Category: World

Fake videos of political leaders often go viral online. DW’s Fact check department analyzes how content farms use algorithm-driven formats, and what narratives they reinforce.

Disinformation campaigns targeting politicians are nothing new, but the widespread availability of AI tools has accelerated the spread of deepfake videos and false claims.

DW Fact check has examined viral videos featuring three world leaders — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump — looking at how the video formats work, how they spread and what narratives they push.

Fake and false videos about political leaders
Claim: This TikTok video, with over 360,000 views, claims the German government has fixed gasoline prices at €3 ($3.50) per liter.

Verdict: Fake

The video combines visuals of Friedrich Merz, stock footage and a banner with the words “Fuel price shock: Fixed at €3 — now it’s serious!” Although the regulation of price fluctuation and CO2 price increases have been discussed in Germany, no official announcement has fixed the prices at €3. The current price is set at €1.64 per liter. Such a drastic increase would have a huge financial impact on many people.

We also analyzed the technical part of the video: The voice-over shows several anomalies, including noticeable glitches. Not only that, AI detection tools such as HIVE indicate a 69.6% likelihood that the content contains AI-generated or deepfake elements.

Claim: A post on X with over 766,000 views claims the UK has issued a 10 p.m. curfew and will shut off television and internet at night.

Verdict: False

The post includes a video of a man repeating the claim, superimposed on photographs with ominous music playing in the background. He references the UK’s digital ID plans, alluding to a smartphone-based identification system for governmental services in the UK, which caused controversy and concerns of government overreach.

The UK government did indeed implement new rules governing how children use social media on July 25, 2025, under the Online Safety Act. These regulations require platforms to conduct robust age checks — using methods like facial scans, photo ID, or credit card verification. However, no curfews were enforced, nor was internet access restricted.

Claim: In this TikTok video with 578,000 views, we see US President Donald Trump and hear a voice-over that sounds like him. The words “Macron warns Zelemskyy [sic] — Trump fires back with harsh message” written on a banner.

Verdict: Fake

The video also features subtitles of the voice-over and constant zooming into images of French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The voice-over sounds like Trump, but its intonation is generic and monotone. The HIVE AI-detection tool estimates that it is 99% likely that the audio is AI-generated.

Content farms pushing many low-quality videos
Marcus Bösch, political scientist and communications expert and a former DW contributor, said there are steps users can take to identify fake videos. “The first thing you should do is take a look at the account that posted the video,” he told DW media partner #Faktenfuchs.

The TikTok account that posted the video of Merz has what looks like an AI-generated profile image, and the profile name includes a string of numbers, typical indicators that it is part of a content farm.

We found multiple other accounts posting similar videos targeting Merz (including here, here, here and here). They all bear the hallmarks of a so-called “content farm.” Eva Maitland, senior analyst for the New York-based NewsGuard — a company analyzing the credibility of news websites — defines these networks as follows:

“A content farm is a website or a network of websites or a social media account or network of social media accounts designed to pump out large volumes of content very quickly and very cheaply.”

Search engine optimization (SEO) plays an important role for such accounts, as keywords will make them appear more often in search engine results and therefore gather more views and clicks. Video topics might change depending on the news cycle and changing public interest.

Repetitive video formats with emotive claims
Maitland noted that as content farms try to publish as much and as fast as possible, they often use content based on templates. Both the account that posted the video of Merz and the account that shared the video of Trump had posted several videos in similar visual styles.

The fake “news item” has become a recurring format, which DW Fact check has written about previously. These videos mimic legitimate reporting and attach themselves to real political debates. The accounts above also show the repeated use of phrases like “breaking news” or “shocking announcement.”

This is a classic strategy in disinformation dissemination. “You take something people have already heard before, or something that contains a grain of truth — because that makes it very believable,” said Bösch.

The videos typically use authentic footage of the politicians but overlay them with AI-generated voice-overs. They include fabricated claims on upcoming policies, such as “Starting in January: Sick? Then stay home, or else you’ll be fined and won’t get paid!”

Julia Smirnova, senior researcher at the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS), told #Faktenfuchs, “The videos are designed to trigger a moment of surprise, shock, annoyance or joy in viewers.”

Financial or political motives
Maitland urges users to question what the purpose of the content is: “Are they trying to inform me or are they trying to get me to react in a certain way?”

The true motives behind the videos are challenging to determine. Importantly, platforms have a threshold for monetization. For TikTok it is based on views and engagement: at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the last 30 days.

Maitland suggests that “the aspect that the videos are extremely low quality, they’re templated, they’re AI-generated, they’re being produced in high-volume, low-quality, indicates that the campaign may be more motivated to generate income as opposed to genuinely affecting people’s viewpoints.”

Countermeasures
The profile that posted the video on Merz states that “All videos are satire and do not contain any real statements whatsoever.” Accounts protect themselves in this way, as social media platforms like TikTok allow for AI content as freedom of expression.

Whether users believe the content is difficult to determine. Comment sections show mixed reactions: Some users treat the content as a joke, but many take it seriously, while some question the claims.

NewsGuard found that the claim of the UK curfew has spread from TikTok to other platforms like Facebook and X. This poses a challenge to users who try to verify the video’s source, because it’s stripped from the context of the account.

A recent report from the voice AI platform Resemble AI found that there has been a record increase in the number of deepfake cases and sophisticated attacks. As AI tools are becoming more sophisticated, this type of content farm video and posting behavior is likely to grow in the future.

 

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-content-farm-videos-on-merz-starmer-and-trump/a-75262035

The flight’s final moments have also been haunted by a desperate message sent from on board

A NASCAR legend has shared a chilling theory about what may have gone wrong in the horror jet crash that killed retired driver Greg Biffle and six others.

The doomed flight was rocked by reports of a “large, loud pop” during takeoff before it circled back in the sky.

Biffle’s close friend Kenny Wallace said he believes the airplane’s flaps may have been down, which created intense drag after the Cessna Citation lost a motor while taking off.

In a YouTube video, he theorized that pilots applied full-throttle power to the surviving engine but didn’t have enough power to straighten it out as they landed.

Wallace spoke out after Biffle was killed along with his wife, Cristina, and their two children, Emma and Ryder, when the private jet went down on December 18.

Craig Wadsworth, Dennis Dutton, and Dutton’s son Jack were also killed, according to a statement from the families.

Seven people died in total after the Cessna C550 jet, owned by Biffle, crashed at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 am.

An investigation to establish the exact cause of the tragedy is underway.

Wallace laid out his thinking on his YouTube channel as he tried to make sense of the final minutes.

“Here’s what I think,” he said.

“I think the plane took off, I think they lost a motor, and then, I guess it started having a lot of drag on it.

“That’s where all the up and down was taking place. They decide to come back. The flaps are down, and they don’t have any horsepower.

“There was so much drag and they had the throttle wide open, they just didn’t make it. I think that’s what happened. They just didn’t make it to the runway.”

Wallace stressed that he was thinking of the family in the wake of the tragedy, and said the loss of life was devastating.

“May the Lord be with everybody, this is a very heartfelt discussion,” he said.

“It was a very tragic loss. Everybody wants to know what happened.

“I think it was a tragic loss of life and that’s what I respectfully think is what happened.”

“It has been a sad, sad couple of weeks here with the Greg Biffle tragedy.”

LOUD POP
Friends and family told The US Sun the jet erupted into a fireball just minutes after takeoff from Statesville on December 18.

Former neighbor Jonathan Donahue said the trouble began almost immediately after the jet left the ground.

“All I know,” he said, “is that there was a large, loud pop, like something broke on the plane at takeoff, and he immediately had to turn around and make an emergency landing.”

Flight data backs up that account, showing the jet climbed sharply before turning back toward the airport.

Its speed and altitude fluctuated as the pilots battled poor visibility in low clouds and drizzle.

Moments later, the jet clipped light poles, smashed into a tree line, and exploded less than a mile from the runway.

No distress call was ever made.

FINAL MESSAGE
The flight’s final moments have also been haunted by a desperate message sent from on board.

Biffle’s mother-in-law, Cathy Grossu, told People she received a text from her daughter moments before the crash that said: “We’re in trouble.”

Grossu added: “She texted me from the plane and she said, ‘We’re in trouble.’ And that was it. ‘So we’re devastated. We’re brokenhearted.’”

Cristina’s mom said the group had been heading to Florida for a “birthday trip” when the crash happened.

“To think that they would be killed on a birthday trip, that was just such a fun time for the family,” she said.

“And to see the horrific way that it ended, it’s just, it is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”

She said she had seen Cristina and Biffle only hours earlier, after they visited her at her home.

“I don’t remember what the last words that I said to my daughter or to Greg or to my precious Ryder,” she said.

“I don’t remember. I know we hugged, but I don’t remember those last words and that’s going to haunt me. But they were happy.”

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
WCNC chief meteorologist Brad Panovich said after looking at public flight data that the jet took off, then circled back, pointing to a possible mechanical issue.

The Federal Aviation Authority said that the Cessna C550 crashed while attempting to land.

Dutton, a 40-year aviation veteran and recently retired Delta Airlines pilot, died alongside his son Jack, an Auburn University junior who dreamed of becoming a pilot too.

Jack had just earned his FAA Instrument Rating, a milestone he proudly shared online weeks before the crash.

Aviation expert Michael Henderson told The US Sun he believes it was “very likely a single engine problem” on a “very reliable jet.”

“He had power. He was able to climb. He could have made it back,” Henderson said.

Henderson claimed poor visibility would have sealed their fate in the low fog and drizzle.

“He was using visuals rather than instruments. There was low fog and drizzle, and he was having a real hard time seeing the airport,” Henderson said.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/sport/15715316/nascar-legend-chilling-theory-greg-biffle-plane-crash/

The withdrawal of Emirati forces from Yemen following a Saudi airstrike may help defuse a confrontation between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, but the incident has exposed simmering distrust between two Gulf oil powers with long-running differences.
The airstrike by a Saudi-led coalition early on Tuesday on the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla was followed by calls on all UAE forces to leave Yemen, and a statement from Riyadh that its national security was a red line.

The UAE said it was surprised by the strike, shortly before announcing that it was pulling its remaining forces from Yemen for their safety.
The crisis, precipitated by the surprise advance of UAE-backed separatists through southern Yemen in early December, brings to the surface years of divisions between the two Gulf heavyweights on everything from oil quotas to geopolitical influence.
A Gulf source familiar with Saudi thinking told Reuters that the escalation had been triggered by a misperception resulting from talks in Washington in November between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.S. President Donald Trump about the war in Sudan.

High-level talks including phone calls between Saudi Arabia and the UAE had taken place since December though they had not yet yielded results on the ground, the source said.
Any further conflagration between Saudi Arabia and the UAE would bode ill for the financially powerful Gulf, which prides itself on being an island of stability in a turbulent Middle East. Disagreements between Saudi Arabia and the UAE could hamper consensus on oil output decisions. The two are preparing for a virtual meeting with other OPEC+ members on Sunday.
“Relations between the two states are never easy, but the friction does appear to be at its most intense for years,” said Neil Quilliam, associate fellow at think tank Chatham House.

DECEMBER ADVANCE

Following their sudden advance in early December, the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces now hold large swathes of land in Yemen, including in the strategically important Hadramout province.

The STC had previously been an important part of the coalition fighting alongside the Saudi-backed, internationally-recognized government against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which holds Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the heavily populated northwest.
Their sweep through the south brought the STC within reach of Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia, in an area to which many prominent Saudis trace their origins, lending it cultural and historical significance for them.
It also put Saudi Arabia and the UAE on opposing sides of a smouldering civil war that erupted in Yemen in 2014.
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have publicly said they are in talks with Yemeni groups to try and bring the situation under control, but the coalition has now carried out airstrikes in the province twice in the last few days.
The STC has been rejecting calls by the Saudi coalition for its forces to withdraw from the areas it seized, saying it will continue securing Hadramout and Mahra province to its east.
In a statement on the strike in Mukalla, the UAE said it had tried to de-escalate since the STC’s advance and denied being behind any operations that would undermine Saudi security or target its borders.

DIVERGENCE ON SUDAN

“Both countries like to play down friction in the relationship and argue that competition amongst states is a normal state of affairs,” said Quilliam. “But the intensity of the competition has certainly sharpened in the past year and is playing out in multiple theatres.”
One such place is Sudan, a country engulfed in civil war and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises since April 2023.
The Quad, which groups Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the U.S. and the UAE, has led diplomacy on the conflict, but the war has raged on.
Sudan is a sensitive issue for the UAE. U.N. experts and members of the U.S. Congress have accused the country of sponsoring Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are fighting the Sudanese army. The UAE denies backing either side.
Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince discussed Sudan at the November meeting in Washington.
The Gulf source said the UAE leadership was angered as they had been “misinformed” that during the November meeting the Saudi Crown Prince had not just asked for further sanctions against the RSF, but also for more direct sanctions against the UAE for its alleged support to the group.
The misperception led to the escalation in Yemen, the source said.
The UAE foreign ministry did not confirm or deny this account and referred Reuters to an earlier statement issued on Friday in which the UAE had welcomed Saudi Arabia’s efforts to support security and stability in Yemen and said it also remained committed to backing stability in the country.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemen-strike-shows-depth-distrust-between-saudi-arabia-uae-2025-12-30/

When Bianca Jones, a 33-year-old special education teacher in Memphis, Tennessee, decided a couple of years ago that she wanted to buy a house, she started digging into her Experian credit report. She was shocked by what she found.
Her student debt had been double-counted, making it look as though she owed a quarter of a million dollars and putting home ownership out of reach. Jones disputed the items with Experian, one of the major credit reporting agencies, multiple times in writing and over the phone, but got nowhere.

“They kept saying it’s been verified, it’s been verified…They never investigated. They never tried to remove it,” Jones said in an interview.
Eventually, Jones complained to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal watchdog created by Congress in 2010 to protect consumers in their financial dealings, helping her lawyers show a judge the lengths she’d gone to mitigate damage to her credit, according to her attorneys, legal papers and a copy of the complaint. That paper trail eventually helped Jones successfully sue Experian to correct her record.
Jones closed on a house purchase in the Memphis suburb of Millington for $300,000 in January.

“If I didn’t have this agency to go to, I don’t think I’d be in the house right now,” said Jones. “It actually changed my life.”
Experian and the CFPB did not respond to a request for comment on Jones’ case.

AGENCY FACING SHUTDOWN

In interviews, consumers who had fallen on hard times or known difficulty, lawyers who work with the poor and credit counselors told Reuters the CFPB had been a lifeline for people facing hardship and they feared that, without it, many consumers would be left unprotected from financial predators.
Conceived by Senator Elizabeth Warren to police the type of lending that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB has long been a target of conservatives and industry. Congress created the agency as part of post-crash reforms in 2010 as the sole federal body primarily charged with protecting consumers’ rights in the financial marketplace.

The CFPB now faces extinction under President Donald Trump’s second administration, which says the agency is a political weapon for Democrats and a burden on free enterprise.
Speaking to reporters at the White House in February, Trump said it was “very important to get rid of the agency,” claiming, without spelling out evidence, that Warren had “used that as her little personal agency to go around and destroy people.”
In an interview, Warren dismissed the criticism as a sign the CFPB was doing its job. “This is not about vendettas. This is about enforcing the law as it is written, so that billionaires and billionaire corporations don’t cheat American families. I think that’s a pretty good thing,” she said.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought, a staunch CFPB critic and the agency’s acting head, told “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast in October he plans to shutter the CFPB. The administration is fighting in court to fire up to 90% of its workers, while planning to move pending investigations and litigation to the Justice Department.

The agency says it is due to run out of money in early 2026 and Vought says he cannot legally seek more until the Federal Reserve returns to what the administration deems “profitability,” a position a federal judge flatly rejected on Tuesday, finding it without legal merit. Congressional Republicans also slashed the CFPB’s maximum allowable funding in July.
Together, the administration, congressional Republicans and industry-backed lawsuits have undone a decade’s worth of CFPB rules on matters ranging from medical debt and student loans to credit card late fees, overdraft charges and mortgage lending.
The agency has also dropped or paused its probes and enforcement actions, and stopped supervising the consumer finance industries, leading to a string of resignations.
The CFPB and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Warren said that as a law professor studying bankruptcy she saw that consumer protections were weak and fragmented, and that America needed a single federal agency dedicated to protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive and abusive practices.
“I was stunned by the number of people in financial trouble who had lost a job or got sick but who had also been cheated by one or more of their creditors,” she told Reuters. “For no agency was consumer protection a first priority, it was somewhere between fifth and tenth, which meant there was just no cop on the beat. If the CFPB is not there, people have nowhere to turn when they get cheated.”

CRITICS COMPLAIN OF OVERREACH

Republicans said the agency was redundant, with federal bank watchdogs, like the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and state regulators already looking out for consumers, and that its funding and leadership structure were unconstitutional. Like other banking regulators, the CFPB’s funding is not set annually by Congress and does not come directly from taxpayers. Rather, the agency draws on the Federal Reserve and its director was until recently protected from removal at will by the president.
Republicans accused the CFPB’s first director Richard Cordray, a Democrat, of using those powers to crush small banks and businesses via overzealous enforcement and complex regulations, and of overstepping the agency’s legal authority by trying to regulate companies Congress had exempted from its oversight, such as auto dealerships.
Conservative and industry groups tried several times to curb its powers or extinguish it altogether via the courts. In 2020 the Supreme Court handed the president the power to fire the director, which he has since used. Critics on the political right accused former director Rohit Chopra, a Democrat, of exceeding his authority, flouting the federal rule-making process, and harming consumers with an ill-conceived crackdown on financial firm fees.
Thomas Hoenig, who served as vice chair of the FDIC from 2012 to 2018, said he was skeptical of some of the CFPB’s work under prior administrations, but that it still served an important purpose.
“If you take them out of the picture altogether, you’re going to get more abuse, not less,” he said. “I’m disappointed to see the CFPB just go away.”

“VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME”

For some, though, the agency has been a lifeline. Millions of Americans like Jones who are struggling with credit reporting errors, predatory lenders, debt collectors, fraud, discrimination or other challenges, are now filing complaints every year with the agency, which prompts companies to fix the issues, sometimes by paying the complainants, or explain themselves.
When companies repeatedly break the rules, the CFPB punishes them and tries to make their customers whole. To date, it has returned $21 billion to consumers, according to CFPB data.
Morgan Smith, a 31-year-old single mother and social services worker in Issaquah, Washington, turned to those resources when she realized she had been a victim of identity theft.
After her wallet and ID were stolen from her car, she learned that someone had opened up a string of accounts in her name, she said: a rental car that ended up in a crash, an unpaid storage unit and a hotel room at an amusement park. Reuters was unable to confirm Smith’s account independently.
“I went straight to the CFPB and I was navigated there to their consumer education tab where I was able to find out how to deal with fraud and scams. It gave me all the information I needed to know…my rights,” she said.
“That was very important for me to have this resource.”
Without the CFPB, borrowers would once again rely on a hodgepodge of federal, state and other local agencies which lack the CFPB’s resources, expertise and legal powers, say consumer groups.
“Prior to the CFPB coming around, we’d have to say, ‘write your attorney general, write to the FTC,’ whoever it was, and it became this sort of letter-writing campaign,” said Sam Hohman, who runs the Nebraska nonprofit Credit Advisors Foundation, which helps people get out of debt and offers consumer education services.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trumps-funding-cuts-put-americas-consumer-watchdog-brink-collapse-2025-12-30/

China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, three people familiar with the matter said, as Beijing pushes to build a self-sufficient semiconductor supply chain.
The rule is not publicly documented, but chipmakers seeking state approval to build or expand their plants have been told by authorities in recent months that they must prove through procurement tenders that at least half their equipment will be Chinese-made, the people told Reuters.

The mandate is one of the most significant measures Beijing has introduced to wean itself off reliance on foreign technology, a push that gathered pace after the U.S. tightened technology export restrictions in 2023, banning sales of advanced AI chips and semiconductor equipment to China.
While those U.S. export restrictions blocked the sale of some of the most advanced tools, the 50% rule is leading Chinese manufacturers to choose domestic suppliers even in areas where foreign equipment from the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Europe remain available.
Applications failing the threshold are typically rejected, though authorities grant flexibility depending on supply constraints, the people said. The requirements are relaxed for advanced chip production lines, where domestically developed equipment is not yet fully available.

“Authorities prefer if it is much higher than 50%,” one source told Reuters. “Eventually they are aiming for the plants to use 100% domestic equipment.”
China’s industry ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The sources did not wish to be identified as the measure is not public.

‘WHOLE NATION’ APPROACH

China’s President Xi Jinping has been calling for a “whole nation” effort to build a fully self-sufficient domestic semiconductor supply chain that involves thousands of engineers and scientists at companies and research centers nationwide.
The effort is being made across the wide supply-chain spectrum. Reuters reported earlier this month that Chinese scientists are working on a prototype of a machine capable of producing cutting-edge chips, an outcome that Washington has spent years trying to prevent.
“Before, domestic fabs like SMIC would prefer U.S. equipment and would not really give Chinese firms a chance,” a former employee at local equipment maker Naura Technology (002371.SZ), said, referring to the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (0981.HK).

“But that changed starting with the 2023 U.S export restrictions, when Chinese fabs had no choice but to work with domestic suppliers.”
State-affiliated entities placed a record 421 orders for domestic lithography machines and parts this year worth around 850 million yuan, according to publicly available procurement data, signaling a surge in demand for locally developed technologies.
To support the local chip supply chain, Beijing has also poured hundreds of billions of yuan into its semiconductor sector through the “Big Fund”, which established a third phase in 2024 with 344 billion yuan ($49 billion) in capital.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

The policy is already yielding results, including in areas such as etching, a critical chip manufacturing step that involves removing materials from silicon wafers to carve out intricate transistor patterns, sources said.

China’s largest chip equipment group, Naura, is testing its etching tools on a cutting-edge 7nm (nanometre) production line of SMIC, two sources said. The early-stage milestone, which comes after Naura recently deployed etching tools on 14nm successfully, demonstrates how quickly domestic suppliers are advancing.
“Naura’s etching results have been accelerated by the government requiring fabs to use at least 50% domestic equipment,” one of the people told Reuters, adding that it was forcing the company to rapidly improve.

Advanced etching tools had been predominantly supplied in China by foreign firms such as Lam Research (LRCX.O), and Tokyo Electron (8035.T), but are now being partially replaced by Naura and smaller rival Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC) (688012.SS), sources say.

Naura has also proven a key partner for Chinese memory chipmakers, supplying etching tools for advanced chips with more than 300 layers. It developed electrostatic chucks — devices that hold wafers during processing — to replace worn parts in Lam Research equipment that the company could no longer service after the 2023 restrictions, sources said.
Naura, AMEC, YTMC, SMIC, Lam Research, and Tokyo Electron did not respond to requests for comment.
China’s progress is being viewed with concern by global competitors, as foreign suppliers are squeezed out of the China market.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-mandates-50-domestic-equipment-rule-chipmakers-sources-say-2025-12-30/

Insiders are concerned by AJ’s mental scars, with a return to the ring unclear without the two pals who were always in his corner

DEVASTATED Anthony Joshua said yesterday “I feel pain all over my body” after the high-speed horror smash which killed two of his pals.

The former world heavyweight boxing champ had a miraculous escape from Monday’s death crash in Nigeria but it claimed the lives of close aides Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.

Sources close to the British fighter, 36, who will remain in hospital into the New Year, said he had searing pain in his knees and cried out in agony as he was taken from the wreckage of the Lexus 4×4 but tests revealed no fractures.

The star will remain in hospital while medics keep an eye on him and carry out further tests over the next few days.

Joshua’s promoters Matchroom declined to detail his injuries last night but confirmed: “Anthony is in a stable condition and will remain there for observation.”

The crash came ten days after AJ celebrated knocking out YouTuber Jake Paul in a money-spinning bout in the US.

“Massive parts of the Anthony Joshua machine.

But insiders fear the grief and mental scars from the road tragedy could put potential mega-fights next year in doubt — including a long-awaited showdown with his bitter UK rival Tyson Fury.

Joshua was being comforted in hospital by his mum after miraculously escaping with his life while close aides Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele died.

AJ was said to still be in pain but insiders were more concerned by his mental scars, with a return to the ring unclear without the two pals who were always in his corner as his career skyrocketed.

The pair were killed instantly on Monday morning as the Lexus SUV they were travelling in slammed into a parked lorry on the notoriously dangerous Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Makun.

AJ and the local hired driver – both sitting on the opposite side of the car from Sina and Latz – cheated death by inches.

Tributes poured in yesterday to AJ’s strength and conditioning coach Sina and his personal trainer Latz, both 36.

Boxing pundit Steve Bunce described them as “massive parts of the Anthony Joshua machine”.

He said: “They are with him all the time.

“He calls them his boys.

“They’re more than that.

“They are friends.

“They may have strict jobs, they might be his strength and conditioning coach, his personal trainer, his dietitian, his nutritionist, but they’re close and he loves that close circle.”

Joshua – who raked in a reported £70million from his recent KO of YouTuber Jake Paul — was being lined up to face fellow Brit Tyson Fury next year, but insiders say plans for the £100million mega-bout are now on the back burner.

Fury yesterday paid a heartfelt tribute, saying of Sina and Latz: “This is so sad.

“May God give them a good bed in heaven.”

He then shared a lengthy interview in which Joshua previously spoke about dealing with a personal tragedy.

Fury added later: “I wish AJ a speedy recovery and would like to send my sincere condolences to the families of his friends.”

Round-the-clock care

Eddie Hearn, chairman of AJ’s Matchroom promoters, said: “With the heaviest of hearts.

“Two great men.

“Rest in eternal peace Sina and Latz.

“My thoughts and deepest prayers are with everyone.”

AJ – whose parents are both Nigerian – was being comforted by his mum Yeta Odusanya yesterday after she rushed to her son’s bedside.

He is being given round-the-clock care at Nigeria’s top private medical unit, the £2,000-a-night Duchess International Hospital in Lagos.

Nigeria’s president Bola Ahmed Tinubu said he had spoken to Joshua and the fighter’s mum. He went on: “I wished him well and prayed for him.

“He assured me he is receiving the best care in the hospital.”

The boxer and his pals were on holiday in the west African nation, and were expected to stay a week.

They were on their way to AJ’s family home for New Year celebrations in Sagamu when tragedy struck at 11am on Monday.

A relative last night spoke of the family’s “shock” at hearing the tragic news.

Nigerian authorities confirmed AJ escaped with minor injuries as the Lexus – said to have been speeding – went out of control and sideswiped a stationary truck, carving open its passenger side.

Video footage showed the stricken boxer crying out in agony as he was helped from the wreckage, with witnesses saying he was complaining of searing pain in his leg.

A Mitsubishi 4×4, said to have been carrying AJ’s security team, was undamaged yards away.

Sina — who was in AJ’s corner during the Paul fight in Miami — had worked with him for more than ten years as his full-time sport and exercise rehabilitation coach.

He helped the Watford-born boxer prepare for some of his biggest fights, including his world title-winning bout against Wladimir Klitschko in 2017.

The fitness guru was a qualified sports and exercise rehabilitator who specialised in musculoskeletal injuries and corrective exercise and co-founded the Evolve Gym in London.

“There is no one kinder, no one more generous, no one more compassionate, no one more brotherly.

His uncle, Shahryar Rumi said yesterday he was “an angel living amongst us”.

Speaking outside the family home in North West London, he went on: “There is no one kinder, no one more generous, no one more compassionate, no one more brotherly.

“They were friends, Anthony Joshua and Sina.

“They worked together, but they began as friends. Even on this trip. He didn’t want him to be alone, so he went with him.”

Latz was one of AJ’s oldest friends and knew him long before his superstar career.

He played football for Aylesbury United, Tooting & Mitcham United, Hillingdon Borough, AFC Hayes, Chalfont Wasps and Northwood before joining Team AJ.

A fund-raiser set up to build a mosque in his honour and towards clean water projects in Africa had last night topped £160,000.

The organiser said: “I’m absolutely devastated hearing about the passing of my brother.

‘Highway of Death’

“I’m absolutely shocked that he died and I want to be part of the people who help keep his legacy alive.”

Inquiries into the cause of the fatal crash were last night continuing.

Police Commander Babatunde Akinbiyi of Nigeria’s traffic unit said checks showed the Lexus “experienced a tyre burst due to excessive speed” then “lost control”.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/sport/15712796/anthony-joshua-pain-car-crash-boxing-future/

ACTOR Isiah Whitlock Jr – whose starring role in The Wire launched an iconic catchphrase – has died aged 71.

Whitlock Jr was best known for his recurring roles in Law & Order and Veep as well as being a regular in Spike Lee films.

His iconic catchphrase “Sh*******t” was also enshrined into pop-culture after he first delivered the line in 25th Hour.

In an interview in 2008, Whitlock Jr revealed he had picked up the phrase from his uncle Leon.

“I did it there, and I did it in She Hate Me,” he said.

“But then, when I got on to The Wire, I saw a couple of opportunities where I could do it, and I did.

“And they started writing it in.”

Whitlock Jr was born in South Bend, Indiana, and began his acting career after graduating from college, when he joined San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.

The star first appeared on screen in 1987 in a guest role on CBS’ Cagney & Lacey.

He continued to appear on TV for the following 35 years, starring in the Law & Order franchise in multiple episodes of Special Victims Unit and Criminal Intent.

Best known for his role as corrupt State Senator R. Clayton “Clay” Davis in The Wire, he appeared in all five seasons of the popular crime drama.

Whitlock Jr later got to play a man obsessed with The Wire in the 2011 comedy Cedar Rapids.

The star was confirmed dead on Tuesday by his long-time manager Brian Liebman.

“Isiah was a brilliant actor and even better person,” Liebman told Deadline.

“He was loved by all who had the pleasure to work with or know him.

“He will be greatly missed.”

A fan favourite on HBO‘s political comedy Veep, he played Secretary of Defence General George Maddox.

Whitlock Jr was a series regular on Showtime’s legal thriller Your Honor, where he portrayed a politician with connections in organised crime.

His final TV role was in the Netflix murder mystery series The Residence, where he depicted the Chief of Police, opposite Uzo Aduba.

The show premiered in March.

The star had a long-standing relationship with Spike Lee, appearing in six of the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s movies: 25th Hour (2002), She Hate Me (2004), Red Hook Summer (2012), Chi-Raq (2015), BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods (2020).

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15713020/isiah-whitlock-jr-dead-thewire-actor/

 

Robbers stole €30 million in gold, jewellery, and cash from Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen, breaking into 3,000+ deposit boxes over Christmas.

Robbers stole gold, jewellery and cash worth around 30 million euros ($35 million/Rs 314.4 crores) from a German bank in the city of Gelsenkirchen during the extended Christmas break, using a large drill to break into the bank’s underground vault, police and bank officials said on Tuesday.

The thieves, who remain at large, smashed open more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes at a branch of Sparkasse savings bank in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia before fleeing with the loot.

Bank officials told German news agencies that the branch was “broken into over the Christmas holidays” and that “more than 95 percent of the 3,250 customer safe deposit boxes were broken into by unknown perpetrators”.

Police said the robbers drilled their way into the vault room from a parking garage connected to the building.

As news of the robbery spread, hundreds of distressed customers gathered outside the branch on Tuesday, demanding information. The bank remained closed for security reasons.

German businesses were shut on Thursday and Friday last week for Christmas, and investigators believe the gang may have spent several days inside the building, breaking open the deposit boxes during the holiday period.

The robbery came to light after a fire alarm was triggered in the early hours of Monday, prompting emergency services to investigate and discover the hole leading into the vault.

Witnesses reported seeing several men carrying large bags in the stairwell of the parking garage during the night between Saturday and Sunday, police said. Security camera footage later showed a black Audi RS 6 leaving the garage early on Monday morning with masked individuals inside.

‘Professionally executed’

Police said the car’s licence plate had been stolen earlier from the city of Hanover.

A police spokesman told AFP that the break-in was “indeed very professionally executed”, likening it to the heist movie Ocean’s Eleven.

“A great deal of prior knowledge or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out,” the spokesman said.

Police said the safe deposit boxes had an average insurance value of more than 10,000 euros, putting the estimated damage at around 30 million euros. Several victims have told investigators that their losses were far higher than the insured amounts.

The police spokesman said “disgruntled customers” had gathered outside the branch, where staff had received threats, prompting authorities to maintain a security presence.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/oceans-eleven-style-heist-at-german-bank-stuns-police-robbers-steal-cash-gold-worth-millions-ws-l-9801336.html

Work is continuing to fix a power issue in the Channel Tunnel after an outage shut it down and disrupted travel plans for thousands of people.

The Channel Tunnel partially reopened allowing some Eurostar and LeShuttle services – which carries vehicles and passengers through the tunnel between Folkestone and Calais – to resume with delays.

On Tuesday, a problem with the overhead power supply and a broken down LeShuttle train blocked all routes, causing travel chaos for thousands trying to get away for New Year.

Getlink, who run the Channel Tunnel, said it hopes it will return to normal overnight.

But passengers are braced for a second day of possible disruption, with some travellers saying they have spent hours stuck onboard trains overnight as they waited for them to move.

One man told the BBC he had boarded the 19:01 service to Paris, but as of 02:30 GMT he was still stuck on the train at the entrance to the tunnel.

He said staff told him there was a “50% chance we go to Paris, 50% chance we go back to London”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Eurostar suspended services until further notice.

By midday, at least a dozen Eurostar services between the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands had been cancelled.

Some Eurostar and LeShuttle services resumed on Tuesday evening after one of the tunnel’s two lines reopened, but delays continued.

Earlier on Tuesday, Eurostar urged its customers “to rebook their journey for another day if possible, with free exchanges available”.

“We also advise customers not to come to our stations if their trains have been already been cancelled.”

By midday on Tuesday, at least a dozen Eurostar services between the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands had been cancelled.

The rail operator apologised and said passengers could rearrange their plans free of charge or can cancel their booking and get a refund or an e-voucher.

Passengers told the BBC how they had been left stranded and looking for alternative routes to get to their destination.

Two American tourists spent hundreds of pounds to reach Paris on Wednesday after their Eurostar service was cancelled from London St Pancras International.

Haley Adams, 38, and Hannah Hagar, 35, paid $580 (£430) for flights to the French capital to celebrate Hannah’s 36th birthday there.

The pair had their Eurostar tickets refunded but said they will have to pay for an extra night at a hotel in London and cannot get a refund from the hotel they were going to stay at in Paris tonight.

“There’s been a lot of queuing,” Adams said. “We have been here for five hours.”

A family from Mexico said their trip of a lifetime has been cast into doubt as their Eurostar service was cancelled.

Monserrat Hernandes, her brother John Paul and mother Olga were among dozens of people looking frantically at their phones near the Eurostar departure area at St Pancras.

The family got on the Eurostar just after 08:00 GMT but after their train left for Paris it had to return due to the incident.

“They say nothing is travelling today… there’s no hope for leaving tomorrow,” she said.

They are now searching for a flight or a ferry to make it to Paris.

“It’s like an American movie,” she added. “Hopefully I find the love of my life.”

In France, Ben Clark, from Bedfordshire, said he had been stuck on-board Le Shuttle in Calais with his wife and three daughters for hours.

“The first two-and-a-half hours weren’t too bad but the girls have got restless in the last half an hour so we’ve let them run around the boarding carriage to burn off some energy,” he said.

“Some people are getting angry but there’s nothing that can be done, others are sleeping in their cars. We have used up our snacks and now have no plan B or C.”

National Rail has advised passengers not to come to London St Pancras International if their Eurostar train is cancelled, while the Department for Transport said disruption is “likely for the remainder of the day” while faulty overhead cables are repaired.

A photograph shared with the BBC by a train driver for Eurostar appears to show overhead electrical cables strewn across the tracks.

Currently only one of two main tunnels in the Channel Tunnel is available for trains to run on, Eurostar said.

Eurostar’s services resumed with the 15:04 train from London to Brussels departing after 16:00.

As of 18:00, only a few services to Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels were scheduled to depart London St Pancras International this evening.

The broken down LeShuttle train was also moved out of the Channel Tunnel. The operator said none of its passengers were stranded inside the tunnel after the power failure caused its closure.

LeShuttle has apologised and warned of delays of approximately five hours, telling passengers to “please check in as planned”.

The LeShuttle service “resumed very gradually on one track” shortly before 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT), the EuroTunnel Press Office said.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w7wg93yeeo

Protests and strikes in Iran over inflation and currency devaluation have spread from the capital, Tehran, to several other cities on a third day of unrest.

The protests began on Sunday after shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar staged a strike when the Iranian rial hit a record low against the US dollar on the open market.

Since then, videos verified by BBC Persian have shown demonstrations in the cities of Karaj, Hamedan, Qeshm, Malard, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Shiraz and Yazd. Police were also seen using tear gas in an attempt to disperse demonstrators.

The Iranian government said it “recognises the protests” and would listen “with patience, even if it is confronted with harsh voices”.

President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X late on Monday that he had instructed the interior minister to hold talks with what he described as “representatives” of the protesters so that measures could be taken “to resolve the problems and act responsibly”.

He also accepted the resignation of Iran’s central bank governor, Mohammadreza Farzin, and named former economy and finance minister Abdolnasser Hemmati to replace him.

University students have also joined the protests, chanting anti-government slogans including “Death to the dictator” – a reference to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in Iran.

Some protesters were also heard chanting slogans in support of the son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, including “Long live the Shah”.

In response, Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the United States, wrote on X: “I am with you. Victory is ours because our cause is just and because we are united.”

“As long as this regime remains in power, the country’s economic situation will continue to deteriorate,” he added.

The US state department’s Persian-language account on X also expressed support for the protests.

It said the US “praises their courage” and stands with those seeking “dignity and a better future” after years of failed policies and economic mismanagement.

Iran was reportedly high on the agenda of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on Monday,

At a joint news conference afterwards, Trump declined to say whether he supported regime change in Iran, but said: “They’ve got a lot of problems: tremendous inflation, their economy is bust, their economy is no good, and I know people aren’t so happy.”

The president also said he might back another round of Israeli air strikes on Iran if the country rebuilt its ballistic missile or nuclear programmes.

During a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, the US carried out air strikes on key Iranian uranium enrichment sites. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj2llkjv8vo

Foreign dignitaries including Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will attend Zia’s funeral.

The funeral of Bangladesh’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia will be held on Wednesday, and she will be buried with full state honours beside her husband, the late president Ziaur Rahman, the interim government said on Tuesday.

Zia, the longtime chief of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a three-time prime minister, died earlier in the day in Dhaka after a prolonged illness. She was 80.

Her funeral will be held on Wednesday after Zohr prayers at Parliament’s South Plaza and the adjoining Manik Mia Avenue, Law Advisor Asif Nazrul said.

She will later be laid to rest with full state honours beside the grave of her husband, former president and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, at Zia Udyan in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, Nazrul told reporters after a special meeting of the interim government’s Advisory Council at the state guest house Jamuna.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir attended the meeting as a special invitee.

Foreign dignitaries including Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will attend Zia’s funeral.

Jaishankar will represent the government and people of India at the funeral, for which he will travel to Dhaka on Wednesday, an official statement said.

Quoting a Pakistan High Commission official in Dhaka, state-run BSS news agency reported, “We have the confirmation that our Deputy Prime Minister will come here (Dhaka) and join the Janaza.” Earlier in a televised address to the nation, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus announced a three-day state mourning and a one-day general holiday.

“At the death of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, I declare three days of state mourning and a one-day general holiday tomorrow on the day of her Namaz-e-Janaza (funeral prayers),” he said.

Yunus urged people to maintain discipline and order during the funeral prayers and the observance of mourning across the country.

“I know that all of you are deeply saddened at this time. I hope that you will show patience during this time of mourning and cooperate with all those concerned who are involved in observing the formalities, including her Namaz-e-Janaza,” he said.

During the mourning period, the national flag will be flown at half-mast at all government, semi-government and autonomous institutions, educational institutions and on all government and private buildings across the country, as well as at Bangladesh missions abroad.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/former-bangladesh-pm-khaleda-zia-to-be-buried-beside-her-husband-ziaur-rahmans-grave-10110600?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

China’s role in the May 7-10 Operation Sindoor came under serious scrutiny and criticism, especially the military assistance provided by Beijing to Islamabad.

After US President Donald Trump, China has claimed credit for mediating peace between India and Pakistan during the military conflict earlier this year, despite New Delhi’s pushback, which has repeatedly rejected any third-party mediation. Like Trump, the Chinese Foreign Minister also projected Beijing as a peace negotiator for other global conflicts, including tensions in northern Myanmar, between Cambodia and Thailand, and the Iranian nuclear issue.

“This year, local wars and cross-border conflicts flared up more often than at any time since the end of WWII. Geopolitical turbulence continued to spread… To build peace that lasts, we have taken an objective and just stance and focused on addressing both symptoms and root causes,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, speaking at the Symposium on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Relations in Beijing.

Wang Yi then claimed that “tensions between India and Pakistan” were among the list of hotspot issues “mediated” by China this year.

“Following this Chinese approach to settling hotspot issues, we mediated in northern Myanmar, the Iranian nuclear issue, the tensions between Pakistan and India, the issues between Palestine and Israel, and the recent conflict between Cambodia and Thailand,” he claimed.

India’s Stand On Ceasefire

New Delhi has maintained that the military conflict between India and Pakistan, which started on May 7, was resolved through direct talks between the DGMOs (Director General of Military Operations) of the armies of the two countries.

At the May 13 press briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs had said, “Regarding ceasefire and what sort of role other countries played, etc. See, the specific date, time, and wording of the understanding were worked out between the DGMOs of the two countries at their phone call on 10th May 2025, commencing at 15:35 hours.”

India has also been consistently maintaining that there is no place for any third-party intervention in matters relating to India and Pakistan.

China’s Role in India-Pak Tensions

China’s role in the May 7-10 Operation Sindoor came under serious scrutiny and criticism, especially the military assistance provided by Beijing to Islamabad.

On the diplomatic front, Beijing called on India and Pakistan on May 7, asking both nuclear-powered nations to exercise restraint even while expressing regret over India’s airstrikes.

“China finds India’s military operation early this morning regrettable,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement, reacting to questions on India’s airstrikes and escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

The statement, without naming Pakistan, claimed, “China opposes all forms of terrorism,” in an apparent reference to the Pahalgam terrorist attack and urged both sides to exercise restraint in the interest of peace.

But China’s active military support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor has become a sharp reminder of the negative impact of Beijing and Islamabad’s close ties on their relations with New Delhi.

For its part, China, whose arms exports amount to over 81 per cent of Pakistan’s military hardware, sought to downplay India’s assertion that Beijing used the conflict as a “live lab,” declining to directly answer the charges made by Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Rahul R Singh.

Gen Singh said China’s strategy during Operation Sindoor was based on its ancient military strategy of “36 stratagems” and killing the adversary with a “borrowed knife” to buttress the point that Beijing extended all possible support to Pakistan to cause pain to India.

What China Said On India Ties

In his speech on China’s foreign policy initiatives, Wang Yi spoke of the good momentum of improvement of relations between India and China, as he mentioned Beijing’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Tianjin in August this year.

“This year, we invited the leaders of India and North Korea to China. China-India relations showed good momentum, and the traditional friendship with the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) was cemented and further promoted,” he said, adding that the SCO summit was a resounding success.

The Foreign Minister claimed that China’s engagement with neighbouring countries entered a new stage of building a community with a shared future at a faster pace.

On US Tariffs

In apparent reference to US President Donald Trump unleashing unilateral tariffs against China and other countries, Wang Yi said, “This year, economic globalisation met serious setbacks. The tariff war dealt a blow to international trade rules and disrupted the global economic order. The choice between openness and isolation became imperative.”

He stressed the China-US relationship is one of the most consequential bilateral relationships in today’s world.

“The strategic choices of the two countries will shape the course of world history,” he said.

“On major issues of principle, we maintained firm and unequivocal positions. On issues concerning China’s core interests, we responded with strength and held our ground,” he said.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/after-donald-trump-chinas-mediation-claim-on-india-pakistan-war-10121339?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

China’s military exercises come less than two weeks after the US announced a record $11.1 billion arms package to Taiwan. Taipei condemned the drills as irresponsible but said it would not escalate tensions.

China launched rockets and deployed warships, bombers and amphibious assault vessels around Taiwan on Tuesday in the second day of large-scale military drills aimed at rehearsing a blockade of the self-ruled island.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry confirmed live-firing drills, adding that it detected more than 130 Chinese military aircraft and 22 navy and coast guard vessels around the island in the 24 hours until 6 a.m. local time (2200 GMT).

The exercises, named “Justice Mission 2025”, include live-fire drills in multiple zones surrounding Taiwan and simulate strikes on maritime and key ports, according to China’s Eastern Theater Command.

According to Chinese authorities, the war games are due to finish at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and will cover five large zones around Taiwan.

Why is China conducting drills around Taiwan?

Chinese military spokesperson Shi Yi called the drills “a stern warning against ‘Taiwan Independence’ separatist forces, and…a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.

On Monday, China said the drills were aimed at “deterrence” of outside military intervention.

The exercices come less than two weeks after the US announced a record $11.1 billion (€9.43 billion) arms package to Taiwan, including missiles, drones, artillery systems and military software.

Tensions have also been high in the region after a statement from Japan that its military could get involved if China acted against Taiwan.

China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on Tuesday blasted “pro-independence forces in Taiwan” and Japan’s leaders.

“In response to the continuous provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and the large-scale US arms sales to Taiwan, we must resolutely oppose and strongly counter them,” Wang said during an end-of-the-year diplomatic event in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Chinese state media on Tuesday published a poster showing the Taiwan’s President Lai being crushed by one hammer striking the island’s south while another hits its north.

Additionally, on Monday, the Chinese ​military released an AI-generated video depicting automated humanoid robots, microdrones and weaponized robotic dogs attacking Taiwan.

Taiwan is a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/china-fires-rockets-on-second-day-of-drills-around-taiwan/a-75338221

In Germany, it is only permitted to sell fireworks in the three days leading up to New Year’s Eve. Some line up early to buy them, but others have safety concerns and want to see them banned altogether.

In the early hours of Monday [December 29], residents in the state of Thuringia called the police out to a local supermarket, warning that thieves were trying to break in. But when the police arrived, the group of young men, armed with hot tea and blankets, just wanted to be first in line when the supermarket opened. December 29 is the start of the three-day window in Germany when fireworks can be sold, to adults over the age of 18, to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

All over the country, undeterred by the cold and dark, people line up and wait every year for fireworks to go on sale. The coveted products have names like Giftzwerg (“poison dwarf”), Hysteria, Hurricane Force. The fireworks come in brightly colored packages of various sizes, with a fuse sticking out.

When the fuse is lit, they shoot up into the air. Black powder produces loud explosions, while colorful effects are created by metal powder, in combination with other chemicals.

Only a minority let off private fireworks

Germany has a long tradition of people letting off their own fireworks on New Year’s Eve. For the manufacturers, it’s a profitable and steadily growing business. The German Pyrotechnic Industry Association calculates that in 2024 its turnover was €197 million ($232 million) — a record high, up from €180 million the previous year. The association estimates that 10% to 15% more goods will be on sale in 2025.

Yet only 22% of people living in Germany want to see in the New Year with a private fireworks display. These were the findings of a representative survey of 2,500 people over the age of 18 by the opinion research institute Civey. The survey was commissioned by Germany’s Association of Technical Inspection Agencies (TÜV).

“It’s only a minority of people who set off their own firecrackers, rockets, or other fireworks on New Year’s Eve,” says Joachim Bühler, the CEO of the TÜV association. He explains that the tradition is most popular among younger people and families with children.

More and more people seriously injured

But while some regard fireworks as colorful, exciting, and fun, the rockets and firecrackers have serious downsides. In addition to creating an enormous amount of trash, the Federal Environment Agency records that burning fireworks to ring in the new year generates more than 2,000 metric tons of fine particulates, which constitute a risk to health. 2,000 tons is around 1% of Germany’s entire annual particulate pollution.

The most serious concern, however, is that injuries and damage to property are increasing year on year, especially in big cities. Firecrackers can cause serious injuries like acoustic trauma, burns and the loss of body parts, such as fingers or an entire hand.

More and more often, injuries are caused by fireworks that have been purchased illegally on black markets in Poland, Czechia and the Netherlands, and have considerably more explosive power. According to the police, they’re comparable to bombs and grenades. In 2024, two young men died in Germany after handling so-called spherical bombs that contained more than 600 grams of black powder. A doctor described one of the men as having been “ripped to shreds.”

This year, fireworks have been banned for the first time in large parts of Czechia. Starting in 2026, the Netherlands is banning private fireworks altogether. The hope is that this will stop the two countries being used as key transshipment points for home-made firecrackers and goods smuggled in from China.

German customs officials report that in 2024 they seized more than seven tons of pyrotechnics that were not authorized for use in Germany. That’s considerably more than in all three of the previous years put together.

“For many people, ordinary fireworks aren’t enough anymore,” warned Jochen Kopelke, the chair of the federal German Police Union. “They want them to be more and more powerful, with big explosions and lots of fire.”

Many organizations want firecrackers banned

There has also been an increase in the deliberate use of pyrotechnics as a weapon, including against police officers, firefighters and paramedics. Aggression and violence tend to break out on New Year’s Eve, especially in the bigger cities. Some neighborhoods almost resemble a war zone.

This is why the security services are calling for a blanket ban on all fireworks. A petition to this effect, launched by the police trade union (GdP) in Berlin, has already been signed by almost 2.5 million people.

The branch leader of the GdP in Berlin, Stephan Weh, believes politicians have to do something.

“All that’s happened in the last few years has been the imposition of localized bans on firecrackers, guns and knives, in specific zones. But these make no difference to the excesses of violence,” he says. “We don’t want to wait until one of our colleagues loses their life in this wild, senseless firecracker frenzy.”

More than 50 civil society organizations have also come together to call for a ban on private New Year’s Eve fireworks, under the hashtag #böllerciao (“Bye-bye, firecrackers”). Medical associations, Environmental Action Germany, animal welfare organizations, and the German Children’s Fund are among those supporting the initiative. Around 750,000 people have signed their petition.

One in three against a ban on fireworks

Increased aggression on New Year’s Eve also affects people’s perception of security. The TÜV survey found that almost one in three — women in particular — do not feel safe in public if there are firecrackers around. 32% of those surveyed and 45% of women surveyed said they didn’t feel safe outside on New Year’s Eve because of fireworks.

More and more people would welcome restrictions on private fireworks. Almost half are in favor of a total ban, with only the smallest fireworks excepted, such as sparklers or table fireworks. 22% would like to see a ban on firecrackers, both large and small.

However, there are also people — 33%, according to the survey — who reject any sort of ban, citing tradition and personal freedom.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/almost-half-of-all-germans-want-a-ban-on-fireworks/a-75345435

The United Nations warned Tuesday (Dec 30) that recent actions by Israel against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees risked depriving millions of people of basic services such as education and healthcare.

Israel’s parliament passed new legislation on Monday formally stripping the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of diplomatic immunity, and barring Israeli companies from providing water or electricity to the agency’s institutions.

According to UNRWA, the legislation also grants the Israeli government the authority to expropriate the agency’s properties in East Jerusalem, including its headquarters and main vocational training centre.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini condemned the legislation as “outrageous”, decrying it on social media as “part of an ongoing, systematic campaign to discredit UNRWA and thereby obstruct the core role that the agency plays providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine refugees”.

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“The vote by the Israeli parliament on 29 December 2025 passing new legislation against UNRWA is outrageous. It is a direct affront to the mandate granted to the Agency by the UN General Assembly and contrary to findings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which… pic.twitter.com/6tomQEoldS

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 30, 2025

Filippo Grandi, the outgoing head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and a former UNRWA chief, also criticised the move as “very unfortunate”.

In an interview with AFP, he highlighted that UNRWA, unlike other UN agencies, provides basic public services such as education and healthcare to the millions of registered Palestinian refugees it serves across Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

“If you deprive those people of those services…then you had better find a substitute,” he said, warning: “I think it would be very difficult.”

“At the moment, there is a great risk that millions of people will be deprived of basic services if UNRWA is further deprived of space to work, and resources to work.”

It has accused the agency of providing cover for Hamas militants, claiming that some UNRWA employees took part in the militant group’s Oct 7, 2023 assault on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

A series of UN-linked internal and external investigations found some “neutrality-related issues” at UNRWA, but stressed Israel had not provided conclusive evidence for its headline allegation.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/un-condemns-israels-moves-against-agency-palestinian-refugees-5770421

 

Flu is rising rapidly across the U.S., driven by a new variant of the virus — and cases are expected to keep growing with holiday travel.

That variant, known as “subclade K,” led to early outbreaks in the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. In the U.S., flu typically begins its winter march in December. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported high or very high levels of illness in more than half the states.

The CDC estimated there have been at least 7.5 million illnesses, 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths from flu so far this season. That includes at least eight child deaths — and is based on data as of Dec. 20, before major holiday gatherings.

Some states are particularly hard-hit. New York’s health department said the week ending Dec. 20 marked the most flu cases the state had recorded in a single week since 2004: 71,000.

It’s far too soon to know if this flu season will be as severe as last winter’s.

But it’s not too late to get a flu shot, which health experts say can still prevent severe illness even if someone gets infected. While this year’s vaccine isn’t a perfect match to the subclade K strain, a preliminary analysis from the U.K. found it offered at least partial protection, lowering people’s risk of hospitalization.

According to the CDC, only about 42% of adults and children have gotten a flu vaccination so far this year.

What is subclade K flu?

The flu virus is a shape-shifter, constantly mutating, and it comes in multiple forms. There are two subtypes of Type A flu, and subclade K is a mutated version of one of them, named H3N2. That H3N2 strain is always harsh, especially for older adults.

Subclade K’s mutations aren’t enough of a change to be considered an entirely new kind of flu.

But they’re different enough to evade some of the protection from this year’s vaccine, said Andrew Pekosz, a virus expert at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Will subclade K make people sicker?

The CDC said it’s too soon to know how severe this season will be.

Flu seasons dominated by any version of H3N2 tend to be bad, with more infections overall and more people becoming seriously ill. But Hopkins’ Pekosz cautioned it will take time to tease apart whether this subclade K version simply spreads more easily or also is more dangerous.

That question aside, the CDC notes there are some prescription medicines to treat flu — usually recommended for people at high risk of complications. But they generally need to be started a day or two after symptoms begin.

Who needs a flu vaccine?

The CDC and major medical societies all recommend a flu vaccine for just about everyone age 6 months and older. Despite lots of recent misinformation and confusion about vaccines, the flu recommendations haven’t changed.

Flu is particularly dangerous for people 65 and older, pregnant women, young children and people of any age who have chronic health problems, including asthma, diabetes, heart disease and weak immune systems.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/flu-subclade-k-cdc-vaccine-ca9bd270ca70602775168b0b651e3b2a

 

Teyana Taylor and Aaron Pierre have split up after less than a year of dating, sources exclusively tell Page Six.

The breakup news comes after unconfirmed rumors began popping up online that they’d parted.

The reason behind the split is unclear, but sources say they have gone their separate ways.

Taylor is up for a Golden Globe as best supporting actress in a motion picture for her latest film, “One Battle After Another.” Pierre’s upcoming projects include the next “Star Wars” movie, “Star Wars: Starfighter,” with Ryan Gosling, as well as the upcoming DC Studios and HBO series, “Lanterns.”

Taylor, who also stars in Ryan Murphy’s Kim Kardashian series “All’s Fair,” and Pierre, who starred in last year’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” first sparked dating rumors earlier this year when they both attended the Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala in Los Angeles in February.

Soon after, the couple was together at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, and Pierre popped up in a trailer for Taylor’s 2025 album, “Escape Room,” in which the two shared a steamy kiss.

By June, they’d made things Instagram official, as the saying goes, when Taylor posted a sweet tribute to Pierre to mark his 31st birthday — and a subsequent roundup of photos from his bday bash.

The couple then attended the BET Awards in LA together, and Taylor, 35, told Complex in an interview about her younger beau, “He’s very gentle … It allows me to feel warm and to feel safe and not be in survival mode.”

Pierre subsequently participated in a panel discussion for Taylor’s album launch, saying, “I’m sure everybody knows this, but I’ve got to say it, Teyana is really one of one,” and the duo cutely even started wearing matching outfits to events promoting the project. (Taylor got a Grammy nomination for the album.)

But, while Pierre was with Taylor on the red carpet for the London premiere of her latest film, “One Battle After Another,” it seems the sweet romance has ended.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/12/30/celebrity-news/teyana-taylor-aaron-pierre-have-split-sources/

According to Ukrainian reports, as many as half a million people have been left without electricity.

Residential buildings, including tower blocks, in the capital have been captured in complete darkness – in footage shared on social media.

Street lamps also appear to be in blackout in some areas, with the only source of light coming from the cars on the roads.

One X account, promoted as an ‘open source intelligence monitor focused on Europe and conflicts’, shared the footage.

‘Russian channels are reporting that large portions of Moscow are currently without power, amidst a large-scale drone attack currently underway against the Russian capital by Ukraine,’ the account posted this evening.

Sharing images of the reported blackouts, Volodymyr Zelensky’s former press secretary, Iuliia Mendel, said: ‘Total blackout hits Moscow region is reported on social media: over 600,000 people plunged into darkness for more than four hours — no electricity, no mobile signal, total isolation.’

She added: ‘Drone threat declared across the oblast right now.’

Another account, which reports on the Russia-Ukraine war, wrote: ‘Power outages are now reported in the Moscow region, with no official explanation yet.

‘This comes shortly after reports of a large Ukrainian drone swarm heading toward the Russian capital.’

While the number of residents understood to be affected remains unverified, estimates range between 100,000 and 600,000 people.

The Russian capital has a population of more than 13million.

Some reports suggest the blackout could have been triggered by a substation fire – though it is unclear whether, if this was the cause, it resulted from a Ukrainian drone strike.

The attack on the capital is understood to have forced airports to suspend operations.

Russia’s air defence units destroyed a total of 27 Ukrainian drones in the three-hour period starting at 8pm local time including three over the Moscow region, the Russian defence ministry said

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said on Telegram that 21 Ukrainian drones were downed during the day over the region. One civilian person was injured as a result of the attack.

Source : https://metro.co.uk/2025/12/30/thousands-left-without-power-moscow-drone-strike-25936699/

Khaleda Zia, who became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister in 1991 and went on to develop a bitter rivalry with Sheikh Hasina as they spent decades trading power, died on Tuesday after a long illness. She was 80.
Her opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said that she died after a prolonged illness. She had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, and chest and heart problems, her doctors said.

She went to London for medical treatment in early 2025, staying for four months before returning home.
Though Khaleda had been out of power since 2006 and had spent several years in jail or under house arrest, she and her centre-right BNP continued to command much support.
The BNP is seen as the frontrunner to win the parliamentary election slated to take place in February. Her son and acting chairman of the party, Tarique Rahman, 60, returned to the country last week from nearly 17 years in self-exile and is widely seen as a strong candidate to become prime minister.
Since August 2024, after a student-led uprising led to the ouster of Hasina, Bangladesh has been run by an interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace laureate and microfinance pioneer.

In November, Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia for her deadly crackdown on the student protests.
Known by her first name, Khaleda was described as shy and devoted to raising her two sons until her husband, military leader and then-President Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in an attempted army coup in 1981.
Three years later she became the head of the BNP, which her husband had founded, and vowed to deliver on his aim of “liberating Bangladesh from poverty and economic backwardness”.
She joined hands with Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father and head of the Awami League party, to lead a popular uprising for democracy that toppled military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad in 1990.

BATTLING BEGUMS

But their cooperation did not last long. Their bitter rivalry would lead to the two being dubbed “the battling Begums” – a phrase that uses an Urdu honorific for prominent women.

Supporters saw her as polite and traditional yet quietly stylish, someone who chose her words carefully. But they also viewed her as a bold, uncompromising leader when it came to defending her party and confronting her rivals.
Hasina, by contrast, was far more outspoken and assertive. Their opposite personalities helped fuel the rivalry that dominated Bangladesh’s politics for decades.
In 1991, Bangladesh held what was hailed as its first free election. Khaleda won a surprise victory over Hasina, having gained the support of the country’s largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami.
In doing so, Khaleda became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister and only the second woman to lead a democratic government of a mainly Muslim nation after Benazir Bhutto, elected to lead Pakistan three years earlier.

Khaleda replaced the presidential system with a parliamentary one, so that power rested with the prime minister. She also lifted restrictions on foreign investment and made primary education compulsory and free.
She lost to Hasina in the 1996 general election but came back five years later with a surprise landslide win.
Her second term was marred by the rise of Islamist militants and allegations of corruption.
In 2004, a rally that Hasina was addressing was hit by grenades. Hasina survived but over 20 people were killed and more than 500 wounded. Khaleda’s government and its Islamic allies were widely blamed.
In 2018, after Hasina had reclaimed Bangladesh’s highest office, Rahman was tried in absentia and sentenced to life for the attack. The BNP denounced the trial as politically motivated.

DETENTION AND FREEDOM

Although Khaleda later clamped down on Islamist radical groups, her second stint as prime minister ended in 2006 when an army-backed interim government took power amid political instability and street violence.
The interim government jailed both Khaleda and Hasina on charges of corruption and abuse of power for about a year before they were both released ahead of a general election in 2008.
Khaleda never regained power. With the BNP boycotting the 2014 and 2024 elections, her vitriolic feud with Hasina continued to dominate Bangladeshi politics.
Tension between their two parties often led to strikes, violence and deaths, impeding the economic development of Bangladesh, a poverty-stricken country of about 175 million that is low-lying and prone to devastating floods.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/obituary-khaleda-zia-bangladeshs-first-female-prime-minister-dies-80-2025-12-30/

 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programs and warned Hamas of severe consequences if it does not disarm.
Speaking beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump suggested Tehran may be working to restore its weapons programs after a massive U.S. strike in June.

“I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites,” Trump told reporters during a press conference.
“We know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, and I hope they’re not doing it because we don’t want to waste fuel on a B-2,” he added, referring to the bomber used in the earlier strike. “It’s a 37-hour trip both ways. I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.”
Trump, who has broached a potential nuclear deal with Tehran in recent months, said his talks with Netanyahu focused on advancing the fragile Gaza peace deal he brokered and addressing Israeli concerns over Iran and over Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran, which fought a 12-day war with Israel in June, said last week that it had conducted missile exercises for the second time this month.
Netanyahu said last week that Israel was not seeking a confrontation with Iran, but was aware of the reports, and said he would raise Tehran’s activities with Trump.

A SECOND PHASE IN GAZA?

Trump said he wanted to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached in October after two years of fighting in Gaza, a progression that entails international peacekeeping forces deployed in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of major breaches of the deal and look no closer to accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase. Hamas, which has refused to disarm, has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the territory.

Israel has indicated that if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully, it will resume military action to make it do so.
During his Monday comments, Trump heaped the blame on the militant group for not disarming more promptly, arguing that Israel had lived up to its side of the deal and warning that Hamas was inviting grave consequences.
“There will be hell to pay,” Trump warned when asked what he will do if Hamas does not lay down its arms. He has made similar statements at previous intervals during the fighting.
Netanyahu said this month that Trump had invited him for the talks, as Washington pushes to establish transitional governance for the Palestinian enclave amid Israeli reluctance to move forward.
The deployment of the international security force was mandated by a November 17 U.N. Security Council resolution.

While Washington has brokered three ceasefires involving its longtime ally – between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon – Netanyahu is wary of Israel’s foes rebuilding their forces after they were considerably weakened in multiple wars.
Overall, Trump’s comments suggested he remains firmly in Netanyahu’s camp, even as some aides have privately questioned the Israeli leader’s commitment to the Gaza ceasefire. His comments also suggested he is willing to risk additional hostilities related to Gaza and Iran, even as Trump has taken credit for resolving Israel’s wars in both places.
Trump struck a warm tone as he greeted Netanyahu before their meeting, going so far as to say that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges – a conversation Herzog’s office immediately denied took place.
Netanyahu reciprocated, telling reporters after the meeting that he was gifting Trump the country’s Israel Prize, which he said has historically been reserved for Israelis.

NEXT STEPS IN GAZA CEASEFIRE PLAN

Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war ultimately calls for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory and Hamas to give up its weapons and forgo a governing role.
The first phase of the ceasefire included a partial Israeli withdrawal, an increase in aid and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
An Israeli official in Netanyahu’s circle said that the prime minister would demand that the first phase of the ceasefire be completed by Hamas returning the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza, before moving ahead to the next stages. The family of the deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, joined the prime minister’s visiting entourage.
Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, also a condition of Trump’s plan, saying it will only do so once Gvili’s remains are returned.
Trump said that he and Netanyahu did not agree fully on the issue of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but the Republican leader did not lay out what the disagreement was.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-netanyahu-discuss-next-phase-gaza-plan-2025-12-28/

China fired rockets into waters off Taiwan on Tuesday, showcased new assault ships and dismissed prospects of U.S. and allied intervention to block any future attack by Beijing to take control of the island in its most extensive war games to date.
As part of drills rehearsing a blockade, China’s Eastern Theatre Command conducted 10 hours of live-fire exercises, launching rockets into waters to the north and south of the democratically governed island.

Chinese naval and air force units also simulated strikes on maritime and aerial targets and carried out anti-submarine drills around the island, while state media released images touting Beijing’s technological and military superiority and its ability to take Taiwan by force if necessary.
Named “Justice Mission 2025”, the drills began 11 days after the U.S. announced a record $11.1 billion arms package to Taiwan, drawing the Chinese defence ministry’s ire and warnings that the military would “take forceful measures” in response.

DETERRING ‘EXTERNAL FORCES’

For the first time, China’s military said the drills were aimed at deterring outside intervention.

“Any external forces that attempt to intervene in the Taiwan issue or interfere in China’s internal affairs will surely smash their heads bloody against the iron walls of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement on Monday.
Beijing has also intensified its rhetoric over Taiwan in the weeks since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a hypothetical attack on the island could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week promoted the commander of the Eastern Theatre Command, which oversees Taiwan-facing operations, to full general – a move which analysts say serves to shore up the military’s combat readiness after a leadership purge.

“China not only has vast numerical superiority, it now has qualitative superiority across the board in weaponry and probably in training as well,” said Lyle Goldstein, Asia programme director at U.S.-based think tank Defense Priorities.

“This is an arms race Taiwan cannot possibly win.”
U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed the drills on Monday, talking up his relationship with Xi and saying China has carried out naval exercises around Taiwan for 20 years.
The drills this week, the sixth major round of war games since 2022, were the largest by area and the closest yet to Taiwan.

Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s Defence Ministry, told reporters China had ramped up its drills around the island over the past three years to make people doubt the government’s ability to defend them.

SHOW OF FORCE

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that China appeared to be simulating striking land-based targets such as the U.S.-made HIMARS rocket system, a mobile artillery system with a range of about 300 km (186 miles) that could hit coastal targets in southern China.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said in a post on Facebook that frontline troops were primed to defend the island but that Taipei did not seek to escalate the situation.
China’s state media rolled a stream of propaganda posters, including one titled “Hammers of Justice” that showed Lai being crushed by one hammer striking the island’s south while another hits its north.
Chinese newspapers also highlighted the first deployment of the Type 075 amphibious assault ship. Zhang Chi, an academic at China’s National Defence University, said the vessel can simultaneously launch attack helicopters, landing craft, amphibious tanks and armoured vehicles.

CHINA BELIEVED TO BE EYEING 2027 READINESS TARGET

Taiwan sits alongside key commercial shipping and aviation routes, with some $2.45 trillion in trade moving through the Taiwan Strait each year and the airspace above the island a conduit between China, the world’s second-largest economy, and the fast-growing markets of East and Southeast Asia.
Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Authority said that although 11 of Taipei’s 14 flight routes were affected by the drills, no international flights had been cancelled. Routes to the offshore islands of Kinmen and Matsu near China’s coast were blocked, affecting around 6,000 passengers.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said 71 Chinese military aircraft and 24 navy and coast guard vessels had been operating around the island on Tuesday. The ministry added that China fired 27 rockets in Taiwan’s waters.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-launches-live-firing-drills-around-taiwan-its-biggest-war-games-date-2025-12-30/

Russia accused Ukraine on Monday of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence and vowed retaliation, providing no evidence for a claim Kyiv dismissed as baseless and aimed at derailing arduous peace talks.
The angry exchanges between the warring neighbours on Monday – including a statement by Russia that it was reviewing its stance in negotiations in response to the attack – dealt a new blow to prospects for peace in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Putin had told him about the alleged attack in a phone call on Monday morning, which had angered him. Still, Trump repeated his belief that a peace deal may be near.
“It’s one thing to be offensive,” Trump told reporters. “It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”
On Sunday, Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Florida and the U.S. president said they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war, although “thorny” territorial issues remained.

On Monday, Putin struck a defiant tone, telling his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. The Kremlin repeated demands for Kyiv to pull its forces out of the last part of the Donbas area that they still hold in eastern Ukraine.
Putin told Trump in Monday’s phone call that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was reviewing its stance following the reported drone attack, an aide said.
Zelenskiy dismissed Russia’s allegation as “a complete fabrication” and the Kremlin’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war.
After the call with Putin, Trump told reporters outside his home in Palm Beach, Florida, that he had no further information about the alleged attack.
“I don’t like it, it’s not good,” Trump said. Asked if U.S. intelligence agencies had evidence of such an attack, Trump said: “We’ll find out.”

RUSSIA SIGNALS MORE HARDLINE APPROACH TO ENDING THE WAR

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had tried to attack Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region west of Moscow on December 28-29 with 91 long-range drones which were all destroyed by Russian air defences. No one was injured and there was no damage, he said in comments reported by Russian media.
“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” Lavrov said in a statement, describing the attack as “state terrorism” and adding that targets had already been selected for retaliatory strikes by Russia’s armed forces.
Reuters could not independently verify Lavrov’s comments. Neither Lavrov nor any other Russian officials offered any evidence for the attack assertions. It was not clear where Putin was at the time.
Lavrov said the attack took place during negotiations about a possible peace deal, and said Russia would review its negotiating stance but not quit the negotiations.
Denying Ukraine had planned such an attack, Zelenskiy accused Russia of preparing the ground to strike government buildings in Kyiv.
“It is clear that we had a meeting with Trump yesterday, and it is clear that for the Russians, if there is no scandal between us and America, and we are making progress – for them it is a failure, because they do not want to end this war,” Zelenskiy told reporters via WhatsApp.

He added: “I am sure they are simply preparing the ground for strikes, probably on the capital, probably on government buildings.”

TERRITORIAL ISSUES UNRESOLVED

Trump said his conversation on Monday with Putin was productive.
“We have a couple of issues that we’re going to get resolved, hopefully, and if we get them resolved, you’re going to have peace,” Trump said.
Zelenskiy said that on Sunday, a bilateral agreement had been outlined with Trump on security guarantees for Ukraine. Still, Trump said they were only 95% ready and Zelenskiy said on Monday that he had sought a 50-year security deal.
Lavrov, in a wide-ranging interview with state news agency RIA published late on Monday said that Ukraine and Western countries had to come to terms with the fact that Russia held the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“Our principled position remains unchanged. The strategic initiative rests wholly with the Russian army,” Lavrov said.
Trump said he expected European countries to “take over a big part” of security efforts with U.S. backing. Agreement on such moves would be complicated, as Russia has said any foreign troop deployment in Ukraine would be unacceptable.
Zelenskiy told Fox News in an interview that aired late on Monday that Ukraine cannot win the war without U.S. support and that he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t trust Putin and he doesn’t want success for Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.
Earlier on Monday, the Ukrainian president said that two main issues in a 20-point peace proposal remained to be resolved: control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is in Russian hands, and the fate of the Donbas area.
Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
It claims Donbas – comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, although they are all internationally recognised as Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw troops from parts of the Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to occupy. Ukraine wants fighting halted along current front lines, and the U.S. has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine pulls troops back.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-zelenskiy-talks-yield-no-progress-ukraine-russia-territorial-issues-2025-12-29/

As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s longest-serving staffer prepares to leave — their entire brand is under threat, multiple sources tell Page Six.

“They’ve essentially shuttered Archewell,” a source tells us as news broke Monday that James Holt is stepping down as chief of their charity, Archewell.

“After five incredible years in Los Angeles, it’s time for my family to return to London,” the businessman told People in a statement.

“When I pass the baton to the team leading Archewell Philanthropies in the coming months, I’ll do so with immense pride and optimism for what lies ahead,” Holt added.

“I’ll miss my colleagues deeply, and I’m grateful to Harry and Meghan for everything they’ve done — for me, and for the countless people we’ve worked to support.”

Harry, 41, and Markle, 44, also applauded Holt’s “stellar support” after about ten years of service, telling the outlet, “His enthusiasm and talent in overseeing our philanthropic endeavours have been extraordinary.”

A rep for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex added that Holt “will remain a senior philanthropic advisor for the couple and Archewell Philanthropies, supporting their humanitarian trips overseas in 2026.”

Now, Page Six can reveal that Holt’s long-time counterpart, Archewell VP Shauna Nep, is not even a full-time employee, but is working on a “consultant” basis.

In addition to this, there are just a few employees left on Harry and Markle’s production business — and they could lose more staffers if Markle’s show, “With Love, Meghan,” is not brought back for another season.

“Anyone still there is simply an enabler, enamored with what the couple once was, not who they are today,” claimed one industry source familiar with the Sussexes. “From a year ago, they have decreased their staff by at least 80-85 percent.”

As Page Six previously revealed, the Archewell Foundation, which recently rebranded as Archewell Philanthropies, was down to just Holt and Nep.

The Sussexes spent the past few months in cost-cutting talks for their charity and even discussed selling the foundation.

Holt’s departure follows that of former Archewell senior staffers, Genevieve Roth, Christine Schirmer and Ashley Hansen.

“Every time someone leaves Harry and Meghan say they are staying on in some capacity,” said another source, “But they are never heard from again.

“Shauna hasn’t been a full-time employee in some time,” added the source, “This is crazy — they have lost their Foundation in a matter of weeks.”

On the production side, the Sussexes still have Chanel Pysnik as head of unscripted, alongside producer Tracy Ryerson.

However, the source added, “If Meghan’s Netflix show isn’t picked up for another season then what happens to their staff?”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/12/29/royal-family/prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-entire-brand-in-peril-as-they-lose-head-of-archewell-charity/

 

British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua has been injured in a car crash in Nigeria, which killed two members of his team.

The former world champion was a passenger in a vehicle that collided with a stationary truck on a major expressway in Ogun State, near Lagos.

The two men who died were Joshua’s close friends and team members Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele, the boxer’s promoter Matchroom Boxing said in a statement.

It added that Joshua was in a stable condition in hospital, where he was taken for “checks and treatment” and will remain for observation.

“Our deepest condolences and prayers are with the families and friends of all those affected – and we ask that their privacy is respected at this incredibly difficult time,” the Matchroom statement said.

The group’s chair, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, paid tribute to the “two great men” who were killed in the crash. “Rest in eternal peace Sina and Latz. My thoughts and deepest prayers are with everyone,” he said.

Boxing expert Steve Bunce described Mr Ghami and Mr Ayodele as “two of Joshua’s closest friends” and as “massive parts of the Anthony Joshua machine”.

“They’ve been with him, if not from the start, at least very early on. Latz is AJ’s personal trainer and Sina is his strength and conditioning man. They are with him all the time,” Bunce told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Hours before the crash, Joshua posted a video to Instagram of himself and Mr Ayodele playing table tennis. Mr Ghami had recently posted on social media from Lagos.

A joint statement from the Ogun and Lagos state governments said Joshua was stable and conscious, and had been in contact with his family.

They said earlier that Joshua had “narrowly escaped death” in the crash, and there will be a “comprehensive investigation” into what happened.

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said he had spoken to the 36-year-old boxer personally to convey his condolences and wish him a “full and speedy recovery”.

“AJ assured me he is receiving the best possible care,” he said in a post on X.

The crash took place on the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway at around 12:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Monday.

The incident involved two vehicles: a black Lexus and a stationary red commercial truck.

Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said the Lexus was “suspected to be travelling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit”, based on preliminary findings.

It said the car appeared to have “lost control during an overtaking manoeuvre” and crashed into the stationary truck by the side of the road.

Pictures shared by the FRSC showed a wrecked car at the site of the crash, with a crowd of onlookers gathered around.

Local officials said Joshua and another man – the vehicle’s driver – were rescued by the boxer’s security team.

Video from the scene showed the boxer being helped out from the back seat of a wrecked SUV.

Ogun and Lagos state governments said Joshua and another passenger were “immediately evacuated to a specialised medical facility in Lagos”.

The Lagos-Ibadan expressway is known as one of Nigeria’s deadliest roads, with particularly heavy traffic at this time of year as many Nigerians living abroad visit for the festive period.

Joshua, who was born in Watford, has family roots in Sagamu – a town in Ogun State, south-west Nigeria, near the crash site.

He had been spending time in the country following his recent victory over American YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on 19 December.

Paul posted on X after the crash: “Life is much more important than boxing. I am praying for the lost lives, AJ and anyone impacted by today’s unfortunate accident.”

A relative of Joshua’s in Nigeria, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that news of the crash came as a “shock” to the family.

They said they were hoping for his “speedy recovery” and offered prayers for those who died in the crash.

The family member confirmed that Joshua was travelling from Lagos to Ogun State when the accident happened. His family had been expecting him to join them in Sagamu for New Year celebrations.

The boxer’s family is well known in the town and traces its ancestry there across several generations.

There are plans to build a new indoor boxing venue named after Joshua in Ogun, where the boxer is a sports ambassador.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8989e1wnj2o

Israel has taken the controversial decision to recognise the breakaway state of Somaliland as an independent nation, sparking condemnation from many other countries.

China is the latest to condemn the decision, with its foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian telling reporters: “No country should encourage or support other countries’ internal separatist forces for its own selfish interests.”

China outlined its position ahead of the UN Security Council holding an emergency session to discuss Israel’s decision.

Israel on Friday became the first country in the world to acknowledge Somaliland as a standalone republic, more than 30 years after the region declared independence from Somalia.

Somaliland’s president called the development “a historic moment”, but Somalia furiously rejected Israel’s move as an attack on its sovereignty.

Dozens of countries and organisations, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the African Union, have also condemned Israel’s surprise declaration.

“In view of the recent situation in bilateral ties with India, Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi M Reaz Hamidullah was called to Dhaka on an urgent basis,” mass-circulation daily Prothom Alo reported.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Reaz Hamidullah reached Dhaka overnight following an “urgent call” from the foreign ministry amid strained bilateral ties, reports said late Monday.

“In view of the recent situation in bilateral ties with India, Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi M Reaz Hamidullah was called to Dhaka on an urgent basis,” mass-circulation daily Prothom Alo reported.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bangladesh-envoy-to-india-reaches-dhaka-on-urgent-summons-report-10080211?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

A mixture of snow, ice, rain and strong winds swept across most of the US amid a warning of an intense cyclone. A winter storm, fueled by the impact of a ‘bomb cyclone’, is expected to impact the upper parts of the US.

Heavy snow, blizzards, extreme cold and damaging winds are likely to create hazardous conditions stretching from Montana east to Maine, and Texas north to Pennsylvania, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

US weather bulletin: ‘Bomb cyclone’

The NWS stated in its December 28 release that over the next 48 hours, an intense cyclone will take centre stage. According to NPR, meteorologists warned that after winter weather, an arctic front clashing with warm air could rapidly intensify into a ‘bomb cyclone’ over the Midwest and Great Lakes through Monday.

A ‘bomb cyclone’ or bombogenesis is a rapidly deepening area of low pressure that creates harsh weather conditions, the report added.

“A low-pressure system is rapidly developing over the Mid-Mississippi Valley along an Arctic front as the incoming frigid air from Canada mingles with the anomalous warm airmass that has settled across the Central/Southern US for many days,” it added.

The big storm in the Great Lakes will slowly move into eastern Canada later on Monday. “But the huge circulation of the system will continue to spread very strong and gusty winds into the entire eastern US with snow lingering especially downwind from the lower Great Lakes,” it added.

“Rain showers should taper off or end as light snow across Maine by Tuesday morning behind the cold front,” the NWS said.

The impact could range from heavy snow and blizzard conditions across the upper Midwest to the Great Lakes, to freezing rain across New England, thunderstorms through the eastern US and the South, as well as widespread blustery winds to locally damaging winds in these areas.

Blizzard, snowfall, rains expected

The NWS stated in its weather bulletin that as the low-pressure system accelerates northeastward this week, heavy snow and blizzard conditions will continue across the upper Midwest and the Great Lakes through Monday.

“By Monday morning, a mix of snow sleet and freezing rain will likely impact northern New England before warmer air changes the wintry mix to all rain later on Monday,” the NWS said.

It added that across the central Great Lakes, wind-swept rain and embedded thunderstorms are forecast to turn into a blizzard by early on Monday with blowing snow.

Source : https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/openai-declines-mans-viral-application-to-be-ceo-says-his-proposal-was-apocalyptic-11767059264877.html

The Perikatan Nasional coalition is made up of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia among others. Muhyiddin is the president of Bersatu.

Former Malaysian ‌Prime Minister ‌Muhyiddin Yassin said on Tuesday (Dec 30) he will resign as ​chairman ‌of the opposition ​bloc Perikatan ⁠Nasional (PN), ‌effective ​Jan 1.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Muhyiddin thanked those in the bloc’s leadership “who have given me their full support during my time leading PN since its establishment five years ago”.

“I wish the PN leadership and the component parties all the best,” said Muhyiddin, 78.

The PN coalition – which was formed in February 2020 – is made up of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) among others. Muhyiddin is the president of Bersatu.

Muhyiddin did not reveal the reasons behind his resignation, but it came following a political crisis in the northeastern state of Perlis, whose state assembly is controlled by PN.

The upheaval saw PAS’ Sanglang assemblyman Mohd Shukri Ramli resigning as chief minister and Bersatu’s Kuala Perlis assemblyman Abu Bakar Hamzah replacing him in the post.

Shukri’s resignation came after eight statutory declarations were signed by state assemblymen – three from PAS and five from Bersatu – retracting their support for him.

There are 15 seats in Perlis’ state assembly, and the three PAS assemblymen have since been sacked by the Islamist party. PAS holds six of the remaining seats, Bersatu holds five, and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat holds one.

In response to Muhyddin’s resignation, PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said that his party will put forward a candidate to take over as PN chairman.

“This individual does not necessarily have to be the party president, but rather someone who is trusted to unite and mobilise the strengths of the parties within PN.

“A restructuring of PN’s organisation will certainly be carried out to place greater emphasis on grassroots and organisational work moving forward,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Ahmad Fadhli – who is also the Member of Parliament for Pasir Mas – added that Muhyiddin’s decision to relinquish the PN chairmanship was wise and timely, stressing that the coalition needs fresh momentum as it prepares for the next general election.

MUHYIDDIN’S WOES 

Separately, Bersatu has been beset by turmoil over Muhyiddin’s leadership of the party.

There have been growing calls by his one-time loyalists for him to step down as president in favour of deputy president Hamzah Zainuddin, 68, political observers previously told CNA.

Earlier in September, at its annual general meeting, Bersatu unanimously endorsed Muhyiddin as its prime minister candidate ahead of the next general election, which must be held by February 2028.

But the Bersatu meeting was rocked by a public display of dissent against Muhyiddin, with some delegates heckling him to step down as president.

Speaking earlier at the meeting, Muhyiddin had criticised plans to “topple the president” via the collection of statutory declarations from party members, saying that this was against Bersatu’s constitution.

Days after the meeting, PN coalition partner PAS also openly hinted its reluctance to support Muhyiddin as the PM candidate.

In a veiled criticism, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said that he was not fit to be PN’s prime ministerial candidate due to his age and health, maintaining that a healthier leader should be nominated, news outlet Free Malaysia Today had reported.

Abdul Hadi, 78, had added then that the Islamist party would choose someone who is “healthy and under 70 years old” as its prime minister candidate.

He later said that he was not targeting anyone in his remarks, and had meant that he and PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin, 86, were too old for the role.

In 2023, Muhyiddin had also caused a stir when he backpedalled on his decision not to defend his presidency at Bersatu’s internal polls that year.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-muhyiddin-yassin-resign-perikatan-nasional-5754046

Iran’s largest protests in three years erupted Monday after the country’s currency plummeted to a record low against the U.S. dollar, and the head of the Central Bank resigned.

State TV reported the resignation of Mohammad Reza Farzin, while traders and shopkeepers rallied in Saadi Street in downtown Tehran as well as in the Shush neighborhood near Tehran’s main Grand Bazaar. Merchants at the market played a crucial role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the monarchy and brought Islamists to power.

The official IRNA news agency confirmed the protests. Witnesses reported similar rallies in other major cities including Isfahan in central Iran, Shiraz in the south and Mashhad in the northeast. In some places in Tehran, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.

Monday’s protests were the biggest since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. She was arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that traders shut their shops Monday and asked others to do the same. The semiofficial ILNA news agency said many businesses stopped trading even though some kept their shops open.

On Sunday, protests were limited to two major mobile markets in downtown Tehran, where the demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans.

Iran’s rial on Sunday plunged to 1.42 million to the dollar. On Monday, it traded at 1.38 million to the dollar.

Reports about Farzin’s possible resignation had been circulating over the past week. When he took office in 2022, the rial was trading at around 430,000 to the dollar.

The rapid depreciation is compounding inflationary pressure, pushing up prices of food and other daily necessities and further straining household budgets, a trend that could worsen with a gasoline price change introduced in recent days.

According to the state statistics center, the inflation rate in December rose to 42.2% from the same period last year and is 1.8% higher than in November. Food prices rose 72% and health and medical items were up 50% from December last year, according to the statistics center. Many critics see the rate as a sign of approaching hyperinflation.

Reports in official Iranian media that the government plans to increase taxes in the Iranian new year that begins March 21 have caused more concern.

Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear accord that lifted international sanctions in exchange for tight controls on the country’s nuclear program. That deal unraveled after U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States in 2018.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/iran-traders-protest-rial-currency-ddc955739fb412b642251dee10638f03

 

The United States on Monday announced a $2 billion pledge for U.N. humanitarian aid as President Donald Trump’s administration slashes U.S. foreign assistance and warns United Nations agencies they must “adapt, shrink or die” in a time of new financial realities.

The money is a small fraction of what the U.S. has contributed in the past but reflects what the administration believes is still a generous amount that will maintain America’s status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.

“This new model will better share the burden of U.N. humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the U.N. to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability and oversight mechanisms,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media.

The pledge creates an umbrella fund from which money will be doled out to agencies and priorities, a key part of U.S. demands for drastic changes across the U.N. that have alarmed many humanitarian workers and led to severe reductions in programs and services.

The $2 billion is only a sliver of traditional U.S. humanitarian funding for U.N.-coordinated programs, which has run as high as $17 billion annually in recent years, according to U.N. data. U.S. officials say only $8 billion to $10 billion of that has been in voluntary contributions. The United States also pays billions in annual dues related to its U.N. membership.

“The piggy bank is not open to organizations that just want to return to the old system,” Jeremy Lewin, the State Department official in charge of foreign assistance, said at a press conference Monday in Geneva. “President Trump has made clear that the system is dead.”

The State Department said “individual U.N. agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die.” Critics say the Western aid cutbacks have been shortsighted, driven millions toward hunger, displacement or disease, and harmed U.S. soft power around the world.

A year of crisis in aid

The move caps a crisis year for many U.N. organizations, including its refugee, migration and food aid agencies. The Trump administration has already cut billions in U.S. foreign aid, prompting the agencies to slash spending, aid projects and thousands of jobs. Other traditional Western donors have reduced outlays, too.

The U.S. pledge for aid programs of the United Nations — the world’s top provider of humanitarian assistance and biggest recipient of U.S. humanitarian aid money — takes shape in a preliminary deal with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, run by Tom Fletcher, a former British diplomat and government official.

Fletcher, who has spent the past year lobbying U.S. officials not to abandon U.N. funding altogether, appeared optimistic at the deal’s signing in Geneva.

“It’s a very, very significant landmark contribution. And a month ago, I would have anticipated the number would have been zero,” he told reporters. “And so I think, before worrying about what we haven’t got, I’d like to look at the millions of people whose lives will be saved, whose lives will be better because of this contribution, and start there.”

Even as the U.S. pulls back its aid contributions, needs have ballooned worldwide: Famine has been recorded this year in parts of conflict-ridden Sudan and Gaza, and floods, drought and natural disasters that many scientists attribute to climate change have taken many lives or driven thousands from their homes.

The cuts will have major implications for U.N. affiliates like the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Program and refugee agency UNHCR. They have already received billions less from the U.S. this year than under annual allocations from the Biden administration — or even during Trump’s first term.

Now, the idea is that Fletcher’s office — which has aimed to improve efficiency — will become a funnel for U.S. and other aid money that can be redirected to those agencies, rather than scattered U.S. contributions to a variety of individual appeals for aid.

Asked by reporters if the U.S. language of “adapt or die” worried him, Fletcher said, “If the choices are adapt or die, I choose adapt.”

US seeks aid consolidation

U.S. officials say the $2 billion is just a first outlay to help fund OCHA’s annual appeal for money. Fletcher, noting the upended aid landscape, already slashed the request this year. Other traditional U.N. donors like Britain, France, Germany and Japan have reduced aid allocations and sought reforms this year.

“This humanitarian reset at the United Nations should deliver more aid with fewer tax dollars — providing more focused, results-driven assistance aligned with U.S foreign policy,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said.

At its core, the changes will help establish pools of funding that can be directed either to specific crises or countries in need. A total of 17 countries will be initially targeted, including Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Syria and Ukraine.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres also welcomed the announcement, saying that “every dollar counts.”

Two of the world’s most desperate countries, Afghanistan and Yemen, are not included, with U.S. officials citing aid diversion to the Taliban and Houthi rebels as concerns over restarting contributions.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/trump-humanitarian-ocha-fletcher-united-nations-f32b1238acfdf6f44f61e991f8a5b8bc

Cristiano Ronaldo has expressed his determination to score 1,000 goals by the end of his career.

And the 40-year-old Portugal superstar is in no doubt he’ll get there.

“I will reach that number for sure, if no injuries,” Ronaldo said late Sunday at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, where he was named as the best player in the Middle East.

Ronaldo moved onto 956 career goals by scoring twice for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday. His tally includes men’s international record of 143 goals for Portugal, which Ronaldo is set to lead into next year’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

By the time the World Cup begins, Ronaldo — a five-time world player of the year — will be aged 41.

“I am still very motivated to carry on,” the former Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus striker said on stage after receiving his award. “It doesn’t matter (where) I play — Middle East, in Europe — I always enjoy to play football, to win trophies, to score goals and I want to carry on.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/ronaldo-1000-goals-278f64cc68e3eab11ebfbf044f3696ac

Celebrations on New Year’s Eve are being scrapped in cities around the world as local authorities fear terror threats in cities from Sydney to Paris. Thousands of people looking to celebrate the start of 2026 have had their plans thwarted as reports of planned attacks have caused parties, fireworks and live events to be cancelled just days away from December 31.

Many events started to be axed after the FBI uncovered a planned bombing attack in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. Agents managed to arrest the four suspects during a planned rehearsal of their attack in the Mojave Desert just outside the city. Speaking at a press conference earlier in the month, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli showed surveillance footage taken by a drone, in which the suspects could be seen trying to assemble a bomb in the desert.

The attorney named the four suspects as Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; Dante Gaffield, 24; and Tina Lai, 41, all from the Los Angeles area.

According to the Mirror US, despite the terror threat, Los Angeles has yet to officially cancel any of its New Year’s Eve events.

However, elsewhere around the world, the same cannot be said.

Sydney

In the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting that killed 15 and injured 40 more, Australia’s largest city has cancelled its fireworks display on the popular beach that often attracts upwards of 15,000 people.

Organisers at Waverley Council confirmed the cancellations, speaking to Sky News, they said: “Due to the current situation on the ground, Waverley Council has decided to cancel New Year’s Eve events at Bondi Beach, including elrow XXL Bondi and Local’s Lawn.”

They added that the decision was made with “compassion and care for Sydney’s Jewish community,” after the shooting two weeks ago.

Australia’s current National Terrorism Threat Level is probable, warning that there are a small number of people in Australia and overseas who want to cause Australia harm.

New South Wales premier Chris Minns warned Jews are still not completely safe due to the ongoing threat of antisemitism.

He said:“The real test for us will be one year from now, five years from now, 15 years from now, when the Jewish community feels safe in their community.

“I have spoken to so many members of the Jewish community in the last week who don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe celebrating their religion, they don’t feel safe getting together as a community and we cannot have a situation where the solution to this horrible terrorism event is to have the Jewish community so we can only exist and celebrate our faith behind big walls.”

Paris

The French capital’s popular music event on the Champs-Elysées has been cancelled after police concerns, according to Parisian outlet sortiraparis.

Police urged Mayor Anne Hidalgo to call off the concert that attracts tens of thousands to the 8th Arrondissement over fears of crushes by the huge crowds.

Despite the cancelled event, the city’s main fireworks will carry on as normal.

Source : https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2151473/new-years-eve-events-cancelled-in-Sydney-Paris-and-Tokyo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has claimed that President Vladimir Putin’s state residence in the Novgorod region was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack overnight into Monday, and said it would have implications for the peace negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the claim as “typical Russian lies” made because Moscow does not want to end the war.

The allegation comes as U.S. President Donald Trump hailed progress toward peace following his latest talks with Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.

“I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump said Monday of the alleged attack on Putin’s home, confirming the Russian leader informed him of it during their call earlier.

Securing a long-sought deal on Ukraine would be a crowning moment for Trump, the self-styled global peacemaker, who thinks Putin wants to end the war and has put pressure on Kyiv to make painful compromises because it is losing.

But Kyiv’s allies doubt Moscow’s true desire for peace and believe the Kremlin wants to delay or scupper the fragile process entirely so it can keep fighting and seize more Ukrainian territory, deceiving Trump about its intentions.

Lavrov Says Drones Targeting Putin Residence ‘Destroyed’

Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that Ukraine “carried out a terrorist attack using 91 long-range UAVs [uncrewed aerial vehicles] against the Russian president’s state residence in the Novgorod region,” the Interfax news agency reported, originally in Russian.

The minister said that “all UAVs were destroyed by air defense systems,” adding: “No information has been received about casualties or damage caused by UAV debris.”

Trump was optimistic about the prospects for a peace deal after Sunday’s talks, which Zelensky described as “90 percent” completed.

Lavrov connected the alleged attack on Putin’s residence to the peace talks.

“We draw attention to the fact that this action was carried out during a period of intensive negotiations between Russia and the United States on a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict,” Lavrov said, per Interfax.

“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered. The targets of retaliatory strikes and the timing of their execution by the Russian Armed Forces have been determined.

“At the same time, we do not intend to withdraw from the negotiation process with the United States.

“However, in view of the final transformation of the criminal Kyiv regime, which has shifted to a policy of state terrorism, Russia’s negotiating positions will be revised.”

Zelensky Calls Russia Strike Claim ‘Lies’

Zelensky said in a post on X that Russia “is at it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all achievements of our shared diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team.”

“We keep working together to bring peace closer,” Zelensky continued.

“This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war. Typical Russian lies. Furthermore, the Russians have already targeted Kyiv in the past, including the Cabinet of Ministers building.

“Ukraine does not take steps that can undermine diplomacy. To the contrary, Russia always takes such steps. This is one of many differences between us.

“It is critical that the world doesn’t stay silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work on achieving a lasting peace.”

Donbas Unresolved in Peace Talks

Major issues remain unresolved in the peace talks, particularly over control of the Donbas region in the east of Ukraine, and it is unclear how the parties involved will find a way through to an agreement.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine hand over the remaining areas of the Donbas still under its control, or Moscow will take them by force.

Source : https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-strike-putin-residence-drones-11279920

 

With rising rents, a tough job market and pay cheques stretched to the limit, some young Britons are choosing to build their futures overseas.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 195,000 people under the age of 35 moved abroad in the year to June.

So where are they going, what are they doing – and will they ever come home?

‘It feels much safer in Tokyo’

When Ray Amjad graduated from the University of Cambridge a few years ago, he thought about staying in the historic city, but his head was soon turned.

The 25-year-old, from Manchester, travelled to 20 different countries, working remotely in web design, and realised he could no longer see himself living back in the UK.

He moved to Tokyo last year under a two-year visa for top graduates and hopes to apply for permanent residency there in the future.

“In my experience, the UK is losing too many talented young people,” he says.

“Japan is getting a good deal, really – we’re moving out here, fully formed, and they haven’t had to pay for our education or healthcare, growing up.”

Ray’s university friends have moved to Australia, South Korea and Hong Kong, with many citing the cost of living in the UK and lack of employment opportunities as factors.

“Here in Tokyo, it used to be much older people who moved out here to work, but that has changed recently,” he says.

“It feels much safer here. I can walk around and not worry about my phone being stolen. I can leave my laptop in a cafe for a while and it’s still going to be there.

“And the flat I’m renting would be three times the price in London.”

‘People dream big in Dubai’

Isobel Perl started her own skincare brand from her parents’ house in Watford five years ago.

Now 30, she has decided to move to Dubai in the new year and hopes to expand her business into the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“My sister moved to Dubai a few years ago and my parents have decided to move too, so it just makes sense,” she says.

“Sun all year round is a huge reason for me. It’s an expensive place to live but I won’t have to pay income tax.”

Isobel was among the first cohort to get one of 10,000 golden visas for content creators, which allow 10 years of residency.

Most people moving to Dubai have big ambitions and dreams, Isobel says.

“That energy is so important to be around. There is a thriving business community and it’s a very inspiring place to be.”

Isobel plans to still manufacture her skincare products in the UK but will run things from Dubai and hopes in the future she can import her products and sell them in the UAE.

In January, she has to rebrand from PERL Cosmetics to Isobel Perl due to a trademark objection from another firm, leaving her with £500,000-worth of stock to clear before the end of the year.

“I have had to reduce the prices and it’s a huge financial blow,” she says.

“I really need a new start. I’m going into the new year with hopeful energy.”

She says she will miss her friends, her horse and countryside walks.

“But I’m only a seven-hour flight away,” she adds.

‘Business-friendly environment’
Three-quarters of British nationals who emigrated in the year ending June 2025 were under the age of 35, according to the ONS.

But it has recently changed how it estimates British migration, so it is difficult to compare to previous years.

An ONS spokesperson said the data was not surprising because most migrants tended to be young.

David Little, financial planning partner at UK wealth manager Evelyn Partners, believes young people are choosing to work abroad due to the “increasingly negative economic narrative in the UK”, of high unemployment, rising debt and tax burdens, and fewer graduate vacancies.

Dubai, in particular, has transformed into a global career hub, attracting thousands of British workers with tax-free salaries, low crime rates and booming job market, he says.

“Destinations like the UAE offer tax-free living, a ‘can-do’ attitude, and a business-friendly environment that feels far more optimistic and rewarding,” he says.

“Interestingly, instead of the traditional ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ helping with a first home deposit, families are now supporting children with the costs of emigration and settling abroad.”

‘My corporate job was making me miserable’

Sol Hyde, from Colchester, says he jumped on a plane as soon as his online business started making money.

“The same is true for almost every UK entrepreneur I know,” he adds.

The 25-year-old quit his corporate job last October, after realising it was making him miserable.

“I was waking up to darkness and cold. It was quite a lonely existence because all my friends were working so hard,” he says.

“I had no idea what to do but I just knew I needed to get out.”

In January, he started his marketing consulting firm, which helps businesses grow on social media.

Sol has spent most of this year in Bali but thinks he might end up in Cape Town, South Africa.

“I wake up to the sun and jump on my motorbike to my run club,” he says.

“I meet 30 other young people building businesses and we get a coffee together. I co-work with friends all day and then we go out in the evening.”

The hardest part has been leaving his friends and family behind, he says.

“But when I had a corporate job, I didn’t see them because I was working so hard. Now I am closer to them because we actually speak more.”

He believes the UK suffers from “tall poppy syndrome” – where successful people are resented – and a negative culture.

“Success is met with criticism, rumour-spreading and general hate,” he says.

Sol currently has six employees and is taking on four more. But he believes the tax system in the UK would have inhibited his growth and ability to take risks.

“This is a medium-term solution for me, ” he says.

“I love the UK and I’m not ruling out coming back when I’m in a better financial position, but right now I’m so glad I left.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kpv1z372lo

DONALD Trump saluted the bravery of Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky and his people as he claimed to be on the brink of brokering a peace deal today.

The US President chaired crunch talks with Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and claimed Ukraine would soon be guaranteed both security and prosperity.

Trump called the talks “terrific” and said he had “made a lot of progress” towards a deal.

He said: “I just think we’re doing very well. We could be very close or one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues. But I think we’re doing very well.

“We’ve made a lot of progress today, but really we’ve made it over the last month. This is not a one-day process deal. There’s very complicated stuff.”

Asked about bring Ukraine and Russia together for talks, Trump said he could see a trilateral meeting happening “at the right time”.

The thorniest issue yet to be resolved is land, the US president said.

Trump told the Ukrainian leader: “You’re better off making a deal now.”

He said: “I think the land you’re talking about, some of that land has been taken.

“Some of that land is maybe up for grabs, but it may be taken over the next period of a number of months, and you’re better off making a deal.”

Before the talks, Trump said he had the “makings of a deal that’s good for Ukraine, good for everybody”.

He added that European nations, including the UK, backed a revised 20-point plan and that Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin was also “serious about peace”.

Hopes were high for peace in Europe, as the US president said a deal to end the war in Ukraine was in its “final stages”.

The leaders have now finished talks, but before they entered the residence, Trump said that he thought a “rapid” end to the war was possible, telling reporters: “we’ll get it done”.

After the talks, Trump said the war could end in as little as “few weeks”, but would not commit to a deadline.

He said: “In a few a weeks we will know one way or the other.”

Putin has yet to make any concessions to halt the killing. Trump warned ominously that if the near-four-year war does not end soon it will go on for a long time — and that millions more would die.

He said: “Too many people have died and I think both presidents want to make a deal.

“It will either end or it will go on for a long time and millions of additional people are going to be dead. And nobody wants that.

“I believe we can move very rapidly.”

He added that a deal will include a “strong” security agreement for Ukraine, saying that “European nations are very much involved”.

Trump said: “I feel that European nations have been really great, and they’re very much in line with this meeting and with getting a deal done. They are all terrific people.”

Greeting the Ukrainian leader, the US president said: “This gentleman has worked very hard, and is very brave, and his people are very brave.”

Zelensky said he hoped the meeting could “bring peace as quick as possible”.

An updated 20-point peace draft in the campaign to clinch a peace plan is 90 per cent complete, Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv before flying to the US.

The Ukrainian leader said the Mar-a-Lago meeting concerned how to move the 20-point plan forward and could include discussion of possible territorial concessions.

The new plan still needs the approval of Russia, and differs from the original 28-point peace plan that was proposed by Washington.

Speaking after talks, Zelensky said his attitude to the Donbas was “very clear”.

He said Ukraine has “a different position to Russia” on the region, adding that his country must “respect our law and our people”, and the “territory which we control”.

The Ukrainian leader thanked Trump for what he called a “wonderful meeting” at Mar-a-Lago.

He said on Telegram: “We had a meaningful discussion on all issues and highly appreciate the progress made by the Ukrainian and American teams over the past few weeks.

“We discussed all aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results.

“We agree that security guarantees are key to achieving lasting peace.”

He added that Ukrainian and US teams will meet next week to “finalise all discussed issues”.

Inside the talks, photos showed the Ukrainian delegation sat on the left side of a large dining table, facing US officials.

As Zelensky told the room it was his first time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump replied that the residence was “very conducive to deals”.

The US President said efforts to end the war were in the “final stages”.

As the group sat down, he added: “I think we’re very, we’re in final stages of talking, and we’re going to see. Otherwise it’s going to go on for a long time.”

Trump said ending the Ukraine-Russia war would be “complicated”, but “not that complicated”, in an optimistic start to talks.

Trump added that Ukraine could get “great economic benefits” from a peace deal.

He said: “There are great economic benefits for Ukraine also because, you know, there is a lot of rebuilding to do.

“There’s a lot of wealth to be had and they have great wealth, potentially great wealth.

“They want to get started. There’s a great economic benefit for Ukraine.”

The president’s delegation includes his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles are also in attendance.

Before the meeting, Trump and Putin had a phone call which the president described on Truth Social as “very good and productive”.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the call was “friendly” and lasted over an hour.

Ushakov added that Russia had urged Ukraine to take what it called the “brave decision” to pull its troops out of the Donbas “without delay” to end the war.

Ukraine‘s exit from the area is a key Russian demand for any peace agreement.

The Kremlin aide said: “Russia and the United States share the same position, which is that the Ukrainian and European proposal for a temporary ceasefire … would only prolong the conflict and lead to a resumption of hostilities.”

The Putin-Trump chat came just hours before the US president met Zelensky for the first time since October.

Last time the pair met, Trump refused to grant Zelensky’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.

Trump’s Putin-facing positivity persisted, despite the fact that many European leaders doubted the possibility of peace.

Russian forces had unleashed hell on the Ukrainian capital in the run up to Zelensky’s summit with Trump.

Putin hit Kyiv with almost 500 drones and 40 missiles in a 10-hour onslaught which has killed two and wounded dozens.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15702035/trump-zelensky-ukraine-peace-talks-putin-call/

Relatives of the victims have demanded answers about the accident ⁠after investigators delayed releasing a report on what went wrong in the 2024 Jeju Air crash.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday (Dec 29) apologised to the families of the 179 people who died ⁠in a Jeju Air crash a year ago, vowing to reveal the truth behind the worst aircraft accident on the country’s soil.

“As president who has the responsibility to protect the lives and safety of the people, I offer my deepest apologies,” Lee said in a message released on Monday.

Relatives of the victims have demanded answers about the accident, after investigators delayed releasing a report on what went wrong on Dec 29, 2024, when the Jeju Air jet crash-landed and slammed into an embankment at the end of the runway.

It erupted in a ball of flames, killing all but two of the 181 people on board. The government-led Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board said in a ‌preliminary report in January that both of the plane’s engines sustained bird strikes.

But questions remain about safety lapses, the design of the runway at Muan International Airport where the crash occured and what actions the pilots took in the last few minutes of the flight.

“The disaster clearly revealed the systematic problems and limitations of our ‌society,” Lee said. “What’s needed now is not perfunctory promises or empty words but rather real change and action.”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korea-jeju-air-plane-crash-anniversary-president-vows-reveal-truth-5726311

 

The first of three phases of voting has finished in Myanmar, in an election widely dismissed as a “sham”, with major political parties dissolved, leaders jailed and as much as half the country not expected to vote due to an ongoing civil war.

The military government is holding a phased ballot nearly five years after it seized power in a coup, prompting widespread opposition and spiralling into civil war.

Observers say the junta, with China’s support, is seeking to legitimise its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate.

More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.

There were reports of explosions and air strikes across multiple regions as the first round of voting took place on Sunday. A rocket attack on an uninhabited house in the Mandalay region in the early hours of the morning injured three people, the region’s chief minister told the BBC.

Separately, a series of explosions damaged more than 10 houses in the Myawaddy township, near the border with Thailand, late on Saturday. A resident told the BBC that a child was killed and three others were taken to hospital.

Voters have told the BBC that the election feels more “disciplined and systematic” than previous polls.

“The experience of voting has changed a lot,” said Ma Su ZarChi, who lives in the Mandalay region.

“Before I voted, I was afraid. Now that I have voted, I feel relieved. I cast my ballot as someone who has tried their best for the country.”

First-time voter Ei Pyay Phyo Maung, 22, said she was voting because she believed it is “the responsibility of every citizen”.

“My hope is for the lower classes – right now, the prices of goods are skyrocketing, and I want to support someone who can bring them down for those struggling the most,” she said.

“I want a president who provides equally for all people.”

The Burmese junta has rejected criticism of the polls, maintaining that it aims to “return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system”.

After casting his vote at a highly fortified polling station in the capital, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told the BBC that the election would be free and fair.

“I am the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, a civil servant. I can’t just say that I want to be president,” he said, stressing that there were three phases of the election.

Earlier this week, he warned that those who refuse to vote were rejecting “progress toward democracy”.

Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law against disrupting polls, which was enacted in July.

They were each handed a seven-year jail term after criticising a film promoting the elections, state media reported.

UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews on Sunday called on the international community to reject the election – saying “nothing legitimate” can come of it.

“An election organised by a junta that continues to bomb civilians, jail political leaders and criminalise all forms of dissent is not an election – it is a theatre of the absurd performed at gunpoint,” he said.

The military has been fighting on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup and ethnic armies that have their own militias. It lost control of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year following relentless air strikes enabled by support from China and Russia.

The civil war has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more, destroyed the economy and left a humanitarian vacuum. A devastating earthquake in March and international funding cuts have made the situation far worse.

All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge logistical challenge for holding an election.

Voting is set to take place in three phases over the next month in 265 of the country’s 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable.

The next rounds of voting are scheduled for 11 and 25 January, with results expected around the end of the month.

There is not expected to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will go to the polls, making it difficult to forecast a possible turnout.

Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates will contest only at the state or regional levels.

Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party’s key leaders have been jailed under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while others are in exile.

“By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way,” Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts, told the news agency Myanmar Now.

Ral Uk Thang, a resident in the western Chin state, believes civilians “don’t want the election”.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7vly6gm76o

LAS VEGAS — The Giants lost Sunday.

Their fans lost.

Their front office lost.

Their next head coach — whoever that may be — lost.

In what was a perfect way to accentuate this miserable season for the Giants, the loss came in a 34-10 win over the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium.

The victory for the Giants, though, significantly damaged their chance of having the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft.

And with that, it has potentially compromised their chances of enhancing their haul of draft picks since, at No. 1, they’d be holding all the cards in the draft for teams desperate to land a franchise quarterback with coveted Fernando Mendoza poised to go first.

The Giants, now 3-13, entered the day with possession of the No. 1 pick, with a 37 percent chance of retaining it and they relinquished it — probably for good.

Had they lost the game, the Giants would have entered next Sunday’s season finale against Dallas at MetLife Stadium with a 73 percent chance of picking first.

The Giants left Las Vegas after defeating a Raiders team (2-14) that was overtly tanking with just a 6 percent chance of picking first.

That, however, hardly mattered to the Giants players who basked in a victorious locker room for the first time since Oct. 9.

Nor did it matter to their interim head coach, Mike Kafka, who was 0-5 since taking over for the fired Brian Daboll before finally tasting victory for the first time as a head coach.

Whatever momentary relief the Giants felt about ending their nine-game losing streak could end up hurting their future depending on what unfolds in the draft.

The players and coaches who were in that locker room Sunday evening in Vegas don’t give a damn about that.

“It’s easy to say you just ignore the noise, but you’re definitely aware of the external situation,” Giants right guard Greg Van Roten told The Post.

“I felt like it was just noise,” quarterback Jaxson Dart said after throwing for 207 yards and rushing for two touchdowns.

“The things that we were playing for were for each other,” Kafka said. “To a man in that room, we have each other’s back and playing as hard as we can for each other. You get into a football locker room, it’s a family.”

Receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said, “It just felt great to come in here and celebrate with these guys.”

Even at the expense of the tanking Raiders.

The Raiders entered the game advertising to anyone who was paying attention that they had little desire to win Sunday’s game.

First, they placed tight end Brock Bowers, their top offensive weapon, and safety Jeremy Chinn, one of their best defensive players, on season-ending injured reserve despite the fact that both players played every snap in the previous week’s game.

Then the Raiders placed edge rusher Maxx Crosby, their best player, on IR with what they described as a lingering knee injury.

Crosby, who’d played 100 percent of the defensive snaps in the Raiders’ previous five games and was not re-injured last week, was reportedly so livid he immediately left the team facility when informed of the team’s decision.

“I don’t give a s–t about the pick,’’ Crosby told reporters last week. “I don’t play for that.’’

That, however, is exactly what Raiders management was playing for Sunday.

The Raiders looked a lot more like the team riding a nine-game losing streak than the Giants, who raced to a 17-3 lead in the first half and never looked back.

An interception by linebacker Bobby Okereke of Geno Smith set the Giants up for their first score — a 1-yard touchdown run by Devin Singletary on the final play of the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.

After a 42-yard field goal by Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson, the Giants took a 14-3 lead on a 12-yard designed run by Dart with 5:56 remaining in the first half.

The Giants got the ball back one final time in the first half and made it 17-3 on a 32-yard field goal by Ben Sauls, the team’s fourth kicker this season.

The Raiders tightened the game slightly on a 4-yard Smith scoring pass to Tyler Lockett to cut the Giants lead to 20-10 in the third quarter.

On the play, a fourth-and-goal from the Giants 4-yard line, their cornerback Deonte Banks was late in his coverage of Lockett wide open in the back of the end zone.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/12/28/sports/giants-severely-hurt-chances-at-no-1-overall-draft-pick-by-beating-raiders-in-tank-bowl/

Actress Melanie Watson Bernhardt has died.

Bernhardt, who was best known for playing the character Kathy Gordon on”Diff’rent Strokes,” died Friday in Colorado Springs, her brother told TMZ.

The actress, who battled the genetic disorder osteogenesis imperfecta — which causes bones to break easily, poor muscle tone, hearing loss, and dental problems — had been hospitalized after suffering bleeding issues, the outlet reported.

Her health reportedly deteriorated quickly after she was hospitalized.

Bernhardt was 57 years old.

Her brother told TMZ that his sister was fortunate to live as long as she did with her condition.

Bernhardt had a frequent guest-starring role on “Diff’rent Strokes,” in which she played a wheelchair-using friend of lead character Arnold (Gary Coleman). “Diff-rent Strokes” ran for 8 seasons, from 1978-1986.

After the show ended, Berhardt retired from acting.

She later created and served as the executive director of Train Rite, an organization that trains shelter dogs to serve the disabled, according to IMDB.

Bernhardt was previously married to Roger Bernhardt from 1994 to 1996.

“Diff’rent Strokes” followed two orphaned brothers from Harlem (Willis and Arnold Jackson) who were welcomed into the family of a wealthy New York businessman their mother once worked for.

Back in 2021, Todd Bridges — who played Willis — told Page Six that he experienced “extreme racism” growing up as a child star.

“Here you are doing something spectacular for people and people are enjoying it, but then you go outside and you’re treated like you’re ignorant, dumb and stupid,” he told us.

“Not like you have some intelligence or you’re a good kid, not at all,” he continued.

Bridges as well as his co-stars publicly struggled after the show wrapped.

Bridges battled a crack cocaine and methamphetamine addiction. In 1989, he was arrested and tried for the attempted murder of Kenneth “Tex” Clay, a Los Angeles-based drug dealer, but was eventually acquitted.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/12/28/entertainment/actress-from-beloved-80s-sitcom-diffrent-strokes-dies-at-age-57/

A mix of snow and ice bore down on the U.S. Northeast early on Saturday, disrupting post-holiday weekend airline traffic and prompting officials in New York and New Jersey to issue weather emergency declarations even as the storm ebbed by mid-morning.
People in much of the Northeast were advised to stay off the roads because of treacherous conditions, with states of emergency declared in New York and New Jersey.

“The safety of New Yorkers is my top priority, and I continue to urge extreme caution throughout the duration of this storm,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
By early Saturday, about six to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of snow had fallen across an area from Syracuse in central New York to Long Island in the southeast of the state, as well as Connecticut, said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center near Washington, D.C.
New York City received two to four inches of snow overnight, with 4.3 inches reported at Central Park, Oravec said, the most since 2022.

“The good news is that the heaviest snow is done,” he said. “Only a few flurries remain this morning and those will taper off by the afternoon.”
But the effects were felt by travelers. More than 9,000 domestic U.S. flights on Saturday were canceled or delayed as of early-evening, with many in the New York area, including at John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, according to the tracking site FlightAware.
Representatives from American Airlines, United Airlines and JetBlue Airways told Reuters that the carriers had waived change fees normally charged to rebook for passengers whose travel plans may be affected by weather-related disruptions.
Ice storm warnings and winter weather advisories were also posted for most of Pennsylvania and much of Massachusetts.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/winter-storm-bears-down-us-northeast-disrupting-airline-travel-2025-12-27/

Russia attacked Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said would be a crucial meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to work out a plan to end nearly four years of war.

Zelenskiy cast the vast overnight attack, which he said involved about 500 drones and 40 missiles and which knocked out power and heat in parts of the capital, as Russia’s response to the ongoing peace efforts brokered by Washington.

The Ukrainian leader has said Sunday’s talks in Florida would focus on security guarantees and territorial control once fighting ends in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, started by Russia’s 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour.

The attack continued throughout the morning, with a nearly 10-hour air raid alert for the capital. Authorities said two people were killed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, while at least 46 people were wounded, including two children.

“Today, Russia demonstrated how it responds to peaceful negotiations between Ukraine and the United States to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelenskiy told reporters.

In Russia, air defence forces shot down eight drones headed for Moscow, the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Saturday.

THOUSANDS OF HOMES WITHOUT HEAT

Explosions echoed across Kyiv from the early hours on Saturday as Ukraine’s air defence units went into action. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south.
State grid operator Ukrenergo said energy facilities across Ukraine were struck, and emergency power cuts had been implemented across the capital.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said the attack had left more than a million households in and around Kyiv without power, 750,000 of which remained disconnected by the afternoon.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said over 40% of residential buildings in Kyiv were left without heat as temperatures hovered around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday.

TERRITORIAL CONTROL: A DIPLOMATIC STUMBLING BLOCK
On the way to meeting Trump in Florida, Zelenskiy stopped in Canada’s Halifax to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney.
In a brief statement with Zelenskiy by his side, Carney noted that peace “requires a willing Russia.”
“The barbarism that we saw overnight — the attack on Kyiv — shows just how important it is that we stand with Ukraine in this difficult time,” he said, announcing 2.5 billion Canadian dollars ($1.83 billion) in additional economic aid to Ukraine.
After the meeting Zelenskiy spoke to European leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said afterwards on X: “We welcome all efforts leading to our shared objective – a just and lasting peace that preserves Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. And that strengthens the country’s security and defence capabilities.”

Territory and the future of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remain the main diplomatic stumbling blocks, though Zelenskiy told journalists in Kyiv on Friday that a 20-point draft document – the cornerstone of a U.S. push to clinch a peace deal – is 90% complete.
He said the shape of U.S. security guarantees was crucial, and these would depend on Trump, and “what he is ready to give, when he is ready to give it, and for how long.”
Zelenskiy told Axios earlier this week that the U.S. had offered a 15-year deal on security guarantees, subject to renewal, but Kyiv wanted a longer agreement with legally binding provisions to guard against further Russian aggression.
Trump said the United States was the driving force behind the process.
“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump told Politico. “So we’ll see what he’s got.”
Trump said he believed Sunday’s meeting would go well. He also said he expected to speak with Putin “soon, as much as I want.”

FATE OF DONETSK IS KEY

Moscow is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from a large, densely urbanised chunk of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russian troops have failed to occupy in nearly four years of war. Kyiv wants the fighting halted at the current lines.
Russia has been grinding slowly forwards throughout 2025 at the cost of significant casualties on the drone-infested battlefield.
On Saturday, both sides issued conflicting claims about two frontline towns: Myrnohrad in the east and Huliaipole in the south. Moscow claimed to have captured both, while Kyiv said it had beaten back Russian assaults there.
Under a U.S. compromise, a free economic zone would be set up if Ukrainian troops pull back from parts of the Donetsk region, though details have yet to be worked out.
Axios quoted Zelenskiy as saying that if he is not able to push the U.S. to back Ukraine’s position on the land issue, he was willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum – as long as Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire allowing Ukraine to prepare for and hold the vote.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-drones-missiles-pound-ukraine-before-zelenskiy-trump-meeting-2025-12-27/

U.S.-backed air strikes in Nigeria hit two Islamic State-linked camps in the Bauni forest of Sokoto State, targeting foreign fighters infiltrating from the Sahel, the Nigerian government said.
The strikes carried out on Thursday were approved by President Bola Tinubu and launched from maritime platforms domiciled in the Gulf of Guinea, after extensive intelligence gathering, operational planning, and reconnaissance, the information ministry said in a statement on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Thursday that U.S. forces had launched a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government. He said the group had been targeting Christians in the region.
“A total of 16 GPS-guided precision munitions were deployed using MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial platforms, successfully neutralising the targeted ISIS elements attempting to penetrate Nigeria from the Sahel corridor,” the Nigerian government statement said.
Intelligence indicated the camps were being used by foreign ISIS elements working with local affiliates to plan large-scale attacks inside Nigeria, it added. No civilian casualties were reported, although debris fell in two towns in Sokoto and Kwara states.

Trump described the operation as “numerous perfect strikes” and warned there would be “more to come.”
The operation marks a rare joint action between Abuja and Washington and underscores growing security cooperation as Islamist violence spreads south from the Sahel.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-backed-airstrikes-nigeria-hit-two-isis-linked-camps-government-says-2025-12-27/

Sheikh Hasina warns of rising extremism and constitutional collapse under the Muhammad Yunus regime, calling for free, participatory elections to restore Bangladesh’s democracy

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has spoken out on her departure and the nation’s current crisis in an exclusive interaction. She characterises the 2024 unrest as an orchestrated insurrection by radicals rather than a peaceful student movement. Criticising the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, Hasina alleges it lacks democratic legitimacy, has emboldened extremists, and has systematically dismantled judicial inquiries into the August violence. Expressing grave concerns over the banning of the Awami League and shifting regional alliances, she argues that only constitutional governance and inclusive polls can rescue the country from its current instability and economic decline.

Could you share what factors influenced your decision to leave Bangladesh and what assurances you would need to consider returning?

Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta are investing tens of billions of dollars into India’s digital ecosystem and highlighting the surging worldwide appetite for computing capacity and data storage.

US technology giants are investing huge amounts of money into India as the country positions itself at the centre of the global hub for data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to a report by The New York Times.

Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta are investing tens of billions of dollars into India’s digital ecosystem and highlighting the surging worldwide appetite for computing capacity and data storage.

Microsoft has pledged $17.5 billion for AI-related projects in India, while Amazon has plans to spend $35 billion on AI-driven operations across the country over the next five years.

Google has committed $15 billion towards developing data centres in partnership with Adani Group and Bharti Airtel. Meta is setting up a large facility close to Google’s proposed sites, alongside several other projects being undertaken by domestic conglomerates.

In total, the pledged investments add up to at least $67.5 billion, marking one of the most significant capital inflows into a single sector in India’s history. “This is going to be one of the largest single-sector investments that India’s ever seen,” Somnath Mukherjee, Chief Investment Officer at ASK Wealth Advisors in Mumbai, told The New York Times.

The scale of spending shows that companies are betting on India’s expanding digital market and enormous user base. While the country generates close to a fifth of the world’s data, it accounts for only a small share of global storage infrastructure. “India is the largest consumer of data in the world, but with barely five per cent of American data capacity,” Mukherjee said.

Although trade tensions persist between the US and India, including high tariffs announced by Washington earlier this year, the report noted that the investment surge has continued.

India has been exploring measures to reduce reliance on foreign servers, including potential rules requiring local data storage. Since 2018, policymakers have debated laws requiring digital services to operate from servers within India, with sectors such as banking and messaging already governed by such norms.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/why-us-tech-giants-are-betting-67-5-billion-on-indias-ai-data-centre-boom-10039535?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

The landmark test was conducted on a 400-meter experimental track and demonstrated not only ultra-rapid acceleration but also precise and safe braking.

China has achieved a major milestone in high-speed transportation research by setting a new world record in superconducting magnetic levitation (maglev) technology. Scientists at the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) successfully accelerated a 1.1-ton experimental maglev vehicle to a speed of 700 km/h in just two seconds, marking the fastest acceleration and peak speed ever recorded for a superconducting maglev system.

The landmark test was conducted on a 400-meter experimental track and demonstrated not only ultra-rapid acceleration but also precise and safe braking.

According to NUDT researchers, the vehicle was smoothly brought to a stop after reaching its maximum speed, underscoring the system’s control and reliability at extreme performance levels.

Footage aired by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed the test vehicle—appearing as a streamlined chassis—racing along the track at high speed, briefly visible as a blur and leaving smoke in its wake.

Researchers confirmed that the trial broke previous global records in both acceleration and speed for maglev platforms.

• The breakthrough reflects progress across several critical engineering areas.
• The test validated ultra-high-speed electromagnetic propulsion
• Stable electric suspension and guidance systems
• High-power energy storage solutions
• The use of high-field superconducting magnets

Together, these technologies allow the vehicle to levitate several centimeters above the track, eliminating wheel-rail friction and enabling extreme speeds with reduced noise and vibration.

Professor Li Jie of NUDT said the success represents a major step forward for China’s ultra-high-speed ground transportation ambitions.

He noted that superconducting maglev systems are not limited to passenger trains but could support next-generation transport concepts and aerospace applications.

HOW MAGLEV TRAINS ARE DIFFERENT

Maglev trains differ fundamentally from conventional rail systems.

• Maglev systems do not use wheels; movement is achieved through magnetic forces
• Powerful electromagnets are installed both on the vehicle and along the track
• Like magnetic poles repel each other, causing the vehicle to levitate above the guideway
• The train floats a few centimeters above the track, eliminating physical contact
• Alternating magnetic fields along the guideway propel the vehicle forward
• The absence of wheel–rail contact greatly reduces mechanical wear and tear
• Lower wear results in reduced maintenance requirements over time
• Electric propulsion improves overall energy efficiency and supports cleaner operation

Beyond rail transport, experts see broader implications. Superconducting maglev technology could underpin hyperloop-style systems operating in low-pressure or vacuum tubes, where speeds approaching or exceeding 1,000 km/h are theoretically possible.

The same technology may also be used to provide initial acceleration for rockets or aircraft, potentially saving fuel and reducing emissions.

NUDT has been involved in maglev research for more than 30 years, having built China’s first manned maglev test system decades ago.

The team previously reached 648 km/h earlier in 2025, while Shanghai’s maglev line remains the world’s only commercial maglev service, operating at speeds of up to 430 km/h.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/china-hyperloop-maglev-train-new-world-record-superconducting-700-kmh-in-two-seconds-2842749-2025-12-27

Manojh Sai Lella, a senior at the University of Texas at Dallas, was arrested by Frisco police on Monday. Police responded to Lella’s home after family members reported a mental health episode and alleged threats. Authorities said he allegedly tried to set the home on fire several days earlier.

A 22-year-old Indian-origin student has been arrested in the US on charges of arson and terroristic threat against family members, according to official records.

Manojh Sai Lella, a senior at the University of Texas at Dallas, was arrested by Frisco police on Monday.

Police responded to Lella’s home after family members reported a mental health episode and alleged threats.

Authorities said he allegedly tried to set the home on fire several days earlier.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/indian-origin-student-arrested-in-us-on-arson-and-terroristic-threat-charges-following-family-complaint

ANGELINA Jolie is in a secret legal battle over her New York City studio as she continues her long-standing, vicious court battle with her ex Brad Pitt over their French vineyard.

The U.S. Sun has exclusively learned that Angelina, 50, has found herself in yet another protracted legal battle, this time over the name of her Manhattan art studio, Atelier Jolie, which opened in November 2023.

The Maleficent actress’s art collective is housed in a two-story graffiti-strewn building.

It encompasses a Bohemian mix of art residences, clothing design, workshops, and a cafe run by refugees.

At issue is that there is already a firm out there with the same name, and with a very similar function.

According to documents, Angelina applied to trademark Atelier Jolie in May of 2022, but when the application was finally published in the US Patent and Trademark Office gazette in March 2024, it was immediately opposed by another art business with the same name.

The other Atelier Jolie is based in Easton, Pennsylvania, and is also a trendy gallery for up-and-coming artists with an attached cafe.

The owner is Omnaia Jolie Abdou, an artist, curator and entrepreneur.

In a filing, Omnaia claimed to be operating her business, located in Easton, Pennsylvania, since 2021 under the Atelier Jolie moniker.

According to documents filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office, Omania demanded that Angelina’s trademark application be refused.

The notice of opposition filing stated: “Since at least as early as 2021, Opposer has been regularly and continuously using the mark ATELIER JOLIE.

“Opposer’s ATELIER JOLIE mark is primarily used to identify and promote art and design studio goods and services featuring the works of Omnaia Jolie Abdou, managing member of Applicant, which include but are not limited to custom art pieces, apparel and luxury wear, paintings, sculptures, pottery, prints, posters, and other custom merchandise and artistic works.”

Omania added that her business “has created significant goodwill and consumer recognition in the ATELIER JOLIE mark through its continued use and expenditure of significant time, effort, and money in advertising and promotion.”

“Opposer’s and Applicant’s ATELIER JOLIE marks are identical in spelling and therefore are also identical in sight, sound, and commercial impression.

“Opposer, Atelier Jolie, LLC, respectfully requests that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board sustain this Opposition and refuse registration of the mark ATELIER JOLIE for Applicant’s goods and services.”

Angelina’s team has attempted to rebuff Omania’s claims, saying that there would be no confusion between the two businesses.

Now the lawyers for both parties are negotiating a settlement, which could mean Angelina will have to fork over money to use the name.

Angelina’s attorneys argued, “One or more of Opposer’s claims are barred on the grounds that there is no actual competition between Opposer and Jolie and it is virtually impossible for there to be a likelihood for confusion.

“One or more of Opposer’s claims as to its alleged common law marks are barred on the grounds that Opposer has failed to establish an earlier continuous and exclusive use of its alleged mark with respect to goods/services.”

Pennsylvania business records show that Omania’s business was formed on October 27, 2021 – while Jolie’s firm, Atelier Jolie Lifestyle Inc, was set up a few months later on May, 20, 2022 in Delaware.

For the last few months, the two parties have been trying to come to a settlement agreement.

The Easton gallery’s lawyer has asked for more time saying, ‘the parties have been and are currently actively engaged in settlement negotiations.’

Further adding: “The extension is necessary to allow the parties to continue their settlement efforts, and to move towards settlement and resolution of this matter.”

Last November, after a year of being open, Jolie spoke of her aspirations for Atelier Jolie’s future, telling Surface Magazine: “My hope is for Atelier Jolie to be a home for artists, and we want 57 to be a place where people can create, be inspired, and participate in the creative process.

“Doing this alongside artists, designers, and craftsmen who might otherwise be inaccessible is important to how we operate and see the world.”

The fight over the name of her art-collective isn’t the only legal battle Angelina is in, as she continues to face off against her ex-husband, Brad Pitt, over their French estate, Chateau Miraval.

HOW MIRAVAL CAME TO BE

The couple bought the estate in 2011 for an estimated $60 million, with Brad stating the intention was for it to be inherited by their children.

The property, featuring a 35-room manor and a vast vineyard, is now reportedly valued at approximately $500 million.

Brad, 62, has asserted that he was the primary reason for the winery’s success, investing significant time and financial resources into the project from the beginning.

In 2016, the couple separated but both kept their ownership interests in the business until 2021, when Angelina informed Brad she wished to exit the company.

She reportedly alleged that Brad utilized company funds to finance his personal interests.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15685180/angelina-jolie-legal-battle-atelier-brad-pitt-court/

A HUGE volcano on the east coast of Sicily has erupted.

Dramatic footage shows Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, sending glowing lava and huge clouds of ash into the air.

Huge clouds can be seen rising from the mountain as a serene skier makes their way down the slopes, apparently unaware of the eruption.

Etna entered a new eruptive phase yesterday December 26, with Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) confirming the activity.

Jets of lava spurted over 1000ft into the air, the INGV said, adding that rock fragments were flung “several kilometres above the summit of Etna”.

A yellow alert has been issued, with many concerned about the nearby Fontanarossa airport.

Some flight delays have been reported, but no serious disruptions so far.

The yellow alert means increased monitoring and information sharing but for the moment, airports in the area remain open.

The INGV said that winds blew the huge ash cloud north-eastward.

Some ash landed on Piano Provenzana, a Sicilian ski resort on the side of the volcano itself.

Ash from Etna also reached the nearby town of Taormina.

The INGV said lava is still flowing after “strong explosions”, and has travelled around 2km east, towards Valle del Bove.

Eruptions began on Boxing Day, with “several hours of calm” before they started again on December 27.

The INGV reported activity at the Bocca Nuova crater and the northeast crater of Etna.

The volcano is more than 10,000ft tall, and also erupted in June.

Then, terrifying videos showed tourists fleeing for their lives as the mountain spewed smoke and hot ash.

Long lines of tourists could be seen snaking down the mountainside in the shadow of an enormous growing black cloud.

In February, a snowy ski slope on the side of Etna turned into a fiery peak as hot lava shot into the air.

Skiers had defied bans to witness the eruption close-up.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15700217/mount-etna-spews-lava-travel-chaos-alert/

The revision focuses on areas such as digital and green trade, along with intellectual property provisions — key improvements China needs to make to meet the standards of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

China ‌on Saturday (Dec 27) passed revisions to a key piece of legislation aimed at strengthening Beijing’s ability to wage trade war, curb outbound shipments from strategic minerals to sex dolls, and further open its US$19 trillion economy.

The latest revision to the Foreign Trade Law, approved by China’s top legislative body, will take effect on Mar 1, 2026, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The world’s second-largest economy is overhauling its trade-related legal frameworks partly to convince members of a major trans-Pacific trade bloc created to counter China’s growing ‌influence that the manufacturing powerhouse deserves a seat at the table, as ‌Beijing seeks to reduce its reliance on the United States.

Adopted in 1994 and revised three times since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, most recently in 2022, the Foreign Trade Law empowers policymakers to hit back against trading partners that seek to curb its exports and to adopt mechanisms such as “negative lists” to open restricted sectors to foreign firms.

The revision also adds a provision that foreign trade should “serve national economic and social development” and help build China ‍into a “strong trading nation”, Xinhua said.

It further “expands and improves” the legal toolkit for countering external challenges, according to the report.

The revision focuses on areas such as digital and green trade, along with intellectual property provisions, key improvements China needs to make to meet the standards of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, rather than the trade defence tools ​the 2020 revamp honed in on following ‌four years of tariff war with the first Trump administration.

Beijing is also sharpening the wording of its powers in anticipation of potential lawsuits from private firms, which are becoming increasingly prominent in China, ​according to trade diplomats.

“Ministries have become more concerned about private sector criticism,” said one Western trade diplomat with decades of experience ⁠working with China. “China is a rule-of-law country, so ‌the government can stop a company’s shipment, but it needs a reason.”

“It’s not totally lawless here. Better to have ​everything written out in black and white,” they added, requesting anonymity, as they were not authorised to speak with media.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/china-passes-revised-foreign-trade-law-bolster-trade-war-capabilities-5724531

A growing number of countries on Saturday rejected Israel’s recognition of Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation a day earlier, the first by any country in more than 30 years.

It wasn’t known why Israel made the declaration Friday or whether the country was expecting something in return.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 during a descent into conflict that continues to leave the east African country fragile. Despite having its own government and currency, Somaliland had never been recognized by any nation until Friday.

A joint statement by more than 20 mostly Middle Eastern or African countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Saturday rejected Israel’s recognition “given the serious repercussions of such unprecedented measure on peace and security in the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea and its serious effects on international peace and security as a whole.”

Somaliland, which is arid, lies on the Gulf of Aden across from Yemen and next to small Djibouti, which hosts military bases for the U.S., China, France and several other countries.

The joint statement also noted “the full rejection of any potential link between such measure and any attempts to forcibly expel the Palestinian people out of their land.” Syria in a separate statement also rejected Israel’s recognition.

Earlier this year, U.S. and Israeli officials told The Associated Press that Israel had approached Somaliland about taking in Palestinians from Gaza as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan at the time to resettle the territory’s population. The United States has since abandoned that plan.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday said that it continued to recognize the territorial integrity of Somalia, “which includes the territory of Somaliland.”

Netanyahu’s office said Friday that he, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, signed a joint declaration “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.”

That initiative, which started in 2020, established commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority countries. Trump sees it as key to his plan for bringing long-term stability to the Middle East.

Somalia’s federal government on Friday strongly rejected what it described as an unlawful move by Israel, and reaffirmed that Somaliland remains an integral part of Somalia’s sovereign territory.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/somalia-somaliland-recognition-israel-0643e819cc043163d7a81c91617232a9

It’s the biggest mystery in Georgia politics right now: Who’s paying for the attacks on Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones?

Someone operating under the name “Georgians for Integrity” has dumped around $5 million into television ads, mailers and texts. The attacks claim Jones, who already has President Donald Trump’s endorsement in his run for governor next year, has been using his office to enrich himself.

For any Georgian settling down to watch a football game, the ads have been nearly inescapable since Thanksgiving. They’re the opening shot in the public battle for the Republican nomination that will be settled in May’s primary election. But the ads also show how dark money is influencing politics not only at the national level but in the states, with secretive interests dropping big sums seeking to shift public opinion.

The Jones campaign is hopping mad, threatening legal action against television stations if they don’t stop airing ads that a lawyer calls “demonstrably false” and slanderous.

So far, the ads remain on air.

“They want to be anonymous, spend a lot of money, and create a lot of lies about myself and my family,” Jones told WSB-AM in an interview Dec. 16, calling the ads “fabricated trash.”

Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Jones’ top rivals for the Republican nomination, say they are not involved in the attacks. All three want to succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who can’t run again because of term limits. There are also multiple Democrats vying for the state’s top office.

Dark money marches on

The Georgia Republican Party has filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission. The GOP claims the ads violate Georgia’s campaign finance law against spending on an election without registering and disclosing donors.

“I think there are far-reaching consequences to allowing this activity to go forward unchecked,” state Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon told The Associated Press. “And the consequences are much broader than the outcome of the May primary.”

It’s a further filtering down of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which led to dramatic increases in independent spending in U.S. elections, said Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center, which seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics.

“Dark money is becoming more and more the norm in races, up and down the ballot, and at early times,” Ports said.

Claims that Jones has been engaged in self-dealing are nothing new —- Carr has been making similar attacks for months. But things escalated after Georgians for Integrity was incorporated in Delaware on Nov. 24, according to that state’s corporation records. The entity identifies itself as a nonprofit social welfare organization under the federal tax code, a popular way to organize campaign spending that lets a group hide its donors.

The Jones campaign says the ad falsely leads viewers to believe that Jones enabled government to take land through eminent domain to help support his family’s interest in a massive data center development in Jones’ home county south of Atlanta. As a state senator, Jones did vote for a 2017 law that opened a narrow exception in Georgia’s law prohibiting governments from conveying property seized through condemnation proceedings to private developers. But eminent domain isn’t being used to benefit the $10 billion development that government filings show could include 11 million square feet (1 million square meters) of data centers.

Group’s records are a dead end

Georgians for Integrity lists its local address as a mailbox at an Atlanta office supply store east on some paperwork submitted to television stations. A media buyer named Alex Roberts, with a Park City, Utah, address, is also listed on those papers, but he hasn’t responded to an email from the AP. Neither has Kimberly Land, a Columbus, Ohio, lawyer listed on incorporation papers. After weeks of heavy spending, no one has proved who’s providing the cash.

The Republican Party contends Georgians for Integrity is an independent committee under Georgia law. That means it can raise and spend unlimited sums, but must register before accepting contributions and must disclose its donors.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/burt-jones-governor-2026-georgia-dark-money-70f49891f560a70fb68788ac8dbe7dc3

Italian police have arrested nine people accused of raising around €7m (£6m) for Hamas over more than two years.

The money was ostensibly collected as humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, a police statement said, but was instead sent to the militant group via a “complex fundraising system”.

Alongside the arrests, police say they have seized more than €8m (£7m) in assets as part of the investigation.

Police say the suspects are “specifically accused of carrying out financing operations believed to have contributed to terrorist activities”.

The arrests were made as part of a joint initiative between Italy’s counter-terror police and financial police.

The investigation began after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack in southern Israel.

Police say they analysed “a series of reports of suspicious financial transactions” involving some of the suspects in the lead up to the attack.

Investigators uncovered a “complex” system of fundraising, which was headquartered in Genoa with branches in Milan, the statement adds.

“The suspects collected donations intended for the civilian population of Gaza, however, it emerged that over 71% of these funds were diverted to Hamas’s coffers to finance its military wing and support the families of suicide bombers or those detained for terrorism,” the police statement says.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the most well-known of the arrested suspects was Mohammad Hannoun, the president of the Palestinian Association in Italy.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxq59np394o

Brooklyn Beckham and Victoria Beckham are exchanging pointed jabs once again as their family feud rages on.

The chef’s wife, Nicola Peltz, shared a message seemingly aimed at her in-laws, Victoria and David, in a Friday Christmas post.

The carousel of photos from their holiday festivities revealed that the couple spent the day with Nicola’s parents.

“We wish everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year filled with so much love, peace and happiness,” Nicola, 30, captioned the joint post.

Their comments section erupted with responses from fans showing their allegiances.

“Why don’t you show love to the Beckham family?!” one follower wrote under the post.

“Everyone EXCEPT your in-laws!” blogger Perez Hilton commented. Meanwhile, a third netizen added, “Brooklyn go home and see your parents. Life really is too short.”

Victoria, 51, seemingly hit back with an equally shady Christmas message as she shared a video of her and David, 50, singing along to Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb’s song, “Guilty.”

In clip, they swayed along to the music together as Streisand sang the lyrics, “We got nothing to be sorry for,” per The Independent.

She followed up the post with a sweet video of David dancing along with their daughter, Harper, to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ “Islands in the Stream.”

“Truly the best daddy,” Victoria captioned the clip.

In another post, she shouted out her youngest son, Cruz — who was also recently cut off by Brooklyn — as she showed off his bartending skills, saying he makes the “best dirty martini!!”

Reps for David and Victoria, as well as Brooklyn, 26, and Nicola, 30, did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

The Beckham family feud — which reportedly dates back to Brooklyn’s 2022 Palm Beach wedding to Nicola — seemingly heated up once again when Brooklyn reportedly unfollowed and blocked his parents on Instagram.

Soon after, the former Spice Girl appeared unbothered by Brooklyn’s blocking as she shared a post promoting her brand’s latest collection.

Victoria and David have yet to publicly address the dig from their son. However, Brooklyn appeared to throw shots at his parents over the week.

On Thursday, he sent a pointed message aimed at the former soccer star and the fashion designer.

In a TikTok, he took a sidewalk stroll while the Lady Gaga song, “Telephone,” played — specifically, her singing, “Sorry, I cannot hear you. I’m kinda busy.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/12/27/celebrity-news/brooklyn-beckhams-wife-nicola-peltz-shares-pointed-christmas-post/

A fire erupted at the far end of the 50-car pileup, spreading to more than a dozen vehicles, some of which were completely burned.

A massive crash on an expressway in Japan triggered a blaze that killed one person and injured 26 others on late Friday, as the country kicked off its end-of-the-year holiday season. The pileup of at least 50 vehicles began with a collision between two trucks in the Minakami town, according to police.

A 77-year-old woman from Tokyo died, police said. Out of the 26 injured, five were reported to be in serious condition, The Associated Press reported.

The crash of the trucks blocked parts of the expressway, and cars coming from behind them were unable to brake on the snowy surface. More than 50 vehicles were involved in the pileup, according to the Gunma prefectural highway police.

A fire erupted at the far end of the pileup, spreading to more than a dozen vehicles, some of which were completely burned. Nobody was injured from the fire, which was extinguished about seven hours later, police said.

As of 2 am (local time) on Saturday, the expressway was closed in both directions between the Yuzawa Interchange in Niigata Prefecture and the Tsukiyono Interchange in Gunma Prefecture, according to NHK World. It is currently unclear when the closure will be lifted.

A warning about heavy snow was in effect late on Friday, when many Japanese started their year-end and New Year holidays. Parts of the expressway remained closed for police investigation, removal and cleaning of the wreckage.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/massive-50-vehicle-pileup-on-japan-expressway-triggers-fire-deaths-injuries-snowy-weather-latest-news-ws-kl-9794392.html

Singer James is known for performing the hit songs ‘Bheegi Bheegi’ and ‘Alvida’ in Bollywood movies.

Popular singer James’ concert was cancelled in Faridpur, around 120 kilometres away from Dhaka, amid attacks on artists, performers, and cultural institutions in Bangladesh.

According to local reports, the concert was scheduled to take place at 9:00 pm on Friday to commemorate a local school’s anniversary. A group of attackers tried to force entry at the venue and threw bricks and stones at the crowd. Locals said the students resisted the attackers, but eventually the concert had to be cancelled following instructions from local authorities.

Over 25 people have been reportedly injured in the incident.

Author Taslima Nasreen highlighted the incident and slammed the pattern developing in Bangladesh. In a post on social media platform X, she said, “The cultural center Chhayanaut has been burned to ashes. Udichi-the organization that was built to foster a secular and progressive consciousness through the promotion of music, theater, dance, recitation, and folk culture-has also been burned to ashes. Today, jihadists did not allow the renowned singer James to perform at an event.”

“A few days ago, Siraj Ali Khan had come to Dhaka. He is the grandson of Ali Akbar Khan, the son of the world-famous maestro Ustad Allauddin Khan. Siraj Ali Khan himself is a distinguished artist of the Maihar gharana. He returned to India without performing any program in Dhaka, saying that he would not come to Bangladesh again until artists, music, and cultural institutions are safe,” Nasreen added.

The exiled author said, “Two days ago, Ustad Rashid Khan’s son Arman Khan also declined Dhaka’s invitation. He too made it clear that he does not wish to set foot in a Bangladesh inhabited by music-hating jihadists.”

James is a Bangladeshi singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer.

He is the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the rock band ‘Nagar Baul’. He has performed several hit Hindi film songs, such as ‘Bheegi Bheegi’ from the film ‘Gangster’ and ‘Alvida’ from the film ‘Life In A Metro’. He is very popular in Bangladesh, and the attack on his concert is an indication of how emboldened radical elements have become in Bangladesh.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/singer-james-concert-called-off-in-bangladesh-as-mob-attacks-venue-bangladesh-protests-violence-dhaka-dipu-chandra-das-lynching-10008749?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Volodymyr Zelensky said he would hold a key meeting with Donald Trump to work out a deal to end nearly four years of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia attacked Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what President Volodymyr Zelensky said would be a key meeting with US President Donald Trump to work out a deal to end nearly four years of war.

Before the overnight attacks, Zelensky said his talks in Florida on Sunday would focus on the territory to be controlled by each side after a halt to the fighting that began in February 2022 with President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbour, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Explosions sounded in Kyiv as Ukraine’s air defence units went into action, and the military said on the Telegram messaging app that missiles were being deployed. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south.

An air raid alert remained in effect in the capital some four hours after being introduced. There were no immediate reports of damage or power cuts.

CONTROLLING TERRITORY IS DIPLOMATIC STUMBLING BLOCK

Russia made no immediate comment on the attacks.

On Thursday night, Russia struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and stepped up attacks on the southern region of Odesa, the site of Ukraine’s main seaports.

Amid the continued fierce fighting, territory remains the main diplomatic stumbling block. A 20-point draft in the U.S.-driven campaign to clinch a peace plan is 90% complete, Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv.

He said a security guarantee agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. was almost ready – a key element after guarantees in earlier post-Soviet years proved meaningless.

“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” Zelensky told Politico.

Trump said the United States was the driving force behind the process.

“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump told Politico. “So we’ll see what he’s got.”

Zelensky told Axios the U.S. had offered a 15-year deal on security guarantees, subject to renewal, but Kyiv wanted a longer agreement with legally binding provisions to guard against further Russian aggression.

Trump said he believed Sunday’s meeting would go well. He also said he expected to speak with Putin “soon, as much as I want.”

NUCLEAR PLANT, FREE ECONOMIC ZONE ALSO AT ISSUE

In addition to territory, a critical point is control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest, seized by Russia in the opening weeks of the war.

Moscow demands that Ukraine withdraw from the areas of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russian troops have failed to occupy in their drive to secure all of the Donbas, which also includes the Luhansk region.

Kyiv wants the fighting halted at the current lines.

Under a U.S. compromise, a free economic zone would be set up if Ukraine leaves parts of the Donetsk region, though details have yet to be worked out.

Axios quoted Zelensky as saying that if he is not able to push the U.S. to back Ukraine’s “strong” position on the land issue, he was willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum – as long as Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to prepare for and hold the vote.

He said he wanted more pressure applied to Russia.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Kyiv’s version of the 20-point plan differed from what Russia had been discussing with the U.S., according to Interfax-Russia news agency.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ukrainian-capital-kyiv-under-massive-russian-attack-officials-10008686?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Eight people were killed in an explosion at a mosque of the Alawite minority sect in the Syrian city of Homs on Friday (Dec 26), Syrian state news agency SANA said.

An ultra-conservative Sunni Syrian group known as Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah said on its Telegram channels that it carried out the attack. The group previously claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Damascus church in June that killed 20 people.

SANA cited Syrian Health Ministry official Najib al-Naasan as saying 18 others were wounded and that the figures were not final, indicating they could rise.

The city’s press office said an explosive device had detonated inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib mosque and that security forces had cordoned off the area.

Local official Issam Naameh told Reuters the blast occurred during Friday noon prayers.

The Supreme Alawite Islamic Council, a body that says it represents Alawites in Syria and abroad, condemned what it called a systematic campaign of killings, forced displacement, detentions and incitement against Alawites for more than a year. It accused the Damascus authorities of responsibility, and said continued attacks risk driving the country toward collapse.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the blast as a “terrorist crime”. Regional countries including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Qatar also condemned the attack.

Syrian state media SANA published footage of rescuers and security forces examining debris splayed across the mosque’s green carpet.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/explosion-alawite-mosque-in-syrias-homs-kills-eight-5723646

If Thailand and Cambodia can come to an agreement, they will make a deal in line with the previous pact brokered with the help of US President Donald Trump, said Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

Thailand’s defence minister will join ongoing talks with Cambodia on Saturday (Dec 27) that could lead to a truce, the Thai premier said on Friday, as border clashes between the two Southeast Asian neighbours continued for a third week.

If the defence minister is able to come to an agreement with his Cambodian counterpart, the two countries will make a deal in line with a previous pact brokered with the help of US President Donald Trump following a previous round of clashes in July, he said.

“What is important is that both of us have to keep the promises that both will not threaten, offend, and instigate, and to reduce hostility between the two countries,” Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters in Bangkok, referring to a potential deal.

A Cambodian defence ministry spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thai and Cambodian officials have been holding parleys at a border crossing since Wednesday as hostilities between the two countries continued. The ceasefire broke down in early December, with at least 98 people killed on both sides and more than half a million on displaced.

Since the conflict restarted, neither Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim – chair of the ASEAN bloc that facilitated the previous ceasefire – nor Trump have been successful in halting hostilities.

The warring sides have also been pressed by Beijing to put an end to the fighting, with China’s special envoy for Asian affairs Deng Xijun holding talks in Bangkok and Phnom Penh in recent days.

“I hope that this time will be the last time to sign such an agreement, so that there will be peace in the area and people can return to their homes,” Anutin said.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-cambodia-truce-talks-ceasefire-defence-minister-5723666

SIA cancelled four flights between Singapore and New York as well as two flights between Frankfurt and the US state.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) was among several Asian carriers that cancelled flights to and from New York as the US state braced for a snowstorm on Friday (Dec 26).

The United States National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for New York early on Friday, cautioning that heavy snow was expected between 4pm local time on Friday (5am Saturday, Singapore time) to 1pm on Saturday.

According to an SIA travel advisory, these six flights have been cancelled. All times are local:

• SQ23 departing New York (John F Kennedy) for Singapore on Friday at 10.05pm
• SQ24 departing Singapore for New York (John F Kennedy) on Friday at 12.10pm
• SQ25 departing New York (John F Kennedy) for Frankfurt on Friday at 8.15pm
• SQ26 departing Frankfurt for New York (John F Kennedy) on Friday at 8.35am
• SQ21 departing New York (Newark) for Singapore on Saturday at 5.45pm
• SQ22 departing Singapore for New York (Newark) on Saturday at 5.30am

SIA said it will be contacting all affected customers to inform them about the cancellations, adding that other flights might be affected as the situation remains fluid.

“Customers affected by the flight cancellations will be reaccommodated on alternative flights or can seek a full refund of the unused portion of their ticket,” it added.

Looking into age restrictions on social media is “more than justified,” Germany’s Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger told the dpa news agency, commenting on Australia banning the platforms for children under 16.

With Australia’s social media ban for teenagers coming into effect this month, German Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger signaled he was opened to a similar move in the EU country.

“I can see a lot of merit in that,” he told the German dpa news agency in remarks published on Friday.

“I consider the question of an age restriction to be more than justified,” he added.

Australia goes against digital heavyweights

Since December 10., the Australian government has required social media platforms to remove profiles of users under 16 and prevent teens from creating new ones.

While the move was controversial, Australian officials say it was motivated by concerns such as cyberbullying, grooming and content that might be harmful to mental health.

The ban applies to multiple digital platforms and global corporate giants such as TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Kick, Twitch, Threads and X.

EU Commission chief ‘inspired’ by social media restriction

Social media companies and civil liberties activists have criticized the law. At the same time, the decision prompted praise in other countries, where governments are closely monitoring Canberra’s efforts to implement and enforce its new policy; including its age verification systems.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “inspired” by the Australian ban.

Australia remains the first and only country in the world to impose such a restriction.

Germany waits for commission recommendation

Wildberger pointed to an expert commission appointed by the German government to address child and youth protection in the digital age.

“So now the question is: How do we enable them to have a healthy development, like earlier generations had without social media?” he said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/german-minister-sees-merit-to-social-media-ban-for-teens/a-75308862

MAGICIAN David Copperfield has been further embroiled in the Epstein saga as prosecutors reveal the notorious paedophile reportedly gave multiple victims “backstage passes” to Copperfield’s shows.

The famous illusionist was described by authorities as a “favourite cohort” of Epstein’s, with tickets to his performances doled out as “birthday gifts” for victims, according to explosive new emails.

The latest claims released by prosecutors were dated back to October 2007, written a short time after the FBI raided a Las Vegas warehouse owned by Copperfield, according to the Daily Mail.

The sting came amid allegations the 69-year-old magician allegedly raped a woman; however, no charges were filed, and he has denied the claims.

The emails were amongst a collection of new documents released by the Department of Justice this week.

In the trove of files, three photos depicted Copperfield with Ghislaine Maxwell in matching white bathrobes.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking minors to Epstein.

Embracing each other in the photos, Copperfield and Maxwell can be seen playing with candy and smiling.

The fresh pictures give new insight into the closeness of Epstein and Copperfield’s relationship.

The magician – whose real name is David Kotkin – has once been previously accused of sexual misconduct and assault, however has always denied the allegations, and no charges were ever brought.

He has never been accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.

In the email, a prosecutor – whose name was redacted – wrote: “FYI FBI Seattle and FBI Las Vegas executed a search today on a warehouse owned by Epstein’s favorite cohort, David Copperfield, in connection with allegations that Copperfield raped an adult female”, in the October 2007 email.

The emails went on to allege Copperfield had spoken “with the girls at Epstein’s home on several occasions” where “backstage passes were a favorite ‘birthday gift’ for Epstein to give the girls“.

It has been suggested the email was written by a prosecutor working on the Florida investigation against Epstein, who served 15 months in a state prison after pleading guilty to child prostitution charges in 2008.

In 2024, The Guardian reported the Las Vegas investigation had stemmed from claims made by Lacey Carroll, who accused Copperfield of raping her in Musha Cay – an island in the Bahamas.

The island had reportedly been purchased by the magician for $50 million in 2006.

No charges were ever laid and the investigation was shut down after two years.

David Chesnoff – Copperfield’s lawyer at the time – said his client “categorically” denied the allegations.

“Mr Copperfield’s reputation precedes him as an impeccable gentleman,” Chesnoff told CNN at the time.

“We’re obviously disturbed that those kinds of allegations are being made, but we believe that that’s a common event now, unfortunately, for celebrated people to be falsely accused.”

Copperfield’s name appeared again in another document among the files, in a front of house manager’s reports for a 2005 show.

While there was no explanation for the FBI’s interest in the decade-old show, the 2007 emails indicate investigators could have been looking for proof that Epstein’s victims were getting free passes.

The notes included breakdowns of the first week of shows at the Au-Rene Theatre in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in February 2005, including audience satisfaction, as well as ticket information, detailing 580 complimentary tickets in total, in comparison with the 7,395 tickets sold.

This is not the first time Copperfield and Epstein have been mentioned together in documents relating to the case.

On notes written down on pads that were found by investigators in the paeodophile’s Palm Beach home, “Magic David called” at least 16 times.

Johanna Sjoberg – an Epstein victim – gave evidence in a 2004 deposition, where she said she had been to a dinner at Epstein’s home where Copperfield performed tricks for her and another very young looking girl.

A lawyer asked Sjoberg – who was in her 20s at the time – if the magician ever discussed Epstein’s “involvement with young girls” with her.

“He questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls,” she replied, according to the deposition transcript.

She also said she had been invited to one of his backstage shows, where he showed her around his tour bus, however said nothing inappropriate happened.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15697985/jeffrey-epstein-magician-david-copperfield-tickets-victims/

A certain festive decoration at Kourtney Kardashian’s house has sent social media into a frenzy.

Many are interpreting it as a clue that the couple may be rekindling their romance.

Fans are buzzing with the latest revelation from the Kardashian clan regarding Khloé Kardashian and her ex, Tristan Thompson.

At the center of the speculation is Kris Jenner’s stunning gingerbread mansion, which features details that hint at family ties.

In the world of the Kardashians, nothing stays quiet for long, and eagle-eyed fans noticed something special in the gingerbread house.

Nestled among the decorations is a name that caught everyone’s eye: Tristan.

Right next to Khloé’s name and alongside their two children, fans are questioning whether this could mean they’re back together.

The gingerbread display is not just a tribute to Kris’ immediate family, but it also features names of her grandkids, including those belonging to Kourtney, Kim, and Rob.

Notably, Kylie Jenner’s relationship with fashion icon and marketing guru, Timothée Chalamet, is acknowledged in this sweet setup as well.

Tristan’s name also came back into the spotlight this week as his one-time kissing partner, Jordyn Woods, got engaged to New York Knicks Karl-Anthony Towns.

The intricate design of the house pays homage to all the loved ones in the Kardashian clan, making it a delightful centerpiece for the season.

Fans posted on Reddit with several questions, comments and theories.

“No Scott /Travis but TRISTAN????????” one commenter wrote. “He’s literally bottom of the barrel.”

Another commenter added, “Notice how everyone who is not blood related or considered a part of the “inner circle” does not have a stocking above their name.”

“Okay I thought it was something to do with the top row needed to be different but now I’m so confused lol,” a third fan wrote.

Another commenter added, “It looks like those 5 were added later after the house was already complete. Like the names were forgotten, and someone pointed it out, and they had to be added last minute! That’s why they have no stocking!”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15697843/kardashian-fans-spot-clue-khloe-back-tristan-thompson/

India’s first gene-edited sheep recently turned a year old and researchers who developed it say it’s doing well.

Born on 16 December last year in Indian-administered Kashmir, the sheep has been named Tarmeem – the Arabic word for modification or editing.

Tarmeem is housed in a private enclosure at the Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural University in the region’s main city Srinagar along with its non-edited twin sister.

Researchers at the university told the BBC that they used CRISPR technology – a biological system for altering DNA – to develop it.

Basically what it allows scientists to do is use it like a pair of scissors to chop off bits of a gene that cause weaknesses or diseases.

“We extracted a number of embryos from pregnant sheep and edited a specific gene – known as the myostatin gene – which negatively affects muscle growth,” researcher Dr Suhail Magray told the BBC.

The embryos or fertilised eggs were kept in controlled laboratory conditions for two-three days after which they were transferred to a female sheep – or the foster recipient.

“And then nature took over – 150 days later, lambs were born,” he said. “Our aim was to increase the muscle mass in sheep and by knocking out the myostatin gene, we successfully managed to do that,” he added.

After Tarmeem turned one earlier this month, Prof Riaz Shah, the dean of faculty of veterinary sciences and principal investigator on the project, gave the BBC a status update.

“It’s growing well, showing normal physiological, biochemical and physical parameters,” he said. “Tarmeem’s muscle growth has expectedly shown significant increase – about 10% – in comparison to its non-edited twin. I think it is likely to increase further with age.”

Experimentation is going on to evaluate its health and survival and the sheep is kept in a secure environment under strict surveillance, Prof Shah said, adding that they have submitted a research project to the government for funding support.

Sheep have been genetically modified and gene-edited for decades, mainly for research and medical purposes. Early experiments, like the 1990s UK sheep “Tracy,” produced therapeutic proteins in milk. Today, CRISPR is used to study traits such as muscle growth, disease resistance, and fertility.

The eight-member team that worked on developing India’s first gene-edited sheep had been at it for seven years.

“There were a few false starts. We tried multiple strategies, and the breakthrough finally came in December 2024. We did seven IVF procedures, we had five live births and two abortions. Gene-editing was successful in only one,” Prof Shah said.

“We started from zero. But we have now standardised the practice and I think the success rate would be high in future.”

The scientists are excited by the experiment’s success, saying it could help secure sustainable mutton production in the Kashmir Valley, which consumes around 60,000 tonnes annually but produces only half. That, of course, depends on government approval for farming or consumption.

“Land is getting squeezed, water is getting depleted, population is growing but space available for growing food is shrinking,” says Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai, the university’s vice-chancellor.

“Our state is deficit in mutton, but gene-editing can raise a sheep’s body weight by 30%. This would be very useful for sustainable food production as it would mean fewer animals can provide more meat,” he says.

If the government grants permission for replicating this technology in large flocks, Prof Ganai says, they can use it to farm sheep and, later, other animals.

“Many institutions in India are working on pigs, goats and poultry. The future is bright,” he adds.

Discovered in 2012, gene-editing technology earned its co-inventors Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna a 2020 Nobel Prize and has revolutionised medical research. But it remains controversial, with ethical debates fuelled by its resemblance to genetic modification (GM).

Scientists emphasise that gene editing and GM are fundamentally different: gene editing tweaks existing genes within a plant, animal, or human, while GM involves introducing foreign genes.

Countries like Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia and Japan treat some gene-edited fish, cattle and pigs as natural, allowing them for consumption.

The US and China use the technology to create more productive, disease-resistant crops and animals; the US FDA recently approved a genetically enhanced pig, and the UK will allow gene-edited foods next year.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36zr73kk1yo

On a patch of rough ground near the Irrawaddy River, aspiring member of parliament and retired Lieutenant-General Tayza Kyaw tries to muster some enthusiasm from his audience with a speech promising them better times.

He is the candidate for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), backed by Myanmar’s military, in Aungmyaythazan, a constituency in the city of Mandalay.

The crowd of 300-400 clutch the branded hats and flags they’ve been given, but soon wilt in the afternoon heat, some dozing off.

Children run and play in between the rows of chairs. Many of these families are victims of the earthquake which badly damaged Mandalay and surrounding areas in March, and are hoping for a handout. They disappear the moment the rally finishes.

A ‘sham’ election

On Sunday the people of Myanmar get their first opportunity to vote in an election since the military seized power in a coup nearly five years ago, setting off a devastating civil war.

But the poll, already delayed many times by the ruling junta, is being widely condemned as a sham. The most popular party, the National League for Democracy, has been dissolved, and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is locked up in an undisclosed prison.

Voting, which will happen in three stages over a period of a month, will not even be possible in large parts of the country still consumed by war. Even where voting is taking place, it is marred by a climate of fear and intimidation.

When the BBC tried asking people at the rally in Mandalay what they thought of the election, we were told not to by party officials. They might say the wrong thing, one man explained – they don’t know how to speak to journalists.

The number of plain-clothes military intelligence officers present there helps explain their nervousness. In a dictatorship which has criminalised liking Facebook pages criticising the election, or using the word revolution, even these staunchly pro-military party activists feared the consequences of allowing a foreign journalist the chance to ask uncensored questions.

The same fear lingers on the streets of Mandalay. At a market stall selling fresh river fish the customers all refused to answer what they thought of the election. We have no choice, so we have to vote, one said. The fish seller shooed us away. “You will bring me trouble,” she said.

Only one woman was brave enough to speak frankly, but we needed to find a private place to meet, and to conceal her identity, just to hear her view of the election.

“This election is a lie,” she said. “Everyone is afraid. Everyone has lost their humanity and their freedom. So many people have died, been tortured or fled to other countries. If the military keeps running the country, how can things change?”

She would not vote, she said, but she knew that decision carried risks.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyxller1j5o

Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was slapped with a savage community note on X after a $109,000, 3-carat yellow diamond ring she’s accused of buying with ill-gotten FEMA funds was conspicuously edited out of a photo.

Eagle-eyed X sleuths noticed the pricey, square-cut bauble was missing from a Christmas post from the South Florida Democrat, which bore her official congressional portrait — and a naked left ring finger.

“This portrait of Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick has been altered to remove a ring off of her left hand that she bought using $109K of stolen FEMA funds,” the community note said.

The three-term congresswoman, 46, was indicted last month for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds to support her 2021 congressional campaign. She has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee since December 2023.

She and several co-defendants, including her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, 51, “conspired to steal” an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds their family health care company received in July 2021 as part of a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, prosecutors said.

The 3.14-carat “Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond” ring was purchased with a cashiers’ check by the scandal-scarred pol in September 2021 – about two months after the overpayments, authorities alleged.

Her spokesperson claimed in email to The Post that the photo alteration was done by staff and not signed off by their boss.

“This action was not directed, approved, or authorized by the Congresswoman. It was a staff-level decision made by well-intentioned individuals seeking to protect the Member’s reputation. It was unauthorized and should not have occurred,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“The image is the Congresswoman’s official 2025 portrait, and she has no intention of altering or editing it now or in the future.”

The Post has also sought comment from her legal team.

The FEMA overpayments came through a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, but the lawmaker instead used the money to also help fund her 2021 congressional campaign, federal prosecutors alleged.

Cherfilus-McCormick is facing charges of theft of government funds, making and receiving straw donor contributions, aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return and money laundering.

She’s also facing a conspiracy charge attached to each of those counts, and could spend decades in prison if found guilty.

Her brother, ex-chief of staff and accountant are also facing charges in the alleged scheme that conspired to steal up to $5 million.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/12/26/us-news/indicted-rep-cherfilus-mccormick-edits-out-diamond-ring-from-online-post

Let it snow, let it snow …

New York will get walloped by its heaviest snowstorm in years — with some parts of the Big Apple expected to see as much as 11 inches, forecasters and officials said.

More than half of the Empire State was placed under a state of emergency as the white stuff started falling just before 5 p.m. on Friday.

The storm was then expected to intensify, with more than two inches set to fall per hour at times, according to the New York National Weather Service (NWS) — which issued a weather storm warning for the the city from 4 p.m. Friday through 1 p.m. Saturday.

“New Yorkers should prepare for a significant snow event, beginning this afternoon and continuing into Saturday. Our current forecast is telling us we could get a range of 6 to 9 inches of accumulation citywide, and could be even more in Northeast Queens and northern New York City,” Mayor Eric Adams said Friday.

Should the Big Apple be blanketed with 9 inches, the snowfall would be the most since a whopping 16.8 inches in Central Park across two days in late January into February 2021, Accuweather told The Post.

The last time a storm came close to dropping that much snowfall was back in 2022, when 8.5 inches fell.

That’s still a far cry from any records, however. The most snowfall New York City has ever seen on Dec. 26 was way back in 1947, when the city was hammered with 26.1 inches.

Northeast Queens was expected to get the biggest dump in Friday’s storm — with as much as 11 inches predicted for the sections of the World’s Borough, Adams said.

Parts of the Bronx could get almost 8 inches, with some of Brooklyn, including Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay, seeing around 6.6 inches, according to the NWS’ precipitation portal.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/12/26/us-news/winter-weather-alerts-issued-for-over-60-million-as-big-apple-could-see-the-most-snow-its-had-in-years

Just eight states are on track to allow their residents to cash in fully on popular tax cuts from President Trump’s marquee legislation in 2026, experts told The Post, with several blue states unwilling to give workers an additional break.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act exempted federal taxes on tipped wages and overtime pay, but hard-working residents will still have to pay state taxes on that income — unless local elected leaders step up.

Democratic strongholds like New York, Illinois and California have so far declined to extend state-level tax breaks, Reuters first reported, citing billions of dollars in potential budget shortfalls.

Other blue and red states alike have yet to signal whether they will take up legislation in the new year to conform to the federal tax code by changing the definition of what qualifies as taxable income. States like New Jersey are open to some of the provisions like not taxing tipped workers.

Just eight states are on track to allow their residents to cash in on popular tax breaks from President Trump’s marquee legislation in 2026, experts told The Post.AP

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier this month accused several blue states — including Illinois and New York — of playing Ebenezer Scrooge this holiday season by “deliberately blocking” the popular One Big Beautiful Bill Act provisions, which will begin taking effect on Jan. 1.

Those included “No Tax on Tips for dedicated service industry staff, No Tax on Overtime for linemen and factory workers, and a new tax deduction for seniors who depend on Social Security,” among others, Bessent charged.

Tax experts rejected the cabinet official’s claim that Colorado is snubbing the tax breaks, noting the state has what’s known as “rolling conformity” that aligns the Centennial State’s code with the Internal Revenue Code.

“Claims that Colorado is refusing to adopt the majority of tax changes from H.R.1 [One Big Beautiful Bill] are not accurate,” a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis (D) told The Post. “Even before H.R. 1, Colorado’s tax code was coupled more than most states by virtue of being one of the few ‘federal taxable income’ states. In fact, our tax code is coupled to the vast majority of provisions in H.R. 1. Therefore, all tax cuts in H.R. 1 are automatically incorporated into state tax code unless there is specific action to decouple.”

Other states that automatically align with the federal tax code include South Carolina, Iowa, North Dakota, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

“Some states start with federal taxable income, so most of the new deductions flow through automatically unless lawmakers opt out,” explained Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

“Many more states—blue and red—start with adjusted gross income or run their own tax system, which means they don’t pick up these new deductions unless they affirmatively pass a bill to do so.”

Michigan — which is currently helmed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — is the only US state so far to have adopted the tax breaks for overtime wages and tips. States like Kentucky and North Carolina have floated similar proposals.

Currently, South Carolina, North Dakota, Montana and Idaho are the only four states that are entirely conforming with Trump’s personal tax breaks on qualified tips, car loan interest, overtime premium pay and the $6,000 enhanced deduction for senior citizens.

Oregon and Iowa will conform to three of those same provisions — without the enhanced senior benefit.

And Colorado will keep the senior benefit but nix the overtime premium pay deduction.

Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the non-partisan Tax Foundation, added that there’s good reason for the 42 others not to automatically conform to the federal code for the breaks.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/12/26/us-news/here-are-the-blue-states-blocking-trumps-popular-tax-cut-provisions

A man was arrested after stabbing eight people and injuring seven others with what was believed to be bleach at a tire factory in central Japan on Friday, officials said. There was no immediate explanation of his motive.

Eight people were taken to hospitals after being stabbed by the man with a knife at a factory of the tiremaker Yokohama Rubber Co. in the city of Mishima, in the Shizuoka prefecture, west of Tokyo, according to the Fujisan Nanto Fire Department.

The fire department told The Associated Press that five of the people who were stabbed were in serious condition but other details were not available. All were conscious while they were being transported to hospitals, media reports said.

Shizuoka prefectural police said the attacker, a 38-year-old man, was arrested for alleged attempted murder at the factory, but did not give further details.

The attacker is believed to be a former employee at the factory, Kyodo news agency said, quoting investigative sources.

The suspect was carrying a survival knife and wearing what appeared to be a gas mask, the major Japanese newspaper Asahi reported, citing investigators.

Seven others were also injured by the bleach thrown at them during the attack, and taken to hospitals for treatment, the fire department said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/japan-stabbing-knife-factory-27851c68d86437cf0e2f70dea5286988

Rahman, who is now emerging as front-runner for Prime Minister’s post in the upcoming polls, also hailed the July Uprising of 2024.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) acting chairperson Tarique Rahman — who is the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia — returned to Dhaka after 17 years of exile to a rousing welcome.

Standing at the podium, Rahman addressed his admirers who had turned up in large numbers, where he invoked the words of late American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior, saying, “I have a plan”.

“American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, in a public speech, said, ‘I have a dream.’ Like him, I want to say, I have a plan for Bangladesh” he said.

Amidst thunderous applause, Rahman, who is now emerging as front-runner for Prime Minister’s post in the upcoming polls hailed the July Uprising of 2024.

He said, just like Bangladesh achieved independence in 1971, people from all walks of life once again came together to protect Bangladesh’s independence and sovereignty in 2024.

Bangladesh’s English daily, The Daily Star reported the 60-year-old leader saying, “Agents of various dominant powers are still engaged in conspiracies. We must remain patient. We have to exercise caution.”

He went on to say, “The time has come for all of us to build the country together. This country belongs to people of the hills and the plains, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians. We want to build a safe Bangladesh, where every woman, man, and child can leave home and return safely.”

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/world/i-have-a-plan-after-17-year-exile-tarique-rahman-invokes-martin-luther-king-junior-in-his-dhaka-address-3842569

This year was one of the most violent on record for Israeli civilian attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to U.N. data.

The Jewish settler outpost of Or Meir is small. A handful of prefabricated white shelters, it sits at the end of a short dirt track on a hill leading up from Road 60, a major route that dissects the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Over time, similar modest dwellings have turned into sprawling Israeli housing developments, part of a plan that members of Israel’s cabinet acknowledge they have implemented to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state.
The process can be violent. A Bedouin family told Reuters attackers who descended from Or Meir hurling Molotov cocktails drove them off Palestinian-owned land nearby last year. They fear they won’t ever be able to return.
Messages posted on Or Meir’s channel on the Telegram social media platform celebrate chasing out Bedouin herders and show the new settlers’ determination to secure lasting control over what they call “strategic” territory.

This year ​was one of the most violent on record for Israeli civilian attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to United Nations data that shows more than 750 injuries and the rapid spread of outposts throughout land Palestinians hope will form the heart of a future state.
Israeli NGO Peace Now has recorded 80 outposts built in 2025, the most since the organization started its records in 1991. On December 21, Israel’s cabinet approved 19 more settlements, including former outposts. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the goal was to block Palestinian statehood.
For decades, groups of settlers have built outposts on West Bank land without official authorisation from the Israeli state. Israeli authorities in the West Bank sometimes demolish such camps but they often reappear, and in many cases end up being accepted by Israel as formal settlements. Smotrich has pushed efforts to formalise more outposts.

How Israeli settlers focus settlement plans on key West Bank routes

Most of the world considers all Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank illegal under international law relating to military occupations. Israel disputes this view.
“Since establishing our presence on the land, we have driven away nine illegal Bedouin outposts, and returned 6,000 dunams to Jewish hands,” the account representing Or Meir’s settlers said in a post in September, using the dunam measurement equal to about 1,000 square meters, or a quarter of an acre.

Reuters could not independently confirm all the attacks on the Bedouins or determine who posted on behalf of Or Meir, which was established about two years ago. The settlers there declined to speak to the news agency.
In response to Reuters questions about intensifying settler violence in the West Bank, an Israeli official blamed a “fringe minority” and said Palestinian attacks against Israelis were underreported by the media. The Palestinian Authority did not respond to requests for comment.
Messages on the Or Meir Telegram channel, which is public, suggest a well-organized plan to take land, a finding supported by Reuters examination of a dozen other Telegram and WhatsApp groups representing similar groups, three interviews with settlers and pro-settler groups and on-the-ground reporting around Or Meir and a new settlement.
“The evidence shows that this is a systematic pattern of violence,” said Milena Ansari, a researcher based in Jerusalem for Human Rights Watch whose work includes research on settlements in the West Bank.
The Bedouin Musabah family said they were attacked at night in June from the direction of Or Meir. Charred remains of their home and a barn were still visible to a Reuters team in December.

“We were living here, sitting in God’s safety,” said Bedouin shepherd Shahada Musabah, 39, now sheltering in the nearby Palestinian village of Deir Dibwan. “They started to set fire and they destroyed everything. They didn’t leave us anything at all.”
In response to questions about the incident, Israel’s military told Reuters dozens of Israeli civilians set fire to property in Deir Dibwan on the night in question. It said all suspects had left by the time security forces arrived. An official in the Deir Dibwan council told Reuters up to 60 settlers were involved, throwing stones and burning the Musabah house and other property, along with cars. Several villagers were injured by stones.

In a telephone call, Or Meir settler Elkanah Nachmani told Reuters reporters not to advance up the track to the outpost from Road 60 and not to make contact again.
Nachmani responded to a Reuters request for comment but did not address the issues raised by the questions. In the Telegram channel, Or Meir settlers accused Palestinians of poisoning their sheep in November 2024, an accusation the Musabah family denies.
Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din said of the hundreds of cases of settler violence it documented since October 7, 2023, only 2% resulted in indictments.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israels-hilltop-settlers-coordinate-attacks-expel-palestinians-2025-12-24/

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signaled the country will continue to develop missiles in the next five years, as he visited major munitions enterprises in the last quarter of 2025, state media KCNA said on Friday.
Kim said “the country’s missile and shell production sector is of paramount importance in bolstering war deterrent,” according to KCNA.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-signals-continued-missile-development-next-5-years-2025-12-25/

The White House will unveil new details on President Donald Trump’s planned East Wing ballroom during a hearing early next month, according to a federal commission tasked with reviewing the project.
The new ballroom, which Trump has said would cost $400 million and would dwarf the adjacent White House building, has been challenged in court by preservationists, while Democratic lawmakers have called it an abuse of power and are investigating which donors are supporting it.

The National Capital Planning Commission, chartered by Congress to manage planning for Washington-area federal lands, said on its website that the White House will provide an “information presentation” on plans to rebuild the East Wing during a commission meeting on January 8.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The commission, chaired by a White House aide and onetime personal lawyer to Trump, Will Scharf, has declined to review the demolition of the former East Wing, preparation activities at the site, or potential effects to historic properties, in what would mark the biggest change to the historic property in decades.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress, is suing to halt the construction, arguing that the proposed 90,000 square foot (8,360 square meter) ballroom would dwarf the rest of the White House, at 55,000 square feet.
The judge in the case earlier this month declined to issue a temporary restraining order against work on the project, noting among other things that the size, scale and other specifications had not been finalized. Another hearing is scheduled for next month.
The president, a one-time real estate developer, has taken a hands-on role in what he has described as sprucing up the White House and the U.S. capital city ahead of celebrations next year marking the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary.
He has also proposed a new grand arch near Washington, while decorating the Oval Office extensively in gold leaf and installing plaques there offering his personal take on his predecessors’ legacies.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-present-plans-trumps-east-wing-ballroom-january-2025-12-25/

The United States carried out a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, President Donald Trump and the U.S. military said on Thursday, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The U.S. military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state in coordination with Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the British Broadcasting Corp the strike was a “joint operation” targeting “terrorists”, and it “has nothing to do with a particular religion”.
Without naming ISIS specifically, Tuggar said the operation had been planned “for quite some time” and had used intelligence information provided by the Nigerian side. He did not rule out further strikes, adding that this depended on “decisions to be taken by the leadership of the two countries”.

The strike comes after Trump in late October began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to militarily intervene in the West African country over what he says is its failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities.
Reuters reported on Monday the U.S. had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.

‘MORE TO COME’

Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strike was carried out as part of ongoing security cooperation with the United States, involving intelligence sharing and strategic coordination to target militant groups.

“This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West,” the ministry said in a post on X.
A video posted by the Pentagon showed at least one projectile launched from a warship. A U.S. defense official said the strike targeted multiple militants at known ISIS camps.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked the Nigerian government on X for its support and cooperation and added: “More to come…”
Nigeria’s government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and U.S. claims that Christians face persecution do not represent the complex security situation and ignore efforts to safeguard religious freedom. But it has agreed to work with the U.S. to bolster its forces against militant groups.
The country’s population is split between Muslims living primarily in the north and Christians in the south.
Police said earlier on Thursday a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and injured 35 others at a mosque in Nigeria’s northeast, another region troubled by Islamist insurgents.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-launches-strikes-against-islamic-state-militants-northwest-nigeria-trump-says-2025-12-25/

The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday it was replacing its longstanding lottery system for H-1B work visas with a new approach that prioritizes skilled, higher-paid foreign workers.

The change follows a series of actions by the Trump administration aimed at reshaping a visa program that critics say has become a pipeline for overseas workers willing to work for lower pay, but supporters say drives innovation.

“The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 annual H-1B visa fee on highly skilled workers, which is being challenged in court. The president also rolled out a $1 million “gold card” visa as a pathway to U.S. citizenship for wealthy individuals.

A press release announcing the new rule says it is “in line with other key changes the administration has made, such as the Presidential Proclamation that requires employers to pay an additional $100,000 per visa as a condition of eligibility.”

Historically, H-1B visas have been awarded through a lottery system. This year, Amazon was by far the top recipient, with more than 10,000 visas approved, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, Microsoft, Apple and Google. California has the highest concentration of H-1B workers.

The new system will “implement a weighted selection process that will increase the probability that H-1B visas are allocated to higher-skilled and higher-paid” foreign workers, according to Tuesday’s press release. It will go into effect Feb. 27, 2026, and will apply to the upcoming H-1B cap registration season.

Supporters of the H-1B program say it is an important pathway to hiring healthcare workers and educators. They say it drives innovation and economic growth in the U.S. and allows employers to fill jobs in specialized fields.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/h1b-visas-trump-amazon-application-immigration-tech-f32f3f07b286181c0e37b34ab04005fc

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end Russia’s war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

The proposal offered another potential compromise on control of the Donbas region, which has been a major sticking point in peace negotiations.

Zelenskyy said the U.S. proposed the creation of a “free economic zone,” which he said should be demilitarized. But it was unclear what that idea would mean for governance or development of the region.

A similar arrangement could be possible for the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control, Zelenskyy said. He said any peace plan would need to be put to a referendum.

Zelenskyy spoke to reporters Tuesday to describe an overarching 20-point plan that negotiators from Ukraine and the U.S. hammered out in Florida in recent days, though he said many details are still being discussed.

Russia offers no hint it will agree to withdrawal

Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized. In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.

Asked about the plan, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Moscow would decide its position based on information received by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who met with U.S. envoys in Florida over the weekend. Peskov declined to share further details.

American negotiators have engaged in a series of talks with Ukraine and Russia separately since U.S. President Donald Trump presented a plan to end the war last month — a proposal widely seen as favoring Moscow, which invaded its neighbor nearly four years ago. Since then, Ukraine and its allies in Europe have worked to pull the plan closer to Kyiv’s position.

Zelenskyy said figuring out control of the Donbas region is “the most difficult point.”

Meanwhile, on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the U.S. has proposed creating a consortium with Ukraine and Russia, in which each party would have an equal stake.

Zelenskyy countered with a proposal for a joint venture between the U.S. and Ukraine, in which the Americans would be able to decide how to distribute their share, including giving some of it to Russia.

Zelenskyy acknowledged that the U.S. has not yet accepted Ukraine’s counter-proposals.

“But we have significantly brought most of the positions closer together,” Zelenskyy said. “In principle, all other consensus in this agreement has been found between us and them.”

Zone would require difficult discussions

Creating the demilitarized economic zone in the Donbas would require difficult discussions on how far troops would be required to move back and where international forces would be stationed, Zelenskyy said, adding that it should discussed at the leaders level.

The working U.S.-Ukraine draft also proposes that Russian forces withdraw from the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Zelenskyy envisions that international forces could be located along certain points of the contact line within the zone to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

Ukraine also proposes that the occupied city of Enerhodar, which is the closest city to the Zaporizhzhia power plant, become a demilitarized free economic zone, Zelenskyy said.

This point required 15 hours of discussions with the U.S., he said, and no agreement was reached.

For now, the U.S. proposes that the plant be jointly operated by Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia, with each side controlling a 33% stake in the enterprise — a plan Zelenskyy called “not entirely realistic.”

“How can you have joint commerce with the Russians after everything?” he asked.

Ukraine instead suggested that the plant be operated by a joint venture with the U.S. in which the Americans can determine independently how to distribute the energy from their 50% share.

Zelenskyy said billions in investments are needed to make the plant run again, including restoring the adjacent dam.

Details on security guarantees

The working draft ensures that Ukraine will receive “strong” security guarantees that would require Ukraine’s partners to act in the event of renewed Russian aggression. That would mirror NATO’s Article 5, which says an armed attack on one member of the alliance is an attack on all.

Zelenskyy said a separate document with the U.S. will outline these guarantees. It will detail the conditions under which security will be provided, particularly in the event of another Russian assault, and it will establish a mechanism to monitor any ceasefire. The document will be signed with the main agreement to end the war, Zelenskyy said.

“The mood of the United States of America is that this is an unprecedented step towards Ukraine on their part. They believe that they are giving strong security guarantees,” he said.

The draft contains other elements, including keeping Ukraine’s army at 800,000 during peacetime and making Ukraine a member of the European Union by a specific date. Limiting the size of Ukraine’s military is a key Russian demand.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-peace-plan-d0c476bfa9ec218da5c8d5ff0c1d25c9

A consortium led by a Pakistani investment firm acquired a 75% stake in state-run Pakistan International Airlines on Tuesday during a televised auction, marking a major step in the government’s long-delayed effort to privatize the loss-making national carrier.

The Arif Habib consortium submitted a winning bid of 135 billion rupees ($482 million) for the majority shareholding in PIA, which was once regarded as among the region’s top airlines but has suffered decades of financial losses and mismanagement.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, speaking at the bidding ceremony, said the privatization process was transparent and competitive. He hoped that the new owners would help revive the airline.

The sale fulfills a long-standing demand by the International Monetary Fund, which has repeatedly urged Pakistan to privatize the airline as part of broader economic reforms tied to bailout programs.

The auction comes two months after PIA resumed direct flights to Europe following a decision by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to lift a four-year ban imposed over safety concerns. The ban was introduced in 2020, after 97 people were killed when a PIA aircraft crashed in Karachi.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-auction-pia-airline-359d56172b852a9f6f16f775423d8ac5

An explosive device detonated in Gaza on Wednesday, injuring one Israeli soldier and prompting Israel to accuse Hamas of violating the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. It was the latest incident to threaten the tenuous truce that has held since Oct. 10 as each side accuses the other of violations.

The blast came as Hamas met with Turkish officials in the country’s capital, Ankara, to discuss the second stage of the ceasefire. Though the agreement has mostly held, its progress has slowed.

All but one of the 251 hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war have been released, alive or dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The mother of the last hostage whose remains are still in Gaza called for their return before negotiators move to the ceasefire’s second phase.

That phase has even bigger challenges: the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

Israel vows to ‘respond accordingly’

Israel’s military said the explosion on Wednesday detonated under a military vehicle as soldiers were “dismantling” militant infrastructure in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. The lightly wounded soldier was in a hospital, the military said.

Hamas senior official Mahmoud Mrdawi said on social media that the blast was a result of unexploded ordnance and the group had informed mediators. In a later statement, Hamas denied responsibility for what it called “war remnants” placed by Israel in an Israeli-controlled zone.

Israel’s military denied Hamas’ claim. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a violation of the ceasefire and said Israel would “respond accordingly.”

Israel has previously launched strikes in Gaza in response to alleged ceasefire violations. On Oct. 19, Israel said two soldiers were killed by Hamas fire and it responded with a series of strikes that killed over 40 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire by not allowing enough aid into the territory and continuing to strike civilians. Gaza’s Health Ministry says that over 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce.

The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count and operates under the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Turkish officials meet with Hamas

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Haya to discuss the ceasefire’s second phase, according to ministry officials.

Fidan reaffirmed Turkey’s efforts to defend the rights of Palestinians and outlined ongoing efforts to address shelter and other humanitarian needs in Gaza, the officials said.

The Hamas delegation said they had fulfilled the ceasefire’s conditions but that Israel’s continued attacks were blocking progress toward the next stage. They also asserted that 60% of the trucks allowed into Gaza were carrying commercial goods rather than aid.

According to the officials, the meeting also discussed reconciliation efforts between the Palestinian factions and the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, stressing that Israel’s actions there were “unacceptable.”

Source : https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-palestinians-war-news-24-12-2025-64ef5cd8810543e62360b639c3e47010

For weeks now, angry and distressed residents in Indonesia’s westernmost province have been raising white flags over the state’s slow response to a series of deadly floods.

Triggered by a rare cyclone in November, the deluge killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands across the island of Sumatra. In Aceh, the worst-hit province which accounted for nearly half of the deaths, many still do not have ready access to clean water, food, electricity and medical supplies.

In a sign of just how frustrating managing the crisis has become, the governor of North Aceh broke down publicly earlier this month.

“Does the central government not know [what we’re experiencing]? I don’t understand,” a tearful Ismail A Jalil said in front of cameras.

But President Prabowo Subianto has refused foreign aid, insisting the situation is “under control”. “Indonesia is capable of overcoming this disaster,” he told his cabinet last week. Prabowo has also so far ignored calls to declare it a national disaster, which would unlock emergency funds and streamline relief efforts.

Prabowo’s administration has increasingly been criticised as reactive, disorganised and out of touch – adjectives that some analysts say have come to define his presidency, which he won in February 2024 on the back of populist pledges.

Already this year, his flagship billion-dollar free school meals programme has been mired in controversy over mass food poisonings. In August and September, thousands of Indonesians took to the streets over unemployment and rising costs of living, in what were some of the biggest protests the country has seen in decades.

And now his government’s response to November’s floods has become yet another challenge for the leader, even as his approval ratings have held steady at about 78%.

Heavy rain storms across large parts of California triggered floods and mudslides and left three dead as of Christmas night, according to local officials.

The storms – which were expected to continue through Friday – brought 11 inches (27 cms) of rainfall to some parts of Los Angeles County, prompted evacuations and shut down major roads.

Emergency responders have had to perform several rescues, including people stuck in vehicles as flood waters rise. California’s Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in Los Angeles and other southern California counties.

About 100,000 people in the state were without power as of Thursday evening.

The US Weather Prediction Center said on Thursday that “Numerous flash flooding events are possible”.

“In addition, many streams may flood, potentially affecting larger rivers.”

A 64-year-old man from San Diego was killed on Wedesday morning by a fallen tree, the police department told US media.

Another person, a 74-year-old, died from flood waters over the weekend as police tried to rescue him from inside a vehicle in Redding, the town’s mayor told local news.

And on Monday, a woman in her 70s died after she “was knocked off a rock by a large wave and swept into the ocean” at MacKerricher State Park in Mendocino County, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Evacuation warnings were in effect for some residents of San Bernardino County in southern California, and flash food warnings were issued for those in the San Francisco Bay area on Thursday morning.

Wind speeds in the Bay Area topped 100mph (161km/h) at one observatory near San Jose, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

In Altadena, near Los Angeles, residents experienced a mudslide from flooding in a vegetation-stripped area that was less able to absorb water due to the wildfires that scorched the neighbourhood in January of this year, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reported.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has also declared an emergency from the storms and warned residents to be cautious on roads during a time of busy holiday travel.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1lr3p7n87yo

Pope Leo has urged Ukraine and Russia to find the “courage” to hold direct talks to end the war during his first Christmas remarks to crowds in St Peter’s square.

He called for an end to conflicts around the world during his Urbi et Orbi address, which is traditionally delivered by the pontiff on Christmas Day to worshippers gathered in Vatican City.

Speaking about Ukraine, the Pope said: “May the clamour of weapons cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue.”

His plea comes as US-led negotiations on a deal to end the fighting continues.

The US has sought to put together an agreement acceptable to both sides, but direct talks between Russian and Ukraine have not taken place during this latest round of diplomatic efforts.

Pope Leo also decried turmoil and conflict plaguing other parts of the world, including Thailand and Cambodia where deadly border clashes have flared up despite a ceasefire in July.

He asked that the South East Asian nations’ “ancient friendship” be restored and “to work towards reconciliation and peace”.

During an earlier Christmas Day sermon in St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo lamented conditions for homeless people the world over, and the damage caused by conflicts.

“Fragile is the flesh of defenceless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” he said.

He said the story of the birth of Jesus showed that God had “pitched his fragile tent” among the people of the world. “How, then,” he asked, turning his attention to the conditions of Palestinians, “can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?”

Gaza has been devastated by Israeli bombardment in a two-year war, triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm21728nwxlo

It was edge of the seat stuff as the Game Changers Falcons and Aussie Mavericks Kites battled for supremacy, and a place in the final of the Iconik Sports Presents World Tennis League.

It was edge of the seat stuff as the Game Changers Falcons and Aussie Mavericks Kites battled for supremacy, and a place in the final of the Iconik Sports Presents World Tennis League powered by SpiceJet. India’s star in-the-making Dhakshineswar Suresh, playing for the Aussie Mavericks Kites, delivered the knockout blow as he defeated Daniil Medvedev, a singles Grand Slam champion, 6-4 in the last set to take his team to Saturday’s summit clash.

The Kites, who had started the day at the bottom of the leaderboard, made a sensational comeback as they defeated the Falcons 24-19 to grab the second spot with 58 points. Facing them in the finals will be AOS Eagles, who defeated VB Realty Hawks 22-12 to finish at the top of the standings with 65 points.

India’s Grand Slam champion Rohan Bopanna also bid an emotional farewell on home turf. Playing for the Falcons, he teamed up with Medvedev for a high-profile men’s doubles showdown against Nick Kyrgios and Suresh. In a dramatic contest, Medvedev and Bopanna edged to a 7-6 win.

In its debut season in India, the World Tennis League has brought some of the game’s biggest names to Bengaluru. But it was the Indian players like Sumit Nagal, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Dhakshineswar Suresh who stole the show on the third day of competition at the SM Krishna Stadium, Bengaluru.

Tennis’ power couple, Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina, opened the show on Friday. However, this time, Monfils and Svitolina stood at the opposite sides of the court in the mixed doubles contest. In an entertaining faceoff, Svitolina and Yuki Bhambri, playing for the Hawks, edged Monfils-Shrivalli 6-4.

But India’s leading singles player, Nagal, grounded the Hawks with a dominant performance in the men’s singles. The 28-year-old came out swinging against former Wimbledon finalist Denis Shapovalov, winning 6-1 to hand his team the momentum.

While Shrivalli cheered her team on from the dug-out on the first two days, she stepped into the spotlight effortlessly. After a competent performance in the mixed doubles, the 24-year-old locked horns against teen sensation Maaya, who trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy. Shrivalli quickly found her range, and wowed the Bengaluru crowd with her clean hitting as she beat the 16-year-old 6-2.

Shrivalli then teamed up with Paula Badosa to beat the Svitolina-Maaya combine 6-3. After the match, Badosa was all praise for her young partner.
“India, you have a future star here,” Badosa, a semi-finalist at this year’s Australian Open, told the crowd. “She carried the team today. Since the first day I hit with her, I have been impressed with her serve and aggressive game.”

Source : https://sports.ndtv.com/tennis/world-tennis-league-dhakshineswar-suresh-stuns-daniil-medvedev-in-thriller-to-secure-final-spot-9854239

You push back from the table after Christmas lunch, full from an excellent feast. You really couldn’t manage another bite – except, perhaps, a little bit of pudding. Somehow, no matter how much you’ve eaten, there always seems to be room for dessert. Why? What is it about something sweet that tempts us into “oh, go on then”?

The Japanese capture this perfectly with the word betsubara, meaning “separate stomach.” Anatomically speaking, there is no extra compartment, yet the sensation of still having space for pudding is widespread enough to deserve a scientific explanation.

Far from being imaginary, the feeling reflects a series of physiological and psychological processes that together make dessert uniquely appealing, even when the main course has felt like the limit.

A good place to start is with the stomach itself. Many people picture it as a fixed-size bag that fills steadily until it can take no more, as though another mouthful would cause it to overflow.

In reality, the stomach is designed to stretch and adapt. As we begin to eat, it undergoes “gastric accommodation”: the smooth muscle relaxes, creating extra capacity without a major increase in pressure.

Crucially, soft and sweet foods require very little mechanical digestion. A heavy main course may make the stomach feel distended, but a light dessert, such as ice cream or mousse, barely challenges its workload, so the stomach can relax further to make space.

Hedonic hunger

Much of the drive to eat pudding comes from the brain, specifically the neural pathways involved in reward and pleasure. Appetite is not governed solely by physical hunger. There is also “hedonic hunger,” the desire to eat because something is enjoyable or comforting.

Sweet foods are particularly potent in this respect. They activate the brain’s mesolimbic dopamine system, heightening motivation to eat and temporarily weakening fullness signals.

After a satisfying main course, physiological hunger may be gone, but the anticipation of a sugary treat creates a separate, reward-driven desire to continue eating.

Another mechanism is sensory-specific satiety. As we eat, our brain’s response to the flavours and textures on the plate gradually diminishes, making the food less interesting. Introducing a different flavour profile – something sweet, tart or creamy – refreshes the reward response.

Many people who genuinely feel they cannot finish their main course suddenly discover that they “could manage a little pudding” because the novelty of dessert re-engages their motivation to eat.

Desserts also behave differently once they reach the gut. Compared with foods rich in protein or fat, sugary and carbohydrate-based foods empty from the stomach quickly and require relatively little early breakdown, contributing to the perception that they are easier to accommodate even when you are full.

Timing plays a role, too. The gut-brain signaling that creates the sensation of fullness does not respond instantly.

Hormones such as cholecystokinin, GLP-1 and peptide YY rise gradually and typically take between 20 and 40 minutes to produce a sustained sense of satiety. Many people make decisions about dessert before this hormonal shift has fully taken effect, giving the reward system space to influence behaviour.

Restaurants, consciously or otherwise, often time dessert offerings within this window.

Layered onto these biological processes is the influence of social conditioning. For many people, dessert is associated with celebration, generosity or comfort. From childhood onwards, we learn to regard puddings as treats or as natural components of festive meals.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/why-theres-always-room-for-dessert-separate-stomach/

A Christmas Eve jazz concert held annually for two decades at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was canceled by its host this year in protest of the addition of Donald Trump‘s name to the Washington, D.C., building.

Chuck Redd, a jazz drummer and vibraphonist who has hosted the annual holiday “Jazz Jams“ at the Kennedy Center since 2006 (he took over for previous host Keter Betts, a jazz bassist who died in 2005), told the Associated Press last night that he decided to drop this year’s event after Trump’s name was added to the venue by its Trump-appointed board.

“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told The Associated Press. The concert would have included performances from seven jazz musicians.

The addition of Trump’s name to the venue appears to be in violation of a 1964 law that prohibits the addition of names or memorials to anyone other than John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated in 1963. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed a lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking a declaration that the name of the arts institution is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and that a board vote last week to change the name is null and void.

“Because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress,” Beatty’s lawsuit stated. “But on December 18 and 19, 2025—in scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic—the sitting President and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump. This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order. Congress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy—and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party. Unless and until this Court intervenes, Defendants will continue to defy Congress and thwart the law for improper ends.”

After Trump’s name was added to the venue, Roma Daravi, spokeswoman for the center, defended the board’s authority to change the name. “This action is in line with the precedent of the State Department adding President Trump’s name to the Institute of Peace. And the previous Administration renaming military bases.” she said in a statement. (The renaming of the military bases that had Confederate names was authorized by an act of Congress in 2021.)

Source : https://deadline.com/2025/12/kennedy-center-jazz-concert-trump-1236656837/

 

Taylor Swift is celebrating Christmas at Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs game.

Swift was spotted arriving at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday night wearing an oversized red bomber jacket and a black skirt and tights. She also wore her signature red lip.

The singer was seen walking to her private VIP suite while joined by her dad, Scott Swift, and mom, Andrea Swift.

She had a big smile on her face, and at one point, she gave her assistant, Erica Worden, a hug before making her way to her seat.

The pop star’s fiancé and his team are playing against the Denver Broncos at their home base.

Taylor has been a staple in the venue’s VIP suite this season alongside players’ family members and other celebs.

The singer last supported Kelce at a home game against the Los Angeles Chargers during her birthday weekend.

Taylor, 36, was spotted holding one of Kylie Kelce’s young daughters while sitting in a box on Dec. 14, sporting a chic ombré coat.

The previous week, the Grammy winner attended the Chiefs vs. Houston Texans game at Arrowhead Stadium with famous pals Selena Gomez and Lena Dunham.

Taylor has yet to show up to any away games this season and, additionally, has kept a low-profile while at Arrowhead Stadium.

When the NFL season kicked off in September, the “Opalite” songstress made a stealthy entrance into the Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles game from behind a large rolling screen.

She secretly attended the Chiefs vs. Ravens game later that same month to support her man, with even eagle-eyed Swifties unable to spot her.

Thursday’s Christmas game marks one of the Chiefs’ last home games of the season — and possibly one of Kelce’s last ever as rumors of his NFL retirement ramp up.

Page Six exclusively reported in March that Taylor did not want Kelce, also 36, to retire after last season.

The songwriter “wanted him to go out on a high note” following the Chiefs’ devastating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2025 Super Bowl.

Source :https://pagesix.com/2025/12/25/entertainment/taylor-swift-arrives-at-travis-kelces-kansas-city-chiefs-game-on-christmas-day/

Shivank Avasthi was found with a gunshot wound on Tuesday, in what the police said was Toronto’s 41st homicide case this year.

A 20-year-old Indian student was shot dead near the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus, with the police seeking the public’s help to arrest the accused.

Shivank Avasthi, a doctoral student, was found with a gunshot wound on Tuesday, in what the police said was Toronto’s 41st homicide case this year.

“On Tuesday, at approximately 3:34 pm, police responded to a call for an unknown trouble in the Highland Creek Trail and Old Kingston Road area. Officers responded to reports of a person with serious injuries. Officers located a male victim with a gunshot wound. The victim was pronounced deceased on scene,” the police said in an official statement on Wednesday.

“The suspect(s) fled the area prior to police arrival,” the statement said.

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News Release – Homicide Investigation, Highland Creek Trail and Old Kingston Road, Victim: Shivank Avasthi, 20, Image Releasedhttps://t.co/WdkKqp4pGe pic.twitter.com/XF6NAYJwgX

— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) December 24, 2025

Anyone with information was asked to contact police at 416-808-7400, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

India On Shivank Avasthi’s Murder

India expressed “deep anguish” over the “tragic” death of Shivank Avasthi.

In a statement on X, the Consulate General of India in Toronto said it was providing necessary assistance to his family.

“We express deep anguish over the tragic death of a young Indian doctoral student, Mr Shivank Avasthi, in a fatal shooting incident near the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus,” it said.

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We express deep anguish over the tragic death of a young Indian doctoral student, Mr. Shivank Avasthi, in a fatal shooting incident near the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. The Consulate is in touch with the bereaved family during this difficult time, and is extending…

— IndiainToronto (@IndiainToronto) December 25, 2025

“The Consulate is in touch with the bereaved family during this difficult time, and is extending all necessary assistance in close coordination with the local authorities,” it added.

Last week, a 30-year-old Indian woman, Himanshi Khurana, was murdered in Toronto.

The police located her body in a residence on Saturday, a day after a missing report in the Strachan Avenue and Wellington Street W. area was filed.

The police also issued a warrant for 32-year-old Abdul Ghafoori, the suspect in the case, for first-degree murder. Ghafoori is also a resident of Toronto, the police said.

Ghafoori and Khurana were reportedly in an “intimate partner relationship”.

The Consulate General of India in Toronto expressed shock over Khurana’s death and said it was providing all possible help to her family.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/shivank-avasthi-indian-student-20-shot-dead-near-toronto-university-accused-on-the-run-days-after-himanshi-khuranas-murder-9969400?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll