Colombian officials discovered a body Friday amid the search for a U.S. flight attendant who went missing in the country last weekend. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. Medellin Mayor Federico Gutiérrez announced the discovery in a post on X, saying that “a lifeless body has just been found between the municipality of Jericó and Puente Iglesias,” in the northeast region of the South American country. The mayor said the body was likely that of Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from Texas who vanished while out with colleagues in Medellín, Colombia, during a layover. “There is a very high probability that it is this person. The lifeless body is being transported to legal medicine in Medellín for identification and recognition,” Gutiérrez wrote on X. “We express our solidarity to his family and friends. I have just…

Travelers frustrated by long security lines may not see immediate relief, even as Transportation Security Administration officers begin receiving pay again on Monday after working without wages for more than a month during the partial government shutdown. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing federal officials to ensure that TSA workers are paid despite the shutdown, breaking a more than 40-day stretch in which officers went without salaries. But the move is unlikely to bring instant relief at airport checkpoints, according to former TSA Administrator John S. Pistole. “It’s a temporary fix,” he told NBC News. The more pertinent question, he said, is how many workers actually return to their posts now that paychecks are set to resume Monday. More than 500 officers have quit during the shutdown, according to the Department of Homeland Security, while thousands more have called out because they can’t afford basic expenses. TSA…

Todd and Janet Gatewood launched their Nashville-based radio show “God, Freedom and Bitcoin” in January, blending their passion for cryptocurrency with their strong faith. Then the market crashed. At roughly $69,000 on Thursday, the price of the cryptocurrency is down by 45%, struggling to recover and nowhere near the $126,000 high it reached in October. But the couple sees the slide as a blessing. Janet, a real estate agent in the Nashville, Tennessee, area, told her husband and a guest appearing on a Feb. 9 show that she hoped to close on more houses, so she could buy bitcoin at a lower price. “This is what we call ‘on sale,’” she said. “Buy the dip. If you’ve ever heard anything in the bitcoin space, this is when you want to buy.” The Gatewoods are among a diverse group of Christian financial influencers, entrepreneurs and even pastors working to pitch the…

A flurry of bets made prior to major announcements about the Iran war has ramped up speculation that individuals or groups with advance knowledge of U.S. military plans are cashing in on insider information. And while prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi now say they are taking more proactive measures designed to prevent such illicit activity, experts say there have been few signs so far that Trump administration regulators are cracking down. “You need the deterrent factor that exists on the government side,” said Chris Ehrman, an attorney who previously served as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s whistleblower office. Without it, he said, simply allowing the platforms to self-regulate often amounts to “whipping them with a wet noddle.” So far, the suspect bets have been largely concentrated on Polymarket, a platform that allows users to wager on the likelihood of certain events taking place. But in at least…

President Donald Trump is used to bending financial markets to his will. But with the war in Iran, he may have reached the limit of his ability to do so. On Friday, the S&P 500 closed down 1.7% and notched its fifth-straight weekly decline, its worst stretch since 2022 and a sign of rapidly faltering confidence in a swift resolution to the Iran war. Since the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28, the S&P 500 has declined about 7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.7% Friday and has lost nearly 4,000 points since the start of the war. It is now down more than 10% from its most recent high, a correction in technical terms. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell further into correction territory Friday, closing down 2% and off 13% since its record close in October. Oil prices also rose sharply, with U.S. crude topping $100 a barrel and…

A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk to national security and cutting off the AI company’s work with federal agencies. Anthropic sued the Defense Department and other federal agencies this month after the Pentagon labeled it a “supply-chain risk to national security.” President Donald Trump said he would also ban the use of Anthropic’s products across other federal agencies. “Defendants’ designation of Anthropic as a ‘supply chain risk’ is likely both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious,” U.S. District Judge Rita Lin of Northern California wrote in her order Thursday night. “The Department of War provides no legitimate basis to infer from Anthropic’s forthright insistence on usage restrictions that it might become a saboteur.” Lin paused her order for a week to allow the administration time to appeal. The Defense Department and the White House did not immediately…

WASHINGTON — The Senate agreed unanimously early Friday to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but without funding for immigration enforcement and deportation operations. Senators approved the package at 2:20 a.m. by voice vote following a marathon session. The 42-day funding lapse has seen them go without pay, leading many to call out of work and causing long lines at airports. While the measure still needs to pass the House, the Senate vote paves the way to allow airports to fully function again. The legislation would fund all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which Democrats have refused to vote for without significant reforms to immigration raids and deportation practices. The deal followed arduous bipartisan negotiations that occurred in fits and starts over the last six weeks, succumbing to the impasse around policy changes to immigration enforcement. Under the new plan, Democrats get their…

Federal authorities are investigating a close call this week involving a military helicopter and a United Airlines plane approaching John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. United Airlines Flight 589 was approaching the airport in Orange County around 8:40 p.m. Tuesday when a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter crossed its path, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Pilots on the United Airlines plane were advised by air traffic control to watch for the military helicopter flying near the airport, United Airlines said. “They saw the helicopter, and also received a traffic alert, which they responded to by leveling the aircraft,” United said. The United flight with 162 passengers and six crew members landed safely. The new investigation comes a week after the FAA issued a new airport safety order designed to improve safety near airports where helicopters cross both arrival and departure paths. The order suspends use of visual separation between airplanes…

U.S. stocks and bonds sold off Thursday and oil continued its weekslong upward trajectory, as optimism faded about possible peace talks or a U.S.-Iran ceasefire. The price of U.S. crude oil rose near $95 per barrel, up more than 4%. International Brent crude rose 5%, to more than $109 per barrel. Since the war started, the cost of U.S. crude oil is up more than 40%. Since the start of the year, it has risen more than 60%. The S&P 500 closed down by 1.7%, the Dow tumbled 470 points and the Russell 2000 ended the day down 1.7%. For the S&P 500, Thursday was its worst single day since the war began. The Nasdaq Composite fared the worst though, and dropped nearly 2.4%, pushing the index into correction territory. A correction is when an index falls 10% or more from its most recent all-time high. As of Thursday’s close,…

U.S. stocks rose Wednesday and global oil prices fell in yet another volatile trading session as traders and investors were buffeted by constant headlines about the war in Iran. News of a 15-point U.S. peace plan proposal sparked hopes early in the day that the Trump administration was moving to end its monthlong war against Iran. Initially, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 futures rose more than 1%. But reports that Iran had responded negatively to the proposal briefly knocked index futures off their pre-market highs and lifted oil prices off their morning lows. Despite the early setback, stocks closed the trading day higher. At 4 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 index was up about 0.4%, the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.7% higher, and the Dow jumped 305 points. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.1%. The price of U.S. crude oil also traded off its lowest levels…