By Jeremy Herb, Adam Cancryn, Matt Egan, CNN

(CNN) — When Howard Lutnick had a problem in 2018, he turned to his next-door neighbor for help: Jeffrey Epstein.

Lutnick emailed Epstein’s assistant in May 2018 about a proposed expansion to the Frick Collection, a museum one block south of Lutnick’s and Epstein’s adjacent townhouses on East 71st Street in Manhattan.

“Are you aware as to them building to block our park views. What should we do about it? Time is of the essence,” wrote Lutnick, who was then the CEO of Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

“No i was not,” Epstein responded after his assistant forwarded Lutnick’s email.

The email exchange shows that Lutnick, now President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, communicated with Epstein more than a decade after he claimed he cut off all contact with the convicted sex offender who died in 2019.

A CNN review of the Epstein documents show numerous interactions between the two men, including an invitation from Lutnick to attend a Hillary Clinton fundraiser in 2015, a $50,000 donation from Epstein for a 2017 dinner honoring Lutnick, a 2013 business venture both invested in, and multiple emails in which Lutnick set up a 2012 visit to Epstein’s infamous Caribbean island with his wife, nannies and children.

Lutnick, the highest-ranking Trump administration official prominently named in the Epstein files — outside of the president himself — has faced calls for his resignation on Capitol Hill, where he was grilled Tuesday during a Senate hearing over his ties to Epstein and confirmed he visited Epstein at his island with his family for lunch. Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Interviews with executives and others on Wall Street, where the former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO is viewed skeptically in some corners, show that the Epstein disclosures have sparked a fresh round of questions about Lutnick’s future and his role as cheerleader of Trump’s tariff-driven trade agenda.

“Lutnick was grossly deceptive. And it’s not an ambiguous call,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, said of Lutnick’s claims he ended all contact with Epstein in 2005. “Every CEO who shakes hands with Howard Lutnick will want to wash them afterwards.”

But inside the White House, there’s no indication that Lutnick — perhaps one of the few Cabinet secretaries Trump considers a personal friend — will face any repercussions. Lutnick traveled with the president on Friday on Air Force One to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where Trump gave his commerce secretary a shoutout during his speech.

If the president’s support for Lutnick ever wavers, it won’t be over the Epstein files — an issue that Trump has sought unsuccessfully to bury for months, including urging Americans earlier this month to “get onto something else,” people familiar with internal White House discussions told CNN.

A Commerce Department spokesperson said in a statement: “This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration’s accomplishm

Por Francisco Guzman y Saeed Ahmed, CNN

Este lunes es el Día de los Presidentes y el cumpleaños de George Washington. Pero, ¿es en realidad así?

Los estadounidenses no han celebrado el natalicio del primer presidente del país durante su verdadera fecha de nacimiento por más de 50 años. En vez de eso, en Estados Unidos se celebra el Día de los Presidentes el tercer lunes del mes de febrero.

Esta es la explicación.

¿No te gustaría celebrar tu cumpleaños dos veces en un mes? Washington hizo eso durante su presidencia.

Nació el 11 de febrero de 1732, en el calendario juliano, que se usaba en ese momento. Pero cambió cuando Inglaterra y sus colonias adoptaron el calendario gregoriano en 1752. Su cumpleaños se trasladó al 22 de febrero.

En el calendario gregoriano, se agrega un día al calendario cada cuatro años para sincronizarlo con el año solar. Conocemos ese día extra como un día bisiesto.

Los estadounidenses celebraron el natalicio de Washington en ambas fechas durante su presidencia entre 1789 y 1797. En 1885, se estableció el 22 de febrero como día festivo por el cumpleaños de Washington.

Todo esto cambió 100 años después.

En 1968, el Congreso debatió si deberían combinarse las celebraciones de los cumpleaños de Washington y Abraham Lincoln, quien nació el 12 de febrero, en un día festivo llamado Día de los Presidentes.

Pero los legisladores de Virginia, el estado de donde Washington es oriundo, se opusieron y la iniciativa no prosperó. No obstante, el Congreso aprobó ese año la Ley de lunes festivos.

Esta ley ubicaba la mayoría de los días festivos en el país en los lunes, de manera que los estadounidenses tuvieran ocasionalmente fines de semana de tres días.

Al final, este proyecto de ley entró en vigor en 1971 y desde entonces la celebración del cumpleaños de Washington se movió del 22 de febrero al tercer lunes de febrero.

Pero no todos los estados celebran el Día de los Presidentes.

Virginia todavía lo llama el Día de Washington; Alabama lo llama el Día de Washington y Jefferson y Montana lo llaman el Cumpleaños de Lincoln y Washington.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The post Día de los Presidentes: ¿qué se celebra y cuál es el origen de este feriado de EE.UU.? appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Por Pau Mosquera, CNN en Español

En el salón reina el silencio. El único sonido que se percibe de vez en cuando es el del lápiz que rasga su punta de carbón contra el bloc de notas donde Agustín Kouchoyan, de 14 años, hace sus deberes de Física.

A cierta distancia se encuentra su madre, Noelia Kouchoyan, quien le ofrece su ayuda por si precisa aclarar algún concepto. Pero no, parece que Agustín se las arregla solo.

“Es un niño responsable”, asegura Noelia a CNN. Y se le ve aplicado, sí, aunque de vez en cuando esa atención se escapa hacia su celular. Según relata su madre, se lo compró hace tres años, cuando empezó a ir solo al colegio. “Para mí era una necesidad, porque necesitaba saber dónde estaba”, detalla.

Pero lo que empezó como una herramienta para ganar tranquilidad, empezó a generar otro dilema. “Es como el ying y el yang”, dice Noelia, “por un lado es una ayuda y por otro lado es un problema”. Concretamente, porque hay espacios en los que Agustín se queda solo en casa y donde usa ávidamente el celular.

“Veo que con el móvil hay muchos temas emocionales, como por ejemplo ansiedad”, señala la madre. “A la noche tarda en dormir o no duerme, de repente se pone irritable con el teléfono, con los jueguitos, básicamente”.

Pero esta no es una preocupación única de ella, sino de tantos otros padres con hijos adolescentes. “Las preocupaciones principales de los padres giran en torno al tiempo de exposición de los menores a estas pantallas y al contenido al que están expuestos a través de las redes sociales” especifica Abel Domínguez, psicólogo infanto-juvenil y director de Domínguez psicólogos.

Una inquietud legítima, dado que afirma que un uso excesivo de las pantallas y exposición a contenidos impactantes en redes sociales “pueden generar ansiedad”. “Pueden incluso generar trastornos de la conducta alimentaria porque, de alguna manera, los menores están recibiendo una presión sobre los ideales de belleza, sobre los cánones de belleza”, entre otros.

En el caso de Agustín, pidió a su madre abrir una cuenta en la red social Instagram hace un año. Un pedido que Noelia le concedió, pero “lo controlo yo”, asegura. “Usa mis cuentas de Google y de Youtube, o sea que yo puedo ver lo que ve y lo que no ve”.

Ahora bien, a pesar de estar atenta al contenido que consume, la preocupación es que pueda filtrarse en estas plataformas contenido que no le convenga. “Hay compañeros que tienen hermanos más grandes, entonces les llega otro tipo de información”, comparte preocupada. “Eso lo van pasando a su grupo de amigos” a través de sus charlas en aplicaciones de mensajería instantánea, agrega.

Es por esta razón que Noelia ve con buenos ojos el último anuncio realizado por el presidente del Gobierno de España, Pedro Sánchez, quien comunicó esta semana que prohibirán el acceso de menores de 16 años a las redes sociales como una de las cinco medidas que pretenden impulsar para garantizar un entorno digital más seguro para los jóvenes.

Para llevar a término este bloqueo, Sánchez señaló que las plataformas a las que se dirija esta regulación “estarán obligadas a implementar sistemas eficaces de verificación de edad”.

Pero a Noelia le entran las dudas. “Ellos (los jóvenes) son muy vivos y puede haber formas de saltarse el ‘capado’ de las redes”, argumenta.

Un temor con algo de fundamento, explica Domínguez: “No nos engañemos, muchas veces los controles parentales no están funcionando, no los estamos sabiendo usar los padres o no se están aplicando de manera adecuada”.

De ahí que los especialistas que se han pronunciado a lo largo de los últimos días apuesten por sistemas de acceso centralizados. “Estamos viendo que, si delegamos esa responsabilidad en las plataformas, pues no vamos a tener esa credibilidad”, reflexiona Fernando Suárez, presidente del Consejo General de Colegios de Ingeniería en Informática.

“No

By David Allan, CNN

(CNN) — For over a century, skiing has been more than transportation or sport. It’s been a lifestyle, emphasis on the second syllable.

Ernest Hemingway drew a romantically colorful portrait of spending a few winters in the Austrian Alps in the early 1920s. At the end of his biographical “A Moveable Feast,” his chronicle of carefree mountain living is an aspirational vibe of downhill thrills and après chills. By day, he and his wife Hadley hiked up pre-chairlift mountains, traversing logging trails with skis strapped to their backs. By night they were in Alpine hüttes or local watering holes, indulging in beer, mulled wine, Schnapps, singing and other cozy fun.

And since the dawn of skiing-as-pastime, every devotee has known that the appeal is part downhill bliss, part après activity. They are two sides of the same piste, a ski culture embracing carefree adventure, indulgence, bonhomie and individual style.

This escapist history of ski culture is visually captured in Erin Isakov’s photography book, “Après Ski: The Scene, the Style, the Menu.” Page after page of fashion-distinctive skiers and mountain partiers, including Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Birkin, David Bowie and Hunter S. Thompson fill the archive. Hemingway, too, gets a mention — although it’s far too brief, simply noting that the author moved to Ketchum, Idaho (where he also died) to be near the first US ski resort, Sun Valley.

The book is less about the best places for skiing than about the places to best be seen skiing. It points to historically choice resorts, such as Switzerland’s Verbier and Jackson Hole in America’s Wyoming, and includes recipes for throwing your own après ski fête (in other words, the fun that follows the recreational sport), including hot chocolate, an Aperol Spritz, fondue and upscale nachos. The leisurely environment is also captured: See skiers sunbathing or drinking slope side, or lounging in cabins in either activewear or comfortable, yet still stylish clothing.

Like the history of big wave surfing, skiing has evolved over generations of gear design, fashion and location hot spots (some expert only). As for the origin story of esprit de ski, at least for the rich and famous, Isakov makes the case for Switzerland’s St. Moritz in the 1860s. It then snowballed in popularity in Europe after the first World War.

The US joined the trend in the 1930s and when European-stationed American soldiers returned from World War II with alpine skills, they helped usher in a generation of new resorts, including Colorado’s Vail and Aspen, known for their ski scene even today.

The evolution of skiwear

The largest section of the book is devoted to ski fashion, the author’s particular and familial passion. Isakov was practically baptized in powder, as her parents met at a California ski resort where they worked. She is also the cofounder of the skiwear brand Erin Snow.

We learn that women’s skiwear in the early 1900s commonly featured long, ankle-length wool skirts, but quickly gave way to the practicality of pants in the 1920s. Then came slimmer-fit, synthetic stretch fabrics after WWII, with fashion designers such as Emilio Pucci, magazine editors and celebrities barreling into the trend. Over the decades the classic ski look has been complimented by Norwegian sweaters, glare-shunning sunglasses and furry boots.

The 1980s’ ski fashion stands out for its trends of neon glowing lycra pants and puffy jackets reflected in mirrored, glacier-style sunglasses. The decade rightly gets its own section in the book. The ‘80s also saw the birth of snowboarding, which would become so popular in the ‘90s it added grunge-plaid shirts, wraparound goggles and baggy pants to sartorial mountain style — an era glossed over in “Après Ski.”

By Chris Isidore, John Liu, CNN

(CNN) — Chinese cars could be at an American dealership sooner than you think, and that’s good news for US consumers.

Chinese car companies make more vehicles than anyone else on Earth and export more as well. But high tariffs and hostile US-China trade relations have kept them out of the American market.

That’s likely to change, according to experts, with Chinese autos hitting US showrooms in the next five to ten years.

“The ambition is there,” said Lei Xing, an independent auto analyst and former chief editor of China Automotive Review magazine, even if companis have to build factories here rather than ship cars here from China.

He said multiple Chinese automakers have shown “readiness to come to the US, to build in the US.”

That would be a helpful for American car buyers. Greater competition means more choices, especially for EVs, which in turn should lower prices. But it would also squeeze the profits and market share of the car companies already selling in the US, likely affecting the nearly 1 million people who work for them.

Chinese cars shipped to America come with a 100% tariff, by far the highest tariff rate for any import. But President Donald Trump, a critic of most Chinese products, recently seemed welcoming of Chinese brands if they build plants in the US.

“If they want to come in and build the plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great. I love that,” he said in a speech last month at the Economic Club of Detroit. “Let China come in.”

Asked about the administration’s willingness to let Chinese automakers enter the US market, a White House official told CNN last week that “the administration supports all investment into the United States as long as our national and economic security is not compromised.”

China automakers take the lead

Any Chinese entry into the market could further cement the country’s industry dominance.

China produced one-third of all cars worldwide last year, with more than 8 million of those exported to other markets around the globe, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That’s up 30% compared to 2024. China eclipsed Japan as the world’s largest exporter of vehicles in 2023.

China is particularly competitive when it comes to electric vehicles. China is particularly competitive when it comes to electric vehicles. Chinese automaker BYD overtook Tesla last year as the largest electric car company worldwide and Ford this week in global sales.

Building a car factory the US could take several years, but leading experts agree that most Chinese carmakers are already eyeing the US market.

“It’s no secret that every automaker in the world looks at the United States market as the ultimate arena for triumph,” said Michael Dunne, an auto industry consultant who has been involved in Western automakers’ efforts in China since the 1990s.

That’s because American consumers are wealthier, and buy bigger, more expensive vehicles – meaning it’s more profitable than anywhere else, he added.

Dunne said the average price of a car exported from China last year was about $19,000, while the average price of a new car sold in the United States is around $50,000.

BYD and other leading Chinese automakers did not respond to questions from CNN about their plans for entering the US market.

But it doesn’t mean that they haven’t already dipped their toes in.

Volvo, owned by Chinese automaker Geely, built a plant in South Carolina in 2015.

The plant, currently undergoing a $1.3 billion expansion, could serve as a beachhead for Geely to start building cars from its Zeekr and Lynk & Co. brands in the U