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  • Horoscopes: Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). You’re often the one who takes charge, but you don’t always have to. Today, let others lead. Conserve your energy for the moment you’re truly needed: the moment only you can handle better than anyone else.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Once again, you’ll be reminded that power can create or destroy. Wisdom is what keeps it pointed in the right direction. Keep seeking it. What you learn today will be exactly the guidance you need to make the right move.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You’ll make huge goals, as you usually do. Just remember, falling short of an unreasonable goal is normal or even expected. If you aim for the moon and land in the upper atmosphere, that’s still further than most people ever get.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’ll face a group challenge. There’s pressure to belong or impress. Don’t treat the group as a single force. Really try to see each individual instead. When you meet people one by one, everything becomes more flexible, relatable and negotiable.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Today offers the opportunity to be gentle with yourself, even a little lazy. Get rest when you can, because a shining focal point is about to enter your scene. It will be wonderfully disruptive.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). If can’t say “no” to someone, are you ever really saying “yes”? Maybe what you’re saying is, “sure, it’s easier just to do things your way.” Healthy relationships include the freedom to disagree or decline without fear of the backlash.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). The beginning of an interaction will set the tone. Help people feel safe to contribute — to be real, honest and comfortable. Get everyone into a rhythm and they’ll keep coming back. Whatever you can do to make things easier and more accessible for others will make your life better, too.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). With the right people, you can just be yourself. The friends who matter won’t be scared off by your big feelings. They know they can handle life’s messiness, so yours doesn’t rattle them. Therefore, you can relax, be real and trust the connection.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Someone keeps disappointing you, so you rewrite your expectations. You’re not being cynical; you’re being accurate. The smart move is to let reality set the terms so your heart doesn’t shore up all the differences.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You’ll have a receptive audience today. When they laugh at your joke or praise your work, it’s more than an ego boost. Being seen makes you want to offer even more of yourself and share what you do best.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You might wrestle with the job at hand. Don’t assume that because it’s hard for you, you’re in the wrong. No. This is just the learning curve doing its job. Keep going. The thing that was hard to learn will be sweet to know.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). People consult you for a reason. It’s not just that you know what’s up. You also keep adding to the knowledge and information, and now you’re practically an enlightened expert whose comprehensive understanding is essential to operations.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Jan. 10). In your Year of Dynamic Harmony, personal life and public life complement each other beautifully. Family politics smooth out, and your reputation rises with each generous act. You’ll make powerful connections and experience love that feels both fated and freeing. More highlights: artistic breakthroughs, a financial win, moves that have you living in beauty. Libra and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 2, 1, 10, 36 and 12.

  • Washington National Opera bows out of Kennedy Center

    Washington National Opera bows out of Kennedy Center

    WASHINGTON — The Washington National Opera announced Friday that it had decided to end its arrangement with the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital, though it said it was hoping for an “amicable transition.”

    “To ensure fiscal prudence and fulfill its obligations for a balanced budget, the WNO will reduce its spring season and relocate performances to new venues,” the Opera said in a statement.

    It said the decision stemmed from the Center’s new business model, which “requires productions to be fully funded in advance — a requirement incompatible with opera operations.”

    Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi told The New York Times, “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with the WNO due to a financially challenging relationship.”

    Artists ranging from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda to rock star Peter Wolf have called off events at the Kennedy Center since President Donald Trump ousted the previous leadership early last year and arranged for himself to head the board of trustees. The board’s decision in December to rebrand the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center led to a new wave of cancellations.

    WNO’s announcement did not mention Trump.

  • Head of FBI’s New York field office to serve as co-deputy director after Bongino’s departure

    Head of FBI’s New York field office to serve as co-deputy director after Bongino’s departure

    WASHINGTON — The head of the FBI’s New York field office has been named co-deputy director of the bureau, replacing Dan Bongino following his recent departure, an FBI spokesperson said Friday.

    Christopher Raia, who helped lead the response to the deadly truck attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year, was picked to run the New York office in April after having served as a top counterterrorism official at FBI headquarters. A former Coast Guard officer, Raia joined the FBI in 2003 and during the course of his two-decade career has investigated violent crime, drugs and gangs as well as overseen counterterrorism and national security investigations.

    As a career FBI agent, Raia is a more conventional selection for the FBI’s No. 2 job than was Bongino, a popular conservative podcaster who had previously served as a Secret Service agent but had never worked for the FBI until being selected by the Trump administration last year.

    Raia is expected to serve as co-deputy director alongside Andrew Bailey, the former Missouri attorney general who was named to the job last August. He is scheduled to start next week.

    He became the head of the New York field office after his predecessor, James Dennehy, who was reported to have resisted Justice Department efforts to scrutinize agents who participated in politically sensitive investigations, was forced to retire.

    Bongino announced last month that he was departing the bureau following a brief and tumultuous tenure. He officially ended his tenure last week.

    No immediate successor was named for Raia in New York.

  • Five Democratic-led states sue HHS over frozen welfare funding

    Five Democratic-led states sue HHS over frozen welfare funding

    Five Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration for freezing their share of federal food, housing, and childcare assistance dollars, saying officials failed to justify the sweeping actions that could strip billions in aid from needy families.

    New York, along with California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota, asked for a temporary restraining order that would allow them to continue receiving the funds, in a lawsuit filed Thursday evening with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

    The states argued that the Administration for Children and Families, which is within the Department of Health and Human Services, provided no evidence of fraud and acted illegally by enacting sanctions within the three welfare programs without following processes laid out by law. The administration wrote to the states earlier this week that the freeze was necessary to prevent “potential” fraud but didn’t detail what it meant, according to letters viewed by the Washington Post.

    “I will not allow this administration to play political games with the resources families need to help make ends meet,” New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said in a statement.

    State officials and child advocates have said the funding freeze would wreak havoc on families relying on childcare aid and could cause ripple effects if parents are forced to quit their jobs to care for children or daycare centers shut down permanently.

    HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart wrote on X late Thursday that the agency “stands by its decision to take this action to defend American taxpayers.”

    “We identified serious concerns in these states that warranted immediate review and action,” he wrote. “These same officials were complicit in this perpetuation of this fraud and allowing it to happen.”

    Minnesota was already in the administration’s crosshairs amid investigations into billions of federal dollars authorities say were fraudulently claimed by individuals and groups purporting to help the state’s low-income population. HHS broadened its crackdown this week, saying nearly $2.4 billion in childcare grants have been frozen to the five states, as well as $7.35 billion in temporary grants for needy families and $869 million in social services funds. These programs help cover childcare, housing, food, and home utility costs for families with low incomes.

    Democratic leaders in those states blasted the move as politically motivated. Before the lawsuit was filed Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told reporters that the administration is “coming after Democratic governors, five of us, for no reason at all.”

    “I want them to know this, that you may think you’re punishing me as a Democrat, but this is a county program,” she said, referring to safety net programs in New York partly funded with federal dollars. “We are simply the pass-through. The money goes to providers selected by the counties. They run this.”

    Under the freeze, the states must submit justification and receipts before being able to collect funds from any of the programs. The administration wrote in letters to the states that the freeze wouldn’t be lifted until they put in place more verification measures to ensure the funds are being used properly for eligible recipients.

    A letter from HHS’s Administration for Children and Families to Colorado said the administration is committed to “rooting out fraud” and expressed concern that Colorado is providing “illegal aliens” government benefits.

    Fraud investigations into the three programs targeted by the administration are typically handled by states, former HHS officials said. New York’s Office of the Welfare Inspector General reported it secured nearly $600,000 in fraud-related restitution in 2024, for example.

    The administration froze childcare funding to nearly a dozen daycare facilities in Minnesota in late December after a viral video alleged they were collecting funds without caring for children — claims the state has rebutted. Federal prosecutors have charged 92 people with committing fraud in other, Medicaid-funded programs in the state.

    All five states involved in the lawsuit filed Thursday are among more than two dozen states that previously sued the Trump administration over withholding other federal funds including for education, disaster relief and public health, arguing the actions jeopardize critical services.

  • South Carolina measles outbreak grows by nearly 100, spreads to North Carolina and Ohio

    South Carolina measles outbreak grows by nearly 100, spreads to North Carolina and Ohio

    South Carolina’s measles outbreak exploded into one of the worst in the U.S., with state health officials confirming 99 new cases in the past three days.

    The outbreak centered in Spartanburg County grew to 310 cases over the holidays, and spawned cases in North Carolina and Ohio among families who traveled to the outbreak area in the northwestern part of the state.

    State health officials acknowledged the spike in cases had been expected following holiday travel and family gatherings during the school break. A growing number of public exposures and low vaccination rates in the area are driving the surge, they said. As of Friday, 200 people were in quarantine and nine in isolation, state health department data shows.

    “The number of those in quarantine does not reflect the number actually exposed,” said Dr. Linda Bell, who leads the state health department’s outbreak response. “An increasing number of public exposure sites are being identified with likely hundreds more people exposed who are not aware they should be in quarantine if they are not immune to measles.”

    Since the outbreak started in October, Bell has warned that the virus was spreading undetected in the area. Hundreds of school children have been quarantined from school, some more than once.

    South Carolina is one of two active hot spots for measles. The other outbreak is on the Arizona-Utah border, where 337 people have gotten measles since August.

    Last year was the nation’s worst year for measles spread since 1991, end-of-year data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. The U.S. confirmed 2,144 cases across 44 states.

    And as the one-year anniversary of the Texas-New Mexico-Oklahoma outbreak approaches — which sickened at least 900 people and killed three — health experts say the vaccine-preventable virus is on the verge of making a lasting comeback in the U.S.

    At that point, the U.S. would lose its status of having eliminated local spread of the virus, as Canada did in November. International health experts say the same strain of measles is spreading across the Americas.

  • Former Phillies outfielder Max Kepler suspended 80 games by MLB following positive drug test

    Former Phillies outfielder Max Kepler suspended 80 games by MLB following positive drug test

    NEW YORK — Free agent and recent Phillies outfielder Max Kepler was suspended for 80 games on Friday following a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s drug program.

    Kepler tested positive for Epitrenbolone, a substance that led to a suspension in 2018 for boxer Manuel Charr. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced the following year that a positive test for the substance caused it to disqualify 90-year-old cyclist Carl Grove from a world record he had set at the 2018 Masters Track National Championship.

    Epitrenbolone is a metabolite of Trenbolone, which is contained in some products used in body-building stores and had been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler is the first player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005.

    Phillies left fielder Max Kepler catches Dodgers Tommy Edman line drive during the second inning of Game 4 of baseball’s NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles.

    There was no immediate comment from the players’ association or his agency.

    Kepler accepted the suspension without contesting the discipline in a grievance, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced.

    Kepler, who turns 33 next month, is an 11-year major league veteran who spent last season with the Phillies after playing his first 10 seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He became a free agent after the World Series.

    Fourteen players were suspended last year for positive tests, including two under the major league program. Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar was banned for 80 games on March 31 and Phillies closer José Alvarado for 80 games on May 25.

    Even if Kepler doesn’t have a contract by opening day in March, MLB and the union usually allow a suspended free agent to serve his penalty as long as he is attempting to reach a deal with teams.

    Kepler hit .216 with 18 homers and 52 RBIs last year after agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract. He was slowed in 2024 by left patellar tendinitis and had core surgery after the season to repair a sports hernia.

    Kepler grew up in Germany and signed with the Twins at age 16 in 2009. He has a .235 average with 179 homers and 560 RBIs in his big league career.

  • US and Venezuela take initial steps toward restoring relations after Maduro’s ouster

    US and Venezuela take initial steps toward restoring relations after Maduro’s ouster

    GUATIRE, Venezuela — The United States and Venezuela said Friday they were exploring the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations, as a Trump administration delegation visited the South American nation.

    The visit marks a major step toward warming icy relations between the historically adversarial governments. U.S. military forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro last weekend in Caracas and took him to New York to face federal charges of drug-trafficking.

    The small team of U.S. diplomats and a security detail traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

    Venezuela’s government on Friday said it plans to send a delegation to the U.S. but it did not say when. Any delegation traveling to the U.S. will likely require sanctions to be waived by the Treasury Department.

    In a statement, the government of acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said it “has decided to initiate an exploratory process of a diplomatic nature with the Government of the United States of America, aimed at the re-establishment of diplomatic missions in both countries.”

    President Donald Trump has placed pressure on Rodriguez and other former Maduro loyalists now in power to advance his vision for the future of the nation — a major aspect of which would be reinvigorating the role of U.S. oil companies in a country with the worlds’ largest proven reserves of crude oil.

    The U.S. and Venezuela cut off ties in 2019, after the first Trump administration said opposition leader Juan Guaidó was the rightful president of Venezuela, spiking tensions. Despite the assertions, Maduro maintained his firm grip on power.

    The Trump administration shuttered the embassy in Caracas and moved diplomats to nearby Bogotá, Colombia. U.S. officials have traveled to Caracas a handful of times since then. The latest visit came last February when Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell met with Maduro. The visit resulted in six detained Americans being freed by the government.

  • In unprecedented move, NASA cuts short space mission over astronaut’s health

    In unprecedented move, NASA cuts short space mission over astronaut’s health

    For the first time in the International Space Station’s history, NASA said it was cutting short a crew mission after an astronaut “experienced a medical situation.”

    “It’s in the best interests of our astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters at a news conference Thursday, without naming the astronaut or specifying what the problem was.

    The four-person Crew-11 is made up of U.S. astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Together, they have spent about five months aboard the space station and had planned to stay until mid-February.

    On Wednesday, they were conducting scientific research, ahead of a planned space walk, when one of the astronauts had a medical issue that required help from the other crew members and onboard medical equipment, NASA officials said.

    “The astronaut is absolutely stable. This is not an emergent evacuation,” said NASA’s Chief Health and Medical Officer, J.D. Polk.

    He said the issue also did not reflect a problem with the space station environment and “was not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations.”

    Although the Space Station has medical equipment onboard, he said the issue was sufficient to warrant bringing the astronaut back for a full work-up and diagnosis at a facility with more extensive hardware and without the challenges of working in microgravity.

    “Always we err on the side of the astronaut’s health and welfare. And in this particular case, we are doing the same,” he said.

    The crew will return to Earth in the “coming days,” Isaacman said, with plans for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California. And because of that early departure, Crew-12, which had been scheduled to take over in mid-February, could be deployed earlier.

    “This is exactly what our astronauts train and prepare for,” he added.

    Crew members live and work aboard the International Space Station, orbiting Earth 16 times a day. Run as an international partnership by five space agencies, the station has had more than 290 visitors representing 26 countries since it was assembled in 1998.

  • Trump meets with oil executives at the White House on Friday, seeking investments in Venezuela

    Trump meets with oil executives at the White House on Friday, seeking investments in Venezuela

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump met with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum — a plan that rides on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

    Since the U.S. military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as a newfound economic opportunity for the U.S., seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, saying the U.S. is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will be controlling sales worldwide indefinitely.

    On Friday, U.S. forces seized their fifth tanker over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil. The action reflected the determination of the U.S. to fully control the exporting, refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum, a sign of the Trump administration’s plans for ongoing involvement in the sector as it seeks commitments from private companies.

    It’s all part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

    “At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

    Trump met with executives from 17 oil companies, according to the White House. Among the companies attending are Chevron, which still operates in Venezuela, and ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which both had oil projects in the country that were lost as part of a 2007 nationalization of private businesses under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

    The president is meeting with a wide swath of domestic and international companies with interests ranging from construction to the commodity markets. Other companies slated to be at the meeting include Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni, and Spain-based Repsol.

    Large U.S. oil companies have so far largely refrained from affirming investments in Venezuela as contracts and guarantees need to be in place. Trump has suggested on social media that America would help to backstop any investments.

    Venezuela’s oil production has slumped below one million barrels a day. Part of Trump’s challenge to turn that around will be to convince oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, as well as protections for companies entering the market.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are slated to attend the oil executives meeting, according to the White House.

    Meanwhile, the United States and Venezuelan governments said Friday they were exploring the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that a delegation from the Trump administration arrived to the South American nation on Friday.

    The small team of U.S. diplomats and diplomatic security officials traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

    Trump also announced on Friday he’d meet with President Gustavo Petro in early February, but called on the Colombian leader to make quick progress on stemming flow of cocaine into the U.S.

    Trump, following the ouster of Maduro, had made vague threats to take similar action against Petro. Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart after a friendly phone call in which he invited Petro to visit the White House.

  • Swiss bar owner put in pre-trial detention over the fatal fire at an Alpine resort

    Swiss bar owner put in pre-trial detention over the fatal fire at an Alpine resort

    MARTIGNY, Switzerland — Switzerland held a national day of mourning on Friday for the 40 people who died in an Alpine bar fire during a New Year’s Eve celebration, as prosecutors requested one of the managers to be placed in pretrial detention.

    Valais region’s chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement the detention of the man was needed to avoid a “risk of flight.” The man’s wife and co-manager will remain free under judicial supervision, the statement said.

    A Swiss business register lists French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti as the owners of Le Constellation bar, in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana, where a fire broke out less than two hours after midnight on Jan. 1. As well as the fatalities, 116 people were injured, many of them seriously.

    Local media reported that Moretti was being held in custody pending the court’s decision after the couple were questioned by prosecutors in Sion on Friday morning.

    Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the owners, who are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm, and involuntarily causing a fire.

    A memorial service and a minute’s silence marked Friday’s national homage, while church bells across Switzerland rang out for five minutes, beginning at 2 p.m. Across the country, people gathered to light candles, put down flowers for the victims and followed the national ceremony that was livestreamed on public television.

    Speaking at the memorial ceremony in Martigny, Swiss President Guy Parmelin said that “the memory of that terrible night illuminates the faces of the 156 victims, their happy days, their carefree spirit.”

    He added: “Our country is appalled by this tragedy. It bows before the memory of those who are no longer with us. It stands by the bedside of those who are about to embark on a long road to recovery.”

    Investigators have said they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fire when they came too close to the ceiling. Authorities are looking into whether soundproofing material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar. Fire safety inspections hadn’t been carried out since 2019.

    The severity of burns made it difficult to identify some victims, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples. Police have said many of the victims were in their teens to mid-20s.

    An autopsy has been ordered for five of the six Italian victims and has been delegated to the prosecutors’ offices in Milan, Bologna, and Genoa, where the bodies of the victims have been returned.

    “What happened is not a disaster: It’s the result of too many people who didn’t do their job or who thought they were making easy money,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said during a press conference on Friday. “Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted.”

    Meloni said the State Attorney General’s Office has contacted the Swiss Attorney General to follow the investigation. She also confirmed that the Rome Prosecutor’s Office has started a separate probe.

    “The families have my word that they will not be left alone while they seek justice,” she added.

    The Paris prosecutor’s office Monday announced that it was opening a probe to assist the Swiss investigation and make it easier for families of French victims to communicate with Swiss investigators. Nine French citizens were killed, the youngest of them aged 14, and 23 others were injured.