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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — As bitcoin reached historic highs, surpassing $100,000 for the first tim e, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele was triumphant on Thursday about his big bet on the cryptocurrency. The adoption of bitcoin — which has been legal tender in the Central American nation since 2021 — never quite matched the president’s enthusiasm, but the value of the government’s reported investment now stands at more than $600 million. Bitcoin has rallied mightily since Donald Trump’s election victory last month, exceeding the $100,000 mark on Wednesday night, just hours after the president-elect said he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to be the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Just two years ago, bitcoin’s volatile value fell below $17,000. Bitcoin fell back below the $100,000 by Thursday afternoon, sitting just above $99,000 by 3 p.m. E.T. Bukele on Thursday blamed his beleaguered political opposition for causing many Salvadorans to miss out on the bonanza. There were street protests when the Congress made bitcoin legal tender in June 2021, though that move was not the only motivation for the protesters. The tiny Central American country has long used the dollar as currency, but Bukele promised bitcoin would provide new opportunities for El Salvador’s unbanked and cut out money transfer services from the remittances Salvadorans abroad send home. The government offered $30 in bitcoin to those who signed up for digital wallets. Many did so, but quickly cashed out the cryptocurrency. “It’s important to emphasize that not only did the opposition err resoundingly with bitcoin, but rather, differently from other issues (where they have also been wrong), this time their opposition affected many,” Bukele wrote on Facebook. Bukele drew an “impressive” comment from Elon Musk on the social media platform X Thursday. El Salvador’s former Central Bank President Carlos Acevedo pointed out on Thursday that while there has been a gain, it remains an unrealized one until the government’s bitcoin is sold. That said, he credited Bukele’s administration with doing well on the bitcoin move, especially in light of Trump’s election. Acevedo said “the markets’ optimism that a Trump administration will be friendly with the markets and particularly with bitcoin” explained its sustained rally over the past month. But the cryptocurrency’s volatility was a persistent risk, he said. “The average Salvadoran doesn’t use bitcoin, but obviously there are Salvadorans with economic resources who even before had already invested in bitcoin, but it is a small group,” Acevedo said. Esteban Escamilla, a worker in a clothing store in Santa Tecla, outside the capital San Salvador, said he had cashed out the original $30 of bitcoin offered in 2021. “I don’t use bitcoin because I don’t have (money) to invest and speculate with, but I know it has gone up a lot,” he said, recognizing that he would have more money now if he had kept it in bitcoin. Josefa Torres, 45, said as she was doing her grocery shopping that she didn’t have any bitcoin either. “I took out the money and used it for household expenses,” she said. At the conclusion of meetings between the International Monetary Fund and El Salvador’s government in August, the IMF issued a statement that mentioned the country’s bitcoin holdings. “While many of the risks have not yet materialized, there is joint recognition that further efforts are needed to enhance transparency and mitigate potential fiscal and financial stability risks from the Bitcoin project,” the IMf said.

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FLORENCE — Texas Department of Public Safety will graduate 130 recruits next week following 29 weeks of rigorous physical, mental and situational training, part of which occurred just 20 miles south of Killeen. Class B-2024, which began May 20, is about to complete the rigorous six-month course. Last week, officials held a joint field training exercise at the DPS Tactical Training Center in Florence in Williamson County. “We provide a quality of training which is excellent,” said the facility’s Assistant Chief of Training Derek Prestridge. “Our intensive program and in-resident training brings value to our academy and a level of excellence that is a part of the core value of this organization.” Texas Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief of Training Lt. Derek Prestridge explains some of the strategies taught at the training center near Florence. The in-resident training allows recruits to experience the physical challenges of being away from family members and friends. One instructor said the arrangements inside the building where recruits stay are not like hotel accommodations. Recruits sleep on cots, or on the floor, or periodically wherever they can catch a nap. The reasoning behind this type of training is to see how recruits deal with mental and emotional situations which may be brought on by uncomfortable accommodations or the lack of adequate sleep, rest and daily schedule. For a portion of the physical training, there are 16 stations set up throughout the 200-acre training area. The training center has a three-mile track used to teach vehicle dynamics, coned skill courses, a road course, pursuit and emergency response tactics. There are three towers which give instructors the ability to run all electrical signs, lights, gates, security cameras and for visual observation. The Texas DPS training facility near Florence is home to 130 recruits who reside there during the last week of skills training The driving course is designed to teach precision driving skills within the urban environment, skid control and high-speed pursuit skills. The course is also used to teach crash investigation techniques. Included on the course: a paved level surface which, when wet, offers a slick surface to practice driving in those conditions in order to prepare for real-life situations. On Thursday, instructors had set up several exercises which would simulate conditions similar to a traffic stop. The first exercise involved a civilian vehicle which appeared to be broken down on the side of a road. Recruits are given no more information than that as they drive toward the vehicle, stop and attempt to survey the situation. The recruit attempts to make contact with a man who is under the hood of the vehicle by shouting out. In this case, the man yells back at the recruit to go away. As the recruit steps closer to the man’s vehicle it appears he has a gun and begins to shoot at the recruit. The recruit returns fire, appearing to have hit the man who falls to the ground, and is still. The recruit moves to the rear of the DPS vehicle, while using the radio to notify a dispatcher that help is needed and the important details of the stop. This all happens very quickly, in a matter of minutes. After the role-play is complete, instructors who have shadowed the recruit and watched from a close proximity, give the recruit feedback. These drills are run several times throughout the training period in many different circumstances. Another exercise involved a situation in which another trooper might be using excessive force. The recruit is told he is being called to assist in the take-down of a criminal, but when the recruit approaches, the original trooper appears to be using a baton to hit his suspect in the back of the head with excessive force. In this case, the recruit had to quickly assess the scene, determine the severity of the troopers actions and decide how to assist. One recruit used his own strength to pull the offending trooper off the suspect while assessing whether or not the trooper was in control of himself and his actions. Then, in an instant, the recruit apprehended the suspect and called dispatch to alert them of the situation. Another recruit was set up at the same station a few minutes later to test their assessment and action taken. This time, after pulling the trooper from the suspect, the recruit pushed the offending trooper to the ground and proceeded to handcuff him. When asked why by his instructors later, the recruit said the trooper appeared to continue his bad behavior even after the recruit arrived and told him to stop. These two exercises had very different endings and neither were wrong, according to instructor Lt. Michael Monaghan. “In the second case, the recruit felt they might be in danger, due to the aggressive demeanor of the trooper,” Monaghan said. “This is all part of the training and could happen out in the real world.” In this first exercise, the recruit in the gray shirt has pulled over to assess the situation of a car with a raised hood on the side of the road. The suspect is seen pulling a weapon from his pants and the recruit must call on her training to follow through with the stop. In another exercise, recruits were tested at an intersection where the driver of a vehicle sped past and the task was to make a traffic stop. It was all going along well, until the other driver decided to speed away from the stop taking some twisting turns and leaving the roadway. After pursuing the driver with sirens, lights and a PA call to pull over, the driver slowed down again. Before the recruit could stop his vehicle, the driver of the other car was off again, finally coming to a stop several hundred yards in front of the recruit. By this time, a second DPS vehicle had joined the pursuit as back up. The remainder of the stop consisted of giving the suspect directions as the recruits from both vehicles trained their guns on him. There was a series of commands given in order to subdue the driver, check the vehicle for other passengers and calm the situation down. In this exercise, there were several options open to the recruits to complete the test. “If an instructor believes additional training is needed, recruits will circle back through the situations that gave them difficulty,” Monaghan said. “The purpose of this is to help recruits feel at ease with their decisions and to develop the confidence to make snap decisions and follow-through in a safe manner.” Monaghan also pointed out that on every stop there are so many variables that they couldn’t possibly set them all up. He also said that the academy brings in experts in their field to assist in some of the scenarios. There are emerging threats that come up and the training needs to stay ahead and up to date with the latest methods, technology and strategies. The mission of the DPS’s Training Operations Division is to prepare law enforcement leaders and peace officers to meet 21st Century demands and challenges. The division develops a wide variety of world-class training and education programs and delivers them to public safety professionals within the department and throughout the state. Recruits, in the gray shirts, hold a suspect at gunpoint and verbally instruct him on how to proceed during this traffic stop exercise. “The Texas Department of Public Safety is committed to recruiting and training a diverse workforce that reflect our values of integrity, excellence, accountability and teamwork,” Prestridge said. The rigorous recruit training includes the basic peace officer course, which exceeds mandatory licensing requirements established by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Trooper trainees are educated by experts on criminal and traffic law enforcement, crash investigation, crisis intervention, use of force, emergency casualty care, criminal investigations, communications, cultural diversity, fitness and wellness and many other areas, gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to perform the job of a highway patrol trooper anywhere in Texas. “The Texas DPS is the premier law enforcement agency in the state, as well as one of the finest in the nation,” according to the state’s website. In order to meet the many challenges facing law enforcement today, the department operates a world-class training program. Law Enforcement Education educates and trains recruits, troopers, agents, and other law enforcement officers across the state. Students study tactical vehicle operation, firearms, use of force, effective report writing, communications skills, and first aid, as well as other topics. Physical training and arrest and control tactics training are also core elements of the program. At the end of training, recruits are taken to DPS headquarters in Austin and given a chance to prepare for graduation. The annual DPS Legacy Run took place on Friday. The four-mile run went from the DPS Fallen Officers Memorial at DPS headquarters to the Peace Officers Memorial at the Texas State Capitol. First implemented in 2008, recruits and instructors have said it is a way to mark the end of the 30-week training academy. According to the DPS website, trooper trainees are accompanied by their instructors, members of DPS leadership and often times DPS retirees. Before leaving the Training Center, Prestridge talked about the relationship DPS has with legislators in Austin. “Our training brings value to the state,” Prestridge said. “We have the ear of legislators and have worked with them to help equip our facilities and provide state-of-the art technology. The way we invest in our personnel makes this a law enforcement agency of excellence.”

Last month, the film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, “ Wicked ,” released in theaters, breaking box office records. A viral post online prompts people to share photos they took while watching the movie. “Show ur ‘wicked part 1’ photos,” the post says. Although many people are aware that video recording inside the theater is illegal, others replied to the post with photos they took in their local movie theater, sparking a discussion online about whether it’s legal to take those pictures. Movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse responded to the post calling for photos, writing “Or, don't do that.” THE QUESTION Is it illegal to take pictures of movies at the theaters? THE SOURCES THE ANSWER Yes, it is illegal to take pictures of movies at the theaters. WHAT WE FOUND Taking photos of a movie in theaters is illegal under federal copyright laws. Movie theaters also ban the practice. United States Code 2319B states that “any person who, without the authorization of the copyright owner, knowingly uses or attempts to use an audiovisual recording device to transmit or make a copy of a motion picture or other audiovisual work protected under title 17, or any part thereof, from a performance of such work in a motion picture exhibition facility” could face up to three years in prison, fines, or both. If it's a subsequent offense, prison time can increase to up to six years. Audiovisual recording devices are defined under the law to be “a digital or analog photographic or video camera, or any other technology or device capable of enabling the recording or transmission of a copyrighted motion picture or other audiovisual work.” By that definition, cell phones or any still image camera would be included. In addition, the crime is not limited to distributing or sharing illegal work. The very act of taking the picture is in itself illegal. While the law “emerged in response to the growing threat of piracy in the digital age,” Eisner Gorin LLP says it “targets the act of recording itself, regardless of whether the recorded content is distributed or used for personal gain.” Federal law gives theater employees the authority to detain anyone suspected of violating the law. Many movie theaters have outlined in their rules that filming or taking photos during a movie is strictly prohibited. For example, Regal’s admittance policy says , “No recording devices (cameras, video recorders, sound recorders, etc.) are permitted to be used within any Regal Entertainment Group facility.” AMC Theaters has a similar policy, with its code of conduct stating , “In support of federal law, camera use is not permitted in our auditoriums” Related Articles The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter , text alerts and our YouTube channel . You can also follow us on Snapchat , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok . Learn More » Follow Us Want something VERIFIED? Text: 202-410-8808

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Steve Harvey’s New Holiday Photo of Wife Marjorie Has Fans Declaring Him a ‘Blessed Man’'Gutted for the girls' as claims grow against football starTHIS is the shocking moment a toddler walked out of his cell in Syria’s infamous Saydnaya military prison, a site dubbed the "industrial torture chamber" of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The boy's confusion was met with cries of "Allahu Akbar" — "God is greatest" — as jubilant rebel fighters stormed the facility near Damascus, unlocking doors and freeing hundreds of female inmates. Saydnaya prison, notorious for its systemic torture and mass executions, symbolised the Assad regime's brutal reign. Amnesty International reports estimated that between 5,000 and 13,000 prisoners were hanged there since 2011. Inmates endured years of dehumanising conditions, with women and children often imprisoned alongside political detainees in a calculated campaign of fear. Footage shared on social media captured the heart-rending scene. Women wept with joy and children clung to newly freed relatives as rebels cut through padlocks and swung open cell doors. The toddler, hesitating at the threshold of his cell, became an emblem of innocence in a place synonymous with horror. Rebel fighters ushered survivors into waiting buses, which transported them to safety and reunion with loved ones. “We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners,” a rebel spokesperson declared. “This marks the end of the era of injustice in Saydnaya prison.” The prison's liberation comes amid a cascade of events that are toppling Assad's 24-year rule. After seizing Damascus in a swift and decisive offensive, rebel forces declared victory and announced that the city was "free of Assad." The dictator fled the capital on Sunday, reportedly aboard a plane that disappeared from radars. It is understood he has sought refuge in Moscow and is currently under Russian protection. The collapse of Assad's regime ignited celebrations across Syria. In the capital, thousands poured into the streets, waving rebel flags and lighting flares. Statues of Assad and his late father, Hafez, were toppled in symbolic acts of defiance. At Assad’s presidential palace, rebels filmed themselves looting valuables, including luxury vehicles and designer goods. While Damascus rejoiced, chaos unfolded in the wake of the regime's collapse. Rebels stormed embassies, including those of Iran and Italy, looting property and forcing evacuations. Assad loyalists who had not fled were paraded through the streets under armed guard. The broader conflict, however, remains complex. While the fall of Assad is celebrated, Syria is still fractured. Rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a controversial figure, has vowed inclusivity, stating that “Syria is for everyone, no exceptions.” Yet, tensions persist among various factions, with Turkish-backed forces clashing with Kurdish groups in the north, and ISIS maintaining a foothold in remote areas. The rebels face the monumental task of rebuilding a nation shattered by 13 years of war. An estimated half a million Syrians have died, and millions more have been displaced. Rebel leaders have pledged to establish a transitional government and rebuild the country on principles of democracy and pluralism. International reactions to Assad's fall are mixed. Israel has conducted airstrikes on suspected chemical weapon sites in Syria, and Russian military bases in the country are on high alert. Meanwhile, US President-elect Donald Trump has also stated that America should remain uninvolved in the uprising.