The daft is over, but can the rookies make an impact? We answer lingering questions.

An FAQ as a guide to the Times Square card, Canelo Alvarez's in Saudi Arabia and Naoya Inoue's return to the U.S. on the same weekend.

The audio platform has branched out to video and has given its podcasters a raise as the war for creator talent heats up.

Ukraine has adapted strategies and weapons during its fight against Russia. It is now banking on expanding the use of domestically produced drones, even though American arms remain crucial.

This image obtained from AP video shows a tag with the text ''K.L. Dachau'' seen through the f-holes of a Dachau-built instrument dubbed the ''violin of hope'' in Magyarpolny, Hungary, Tuesday April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nikolett Csanyi)2025-04-28T06:07:14Z BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) During World War II, within the walls of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, a Jewish prisoner secretly penned a short note and hid it inside a violin he had crafted under harrowing circumstances a message to the future that would remain undiscovered for more than 80 years.Trial instrument, made under difficult conditions with no tools and materials, the worn note read. Dachau. Anno 1941, Franciszek Kempa.The origins of the violin, built in 1941 by Franciszek Franz Kempa while imprisoned by the Nazis at Dachau in southern Germany, remained unnoticed for decades. It wasnt until art dealers in Hungary sent the instrument out for repairs after having stored it for years among a set of purchased furniture that its history came to light.Although the instruments craftsmanship pointed clearly to a skilled maker, the professional repairing it was puzzled by the poor quality of the wood and the crude tools used to create it, which didnt match the evident skill involved. If you look at its proportions and structure, you can see that its a master violin, made by a man who was proficient in his craft, said Szandra Katona, one of the Hungarian art dealers who discovered the origins of the violin. But the choice of wood was completely incomprehensible. Motivated by the contradiction, the professional disassembled the violin, revealing Kempas hidden note an apparent explanation, even an apology, from a master violin maker forced by the brutal limitations of his captivity to build an instrument that fell short of his own standards. Dachau, located near Munich, was the first concentration camp established by the Nazis in March 1933. It initially housed political prisoners but later became a model for other camps, imprisoning Jews, Roma, clergy, homosexuals, and others targeted by the Nazi regime. Over time, it became a site of forced labor, medical experiments, and brutal punishment, and remained in operation until it was liberated by American forces on April 29, 1945. At least 40,000 people are believed to have died there due to starvation, disease, execution, or mistreatment. There is ample evidence that musical instruments were present in concentration camps across Central and Eastern Europe during World War II. For propaganda purposes, the Nazis often permitted or even encouraged the formation of musical groups to give a false impression to the outside world about life in the camps.However, all known instruments that survived Dachau are believed to have been brought in by prisoners. Kempas violin of hope, as it has come to be called, is the only known instrument actually built inside the camp. It is unknown how the violin left Dachau and ultimately made its way to Hungary. But Kempa, according to documents provided to the Hungarian art dealers by the museum at the Dachau memorial site, survived the war and returned to his native Poland to continue making instruments before dying in 1953. The documents also suggest that Kempa was known to the Nazis as an instrument maker something Tams Tlosi, one of the art dealers, believes may have spared him the fate of millions of others that perished in the camps. We named it the violin of hope because if someone ends up in a difficult situation, having a task or a challenge helps them get through a lot of things, Tlosi said. You focus not on the problem, but on the task itself, and I think this helped the maker of this instrument to survive the concentration camp. JUSTIN SPIKE Spike is an Associated Press reporter based in Budapest, Hungary. twitter mailto

At least now I saw youre way more gorgeous and more beautiful than you were in the photo you sent me, an older white man with a greying beard says during a Skype video call. He is talking to an elderly woman who appears to be in her car, staring into her phones front-facing camera.She laughs at the compliment, and the smiling man keeps going. I think I should send security to keep you safe, so no one comes, he says. To that, the woman laughs even more. Ill be okay, she reassures the man.The bearded man, however, doesnt really exist. Instead, he is a realtime deepfake created by a fraudster, likely to lure the woman as part of a romance scam and have her send money. Someone filming the interaction captures what is really happening: a young Black man is sitting in front of a laptop and webcam, and software is then automatically transforming his appearance to that of the much older white man and feeding that into Skype, all live.Other realtime deepfakes from fraudsters include a Black man making himself appear as a white woman, and many cases of scammers being able to hold objects during the live call without breaking the illusion. One deepfake scammer even included an American flag in the background of their live video call. 0:00 /0:30 1 A video shared on Telegram. Redacted by 404 Media to protect the victim's identity. This is the reality of fraud today, where scammers are able to digitally manipulate their appearance in real time to match a photo on a drivers license, dating profile, or a celebrity. Like a chameleon, these scammers, who can be involved in everything from romance scams like the one in the video to fraudulent tax refunds, can hide their true appearance with just a laptop and phone and produce very realistic results.Its way better now, Format Boy, a self-described and high profile Yahoo Boy, told me in a Telegram chat referring to deepfakes. Yahoo Boys are fraudsters typically based in Nigeria who traditionally used Yahoo emails as part of their scams, but have now broadened to all manner of schemes. Before we couldn't do somethings; we can do now.Do you know anything else about realtime deepfake fraud? Do you carry it out yourself, or investigate it? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.It is now very common to see spammy video ads on social media that use a deepfaked version of a celebrity or public figure. 404 Media previously reported on a rampant scam on YouTube in which fake versions of Taylor Swift, Steve Harvey, and Joe Rogan pitched Medicare scams. 404 Media also reported on another set of deepfake ads, also on YouTube, featuring the likenesses of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Mike Tyson, and Terry Crews selling erectile dysfunction supplements.But those were pre-rendered, static files. They were recorded beforehand, likely tweaked and perfected over time, and then uploaded to YouTube. The promise of realtime deepfakes for fraudsters is that they can use the tech to engage with a victim in the moment. Rather than some scripted video which may or may not be tailored to the victim, realtime deepfakes allow a scammer to talk directly to their mark and improvise on video calls or livestreams. They can appear just as human as the person they are impersonating, potentially fooling not only people but also the automated systems that require someone to prove their identity to open an account with a financial institution, for example.For months 404 Media has monitored the spread of deepfake technology throughout fraud-focused Telegram channels. For much of that time, the results were not impressive. Some involved using AI to animate a photo in an attempt to bypass cryptocurrency exchanges identity verification processes and the videos were stilted and unnatural. Others looked more realistic, but it was unclear whether the advertisements were scamsfraudsters on Telegram asked for hundreds of dollars for access to their tool that allegedly bypassed know-your-customer (KYC) verification checks. Some fraudsters also advertised access to tools that let a phone user replace their cameras input with a file from their phones gallery, meaning they could upload the deepfake video to services that ask for a selfie. 404 Media has also seen Instagram accounts where a real person consistently deepfakes themselves to appear as a different gender in order to catfish people.Images from a fraud-focused Telegram channel.But recently the quality has improved massively, with fraudsters demonstrating theyre able to hold entire realtime video calls for extended periods of time while maintaining their deepfaked persona, according to videos viewed by 404 Media.In another example, a handsome man in a black baseball cap says I love your smile over a WhatsApp video call while giggling. Hes chatting with an elderly woman with an American accent.I didnt know this was going to be a video call, she says after a pregnant pause. The man laughs flirtatiously and grins.Im barely awake and Im not dressed, she says.A camera filming the interaction then pans away and zooms out, and shows the scammers setup. A laptop sits atop a PC tower, with a giant screen showing various pieces of software.Format Boy spends much of his time telling other Yahoo Boys how to perform realtime deepfakes in videos he uploads to YouTube and Instagram. On his YouTube channel he claims his content is for pranks and educational purposes. But on Telegram his channel bio says he has been a Yahoo Boy for more than seven years. Comments on his YouTube videos indicate he has viewers from Ukraine, Ghana, and Cameroon.One realtime deepfake method Format Boy explains on YouTube involves a phone, a laptop, a piece of screen mirroring software, the livestreaming tool OBS to set up a virtual camera, NDI tools to route the video feed, and a faceswap app called Amigo AI. Amigo allows users to upload a photo of their choosing to base the deepfake on.Another similar method involves a face swap tool called Magicam, which also allows an user to upload an arbitrary photo, and a ring light. Format Boy says in the video that having a ring light is important to make the resulting deepfake more detailed; multiple videos and images 404 Media has seen of fraudsters creating realtime deepfakes include ring lights. 0:00 /0:27 1 A video shared on YouTube. Redacted by 404 Media to protect the victim's identity. A representative for Magicam told 404 Media in a Discord message that we were not aware that Magicam had been used in any fraudulent activity.At this time, we do not have built-in mechanisms to detect or prevent malicious use. However, in light of recent developments, we recognize the urgency of this issue and are actively exploring solutions that can help us better safeguard our technology while still respecting user privacy, they added.Amigo AI did not respond to a request for comment.A third technique uses tools called DeepFaceLive and DeepLiveCam which require a beefier laptop with a modern GPU to power the realtime deepfake. Fraudsters seem to move from one app to another when options that produce high quality videos for cheaper become available.With their set up in place, the fraudster can then make a video call over WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Telegram or another service while presenting themselves as whoever they want. Scammers also turn to voice changers, either ones already baked into the deepfake app or small pieces of hardware that can make them sound like someone else, according to other videos.Format Boy has posted in his Telegram channel about deepfakes since late 2023, through 2024, and multiple times this year too. Over the months, and then years, it is possible to see how much easier creating deepfakes has become for fraudsters, while their realism has simultaneously gone up.Format Boy told 404 Media that the current deepfake tech works for romance scams, but he didnt think it was good enough for bypassing KYC checks. I think were almost there, but not quite yet, he said.Stills and images from a fraud-focused Telegram channel.But multiple AI and cybersecurity researchers say fraudsters are using realtime deepfakes to target the systems that are supposed to check that a person appearing on camera is real and not artificially generated. And in some cases those fraudsters are being successful.We're seeing some of our partners actually getting those deepfakes, David Maimon, head of fraud insights at cybersecurity company SentilLink and a professor at Georgia State University, told 404 Media. In some cases, the fraudsters generate a new face with ChatGPT, superimpose that image onto a drivers license, then apply to open new bank accounts with that stolen or synthetic identity. Some also perform tax refund scams, where fraudsters submit a victims tax return in order to get an IRS refund themselves, Maimon said.And when they are asked to sort of prove liveliness with the videos, they're able to do that as well, Maimon said, adding that the frequency of these fraud attempts has gone up over the past year. Maimon showed 404 Media a video in which a deepfake successfully passed the identity verification process on CashApp. CashApp acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide a response in time for publication. Maimon also published some of his findings in a blog post on SentiLinks website earlier this month.We have seen a sizable uptick of requests to use our product in the last few months alone related to two different things: integration with web conferencing platforms (Zoom and Teams are the two most requested platforms, which we already integrate with) and KYC verification for user onboarding, a spokesperson for Reality Defender, a company whose product is designed for enterprises to detect deepfakes, said in an email. We are only privy to the incidents that clients have shared with us willingly, but can confirm that entities we work with have had real time deepfake issues in Africa, in Singapore, and in North Korea, among other places.Format Boy for his part continues to post tips online. His Telegram bio says Im here to make millionaires.

Nature, Published online: 28 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01300-yJemma Wadham analyses the ever-changing glaciers of the Arctic.

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The blackout hit critical infrastructure like airports and caused transportation disruptions across Spain and Portugal. The cause of the outage was unclear.

Ukraines foreign minister responded with skepticism to the unexpected announcement.

SACRAMENTO, CABelieving that he was establishing a firm line between who he was as a person and what he did for a living, local man Jordan Wheeler, an employee of Creighton Industries who will ultimately spend 90,000 hours of his lifetime at the office, announced Monday that his work did not define him. According to witnesses, the 27-year-old proudly declared I am more than just my job, despite the fact that his 50-hour workweek will continue to leave him too exhausted to pursue any outside hobbies for decades to come. Wheeler, who will go on to work at the same office well into his 70s, reportedly called the place of employment in which he will spend a third of his adult life just a paycheck and a temporary gig until I find what Im really passionate about, even though the few social engagements outside of the office he will participate in over the coming years will be with coworkers, with whom he will mostly talk about work. At press time, Wheeler reportedly spoke enthusiastically about his love for music, despite the fact that he will never spend more than six cumulative hours of his life playing his guitar.The post My Work Doesnt Define Me, Says Man Who Will Spend 90,000 Hours Of Lifetime At Office appeared first on The Onion.

It took less than two weeks!READ MORE...

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a firefighter puts out a fire at ruined private houses following Russia's air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)2025-04-28T09:53:35Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire next week in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War as the U.S. presses for a deal to end the 3-year-old war. Kyiv insisted on a longer and immediate truce.The Kremlin said the truce, ordered on humanitarian grounds, will run from the start of May 8 (2100 GMT, 5 p.m. EDT May 7) and last through the end of May 10 (2100 GMT, 5 p.m. EDT May 10) to mark Moscows defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 Russias biggest secular holiday.Ukraine, which has previously agreed to U.S. President Donald Trumps proposal of a full 30-day ceasefire, dismissed Putins move as window dressing.If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, according to the ministry. He emphasized that Kyiv is ready for a lasting, reliable, and complete ceasefire for at least 30 full days. Why wait for May 8? If we can cease fire now from any date and for 30 days so that it is real, and not just for a parade, he said without specifying whether Ukraine would be ready to accept the Moscow-proposed truce. The Kremlin had urged Ukraine to follow suit.Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example, it said, warning that in case of violations of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian side, the Russian armed forces will give an adequate and efficient response. In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, damaged private houses burn following Russias air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, damaged private houses burn following Russias air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Putin previously announced a unilateral 30-hour Easter ceasefire and Ukraine voiced readiness to reciprocate any genuine truce at the time, but it said Russian attacks continued. Moscow, in turn, accused Ukraine of failing to halt its attacks.Russia and Ukraine had also earlier pledged to observe a 30-day halt on strikes on energy infrastructure that was brokered by the Trump administration, but they repeatedly accused each other of massive violations until the measure expired. The truce attempts underlined the massive challenges for monitoring any possible halt to hostilities along the more than 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) line of contact.Up until now, Putin had refused to accept a complete unconditional ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies to Ukraine and Ukraines mobilization effort. The Kremlin reaffirmed that the Russian side again declares its readiness for peace talks without preconditions aimed at removing the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and constructive cooperation with international partners.Just before the ceasefire announcement, Ukraine and Russia targeted each other with long-range strikes. Russias drone attack early Monday damaged an infrastructure facility in Cherkasy, central Ukraine, disrupting gas supplies to households in the city, Mayor Anatolii Bondarenko said.The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces downed 119 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over Russias Bryansk border region. In Ukraine, air raid sirens rang out across the country Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Rubio says this week is very criticalThe outcome of a push by Trumps administration to swiftly end the fighting remains unclear, clouded by conflicting claims and doubts about how far each side might be willing to compromise amid deep hostility and mistrust.The clock is ticking on Washingtons engagement in efforts to resolve Europes biggest conflict since WWII, which has cost tens of thousands of lives.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that this week would be very critical. The U.S. needs to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, he said on NBCs Meet the Press.American military aid has been crucial for Ukraines war effort, and further help could be at risk if the Trump administration walks away from attempts to end the war. Trumps doubts about Putins intentionsTrump said over the weekend he harbors doubts about Putins sincerity in pursuing a deal, as Russian forces have continued to strike civilian areas of Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles while the talks have proceeded.But on Friday, Trump described a brokered settlement on the war as close.Western European officials have accused the Kremlin of dragging its feet on peace talks so that Russian forces, which are bigger than Ukraines and have battlefield momentum, can capture more Ukrainian land.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the war in a phone call with Rubio on Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.The two diplomats focused on consolidating the emerging prerequisites for starting negotiations, the statement said, without offering further details. In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns against the background of a damaged private house following Russias air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns against the background of a damaged private house following Russias air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions. Ukraine has accepted it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.A French diplomatic official said at the weekend that Trump, Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to pursue in the coming days the work of convergence to obtain a solid ceasefire. The diplomat said a truce is a prior condition for a peace negotiation that respects the interest of Ukraine and the Europeans.The official was not authorized to be publicly named in accordance with French presidential policy.Ukraine unwilling to give up land Ukraine, meanwhile, has balked at the possibility of surrendering land to Russia in return for peace, which Washington has indicated could be necessary.A key point of leverage for Ukraine could be a deal with Washington that grants access to Ukraines critical mineral wealth.Ukraine and the United States have made progress on a mineral agreement, with both sides agreeing that American aid provided so far to Kyiv will not be taken into account under the terms of the deal, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Sunday.We have good progress, he said after talks with U.S. Treasury Under Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington.The main thing is that we clearly defined our red lines: The agreement must comply with Ukraines Constitution, legislation, and European commitments, and must be ratified by Parliament, Shmyhal said.Russias full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 has developed a significant international dimension, further complicating negotiations.Putin on Monday thanked North Korea for sending what the U.S. estimates are thousands of troops to help defeat Ukraine, as well as allegedly supplying artillery ammunition. Iran has also helped Russia in the war, with Shahed drones, and China has sold Russia machinery and microelectronics that Moscow can use to make weapons, Western officials say.The U.S. and Europe have been Kyivs biggest backers.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Heres an easy to understand example of how Donald Trumps tariffs on imported products have completely screwed small U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs: the crowdfunding site Kickstarter is introducing a Tariff Manager tool that will allow creators to add extra charges to projects that were already fully funded in order to deal with the higher and unexpected costs of the presidents global trade war.Over the past few weeks, weve been hard at work developing tariff-relevant resources to support our community. From guidance to help creators navigate rapidly changing policies, to tips on shipping logistics, and even information to help backers better understand the challenges creators are facing. Our focus has been supporting you through uncertain times, but we also know that information alone isnt always enough, Kickstarter said in a blog post published last week announcing the Tariff Manager tool. Built specifically to address the financial challenges posed by U.S. import tariffs, Kickstarters Tariff Manager is designed to give creators more control, flexibility, and transparency at one of the most critical phases of your journey: fulfillment.Kickstarters Tariff Manager will allow some creators to apply per-item surcharges which will appear as a separate line item on the payment page for people who backed their project.We understand that asking backers to pay an additional feeespecially after a campaign has endedcan be sensitive, Kickstarter said. If a backer chooses not to pay the tariff cost during the pledge manager process, theyll need to reach out to you directly.Backers can pay the additional fee to get the item they had already backed in order to still get it when its ready. If they decline, the creator can issue them a refund, or find another resolution, the blog post says.While this tool helps offset rising costs, we recognize that every project and backer relationship is unique, Kickstarter said. Our goal is to provide you with the flexibility and transparency necessary to navigate those conversations with clarity and care.Like many American businesses, some U.S.-based Kickstarter projects rely on cheaper manufacturing in China, Vietnam, and other countries that are now subject to exorbitant tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. While the unexpected costs of the tariffs are devastating for many businesses that rely on global supply chains, Kickstarter projects have the additional unpleasant situation where people pay for something months and sometimes years before it is shipped to them. The entire conceit of the crowdfunding platform is someone can come up with a cool idea for something they want to make, price out how much money theyd need to raise in order to produce it, ask people for that money, and if they raise enough go off and do it and come back with the goods once theyre finished. Infamously, a lot of those Kickstarter projects never ship despite raising the money they asked for. Some have also had to go back to backers and ask for more money before shipping the project. But what the tariffs have done to Kickstarter now is on an entirely different scale.For example, many board games these days are initially funded on Kickstarter, and rely on manufacturing overseas. Stonemaier Games, a company that funded several of its board games on Kickstarter, last week announced that it filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Trumps tariffs.We will not stand idle while our livelihoodand the livelihoods of thousands of small business owners and contractors in the U.S.are treated like pawns in a political game, Jamey Stegmaier, co-founder of Stonemaier Games, said in a press release. We now face a $14.50 tariff tax for every $10 we spent on manufacturing with our trusted long-term partner in China. For Stonemaier Games, that amounts to upcoming tariff payments of nearly $1.5 million.

It seemed impossible to follow club legend Jurgen Klopp and win the league in his first year, but Arne Slot has done just that at Liverpool.

Winnipeg is reeling, the Panthers are stirring things up and Toronto is looking for a finishing touch -- again.

The Kurdish-led force that runs northeast Syria has agreed to integrate into a new national army, but some of its supporters remain wary.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military, which the Iran-backed Houthi militia blamed for the attack in Saada.

We cant wait to see what summer looks like. READ MORE...