Watch exports recorded an increase in February but a prolonged conflict in the Persian Gulf could threaten the luxury industry’s potential rebound this year.
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Swiss Watch Sector Posts Uptick in Exports as Geopolitical Upheaval Mounts
LeBron James’ 6 dunks vs. Rockets key Lakers’ 7th straight win
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Tim MacMahon
Multiple Authors
HOUSTON — As LeBron James sat in front of his locker late Wednesday, he had ice packs wrapped around his right elbow and both knees while his feet soaked in a bucket of ice. He insisted he felt every bit of his age, 41 years and 78 days old.
“Look at me right now,” James said after starring in a 124-116 road victory over the Houston Rockets that matched the Los Angeles Lakers‘ winning streak to a season-best seven games. “Right now, I feel like s—. But in the game, I felt pretty good. Before the game, I didn’t feel that great. I mean, I was yawning and tired and telling myself, I was literally just like talking to myself like, ‘Come on, here we go. Let’s figure it out. Let’s get through it.’
“But I felt pretty good in the game. I’m happy I’m able to make a few plays to help our team win.”
Six of those plays during James’ 30-point performance on 13-of-14 shooting were dunks.
“That’s really impressive,” said Lakers star Luka Doncic, who had another sensational outing with 40 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. “It’s insane.”
According to ESPN Research, James hadn’t had that many dunks in a game since March 9, 2017. James threw down three alley-oops, matching his most in any game during his legendary 23-year career.
The first of those alley-oops was an errant lob from guard Marcus Smart to James on a back cut, a pass that appeared to be sailing into the baseline seats. But James soared to catch the pass and slam it home, a spectacular highlight for any player regardless of age.
“The fact that he’s 41, he’s still as athletic or more athletic than about 95% of the league — still — and he’s probably, I think everybody would agree, has lost a little athleticism,” said Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who had 14 points and eight assists. “It’s just insane to think [about]. It’s absolutely mind-blowing.”
James’ display of athletic prowess in Wednesday’s win was on the extreme end of the spectrum, but it wasn’t necessarily shocking. According to NBA Advanced Stats, he entered the night second in the league in fast-break points (279) behind speedy Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey. James has 77 dunks in 48 games, including three in Monday’s win over the Rockets.
“I’m not surprised anymore,” said Kevin Durant, the Rockets’ 37-year-old superstar who had 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the loss. “I mean, he’s a freak athlete. He’s a generational athlete. He cares and loves the game. Cares about his body. This is what he does. He’s built for this, you know what I’m saying? Since he was a kid.
“I think he could play until he’s 45 years old. I don’t know if he wants to be around that long, but I think he could play for another four to five more years, to be honest. And so yeah, it’s not a surprise anymore. I mean, his age, he is 41, but he looks great out there.”
James became the first Laker to score at least 30 points on 90% shooting since Shaquille O’Neal in March 2003. He became the oldest player in NBA history to accomplish that feat, a distinction previously owned by former Portland Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis, who was 36 years and 108 days old when he scored 32 points on 11-of-12 shooting.
James’ lone miss came on a drive early in the fourth quarter. Houston’s Tari Eason was credited with a block, although James raised his arms and complained to the ref after falling to the ground.
“The one shot he missed, he was trying to foul bait,” Lakers coach J.J. Redick quipped.
Redick is also 41 years old, about six months older than James, and retired as a player in 2021 after a 15-year career. He joked that he feels like a “loser” seeing James’ explosiveness at his age on a regular basis.
“I can touch the rim still,” Redick said. “I can’t jump for three days after it, but I’ve got one jump in me.
“Just the preparation that he puts into his body over and over and over again — that to me is like the ultimate sign of competitive stamina. He just holds on to it every single day and he gets ready to ring the bell.”
The Lakers are relying on James less than ever and getting extraordinary results from the all-time leading scorer accepting his role as the team’s third offensive option behind Doncic and Reaves. James had 15 or fewer field goal attempts in his past eight games, twice as long as any previous streak in his career with that few shots. James is averaging 20.8 points on 61.5% shooting in that stretch, and the Lakers have won seven of the eight games.
“Part of the evolution of him on this team, and particularly in this stretch, has just been his patience,” Redick said. “His patience, knowing he’s going to get the ball and he’s going to have transition opportunities, and he’s going to have plays called for him, and he’s going to play off ball and get a corner 3 the first play of the game. He’s going to have those opportunities, and he’s played really patiently.”
James’ last bucket in Wednesday’s win, which strengthened the 44-25 Lakers’ grip on the third seed in the Western Conference, was evidence of the chemistry developing between Doncic and him. Doncic split two defenders on a pick-and-roll to drive down the middle of the floor, and James executed a perfectly timed cut from the weakside corner. Doncic drew a crowd in the paint and flipped a lob to James, who finished with two hands, a dagger that put the Lakers up six with 1:22 remaining.
Doncic celebrated by shuffling sideways up the court, smiling and staring down a courtside fan who had engaged him in trash talk throughout the game.
“Winning’s fun, so just the way we play I think is a lot of fun,” Doncic said. “That’s what we do. We win and we have a good time.”
A baseball title unleashes the happiness Venezuelans kept bottled up for years
CARACAS, Venezuela — There’s happiness, and then there’s Venezuelan happiness. It feels sweeter. Louder. Deeper.
Maybe because it doesn’t arrive as often. Or because it has been repressed by security forces and self-censored to avoid jail. Or because it seems collectively and individually unattainable.
But the nation felt it Wednesday. Its people cried, yelled, danced, hugged and drank after Venezuela’s 3-2 victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic final the previous night brought out the emotion.
“We hadn’t expressed this happiness that we want to shout,” hairdresser Deyanira Machado said outside a beauty salon in Caracas, the capital.
Unlike so much here, the score on televisions across the country was final. It was not going to change in the coming minutes or days. It was not subject to interpretation. And the young and old, politically active or not, rich and poor, exhaled after holding their breath for years.
“We had that happiness stored away to unleash it properly one day, like last night, and even better than last night,” Machado said.
The victory arrived after two dizzying months for Venezuelans.
They started the year seeing their authoritarian president of almost 13 years, Nicolás Maduro, spirited away in the night by the U.S. military and emerging handcuffed in New York City. Then they saw the White House work with ruling-party loyalists, not the political opposition, to try to turn the country around.
While thousands of Venezuelans abroad celebrated Maduro’s fall, nobody here dared to publicly express even a hint of approval. Brutal government repression, particularly after the 2024 presidential election, had taught them to restrain themselves from expressing facts or emotions that could be considered antagonistic.
Happiness, or dissent, was policed. People who celebrated what ample credible evidence showed to be a resounding win for the opposition candidate became government targets after electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner without presenting evidence to back their claim. Social media posts and WhatsApp statuses were enough to land someone in jail.
Fear, anger and disappointment festered. Even neighborhood group chats went quiet as disagreements with neighbors became too risky.
Venezuelans adapted yet again, always feeling like the other shoe is about to drop. Adults became solely focused on “resolver,” figuring out their every day, working one, two or three jobs to afford just food. Triple-digit inflation made anything but necessities a luxury.
Acting president Delcy Rodríguez declared a national “day of joy” after the game ended, making it a nonworking holiday for anyone except essential workers. Not that anyone needed permission to skip work or school. It was a given the moment the game ended and the noise began.
People banged pots and pans across Caracas as a racket of honking horns from cars and motorcycles took over some roads. Venezuelans in public plazas sang the national anthem with tears streaming down their faces. The entire city seemed to be awake well past midnight. Grocery carts at 24-hour stores filled up with beer.
Unfiltered joy filled the streets and social media well into Wednesday. The red, yellow and blue flag hung from windows, waved from motorcycles and became a scarf.
“This championship isn’t just about a baseball game, as people may think,” hospital employee Lanjhonier Lozada said as he walked to work Wednesday waving a Venezuelan flag and high-fiving equally overjoyed strangers.
“This game is historic. Words fail me,” he said. “We are world champions! Who would have imagined it?”
Who would have? The myriad children who play in local leagues and dream of MLB careers. But it might have been harder for their parents to believe in the possibility. Adults, after all, have been hardened by a crisis that pushed more than 7.7 million Venezuelans to leave their country and saw world leaders use their nation’s name as a synonym for trouble.
So when the players lifted the trophy, they lifted the spirits of Venezuelans around the planet.
“This triumph isn’t just celebrated in Venezuela. In every corner of the world, there is a Venezuelan,” said Yenny Reyes, a mom of two young baseball fans.
“I’m convinced that this is Venezuela’s year,” she said. “This is the beginning of many good things to come for Venezuela.”
___
Regina Garcia Cano has covered Venezuela for The Associated Press from Caracas for four years.
New Mexico leaders react after Dolores Huerta accuses Cesar Chavez of sexual abuse
A painful reckoning is unfolding across New Mexico after civil rights icon Dolores Huerta publicly accused labor leader Cesar Chavez of sexual abuse.Huerta, who was born in Dawson, New Mexico, said she is a survivor of two separate sexual encounters with Chavez in the 1960s. In a public statement, Huerta said one encounter involved manipulation and pressure, while the other was forced against her will. She said both encounters led to pregnancies she kept secret for decades.“I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” Huerta said, adding she is now speaking out not only for herself, but for other women and girls she believes were also harmed.The allegations have sparked swift reaction from leaders in New Mexico and across the country. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called the allegations “shocking and horrifying” and said she supports a full and thorough investigation.Some leaders are also calling for Chavez’s name to be removed from public spaces across New Mexico, including schools, streets and community centers.At the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Executive Director Zachary Quintero said the response has been one of heartbreak and betrayal.“We’re shocked and horrified,” Quintero said.He also emphasized that Chavez’s legacy should not define the broader labor and civil rights movement.“One man does not reflect an entire movement,” Quintero said.Huerta has long-standing ties to New Mexico. In a 2023 interview with KOAT, she spoke about being born in Dawson, a former coal mining town northeast of Cimarron, and said her family’s roots in New Mexico go back 14 generations. If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual violence, resources are available, including the NM Sexual Assault Helpline. Responders are available 24/7 online or by phone at 1-844-667-2457.
A painful reckoning is unfolding across New Mexico after civil rights icon Dolores Huerta publicly accused labor leader Cesar Chavez of sexual abuse.
Huerta, who was born in Dawson, New Mexico, said she is a survivor of two separate sexual encounters with Chavez in the 1960s. In a public statement, Huerta said one encounter involved manipulation and pressure, while the other was forced against her will. She said both encounters led to pregnancies she kept secret for decades.
“I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” Huerta said, adding she is now speaking out not only for herself, but for other women and girls she believes were also harmed.
The allegations have sparked swift reaction from leaders in New Mexico and across the country. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called the allegations “shocking and horrifying” and said she supports a full and thorough investigation.
Some leaders are also calling for Chavez’s name to be removed from public spaces across New Mexico, including schools, streets and community centers.
At the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Executive Director Zachary Quintero said the response has been one of heartbreak and betrayal.
“We’re shocked and horrified,” Quintero said.
He also emphasized that Chavez’s legacy should not define the broader labor and civil rights movement.
“One man does not reflect an entire movement,” Quintero said.
Huerta has long-standing ties to New Mexico. In a 2023 interview with KOAT, she spoke about being born in Dawson, a former coal mining town northeast of Cimarron, and said her family’s roots in New Mexico go back 14 generations.
If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual violence, resources are available, including the NM Sexual Assault Helpline. Responders are available 24/7 online or by phone at 1-844-667-2457.
DARK PROPHECIES: The Mysterious Polish Death-Doom Band You’ve Probably Never Heard
Are you a giant death metal nerd? Then you need to hear this very obscure demo from a great death metal band that never really got the recognition that they deserve… and then check out my full series on exactly this topic right here.
Let’s talk about Dark Prophecies for a second here. I cannot find a damn thing online about Polish death doom band Dark Prophecies, despite drummer Peter Kodzorowski playing on their 1995 On the Edge of Black Eternity demo.
For those unfamiliar, Kodzorowski has been the drummer for the Polish progressive metal band Riverside since 2001 and was a part of the Polish death metal band Hate from 1992 to 2002. So you’d think Dark Prophecies would’ve come up in interviews or on his Wikipedia page or something, but nah, nothing.
The mystery around Dark Prophecies doesn’t just stop with Kodzorowski either. Their second and final demo On the Edge of Black Eternity from 1995 featured a guitarist only known as Ralph that also played in Hate between 1995 and 2001 before disappearing from metal, and vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mina G Laurent, whose sole contribution to metal was on this 1995 demo. So total mysteries here.
Dark Prophecies had one demo prior to On the Edge of Black Eternity called Vergil in 1991, which you cannot find anywhere. There’s one really low-quality scan of the demo’s cover on Metal Archives, and that’s it. I can’t find a single way to hear this, I can’t find it on Discogs, I cannot find anything about it, so I don’t even know if Ralph and Laurent were also on that demo or what the case is here.
I do know that On the Edge of Black Eternity is very good, but I cannot speak at all to Vergil. This is all especially insane to me because On the Edge of Black Eternity is pretty damn good, especially for a demo. The writing is plenty engaging, the artwork looks pretty professional, the sound quality is solid, and overall this is just a pretty underrated release in the world of death doom.
On the Edge of Black Eternity is nowhere to be found online aside from YouTube. There appears to have been a reissue in 2000 via Hate Productions in Poland, though that quote-unquote label doesn’t have a website and this reissue seems to be the only thing that they ever released, so I kind of almost hesitate to call this a reissue.
Dark Prophecies is really difficult dig anything up about, which again is a shame because On the Edge of Black Eternity is pretty good.
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Oil Tops $110 as Key Gulf Energy Hubs Come Under Attack
The strikes on some of the world’s most critical energy facilities have stoked fears of deeper and more prolonged disruptions to global supplies.
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LeBron James hammers two age-defying dunks in vintage performance vs. Rockets
As a general rule, we make too much of the age thing with older athletes these days. It’s not that it’s not worth a headline or two when an old player (by sports standards) continues to compete at a high level in what is, for the most part, a young man’s game, but it doesn’t need to be so dramatic. We don’t need to bang the “how is this guy still doing this!” drum every time LeBron James or Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry makes a play that is reminiscent of their younger version.
These guys aren’t senior citizens. Athletes stay healthy, and capable, far longer these days. And most of the plays we get all worked up about aren’t actually that crazy, especially not for a player the caliber of the ones just mentioned.
But there are exceptions. Plays that demand you to rub your eyes and refocus on the screen to make sure you weren’t seeing things as you honestly and understandably ponder: “How in the hell is this guy still doing this?” On Wednesday night, LeBron gave us two of them in a two-minute span.
The first came at the 10:53 mark of the second quarter. Marcus Smart had the ball at the top, about 35 feet from the basket, middle of the floor, and Jake LaRavia was setting a screen for LeBron to come around. But instead, he hop-stepped to the high side to get Dorian Finney-Smith anticipating that way, then planted and exploded out the back door into wide open space.
At this point, it was already a great play. The manipulation of his defender. The split-step footwork to reverse his direction on a dime at full force. Every day, coaches all over the world aim to teach this kind of cut. To be this spatially aware away from the ball, to be able to feel the natural flow of the action and attack against the grain, is a powerful and highly underutilized basketball weapon.
That said, you cannot teach what happened next — when Smart’s lob pass appeared headed for the first row only for a 41-year-old gray beard to take off from outside the restricted circle, go into full extension, catch the ball behind his head, cock it, and hammer it home from a head-at-the-rim level in one fluid motion.
LeBron, all things considered, remains a great athlete even by NBA standards. But that right there? That was not old LeBron. That was old LeBron, as in Miami LeBron, as in peak-of-his-powers LeBron. I genuinely came out of my seat and yelled: “How did he do that!” — with the implication, of course, being how did he do that at 41 years old?
As it happened, I barely had time to ponder that question before the man up and did something arguably even more unbelievable a couple minutes later. This time a loose ball wound up in the hands of LaRavia as James ran the floor alongside him. LaRavia shoveled to LeBron as he angled to the basket and took off, legitimately, from the dotted line for another thunder slam over an absolutely helpless Reed Sheppard.
Again, for LeBron to run the floor like that and even to finish with an athletic dunk is not an extraordinary play at this stage of this career. The guy literally leads the league in fast-break points this season. He remains, to a large degree, the runaway-train finisher he has always been when the action breaks the right way for him to get a full head of steam.
But this? A full-extension, long-jump hammer from outside the dotted line? Do you know how powerful you have to be to dunk with that kind of force from that far out? LeBron isn’t 6-foot-11 like Giannis, for example. By the time he reaches the basket he’s on his way down, meaning he had to be well above the rim to start. Just to cover that much ground in the air requires maximum energy expenditure. To have enough force left over to still finish with that kind of authority, at 41 years old, is unbelievable.
And I don’t use that word lightly. Those two dunks, over a two-minute span, were truly unbelievable. How did he do it? Well, for starters, he is and always has been a touched-by-God athlete. When you start out that high, you can decline a fair amount and still be extraordinary.
Beyond that, maybe LeBron is feeling some extra juice with the way the Lakers are playing right now (they beat the Rockets, by the way, on Wednesday and have now won 10 of their last 11 games). Maybe it has something to do with his not having to carry the heaviest load every night anymore, leaving more energy reserves for plays like this. It’s likely a combination of all that.
But whatever the case, LeBron was on one Wednesday night. These two dunks were merely a small part of his 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting. He was sensational. He got to the basket. Drilled both of his 3s. Drove middle and faded to the baseline for a huge bucket late.
These Lakers are for real. Luka Doncic is playing, and shooting, like the player we know is capable of carrying a team to the Finals. Austin Reaves is next in line. When LeBron James, who is still capable of playing like this at 41 years old, gets to be your third-best player, you’re in pretty good shape.
FBI conducting leak investigation into Trump official who resigned over Iran war
A former senior intelligence official who resigned in protest over the Iran war is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly leaking classified information, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The source told NBC News that the investigation began before Joe Kent, a longtime Trump ally and retired Green Beret, announced his resignation Tuesday as director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Semafor first reported the investigation.
Kent, who reported to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said Tuesday that he disagreed with the decision to go to war against Iran and that the regime did not pose “an imminent threat” as the Trump administration has asserted.
The White House referred questions to the FBI, which declined to comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
In his first interview since resigning, Kent told Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that he expected there would be attempts to “discredit” him for his protest. But he said he would welcome a chance to speak to President Donald Trump.
“I understand the way I left and writing the letter that there’s parts of this administration that are going to have to come after me and try and discredit me,” Kent said. “I understand that, but I think the president is someone who listens.”
“And so I think he’s listening, not necessarily just to me and to you, but I think he is listening to a lot of different people, because I think he knows at a core level, this is not going well, and he needs to find a way for us to get out of this.”
Gabbard pushed back on Kent’s comments about the war in Iran, writing in a post on X that the president is responsible for determining what qualifies as an imminent threat. Her office acts to coordinate intelligence that provides Trump with the best information possible, Gabbard wrote Tuesday.
In a congressional hearing Wednesday, Gabbard declined to answer whether she believed Iran’s nuclear program presented an “imminent threat.”
Kent served 11 combat deployments over a 20-year career in the Army Special Forces before working at the CIA. His wife, Shannon Kent, was killed in a terrorist bombing in Syria in 2019, where she had served as a Navy cryptologist.
In his resignation letter, Kent said that while he supported Trump’s values during his first term, the president had been wrongly swayed by Israel. Kent said that he could not support “sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at Kent in a social media post Tuesday, saying that Trump “had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first.”
Summer heat moving into New Mexico with record breaking high temperatures
A stretch of unprecedented, record-breaking heat is starting today across New Mexico. This heat wave will peak over the weekend, but record highs will continue to break into next week. Several locations, especially across northern New Mexico, are already breaking record highs Wednesday afternoon, including Albuquerque. Farmington recorded its earliest 80° day on record today. […]
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COGNIZANCE Streams Steamrolling New Single “A Game Of Proliferation”
Leeds progressive death metal outfit Cognizance have announced their fourth full-length album, In Light, No Shape, set for release May 1 via Willowtip Records. You can feel free to get your head bashed in with the crushing grooves of “A Game Of Proliferation” below, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when it hurts.
In Light, No Shape embraces a more organic and visceral mix designed to highlight the band’s defining characteristics – razor-sharp grooves, inventive riffing, and dynamic textures. The result is a dense, atmospheric album that maintains technical intensity while feeling more immediate and raw.
In Light, No Shape record also marks the first lineup shift in a decade for Cognizance. After the 2023 departure of founding vocalist Henry Pryce, founding guitarist Alex Baillie stepped into the role of vocalist while continuing to handle guitar duties. The transition also sees the band streamlined from a five-piece lineup to a quartet.
According to Baillie, the change sparked new creative possibilities within the group. “This record is a defining milestone for us. Taking on vocals has pushed us to re-engineer how we experiment with the blend of elements in our sound, unlocking new creative pathways to complement the core identity of the band.”
He added that the album reflects a collaborative approach among the members. “What you will hear are four dudes all adding their flavours to the melting pot to create a body of work that felt completely natural to us.”
Pre-orders for In Light, No Shape are available here.
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