A flock of egrets fly next to burned buildings of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex after the deadly fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong, China on Nov 30, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)
China’s national security office in Hong Kong warned foreign media on Saturday (Dec 6) not to spread “false information” or “smear” government efforts to deal with the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years.
Ahead of a legislative council election on Sunday in the global financial hub, the Office for Safeguarding National Security said it had summoned a number of unspecified foreign media outlets, criticising coverage of the fire that killed at least 159 people at the Wang Fuk Court high-rise residential complex.
Reuters was not contacted about the meeting and did not participate.
“Some foreign media have recently reported on Hong Kong ignoring the facts, spreading false information, distorting and smearing the government’s disaster relief and aftermath work, attacking and interfering with the Legislative Council election, provoking social division and opposition,” the statement said.
The office said it convened the meeting in line with a national security law Beijing imposed on the former British colony in 2020 after mass pro-democracy protests.
The law says the office may “take necessary measures to strengthen the management” of foreign entities, including news agencies.
Saturday’s meeting appeared to be the first such gathering of foreign media en masse to face criticism for their coverage of a specific event by the office, which is led by senior Chinese Ministry of State Security officials.
Since the 2019 protests, when millions took to the streets, Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have cracked down on dissent in the city, arresting opposition democrats and shuttering liberal media outlets and civil society groups.
Saturday’s meeting comes as the authorities scramble to contain public anger over the blaze, in which poor oversight and shoddy materials used in a renovation have been cited as causes of the fire’s devastating spread.
Authorities have detained several activists who pushed for greater government accountability. Beijing has also warned people against using the disaster to “disrupt Hong Kong”.
Hong Kong ranks 140th of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by the advocacy group Reporters without Borders.
Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “substantive phone call” with American officials engaged in talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida, aimed at ending the nearly 4-year war.
Russia used 653 drones and 51 missiles in the wide-reaching overnight attack on Ukraine, which triggered air raid alerts across the country and came as Ukraine marked Armed Forces Day, the country’s air force said Saturday morning.
Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, adding that 29 locations were struck.
At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said.
Among these, at least three people were wounded in the Kyiv region, according to local officials. Drone sightings were reported as far west as Ukraine’s Lviv region.
Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after U.S. and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet on Saturday for a third day of talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war.
Nuclear plant temporarily cut off from power
Russia carried out a “massive missile-drone attack” on power stations and other energy infrastructure in several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that energy facilities were the main targets of the attacks, also noting that a drone strike had “burned down” the train station in the city of Fastiv, located in the Kyiv region.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its air defenses had shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Saturday.
Russian Telegram news channel Astra said Ukraine struck Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery, sharing footage appearing to show a fire breaking out and plumes of smoke rising above the refinery. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said Ukrainian forces had struck the refinery. Ryazan regional Gov. Pavel Malkov said a residential building had been damaged in a drone attack and that drone debris had fallen on the grounds of an “industrial facility,” but did not mention the refinery.
Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war. Meanwhile, Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.
Slow progress on agreeing security framework
The latest round of attacks came as U.S. President Donald Trump’s advisers and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet for a third day of talks on Saturday in Florida, after making progress on finding agreement on a security framework for postwar Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said Saturday that he had been given an update over the phone by U.S. and Ukrainian officials at the talks.
“Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
Following Friday’s talks, the two sides had also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”
Isobel is convinced the social media ban won’t stop kids like her
It took 13-year-old Isobel less than five minutes to outsmart Australia’s “world-leading” social media ban for children.
A notification from Snapchat, one of the ten platforms affected, had lit up her screen, warning she’d be booted off when the law kicked in this week – if she couldn’t prove she was over 16.
“I got a photo of my mum, and I stuck it in front of the camera and it just let me through. It said thanks for verifying your age,” Isobel claims. “I’ve heard someone used Beyoncé’s face,” she adds.
“I texted her,” she gestures to her mum Mel, “and I was like, ‘Hey Mummy, I got past the social media ban’ and she was just like, ‘Oh, you monkey’.”
It made her laugh, Mel explains: “This is exactly what I thought was going to happen.”
Though she had let Isobel use TikTok and Snapchat with tight supervision – preferring that to the teenager using it covertly – she had been hoping the ban, as promised, would help parents like her protect their children from the dangers of the online world.
That hope has now wavered, as a series of experts – and kids themselves – sound the alarm on the viability and safety of the landmark policy, which is being closely watched around the globe and eyed with trepidation by some of its most influential companies.
There’s concern about the reliability of the technology enforcing the ban, along with fears it could isolate vulnerable children and push others into darker, less-regulated corners of the web.
The question nervously being asked in the halls of Canberra, in households across the nation, and in tech boardrooms around the world: is this actually going to work?
‘Parents are worried sick about the safety of kids online’
You’d struggle to find anyone in Australia who feels social media companies are doing enough to shield users – particularly children – from harm on their platforms. Their protestations to the contrary fall on unsympathetic ears.
“We have zero faith the tech companies will do anything other than protect their profits,” Dany Elachi, a father of five and anti-smartphone campaigner, tells the BBC.
“They’ve had ample opportunity to show they take children’s wellbeing seriously and they’ve failed at every turn.”
Detailing how bullying – inescapable due to social media – had culminated in her 15-year-old daughter’s suicide, Emma Mason asked world leaders at the UN last month: “How many more Tillys must die?”
The pair were among the parents and public figures who lent their voices to a headline-grabbing national campaign calling for a new minimum age for social media.
Some experts, including Australia’s online safety tsar, warned banning children from social media was not the solution, but their concerns were swept away by a tide of parental passion and political pressure.
In November 2024, the prime minister announced the legislation, promising parents and children wouldn’t be penalised. It’d be up to the platforms to take “reasonable steps” to ensure account-holders were at least 16 years old, or face fines of up to $49.5m (US$33m, £25m) for the most serious breaches.
“This one is for the mums and dads… They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online,” Anthony Albanese said.
The policy – limited versions of which have been attempted with little success by other jurisdictions around the world – would help free children from addictive algorithms exposing them to harmful content like violence, pornography and misinformation, proponents said. It would also reduce cyber-bullying and online child exploitation. It would force kids outside, help them sleep better, improve their physical and mental health, it was suggested.
Noticeably absent from Albanese’s announcement was a plan on exactly how the government was going to do this – it gave itself a year to work that out.
Within weeks, it had rushed a skeletal bill through parliament, after allowing less than 48 hours for the public to make submissions on the law.
How will it be enforced?
A year later, and days out from the official start of the law, questions remain.
A government-funded, industry-run trial looked at the main methods of age assurance and earlier this year reported all were technically possible – but none were foolproof and all carried risks.
Verification using IDs was the most accurate approach, but that requires users to hand over sensitive and important documents when polling shows most Australians don’t trust social media firms.
Age inference, which draws conclusions based on users’ online activity, and facial assessment technology both lacked the precision to be reliably applied to teenagers.
For example, the accuracy of face scans – already rolled out by Meta and Snapchat for suspected underage users – falters for people two to three years either side of 16; the intended target.
Still, the report found age assurance technologies can be “private, robust and effective”, especially when layered.
“When you go to a bottle shop and they look you up and down and go, ‘Mmm not really sure’, they ask you for some ID… It’s the same principle,” says Tony Allen, who heads the UK-based Age Check Certification Scheme and ran the trial.
Its findings weren’t without controversy. Two former advisory board members levelled accusations of bias and “privacy-washing”. And though the trial considered ways teenagers might bypass barriers, it was not tasked with testing them.
Tips have flooded social media: everything from signing up with a parent’s email and moving to platforms not explicitly named on the government’s hit list, to using VPNs, which can disguise a user’s location. There was a temporary surge in VPN use in the UK after it introduced tougher age checks for pornography earlier this year, and experts are expecting the same here.
Polling conducted for the government in May indicated a third of parents intended to help their kids circumvent the ban, and an experiment by the University of Melbourne showed that a $22 Halloween mask was enough to defeat facial assessment technology in some cases.
Proponents of age assurance contend that the technology to thwart circumvention exists. A photo, like Isobel says she used, is not supposed to fool these checks.
The BBC asked Snapchat about this, and a spokesperson said the firm had consistently expressed concern about the “technical challenges” of enforcing the ban: “This is one such challenge.”
“It’s a constant running battle to ensure that the mitigations are improving, literally on a daily basis,” added Luc Delany, an executive for K-ID, which performs age assessments on Snapchat’s behalf.
Isobel, buoyed by her experience, says she’s pretty sure the ban won’t work.
“I’m not a screen addict… but I think Anthony Albanese’s idea of us touching grass is stupid,” she says, referring to the prime minister’s comment about getting kids outside.
“If I do end up getting banned, I’ll just find another app to use.”
That’s up for discussion, Mel clarifies. But she and a host of others fear the platforms and the regulator are set for a relentless game of “whack-a-mole” – identifying and shutting down loophole after loophole, and listing emerging platforms only for kids to flock to another.
The social media firms also have a motive to subtly undermine the policy, lest other countries follow suit, analysts say, and the vague “reasonable steps” outlined by the government leave the door ajar.
“They’re going to try to drive a truck through [it],” says Stephen Scheeler, who led Facebook in Australia and New Zealand between 2013 and 2017.
“It’s like getting your kids to do something like load the dishwasher – they’ll do it, but they won’t do it well, and they won’t do it with a smile on their face.”
The fines offer little incentive to behave, he says. Facebook, for example, earns that amount globally in under two hours. “It’s a parking ticket.”
A new museum in Doha is spotlighting the Indian artist’s legacy in an imaginative way
At the edge of Doha, a new grey-blue building rises like a drawing on its skyline, its shimmering tiles shifting with the sun and casting geometric shadows.
The building seems to be leaning forward, as if eager to tell a story.
In a video clip of Lawh Wa Qalam, the world’s first museum dedicated to MF Husain, we see glimpses of the extraordinary work of the late legendary Indian artist, whose prolific paintings and turbulent personal history have fascinated the world.
The museum honours the legacy of the artist who spent his last years in Qatar and was granted citizenship in 2010.
Spanning over some 3,000 sq m, it opened to visitors last week and is part of the expansive campus of Qatar Foundation’s Education City, an educational and research hub.
Inside, more than 150 works and objects – including paintings, sculptures, films, tapestries and photos – map the astonishing breadth of Husain’s career, offering visitors a rare window into the artist’s late-life reflections and inspirations.
Husain always wanted his museum to feel like home, says Noof Mohammed, the curator. “We want visitors to experience the world as he did, in an intimate, playful and reflective manner.”
Few artists have travelled as widely, or imaginatively, as Husain. His horses – muscular and dynamic – remain some of the most prized and instantly recognisable paintings in contemporary art, sold for millions of dollars.
An artist who was often described to have a nomadic and bohemian disposition, he dabbled seamlessly with Cubist-inspired modernism and traditional Indian themes, creating bold and vibrant canvases with scenes from history and mythology.
His signature style earned him the moniker of “the Picasso of India”. He also made two Bollywood films, which failed at the box office.
Husain was also never without controversy. His paintings of nude Hindu goddesses angered hardline Hindus who accused him of obscenity, forcing him into a self-imposed exile.
Indian architect Martand Khosla, who designed the structure with the Qatar Foundation, recalls the challenge of working from a single drawing, imagining countless conversations with the artist.
“A sketch does not have scale. It is an intent. And converting that intent into an actual functional museum was a different ballgame,” he tells the BBC.
Rather than treating Husain’s sketch as a blueprint, Mr Khosla used it as a philosophical starting point: “What should remain literal and what is metaphorical?”
“It was like developing a new architectural language,” he says.
The result is a labyrinthine layout that invites visitors to wander, exploring every line, shade, and shadow as if following Husain’s own brushstrokes.
“We hope the museum sparks discovery the same way Husain’s murals do – each visit can reveal a completely different experience or discovery ” Mr Khosla says.
Each gallery opens with a Husain quote, inviting visitors into his thoughts. Long corridors lead to immersive displays of paintings, sculptures, and everyday objects – including his old Indian passport – tell the story of an artist, filmmaker, and philosopher who traveled the world yet never stopped yearning for India.
Not surprisingly, Husain’s beloved horses take centre stage in the museum.
“We have tried to gather oral histories by talking to people who knew Husain, such as his driver, collaborators and friends, to give a personal sense of who he was,” Ms Mohammed explains.
Mr Ahmad, the artist, says the museum’s interactive format offers a chance to understand the artist beyond the public controversies and lore that defined his life.
Many recall Husain as the barefoot, eccentric artist with flowing white hair and a penchant for controversies.
“But at his core, he was a genius who was endlessly fascinated by storytelling, whether it was through mythology, modernity or memory,” Mr Ahmad adds.
Elon Musk says EU should be abolished after X slapped with $140 million fine (AFP)
Elon Musk criticised the EU, calling for its abolition after X was fined $140 million on Friday for violating Digital Services Act. Details here.
Elon Musk sharply criticised the European Union on Saturday, declaring that the bloc “should be abolished” after his social media platform X was slapped with a $140 million fine just a day before.
The penalty was imposed for alleged violations of the EU’s strict content and transparency rules. These rules, enforced in August 2023, set out what big tech companies can and cannot do when it comes to moderating content and handling user data.
Musk argued that sovereignty must be returned to individual nations, so that governments can truly represent the interests of their people. His remarks come amid rising tensions between X and European regulators over the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Services Act.
“The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter), which his startup xAI acquired in 2022.
In another tweet, Musk made a controversial comment, stating, “how long before the EU is gone? AbolishTheEU.”
What did X do to attract the penalty?
The European Commission said in a statement that it was penalising Elon Musk’s social media platform for violating three different transparency requirements under the law, AP reported.
According to the regulators, the platform’s blue checkmarks broke the law because of their “deceptive design” that could potentially expose X users to various scams and manipulation.
X also fell short of the requirements for its ad database and giving access to researchers access to public data, AP reported.
The platform received a formal warning last year, as EU claimed that it has failed to combat dangerous content.
All about the Digital Services Act
The Digital Services Act or DSA, is a comprehensive rulebook aimed at holding online platforms more accountable for the safety and integrity of their digital spaces.
President Donald Trump has presented medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees during an Oval Office ceremony. The recipients include actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.
President Donald Trump on Saturday presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he was deeply involved in choosing as “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class” ever assembled.
This year’s recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.
Trump said they are a group of “incredible people” who represent the “very best in American arts and culture” and that, “I know most of them and I’ve been a fan of all of them.”
“This is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted and unified millions and millions of Americans,” said a tuxedo-clad Trump. “This is perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center Honorees ever assembled.”
Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center
Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its premier awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican has instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman of the board.
Trump also has criticized the center’s programming and its physical appearance, and has vowed to overhaul both.
The president placed around each honoree’s neck a new medal that was designed, created and donated by jeweler Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy Center and Trump.
It’s a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Center’s image and rainbow colors. The honoree’s name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony. The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honoree’s shoulders and chest and had been used since the first honors program in 1978.
Trump honors the honorees
Strait, wearing a cowboy hat, was first to receive his medal. When the country singer started to take off the hat, Trump said, “If you want to leave it on, you can. I think we can get it through.” But Strait took it off.
The president said Crawford was a “great star of Broadway” for his lead role in the long-running “Phantom of the Opera.” Of Gaynor, he said, “We have the disco queen, and she was indeed, and nobody did it like Gloria Gaynor.”
Trump was effusive about his friend Stallone, calling him a “wonderful” and “spectacular” person and “one of the true, great movie stars” and “one of the great legends.”
Kiss is an “incredible rock band,” he said.
Songs by honorees Gaynor and Kiss played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremony.
The president said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in choosing the 2025 honorees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Center, the first slate chosen under his leadership. The honorees traditionally had been announced by press release.
It was unclear how they were chosen. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan selection committee.
“These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” Trump said. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.”
“Each of you has made an indelible mark on American life and together you have defined entire genres and set new standards for the performing arts,” Trump said.
Trump also attended an annual State Department dinner for the honorees on Saturday. In years past, the honorees received their medallions there but Trump moved that to the White House.
Trump said during pre-dinner remarks that the honorees are more than celebrities.
“It gives me tremendous pleasure to congratulate them once again and say thank you for your incredible career,” he said. “Thank you for gracing us with this wisdom and just genius that you have.”
Trump to host the Kennedy Center Honors
Meanwhile, the glitzy Kennedy Center Honors program and its series of tribute speeches and performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts center for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.
The president said in August that he had agreed to host the show. At dinner Saturday, he said he was doing so “at the request of a certain television network.” Trump predicted that the broadcast would garner its highest ratings ever as a result. No president has ever been the host.
At the White House, Trump said he looked forward to Sunday’s celebration.
Russia continued its air strikes on Ukraine overnight, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a “very constructive” phone call with Donald Trump’s negotiating team following three days of talks in Florida.
Early on Sunday the mayor of Kremenchuk, a major industrial hub in central Ukraine, said the city had been repeatedly struck in a “massive” attack. No deaths have been confirmed so far.
Meanwhile, Russia said it had shot down 77 Ukrainian drones in several locations.
Aerial assaults have continued even as efforts to negotiate an end to the war have intensified, including detailed Ukraine-US talks in Miami aimed at drafting a peace settlement acceptable to both sides.
On Saturday, Zelensky said he was “determined” to continue working with the US after speaking to Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the US president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at the conclusion of those negotiations.
Zelensky said they had discussed how to ensure that Russia stuck to any potential deal to end the war.
Hours later, Kremenchuk Mayor Vitaliy Maletsk said his city had sustained a “massive combined strike” on its infrastructure. The extent of the damage was unclear as of Sunday morning but the mayor said water, electricity and heat had been cut off for some.
The city, which is roughly halfway between Kyiv and the frontline in the east, has been repeatedly targeted since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The White House has pushed Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a multi-point plan to end the war but there has been little sign of a breakthrough, despite both sides engaging with the US-led process.
“Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” Zelensky said on X.
“We covered many aspects and went through key points that could ensure an end to the bloodshed and eliminate the threat of a new Russian full scale invasion.”
The Russian strikes in the early hours of Sunday followed a wider attack 24 hours earlier, which drew condemnation from Kyiv’s European allies.
In a social media post, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to Zelensky and offered his “full solidarity”.
“France is determined to work with all partners to secure de-escalation measures and to impose a ceasefire,” Macron added.
Macron, Zelensky, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are due to hold in-person talks in London on Monday.
Europe has pushed back against early versions of the US-led peace plan and has sought to win support from the White House for its own proposals, including comprehensive security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, including the possibility of a peacekeeping force.
Sir Keir has led the push for a so-called coalition of the willing, a loose collection of Ukrainian allies who are committed to continuing to underwrite Kyiv’s defence in the event of a ceasefire to deter a second invasion. He has called that proposal “vital” for Ukraine’s long-term security.
A drone attack on the town of Kalogi, in Sudan’s South Kordofan region, is said to have hit a kindergarten and killed at least 50 people, including 33 children.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group battling the army in Sudan’s civil war, was accused of Thursday’s attack by a medical organisation, the Sudan Doctors’ Network, and the army.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
The RSF in turn accused the army of hitting a market on Friday in a drone attack in the Darfur region, on a fuel depot at the Adre border crossing with Chad.
Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023 when a power struggle broke out between the RSF and the army, who were formerly allies .
Millions of people have been displaced within war-torn Sudan (file photo)
The reports could not be verified independently.
According to the army-aligned foreign ministry, the kindergarten was struck twice with missiles from drones.
Civilians and medics who rushed to the school were also attacked, it added.
Responding to reports of the attack in Kalogi, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef said: “Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights.”
“Children should never pay the price of conflict,” Sheldon Yett added.
The agency, he said, urged “all parties to stop these attacks immediately and allow safe, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to reach those in desperate need”.
The RSF accused the army of attacking the Adre crossing because it was used for the “delivery of aid and commercial supplies”.
According to the Sudan War Monitor, a group of researchers tracking the conflict, the attack caused civilian casualties and significant damage to a market.
TAYLOR Swift has pulled out all the stops in planning her fairytale wedding to her fiancé, Travis Kelce, including multiple bachelorette parties and an $8 million price tag.
More details have emerged about the celebrity couple’s impending nuptials, and it’s expected to be quite the extravagant event.
Details of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s upcoming wedding reveal multiple bachelorette parties and a star-studded bridal partyCredit: INSTAGRAM @kelcebrothers
It appears there’s not much that the billionaire songwriter and the Kansas City Chiefs‘ tight end haven’t ironed out regarding their big day, which, according to Page Six, is only six months away.
Multiple sources told the outlet that Taylor, 35, and Travis, 36, plan to exchange vows on Saturday, June 13, 2026 – which has numerical significance to the multi-Grammy Award winner as 13 is her favorite number and the date is her half birthday – at Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, near the singer’s mansion.
However, it wasn’t the Cruel Summer singer’s first choice, as The U.S. Sun exclusively reported last month that Taylor initially had her eye on transforming her sprawling $32 million pad into a flower-filled oasis for the occasion.
“Taylor dreams of being fully surrounded by flowers, with lush floral bushes everywhere, making her teenage dream of marrying in a sea of flowers come true,” an insider revealed.
Recent reports claimed the bride wrote a sizable check to another couple who had already booked the venue, but The U.S. Sun confirmed with Area Director of Sales & Marketing for Ocean House, Stephanie Leavitt, that wasn’t the case.
Still, Taylor is expected to get the dream wedding she’s always envisioned, and she has the support of her A-list pals all the way.
The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed in November that Taylor asked her closest girlfriends, Gigi Hadid and Selena Gomez, to be a part of her bridal party.
Sources also said that her mother, Andrea, and Travis’s mom, Donna, are very involved in the planning process and have been exchanging ideas with the bridesmaids to make it a memorable experience.
Taylor has Selena to offer advice on bringing her vision to life, as the actress recently said “I do” to music producer Benny Blanco in a lavish ceremony, which Taylor attended.
Gigi was also “thrilled” to get the coveted invite and accepted immediately, an insider told The U.S. Sun.
The Era’s Tour performer made the moment special and planned to ask everyone involved in person to make sure they knew how much they meant to her.
“Taylor wants to start the wedding process this way — building her bridesmaid group and getting everyone involved in the preparations, celebrations, and planning,” the source said of the Blank Space singer’s bridal crew.
“She wants it to be fun and memorable for everyone, with parties, trips, and time spent together leading up to the big day.”
And her bridesmaids intend to return the gesture by organizing three big trips to have numerous bachelorette celebrations.
A source also shared with The U.S. Sun that the ladies have been working hard to plan “at least three or four girls’ trips or bachelorette-style getaways” to some of Taylor’s favorite spots, including New York, Nashville, the Bahamas, and Italy.
“The goal is to have fun, spend weekends together, and enjoy the process while also working on the planning in beautiful locations where they can relax, celebrate, and bond,” they explained.
Taylor and Travis are executing a similar idea for the wedding, which will be a multi-day event, per the insider.
“The plan is to organize an entire wedding weekend — from Friday to Sunday — not just a single ceremony,” the source said about the summer nuptials.
“Taylor and the girls are working on a multi-day celebration, wanting to make it a unique, unforgettable memory they’ll cherish for the rest of their lives.”
It appears she’ll achieve just that, given the amount she’s reportedly spent on the shindig.
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau are Instagram-official.
On Saturday, the “Fireworks” singer took to the social media platform to share a carousel of intimate photos and videos of her trip to Tokyo with the politician.
In one of the snaps, Perry, 41, and Trudeau, 53, smiled as they posed cheek to cheek for an outdoor selfie.
Katy Perry went Instagram-official with boyfriend Justin Trudeau. Katy Perry/Instagram
In another photo, the couple watched what appeared to be an illuminated piece at an art exhibit.
Perry also posted a video of them dining together. In the clip, Trudeau lovingly watched on as the pop star indulged in sushi.
“tokyo times on tour and more ( ◠‿◠ ) 🎄🍣🐡🥞💐☃️♥️,” she captoned the post.
On Monday, Perry, who traveled to Japan as part of her ongoing Lifetimes Tour, and Trudeau were spotted holding hands while walking through Tokyo’s popular tourist area, Asakusa, before heading to a restaurant for dinner and a show.
Three days later, the pair enjoyed a double date with Japan’s former prime minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko Kishida.
The “Dark Horse” singer and the former Canadian prime minister first sparked romance rumors in July when they were seen taking a stroll and later grabbing a bite to eat in Montreal.
A few days later, Trudeau was seen watching Perry perform at her “Lifetimes” tour stop in Montreal’s Bell Centre.
Things got hot and heavy for the couple when they were spotted making out while spending time together on a yacht off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., in October.
In October, sources exclusively told Page Six that Trudeau is “crazy” about Perry.
“He is crazy about her and thinks she is the perfect woman,” the insider told us. “They are simpatico on everything, including politics, kids and French food.”
“They both have a sparkle for each other,” gushed our source.
Perry’s new romance comes on the heels of her split from Orlando Bloom.
Two survivors attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea were rescued after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Crete. Authorities have not said where the vessel came from.
Almost 17,000 migrants have arrived in Crete since the start of 2025, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCRImage: Costas Metaxakis/AFP
At least 17 people attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea were found dead Saturday after a boat capsized south of the island of Crete, Greek authorities said.
“Two survivors in critical condition have been hospitalized,” a coastguard spokeswoman told the AFP news agency.
The survivors told rescue workers that they had lost control of the vessel during a severe storm, leaving those on board stranded in the open sea without access to water, food, or proper shelter.
According to local reports, the coastguard said that the migrants had been dead for over a day by the time the boat was located.
What else do we know about the boat capsize?
Greek officials said the vessel was found 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Crete.
The boat was initially detected by a Turkish cargo ship, which alerted the Greek authorities.
“The vessel the migrants were on was deflated on two sides, which forced the passengers into a reduced space,” said Manolis Frangoulis, the mayor of Cretan port city of Ierapetra.
He said all the victims had been young. It is still unclear where the migrants came from.
Greek state television channel ERT reported that coroners are looking into whether dehydration may have caused the deaths.
German politicians are increasingly subjected to verbal insults, defamation and slanderImage: Lisi Niesner/REUTERS
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German coalition government at lowest approval rating since May
The ruling coalition in Germany is continuing to see diminishing public support, an Insa poll conducted for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed.
Nearly 70% of the respondents said that they were dissatisfied with the performance of the governing coalition. which comprises the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
With only 21% expressing satisfaction, this is the lowest approval rating recorded since the government took office in May.
The poll interviewed 1,005 people from December 4 to 5.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz was also rated poorly, with 68% of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with his work and only 23% approving of it.
Germany’s populist BSW party elects two new leaders
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has elected two new party leaders at a federal party conference held on Saturday.
Amira Mohamed Ali and European lawmaker Fabio De Masi will take the reins of the party following party founder Sahra Wagenknecht’s withdrawal from the federal chairmanship.
De Masi garnered 93.3% of the votes cast at the party gathering, while Mohamed Ali was confirmed in office with 82.6% of the votes.
The two politicians used to be members of the Left Party along with Wagenknecht and were founding members of the BSW in January 2024.
German mountain climber dies in Austrian avalanche
A 19-year-old mountain climber from Germany has been killed following an avalanche on the Zugspitze in southern Austria.
Tyrol police said that the young alpinist had been ascending a fixed cable route when an avalanche was triggered, dragging him to his death over steep and rocky terrain.
Police said that the man had been with another 21-year-old companion, who was secured to the cable with a carabiner and was not swept away in the incident.
Mountain rescue teams along with avalanche rescue dogs managed to locate the 19-year-old some 350 meters down the mountain.
He had been buried by snow and despite resuscitation attempts. Police said he died at the scene.
A Level 2 warning of a risk of avalanche was in force over many areas in Tyrol on Saturday. The moderate level indicates that weak layers in old snow may become loosened by climbing activity.
Merz, Macron and Starmer to meet Zelenskyy in London
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be joining French President Emmanual Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks in London on Monday.
Merz’ spokesman confirmed the talks would take place as the chancellor was about to set off from Jordan to Israel on his first official visit.
Just confirmed: Merz will join Starmer, Macron for E3 meeting with Zelenzkyy in London on Monday, Merz spokesman just told us.
Merz is about to take off from Jordan to Israel on 1st official visit. pic.twitter.com/vLephNKAdr
Macron took to X to announce that the talks would be taking place, with the comments coming as Ukrainian and US officials held a third straight day of talks in Miami to discuss a plan to end the nearly four-year war.
“I will travel to London on Monday to meet with the Ukrainian President, the British Prime Minister, and the German Chancellor, in order to take stock of the situation and the ongoing negotiations within the framework of the US mediation,” Macron wrote, slamming what he called Russia’s “escalatory path” after fresh overnight strikes.
“We will continue these efforts with the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which no robust and lasting peace will be possible,” he added.
Russia is locking itself into an escalatory path and is not seeking peace.
I firmly condemn the massive strikes that targeted Ukraine last night, particularly its energy and railway infrastructure.
We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace.…
Germany’s populist BSW party to adopt new name but same initials
German populist party BSW — short for Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, or Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance — is changing its name.
The party will be called the Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason (“Bündnis Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftliche Vernunft” in German) in the future, it said on Saturday at a federal party conference.
The move will take effect on October 1, 2026. To honor its founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, the party is still to be known by the same initials, BSW.
The rebrand is meant to distance the party from its association with Wagenknecht, who created the BSW in early 2024 following her split with the socialist Left Party.
In November, Wagenknecht announced that she is stepping down as chair of the BSW.
Woman dies after Ingolstadt street stabbing
A 45-year-old woman has died after being stabbed on the street in Germany’s southern city of Ingolstadt, police said.
According to the German DPA news agency, the woman got into an argument with her former male partner on Friday evening when he attacked her with a kitchen knife.
Her 49-year-old ex-partner is currently under police guard in hospital after sustaining serious injuries.
Police said the dead woman’s two sons, aged 23 and 17, attempted to intervene to protect their mother, hitting and kicking her assailant.
One of them suffered a slight injury to his hand, according to the police spokesman.
Ingolstadt is situated between Munich and Nuremberg, on the banks of the Danube River.
Earlier this year, cases of domestic violence reached a new high in Germany, with almost 266,000 people registered as victims of the crime.
Germany vows top-5 world sports ranking by 2035
Germany’s Olympic body DOSB says the country wants to be one of the top five sporting nations in the world by 2035.
The DOSB set six ambitious targets for the next decade at its general meeting in Frankfurt, including increasing the number of Olympic medals won.
An Indian-origin Uber driver has been sentenced to jail in New Zealand for raping a teenage passenger in 2023.
Indian-Origin Uber Driver Jailed for Rape in New Zealand
Satwinder Singh, an Indian-origin Uber driver in New Zealand, has received a sentence of seven years and two months in prison for raping a teenage passenger in 2023. The incident occurred during a short late-night ride from Speight’s Ale House to Hamilton East, as reported by the NZ Herald.
Singh diverted the cab by switching off the GPS, creating the false impression that the trip had ended. When the teenager’s dress shifted, he asked if she was wearing underwear and ignored her protests of “no, can you not?” and “get off me”. Cameras captured his vehicle despite the GPS trick, and the victim was later dropped at a friend’s home in distress.
Satwinder Singh claimed to police that the encounter was consensual and made derogatory remarks about New Zealand women being “forward and promiscuous”. His counsel requested a sentence reduction, citing hardships as a Sikh Indian who had lived in New Zealand for only 11 years, arguing prison would be tougher for him than for locals.
The judge rejected this, noting Singh’s extensive public interactions as an Uber driver meant he understood local norms and deserved no special treatment. A plea to suppress his photo, due to a relative’s mental health issues, was also denied.
The Google logo is seen on the Google house at CES 2024, an annual consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 10, 2024. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The House Committee on Homeland Security has asked Google (GOOGL.O), and Apple (AAPL.O), to detail what steps they are taking to remove mobile applications that allow users to track federal immigration officers.
In letters sent on Friday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple head Tim Cook, committee leaders singled out ICEBlock, an app previously used to monitor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, saying apps hosted on their app stores risk “jeopardizing the safety of DHS personnel.” Lawmakers requested a briefing by December 12.
The letters urged Google and Apple to ensure these apps cannot be used to target officers or obstruct lawful immigration enforcement.
The committee noted that while free speech is protected, it does not extend to advocacy that incites imminent lawless action, referencing a landmark Supreme Court ruling.
Google and Apple did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The letters follow concerns that these tools allow users to anonymously report and track the movements of federal agents, including those from ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
In October, Google said that ICEBlock was never available on Google’s Play Store and added it had removed similar apps due to policy violations.
A Netflix logo is displayed at the Lucca Comics & Games 2025 event in Lucca, Italy, October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Greco/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
What started as a fact-finding mission for Netflix (NFLX.O), culminated in one of the biggest media deals in the last decade and one that stands to reshape the global entertainment business landscape, people with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
Netflix announced on Friday it had reached a deal to buy Warner Bros Discovery’s for $72 billion.
Although Netflix had publicly downplayed speculation about buying a major Hollywood studio as recently as October, the streaming pioneer threw its hat in the ring when Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O), kicked off an auction on October 21, after rejecting a trio of unsolicited offers from Paramount Skydance PSKY.O.
Details of Netflix’s plan and the Warner Bros board’s deliberations, based on interviews with seven advisers and executives, are reported here for the first time.
Initially motivated by curiosity about its business, Netflix executives quickly recognized the opportunity presented by Warner Bros, beyond the ability to offer the century-old studio’s deep catalog of movies and television shows to Netflix subscribers. Library titles are valuable to streaming services as these movies and shows can account for 80% of viewing, according to one person familiar with the business.
Warner Bros’ business units – particularly its theatrical distribution and promotion unit and its studio – were complementary to Netflix. The HBO Max streaming service also would benefit from insights learned years ago by streaming leader Netflix that would accelerate HBO’s growth, according to one person familiar with the situation.
Netflix began flirting with the idea of acquiring the studio and streaming assets, another source familiar with the process told Reuters, after WBD announced plans in June to split into two publicly traded companies, separating its fading but cash-generating cable television networks from the legendary Warner Bros studios, HBO and the HBO Max streaming service.
Netflix and Warner Bros did not reply to requests for comment.
The work intensified this autumn, as Netflix began vying for the assets against Paramount and NBCUniversal’s parent company, Comcast (CMCSA.O).
‘STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY’
Warner Bros kicked off the public auction in October, after Paramount submitted the first of three escalating offers for the media company in September. Sources familiar with the offer said Paramount aimed to pre-empt the planned separation because the split would undercut its ability to combine the traditional television networks businesses and increase the risk of being outbid for the studio by the likes of Netflix.
Around that time, banker JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), was advising Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav to consider reversing the order of the planned spin, shedding the Discovery Global unit comprising the company’s cable television assets first. This would give the company more flexibility, including the option to sell the studio, streaming and content assets, which advisers believed would draw strong interest, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Executives for the streaming service and its advisory team, which included the investment banks Moelis & Company , Wells Fargo (WFC.N), and the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, had been holding daily morning calls for the past two months, sources said. The group worked throughout Thanksgiving week – including multiple calls on Thanksgiving Day – to prepare a bid by the December 1 deadline.
Warner Bros’ board similarly convened every day for the last eight days leading up to the decision on Thursday, when Netflix presented the final offer that sources described as the only offer they considered binding and complete, sources familiar with the deliberations said.
The board favored Netflix’s deal, which would yield more immediate benefits over one by Comcast. The NBCUniversal parent proposed merging its entertainment division with Warner Bros Discovery, creating a much larger unit that would rival Walt Disney (DIS.N). But it would have taken years to execute, the sources said.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis looked all grown up at the “Together at Christmas” carol service in London on Friday.
The little ones coordinated in navy ensembles at the Westminster Abbey event.
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s three kids looked all grown up at Friday’s “Together at Christmas” carol service. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
George, 12, towered over Louis, 7, as the brothers matched their dad, Prince William, in blue suits.
Charlotte, meanwhile, sported a dress and tights of the same color, with her hair pulled back with a large bow.
The 10-year-old princess, whose outfit featured an oversized white collar and long sleeves, completed her look with black ballet flats.
The siblings’ mom, Kate Middleton, opted for a green coat dress and a pair of black boots.
The Princess of Wales, 43, started her annual “Together at Christmas” carol service in 2021, with this year marking its fifth rendition.
While originally launched to honor those supporting their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest theme is “love in all its forms” — “within families, through friendships, across communities or even through powerful moments of connection with stranger.”
Middleton initially arrived solo to greet guests before making another entrance with her husband, 43, and their kids.
She and William have been married since April 2011 and started growing their family two years later when George arrived.
Charlotte was born in 2015, followed by Louis in 2018.
George is second in line for the throne — although his parents reportedly “delayed” telling him about his future as the King of England.
The preteen has had a busy year with many public appearances, from Trooping the Colour to Wimbledon.
Most recently, the royal heir attended the Festival of Remembrance for the first time with Middleton — and made headlines for looking tall at his mom’s side.
Charlie Sheen has been accused by his ex-wife Brooke Mueller of owing over $15 million in back child support, PageSix can confirm.
In documents filed on Thursday, the “Witchhouse” actress claimed Sheen has, for years, failed to pay her the full $660,000 per year in child support.
The actor — who shares 16-year-old twin boys, Bob and Max, with Mueller, allegedly owes her almost $9 million for the period between March 2011 and December 2025.
In her filing, Mueller also claimed he owes her over $6.4 million in interest, making the total more than $15 million.
Brooke Mueller is accusing Charlie Sheen of owing her millions in back child support. WireImage
The 48-year-old — who was married to Sheen from 2008 to 2011 — is demanding Sheen, 60, pay the amount owed, plus $25,000 in her legal fees associated with the motion, within 30 days of a court order.
In her plea, she told the judge that “Charlie made full child support payments through June 2011,” but in the “beginning of July 2011, he made either partial payments or failed to make any payments.”
She claimed that the “Two and a Half Men” star paid her $295,000 out of $550,000 in 2011. He allegedly failed to make any payments between 2012 and 2015.
Sheen then allegedly paid her $96,000 in 2016; $228,366 in 2017; $113,000 in 2018 and nothing between 2019 and 2022.
Mueller, however, claimed that he paid her $20,000 in 2023; $30,000 in 2024 and, so far, in 2025, he’s only paid $39,000 out of the $660,000.
Sheen has yet to respond to Mueller’s petition.
TMZ was the first to report on the news.
Mueller taking Sheen to court comes just three months after she praised him in his Netflix documentary and thanked him for his support as she battled substance addiction.
Since their divorce, Sheen and Mueller have been battling over how much child support he pays his ex for their twins.
In March 2016, the “Platoon” actor requested his payments be cut after he sold his profit rights to “Two and a Half Men” for $27 million.
At the time, he declared that his monthly income would drastically change from $600,000 a month to $167,000. He also listed having over $12 million in debt.
However, things got uglier a month later when Mueller took him to court as she claimed he owed over $89,000 in child support.
Despite requesting a second time that his payments to Mueller be slashed in late 2016, he was still forced to pay her $55,000 a month for their sons.
Meanwhile, he reduced his child support payments to Denise Richards, with whom he shares two daughters, from $55,000 a month to $20,000.
Meghan Markle reached out to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, following his emergency leg amputation, Page Six can confirm.
“I can confirm she has reached out to her father,” a spokesperson for the former actress said in a statement.
Page Six reported earlier Friday that Thomas had his left leg amputated below the knee after a blood clot blocked circulation and his foot became discolored. We’re told a report claiming Markle relied on her aides for help in getting in touch with her dad is untrue.
Meghan Markle has reached out to her father following his amputation surgery, Page Six can confirm. News Licensing / MEGA
According to the 81-year-old’s son, Thomas Markle Jr., the procedure took place in the Philippines.
“My dad is being very brave. His foot turned blue and then black. It happened very quickly,” he told the Daily Mail Thursday.
The three-hour surgery came after Thomas Markle, Jr. said medical staff “did some scans and an ultrasound and said the leg had to be amputated.”
The retired lighting director was subsequently transported via ambulance to a facility in Cebu, where he was immediately rushed into surgery to have the limb removed.
Thomas Jr. explained that they had “no option” but to agree to the amputation as it was “a case of life or death.”
Meghan’s father is facing an additional procedure to remove a blood clot in his left thigh as the urgent situation unfolds.
Doctors are “extremely concerned,” Thomas Jr. told the outlet.
“One of his doctors said the next two or three days are critical. His left leg has been removed below the knee. They were worried about infection setting in — sepsis or gangrene. The flesh was black and dying,” Thomas Jr. shared.
He added that there “was no option given” in a dire medical emergency.
“It was either, ‘We have to operate now and remove the leg, or he may die.’ It was a life-threatening situation,” Thomas Jr. explained.
Thomas Jr. initially told the outlet on Dec. 2 that his father had entered the intensive care unit after an emergency procedure.
Meghan’s half-sister, Samantha Markle, expressed hope that their father could weather the stresses of the surgery.
A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. Taiwan said on Dec 5, 2025, that China had deployed warships for “military operations” stretching hundreds of kilometres from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea. (File photo: AFP/Ted Aljibe)
Taiwan said on Friday (Dec 5) that China had deployed warships for “military operations” stretching hundreds of kilometres from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea, posing a “threat” to the region.
Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, neither confirmed nor denied the manoeuvres.
Taiwan’s defence ministry and other security agencies were monitoring China’s activities and had a “complete grasp of the situation”, presidential office spokeswoman Karen Kuo told reporters.
She did not say how many Chinese ships were involved in the deployment, but a security source told AFP the number was “significant”. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The operations were not limited to the Taiwan Strait, but extended from the southern Yellow Sea to the East China Sea near the disputed Diaoyu Islands and on into the South China Sea and even the Western Pacific, Kuo said.
“This indeed poses a threat and impact on the Indo-Pacific and the entire region,” she said.
Taiwan urged China to “exercise restraint”, Kuo said, adding: “We are also confident that we can handle this matter well.”
Neither China’s armed forces nor state media have announced any increased military activity in the region where Taiwan said Chinese ships had been detected.
Beijing’s defence ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said on Friday that the navy’s training on the high seas complies with international law and “is not directed at any specific country or target”.
He was responding to a question about a Chinese naval flotilla that reportedly may be heading towards Australia.
A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said Beijing “has consistently followed a defensive policy” and urged “relevant parties” not to “overreact or … engage in groundless hype”.
China has refused to rule out using force to take Taiwan, and also contentiously claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea.
Taiwan’s intelligence chief Tsai Ming-yen said on Wednesday that October to December was the “peak season” for China’s “annual evaluation exercises”.
There was a possibility that China’s ruling Communist Party could turn seemingly routine military activities into drills targeting Taiwan, Tsai warned.
Last December, Taiwan said about 90 Chinese warships and coast guard vessels took part in vast exercises, including simulating attacks on foreign ships and practising blockading sea routes in Beijing’s biggest maritime drills in years.
The number of people affected by Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka has risen to over 2 million.
A resident clears sludge from his house following flash floods in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah in Wellampitiya on the outskirts of Colombo on Dec 5, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Ishara S Kodikara)
Heavy rains triggered fresh landslide warnings in Sri Lanka’s worst-affected central hills on Friday (Dec 5), as the death toll from last week’s Cyclone Ditwah jumped to 607.
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), which monitors the stability of mountain slopes, said heavy rainfall could further saturate the hills and make them unstable.
“Since rainfall within the past 24 hours has exceeded 150mm, if the rains continue, evacuate to a safe location to avoid the risk of landslides,” the NBRO said in a statement.
The latest deluge was brought on by the onset of the monsoon rains, although some of the earlier flooding that began last week has started to subside.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 607 people had been confirmed dead, with many of those previously unaccounted for now presumed killed in the devastating mudslides.
The number of missing was revised down from 341 to 214, while the number of people affected rose to just over 2 million.
The number of people in state-run refugee camps fell further to 150,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded in and around the capital Colombo.
Record rainfall triggered the floods and deadly landslides, which President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has described as the most challenging natural disaster in the history of the island.
FRESH IMF TALKS
Addressing parliament on Friday, Dissanayake said he had asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to delay the release of the sixth instalment of a US$2.9 billion bailout loan in order to negotiate a bigger payout.
“The IMF board was to sign off on releasing US$347 million on Dec 15, but we have now asked them to put it off because we want time to negotiate a bigger instalment,” Dissanayake said.
He said fresh talks with the Washington-based lender of last resort were essential because the country’s economic situation had drastically changed following the disaster across the island.
Friday’s new landslide alert covered areas not previously identified as high risk.
Residents evacuated from the landslide-prone central hills have already been told not to return immediately to their homes, even if they were unaffected by the slips.
In the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear mud and repair water damage.
“We are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,” Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri told AFP at the Gate Jumma Mosque.
“We have calculated that it takes 10 men a whole day to clean one house,” said a volunteer, who gave his name as Rinas. “No one can do this without help.”
TROOPS DEPLOYED
Sri Lanka’s military said it had deployed thousands of troops in flood-hit areas to assist with clearing operations.
The top official in charge of the recovery, Commissioner-General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi, said reconstruction costs were estimated at between US$6 billion and US$7 billion.
Dissanayake announced a raft of measures to offer generous compensation to the victims to rebuild their homes as well as livelihoods.
Babies have been getting the hepatitis B vaccine worldwide since 1991, the US panel’s decision to scrap the recommendation has caused controversy, with health experts saying it “puts infants at unnecessary risk.”
The Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) votes on the recommendation of the childhood hepatitis B vaccine schedule at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, Georgia, US, Dec 5, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer)
Vaccine makers expressed concern on Friday’s decision (Dec 5) by a US advisory panel to scrap its long-standing recommendation that all infants receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a shift that public health experts fear will undermine decades of public health advances.
Merck, whose Recombivax HB has been a staple of the US childhood immunisation programme, said it was “deeply concerned” by the decision of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP), warning it “puts infants at unnecessary risk of chronic infection, liver cancer and even death.”
The company said the universal birth dose, which was instituted in 1991, has driven a 99 per cent drop in acute hepatitis B cases in children and young adults and argued there is no evidence that delaying it provides any benefit. Infectious disease experts, as well as organisations representing paediatricians, pharmacists and public health professionals decried the move.
Hepatitis B, which can spread from mother to child during birth, can cause severe liver disease and early death, and has no cure. According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, the universal hepatitis B birth dose has prevented more than 500,000 childhood infections, cut infant cases by 95 per cent and averted an estimated 90,100 deaths.
Many of the committee members, which were appointed by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time vaccine sceptic, criticised the vaccine safety data and said that the US vaccine schedule was out of step with other countries, particularly Denmark, that have low hepatitis B rates.
GSK said it stands behind the science supporting its vaccine and is awaiting the CDC’s formal adoption of the recommendation to assess its impact.
Its vaccine, Engerix-B, has been approved since 1989, with 1.4 billion doses administered worldwide.
Merck and GSK shares fell about 1 per cent each following the vote. US-listed shares of Sanofi, another maker of hepatitis B shots, rose about 0.7 per cent.
The Perplexity AI logo is seen in an illustration. (Image: Reuters/Dado Ruvic)
The New York Times filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI on Friday (Dec 5), claiming that the artificial intelligence startup was copying, distributing and displaying millions of its articles without permission.
The startup has become a target of multiple legal disputes and faces similar accusations from a number of publishers as it tries to aggressively build market share in a hyper-competitive market for generative AI tools.
The Times said that Perplexity AI is also violating its trademarks under the Lanham Act, claiming the startup’s generative AI products create fabricated content, or “hallucinations”, and falsely attribute them to the newspaper by displaying them alongside its registered trademarks.
It said that Perplexity’s business model relied on scraping and copying content, including paywalled material.
“While we believe in the ethical and responsible use and development of AI, we firmly object to Perplexity’s unlicensed use of our content to develop and promote their products,” NYT spokesperson Graham James said in a statement.
The NYT is seeking damages, injunctive relief and other equitable remedies to prevent Perplexity from continuing its alleged unauthorised use of content.
Perplexity, which was also sued by the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
However, it had previously told Reuters that it was not scraping data for building foundation models, but rather indexing web pages and providing factual citations.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, comes more than a year after the NYT sent a cease and desist notice to Perplexity.
It is also the latest salvo in a bitter ongoing battle between publishers and tech companies over the use of copyrighted content without authorisation.
In October, social media company Reddit sued Perplexity in New York federal court, accusing it and three other companies of unlawfully scraping its data.
The San Francisco-based startup, which is valued at about US$20 billion, is also facing lawsuits from Encyclopedia Britannica and media baron Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones and the New York Post.
A new government website lists journalists and media outlets that Donald Trump’s administration considers liars. Experts say the move endangers free media ― and thus erodes democracy in the US.
A new White House website targets media for what press spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt says is an ‘overwhelming’ amount of inaccurate reportingImage: Evan Vucci/AP Photo/dpa/picture alliance
It’s no secret that the current US administration doesn’t have too high an opinion of journalists. President Donald Trump recently called a female reporter asking him about his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal “piggy.”
And in a press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt talked about how much of her job is taken up by dealing with what she labeled inaccurate characterizations published by White House correspondents.
“The fake news that we see pumped out of this building on a day-to-day basis — it’s honestly overwhelming to keep up with it all,” she said.
New White House website a media ‘Hall of Shame’
In response to what Leavitt said were “fake news and … attacks” being spread by reporters, the White House has created a website that lists media outlets and reporters who, according to the government, publish false, biased or misleading stories.
The new “Media Offenders” website includes featured “Offenders of the Week” as well as a “Hall of Shame” that consists of four pages (at time of publication) of media reports the White House has sorted into the categories bias, lie, false claim, malpractice, omission of context, mischaracterization, circular reporting, failure to report and left-wing lunacy.
In a statement released on December 1, the White House said by creating the website, it “dropped a flamethrower on the Fake News Media.”
Katherine Jacobsen, the US, Canada and Caribbean program coordinator at the non-profit Committee to Protect Journalists sees it differently.
“When the language that is being used on the website … looks like a smear campaign [and] smells like a smear campaign, it probably is a smear campaign,” Jacobsen told DW. “And I can’t overstate how concerning that is.”
White House rhetoric puts journalists at risk
Jacobsen said a website like this, created by the US government, “creates a permission structure not only for potential verbal attacks against the press, but real-world attacks.”
In addition to the criticized outlets, the website also lists the names of the reporters who wrote or produced the offending report in question.
“These journalists are trying to expose factual information, create a more transparent environment,” Jacobsen said. “We do know this kind of rhetoric ratchets up the atmosphere, and that in turn makes it less safe for journalists out there doing their job.”
The website set up by the Trump White House amounts to threatening media outlets, Jonathan Katz, a fellow in governance studies at the think tank Brookings Institution, says, too.
“It can have a chilling effect on free speech, on independent media,” Katz told DW. “We’re watching carefully to see how this affects press freedom in the United States.”
Press freedom one of the foundational principles of the US
Anything but a fully free press goes against the very DNA of the country. The first amendment to the US Constitution reads, in part, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press …”
In 1776, lawmakers in colonial Virginia passed a declaration of rights that noted the importance of a free press: “The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”
The late Ben Bradlee, executive editor of the Washington Post from 1968 to 1991, spoke about press freedom in 2009, on the 215th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, which includes the first amendment.
“You will never get a reporter to say that the relationships with the government are good,” Bradlee told Voice of America. “Because if he did, he would probably be lying and the government would be treating him too well. They don’t have to treat us all that well. They just have to stay out of the way.”
‘We’ve never seen a president attack the media the way Trump has’
The relationship between the federal US government and the press has never been purely harmonious. In a democracy, journalists are supposed to hold government officials accountable for their actions. That means they sometimes report stories that the government doesn’t like, and sometimes, the president and members of his government treat journalists in ways they don’t like.
But the “Media Offenders” website, along with the Pentagon’s reporting restrictions and Trump’s lawsuits against several media outlets publishing unfavorable stories about him, is a sign of how unprecedented the current US government’s antagonism against the press is.
“Every president, at times, has had issues with the media and media coverage. But we’ve never seen a president attack the media the way Trump has,” Tom Jones, senior writer at the nonprofit Poynter Institute, which, among other functions, provides journalism ethics training, told DW. “Donald Trump, by far, has been the most adversarial president when it comes to the press.”
Americans split on how critical they are of the press
White House press spokeswoman Leavitt says it is the journalists that are the problem, not the president.
“The standard for journalism has dropped to … a historic low in this country,” she said in her press briefing on December 1.
A significant number of Republican voters appear to agree with her, at least when it comes to coverage of the 2024 presidential elections.
According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in September 2024, before the actual election on November 5 of that year, 60% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said the media was doing not too well or even not well at all covering the election campaign. Among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters on the other hand, 77% said the media were doing a somewhat good or even a very good job of covering the election.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro declared himself heir to his father’s political dynasty, saying he’ll run for president in 2026.
Flavio visited his father in prison on TuesdayImage: Evaristo Sa/AFP
Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of Brazil’s jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro, said his father has chosen him to lead his far-right Liberal Party and run for president in next year’s election.
“It is with great responsibility that I confirm the decision of Brazil’s greatest political and moral leader, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, to entrust me with the mission of continuing our national project,” the younger Bolsonaro wrote on X on Friday.
His father was sentenced in September to a 27-year prison term for planning a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to current leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Shakeup for Brazil’s 2026 general elections
Flavio Bolsonaro was elected to Brazil’s senate in 2018 for an eight-year term after previously serving as a state legislator in Rio de Janeiro.
He is considered extreme on law-and-order issues, having even requested US airstrikes on boats in Rio de Janeiro to combat drug trafficking.
In his social media announcement, which included a picture of him kissing his father on the head, Bolsonaro said he “will not stand idle while families lose hope and democracy is crumbling.”
The new military service law will come into effect in January. Many think it goes too far, while others want to return to full conscription.
Germany wants to recruit 80,000 more active soldiersImage: Bettina Stehkämper/DW
It is snowing, and 16-year-old Carlotta is standing on the vast military training ground in Grafenwöhr watching a howitzer 2000 fire live ammunition. It is cold and very loud when the shells are fired, so Carlotta has to wear earplugs.
This is not a day like any other for the young school student: While her friends are sitting in warm classrooms in Cologne, she has made her way to Bavaria by train alone. In the barracks of Tank Artillery Battalion 375 in Weiden, she has moved into a room and been given a uniform, in which she now stands in the winter cold on the grounds, together with two dozen other young men and women.
A whole team of supervisors looks after the young people: The German military is sparing no effort to recruit new soldiers. Carlotta also wants to see if the Bundeswehr is really something for her. To do so, she is taking part in the so-called “Discovery Days” — a kind of short internship with the troops, including early morning sports and camaraderie evenings.
The student can well imagine joining the army later. “For three or four years to start with, and if I like it, for eight years,” she told DW. But she doesn’t think much of conscription: “You shouldn’t force anything on people. It’s much better to join voluntarily than to be forced, because then you lose your motivation.”
Conscripts will earn more starting in January
Defense Minister Boris Pistoriussees it the same way: The aim of the new military service law, he says, is to motivate more young people to volunteer. One incentive is better pay: Starting in early 2026, new recruits will receive a respectable monthly wage of €2,600 ($3,000) before tax. In return, they must serve in the military for at least six months. Those who commit to at least twelve months will also receive a subsidy for their driving lessons.
Germany’s new military service, which the Bundestag approved on Friday, is therefore a kind of incentive drive with which Pistorius wants to avoid one thing: A rapid return to full conscription, which his center-left Social Democrats (SPD) reject. Military service will remain voluntary “if everything goes as well as we hope,” Pistorius emphasized in the Bundestag debate.
But will it be possible to fill the gaps in personnel without conscription? While the SPD hopes so, politicians from the other government parties, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) parties are skeptical. They would prefer to return to national service, which Germany suspended in 2011.
The Bundeswehr wants to recruit 80,000 new soldiers by 2035, and the path to that target is laid down in detail in the new law. The Defense Ministry must report its progress to the Bundestag every six months. In view of the perceived threat posed by Russia, the standing army is to grow from its current level of just under 182,000 soldiers to 260,000 — this is Germany’s commitment to NATO. In addition, there are to be 200,000 reservists.
First favored, then rejected: The lottery
The dispute over future military service plans has divided the governing coalition for months. Among the controversially discussed models was a lottery system. A proposal to determine who has to join the Bundeswehr by lottery outraged many young people in particular: Potentially life-and-death decisions should not be made at random. In general, many young people feel like they have been left out of the discussion about military service.
The new “Military Service Modernization Act” is now a compromise: For the time being, military service remains voluntary. But at the same time, all 18-year-old men will have new obligations: Starting in early 2026, they will receive a questionnaire that they must fill out. It will ask about their willingness to serve in the Bundeswehr, their physical fitness, and their education. For women, answering the questions is voluntary, as they cannot be required to perform military service under the Constitution.
From mid-2027, the process will go one step further: All men born in 2008 or later will then have to appear at an appointed to time for a fitness test that will determine, in the event of conflict, who could be drafted. Although the process will begin in 2026, it will not be until mid-2027 that the Bundeswehr will have sufficient capacity to take on new recruits.
Criticism of compulsory medicals
The compulsory medical examination is particularly controversial: Critics see it as a first step towards full conscription. They also fear that the lottery system will be back on the table if not enough volunteers come forward. In that case, the government may decide to introduce a so-called “needs-based conscription,” whereby a portion of the young men in a given age group would be drafted depending on the needs of the Bundeswehr. The decision on whether to reinstate conscription in whole or in part lies with the Bundestag.
On the day the law was passed, schoolchildren took to the streets in many German cities: “We don’t want to be locked up in barracks for half a year, trained in drill and obedience, and taught to kill,” wrote the organizers of the “school strike against conscription” in their call for nationwide rallies. “We feel neglected as a generation, and we don’t see why our generation should jump into the trenches for the government,” Leo Reinemann, a student and co-organizer of the school strike in Koblenz, told public broadcaster SWR.
In his second term, US President Donald Trump has taken his MAGA movement global, criticizing election outcomes, climate change initiatives and migration policy while backing populist presidential candidates.
Donald Trump has broken an unspoken rule of international diplomacyImage: Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
Days after the presidential election in Honduras, the two leading candidates are still neck and neck. At one point, only about 500 votes were separating the centrist Salvador Nasralla and the conservative Nasry Asfura.
This was reason enough for US President Donald Trump to pipe up for his favorite, Asfura. “Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election. If they do, there will be hell to pay!” he posted on his own social media platform Truth Social.
There have been allegations of election fraud on both sides. This is not uncommon in Honduras, where serious allegations of the like overshadowed the elections of 2013 and 2017. But since Honduras is a small country with little influence over global politics, why has Trump reacted so strongly?
For Cathryn Clüver-Ashbrook, a trans-Atlantic expert at the independent German Bertelsmann Foundation, the US president has clearly taken a liking to the idea of political spheres of influence.
“He sees himself almost as imperial in his role in the White House, and he likes it when the world dances to his tune — especially in the Western Hemisphere. And it must be emphasized that these are his interests, not those of traditional US foreign policy.”
One of his “spheres of interest” seems to be Latin America. “The military operations off the coast of Venezuela, the well over $20 billion that went to Argentinian President (Javier) Milei to save his election, the intimidation of the Colombian head of state, the election recommendation in Honduras, with threatening postures,” Clüver-Ashbrook lists.
“A new policy is emerging here that the US has not pursued so actively toward its neighbors in Latin and South America for a long time.”
Interference in Europe
But Europe is also a target.
In Poland, Trump openly supported the nationalist-conservative EU skeptic Karol Nawrocki.
In Hungary, he stands behind Viktor Orban.
In Germany, the US government and the far-right AfD party are currently intensifying their contacts.
Just a few days ago, the US instructed its diplomats to promote anti-immigration policies in Europe.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that is closely aligned to Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement , has actively lobbied against the EU’s climate targets. In April, it published “Project 2025,” which is considered a blueprint for restructuring the US government.
In the first year of his second presidential term, Trump has radically changed the US’s foreign policy. More radically than almost any of his predecessors, he is breaking with the unwritten principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of allied states.
Trump sees Europe as a ‘parasite’ exploiting the US
In this context, domestic and foreign policy are essentially one and the same for the US president, concluded Celia Belin, the author of a study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in May 2025. She argued that the US president saw his foreign policy primarily as an international continuation of the cultural struggle raging within the US.
“Liberals and Democrats are the enemy within; Europeans are their extension outside,” she wrote. She went on to say that Trump perceived Europe as a “parasite” exploiting the US, just as he accuses Democrats in the US of weakening the country.
“An ideologization of US foreign policy can already be found in the core documents of Project 2025,” agreed Clüver-Ashbrook, explaining that these argued that US foreign policy should be more closely aligned with strict conservative values.
This, she continued, fits in with the attitude of Trump’s former campaign advisor Steve Bannon, who recently described Russia in an interview as a “devoutly Christian nation” and a “true ally during World War II.”
She explained that the Trump administration was breaking with previous foundations of US foreign policy and pursuing a “major ideological shift” driven by “very strategic ambitions regarding foreign policy.”
Clüver-Ashbrook pointed out that Europeans were not only on ending the war in Ukraine but there had been several occasions, on which left-wing liberal Europeans in particular had been treated with contempt by representatives of the US government.
She cited a Signal chat about a potential US attack on Yemen that was leaked by The Atlantic, a US magazine, earlier this year, in which US Vice President JD Vance said that it would benefit Europe more than the US. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” he wrote. And in response, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who now calls himself Secretary of War, wrote: “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
Europe is in the midst of a cultural war
According to Pawel Zerka from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Europe is in the midst of a cultural war fueled by this mindset. He believes the US government is waging an open ideological battle in Europe too over values such as migration, climate change, “wokeism” and freedom of expression.
He says that Trump supports New Right movements wherever possible, normalizing its radical positions. The strategies supported by MAGA ideology include active interference in elections in favor of right-wing and conservative candidates, he explains, as well as the establishment of a kind of “MAGA International” through the creation of conservative networks and the promotion of right-wing media outlets, parties, and conferences such as the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
The EU fined X 120 million euros for violating transparency rules under the Digital Services Act, marking its first major non-compliance ruling and triggering sharp criticism from US officials who call the move anti-speech.
European Union regulators fined Elon Musk’s X.
European Union regulators on Friday fined X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, 120 million euros for violating the bloc’s digital transparency rules — a landmark penalty that could inflame tensions with Washington and prompt fresh political backlash over free speech, according to the Associated Press.
The European Commission issued the non-compliance decision after a two-year probe under the Digital Services Act, the EU’s sweeping rulebook that requires major online platforms to protect users, curb harmful content and operate with far greater transparency. It is the first time the bloc has used the toughest enforcement tool available under the DSA.
EU CITES THREE TRANSPARENCY BREACHES
The Commission said X broke transparency rules in three areas: itsblue checkmark system, which regulators say misleads users; an ad database that lacks required information; and barriers that limit researchers’ access to public data.
Officials said these failures undermine user trust and weaken the EU’s ability to identify scams, manipulation and systemic risks.
Regulators pointed to the evolution of X’s blue badge system, noting that after Musk bought the platform in 2022, verification became a paid feature rather than a tool confirming identity. That shift, they said, left users more vulnerable to impersonation.
US OFFICIALS CALL FINE AN ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH
The penalty drew swift condemnation from senior US officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted that Brussels’ decision amounted to an attack on “all American tech platforms.”
Vice President JD Vance, posting on X ahead of the decision, accused the Commission of seeking to fine X “for not engaging in censorship.”
“The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage,” he wrote.
The Trump administration has repeatedly argued that the EU’s digital rules unfairly target US tech giants and hinted at retaliatory measures.
European officials pushed back at accusations of bias, saying enforcement is driven solely by democratic processes and legal obligations. “We are not targeting anyone based on their country of origin,” Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said. “Absolutely not.”
Bihar-born Abhay Kumar Singh, a medical graduate from Russia, joined President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party in 2015. He became the first Indian-origin lawmaker in Russia after winning an election in 2017. Speaking to India Today TV, he recalled how he infused Indian-style campaigning into Russian elections, which helped him secure a record-margin victory.
Abhay Kumar Singh is a deputat (akin to an MLA in India) and a member of the United Russia Party of President Vladimir Putin. (Image: File)
In 1991, when Abhay Kumar left Patna to study medicine in Russia, he never imagined he would one day become a lawmaker in a foreign land. Today, the Bihar-born Kumar serves as a Deputat in the Kursk city legislature, a role equivalent to an MLA in India.
Days before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tenth state visit to India, Abhay Kumar Singh hailed Russia-made India’s S-400 batteries as “a very good missile system”. He, however, urged India to acquire the advanced S-500 missile system.
“S-400 is a very good missile system. But the S-500 is the latest technology, and it is being used in Russia only. Russia is not giving it to any other country. If Russia decides to supply it to India, India will become the first country to get it. Even China hasn’t got this system,” Singh, who also won his second election in 2022, said.
So, who is Abhay Kumar Singh, the boy from Patna who went on to become an MLA in Russia and a member of Putin’s party.
HOW ABHAY KUMAR SINGH, MEDICINE STUDENT FROM PATNA, GET INTO RUSSIAN POLITICS?
Abhay Kumar Singh is a native of Bihar’s Patna, and did his schooling at Loyola High School. In Russia, he completed his graduation from Kursk State Medical University in Russia.
After the course’s completion, he returned to Patna to practice as a registered doctor. But he soon went back to Russia to start a pharmaceutical business, later expanding into real estate and construction.
Soon, the Patna boy became a known business personality in Kursk, overcoming all the obstacles being a non-white foreigner he found on his way.
He joined politics in 2015 and contested the polls for the first time in 2017.
HOW SINGH JOINED PUTIN’S PARTY, TOOK BIHAR TO RUSSIA
Singh’s foray into politics began when he joined the United Russia party, the ruling party of Putin, in 2015.
Just two years later, in 2017, he contested and won a seat in the Kursk city assembly as a “deputat”, becoming the first Indian-origin lawmaker elected to public office in Russia.
Speaking to India Today TV, Abhay Kumar Singh recalled his political journey and how he blended Indian politics into Russian elections.
“Politics has always been a part of me. You know, even school children in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh talk about politics and understand it. I joined politics in 2015 after being inspired by Putin,” he said.
Speaking about Russian politicians, he said that in Russia, lawmakers do not interact with people. However, when he first contested elections in 2017, he decided to add an Indian political ‘tadka’ to the Russian elections.
“In Russia, MLAs and MPs do not stay in touch with the people. We brought a tadka of Indian politics to the Russian elections. We held many public meetings and interacted with the local people. In return, they ensured I won with record numbers,” Singh, who represents Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine, told India Today TV.
According to a 2023 report in The Week, Kursk elected Singh as the “first Indian-origin lawmaker not once but twice”, in 2017 and 2022.
Singh also noted Russia’s growing openness to Indian skilled and semi-skilled workers, while claiming Western countries, especially the US, are tightening long-term stay opportunities for Indians.
A HUGE fire has erupted at the Roswell Air Center nearby the mysterious Hangar 84, the site linked to the bizarre 1947 UFO crash.
Just south of the “alien” site, local fire crews arrived at the scene after the blaze was reported late on Thursday.
A HUGE fire has erupted at the Roswell Air CenterCredit: KOB4
Massive plumes of smoke filled the sky, in New Mexico, as the horror fire unfolded.
Officials were initially alarmed the fire could trigger a devastating explosion with hazardous materials and oxygen canisters stored in close proximity.
After considering the risk of explosion, authorities expanded the safety perimeter and were forced into a shock evacuation of neighbouring facilities.
Conspiracy theorists are convinced the eerie coincidence was set-up by officials to burn the bodies of stashed aliens.
The smoking scene was reported at 7:55pm and by 9:45pm Roswell firefighters were able to contain the flames.
No injuries have been reported and authorities are yet to confirm the cause of the blaze and if any historical objects were destroyed by the flames.
Alien conspiracy theorists have been having a field day with the incident launching a fresh wave of extraterrestrial speculation.
Theorists have often sparked rumours about Hangar 84, claiming it’s linked to the mysterious 1947 Roswell crash.
They have taken to social media to discuss the fire, raising questions about what secrets are still buried at this iconic landmark.
One Reddit user said: “Chances are they were storing alien bodies in this hangar for over 80 years, but then when a documentary came out, they were like “alright boys, they all know now. Time to light it up and skedaddle.”
Another person wrote on X: “Well, isn’t that super interesting and an oddly timed “coincidence”… that right as the public starts getting all curious about our past… weird fire breaks out for no reason right next to Hangar 84.”
Authorities are yet to release further information regarding the incident.
The infamous Roswell incident captured international attention when the US Air Force claimed they had recovered debris from a “flying disk.”
Officials attended the peculiar scene on a rancher’s land, after he reported the unusual debris.
On July 8 1947, the intelligence office announced the wreckage was pieces of a flying saucer.
Major Jesse Marcel, an investigator, recalled the site as being ” a large area heavily scattered with metallic debris from a single impact point that scarred the Earth.”
In what conspiracists call a suspicious twist, the military did a u-turn less than 24-hours later, announcing the debris had come from a crashed weather balloon.
Since the incident, worldwide fascination with UFO’s and Aliens has exploded with many alleging the American government have been covering-up their existence.
Earlier this year Britain’s brainiest scientists told The Sun aliens might be lurking on a far-off ocean planet in an “astounding” discovery.
Top alien-hunting astronomers at the University of Cambridge say they’re now 99.7% confident they’ve spotted the best-ever-seen signal of biological activity – and say the planet may be “teeming with life”.
It’s taking place on a distant alien world called K2-18b, which is 120 lightyears away and roughly 2.5x the size of Earth.
THIS is the terrifying moment a Romanian motorist catapulted his Mercedes over several cars – and unbelievably walked away with his life.
Shocking CCTV footage shows the car speeding straight at a roundabout, clipping the kerb and being launched sky-high at lightning speed.
The Mercedes soars over two carsCredit: Stirile ProTV
The vehicle is airborne for several seconds before slamming into a metal pole just yards from a petrol station.
Residents in a nearby apartment block heard a deafening roar from the car’s crushing impact, according to a local report.
Officials say the 49-year-old driver suffered a diabetic episode, which caused him to faint behind the wheel.
The man was trapped in the wreckage before being rescued by emergency services and whisked away to hospital.
He suffered multiple fractures but miraculously escaped any life-threatening injuries.
Cops say he entered the roundabout the wrong way, hit the central island at speed and was sent flying.
A render by Stirile ProTV shows the Mercedes’ wheels sparking as it collides with the kerb before dramatically soaring into the sky for several seconds.
The car then vaults over a hedge before narrowly avoiding what would have been a massive explosion involving a large petrol pump.
Police have since slapped him with a 1,600 lei (£270) fine and a 90-day license suspension as the investigation continues.
It follows another jaw-dropping moment a Brazilian motorist flew off the road and plunged down a steep flight of steps after suffering from a headache.
Footage of the horror accident showed Railson Souza, 48, hurtling through the air and smashing through metal railings, before ending up trapped in the mangled wreck.
Firefighters had to free the security worker from his upturned vehicle, before an ambulance promptly rushed him to hospital.
Amazingly, scans and X-rays showed not a single broken bone.
Railson walked away unscathed only hours later.
Fighting back tears as he relived the drama, the emotional driver said: “God is marvellous. I’m sore, but I didn’t break anything.
“I’ve got a little scratch on one hand only, and nothing else.”
The crash, which occurred in the Jardim Apura area of São Paulo, Brazil, happened around 5.30am on Saturday.
Railson said he’d felt unwell after forgetting to take his high blood pressure medication on his way home from work.
Finland cut Russian energy imports and closed the shared border after the Ukraine war, erasing €12 billion in trade. The shocks deepened the Nordic nation’s deficit, already strained by defense and welfare spending.
Finland’s deficit has surpassed EU limits of 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) (file photo from January 2024)Image: ALESSANDRO RAMPAZZO/AFP
Finland, ranked the world’s happiest nation for eight years and traditionally one of the European Union’s most fiscally disciplined countries, has just received a wake-up call from Brussels.
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, last week ordered Helsinki to devise a credible plan to resolve the country’s budget deficit, which has crossed the EU’s limit of 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The Commission said Finland’s deficit was projected to reach 4.5% of GDP in 2025, while the country’s debt burden was set to hit 90% of GDP next year, up by nearly half since 2019.
The Nordic nation, whose annual economy is worth €300 billion ($349 billion), has now been formally placed under the EU’s Excessive Deficit Procedure. This could lead to financial sanctions, including large fines, suspension of EU funds and stricter fiscal oversight by Brussels.
Low growth, high spending, then Ukraine war
Since the 2008/09 global financial crisis, Finland has struggled with fiscal discipline. The collapse of mobile phone maker Nokia, once the engine of growth, left the economy without a clear driver.
That challenge was deepened in recent years by high welfare costs, a huge increase in defense spending and the economic shock of severing energy and trade ties with neighbor Russia over the war in Ukraine.
In 2021, before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, bilateral trade between Moscow and Helsinki reached €12.71 billion and made up 4.3% of the Finnish economy. By the first three quarters of this year, trade had fallen by nearly 93%.
The collapse was compounded by Finland’s decision to close its eastern border in late 2023, citing security concerns and Moscow’s weaponized migration tactics. The move halted cross‑border shopping and tourism almost overnight, hitting Finnish border regions especially hard.
According to the Bank of Finland, the country’s central bank, more than 2,000 Finnish firms exported to Russia in 2019. By the end of 2023, that number had dropped to around 100.
Jarkko Kivisto, adviser to the Bank of Finland’s forecasting division, told DW that it’s hard to measure the direct impact of the collapse in Finnish-Russian trade on the deficit.
“We don’t have an estimate for this effect,” Kivisto told DW, adding that the impact had been “indirect through weaker economic activity and lower value added, as well as missing tax revenues from Russian tourism.”
Defense budget hiked over Russian aggression
Faced with its own threats from the Kremlin, from disinformation campaigns to airspace violations, Finland has sharply raised defense spending from €5.1 billion in 2022 to over €6.2 billion in 2024, now exceeding 2.3% of GDP.
The NATO member has pledged to push military spending toward 3% by 2029, which would make it one of the highest spenders in Europe.
Asked whether the fallout from the Ukraine war would have tipped Finland’s deficit over the edge, forcing additional EU scrutiny, Lauri Holappa, Executive Director of the Finnish Centre for New Economic Analysis (UTAK), told DW: “Maybe. It’s possible.”
“Without the invasion, you can argue that we could have used those inputs [defense spending] on more productive things,” added Holappa.
The combination of military spending, collapse of bilateral trade and near-total loss of Russian tourism would have forced the Finnish government to take on additional debt — at a time when the debt burden was already climbing sharply.
Before the war, about a third of Finland’s energy supply came from Russia, leaving the country highly exposed when supplies were cut.
“The largest effect came from the higher energy prices as Finland was quite dependent on energy inputs from Russia,” Heil Simola, senior economist at the Bank of Finland’s Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT), told DW.
Energy crisis hiked Finland’s oil costs
Simola said the Nordic country was able to diversify from Russian energy sources relatively quickly — albeit at much higher prices. The switch jacked up Finland’s oil import costs by 109% to over €6 billion in 2022 alone, according to state agency Statistics Finland. Finnish exporters were able to adjust to the wiping of nonenergy trade with Russia without cutting output or jobs, Simola added.
Moscow has, meanwhile, sought to weaponize the deficit debate by spreading disinformation that exaggerates the economic fallout of cutting trade with Moscow, framing Helsinki as unstable, when the deficit issue had been growing for years.
Domestic pressures have mainly pushed Finland’s deficit over EU-acceptable limits. An ageing population has swelled pension and health care costs, while the country’s extensive welfare state — employing nearly a third of the workforce — makes fiscal consolidation politically fraught.
Finland faces years of austerity
Despite the challenges, Finland’s government has passed one of the EU’s strictest budgets for 2025, combining steep spending cuts with tax hikes. A new so-called debt-brake mechanism commits all political parties to long-term deficit reduction. However, some policymakers warn that additional austerity measures and tax hikes will be needed in the next parliamentary term.
“Economic growth alone will not be sufficient to restore fiscal balance,” the Bank of Finland’s Kivisto told DW. “Rough estimates suggest adjustments [tax rises and public sector cuts] of approximately 3% of GDP, or €9–10 billion, are needed over the next 5–10 years.”
But with 80% of Finland’s GDP coming from domestic sectors like household consumption, public services, construction, retail and state-sector employment, economists caution that strict fiscal rules risk choking off the very growth the country needs.
On a jagged coastline in Central California, brown pelicans gather on rock promontories, packed in like edgy commuters as they take flight to feed on a vast school of fish just offshore. The water churns in whitecaps as the big-billed birds plunge beneath the surface in search of northern anchovies, Pacific sardines and mackerel.
If awkward and wobbly in appearance on land, they are graceful once airborne. The signature pouch dangling beneath the lower bill can scoop up to 3 gallons of water with every dip into the ocean — the largest pouch of any bird in the world.
It is what scientists call a “feeding frenzy.” And it is an encouraging sign for a bird that has struggled in recent years with a warming ocean, inconsistent breeding patterns and toxic algae blooms in Southern California.
“I would say the populations are somewhat stable, but some events are concerning,” says marine ornithologist Tammy Russell, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The gorging seabirds are a “good sign for the marine environment,” Russell said.
On this warm, clear day, thousands of birds have populated the nearby beaches and cliffs, drawn by the abundant food. Cormorants and gulls mix with the pelicans. The incessant roar of the waves and the chorus of bird cries are all that can be heard on this jutting jawbone of coast.
The bird’s range along the Pacific coast extends from British Columbia, Canada, into Mexico. In their struggle for survival, Russell notes that the California brown pelican was once on the federal endangered species list, after a sharp population decline was attributed to the pesticide DDT, which causes eggshell thinning. The population recovered, and the bird was removed from the list in 2009, though it still faces multiple challenges.
They are large birds, with adults weighing about 8 pounds with a wingspan of nearly 7 feet. And because they are big, they need large volumes of fish each day, their favorite food.
“When they don’t get that, they can crash pretty quickly,” Russell noted.
If the water warms, fish can move into deeper, colder water, making it more difficult for the birds to feed. Last year, scores of sick and starving pelicans were found in coastal California communities, and many others died. Wildlife authorities were baffled in 2022 when large numbers of California brown pelicans were found sick and dying.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether some children born in the US have a constitutional right to citizenship.
On his first day in office in January, President Donald Trump signed an order to end birthright citizenship for those born to parents who are in the country illegally, but the move was blocked by multiple lower courts.
No date has been set yet for the Supreme Court arguments, and a ruling is months away.
Whatever the court decides could have major implications for Trump’s immigration crackdown and for what it means to be an American citizen.
For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution has established the principle that anyone born in the country is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to diplomats and foreign military forces.
The language of the amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Trump’s executive order seeks to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas. It is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to reform the nation’s immigration system and combat what they have called “significant threats to national security and public safety”.
The administration has argued the 14th Amendment clause “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means the amendment excludes children of people who are not in the country permanently or lawfully.
Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the plaintiffs in the case, told the BBC’s news partner CBS that no president can change the 14th Amendment’s fundamental promise of citizenship.
“For over 150 years, it has been the law and our national tradition that everyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen from birth,” Ms Wang said in a statement.
“We look forward to putting this issue to rest once and for all in the Supreme Court this term,” she added.
The US is one of about 30 countries – mostly in the Americas – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
After legal challenges were brought to Trump’s executive order, several federal court judges ruled that it violated the Constitution, while two federal circuit courts of appeals upheld injunctions blocking the order from going into effect.
Trump then went to the Supreme Court to fight the injunctions. In a win for Trump, the court ruled in June that the injunctions issued by the lower courts exceeded their authority, though it did not address the issue of birthright citizenship itself.
The 14th Amendment was passed in the wake of the US Civil War in order to settle the question of the citizenship of freed, American-born former slaves.
US Solicitor General D John Sauer has argued that the amendment was adopted “to confer citizenship on the newly freed slaves and their children, not on the children of aliens temporarily visiting the United States or of illegal aliens”.
He has said it’s a “mistaken view” that birth on US soil confers citizenship and has argued that that understanding has had “destructive consequences”
Frank Gehry, one of the most influential architects of the last century, has died aged 96.
Gehry was acclaimed for his avant garde, experimental style of architecture. His titanium-covered design of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, catapulted him to fame in 1997.
His breakthrough in the architectural world came years earlier when he redesigned his own home in Santa Monica, California, using materials like chain-link fencing, plywood, and corrugated steel.
His death was confirmed by his chief of staff Meaghan Lloyd. He is survived by two daughters from his first marriage, Leslie and Brina, as well as his wife, Berta Isabel Aguilera, and their two sons, Alejandro and Samuel.
Born in Toronto in 1929, Gehry moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to study architecture at the University of Southern California, before completing further study at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1956 and 1957.
After starting his own firm, he broke from traditional architectural principles of symmetry, using unconventional geometric shapes and unfinished materials in a style now known as deconstructivism.
Through blending unexpected materials and sheathing buildings in stainless steel to create curvy exteriors, Gehry created buildings that took on arresting sculptural shapes.
Later in his career, Gehry used 3D modelling similar to that used by aerospace engineers to shape windy buildings, a practice largely avoided by other architects because of the complexity and costliness of construction.
In 1989, at the age of 60, Gehry was awarded the industry’s top accolade, the Pritzker Architecture prize, for lifetime achievement.
The Pritzker jury said his work possessed a “highly refined, sophisticated and adventurous aesthetic”.
“His designs, if compared to American music, could best be likened to Jazz, replete with improvisation and a lively unpredictable spirit,” the panel said at the time.
Gehry’s international breakthrough with the Guggenheim transformed the city of Bilbao, boosting tourism to the city and the local economy. Crafted out of titanium sheets, limestone, and glass, the museum was instantly celebrated as a modern marvel.
Architect Philip Johnson, Gehry’s American contemporary, described the structure as “the greatest building of our time”.
Other cities tried to replicate its success, branded the “Bilbao effect”, where investment in daring art could revitalise ailing economies.
The cultural phenomenon was parodied in a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, in which the fictional town of Springfield invites Gehry, who voiced himself in the cartoon TV show, to design a new concert hall.
In the episode, the shape of the concert hall is jokingly inspired by a letter Gehry had scrunched up.
The guest appearance later “haunted” Gehry, who told the Observer in 2011 that people sincerely believed his real-life designs were inspired by crumpled paper instead of complex computations.
‘Pushing the envelope’
His work in Bilbao put him in high demand, and he went on to design iconic structures in cities all over the world: the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Gehry Tower in Germany, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris.
“He bestowed upon Paris and upon France his greatest masterpiece,” said Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, the worlds largest luxury goods company which owns Louis Vuitton.
With a largely unpredictable style, no two of his works look the same. Prague’s Dancing House, finished in 1996, looks like a glass building folding in on itself; his Hotel Marques in Spain, built in 2006, features thin sheets of wavy, multicoloured metal; his design for a business school in Sydney looks like a brown paper bag.
Gehry also designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, layered in metal resembling sails billowing in the wind. After it opened in 2003, critics described it as a “pile of broken crockery”, a “fortune cookie gone berserk” and an “emptied waste basket”.
In a 2007 interview with the New Yorker, Gehry shrugged off the concert hall’s critics: “At least they’re looking!” he quipped.
Tributes are celebrating his eagerness to discard convention – and forge his own creative legacy.
Paul Goldberger, author of Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry, came to know Gehry closely, and said he wanted to work “until the day he died”.
“He was one of the very few architects of our time to engage people emotionally,” Goldberger told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight.
“He was all about pushing the envelope… wanting to use the most advanced technology to do the most adventurous things.”
Visitors looks at an electronic board showing the Japan’s Nikkei average at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Tokyo, Japan, February 9, 2016. REUTERS/Issei Kato Purchase Licensing Rights
Japan’s Nikkei skidded on Friday, wiping out this week’s gains amid an otherwise upbeat Asian performance as investors wait for a U.S. inflation reading that could sway a deeply divided Federal Reserve.
European stock markets were headed for a flat open, with both EURO STOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures little changed. Nasdaq futures gained 0.4% and S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 (.N225), fell 1.3% after weaker-than-expected household spending data underscored the scourge of inflation as bets of a rate hike later in the month grew. It was on track to end the week mostly flat.
The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds hit 1.94% early in the day, its highest since mid-2007, before pulling back to settle at 1.93%.
The benchmark yield was on track for a 12.5 basis point rise this week, marking the steepest five-day climb since March, but recent strong auction results suggested the cheap bond prices are drawing buyers into the market.
“In previous cycles, moves of that size would have rattled markets. Instead, demand strengthened,” said Nigel Green, chief executive at deVere Group.
“Capital flows are shifting, long-standing expectations are being tested, and portfolios built around permanently cheap yen now face a very different world.”
A quarter-point rate hike from the Bank of Japan later this month is now being priced at 75%, after Governor Kazuo Ueda told investors on Monday the central bank would weigh the “pros and cons” of raising interest rates.
Sources have told Reuters that the Japanese government is prepared to tolerate a hike in December.
The dollar lost 0.3% to 154.61 yen, and remained well off its 10-month high of 157.9.
The broader MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), was up 0.4% and was set for a gain of 1% for the week. Most regions were up a little but South Korea (.KS11), managed a decent rise of 1.4%.
US INFLATION TEST
In foreign exchange markets, the dollar was under pressure again, having steadied overnight after falling for nine straight sessions. The dollar index was off 0.1% on Friday to 99 against its major peers, and down 0.5% for the week.
The broad weakness in the U.S. currency has been driven by wagers that the Federal Reserve is almost certain to cut interest rates by a quarter point next Wednesday.
While markets are 90% priced for a Fed rate cut, it could be the most contentious decision in years for the central bank as many as five of the 12 voting members have publicly said they oppose reducing rates further.
Next up, the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index – the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation – is due later in the day, although the data is for September. Forecasts are centred on a 0.2% rise in the core measure, leaving the annual rate unchanged at 2.9%.
The U.S. non-farm payrolls report will not be released on Friday. Data on Thursday showed jobless claims dived last week, assuaging concerns of a sharp deterioration in the labour market, but that might be due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
KaLeigh Long, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Westwin Elements and Melissa Sanderson, Director at American Rare Earths take part in a conversation with Reuters Americas Mining Correspondent Ernest Scheyder, during the Reuters NEXT conference in New York City, U.S., December 4, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Purchase Licensing Rights
Washington must move even faster to bolster critical minerals projects and offset Beijing’s grip on the world’s supply of the building blocks for electronics, weapons and a range of other goods, three U.S. mining and refining executives said on Thursday.
The push underscores how Washington’s surging support this year for the sector – including taking stakes in mining companies and guaranteeing a price floor for the only U.S. rare earths mine – is falling short of what industry leaders say is needed amid intense Chinese competition.
Executives from Perpetua Resources (PPTA.O), American Rare Earths (ARR.AX), and Westwin Elements told the Reuters NEXT conference in New York that the U.S. government should release a comprehensive minerals plan, pressure Indonesia to trim nickel production, and speed up the time for the U.S. Export-Import Bank and other agencies to approve loan funding, among other steps.
“We need an industrial vision,” said Melissa Sanderson, a director at American Rare Earths, which is working to build a rare earths mine in Wyoming.
“What we need is an integrated plan for building the critical minerals supply chain with all of the myriad inputs, antimony, nickel, copper, rare earths and how that flows through to the battery makers, to the magnet manufacturers, to the various end-users.”
KaLeigh Long, CEO of privately held Westwin, which is building the only U.S. nickel refinery, is asking the Trump administration to pressure Indonesia to limit its nickel output, which has surged in the past two years to roughly 60% of global supply and dragged down nickel prices nearly 50% as a result.
That forced BHP BHP.AX and others to shutter their operations and has posed a challenge for Westwin as it aims to secure financing to refine 34,000 metric tons of nickel per year in Oklahoma by 2030.
“I’m really urging the U.S. government to think simple,” Long said. “In terms of nickel, let’s get a quota on Indonesian production. You do that, and I can almost promise you that overnight you will see a cure in the nickel price.”
Long said a price floor for nickel from Washington would be impractical given the large size of the market for that metal and pushed for limits on Indonesia’s output instead.
“A price floor is kind of a waste of our energy right now,” she said. “I don’t see that being a stable solution or a near-term solution.”
Rare earths, though, are a much smaller market than nickel and price supports are key until there is more transparent pricing, said Sanderson, a former U.S. diplomat and executive at copper miner Freeport-McMoRan (FCX.N).
The London Metal Exchange, for example, trades nickel but not rare earths, a market that China also dominates.
“The LME has shown no interest so far in trying to develop a rare earths market and part of that is because it’s currently a narrow spectrum of an already narrow market,” Sanderson said. “It would be helpful if LME were to develop a pricing mechanism for rare earths, but the question becomes, ‘Would China actually honor it?'”
During a closed-door White House meeting in his first term, President Donald Trump demanded to know why the U.S. was accepting immigrants from “shithole countries” like Haiti and some African nations, remarks widely reported at the time by Reuters and other media outlets.
Outrage followed. Lawmakers, including some Republicans, condemned the language as offensive. Even Trump sought to do damage control, denying in a social media post that he had used those words.
On Tuesday, during a televised cabinet meeting, Trump reacted to reports of government fraud among pockets of Minnesota’s large Somali population by calling immigrants there “garbage” and saying he wanted them sent “back to where they came from.”
This time around, Republican members of Congress stayed quiet. Vice President JD Vance banged the table in agreement, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized Trump’s remarks as “amazing” and an “epic moment.”
The response underscored how Trump’s racial views are no longer seen as out of bounds among some of his allies and supporters. Civil rights advocates and researchers say his comments have become increasingly bold, normalized and politically permissible.
“Racism is no longer a dog whistle in America. We’re dehumanizing and targeting people,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, a group that pushes for better voter access for marginalized and predominantly Black communities.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that President Trump is right to highlight problems caused by”radical Somali migrants.”
“While the media feigns outrage, Americans who have suffered at the hands of these schemes will celebrate the president’s comments and strong support for American citizens,” Jackson said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week that his agency is investigating allegations that tax dollars from Minnesota were diverted to the militant group Al-Shabaab in Somalia.
Trump has a long history of racist rhetoric, particularly against immigrants of color. He propelled himself into national politics by advancing the false conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, was not born in the United States.
Critics say that, as president, Trump has implemented policies that reflect his rhetoric, particularly his immigration crackdown.
On Wednesday, Trump doubled down on his comments, telling reporters in the Oval Office that Somalia “is considered by many to be the worst country on earth” and accusing Somali immigrants of having “destroyed the country.”
Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and several other Democrats in Congress called his comments “xenophobic and unacceptable” in a statement and warned that militant groups like the Islamic State could use them to stoke anti-American sentiment abroad.
ESCALATING RHETORIC
A man walks through the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, a hub for Somali-American residents, amid reports of a planned federal operation targeting Somali immigrants, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Evans Purchase Licensing Rights
Alvin Tillery, a political science professor at Northwestern University, said that Trump’s use of the presidential bully pulpit as a platform for racist commentary is “absolutely unique” in the modern era and goes beyond the rhetoric of previous Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who were often criticized for making what many saw as thinly veiled racial appeals.
“They never went anywhere near this kind of hateful rhetoric targeting communities of color or minority groups,” Tillery said. “It’s very dangerous.”
In many ways, Trump’s immigration policies echo his political statements. He has blocked virtually all new refugees, save for white South Africans whom he falsely claims are the targets of a “white genocide.”
Masked federal officers have employed aggressive tactics in immigration sweeps across the country and have been criticized for detaining people who simply look Latino or speak Spanish.
In recent days, Trump has escalated his rhetoric and immigration restrictions in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. The suspected shooter, an Afghan national who came to the U.S. under a program for Afghans who helped American forces during the war in their country, pleaded not guilty to murder and other crimes.
In response, the White House announced it was pausing immigration applications from 19 non-European countries.
Immigration remains one of Trump’s stronger issues, though Reuters/Ipsos polling shows his net approval rating on the subject has gone from plus-7 in January to negative-10 in mid-November. Still, analysts say it gives him leverage at a time when broader support for his policies is faltering.
“It is easy to scapegoat immigrants and say they’re the reason for all these problems,” said Melik Abdul, a Republican strategist and political commentator who supports Trump.
LANGUAGE CARRIES RISKS
Historians say there’s risk to people of color when authorities use racist rhetoric. In October, leaked political group chats exposed racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric among young Republican leaders, fueling concerns that hate speech has become normalized in American politics.
Trump’s comments on Tuesday have alarmed the sizable Somali American community in Minnesota, amid news reports of possible federal immigration raids there. There were 76,000 people of Somali descent living in Minnesota in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau; more than half were born in the United States.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Parliament in Tokyo on October 24. Purchase Licensing Rights
As Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was finalising her $137 billion spending plan last month, which in recent weeks has put Japan into a standoff with investors over the outlook for government finances, a bond chart was brought to her attention.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama pulled up the chart on her tablet at a November 17 meeting in Takaichi’s official residence. It showed selling, which drives up long-term borrowing rates.
The prime minister’s expression turned serious, according to a person familiar with the encounter.
“The finance minister was becoming more vigilant,” the person said. “The prime minister also seemed quite concerned about the weak yen and bond-price declines.”
The person asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak with the media. But the concern they described was well-placed, because Takaichi is facing a challenge from the markets that she needs to fund her agenda.
At stake was not only her massive stimulus package, which will be paid for largely through borrowing, but the direction of the ailing yen – in real terms near record lows – and longer-term investor faith in Japanese assets.
Takaichi’s meeting with Katayama and other top officials marked the beginning of a shift in rhetoric aimed at soothing investor concerns, though it is too early to say whether it can steady the market in a durable way and keep bond vigilantes out of Japan.
Japan’s benchmark 10-year yield rose to its highest point since 2007 on Friday and has climbed 25.5 basis points in four weeks, the sharpest rise in nearly three years and one that has begun to send ripples through global markets.
The situation is all the more delicate because of Japan’s heavy debt – its debt-to-GDP ratio is by far the highest of any developed country – and how its bond market is in transition as buying from both the central bank and insurers dries up.
Addressing the risks, Takaichi told Parliament last week that there was no possibility of a “Truss shock,” downplaying parallels with the 2022 selloff in gilts and the pound that sank British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ plan for unfunded tax cuts.
She has also softened her previous resistance to monetary policy tightening and promised to limit extra borrowing. In addition, she has unveiled other initiatives including what some analysts have called the Japanese version of DOGE to cut wasteful government spending.
On Friday, Katayama said the government was monitoring markets and would ensure the sustainability of Japan’s public finances and maintain investor confidence.
Takaichi’s office did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on her November 17 meeting.
“Takaichi’s plan is to expand the growth potential of Japan … but if that growth doesn’t materialise, then the only thing remaining is the huge amount of government debt,” said Toshinobu Chiba, a Tokyo-based fund manager at Simplex Asset Management.
“And that’s the problem.”
WHO’S GOING TO BUY THESE BONDS?
Takaichi, who came to power after her predecessor quit, has a reputation as a disciple of Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics,” the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus programme aimed at rescuing Japan from stagflation that kicked off more than a decade ago.
What surprised investors was how little of that was jettisoned when she took office, despite inflation running at 3% and the national debt exceeding 1.3 quadrillion yen ($8.5 trillion).
Takaichi appointed a dovish coterie of economic advisors and told Parliament last month she would water down Japan’s fiscal target to allow for multi-year spending on key growth areas.
And when an early draft of the stimulus plan was crafted by the finance ministry, she quickly turned it down because it was too modest in size, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
“What you have is, I would say, a very loose policy mix overall and basically a monetary boom,” said Ian Samson, a multi-asset portfolio manager at Fidelity International.
“I’m personally short yen because I think that’s the path of least resistance.”
Extra bond sales will also test an already fragile market, where demand – especially for long-dated paper – has traditionally been uneven from foreign investors and has been drying up for years from domestic banks and insurers.
After accounting for redemptions and decreased purchases by the Bank of Japan, net supply in the market will jump by nearly 11 trillion yen in 2026 from 58 trillion in 2025, according to Bank of America estimates.
“The problem is … who’s going to buy these bonds?” said Sally Greig, head of global bonds at Scottish long-only manager Baillie Gifford. “We’ve still got more supply to absorb and Japan’s not the only one spending money.”
SHORT YEN
Some dealers said there had even been a small increase in short interest in bonds, particularly over the past week, though positions were small.
“The dynamics in the JGB market are more indicative of a lack of buying interest, rather than outright selling,” said Daiki Hayashi, head of Japan market sales and marketing at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo.
Bets against the yen, however, may start to pick up, despite Takaichi’s preference for a stronger currency and a recent escalation of intervention warnings, traders say.
“There would definitely be interest to look at shorting the yen if we can move to between 153 and 154 (per dollar),” said Patrick Law, head of APAC fixed-income, currencies and commodities trading at Bank of America in Hong Kong.
The yen traded at 155 per dollar on Friday and has slid some 5% versus the dollar since Takaichi was appointed as leader of Japan’s ruling party in early October.
The U.S. Supreme Court revived on Thursday a redrawn Texas electoral map designed to add more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives, boosting President Donald Trump’s quest for his party to keep control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.
The court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, issued the ruling amid a nationwide battle unfolding in Republican-governed and Democratic-led states involving the redrawing of electoral maps to change the composition of congressional districts for partisan advantage.
A lower court that had blocked Texas from using the map concluded it likely was racially discriminatory in violation of U.S. constitutional protections.
The reinstated map – sought by Trump, approved in August by the Republican-led state legislature and signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott – could flip as many as five currently Democratic-held U.S. House seats to Republicans. Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Texas Republicans cheered the ruling. Texas Democrats called it an affront to democracy, and the Supreme Court’s three liberal justices dissented from the court’s action, which came in an unsigned order.
Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress. Ceding control of either the House or Senate to the Democrats in the November 2026 elections would endanger Trump’s legislative agenda and open the door to Democratic-led congressional investigations targeting the president.
‘DELICATE FEDERAL-STATE BALANCE’
The Supreme Court granted a request by Texas officials to lift the lower court’s ruling blocking the map.
“The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections,” the court said in a brief opinion explaining the decision.
The court in the order, acknowledging the political aims of Texas to benefit the Republican Party, also said the lower court mistakenly did not fault the new map’s challengers for not themselves producing “a viable alternative map that met the state’s avowedly partisan goals.”
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan criticized the court’s majority, saying it disrespected the work of the lower court, whose ruling actually was authored by a judge appointed by Trump.
“We are a higher court than the district court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based decision,” Kagan wrote in a dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“This court’s stay guarantees that Texas’s new map, with all its enhanced partisan advantage, will govern next year’s elections for the House of Representatives. And this court’s stay ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution,” Kagan wrote.
CALIFORNIA REACTS
Democratic-governed California reacted to the Texas redistricting by initiating its own effort targeting five Republican-held districts in the state. California voters in November overwhelmingly approved a new map beneficial to Democrats. The Trump administration has sued California to try to stop its new congressional map from taking effect.
Republicans in the Indiana state House of Representatives are expected on Friday to approve a new map targeting the state’s only two Democratic U.S. House members. It is unclear whether the map has enough support to pass the Republican-controlled state Senate.
The Texas Capitol is lit during a session in the State Senate, as Republicans attempt to pass an HB 4, a bill that would redraw the state’s 38 Congressional Districts, in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 22, 2025. REUTERS/Sergio Flores/File Photo/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Other states including Republican-led North Carolina, Missouri and Florida and Democratic-led Virginia and Maryland have either passed new maps or are considering doing so.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, lauding the Supreme Court’s ruling, said that “Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state.”
“This map reflects the political climate of our state and is a massive win for Texas and every conservative who is tired of watching the left try to upend the political system with bogus lawsuits,” Paxton said.
Democratic lawmakers in Texas expressed anger.
“The Supreme Court failed Texas voters today, and they failed American democracy. This is what the end of the Voting Rights Act looks like: courts that won’t protect minority communities even when the evidence is staring them in the face,” said Gene Wu, the Democratic State House minority leader, referring to the landmark 1965 U.S. law that barred racial discrimination in voting.
“Latino and Black voters are being punished for how we vote, plain and simple,” State Representative Ramón Romero Jr. said.
Redrawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a state is a process called redistricting. There have been legal fights at the Supreme Court for decades over a practice called gerrymandering – the redrawing of district boundaries in order to marginalize a certain set of voters and increase the influence of others.
The Supreme Court in a 2019 ruling declared that gerrymandering for partisan reasons – to boost the electoral chances of one’s own party and weaken one’s political opponent – cannot be challenged in federal courts. Gerrymandering driven primarily by race remains unlawful under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law and 15th Amendment prohibition on racial discrimination in voting.
Many Texas Republican lawmakers have said the new map was devised in response to Trump’s request to redraw electoral maps for a partisan advantage in House races. But the El Paso-based court ruled 2-1 on November 18 that the map likely amounted to an unlawful racial gerrymander, siding with civil rights groups that sued to block it.
Each of the 50 U.S. states is represented in Congress by two U.S. senators, with representation in the 435-seat House based on population. California, the most-populous state, has the most House members with 52, while Texas is second with 38. Republicans currently hold 25 of 38 U.S. House seats in Texas.
In the days after a Washington Post report raised questions about a September strike by the US military on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, lawmakers in Congress pledged to investigate further.
It was a rare moment of bipartisan concern about a controversial Trump administration action – prompting speculation that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was narrowly confirmed to office in January, might be on shaky ground.
“Members are very concerned,” Republican Congressman Mike Turner said in a television interview on Thursday morning. He added that his colleagues were questioning the accuracy of information provided to them by the Trump administration.
By Thursday afternoon, however, after senior members of Congress reviewed footage and heard from the admiral in charge of the operation, familiar partisan divisions had begun to reemerge.
Republicans defended the boat strike operation – and praised Hegseth.
Democrats condemned what they saw – and called for further inquiries.
At the heart of the divide is a fundamental disagreement over the legality, and morality, of the Trump administration’s ongoing anti-narcotics military campaign in the Caribbean, including its decision to designate narcotics traffickers as “terrorist organisations” and to use lethal force against civilians without outside legal oversight.
Since that first September attack, the US has conducted at least 22 similar strikes resulting in more than 80 deaths.
The Post had reported last Friday that the US launched two attacks on the boat in question and that the second had killed two survivors from the first strike, who were in the water, clinging to the “smoldering wreck”.
The newspaper also said that prior to the attack Hegseth had given an order to “kill them all”. In comments on Tuesday, the secretary said he witnessed the first attack but had left the room before the second strike took place.
After being briefed by General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Frank Bradley, who oversaw the operation and gave the order for the second strike, none of the congressional lawmakers said they had heard evidence that Hegseth did, in fact, issue a “kill everybody” order.
That, however, was where the consensus ended.
Jim Himes of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said he found the video of the second attack “deeply, deeply troubling”.
“The fact is that we killed two people who were in deep distress and had neither the means nor obviously the intent to continue their mission,” he told reporters after the briefing.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas disagreed, calling the strikes “entirely lawful and needful”.
“I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight,” he said.
For the moment, these differing descriptions from partisan lawmakers, and the original Washington Post reporting, are all the American public has on which to base their own conclusions.
That may change, however. Donald Trump has said he supports releasing the video of the second strike – as the Pentagon has done for many of its Caribbean operations in recent months.
If the video is as disturbing as some Democrats say, it could shift public opinion that has been similarly divided largely along partisan lines.
By Thursday evening, however, Hegseth’s seemingly tenuous position seemed more secure, all the more so after an inspector general report left him largely unscathed.
Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, after Israel was allowed to compete.
They were among a number of countries who had called for Israel to be excluded over the war in Gaza, as well as accusations of unfair voting practices.
Spanish broadcaster RTVE led calls for a secret ballot on the issue at a meeting in Geneva. It said organisers denied that request – a decision that “increased [our] distrust of the festival’s organisation”.
Ireland’s RTÉ said it felt that its “participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.”
Singer Yuval Raphael, who survived the 7 October Hamas attack in 2023, represented Israel at this year’s Eurovision
Spain is one of Eurovision’s “Big Five” countries along with France, Germany, Italy and the UK.
Their artists are allowed straight into the final, as their broadcasters provide the largest financial contribution to the EBU.
Approximately 50 broadcasters, including the BBC, attended a meeting of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on Thursday to discuss the future of the contest, which is watched by more than 150 million people each year.
They were asked to back new rules intended to discourage governments and third parties from organising voting campaigns for their acts, after allegations that Israel unfairly boosted its entrant, Yuval Raphael, this year.
BBC News understands that voting to accept those measures was tied to a clause whereby members agreed not to proceed with a vote on Israel’s participation.
“This vote means that all EBU Members who wish to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 and agree to comply with the new rules are eligible to take part,” the EBU said.
Martin Green, director of the Eurovision Song Contest, said he was “pleased” that members had been given an “opportunity to debate” Israel’s place in the contest before the vote.
“It was a full, frank and honest and quite moving debate, but as we can see from the emphatic result, they really came together on a belief that the Eurovision Song Contest shouldn’t be used as a political theatre, it must retain some sense of neutrality.”
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog praised the decision to allow the country to compete, calling it “an appreciated gesture of solidarity, brotherhood, and co-operation, symbolising a victory over those who seek to silence Israel and spread hatred”.
He said he was “glad that Israel will participate again in Eurovision and I hope that the competition will remain one that sanctifies culture, poetry, and friendship between peoples and cross-border cultural understanding”.
He added that Israel “deserves to be represented on every stage in the world, and I am fully and actively committed to that”.
The CEO of Israel’s broadcaster, KAN, said the attempt to disqualify its entry “can only be understood as a cultural boycott.
“A boycott may begin today – with Israel – but no-one knows where it will end or who else it may harm,” said Golan Yochpaz.
“Is this what we truly want this contest to be remembered for on its 70th anniversary?”
The BBC, which broadcasts Eurovision in the UK, said in a statement: “We support the collective decision made by members of the EBU. This is about enforcing the rules of the EBU and being inclusive.”
However, the decision has exposed a deep rift in the Eurovision community.
In a statement, Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said that “participation under the current circumstances is incompatible with the public values that are essential to us”.
Spanish broadcaster RTVE added: “The board of directors of RTVE agreed last September that Spain would withdraw from Eurovision if Israel was part of it.”
“This withdrawal also means that RTVE will not broadcast the Eurovision 2026 final… nor the preliminary semi-finals.”
Slovenia’s broadcaster RTV added that their position also “remains unchanged”.
“The recent rule changes do not alter our view. As a public service broadcaster, RTV Slovenia is committed to upholding ethical principles and expects that equal rules and standards apply to all EBU members and all participating countries.”
Belgium’s broadcaster said it would “take a position in the coming days”.
Those who approved of the changes included Nordic broadcasters from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland who issued a joint statement saying they “supported” the EBU’s decision to “address critical shortcomings” in the voting system.
Despite that, Iceland’s RÚV said it would not make a final decision on its participation until next week.
President Vladimir Putin has warned again that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region or Russia will seize it, rejecting any compromise over how to end the war in Ukraine.
“Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories,” he told India Today. Moscow controls some 85% of Donbas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out ceding territory.
Putin’s comments come after Donald Trump said his negotiators discussing a US peace plan believed Russia’s leader “would like to end the war” after Tuesday’s talks in Moscow.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow, was due to meet Ukraine’s team in Florida.
Trump said Tuesday’s talks in the Kremlin were “reasonably good”, adding it was too soon to say what would happen as “it does take two to tango”.
The original iteration of the US peace plan proposed to hand over areas of the Donbas still under Ukrainian control to the de facto control of Putin – but the Witkoff team presented a modified version in Moscow.
In his India Today interview ahead of a state visit to Delhi, Putin said he had not seen the new version before his talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
“That’s why we had to go over every point, that’s why it took so long,” the Kremlin leader said.
He also said Moscow disagreed with parts of the US plan.
“At times we said that yes, we can discuss this, but to that we can’t agree,” Putin said.
He did not name the sticking points. At least two significant points of contention remain – the fate of Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Putin’s senior foreign policy adviser and key negotiator Yuri Ushakov earlier said straight after the talks that they produced “no compromise” on ending the war.
Ushakov also implied that the Russian negotiating position had been strengthened thanks to what Moscow said were its recent successes on the battlefield.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stalling any ceasefire agreements, saying Moscow is seeking to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Commenting on the Kremlin talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybhia said Putin was “wasting the world’s time”.
Ukraine has long insisted on firm security guarantees for Ukraine in any deal.
On Wednesday, Zelensky said “the world clearly feels that there is a real opportunity to end the war” – but negotiations must be “backed by pressure on Russia”, which Kyiv and its European allies accuse of deliberately stalling any ceasefire agreements.
The Ukrainian president said last week his top negotiators had managed to make some key changes in the original US peace plan – seen as strongly favouring Moscow – during talks with an American delegation in Geneva on 23 November.
In a joint statement, US and Ukrainian negotiators said at the time that they had drawn up an “updated and refined peace framework” – but provided no further details.
Top negotiators from Europe – who had voiced concern over the original US plan – were also in the Swiss city last week, meeting separately with the Ukrainian and the US teams.
In a separate development on Thursday, Germany’s Der Spiegel news website said it had obtained a confidential transcript of a conference call in which European leaders expressed concern over the US negotiations.
“There is a possibility that the US will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said, according to an English transcript of Monday’s conference call.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was quoted as warning that Zelensky had to be “extremely careful in the coming days”.
“They are playing games, both with you and with us,” Merz reportedly said.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb was also quoted as saying: “We mustn’t leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys.”
The BBC has not seen the reported transcript.
In response to a Der Spiegel inquiry, France’s Élysée Palace stated that “the president did not express himself in those terms”. The presidential office declined to provide details on how Macron expressed himself, citing confidentiality.
A unique natural wonder is being eroded. Can Japan bring its breathtaking “juhyo” back from the brink?
Each winter, the upper slopes of Mount Zao in northern Japan – one of the country’s best-known ski areas – are transformed. Fir trees coated in thick frost and snow swell into ghostly figures known as “juhyo” or “snow monsters”.
Juhyo form only under exceptionally rare atmospheric conditions, emerging when strong, persistent winter winds carry supercooled water droplets that freeze on contact with the local evergreen Aomori todomatsu trees, gradually layering into rime ice.
At Mount Zao, these formations occur during sustained westerly winds of up to 26m per second (85ft per second), with surface air temperatures between -6.3C to -0.1C (21-31F) and unusually high cloud liquid water content. Under these precise conditions, the rime thickens on the windward side of trees into overlapping ridges known as “shrimp tails”, the distinctive shapes that cluster together to form the towering juhyo figures.
“Because such precise meteorological and ecological conditions align in very few places, Zao’s snow monsters are a phenomenon almost unique to northern Japan,” says Fumitaka Yanagisawa, an emeritus professor of geochemistry who studies the juhyo at Yamagata University.
The snow monsters are the biggest winter draw of the Zao area, a mountain range which lies between Japan’s Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures and attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually.
But recent research indicates that the monsters are becoming slimmer.
In August 2025, a research team led by Yanagisawa announced findings that quantified what locals have long observed. By analysing identical-angle photographs of Zao’s summit taken since 1933, the team measured the thickness of the figures on a six-point scale. The findings (which have not yet been published in a scientific journal) indicate a widespread shrinking of the juhyo.
“In the 1930s, we saw juhyo five to six metres [16-20ft] across,” Yanagisawa says. “By the postwar decades, they were often two to three metres [7-10ft]. Since 2019, many are half a metre [1.6ft] or less. Some are barely columns.”
The cause is twofold, says Yanagisawa: a warming climate and a forest under attack. The host tree, Aomori todomatsu, suffered a moth outbreak in 2013 that stripped its needles. Bark beetles followed in 2015, boring into weakened trunks. Yamagata officials report that around 23,000 firs, about a fifth of the prefectural side’s stands, have died. With fewer branches and leaves, there is little surface for snow and ice to cling to.
Another 2019 study found that in nearby Yamagata City, average temperatures from December to March have risen by about 2C (3.6F) over the past 120 years. The lower altitude limit of juhyo formation has shifted upward in step with this warming, it found, while the juhyo also last for fewer days of the year.
“Unique landscapes are already being lost to climate change,” says Akihiko Ito, an ecologist who specialises in forests and climate change at the University of Tokyo.
Research shows that Japan’s warming climate and extreme weather are already damaging many of its high mountain forests. “Seasonal shifts in spring and autumn can harm leaves, and insect outbreaks are expanding. These stresses may reduce forest growth and density,” Ito says.
Across Japan’s alpine zones, temperatures have been rising faster than the global average since the 1980s. “In scenarios where climate change continues to advance significantly by the end of this century, it is possible that in warmer-than-usual winters, juhyo may no longer form at all,” Ito says.
The threat has prompted action across Yamagata. In March 2023, the prefecture launched the Juhyo Revival Conference – a permanent council bringing together researchers, officials, local businesses and residents to coordinate long-term efforts to restore the fir forests and preserve Mount Zao’s snow monsters.
Juhyo are not only a natural spectacle but also a pillar of the local economy. “The influx of tourists supports hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops throughout the area,” says Genji Akiba, deputy director of the Zao Onsen Tourism Association. “If the juhyo disappear, it would be a huge blow.”
“Revival is a strong wish of our citizens,” says Yoko Honma, a conservation specialist at Yamagata Prefecture’s nature division. Since 2019, the local forest office has transplanted more than 190 naturally regenerated saplings from lower slopes to the summit zone near the ropeway station. “Because it takes 50 to 70 years for these firs to mature, the key is sustaining conservation across generations,” says Honma. “We need patience and continuity.”
In Murayama, about 20km (12 miles) north-west of Zao, students from a forestry and environmental science course at Murayama Technical High School have also taken up the challenge of reviving the firs.
Since 2022, the students have been planting Aomori todomatsu trees and studying how to propagate and protect the species. Together with staff from the Yamagata Forest Office, they visit Mount Zao to collect young fir saplings and bring them back to their school for research. There, they cultivate stems through cuttings and experiment with methods for artificially propagating and efficiently producing seedlings.
“It’s been challenging,” says Rin Oizumi, a second-year student in the course. “When the seeds we sowed in heavy rain finally sprouted, I felt both relief and excitement. But it was heartbreaking to find that some plots had been damaged by field mice, which had eaten the young shoots.” The students have also conducted preliminary experiments using branches of a related fir species, which have shown successful germination.
New investigative reports into a series of high-profile and costly Navy mishaps during a U.S.-led campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels reveal that the most intense running sea battle that the military service has faced since World War II took a toll on ships and personnel.
The four reports released Thursday cover a “friendly fire” incident in December 2024 that saw the cruiser USS Gettysburg shoot at two fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, downing one, as well as the Truman’s collision with a merchant vessel and the loss of two more multimillion-dollar jets from the carrier to mishaps earlier this year.
Taken together, the reports paint a picture of an aircraft carrier that was not only beset by regular missile attacks that stressed the crew but also other operational demands that put pressure on top leaders to the point that the ship’s captain and navigator were extremely sleep-deprived. That was just halfway through an eight-month deployment originally slated to last six months.
One report also found that, in some parts of the ship, the intense combat operations “led to a numbness among the crew” and some sailors “lost sight of the purpose of their role to the mission.”
The four preventable mishaps cost the Navy over $100 million in three lost aircraft and damage to the Truman as well as injuries to multiple sailors. While no one died, several of the mishaps hinged on just seconds of reaction time.
‘A wake-up call’ for the Navy
The investigation into the Truman’s collision with a merchant vessel said that “had the collision occurred 100 ft forward, the impact would have likely pierced a berthing compartment with 120 sleeping Sailors.”
Capt. Dave Snowden, the Truman’s commander at the time, “reduced the angle of impact, and delayed the time to impact, which likely prevented more significant damage and potential loss of life” in the seconds before the collision, the report said.
The mishaps with the Truman are a “wake-up call” for the Navy about the demands of battle and the dangers of overextending ships and their crew, said Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher at RAND and a retired Navy captain.
“The clear message from this deployment is that the Navy is not ready to deal with the reality of extended combat,” Martin said, adding that the Truman “was obviously at a point where it was running at a ragged edge.”
The campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen began in October 2023 when the militants began launching drones and missiles at ships in the Red Sea amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. U.S. military operations to counter the Houthis began under then-President Joe Biden, and President Donald Trump continued the campaign.
It culminated with a monthlong bombing campaign earlier this year, during which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared sensitive information about a strike over Signal chat. The Pentagon’s inspector general said Thursday that the move put U.S. troops at risk, even though Hegseth had the authority to declassify the material.
Unclear accountability following major mishaps
It is unclear what, if anything, the Navy did to hold most of the sailors and leaders involved to account because those sections in the reports were redacted. The Navy did publicly relieve Snowden of command about a week after the collision with the merchant vessel.
Adm. James Kilby, the Navy’s second-highest ranking officer, assured reporters Thursday that “accountability actions were taken across all the operators involved” in the four mishaps but he did not offer any details.
Martin of RAND said there should be individual accountability but added that “some of this is a case of the Navy writ large asking for too much and finding out what happens when too much is demanded.”
“The level of air threat that was coming from the Houthis, it’s nothing like you’d get from China, but it was enough to be stressing,” Martin said. “And I think what you saw was a lot of brittleness in the readiness and preparation.”
All four investigations revolve around the Truman. The ship was the third aircraft carrier dispatched to the region, arriving in December 2024.
Firing on US fighter jets and a collision at sea
The Truman conducted its first defensive strike against the Houthis on Dec. 22, 2024, and other ships in the carrier’s strike group spent several hours defending against retaliatory cruise missiles and attack drones.
The USS Gettysburg, one ship in the strike group, mistook several F/A-18F fighter jets from the Truman for more Houthi missiles and fired at two of them. The heavily redacted report largely faulted the sailors in the Gettysburg’s combat information center for being poorly trained and overly relying on technology that had faced problems.
The troops from one jet ejected before the missile struck, while the ship stopped the second missile shortly before impact.
In February, sailors on the Truman told investigators that they felt the strain of “a pressurized schedule and a culture of ‘just get it done.’”
As it prepared to head back to the Red Sea following a port visit, it had to sail through the highly trafficked waters just outside the Suez Canal. Running behind schedule, an officer drove the massive aircraft carrier at a speed that investigators later called unsafe. It would have needed almost a mile and a half to come to a stop after halting the engines.
As a merchant ship moved into the carrier’s path, the officer did not take enough action to escape danger, the report found, listing his actions as the top cause for the collision. The commander and the ship’s navigator also were faulted for not fully realizing the risks of the transit.
The loss of two more Navy jets
Once the ship was back in the Red Sea, the crew was conducting combat operations and “flying everyday with little exception” since March 15, Capt. Christopher Hill, the new commander, told investigators.
In April, the ship made a sharp turn to avoid an incoming Houthi missile as sailors in the hangars were moving aircraft around. As the Truman began to tilt with the turn, the jet began to slip.
The sailors moving the jet told investigators that as the plane slipped off the deck and into the ocean, its landing wheels were rolling despite the sailor inside the plane “actively attempting to brake.”
The deck also was far dirtier and more slippery than normal, partly because “high operational tempo of combat flight operations impeded the regular 10-day scrubs” that were needed.
This Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, photo shows music streaming apps clockwise from top left, Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and Google on an iPhone in New York. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
The end of 2025 is near. And the season of unwrapping our online lives — or at least a glimpse of what they looked like over the past year — is well underway.
Music streamers, social media sites and a host of other apps have already started delivering their annual recaps into customers’ inboxes. That gives users a peak at anything from the top songs they had on repeat and the videos they streamed the most, to online language-learning or everyday tips they turned to the internet for in 2025.
Here’s some of the biggest platforms that have already released their 2025 recaps (covering data for at least the majority of the year) — and where to find them. Most instruct users to download the latest version of their apps to get the best experience.
Spotify Wrapped
Spotify released its Wrapped on Dec. 3. The platform will prompt users to view their annual “year in audio” — recapping the top songs, artists, podcasts and more they streamed the most in 2025 (or, more specifically, January through mid November ). You can otherwise click on “Wrapped” on the top banner on the app to view your stats and download your yearly playlist.
This year, the music streamer is also introducing “Wrapped Party” — a feature that allows you to compare listening habits with friends who use Spotify, too. Wrapped Party is only available on Spotify’s mobile app. You can start it within Spotify’s Wrapped hub or searching for “Wrapped Party” within the app.
YouTube Recap
Google’s streaming giant unveiled its new “YouTube Recap” on Dec. 2, starting in North America. Recap gives an overview of YouTube users’ watch history over the last year — including top artists and songs if you listened to music on the platform.
YouTube said Recap would roll out worldwide over the first week of December. According to the platform, it can be found on the YouTube homepage or under the “You” profile tab on the mobile app or desktop. You must be signed into the platform and have the latest update.
Apple Replay
Apple Music released its annual “Replay” on Dec. 2 — which gives its users a look at their top songs, artists, genres and more streamed on the platform over the past year.
To find Replay on the Apple Music app, you need to go to the Home tab, scroll down to “Your Top Music” and then click “Go back in time,” Apple says. On the web, you can also sign into your account at replay.music.apple.com and click “Jump In.”
Amazon Delivered
Amazon’s music and podcasting service also has an annual recap, which is called “Delivered.” 2025 Delivered rolled out on Dec. 2 — available for Amazon Music customers with at least a few hours of listening history in a dozen countries.
According to Amazon, you can see Delivered by tapping the “Find” button in the Amazon Music App and navigating to “Listen Your Way.
Twitch Recap
Twitch also offers an annual recap for viewers and streamers on the platform. According to the livestreaming site, personalized recaps are only available to those who have watched or streamed at least 10 hours of content on Twitch during its yearly window — which ran from Oct. 31, 2024 to the end of October this year.
To find your Twitch recap, which went live in early December, users can visit twitch.tv/annual-recap. You will need to have an account to log in.
Duolingo Year in Review
Language-learning app Duolingo also released its annual “year in review” in early December — giving users a look at how many lessons, streaks, minutes and more they spent on the app this year.
Duolingo may prompt you to look at your 2025 recap once you open the app. But in the bottom corner of the home navigation page, there’s also a small logo you can click on to watch the review.
WASHINGTON DC pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. has been unmasked in a resurfaced family photo five years after he allegedly planted explosive devices ahead of the January 6 riot.
The smiling image of Cole, dressed in a blue shirt and tie, was posted by his mother on Instagram for National Son’s Day in September 2024.
DC pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole has been pictured for the first timeCredit: Refer to source
It marked the first time the public has seen his face since the bomb plot shocked Washington.
The snap resurfaced just hours after FBI arrested a suspect in its nearly five-year-long investigation into the person who planted pipe bombs in Washington DC before Donald Trump‘s January 6, 2021 rally.
On January 5, 2021, a shadowy figure was recorded planting two explosive devices – the night before rioters stormed the Capitol building as the 2020 presidential election was certified.
Now, the FBI and Department of Justice have announced that suspect Cole Jr. was arrested following an investigation that stumped federal agents for years.
Agents descended on his home in Woodbridge, Virginia, an affluent suburb of Washington DC, hours before confirming he was cuffed.
He’s been charged with the use of an explosive device, and more charges could be dropped as the investigation continues, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a conference.
Federal authorities said the arrest came after a painstaking investigation where detectives traced the purchase of every part of the makeshift bombs, from end caps to wires to batteries.
“Let me be clear: There was no new tip, there was no new witness. Just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” said Bondi.
Though the suspect’s motive remains a mystery, he has been linked to statements that show anarchist ideology, sources told MS NOW.
Unnamed law enforcement sources said the bulk of the evidence against the alleged bomber was obtained in 2021 and 2022.
It’s an embarrassing blow to the FBI as agents reportedly could have made an arrest years ago, the insiders claimed to the outlet.
The arrest brings to a close a five-year-long mystery that’s sparked conspiracy theories questioning the motives of law enforcement.
Onlookers speculated that the incident could have been a complete hoax or that the suspect was a foreign agent.
The public was left terrified after surveillance video capturing the masked and hooded bomber was released – but didn’t lead to any arrests.
It sparked nationwide fears that the violent bomber could strike again and actually detonate the device in a second feared attack.
Two bombs were recovered near the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee offices and disabled, narrowly avoiding a disastrous explosion.
Authorities believe it was planted between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm that evening, but they weren’t found until the following morning, 15 hours later.
Cops were forced to divert from the chaos at the Capitol and disable the devices. Investigators believe the suspect had ample time to escape the scene before the devices were found.
Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris walked just 20 feet away from the DNC bomb before authorities learned about the incident.
Although the bombs were crudely made, authorities made it clear that if the devices had been ignited, they would have hurt anyone who was near them.
Online rumors swirled about whether the bomber was connected with the riot, which mainly consisted of outraged MAGA supporters questioning the legitimacy of Joe Biden‘s election win.
Officials have offered a reward of up to $500,000 to anyone who could help bring the suspect in.
A FRIGHTENING alert was accidentally sent across California and Nevada, causing panic as residents braced for a massive earthquake.
The earthquake alert warned Americans of a powerful 5.9-magnitude earthquake, advising them to “Drop, Cover, Hold on!”
A massive earthquake was accidentally reported to have hit CaliforniaCredit: Getty Images
The false alarm was sent to millions of people across the California Bay Area and near Carson City, Nevada.
The MyShake app, which alerts citizens of the US Geological Survey-controlled ShakeAlert system, informed residents of the mistake.
“There was no M5.9 earthquake near Carson City, NV,” the company posted on social media.
“This was a false alert by the #ShakeAlert system and this is currently being investigated.”
USGS later deleted the accidental alarm, but not before it reached the residents of San Francisco, who had been preparing for a city-ending earthquake for years.
San Francisco residents have long been warned of a massive earthquake set to destroy the city, according to The Daily Mail.
The chances of the much-anticipated “Big One” hitting the city have increased by 72 percent, USGS’ Sarah Minson previously reported.
Had the falsely reported earthquake actually happened, San Francisco would’ve been 185 miles away from the epicenter.
If the 5.9-magnitude earthquake were to hit, it would’ve been felt over 200 miles away and caused buildings to collapse, walls to crack, and windows to break.
Social media users posted the jarring messages they received.
“Phones blasting alerts across Nevada and California to Drop, Cover, Hold On! Aftershocks coming,” one person posted on social media.
The false alarm was further confirmed by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The agency posted on X that the alert was sent “to a broad audience in Northern California.”
“Cal OES is coordinating with our Nevada and federal partners to understand exactly what the federally run monitoring system detected and why,” the agency continued.
The move allows Texas to use a new electoral map that advantages the Republican Party at next year’s midterm elections. The Republicans currently hold a slim majority in Congress.
The US Supreme Court overturned a previous ruling by a lower courtImage: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Texas can use a new electoral map that would add more Republicans to the House of Representatives.
It allows next year’s midterm elections to be held using the new districts, which were drawn to favor Republicans.
Thursday’s ruling temporarily pausesa previous judgement by a lower court that stuck down the redistricted electoral map on the grounds that it likely discriminated based on race.
Texas made an emergency request to the Supreme Court for quick actions because the qualification process in the new districts was already underway, with primary elections scheduled for March.
“The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections,” the Supreme Court said in a brief opinion explaining the decision.
Why is Texas redrawing its electoral map?
Republican lawmakers in Texas introduced the new electoral map after President Donald Trump urged his party to redraw districts to benefit him and his party.
Under the existing electoral map in Texas, Republicans hold 25 House seats while Democrats hold 13. The new map would potentially hand Republicans up to 30 seats.
This sparked a political crisis in the state along with accusations of gerrymandering — the redrawing of districts for political gain.
Thursday’s ruling in favor of the new map was backed by the Supreme Court’s six conservative justices, while its three liberal justices issued dissenting opinions.
“The District Court conducted a nine-day hearing… And after considering all the evidence, it held that the answer was clear. Texas largely divided its citizens along racial lines to create its new pro-Republican House map,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent.
After six days of inspecting the suspect’s bowel movements, New Zealand police recovered a stolen Faberge pendant that he had swallowed after being caught.
The Feberge egg pendant was worth $19,000 (€16,300)Image: New Zealand Police/AFP
New Zealand police arrested a man suspected of stealing — and swallowing — a James Bond-inspired Faberge pendant worth some $19,000 (€16,300).
After six days of supervising the the 32-year-old suspect’s bowl movements, police said the limited-edition Faberge egg had been recovered late on Thursday.
Police said the piece of jewelry came out of the thief’s body naturally, without any medical intervention.
They also provided a photo of the recovered pendant and the attached price tag, which stayed intact despite going through the thief’s digestion system.
Inspector Grace Anderson said police would continue monitoring the man.
“Given this man is in Police custody, we have a duty of care to continue monitoring him given the circumstances of what has occurred,” she said.
Taylor Swift cut a hefty check to snag a bride’s wedding date at a posh Rhode Island venue, Page Six is told.
Multiple sources tell us that the billionaire pop superstar wanted to marry her fiancé, Travis Kelce, at Ocean House in Watch Hill on Saturday, June 13, 2026.
However, upon learning that another couple was already set to tie the knot there on that day, Swift dipped into her deep pockets and made an offer the bride couldn’t refuse.
Reps for Swift, Kelce and Ocean House did not respond to Page Six’s repeated requests for comment.
Taylor Swift cut a hefty check to snag a bride’s wedding date at a posh Rhode Island venue, Page Six is told. Taylor Swift / Instagram
As Page Six previously reported, Ocean Hill has been on the singer-songwriter’s radar for some time.
After Swift and the NFL star — who got engaged in August — started going over their guest list, sources told us they realized they wanted to invite a lot more people than they initially thought.
The US Sun later reported that the ceremony would be held at Swift’s Watch Hill mansion. Our sources said that might not be a realistic venue, so the couple turned their sights to Ocean House.
Notably, the luxury hotel and event space is located a stone’s throw away from the Grammy winner’s estate.
As for why Swift, 35, was allegedly adamant about the June 13, 2026, date to marry Kelce, 36, it seems to be numerically significant.
Swifties already know that their Easter egg-loving idol’s favorite number is 13, but upon further dissection, we noticed that there could actually be more meaning behind the day, which has been highly speculated about online.
Kim Kardashian revealed she changed her name shortly before she and her family achieved reality TV fame with “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”
“I used to always go by Kimberly, until we signed on to do the reality show. And when I looked at my chyron, Kimberly Kardashian, I said, ‘I think that’s so long for people to say.’ And like, ‘Let’s just shorten it to Kim,’” the “Kardashians” star, 45, told Time in an interview published on Thursday.
“And it’s so weird, because all my friends from high school and growing up, and my dad, everyone calls me Kimberly.”
Kim Kardashian revealed she changed her name from “Kimberly” to “Kim” shortly before she reached reality TV fame. GC Images
The Skims founder, who has been known to use her name when branding her various entrepreneurial endeavors, also took credit for ultimately getting her family to agree to the reality TV show.
“I think I was the one that convinced everyone for sure. I really wanted it. I really wanted to do a reality show since the day MTV’s ‘The Real World’ came out and I watched it with my best friend,” Kardashian shared.
“I looked at her and I told her, ‘That’s what I’m going to do.’ And she said, ‘I’ll be your manager.’ I think we were 11. I said, ‘When we’re 18, we have to make a tape and send it into “The Real World.”‘
“Her dad’s in the music-business management world. So she said, ‘Oh, we can get my dad to send it to someone at MTV.’ We made a whole plan,” she continued.
While the job of Kardashian’s manager famously went to her mom, Kris Jenner, the model did eventually start working with “The Real World” producers as “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” was backed by Bunim/Murray, who produced the MTV series.
The “All’s Fair” star went on to admit that she convinced her sisters, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian and her mom, Kris Jenner, that the show would be an opportunity to promote their now-defunct Dash clothing boutique.
Dozens of airline pilots tell Reuters they are reluctant to disclose mental health issues — even minor or treatable ones — because of the risk of grounding and a career‑ending review
A framed photo of commercial airline pilot Brian Wittke and his mother Annie Vargas stands on a memorial shelf at Vargas’s home in Glendale, Arizona. Wittke died by suicide. REUTERS/Erica Stapleton
Annie Vargas could see her son slipping away and pleaded with him to seek help. But her son, Brian Wittke, a 41-year-old Delta Air Lines pilot and father of three, pushed back, terrified that getting treatment for depression would cost him his license and livelihood.
The drop in air travel during the pandemic kept Wittke at home more and affected his mental health, Vargas told Reuters.
On the morning of June 14, 2022, Vargas tried to reach Wittke by text, but his location data was disabled. By the time it reappeared, Wittke had died by suicide in the Utah mountains near his home outside Salt Lake City.
Commercial airline pilots often conceal mental health conditions for fear that disclosing therapy or medication, or even just seeking help, could mean having their license pulled, putting themselves and their passengers at risk, according to Reuters interviews with three dozen pilots, medical experts and industry officials, as well as a review of medical studies.
For this story, Reuters spoke to at least 24 commercial pilots at U.S. and foreign carriers who said that they were reluctant to disclose mental health issues — even minor or treatable ones — fearing immediate grounding and a lengthy, costly medical review that could end their careers.
The pilots Reuters spoke to cited multiple reasons for not coming forward with mental health challenges, including airline policies, regulatory requirements and social stigma.
REAL PEOPLE, REAL PROBLEMS
“Real people have real problems,” Vargas said. “And they shouldn’t be penalized for dealing with it.”
Vargas said she was speaking to Reuters about her son’s experiences because she hoped the family’s tragedy would challenge the culture surrounding mental health in the aviation industry. The news agency corroborated details of her account with Wittke’s wife.
Delta said Wittke was a valued team member and called his death “tragic and heartbreaking”. It also said the pilot community had a stigma against seeking mental health services.
Like many major U.S. carriers, Delta offers confidential peer support programs and counseling services for staff. It recently launched a new employee assistance program for pilots, offering access to therapy and coaching and taking into account medical certification requirements.
“We will continue to work tirelessly to deliver additional solutions,” the airline said.
In most industries, individuals can seek medical or psychological treatment without involving employers or regulators, such as the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Avoiding mental health care opens up the door to pilots who avoid taking care of their health. And that’s when problems can arise in the cockpit.”
Aviation operates under stricter standards: pilots must meet rigorous physical and psychological criteria to maintain their FAA medical certification, in some cases undergoing medical exams every six months. Pilots who report anxiety or depression may be grounded. While mild cases can be cleared quickly, severe conditions require an extensive FAA review that can take up to a year or more.
The FAA said in a statement that it is committed to prioritizing the mental health of pilots and is continually updating its approach based on the best medical science available.
FEAR OF BEING GROUNDED
A decade after a Germanwings pilot with a history of severe depression flew an Airbus A320 jet into a French mountainside, the global aviation industry has yet to formulate a uniform global framework for addressing pilot mental health and stigma remains a major barrier, according to Reuters interviews.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency requires airlines to offer peer-support programs for pilots and has strengthened oversight of medical examiners.
In the United States, the FAA has broadened its list of approved antidepressants and other medications used to treat mental health conditions. It has established a pathway for pilots who disclose an ADHD diagnosis. Meanwhile, airlines and pilot unions have expanded confidential peer support programs.
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority allows pilots with depression and anxiety to keep their medical certification on a case-by-case basis — even while receiving treatment — if safety risks are managed. Kate Manderson, CASA’s principal medical officer, said her team typically resolves certification reviews in 20 days.
But the gap between policy and perception remains wide. In a 2023 study of 5,170 U.S. and Canadian pilots, more than half reported avoiding healthcare because of concerns about losing flying status. The feeling is captured by a morbid saying in the pilot community: “If you aren’t lying, you aren’t flying.”
Pilot unions, advocacy groups, and industry organizations are urging the FAA to adopt the recommendations of its Aviation Rulemaking Committee — steps to protect pilots who disclose issues and speed their return to duty. In September, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to require the FAA to implement those changes within two years.
WAITING TO BE CLEARED TO FLY
For U.S. commercial airline pilot Elizabeth Carll, 36, those reforms can’t come soon enough. In 2021, she was grounded during her pilot training after she disclosed she was on a low dose of an anti-anxiety medication. After a mandatory six-month waiting period, she waited six months for an appointment with an FAA-approved mental health specialist. The regulator then spent more than a year reviewing her report — only to deem it outdated and order a new exam.
Carll, who worked as a flight dispatcher while training, did not face financial hardship, but she told Reuters any medication change could trigger the same lengthy, costly process.
“The joke is you just ignore it and pretend it doesn’t happen because people are afraid that their livelihoods are going to be taken away.”
An FAA spokesperson told Reuters the agency is updating its mental health policies and has approved more medications. The spokesperson did not comment on Carll’s case when asked, and did not disclose the typical turnaround time to review medical reports for pilots who have undergone mental health treatment.
“We encourage pilots to seek help early if they have a mental-health condition since most, if treated, do not disqualify a pilot from flying,” the FAA spokesperson said.
Pilot wellbeing returned to the spotlight in June when an Air India Flight 171 crashed after takeoff, killing 260 people. A preliminary investigation report found both fuel cutoff switches had been manually moved, ruling out mechanical failure. The final report is months away.
After the crash, the Indian government said Air India recorded a slight increase in pilots taking sick leave across all fleets. The airline responded by directing pilots to a mental wellness app, Reuters found.
Air India did not provide a comment.
In November, former Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph David Emerson was sentenced to time served and three years’ probation after pleading guilty to interfering with flight crew and attempting to shut down the engines of a passenger plane in 2023 while riding off duty in the cockpit. Court documents show Emerson told police he was having a nervous breakdown and had taken psychedelic mushrooms, which are sometimes used to treat depression.
He declined to be interviewed for this story.
‘A BETTER PILOT TODAY’
When a pilot is grounded for a health concern, the financial fallout can be significant. After using up sick time, they are often placed on disability, which can significantly reduce their income.
Troy Merritt, a 33-year-old U.S. commercial airline pilot, voluntarily grounded himself in December 2022 and started taking medication after realizing depression and anxiety had compromised his ability to fly safely, he said.
Getting back in the cockpit meant six months on stable medication and a series of psychological and cognitive tests — some of which were not covered by health insurance. He told Reuters the process cost him about $11,000.
Reuters could not independently confirm this figure.
A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
Nvidia (NVDA.O), on Wednesday published new data showing that its latest artificial intelligence server can improve the performance of new models – including two popular ones from China – by 10 times.
The data comes as the AI world has shifted its focus from training AI models, where Nvidia dominates the market, to putting them to use for millions of users, where Nvidia faces far more competition from rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), and Cerebras.
Nvidia’s data focused on what are known as mixture-of-expert AI models. The technique is a way of making AI models more efficient by breaking up questions into pieces that are assigned to “experts” within the model. That exploded in popularity this year after China’s DeepSeek shocked the world with a high-performing open source model that took less training on Nvidia chips than rivals in early 2025.
Since then, the mixture-of-experts approach has been adopted by ChatGPT maker OpenAI, France’s Mistral and China’s Moonshoot AI, which in July released a highly-ranked open source model of its own.
Meanwhile, Nvidia has focused on making the case that while such models might require less training on its chips, its offerings can still be used to serve those models to users.
Nvidia on Wednesday said that its latest AI server, which packs 72 of its leading chips into a single computer with speedy links between them, improved the performance of Moonshot’s Kimi K2 Thinking model by 10 times compared to the previous generation of Nvidia servers, a similar performance gain to what Nvidia has seen with DeepSeek’s models.
Soldiers are seen during a training session under the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), at a camp in Laikipia, Kenya September 30, 2018. Picture taken September 30, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A parliamentary inquiry in Kenya has accused British troops training there of a pattern of sexual misconduct and environmental harm that has led the forces from the former colonial power to be seen as an “occupying presence”.
The findings of the investigation by a parliamentary committee focused on defence and foreign relations highlight rising frustrations in the East African country at the conduct of soldiers from the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), who have faced a raft of highly-publicised accusations in recent years.
A spokesperson for Britain’s defence ministry said in a statement to Reuters that the ministry deeply regrets “the challenges that have arisen in relation to our defence presence in Kenya” and said it was prepared to investigate new allegations in the report once evidence is provided.
Thousands of British troops can pass through Kenya for training missions in any given year.
The most prominent allegation relates to the 2012 murder of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru near the British forces’ training camp in the town of Nanyuki. The suspect, a British soldier named Robert Purkiss, was arrested in Britain last month after years of campaigning by Wanjiru’s family and Kenyan rights groups, who said her killers were being shielded by a defence cooperation agreement between the two countries.
Purkiss, who now faces extradition hearings, has denied any involvement in Wanjiru’s death.
The committee’s report, which was dated November 25 but published on parliament’s website on Tuesday, said it had “uncovered a disturbing trend of sexual misconduct by BATUK personnel, marked by rape, assault, and abandonment of children fathered by soldiers”.
It said public hearings in areas where BATUK trains had brought to light evidence of numerous injuries and deaths to Kenyans employed by British forces to clear unexploded ordnance without protective equipment, as well as environmental damage caused by the illegal dumping of toxic materials.
The ingested loot, valued at NZ$33,585 ($19,300; £14,600), has not yet been recovered, police say
A New Zealand man has been charged for theft after he allegedly stole a diamond-studded locket in a rather unusual way – by swallowing it.
The ingested loot – a Fabergé egg locket valued at NZ$33,585 ($19,300; £14,600) – has not yet been recovered, police told local media outlets.
Police were called to Partridge Jewellers in central Auckland last Friday afternoon and the 32-year-old man was arrested in store minutes later. He has undergone a medical assessment and remains in custody, police say.
The allegedly stolen Fabergé egg is set with 60 white diamonds and 15 blue sapphires, according to the jeweller’s website, and opens to reveal an 18-carat gold miniature octopus.
The Octopussy egg, as it is named, was inspired by the 1983 James Bond film of the same name, which centres on an elaborate Fabergé egg heist.
Fabergé is a world-renowned jeweller founded in Russia more than two centuries ago, famous for its eggs made of gems and precious metals.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released never-before-seen images of Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous island.
The photographs and video appear to show several bedrooms in the US Virgin Islands home, as well as a room with masks on a wall and a phone with names written on speed-dial buttons.
In a statement, the committee’s Democratic leader, Robert Garcia, said they collectively form a “disturbing look” into Epstein’s world and are being released to “ensure public transparency”.
On 19 November, President Donald Trump signed a bill that ordered the release of government files on the late convicted sex offender – a significant turning point in a months-long fight over the documents.
Multiple survivors have alleged that they were trafficked to and abused on the island, known as Little St James, which Epstein purchased in 1998.
The new images from 2020 also show what appears to be a dental chair and a room with a black chalkboard on which is scrawled with words including “truth”, “deception” and “power”. Some of the words have been redacted.
In a statement, Democrats on the oversight committee said that the images and videos stem from an 18 November request to the attorney general of the US Virgin Islands for information about investigations into Epstein and his imprisoned co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“These new images are a disturbing look into the world of Jeffrey Epstein and his island,” Garcia said.
“We are releasing these photos and videos to ensure public transparency in our investigation and to help piece together the full picture of Epstein’s horrific crimes,” he added. “We won’t stop fighting until we deliver full picture of Epstein’s horrific crimes.”
According to Garcia, the committee has also received records from JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, which they intend to release “in the days ahead”.
Little St James was one of two islands in the Virgin Islands owned by Epstein.
In 2022, the attorney general of the US territory reached a settlement of over $105m (£78.6m) after local authorities alleged that “dozens of young women and children” were trafficked, raped and assaulted on the two islands.
The images shed little new light on the case, besides providing a glimpse of one of Epstein’s crime scenes and opulent lifestyle in the Virgin Islands.
The release, however, comes as the Trump administration remains under pressure to release the broader set of documents kept by the US justice department, with Garcia saying in his statement that “it’s time for President Trump to release all the files, now”.
Later on Wednesday, the committee released a second batch of some 200 images as well as several videos. Most of those showed the same rooms as the first batch, with some new close-ups of the apparent dentist chair and the masks on the walls of that room.
All of the masks are in a similar style and depict male faces.
Other images show personal items around the house, such as a large selection of shampoos and conditioners and various art items including statues and paintings.
There is also a picture of Epstein and Maxwell meeting Pope John Paul II.
The photos seem to have been taken in 2020 according to the metadata – after the death of Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 – so the house appears to have been packed away, with furniture stacked up and artwork removed from walls.
The release also includes a video showing a walk through of Epstein’s property. It shows a palm tree-lined swimming pool with a statue of an archer and a path to the ocean.
The bill Trump signed last month gives the department a 30-day window – until 19 December – to make them available in a “searchable and downloadable format”.
But there are obstacles to the files being shared with the US public on that date.
For one, the bill said that the justice department can hold back any documents that jeopardise “an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary”.
Meta has started booting Australian children under 16 years off its Instagram, Facebook and Threads platforms, a week before an official teen social media ban begins.
The tech giant announced last month that it had begun notifying users aged between 13 to 15 years old that their accounts would start being shut down from 4 December.
An estimated 150,000 Facebook users and 350,000 Instagram accounts are expected to be affected. Threads, similar to X, can only be accessed via an Instagram account.
Australia’s world-first social media ban starts on 10 December, with companies facing fines of up to A$49.5m (US$33m, £25m) if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to stop under-16s from having accounts.
A spokesperson for Meta told the BBC on Thursday that “compliance with the law will be an ongoing and multi-layered process”.
“While Meta is committed to complying with the law, we believe a more effective, standardised, and privacy-preserving approach is needed,” she said.
The government should require app stores to verify the age of users when they download apps and ask for parental approval for under-16s, Meta said, as this would eliminate the need for teens to verify their age across different apps.
Last month, Meta said users it had identified as under 16 would be able to download and save their posts, videos and messages before their accounts are deactivated.
Teens who believe they have been wrongly categorised as under 16 can ask for a review and submit a “video selfie” to verify their age. They can also provide a driver’s licence or a government-issued identification.
Alongside Meta’s three platforms, the other social media sites affected by the ban are YouTube, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick and Twitch.
The government says the ban is aimed at protecting children from the harms of social media but critics say the move may isolate certain groups who depend on platforms for connection and push children to less-regulated corners of the internet.
Communications Minister Anika Wells on Wednesday said she expected teething problems in the first few days and weeks of the ban but it was about protecting Gen Alpha – anyone under 15 years – and future generations.
“With one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by the predatory algorithms described by the man who created the feature as behavioural cocaine,” Wells said.
She described youngsters as being connected to a “dopamine drip” from the moment they got a smartphone and social media accounts.
YouTube, which was originally exempt from the ban but then later included, labelled the law as “rushed” and claimed that banning children from having an account – which comes with parental controls – will make its video-sharing platform “less safe”.
Australia’s social media ban, the first of its kind in the world, is being closely watched by global leaders.
Police arrested former University of Delaware student Luqmaan Khan after finding guns, body armor and a manifesto outlining plans to kill all, the New York Post reported. The FBI later uncovered more unregistered weapons.
Luqmaan Khan was arrested after New Castle County officers found him sitting in his pickup truck. (Photo: NCCP_DE/X)
A Pakistani-born former University of Delaware student was arrested with an arsenal of weapons, body armor and a handwritten manifesto outlining plans to kill all in a mass shooting on campus, the New York Post reported. Police say the discovery may have prevented a devastating attack.
Luqmaan Khan, 25, was arrested just before midnight on November 24 after New Castle County officers found him sitting in his pickup truck in a closed Wilmington park and became suspicious of his behaviour.
What they found in his vehicle, investigators said, was chilling — a .357 Glock pistol fitted with a conversion kit turning it into a semi-automatic rifle, multiple 27-round magazines, body armor plates and a notebook allegedly spelling out plans for a campus attack.
The notebook contained a map of the University of Delaware police headquarters marked with entry and exit points and repeated phrases such as kill all – martyrdom, according to ABC 6. Prosecutors described the writings as premeditated assault plans and warfare techniques.
According to the New York Post, Khan allegedly told investigators that dying as a martyr was one of the greatest things you can do. One campus police officer was named in the notes, though prosecutors said the motive remains unclear.
Khan, a US citizen who moved from Pakistan as a youth, had no prior criminal record, but neighbours told Spotlight Delaware he had recently become unusually standoffish.
The FBI later searched Khan’s Wilmington home and uncovered even more weapons — an AR-style rifle with a red-dot scope, a second Glock pistol equipped with an illegal machine-gun conversion device known as a switch, 11 extended magazines, hollow-point bullets and a tactical vest. None of the weapons were registered.
In the handwritten notebook, Khan discussed additional weapons and firearms, how they could be used in an attack, and how law enforcement detection could be avoided once an attack was carried out.
The notebook referenced a member of the University of Delaware’s Police Department by name, and included a layout of a building with entry and exit points under which the words “UD Police Station” were printed.
Federal prosecutors charged him with illegal possession of a machine gun, though authorities say further charges are possible as the investigation continues. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Officials emphasised that the foiling of the alleged attack came down to simple but vigilant police work.
“They just randomly drove up in Canby Park West,” Master Cpl. Richard Chambers said. “Rather than just shooing the person out, they did police work.”
“This case is a quintessential example of federal and state law enforcement collaborating to neutralize a grave threat to Delaware before the worst could come to pass. I want to thank our dedicated law enforcement partners at the FBI and the NCCPD for their exceptional work. As always, we are proud to work with them to keep Delaware safe,” said Acting US Attorney Murray.
NEVER-before-seen images of Jeffrey Epstein’s home located on his infamous private island have been released by US authorities.
Chilling photos show the paedophile financier‘s exclusive property in the US Virgin Islands – with one of the pictures showing a bizarre dental room with faces across the wall.
Chilling images showed the inside of the paedo’s home on his private islandCredit: House Oversight Committee
Bombshell images of the convicted sex offender‘s elusive Caribbean island were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
Several chilling photos showed different rooms on Epstein’s Little Saint James island – one of which had a dentist’s chair and multiple chilling masks hung up on the walls.
Another showed a chalkboard with strange text written on it – including the words “power” and “deception”.
Others showed large rooms devoid of life, “no trespassing” signs on the island’s beach, and luxury swimming pools next to palm trees.
Creepy footage also showed a tour of the notorious island where the convicted sex trafficker lived.
Washington is still waiting for the Justice Department to hand over all of its files on the notorious case.
It comes after Donald Trump gave the Justice Department 30 days to make all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” public last month.
The US Senate unanimously approved the official release of the Epstein trove just hours after the House of Representatives did on November 18.
Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida state felony prostitution charge in 2008 and served 13 months in jail.
In 2019, he was charged with sex trafficking of minors. Epstein pleaded not guilty to those charges.
The sex offender killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges he sexually abused and trafficked underage girls.
Epstein’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for him.
Sky Roberts, the brother of one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, Virginia Giuffre, previously called on US lawmakers to “stop talking and act”.
For years, victims of the disgraced financier and their families – as well as conspiracy theorists – have called for the release of the files about the investigations into his crimes.
Tens of thousands of pages of evidence from federal investigations into Epstein and Maxwell – known as the Epstein files – have been released to the public in stages over several years.
These documents, some released in redacted format, include Epstein’s flight logs, his contact book, email exchanges, court documents, and testimonies from victims and witnesses.
Names of many high-profile figures have appeared in them – but that does not mean they were aware of, or involved in Epstein’s crimes.
Earlier this year, a memo from the Justice Department and FBI said there was “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions” or had a “client list”.
Epstein personally “harmed over one thousand victims,” the FBI and DOJ said.
But they added: “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties”.
Digital searches of Epstein’s electronic devices and physical searches of his various properties, which included a private Caribbean island, had yielded a “significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence,” the memo said.
The disgraced financier’s island was raided in 2019, with shocking images showing the FBI raiding the complex.
Since Trump signed the bill late on November 19, the deadline for the DOJ to release the files will either be December 19 or Christmas Eve.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the DOJ intended to abide by the deadline.
She earlier said that the Trump administration will make all of the eligible files on the convicted sex offender public for “maximum transparency”.
Following Trump’s latest move to release the files, Epstein’s victims have come forward to claim the convicted sex offender had a tiny and “extremely deformed” penis that looked like a lemon.
MEGHAN Markle’s father Thomas is fighting for his life after being rushed to hospital and now faces further surgery, a report claims.
Thomas Markle, 81, was taken to hospital on Tuesday after falling ill at his home in the Philippines.
Meghan Markle’s father Thomas has been rushed into intensive care after emergency surgeryCredit: Collect
It is understood he underwent surgery on Wednesday and was transferred to the intensive care unit, as reported by the Mail.
Doctors are now reportedly waiting to prepare him for another operation to remove a blood clot.
His son Thomas Jr. said: “I took dad to a hospital close to our home and they did various scans and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger.
“They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the center of the city. My dad has undergone emergency surgery.
“I would ask everyone around the world to keep him in their thoughts.”
He added: “My only wish is that Meghan shows my father some compassion. He is literally fighting for his life.”
Meanwhile, daughter Samantha, 61, said: “He is a strong man, but he has been through so much. I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this.
“My father has been through two heart attacks, a stroke and an earthquake. I hope he can pull through this.”
Thomas has suffered with ill health, including a stroke, in recent years and had been living in Mexico for the past 10 years before relocating to the Philippines in January.
He has been estranged from Meghan since her wedding to Prince Harry.
Thomas suffered two heart attacks on the eve of the big day in 2018 and was unable to walk his daughter down the aisle.
It came after he had posed for paparazzi pictures ahead of the wedding.
Meghan then cut him off after he put the phone down during a heated row with Harry while recovering in hospital.
The duke told him he was in that position because he had not listened to their advice not to speak to the press – following the paparazzi scandal.
Thomas told The Sun On Sunday at the time: “I felt disrespected by them. I was recovering from a heart attack, lying in a bed, having a phone call, and the things were being said that hurt me.
“I felt like I was being blamed for my mistakes when I was in my hospital bed recovering from a heart attack.”
Concerns were also raised for 81-year-old Thomas just a few months ago when his daughter Samantha claimed he was stuck on the 19th floor of his Philippines flat after a deadly earthquake.
Meghan’s half-sister sparked alarm by posting online that their father was unable to walk and had been left stranded following the 6.9-magnitude quake.
Samantha Markle had written on X: “My father is stuck on the 19th floor of a building in the Philippines after a massive earthquake and he can’t walk and he is trapped.”
However, Thomas bizarrely later declared he was “fine” and urged people not to worry.
The pensioner’s latest health update comes as a new episode of Meghan’s Netflix Christmas special was released on Wednesday.
THE White House hit back at headlines claiming Donald Trump dozed off during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday as questions swirl about the president’s stamina.
The 79-year-old appeared to struggle to keep his eyes open during the two-hour televised conference.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at headlines claiming that Donald Trump was falling asleep in a cabinet meetingCredit: Getty
Trump closed his eyes for an extended period of time at nine points throughout the meeting, the Washington Post reported.
At one point, the president appeared to be nudged by Marco Rubio as the secretary of state spoke with the executive team.
The bizarre incident came amid a flurry of searing headlines from left-leaning outlets questioning Trump’s health and ability to serve his full term.
However, in a press conference on Wednesday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt set the record straight, saying Trump was “listening attentively and running the entire” meeting.
“In all of these historic meetings, the president and his incredible team highlight the exhaustive list of accomplishments they have delivered on behalf of the American people to Make America Great Again,” Leavitt said in a statement.
Trump’s apparent sleepiness comes the day after posted over 160 times on Truth Social between 7 pm and 11 pm, the Daily Beast reported.
Early in the meeting, Trump complained about the scrutiny he receives compared to his predecessor, Joe Biden, who he called “Sleepy Joe.”
At 79, Trump is the oldest person to assume the presidency.
Biden was the first octogenarian president and dropped out of the presidential election last year because of concerns about his mental acuity.
In Tuesday’s meeting, Trump blasted a New York Times article analyzing his aging and claiming he had a lighter public schedule.
“I’ll let you know when there’s something wrong. There will be someday,” Trump said.
“That’s going to happen to all of us. But right now I think I’m sharper than I was 25 years ago. But who the hell knows?”
HEALTH CONCERNS
The Times reported that Trump has trimmed his public appearances to between 12 pm and 5 pm, a change from his first term.
However, the White House said the Times only cited publicly available information, and insisted that Trump’s private log is filled with back-to-back meetings and calls.
His administration hit back at claims by providing the New York Post documents that they said prove Trump is working “up to 12 hour days.”
The president has also squashed concern by saying he got “all A’s” on his recent physical exam.
THE doctor who supplied Matthew Perry with dozens of vials of ketamine began crying after he turned to apologize to the actor’s family minutes before he was hauled away to serve 30 months in prison.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia was seen teary-eyed as he told Perry’s mother, Suzanne, and relatives, “I’m just so sorry.”
Disgraced doctor Salvador Plasencia arriving to a federal courthouse in Los Angeles for his sentencing hearing in connection with Matthew Perry’s deathCredit: AFP
He stood before the court and told Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett: “I never imagined I’d be standing before you. I spent so many years and came so far to help people, to take them away from pain.”
Placenscia, 43, explained that he will one day have to find a way to tell his own young son that he “couldn’t protect a mother’s son.”
He admitted that there was “no excuse,” adding that he failed Perry and his family.
He agreed to plead guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine as part of a deal with prosecutors, who dropped five other counts.
Plasencia is the first of five defendants who are set to be sentenced in the coming weeks, although he did not deliver the fatal dose.
Minutes before his apology, the court heard from the grieving parents of Perry, 54, who died after being found face-down in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
The two-hour sentencing hearing saw the actor’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, decide to speak directly to Placenscia, explaining her son fought so hard to stay alive after suffering for years with addiction and even bounced back after serious medical issues.
She expressed the importance of the Hippocratic Oath doctors take and, through tears, told Placesncia, “This is my boy!”
Looking him directly in the eye and being comforted by her husband, Keith Morrison, she said, “I just wanted you to see the mother. This was a bad thing you did.”
She also scolded him for calling her son a “moron” in damning text messages read out in court, as he was seen looking solemn and sweating, repeatedly mopping his brow and face.
Perry’s sisters and stepmother also spoke in court about how loyal and connected the family is and how their lives will never be the same again.
Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, also wrote a victim impact statement, although he never read it out in court.
He described the emotional toll the actor’s mother has continued to endure since her son’s death more than two years ago.
“Many people, mothers mostly, have told me over the years how things like that breaks you, makes you feel broken,” he wrote.
“And I didn’t quite get what that meant until I watched what this thing did to Matthew’s mother. Still does, two years on. It’s a deep well, can’t see the bottom yet.”
The star’s father, John Perry, was absent due to illness.
The Government recommended 36 months behind bars, while the probation service recommended 12 months, and Plasencia’s team asked for just one day.
His lawyers still tried to argue that he was initially trying to treat Perry, his first high-profile patient, for his depression.
But Judge Garnett told the defense, “I don’t buy that argument.”
She also pointed out how the doctor further encouraged Perry to take ketamine, with a text to his assistant that read, “I know you mentioned taking a break. I have been stocking up on the meanwhile. I am not sure when you guys plan to resume but in case its when im out of town this weekend I have left supplies with a nurse of mine …I can always let her know the plan.”
Judge Garnett disagreed that Plasencia was trying to help Perry and believed he was selling drugs for a profit, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello called him a “drug dealer in a white coat.”
“You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to his death by continuing to feed his addiction,” Judge Garnett added.
Perry’s mother and stepmother also slammed Plasencia and the other defendants as “greedy jackals” who came out of the dark and fed on the vulnerability of their son.
“I believe the man you are going to sentence today is among the most culpable of all. His crime I find truly hard to understand,” the parents’ statement read.
“Sometimes it’s a little easier to understand when a person commits a terrible crime.
“Maybe in the heat of passion, or because that person makes one very bad decision.. or some drug dealer, bad to the bone, who takes the calculated risk of getting caught and spending many years in prison.
“But… a doctor? Who trades on respect, and trust? And not just one bad decision.. No one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew’s struggles.
“But this doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret.
“For what, a few thousand dollars? So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son…and crow, as he did so, with that revealing question: ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay. Let’s find out.’”
Plasencia’s disgruntled mother, Luz, was an emotional wreck as she watched her son be escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs after learning his fate.
He will serve 30 months and be on supervised release for a further two years after his release.
The doctor was also ordered to pay a $5,600 fine and a $400 special assessment.
Outside the courthouse, Luz told reporters that she wants Perry’s family to know she’s “so sorry,” but defended her son, saying he has a “good heart.”
“I love him and to all the parents, no matter how old your children are, talk with them,” Luz said when asked if she had a message to her son.
Keith had little to say after the sentencing, but admitted, “It’s a tragic story. Sometimes people do bad things.”
Perry’s stepmom, Debbie, whose victim impact statement was on behalf of herself and the actor’s father, John, condemned Plasencia’s action, saying their son’s recovery counted on the defendant “saying no.”
“Your motives? I can’t imagine,” Debbie and John wrote.
“A doctor whose life is devoted to helping people? Whatever were you thinking? How long did you possibly see supplying Matthew countless doses without his death to eventually follow?
“Did you care? Did you think? How many more people have you harmed that we don’t know about?”
The parents lamented that Plasencia devastated the family and contributed to the loss of their only son.
‘DR. P’
After the hearing, Plasencia’s lawyers released a statement saying that their client, “accepts the Court’s sentence today with humility and deep remorse.”
They added that he had voluntarily given up his medical license, a fact that was repeatedly mentioned in court.
“He was a good doctor loved by those he treated. He is not a villain. He is someone who made serious mistakes in his treatment decisions involving the off-label use of ketamine — a drug commonly used for depression that does not have uniform standards,” they said.
“The mistakes he made over the 13 days during which he treated Mr. Perry will stay with him forever.”
Federal investigators said Plasencia and Mark Chavez – a former physician in San Diego, who is also scheduled to be sentenced on December 17 – coordinated with Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s personal live-in assistant, to distribute the drugs to the actor.
Martin Estrada, the US attorney for the Central District of California, said Perry fell back into addiction during the fall of 2023.
“These defendants took advantage to profit for themselves,” Estrada said at the time.
On September 30, 2023, Plasencia, who was known to Perry as “Dr. P,” and Chavez discussed purchasing ketamine so they could sell it to the actor, according to a federal indictment.
In a text message, prosecutors said Plasencia and Chavez discussed how much they were going to charge Perry, writing, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Let’s find out.”
THIS is the shocking moment Vladimir Putin’s “secret daughter” is blasted by a Ukrainian journalist on the streets of Paris – before being told: “Your dad killed my brother.”
The bombshell clip reportedly shows Elizaveta Krivonogikh – long suspected to be the Russian tyrant’s love child – being confronted over her alleged father’s bloody invasion.
This is the shocking moment Vladimir Putin’s alleged secret daughter is confronted by a Ukrainian journalistCredit: TCH
In the astonishing footage – posted by Ukrainian outlet TCH – the man behind the camera can be heard slamming the woman in a composed tone.
He blames her “dad” for killing his brother – as a result of the pariah’s war in Ukraine.
He is heard saying: “How do you even live in Europe? In this hateful, cursed Europe, this ‘Gay-rope’.
“Or what is it like with you people. Say something at least. Do you support his policies?”
Refusing to comment on the journalist’s claims, the woman simply tells him he doesn’t have permission to film.
Putin’s rumoured secret daughter Krivonogikh, 22, also known as Luiza Rozova and now Elizaveta Rudnova, lives in self-imposed exile in the French capital.
She is suspected to be the secret love-child of Putin and Svetlana Krivonogikh – a glamorous former cleaner turned multimillionaire.
Krivonogikh works at two anti-war art galleries in Paris according to Russian artist Nastya Rodionova – while also reportedly launching thinly veiled attacks on Putin.
In August, German outlet Bild, which claimed to have seen her private Telegram channel, reported that Luiza wrote about “the man who took millions of lives and destroyed mine”.
Krivonogikh grew up drenched in luxury – private jets, exclusive nightclubs, and designer wardrobes.
She would flaunt her life of privilege on Instagram while Russia grappled with poverty and pandemic chaos.
But in early 2022, just before Russia launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine, she abruptly vanished from Russian social media.
Her alleged mum Svetlana, now in her 40s, went from scrubbing floors to owning a stake in sanctioned Rossiya Bank and a property empire worth over $100 million.
She also owns a raunchy St Petersburg nightclub, Leningrad Centre, known for its erotic shows.
The suspected daughter of the Russian despot re-emerged in Paris in 2022 under a new name – Elizaveta Rudnova – reportedly in a bid to sever ties with her past.
Ukrainian TV later claimed she was living in the French capital with a passport under the name Rudnova, allegedly ditching the patronymic Vladimirovna, which would confirm her father’s name as Vladimir.
Her new surname is a likely nod to the late Oleg Rudnov, one of Putin’s longtime cronies.
When independent outlet Proekt first exposed the story, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he’d “never heard anything” about Krivonogikh — an evasion that only intensified speculation.
Putin, who officially recognises only two daughters from his previous marriage, has never acknowledged Luiza — nor denied her.
Mad Vlad has two publicly known children, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova – both of which were born to the dictator’s ex-wife Lyudmila Aleksandrovna.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia are investing in new terrestrial cable systems to relieve the strain on underwater cables in the Red Sea. This is part of a fundamental modernization strategy.
Ooredoo is a Qatar-based telecommunications giantImage: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA/picture alliance
Ooredoo, a Qatar-based communications company, plans to spend 500 million US dollars (430 million euros) on new terrestrial fiber optic cable systems in the coming years. The cables will stretch from the Arabian Peninsula to Europe. According to a report by the Qatari news agency QNA, they will start in Oman, run from there to Iraq and Turkey and finally to France.
Notwithstanding, according to press reports, Syria and Saudi Arabia are also in talks to build a similar system of data cables that would also run from the Arabian Peninsula — more precisely Saudi Arabia — to Europe.
Ayad Al-Ani, a Professor for Change Management and Consulting in Berlin, told DW that it was noteworthy that both Qatar and Saudi Arabia were attempting to establish a land connection.
“This implies that both Iraq and Syria are safe transit countries that can be invested in,” he said. “It will integrate the two countries more into the international data communication system, from which the local digital economy will benefit. This is likely to promote their economic development.”
Alternative routes to bypass Red Sea challenges
According to QNA, Aziz Al Uthman Fakhroo, CEO of Ooredoo, suggested at a conference in Doha that the system would “strengthen the resilience of global networks, create alternative routes that bypass current challenges in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.”
From the perspective of network operators, both regions are currently sensitive. The Strait of Hormuz separates the Arabian Peninsula from Iran — meaning Iran is separated from countries that until recently were considered its rivals, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the recent past, there have been formidable clashes with Saudi Arabia in particular. Qatar meanwhile maintains good relations with Iran.
The situation in the Red Sea is more fragile. Every year, 22,000 ships pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. It’s also a main route in the digital network: There are currently 15 intercontinental undersea cables running through the area, and according to HGC Global Communications, 80% of data traffic between Asia, Africa and Europe runs through them.
The cables have repeatedly been the target of attacks — or might have been, because there is not always clear evidence of damage having been caused deliberately.
There were several outages in 2008 when, according to a study by the Henry Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, five cables were damaged in different incidents. Three of the cables connected Asia and Europe, and as a result 70% of Egypt’s internet connectivity was temporarily lost, while India experienced a 50% to 60% loss of bandwidth.
Houthi attacks on shipping routes and cable systems
In the recent war between Israel and the militant Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, the latter received support from the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and others.
Houthis attacked several ships in the Red Sea to disrupt international trade, and according to HGC, also damaged four cable systems in the spring of 2024, including one called Asia-Africa-Europe 1, which connects the three continents. A good quarter of data traffic was reportedly affected.
In a statement, HGC described how it was maintaining international communication by rerouting data traffic to Europe via mainland China, the US or undamaged cables in the Red Sea.
The idea is that the new systems will prevent such incidents. According to the QNA report, Aziz Al Uthman Fakhroo of Ooredoo said that “cross-border cooperation has become both an operational and strategic necessity, especially given that the Middle East is a global logistical and digital hub, with 30% of the world’s data and 90% of the data exchanged between Europe and Asia passing through it.”
Qatar expands telecommunications sector
Qatar is systematically expanding its telecommunications industry. Last fall, Qatar National Broadband Network (QNBN) and Gulf Bridge International (GBI) announced their intention to merge their telecommunications divisions. This merger has now been completed. QNBN specializes in fiber optic cables, while GBI focuses on underwater and terrestrial cables.
The Peninsula, an English-language daily in Qatar, reported that the “integration of QNBN and GBI brings together two highly complementary businesses to create a carrier-neutral digital and AI infrastructure leader, further connecting Qatar to the world.”
Ayad Al-Ani pointed out that the projects were not focused only on infrastructure but also on Qatari digital technology, such as data centers.
“The infrastructure alone is already considered a significant source of revenue today. But in conjunction with data and innovation centers, it provides the prerequisites for a successful digital economy,” he told DW.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked endangering troops by using the Signal messaging app to discuss a strike on Houthis in Yemen, sources say a Pentagon watchdog report finds.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put US troops at risk when he used the commerical messaging app Signal to discuss US strikes in Yemen, a Pentagon watchdog report foundImage: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo/picture alliance
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put American troops and mission at risk when he used the Signal mesaging app on his personal device to discuss planned strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen, a report by the Pentagon’s watchdog has found.
That’s according to US media, including CNN and ABC, and news agencies. They cite sources familiar with the results of the investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general, which hasn’t yet been publicly released.
Hegseth didn’t violate rules on classification, the report found according to the sources, because as the head of the Pentagon, he has the authority to declassify information.
But the information shouldn’t have been discussed on the commercial app, the report said. That’s because the information was so sensitive that it could have endangered the lives of American troops and the mission itself if it was intercepted.
Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the inspector general, sources said, citing the report. Instead, he provided written answers. He also only provided a small number of his Signal messages for review.
The meant the investigation had to rely on screenshots published by The Atlantic magazine, whose editor-in-chief was accidentally added to the Signal chat, according to sources.
The classified review was delivered on Tuesday evening to Congress.
A partially redacted version of the report is expected to be released publicly later this week, possibly on Thursday.
Trump stands by Hegseth
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the review affirms the Trump administration’s statements that “no classified information was leaked, and operational security was not compromised.”
“President Trump stands by Secretary Hegseth,” Leavitt said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said the review exonerated Hegseth.
“This matter is resolved, and the case is closed,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNN.
Hegseth used Signal to discuss Yemen strikes
Hegseth’s use of the commercial messaging app came to light when the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to a Signal chat by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Signal is encrypted, but it isn’t authorized for carrying classified information and isn’t part of the Defense Department’s secure communications network.
The group chat included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubioand the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as well as others.
The officials discussed March 15 military operations against the Iran- backed Houthis in Yemen.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales takes part in a conversation, at the Reuters NEXT conference, in New York City, New York, U.S., December 3, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Wikipedia is working with Big Tech on deals similar to its arrangement with Google, the online encyclopedia’s co-founder, Jimmy Wales, said on Wednesday, in a bid to help the firm monetize AI companies’ heavy reliance on its content.
Speaking in an interview at the Reuters NEXT summit in New York, Wales said that tech companies’ usage of freely available Wikipedia knowledge to train their large language models results in cost surges that Wikipedia’s nonprofit operator must bear.
“The AI bots that are crawling Wikipedia are going across the entirety of the site … So we have to have more servers, we have to have more RAM and memory for caching that, and that costs us a disproportionate amount,” Wales said.
While the content of Wikipedia remains free for individuals under its license, the high-volume, automated access by for-profit entities is a different matter, Wales said. He noted that a deal has already been signed with Alphabet’s Google and that discussions with other firms are ongoing.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, struck a deal with Google in 2022 to have the tech giant pay for training access to Wikipedia content, which is a crucial part of data that companies like OpenAI and Meta Platforms use to train their AI models.
The foundation’s primary source of income is small donations from the public, which Wales said are not intended to underwrite the development of multibillion-dollar commercial AI products.
“Wikipedia is supported by volunteers. Those people are donating money to support Wikipedia, and not to subsidize OpenAI costing us a ton of money. That doesn’t feel fair,” said Wales.
The push for more licensing places the world’s largest repository of free knowledge in a potential standoff with the burgeoning AI industry. It raises fundamental questions about who should bear the cost for the vast datasets that fuel the AI revolution and whether for-profit companies have an obligation to compensate the public and nonprofit sources that help build their technology.
Asked if Wikipedia would take legal action against AI companies using its content without paying for training access, Wales said: “I don’t know. I feel like our ability of soft power to just shame them is probably pretty powerful.”
Wales said Wikipedia might also consider using technical measures such as Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control that let clients limit when and how AI bots scraping the internet can access their content. He acknowledged this could create a dilemma, given Wikipedia’s ideological commitment to open access to knowledge, but stressed that the financial burden must be addressed.
The Wikimedia Foundation has operated Wikipedia for over two decades as a nonprofit entity, relying on a global community of volunteer editors and public donations to provide free information.
Meghan Markle’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, was admitted into the intensive care unit after he underwent emergency surgery.
The “Suits” alum’s brother, Thomas Markle Jr., confirmed the patriarch was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery after becoming sick at his home in the Philippines on Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported.
Thomas, 81, will later undergo another procedure to remove a blood clot.
Meghan Markle’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, was taken to the hospital after falling ill. News Licensing / MEGA
“I took dad to a hospital close to our home and they did various scans and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger,” Thomas Jr., 59, told the outlet.
“They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the centre of the city.”
Thomas’ 61-year-old daughter, Samantha, blamed his illness on the hardships her father has faced over the past few years.
“He is a strong man, but he has been through so much. I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this,” she told the Daily Mail.
“My father has been through two heart attacks, a stroke and an earthquake. I hope he can pull through this.”
Reps for Meghan, 44, weren’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.
Over the years, Thomas has battled a series of health issues and notably missed the actress’ wedding to Prince Harry after undergoing heart surgery in 2018.
He was hospitalized again in 2022 after suffering from a stroke while living in Tijuana, Mexico.
“I feel hugely grateful and know how lucky I am to be alive,” Thomas told the Daily Mail after he was discharged five days later.
Bethenny Frankel cried while discussing her lengthy divorce from her second husband, Jason Hoppy, in a new interview.
The “Real Housewives of New York City” alum got shockingly candid about the painful split on Wednesday’s episode of Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, saying “nothing” — not even her rough childhood — could compare to the “torment” she experienced when leaving Hoppy.
“I have seen my mother slit her wrists. I have lived my whole life chasing her into bathrooms, trying to catch her throwing up. I’ve been around guns, the mafia, the race track. I’ve been through everything. I’ve seen her beaten within an inch of her life. I have seen everything. Nothing compares to what my divorce was for 10 years. Nothing,” Frankel, 55, stated.
The Skinnygirl founder noted that her mom’s lifelong struggles with bulimia and alcoholism were “child’s play” compared to the “trauma of someone wanting to torture you and telling you that they’re going to do it.”
Bethenny Frankel cried while discussing her lengthy divorce from her second husband, Jason Hoppy, in a new interview. Call Her Daddy/YouTube
Because she was the “more successful” of the two, Frankel felt the “optics” made her look like “the powerhouse tyrant” while Hoppy, 56, was branded “the victim.”
“It was so traumatic. It was 10 years of my life. I lost hair. I thought I would never survive it. I didn’t want to,” she confessed to Cooper as she got choked up. “I had to because of my daughter. I literally thought, ‘I’ll never be happy again.’”
Frankel and the pharmaceutical executive wed in March 2010. They welcomed daughter Bryn, 15, two months later. They announced their separation in December 2012, with Frankel filing for divorce the following month.
The split wasn’t finalized until January 2021.
“I treated it like a marathon, and I went one mile at a time, and I checked every box,” the former Bravolebrity said of the divorce process, alleging that “it was fraud, it was stealing, it was hacking, it was harassment, it was abuse, it was Googling me 60 times a day, it was staying in bed and staring into my face, it was calling me every bad character in the books.”
In January 2017, Hoppy was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment in the first degree, harassment in the second degree and stalking in the fourth degree after allegedly sending Frankel a series of abusive emails and then showing up at Bryn’s school to threaten his then-estranged wife, “I will destroy you.” (Hoppy denied the charges.)
Frankel told Cooper that her divorce was “the worst thing [she] could ever wish upon a person.”
She recalled spending “millions of dollars” in the split and claimed that “every single lawyer said they’ve never seen anything like it, ever. Like, it was insane.”
The businesswoman admitted that the “only thing that got [her] through” that time was the hope that she could one day “help people” experiencing similar distress.
She emphasized the importance of having a prenuptial agreement in place before marrying someone and “going with your gut” because “cracks become craters.”
Despite her feelings of despair and defeat during her separation, Frankel made it a point to “never talk bad” about Hoppy in front of Bryn, even though she believes the teen “energetically felt” the situation.
“Just because you’re not saying it in front of the child, it doesn’t mean they don’t feel,” she argued, adding, “It’s a long road. Your kids will become cognizant, and they will understand. You don’t have to say it to them. You don’t have to prove it to them.”
Chiefs president reveals his promise to Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift to never ‘monetize’ off their relationship
Kansas City Chiefs President Mark Donovan revealed he promised Travis Kelce not to profit off his romance with Taylor Swift.
“I told Travis, ‘Look, we are going to treat you and your relationship with the same respect that we treat any other player or coach’s relationship,’” the businessman shared on Monday’s episode of “Up & Adams.”
“It’s a relationship. We’re not going to monetize it, we’re not going to go out there and go crazy.”
Kansas City Chiefs President Mark Donovan revealed he promised Travis Kelce he would respect his relationship with Taylor Swift. Getty Images
Donovan explained that Swift is never shown on Arrowhead Stadium’s broadcast boards, unlike other news outlets that flash her on-camera.
“For a couple of years, all those shots you see in the stadium. He scores a touchdown. He makes a catch. It goes to Taylor,” he said.
“Especially the first year. We never showed Taylor on our big boards in our stadium, never. It was respectful. We’re not going to do that.”
Donovan emphasized that he’s not interested in “taking advantage of [Kelce and Swift’s] relationship.”
Mysterious Taylor Swift installation pops up on Sunset Boulevard
Swifties are making their way to a mysterious Taylor Swift-themed installation in Los Angeles.
The display at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive left fans speculating about what the “Life of a Showgirl” songstress could be teasing.
The setup features cutouts of the singer, including one showing Swift from behind in a “Fearless” dress while holding her guitar in front of a gold, glittery backdrop.
Another cutout captures her singing into the microphone during the Eras Tour while performing her hit 2024 track, “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.”
The pop-up, wrapped in a barricaded sidewalk perimeter, also includes promotional banners with the Disney+ logo and the titles of Swift’s upcoming docuseries and concert film.
Her releases — “End of an Era” and the “Final Show” — are both set to premiere on Disney+ on Dec. 12.
Sabrina Carpenter gushes over being the only featured artist on ‘bestie’ Taylor Swift’s ‘Life of a Showgirl’ album
Sabrina Carpenter is still in disbelief that she was chosen as the only featured artist on Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” album.
“Ten-year-old me, for so many reasons, could not believe it — to hear our voices together,” the singer told Variety Wednesday.
“We definitely realized it was special, but I would have never been like, ‘Hey, bestie, put me on a song,’” the “Espresso” hitmaker quipped.
“She was so gracious to think of me for a song that spoke to our life experiences in such a real, genuine way. It really sums up what so many young women in this industry go through.”
Carpenter is featured on the album’s title track, and the two Grammy winners definitely know a thing or two about the life of a superstar.
Fans watched their friendship bloom as the “Manchild” singer opened up for Swift on her record-breaking Eras Tour. Last month, the besties were also spotted having a glam girls’ night out at one of NYC’s trendiest spots, The Corner Store.
Taylor Swift’s top Spotify listeners received a very special message from the pop star this week.
Those who streamed her music the most this year were treated to a video when opening their 2025 Spotify Wrapped on Wednesday.
“Oh, hey! So if this is popping up on your phone, then chances are you listened to a lot of my music this year on Spotify. It’s Taylor, by the way,” Swift’s message began.
“Thank you for doing that. Thank you for all your support with ‘The Life of a Showgirl.'”
The singer teased there’s “a lot of reminiscing” on the way with her new docuseries, the “End of an Era,” and concert film, the “Final Show,” both premiering on Disney+ on Dec. 12.
Toward the end of her video, the “Fate of Ophelia” songstress wished her fans a “wonderful holiday season” and shared one final message of appreciation.
“I’m so grateful for you. Thank you for everything,” she concluded, blowing a kiss to the camera.
Last year, Swift was crowned Spotify’s “Global Top Artist” for the second year in a row, with 26.6 billion streams worldwide.
However, she was dethroned this year by Bad Bunny.
The Super Bowl 2026 performer reached 19.8 billion global streams and previously held the title for three consecutive years.
Travis Kelce gushes over ‘beautiful’ vacation with Taylor Swift in rare look inside romance
Travis Kelce gushed over his “beautiful” Italy vacation with his fiancée, Taylor Swift.
During the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast, George Clooney asked the Kansas City Chiefs star about his 2024 trip to Lake Como.
“Me and Tay danced around Lake Como for a little while. I loved it out there,” Travis told the “Ocean’s Elven” actor, who owns a villa in the area.
“They love to point it out whenever you’re on the lake,” the tight end quipped.
Clooney, 64, joked that his home was “part of the tour.”
Travis Kelce insists he and Taylor Swift ‘never’ argue as he gets marriage advice from George Clooney
Travis Kelce’s latest podcast confession is “Sweeter Than Fiction.”
The athlete insisted he and fiancée Taylor Swift “never” argue as he chatted with George Clooney on Wednesday’s “New Heights” episode.
The Kansas City Chiefs player, 36, asked the actor, 64, whether he stood by his recent statement that he and wife Amal Clooney “have not got in a fight in 10 years.”
Clooney turned the question back on Kelce, asking, “I’m not lying. Shall we ask you the same?”
The tight end replied, “It’s only been two and a half years, and you’re right. I’ve never got in an argument. Never once.”
Sombr praises Taylor Swift’s engagement and calls the ‘Life of a Showgirl’ his album of the year
Sombr is in his Swiftie era.
In a recent interview with Vulture, the “Back to Friends” artist gushed over Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement.
“Man, I’m just happy for them,” he said in a recent interview with Vulture.
“I grew up with Taylor Swift, and seeing one of my favorite artists from my childhood getting engaged is really cool to see. I just hope they invite me to the wedding.”
Sombr — born Shane Boose — also listed the “Opalite” songstress’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” as one of his favorites of the year, alongside Olivia Dean’s “Art of Loving,” and Ravyn Lenae’s “Love me Not.”
An employee checks a hepatitis B vaccine at SciVac’s laboratory in Rehovot. REUTERS/Baz Ratner Purchase Licensing Rights
An independent review released on Tuesday by vaccine experts of more than 400 studies and reports found that long-standing U.S. policy of giving the hepatitis B vaccine to newborns has cut infections in children by more than 95%.
The policy, adopted in 1991, will be discussed and voted on later this week by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisers hand-picked by U.S. health secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“After extensive review, we did not discover safety or effectiveness data that support delaying the choice parents have to vaccinate their newborns against hepatitis B,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota who helped found the Vaccine Integrity Project that released the review.
The Vaccine Integrity Project is an initiative dedicated to safeguarding vaccine use in the United States set up to counter controversial vaccine information and recommendations from the Trump administration that are lacking or contrary to scientific evidence.
The revamped CDC advisory panel, following Kennedy’s firing of all 17 previous expert members, in September decided to postpone a vote to delay the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.
Since then, U.S. President Donald Trump and other health officials have called for delaying the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine until as late as age 12, saying that the virus is largely sexually transmitted.
Osterholm said the evidence clearly supports keeping the current U.S. policy.
Hepatitis B is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis B virus. It primarily spreads through blood, semen, or certain other body fluids.
Infants infected with hepatitis B during their first year of life have a 90% chance of developing a chronic infection, increasing the risk of serious liver disease such as cirrhosis or cancer.
Global growth is holding up better than expected as an artificial intelligence investment boom helps offset some of the shock from U.S. tariff hikes, the OECD said on Tuesday, nudging up its outlook for some major economies.
The Paris-based organisation warned, however, that global growth was vulnerable to any new outbreak of trade tensions while investor optimism about AI could trigger a stock market correction if expectations are not met.
In its Economic Outlook, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast global growth would slow modestly from 3.2% in 2025 to 2.9% in 2026, leaving its forecasts untouched from its last estimates in September. It predicted a rebound to 3.1% in 2027.
OECD head Mathias Cormann said the trade shocks triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes had so far proved relatively mild, but added their costs were likely to rise.
“The full effects of those higher tariffs since the start of the year will become clearer as firms run down the inventories that they built up,” he told a press conference.
UPGRADED GROWTH FORECASTS FOR 2025, BUT RISKS REMAIN
The U.S. economy is forecast to grow 2% in 2025, revised up from 1.8% in September, before slowing to 1.7% in 2026 – up from 1.5% predicted in September.
AI investment, fiscal support and expected Federal Reserve rate cuts are helping offset the drag from tariffs on imported goods, reduced immigration and federal job cuts, the OECD said.
Chinese shipping containers sit at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, U.S., November 5, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake Purchase Licensing Rights
However, it warned that the Trump administration had put U.S. fiscal policy on an unsustainable trajectory with large budget deficits and rising debt that would require a “significant adjustment” in the coming years.
China’s growth is expected to hold steady at 5% in 2025, up from 4.9% in September, before slowing to 4.4% in 2026 – unchanged from September – as fiscal support fades and new U.S. tariffs on goods imported from China bite.
The euro zone’s 2025 growth forecast was revised up to 1.3% from 1.2%, supported by resilient labour markets and increased public spending in Germany. Growth is expected to moderate to 1.2% in 2026 – it was seen at 1% previously – as budget tightening in France and Italy weighs on the outlook.
Japan’s economy is projected to grow 1.3% in 2025, up from 1.1%, and buoyed by strong corporate earnings and investment, before slowing to 0.9% in 2026.
Officials in Minneapolis on Tuesday said they were not aware of imminent federal immigration raids targeting the area’s Somali community, which has come under blistering attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump in recent days.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, responding to a report in the New York Times that upward of 100 federal immigration agents were poised to descend on his city and neighboring St. Paul to target undocumented Somali residents, said regardless of whether raids were coming, the Somali community would be supported in every way possible by local authorities.
Frey, a Democrat, said local police would not work with federal agents on any immigration matters, and he strongly criticized Trump’s recent attacks on the Somali community, including on Tuesday when the president called them “garbage” and said “we don’t want them in our country.”
The president has increased his attacks on Somalis in the U.S. since last week’s shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, a shooting that killed on of the troops and for which an Afghan national has been charged.
“To villainize an entire group is ridiculous under any circumstances,” Frey said.
Anti-immigration rhetoric was a major part of Trump’s campaign and since taking office in January he has overseen an aggressive campaign by masked federal agents across the country that has instilled fear in immigrant communities and prompted protests and backlashes in the cities targeted.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, did not confirm raids were imminent in Minneapolis, but said agents were enforcing immigration laws across the country every day.
About 80,000 Somalis live in Minnesota, mostly in the Twin Cities metro region. Frey said the community had been an economic and cultural boon to the area and had been living in the U.S. for several decades. The vast majority of Somalis in the U.S., Frey said, are American citizens, and he said he’s convinced any immigration action would ensnare people in the country legally.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks at a press conference to address reports of a planned federal operation targeting Somali immigrants, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Evans Purchase Licensing Rights
LATEST ATTACKS
Trump last month said he was immediately terminating temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota, saying “Somali gangs” were terrorizing the state, without offering evidence or details. Local officials said Trump’s portrayal is untrue. In all, 705 Somalis are in the country with TPS status, according to government records.
During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump ratcheted up his inflammatory rhetoric about Somalis, saying they had contributed nothing to the U.S.
“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the president was “absolutely right to highlight the problems caused by the radical Somali migrants that the Democrats let invade our country and steal from American taxpayers.”
Trump has long used incendiary rhetoric, as well as racist and sexist language, saying on several occasions that immigrants in the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Russia and the U.S. did not reach a compromise on a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine after a five-hour Kremlin meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s top envoys, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Trump has repeatedly complained that ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two has been one of the elusive foreign policy aims of his presidency. The U.S. president has at times scolded both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Talks in Moscow between Putin and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner went past midnight. Afterward, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said “Compromises have not yet been found.
“There is still a lot of work to be done,” Ushakov told reporters at a briefing in the Kremlin.
Putin reacted negatively to some U.S. proposals, Ushakov said. Witkoff went to the U.S. embassy in Moscow after the talks to brief the White House, Ushakov said.
Ushakov added that a meeting between Putin and Trump was not currently planned, though he said the talks were constructive and that there were huge opportunities for U.S.-Russian economic cooperation.
NO FURTHER AWAY FROM PEACE
Ushakov said Putin had sent a series of important signals and his greetings to Trump, but that the sides had agreed not to disclose details to the media.
He added that they had discussed the “territorial problem”, Kremlin shorthand for Russian claims to the whole of Donbas, though Ukraine controls at least 5,000 square km (1,900 square miles) of the area which Russia claims as its own. Almost all countries recognise Donbas as part of Ukraine.
“Some American draft proposals look more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed,” Ushakov said. “Some of the formulations that have been proposed to us are not suitable for us, that is – the work will continue.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev and foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov attend a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2025. Sputnik/Kristina Kormilitsyna/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Witkoff, a billionaire U.S. real estate developer who has known Trump since the 1980s, and Kushner, the husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, began talks in the Kremlin after a stroll across Red Square past the mausoleum of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin to the towers of the Kremlin.
They talked with Putin, Ushakov and Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev, via interpreters.
“Our people are over in Russia right now to see if we can get it settled. Not an easy situation, let me tell you. What a mess,” Trump said on Tuesday in Washington, adding that there were casualties of 25,000 to 30,000 per month in the war.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
EUROPEAN POWERS WORRIED BY U.S. EFFORTS
A leaked set of 28 U.S. draft peace proposals, emerged in November, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow’s main demands.
European powers then came up with a counter-proposal, and at talks in Geneva, the U.S. and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war.
Zelenskiy, speaking in Dublin, said everything would depend on the talks in Moscow but that he was afraid the U.S. could lose interest in the peace process.
Presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla of Honduras’ Liberal Party (PLH) gestures during a press conference amid reports of a tied vote count, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Fredy Rodriguez Purchase Licensing Rights
Salvador Nasralla, of the centrist Liberal Party, on Tuesday took a razor-thin lead in Honduras’ presidential election over Nasry Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, in a vote count plagued by delays and allegations of fraud.
The latest results released by the electoral authority around 6 p.m. (0100 GMT Wednesday) showed Nasralla on 40.13% and Asfura of the National Party on 39.71%, with around 68% of votes counted. The front runners were separated by just 9,129 votes. Asfura had previously been leading by around 500 votes when earlier results were released on Monday.
Rixi Moncada, of the ruling leftist LIBRE Party, was well behind in third place with 19.09%.
Earlier on Tuesday, Honduras’ electoral authority pleaded for calm as it scrambled to overcome a system failure that left about 20% of votes in the presidential election uncounted, as Trump alleged possible fraud and swore “there will be hell to pay” if results are altered.
On Monday the electoral body said Asfura and Nasralla were in a “technical tie” with each holding just under 40% of the vote and that votes would have to be counted by hand.
The initial rapid count system was beset by issues, the CNE electoral authority said in a statement on Tuesday. That had also resulted in problems with the web portal where results were meant to be updated in real time. The website was down much of Monday, causing tensions to rise in the tightly contested race, plagued by accusations of possible fraud before votes were even cast on Sunday.
As the count continues, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez of the National Party was released from a U.S. prison on Monday, where he was serving a 45-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and firearms charges, a Federal Bureau of Prisons registry showed.
His release came after Trump urged Honduran voters to cast their ballots for the National Party candidate, Asfura, and said he would pardon Hernandez. A White House official confirmed on Tuesday that Trump had pardoned Hernandez.
Trump weighed in on Monday in a social media post in which he alleged, without evidence, that Honduras was “trying to change the results of their Presidential Election.”
“If they do there will be hell to pay! The people of Honduras voted in overwhelming numbers on November 30th,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
There was high voter turnout in Sunday’s election, which was peaceful across the country, according to the Organization of American States, which observed the vote. It said in a statement on Monday that it “was able to verify that the voting proceeded normally, except for isolated incidents in some municipalities of the country.”
But there are concerns that if the vote count drags on, the highly charged election environment could lead to protests and possible violence.
The electoral authority said it would now release information about the count directly to media and political parties to ensure the public was able to follow the results.
Former President Manuel Zelaya, who is also the husband of current President Xiomara Castro, lambasted Trump’s interference in the election, saying on X that it was an attempt to stop Moncada’s bid, and vowing the Honduran people would stand up for democracy. “We who fight for liberty are on our feet,” he wrote. “We are patriots and nobody yields.”
On Monday evening, Moncada said the elections were “still not lost” and alleged that the other parties had manipulated the process. She also denounced U.S. interference in the election.
Both Asfura and Nasralla have said they may resume diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which were severed in 2023. Such a move would mark the biggest diplomatic setback for China in the region for decades.
In Taipei on Wednesday, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung told reporters that the island would actively engage with whoever was elected.
US President Donald Trump has been ramping up pressure on Venezuela’s leader, President Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration has doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture, and its warships are within striking distance of Venezuela. Dozens of people have been killed in attacks on boats alleged to have been transporting drugs from the South American country.
Trump reportedly also gave Maduro an ultimatum to leave Venezuela, in a phone call the two men had on 21 November.
Who is Nicolás Maduro?
Nicolás Maduro rose to prominence under the leadership of left-wing President Hugo Chávez and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, succeeded Chávez and has been president since 2013.
During the 26 years that Chávez and Maduro have been in power, their party has gained control of key institutions, including the National Assembly, much of the judiciary, and the electoral council.
In 2024, the electoral council declared Maduro the winner of the presidential election, even though voting tallies collected by the opposition suggested that their candidate, Edmundo González, had won by a landslide.
The US is one of many countries which declared the election illegitimate and recognised González as “president-elect”.
But with Maduro firmly in control of the military, the police and the legislature, he has remained in power and González has fled into exile for fear of arrest.
Why is Trump focusing on Venezuela?
Trump has made stopping immigration a priority during his second term in office and he blames Maduro for the arrival of a large number of Venezuelan migrants in the US.
Since 2013, close to eight million Venezuelans are estimated to have fled the economic crisis and political repression in Venezuela, which have both worsened under Maduro.
Most have fled to Latin American countries, but hundreds of thousands have gone to the US.
Without providing evidence, Trump has accused Maduro of “emptying his prisons and insane asylums” and “forcing” its inmates to migrate to the US.
Trump has also focused on fighting the influx of drugs – especially fentanyl and cocaine – into the US.
As part of his war on drugs, he has designated two Venezuelan criminal groups – Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles – as Foreign Terrorist Organisations and has alleged that the latter is led by Maduro himself.
Maduro has vehemently denied being a cartel leader and has accused the US of using its “war on drugs” as an excuse to try and depose him and get its hands on Venezuela’s vast reserves of oil.
Analysts have pointed out that the Cartel de los Soles is not a hierarchical group but an umbrella term. They say it is used to describe corrupt Venezuelan officials who have allowed cocaine to transit through the country.
Why has the US sent warships to the Caribbean?
The US has deployed 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean.
The stated aim of the deployment – the largest in the region since the US invaded Panama in 1989 – is to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US.
Since early September, US forces have carried out more than 20 strikes in international waters on boats alleged to have been carrying drugs. More than 80 people have been killed in the strikes.
The Trump administration argues that it is involved in a non-international armed conflict with the alleged drug traffickers, whom it accuses of conducting irregular warfare against the US.
The US has also described those on board as “narco terrorists” but legal experts say the strikes are unlawful as that designation “did not transform them into lawful military targets”.
A former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court told the BBC that the US military campaign fell into the category of a planned, systematic attack against civilians during peacetime.
In response, the White House said that President Donald Trump acted in line with the laws of armed conflict to protect the US from cartels “trying to bring poison to our shores… destroying American lives”.
Is Venezuela flooding the US with drugs?
Counternarcotic experts have pointed out that Venezuela is a relatively minor player in global drug trafficking, and that it acts as a transit country through which drugs produced elsewhere are smuggled on their way to their final destination.
Its neighbour, Colombia, is the world’s largest producer of cocaine but most of it is smuggled to the US by other routes, not via Venezuela.
According to a US Drug Enforcement report from 2020, almost three quarters of the cocaine reaching the US is estimated to be trafficked via the Pacific with just a small percentage coming via fast boats in the Caribbean.
Nevertheless, most of the strikes the US has carried out have been in the Caribbean, with just a few in the Pacific.
In September, Trump told US military leaders that the boats targeted “are stacked up with bags of white powder that’s mostly fentanyl and other drugs, too”.
However, fentanyl is produced mainly in Mexico and reaches the US almost exclusively via land through its southern border.
The UK government has criticised delays in aid being allowed into Gaza after a consignment of more than 1,100 tents it sent to the strip took more than a year to arrive.
The foreign secretary has also raised concerns that other UK-funded aid had been unable to reach residents, despite the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Yvette Cooper said the situation in Gaza remains “dire” as the United Nations warned that 1.5 million people are in need of urgent shelter amid worsening rains and plummeting temperatures ahead of winter.
The Israeli government said it was upholding aid delivery agreements and had “facilitated the transfer of close to 250,000 tents and tarpaulins” to Gaza in recent months.
The UK-funded tents – each capable of housing a family of five – reached Gaza on Monday, with more expected to arrive this week.
Government sources said the tents will provide shelter to as many as 12,000 people over the winter months.
Cooper said the delay in getting aid into the strip could not be allowed to continue and that all crossings into the territory should be opened to allow unhindered humanitarian access.
She said: “The situation in Gaza remains dire, with worsening weather conditions compounding the critical issues caused by damaged infrastructure and over two years of conflict.
“Parents have been trying to shelter their children under broken roofs and open skies.
“These tents will provide a lifeline to thousands of people needing shelter, protecting them from the cold winds and relentless rain turning rubble into mud.”
About 1.9 million people in Gaza, nearly 90% of the population, have been displaced since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October 2023, according to the UN.
Cooper said the arrival of the tents “represents months of ongoing work by the international community to push for greater aid access” and she had been frustrated to see “yet another consignment of aid stuck at the border” earlier this year.
“This cannot be allowed to continue,” she said.
“The arrival of these tents shows the scale of potential impact when our aid gets in, and we will continue to do all we can to urge unhindered humanitarian access, the opening of all the crossings, the implementation of the peace plan, and a path to peace.”
Unicef Special Representative to the State of Palestine Jonathan Veitch said more aid would still be needed.
“The situation in Gaza is devastating as cold, and heavy rains continue to affect families living in extremely difficult conditions,” he said.
“Even with the ceasefire, daily life remains incredibly challenging for children in the Gaza Strip.
“UK aid–supported tents have now entered Gaza and will provide urgently needed shelter to help families face the harsh winter. Much more is needed.”
In a statement, Cogat, the Israeli defence body which controls Gaza’s crossings, said: “Contrary to the claims, we emphasize that Israel is committed to and fully upholds its obligation to transfer humanitarian aid trucks in accordance with the agreement.
Sean Combs is currently serving a 50-month prison sentence
Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs have hit out at a new Netflix documentary produced by rapper 50 Cent, which they say is “a shameful hit piece” that “relied on stolen footage”.
The four-part documentary, titled Sean Combs: The Reckoning, was released on Tuesday and is billed as a “staggering examination” of the hip-hop mogul, who was convicted on prostitution-related charges earlier this year.
It includes what Netflix described as “explosive” footage of Combs filmed in the days before his arrest, including a phone conversation with his lawyers.
The director said she obtained the footage legally, but Combs’ spokesman said it was “fundamentally unfair, and illegal” to use his private footage.
‘Personal vendetta’
He also said it was “staggering” that Netflix had given creative control to 50 Cent, who he described as “a longtime adversary with a personal vendetta”.
“Netflix is plainly desperate to sensationalise every minute of Mr Combs’s life, without regard for truth, in order to capitalise on a never-ending media frenzy,” the statement said.
“If Netflix cared about truth or about Mr Combs’s legal rights, it would not be ripping private footage out of context – including conversations with his lawyers that were never intended for public viewing. No rights in that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party.”
The statement added: “For Netflix to give his life story to someone who has publicly attacked him for decades feels like an unnecessary and deeply personal affront. At minimum, he expected fairness from people he respected.”
The documentary opens with footage of Combs in a hotel room six days before arrest in September 2024, talking on the phone to attorney Marc Agnifilo and telling him he wants to “fight for my life”.
Pushing Agnifilo to have a more upfront media strategy to protest his innocence, Combs told him: “We have to find somebody that’ll work with us. It has to be somebody that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirtiest of dirty business of [the] media and propaganda.”
At another point, viewers see Combs talking to his son Justin on the phone five days before his arrest. “God told me to do nothing… [but] other people need to do something ’cause this is ridiculous,” he said in the clip.
Combs’ spokesman said the documentary contained footage that was “never authorised for release”.
“As Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos know, Mr Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way. It is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.”
Netflix has not responded to a request for a response but pointed US media to comments it has published from the documentary’s director Alexandria Stapleton.
“It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights,” she said. “We moved heaven and earth to keep the film-maker’s identity confidential.”
The documentary is executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, whose long-running feud with Combs stretches back two decades.
Jackson told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Monday: “If I didn’t say anything, you would interpret it as that hip-hop is fine with his behaviours. There’s no-one else being vocal.”
The documentary covers Combs’ career as one of the most powerful men in hip-hop, and includes allegations that he was involved in the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996.
It features tapes of a police interview in which former gang member Duane “Keffe D” Davis claims that Combs offered him $1m (£769,000) for a hit on Shakur.
Mr Davis is set to stand trial for Shakur’s murder in 2026. He now says his proffer agreement with police, under which he agreed to tell them what he knew but it couldn’t be used against him in court, was given under duress, according to Netflix.
The programme also includes Kirk Burrowes, who co-founded Bad Boy Entertainment with Combs, claiming that he believes Combs “had a lot to do with the death of Tupac”.
Combs has always denied any involvement in Shakur’s death.
The documentary also features further claims of violence and threats, many of which have previously been made public in dozens of lawsuits, including alleged abuse against former girlfriend Cassie, which ended in a settlement.
Foreign nationals from more than two dozen countries could be barred from entering the United States under an expanded travel ban being considered by President Trump.
The Trump administration is targeting at least 30 countries to include on an updated travel ban list – but could add more in the future, a source confirmed to The Post.
“We will be announcing the list soon,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement.
Trump unveiled a 19 country travel ban list over the summer –which his administration is aiming to expand to some 30 countries. YURI GRIPAS/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem teased the “full travel ban” on Monday night, indicating on X that she proposed expanding the number of countries on the restricted list during a meeting with Trump.
Noem recommended including “every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies” on the list.
“Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom — not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS,” the DHS chief continued. “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.”
The recommendation is part of the Trump administration’s massive crackdown on immigration following last week’s Thanksgiving eve attack on two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, DC.
The administration had previously announced that it would halt all asylum decisions and re-examine more than 720,000 green card holders from 19 “countries of concern” after Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, allegedly killed Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injured Andrew Wolfe, 24, near the White House.
The State Department has also paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports in response to the horrific attack.
Lakanwal, a former member of a CIA-backed Afghan military unit that fought the Taliban, entered the US legally in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which evacuated and resettled refugees after the botched US withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country.
The alleged gunman was granted asylum in April, which made him eligible for a green card after 12 months.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services has reportedly halted naturalization ceremonies for individuals from some of the 19 countries on the current travel ban list, which was unveiled by Trump over the summer.
At least some foreign nationals from Venezuela, Iran and Afghanistan had their US citizenship swearing-in ceremonies, initially scheduled to take place later this week, canceled in the wake of the National Guard shooting, according to ABC News.
“The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” a DHS spokesperson told The Post. “We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake.
“The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern.”
In June, Trump signed the proclamation to “fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals” from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The proclamation partially restricted foreign nationals from seven additional countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – from entering the US.
Trump issued the 19-nation travel ban order shortly after an antisemitic firebombing attack in Colorado, which was allegedly carried out by an Egyptian national in the US on an expired tourist visa.
At a White House Cabinet meeting Tuesday, the president took particular issue with immigrants from a nation already on the travel ban list: Somalia.
“Somalians ripped off [Minnesota] for billions of dollars,” Trump said, referring to the fraud scandals that have plagued the North Star State in recent years.
“They contribute nothing,” he said of Somali immigrants, adding, “I don’t want them in our country.”
Noem revealed during the meeting that at the president’s direction she looked into visa fraud in Minnesota and discovered, “50% of them are fraudulent.”
Mahavatar Narasimha Screened In Pakistan? Viral Video From Swaminarayan Temple In Karachi Sparks Buzz Online (Image Source – @rameet_raj/Instagram)
A video claiming that the Swaminarayan Mandir in Karachi hosted the “first-ever screening of India’s first Oscar-eligible animated film, Mahavatar Narasimha” is going viral on social media, sparking widespread curiosity and conversation online.
The clip has been reshared across multiple platforms by various users. However, it was originally posted on Instagram by a creator identified as Ramjeet Raj. Text on the video reads: “First time ever in Pakistan. Maha Avatar Narsimha at Swaminarayan Mandir Karachi.” The caption adds, “First time ever in Pakistan — witnessing the divine might of Maha Avtar Narsinha at Swaminarayan Mandir Karachi. A blessing to be a part of this moment.”
The footage shows the animated film playing on a large screen inside the temple, with a sizeable audience watching attentively and with enthusiasm. The clip has quickly gone viral, amassing over 6 lakh likes, more than 1,000 comments, and over 6 million views.
The video was also reshared on Times Now’s Instagram account with the caption: “Pakistan’s Karachi witnessed a historic moment as Swaminarayan Mandir hosted the first-ever screening of the Mahavatar Narasimha animated film, creating a rare cultural celebration for the community.”
The RELOS agreement sets the procedure for sending military formations, warships and military aircraft of Russia to India and vice versa, and the organisation of their mutual logistical support.
Vladimir Putin will pay a State visit to India from 4 to 5 December for 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit.
Russia’s lower house of parliament, State Duma, on Tuesday ratified a key military pact with India ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to New Delhi on December 4-5.
The Reciprocal Exchange of Logistic Support (RELOS) signed on February 18, between the two governments was sent to Duma last week for ratification by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
“Our relations with India are strategic and comprehensive, and we value them. We understand that today’s ratification of the agreement is another step toward reciprocity and, of course, the development of our relations,” Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of State Duma, said at the plenary session of the house.
The RELOS agreement sets the procedure for sending military formations, warships and military aircraft of Russia to India and vice versa, and the organisation of their mutual logistical support.
The agreement will regulate not only the dispatch of troops and equipment but also their logistics.
The established procedure will be used during joint exercises, training, humanitarian aid, disaster relief efforts after natural and man-made disasters, and in other cases as agreed.
Concerns over Khan’s health intensified last month after his three sisters Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan said they were assaulted for asking to meet with him.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is alive but is being “mentally tortured”, his sister, Dr Uzma Khanum, said Tuesday evening after a 20-minute meeting with her brother in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Dr Khanum said, “Alhamdulillah, he is all right… but he was angry about being mentally tortured. He is locked in his cell all day… can only step out for short periods. And he can’t communicate with anyone.”
She also said her brother had blamed General Asim Munir – now the most powerful figure in Pakistan, after seizing control of the entire military and rewriting the Constitution to guarantee lifetime immunity for himself, the other service chiefs, and President Asif Ali Zardari – for his incarceration and condition.
The meeting followed rumours about the ex-Prime Minister’s health, particularly after his family were barred from meeting him for several weeks. It also followed protests by Imran Khan’s supporters – in Islamabad and Rawalpindi – that prompted officials to prohibit large gatherings.
That, though, did not prevent protests outside the Islamabad High Court.
Concerns over Khan’s condition intensified last month after his three sisters – Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan – said they were assaulted for asking to meet with him.
Those concerns were amplified by his sons’ comments – that jail authorities were concealing “something irreversible” about their father’s condition. One of his sons, Kasim Khan, told Reuters there had been no direct or verifiable contact despite a court order for weekly meetings.
The family also flagged prison authorities refusing visits by Imran Khan’s personal doctor.
In fact, prior to today’s meeting, neither family nor members of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had met Khan for over 25 days, leading to rumours he may have died and the authorities, aware his death will lead to protests by millions who see him as national hero, were trying to cover it up.
And pressure on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his government – who have so far demurred from showing proof of life – was ramped up Sunday by Senator Khurram Zeeshan from the PTI.
Imran Khan and General Asim Munir (L) (File photos).
Zeeshan claimed Khan was being kept in isolation as a tactic to pressure him into leaving Pakistan. Speaking to ANI from Pakistan, Zeeshan, claimed the Shehbaz Sharif government felt threatened by Imran Khan’s popularity, and that is why they do not show photos or videos.
CHINA has unveiled new “dirt cheap” missiles, already in mass production after successful combat trials, as fears grow that President Xi Jingping is about to invade Taiwan.
The hypersonic glide missiles, produced by a private aerospace firm, are 40 times cheaper than US equivalent weapons.
The YKJ-1000 is cement coated and is “dirt cheap” compared to other missilesCredit: scmp
Bejing aerospace firm Lingkong Tianxing’s new war toy, the YKJ-1000, reportedly costs $99,000 per unit and are capable of flying at Mach 7 with an 800 mile range.
The “dirt cheap” missiles are made from civilian-grade materials like foamed cement and mass-produced commercial components, enabling the unusually low manufacturing costs.
It is believed to be the first instance of a commercial firm offering a strategic-level weapon to the Chinese military.
In a promotional video, the new missiles’ capabilities are illustrated by a doctored airstrike on Japan.
The missile maintains powered flight for 360 seconds, according to the company.
A company spokesperson said the missile was able to be launched from a shipping container, and was: “designed for rapid, precision strikes against high-value targets deep in enemy territory”.
An version of the weapon incorporating artificial intelligence-enabled decision-making and swarm collaboration capabilities is under development, according to local media reports.
State media and military analysts say the affordability of the new missiles could upend global defence markets due to the imbalance between low-cost offence and high-cost defence.
Experts say the “cement-coated” YKJ-1000 could prove “formidably competitive” internationally.
A single SM-6 naval interceptor costs about US$4.1 million, over 40 times the price of one YKJ-1000.
Meanwhile, the THAAD system costs US$12-15 million for each interceptor, while the Patriot PAC-3 that Taiwan hopes to buy would cost US$3.7-4.2 million each.
It comes as China has been bullying its tiny neighbour Taiwan – with all the signs of gearing up for an invasion.
As tensions between historic foes China and Japan explode over Taiwan, Beijing has warned the world that it is ready for war.
MILLIONS of Americans will get to see an extra $250 in the Trump Accounts coming in 2026, thanks to a $6.25 billion donation.
The donation comes from Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies.
Dell and his wife, Susan, announced the donation Tuesday in a video shared on X. The donation will be spread across 25 million accounts, coming out to $250 each, the pair said.
The Trump Accounts, which are meant to “give the next generation a jump start on saving,” per the White House, were part of President Donald Trump‘s One Big Beautiful Bill that passed during the summer.
The accounts will become available to those eligible on July 4, 2026, Trump announced Tuesday.
Trump said the Dells are giving funds to “children that won’t be born particularly rich.”
“They’re gonna hopefully be very rich some day,” Trump said.
“This will give millions of children, middle-class families a stake in American prosperity, a benefit from the rising stock market and a better shot at the American dream.”
Officials confirmed that an official outline for the accounts will be available on July 5 for families to begin signing up for accounts.
In the meantime, Americans can visit TrumpAccounts.gov to sign up for email updates about the accounts until more information is released on December 17.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
The savings accounts are designed for American children under the age of 18 who were born after December 31, 2024, and before January 1, 2029.
The Trump Account would be established on the child’s behalf and would come with a $1,000 deposit from the government.
Now, with Dell’s investment, some accounts will come with a $250 deposit.
The $250 credit will “reach the accounts of most children age 10 and under who were born prior to the qualifying date for the federal newborn contribution,” Dell said.
“Children older than 10 may benefit, too, if funds remain available after initial sign-ups. ”
The $250 will go toward children who live within zip codes where the median household income is $150,000 or less, Dell confirmed Tuesday.
WHY THE INVESTMENT?
“Susan and I believe the smartest investment we can make is in children,” Dell said on X.
“That’s why we’re so excited to contribute $6.25 billion from our charitable funds to help 25 million children start building a strong financial foundation through Invest America.”
“We see what happens when a child gets even a small financial head start, their world expands,” he added.
The investment further comes as Dell has had a successful fiscal year, reporting a revenue of $27 billion in the third quarter, up 11% year over year.
Dell, with a net worth of around $151 billion, is considered one of the richest people in the world, previously appeared alongside the CEO of Uber and the Goldman Sachs boss in June to announce a willingness to contribute to the accounts, per The Independent.
Trump said Tuesday that he expects others to follow Dell’s lead in donating money toward the Trump Accounts.
HOW THE ACCOUNTS WORK
With the Trump Accounts, parents are able to contribute up to $5,000 a year. Susan Dell noted that relatives and friends can also contribute to the account.
Employers are also able to make an annual contribution of up to $2,500. Officials noted this contribution would not impact an employee’s taxable income.
Parents’ employers can also make a contribution up to $2,500 a year, which would also not have an impact on their taxable income.
RUSSIA and the United States failed to reach a peace deal over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine following highly anticipated crunch talks in Moscow.
Donald Trump’s top diplomatic duo Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met the Russian tyrant and his cronies for a five-hour meeting – but failed to clinch a breakthrough plan to end the bloodshed.
Vladimir Putin speaking in Moscow todayCredit: AFP
Kremlin mouthpiece Yuri Ushakov, who was present alongside Vlad at the summit, said the group’s discussion was “useful, constructive and meaningful”.
He added that Witkoff was asked by Putin to “convey a number of important political signals to Trump”.
Noting that peace was “no closer but also no further away”, Ushakov explained the two sides had failed to reach an agreement on one of the most difficult issues – territorial disputes.
Witkoff has headed to the US embassy in Moscow, seemingly to update the Don on the group’s progress.
Top Putin aide Kirill Dmitriev who posted a picture of himself alongside Witkoff said on X after the talks: “Productive.”
Trump’s peace squad’s visit came after war-hungry Putin raged that Russia is “ready right now” to fight with Europe.
Mad Vlad hinted Russia was ready for World War Three earlier on Tuesday, saying: “We’re not going to fight Europe, but if Europe wants to fight us, we’re ready right now.”
The despot also said that European powers were making demands on a possible peace settlement for Ukraine that Moscow considers absolutely unacceptable.
Putin’s fighting talk came before he greeted the US delegation to the Russian capital for the latest round of Ukraine peace talks which lasted nearly five hours.
The key discussions came after weeks of behind-the-scenes diplomacy with global leaders – signalling a possible breakthrough in efforts to bring an end to the war.
Kushner, 44, and Witkoff, 68, were entrusted by Trump to help bring about an end to the almost four-year war and finally stop the Kremlin tyrant.
At the start of the talks, the American pair were asked about their stay in the Russian capital so far.
Witkoff praised Moscow as a “magnificent city” and hailed Putin’s leadership in an unconcealed effort to butter up the Russian dictator.
The US is determined to get both sides on the same page over how the conflict can end with certain peace terms already being hashed out.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X following a visit to Ireland today: “We must end this war in a way that prevents Russia from coming back a year later with a third invasion.”
He said: “The Russians started the war, and there is no other way to put it.
“The whole world is a witness. They came with aggression to destroy us.”
The Zel added: “They will return, and Russia will continue building up its military strength, preparing for yet another invasion.
“This is why we want clarity. This is what Ukrainians need.”
The wartime leader also hailed Ireland for “doing the right thing” as premier Micheal Martin pledged to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
The US delegation is expected to travel to meet Zelensky after they leave the Kremlin to update him on the latest negotiations.
Washington and Moscow are currently focusing today’s crunch talks on two possible peace plans put forward in recent weeks.
The first is a 28-point plan based on many of Putin’s demands which he told Trump about during their Alaskan summit.
It was reportedly devised by Witkoff and Kremlin official Dmitriev.
The plan was seen as highly favourable towards Russia and included Ukraine halving their armed forces and giving up swathes of territory.
Ukraine and their European allies said it would be impossible to ever agree to such terms.
They instead joined forces to redraft a tighter 19-point plan in Geneva which “refines” what the US had proposed.
Both plans were discussed in Moscow now with Kushner and Witkoff looking to leave Russia with an ironclad deal to take back to President Trump.
This will then be shared with Kyiv where further talks can take place.
Across the past two days, officials from Ukraine and the US – including Witkoff and Kushner – have been holding separate talks in Florida.
Zelensky described the talks as “constructive”, but made it clear some “tough issues still need to be worked through”.
He met with France’s President Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer for marathon meetings on Monday.
During a Parisian press conference, Zelensky said the 19-point peace deal was a big improvement on the original US-Russia plan.
Despite Zelensky’s insistence that a complete deal is still far off based on the current negotiations, the White House say they are “very optimistic” about reaching a deal soon.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt added: “The president and his team have been working so hard on this effort and they all really want to see this war come to an end.”
One notable name missing from the US delegation is Marco Rubio – Trump’s secretary of state.
Rubio is widely seen as more sympathetic towards Ukraine’s fight for a fair deal to end the war.
Kushner, a savvy businessman and dad-of-three, and Witkoff, now a seasoned peace broker under Trump, are both seen as much firmer voices.
Kushner, the husband of Ivanka Trump, has grown into an increasingly active role in US diplomacy under Trump in recent months.
This is despite him having no formal role in the White House.
The Harvard graduate served as Senior Adviser to President Trump between 2017 and 2021.
Witkoff also has a positive past in Moscow and has met with Putin on several occasions.
One of the main issues yet to be ironed out in the negotiations is how the land seized by Russia during the war will be divided up.
Putin has been adamant that he must be handed over some key regions in Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk.
THE White House has said it won’t apologize after receiving backlash from pop star Sabrina Carpenter, who slammed the Trump administration.
Pop icon Carpenter, 26, called out the White House for using one of her songs in a video she described as part of an effort to push their “inhumane agenda.”
Sabrina Carpenter is calling out the White House for using her musicCredit: Getty Images for MTV
A video posted online on Tuesday by the White House played the singer’s song Juno in the background of a video of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents making arrests.
Carpenter called out the unapproved use of her music in a post on X.
“This video is evil and disgusting,” she wrote.
“Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
The White House doubled down on its decision to post the video and called out the singer for supporting “illegal murderers.”
“Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Newsweek.
Jackson used Carpenter’s lyrics from her song “Man Child,” in which Carpenter sings, “Is it stupid, or is it slow?”
“Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?” Jackson added.
SOUND SCRUTINY
This isn’t the first time the White House has faced criticism for using a song in a social media post.
In July, pop star Jess Glynne scrutinized the White House for using her song Hold My Hand.
Glynne’s song went viral over the summer, playing in the background of a Jet2 promotional ad.
The ad says: “Nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday.”
Social media users would put the sound behind a video of them on a cheap vacation or something going wrong.
The White House’s social media accounts hopped on the trend and released a 20-second clip showing several people in handcuffs being escorted onto flights by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation,” the account captioned the video.
“Nothing beats it!”
The video quickly amassed over 12 million views.
Glynne fired back at the account and said the post made her “sick.”
“This post honestly makes me sick,” she posted on Instagram.
“My music is about love, unity, and spreading positivity – never about division or hate.”
Even the woman who voices the Jet2 Holiday deal spoke out against the sound being used for the video.
“What can be done about @whitehouse using @jet2pics sound and my voiceover to promote their nasty agenda?” voiceover actress Zoe Lister posted.
Apart from Glynne, fellow stars and bands alike including ABBA, Bruce Springsteen, Olivia Rodrigo, Neil Young, Guns N’ Roses, Celine Dion, Rihanna, Phil Collins, Beyoncé and Adele have all spoken up against the White House using their music.
The backlash from celebrities comes after President Trump pushed through with his vow to crack down on illegal immigration.
A revised version of a peace proposal was discussed in Moscow, after the Ukrainian leader said the current proposal “looks better” than the initial plan that had 28 points. DW has the latest.
Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev (gesturing in the jacket with Russia insignia) showed Kushner and Witkoff around part of central Moscow on the way to the KremlinImage: Yekaterina Shamarova/ZUMA/picture alliance
Rubio says progress made in talks with Russia
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Washington has made “some progress” in talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Rubio told Fox News that talks have focused on identifying terms Kyiv could accept while securing its long-term security.
“What we have tried to do, and I think have made some progress, is figure out, what could the Ukrainians live with that gives them security guarantees for the future,” he said.
Rubio said the US hopes the agreement would allow Ukrainians “not just to rebuild their economy, but to prosper as a country.”
Kremlin says talks concluded, no compromise found
Hours-long talks between the Russian government and US envoy Steve Witkoff, along with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, drew to a close, with no clear solutions to the conflict.
The Russian government said that no compromise had been reached on the critical issue of territory in Ukraine.
“So far we haven’t found a compromise, but some American solutions can be discussed,” top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists.
“There were some points we could agree on,” Ushakov added, but “the president did not hide our critical, even negative, stance on a number of proposals.”
But Ushakov praised the talks, adding that “the conversation was very useful and constructive,” however “a lot of work lies ahead both in Washington in Moscow.”
Zelenskyy says what matters is that ‘nothing is decided without Ukraine’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media soon after the US negotiators arrived in the Kremlin on Tuesday, saying Ukrainians need “clarity” in any potential peace accord, including guarantees that Russia would not launch “yet another invasion.”
“The United States says that a lot of blood has been shed and it’s enough. And we fully support them. But we must end this war in a way that prevents Russia from coming back a year later with a third invasion,” he said. “They did not achieve their goal of occupying our country. But I am not sure their objectives have changed.”
The Russians started the war, and there is no other way to put it. The whole world is a witness. They came with aggression to destroy us. We stopped them. Europe helped, America helped. Russia failed to occupy Ukraine first and foremost because of the strength of the Ukrainian…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 2, 2025
The Ukrainian president said there would be no “simple solutions” to ending the war.
“What matters is that everything is fair and transparent. That there are no games played behind Ukraine’s back. That nothing is decided without Ukraine — about us, about our future,” he wrote.
Territories and frozen assets were among the most difficult questions, he said, as well as security guarantees.
“We could on strong security guarantees from the United States and Europe, and some other leaders,” he said.
There will be no simple solutions to ending this war. We understand what is happening. We understand who we are dealing with. The issue is not the difficulty of making decisions. I am capable of making them. What matters is that everything is fair and transparent. That there are…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 2, 2025
NATO official says Pokrovsk ‘95%’ in Russian hands
A NATO official briefing reporters in Brussels on condition of anonymity on Tuesday said that according to his information, Russia controlled “95%” of Pokrovsk.
This comes as Russia claims total control of the city while Ukraine says its forces are still fighting in the north.
The NATO representative said Ukraine was “conducting an orderly withdrawal” as Russian forces controlled “the vast majority of the city.”
In response to a question from DW’s Xenia Polska, he said it was important to note that taking Pokrovsk was something Russia had expected to achieve more than a year ago.
“It has spent a lot of Russian lives in the pursuit of this goal. It destroyed much of the city in the process, and it’s been very, very slow progress to get here,” he said. “But the during that timeframe, the Ukrainians have been able to take measures so that the fall of Pokrovsk will not have the same strategic impact that it would have had, had this occurred on the Russian timeline.”
He estimated, based on previous NATO estimates of Russia sustaining around 360,000 casualties a year, with so much of the fighting centered around Pokrovsk this year, that Russia would have lost “several hundred per day” in the area.
How Europeans have little say in US-run Ukraine peace talks
The EU and Britain are trying to protect Ukraine’s interests, and their own, as the US leads negotiations to end Moscow’s Ukraine war. But Washington has been keeping European allies at arm’s length.
Of the platforms named by the government as being covered by the ban, only X and Reddit have not publicly committed to abide by the law.
The YouTube app icon on a smartphone in this illustration taken on Oct 27, 2025. (File image: Reuters/Dado Ruvic)
Google’s YouTube shared a “disappointing update” to millions of Australian users and content creators on Wednesday (Dec 3), saying it will comply with a world-first teen social media ban by locking out users aged under 16 from their accounts within days.
The decision ends a stand-off between the internet giant and the Australian government, which initially exempted YouTube from the age restriction, citing its use for educational purposes. Google had said it was getting legal advice about how to respond to being included.
“Viewers must now be 16 or older to sign into YouTube,” the company said in a statement.
“This is a disappointing update to share. This law will not fulfil its promise to make kids safer online and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube.”
The Australian ban is being closely watched by other jurisdictions considering similar age-based measures, setting up a potential global precedent for how the mostly US tech giants behind the biggest platforms balance child safety with access to digital services.
The Australian government says the measure responds to mounting evidence that platforms are failing to do enough to protect children from harmful content.
SIGNED OUT
YouTube said any user aged under 16 would be automatically signed out of their account from Dec 10, meaning they could no longer subscribe, like or comment on posts, although they could still view content logged out.
That meant underage content creators also could not log in or post. YouTube did not say how it would verify someone’s age.
The company also reiterated its position that the ban would not make the internet safer, and said in an email to caregivers of underage users that “parental controls only work when your pre-teen or teen is signed in, so the settings you’ve chosen will no longer apply”.
Communications Minister Anika Wells, speaking to reporters in Canberra, said it was “weird that YouTube is always at pains to remind us all how unsafe their platform is in a logged-out state”.
“If YouTube is reminding us all that it is not safe and there’s content not appropriate for age-restricted users on their website, that’s a problem that YouTube needs to fix.”
The law prohibits platforms from allowing under-16s to hold accounts, with penalties of up to A$49.5 million (US$32.5 million) for breaches. Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and Snap’s Snapchat previously said they would comply.
Of the platforms named by the government as being covered by the ban, only Elon Musk’s X and message board Reddit have not publicly committed to abide by the law.
Two director’s chairs with the Netflix logo sit on a stage at a convention in Lucca, Italy, October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery’s studios and streaming unit is expected to reduce streaming costs for consumers by bundling Netflix and HBO Max, according to two people familiar with the proposal.
In recent talks with Warner Bros Discovery, Netflix said the potential combination of its streaming service with HBO Max would benefit consumers by lowering the cost of a bundled offering, the sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters. They requested anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations.
Netflix’s argument seeks to address potential regulatory concerns that combining one of the nation’s leading subscription video streaming services with a top rival would reduce consumer choice and raise prices, the sources said. The services are not currently offered as a bundle by either company.
Warner Bros Discovery has been exploring a sale of all or part of its business, which includes film and television studios, cable networks such as HBO and CNN, and the HBO Max streaming service.
Reuters reported in October that Netflix was actively exploring a bid for Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming business, a tie-up that was seen as potentially reshaping the streaming landscape. Now, by framing the acquisition as pro-consumer, Netflix aims to build a case that the deal should withstand a potential regulatory challenge, according to the sources.
Reuters previously reported that Netflix had submitted a mostly cash offer for the studio and streaming unit.
Other bidders for Warner Bros Discovery – Paramount Skydance and Comcast – also would use HBO Max, together with the Warner Bros film and television library, to bolster their streaming services.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Warner Bros Discovery declined to comment.
If Netflix’s bid is successful, the deal is expected to expand Netflix’s movie and television library.
But the sources familiar with the matter said the potential combination of the two services is unlikely to radically expand its market share because the vast majority of HBO Max customers also subscribe to Netflix.
The combination of HBO Max and Paramount Skydance’s Paramount+ would create a top-tier streaming service in the U.S., capable of challenging Netflix and Walt Disney’s Disney+ in terms of volume and breadth of content, wrote Bank of America media analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich in a recent report.
HBO Max would similarly lift NBCUniversal’s Peacock service, which has yet to turn a profit. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast.
“Comcast risks being left behind as PSKY or NFLX scale (their streaming services), limiting Peacock’s reach and weakening NBC’s ability to compete in the global media market over time,” Ehrlich wrote.
A successful acquisition would give Netflix control over Warner Bros’ vast library of content, including the entire HBO catalog, the Warner Bros film archive, and DC Comics properties.
A 13-year-old boy executed a man convicted of murdering 13 members of his family in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Khost. Around 80,000 people watched the execution, which was ordered by the Afghan Supreme Court and sanctioned by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. The public execution has been condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan.
The execution took place in a packed stadium surrounded by tens of thousands of people. (Reuters’ file image for representation)
A chilling video of a public execution has emerged on social media that reports say is from eastern Afghanistan’s Khost. A man convicted of murdering 13 members of a family, including nine children, was executed on Tuesday at a stadium in Khost, reported several news outlets, including the Associated Press. The execution carried out in a stadium, witnessed by an estimated 80,000 people, was carried out by a 13-year-old boy whose family was among the victims.
The executed man, identified by Taliban officials as Mangal, had been convicted by Afghanistan’s Supreme Court and approved for execution by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The public execution drew international condemnation, with the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, calling it “inhuman, cruel and contrary to international law”.
The execution marks the 11th judicial killing carried out by the Taliban since their return to power in 2021, according to Afghanistan’s Supreme Court.
“In Khost Province, the divine order of Qisas (retaliation) was carried out on a murderer,” said Afghan Supreme Court, adding, “At the conclusion of the gathering, prayers were made for the strengthening of national security, for the people’s better access to their legitimate rights, and for the proper implementation of lslamic Sharia throughout the country.”
PUBLIC EXECUTION IN AFGHANISTAN STADIUM. 13-YR-OLD BOY KILLS CONVICT
Tens of thousands, including relatives of the victims, gathered at the sports stadium in Khost to witness the execution. Mostaghfar Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, confirmed that Mangal had been found guilty of killing a Khost resident, Abdul Rahman, and other family members in Ali Shir and Terezio districts approximately 10 months ago.
In the video, tens of thousands can be seen packed inside and outside the stadium. As five gunshots rang out, people chanted religious slogans.
“The murderer, Mangal, son of Tala Khan, grandson of Rahmat Khan, was originally from the Sajank area of Said Karam district of Paktia province, and a current resident of the Kuzi Abukhani area of Alishero and Terezio district of Khost province. He had deliberately killed Abdul Rahman, son of Zabit, grandson of Ali Khan, an original and current resident of the Kuzi Abukhana area of Alishero and Terezio district of Khost,” said a press release by Afghanistan’s Supreme Court.
According to Taliban authorities, the man was convicted after proceedings in courts of first instance, appeal, and the Supreme Court. Victims’ families were reportedly offered the option of forgiveness and reconciliation, which could have spared Mangal’s life. But they requested the death penalty instead.
Citing local sources, Afghanistan’s Amu News reported that the execution was carried out by the 13-year-old boy, after he was asked if he wished to pardon the convicted man. Upon his refusal, the boy fired the fatal shot.
Khost police spokesman Mustaghfir Gorbaz confirmed the identity of the executed man and reiterated that the case involved the killing of an extended family, including nine children and their mother, Amu News reported.
“This is what an Islamic system means, a system that fears no one and implements the commands of Allah on earth,” Kabul-based journalist WA Mubariz posted on X.
THE TALIBAN AND ITS METHODS OF “JUSTICE” IN AFGHANISTAN
The Taliban have reinstated a strict interpretation of Sharia law, including public executions, floggings, and other corporal punishments. This echoes the practices from their previous rule in the late 1990s.
Human rights organisations have repeatedly criticised the Taliban’s justice system for lack of transparency, due process, and fairness.
Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, took to X to condemn the execution. “Public executions are inhumane, a cruel and unusual punishment, and contrary to international law,” he said, urging the Taliban to halt public executions and retribution killings immediately.
Fuselage sections of Airbus A320-family aircrafts are seen at the Airbus facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire, France, July 1, 2020. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe Purchase Licensing Rights
Airbus (AIR.PA), confirmed on Monday it faced an industrial quality issue with metal panels on some A320-family jets, in its latest challenge after a recall to fix a computer glitch.
Reuters exclusively reported earlier that Airbus had found quality problems affecting the fuselage panels of several dozen A320-family aircraft, delaying some deliveries.
There were no indications that any had reached aircraft in service, but shares in the world’s largest planemaker fell as much as 11% as the glitch eclipsed the grounding of thousands of A320 jets for a software update. Shares closed down 5.9%.
“Airbus confirms it has identified a quality issue affecting a limited number of A320 metal panels,” it said, adding: “The source of the issue has been identified, contained and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements”.
A spokesperson said the problem stemmed from a supplier, who they declined to name.
Airbus has internal and external suppliers for its aerostructures, with the front of the A320 fuselage broadly made in France and the rear in Germany. Upper panels tend to be produced in-house with the rest involving multiple suppliers.
The problem is the latest for the best-selling model after a weekend recall of over half the A320-family fleet for repairs triggered by a software vulnerability to solar flares.
Operations were returning to normal on Monday after a change of software version was implemented faster than expected, with fewer than 100 still needing a possibly deeper hardware repair.
The A320, which recently ousted the Boeing 737 as the most-delivered jetliner, is also wrestling with repair bottlenecks that have grounded hundreds of jets for logistical reasons. On Friday Airbus introduced limits on some cold weather take-offs.
LOWER-THAN-EXPECTED DELIVERIES IN NOVEMBER
The quality problems emerged as Airbus is beefing up efforts to meet challenging delivery targets for the year and followed lower-than-expected indications for deliveries in November.
Shares in airline customers Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), and easyJet (EZJ.L), were also dragged lower, traders said.
A person with direct knowledge of the matter said some deliveries were already being impacted, but there was no immediate confirmation of how many nor for how long. One source told Reuters the total number of jets affected was around 50.
How badly the flaw affects deliveries and whether the impact will fall in the current year or in 2026 depends where on the aircraft the problem is located, and on how serious it is.
Airbus said “only a portion” would need further action.
Industry sources told Reuters that Airbus delivered 72 aircraft in November, fewer than many analysts had previously expected and bringing the total for the year so far to 657.
Airbus, which declined comment, is targeting “around 820” deliveries for the year, meaning it would have to reach what analyst Rob Stallard called an “astronomical” performance of more than 160 jets in December.
“It was already a big ask for Airbus to hit that 2025 delivery number, and so these fuselage issues could not have come at a worse time,” the Vertical Research Partners aerospace expert said in a note. Demand for the jets is strong, he added.
A community member holds a sign against a plan of Talen Energy to rezone land from agricultural to industrial to build a data center, at the Montour County Planning Commission meeting in Danville, Pennsylvania, U.S. November 19, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah Beier Purchase Licensing Rights
The residents came in camouflage hats and red shirts signaling unity, more than 300 of them packing into a rural Pennsylvania planning commission meeting to protest a proposed data center they feared would carve up their farmland and upend the quiet rhythms of their valley.
Most were loyal supporters of President Donald Trump, who carried their home of Montour County by 20 percentage points in the 2024 election. But they bristled at Washington’s push to fast-track artificial intelligence infrastructure, which has driven data-center growth in rural areas around the U.S. where land is cheap.
On a recent November evening, residents in this county of 18,000 people stepped to the microphone, questioning Talen Energy (TLN.O), officials about how their planned data center might raise residents’ utility bills, reduce working farmland, and strain local water and natural resources.
“Say no to rezoning, so water keeps flowing and crops keep growing,” two women sang in a riff on Woody Guthrie’s folk song “This Land Is Your Land.”
Political leaders across the U.S. are urging a rapid expansion of data-center capacity and new power production to keep the country competitive in AI. Trump, a Republican, is promoting the build-out as an economic and national security priority and has directed his administration to bypass environmental rules and permitting that give local communities a voice. In Pennsylvania, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Republican Senator Dave McCormick are courting developers with incentives and infrastructure upgrades to attract investment in the fast-growing industry.
Some communities welcome the economic boost. But the backlash in Montour County, nestled in central Pennsylvania, reflects a growing coalition of farmers, environmentalists and homeowners who have united across partisan lines to resist data-center expansion.
A report by Data Center Watch earlier this year found that about $64 billion worth of data center projects have been blocked or delayed amid local pushback in states including Texas, Oregon and Tennessee. Critics in Pennsylvania worry that their region could turn into northern Virginia’s “data center alley,” with its vast, sprawling complexes.
If successful, the pushback threatens to slow efforts by the administration and the tech industry to build AI infrastructure fast enough to keep pace with global rivals.
Political strategists say anger over the projects also could add to the problems Republicans face as they grapple with affordability worries going into the 2026 midterm elections.
“It’s an issue that can be exploited by whoever’s out of power,” said Chris Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The politics of AI infrastructure, he added, remain unsettled: “The industry’s still evolving, and politicians are figuring out where to stand. It’s like social media — everyone rushed in before understanding the consequences.”
PRESERVING CULTURE
Talen Energy is requesting to rezone roughly 1,300 acres in Montour County from agricultural to industrial use, the first step toward building a large data center that would include 12 to 15 buildings. The site would sit in the shadow of the company’s 1,528-megawatt natural-gas-fired power plant, tucked among farmland and dirt roads used heavily by the region’s Amish community.
Talen Energy has said the project would take 350 acres of farmland supporting soybeans, corn and livestock. Residents worry that losing this land would weaken the local farm economy, including a nearby plant that processes soybeans for regional food and feed.
Montour County Commissioner Rebecca Dressler, a Republican, said the concerns are rooted less in ideology than in preserving the region’s character. “Small-town character defines our community,” Dressler said. “People aren’t anti-development – they just want growth that fits who we are.”
At its recent November meeting, the county planning commission recommended against approving the rezoning by a 6-1 vote – a decision that drew thunderous applause. The issue now goes to Dressler and the other two county commissioners for a final decision in mid-December.
Rather than blaming Trump, residents are pointing their fingers at the billion-dollar companies behind the data-center boom – firms they say have the money to snap up farmland, reshape rural landscapes and leave locals to absorb the higher utility costs.
“I think it’s a society that has forgotten about the small person – the people who live here, the farmers who are struggling with the economy,” said Theresa McCollum, a 70-year-old Trump supporter.
In a place that prides itself on local control, the shift in power to Washington does not sit well.
“Stay out. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation without federal involvement,” said Craig High, 39, also a Trump supporter. “Both (political) parties are pushing data centers and giving regulatory relief — water permits, permitting, all of it.”
PENNSYLVANIA BOOM
Pennsylvania’s abundant, stable electricity has made it a hot spot for data centers, attracting tens of billions in investments from Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), Google, and Microsoft (MSFT.O), with Constellation Energy (CEG.O), even eying the old Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to power new server farms.
But residents fear they may end up paying for it.
Pennsylvania utilities project a sharp rise in electricity demand from data centers by the end of the decade – enough to power several million additional homes, according to data from PJM Interconnection, the region’s grid operator.
Electricity prices in Pennsylvania increased by about 15% in the past year – roughly double the national average, according to federal data.
That surge is already rippling through the regional grid. Capacity prices, which help determine what power plants are paid to ensure supply during peak demand, have spiked in recent auctions, and utilities have begun raising rates to cover growing infrastructure needs.
Analysts warn that customers’ bills could climb significantly in the years ahead.
For many families, the strain is already visible. Overdue utility balances have risen far faster than inflation since 2022, and Pennsylvania ranks among the states with the highest levels of household energy debt, according to the Century Foundation, a progressive research organization.
Those pocketbook pressures are starting to reshape politics in some parts of the United States. Earlier this year, Alicia Johnson became one of two Democrats elected to Georgia’s utility board since 2007 after her campaign highlighted frustration over rising power bills and unchecked growth of data centers. She said the issues in her campaign were a preview of what states like Pennsylvania may face in next year’s U.S. midterm elections.
Power prices have surged in Georgia in recent years, in large part because of massive cost overruns at the new Vogtle nuclear plant.
The White House on Monday defended a U.S. admiral’s decision to conduct multiple strikes on an alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessel in September, saying he had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s authorization, even as critics questioned the legality of a strike on survivors.
The Washington Post had reported that a second strike was ordered to kill two survivors from the initial strike and to comply with an order by Hegseth that everyone be killed.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he would not have wanted a second strike on the boat and said Hegseth denied giving such an order.
But White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Hegseth had authorized Admiral Frank Bradley to conduct the strikes on September 2.
“Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the strike was conducted in “self defense” to protect U.S. interests, took place in international waters and was in line with the law of armed conflict.
“This administration has designated these narco terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations,” Leavitt said.
Starting in September, the U.S. military has carried out at least 19 strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America, killing at least 76 people.
Critics have questioned the legality of the strikes, and both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have pledged to look into them.
International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on incapacitated combatants. The Defense Department’s Law of War Manual states that shipwrecked persons cannot be knowingly attacked and must receive medical care unless they act with hostility or attempt escape.
U.S. Navy Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley delivers remarks during the USSOCOM Change of Command Ceremony in Tampa, Florida, U.S. October 3, 2025. Airman 1st Class Monique Stober/U.S. Special Operations Command/Handout via REUTERS. Purchase Licensing Rights
George Washington University law professor Laura Dickinson said most legal experts do not believe the boat strikes qualify as armed conflict, so lethal force would only be allowed as a last resort.
“It would be murder outside of armed conflict,” she said. Even in war, the killing of survivors “would likely be a war crime.”
A group of former military lawyers, the JAGs Working Group, called the order “patently illegal,” saying service members have a duty to disobey it and that anyone who complies should be prosecuted for war crimes.
On X, Hegseth defended Bradley, calling him “an American hero” and saying he has his “100% support.” Hegseth said he stands by Bradley’s combat decisions “on the September 2 mission and all others since.”
Trump on Monday discussed with top advisers the
pressure campaign against Venezuela, among other topics, a senior U.S. official said.
US OPTIONS INCLUDE EFFORT TO OUST MADURO
Trump has flagged the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. On Saturday, he said the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “closed in its entirety,” but gave no further details, stirring anxiety and confusion in Caracas.
Trump confirmed on Sunday that he had spoken to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. considers an illegitimate leader, but Trump declined to provide details of the conversation.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s inexperienced army is prepared to wage a prolonged guerrilla war and spread anarchy throughout the country if the US attempts a ground invasion to depose him, according to a new report.
As the US continues to build up its threats against Maduro’s regime, the Venezuelan dictator appears to be fully aware that his nation’s military is dwarfed by the might of the American army.
Rather than face an invading force head on, Venezuela plans to mount a guerrilla-style resistance and sow chaos to make it impossible for the US to quickly boot Maduro and replace him with a new leader, according to sources and documents obtained by Reuters.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is allegedly preparing to launch guerilla warfare against any invading force. AFP via Getty Images
The preparations come as the US has more than 10 US warships — including the country’s largest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford — in the Caribbean amid escalating tensions between Trump and Maduro.
A Marine Expeditionary Unit capable of an amphibious land invasion has also been deployed as part of Trump’s plan to stem the flow of drugs into the US from the socialist country.
Venezuela’s army is small, inexperienced, and ill-equipped
While the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela (FANB) boasts about 123,000 active personnel, the army’s primary combat experience has been confronting unarmed civilians during street protests.
Venezuela’s armed force is also regularly mired by lack of training, low wages, desertions, and deteriorating equipment, six sources familiar with Caracas’ military told Reuters.
Should Maduro activate the supposed 8-million strong civilian militia training in Venezuela, analysts expect only thousands of people loyal to his ruling party to show up for war.
The FANB’s aging army equipment is a big problem for the nation as it relies heavily on Soviet-era weapons and military tech that were acquired by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
While Caracas has some 20 Sukhoi fighter jets that were acquired in the 2000s, they would do little against American B-2 jets.
Venezuela preparing for ‘prolonged resistance’
In the event of a US ground or air attack, Venezuela will mount guerrilla warfare referred to by high-ranking officials in Carcass as “prolonged resistance,” sources told Reuters.
The military units have been ordered to split into more than 280 locations across the country to employ guerrilla tactics and acts of sabotage against invaders.
Maduro has also recently deployed 5,000 of the nation’s Russian-made Igla missiles, which will be used for surprise attacks, one source said.
Venezuela’s military has also reinforced the routes leading to the capital, creating a fortified road filled with anti-vehicle barriers and heavy machinery to stymie any form of ground invasion of Caracas.
Maduro’s forces are also set to launch a so-called “anarchization” strategy, which would use intelligence services and tap loyalists to create disorder in the capital and make Venezuela ungovernable for anyone tapped by the US to lead.
Will third party actors get involved?
It remains unknown if any allies or third party actors could get involved if war breaks out between the US and Venezuela.
The country’s western border sees heavy use by Colombian guerrilla forces like the National Liberation Army, which cultivates the main ingredient for cocaine in the area.
A Ground Zero FDNY hero who died from a 9/11 illness was memorialized as an “inspiration” to his colleagues at his emotional funeral in Brooklyn on Monday.
Former Deputy Chief James “Jim” Riches Sr., who died on Thanksgiving at 74, set an example for his colleagues as he sifted through the wreckage to find his firefighter son’s remains after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, grieving colleagues said at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Bay Ridge.
Hundreds of mourners saluted Riches’ casket at the church – a scene reminiscent of when the Riches family buried their son, Jimmy Jr., about 24 years ago.
Riches, the 30-year FDNY veteran, ultimately spent months at Ground Zero as he and others never wavered on recovery efforts, grieving colleagues said.
Monday’s funeral for Riches brought out hundreds of mourners. Gregory P. Mango
“I can remember vividly the same kind of service, and now here we are, 24 years later, for Jimmy Sr. A lot of this is attributed to him being there every day looking for his son with a bunch of other firefighters that were looking for their sons,” said former FDNY commissioner Sal Cassano.
“I can remember the inspiration that those people gave us, knowing that if they were looking for their sons – some of them were retired – we could look harder than we’d ever worked before.”
Cassano, who was commissioner between 2010 and 2014 said Riches was steadfast in finding his eldest boy’s remains, which he eventually did on March 5, 2002.
“He kept us going. We knew that he was on a mission, and we were on the same mission to bring everybody home,” said Cassano, who knew Riches for about 50 years. “And unfortunately, Jimmy paid a dear price for it.”
Another three of Riches’ sons have served in the fire department, including two who are retired and one still active.
Riches, a Brooklyn resident, served in the FDNY between 1977 and 2007, and was an advocate for Big Apple first responders dealing with post-9/11 issues well into his retirement.
“September 11th didn’t stop on September 11th. We’re doing this almost every day,” Cassano said.
“Jimmy was one of our advocates. Jimmy went to Washington many times for us, he fought for benefits for the families of the people that were killed and for us that are still living.”
The former fire commissioner noted the number of active and former FDNY members who lined the street for Riches was as if he just was working the other day, including some members who did not know him personally, but knew what he stood for.
From corporate executives to Wall Street analysts to Federal Reserve officials, references to the “K-shaped economy” are rapidly proliferating.
From corporate executives to Wall Street analysts to Federal Reserve officials, references to the “K-shaped economy” are rapidly proliferating.
So what does it mean? Simply put, the upper part of the K refers to higher-income Americans seeing their incomes and wealth rise while the bottom part points to lower-income households struggling with weaker income gains and steep prices.
A big reason the term is popping up so often is that it helps explain an unusually muddy and convoluted period for the U.S. economy. Growth appears solid, yet hiring is sluggish and the unemployment rate has ticked up. Overall consumer spending is still rising, but Americans are less confident. AI-related data center construction is soaring while factories are laying off workers and home sales are weak. And the stock market still hovers near record highs even as wage growth is slowing.
It also captures ongoing concerns around affordability, which is much more of a concern for middle and lower-income households. Persistent inflation has received renewed political attention after voter anger over costly rents, groceries, and imported goods helped Democrats win several high-profile elections last month.
“Those at the bottom are living with the cumulative impacts of price inflation,” said Peter Atwater, an economics professor at William & Mary in Virginia. “At the same time, those at the top are benefiting from the cumulative impact of asset inflation.”
Here are some things to know about the K-shaped economy:
Not an L, U or V
Atwater actually popularized the label “K-shaped economy” during the pandemic after seeing it crop up on social media. Other economists were discussing different letters to describe how the COVID recession in 2020 could play out: Would it be a V-shaped recovery, meaning a sharp decline and then rapid bounce-back? Or would it be U-shaped, meaning a more gradual rebound? Or, worse, L-shaped: A recession followed by extended stagnation.
“There was sort of this land-grab for letters,” Atwater said. “To me the letter that made the most sense was K.”
Back then, it captured the differing fortunes between white-collar professionals still employed and working at home while stock prices rose, even as massive layoffs at factories, restaurants, and entertainment venues pushed unemployment to nearly 15%.
Inequality persists
Inequality was somewhat reversed in the aftermath of the pandemic, when businesses offered large raises for blue collar workers as the economy reopened and demand surged. Many companies — restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues — were caught short-staffed and sought to rapidly increase hiring. Lower-income workers saw larger pay gains than higher-paid ones.
In 2023 and 2024, inflation-adjusted wages for the bottom quarter of workers rose at a yearly rate of 3.9%, outpacing the 3.1% gains for the top quarter, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
“We had that kind of two-year period where the bottom was catching up and that talk of the K-shape went away,” Dario Perkins, an economist at TSLombard, said. “And since then, the economy’s cooled down again,” he added, bringing back K-shape references.
This year, however, inflation-adjusted wage growth has weakened as hiring has fallen, with the drop more pronounced for lower-income Americans. Their wage growth has plunged to an annual rate of just 1.5%, the Minneapolis Fed found, below that of the highest earning quarter of workers at 2.4%.
Slower income growth has left many lower-income workers less able to spend. Based on data from its credit card and debit card customers, the Bank of America Institute found that spending among higher-income households rose 2.7% in October compared with a year ago, while lower-income groups lagged at just 0.7%.
And a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston study in August found that consumer spending in recent years has been driven by richer households, while lower- and middle-income Americans have piled up more credit card debt even as they’ve spent less.
Businesses take note
Corporate executives are paying attention and in some cases explicitly adjusting their businesses to account for it. They are seeking ways to sell more high-priced items to the wealthy while also reducing package sizes and taking other steps to target struggling consumers.
Henrique Braun, chief operating officer at Coca-Cola, for example, said in late October that the company is pursuing both “affordability” and “premiumization.” It is generating more of its earnings from higher-end products such as its Smartwater and Fairlife filtered milk brands, while at the same time introducing mini cans for those looking to spend less.
“We continue to see divergency in spending between the income groups,” Braun said in a conference call with analysts last month. “The pressure on middle and low-end income consumers is still there.”
Sales of first- and business-class tickets have been fueling revenue and profit for Delta Air Lines, its CEO Ed Bastian said in October, while lower-end consumers have been “clearly struggling.”
And Best Buy CEO Corie Barry on Tuesday said that the top 40% of all U.S. consumers are driving two-thirds of all consumption.
The remaining 60% are focused on getting the best deals and are more dependent on a healthy job market, she said.
“One of the things we’re watching closely is how does employment continue to evolve for particularly that cohort of people who are living more paycheck to paycheck,” she added.
AI plays a role
The massive investment in data centers and computing power has also contributed to the K-shaped economy, by lifting share prices for the so-called “Magnificent 7” companies competing to build out AI Infrastructure. Yet so far it’s not creating many jobs or lifting incomes for those who don’t own stocks.
“What we see at the very top is an economy that is sort of self-contained … between AI, the stock market, the experiences of the wealthy,” Atwater said. “And it’s largely contained. It doesn’t flow through to the bottom.”
Driven by big gains for companies like Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft, the stock market has risen nearly 15% this year. But the wealthiest 10% of Americans own roughly 87% of the stock market, according to Federal Reserve data. The poorest 50% own just 1.1%.
Elon Musk recently shared a touching personal connection to India during a podcast with Nikhil Kamath.
This ancestral tie to India – through her father’s exchange student days – adds a poetic layer to the power couple’s bond, blending Canadian upbringing with desi heritage.
In a moment that’s melting hearts across India, global tech titan Elon Musk revealed a deep personal connection to the country during his riveting chat with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath on the “People by WTF” podcast. The Tesla and SpaceX visionary shared that his partner, Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, is half-Indian, and that one of their sons bears the middle name “Sekhar” – a loving tribute to the legendary Indian-American Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, said a Fortune India report.
Musk’s exact words on the podcast:
“I’m not sure if you know this, but my partner Shivon is half Indian.”
When Kamath expressed surprise (“I did not know that”), Musk beamed: “Yes, and one of my sons with her… his middle name is Sekhar after Chandrasekhar.” Diving deeper into Zilis’s roots, Musk explained her unique story: “She was given up for adoption when she was a baby. I think her father was an exchange student at a university or something like that. I’m not sure of the exact details, but she grew up in Canada.”
This ancestral tie to India – through her father’s exchange student days – adds a poetic layer to the power couple’s bond, blending Canadian upbringing with desi heritage.
Honoring India’s Scientific Giant
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, the Tamil Nadu-born astrophysicist who fled to the US amid colonial hardships, won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking work on stellar evolution – the very “Chandrasekhar limit” that defines how massive stars collapse into black holes. Naming their son after him? It’s Musk’s ultimate salute to Indian intellect, echoing his frequent praise for the subcontinent’s talent. (Zilis and Musk share four children: twins Strider and Azure (2021), daughter Arcadia (2024), and son Seldon Lycurgus – with “Sekhar” as the middle name for one of the boys.)
Family, Future, and the ‘Roman Legion’ Dream
The podcast, already viral for Musk’s takes on AI, H-1B visas (“America has benefited immensely from talented Indians”), and Starlink’s India rollout, turned deeply personal on family matters. Joking about his sprawling brood (14 kids total), Musk quipped: “I’m like an army. I’m trying to get an entire Roman Legion.
“On adoption, he’s pragmatic yet open: “I definitely have my hands full right now. I’m not opposed to it, but I do want to be able to spend some time with my kids – beyond a certain number, it’s kind of impossible.” Musk champions the traditional “one child, one mother, one father” model as what “generally works for most,” but stresses independence: “My older kids are very independent – they’re in university.
Especially sons: after a certain age, they’re very independent. Most boys don’t spend a lot of time with their parents after 18.”
The Bigger Philosophy: Fighting Population Decline for Cosmic Consciousness
Musk’s core worry? Humanity’s shrinking numbers. “It’s a big problem. I don’t want humanity to disappear,” he warned, framing it as an existential threat. “If the trend continues, we disappear. Also, going back to my philosophy – we want to expand consciousness. Fewer humans means less consciousness.”
Pressed on whether more people equals more smarts, Musk drew a brilliant analogy: “Yes. Just as consciousness increases from a single-cell creature to a 30-trillion-cell creature, we’re more conscious than bacteria. A larger human population means more consciousness overall. We’re more likely to understand the universe’s nature with more people than with fewer.” On nature vs. nurture, he rejects the binary: “The kid is half you genetically, and growing up around you adds environmental learning. So, yes, children end up being part you from a hardware standpoint, and part you from a software standpoint.” He likens the brain to a “biological computer,” where genetics provide the “circuitry” and upbringing the “efficiency.”
The BNP expressed sincere gratitude to PM Narendra Modi for his message wishing Khaleda Zia’s speedy recovery. She has been placed on ventilation and remains under the supervision of a medical team that includes specialists from abroad.
Khaleda Zia was admitted with a lung infection that later worsened. (File Photo)
Bangladesh’s main opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he sent a message wishing a speedy recovery to BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, who remains critically ill.
On X, PM Modi expressed concerns over the condition of the 80-year-old former Bangladesh prime minister, who has been in Evercare Hospital since November 23. “Deeply concerned to learn about the health of Begum Khaleda Zia, who has contributed to Bangladesh’s public life for many years,” he wrote.
“Our sincere prayers and best wishes for her speedy recovery. India stands ready to extend all possible support in whatever way we can,” he added.
The BNP responded through its official account, saying it expresses sincere gratitude to PM Modi for the goodwill gesture at a time when its leader’s condition has deteriorated sharply. “BNP deeply appreciates this gesture of goodwill and the expression of readiness to extend support,” the party said on X.
ZIA REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION
Zia, the first woman to serve as Bangladesh’s prime minister, was admitted with a lung infection that later worsened, forcing doctors to transfer her to the hospital’s Coronary Care Unit. BNP officials say she has been placed on ventilation and remains under the supervision of a medical team that includes specialists from abroad. She was admitted on November 23 after complications affecting her heart and lungs worsened sharply.
BNP leaders said that Khaleda Zia’s condition has not improved. Vice-Chairman Ahmed Aazam Khan said doctors have exhausted most medical options, adding, “She is in a very critical condition. There is nothing more to do except seek prayers from the whole nation.”
DISGRACED Sean “Diddy” Combs has been captured uttering a now-telling warning in newly leaked footage taken just days before his arrest.
Behind-the-scenes clips of the 56-year-old rapper are set to air in a four-part Netflix documentary produced by the music mogul’s bitter rival.
Combs is serving out a 50-month sentence after he was convicted of prostitution chargesCredit: Reuters
Combs hired a videographer to capture what would be his final days of freedom before he was cuffed, Good Morning America reported.
Now, that footage has dubiously ended up in the hands of a documentary team run by 50 Cent, who’s been embroiled in a years-long feud with Combs.
In a raw moment revealed in a teaser trailer, Combs was seen anxiously awaiting his indictment as he stayed at the Park Hyatt hotel in New York City.
He appears to be chatting with someone about legal strategy as he says, “We have to find somebody that’ll work with us, that has dealt in the dirtiest or dirty business.”
The visibly upset rapper then makes an ominous admission, saying, “Listen to me, I’m [gonna] get off the phone right now, and I am gonna let you professionals look at the situation and come back to me with a solution.
“No matter what nobody said. Here and there, y’all are not working together the right way.
“We’re losing,” he said.
The mega producer would go on to be arrested on September 16 and be convicted nearly a year later on two counts of transportation of prostitution.
He’s now serving out a 50-month sentence in a low-security prison in New Jersey.
Diddy’s fall from grace is set to be examined in the upcoming Netflix series Sean Combs: The Reckoning, directed by Alexandria Stapleton and produced by 50 Cent.
In an interview with Good Morning America, 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, said he was shocked that Combs actually filmed the raw moments.
At one point during the documentary, Combs returned to Harlem, where he was born and raised, to meet with fans.
After shaking hands and hugging the locals, he got back into his car and asked for hand sanitizer.
“It shows you his character,” said 50 Cent.
Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied ever sexually assaulting anyone as he battled a mountain of civil cases.
In a statement released Monday, Combs’ spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said the rapper’s legal team was “deeply concerned” about Netflix using the footage.
They described the videos as “private moments, pre-indictment material from an unfinished project, and conversations involving legal strategy.”
“None of this was obtained from Sean Combs or his team, and its inclusion raises very serious questions about how this material was accessed and why Netflix chose to use it,” read the statement provided to The U.S. Sun.
“As Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos know, Mr. Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way.
RUSSIA has accused Europe of gearing up for “major war” after a top Nato chief claimed the defence pact could launch “pre-emptive strikes” on Vladimir Putin.
Moscow hit back at the suggestion, blaming the West for “moving towards escalation” – despite mad Vlad’s growing shadow war currently tearing through the continent.
Russia has warned Nato they are gearing up for ‘major war’Credit: Getty
It comes after Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of Nato‘s Military Committee, said the alliance could be forced to strike pre-emptively – a toughening of its current policy of waiting to react.
Putin has been terrorising Europe with a campaign of sabotage and airspace violations for years, and his shadow operation is only ramping up.
Various fires and explosions – including a blaze at an east London Ukrainian-owned warehouse – have been pinned on the tyrant.
Recent cases also include the severing of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and a string of cyber-hack attacks across the continent.
The surge in these interferences is forcing Nato to reassess its traditional position of reactive military action, Dragone told the Financial Times.
In response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the claims were seen by Moscow as “an extremely irresponsible step”.
The top Putin mouthpiece said the remarks indicated “the alliance’s readiness to continue moving towards escalation”.
She said: “We see in it a deliberate attempt to undermine efforts to overcome the Ukrainian crisis.
“The people making such statements should be aware of the risks and possible consequences, including for the alliance members themselves.”
Fellow Putin pawn Denis Gonchar, who serves as Russian ambassador to Belgium, said Nato was “intimidating its population with the Kremlin’s non-existent plans to attack the alliance countries”.
He accused the alliance of “preparing for a major war with Russia”.
The latest Russian threats come as peace talks to end the bloodshed in Ukraine continue between European and US officials.
On Monday Donald Trump said the negotiations were “going along well”.
Both sides on Sunday said the negotiations had been productive, and Marco Rubio said he was hopeful of further progress.
The Kremlin confirmed that the US president’s top envoy Steve Witkoff would be jetting to Moscow to meet mad Vlad on Tuesday in Washington‘s latest bid to end the war.
Speculating on Nato’s ability to hit Russia first, Dragone said: “We are studying everything […] On cyber, we are kind of reactive.
“Being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about.”
Dragone added that revenge cyber attacks would be the simplest option, because many Nato member nations hold the capabilities to launch them.
Retaliation for physical sabotage or drone incursions would be more complex – but not out of the question.
The admiral said that a “pre-emptive strike” could, under certain circumstances, be classified as a defensive action – though it is “further away from our normal way of thinking and behaviour”.
