Jan. 21 (UPI) — NASA astronaut Suni Williams retired from the agency after 27 years of service, including one nine-month stint when she was stranded on the International Space Station.
Williams has been “a trailblazer in human spaceflight, shaping the future of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station and paving the way for commercial missions to low Earth orbit,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in a statement.
“Her work advancing science and technology has laid the foundation for Artemis missions to the Moon and advancing toward Mars, and her extraordinary achievements will continue to inspire generations to dream big and push the boundaries of what’s possible,” Isaacman said.
Williams has spent 608 days in space, the second-most of any NASA astronaut. She ranks sixth on the list of longest single spaceflight by an American, tied with NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, both logging 286 days during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions.
Williams also completed nine spacewalks, totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, ranking as the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list. She was also the first person to run a marathon in space.
The Needham, Mass., native has a bachelor’s degree in physical science from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. She is a retired U.S. Navy captain and an accomplished helicopter and fixed-wing pilot. She’s logged more than 4,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.
“Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favorite place to be,” Williams said in a statement. “It’s been an incredible honor to have served in the Astronaut Office and have had the opportunity to fly in space three times. I had an amazing 27-year career at NASA, and that is mainly because of all the wonderful love and support I’ve received from my colleagues.”
Williams launched for the first time aboard space shuttle Discovery in December 2006 and returned aboard space shuttle Atlantis. She served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 14/15 and completed a then-record-breaking four spacewalks during the mission.
“From her indelible contributions and achievements to the space station, to her groundbreaking test flight role during the Boeing Starliner mission, her exceptional dedication to the mission will inspire the future generations of explorers,” Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement.
Williams served as a NASA Extreme Environments Mission Operations crew member, spending nine days living and working in an underwater habitat. After her first flight, she served as deputy chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. She was the director of operations in Star City, Russia, after her second mission to the space station. She recently helped establish a helicopter training platform to prepare astronauts for moon landings.
Wilmore, who was stranded on the ISS along with Williams, retired in August.
The moving story of a Tunisian man who refuses to let cancer define his mother’s life and turns her treatment into a celebration of love, joy and resilience.
When Tunisian TV host Hassen becomes a full-time caregiver for his mother Saliha, dying of lung cancer, their home and hospital visits become the backdrop for an intimate family love story. This observational documentary follows them through birthday celebrations, 4am medication, difficult medical consultations and quiet, emotional moments together. Their bond gradually goes beyond conventional parent–child roles, as Hassen works tirelessly to preserve joy, dignity and a sense of normal life for Saliha. As the cancer spreads and her chances fade, they face impossible choices: treatment versus comfort, hope versus honesty, a son’s devotion versus his mother’s exhaustion. After Saliha’s death, we see Hassen back in the studio, hosting live television while still guided by her memory, redefining his mother as “a notion of love” that continues to shape him. Raw but unsentimental, the film captures caregiving as both an act of endurance and a profound declaration of love itself.
YouTube Chief Executive Officer Neal Mohan said combating the rise of low-quality “AI slop” on the platform will be a top priority in 2026, emphasizing the need to embrace artificial intelligence while better safeguarding the video app and its users.
As it becomes harder for users to distinguish real videos from AI-generated ones, “we’re focused on ensuring AI serves the people who make YouTube great — the creators, partners and billions of viewers looking for a deeper connection to the world around them,” Mohan wrote in a blog post highlighting the company’s plans for the year. Good-quality AI content will get YouTube’s support. “AI will be a boon to the creatives who are ready to lean in” and “will remain a tool for expression, not a replacement,” he added.
Like other major tech and social media companies racing to integrate generative AI into their offerings, YouTube parent Alphabet Inc. is grappling with how to harness its power without putting off YouTube’s valuable advertisers, creators and ordinary users. In September, the company announced a slew of generative AI tools for video creators, as it remains in intense competition with rivals including ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram.
On average, more than 1 million YouTube channels used its AI creation tools daily in December, according to Mohan. Some of the tools are powered by Google DeepMind’s latest video-generation model, Veo 3 Fast.
Mohan said the platform will continue prioritizing its content creators, offering them “the most stable path to earn,” and pursuing its place as “the new TV.”
In addition, Mohan pledged greater transparency and protections from users employing AI to mislead and spam others, including by labeling content made using YouTube’s AI products and removing “any harmful synthetic media” that violate its rules. Mohan also touted new detection tools aimed at helping creators manage the use of their likeness in AI-generated material, including deepfakes, on the site.
AI-generated videos are changing the user experience not only on YouTube, but also on YouTube Kids, its youth-focused site. The growing volume of AI children’s content on both platforms, and the way some of it is designed to keep kids hooked, has raised concerns from parents and child development experts. Mohan said that “building the best place” for children and teens, and “empowering parents to protect their kids in the digital world, not from the digital world,” are also top YouTube priorities this year.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said the California governor was denied entry into a venue at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday under pressure from the Trump administration.
Newsom had been asked to speak at an event at USA House, an American pavilion at the annual gathering of world leaders. Newsom’s office said they were told that a “venue-level decision” was made to “not include an elected U.S. official” in tonight’s programming. The fireside chat was scheduled for Wednesday evening in Davos, which is nine hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, with media outlet Fortune.
Newsom spokesman Izzy Gardon said after Newsom was uninvited to the event by USA House, they offered to allow him to have a “VIP nightcap” to have a drink off the record instead.
The White House could not immediately be reached for comment.
The World Economic Forum’s stated mission is engaging in “forward-looking discussions to address global issues and set priorities.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Former England captain Jamie George is to retire at the end of 2027 after agreeing a one-year contract extension with Saracens.
George is to complete the 2026-27 season for the Prem club before retiring later that year to move into a new career in the “business world”, a club statement said.
The 35-year-old has been capped 105 times by England and captained his country during 2024 before acting as vice-captain to Maro Itoje.
The hooker has also been selected for the British and Irish Lions on three tours and made more than 300 appearances for Saracens, having spent his whole career at the London club.
“I have always been very open and honest and I wanted to continue to do that with regards to my retirement,” George said.
“I’m sure it seems early to be announcing this with another season to go, but I want to make sure I soak up every moment of my final season – I am more motivated than ever to finish my career at Saracens in a successful way.”
Israeli comedian and former combat soldier Guy Hochman was detained and questioned in Toronto after the Hind Rajab Foundation accused him of war crimes and incitement in Gaza, based on his own social media posts.
In 1948, as the foundations of the Israeli state were being laid upon the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (AFFFI), condemning the growing Zionist militancy within the settler Jewish community. “When a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine the first responsible for it would be the British and the second responsible for it the terrorist organisations built up from our own ranks. I am not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people.”
Einstein — perhaps the most celebrated Jewish intellectual of the 20th century — refused to conflate his Jewish identity with the violence of Zionism. He turned down the offer to become Israel’s president, rejecting the notion that Jewish survival and self-determination should come at the cost of another people’s displacement and suffering. And yet, if Einstein were alive today, his words would likely be condemned under the current definitions of anti-Semitism adopted by many Western governments and institutions, including the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, now endorsed by most Australian universities.
Under the IHRA definition, Einstein’s outspoken criticism of Israel — he called its founding actors “terrorists” and denounced their betrayal of Jewish ethics — would render him suspect. He would be accused not only of delegitimising Israel, but also of anti-Semitism. His moral clarity, once visionary, would today be vilified.
That is why we must untangle the threads of Zionism, colonialism and human rights.
Einstein’s resistance to Zionism was not about denying Jewish belonging or rights; it was about refusing to build those rights on ethno-nationalist violence. He understood what too many people fail to grasp today: that Zionism and Judaism are not synonymous.
Zionism is a political ideology rooted in European colonial logics, one that enforces Jewish supremacy in a land shared historically by Palestinian and other Levantine peoples. To criticise this ideology is not anti-Semitic; it is, rather, a necessary act of justice and a moral act of bearing witness. The religious symbolism that Israel uses is irrelevant in this respect. And yet, in today’s political climate, any critique of Israel — no matter how grounded it might be in international law, historical fact or humanitarian concern — is increasingly branded as anti-Semitism. This conflation shields from accountability a settler-colonial state, and it silences Palestinians and their allies from speaking out on the reality of their oppression. Billions in arms sales, stolen resources and apartheid infrastructure don’t just happen; they’re the reason that legitimate “criticism” gets rebranded as “hate”.
To understand Einstein’s critique, we must confront the truth about Zionism itself. While often framed as a movement for Jewish liberation, Zionism in practice has operated as a colonial project of erasure and domination. The Nakba was not a tragic consequence of war, it was a deliberate blueprint for dispossession and disappearance. Israeli historian Ilan Pappé has detailed how David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, approved “Plan Dalet” on 10 March, 1948. This included the mass expulsion and execution of Palestinians to create a Jewish-majority state. As Ben-Gurion himself declared chillingly: “Every attack has to end with occupation, destruction and expulsion.”
This is the basis of the Zionist state that we are told not to critique.
Einstein saw this unfolding and recoiled. In another 1948 open letter to the New York Times, he and other Jewish intellectuals described Israel’s newly formed political parties — like Herut (the precursor to Likud) — as “closely akin in… organisation, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties.”
Einstein’s words were not hyperbole, they were a warning. Having fled Nazi Germany, he had direct experience with the defining traits of Nazi fascism. “From Israel’s past actions,” he wrote, “we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.”
Einstein warned about what many still refuse to see: a state established on principles of ethnic supremacy and expulsion could never transcend its foundation ethos. Israel’s creation in occupied Palestine is Zionism in practice; it cannot endure without employing repression until resistance is erased entirely. Hence, the Nakba wasn’t a one-off event in 1948; it evolved, funded by Washington, armed by Berlin and enabled by every government that trades Palestinian blood for political favours.
Zionism cannot be separated from the broader history of European settler-colonialism. As Patrick Wolfe explains, the ideology hijacked the rhetoric of Jewish liberation to mask its colonial reality of re-nativism, with the settlers recasting themselves as “indigenous” while painting resistance as terrorism.
The father of political Zionism, Theodor Herzl, stated in his manifesto-novel Altneuland, “To build anew, I must demolish before I construct.” To him, Palestine was not seen as a shared homeland, but as a house to be razed to the ground and rebuilt by and for Jews alone. His ideology was made possible by British imperial interests to divide and dominate post-Ottoman territories. Through ethnic partition and military alliances embellished under the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the ironic Zionist-Nazi 1933 Haavara Agreement, the Zionist project aligned perfectly with the West’s goal, as per the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement.
Zionism is a global power structure, not a monolithic ethnic identity.
Many Jews around the world — rabbis, scholars, students and Holocaust survivors and their descendants — continue Einstein’s legacy by saying “Not in our name”. They reject the co-option of Holocaust memory to justify genocide in Gaza. They refuse to be complicit in what the Torah forbids: the theft of land and the murder of innocents. They are not “self-hating Jews”. They are the inheritors of a prophetic tradition of justice. And they are being silenced.
Perhaps the most dangerous development today is, therefore, Israel’s insistence on linking its crimes to Jewish identity. It frames civilian massacres, apartheid policies and violations of international law as acts done in the name of all Jews and Judaism. By tying the Jewish people to the crimes of a state, Israel risks exposing Jews around the world to collective blame and retaliation.
Einstein warned against this. And if Einstein’s vision teaches us anything, it is this: Justice cannot be compromised for comfort and profit. Truth must outlast repression. And freedom must belong to all. In the end, no amount of Israel’s militarisation of terminology, propaganda or geopolitical alliances can suppress a people’s resistance forever or outlast global condemnation. The only question left is: how much more blood will be spilled before justice prevails?
The struggle for clarity today is not just academic, it is existential. Without the ability to distinguish anti-Semitism from anti-Zionism, we cannot build a future where Jews and Palestinians all live in dignity, safety and peace. Reclaiming the term “Semite” in its full meaning, encompassing both Jews and Arabs, is critical. Further isolation of Arabs from their Semitic identity has enabled the dehumanisation of Palestinians and the erasure of shared Jewish-Arab histories, especially the centuries of coexistence, the Jewish-Muslim golden ages in places like Baghdad, Granada/Andalusia, Istanbul, Damascus and Cairo.
Einstein stood up for the future for us to reclaim it.
The way forward must be rooted in truth, justice and accountability. That means unequivocally opposing anti-Semitism in all its forms, but refusing to allow the term to be manipulated as a shield for apartheid, ethnic cleansing and colonial domination. It means affirming that Jewish safety must never come at the price of Palestinian freedom, and that Palestinian resistance is not hatred; it is survival.
And if Einstein would be silenced today, who will speak tomorrow?
My favorite thing in “The Beauty,” a body-horror procedural adventure from Ryan Murphy and Matthew Hodgson premiering Wednesday on FX and Hulu, is a Chad and Jeremy joke buried in a line of dialogue that will mean nothing to anyone who doesn’t know the ‘60s singing duo responsible for “Distant Shores” and “A Summer Song,” or remember their appearance as the Redcoats on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” I can almost feel the satisfaction, the inward chuckle that must have accompanied the writing of it. The rest of the series’ 11-episode first season I found somewhat less delightful — but then, delight is the last thing on its mind.
To begin. A supermodel (played by real-life supermodel Bella Hadid) goes berserk on a Paris runway, grabbing water bottles from spectators, draining the contents, throwing bodies around like … empty water bottles. Stealing a motorcycle, she rides recklessly through the streets of Paris as the Prodigy’s “Firestarter” thumps on the soundtrack until she’s knocked flying by a car. Pulling herself almost together, she enters a cafe, grabs and guzzles more water, causes even more grievous bodily harm, is shot, keeps going and, exiting to the street, is confronted by a phalanx of gendarmes with guns drawn. Then she explodes. Cue opening credits.
The show develops information slowly and out of chronological order, so if you’re averse to knowing even the basics of the premise, you may want to stop reading now — though I wouldn’t consider any of what follows a spoiler. At the center of the fun is a drug called the Beauty, which can transform the ugliest duckling into the loveliest swan but after a while develops the unfortunate side effect described above, making hotness literal. (This is why we have the FDA, people.) Even more unfortunate, in respect to global health, once a dose is administered — “One shot and you’re hot” is the series’ log line — it becomes a virus capable of being transmitted sexually, and, given how people are, you know how that’ll go.
This alarms the incomparably wealthy character behind the drug — whom press materials identify only as the Corporation (Ashton Kutcher, Hollywood hunk) in order to keep a secret — not because people might die, but because it threatens his plans to market the Beauty, which has crept out of his control and into the world. (It’s not a great business plan, anyway.) Indeed, his way of cleaning up problems is murder, to which end he employs a sinister figure called the Assassin (Anthony Ramos), though he will do the job himself if convenient. (Anthony will acquire an assistant assassin, Jeremy, played by Jeremy Pope.)
Ashton Kutcher as the Corporation, the wealthy character behind the Beauty.
(Eric Liebowitz / FX)
The case of the exploding supermodel brings into the picture a pair of Paris-based FBI agents, Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) and Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall), and their dry Mulder and Scully banter and tailored-suits panache is my second-favorite thing about “The Beauty.” (Unlike Mulder and Scully, we don’t have to wait around for them to sleep together; we meet them in bed.) As beautiful people keep blowing up in beautiful places, they’ll chase the bug to Venice and Rome and New York, with famous sights highlighted to demonstrate that the production is not doubling locations in Prague or Vancouver. Like nearly everything else in this production and milieu, it smells of money (and vacations written into the budget, maybe), but it still might be my third-favorite thing about the series. That the agents speak French and Italian is a nice, elevating touch.
From “The Picture of Dorian Gray” to “The Substance,” and most every vampire movie ever made, the search for everlasting youth and beauty never ends well. In the world we still manage to call real, one only has to turn on the news to see the self-inflicted carnage this obsession has wrought. (Notably, Murphy first got hot back in 2003 with “Nip/Tuck,” a well-regarded, unpleasant show about cosmetic surgeons.) There is some satirical intent here, I’d wager, regarding the shallow aspirations of this age of Ozempic. That the Corporation has a couple of lunk-headed sons might be meant to call President Trump to mind, though the character stands in for vile billionaires everywhere.
Of course, beauty is subject to taste and culture and all sorts of indefinable things. As Franny Forst, unaccountably married to the Corporation, Isabella Rosselini provides in her person the argument for aging gracefully. (She’ll get a speech about it too.) At the same time, Murphy and Hodgson, adapting a comic by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, do not hesitate to make a fat person a sad person. The remodeled … patients, I guess you’d call them, though certainly good-looking, are hot in a generic, almost dull way — the women trim, the men muscled — which feels more sad than exciting. A Nobel-winning scientist will be trotted out to offer an “explanation” of how the drug works and what it can do, but it’s really just magic beans.
There’s plenty of gore and goo — the transformation process is not pretty. Some storylines are meant to be poignant but are overwhelmed by the weirdness or feel exploitative, or the characters aren’t dimensional enough to move you. There are plot twists, of course, and rejiggerings, but it’s too obvious to be really terrifying; the game is given away early. (That doesn’t rule out some icky second-season invention; this one ends on a cliffhanger.)
At the same time, there’s enough nonsense, edging into ridiculousness, that the series might best be approached as a black action-comedy — at the end of the opening scene, the gendarmes are splattered with pieces of supermodel — or a very fancy B (maybe C) picture. “Star Wars” built an empire on the latter.
WASHINGTON — House Republicans started a push Wednesday to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.
The contempt proceedings are an initial step toward a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice that, if successful, could send the Clintons to prison in a dispute over compelling them to testify before the House Oversight Committee.
Rep. James Comer, the chairman, said at the start of the committee’s hearing that Clintons had responded not with “cooperation but defiance.”
“Subpoenas are not mere suggestions, they carry the force of law and require compliance,” said Comer, R-Ky.
The Clintons argue that the subpoenas are invalid. Bill Clinton, President Trump and many others connected to Epstein have not been accused of wrongdoing. Yet lawmakers are wrestling over who receives the most scrutiny.
Nonetheless, there were signs of a potential thaw as the Clintons, both Democrats, appeared to be searching for an off-ramp to testify. In addition, passage of contempt charges through the full House was far from guaranteed, requiring a majority vote — something Republicans increasingly struggle to achieve.
The repercussions of contempt charges loomed large, given the possibility of a substantial fine and even incarceration.
While the charges have historically been used only as a last resort, lawmakers in recent years have been more willing to reach for the option. Comer initiated the contempt proceedings after the Clintons refused for months to fulfill a committee subpoena for their testimony in its Epstein investigation.
The clash was the latest turn in the Epstein saga as Congress investigates how he was able to sexually abuse dozens of teenage girls for years. Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial. The public release of case files has shown details of the connections between Epstein and both Bill Clinton and Trump, among many other high-powered men.
Comer rejected an offer Tuesday from a lawyer for the Clintons to have Comer and the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, interview Bill Clinton in New York, along with staff.
How the Clintons have responded
The Clintons released a letter last week criticizing Comer for seeking their testimony at a time when the Justice Department is running a month behind a congressionally mandated deadline to release its complete case files on Epstein.
Behind the scenes, however, longtime Clinton lawyer David Kendall has tried to negotiate an agreement. Kendall raised the prospect of having the Clintons testify on Christmas and Christmas Eve, according to the committee’s account of the negotiations.
The Clintons, who contend the subpoenas are invalid because they do not serve any legislative purpose, also say they did not know about Epstein’s abuse. They have offered the committee written declarations about their interactions with Epstein.
“We have tried to give you the little information we have. We’ve done so because Mr. Epstein’s crimes were horrific,” the Clintons wrote Comer last week.
How contempt proceedings have been used
Contempt of Congress proceedings are rare, used when lawmakers are trying to force testimony for high-profile investigations, such as the infamous inquiry during the 1940s into alleged Communist sympathizers in Hollywood or the impeachment proceedings of President Richard Nixon.
Most recently, Trump’s advisers Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were convicted of contempt charges for defying subpoenas from a House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of the Republican president’s supporters at the Capitol. Both Navarro and Bannon spent months in prison.
The Jan. 6 committee also subpoenaed Trump in its inquiry. Trump’s lawyers resisted the subpoena, citing decades of legal precedent they said shielded ex-presidents from being ordered to appear before Congress. The committee ultimately withdrew its subpoena.
No former president has ever been successfully forced to appear before Congress, although some have voluntarily appeared.
The Democrats’ response
Democrats have largely been focused on advancing the investigation into Epstein rather than mounting an all-out defense of the Clintons, who led their party for decades. They have said Bill Clinton should inform the committee if he has any pertinent information about Epstein’s abuses.
A wealthy financier, Epstein donated to Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and Hillary Clinton’s joint fundraising committee ahead of her 2000 Senate campaign in New York.
“No president or former president is above the law,” Garcia said at the committee hearing.
Democrats spent the hearing criticizing Comer for focusing on the Clintons when the Justice Department is behind schedule on releasing the Epstein files. Comer has also allowed several former attorneys general to provide the committee with written statements attesting to their limited knowledge of the case.
The committee had also subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime confidant who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for a conviction on sex trafficking charges.
“It’s interesting that it’s this subpoena only that Republicans and the chairman have been obsessed about putting all their energy behind,” Garcia said.
Comer said the committee will interview Maxwell next month. Attorney General Pam Bondi will also appear before the House Judiciary Committee in February.
Democrats embraced the call for full transparency on Epstein after Trump’s return to the White House, particularly after Bondi stumbled on her promise to release the entirety of the unredacted Epstein files to the public. The backlash scrambled traditional ideological lines, leading Republicans to side with Democrats demanding further investigation.
The pressure eventually resulted in a bipartisan subpoena from the committee that ordered the Justice Department and Epstein estate to release files related to Epstein. Republicans quickly moved to include the Clintons in the subpoena.
Comer has indicated that he will insist that the subpoena be fulfilled by nothing less than a transcribed deposition of Bill Clinton.
“You have to have a transcript in an investigation,” he said. “So no transcript, no deal.”
Jones confirmed some players walked out of the meeting and a full-scale training session was cancelled on Tuesday.
“There was a variety of feelings, not just anger,” said Jones.
“Anger was one, frustration, confusion and probably a bit of fear around the unknown, which can cause anxiety.
“Players were frustrated with some of what they were hearing. Some were upset and just wanted their own space.
“It’s natural individuals wanted to do that and I support that. It was just one or two players.”
Afterwards a number of Ospreys players, including Wales captains Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake and internationals Sam Parry, Dan Edwards and Gareth Thomas, shared a statement on social media which saying they “have been left in the dark by the WRU and Y11.”
Jones backed the actions of his players.
“It was awesome, it was great to see them coming together like that,” said the head coach.
“They are a tight group and enjoy each others’ company. You could see that by the statement.
“Nobody asked them to do that, it was off their own back as a group of men deciding what they wanted to say and what they wanted people to hear. I support them 100%.”
THERE’S bad news for Brits heading abroad this summer as Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has predicted flight cancellations and delays.
Due to strikes and ongoing staffing issues there are particular months which could face the most disruption.
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Strikes could affect travel for Brits heading on holiday this summerCredit: Alamy
In an interview with The Independent, Michael O’Leary has predicted this summer will be a “mess” when it comes to flights due to possible air traffic control strikes.
Mr O’Leary said: “The French will start striking around May or June and then air traffic controllers will start not showing up to work on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer schedule.
“And we’ll end up with these mythical ATC capacity restrictions, they’re not capacity restriction, they’re ATC staff shortages.”
He continued to say that he believes the European Union should be “fining” air traffic control providers if “they’re not fully staffed for the wave of morning flights”.
Mr O’Leary added that this would be useful for getting flights away on time on weekend during the summer.
He said that “if you get the first wave away, the rest of the day will operate pretty much on time”.
French air traffic control went on strike last year from July 3-4, 2025 which caused widespread delays.
According to Skycop.com, the summer strike resulted in over a thousand flights cancelled, over three thousand flights delayed – and it affected more than 1 million passengers.
Just a few weeks ago on January 9, 2026, there was another nationwide strike by French air traffic controllers which led to the cancellation of 933 flights.
The striking of air traffic control staff doesn’t just affect travellers heading directly in or out of France.
The location of France means that any air traffic strike will affect lots of other routes.
Accordingto Eurocontrol, more than 60 per cent of flights in Western Europe either take off, land in, or pass over France.
Flights not even heading to France could be affected if there are air space restrictionsCredit: Alamy
Without an adequate number of staff, extensive sections of airspace are made unavailable to planes.
There could be more cuts on the horizon too as airline’s chief commercial officer, Jason McGuinness said: “Ryanair will leave French regional airports in the summer of 2026.”
No official details have been released yet about which additional regional airports will be impacted.
Then there is also the Ice Palace, which is split into two sections – one for toddlers under 95cm and one for children up to 125cm.
In the Circus Drome Zone at Woodlands there is even more soft play with the Big Top Soft Play where there are stacking cubes, soft play blocks and interactive puzzlers for kids under 110cm.
In this zone there is a Circus Bouncy Castle too and the Acrobats Challenge with nets, rope swings, ball pools and slides for kids between 90cm and 140cm.
And finally, in the Toddler’s Village Zone, there is a Mermaids Ball Pool with slides.
An adult or child under 92cm costs £16.50 to enter and children under 92cm tall are free.
Play Factore, Manchester
Play Factore in Manchester claims to be the biggest indoor family entertainment arena in the UK.
Inside, visitors can head on the tallest standing indoor slide in the UK as well as head to a laser tag arena.
Kids can enjoy a bounce on the interactive ValoJump trampolines too and a zip wire.
In the Toddler Area, there are two floors of play designed for kids under the age of five.
Another spot is Play Factore in Manchester, which claims to be the biggest indoor family entertainment arena in the UKCredit: Play Factore
It is safety gated as well so no running off moments occur.
Inside the Toddler Zone, there are tunnels, three different slides, soft play areas, an immersive interactive room, balance mats, touch screens and obstacles.
For older kids, between five-years-old and 16, there is a play frame, which is dubbed to be the largest in the UK.
Inside there is a network of tunnels, slides and obstacles including bubble balls and spider nets.
Sporty kids can head on the inbuilt football pitch or basketballcourt too.
Peak general admission varies depending on the age of a visitor.
For six to 11-month-olds, it costs £3.95 each and then for one to four-year-olds it is £12.95 each.
Kids aged between five and 16-year-old cost £17.95 each and parents cost £5.25 each.
There is a specific toddler section with tunnels, obstacles, slides and balance matsCredit: facbook
Riverside Hub, Northampton
The Riverside Hub in Northampton has several different zones for visitors to explore.
For example, there are the Role Play Villages where kids can use their imagination to explore a make-believe world, with a cafe, shop, witches house and tooth fairy dentist.
For kids a little older and braver, there are a number of climbing activities including a beginner-friendly oak tree and a 10-metre beanstalk.
In the Toddlers at Riverside zone, there are a number of ball pits, activity walls and a gentle waterbed.
There’s a giant play frame as well with four levels featuring slides, games, themed zones and even a football pitch.
Ticket prices usually cost £7.50 per adult and children between one and three-year-old are £12 and finally, kids between four-year-old and 17, cost £15 each.
The Riverside Hub in Northampton has Role Play Villages where kids can use their imagination to explore a make-believe worldCredit: facbook
Travel writer Catherine Lofthouse said: “There’s so much to do here that it’s a struggle to fit it into the two and a half hours that each session is allocated.
“We could have happily spent the whole day and still have gone back for more.
“With three boys aged between five and 12, it can sometimes be difficult to find somewhere that has enough to keep all ages happy as the older two are getting a bit big for soft play, but that certainly wasn’t a problem here.
“Laser tag, crazy golf, two climbing poles, go-karts and even arcade machines all included in the price.
“There’s a mezzanine floor with extra seating that’s perfect for cheering your little climbers on as they get to the top.
“Downstairs, my sons really loved being able to take on the free arcade machines that would be pay per play elsewhere.
“And the go-karts were a big hit too, with short queue times despite how busy the venue was.”
Flip Out has various venues across the country to choose fromCredit: Flip Out
Flip Out, various
There are several Flip Out locations across the UK – which means you likely have one near you.
These indoor adventure and trampoline parks feature interconnected trampolines, foam pits and stunt walls making them ideal for burning energy.
Some of the newer locations, such as Canary Wharf, also have other attractions such as laser quest, bumper cars and interactive football.
Keep an eye out for special events too, as sometimes there are After Dark DJ nights for teens and Mini Flippers sessions for kids under the age of five.
Travel writer Catherine Lofthouse headed to Flip Out Coventry with her three children.
She said: “Based in a former department store in a city centre shopping mall, you enter through a hall of mirrors and an arcade before exploring 13 attractions set over two floors of fun.
The Coventry venue has a roller rink and football zoneCredit: Flip Out
“With a ninja warrior course, laser tag, bumper cars and drift trikes, I hardly saw the older two while we were there.
“I think the dark space and graffiti vibe of the upper floor really appealed to my 11-year-old and 13-year-old, feeling a bit more grown-up than the bright lights and primary colours of soft plays aimed at younger children.
“But there was still lots to love for primary aged children here too.
“My six-year-old enjoyed the inflatables, roller rink and football zone.
“For little ones, there’s a dedicated toddler soft play next to the cafe area, so they can play in safety while tired parents have a rest nearby, hot drink in hand.”
Family tickets for two hours are normally £65 for four people or £80 for five.
The Playhive at Stockeld Park in North Yorkshire is one of the country’s largest indoor playgroundsCredit: The Playhive
The Playhive, North Yorkshire
The Playhive at Stockeld Park in North Yorkshire is one of the country’s largest indoor playgrounds – and claims to be one of the biggest in Europe.
While the attraction is not your typical soft play venue, it does features soft play elements.
For example, there is a Baby Bee Play Area for little ones under two-years-old that features soft play.
There is also a bouncy castle.
However, most of the other features are for older children such as the jungle-themed climbing walls.
The whole attraction is heavily themed too, so there are rocket walkways, spaceships, submarines and planes.
A 90-minute session starts from £13.50 or you can also purchase a ticket with access to the full Adventure Park, including outdoor attractions, from £23.50.
Donald Trump said the US needs “ownership” of Greenland to defend it from adversaries like China and Russia, but in lengthy comments at the World Economic Forum he said that he “won’t use force” to acquire the autonomous Danish territory.
It’s been more than six years since Ali Hassan Ali Bakhtiyan was released from a secret prison in eastern Yemen’s Hadramout Governorate, but he cannot forget the horrors he underwent during his more than two years in detention.
“It was a very bitter and extremely painful experience,” the 30-year-old man said, adding he was lodged inside the secret prison run by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and local Yemeni troops called the Hadrami Elite Forces (HEF) inside Hadramout’s Presidential Palace.
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“They stripped me naked and used cold water. I was interrogated first by members of the Hadrami Elite Forces, then they handed me to the Emiratis officers,” Ali told Al Jazeera over the phone, saying he was detained twice – first in 2016 and then again in 2017.
The prison, Ali says, was not even suitable for animals. “Closed, dark rooms, hands tied and blindfolded. Twenty days went by without a chance to clean your body. They used physical and body torture, solitary confinement several times, beating many times,” Ali recalls.
The 30-year-old says he was first detained following a bomb blast in Hadramout. “I was falsely accused of being a member of the Islah Party,” he said, denying he was a member of the party, which is the main opposition party in Yemen. The country’s Muslim Brotherhood also falls under its umbrella.
“I do not have any affiliation with any political party. Even the interrogator later told me, ‘I have nothing against you, but the Emiratis wanted you,’” Ali said.
In 2019, he was transferred to the central prison in Hadramout and appeared before a judge, following which, he was released without charge.
UAE secret prisons
Ali’s case and many other prisoners have come under the spotlight again after Hadramout Governor Salem al-Khanbashi on Monday announced the discovery of “secret prisons at sites where UAE forces were stationed”.
The governor “expressed his regret at what was found inside the UAE bases and camps – especially in the vicinity of Rayyan International Airport – of equipment and contents unrelated to regular armies, including explosives, detonators and dangerous components usually used by terrorist groups, in addition to the discovery of secret prisons at those forces’ deployment sites,” according to the state-run Yemeni News Agency (SABA).
The UAE forces withdrew from Yemen on January 3 after Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) chairman Rashad al-Alimi annulled a joint defence agreement with Abu Dhabi and asked UAE forces to leave within 24 hours.
This came after the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces took control of Hadramout and al-Mahrah provinces in early December. The STC control of Hadramout, which borders Saudi Arabia, was seen as a national security threat by Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces bombed Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout, targeting what Riyadh said was a UAE-linked weapons shipment destined for the STC. Soon, government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, regained the two provinces in early January, triggering the collapse of the STC. The UAE denied supplying weapons to the southern separatists.
Deputy Governor of Hadramout al-Jilani told Al Jazeera that “four illegal detention sites” affiliated with UAE forces in the governorate had been “identified”.
“Such practices are a blatant violation of the Yemeni constitution, applicable laws, and all international and humanitarian charters and agreements that criminalise detention outside the judicial framework,” he said, adding that local authorities in the governorate will carry out comprehensive and transparent investigations and hear the testimonies of victims and witnesses to gather evidence to hold those responsible accountable.
In the meantime, the UAE’s Ministry of Defence issued a statement categorically denying the accusations, describing them as “false and misleading allegations and claims that are not based on any evidence or fact”.
“These allegations are attempts to mislead the public opinion and to defame the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates, the statement read.
Shocking scenes
The government’s National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations of Human Rights (NCIAVHR) has been tasked with investigating the cases of torture in prisons. Officials from the body have visited prisons and are speaking with victims.
”The secret detention centres were in state institutions and service facilities, such as al-Rayyan Airport [in Mukalla], the Republican Palace, al-Dhabba Port, and the central prison known as ‘Al-Manoura Prison’,” committee member Ishraq Al-Maqtari told Al Jazeera, adding that Emirati forces had converted them into private, secret detention centres after adding some inhumane modifications.
“Most of the modifications included building very small, extremely narrow rooms unfit for human detention, some far from public life in the desert, and some of them were constructed underground,” she said.
Al-Maqtari further described that detention centres were built with “punitive specifications, such that a detainee could not stand in them even for short periods, let alone attempt to sit or sleep”.
“Some rooms were also used as presses for torture, where a person is held for very long periods, even though they are unfit to remain in for a few hours,” she told Al Jazeera.
Justice and accountability
Since the UAE forces withdrew, protests have been regularly held demanding disclosure of the fate of hundreds of abducted and forcibly disappeared people in UAE prisons, particularly in the interim capital, Aden.
The NCIAVHR has said it will head to other governorates where secret detention facilities have been reported, including in the Socotra Archipelago governorate, Aden, Lahj, Taiz and Al Hodeidah.
NCIAVHR member al-Maqtari, who has been meeting victims and their families, says “they demanded the need to hold accountable the bodies and individuals who detained and tortured them, along with restoring their dignity and compensating them for the horrific, inhumane torture and humiliations they were subjected to.”
MINNEAPOLIS — There was the pregnant woman who missed her medical checkup, afraid to visit a clinic during the Trump administration’s sweeping Minnesotaimmigration crackdown. A nurse found her at home, already in labor and just about to give birth.
There was the patient with kidney cancer who vanished without his medicine in immigration detention facilities. It took legal intervention for his medicine to be sent to him, though doctors are unsure if he’s been able to take it.
There was the diabetic afraid to pick up insulin, the patient with a treatable wound that festered and required a trip to the intensive care unit, and the hospital staffers — from Latin America, Somalia, Myanmar and elsewhere — too scared to come to work.
“Our places of healing are under siege,” Dr. Roli Dwivedi, past president of the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, said Tuesday at a state Capitol news conference in St. Paul, where doctor after doctor told of patients suffering amid the clampdown.
For years, hospitals, schools and churches had been off-limits for immigration enforcement.
But a year ago, the Trump administration announced that federal immigration agencies could now make arrests in those facilities, ending a policy that had been in effect since 2011.
“I have been a practicing physician for more than 19 years here in Minnesota, and I have never seen this level of chaos and fear,” including at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Dwivedi said.
The crackdown, which began late last year, surged to unprecedented levels in January when the Department of Homeland Security said it would send 2,000 federal agents and officers to the Minneapolis area in what it called the largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.
More than 3,000 people in the country illegally had been arrested during what it dubbed Operation Metro Surge, the government said in a Monday court filing.
“Our patients are missing,” with pregnant women missing out on key prenatal care, said Dr. Erin Stevens, legislative chair for the Minnesota section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Requests for home births have also increased significantly, “even among patients who have never previously considered this or for whom, it is not a safe option,” Stevens said.
The surge in the deeply liberal Twin Cities has set off clashes between activists and immigration officers, pitted city and state officials against the federal government, and left a mother of three dead, shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in what federal officials said was an act of self-defense but that local officials described as reckless and unnecessary.
The Trump administration and Minnesota officials have traded blame for the heightened tensions.
The latest flare-up came Sunday, when protesters disrupted a service at a St. Paul church because one of its pastors leads the local ICE field office. Some walked right up to the pulpit at the Cities Church, with others loudly chanting “ICE out.”
The U.S. Department of Justice said it has opened a civil rights investigation into the church protest.
In a season where freshmen have been making a huge impact in high school basketball, let’s not forget about the sophomores from the class of 2028.
Brady Sullivan, a sophomore at Oaks Christian, scored 28 points to lift the Lions (20-4, 5-1) past Calabasas 69-65 on Tuesday night in a battle for first place in the Marmonte League.
Tristan Cardoso scored 21 points for Calabasas (15-8, 3-3).
Mira Costa 53, Da Vinci 40: Paxx Bell finished with 16 points for Mira Costa (20-4, 4-1).
Redondo Union 90, Peninsula 24: Chace Holley and Devin Wright each scored 16 points for Redondo Union.
Brentwood 70, Viewpoint 51: Ethan Hill finished with 23 points and 17 rebounds and AJ Okoh had 20 points in the Gold Coast League victory.
Arcadia 76, Glendale 44: Noa Eteuati Edwards had 17 points to keep Arcadia unbeaten in the Pacific League.
Oak Park HS sophomore point guard Grant Shaw with the lob pass to 6’5 junior Beau Prophete for the dunk in last night’s OPHS league win over Simi Valley HS. pic.twitter.com/uftqQwXffn
THIS year’s top holiday destination has white sand beaches, beers for less than £2 and very cheap package holidays.
eurochange has predicted where Brits will be jetting off to in 2026 thanks to recent money transactions – and it’s the Dominican Republic.
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The Caribbean island has white sand beaches and turquoise watersCredit: Alamy Stock PhotoYou can stay at the 5-star Bahia Principe Grand Turquesa from £1,375ppCredit: Unknown
The travel money provider found that transactions for the Dominican peso increased by 165 per cent in 2025.
Laura Evans Fisk, Head of Digital & Engagement at eurochange said: “As we’ve seen transactions for the Dominican peso surge this year ahead of any other currency, we can definitely expect to see the Dominican Republic at the top of travel bucket lists for UK tourists in 2026.
“Whilst the Dominican Republic isn’t typically viewed as a budget destination, mid-range hotels are available from around £60 per night, and meals at authentic local restaurants tend to start from around £4.”
As for when’s best to visit the Dominican Republic, December to April is the dry season – this week, the island will see highs of 30C.
Playa Dominicus in the south is one of the longest beaches in the country. It’s great for swimming and snorkelling so you can see all the marine life off the shore.
In the waters you’re likely to see vibrant coral reefs, tropical fish, sea turtles, stingrays – sometimes even sharks, dolphins and humpback whales.
In the north of the island is the Los Haitises National Park which is home to one of the Dominican Republic’s few remaining rainforests which was used as a filming location for Jurassic Park.
As for getting there, you can fly directly to the island British Airways and TUI began direct flights last year – the journey takes nine hours 25 minutes.
While you might think travelling to the Caribbean will be a huge cost – certain hotels and resorts are surprisingly affordable.
The 4-star has bright rooms with an indoor and outdoor pool, spa, buffet-style restaurant and it’s just seconds from the beautiful Bavaro beach in Punta Cana.
The seven-night package for two is all-inclusive and includes flights from London Gatwick with British Airways leaving on September 16, 2026.
If life gives you limes, make margaritas – as the slogan says on my in-room margarita station.
And it’s a motto I quickly adopt, pouring myself another freshly-blitzed cocktail before taking it out to sip on my balcony with views of the gentle waves below.
But having my own personal cocktail station — where I can whip up fresh cocktails without even needing to change out of my pyjamas — was only the start of the fun at this beachfront resort.
Right on Juanillo Beach — in the sun-soaked region of Cap Cana, where the Caribbean’s turquoise waters meet pristine white sands — the 5* Margaritaville is a haven for holidaymakers who love an all-inclusive.
Plus, it’s just a breezy 15-minute drive from Punta Cana airport, which is welcome after the 12-hour flight from the UK.
When I wasn’t laid out in the sun, the private balcony in my Paradise room made for a peaceful escape.
And it was the perfect spot for watching the sun rise beyond the ocean at 4am or for tucking into a room service dinner while watching uninterrupted sea views.
You will need to tear yourself away from your balcony (and the 24-hour room service menu) if you want to bag the most bang for your buck though.
Outside of meal times, guests are given 2,000 “points” daily.
These are redeemable at the on-site corner shop, which sells everything from wine and spirits to locally made honey and traditional chocolate bars.
There are also proper iced coffees, sandwiches and desserts.
Then you have your in-room minibar — and that’s before you’ve even tackled the resort’s 15 bars, coffee houses and restaurants.
The three journalists worked for a committee supervising Egyptian aid in Gaza and were documenting a newly set-up camp.
At least 11 Palestinians, including two children and three journalists, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, with six others injured, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the ministry, told Al Jazeera that the photojournalists killed when their vehicle was struck on Wednesday worked for the Egyptian Committee for Gaza Relief, which supervises Egypt’s relief work in Gaza.
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Anas Ghunaim, Abdul Ra’ouf and Shaath Mohammad Qeshta were documenting developments on the ground in central Gaza near the so-called Netzarim Corridor when they were hit in an Israeli strike, colleagues and medical officials told Al Jazeera. A fourth person was also killed in the attack, an Al Jazeera team on the ground reported.
Video footage circulating online showed their charred, bombed-out vehicle by the roadside, smoke still rising from the wreckage.
Mohammed Mansour, the committee’s spokesman, told The Associated Press news agency that the journalists were filming a newly established displacement camp. He said the strike occurred about 5km (3 miles) from Israeli-controlled territory and that the vehicle was known to the Israeli military as belonging to the Egyptian committee.
Israeli Army Radio, citing an Israeli security source, said that the Israeli Air Force had targeted a vehicle in central Gaza, claiming that its occupants were using a drone to collect intelligence on army forces.
Three killed from single family
In a separate attack in central Gaza, three other Palestinians from a single family – including a child – were killed in eastern Deir el-Balah, sources at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told Al Jazeera.
The victims were a father, his son and another relative, the sources said.
In southern Gaza, a 13-year-old was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers, an Al Jazeera team on the ground reported.
The Associated Press reported, quoting hospital staff, that the child was shot while collecting firewood in the eastern town of Bani Suheila.
In footage circulated online, the boy’s father could be seen weeping over his son’s body on a hospital bed.
A 32-year-old woman was shot and killed in a separate attack in the vicinity of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, an Al Jazeera team reported.
Two other Palestinians were killed in attacks in the north of the strip, the Wafa news agency reported.
Repeated ceasefire violations
Palestinian officials said Israel has repeatedly violated the United States-brokered ceasefire since it came into effect on October 10.
Israel continues to restrict the entry of food, medical aid and shelter materials into Gaza, where about 2.2 million people face acute humanitarian need in cold weather, barely shielded by flimsy tents.
Israel still has military control of large swaths of Gaza, including much of the south, east and north, according to Israeli military data, but, in effect, occupies the entire territory.
On the one-year anniversary of the start of his second term, US President Donald Trump spent 104 minutes in the White House press room listing his accomplishments.
Trump started the briefing by showing a stack of photos of people who had been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, the site of large-scale raids and counterprotests as well as the fatal shooting of an American citizen by an ICE agent.
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Addressing a roomful of reporters, Trump proceeded to highlight policies he has put in place since taking office in January 2025. He sometimes stuck to the prepared text, but often digressed into related and unrelated issues, occasionally repeating remarks more than once.
Trump also took questions, many of which addressed foreign policy, including his efforts to acquire Greenland, his establishment of a “Board of Peace” to oversee reconstruction in Gaza, and the state of the government in Venezuela after the US abduction of its then-leader, Nicolas Maduro.
The press conference came a day before Trump’s scheduled departure to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Economy
On the economy, Trump said, “Everyone said, ‘Oh tariffs will cause inflation.’ We have no inflation. We have very little inflation.”
For Trump’s one-year anniversary, we looked at a wide range of price data for the past year and found that overall prices are still increasing, although some specific items, such as eggs and gasoline, have seen price declines.
Immigration
On immigration, Trump said his administration was prioritising deporting criminals. “We’re focused on the murderers, the drug dealers,” he said.
In his first year, Trump has deported somewhere between 300,000 to 600,000 people. The administration hasn’t published detailed deportation data so it’s unclear how many of those people had a criminal history.
But about 74 percent of the nearly 70,000 immigrants in immigration detention have no criminal convictions, according to reports carried in the US media.
Investments
During the briefing, Trump repeated some inaccurate claims he’s made in the past. He said the US has “secured a record-breaking $18 trillion in commitments for new investments”.
The White House website since mid-November has shown a figure of $9.6 trillion. In addition, experts have cautioned PolitiFact that some of the $9.6 trillion in pledges may not come to fruition and others are unrealistically large compared to the gross domestic product of the countries involved.
Gasoline prices
Trump also said gasoline is “at $1.99 in many states”. In the second week of January 2026, the average price per gallon nationally was $2.78, compared with $3.11 in January 2025.
No state has seen its average price fall below $2. The lowest average price in any state in mid-January was $2.34 per gallon, in Oklahoma.
Four states – Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming – had at least seven stations selling gasoline for less than $2 on January 20, according to the gas price app Gas Buddy, and a handful of other states had between one and four stations selling gasoline for under $2.
Jobs
Trump said that under his predecessor, Joe Biden, “one out of four jobs added was a government job.”
This is exaggerated. Over four years, the economy added more than 16 million jobs, of which about 1.8 million were federal, state or local government positions; that’s about 11 percent of the total.
During Biden’s final year in office, the economy added more than 2 million jobs overall, compared with 473,000 in 2025 under Trump.
Fentanyl overdoses
Trump said 300,000 people died last year because of fentanyl overdoses, but that’s far above the most recent federal data.
In the 12 months before August 2025, about 69,000 people in the US died from all types of drug overdoses, not just fentanyl, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Ending wars
Trump repeated his assertion that he’d “ended eight unendable wars in 10 months”, an exaggerated claim similar to one we rated Mostly False. He also said “no president’s probably ever settled one war,” which we rated False.
In the immediate aftermath, Elizabeth’s own family were investigated but nothing suspicious was found. Nine months after her disappearance, her kidnappers, Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee, were finally caught and arrested.
While Mitchell was holding Elizabeth captive, another man was questioned by police – Richard Ricci. Ricci once worked in the Smart home as a handyman and had a criminal record unrelated to Elizabeth’s abduction.
He denied any involvement in the Smart case. During the investigation, Ricci was being held at the Utah State Prison in Draper for a parole violation unrelated to the case when he was found unconscious.
In August 2002, he died at the age of 48 after undergoing six hours of emergency surgery to correct a spontaneous brain haemorrhage. He had been complaining of a headache whilst in prison.
He was taken to the prison infirmary, then airlifted to hospital in Salt Lake City by helicopter. There was no indication of foul play according to the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department.
A couple of months before his death, Ricci’s wife Angela spoke to ABC News’ Good Morning America, telling viewers her husband had been “devastated” at the news of Elizabeth’s disappearance.
She had said: “He put his face in his hands. He knows that pain and he just felt that for Mr Smart. He knew the kids, he worked in the home, he spoke with them. He was devastated.”
Elizabeth’s father, Edward Smart, said he had not been aware of Ricci’s criminal record and Ricci had been referred to him by another contractor.
As for the convicted kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being found guilty of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines for sexual activity.
He had been serving his sentence at the US Penitentiary in Indiana, but in October 2025 it was reported he had been moved. Mitchell, who is now 72 years old, was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution-Lewisburg in Pennsylvania.
In 2012 Elizabeth married Matthew Gilmour, a Scottish native whom she met while on a mission trip to Paris. She told Skip Intro: “Because he didn’t know anything [about] my past, he wasn’t afraid to tell me what he really thought.
“I appreciate that I’m not my past [with him]. I am just who I am right now, right here in the moment.” They have three children and still live in Utah.
European lawmakers agreed on Wednesday to freeze the EU-US trade deal struck last summer, Euronews has learned, ratcheting up pressure on transatlantic relations after US President Donald Trump threatenedfresh tariffs on several European countries who reject his insistence that the US should take over Greenland.
The agreement was reached last year after weeks of trade tensions triggered by the aggressive tariff policy Trump rolled out following his return to power. While a political agreement was reached in the summer, the deal still required formal implementation by the European Parliament.
Lead MEPs handling the file met on Wednesday afternoon and decided to suspend the process, officially postponing a vote that had been scheduled for next week in the Parliament’s Committee on International Trade.
Tensions intensified after Trump saidon social media he would impose a 10% tariff from February on Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom until “a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland”. The rate would rise to 25% by June should no agreement be reached.
MEPs view the threat as a breach of the EU-US deal, which already imposes 15% US tariffs on EU goods while committing the bloc to cut its own tariffs on US industrial imports to 0%.
Lawmakers had been preparing amendments to the deal in the coming days, with many already describing it as unbalanced in the US’s favour.
On Saturday, Bernd Lange, the German MEP who chairs the Parliament’s trade committee, said work on the agreement should be suspended – a position adopted the same day by leaders of the Parliament’s main political groups, the EPP, S&D and Renew.
EU leaders will meet on Thursday night to prepare the bloc’s response to Trump’s threats, which many see as a form of blackmail.
