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The Central Economic Conference in Beijing in December 2025 identified eight key tasks for China’s economic work in 2026. Several of these areas particularly interest me as a China expert. Among the most important tasks for China’s economic work in 2026 is promoting a policy of supporting service exports through various measures to boost household income, raise basic pensions, and remove restrictions in the consumer sector. What struck me most during the Central Economic Conference meetings in Beijing in December 2025 was its emphasis on China’s continued opening up. This will provide tremendous global growth opportunities by expanding trade and investment, especially in the technology and renewable energy sectors, deepening integration into global value chains, and increasing demand for resources. This will drive the global economy in conjunction with China and create new partnerships, focusing on “high-quality development” and “high-level opening up” as fundamental pillars for mutual benefit and to stimulate innovation within the Chinese economy.

–            Main Tasks of the Beijing Economic Conference in December 2025

1)       Providing a huge market and investment opportunities: By increasingly encouraging the opening of its doors to foreign companies, China will create diverse opportunities in various sectors such as technology, innovation, and services.

2)       Making the Chinese economy an engine of global growth: The recovery and growth of the global economy depend heavily on China’s contribution, which accounts for a large share of the global economy.

3) Expanding free trade: China strongly supports free trade and the signing of regional agreements, reducing barriers and promoting trade exchanges.

4) Expanding the wheel of Chinese overseas investment: By significantly deepening the contribution of Chinese direct investment abroad to the economic development of other countries.

5)       Promoting innovation-led development in China to accelerate the development of new growth engines in 2026: This will bring significant benefits to foreign consumers and investors.  The meeting approved a package of policies aimed at strengthening the role of companies in innovation and implementing a new round of measures to develop high-quality key industrial chains, deepening and expanding fields such as artificial intelligence, which will bring more innovation opportunities to the world.

– Sectors in which China will expand in the future:

A) Innovation and Technology: China is a leader in fields such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and agricultural technology, driving global innovation.

B) Advanced Manufacturing: China’s rapid transition to high-quality development focuses on industrial upgrading and technological innovation, creating new products and services.

C)     Promoting Globalization: China opposes protectionism and supports inclusive economic globalization, creating a more interconnected and integrated global economy.

D)     Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind: The ultimate goal of China’s economic growth is to achieve common development and improve livelihoods for all, promoting win-win international cooperation.

–             Areas of China’s contribution to global development and the global economy in 2026, through:

1)       Product supply: As the “world’s factory,” with a focus on advanced technology.

2)       Demand stimulation: China’s enormous demand for commodities, energy, and raw materials supports other economies.

3)       Knowledge and technology transfer: Through investments and joint ventures.

4)       Support for sustainable development: By focusing on clean energy and green sectors.

   Accordingly, we understand that the main tasks for 2026, identified during the Central Economic Conference in Beijing in December 2026, are comprehensive and diverse. Chief among them is building a strong domestic market in China, reflecting a future strategic direction for the Chinese economy. This will promote sustainable development, support high-quality growth, foster innovation-led development, and uphold openness to the outside world. This means providing broader development opportunities for foreign investment and achieving growth that is synchronized with the development of the Chinese economy.

When he was plucked by fate and his friend Pete Wilson from the political minor leagues to be a U.S. senator in January, 1991, John Seymour vowed to go back to Washington, shake up the congressional Establishment, make his mark for California and win election on his own.

After 22 months, the 54-year-old former Anaheim mayor is still struggling to forge a senatorial image of himself and his vision for California in the minds of voters.

His 59-year-old Democratic opponent, Dianne Feinstein, has coasted into the final week of the campaign with a commanding 54%-to-40% lead among likely voters surveyed by the Los Angeles Times Poll. Political experts credit her with building on her strong image from the 1990 contest for governor and conducting an error-free campaign that more often resembled that of a secure incumbent than the challenger.

The race for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Wilson had shaped up as a classic California contest featuring a scrappy appointed incumbent and a strong challenger known to many voters as the tough officeholder “forged from tragedy” when she was thrust into the leadership of San Francisco by the shooting death of Mayor George Moscone in 1978.

Some experts thought it would be a close rerun of Feinstein’s 1990 battle with Wilson, which she lost by only 3.5%.

But so far the race hasn’t gotten that close.

Feinstein has demonstrated the immense benefits of having run an earlier campaign for major statewide office: Building an image among voters in a state of 30 million residents and the financial base needed to field such a campaign.

In analyzing the contest Tuesday, political experts credited Feinstein with running a consummate professional effort, if not a spectacular one. But even more emphatically, they characterized the Republican campaign as a missed opportunity that failed to follow a basic rule of politics: A candidate must define himself or herself to the voters before waging a negative campaign on the opponent.

Going into the last week of the campaign, one-fourth of California’s voters still did not know who John Seymour was, according to statewide opinion polls. Even more didn’t know much about him or why they should vote for him.

What’s more, Feinstein has demonstrated a Teflon resistance to attack. When Seymour attacked her, he often appeared strident or petty as Feinstein reacted indignantly and emerged all the stronger.

For 22 months, Seymour has been dogged and tireless, commuting regularly to Washington and campaigning throughout California with the tough can-do talk of a former Marine and a successful Orange County Realtor–the sort of man who’s not worried about the threat of Mexican competition under a free trade agreement because “we’ll kick their butts.”

He hounded Feinstein to hold more debates and pounded her with tough, largely negative television commercials.

His ads attacked her on all the perceived weaknesses of the tough 1990 campaign for governor: Her 1990 campaign’s legal problems, the potential conflict of interest of her banker-husband’s investments and her former position against the death penalty, which changed nearly 20 years ago.

Seymour added the hidden bomb of his opposition research: the fact that the five-member state women’s parole board on which Feinstein served from 1960 to 1966 paroled 21 convicted murderers out of more than 5,000 cases considered. By last week, Seymour even tried to link those 30-year-old decisions to the prospect that a convicted murderer like Robert Alton Harris, who was executed at San Quentin in April, might be set loose.

Essentially, Seymour duplicated the 1990 Wilson campaign playbook, Feinstein media adviser Bill Carrick said.

“But it’s 1992 not 1990,” Carrick said. “And in 1990, we never saw that crime as an issue made much difference. It’s less important in a Senate race.”

While Seymour tried to portray himself as an outsider, Feinstein attacked him as just another incumbent and, going to the heart of his failure to define himself to voters, asked: “How much do you know about Sen. John Seymour?”

Seymour, the ad said, was “a Washington big spender” who also had voted to raise his own pay four times. In fact, he had voted to raise his pay as a state senator, but not in the U.S. Senate, where he denounced the congressional pay raise and refused to accept it.

While Feinstein seemed relatively impervious to his ads, hers seemed to be finding the mark. The Times Poll found that in the last month, the number of respondents who had an unfavorable impression of Seymour had soared to 39%, an increase of 18 points.

“One has to infer they haven’t run a very good campaign,” Times Poll Director John Brennan said.

Veteran California pollster and analyst Mervin Field said: “He was unknown. He got appointed. He is unelected. He hasn’t distinguished himself in the Senate.”

UC Berkeley political science professor Bruce Cain said Seymour has been “invisible” as a senator and suffers “grayness” as a candidate.

Seymour insists he’s closing the gap. And on Tuesday, campaign manager Richard McBride said: “We’re fine, right where we are. Our tracking shows a lot of volatility among voters out there.”

But other polls point to a Feinstein victory Tuesday that would gain her some measure of revenge for her narrow loss of the governorship to Republican Wilson two years ago.

It was that loss that provided Feinstein her Senate opportunity. Before Wilson could take office as governor in January, 1991, he had to resign the Senate seat to which he was reelected for a six-year term in 1988. As governor, Wilson appointed a successor until the next general election. The winner Tuesday will serve the final two years of Wilson’s term and the seat will come up again in 1994 for a regular six-year stint.

Wilson angered GOP conservatives and puzzled nearly everyone else when he turned to Seymour, who had served eight years as a state senator but was not well known statewide. He had lost the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 1990 to a fellow Orange County senator.

Seymour bounded off to Washington, saying that to win the 1992 election, “John Seymour has got to perform and he’s got to make his mark very quickly.”

Seymour’s best opportunity to make a name for himself was to resolve two major California issues that had long simmered in Congress: the California desert wilderness bill and legislation to reform the federal Central Valley water project.

But Seymour presided over the death of the desert bill in 1991 because, Democratic critics contend, of his loyalty to ranching and mining interests.

In 1992, Seymour seized on Central Valley Project reform as his key issue. He bragged about muscling a water bill favorable to California agribusiness through the Senate over the objections of Senate giants like Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) and Bennett Johnston (D-La.). But Seymour’s measure was ignored in the House and Seymour was shut out of Senate-House conference sessions where the final version of the bill was drafted by others.

Seymour denounced the deal as being unfair to California farmers while he repeatedly misstated the dire effect it would have on California water supplies. With Wilson’s backing, Seymour implored President Bush to veto the measure. A final ignominy for Seymour would be Bush’s signature on the bill just a few days before the election.

Feinstein used her primary to reinforce the positive image and message of change she carried over from the 1990 race. She went after Seymour in the fall as an insider incumbent and capitalized on the “year of the woman,” but also was careful to avoid damaging mistakes.

Cain summed it up: “Dianne Feinstein has a formula which is well suited to California, which is a moderate to conservative Democrat who is pro-choice and pro-environment but also pro-business, for fiscal responsibility and the death penalty.”

“That formula has served her well,” Cain added. “She consolidated that image in 1990 and carried it into this campaign.”

A Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa port in the south has killed at least eight people and wounded 27, as Moscow intensifies attacks on the strategic Black Sea region and talks to end the war remain in a critical stage.

The attack late on Friday hit critical logistics infrastructure, with some of the wounded trapped on a bus at the strike’s epicentre as trucks caught fire in a car park.

Ukrainian officials say the bombardment is part of a sustained Russian campaign against Odesa’s civilian infrastructure that has left more than two million people without electricity, water and heating for days amid freezing temperatures in the war’s fourth punishing winter.

Moscow struck the same port again on Saturday, hitting reservoirs in what Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba described as deliberately targeting civilian logistics routes.

The escalation comes as both sides trade blows across multiple fronts, while United States-led negotiations and numerous high-level meetings in Europe to end the war lumber on without a breakthrough.

Russia claimed on Saturday to have seized the villages of Svitle in the eastern Donetsk region and Vysoke in the northeastern Sumy region, though the reports could not be independently verified.

Ukraine has responded with a widening campaign against Russian military and energy assets.

On Friday night, Ukrainian drones struck the Filanovsky oil rig belonging to Russian energy giant Lukoil in the Caspian Sea, along with a military patrol ship patrolling near the platform.

The attack marked the first officially acknowledged Ukrainian strike on Caspian drilling infrastructure, though the rig had been hit at least twice before in December.

Between December 14 and 15, Ukrainian forces used sea drones to strike a Russian Kilo-class submarine at the Novorossiysk Naval Base in the Black Sea, according to a United Kingdom Defence Intelligence assessment.

Miami talks

The attacks unfold as American and European officials gather in Miami for weekend talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year war, with Russian and Ukrainian teams also in attendance.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday he was heading to Miami.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would not force Ukraine into any agreement, though he described the conflict as “not our war”.

Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are leading discussions with Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and officials from the UK, France and Germany. Russian representatives, including Kremlin key negotiator Dmitriev, are meeting separately with American officials.

The key obstacle remains territorial concessions, with reports suggesting Washington is pushing Kyiv to cede parts of the eastern Donetsk region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no signs of compromise at his annual choreographed news conference on Friday, pledging to press ahead with military operations and predicting new successes before the year’s end.

Putin’s remarks were the latest in a drumbeat of often-repeated maximalist Russian positions nearly four years after he ordered troops into the neighbouring country.

The issue of territory gained, lost, to be ceded or not, delves into the heart of the matter on one of the most contentious issues in the talks to end the war so far.

Putin has demanded Ukraine cede all territory in four key regions his forces have captured and occupied, along with Crimea, which Moscow seized and annexed in 2014.

He also wants Ukrainian troops to withdraw from parts of eastern Ukraine that Russian forces have not yet taken in the eastern Donetsk region, where fighting remains attritional – conditions Kyiv has rejected outright.

As talks continue, so does the fighting, with Russia controlling large parts of Ukraine’s eastern and Black Sea coastal regions.

Putin projected confidence on Friday about battlefield progress, saying Russian forces had “fully seized strategic initiative” and would make further gains before the year ends.

However, that narrative is on shaky ground this week, as Moscow’s assertion of inevitable victory flew in the face of facts on the ground.

Ukraine steadily took back control of almost all of its northern city of Kupiansk after isolating Russian forces within it, belying Russian claims to have seized it.

Russian forces were also unable to dislodge Ukrainian defenders from the eastern city of Pokrovsk in the eastern area of Donetsk to back up Moscow’s claims of total control.

Ukraine received a boost on Friday when European leaders agreed to provide a 90 billion euros ($105bn) loan to cover military and economic needs for the next two years.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met Polish President Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw the same day to reinforce regional unity against Russia, said the funds would go towards defence if the war continues or reconstruction if peace is achieved.

Khan and his wife have denied accusations that they misrepresented the value of state gifts, including jewellery, and profited from them.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 17 years in prison after a Pakistani court found them guilty of illegally retaining and selling valuable state gifts.

The sentence, handed down on Saturday, capped a years-long saga that saw the duo accused of selling various gifts – including jewellery from the Saudi Arabian government – at far below market value. They have denied all charges.

In order to keep gifts from foreign dignitaries, Pakistani law requires officials to purchase them at market value and to declare profits from any sales.

But prosecutors claimed that the couple profited from the items after purchasing them at an artificially low price of $10,000, compared with their market rate of $285,521.

Khan’s supporters were quick to denounce the ruling, with his spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari saying that “criminal liability was imposed without proof of intent, gain, or loss, relying instead on a retrospective reinterpretation of rules”.

His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, wrote on social media that the proceedings were a “sham” and criticised international media coverage of the case.

The 73-year-old former leader served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until April 2022, when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote.

He was imprisoned starting in August 2023 on various charges of corruption and revealing state secrets, all of which he has denied and claimed to be politically motivated. He has been acquitted of some charges.

An internationally famous cricket player in the heyday of his sporting career, Khan remains popular in Pakistan, with his imprisonment leading to protests throughout the last two years.

The former leader is now confined to a prison in the city of Rawalpindi and “kept inside all the time”, his sister, Uzma Khanum, told journalists earlier this month.

Khanum, a doctor who was the first family member allowed to visit Khan in weeks, described him as “very angry” about the isolation, saying that he considered the “mental torture” of imprisonment to be “worse than physical abuse”.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Mexican low-cost airlines Volaris and Viva Aerobus announced an agreement to create a new holding company through a merger of equals — a deal aimed at expanding low-fare air travel and strengthening Mexico’s air connectivity with the United States and Latin America.

The transaction will combine the parent companies of Volaris and Viva into a single entity, while each airline will continue to operate independently under its own brand, air operator certificate, leadership structure and route network.

Once the deal closes, shareholders of each company will hold 50% of the new group on a fully diluted basis. Viva shareholders will receive newly issued shares of Volaris’ holding company, while Volaris shareholders will retain their existing shares, according to DF SUD.

The boards of both airlines unanimously approved the transaction. The deal is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals and is expected to close in 2026. Shares of the holding company will continue to trade on the Mexican Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

The new group would become Mexico’s largest low-cost airline platform and a regional player with growing relevance for travelers seeking cheaper options across North America and Latin America.

Volaris shares jumped more than 20% after the announcement, driven by expectations of operational efficiencies and cost reductions.

Volaris is a publicly traded company backed by U.S.-based Indigo Partners, which also controls Frontier Airlines in the United States and JetSmart in Chile.

Viva Aerobus is privately held and controlled by Mexican transportation group IAMSA, led by businessman Roberto Alcantara Rojas, who will serve as chairman of the new holding company

Both airlines operate all-Airbus fleets and focus on a low-cost, point-to-point business model. Their main competitor in Mexico’s domestic market is Aeromexico, the country’s flag carrier.

The agreement comes amid a complex period for Mexican aviation and air relations with the United States. In October, the U.S. Department of Transportation rejected more than a dozen routes proposed by Mexican airlines, citing disputes over slot management at Mexico City’s main airport and the relocation of cargo operations to a more distant terminal.

In November, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexican airlines would give up some airport slots to U.S. competitors. U.S. airlines currently account for more than half of international passenger traffic between the two countries, while Mexican carriers represent less than 30%.

Industry analysts say the creation of the new holding could strengthen Mexico’s position in the regional market without, for now, triggering a full operational merger that could face stronger regulatory opposition.

Aghil Keshavarz is the tenth person put to death for espionage since June conflict with Israel.

Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, judicial authorities announced, as Tehran continues a widening crackdown on alleged collaborators following the 12-day Israel-United States-Iran war earlier this year.

Aghil Keshavarz was put to death on Saturday morning after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction on espionage charges, according to Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency.

The 27-year-old architecture student was arrested earlier this year in the northwestern city of Urmia after military patrols caught him photographing an army headquarters building.

The execution adds to a growing number of people put to death for espionage since the June conflict, with at least 10 executed by September alone.

In September, Iran executed a man it said was “one of the most important spies for Israel in Iran”.

In October, Tehran toughened legislation against alleged spies for Israel and the US, making espionage automatically punishable by death and asset confiscation.

According to the Mizan report, Keshavarz was accused of conducting more than 200 missions for Israeli intelligence services across Tehran, Isfahan, Urmia and Shahroud.

The missions allegedly included photographing target sites, conducting opinion polling, and monitoring traffic patterns at specific locations.

Authorities said he communicated with both Israel’s Mossad and military officials through encrypted messaging platforms, receiving payment in cryptocurrency after completing assignments.

The judiciary said Keshavarz had “knowingly cooperated” with Israeli services with the intention of harming Iran’s Islamic Republic.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group has previously disputed similar espionage convictions, saying suspects are often tortured into false confessions.

Israel’s offensive in June involved 12 days of air attacks, including several against Iran’s top generals and nuclear scientists, as well as civilians in residential areas, for which Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles and drones. The US also carried out extensive strikes, on Israel’s behalf, on Iranian nuclear sites during the conflict. According to Amnesty International, Israeli attacks on Iran killed at least 1,100 people.

In response to the June war and protests in recent years over the state of the economy and women’s rights, as well as calls for regime change, Iran has sentenced more people to death.

The United States is reviving a policy first set out in the 1800s that treats Latin America as its strategic sphere of influence. As Washington expands maritime operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, critics warn of legal violations and rising regional instability.

Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin joins Talk to Al Jazeera to discuss US strikes, Venezuela, migration pressures, and China’s growing role in the region — and whether diplomacy can still prevent escalation in a hemisphere shaped once again by power politics.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has warned that babies and children in the Gaza Strip are dying from harsh winter weather, calling on Israel to ease its aid blockade as the military continues to violate the ceasefire and press on with its genocidal war.

Citing the death of a 29-day-old premature baby, Said Asad Abedin, from severe hypothermia in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, MSF said on Friday that winter storms “combined with the already dire living conditions [are] increasing health risks”.

The death toll from extreme weather stood at 13 as of Thursday, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Another two-week-old baby, Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair, froze to death without access to proper shelter or clothing earlier this week.

Ahmed al-Farra, head of the maternity paediatric department at Nasser Medical Complex, said in a video update that “hypothermia is very dangerous” for babies. “If nothing is offered for these families in the tents, for warming, for mobile homes, for caravans, unfortunately, we will see more and more” deaths, al-Farra said.

Children are “losing their lives because they lack the most basic items for survival,” Bilal Abu Saada, a nursing team supervisor at Nasser Hospital, told MSF. “Babies are arriving to the hospital cold, with near-death vital signs.”

In addition to the growing number of deaths, MSF said its staff has recorded high rates of respiratory infections that it expects to increase throughout the winter, posing a particular danger to children under five.

“As Gaza is battered by heavy rains and storms, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians continue to struggle in flooded and broken makeshift tents,” the organisation added. “MSF calls on Israeli authorities to urgently allow a massive scale up of aid into the Strip.”

No letup in Israeli attacks

Palestinian news agency Wafa, meanwhile, reported that Israeli forces demolished buildings, carried out artillery shelling and shot guns in areas east of Gaza City on Saturday morning, with more gunfire reported east of Khan Younis.

On Friday, an Israeli strike on a shelter for displaced Palestinians killed at least six people. The Israeli military claimed to be firing on “suspects”.

Graphic videos from the scene showed body parts and terrified civilians trying to carry wounded people out of danger.

Military vehicles also descended upon the town of az-Zawiya, located west of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, where forces severely beat and injured a number of citizens and stormed homes, the agency said.

‘I can still hear his tiny cries’

Heavy rain, high winds and freezing temperatures have battered Gaza in recent weeks, flooding or blowing away more than 53,000 tents that have served as makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians.

With huge swaths of buildings and infrastructure destroyed, streets are quick to flood and sewage overflows. Displaced families have sought refuge in the shells of partially fallen-down buildings despite the risk of collapse, with 13 buildings caving in across Gaza last week.

The winter weather and Israel’s blocking of vital aid and mobile homes for shelter have proven deadly for children and babies.

Late in the evening of December 13, Eman Abu al-Khair, a 34-year-old displaced Palestinian living in al-Mawasi west of Khan Younis, found her sleeping baby Mohammed “cold as ice”, his hands and feet frozen and “his face stiff and yellowish”, she told Al Jazeera.

She and her husband couldn’t find transportation to get to hospital, and intense rain made it impossible to make the trek by foot.

After rushing Mohammed by animal-drawn cart to Red Crescent Hospital in Khan Younis at dawn, he was admitted to intensive care with a blue face and convulsions. He died two days later.

“I can still hear his tiny cries in my ears,” Eman said. “I sleep and drift off, unable to believe that his crying and waking me at night will never happen again.”

Mohammed “had no medical problems,” she added. “His tiny body simply couldn’t withstand the extreme cold inside the tents.”

Since the October 10 ceasefire took effect, Israel has continued to block the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip despite calls from a host of United Nations agencies, international organisations and other states for it to stop.

The UN has said that Israel has prevented tents and blankets from reaching Palestinians, even as an estimated 55,000 families have seen their belongings and shelters damaged or destroyed in the storm.

Dozens of child-friendly spaces have also been damaged, affecting 30,000 children, according to the UN.

Natasha Hall, a senior advocate for Refugees International, told Al Jazeera that aid is entering Gaza in a “trickle” in part due to its opaque list of “controlled dual-use items” that has included nappies, bandages, tools, tents and other essentials.

“It’s unclear how those could be used as weapons or any kind of dual use,” Hall said.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Sales of previously owned homes rose 0.5% in November from October, reflecting a slowdown, due to high mortgage rates, high prices and less supply.

Home sales were 1% lower than November 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales came in at an annualized rate of 4.13 million units.

The numbers are based on closings, so contracts may have been signed in the preceding months when rates dipped slightly.

Supply fell in November after rising most of the year. The association said there were 1.43 million homes for sale at the end of the month, which is down 5.9% from October, but up 7.5 percent year-over-year.

That’s a 4.2-month supply. A six-month supply is considered balanced between buyer and seller.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was 6.24%, down from 6.25% in October and 6.81% from a year ago, showing slow change in rates.

The median existing-home price for all housing types was $409,200, up 1.2% from a year ago.

The median time on the market for properties was 36 days, up from 34 days last month and 32 in November 2024.

“Existing-home sales increased for the third straight month due to lower mortgage rates this autumn,” said the Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a statement. “However, inventory growth is beginning to stall. With distressed property sales at historic lows and housing wealth at an all-time high, homeowners are in no rush to list their properties during the winter months.”

Month-over-month sales increased in the Northeast and South, showed no change in the West, and fell in the Midwest. Year-over-year sales showed no change in the Northeast and South, and decreased in the Midwest and West.

“Wage growth is outpacing home price gains, which improves housing affordability. Still, future affordability could be hampered if housing supply fails to keep pace with demand,” Yun said. “As has been the case throughout the year, single-family home sales outperformed condominium sales in November. The typical price of a sold condo was 13.5% lower than the typical price of a single-family home. However, the purchase price does not include the condominium association fees, which are rising and making these purchases more expensive.”

Opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not aware of comments made by Ben Stokes when the England captain said his dressing room is “not a place for weak men”.

Stokes made the statement in multiple interviews following England’s defeat in the second Ashes Test against Australia earlier this month.

In the run-up to the third Test, in which England are set to be beaten to lose the series at the earliest opportunity, Stokes said he had let his message “drift around” his players.

“I’ve done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done,” said the all-rounder.

But after Crawley made 85 on the fourth day of the third Test in Adelaide, he said: “I didn’t see that.

“I didn’t see and wasn’t really looking out for it. We take everything that is said in the media with a pinch of salt.”

Stokes made the “weak men” comment after England were beaten in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.

The England squad subsequently went on holiday to Noosa between the second and third Tests.

Before this match in Adelaide, Stokes said his team had held “raw” conversations. The captain also asked his players to “show a bit of dog” in their battle to remain in the series.

But Kent’s Crawley stated the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained consistent with their previous three years in charge.

“It’s been very positive, the same as always,” said Crawley. “[It’s] just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do something special going into this game.”

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Attorneys for former special counsel Jack Smith again asked for a public hearing after he testified behind closed doors about his efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump.

The House Judiciary Committee deposed Smith on Wednesday during a closed hearing that lasted for about nine hours, and his attorneys wrote committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday to ask for a public hearing, CBS News reported.

“Mr. Smith welcomed this opportunity and hopes that it will serve to correct the many mischaracterizations about the work of the Special Counsel’s Office,” said Smith’s attorneys, Peter Koski and Lanny Breuer.

“During the investigation of President Trump, Mr. Smith steadfastly followed Justice Department policies, observed all legal requirements and took actions based on the facts and the law,” they wrote in their joint letter to Jordan.

“He stands by his decisions,” they said, adding that an open hearing would enable the public to hear Smith directly and not through third-party accounts, according to Politico.

Koski and Breuer also asked Jordan and the committee to release a full recording of Smith’s deposition, during which he said evidence showed Trump illegally mishandled classified documents and tried to overturn the 2020 election results.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Smith told the committee that he would charge Trump again based on the same evidence if given the chance to do so.

Jordan and other House Republicans accused Smith of “prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional abuses” while investigating Trump on behalf of the Biden administration.

They claim Smith tried to silence the president by manipulating evidence against him and raiding his Mar-A-Lago estate without cause after other federal prosecutors said there was no justification to do so, Axios reported.

Neither the classified documents case nor the alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results case reached the trial stage.

A 737 Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) with a luxurious VVIP interior has re-emerged unexpectedly tied to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as evidenced by a large departmental seal in the main cabin. The aircraft’s appearance follows news that DHS recently signed a contract to buy six 737s, ostensibly to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) deportation efforts. However, the BBJ, which also wears a paint scheme that is very similar to one President Donald Trump had previously selected for the U.S. Air Force’s two future VC-25B presidential aircraft, looks to have a very different role.

The 737 BBJ in question, a 737-8 model, currently has the U.S. civil registration number N471US. The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) public database shows the jet has been registered with that number to a company called Valkyrie Aviation Holding Group, LLC, since October. The address given for Valkyrie in the database is an office in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

As seen in pictures at the top of this story and below, which were taken this past weekend at Washington’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, N471US currently has a red, white, and blue livery. “United States of America” is written prominently in large lettering on either side of the forward fuselage. “Independence” is also written in much smaller font on both sides of the fuselage, right under the cockpit, a spot where aircraft nicknames are often printed. A large American flag, depicted blowing in the wind, is featured on both sides of the tail.

As noted already, a relatively large DHS seal fitted to a bulkhead inside the cabin is visible through an open door in one picture. The jet’s exact internal configuration at present is unknown, something we will come back to later on.

As mentioned, N471US’s general external look is very much in line with what President Donald Trump had picked for the pair of forthcoming Boeing 747-8i-based VC-25B Air Force One aircraft during his first term. President Joe Biden subsequently reversed that decision, bringing back plans to paint those jets in the same iconic, Kennedy-era livery as the current VC-25A Air Force Ones. In August, the Air Force told Inside Defense it was “implementing a new livery requirement for VC-25B,” but did not elaborate.

Almost as quickly as it emerged at National Airport in D.C., N471US departed for points overseas, according to online flight tracking data. The jet arrived in Jordan’s capital Amman yesterday, having made at least one stop at Chania International Airport on the Greek island of Crete along the way. Chania International Airport also serves as an important hub for U.S. military forces operating in Europe and the Middle East, with facilities there under the oversight of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Support Activity Souda Bay.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s lone C-37B, a version of the Gulfstream G550 business jet, also departed from National Airport in D.C. on December 14 and arrived in Amman yesterday after stopping in Chania. That aircraft had arrived in both locations just ahead of N471US, lending credence to a direct connection between the two flights, and underscoring the 737 BBJ’s links to DHS.

Interesting flights to Jordan: a Dept of Homeland Security 737 landing Amman from DC (n471us), shortly after a CoastGuard glf5 (c102) from DC as well pic.twitter.com/yCpgICUjlM

— avi scharf (@avischarf) December 15, 2025

The Coast Guard currently falls under the purview of DHS. The service’s C-37B, also known as a Long Range Command and Control Aircraft (LRCCA), is regularly used as a VIP transport for the Secretary of Homeland Security and other senior departmental leaders, as well as top Coast Guard leadership. The LRCCA is based at Coast Guard Air Station Washington, which is collocated with National Airport.

Flight tracking data shows N471US left Amman today and flew to Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Coast Guard’s C-37B also made the same trip. Who has been flying on either aircraft since they left D.C. on Sunday, and why, is unknown. TWZ reached out to DHS yesterday morning for more information about N471US, but we have not yet received a response. We have also reached out to the White House.

N471US itself, which has the Boeing manufacturer serial number 61329, is a known quantity. The jet, which has been flying since July 2021, is curiously still listed for sale on Avjet Global’s website at the time of writing. Avjet’s site and an accompanying brochure show the plane in a previous taupe-over-brown paint scheme. It is also described as having “low hours with 672 TT [hours total time]” and “154 landings.”

Avjet’s brochure says the jet has a “5 zone VVIP cabin configuration” designed to accommodate 17 passengers. Accompanying pictures show an extremely luxurious interior layout that includes two suites with full-size beds and a master bathroom with a shower stall, among many other amenities. Whether any changes have since been made to the aircraft’s internal configuration is unknown, but there are no indications that it has. It would be expensive and time-consuming to make major changes to the core internal layout. Doing so would also call into question the basic rationale for any buyer to select this particular low-time VIP aircraft rather than a 737 in a more basic configuration, to begin with.

The 737 BBJ, then flying with the civil registration number N702F, was tracked flying from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Dallas Love Field in Texas, between September 23 and 24. It then flew to Ardmore Municipal Airport in Oklahoma, to the north of Dallas. It has been pointed out that Ardmore is home to a branch of King Aerospace, which has a long history of heavy maintenance and deep modification work, with a particular focus on the 737 family. King offers a variety of services related to VVIP 737s. The company also routinely secures U.S. government contracts for maintenance and other support for other 737-based aircraft with more specialized configurations.

The jet was not tracked again until October 31, when it flew with the N471US registration number from Ardmore to Chennault International Airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This airport has also been tied to the maintenance and repainting of U.S. government aircraft.

N471US returned to Ardmore on November 21. The aircraft conducted multiple local flights to and from the airport on December 10, according to Flightradar24. Observers have already noted this could have been for flight testing and/or crew training purposes.

Flight tracking data shows N471US flew to Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington, D.C., home to the VC-25A Air Force One jets and other members of the Air Force’s VIP aircraft fleets, on December 11. It is worth noting here that the U.S. Air Force, as well as the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, operate militarized 737 variants as personnel transports, which are often used by senior leaders, as well as Congressional delegations.

On December 12, N471US then made a circuitous trip to the Grissom Aeroplex in Peru, Indiana, by way of the St. Louis, Missouri, area, much further to the west, where it did not land. The Grissom Aeroplex is collocated with Grissom Air Reserve Base, a major hub for Air Force Reserve aerial refueling tankers. It then returned to the Washington, D.C. area on December 13, where it was spotted at National Airport.

Altgoether, there are clear signs that N471US is now flying as a VIP transport for one or more entities under the DHS umbrella, possibly as part of a contractor-owned and/or operated arrangement. The U.S. federal government as a whole has historically operated a mix of government and contractor-owned and operated aircraft to support the travel demands of senior officials.

It had emerged earlier in the year that the U.S. Coast Guard was looking to replace its older Gulfstream V-based C-37A jet, which the service has been flying since 2002. Like its C-37B, the Coast Guard also refers to its C-37A as a Long Range Command and Control Aircraft (LRCCA), and performs the same general slate of missions. The service received the C-37B second-hand from the Air Force in 2022 after a deep refurbishment.

DHS subsequently confirmed plans to supplant both of the Coast Guard’s C-37s with newer Gulfstream 700-series jets modified with the requisite secure communications suite and other systems needed for their VIP mission. The total price tag for both of those aircraft has been pegged at between $170 and $200 million. DHS, and particularly Secretary Kristi Noem, has faced criticism for these plans for various reasons, including disputes over funding and for entering into the contract to buy the jets during the recent government shutdown. DHS has pushed back on that criticism, saying that acquiring newer jets is critical to meeting current and future mission requirements, and doing so safely and reliably. DHS’s top leadership does have particular demands to travel with access to specialized and secure communications, given the role the department has in larger continuity of government plans. The U.S. government has various measures in place to ensure it can continue to function in the event of any number of severe contingency scenarios, including major hostile attacks or severe natural disasters.

As a general observation, complaints about the misuse of U.S. government aircraft are leveled at senior federal officials, as well as members of Congress from both parties, with some regularity.

There have been no reports previously of DHS plans to acquire a 737 to further expand its VIP transport capacity. However, DHS confirmed to The Washington Post just last week that it had recently entered into a $140 million contract with a company called Daedalus Aviation for the purchase of six 737s to support ICE deportation activities. This followed a report from The Wall Street Journal in November that ICE attempted to buy 10 737s via Spirit Airlines for this purpose earlier in the year. That plan is said to have fallen through when it became apparent that Spirit did not actually own the aircraft in question, which also had no engines.

More broadly speaking, President Donald Trump’s administration has faced intense legal and other scrutiny, as well as broader criticism and controversy, over how it has been carrying out deportation flights, as well as its overall immigration policies. Public polling in the United States has consistently shown general support for stauncher measures against illegal immigration, but not necessarily for how the Trump administration is proceeding at present.

What connection Daedalus Aviation may or may not have to Valkyrie Aviation is unknown, but the latter company did reserve seven other N numbers (N473US, N474US, N475US, N476US, N477US, N478US, and N479US) on October 27, according to the FAA’s database. A search of entries tied to Valkyrie in the database also turns up N472US, a Gulfstream G650 business jet, which is now said to be registered to a company called Vigilant Aviation Holdings LLC with an address in Lewes, Delaware. Valkyrie also interestingly reserved N702F, the registration number previously applied to N471US, on November 13.

Overall, observers have already pointed out that N471US looks to have a configuration ill-suited to conducting deportation flights, just from a practical perspective, and a VIP role for that jet still seems far more likely. At the same time, rolling it in with the acquisition of a fleet of less luxurious 737s intended primarily to serve in the deportation role would not necessarily be surprising. Whatever deal DHS may have with Valkyrie could also be an entirely separate arrangement from the one it has with Daedalus. Regardless, all of this could easily fuel new criticism around DHS’s recent aviation acquisition efforts.

In the meantime, N471US is continuing its trip overseas on what looks to be its first major flight in its present role, and more details about the plane and how it is being utilized may now start to emerge. From what we’re seeing now, it certainly looks like DHS’s new 737 fleet includes at least one aircraft fully equipped as a luxurious VIP transport.

Special thanks to David Lee for sharing pictures he took of N471US at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport this past weekend with us.

Editor’s Note: The feature image originally at the top of this story was swapped with another at the request of the source.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Dec. 19 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Friday released records from the Jeffrey Epstein case in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed into law last month by President Donald Trump.

The DOJ has made the files publicly available online on the Justice Department website’s section on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but the names of victims and other identifying information have been redacted. Congress overwhelmingly approved the legislation and it was signed by Trump on Nov. 19 with a 30-day deadline to release files.

“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement shared with NBC News.

Friday’s files release gives the public access to hundreds of thousands of records, with more to be released over the next several weeks, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a letter to members of Congress, as reported by CBS News.

“We are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story to the extent it needs to be protected is completely protected,” Blanche added.

The DOJ had 187 attorneys review the documents ahead of their release and 25 more on a quality control team, he said.

“Protecting victims is of the highest priority for President Trump, the Attorney General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice,” Blanche said in the letter.

He also said Trump has said he wants full transparency on the matter and has supported the release of the Epstein case files for several years.

The president signed the supporting legislation in November to expedite the release of the Epstein case files.

The documents include information that was already made public, along with files that are “very likely to have never seen the light of day before,” CNN crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz said.

The records are in addition to the tens of thousands of files already released regarding the federal case against former financier Epstein.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have also released files and photos from Epstein’s estate.

On Aug. 10, 2019, Epstein hung himself while jailed in Manhattan and awaiting a federal trial that accused him of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

The release of hundreds of thousands of pages of the case files and other information will keep news outlets busy going through them well into the foreseeable future.

The released files include documents, telephone records, audio recordings and photographs, but many lack context that explains why they are included in the case files.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s lung condition has worsened, and her doctors are considering a lung transplant, the royal palace announced Friday.

The 52-year-old was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a rare, chronic disease that causes lung tissue to become damaged and scarred. This scarring causes difficulty for the lungs to carry oxygen to the bloodstream.

Symptoms of the condition include shortness of breath, dry cough, fatigue, weight loss and loss of appetite, muscle or joint pain, and rounded or swollen fingertips.

“During the autumn, a number of tests have been carried out that show a clear worsening of the crown princess’ health,” a statement from the palace said.

“The physicians at Rikshospitalet University Hospital have therefore started the process towards an evaluation for potential lung transplant surgery.”

At the time of her diagnosis, Mette-Marit predicted the condition would restrict her ability to perform royal duties.

“Although such a diagnosis will limit my life at times, I’m glad that the disease has been discovered so early,” she said in 2018. “My goal is still to work and participate in the official program as much as possible.

Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon, son of King Harald V and heir to the throne, in 2001. The couple share two children — Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, and Mette-Marit has a 28-year-old son, Marius Borg Høiby, from a previous relationship.

Høiby faces trial early next year on 32 charges, including four counts of rape.

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The United States Department of the Treasury has announced new sanctions on several family members and associates of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as the Trump administration increases pressure on Caracas and continues to build up US forces on Venezuela’s borders.

The sanctions announced on Friday come as the US military continues attacks on boats off the country’s coast, which have killed more than 100 people. The US military has also seized a Venezuelan oil tanker and imposed a naval blockade on all vessels arriving and departing from Venezuelan ports that are under US sanctions.

Announcing the new sanctions, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement that “Maduro and his criminal accomplices threaten our hemisphere’s peace and stability”.

“The Trump Administration will continue targeting the networks that prop up his illegitimate dictatorship,” Bessent added.

The new sanctions target seven people who are family members or associates of Malpica Flores, a nephew of Maduro, and Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero, who were named in an earlier round of US sanctions that also targeted six Venezuela-flagged oil tankers and shipping firms, on December 11.

Flores, who is one of three of Maduro’s nephews by marriage, dubbed “narco-nephews” by the US Treasury Department, is wanted because he “has been repeatedly linked to corruption at Venezuela’s state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, SA”, the Treasury said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how Flores’s role in Venezuela’s state-run oil company related to “propping up Nicolas Maduro’s rogue narco-state”, which Bessent said in his statement was the reason for widening sanctions to additional family members and associates of the president.

The US has claimed that tackling drug trafficking is the primary reason for its military escalation in the region since September, including the strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, which international law experts say amount to extrajudicial killings.

Despite the Trump administration’s repeated references to drug trafficking, its actions and messaging appear increasingly focused on Venezuela’s oil reserves, which are the largest in the world. The reserves have remained relatively untapped since sanctions were imposed on the country by the US during the first Trump administration.

Homeland Security adviser and top Trump aide Stephen Miller said last week that Venezuela’s oil belongs to Washington.

“American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” Miller claimed on X. “Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property,” he added.

US sanctions, particularly those targeting Venezuela’s oil industry, have contributed to an economic crisis in the country and increased discontent with Maduro, who has governed Venezuela since 2013.

For his part, Maduro has accused the Trump administration of “fabricating a new eternal war” aimed at “regime change” and seizing Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

The European Union has also imposed targeted sanctions on Venezuela, which it renewed last week until 2027.

The European sanctions, first introduced in 2017, include an embargo on arms shipments to Venezuela, as well as travel bans and asset freezes on individuals linked to state repression.

Former ‍heavyweight ‍champion beats ⁠social-media-star-turned fighter ‍with a sixth-round knockout in Miami.

Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami.

Two-time world champion Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less experienced opponent on Friday night, but finally made his superior size and power count in the later stages of the eight-round fight.

A mediocre contest at the Kaseya Center – with the two men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of $184m – descended into farce at times, with Paul repeatedly dropping to the canvas and grappling at Joshua’s legs.

At one stage even referee Christopher Young appeared to be losing patience, warning the fighters in the fourth round: “The fans did not pay to see this crap.”

As Paul tired, Joshua finally began to land punches with more regularity and after knocking down the American twice in the fifth round the end came swiftly in the sixth.

Joshua backed the 28-year-old into a corner and after teeing up Paul with a crunching left, delivered the knockout blow with a right to the chin that sent his opponent crashing to the canvas.

“It wasn’t the best performance,” Joshua, 36, admitted afterwards. “But the end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him.

“That was the request leading up, and that was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected but the right hand finally found its destination.”

Joshua meanwhile praised Paul for lasting into the later rounds.

“I want to give him his props – he got up time and time again,” Joshua said. “It was difficult in there for him, but he kept on trying to find a way. It takes a real man to do that.”

Paul, meanwhile, his mouth bloodied from Joshua’s final assault, said he believed his jaw had been broken – but was satisfied with his performance.

“That was fun. I gave it my all,” Paul said. “I had a blast. I think my jaw is broken by the way. But Anthony’s one of the best to ever do it so. I’m gonna come back and get a world championship.

“I just got tired to be honest – like it was so much handling his weight. I think with better cardio I could have kept it up and kept on fighting. But he hits really hard.”

The bout was carried live to ‌Netflix’s approximately 300 million subscribers.

Friday’s made-for-streaming contest, which came just over a year after Paul had fought a 58-year-old Mike Tyson in a much-derided Netflix fight, had triggered alarm across boxing given the disparity in size and experience between the two men.

Yet the devastating first or second round knockout by Joshua that most had predicted failed to materialise as Paul scrambled desperately to stay outside of the 2012 Olympic champion’s range.

Joshua, fighting for the first time in 15 months, always looked the more threatening fighter though, landing 48 of 146 punches thrown compared to Paul’s meagre total of 16 punches landed.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — The U.S. military struck several ISIS-connected targets in Syria on Friday in retaliation for the shooting deaths of two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter last week.

The suspected Islamic State targets include weapons storage facilities and infrastructure, CNN, CBS News and The New York Times reported.

The military used artillery, attack helicopters and fighter jets to hit targets in central Syria during Operation Hawkeye, which is named after the two slain soldiers’ home state of Iowa.

The strikes were expected to take place into early Saturday morning as part of a retaliation campaign against ISIS in Syria, The Times reported.

A lone ISIS sniper killed Iowa National Guardsmen Sgt. William Howard, 29, and Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar, 25, and civilian interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat, 54. Three other Iowa National Guardsmen also were wounded.

The ISIS sniper ambushed the soldiers while they were “supporting a key leader” in Palmyra, Syria, CBS News reported.

The sniper had been a member of the Syrian security forces, but he was scheduled to be dismissed from his duties due to extremist views, U.S. and Syrian officials said.

ISIS remains a factor in Syria, where it has lost much of its prior territorial control after the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, 2024, by opposition forces led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

The collapse of the Assad regime largely ended a 14-year civil war in Syria, and he has been replaced by current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Sharaa met with Trump at the White House last month and on Friday welcomed the lifting of U.S. sanctions against the Syrian government that were placed during the Assad regime.

Lifting the sanctions makes it possible for investments to be made in Syria, which has struggled to recover from its civil war.

Several hundred thousand pages still have not been released

Bill Clinton pictured in pool and hot tub

US Department of Justice

US Department of Justice

Epstein allegedly introduced Trump to 14-year-old girl

Photo appears to show Andrew laying across laps

US Department of Justice

Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Chris Tucker and Mick Jagger

US Department of Justice

US Department of Justice

US Department of Justice

US Department of Justice

Epstein threatened to burn down house, accuser says