By STEFANIE DAZIO, FANNY BRODERSEN and MARKUS SCHREIBER

SCHLEIFE, Germany (AP) — Anke Hanusch dips her tool into dark blue wax and dots it precisely on a yellow-dyed Easter egg in her hand. Back and forth, wax to egg, egg to wax, as the honeycomb pattern grows.

The intricate motif means the egg will ultimately be a gift from a godparent to their godchild, to bestow diligence and a good work ethic upon the youngster.

The tradition of decorating Easter eggs is part of the culture of the Slavic-speaking Sorbian ethnic minority in Germany. Modern-day Sorbs are descended from Slavic tribes in Central and Eastern Europe who settled in Germany some 1,500 years ago.

About 60,000 Sorbs currently live in Germany, split between the federal states of Saxony and Brandenburg.

Easter is the biggest holiday of the year

Stephanie Bierholdt, an employee at the Sorbian Cultural Center in Schleife, a town just 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the Polish border, said Easter is the biggest holiday of the year for Sorbs and people travel home to celebrate with their loved ones.

“The best thing is that this tradition is still alive in families,” she said.

Bierholdt, Hanusch and other members of Schleife’s Sorbian community gathered at the cultural center on April 6, two weeks ahead of the holiday, to celebrate their heritage through Easter eggs and traditional folk costumes, songs and dances. Sorbian egg decorating dates back to the Middle Ages.

From chicken eggs to emu eggs

Hanusch wore the red folk costume and bonnet of an unmarried woman; married women wore green. She was among more than 30 artisans selling their Easter eggs at the cultural center. Her prices ranged from the cheapest decorated chicken egg for 7 euros ($7.72) up to 90 euros ($99.28) for a painted emu egg.

The decorating can take between 90 minutes and six hours, depending on the techniques used, the motif and size of the egg. The artisans use a needle or the tip of a goose feather quill, cut in different ways, to draw the designs.

The egg artisans said the worldwide bird flu outbreak, and subsequent egg shortage and price hikes, have not yet affected their craft — though they added that it’s always best to get eggs directly from a farmer rather than a supermarket.

Hanusch, who is Sorbian on her father’s side, is learning to speak the Slavic language. She said she and other Sorbian children start decorating Easter eggs as young as two, from when they can first hold a pencil. Many only do it during the Easter season throughout childhood, but Hanusch continued with the skill and became a teacher to others, including her niece.

“I think it’s a valuable cultural asset that needs to be preserved,” she said. “It would be a shame if it were to become extinct.”

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve can stay patient and wait to see how tariffs and other economic policies of the Trump administration play out before making any changes to interest rates, Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.

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“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity” on the impact of policy changes in areas such as immigration, taxation, regulation, and tariffs, Powell said.

The sharp volatility in financial markets since President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs April 2, only to put most of them on hold a week later, has led to speculation about whether the Fed would soon cut its key interest rate or take other steps to calm investors. Yet the Fed is unlikely to intervene unless there is a breakdown in the market for Treasury securities or other malfunctions, economists say.

In written remarks to be delivered to the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell reiterated that the Trump administration’s tariffs are “significantly larger than anticipated.”

“The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth,” he said.

Powell said the inflation will likely be temporary, but “could also be more persistent,” echoing a concern expressed by a majority of the Fed’s 19-member interest rate-setting committee in the minutes of their meeting last month.

Yet some splits among the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee have emerged. On Monday, Fed governor Christopher Waller said that he expects the impact of even a large increase in tariffs to be temporary, even if they are left in place for several years. At the same time, he also expects such large duties would weigh on the economy and even threaten a recession.

Should the economy slow sharply, even if inflation remained elevated, Waller said he would support cutting interest rates “sooner, and to a greater extent than I had previously thought.”

But other Fed officials, including Neel Kashkari, president of the Fed’s Minneapolis branch, have said they are more focused on fighting the effects of higher tariffs on inflation, suggesting they are less likely to support rate cuts anytime soon.

For now, most recent reports suggest the economy is in solid shape. Hiring has been solid and inflation cooled in March. Yet measures of consumer and business confidence have plunged, raising concerns among economists that spending and business investment could weaken.

By JOSEPH KRAUSS

The Israeli defense minister says his country’s troops will stay in “security zones” in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, after Israel unilaterally expanded its frontiers in the war unleashed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to hold on to the zones to prevent similar attacks, but the takeovers appear to meet the dictionary definition of military occupation.

The acquisition of territory by force is universally seen as a violation of international law, something Western allies of Israel have repeatedly invoked with regard to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Israel, which has captured territory during wars with its Arab neighbors going back to the country’s establishment in 1948, says this is a special case. For decades, Israeli governments said they must hold such lands for self-defense but would return them in peace agreements, as when Israel restored the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in the Camp David Accords.

Israel has formally annexed east Jerusalem, as well as the Golan Heights captured from Syria. It has occupied the West Bank, home to some 3 million Palestinians, for more than half a century and built settlements there that today house more than 500,000 Jewish settlers.

Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but imposed a blockade, along with Egypt, after Hamas took power two years later.

In a statement Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli troops would remain in the so-called security zones in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon “in any temporary or permanent situation.”

What are the ‘security zones’?

Israel launched a massive offensive after the 2023 attack and carved out a wide buffer zone along the border. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last month and has since expanded the buffer zone, established corridors across the strip and encircled the southern city of Rafah. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israel now controls over 50% of Gaza, according to experts. Katz did not specify which territories he was referring to.

Israel was supposed to withdraw from Lebanon under the ceasefire it reached with the Hezbollah militant group in November after more than a year of fighting. But troops have remained in five strategic locations along the border and have continued to carry out strikes against what Israel says are combatant targets.

When rebels overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad in December, Israeli forces advanced from the Golan Heights into the Syrian side of a buffer zone established after the 1973 war. Israel has since expanded its zone of control to nearby villages, setting off clashes with residents last month.

Israel has also repeatedly bombed Syrian military bases and other targets, and has said it will not allow Syrian security forces to operate south of Damascus.

How have Israel’s neighbors responded?

Lebanon and Syria have condemned Israel’s seizure of their territory as a blatant violation of their sovereignty and of international law. But neither country’s armed forces are capable of defending their borders against Israel.

Hezbollah, which was established during the early years of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon, has threatened to renew hostilities if Israel does not complete its withdrawal, but its military capabilities have been severely depleted by the war and the fall of Assad, who had been a close ally.

While Hezbollah seems unlikely to return to war, an ongoing Israeli occupation could complicate Lebanese efforts to negotiate the group’s disarmament.

The Palestinians seek an independent state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. A two-state solution is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict, but the last serious peace talks broke down more than 15 years ago.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages held in Gaza — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a lasting ceasefire. Israel’s vow to remain in Gaza could further complicate slow-moving talks on a new ceasefire.

President Donald Trump, left, gestures as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves the West Wing of the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

What is the Trump administration’s position?

The United States has not yet commented on Katz’s remarks.

But the Trump administration has expressed full support for Israel’s actions in Gaza, including its decision to end the ceasefire, renew military operations with a surprise bombardment that killed hundreds of people, and seal off the territory from all food, fuel or other supplies.

During his first term, President Donald Trump gave unprecedented support to Israel’s acquisition of territory by force, at times upending decades of U.S. foreign policy.

Under Trump, the U.S. became the first and so far only state to recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights. Trump also relocated the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, lending support to Israel’s claims to the entire city. Both policies continued under the Biden administration.

Trump has proposed that the U.S. take ownership of Gaza after the war and redevelop it as a tourist destination. He has called for the Palestinian population to be resettled in other countries, a plan that has been rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to implement the plan after Hamas is defeated, saying Israel supports the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from a territory it largely controls, much of which has been rendered uninhabitable by its offensive.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATTHEW BROWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador Wednesday to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

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Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a video posted to X before he boarded his flight that he hopes to meet with Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland. He said he also hopes to meet with high-level officials to press for his return to the United States.

“The goal of this mission is to let the Trump administration, to let the government of El Salvador know that we are going to keep fighting to bring Abrego Garcia home until he returns to his family,” Van Hollen said.

After arriving in San Salvador, Van Hollen posted another video from the back of a moving car, saying he was traveling into the city and planned to meet with officials at the U.S. embassy. He said he would “have a better idea” later in the day whether he can meet with Abrego Garcia, who is detained at the notorious CECOT prison.

The Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send him back, even as even as the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return. Trump officials have said that Abrego Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys note the government has provided no evidence of that.

Democrats have seized on the case to highlight what they say is President Donald Trump’s disrespect for the courts and overcome their position in the minority in both the House and Senate. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was also considering a trip to El Salvador, as were some House Democrats.

“I told his wife and his family that I would do everything possible to bring him home, and we’re going to keep working at this until we’re successful,” Van Hollen said in his video.

Trump officials slammed the Democratic senator’s trip and renewed their claims that he was a gang member.

Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said on Fox News that he is “disgusted that any congressional representative is going to run to El Salvador.”

“We got rid of a dangerous person, an El Salvadoran national was returned to the country of El Salvador, so he is home,” Homan said.

The fight over Abrego Garcia has also played out in contentious court filings, with repeated refusals from the government to tell a judge what it plans to do, if anything, to repatriate him.

Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants — whom Trump administration officials have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s maximum-security gang prison just outside of San Salvador. That prison is part of Bukele’s broader effort to crack down on the country’s powerful street gangs, which has put 84,000 people behind bars and made Bukele extremely popular at home.

Human rights groups have previously accused Bukele’s government of subjecting those jailed to “systematic use of torture and other mistreatment.” Officials there deny wrongdoing.

Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.