited images, though he stressed there is nothing illegal about touching up photos. The issue, he said, is being transparent when such changes are made.

    For now, the Prime Minister’s Office has decided to add Sara Netanyahu’s name to press releases that include retouched images. Since November, press releases showing photos of her smiling next to Trump and the family of the last hostage in Gaza in Washington, visiting a Miami synagogue, and attending a funeral for an Israeli mayor have included this label.

    At least one outlet, the Times of Israel, has said it will no longer carry official state photos that appear to have been manipulated. The Associated Press does not publish images that appear to have been retouched or digitally manipulated.

    A broader phenomenon

    Chen said the prime minister is never edited: “No Photoshop, no corrections, no color. Nothing.”

    While his face may not be retouched, the prime minister’s official Instagram account tells another story.

    The page has posted a bevy of content that appears to be AI-edited or generated, including a picture of the couple with Trump and first lady Melania Trump celebrating the new year in Washington.

    The photo raised suspicions in Israel because it shows Sara Netanyahu wearing a black dress absent from other photos of the event, where she wore a dark red frock. Appearing in the sky above the couples are brightly colored fireworks and American and Israeli flags that Farid said were “almost certainly” generated by AI.

    It is now marked with a tag on Instagram indicating that it may have been altered or generated using AI. It is not clear when the tag was added nor by whom.

    Netanyahu is not alone. Many world figures, including Trump, frequently use AI-generated image manipulation in their public output.

    Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, who runs the Democracy in the Digital Age Program at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank, called it “part of the populist playbook” and said there was “no question” that Netanyahu was emulating how Trump uses the technology.

    Netanyahu’s official Instagram has posted video of Trump and Netanyahu in a B-2 bomber that appears entirely AI-generated. It is captioned “on our victory lap,” referencing the joint Israel-U.S. attacks on Iran last year.

    “This is exactly what Netanyahu and his surrounding circle have tried to do for many years,” she said. “Presenting himself as a superhero, his wife as a supermodel, their family as a super loyal family. Even when it wasn’t the case, even at the expense of actual political work, administrative work, and social work.”

    She said Israel has reached a critical point in official government record-keeping and communications.

    “The question of archiving the truth, archiving history, will be one of the questions of our time.”

  • Hamas says it will dissolve its Gaza government when new Palestinian body takes over

    Hamas says it will dissolve its Gaza government when new Palestinian body takes over

    CAIRO — Hamas said Sunday it will dissolve its existing government in Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over the territory, as mandated under the U.S.-brokered peace plan. But the group gave no specifics on when the change will occur.

    Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians’ internationally recognized representative, have not announced the names of the technocrats, who are not supposed to be politically affiliated, and it remains unclear if they will be cleared by Israel and the U.S.

    The “Board of Peace,” an international body led by Trump, is supposed to oversee the government and other aspects of the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, including disarming Hamas and deploying an international security force. The board’s members have not been announced.

    Meanwhile, the post-ceasefire death toll continued to rise in Gaza, with Israeli gunfire killing three Palestinians, according to Palestinian hospital officials.

    The ceasefire began with a halt in fighting and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. The deal is still in its first phase as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage left in Gaza.

    An Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door information, said Hamas was sending a delegation to talks with Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish officials about moving to the second phase.

    Future Gaza governance in flux

    In comments posted on his Telegram channel Sunday, Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesperson, called for speeding up the establishment of the technocratic committee.

    The Egyptian official said Hamas will meet with other Palestinian factions this week to finalize the committee’s formation. The Hamas delegation will be chaired by top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, the official said.

    Trump has said the Board of Peace will monitor the committee and handle the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops, and Gaza’s reconstruction. The U.S. has reported little progress on any of these fronts, though the members of the board are expected to be announced this week.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has been selected as the board’s director-general. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015 to 2020. During that time, he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease Israel-Hamas tensions.

    Also Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met in Jerusalem with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Saar said Israel was committed to enforcing Trump’s plan, while Motegi expressed Japan’s willingness to play an active role in the ceasefire.

    According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Motegi visited the Civil-Military Coordination Center, where the ceasefire is being monitored. He was also set to meet Netanyahu and Palestinian officials in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

    Violence in Gaza continues

    In Gaza, two men were shot dead in the southern town of Bani Suhaila, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Earlier Sunday, a man was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Al-Ahly hospital, which received the body.

    In response to questions about the Tuffah incident, Israel’s military said it had fired at and hit a “terrorist” in northern Gaza who had approached troops. In a later statement, the military said it had killed a “terrorist” in southern Gaza who approached troops.

    Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Continued Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 400 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

    The Israeli military says any actions since the ceasefire began have been in response to violations of the agreement.

    Israeli police detain top official

    Israeli police said Sunday they were questioning a top official from Netanyahu’s office over possible obstruction of an investigation into last year’s leak of classified military information to a German tabloid.

    Israeli media identified the official as Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, who is expected to start as the next ambassador to the United Kingdom in the coming months.

    He’s the latest official to be caught up in the scandal, in which Netanyahu’s inner circle is accused of leaking confidential information to German tabloid Bild to improve public perception of the prime minister following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in 2024.

    It comes after an explosive interview by Kan News with former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, who described a clandestine meeting with Braverman in an underground parking lot in the middle of the night in connection with the leak. Feldstein, who has been indicted, said Braverman offered to “shut down” the probe into the leaked information.

    Opposition leader Yair Lapid immediately called for the suspension of Braverman as ambassador. “It is unacceptable that a person suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of Europe’s most important countries,” Lapid wrote on X.

    In response, Saar defended Braverman’s appointment and said he would not be removed from it until formally charged or tried.

  • A $400,000 payout after Maduro’s capture is putting prediction markets in the spotlight

    A $400,000 payout after Maduro’s capture is putting prediction markets in the spotlight

    Prediction markets let people wager on anything from a basketball game to the outcome of a presidential election — and recently, the downfall of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    The latter is drawing renewed scrutiny into this murky world of speculative, 24/7 transactions. In early January, an anonymous trader pocketed more than $400,000 after betting that Maduro would soon be out of office.

    The bulk of the trader’s bids on the platform Polymarket were made mere hours before President Donald Trump announced the surprise nighttime raid that led to Maduro’s capture, fueling online suspicions of potential insider trading because of the timing of the wagers and the trader’s narrow activity on the platform. Others argued that the risk of getting caught was too big, and that previous speculation about Maduro’s future could have led to such transactions.

    Polymarket did not respond to requests for comment.

    The commercial use of prediction markets has skyrocketed in recent years, opening the door for people to wager their money on the likelihood of a growing list of future events. But despite some eye-catching windfalls, traders still lose money everyday. And in terms of government oversight in the U.S., the trades are categorized differently than traditional forms of gambling — raising questions about transparency and risk.

    Here’s what we know:

    How prediction markets work

    The scope of topics involved in prediction markets can range immensely — from escalation in geopolitical conflicts, to pop culture moments, and even the fate of conspiracy theories. Recently, there’s been a surge of wagers on elections and sports games. But some users have also bet millions on things like a rumored — and ultimately unrealized — “secret finale” for Netflix’s Stranger Things, whether the U.S. government will confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life, and how much billionaire Elon Musk might post on social media this month.

    In industry-speak, what someone buys or sells in a prediction market is called an “event contract.” They’re typically advertised as “yes” or “no” wagers. And the price of one fluctuates between $0 and $1, reflecting what traders are collectively willing to pay based on a 0% to 100% chance of whether they think an event will occur.

    The more likely traders think an event will occur, the more expensive that contract will become. And as those odds change over time, users can cash out early to make incremental profits, or try to avoid higher losses on what they’ve already invested.

    Proponents of prediction markets argue putting money on the line leads to better forecasts. Experts like Koleman Strumpf, an economics professor at Wake Forest University, think there’s value in monitoring these platforms for potential news — pointing to prediction markets’ past success with some election outcomes, including the 2024 presidential race.

    Still, it’s never a “crystal ball,” he noted, and prediction markets can be wrong, too.

    Who is behind all of the trading is also pretty murky. While the companies running the platforms collect personal information of their users in order to verify identities and payments, most people can trade under anonymous pseudonyms online — making it difficult for the public to know who is profiting off many event contracts. In theory, people investing their money may be closely following certain events, but others could just be randomly guessing.

    Critics stress that the ease and speed of joining these 24/7 wagers leads to financial losses everyday, particularly harming users who may already struggle with gambling. The space also broadens possibilities for potential insider trading.

    The major players

    Polymarket is one of the largest prediction markets in the world, where its users can fund event contracts through cryptocurrency, debit or credit cards, and bank transfers.

    Restrictions vary by country, but in the U.S., the reach of these markets has expanded rapidly over recent years, coinciding with shifting policies out of Washington. Former President Joe Biden was aggressive in cracking down on prediction markets and, following a 2022 settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Polymarket was barred from operating in the country.

    That changed under Trump late last year, when Polymarket announced it would be returning to the U.S. after receiving clearance from the commission. American-based users can now join a platform “waitlist.”

    Meanwhile, Polymarket’s top competitor, Kalshi, has been a federally-regulated exchange since 2020. The platform offers similar ways to buy and sell event contracts as Polymarket — and it currently allows event contracts on elections and sports nationwide. Kalshi won court approval just weeks before the 2024 election to let Americans put money on upcoming political races and began to host sports trading about a year ago.

    The space is now crowded with other big names. Sports betting giants DraftKings and FanDuel both launched prediction platforms last month. Online broker Robinhood is widening its own offerings. Trump’s social media site Truth Social has also promised to offer an in-platform prediction market through a partnership with Crypto.com — and one of the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., holds advisory roles at both Polymarket and Kalshi.

    “The train has left the station on these event contracts, they’re not going away,” said Melinda Roth, a visiting associate professor at Washington and Lee University’s School of Law.

    Loose regulation

    Because they’re positioned as selling event contracts, prediction markets are regulated by the CFTC. That means they can avoid state-level restrictions or bans in place for traditional gambling and sports betting today.

    “It’s a huge loophole,” said Karl Lockhart, an assistant professor of law at DePaul University who has studied this space. “You just have to comply with one set of regulations, rather than (rules from) each state around the country.”

    Sports betting is taking center stage. There are a handful of big states — like California and Texas, for example — where sports betting is still illegal, but people can now wager on games, athlete trades, and more through event contracts.

    A growing number of states and tribes are suing to stop this. And lawyers expect litigation to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, as added regulations from the Trump administration seem unlikely.

    Federal law bars event contracts related to gaming as well as war, terrorism, and assassinations, Roth said, which could put some prediction market trades on shaky ground, at least in the U.S. But users might still find ways to buy certain contracts while traveling abroad or connecting to different VPNs.

    Whether the CFTC will take any of that on has yet to be seen. But the agency, which did not respond to request for comment, has already taken steps away from enforcement.

    Despite overseeing trillions of dollars for the overall U.S. derivatives market, the CFTC is also much smaller than the Securities and Exchange Commission. And at the same time event contracts are growing rapidly on prediction market platforms, there have been additional cuts to the CFTC’s workforce and a wave of leadership departures under Trump’s second term. Only one of five commissioner slots operating the agency is currently filled.

    Still, other lawmakers calling for a stronger crackdown on potential insider trading in prediction markets — particularly following suspicion around last week’s Maduro trade on Polymarket. On Friday, Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres introduced a bill aimed at curbing government employees’ involvement in politically-related event contracts.

    The bill has already gotten support from Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour — who on LinkedIn maintained that insider trading has always been banned on his company’s platform but that more needs to be done to crack down on unregulated prediction markets.

  • With Cuban ally Maduro ousted, Trump warns Havana to make a ‘deal’ before it’s too late

    With Cuban ally Maduro ousted, Trump warns Havana to make a ‘deal’ before it’s too late

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela’s leader.

    Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining, and global distribution of the country’s oil products.

    Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

    “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

    Hours later, Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, responded on X by saying “those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way.”

    The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

    “Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

    Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

    Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro’s capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

    “Those who hysterically accuse our nation today do so out of rage at this people’s sovereign decision to choose their political model,” Díaz-Canel said in his post. He added that “those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should be ashamed to keep quiet” and he railed against the “draconian measures” imposed by the U.S. on Cuba.

    The island’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.

    Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of an American embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

    “It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

  • Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir has died at 78

    Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir has died at 78

    LOS ANGELES — Bob Weir, the guitarist and singer who as an essential member of the Grateful Dead helped found the sound of the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s and kept it alive through decades of endless tours and marathon jams, has died. He was 78.

    Mr. Weir’s death was announced Saturday in a statement on his Instagram page.

    “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” a statement on his Instagram posted Saturday said. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”

    The statement did not say where or when Mr. Weir died, but he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of his life.

    Mr. Weir joined the Grateful Dead — originally the Warlocks — in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old. He would spend the next 30 years playing on endless tours with the Grateful Dead alongside fellow singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

    Mr. Weir wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Dead classics including “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night,” and “Mexicali Blues.”

    After Garcia’s death, he would be the Dead’s most recognizable face. In the decades since, he kept playing with other projects that kept alive the band’s music and legendary fan base, including Dead & Company.

    The Dead were beloved in Philadelphia. “Only sports teams have played the Spectrum more than the Grateful Dead,” Inquirer music critic Dan DeLuca wrote when the band played its last concert at the now-demolished arena on May 2, 2009. DeLuca wrote that the Dead had sold out the arena more than 50 times.

    “For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road,” the Instagram statement said. “A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music.”

    Mr. Weir’s death leaves drummer Bill Kreutzmann as the only surviving original member. Founding bassist Phil Lesh died in 2024. The band’s other drummer, Mickey Hart, practically an original member since joining in 1967, is also alive at 82. The fifth founding member, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, died in 1973.

    Dead and Company played a series of concerts for the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary in July at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, drawing some 60,000 fans a day for three days.

    Born in San Francisco and raised in nearby Atherton, Mr. Weir was the Dead’s youngest member and looked like a fresh-faced high schooler in its early years. He was generally less shaggy than the rest of the band, but he had a long beard like Garcia’s in later years.

    The band would survive long past the hippie moment of its birth, with its ultra-devoted fans known as Deadheads often following them on the road in a virtually nonstop tour that persisted despite decades of music and culture shifting around them.

    “Longevity was never a major concern of ours,” Mr. Weir said when the Dead got the Grammys’ MusiCares Person of the Year honor last year. “Spreading joy through the music was all we ever really had in mind, and we got plenty of that done.”

    Ubiquitous bumper stickers and T-shirts showed the band’s skull logo, the dancing, colored bears that served as their other symbol, and signature phrases like “ain’t no time to hate” and “not all who wander are lost.”

    The Dead won few actual Grammys during their career — they were always a little too esoteric — getting only a lifetime achievement award in 2007 and the best music film award in 2018.

    Just as rare were hit pop singles. “Touch of Grey,” the 1987 song that brought a big surge in the aging band’s popularity, was their only Billboard Top 10 hit.

    But in 2024, they set a record for all artists with their 59th album in Billboard’s Top 40. Forty-one of those came since 2012, thanks to the popularity of the series of archival albums compiled by David Lemieux.

    Their music — called acid rock at its inception — would pull in blues, jazz, country, folk, and psychedelia in long improvisational jams at their concerts.

    “I venture to say they are the great American band,” TV personality and devoted Deadhead Andy Cohen said as host of the MusiCares event. “What a wonder they are.”

  • 6 people killed in Mississippi rampage, including 7-year-old girl. Suspect charged with murder

    6 people killed in Mississippi rampage, including 7-year-old girl. Suspect charged with murder

    WEST POINT, Miss. — A 24-year-old Mississippi man killed six people — his father, brother, uncle, 7-year-old cousin, a church pastor, and the pastor’s brother — at three locations during a Friday night rampage in a rural area, authorities said.

    Daricka M. Moore was arrested at a police roadblock in Cedarbluff just before midnight after dozens of local, state, and federal officers flooded the northeast Mississippi area.

    Moore was being held without bail Saturday at the Clay County jail in West Point on murder charges and ahead of an expected initial appearance Monday before a judge.

    Clay County District Attorney Scott Colom, who said he expects to pursue the death penalty, told the Associated Press that Moore would likely be appointed a public defender at that time.

    If charges are upgraded to capital murder before then, Moore will be ineligible for bail under state law.

    Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said at a Saturday news conference that evidence and witnesses indicate that Moore was the only shooter and no other injuries have been reported.

    Investigators were continuing to interview Moore but do not currently know what may have motivated him, he added.

    “A situation like this, you’ve got a family member attacking their own family,” Scott said. “Whatever the reason is, we’re hoping that we’ll find out.”

    The shootings unfolded in an area of fields, woods, and mostly modest homes about 125 miles northeast of Jackson.

    Investigators believe Moore first killed his father, 67-year-old Glenn Moore; his brother, 33-year-old Quinton Moore; and his uncle, 55-year-old Willie Ed Guines, at the family’s mobile home on a dirt road in western Clay County.

    The sheriff said Moore then stole his brother’s truck and drove a few miles to a cousin’s house, where he forced his way in and attempted to commit sexual battery. Scott said Moore than put a gun to the head of a 7-year-old girl, whom he declined to identify, and fatally shot her.

    “I don’t know what kind of motive you could have to kill a 7-year-old,” he said.

    Scott said that according to witnesses, Moore then placed a gun against a younger child’s head, but she was not shot. It was not clear whether he did not pull the trigger or the gun misfired.

    “That’s how violent it was,” Scott said.

    The mother and a third child were also present, the sheriff said.

    Moore then allegedly drove to a small white frame church, the Apostolic Church of the Lord Jesus. There, Scott said, he broke into a residence, killed the pastor and his brother, and stole one of their vehicles.

    Scott said the last two victims, the Rev. Barry Bradley and Samuel Bradley, lived most of the time in nearby Columbus but spent weekends on church grounds. Some Moore family members attend the church, Scott said.

    Moore was caught at a roadblock at 11:24 p.m. near where the second shooting occurred, Scott said, 4½ hours after the first call came in. Colom said Moore had a rifle and a handgun. Scott said officers are investigating where Moore obtained the guns.

    The state medical examiner is performing autopsies on the victims.

    Scott said Moore’s surviving relatives are overwhelmed with grief.

    “It was really hard to have conversations other than prayers with everybody out there,” he said, adding, “this has really shaken our community.”

    Colom, a Democrat who is seeking his party’s nomination this year to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith, said he is confident that his office has the resources to prosecute Moore and pursuing the death penalty is the right thing to do.

    “Six people, one night, several different scenes, it’s about as bad as it gets,” Colom said.