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      Bukele Proposes Deal That Would Free Deported Venezuelans

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      El Salvador’s president proposed on Sunday repatriating Venezuelan detainees sent to his country from the United States in exchange for the release of prisoners by Venezuela, including key figures in the Venezuelan opposition.“I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100 percent of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold,” President Nayib Bukele wrote in an X post directed at President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.Since March, the U.S. government has sent Venezuelans and Salvadorans accused of being affiliated with the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs to El Salvador, where Mr. Bukele agreed to hold convicted criminals for the United States, for a fee. Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, demanded the immediate release of the Venezuelans held in El Salvador late Sunday in a statement responding to Mr. Bukele. Mr. Saab didn’t whether the Venezuelan government would consider the proposal.The first flights to arrive in El Salvador carried 238 Venezuelans, many of whom were found not to have criminal records. Mr. Maduro responded explosively to the detention of Venezuelans by El Salvador’s government, telling Mr. Bukele not to be “an accomplice in this kidnapping.”Among the political prisoners in Venezuela named in Mr. Bukele’s post were several people detained by the Maduro government in a crackdown last year.He also said that as part of the swap, he would require Mr. Maduro to release “nearly 50 detained citizens of other nationalities,” including Americans.As of last month, at least 68 foreign passport holders were wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela, according to a Venezuelan watchdog group, Foro Penal. They are detained alongside roughly 900 Venezuelan political prisoners. The United Nations and independent watchdog groups have documented a pattern of human rights abuses by the Venezuelan government.The detention of critics and other politically useful figures comes as Mr. Maduro has lost support at home and abroad and has sought new forms of leverage. His goals include pushing the United States to renegotiate sanctions on his government.“Unlike you, who holds political prisoners,” Mr. Bukele wrote, “we do not have political prisoners. All the Venezuelans we have in custody were detained as part of an operation against gangs like Tren de Aragua in the United States.”Mr. Bukele said his government would send “the formal correspondence” and ended his message saying, “God bless the people of Venezuela.”Mr. Saab said that the Venezuelan government would be pressing El Salvador’s attorney general and Supreme Court for a list of the names of those who were detained, along with “proof of life and a medical report for each one.”Isayen Herrera More

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      Hegseth Said to Have Shared Attack Details in Second Signal Chat

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      The defense secretary sent sensitive information about strikes in Yemen to an encrypted group chat that included his wife and brother, people familiar with the matter said.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.Some of those people said that the information Mr. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen — essentially the same attack plans that he shared on a separate Signal chat the same day that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic.Mr. Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, is not a Defense Department employee, but she has traveled with him overseas and drawn criticism for accompanying her husband to sensitive meetings with foreign leaders.Mr. Hegseth’s brother Phil and Tim Parlatore, who continues to serve as his personal lawyer, both have jobs in the Pentagon, but it is not clear why either would need to know about upcoming military strikes aimed at the Houthis in Yemen.The previously unreported existence of a second Signal chat in which Mr. Hegseth shared highly sensitive military information is the latest in a series of developments that have put his management and judgment under scrutiny.Unlike the chat in which The Atlantic was mistakenly included, the newly revealed one was created by Mr. Hegseth. It included his wife and about a dozen other people from his personal and professional inner circle in January, before his confirmation as defense secretary, and was named “Defense | Team Huddle,” the people familiar with the chat said. He used his private phone, rather than his government one, to access the Signal chat.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Raised $239 Million for Inauguration, More Than Doubling His Own Record

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      The staggering amount, disclosed in a filing with the Federal Election Commission, was driven by corporate America’s eagerness to win the president’s favor.President Trump raised $239 million for his inauguration festivities in January, a norm-shattering amount fueled by corporate America’s desire to curry favor with a famously transactional president.The total, disclosed in a filing with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday, is more than double the previous record of $107 million set by Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017. About 140 different people or companies gave at least $1 million to the effort, including blue-chip companies like JPMorgan Chase, Delta Air Lines and Target.The committee, known formally as the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, is required by federal law to report the names of donors and the dollar amounts for contributions over $200 to the F.E.C. no more than 90 days after the Jan. 20 ceremony. It is not required to report how it spent the money.Many of the donations to Mr. Trump’s inauguration were previously announced — such as $1 million each from tech giants like Meta and Amazon — in part because companies wanted it known widely that they were backing Mr. Trump’s formal return to power. But the report revealed a few names not well-publicized, including several friends of Elon Musk, such as tech investors like John Hering, Ken Howery and Keith Rabois, who each gave $1 million. (Neither Mr. Musk, a top presidential adviser, nor any of his companies donated.)The three largest contributions came from a poultry producer, Pilgrim’s, which donated $5 million; a crypto company, Ripple Inc., which donated just under that; and Warren Stephens, a Republican donor who gave $4 million on the same day, Dec. 2, that Mr. Trump named him as his pick to be ambassador to Britain.Inaugurations, even with several days of elaborate dinners and other events, have never cost anything near roughly a quarter-billion dollars, and the amount raised by the committee will resurface questions about where any leftover funds might go. The committee has not said how much money it has spent, but the president’s allies have said that the remaining amount will be funneled to other Trump-sponsored projects, primarily a nonprofit organization that will build his presidential library.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Ten Commandments

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      On This Week’s Episode:Stories of people confronted with stealing, lying, killing and more of those old, primal rules of life.This is a rerun of an episode that first aired in May 2007.ratpack223/Getty ImagesNew York Times Audio is home to the “This American Life” archive. Download the app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. More

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      Syria’s Easter Celebrations Pass Peacefully, in Early Test of New Government

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      At one of the most famous Christian churches in Damascus, the Melkite Greek Catholic cathedral known as Al Zeitoun, the bishop spent part of Sunday’s Easter sermon comparing Jesus’s Resurrection to that of Syria.The metaphor was an obvious one. Less than five months have passed since Syrian rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad, putting a sudden end to the Assad family’s brutal half-century reign. The new Syria, liberated Syria, is still rising to its feet.But what that new nation will come to look like is an open question. While many Sunni Muslim Syrians have embraced the country’s new leaders, who espouse a conservative version of Islam, religious minorities who felt protected or empowered during Mr. al-Assad’s rule greeted the takeover with anxiety.Worshipers at the Orthodox Armenian Church in Damascus.Young people who attend Al Zeitoun church in the city streets on Saturday night.Easter, for Syria’s historically persecuted Christians, was therefore something of a test. How would the new government led by President Ahmed al-Shara, a former Al Qaeda member who says he has moderated and who has promised inclusivity and tolerance, handle one of Christianity’s most important holidays? Would it pass as peacefully as it had under Mr. al-Assad, who courted minority support with his secular outlook?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      3 Men Die in Fire in Overcrowded House in Queens

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      The house in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood had no working smoke detectors and was crammed with tenants, fire officials said.In a house on an affluent street in Queens, a tenant woke up early on Easter Sunday choking on black smoke.A fire had broken out on the first floor, where he lived in a cramped single room. “There were people screaming, jumping out the windows,” the tenant, Tony Rock, 40, said hours later. He described the scene in one word: “Hell.”Three men died in the fire, which started just after 1:30 a.m. on Chevy Chase Street in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood, a three-minute drive from the mansion where President Trump grew up.Firefighters arrived at the scene in less than four minutes, but the blaze ascended to the attic very quickly, fire officials said at a news conference on Sunday. The victims, men who were 45, 52 and 67 years old, died at the home, the police said. Eight other people were taken to area hospitals and were stable, the police said.The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. But officials said that the house was overcrowded with people, with makeshift partition walls creating small rooms.Possessions also blocked the stairways, and there were too many extension cords, the fire commissioner, Robert S. Tucker, said at the news conference. There were no working smoke detectors, he added.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      NYT Crossword Answers for April 21, 2025

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      Thomas van Geel’s second crossword is set in the ol’ factory.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — I don’t know what it was that inspired Thomas van Geel to come up with the theme of today’s crossword, but I want what he’s having. Solving this puzzle has me smiling from ear to ear with the kind of delight you wish you could bottle for darker days. I hope you’ll give it a try — and let me know whether you need a tissue afterward.Today’s ThemeUnlike themes that take shape within a couple of entries, identifying the [Polite response to the ends of 17-, 25-, 34- and 48-Across] requires solving all of the entries in question.17A’s [Coming-of-age ceremony] is a BAR MITZVAH. The [Place “rocked” in a Clash song] at 25A is THE CASBAH. An [Animal that can go 0-60 in three seconds] is a CHEETAH, at 34A. Let’s pause here to note the common ending of these entries, which is -AH. Will the same be true of 48A’s [Famed shoe designer]? Nope, it’s JIMMY CHOO.Now read the ends of these entries in order: AH … AH … AH … CHOO! The [Polite response] to this sequence at 56A is, of course, GESUNDHEIT.Tricky Clues14A. Top stories in the newspaper are found on the first page, called A1. But what’s [always the top story] of a house? Why, that’s the ATTIC.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bunnies, Bonnets, Brights and Blooms at New York’s Easter Parade

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      The hats were back out at the Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival in New York City on Sunday. Up and down Fifth Avenue in Midtown, spectators and Easter revelers alike were treated to a crowd wearing the most colorful costumes, and Sunday best, imaginable. The notable looks were plenty, from many variations of bunny to botanical confections and great sartorial tailoring harking back to the Jazz Age. And though there were also some elements of steam punk here and there, this year’s edition of the parade was light on genre concepts such as science fiction and fantasy. Overall, the day was a perfect bookend to a weekend of some incredible weather and summerlike vibes that permeated throughout the city.Bunny, in pink, with provisions.Beads and a bowtie to accompany blossoms.Bonnet, basket, shades, stripes — all set for the season.Butterflies made an appearance too.Not every blossom was strictly botanical.Lace and full-length florals.Riding high for the festivities.Mushrooms, moss and a big smile.Easter fashion on display in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.Have hats, and a takeout container, will travelClassy blues for all ages.Amid a sea of bright colors, a neutral moment.Even unadorned headwear made a statement.The perfect occasion for boutonniere-and-pocket-square coordination.Ready for an Easter fairy tale.The milliners guild, representing.Quite a floral trio.A bonnet dream house.A perfect day for peacocking.A flock of feathered friends.Polka dots, creating a perpetual confetti effect.Eggs abound, of both the deviled and golden variety.Who can say no to macaroni?An ode to New York City.A bunny and spring greens for the wrist.When the parade ends, these two know what time it is. More