Month: January 2026

The board was initially aimed at rebuilding Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli genocide, but was later pitched as a global conflict body.

From Zaria to Lagos, Yakubu spent three days. Along the way, he hoped, ate, and even stepped aside to relieve himself. 

Home had become a stronghold of terrorists who rustled cattle, kidnapped residents, and cut farmers off from their harvests. Even children, Yakubu recalled, openly carried weapons in Funtua, the area where he grew up in Katsina State, northwestern Nigeria.

He fled first to Zaria in neighbouring Kaduna State, where he negotiated with a truck driver transporting cattle to Lagos, in the country’s South West. With ₦3,000, he secured a small space and spent what remained of the ₦5,000 his father gave him on food along the journey. Whenever the need arose, the driver pulled over so he and others could relieve themselves in the bushes.

Yakubu’s journey shows the vulnerability of travellers in Nigeria, including migrants, where sanitation infrastructure fails to meet evolving needs. 

In 2020, REACH found that many people in some parts of northeastern Nigeria were not using latrines because facilities had been destroyed by conflict. In some internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) camps in Borno State, up to 30 per cent of residents practised open defecation. And of the 254 sites assessed across the state between 2021 and 2022, 57 per cent showed evidence of the practice.

By the end of 2024, Nigeria had over three million displaced persons, driven largely by insecurity in the northern region, as well as climate-related displacement linked to flooding and environmental degradation. 

Many displaced people move south, travelling along highways without public toilets and settling in urban centres where informal settlements lack basic sanitation. Studies have linked cholera outbreaks in such settings to open defecation.

In Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city and a major destination for migrants, including IDPs, recent cholera outbreaks killed more than 20 people and left many others hospitalised. 

The impact of the absence of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities continues to play out daily. 

Sixteen-year-old Shamsu arrived in the city from Kurfi Local Government Area of Katsina State. For five years, he has lived in a small shanty along Yaba, a residential community in Lagos Mainland, with other young people who earn a living collecting used plastic bottles.

The shanty offers little protection from either rain or heat. When it rains, water seeps through the torn tarpaulins that serve as walls and roof. And with no toilet, occupants defecate in a small patch of bush a few steps away.

“When I need to defecate, I buy sachets of water for ₦50,” Shamsu said, explaining that he uses the water to clean up afterwards. He came to Lagos in search of economic opportunity.

At the spot where Shamsu and others defecate, HumAngle encountered a man crouched on a highway barrier. His back curved inward, the rest of his body leaning forward as vehicles raced past. The man, known to sell suya in the area, appeared shy in the face of the urgency of the moment and the exposure it demanded. No water for cleaning was visible. 

Yusuf said he pays ₦200 to use a public toilet in Akogun, some distance away from Makoko, where he lives in an informal settlement with other migrants. He had come to Lagos on the back of a truck after fleeing terrorism in the Makoda area of Kano State. 

The cost and distance, however, raise questions about how accessible such facilities are in practice, particularly at night, and what options remain when toilets are out of reach.

In 2019, the federal government launched Clean Nigeria, a national hygiene campaign aimed at ending open defecation across all 774 local government areas by 2025. By the end of the target year, however, nearly 48 million Nigerians were still engaged in the act. 

The Federal Ministry of Water Resources’ 2021 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping projected multiple target misses due to slow progress. And in November 2024, the federal government launched a revised Clean Nigeria Campaign (CNC) Strategic Plan, extending the goal to 2030 and proposing measures such as media outreach, fines, and increased access to toilets in schools, homes, and public spaces.

According to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria would need “a fourfold increase in the current rate of progress,” including the construction of millions of toilets, to achieve the ambitious goal of eradicating open defecation.

Who’s to blame?

The problem, said environmental specialist Adesehinwa Adegbulugbe, cannot be blamed on a single actor.

“Local governments struggle to provide services at the pace of population growth, while national policy and planning frameworks have not fully anticipated such urban influxes,” he said.

“Poor urban planning, insufficient investment in decentralised sanitation, weak enforcement of building codes, and fragmented municipal coordination all hinder effective sanitation provision. In other words, even where infrastructure exists, mismanagement or inequitable access often perpetuates open defecation practices.”

HumAngle found that many migrants, like other residents, are willing to use sanitation facilities when available. At Railway, the shanty where Yakubu resides, among other scrap collectors, showed no evidence of open defecation.

Public toilets, Yakubu said, stood a short distance from where he sat, dismantling discarded electric switches and separating metal from plastic.

Built by the local development council, one of the toilet facilities in the area was in use at the time of HumAngle’s visit. Water flowed, users moved in and out, and the surroundings appeared orderly and maintained.

“I’m enjoying my peace in Lagos,” said Yakubu, who was a carpenter back home. “If not because of my parents, I won’t travel home at all.”

In Gengere, another informal settlement largely occupied by northern migrants and traders working in Lagos’s Mile 12 Market, residents said they use available public toilets, including at night. HumAngle observed one of the facilities. We also did not find evidence of open defecation in the community.

Even Shamsu said he dislikes the routine of crouching and defecating in the open, even though Makoko, a large slum near his shanty, boasts of a few public toilets.

“If there’s a decent toilet, I’ll use it,” he said. 

The Lagos State Government has acknowledged deficits in toilet access, particularly in public spaces and informal settlements. In March 2025, it announced plans to build 350 additional public toilets across the state in partnership with WaterAid and private operators. Earlier in November 2024, the state government had approved the construction of 100 public toilets as part of efforts to curb open defecation in the state.

Even as Lagos moves to expand public toilet access, sanitation pressures linked to rapid urban growth extend beyond the state.

The populations are growing at a rate that housing, employment, sanitation services, and enforcement are yet to catch up with. In Ado, the Ekiti State capital in South West Nigeria, the road leading to Mary Immaculate Grammar School smells like an overflowing latrine. Residents blame open defecation.

“Different people come to dump waste or defecate here,” said Taye Adelaju, a resident. 

Meanwhile, public toilets in the area charge only a token fee for use. 

Taye said only strict sanitation enforcement can prevent the area from becoming a public health hazard. 

Adesehinwa said that it’s critical to view open defecation as a systems failure, and not just a behavioural or cultural issue. “This framing,” he said, “enables multi-sectoral interventions, mobilises public and private investment, and promotes accountability across institutions rather than targeting individuals.”

As insecurity pushes more Nigerians onto the road and into unplanned settlements, urban centres like Lagos either expand sanitation systems or allow open defecation and the diseases it fuels to become a permanent feature of their growing population.

*Only first names have been used to protect the identities of some of the sources.

This is the second of a ‘Down South’ series exploring migration from areas of Northern Nigeria to Lagos. Read the first here.

AN ECOLOGIST has insisted otters must be given a 650ft protection zone if work on Stella McCartney’s £5m Highland mansion is given the green light.

McCartney, 54, and her husband, Alasdhair Willis, hope to build a secluded mansion at Commando Rock in Glenuig on the Moidart peninsula.

Dozens of objections have been lodged with Highland Council over the application in her husband’s name.

An otter survey requested by the couple has been submitted to officials and it confirms the presence of holts near the site.

Dr Leon Durbin, an otter expert, has said an exclusion zone must be enforced to prevent harm being done to animals.

An objection letter to Highland Council said: “As an experienced otter ecologist I am going to argue that the nature of the works here requires a 200m exclusion.

“The reason that a 200m exclusion zone around natal holts is usually recommended by NatureScot is that these natal resting sites tend to be well away from human activity, especially noisy, vibrational activity.

“In my opinion, noise and vibration from ground works, site traffic, voices etc at 100m would likely cause disturbance to breeding otters, even with the proviso of vegetative cover and sloping topography.”

He added: “As an ecologist who has chalked up many hundreds of hours of radio-tracking and direct observations of otters in freshwater
and marine environments, including radio-tracking a female before and after breeding, I would urgently recommend a 200m exclusion zone in this case.

“If there is any doubt, the legislation compels us to add a good margin as a precautionary principle.”

Otters are a protected species and it is an offence to damage a holt.

A licence will be needed from official body NatureScot before any work commences.

Mr Willis had earlier confirmed the otter report had been completed.

He added: “The ecologist went through all the appropriate measures, setting up cameras and monitoring activity.

“We’re not denying there is wildlife activity.

“But we’ve come back with a clear mitigation plan to minimise any environmental impact, not just for otters but all wildlife.”

Ms McCartney has strong connections to Scotland after spending childhood holidays at High Park Farm on Mull of Kintyre, a hideaway that became the inspiration for the 1977 hit that her father wrote with Denny Laine for Wings.

She married at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute in 2003.

Highland Council said their planning committee hope to consider the project in the near future.

Aiming to restore prominent attorney Daniel T. Broderick III’s reputation, prosecutors called family housekeepers to testify Friday that his ex-wife, Elisabeth Anne (Betty) Broderick, provoked and threatened him, but he always remained unruffled.

Responding to repeated claims that Daniel Broderick had a mean temper and scared his four children, allegations advanced during the last two weeks of defense testimony at Betty Broderick’s double-murder trial, housekeepers said Friday he was a kind and loving father.

As testimony in the trial neared a close, the housekeepers–among the final prosecution witnesses–said it was Betty Broderick who vandalized the family home and threatened to commit serious violence, once prompting a call to police after claiming she had a gun in her car.

Betty Broderick, 43, who faces two counts of first-degree murder in the Nov. 5, 1989, shooting deaths of her ex-husband and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, listened impassively to the testimony.

She showed emotion only when her father, Frank Bisceglia of Eastchester, N.Y., made his first appearance at the trial, smiling delightedly at him when he walked into the courtroom Friday afternoon.

After the day’s testimony concluded, he told reporters he had no comment.

If convicted, Betty Broderick could be sentenced to life in prison without parole. San Diego Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan said Friday that the case is likely to go to the jury next week.

Daniel Broderick, who was 44, was a medical malpractice lawyer and former president of the San Diego County Bar Assn. Linda Kolkena Broderick, who was 28, was his office assistant.

After 16 years of marriage, Daniel and Betty Broderick separated in 1985. During their bitter divorce, which was not final until 1989, she accused her husband of using his legal influence to cheat her out of her fair share of his seven-figure annual income.

Testifying last week in her own defense, Betty Broderick admitted firing the shots that killed her ex-husband and his second wife.

Her defense attorney, Jack Earley, contends that she did not have the premeditation the law requires for first-degree murder because she intended only to talk to him and to kill herself when she stole into his house at dawn.

During the defense case, which concluded Friday morning, witnesses claimed that, when he was mad, Daniel Broderick broke things, kicked the family dogs, screamed at his four children and intimidated them. Betty Broderick said he hit her and subjected her to emotional abuse.

But the two housekeepers who, in turn, ran Daniel Broderick’s home from 1985 through 1987–where the four children were living because his ex-wife had given them to him–said he tried to eat dinner with the children every night, took an active interest in their homework and often played basketball with his two boys, the younger two of the four children.

Both said they never saw him react violently toward the four children. Or even, said Marta C. Shaver, Daniel Broderick’s housekeeper in 1985 and 1986, toward his ex-wife.

In the fall of 1985, Betty Broderick threw a homemade cake around her ex-husband’s bedroom, leaving the room “totally destroyed,” Shaver said. But, she said, Daniel Broderick “remained calm” and announced that he reluctantly would have to enforce a court order requiring his ex-wife to stay off his property.

Robin Tuua, the housekeeper during 1986 and 1987, said that Betty Broderick drove to her ex-husband’s house to drop off one of the boys and one of the two whispered to her, “Mommy has a butcher knife under the seat. Be careful.”

Then, Tuua said, Betty Broderick “told me she had a gun in her glove box. At this point, there was not a shadow of a doubt that this woman would use it on me. I called the police,” who took a report.

Tuua did not indicate whether Betty Broderick actually had a gun in her car. According to earlier testimony, Betty Broderick did not own a gun until two years later, when she bought one in March, 1989.

A marriage and family counseling expert–who testified Thursday that Betty Broderick had been the victim of physical, sexual and psychological abuse during the marriage–said Friday that she was given to exaggeration.

The final defense witness, Daniel J. Sonkin, wrapped up his testimony Friday before the housekeepers took the stand by saying Betty Broderick was suffering from “a lot of anger, a lot of hostility, a lot of hurt” attributable to her ex-husband.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry Wells, the prosecutor in the case, asked Sonkin why a woman who purportedly had been battered by her husband would seek to confront him–especially after separation. She also wondered why, if he really had engaged in a pattern of abusing her, he didn’t simply punch her out when she did try to confront him.

“He used the courts” instead, to manipulate their divorce and to manipulate her, Sonkin said. But he told Wells, “I’m not disagreeing with you that it was inappropriate for her to go over there” on various occasions.

Wells, who sparred repeatedly with Sonkin on Thursday, showed signs of irritation on Friday with his testimony, her voice rising and her speech rapid. She also cut off his answers, and he cut off hers, prompting the court reporter to tell them that only one person at a time could speak.

After 14 days of testimony, the opposing lawyers also showed signs of stress with each other–and even the judge appeared cross.

During Shaver’s testimony about the smeared cake, Earley objected, saying she was being far too dramatic.

“If the witness wants to be in the movies . . . ,” Earley said before Wells cut him off with her own objection. Then Whelan leaned forward, pointed a finger at Earley and said loudly: “Knock that off.”

Testimony in the case is due to resume Tuesday. No court session is scheduled for Monday, a state holiday.

As he laid in a hospital bed last April, grateful just to be alive, Alijah Arenas dreamed of this moment. He thought of it in the weeks and months after his Tesla Cybertruck hit a tree and burst into flames in Reseda, leaving him hospitalized for six days. And he thought of it over a long summer and fall spent rehabbing the injured knee that failed him in his first week back to practice at USC.

Nine difficult months spent waiting for the day to finally arrive had culminated Wednesday night with Arenas roaring into the lane, with just one defender standing between him and the hoop. The five-star freshman had committed to USC with every intention of bolting for the NBA after one season, only for the setbacks of the past year to put his likely lottery status in doubt.

But here, as he lifted towards the hoop early in his college debut, Arenas spun around that lone defender in mid-air and softly laid in a finger roll, reminding everyone in attendance of the talent they’d waited so eagerly to see.

But what unfolded from that moment on Wednesday night probably wasn’t how Arenas had envisioned it, as Northwestern spoiled his debut, dealing USC a 74-68 defeat.

It was Arenas’ backup in the backcourt who would drag the Trojans back from the brink against Northwestern after the Wildcats had led nearly the entire game. Just a week earlier, Jordan Marsh had dropped 17 in the second half of USC’s win over Maryland. On Wednesday, he was even better, piling up 19 after halftime.

But there was little he or USC’s five-star freshman could do in the final minutes as Northwestern fended off every push from the desperate Trojans, thanks largely to the efforts of senior forward Nick Martinelli, who had 22 points.

Arenas had eight points in his debut, shooting three of 15 from the perimeter in a performance that left him obviously gassed throughout. He played 29 minutes, nonetheless, at one point leaving to have his knee evaluated by trainers on the bench.

With losses in three of their last five coming into Wednesday, USC (14-5 overall, 3-5 in Big Ten) had hoped that Arenas’ arrival would act as a salve at the start of its Big Ten slate, injecting five-star talent into a lineup ravaged by injuries. But there were only so many problems that talent could paper over for the Trojans, even if Northwestern had come into Wednesday night on the heels of a five-game losing streak.

Arenas’ debut didn’t suddenly correct the Trojans’ free-throw woes. After hitting just five of 14 from the stripe in a loss to Purdue on Saturday, USC responded by shooting 26 of 43 on Wednesday night, with Northwestern content to foul them pretty much whenever the Trojans drove inside.

Once again, no one, Arenas included, could get going from three-point range for USC either, as the Trojans followed up a three of 20 showing from deep against Purdue loss by hitting their first two three-pointers … only to miss their next 11.

They spent most of the second half without their leading scorer, too, after Chad Baker-Mazara fouled out with more than nine minutes remaining.

Still, USC hung on tight through the second half, never letting Northwestern’s lead grow to more than eight. Marsh drove the lane with a chance to cut Northwestern’s lead to a single possession in the final 15 seconds. But his lay-in flew wildly out of his hands.

The loss spoiled a debut that had been perhaps the most anticipated at USC in at least half a decade, since Evan Mobley graced the Galen Center court in 2021. But while Mobley led the Trojans on an Elite Eight run, his lone season at USC was played front of empty arenas because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Arenas, meanwhile, was just the sort of blue-chip prospect that Eric Musselman and his staff had hoped to build around.

The path to that point would prove far more harrowing than anyone expected. But what felt like a light at the end of the tunnel Wednesday night didn’t feel nearly as hopeful by the final buzzer.

Our guide turns out the lights and suddenly there is nothing. Just total darkness, the sound of gentle dripping and a creeping feeling of unease. The switch is flicked back on and the shadowy world that lies deep beneath the Karst returns. I’m in Vilenica, thought to be the first cave in the world ever opened to tourists, with records of visitors dating back to 1633. It’s a magical sight: a grand antechamber sculpted through erosion, filled with soaring stalagmites and plunging stalactites streaked in shades of red, terracotta and orange by iron oxide, and dotted with shimmering crystals.

Vilenica is just one of a network of thousands of caves located in the Karst region of western Slovenia and eastern Italy, which is known for its porous, soluble limestone rock. Above ground, this creates a distinctive landscape, filled with rocks bearing lined striations and pockmarked by hollows known as dolines, where the limestone has collapsed underneath. But below ground is where it’s really special, with enormous caves, sinkholes and subterranean rivers. Later in the day, I visit the region’s other main visitor cave, Škocjan, where I’m amazed to see an underground river thunder through a chamber almost 150 metres high. It’s an almost surreal sensory experience, with the rush of the rapids echoing around the walls.

As my guide drives me through the Karst region, I watch the undulating hills of a comparatively untouched stretch of countryside go by, dotted with a patchwork of bilingual villages connecting eastern Italy and western Slovenia along a border that shifted several times over the 20th century. Increasingly, the area is viewing itself as one region spanning two countries, and is hoping to combat the overtourism plaguing Italy and Slovenia’s better-known destinations by attracting people in search of a slower, more authentic and local experience. To showcase its shared history, nature and culture, the region has established a new EU-funded cross-border geopark, known as GeoKarst, and is hoping to secure Unesco designation.

Winding around the region’s hills, I reach its highlight – Štanjel, a medieval village that wouldn’t look out of place in Provence, but without the crowds. Wandering around its cobbled streets feels like stepping back a millennium, or in some cases longer, given the village has prehistoric and Roman origins. The flint-grey buildings are made of sturdy local Karst stone, which has stayed more or less intact for hundreds of years. At sunset, I sit with a glass of crisp local vitovska wine in Bistro Grad, a prettily decorated restaurant garlanded with dried flowers, and take in sweeping views of the gilded valley beneath.

Leaving Slovenia, we venture over to the Karst’s Italian side, where it is flanked by Trieste, a vibrant university city that blends Italian culture with Viennese art nouveau architecture courtesy of its lengthy stint as the Austro-Hungarian empire’s sole port. Locals say the cultural blend has given it a uniquely open-minded and tolerant spirit. My guide, Beatriz Barovina, tells me that unlike elsewhere in Italy, you can eat, sip an espresso or drink a glass of wine alone without being judged for not having a big Italian family around you. She says there is still a strong attachment to Austria, especially among older generations, who cling to the refrain: “It was better under Austria.”

Locals tell me that as well as the buzzy cafe culture, they love Trieste for its easy access to nature. Heading out of the city centre for 15 minutes, we reach the 3-mile Via Napoleonica route, which offers panoramic views of Trieste’s bay, and connects the small towns of Opicina and Prosecco, birthplace of the eponymous sparkling wine.

It’s easy to eat well in the Karst region because most produce is sourced from local farmers. One unique experience is a visit to a local osmice, family-run farms and vineyards. At Cantina Parovel, the family serve homemade cheese, wine, prosciutto, honey and olive oil on picnic tables shaded by pines. The Parovel family is proud to boast its distinctively Karst pedigree to me: three generations of the family were born in the same village, yet their grandparents were born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, the parents in Italy, and the children in Slovenia.

Their osmice is located at the end of a spectacular 4-mile hike through the Rosandra valley, if you start in the village of Mihele and partly follow stage 36 of the Alpe Adria Trail, cutting through a landscape of wild cherry trees and roe deer. If you’re lucky you might even stumble upon one of the improvised “wine caves” – hollows in which people leave local wines and cheeses on an honesty-bar basis for hungry and thirsty travellers – with carved wooden seating overlooking the valley below.

It’s a uniquely Karst experience, and one that reflects the region’s two most distinctive features: its striking landscape and welcoming, communitarian spirit.

The trip was provided by Promo Turismo FVG, the tourist board of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Visit Kras in Slovenia. Doubles at Savoia Excelsior Palace in Trieste from £153. Doubles at Hotel Maestoso in Lipica from £122

Rights groups condemn trial of three activists accused of ‘inciting subversion of state power.’

A landmark trial of three activists who organised vigils marking China’s Tiananmen Square massacre has opened in Hong Kong.

Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, are charged with “inciting subversion of state power” in the case before the Chinese territory’s High Court.

As they entered the courtroom on Thursday, Lee waved at his supporters, who waved back and said “good morning” to him.

Ho sat calmly, and Chow thanked her supporters for enduring the winds during the night and bowed to them.

Minutes later, Lee and Chow pleaded not guilty, while Ho entered a guilty plea.

About 70 people queued in the cold on Thursday morning for the public gallery, while dozens of police were deployed around the court.

Hong Kong used to host yearly candlelight vigils to mark Beijing’s deadly crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, but those events have been banned since 2020.

That year, Beijing imposed a national security law on the former British colony in the wake of huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests.

Rights groups and some foreign governments have criticised cases brought against prominent pro-democracy figures under the law as a weaponisation of the rule of law to silence dissent.

“This case is not about national security – it is about rewriting history and punishing those who refuse to forget the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown,” said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, Asia.

Angeli Datt, research and advocacy coordinator at the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, condemned the trial as a “sham”.

“If Hong Kong authorities actually follow the law, their only recourse is to drop all charges and immediately release the three organisers,” Datt said in a statement.

Beijing has said the security law restored stability to the city following the 2019 protests, which sent hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets.

Three government-vetted judges will preside over the trial, which is expected to last 75 days. Videos related to the alliance’s years of work will be part of the prosecution’s evidence.

The three-judge panel earlier dismissed an application by Chow to throw out the case.

“The court will not allow the trial to become, as [Chow] said, a tool for political suppression,” the judges wrote in a preliminary ruling.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was founded in May 1989 to support protesters holding democracy and anticorruption rallies in Beijing.

The following month, China’s government sent tanks and soldiers to crush the movement on and around Tiananmen Square, a decision it has since heavily censored domestically.

The Alliance spent the next three decades calling on Beijing to accept responsibility, free dissidents, and embrace democratic reform.

Its candlelight vigils in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park every June 4 routinely drew thousands.

The trial of Chow, Lee and Ho follows last month’s conviction of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, which drew international condemnation.

Lai was found guilty of conspiring to commit foreign collusion.

The city’s chief justice responded to the criticisms of Lai’s conviction on Monday, saying the judges deal “only with the law and the evidence, not with any underlying matters of politics”.

Ras Ein al-Auja, occupied West Bank – When the music stops, Naif Ghawanmeh, 45, takes a seat in front of the fire. The night is chilly, and for the first time in weeks, everything is still for a moment – the Israeli settlers’ celebrations have finished for the day.

But the village of Ras Ein al-Auja, situated in the eastern West Bank’s Jericho governorate, has been all but wiped out.

The village was one of the last Palestinian herding communities in this part of the Jordan Valley, but now, the herders’ sheep have gone – most of them stolen or poisoned by settlers or sold off by villagers under pressure. Their water has been cut off – the Ras Ein spring declared off-limits by the neighbouring settlers for the past year.

And for the past two weeks, most of the community’s homes have been dismantled. Many of the families forced out have burned their furniture before they have left, not wanting to leave it for the invading settlers to use.

“By God, it’s a difficult feeling,” Ghawanmeh says. He is at a loss for words, fidgeting by the fire and at times rubbing his face in misery and exhaustion. ”Everyone left. Not one of them [remains]. They all left.”

Since the start of this year, about 450 of the 650 Palestinian inhabitants of Ras Ein al-Auja have fled their homes – for many the only place they have ever lived – because of violence by Israeli settlers.

Other than the 14 Ghawanmeh families, including a large number of children, who say they have nowhere else to go, the rest are packing up and leaving in the coming days.

This rapid displacement of hundreds of people marks the largest expulsion from a single Bedouin community as a result of Israeli settler violence in modern times – a feat that has elicited taunting celebrations by the encroaching settlers and left lives in ruins for Bedouin families now deprived of shelter, livelihoods and community.

No land, no sheep, no water, no safety

Until the New Year, the people of Ras Ein al-Auja had held out on their lands despite an onslaught of physical attacks, thefts, threats, movement restrictions and destruction of property by settlers – a state of being that is now all too common for rural Palestinian communities across the West Bank.

Settlers have been enabled by rapid growth in the number of settlement outposts springing up across the West Bank. Settlements and these outposts are illegal under international law. They are also built without the legal permission of Israeli authorities but in practice are largely tolerated and offered protection by Israeli forces, especially in recent years under the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

International law stipulates that occupying powers like Israel must not move their own civilian populations into occupied territories, such as the West Bank, where about 700,000 settlers now reside.

In December, another 19 settler outposts built without government approval were retroactively approved by Israel’s government as official settlements. In all, the number of settlements and outposts in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem has risen by nearly 50 percent since 2022 – from 141 to 210 now.

This recent explosion of settler outposts has given way to a more recent yet even more dangerous phenomenon: shepherding outposts.

Each of these outposts mimics the Bedouins’ way of life but with settlers’ own grazing flocks. They are typically run by a single armed Israeli settler supported by several armed teenagers often funnelled in by government-funded programmes intended to support “at-risk” troubled youth.

Using animal grazing as a means to overrun Palestinian shepherds and seize their lands, such settlers had managed by April 2024 to take over about 14 percent of the West Bank, according to the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot. That figure has increased since then by at least tens of thousands of dunums (1 dunum equals 0.1 hectares and a quarter of an acre), according to Kerem Navot’s founder, Dror Etkes.

The outposts serve as a launching pad for attacks, controls on Palestinian movement and army-coordinated arrests, which have unfolded in places like Ras Ein al-Auja.

Routinely, settlers steal and poison the livestock that Palestinian shepherds, who largely inhabit these remote areas, rely on for their livelihoods. On top of this, settlers are preventing Palestinian shepherds who still have flocks from accessing the grazing lands they’ve always used. Settlers have built fences and engage in intimidation and violence, forcing Palestinians to buy expensive animal fodder to sustain their flocks instead.

Settlers also target the basic resources that Bedouin Palestinians rely on for themselves. Like most other Palestinian communities in the West Bank’s Area C, which Israel fully controls, the people of Ras Ein al-Auja are denied access to electricity by Israeli authorities. The Israeli Civil Administration, which controls zoning and planning in Area C, rarely grants permits for Palestinians to build infrastructure, including connecting to the grid or installing solar energy systems. The solar panels the villagers have put up have frequently been destroyed by settlers.

In addition, these Palestinian shepherding communities, often located in dry regions, are now denied sufficient access to water, including from the lush springs found in Ras Ein al-Auja which once made this village one of the most prosperous of the shepherding communities.

“They prevented us from getting water,” Ghawanmeh says. “They prevented us from bringing the sheep to the water and getting water from the spring.”

Near-total impunity

Israeli settlers have also been emboldened by a wide-scale armament programme spearheaded at the start of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the near-total impunity they enjoy when they carry out attacks. While court rulings in favour of Palestinians and against settlers have occurred, they are rare.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 1,800 settler attacks – about five per day – were documented in 2025, resulting in casualties or property damage in about 280 communities across the West Bank, and besting the previous year’s record of settler attacks by more than 350. A total of 240 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 55 children, were killed by Israeli forces or settlers in 2025.

These unprecedented levels of settler and soldier violence alongside the wholesale deprivation of basic resources that rural Palestinians need to survive have led to the erasure of dozens of rural Palestinian communities.

In January and February 2025, the Israeli military forcibly displaced about 40,000 people from refugee camps in Tulkarem and Jenin, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, settler violence has forced out 44 Palestinian communities in the West Bank consisting of 2,701 people, nearly half of whom are minors. Thirteen more communities comprising 452 people have been partially transferred. These people end up wherever they can find a place to stay, resulting in fractured communities and families.

Such figures of displacement have not been seen in the West Bank in decades.

‘Two years of psychological pressure’

For 27 months, Ras Ein al-Auja has been subjected to all of these types of attacks and restrictions. In the past year, multiple Israeli shepherding outposts have sprung up at different corners of the village, which extends for 20,000 dunums (20sq km or 7.7sq miles), and have come increasingly closer to Palestinian homes.

“Two years of psychological pressure at night,” remarks an exhausted Ghawanmeh, who explains the haphazard shifts the men of his village have been taking to keep watch. “If you sleep, the settlers will burn your house.”

Under the pressure of settler attacks, poisonings and thefts, the number of sheep belonging to the community has dwindled from 24,000 to fewer than 3,000. Settler attacks and invasions have become so constant that nine solidarity activists – some progressives from Israel and others from other countries – were required to keep an around-the-clock protective presence.

Without anywhere else to go – and knowing from both settler threats and accounts from displaced relatives elsewhere that settlers would likely follow them anyway – the people of Ras Ein al-Auja had hung on by a thread.

That is, until the latest settler outpost.

Following a pattern seen in other now-displaced Bedouin communities like nearby Mu’arrajat, some of whose inhabitants fled to Ras Ein al-Auja, settlers began erecting outposts directly next to people’s homes at the beginning of the year – right in the middle of the community.

“Life has completely stopped ever since,” Ghawanmeh says. Families have barricaded themselves inside their houses, terrified of the settlers who now routinely graze their flocks just outside Palestinian homes.

Then, the spate of attacks this month compelled far more families to flee and take their remaining sheep with them. Almost three-quarters of the community has now gone. These families are now scattered across the West Bank although most are now in the cramped towns and cities of Area A, which makes up 18 percent of the West Bank and is administered by the Palestinian Authority.

As a result, these communities’ centuries-old traditions as Bedouins are coming to an end.

“There’s a saying among the Bedouins: ‘Upbringing outweighs origins,’” Ghawanmeh says. “It means you were raised here, you eat from the land, you drink from the land, you sleep on the land. You are from it, and it is from you.”

“To leave your house and leave your village”, he adds, “it is very, very, very difficult. But we are forced to.”

The children who remain have been left rudderless and afraid at night as they look at empty, scarred patches of land where once their friends and family lived. “Children are scared, scared that the settlers, the [settler security guards], will come,” Ghawanmeh says.

Al Jazeera requested comment from the Israeli military about the accusations made in this article and to ask for details about what action is being taken to prevent settler attacks on Palestinian communities, including Ras Ein al-Auja. We received no response.

‘Even if you sing for me until tomorrow, I won’t be happy’

As the swell of violence and land thefts gives way to a steady exodus of the last remaining villagers, a couple of musicians come to provide some relief from another day of traumatic separation and displacement.

“I hope they’ll feel seen, and I hope they’ll feel happy for at least a few moments and that they can feel like children, even if it’s just for a few minutes,” says Kai Jack, a Norwegian solidarity activist and professional contrabass player.

About a dozen children huddle in plastic chairs in a tin shack that once served as the meeting place for the community’s many families to hear this rare performance. As they listen to a handful of Palestinian folk songs, the children, at first timid, relax and begin to clap and sing to staples like Wein a Ramallah (Where? To Ramallah).

For the first time in weeks, the children even manage to crack a few smiles.

And then, Jack and the accompanying violinist, Amalia Kelter Zeitlin, settle into playing the Palestinian lullaby Yamma Mawil al-Hawa (Mother, What’s with the Wind?). The children’s mothers, looking on from the sidelines, begin to softly sing along:

“My life will continue through sacrifice – for freedom.”

As the song ends, the mothers join the children in rounds of applause. “Beautiful?” Jack asks.

“Very,” replies one of the mothers who explains how she helps her child fall to sleep with this very song. “And it has been so long since they were able to [sleep well].”

As the performance ends and the children crowd around Jack’s enormous bass, a few of the remaining Ghawanmeh brothers retreat outside, their minds unable to rest as they contemplate their inevitable expulsion.

“These songs are for the children,” Naif Ghawanmeh says. “We are tired inside. Very tired.”

One of his small nephews, Ahmed, just 2 years old, begins to sing the chorus of Wein a Ramallah. For one brief moment, the atmosphere is almost festive. But while he is happy the children are relaxing, Ghawanmeh shrugs it off himself.

“By God, look at me,” he says over the fire, which is burning whatever supplies they didn’t want to leave for the settlers to take. “Even if you sing for me until tomorrow, I won’t be happy. You see, I’m tired inside. For two years, I’ve been suffering from oppression, hardship and problems day and night from the settlers.

“I’m tired inside.”

Meghan Trainor and Daryl Sabara are now the happy parents to a baby girl.

The “Made You Look” singer, 32, and “Spy Kids” actor, 33, welcomed their third child via surrogacy on Sunday, the pop star announced on Wednesday. Trainor shared several photos on Instagram of herself tearfully holding her newborn and her two young sons, with Sabara meeting their baby sister.

“Our baby girl Mikey Moon Trainor has finally made it to the world thanks to our incredible, superwoman surrogate,” she captioned her post. “We are forever grateful to all the doctors, nurses, teams who made this dream possible.”

The third-time parents married in 2018 and are the parents to 4-year-old Riley and 2-year-old Barry. The pop star, who opened up about her motherhood journey for her 2023 pregnancy book “Dear Future Mama: A TMI Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood from Your Bestie,” welcomed both her sons via C-section. In 2021, the Grammy winner recalled baby Riley’s breathing complications and said she suffered with gestational diabetes before his arrival. Two years later, she gave birth to baby Barry, a “big boy” who she said arrived sideways.

In Wednesday’s post, Trainor said she and Sabara had “endless conversations” with doctors regarding the surrogacy route for their third child. She wrote, “This was the safest way for us to be able to continue growing our family.”

“We are over the moon in love with this precious girl,” Trainor said, adding that their sons also had a hand in picking their sister’s middle name. “We are going to enjoy our family time now, love you all.”

In an interview with People published Wednesday, Trainor further explained her and Sabara’s decision to have a surrogate carry their child. Though she told the outlet “it wasn’t our first choice,” she repeated that “this was the safest way.”

She praised her surrogate as selfless, loving and strong and said surrogacy is a different and beautiful way to grow a family.

“Every family’s journey looks different, and all of them are extremely valid,” Trainor said.

Former Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.

LAS VEGAS — A California teenager says he tried to intervene when his classmate began assaulting a 7-year-old Los Angeles girl, fearing that their game of hide and seek in a Nevada casino had “crossed the line.”

David Cash Jr., 18, told a grand jury that he tapped Jeremy Strohmeyer on the forehead, trying to get his attention, as he allegedly assaulted 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a stall in a women’s restroom at the Primadonna Resort and Casino.

Cash said Strohmeyer stared at him, but continued the assault, so he left.

Cash said he met Strohmeyer half an hour later, and Strohmeyer told him, “I killed her.”

The girl’s body was found in a stall about 5 a.m. May 25.

Cash was a key witness before a Clark County Grand Jury two weeks ago.

The grand jury indicted Strohmeyer, 18, on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and two counts of sexual assault.

District Judge Donald Chairez on Thursday ordered that the grand jury transcript be released, except for a portion by a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police detective who interviewed Strohmeyer before his arrest.

Chairez also lifted a gag order that had been imposed in the case, with the restriction that those involved could not talk about a statement Strohmeyer made to police after his arrest in Long Beach on May 28.

Strohmeyer’s attorneys, Leslie Abramson of Los Angeles and Richard Wright of Las Vegas, objected to the release of the transcript, saying it could prejudice potential jurors.

Cash said he, his father and Strohmeyer had stopped at the Primadonna, one of three resorts on the California-Nevada border, the night of May 24. Cash said he and Strohmeyer, a classmate at Wilson High School in Long Beach, began interacting with the Iverson girl about 3 the next morning in an arcade at the hotel-casino, now known as the Primm Valley Resort.

Daniel Eitnier, director of corporate surveillance for the resort, reviewed security videotapes taken by one of the 400 surveillance cameras at the resort.

He identified three people in the tapes as Strohmeyer, Cash and Iverson.

Eitnier said the tapes showed the girl entering the women’s restroom at 3:48 a.m., followed 15 seconds later by Strohmeyer.

Strohmeyer is seen leaving the restroom 25 minutes later, but the girl was not seen again, Eitnier said. He said eight women entered and left the restroom during the time the pair were in there.

Cash said he was curious and walked into the restroom a minute after Strohmeyer entered.

He said the teenager and girl were throwing wet paper towels at each other after apparently playing hide and seek earlier. When the girl threw a wet-floor sign at Strohmeyer, he grabbed the girl and took her into a toilet stall, locking the door, Cash testified.

Cash told the grand jury he went to an adjoining stall, stood on a toilet seat and peered over at the two of them.

He said Strohmeyer was restraining the girl and had a hand over her mouth, muffling her screams.

“My upper torso was over the wall of the stall,” Cash testified. “I was tapping Jeremy on the head trying to get his attention, telling him to let go, trying to get him to come out of the restroom. I knew at that point that the little game that they were playing kind of crossed the line.

“I was tapping on his forehead. At one point I accidentally knocked off his hat. He looked up at me, kind of in a stare, you know, like of–like he didn’t care what I was saying.

“At that point I exited the ladies’ restroom.”

Cash said he and Strohmeyer talked of what they would tell authorities if they were identified. The two had noted to others at the resort the night of the incident that both had their tongues pierced, and Strohmeyer had pierced nipples.

Cash said he, his father and Strohmeyer drove on to Las Vegas, then returned to California on Memorial Day.

Cash said his father took him to the police when he learned about the crime while reading a newspaper the following Wednesday.

Cash has not been charged in the incident. Police and prosecutors have said there is no evidence he took part in the crime.

In Thursday’s hearing before Chairez, Clark County Dist. Atty. Stewart Bell argued for release of the transcripts, saying Nevada law requires that they be made public “unless there is some darned good reason why not.”

Abramson argued against the release, saying it could prejudice potential jurors.

Several people were missing after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides across New Zealand’s North Island.

Rescue workers are searching for several people, including children, missing after landslides in New Zealand, where homes have been evacuated and roads closed as heavy rains hit almost the entire eastern seaboard of the country’s North Island.

Several people were missing on Thursday afternoon following a landslide which hit Mount Maunganui holiday park on North Island, at approximately 9:30am local time (20:30 GMT, Wednesday).

According to Radio New Zealand, the landslide hit campervans and a shower block at the popular tourist spot during the last week of summer school holidays.

Two people were also missing after a landslide struck a house in neighbouring Papamoa, police said. A 47-year-old man was missing after he tried to cross the Mahurangi River north of Auckland, and his car was caught in floodwaters, according to Radio New Zealand.

Officials briefing reporters about the ongoing rescue efforts at Mount Maunganui said they still hoped to find survivors but that the potential for further landslides was hampering operations.

Police District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson said that “it is possible that we could find someone alive”, adding that he would not comment on the number of people missing, only to say that “it is in the single figures”.

Fire and Emergency Commander William Park said first responders had detected signs of life in the rubble but withdrew after concerns of further ground movement.

“My understanding was members of the public … tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices. Our initial fire crew arrived and were able to hear the same. Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site due to the possible movement of the slip,” Park said.

Local media cited Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell as saying children were among those missing.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on X that he was “actively monitoring situations across the country”, including in Mount Maunganui.

Climate change, caused by fossil fuels and other pollutants, is making extreme rainfall and other disasters more frequent, leading to unprecedented flooding in places around the world.

Scientists have warned that similar extreme weather will continue to worsen without significant steps taken to reduce pollution.

Caracas, January 21, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Four Venezuelan private banks received a reported US $300 million from an initial US-administered sale of Venezuelan crude.

According to Ecoanalítica, Banesco, BBVA Provincial, Banco Mercantil, and Banco Nacional de Crédito offered a combined $150 million to customers on Tuesday via foreign exchange auctions, with the rest of the funds expected to be made available by the end of the week.

Unofficial reports suggested that private sector importers in the food and healthcare sectors would be given priority. Analyst Alejandro Grisanti stated that the dollars were purchased slightly below 400 bolívars (BsD) per USD. Unlike in prior exchange tables, the banks were not obliged to use the official exchange rate set by the Central Bank, which stands currently at 347 BsD per USD.

The $300 million comprises a portion of the recently announced $500 million sale of Venezuelan crude that had been in storage due to a US naval blockade since early December, with proceeds reportedly deposited in US government-run accounts in Qatar.

Since the January 3 bombings and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, US President Donald Trump and senior officials have vowed to take control of the Venezuelan oil industry and defend the interests of Western energy conglomerates.

The initial agreement involved around 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude with an estimated return of over $2 billion. Tankers from commodity traders Vitol and Trafigura began moving oil cargoes to Caribbean storage hubs last week.

The allocation of the remaining $200 million from the already executed sales is presently unknown. US officials previously claimed that Venezuela would only be allowed to import from US manufacturers while also floating the possibility of swap deals involving diluents and spare parts for the oil sector and electric grid.

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed the $300 million received by private banks and identified protecting workers’ incomes as the government’s priority at this moment.

“$300 million has entered the country, to cover the incomes of our workers, protecting their purchasing power from inflation and from foreign exchange instability,” she said during a televised broadcast on Tuesday.

Rodríguez likewise stressed the importance of stabilizing the forex market, with constant devaluations eroding the Venezuelans’ purchasing power. The highly speculative parallel market exchange rate skyrocketed to 900 BsD/USD in early January before expectations of foreign currency injections brought it down under 500.

Amid the initial US-enforced oil deals, the interim Rodríguez administration and National Assembly are moving forward with a reform of the country’s Hydrocarbon Law to expand conditions for foreign investment.

Former President Hugo Chávez overhauled energy legislation in 2001 to establish state control over the oil industry. The Hydrocarbon Law, which was later amended in 2006, mandated that state oil company PDVSA hold majority stakes in all joint ventures and raised royalties and income tax to 33 and 50 percent, respectively.

On Thursday, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez argued that the oil reform is aimed at adapting to the country’s “economic reality” and should not be “a cause for fear or concern.” A first debate on the bill is scheduled for Thursday.

“It is essential to find optimal conditions for investments in so-called green oilfields that are yet to be explored,” he said during a meeting with deputies. “As such, we have to ensure that this foreign investment is protected and profitable.”

The parliamentary leader, who also discussed other upcoming legislative projects, highlighted the so-called Productive Participation Contracts (CPP) as key instruments for oil sector growth that will be included in the reformed legislation.

The CPP models were introduced under the 2020 Anti-Blockade Law. According to industry sources, they are concession-type deals that grant private partners increased control over operations and sales and faster returns on investment through lower taxes and royalty exemptions.

Since 2017, Venezuela’s oil industry has been hard hitby US unilateral coercive measures, including financial sanctions, an export embargo, and secondary sanctions, which aimed at strangling the Caribbean nation’s most important revenue source. US officials have announced a selective flexibilization of sanctions in the immediate future to facilitate oil deals.

The recent naval blockade had an immediate impact on crude output, forcing PDVSA to shut down wells as it ran out of storage. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the blockade as “leverage” to impose conditions on the Venezuelan government. 

US forces reportedly seized a seventh oil tanker on Tuesday. According to the US Southern Command, the Liberia-flagged Sagitta had loaded crude in Venezuela and is on the US Treasury’s blacklist. US authorities did not disclose whether they took control of the vessel or if it will turn over its cargo.

HOLLY Ramsay and Adam Peaty have shared happy snaps from their Maldives honeymoon after the epic family drama over their wedding.

The couple had a dramatic build up to their December 27 wedding day after Olympian Adam uninvited his parents and wider family from the nuptials.

The situation made headline news for weeks, but Holly and Adam couldn’t have looked more relaxed as they enjoyed their honeymoon in the Maldives.

Holly, 26, looked sensational in a green bikini and wrap skirt while donning a Miu Miu hat in one snap.

Meanwhile Adam, 31, showed off his swimmer’s physique as he posed on the beach.

The newlyweds were also seen posing by a swimming pool, Adam with his arm around his wife’s waist.

taking sides

Adam Peaty’s family’s shock reaction to Brooklyn Beckham’s rant

gifts galore

Holly Ramsay shows off nearly £10k of designer bags as she thanks husband Adam

He then snapped a picture of Holly heading for dinner in a long cream dress as she made her way across an ornamental pond.

Adam captured the snaps on Instagram: “Honeymoon so far featuring palm trees.”

The couple are already back from their trip, as over the weekend, Holly shared snaps of her three designer handbags while in Romania supporting Adam at a swimming event.

While they are busy getting on with married life, Adam’s family have given up of reconciling with their son.

It came after Holly’s dad Gordon Ramsay’s latest dig, when he called himself “dad” as he commented on a clip of Adam’s wedding speech, in which he declared he would “always choose” Holly.

The subtle snub after Adam reportedly uninvited his parents – Caroline and Mark – has sparked fears “he’s made his choice”.

An insider close to Adam’s parents said: “It’s been a really emotional time for them as a family.

“They’re coming to terms with what has happened and that Adam has picked his side.

“It’s dashed any hope of reconciliation in the near future.

“They’re keeping their heads down and trying to move on quietly. It’s clear Adam’s made his choice.”

NEW YORK — A judge overseeing Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case said Wednesday that two members of Congress lacked the legal right to intervene and press their demand for a court-appointed observer to ensure the government complies with a new law ordering release of its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

But the lawmakers are free to bring a civil lawsuit or work through the tools they have in Congress to improve oversight, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled.

U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) had co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act that was signed into law by President Trump in November. It required the public disclosure of files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Epstein, the late financier, and Maxwell, his longtime confidant.

Engelmayer largely agreed with the Justice Department’s insistence that he had no authority to grant the congressmen’s request to speed the release of that material. They had urged Engelmayer to name an independent monitor to ensure that the government immediately released the more than 2 million documents it has identified as investigative materials. Khanna and Massie said the slow disclosure of the documents violated the law and had caused “serious trauma to survivors.”

A month after the deadline had passed for the materials to be made public, only about 12,000 documents have been made public. The department has said the release of the files was delayed by redactions required to protect the identities of those who were abused.

Engelmayer said the questions raised by Khanna and Massie raised about whether the department was complying with the law were “undeniably important and timely.” But, he said, the way in which the members of Congress were trying to intervene was not permitted.

The judge, who inherited Maxwell’s case after the trial judge was appointed to an appeals court, ruled that has no authority to supervise the department’s compliance with the new law, and that Massie and Khanna have no standing, or legal right, to insinuate themselves into Maxwell’s case.

Engelmayer said he has received letters and emails from Epstein abuse survivors in support of the lawmakers’ request for appointment of a neutral overseer.

“These express concern that DOJ otherwise will not comply with the Act,” wrote the judge, who was nominated by President Obama.

The department has been “paying ‘lip service’ to the victims” and “failing to treat us ‘with the solicitude’ we deserve,” survivors wrote, according to Engelmayer.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction. She recently petitioned the federal court for her release, maintaining that new information has emerged that warrants her release. A jury found that she had helped to recruit girls for Epstein to abuse over the last quarter-century and had also participated in some of the abuse.

Epstein died in a federal jail in New York in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.

Sisak and Neumeister write for the Associated Press.

Coming off Sunday’s 30-point victory over then-No. 12 Maryland — the program’s largest win margin over a top-15 team since 1992 — it would have been easy for the UCLA women’s basketball team to take unranked Purdue lightly.

Instead, the Bruins played with the intensity and focus characteristic of an NCAA Tournament game, dominating from start to finish in a 96-48 triumph Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion.

The third-ranked Bruins (18-1 overall, 8-0 in Big Ten) won for the 12th straight time and are more than halfway to tying the program record of 23 in a row set last year. The 48-point win marked the sixth straight by 18 points or more.

All five starters scored in double figures. Gabriela Jaquez led the way with 25 points (on 10-of-11 shooting), Lauren Betts had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker each had 15 and Gianna Kneepkens had 14.

The Bruins donned throwback jerseys, an homage to UCLA’s 1977-78 AIAW championship squad, and showed why a second national title is a possibility come April if the team continues to perform at its present level.

“We want to honor the players and teams who came before us,” Close said. “More importantly, we want to play in a way that honors them.”

Nya Smith scored 14 points, Avery Gordon had 13 and Tara Daye had 10 for the Boilermakers (10-9, 2-6), who lost their third consecutive meeting with UCLA and fell to 2-4 all-time against the Bruins.

Jan. 21 (UPI) — A Texas jury on Wednesday found former school police officer Adrian Gonzales not guilty of felony charges accusing him of endangering children during the 2022 mass shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Following seven hours of deliberations that capped off a two-week trial, the jury returned to the courtroom in Corpus Christi, Texas, Wednesday evening, when presiding Judge Sid Harle read its unanimous verdict that Gonzales was found not guilty on all charges.

Gonzales, 52, was facing 29 felony charges, one for each of the 19 fourth-grade students killed and 10 students wounded in the May 24, 2022, shooting.

Wearing a blue suit, Gonzales received the verdict while standing between two members of his defense counsel, one of whom placed a hand on the right shoulder of Gonzales, who bowed his head upon receiving the judge’s words.

Some members of the victims’ families who were in the courtroom cried, wiping eyes and noses with tissues, but remained silent on hearing the verdict.

On the morning of May 24, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos entered his former Robb Elementary School with an AR-15-style rifle and opened fire.

Ramos was in the school for 77 minutes before the nearly 400 officers who responded engaged Ramos, who was shot dead at the scene.

The prosecution during the trial argued that Gonzales failed to protect the students and failed to confront the gunman despite a witness having alerted him to Ramos’ location before he entered two connected classrooms.

The defense, however, successfully countered that Gonzales did what he could under the circumstances and with the information he had, arguing that he had rushed into the building after arriving on the scene, but retreated with other officers once the bullets rang out.

Nico LaHood, the primary defense attorney for Gonzales, told reporters following the verdict that the jury found gaps in the prosecution’s evidence.

“We felt Adrian was innocent from the beginning when we analyzed the situation,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a challenging case because of the emotions, the sheer emotions behind it and those precious babies being taken from those families.”

During closing arguments, special prosecutor Bill Turner told the jury that Gonzales did not follow his training, failing to engage Ramos until after children were being shot.

“If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while the child is in imminent danger,” he said. “If you have a duty to protect the child, you can’t stand by and allow it to happen.”

He then compared Gonzales to teachers who tried to protect students, saying they put the children first and students who tried to protect one another.

“Adrian Gonzales had a duty to put the kids first,” he said.

LaHood, in his closing arguments, told jurors that Gonzales “drove into danger” and did more than other Uvalde police officers to protect the children.

Convicting Gonzales, he argued, would inform police officers whether and ho to react to future similar situations.

“What you tell police officers is, ‘Don’t go in. Don’t react. Don’t respond,'” he said.

Gonzales is one of two former Uvalde police officers facing charges in connection to the mass shooting.

Pete Arredondo, the former Uvalde School District police chief, is facing 10 counts of child endangerment. His trial has yet to be scheduled.

President Donald Trump climbed into a heavily armored Cadillac Escalade presidential limo after arriving in Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum this morning. This may be the first time Trump has ridden in one of these SUVs, at least at such a high-profile event. The Escalade configuration limos also look to be a new addition to the U.S. Secret Service’s fleet of highly specialized cars and other vehicles.

Trump had initially left Washington, D.C., for Davos last night on board a VC-25A Air Force One jet, which had to turn around “out of an abundance of caution” due to a “minor electrical issue,” according to the White House. The President, as well as other officials and members of the press, ultimately flew to Zurich aboard a smaller C-32A aircraft. A U.S. Marine Corps VH-60N Marine One helicopter then took Trump from Zurich to Davos, where a motorcade, which included at least two Escalades, as well as several Chevy Suburban SUVs, was waiting.

From what can be seen in pictures from Davos, the Escalades have very heavy armoring, especially around the front windshield and doors. They also have an array of antennas at the rear of the roof, as well as one at the front right above the driver’s seat. This is not surprising given that Secret Service vehicles used in the presidential motorcade typically have extensive secure communications suites that can connect with the White House communications vehicle, better known as the Roadrunner.

Details about the Secret Service Escalade are otherwise limited, though it is safe to assume it has a host of additional defensive and other features we cannot readily see. It is also unclear whether Trump has made use of a Secret Service Escalade before elsewhere. Based on the limited motorcade imagery we have reviewed taken over the last few months, we have not seen it. TWZ has reached out to the Secret Service and the White House for more information.

The Secret Service has certainly shuttled Trump (and other Presidents and Vice Presidents) around in the past in up-armored Chevy Suburbans, including during previous trips to Davos. Since the early 2000s, Suburbans have been used increasingly interchangeably with more eye-catching custom-built presidential limousines for presidential movements. The latter vehicles, nicknamed “Beasts,” externally resemble stretched Cadillac sedans, but are actually now built on a modified truck chassis. The Secret Service has disclosed in the past that the newest version incorporates internal design elements taken directly from the Escalade line. You can read more about the Beasts here.

The video below shows President Trump’s motorcade, full of Chevy Suburbans, in Davos in 2018.

25.01.2018 – Donald Trump arriva al WEF di Davos

There is a question of how new the Escalades may actually be. Though elements of their bodies are outwardly different, underneath, Suburbans and Escalades have shared the same core platform for decades. The Secret Service has already been using armored Suburbans of the same generation as the Escalades seen in Davos to move Trump for some time.

So are the Escalades really just the Secret Service’s existing armored Suburban base configuration that we have seen in the past, but given an Escalade facelift, including a new front fascia and chrome accents, among other features? They could also be Escalades of this generation customized identically to their Suburban counterparts for the role. It’s unclear at this time, but adapting the already custom-armored Suburban configuration that currently carries the President with a more grand look certainly would make sense, especially for Trump. Also, the latest Escalade model based on the newest generation of Suburban is now itself over half a decade old, making use of an even older generation of Escalade like this to develop an entirely new limo configuration questionable.

The Chevy Suburban family has been the SUV of choice for the Secret Service, as well as many other U.S. government agencies, for decades now. GM has separately developed a factory-standard up-armored Suburban configuration for the U.S. State Department in recent years.

However, last March, the Secret Service shared that Director Sean Curran had “met with GM executives to discuss advancements that could benefit the next generation of armored SUVs” in a post on X.

An accompanying picture from Curran’s visit with GM, seen below, showed an image on display at the GM site featuring a newer generation Escalade flanked by seals of the office of the President of the United States. The presence of the seals pointed to a configuration intended for use as a presidential limo role.

Reuters also reported last March that GM had received a new contract from the Homeland Security Department and the Secret Service for the development of a next-generation presidential limousine. Though that story mentioned Director Curran’s trip to GM, it did not explicitly say what vehicle the new limo might be based on or when it might enter service.

“We are too far out to speak to any specific costs or dates,” a Secret Service spokesperson had told Reuters last year. “Our engineering, protective operations and technical security teams work for years to develop the state-of-the-art framework that is used to produce these highly advanced vehicles.”

It is also worth noting that the most recent version of the Beast made its public debut in 2018 during President Trump’s first term when he visited New York City for that year’s U.N. General Assembly meeting, as seen below. The Secret Service has said in the past that the custom vehicles have a typical life span of around eight years. With this timeline in mind, a new version could be on the cusp of entering service, if it hasn’t already.

(READ FULL DESCRIPTION) – PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP & MOTORCADE, USING BRAND NEW BEAST LIMOUSINES.

Regardless, the Secret Service has a clear imperative to keep its fleets as capable and otherwise up-to-date as possible to help in protecting the president, as well as other senior U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries. In the past, TWZ has highlighted the ever-growing threats posed by drones, including weaponized commercial types, as something the Secret Service also now has to factor into its vehicle requirements.

“Countering evolving threats require [sic] us to constantly explore new innovations and improvements to our armored fleet of protective vehicles,” the Secret Service wrote in the post on X last year regarding Director Curran’s meeting with GM.

If President Trump begins making more use of Secret Service Escalades, more details about those vehicles may begin to emerge.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

MICHELLE KEEGAN and Mark Wright have shared rare pictures of their baby girl Palma from a sun-soaked holiday in Abu Dhabi.

The trio have been enjoying some time away at the stunning Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Both doting parents have taken to Instagram to share peeks into their beautiful holiday, with sweet snaps of their little girl.

Mark, 39, shared a series of pictures on his feed, including one of Palma crawling in the sand as the pair look down at her in pride.

In another photo, Michelle, 38, holding Palma in her arms while standing on the beach with the sun in full view in the background.

A third snap showed Mark holding Palma by the swimming pool as the tot wears a cute yellow sun hat on her head.

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He captioned the post: “Special memories spent with my 2 girls, my world. What a beautiful resort @rixospremiumsaddiyat thank you for having us.”

Meanwhile, Michelle took to her own page to post some similar pictures, with the first one being of her wearing a brown beach hat and white maxi dress while posing for a selfie.

She also shared pictures of the incredible resort as well as one of Palma wearing a yellow dress and standing by a fountain.

The former Coronation Street actress captioned hers: “Magic in the Middle East.”

Her followers flocked to the comments section, especially after seeing a rare glimpse of Palma.

One person gushed: “Bless her Palma crawling and standing already. That time has flown. Growing up so fast.”

Another social media user commented: “Awwwww look at Palma in her cute outfit.”

Somebody else enthused: “Awwwww beautiful. Holidays are the best with your baby xx.”

The Netflix star previously took to her stories to share some behind the scenes action from the holiday.

Covered in raspberries and an iPad, Michelle highlighted the tactical use of kids’ TV to get through a meal.

“The actual reality of coming out for a meal with a baby. Thank you Ms. Rachel for adding to the ambiance.”

She added: “Messy, messy girl.”

Michelle and Mark welcomed Palma into the world on March 6 last year.

They announced the happy news with a black and white photo of their baby swaddled in a crochet blanket.

The couple shared: “Together we have a new love to share. Our little girl. Palma Elizabeth Wright, 06.03.25.”

The first-time parents have kept their firstborn largely out of the spotlight, hiding her face from social media snaps to maintain her privacy.

JERUSALEM — Several countries have said they will join President Trump’s Board of Peace, while a few European nations have declined their invitations. Many have not yet responded to Trump’s invites.

Chaired by Trump, the board was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. But the Trump administration’s ambitions have since expanded, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting at the board’s future role as conflict mediator.

A White House official has said about 30 countries were expected to join the board, without providing details, while about 50 had been invited.

Here is a tally by the Associated Press on what countries are joining, which are not and which are undecided.

Countries that have accepted to join the board

— Argentina

— Armenia

— Azerbaijan

— Bahrain

— Belarus

— Egypt

— Hungary

— Indonesia

— Jordan

— Kazakhstan

— Kosovo

— Morocco

— Pakistan

— Qatar

— Saudi Arabia

— Turkey

— United Arab Emirates

— Uzbekistan

— Vietnam

Countries that will not join the board, at least for now

— France

— Norway

— Slovenia

— Sweden

Countries that have been invited but remain noncommittal:

— Britain

— China

— Croatia

— Germany

— Italy

— European Union’s executive arm

— Paraguay

— Russia

— Singapore

— Ukraine

Liverpool have become the top-earning Premier League club for the first time, according to analysis from financial firm Deloitte.

The Reds won the English top-flight title last season and generated 836m euros (£702m) – more revenue than any other English side.

Manchester United fell to their lowest ever position in what is the 29th edition of the Deloitte Football Money League.

Real Madrid again top the list with a 1.2bn euro (£1.01bn) revenue, despite not winning the Champions League or La Liga last season, as both Manchester clubs dropped down the list.

Barcelona were second, moving back into the top three for the first time since 2019-20 after generating 975m euros (£819m), despite playing away from their Nou Camp stadium last season as it was renovated.

Bayern Munich are third on 861m euros (£723m), Champions League winners Paris St-Germain fourth on 837m euros (£703m) and Liverpool fifth.

Manchester City dropped from second to sixth with a revenue of 829m euros (£697m).

Manchester United, who finished 15th in the Premier League and were beaten by Tottenham in the Europa League final, went from fourth to eighth with 793m euros (£666m).

United have topped the money league on 10 occasions, most recently in 2017.

Their matchday revenue will also suffer this season as they are not involved in European competition and have been knocked out of the FA Cup and League Cup at the first hurdle.

“If you went back 10 or 15 years, and you looked at Manchester United‘s matchday revenue it was the industry leader,” said Deloitte Sports Business Group lead partner Tim Bridge.

“If you looked at their ability to generate commercial revenue, it was the benchmark by which everybody then went to market and set their strategy. I don’t think that remains the case.”

There are six English clubs in the top 10, with Arsenal (822m euros, £690m) in seventh, Tottenham (673m euros, £565m) in ninth and Chelsea 10th with 584m euros (£491m).

Three other English sides made the top 20, with Aston Villa (450m euros, £378m) 14th, Newcastle United (400m euros, £335m) 17th and West Ham United (276m euros, £232m) in 20th.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun blasts Israel’s ‘policy of systematic aggression’ that directly targets civilians in Lebanon.

Israel said it attacked four crossing points on the Syria-Lebanon border, saying they were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, following earlier attacks on southern Lebanon that killed at least two people and injured almost 20.

The latest Israeli violence on Wednesday comes despite a US-brokered ceasefire, which ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon in 2024 and which Israel has repeatedly violated.

“Once again, Israel is pursuing a policy of systematic aggression by carrying out air strikes on inhabited Lebanese villages, in a dangerous escalation that directly targets civilians,” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement late on Wednesday.

“This repeated aggressive behaviour reaffirms Israel’s refusal to abide by its obligations arising from the cessation of hostilities agreement,” President Aoun said.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health said at least 19 people were wounded in Israeli air strikes on the southern Lebanese town of Qanarit.

The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes bombed buildings in several south Lebanon villages and towns, including al-Kharayeb, al-Ansar, Qanarit, Kfour and Jarjouh, after the Israeli army issued warnings that it would carry out attacks on targets inside the country.

Earlier in the day, the Health Ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the town of Zahrani, in the Sidon district, killed one person. The ministry also said that an Israeli strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Bazuriyeh in the Tyre district killed another person.

The AFP news agency said its correspondent reported seeing a charred car on a main road in Sidon with debris strewn across the area and emergency workers in attendance. A photographer with the agency was also slightly wounded along with two other journalists who were working near the site of a heavy Israeli strike in Qanarit, where 19 people were injured.

The Israeli military said on social media that it targeted four border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border used for “weapons transfer” and that it had also “eliminated” a “key Hezbollah weapons smuggler” in the Sidon area of southern Lebanon.

A Lebanese army statement decried the Israeli attacks that targeted “civilian buildings and homes” in a “blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty” and the ceasefire deal.

The Lebanese military also said such attacks “hinder the army’s efforts” to complete the disarmament plan for Hezbollah, which was part of the ceasefire agreement.

Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons amid the ongoing Israeli attacks, which have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon despite the ceasefire signed in November 2024, according to a tally of casualties from AFP.