WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday held the inaugural meeting of a new anti-fraud task force he’s leading as the Trump administration seeks to show it’s cracking down on potential misuse of social programs.

Vance, speaking Friday before the task force held a closed-door meeting, said that the federal government for decades had not taken the issue of fraud seriously and that it needed to be tackled with “a whole-government approach.”

“This is not just the theft of the American people’s money,” Vance said. “It is also the theft of critical services that the American people rely on.”

President Donald Trump, a Republican, has made a crackdown on fraud part of his chief domestic focus as voters have said they’re concerned about affordability ahead of November’s midterm elections. That effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, resulting in widespread protests.

Vance cited some of the Minnesota allegations on Friday. Last month, he held a news conference to announce a temporary halt of some Medicaid funding until the state took actions that federal officials said would address their concerns.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who faced Vance as a vice presidential candidate in 2024, has called it a “campaign of retribution” and said the Trump administration was “weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota.”

The task force is also the most visible assignment to date that Trump has given to Vance, who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

Vance and the task force, which includes about half the president’s Cabinet, the leader of a new Justice Department division focused on prosecuting fraud and Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, are set to meet regularly to look at rooting out potential fraud and waste in federal benefit programs.

Ferguson, who is vice chair of the task force, cast the issue of fraud as a dire crisis facing the country and said it “shreds the social trust on which these programs and our entire nation depend.”

“This fraud crisis is thus existential,” he said. “If we fail to address it, the fabric of our nation will swiftly unravel.”

Joining the task force was Colin McDonald, a top aide to the Justice Department’s second in command. He was recently confirmed as the assistant attorney general overseeing the new division at the department focused on prosecuting fraud.

The Justice Department has long prosecuted fraud nationally through its Criminal Division, but the Trump administration says the new division is needed to crack down on rampant fraud.

The latest rugby news and headlines from Wales and beyond

Here are your rugby evening headlines for Friday, March 27.

Politicians react to WRU bombshell

Politicians have reacted with approval following the news that Welsh Rugby Union chair Richard Collier-Keywood will step down from his role later this year.

The WRU announced on Friday afternoon that the under-fire chair will not seek a second term. Instead, Collier-Keywood, who was facing an EGM vote to oust him next month, will depart at the end of his term in July.

The 64-year-old has faced considerable criticism in recent months over the governing body’s plans to cut the number of professional teams from four to three.

Quite what his departure means for that plan, or next month’s EGM, remains to be seen. However, following the announcement, some of the chair’s most vocal critics have already responded.

Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart said: “So it looks like the EGM motion has now already succeeded without a vote being cast!

“There is a chance now for the WRU to change course and reengage with fans, clubs, players and public!

“The WRU should now accept that a new plan must quickly come forward. Clubs, players fans need certainty as quickly as possible. It will be financial madness for the WRU and outgoing chair to preside over months of further drift and uncertainty.

“Well done to the fantastic rugby public who have clearly made this happen.”

MP for Swansea West, Torsten Bell, also commented on Collier-Keywood’s departure.

“It’s right that Richard Collier-Keywood has decided to step back from leading the WRU,” said Bell. “It’s not just that on his watch the organisation brought forward the wrong plan for the future of Welsh rugby, but that they went about it in absolutely the wrong way.

“The truth is that the approach of trying to ride roughshod over near universal opposition to push through chaotic changes simply couldn’t work. Those brave clubs who put their heads above the parapet to call the EGM deserve huge credit for spelling that out.

“We now need a reset – as I said to the WRU chief executive just a few weeks ago. There needs to be a new plan and new way of working, not just a new face at the top.”

Pollock signs with Matchroom

England rugby star Henry Pollock has signed with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn’s new sporting talent agency, it has been announced.

The back rower becomes the second high profile name behind UFC fighter Tom Aspinall to team up with Hearn, and more are now expected to follow. Pollock is already one of the most talked about rugby players in the world, with his huge profile and confident personality making him highly marketable.

Hearn was recently present at the Wales v Italy Six Nations match, just days after announcing his new venture. The likes of Louis Rees-Zammit are also likely to be targets for Hearn as he looks to expand his portfolio of athletes.

“I’m delighted to be joining forces with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Talent Agency alongside Stellar Rugby, at such an exciting stage in my career,” Pollock said.

“Their experience and vision in the global sports market make them the perfect partners to help me grow both on and off the field, and I’m looking forward to what we can all achieve together.”

Hearn said: “I watched this kid and I immediately thought: superstar. I honestly believe he can singlehandedly ignite this sport and I am delighted to welcome him to the Matchroom family.

“With Henry, alongside UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall, we are building a team of all stars – and we have many more top names still to bring in as our new Matchroom Talent Agency makes huge strides forward.”

Morgan: Wales boys were brilliant

Wales skipper Jac Morgan has hailed the efforts of his international team-mates during the last Six Nations.

Morgan had to look on from the sidelines during this year’s tournament after a shoulder injury last autumn ruled him out.

He made his long-awaited comeback last weekend for club side Ospreys and ahead of the clash with Connacht this Saturday had a word for his Wales contemporaries.

“The boys were brilliant,” he said, adding: “You could see how the boys and the squad were growing, learning and getting better every week.

“I loved being there to support.

“It was great to see everything that they’ve been building on, working on and improving on coming to fruition in that last game.

“Being able to get that win, it was a great feeling. It’s an opportunity now to build on that and and hopefully take it into the summer.”

Andy Farrell not talking to RFU about England role ‘at present’ – Bill Sweeney

By Duncan Bech, Press Association Rugby Union Correspondent

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney insists there has been no contact with Andy Farrell as part of England’s succession planning for the time beyond next year’s World Cup.

Sweeney has indicated that current head coach Steve Borthwick will be given the summer tour to orchestrate a revival following an abject Six Nations campaign which saw England finish fifth having suffered four successive defeats.

If Borthwick delivers a satisfactory return against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in July, he will be in a position to see out his contract until Australia 2027 when it expires.

Farrell’s deal with Ireland also ends after the global showpiece and he revealed in the wake of the Six Nations that talks over an extension with the Irish Rugby Football Union will begin soon.

The head coach of last year’s British and Irish Lions tour would be the standout candidate to take over at Twickenham should it be decided by either Borthwick or the RFU that change is needed, but no discussions have taken place.

“He’s under contract to the 2027 World Cup,” Sweeney said of Farrell. “We’re not in a dialogue. We’re not in a discussion with him at the present.”

The review of England’s Championship will be completed by the end of next month and is being conducted by an anonymous panel of figures drawn from inside and outside the RFU with Sweeney, director of performance rugby Conor O’Shea and non-executive director Ben Kay among those involved.

Players and Borthwick’s assistant coaches are also being canvassed for their opinions on why the same team that registered their 12th successive victory when routing Wales in round one then collapsed to their worst ever Six Nations performance.

Although the review has yet to reach any conclusions on the events of the past few weeks, Sweeney’s inclination is to give Borthwick more time with England’s stirring performance against France in the climax to the tournament pointing to a brighter future.

“There is a lot of noise out there,” Sweeney said. “You’ve got to take emotion out of the equation. You just look at it purely in terms of: What was the performance? What were the issues? Why did they arise? And how do we fix them?

“I see the outcome being for us to make sure we have got the right support mechanisms in place to address them and support Steve to get that right going forward.

“We are really focussed on seeing progress again and seeing better and more consistent performances. That is the focus – it’s not a set number of wins or a percentage.

“It’s about getting back to the way we were playing. Steve talks about playing big. That has been the intention and you saw that against France.

“We still think this is an extremely strong squad that has got the potential and capability to do some really good things.”

The Senedd election on May 7, 2026, will decide the 96 politicians who will represent you in the Welsh Parliament. It will also decide the party which will lead the government, deciding on matters including health, education, councils, housing and agriculture.

WalesOnline will be hosting a debate between the six biggest political parties ahead of that election. The leaders of six Welsh political parties will be taking part:

• Conservatives: Darren Millar
• Green Party: Anthony Slaughter
• Labour: Eluned Morgan
• Liberal Democrats: Jane Dodds
• Plaid Cymru: Rhun ap Iorwerth
• Reform UK: Dan Thomas

The debate will be recorded on April 7, and before then we want your questions to put to the leaders to help you decide who to vote for. You can submit questions via this Google form or comment below.

This election will be unlike any other which has gone before for a number of reasons, you can read all those in full.

Polls are projecting that as well as the changes to the electoral system, there could be a huge change about how parties do.

Labour has been in power in Wales since the first Senedd in 1999, but polls project this time Plaid Cymru or Reform UK are likely to be the biggest party. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

As well as that the whole system is changing. You will elect more politicians via a new voting system. Until now, in Senedd elections you’ve had two votes. One for a constituency candidate and one for a regional one. This election you will have just one.

You will vote for a party, not a person, and each of the 16 constituencies will elect six representatives.

Instead of it being calculated via a first past the post system – the most votes wins – a proportional system is being used.

The Mayhem Ball – the concert tour for Lady Gaga’s 2025 album Mayhem – is set to conclude in April after a global run. The tour delivered everything fans have come to expect from the artist: spectacle, innovation and, above all, immersion in a gothic world.

The production is bursting with macabre theatricality, including concepts and images associated with the gothic tradition. Skeletons, doppelgängers, zombies, candelabra, cloaks, veils, dreams and nightmares are incorporated into intricate set designs and showstopping costumes. Themes of pain, death and rebirth frame the whole narrative of the show.

Gaga has often made interesting use of gothic motifs, so much so that she was a key source of inspiration for my new book Gothic Celebrity: Fame and Immortality from Lord Byron to Lady Gaga. In it, I examine the intersection of celebrity culture and the gothic across literature, visual media and popular culture.

I started writing the book in 2016, inspired by a significant wave of celebrity deaths and the public’s reactions to these losses – including David Bowie, Prince and George Michael. These deaths unsettled many people because modern celebrity culture has established an expectation of the celebrity’s immortality.

Fame, immortality and the gothic

Described by some as the first celebrity, the Romantic poet Lord Byron’s posthumous fame was maintained in the years following his death by various cultural artefacts. These included a statue in Cambridge University’s Trinity College and two illustrated books published by William and Edward Finden in the 1830s.

In the 21st century, digital technology now serves this purpose. Three years after her death, actor Carrie Fisher was digitally resurrected for her role as Princess Leia in the 2019 Star Wars film The Rise of Skywalker with the help of CGI. Holograms of deceased celebrities have also been used for music performances, such as in 2020 for An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour.

In western culture, our relationship with celebrities revolves around a tension between renewal and decay. We want celebrities to be immortalised; we do not want them to age or die. Technological preservation or the reinvention of a celebrity’s image in a new context reinforces immortality, ageing or dying disrupts it. Gothic can be found in these moments of disruption.

My research has found that celebrities have continually been represented in gothic ways. Mortality and immortality are central themes in these gothic representations, whereby the celebrity is often portrayed as decaying, dead or undead.

The notoriously hideous portrait in Oscar Wilde’s 1890 Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray establishes a useful motif for exploring the deterioration of a celebrity’s flawless image. In the novel’s context of Victorian fashionable society, Dorian Gray is celebrated for his remarkable beauty. However, his decaying portrait embodies the horror of this beauty not being preserved, reflecting both the inevitability of ageing and the precarity of visual media.

This motif is later reimagined in the celebrity portraits of the pop artist Andy Warhol. Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych, created in the months following Marilyn Monroe’s death in 1962, mimics the appearance of a decaying portrait to symbolise Monroe’s death and question the perceived immortality of celebrities in the late 20th century.

In gothic novels, a celebrity’s immortality is often symbolised by the eternally youthful vampire. John Polidori’s 1819 short story The Vampyre established this archetype. In the story, the enchanting Regency gentleman Lord Ruthven – modelled after Lord Byron, who was friends with Polidori – returns from the dead in vampiric form.

Polidori’s tale inaugurates a tradition of eternally youthful vampires modelling celebrity that extends all the way to the post-millennium. In fact, Lady Gaga has played one such character in the anthology television series American Horror Story (2011-). In an episode titled Hotel, she plays a vampire called The Countess who adapts to the modern world by reinventing her image.

Lady Gaga’s gothic celebrity

What makes this phenomenon particularly compelling is the degree to which celebrities can choose to manage or even initiate their affiliation with the gothic. My research has found that there are many celebrities who form dialogues with gothic texts. This is done by producing, starring in or inspiring them. These celebrities also self-consciously construct images that can be described as gothic. Lady Gaga is the perfect example.

A recurring theme in her music performances is her interest in the undead. In the music video for her song Bad Romance (2009), she emerges from a coffin-like container inscribed with the word “Monster”. Later in the same video, she is seen lounging on a bed and smoking a cigarette next to a charred carcass.

Uncanny echoes of this gothic iconography appear in Gaga’s recent Mayhem Ball performances. During her song Perfect Celebrity (2025), she is laying in a sandpit caressing a skeleton, surrounded by skeleton backing dancers. The show’s climax sees Gaga dramatically resurrected after the set is engulfed in flames. She is wheeled back on stage by dancers in plague doctor costumes, who operate on her lifeless body before she is spectacularly reanimated for a show-stopping rendition of Bad Romance.

These performances, in which Gaga is frequently depicted as undead or resurrected, represent more than just an aesthetic interest in the macabre. They are reflections of our enduring fixation with death. In this way, celebrities can play a crucial role in interrogating such profound concerns. Both gothic and celebrity culture are vehicles for exploring how modern western society processes its deepest anxieties.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Court papers said the murder charge was aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of mother-of-two Amy Doherty in Derry.

Connor McNamee, 30, of Summer Meadow Mews in Derry, was also charged with possession of an offensive weapon, a kitchen knife, and possession of a class A controlled drug, cocaine.

Court papers said the murder charge was aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse.

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He appeared at Derry Magistrates’ Court on Friday via videolink.

There was no application for bail and he was remanded in custody until April 23.

Police launched a murder investigation after officers were called to a property in the Summer Meadows Mews area of Derry on Saturday and found 28-year-old Ms Doherty badly injured.

She was taken to hospital where she later died. Ms Doherty’s funeral took place on Thursday. Mourners at her funeral on Thursday were told she had a “magnetic personality” and “would draw people to her by her joyful smile”.

A vigil in her memory will take place later tonight in Derry.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here

Carney Chukwuemeka’s name was trending all over social media this week.

Had the Borussia Dortmund midfielder scored a worldie? Maybe he had produced an outrageous piece of skill?

It was a little bit stranger than that.

The former Aston Villa and Chelsea midfielder has now made 97 senior appearances across all competitions – but has never played a full 90 minutes.

The 22-year-old made his debut for Villa on the final day of the 2020-21 Premier League season against Tottenham.

He has started 18 games but always been subbed off. The closest he has got to a full game is the 82nd minute, twice.

That was in a 4-1 loss for Chelsea at Manchester United in May 2023, and a 1-1 draw for Dortmund at Hamburg in November 2025.

His other 79 matches have all been from the bench.

The breakdown of his games is 16 for Villa, 32 for Chelsea and 49 with Dortmund since his move in 2024.

This should be no slight on the player’s ability, with Dortmund boss Niko Kovac describing him as “sensationally good”.

“The way he takes the ball and carries it, the way he immediately turns in the direction of play, that is really unique,” Kovac said after a 6-0 win over Union Berlin last year.

“He has very good acceleration and technique. The boy will give us joy.”

What does this tell us about the modern game with five substitutes?

Do any other players come close, or is Chukwuemeka an exception?

Steven David Green, 47, is wanted for failing to comply with court requirements following his release from prison partway through a sentence for sexual assault, North Yorkshire Police has said.

Extensive enquiries have been carried out by police to find Green, who also has connections in Newcastle and Liverpool.

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The force said: “As part of those enquiries we are appealing to anyone who has seen him or knows where he is now, to get in touch.

“Green previously lived in Newcastle and is believed to be in the North East area, however, he is originally from Liverpool, where he has connections.

“He also has connections to the Hull/Humberside area.”

Those with an immediate sighting of Green have been urged to contact police on 999.

For non-urgent calls, please contact 101.

Please quote reference number 12260043991 when passing on information.

A judge has decided a man is fit to stand trial charged with attempting to murder three children in Dublin.

Riad Bouchaker, 52, of no fixed abode, is accused of an attack at Parnell Square East on 23 November 2023, hours before a riot broke out in the capital.

At a hearing on Friday, at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Tony Hunt considered medical and psychiatric evidence, including from two consultant forensic psychiatrists working for the defence and prosecution, who disagreed about whether Bouchaker should stand trial.

The judge said both psychiatrists accepted that the accused had a neurocognitive disorder arising from neurosurgery in 2021 before the incident, and a subsequent brain injury sustained in 2023.

Mr Justice Hunt said the accused had sufficient understanding of his situation and the proceedings, had demonstrated ability to provide a coherent and consistent account, could understand the evidence and had the ability to offer a defence.

He said this could be done with “reasonable accommodations” to the proceedings, but the matter would remain “under review” as the trial progresses.

The judge said Bouchaker “undoubtedly had cognitive limitations” but was “currently fit to stand trial”.

He added that any difficulties could be tackled without undermining the fairness of the process or the ability of the accused to take part.

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Bouchaker is charged with the attempted murder of two girls and a boy, and assault causing serious harm to a care worker.

He also faces three counts of assault causing harm to two other children and a woman in her 30s, as well as a charge of possession and production of a 36cm kitchen knife. He has not yet entered pleas.

Sky’s Ireland Correspondent Stephen Murphy, who is following the case, said the attack plunged Dublin into “rioting later that day, as it became known that the alleged attacker on that day was from another country”.

He added that the subsequent violence caused millions of euros worth of damage, with police vehicles set on fire and officers injured.

Bouchaker, wearing glasses, a grey shirt, green jacket and green pants, spoke with his Arabic interpreter throughout the proceedings.

A trial date has been set for June and it is expected to last two weeks.

Kash Patel had his personal email hacked by a group of “Iran-backed hackers,” who published photographs of the FBI director and other documents on the internet.

The group, Handala Hack Team, claimed responsibility for the security breach Friday and said Patel “will now find ​his name among the list of successfully hacked ⁠victims.”

Among the material shared online by the group were old pictures of Patel smoking cigars and pulling silly faces while taking selfies, as well as what appeared to be a copy of his previous resumé.

A Justice Department official confirmed to Reuters that Patel’s email had ​been breached and said the material published online appeared to be authentic. The Independent has contacted the FBI for comment on the incident.

“The so called ‘impenetrable’ systems of the FBI were brought to their knees in a matter of hours by our team,” the hackers wrote. “All personal and confidential information of Kash Patel, including emails, documents, conversations, and even classified files, is now available for public download.”

The group claimed the attack had been in response to the FBI “proudly” seizing its domains and announcing a $10 million reward for information on its members, which it described as a “ridiculous show.”

“This is the security the U.S. government boasts about?” the hackers added.

Handala, which calls itself ​a group of pro-Palestinian vigilante hackers, is considered by ​Western researchers to be one of several personas used by Iranian ‌government ⁠cyberintelligence units.

Handala recently claimed the hack of Michigan-based medical devices and services provider Stryker on March 11, claiming to have deleted a massive trove of company ​data.

Reuters was not ​able to ⁠independently authenticate the Patel emails, but the personal Gmail address that Handala claims to have ​broken into matches the address linked to ​Patel in ⁠previous data breaches preserved by the dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs.

A sample of the material uploaded by ⁠the ​hackers and reviewed by Reuters ​appears to show a mix of personal and work correspondence dating between ​2010 and 2019.

Reuters contributed to this report.

“News broke about Banksy’s true identity being unveiled and I knew the time was right to sell”

Four original Banksy paintings are coming up for auction in Belfast.

On The Square Emporium’s June event ‘The Extraordinary Auction’ is already living up to its name after a local collector of the elusive artist decided to sell his collection.

Due to the recent unmasking of Banksy, there has been a surge in interest in the famous street artist. The owner of the paintings said: “I have bought many things from On The Square Emporium and love the shop and their auctions.

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“When I heard of their ‘Extraordinary Auction’ I had already decided to put a few choice items in. But then the news broke about Banksy’s true identity being unveiled and I knew the time was right to sell”.

Banksy was recently revealed as a 52-year-old Bristol-born man named Robin Gunningham, now going by the name David Jones.

It was uncovered that in 2000, Robin Gunningham was caught in Manhattan scaling a brownstone to deface a Marc Jacobs Poster. He signed the confession that Reuters found 24 years later.

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Justin, owner and auctioneer at On The Square, said: “This is great timing. With Banksy back in the headlines the prices of his work is rising again.

“We are very happy to accept the entries of the Banksy Originals with full certification. The entries are Love Rat (estimate £14,000 to £18,000), Happy Choppers (estimate £14,000 to £18,000), Golf Sale (estimate £10,000 to £14,000) and Monkey Queen (£10,000 to £14,000).”

He added that the Banksys should prove very popular in the auction, but there are many other great lots, with over £400,000 worth of entries coming in.

If you have something special that you would like to enter into the Extraordinary Auction email info@onthesquareemporium.com

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