Iran executes two more members of exiled opposition: group

Christine Li is a model and influencer, but not an actor, so when she saw herself playing a cruel character in a Chinese microdrama she felt bewildered, then angry and afraid.

The 26-year-old is one of two people who told AFP their likenesses were cast without consent in the AI-generated show "The Peach Blossom Hairpin", which ran on Hongguo, a major microdrama app owned by Tiktok parent company ByteDance.

Li plans to sue the drama makers and the platform, highlighting new legal and regulatory grey areas created by artificial intelligence.

"I was genuinely shocked. It was clearly me," said Li, who lives in Hangzhou in eastern China.

"It was so obvious that they used a specific set of photos I took two years ago" and had posted on social media, she said.

Microdramas are ultra-short, online soap operas hugely popular in China and elsewhere.

When Li's fans alerted her to the series, she was horrified to find her digital twin shown slapping women and mistreating animals.

"I also felt a deep fear. I kept wondering what kind of person would do something like this," Li said.

Hongguo hosts thousands of free, bite-sized shows -- both live-action and AI-generated -- whose episodes are two or three minutes long.

As of October, the platform had around 245 million monthly active users, according to data cited by Wenwen Han, president of the Short Drama Alliance.

A Hongguo statement in early April said it had taken the series down because the producers had violated platform rules and contractual obligations.

- 'Sleazy' antagonist -

AI's ability to mimic real people has sparked global concern for actors' jobs, and over such deepfakes being used for scams and propaganda.

Li and a man who says he was portrayed as her AI husband in the series, which became a hit last month on Hongguo, spoke out online about their separate unwelcome discoveries.

But even as their stories sparked a public outcry about AI ethics, AFP saw that "The Peach Blossom Hairpin" kept running for days before its removal, with the disputed characters quietly replaced.

The man, a stylist specialised in traditional Chinese clothing and make-up, had posted photos of himself in costume on the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu app.

Like Li, he was upset by the "ugly" portrayal of his likeness as a "sleazy" antagonist in the show.

"Will it have an impact on me, on my job, on my future work opportunities?" said the man, who asked to use the pseudonym Baicai.

To keep audiences hooked, microdramas are often full of shocking, larger-than-life moments.

Li and Baicai both showed AFP their original photos and the characters in "The Peach Blossom Hairpin", which bore a strong resemblance.

- Legal risk -

For low-budget AI microdramas, Chinese regulations say platforms must be the primary checkpoint for potentially dodgy content.

If they do not carry out mandatory content reviews, the videos will be forcibly taken down, according to the National Radio and Television Administration.

If the platforms were aware of any infringement but failed to act on it, parties affected can alert China's cyberspace authorities which can impose administrative penalties, according to Zhao Zhanling, a partner at Beijing Javy Law Firm.

Hongguo said in a second statement this month it would continue to strengthen how it reviews content and how it authorises creators, among other steps.

It said it had dealt with 670 AI microdramas that violated regulations, with most taken down, and warned it would crack down on repeated breaches.

When approached for comment, parent company Bytedance referred AFP to the two Hongguo statements.

Li and Baicai say they need more information from Hongguo to confirm the identity of the drama's creator -- with two companies potential candidates.

One is linked to a verified account on the Chinese version of TikTok that also published the series. Another is listed as the drama's producer on an official Chinese filing system.

AFP contacted both firms but received no response.

Using AI to slash costs may be tempting in the fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar microdrama market.

But featuring someone in a demeaning way without permission "may constitute an infringement of both portrait rights and reputation rights", said Li's lawyer Yijie Zhao, from Henan Huailv Law Firm.

- 'Associated with controversy' -

National regulations require microdrama makers to register to obtain a licence -- a step made mandatory for AI-generated animations from this month.

But producers could remain in the shadows by registering temporary outfits, Zhao said, while some allegedly use overseas servers to hide.

In 2024, a Beijing court ordered a company to apologise and pay compensation to a celebrity after its AI software enabled users to produce a virtual persona using his photos and name that could exchange intimate messages.

But lawyers told AFP that compensation for plaintiffs like Li likely won't amount to much due to the limited commercial value of an ordinary likeness.

Li worries that the saga may cost her opportunities in the modelling industry, as she is now "associated with controversy".

Baicai has not launched legal action, but hopes to see more measures from regulators and platforms to protect people like him.

"There are probably plenty of cases with unknown victims," he said.

sx-pr/abs

On the facade of an apartment block in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, a giant mosaic depicting cosmonauts and engineers celebrates the scientific triumphs of the Soviet Union.

Like so many other relics of the Soviet past in Central Asia, it is doomed to vanish amid a distancing from Russia and a top-down drive to boost national culture.

"If we could only carefully remove it and put it on the building that will be built here. That would be good," said Rakhmon Satiev, who lives in the apartment.

His wish will not come true. The block is about to be demolished to make way for a gleaming new residential complex, and the mosaic is to be torn down.

Over the past decade, Central Asia has shown little interest in preserving its Soviet heritage. Architectural landmarks and art, including mosaics, frescoes and sculptures, have been rapidly demolished.

"If a building is old and does not fit into the new city plan, it is torn down. The city is being rebuilt and renovated, and the past is vanishing," Dzhamshed Dzhuraev, a mosaic artist in Tajikistan, told AFP. 

Hidden from view in the courtyard behind his studio stands a monument to Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the USSR -- an awkward reminder of an era that no longer fits with the times.

- 'No longer necessary' - 

The five Central Asian former Soviet republics -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan -- became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union 35 years ago. 

Their urban landscapes have since turned into a chaotic mix of new high-rises, Stalin-era neoclassicism, dilapidated shacks and stalled construction sites.

Altynai Kudaibergenova, a co-founder of Artkana, a rare initiative group working to preserve Kyrgyzstan's architectural heritage, said the number of lost monuments was "striking".

She fears for the visual future of the capital Bishkek, which still has "magnificent examples of socialist-modernist architecture".

The style is popular on social media, particularly among tourists.

This architectural overhaul is being driven by ideology, which leaves no space for Soviet remnants.

The region's largely unchallenged leaders brand themselves as the founders of a new era and are cementing their own legacies with fresh symbols of power.

Few say outright that is what's going on.

Still economically dependent on Russia -- even as China muscles into the region -- officials frame the demolition drive as cost-efficient.

They say renovating crumbling Soviet-era buildings is more expensive than starting from scratch, and that the region urgently needs more housing for its rapidly growing population of some 80 million.  

In the Tajik capital Dushanbe, the mayor -- the son of the president -- "is doing everything possible to make the buildings as beautiful and comfortable as he can," prominent Tajik sculptor Safarbek Kosimov told AFP.

Soviet-era mosaics were "no longer necessary," he added.

There are no such qualms about portraits of 73-year-old strongman leader Emomali Rakhmon -- which have replaced many of the torn-down facades.

- Ideological art -

Critics lament the campaign.

"Most Soviet mosaics were designed to convey an ideological message, but their artistic value is also important," activist Kudaibergenova said.

"Unfortunately, businesses are rarely receptive to such considerations. Their main priority is selling square metres at a high price."

Real-estate deals in the region are often marked by corruption and collusion between officials and business interests, according to several nonprofits and international organisations.

In Bishkek, painter Erkinbek Bolzhurov is worried about the fate of the House of Artists, which stands next to the former national printing house -- of which now only the walls remain.

"We want the city to develop, of course, but not at the expense of our memory," he told AFP. 

"Great artists worked inside these walls. That is what makes the building unique -- it has a history."

Freedom of expression is tightly controlled in Central Asia, and authorities rarely consult with the public. 

Despite the current trend, Tajik mosaic artist Dzhuraev wants to believe that "the time will come" when mosaics will once again adorn buildings.

"Architects and urban planners should pay them more attention," he said -- a "revival" of mosaics is still possible.

aj-bk/blb/asy/jc/yad/lga

Oil prices extended gains Friday and stocks struggled as investors worried about a lack of progress in ending the Middle East crisis, with Tehran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed and the US maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports.

A week that started with hopes the two sides would eventually hold peace talks was set to end on a negative note, with Donald Trump saying he had "all the time in the world" despite fears about the impact of the war on the global economy.

With few developments to fuel buying, traders took a cautious approach heading into the weekend and ahead of a slew of earnings next week from Wall Street titans including Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple.

Crude has jumped about a fifth in the past week, having tumbled last week to one-month lows on optimism that a peace agreement would be reached.

Both main contracts rose more than one percent Friday, having advanced around three percent the day before, with Iran refusing to join talks while the US blockade remained in place.

Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to announce: "I have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn't -- The clock is ticking!" 

He added that Iran's military was destroyed and "their leaders are no longer with us, the Blockade is airtight and strong and, from there, it only gets worse".

He also vowed the United States would destroy any vessel laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz but ruled out striking the country with a nuclear weapon, saying they "should never be allowed to be used by anybody".

Meanwhile, US military officials said the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier had arrived in the Middle East, bringing the number of the massive American warships operating in the region to three.

The standoff weighed on equity markets, with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington and Jakarta all down. Tokyo, Taipei and Manila edged up

"Market confidence has started to shift into a more cautious phase, as new comments from Iran suggest that a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is not possible while US blockades remain in place," wrote Julian Pineda, market analyst at City Index.

"So far, no meaningful progress has been made in negotiations, with both sides maintaining relatively firm positions, leaving the short-term outlook unclear.

"This situation is starting to dampen the steady rise in market confidence seen in recent weeks."

Still, there was some good news as Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended for three weeks.

"I think there's a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one," he told reporters Thursday during a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors.

He added that he plans to meet with top leadership from both countries in the next couple weeks.

The war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has been a key sticking point in Washington and Tehran finding a breakthrough.

- Key figures at 0230 GMT -

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $96.92 a barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.1 percent at $106.26 a barrel

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Up 0.3 percent at 59,343.40 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 25,715.74

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 4,071.52

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1681 from $1.1684 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3463 from $1.3465

Dollar/yen: UP at 159.79 yen from 159.72 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 86.78 pence from 86.76 pence

New York - Dow Jones: DOWN 0.4 percent at 49,310.32 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 10,457.01 (close)

dan/fox

The loop of Rizza Matutino's lasso sat atop the steer's head for what felt like forever.

The crowd at the Philippine home of Asia's only Western-style rodeo went silent, then roared when it finally slipped down around the animal's neck.

Rising from the dirt 60 seconds later, Rizza Matutino raised her arms after tying down a steer twice her size, celebrating a win over both the beast and the perception that women are not strong enough for the sport.

Dozens of young women like Matutino compete each year at the Rodeo Masbateno, home to the sort of rough and tumble events that necessitate stretchers and medical staff.

While larger provinces boast more livestock, the Masbate rodeo -- begun in 1993 in a bid to boost tourism -- has become synonymous with the island known as Philippine cattle country.

"There was pressure, but ... I just trusted myself," the veterinary student said of the short, violent contest.

"Every time we enter the arena or the corral, every time my teammates and I train, we try to prove this sport isn't just for men; we can do it too."

But, unlike their male counterparts, the rodeo's women competitors face a ticking clock.

While Matutino told AFP she wants to keep competing, Masbate has no professional category for women, whose careers end the day they no longer qualify as students.

- 'Imagine that's the cow' -

A few hundred yards away, at a high school turned makeshift dorm for competitors from across the Philippines, Christel Mae Firme was practicing.

The 25-year-old demonstrated her technique on a chair, something she had done thousands of times for lack of live cattle to practice with.

Her father, Clodualdo, a former rodeo champion and animal husbandry expert, watched approvingly.

"I taught her how to ride a horse. Then I combined it with lassoing," he said of the daughter he would take on visits to farms where he would treat sick animals.

"I would put a chair on top of a table and tell her, 'estimate the distance, use your imagination. Imagine that's the cow'."

Preparing her for the sport's danger was just as important.

"Whether I train women or men, if I see they're afraid of the cow, I'll position them so when the cow charges... they get hit," the weathered 60-year-old said with a grin.

Fears melt away once trainees experience contact and realise they can withstand it, he explained.

Ahead of her lassoing event, Christel conceded she had been nervous for a month leading to her moment of truth.

"Sometimes I doubt myself. Can I do it? Can I wrestle the cattle... without being gored?" she said.

"What I always keep in mind is that I should face my fears."

Despite those fears, Christel said she was "hooked" on the adrenaline rush, adding she had considered pausing her veterinary studies to give herself one more year of competition.

"When we graduate, there's suddenly no place for us to compete."

- Still burning passion -

Minutes before a herd of cattle was loosed onto the streets in a raucous recreation of a cattle drive, Edwin Du, 66, said he had been impressed by the performance of women competitors in recent years.

However, Du, a member of the rodeo's board of directors, insisted the lack of a pro category for women was down to a lack of interest.

"When women graduate, they no longer have time, because they will have babies or they will have to stay at home," he told AFP.

Lucky Udarbe, one of Matutino's trainers, begged to differ.

"What men can do, we women can do," the former competitor told AFP near a pen filled with restless cattle.

Udarbe said she would still be competing if it were allowed.

"That's the passion in my heart that's still burning."

"We can't say that this is just for men," agreed Clodualdo, who added the sport was far more technique than strength.

A day later, Christel's years of lassoing chairs would pay off against the real thing, as she set the fastest roping time on her way to claiming the title of "rodeo queen".

Clodualdo had told AFP he never cheered at rodeos, not even for his daughter.

After she roped her steer in just 7.64 seconds, he broke his rule.

cwl-pam/cms

YouTube is offering Hollywood celebrities and entertainers a free detection tool to help combat their deepfakes, expanding the Google-owned video platform's efforts to guard against AI-driven impersonations.

Last month, YouTube introduced its likeness protection tool -- which helps identify content in which a person's face appears altered or generated using AI technology -- to government officials, journalists, and political candidates.

The platform is now extending access to entertainers including actors and musicians, who face a heightened risk of having their likeness misused -- potentially harming their careers and distorting shared realities.

"We're expanding our likeness detection technology to the entertainment industry: talent agencies, management companies, and the celebrities they represent," YouTube said earlier this week.

Likeness detection "looks for AI-generated content with a participant’s likeness, like a deepfake of their face, and gives them the power to find it and request removal."

The video giant added that celebrities and entertainers were eligible to access the tool regardless of whether they have a YouTube channel.

"YouTube opening its deepfake detection capabilities to public figures reflects a turning point in how platforms approach identity protection in the age of generative AI," Alon Yamin, chief executive and co-founder of AI content detection platform Copyleaks, told AFP.

"The technology to replicate a person's face, voice, and mannerisms has advanced faster than the safeguards around it, creating a gap that bad actors are already exploiting."

- High stakes -

The move comes after hyper-realistic AI videos of dead celebrities -- created with apps such as OpenAI's easy-to-use Sora -- rapidly spread online, prompting debate over the control of deceased people's likenesses.

OpenAI's app also unleashed a flood of videos of celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley.

Last month, OpenAI said it was shutting down its Sora app.

In February, Irish director Ruairí Robinson created a stunningly realistic clip featuring Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise on a rooftop using a two-sentence prompt.

The widely circulated clip, which sparked alarm across Hollywood, was generated with Seedance 2.0, an AI video generation tool owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance.

Robinson also created other videos depicting Pitt battling a sword-wielding "zombie ninja," and another showing him teaming up with Cruise to fight a robot.

Charles Rivkin, the chairman and chief executive of the Motion Picture Association, called on ByteDance to "immediately cease its infringing activity," accusing it of disregarding copyright law that protects creators and underpins millions of jobs.

YouTube said it was working with leading talent agencies to refine how likeness detection can protect entertainers.

The video giant is "doing the right thing by providing these tools at no cost to the talent, so they can protect their real estate," Jason Newman of the management and production firm Untitled Entertainment told The Hollywood Reporter.

"Their real estate is their face. Their real estate is their body. Their real estate is who they are, what they do, how they say it."

The expansion of the detection tool follows complaints from high-profile Americans about YouTube's cumbersome process for flagging and removing deepfakes from the platform –- especially as AI accelerates the creation of fabricated content.

"For celebrities, executives, and other high-profile individuals, the stakes are especially high as deepfakes can be used to spread misinformation, manipulate markets, damage reputations, or falsely imply endorsement. Robust detection is no longer optional," said Yamin.

"Detection systems must be highly accurate, continuously updated, and paired with clear policies and swift takedown processes to be effective. 

"This won't eliminate deepfakes entirely, but it can significantly reduce their reach and impact by making it harder for manipulated content to go undetected or unchallenged," he added.

ac/sla

Laura Jacobs thought she'd never wear animal fur, having witnessed years of protests over its use in clothing -- until suddenly she started spotting it all over New York.

Jacobs fished out the long mink her grandmother left her years ago and took it to a Manhattan furrier to give it a second act.

Fur "was stigmatized for so long," Jacobs told AFP, posing before a full-length mirror and assessing a potential crop.

But the return of real fur "fits with everything that's going on with recycling and bringing back vintage," she said.

"I never would have bought a fur coat," Jacobs said, adding that the thought of "killing animals like that" gave her pause.

But "this felt like I was recycling it," she said.

New York is thawing out after a particularly cruel winter that's included debates over fur's revival as influencers push the look and retail sites report a jump in searches for vintage pieces.

Business owners like Larry Cowit -- who inherited and runs his family's Madison Avenue Furs -- are celebrating a sales spike.

"I have girls as young as 20 years old walking in, coming in from college, and putting on a fox jacket," Cowit told AFP. "We haven't seen that in quite a while."

Noelle Sciacca -- head of fashion at the high-end resale site The RealReal -- said "interest in fur has accelerated dramatically," with searches for vintage fur on their website nearly tripling in 2025 from 2024.

The trend is "booming across the board," she told AFP, "but real fur is clearly leading the surge."

Sciacca owes part of the interest to "sustainable, accessible resale options," which she said "has made consumers feel comfortable embracing fur as both stylish and thoughtful."

- Muddled public opinion -

The global fashion industry's use of fur has been on the outs for decades. 

Synthetic, cheaper alternatives have gained traction, and animal rights activists continue to push dropping the real thing.

Demonstrators recently urged Milan Fashion Week to go fully fur-free. New York's Fashion Week fur ban goes into effect in September 2026.

Many major designers have vowed to stop using it, including Prada, Michael Kors and Saint Laurent.

The European Commission meanwhile is reviewing a citizen's initiative that drew millions of signatures urging an EU-wide ban on fur farming. A spokesperson told AFP the commission would communicate in the coming weeks whether it would propose such a prohibition.

Yet the culture's court of public opinion has grown muddled, notably as concerns about fast fashion and petroleum-based materials grow.

"I always imagine all of the faux-fur coats being produced right now melting into a puddle of plastic. The idea of reuse and recycling can include vintage fur," Vogue archivist Laird Borrelli-Persson said in comments recently published by the fashion magazine.

"The question for me is whether wearing vintage fur increases the appetite for lookalikes -- either faux or new fur."

Real fur coats demand consistent upkeep. The skins contain natural oils, and garments not kept in a temperature-controlled environment -- ideally off-season in cold vaults -- can dry out and disintegrate.

"It's biodegradable," said Cowit.

But Ashley Byrne of animal rights group PETA said buying vintage under the banner of sustainability is "well-meaning but misguided."

She told AFP that shoppers who didn't grow up exposed to footage from inside fur farms should "understand that wearing any fur that came from the back of an animal who was tortured and killed is endorsing things that we're sure they do not want to support."

- Online influence -

Cowit said their ratio of vintage to new fur sales is now approximately 70 to 30. Pre-owned coats can go anywhere from $500 to $10,000, and the average mink is $1,500 to $1,800, he said.

He credits the internet with boosting business: "The influencers on social media have really changed the whole world."

Part of the online drive stems from the "mob wife" aesthetic that's trended on TikTok in recent years, looks featuring flashy jewelry, animal prints, and -- you guessed it -- fur.

Madison Avenue Furs' Instagram features Cowit's niece posing on the shop's balcony in a variety of plush coats recalling "Sopranos"-esque fashion.

Stylist Renee May, who stopped by with shoppers looking to modernize their grandmother's coats and check out new jackets, told AFP "a lot of my clients are wearing their furs again."

Nicole Bellmier, 36, called the look "very nostalgic."

"It's something to pass down to our children," her cousin Dominique Defonte added.

mdo/mjf

Godzilla will be closer to audiences than ever before in "Godzilla Minus Zero," the film's Japanese director said.

"I don't think we've ever been able to get this close to Godzilla before," Takashi Yamazaki told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

Yamazaki said the legendary monster's roars — as well as the thunderous sound of his footsteps — will reverberate through theaters in an unprecedented way.

He said this is thanks to advancements in cinematic sound and visual effects in movie theatres, a place he described as Godzilla's natural habitat.

The director — who helmed the 2023 box-office smash "Godzilla Minus One," which earned an Oscar for Best Visual Effects — said bringing audiences back to the cinema is not a matter of personal taste but a responsibility for filmmakers.

"It falls partly on us — the filmmakers — to constantly create new experiences and provide reasons for people to want to go to the movies and spend their time there," he said after presenting a preview of "Godzilla Minus Zero" at the industry's annual convention in Las Vegas.

The new movie, set to hit US theaters in November, stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe, and is set in 1949, two years after the events of "Minus One."

The production centers on the Shikishima family, who, "at the beginning of the film, are truly happy."

"They have finally found a balance in what it means to be a family," Yamazaki said. "And then, once again, they are confronted with utter despair and a horrific tragedy."

The director added that audiences will be able to identify with the sheer effort required to summon the strength to recover and find the will to go on living. 

For the 61-year-old filmmaker, taking on a sequel presented specific challenges — chief among them, the task of outdoing himself.

"'Godzilla Minus One' was, fortunately, highly acclaimed and has become one of the most beloved Godzilla films of all time," he said. 

"That benchmark has become a new obstacle. Little did I know I was feeding my enemy," added the director.

But the chance to take a second pass at the monster gives him the opportunity to do things he couldn't last time around.

"I wasn't able to do everything with 'Godzilla Minus One,'" said Yamazaki. "So, one of my own new challenges is to put images and visuals on the screen that no one has ever seen before in a kaiju film." 

In the teaser the director presented at CinemaCon, Godzilla is seen face-to-face with the Statue of Liberty in New York.

The image caused a stir in the room, but Yamazaki cautioned that — beyond the expectations the clip generated — "the film will feature Japan much more than people imagine."

"That scene is very important for the character in the film, and it is a very impressive kind of scene," he added.

But "the focus was on the story, and on finding what was best for the narrative." 

In the streaming era, Yamazaki also insisted on the importance of the big screen for Godzilla -- and how the monster, having been born on it, could only truly be at home when he looms many feet tall on a giant projection.

"I think [Godzilla] really needs to rely on certain experiences that we can only have inside movie theaters," he said. 

pr/hg/mjf

A US soldier faces charges for using classified information to bet on online prediction markets related to the US operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

US Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, allegedly made over $400,000 by using the online platform Polymarket to bet on outcomes related to US forces arriving in Venezuela's capital Caracas and deposing Maduro -- an operation he helped plan and execute, according to justice officials. 

The US military launched strikes on Caracas on January 3, arresting Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and whisking them to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

"Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission...and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain," Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

Van Dyke faces one count of wire fraud, one count of an unlawful monetary transaction and three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, according to the indictment. 

The indictment marks the latest instance of insider information being used to bet on the actions of the second Trump administration.

Earlier in the year, six accounts on Polymarket made $1.2 million after betting that the United States would attack Iran on February 28, the day the war in the Middle East began.

No arrests have been made in connection with those bets, and so far there is no evidence US President Donald Trump or White House officials are linked to the transactions.

- Conflicts of interest -

Democratic lawmakers and other critics have accused Trump and his family of having conflicts of interest since the beginning of his second term.

In March, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform about "very productive" talks with Iran, sending oil prices downward and stocks surging -- and people who placed the flurry of futures trades beforehand likely pocketed tens of millions of dollars, according to calculations by a market operator for AFP. 

Members of the Trump family have also made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from cryptocurrencies, a market he has sought to deregulate.

And Trump's son Donald Jr. is a partner at 1789 Capital, which made a multi-million investment in Polymarket last year, leading the prediction market to name him as a company adviser.

If Van Dyke, who used Polymarket to wager, is convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. 

jgc/sla

King Charles III heads to the United States on Monday with transatlantic tensions over the Iran war and the Epstein scandal's long shadow threatening to intrude on the landmark visit.

Both Buckingham Palace and the British government have said the four‑day trip will honour the historic relationship between the two countries as the US marks 250 years of independence.

Charles's first US state visit as monarch comes at the request of the UK government and President Donald Trump and will be made with Queen Camilla, according to the palace.

However, as the American leader's war with Iran drives a rare wedge between London and Washington, it has generated considerable controversy. 

Trump has repeatedly lambasted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his war opposition, alongside his government's immigration and energy policies.

"This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with," Trump grumbled in March, adding the so-called special relationship was "not like it used to be". The American leader has also mocked the perceived state of Britain's armed forces -- of which the king is commander-in-chief.

In turn, Starmer has stepped up his public criticism of the war, while stressing the breadth and depth of UK-US ties in defending the state visit. An early April YouGov poll found 48 percent of Britons support cancelling it.

"Often what the monarchy is able to do, through the bonds that they build, is reach through the decades in a situation like this," Starmer told MPs when asked why the trip was going ahead.

Trump -- a vocal admirer of the royals whose mother was Scottish -- told the BBC on Thursday the visit could "absolutely" help repair relations, praising the king as "fantastic".

- 'Politics' -

Charles, 77, showcased his diplomatic skills during Trump's state visit to Britain last September, with Royal Holloway University of London monarchy expert Craig Prescott noting he is "generally very good" at navigating such occasions. 

Prescott said the independence anniversary provided a useful "get out" for the British side to argue the trip is "not about Keir Starmer and Donald Trump, per se".

But he acknowledged it was "that little bit closer to politics" than usual and Charles would likely address the "very big elephant in the room" in a coded way in his speech Tuesday to the US Congress.

The first British monarch to address Congress since his mother, the late queen Elizabeth II, in 1991, he will mark the two countries' shared history and deep ties, the palace has said.

"He might refer to how the special relationship has perhaps waxed and waned over time," Prescott predicted, arguing Charles has proven to be a "better speaker" than his mother. 

But Graham Smith, of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, argued the king will "go through the rituals without offering anything of substance". 

The only critical thing "about this pointless trip is how Trump behaves," he said on X. 

Meanwhile, the scandal around late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatens to encroach on the highly choreographed tour.

Charles has faced a major crisis over the friendship his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously known as prince Andrew, had with the late billionaire, who died in prison in 2019.

The longstanding controversy intensified after Andrew was arrested in mid-February following new revelations over their links.

- 'Out of touch' -

The king, who stripped his disgraced brother of his titles in October, said "the law must take its course" in a rare personally signed statement.

Andrew, who remains under police investigation, has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

Several US lawmakers have unsuccessfully urged the ex-prince to testify before Congress about Epstein.

Democrat Ro Khanna wrote to Charles in March requesting the king meet victims privately, while the family of late Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre made a similar demand.

Palace sources have told UK media a meeting "will not be possible", arguing it could "impact on (police) inquiries, or the proper course of the law".

Khanna told The Times this month that declining would make Charles look "out of touch" and "diminishes the credibility of the monarchy for future generations".

But he added acknowledging the survivors and their struggle for justice in his Congress address "would go a long way".

The visit, which will see the royals have tea with Trump and first lady Melania and attend a state dinner, appears meticulously planned to avoid unscripted moments.

Only photographers will capture Tuesday's Oval Office meeting between Trump and Charles, limiting chances for the king to be blindsided by the unpredictable US leader and reporters. 

Charles and Camilla will visit New York on Wednesday, touring the 9/11 memorial, before departing Thursday for Bermuda for his first visit to a British overseas territory as monarch.

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A contentious bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales was set to fail Friday after running out of parliamentary time, having been stuck in the UK's unelected upper house.

In a historic vote last June, the lower House of Commons backed legalising euthanasia for adults who have been given less than six months to live and can clearly express a wish to die.

But more than 1,200 amendments to the bill have been introduced in the second chamber, the House of Lords, meaning it will not pass before the end of the current parliamentary session.

Under the proposed change in the law, Britain would emulate several other countries in Europe and elsewhere that allow some form of assisted dying, including Belgium and the Netherlands.

But both chambers of parliament must approve the legislation for it to become law, and bills that are still in progress when a session ends usually fail.

Supporters of the bill claim opponents in the Lords deliberately blocked the law by introducing over 1,000 amendments.

A debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is scheduled for Friday, with the end of this parliamentary session expected to be announced imminently.

More than 200 peers signed a letter late on Thursday saying the bill "will fall as a result of deliberate delaying tactics pursued by a minority of peers opposed to its passage".

Kim Leadbeater, the MP who introduced the draft bill in late 2024, vowed to try again at the next session.

She insisted she will "keep pushing for a safer, more compassionate law until parliament reaches a final decision".

"This delay, this lack of a vote, this lack of choice has a real human cost," said campaigner Rebecca Wilcox outside parliament on Wednesday.

Wilcox is the daughter of popular British broadcaster Esther Rantzen who is terminally ill and has spearheaded the campaign for a law change.

"I can't help feeling unbelievably furious that we are here again when we should be celebrating a vote," she told the PA news agency.

- Coercion fears -

Critics including the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF), which represents medical professionals opposed to assisted dying, said they were "relieved" that a bill they regarded as flawed would not become law.

The bill's failure to progress highlighted "a difficult but important truth: it is not possible to construct an assisted suicide service that is safe, equitable, and resistant to placing unacceptable pressure on the most vulnerable", a spokesperson said in statement to AFP.

Supporters of the bill say legalised euthanasia will give people with an incurable illness dignity and choice at the end of their lives.

Under the proposed legislation, any patient's wish to die would have to be signed off by two doctors and a panel of experts.

They would have to be able to administer the life-ending substance themselves.

Opponents of the bill in the upper house include Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson.

She has said she is not opposed to the principle of assisted dying but is against the bill in its current form due to worries about the vulnerabilities of disabled people and possible coercion.

The demise of the bill comes as a healthy 56-year-old British woman said she planned to take her life at a Swiss suicide clinic in coming days, in an illustration of the complexity of the issue.

Wendy Duffy has said she is determined to end her life due to overwhelming grief at the loss of her only child in a freak accident, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

Lawmakers in the self-governing British dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man have already approved euthanasia legislation but the moves are still awaiting royal assent.

Lawmakers in Edinburgh in March rejected a bill in the devolved Scottish parliament to legalise assisted dying.

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