Global Pulse

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  • Israeli ministers taunt England and revel in Argentina’s World Cup win

    Israeli ministers taunt England and revel in Argentina’s World Cup win

    In a striking intersection of global football diplomacy and long-simmering political tensions, multiple senior Israeli politicians took to social media platforms on Wednesday to openly celebrate Argentina’s World Cup semi-final win over England, using the match result as an opportunity to taunt the United Kingdom while highlighting close ties between Israel and Argentina’s new right-wing administration.

    The most pointed jab came from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who published his reaction on X within minutes of the final whistle. Smotrich, who was banned from entering the UK last year over his anti-Palestinian political positions, referenced his travel ban in his provocative post: “I indeed cannot enter Britain because I am exterminating the idea of the Palestinian state, but two goals got in nicely,” a nod to the two late match-winning goals Argentina scored against England.

    Smotrich went on to extend congratulations to Argentine President Javier Milei, whom he explicitly labeled a close friend of Israel. His far-right coalition partner, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir – who was also sanctioned by the UK alongside Smotrich in 2023 – echoed the celebration. In a post on his own X account, Ben Gvir wrote, “Honour to whom honour is due, and now with faith toward the final.” Hours before kickoff, he had already made his allegiance clear, asking followers, “Do I really have to explain to you why I pray with all my heart for Argentina to win tonight and make it into the final?”

    The UK’s 2023 sanctions on Smotrich and Ben Gvir came after then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused the two senior ministers of inciting extremist violence and perpetrating serious abuses against Palestinian human rights. Smotrich has spearheaded Israel’s push for de facto annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank, while Ben Gvir leads Israel’s prison and detention system – a facility network multiple international human rights organizations have documented as operating what they term “torture camps.” Both men have also been identified as key decision-makers in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has drawn widespread international condemnation for mass civilian casualties.

    The political celebration of Argentina’s win was not limited to the two far-right ministers already sanctioned by the UK. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who has Argentine ancestral roots and held talks with Lammy in London last year, joined in the taunting with a playful jab at England’s iconic fan chant. “How does the song go? ‘It’s coming home.’ Yes, it is. It’s coming home to Argentina. Vamos Argentina,” he wrote on X.

    Sa’ar is currently based in the United States for a series of diplomatic meetings with Latin American allies of Israel. A formal statement from Israel’s foreign ministry confirmed that alongside discussions about political shifts across Latin America and regional security threats, the delegation “also raised a glass to Argentina’s impressive victory in the World Cup semi-final.”

    Israel’s current government has positioned right-wing leaders across Latin America, including Milei, as key strategic allies, with most of these leaders publicly backing Israel’s actions in Gaza. Even ahead of Argentina’s win over England, Sa’ar secured a diplomatic breakthrough during meetings with Colombia’s incoming foreign minister Omar Bula Escobar, where the two sides agreed to restore full diplomatic relations after years of strained ties triggered by Colombia’s criticism of Israel’s Gaza war.

    Other senior Israeli figures also publicly backed Argentina ahead of and after the semi-final match. Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon posted a simple, clear message of support: “Vamos Argentina.” Transport Minister Miri Regev, a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, extended congratulations directly to the Argentine public and Milei, adding, “Keeping my fingers crossed for you in the final” – ahead of Argentina’s upcoming final match against Spain, one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s policies in Europe.

    Argentina’s progression to a second consecutive World Cup final, following their 2022 trophy win in Qatar, has not been without controversy. Multiple contentious refereeing decisions throughout the tournament have sparked widespread accusations that FIFA has shown undue favoritism to the South American side. Scrutiny has been particularly intense across the Arab world: after Argentina’s narrow last-16 win over Egypt, Egyptian head coach Hossam Hassan publicly accused FIFA of pushing Argentina through for commercial and marketing reasons, sparking a broad wave of criticism of both the governing body and the Argentine team.

  • Dua Lipa backs Albania’s ‘Flamingo Revolution’ against Kushner-backed resort

    Dua Lipa backs Albania’s ‘Flamingo Revolution’ against Kushner-backed resort

    Global pop superstar Dua Lipa has thrown her public support behind Albania’s growing environmental protest movement, dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution,” which opposes a $1.6 billion luxury coastal development tied to the Trump family that would tear into one of the country’s most ecologically vulnerable protected landscapes.

    The British pop icon, who has Kosovo Albanian heritage, shared her praise for the grassroots demonstrators during an episode of her Service95 book club podcast, in a conversation with prominent Albanian academic and author Lea Ypi. With grassroots protests entering their 46th consecutive week, Lipa emphasized that she finds the demonstrators’ unwavering commitment deeply inspiring.

    “ I find it so inspiring to see how much people really care. Day after day they’re hitting the streets, because the government has opened up this part of a beautiful nature reserve to a high-end beachfront development,” Lipa said in comments shared widely on social media following the podcast recording.

    Lipa’s high-profile intervention has already shifted global attention back to a months-long movement that Albania’s ruling government has been unable to suppress or dismiss. The protests were ignited by plans for the massive luxury development project led by Affinity Partners, the private investment firm founded by Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House advisor. The project calls for construction of roughly 10,000 hotel and resort rooms across a largely untouched stretch of Albania’s Adriatic coastline, spanning ecologically sensitive Sazan Island and the Zvernec Peninsula, adjacent to the protected Vjosa-Narta wetland landscape.

    This coastal wetland system is a critical protected habitat for a wide array of vulnerable wildlife, including greater flamingos, Mediterranean monk seals, endangered sea turtles, and dozens of species of migratory birds that rely on the undeveloped ecosystem for breeding and resting along intercontinental migration routes.

    Critics, including Lipa, have singled out the opaque and controversial process that cleared the way for the development. In 2024, Prime Minister Edi Rama’s administration pushed through amendments to Albania’s national protected areas legislation that rolled back longstanding construction restrictions in environmentally sensitive zones. After the regulatory changes, the government granted Affinity Partners’ project formal “strategic investor” status, which fast-tracked all approval processes and cut down on opportunities for public input and environmental review.

    “What I actually find concerning is the principle that the government could just change the law to remove the environmental protection without any kind of public consultation,” Lipa said, echoing a core grievance held by the protest movement.

    Rama has remained unyielding in his support for the project, dismissing widespread opposition and framing the investment as “a gift to Europe” and “an economic blessing” for Albania. He has repeatedly rejected calls to pause or cancel the development, stating publicly: “There is absolutely no chance that the investment will stop as long as I am here.”

    Lipa’s decision to speak out has been widely celebrated by social media users and activist communities, many of whom have praised the pop star for using her global platform to highlight grassroots environmental action at a time when many A-list celebrities avoid taking public stances on contentious political and environmental issues. One widely shared post on X noted that Lipa “really does shatter the imaginary belief that once someone attains a certain level of superstardom, they can’t talk about current events anymore because it’s ‘too complicated.’” Another commenter added that Lipa is proof celebrities can comfortably speak openly on pressing global and local issues, from policy to human rights to environmental protection, a step many in the entertainment industry refuse to take. The renewed global attention brought by Lipa’s endorsement has reignited pressure on the Albanian government to reconsider the project, as demonstrators continue their daily protests to protect the unique coastal ecosystem.

  • Root’s unbeaten 99 rescues England against India and forces an ODI series decider

    Root’s unbeaten 99 rescues England against India and forces an ODI series decider

    On Thursday at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens, a stunning clinical knock from Joe Root dragged England across the finish line to secure a four-wicket victory against India, forcing a winner-takes-all decider in their three-match one-day international series this Sunday at London’s iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground.

    India won the second match of the series earlier, leaving the two sides level heading into the second ODI, and looked set to claim an advantage after collapsing England’s top order early in the hosts’ run chase. India posted a total of 233 all out after batting first, with 6 overs left unused, powered by solid half-centuries from star batters Virat Kohli (65) and Shreyas Iyer (66). India looked well placed at 178 for 3 before their middle and lower order failed to push the total to a more imposing score, a mistake that would later prove costly.

    The side from the subcontinent was already at a disadvantage before England began their chase: allrounder Washington Sundar suffered a leg injury while batting, forcing him to sit out the entire England innings and leave India one bowler short. With a required run rate of fewer than five runs per over, the chase should have been a straightforward assignment for England. But the hosts’ inconsistent ODI form showed early, as they collapsed to 8 for 2 inside the opening overs. Ben Duckett was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah on the very first delivery of the England innings, and Jacob Bethell quickly followed, caught off Prasidh Krishna’s bowling. Captain Harry Brook gave the crowd a moment of excitement with a ramped six off Krishna, but he overcommitted to the scoop shot against young fast bowler Gurnoor Brar and was caught for 16, leaving England 17 for 3. Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan held four catches to dismiss England’s first four batters, putting India firmly in control.

    That was when Joe Root stepped in to rescue England once again, joining the innings after just one delivery and anchoring the chase with trademark patience. He finished the innings unbeaten on 99, his 67th ODI half-century and second consecutive half-century in the series, reaching the milestone off 76 deliveries – his slowest ODI fifty since the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. Jos Buttler’s brief cameo ended when he was bowled by Axar Patel attempting another aggressive shot for 17, leaving England at 125 for 5 and reigniting India’s hopes of victory. Will Jacks provided stable support to Root, putting on an unbroken 72-run partnership until Jacks was dismissed by Brar at 197 for 6, leaving Root stranded one run short of his 21st ODI century.

    Tailender Gus Atkinson calmed a visibly frustrated Root, hitting a crucial six over the fine leg boundary off Bumrah’s final over that just missed a seated steward in the stands. Bumrah responded with a bouncer that struck Atkinson on the helmet, but the fast bowler only finished with the one early wicket of Duckett. Atkinson contributed 23 runs off 38 balls in the final stand, and hit the winning runs when he pulled Prasidh Krishna to the boundary, leaving Root not out one run short of a century. England finished on 233 for 6, reaching the target with 5.5 overs to spare.

    All eyes will now turn to Lord’s on Sunday, where the two sides will clash to decide the winner of the ODI series.

  • Argentine superstition ramps up ahead of World Cup final

    Argentine superstition ramps up ahead of World Cup final

    As Argentina’s national men’s football team prepares to face Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final, nerves and excitement have reached a fever pitch across the South American nation, with supporters turning to centuries of local superstitious good-luck rituals to steady their anxiety and boost their side’s chances of claiming back-to-back world titles.

    Lionel Messi’s squad advanced to the final after a tense 2-1 semi-final victory over long-time rival England in Atlanta, leaving the team just 90 minutes away from retaining the championship trophy they won in the last tournament. For millions of Argentine fans, pre-match and in-game rituals – locally referred to as *cabala* – are far more than quirky habits; they are non-negotiable traditions that help channel overwhelming pressure into a sense of control over the outcome of the game.

    In Buenos Aires’ working-class Liniers neighborhood, 48-year-old accountant and self-described football addict Andres Gonzalez explained that his viewing group enforces strict rules to maintain consistent good fortune. “No one moves from the spot they occupied the last time we won,” Gonzalez told Agence France-Presse. “If you went to the bathroom and we scored a goal while you were gone, we lock you in – you stay there until the final whistle.”

    Superstitious football traditions cut across all layers of Argentine society, even reaching the nation’s highest office. President Javier Milei publicly revealed his own unbreakable ritual this Thursday, telling local outlet El Observador radio that he would “under no circumstances” break his custom of watching all Argentine World Cup matches from the presidential residence.

    For 65-year-old Buenos Aires saleswoman Estela Vargas, household game-day rules are carved in stone: every viewer must wear the same Argentina gear and sit in the exact same chair for every match, and her pet dog must stay outside the living room during play. She made one exception for the semi-final against England, though: “Since he’s an English bulldog, we put an Argentina jersey on him for that game,” Vargas said. “But for Sunday against Spain? Rain or shine, he stays outside.”

    Other households have equally idiosyncratic rules. In Graciela Campos’ home, her mother-in-law has a designated match-day role: she must leave the living room, retreat to the kitchen, and knit a blue-and-white Argentine scarf for the full 90 minutes of play. For 74-year-old retiree Lidia Otero, a lifelong Boca Juniors and national team fan, specific in-game interventions are key. Otero recalled that during the first half of the England semi-final, her dog sat facing the TV, and Argentina failed to score. “In the second half I turned her around, and that’s when the result turned around,” she said. “All my rituals work every time.”

    Even young fans have inherited the tradition. Eleven-year-old die-hard Messi supporter Rodrigo Serna practices a decades-old custom of freezing enemy players’ stickers to “cool off” their chances of winning. “I grab the opposing player’s sticker and put it in the freezer. My grandpa taught me that,” he said.

    Diego Maradona, the legendary Argentine playmaker who led the nation to its 1986 World Cup title and died in 2020, remains a spiritual touchstone for many fans, with a permanent altar erected at his former Buenos Aires home in the Villa Devoto neighborhood where supporters leave offerings and prayers for victory ahead of Sunday’s match.

    Sociologist Diego Murzi explained that these rituals fill a deep emotional need for Argentine football fans, who see themselves as active participants in the team’s performance rather than passive spectators. “In football, Argentines don’t feel like spectators but like protagonists,” Murzi told AFP. “Rituals are part of that – feeling involved by bringing good luck and warding off bad luck.”

    Murzi pointed to iconic 1986 World Cup-winning coach Carlos Bilardo as a classic example of how deeply rooted superstition is in Argentine football culture. “Bilardo is a man of science, but a superstitious person to an extreme degree,” Murzi said. He recalled that during Argentina’s first match of the 1986 tournament, a phone rang in the team locker room, a player answered, and no one was on the line. After Argentina won that match, Bilardo made the exact same sequence happen before every game for the rest of the tournament. That 1986 title win proved the ritual worked for him, and the tradition endures today across generations of Argentine fans.

    Nearly every neighborhood in central Buenos Aires has been decked out in the national team’s iconic blue and white in the lead-up to Sunday’s final, a visible sign of the unified excitement and anxiety gripping the nation as it waits for kickoff.

  • Israel versus the UN: How it got this bad

    Israel versus the UN: How it got this bad

    On Tuesday, Israeli security forces seized control of the final remaining facility operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem. This action marks the latest escalation in a long-running, deeply acrimonious rift between Israel and the United Nations system, driven by repeated Israeli claims that global UN bodies are systematically biased against the Jewish state. Over the past two decades, Israel has cut ties or withdrawn from dozens of UN entities, a trend that has accelerated dramatically since the start of its military campaign in Gaza, and has often aligned these moves with policy shifts from the United States during past and current Donald Trump administrations.

    Tensions between Israel and the UN stretch back to the earliest days of the Israeli state. Just one year after Israel declared independence in 1948, it gained full membership in the UN General Assembly via UN Resolution 273 in 1949. To date, however, it has never succeeded in winning election to a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, despite multiple campaigns. This friction was famously cemented in the 1950s by Israel’s founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion, who popularized the dismissive Hebrew phrase “Um-Shmum” – a rejection of UN authority that remains a common expression of Israeli contempt for the organization decades later.

    While the UN has mediated major regional conflicts including the 1967 Arab-Israeli War via Security Council Resolution 242 and the 1973 war through Resolutions 338–340, high-profile disagreements have repeatedly deepened the divide. In 1975, the General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, which classified Zionism as a form of racism, drawing outrage from both Israel and the United States before the resolution was ultimately repealed in 1991 to clear the way for Israel’s participation in the Madrid peace talks. In 2012, Palestine secured non-state observer status at the UN after a decades-long diplomatic push, though Israel and the US blocked its bid for full membership. The 2016 Security Council Resolution 2334, which reaffirmed that all Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 are illegal – a position upheld by a 2024 ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – prompted Israel to cut development aid to Senegal in retaliation for its vote in favor of the measure.

    The first major high-profile Israeli withdrawal from a core UN agency came in 2019, when Israel formally exited the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Tensions had been building since 2011, when UNESCO admitted Palestine as a member, prompting both Israel and the US to halt funding to the body. Relations deteriorated further in 2017, when UNESCO designated Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank as an endangered World Heritage Site under Palestinian jurisdiction. Israel justified its 2019 withdrawal by claiming UNESCO had been “manipulated by Israel’s enemies” and consistently singled out the country for unfair condemnation. The US, which covered 20 percent of UNESCO’s total budget, withdrew in 2017 during Trump’s first term, also citing anti-Israel bias; Washington briefly rejoined in 2023 under President Joe Biden before withdrawing again in July 2025 during Trump’s second administration.

    Most recently, the bitterest conflict has centered on UNRWA, the largest humanitarian provider serving Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank. Founded in 1949 to support the roughly 700,000 Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Nakba, UNRWA runs a sprawling network of critical services including schools, emergency shelters, and food kitchens for millions of displaced people. Israel has long opposed UNRWA’s mandate, because the agency formally recognizes Palestinians as refugees, affirming their claimed right of return to lands seized during the 1948 war. In January 2025, Israel cut all official ties with UNRWA, designated the agency as a terrorist organization, and banned it from operating within Israel and all occupied Palestinian territories. This move followed 2024 Israeli allegations that a small number of UNRWA’s 11,000 Gaza-based staff participated in the October 7, 2023 attacks that killed more than 1,100 Israelis. An independent UN-commissioned investigation, the 2024 Colonna Report, later confirmed UNRWA maintained institutional political neutrality, though the agency did terminate nine staff members over potential links to the attacks. The ICJ issued an advisory opinion in October 2025 ruling Israel’s ban on UNRWA unlawful, finding the country had failed to provide credible evidence to support its terrorist infiltration claims.

    Despite the international court ruling, Israel has continued to dismantle UNRWA infrastructure across occupied territory. In January 2026, just weeks after passing legislation to cut off the agency’s water and electricity access, Israeli forces bulldozed UNRWA’s East Jerusalem headquarters under the direction of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The seizure of the agency’s last remaining East Jerusalem facility this week completes the dismantling of UNRWA’s operations in the city. Outgoing UNRWA Commissioner-General Phillippe Lazzarini told Middle East Eye in April that the dismantling of UNRWA has become an explicit Israeli policy objective, framing the campaign against the agency as politically motivated, with Hamas infiltration claims used as a convenient pretext. Israel’s elimination of UNRWA’s operations cleared the way for a renewed Israeli blockade on aid entering Gaza in March 2025, which culminated in a formal declaration of famine across Gaza in August 2025. To date, 391 UNRWA staff have been killed during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

    In February 2025, Israel cut all official ties with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Geneva-based body tasked with upholding global human rights standards, repeating longstanding claims of “ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel.” The US cut its own ties with the council the day before. The UNHRC had drawn Israeli anger after passing a 2024 resolution calling for an immediate end to Israel’s Gaza blockade and all other forms of collective punishment against Palestinians. Israel and the US have objected for decades to the council’s Agenda Item 7, a permanent standing item established in 2006 that requires an annual debate on human rights violations in occupied Palestinian territories – the only permanent country-specific agenda item in the council’s work.

    In January 2026, shortly after the US announced it would cut ties with 66 international organizations, 31 of which are UN entities, Israel followed suit, formally severing relations with six additional UN bodies. Among these are UN Women, which Israel falsely accused of ignoring the October 7 sexual violence against Israeli women – despite multiple public statements from the agency condemning the attacks; the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which Israel condemned for publishing reports detailing the economic costs of Israeli occupation; the UN Alliance of Civilizations, which Israel accused of serving as a platform for anti-Israel rhetoric; UN Energy, which Israel dismissed as wasteful bureaucratic overreach; the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which Israel claimed undermines national immigration sovereignty; and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, which added Israel to its blacklist of violators of children’s rights in 2024. Israel has also long been disengage from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, which it severed formal ties with in 2026 over annual anti-Israel reports.

    Israel has not withdrawn from all UN agencies, but pressure from right-wing politicians to cut additional ties is growing. Far-right lawmakers have pushed for Israel to exit the World Health Organization (WHO), which the US left in January 2025, claiming the body is no longer objective. In July 2025, Israel refused to renew the visa of the top UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) official in occupied Palestine, citing biased conduct, and senior officials have repeatedly called for Israel to ignore ICJ rulings. In January 2024, the ICJ ordered Israel to take all possible measures to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, a ruling far-right minister Ben-Gvir dismissed as the work of an “antisemitic court” that targets the Jewish state.

    Most recently, Israel cut all official ties with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in May 2026, after his office included Israel in an annual report of states credibly suspected of perpetrating sexual violence. The inclusion followed multiple documented reports from human rights groups and media outlets documenting sexual violence committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel called the inclusion “shameful and absurd” and said it proved the UN is a politicized, corrupt body systematically focused on targeting Israel. This is only the third time a UN member state has cut ties with the secretary-general, the last such incident occurring in the 1950s when the Soviet Union and China blacklisted the UN’s first secretary-general, Trygve Lie. Israel had already designated Guterres persona non grata in 2024, banning him from entering Israel and occupied Palestinian territories over claims he was anti-Israel.

    Israel has also consistently blocked the work of the UNHRC-appointed UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, an independent expert role tasked with documenting human rights violations. Current rapporteur Francesca Albanese, an Italian legal scholar, has been banned from entering Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank since 2024 over her public comments framing the October 7 attacks as a response to decades of Israeli occupation. In 2025, the US imposed sanctions on Albanese after she called on the International Criminal Court to prosecute executives from more than 60 global companies, including US firms, for complicity in Israeli crimes in Gaza – a move that has been challenged in US courts.

  • Kris Jenner’s mother Mary Jo dies aged 91

    Kris Jenner’s mother Mary Jo dies aged 91

    The Kardashian-Jenner entertainment dynasty is mourning the loss of its beloved founding matriarch: Mary Jo “MJ” Campbell, mother of family manager Kris Jenner, has passed away at the age of 91. No immediate cause of death has been released to the public as of the family’s announcement.

    Kris Jenner, the 70-year-old architect of the family’s global media empire, shared the sad news with her followers on social media this Thursday. In an emotional post, she wrote, “Today, we said goodbye to my beautiful Mommy MJ.” Jenner went on to open up about the lasting lessons Campbell leaves behind, noting, “She taught us that family is everything. She showed us how to love unconditionally and how to find joy in the little moments. She showed me how to face life’s challenges with resilience and faith.”

    Campbell became a familiar, well-loved face for reality TV audiences after the Kardashian-Jenner family rose to mainstream fame with the 2007 premiere of *Keeping Up with the Kardashians*. She made multiple guest appearances across the long-running original series and its Hulu follow-up *The Kardashians*, sharing the screen with her daughter and five celebrity grandchildren: Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian, plus Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

    Among those paying tribute is A-list celebrity and business mogul Kim Kardashian, founder of the shapewear and loungewear brand Skims. Kardashian remembered Campbell as far more than just a grandmother, calling her “my best friend, my gossip buddy, my forever twin” in her own social media tribute. She expanded on the profound impact Campbell had on her personal and professional life, writing, “You taught all of us the importance of family, and those values are something we’ll carry with us forever!!!!! You were the woman who showed me what it meant to be a hardworking businesswoman.”

    Kardashian also recalled that Campbell gave her her very first job at Campbell’s retail store in San Diego. That early experience, Kardashian shared, instilled in her core lessons about work ethic, inner strength, and confidence that she has carried with her throughout her decades-long career in entertainment and business.

  • Trump suspends teleprompter operator over betting allegations

    Trump suspends teleprompter operator over betting allegations

    The White House announced Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump has placed his longtime personal teleprompter operator on unpaid administrative leave following explosive allegations that the staffer used insider access to profit from bets on prediction markets tied to the content of the president’s public speeches.

    According to reporting from ABC News, the suspended staffer, Gabriel Perez, who has worked with Trump on managing his speech teleprompters since the former president’s 2016 campaign, allegedly earned more than $100,000 through wagers on the prediction platform Kalshi. The bets centered on guessing which specific words and phrases would be included in major Trump speeches, including February’s State of the Union address, the president’s remarks to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and a primetime national address delivered last December. ABC’s reporting also notes that Perez even adjusted his bets mid-speech when Trump deviated from prepared scripts, backing out of wagers when the president skipped planned lines containing keywords he had bet on.

    White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the suspension to reporters, stating that both the president and her office viewed the alleged misconduct as “deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.” Leavitt added that Perez will no longer serve in any capacity at the White House, noting that the decision to remove him was made directly by President Trump. When asked about Thursday evening’s scheduled national address from the president, which is focused on protecting U.S. election integrity, Leavitt confirmed that a new teleprompter operator would fill the role.

    Officials from Kalshi, the prediction market where the wagers were placed, say their internal surveillance team first flagged the suspicious trading activity after unusual patterns jumped out to their analysis team. The platform quickly notified the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. federal regulator that oversees such trading platforms, and has turned over all collected evidence to regulators as part of the ongoing investigation. Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, confirmed in a statement to AFP that the platform has fully cooperated with regulators, consistent with its standard protocols for suspicious activity referrals.

    Kalshi also confirmed that more than $90,000 in alleged profits from Perez’s bets were frozen in his account before he could withdraw the funds, and that the parties are currently in negotiations over a potential settlement. The revelation comes amid growing national scrutiny of prediction markets over repeated insider trading concerns; such platforms are already outright banned in a number of countries, and this case marks the second high-profile insider trading scandal tied to U.S. insiders using prediction markets in recent months. A U.S. soldier is currently facing federal felony charges for using classified information about the January mission to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro to place winning bets, reportedly netting more than $400,000 in profits from the trades.

    The White House has pushed back against suggestions that its internal ethics rules are lax, with Leavitt noting that the administration enforces “very strict ethical guidelines” that explicitly prohibit the kind of activity Perez is alleged to have engaged in. However, the incident raises new questions for the Trump administration: Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, has served as an advisor to Kalshi since January 2025, and publicly praised the platform after it correctly predicted Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.

  • White House: Staffer accused of placing bets on Trump speeches put on unpaid leave

    White House: Staffer accused of placing bets on Trump speeches put on unpaid leave

    A political controversy has emerged at the White House after a senior teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid leave amid allegations that they exploited confidential advance information about former President Donald Trump’s public speeches to place profitable bets, netting nearly $100,000 in illegal gains. The unidentified staffer, whose role gave them exclusive early access to the full text and timing of remarks Trump was set to deliver at public events and campaign appearances, is now the subject of an internal White House probe alongside preliminary law enforcement inquiries into the potential securities or gambling violations connected to the scheme.

    Sources familiar with the case confirm that the allegations center on betting markets tied to specific phrases and policy announcements Trump would include in his speeches, a niche but active area of speculative trading that allows actors with inside knowledge to lock in guaranteed profits. Prior to this incident, the White House has maintained strict internal policies barring staff from using non-public information gained through their official roles for personal financial gain, a standard ethics rule designed to preserve public trust in the executive branch.

    As of the latest updates, no formal charges have been filed against the staffer, and the investigation remains in its early stages. The White House has declined to release additional details about the staffer’s identity or the full scope of the probe to avoid compromising ongoing investigative work.

  • JD Vance says Epstein had connections to CIA and Mossad

    JD Vance says Epstein had connections to CIA and Mossad

    In a wide-ranging interview with prominent podcaster Joe Rogan this week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance made explosive claims linking disgraced convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to the highest echelons of both American and Israeli intelligence circles, while also accusing hardline elements within the Israeli government of funding a covert influence campaign to derail the recent Iran negotiation agreement he spearheaded.

    Vance, who identified himself as an “original Epstein conspiracy theorist,” doubled down on long-circulated unconfirmed speculation about the late financier’s intelligence connections. When Rogan noted that a widespread popular narrative frames Epstein as an asset for Israel’s Mossad external intelligence agency, Vance said the connections could extend to either the Central Intelligence Agency, deep state actors in the U.S., Israeli intelligence, or a combination of multiple groups. He specifically pointed to ties between Epstein and left-leaning figures in Israel’s deep political establishment, naming former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak as a key example, noting that Epstein’s connections did not extend to Israel’s center-right political bloc.

    For decades, unsubstantiated theories have circulated about whether Epstein operated on behalf of a foreign or domestic intelligence service. The disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting new sex trafficking charges, built a sprawling network of relationships with rich and powerful global figures, from former U.S. President Bill Clinton to pro-Israel billionaire retail magnate Les Wexner, senior British politician Peter Mandelson, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s second son. Over his decades in elite social circles, Epstein was widely reported to have collected extensive compromising information on his high-profile contacts, a common intelligence tradecraft tactic for leverage.

    While no conclusive public evidence has ever emerged to confirm Epstein worked as an active intelligence asset for any nation, multiple official and unofficial records have hinted at potential connections. Earlier this year, a senior adviser to the Indian government publicly stated “100 percent” that Epstein was a Mossad asset when asked directly. The publicly released Epstein court documents confirm that the financier made donations to prominent Israeli causes, including Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and the Jewish National Fund, a group that supports Israeli West Bank settlements, and document his repeated personal connections to current and former members of Mossad. A 2020 FBI memo from the bureau’s Los Angeles field office also noted that an anonymous source had claimed Epstein was a “co-opted Mossad agent” who received formal spy training from the Israeli service.

    Beyond his claims about Epstein, Vance used the Rogan interview to level serious accusations about Israeli interference in American domestic and foreign policy, specifically targeting the Iran nuclear negotiation framework he spent months negotiating. The preliminary memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, signed just last month, has already collapsed, and the two nations have resumed direct cross-border military strikes in recent weeks.

    According to Vance, a well-funded, covert campaign is actively working to scuttle the Iran deal to perpetuate ongoing military conflict. He specifically confirmed that some of the funding for this campaign originates from Israeli government-linked actors, referencing a recent Time magazine exposé detailing an organized Israeli influence operation targeting the Make America Great Again (MAGA) conservative base that Vance is courting as he positions himself as a potential 2028 Republican presidential candidate and a political heir to former President Donald Trump. The Time report alleges that Brad Parscale, who served as digital campaign strategist for Trump’s 2020 presidential run, receives $1.5 million per month to run the influence operation. Vance said the operation pays multiple American influencers to attack his Iran negotiation efforts, and that these critics have launched vicious personal attacks against him in an effort to keep the U.S. tied to indefinite military escalation against Iran.

    “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there have been people within the Israeli government who are trying to, like, actually shift us away from that policy [the Iran negotiations] because they want to continue the military campaign,” Vance told Rogan.

    The vice president pushed back against hardline hawks in the U.S. political system who have opposed the Iran deal, challenging them to present a viable alternative to negotiations. He framed himself as a “reasonable moderate” in the deeply polarized American debate over Israel policy, noting that he has faced widespread baseless accusations of antisemitism for his push for negotiations with Iran, which he called “insane.”

    When asked whether the U.S. would have entered its most recent open war with Iran if not for Israeli influence efforts, Vance replied, “Yes, yes I do.” He clarified that he shares the Biden administration’s core position that Iran must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, a stance he said the president holds independent of external pressure.

    Vance also rejected the theory that Israel is able to coerce former President Trump using the Epstein files or other compromising material, calling that claim “crazy.”

  • White House teleprompter operator accused of making $100k off Trump speech bets

    White House teleprompter operator accused of making $100k off Trump speech bets

    A former White House teleprompter technician is at the center of a federal investigation after being accused of exploiting confidential access to President Donald Trump’s prepared speeches to place illegal insider bets that netted nearly $100,000 in potential profits, multiple major U.S. news outlets have confirmed.

    Gabriel Perez, who had served on the White House staff since Trump first took office in 2016, allegedly placed wagers on Kalshi, a digital prediction marketplace that allows users to bet on the outcome of real-world events, including specific word choices in high-profile political addresses. The scheme focused on major public remarks from the president, most notably the annual State of the Union address, where Perez used his advance knowledge of the speech’s text to bet that specific pre-selected terms would appear in the address.

    In an official statement shared with the BBC, Kalshi representatives confirmed that their internal risk team first flagged suspicious activity in March, when analysts identified irregular patterns in betting on the platform’s so-called “mention markets” — contract listings that let users predict whether a public speaker will reference specific topics, countries, economic phrases or campaign slogans during a given address.

    “The words of top political leaders, from presidents to Federal Reserve chairs, can move billions of dollars across foreign exchange markets, oil futures and global stock markets,” Kalshi noted in its comment, underscoring the inherent risk of insider activity on prediction contracts tied to public policy remarks.

    After cross-referencing account details and user information, the company confirmed that the account linked to the suspicious trades belonged to Perez, a federal employee responsible for drafting and operating the president’s teleprompters. Acting quickly to block potential illicit gains, Kalshi froze the account before Perez could withdraw more than $90,000 in accumulated profits.

    Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, confirmed the firm immediately reported the suspicious activity to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal regulator that oversees prediction market platforms operating in the United States, and turned over all collected evidence to investigators.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Tuesday that President Trump had been briefed on the allegations against Perez. She stated that Perez has been placed on unpaid leave and will no longer serve on the White House staff, ending his tenure that began in 2016.

    The investigation was first reported by ABC News, and the BBC’s U.S. news partner CBS News later independently confirmed key details of the case. Sources close to the probe told reporters that Perez has been fully cooperative with CFTC investigators throughout the inquiry. As of this report, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have declined to open a criminal investigation into the matter. When reached for comment by the BBC to confirm the ongoing probe, a CFTC spokesperson said the agency could not “confirm or deny” the existence of any ongoing investigation.