News Desk

Fighting between Cambodia and Thailand has entered its fifth day, with Cambodia accusing the Thai military of continued shelling and Thailand’s caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirming that he is scheduled to speak with United States President Donald Trump.

Thai forces allegedly carried out new attacks in three Cambodian provinces in the early hours of Friday morning, according to Cambodian news outlet The Khmer Times.

The newspaper reported that Thai forces opened fire in the Ta Moan, Ta Kra Bei and Thmar Daun areas of Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province.

It also reported Thai shelling in the Phnom Khaing and An Ses areas of the country’s Preah Vihear province, as well as the areas of Prey Chan Village and Boeung Trakuan in nearby Banteay Meanchey province.

No new casualties were reported following the renewed fighting.

At least 20 people have been killed across both countries, with nearly 200 more wounded, since fighting resumed on Monday.

An estimated 600,000 people have also been displaced on both sides of the Thai-Cambodia border since the breakdown of a peace agreement brokered by Trump in October.

In a Facebook post, Cambodia’s Ministry of Defence also rejected as “fake news” a claim from the Thai military that it was using foreign mercenaries to operate suicide drones in its attacks on targets in Thailand.

“The Ministry of National Defence of Cambodia would like to reject propaganda disseminated on the Thai 2nd Army Area Facebook page, which accused Cambodia of using foreigners to help launch FPV [first person view] drones in the Cambodian-Thai border conflict,” the ministry said.

Separately, the ministry also rejected accusations from Thai media outlets alleging that it was preparing to launch Chinese-made PHL-03 missiles in the border dispute.

The PHL-03 is a truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher that can fire guided and unguided rockets with a range of 70km to 130km (43.5 miles to 81 miles), according to a US military database, while Cambodia’s BM-21 Soviet-designed multi-rocket launchers have a range of just 15km to 40km (9.3 miles to 25 miles).

“Cambodia demands the Thai side to deliberately stop spreading false news in order to divert attention to its violations of international law by painting Cambodia as a pretext to use more violent weapons on Cambodia,” the Defence Ministry said.

The Southeast Asian neighbours accuse one another of reigniting the conflict that centres around a centuries-old border dispute along their 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier, where both sides claim ownership over a smattering of historic temples.

The continued fighting involving artillery, fighter jets, tanks and drones comes as Thailand’s caretaker Prime Minister Anutin confirmed he was scheduled to speak with President Trump at 21:20 local time (14:20 GMT) on Friday.

Trump promised on Wednesday to reach out to the leaders of both countries, saying he thinks he “can get them to stop fighting”.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump had yet to call the Thai and Cambodian leadership, but added that “the administration is obviously tracking this at the highest levels and is very much engaged”.

Thailand’s top diplomat Sihasak Phuangketkeow spoke with US counterpart Marco Rubio on Friday ahead of the planned call between Trump and Anutin, Thailand’s foreign ministry said.

Sihasak told Rubio that Thailand was committed to a peaceful resolution, but said sustainable peace must be backed up by actions and genuine commitment, the ministry said in a statement, adding that Rubio confirmed US readiness to constructively promote peace.

Anutin also said his decision to dissolve parliament on Thursday – earlier than expected – would not affect the management of the ongoing border conflict.

The move comes following a breakdown in relations between Anutin’s Thai Pride Party and the opposition People’s Party, the largest bloc in the Thai legislature.

Government spokesperson Siripong Angkasakulkiat said a legislative impasse had paralysed the government’s agenda, meaning Anutin’s party “can’t go forward in parliament”.

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed the dissolution, the country’s official Royal Gazette announced on Friday, making way for early elections.

The national polls must now be held within 45 to 60 days in Thailand.

In the large displacement camps of Gaza, rows upon rows of makeshift tents blanket debris, empty lots and what remains of flattened neighbourhoods. With Storm Byron descending upon the enclave, a sense of terror has seized a population already exhausted from two years of Israel’s genocidal war with its unrelenting bombardment, starvation and chaos.

For the 1.5 million Palestinians living under plastic sheets and tattered tarps, the storm means something more than just bad weather. It’s another danger piled on top of the current battle for survival.

For several days, meteorologists have warned that heavy rainfall and strong winds could hit the strip today, tomorrow and over the weekend, risking flash flooding and significant wind damage. What is certain, though, is that Gaza is not facing this storm with ready infrastructure, stocked shelters or functioning drainage systems.

It faces it with tents propped up with pieces of scrap metal, paths that become mud rivers after only one night of rain and families who have nothing left to protect.

Solidarity a survival strategy

In the camps of Gaza City, the scenes of vulnerability are everywhere. Most tents are constructed from aid tarpaulins, pieces of plastic salvaged from rubble and blankets tied to recycled wooden poles. Many sag visibly in the middle; others are erected inadequately, so much so that they quiver and flap violently under the slightest breeze.

“When the wind starts, we all hold the poles to keep the tent from falling,” said Hani Ziara, a father sheltering in western Gaza City after his home was destroyed months ago.

His tent was flooded last night in the heavy rain, and his children had to stay outside in the cold. Hani wonders painfully what else he can do to protect his children from the rain and strong winds.

In many camps, the ground was already soft from previous rainfall. Wet sand and mud stick to shoes, blankets and cooking pots as people shuffle through. Trenches dug by volunteers to divert water often collapse within hours. With nowhere else to go, families who live in low-lying areas are preparing for the worst: that floodwaters will be pushed directly into their tents.

Stocking up on food, storing clean water and securing shelter are the most basic steps when people prepare for a storm, but that is considered a luxury for the displaced of Gaza.

Most families receive scant water deliveries, going sometimes days without enough to cook or wash. Food supplies are equally strained, and while irregular aid distributions provide basics like rice or canned beans, the quantities seldom last more than a few days. Preparing for a storm by cooking ahead, gathering dry goods or storing fuel is simply not possible.

“We could not sleep last night. Our tent was flooded with rainwater. Everything we had was flushed out by water. We want to prepare, but how?” asked Mervit, a mother of five children displaced near the Gaza port. She added, “We barely have enough food for tonight. We can’t save what we don’t have.”

Despite poverty, solidarity has become Gaza’s strongest survival strategy. Neighbours, with whatever they have, help secure the tents. Young men go through the rubble and scavenge for metal and wood remains to serve as temporary posts. The women organise collective cooking so that hot meals can be distributed to families in need, particularly those with young children or elderly family members, whenever possible.

These unofficial networks become more active the closer a storm gets. Volunteers trudge from tent to tent, helping families raise sleeping areas off the ground, patch holes in canopies with plastic sheets, and dig drainage channels. Crowds try to move those who are in precarious, extremely exposed areas to other locations, sharing information about safer places.

‘We are exhausted’

Beyond physical danger, the psychological impact is deep. After months of displacement, loss and deprivation, another crisis – this time, not war, but forces of nature – feels overwhelming.

“Our tents were destroyed. We are exhausted,” said Wissam Naser. “We have no strength left. Every day there is a new fear: hunger, cold, disease, now the storm.”

Many residents describe the feeling of being sandwiched between the sky and the ground, exposed on both ends and unable to protect their families from either.

As clouds mass along Gaza’s shore, families prepare to take a hit. Some weigh down tent walls against the wind with rocks and sandbags. Others push children’s blankets to the driest corner, hoping a roof will last. Most don’t have a plan. They just wait.

The storm will not be another single-night affair for the displaced in Gaza. It would be a further reminder of how fragile life has become, how survival depends not on preparedness but rather on endurance.

They wait because they have no alternative. They prepare with what little they have. They pray that this time, the winds will be merciful.

IN one of my encounters with Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, he cast his mind back to his first dealings with the “crazy diamond”.

This would have been late 1964, early ’65, when the band still called themselves The Tea Set because they rehearsed in a basement tearoom at Regent Street Polytechnic in London.

The drummer recalled with great affection the addition to their ranks of Syd Barrett with his mop of dark curls and pop star good looks.

Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright had found themselves not just a singer and a guitarist but a charismatic frontman, all set to “shine on”.

“Syd was the most delightful man, absolutely charming,” Mason told me. “He wrote wonderful, whimsical, pastoral English music.”

Barrett, a childhood friend of Waters in Cambridge, came up with Floyd’s first single, the eyebrow-raising Arnold Layne, about a pervert whose hobby was stealing women’s underwear from washing lines.

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He composed the top ten follow-up, See Emily Play, a classic slice of Sixties psychedelia, and most of the debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

But then, fuelled by psychoactive drugs, most notably LSD, Barrett’s world fell apart.

Before the second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, was even completed, the troubled star had no choice but to leave and guitarist David Gilmour was already in place.

“It’s still not entirely clear what happened with Syd,” Mason continued. “There is a belief that maybe he didn’t want to be a pop star. You have to know that, in 1967, the rest of us DID want to be on Top Of The Pops.

“Maybe Syd realised it wasn’t what he wanted, but didn’t know how to get out of it.”

As students of Pink Floyd know, the band crossed paths with Barrett several years later in haunting, uncomfortable circumstances.

On June 5, 1975, a shambling figure — shaven-headed, overweight, largely incoherent and clutching a plastic shopping bag — pitched up at EMI Studios (Abbey Road), stomping ground not just of The Beatles but also Floyd.

Years later, keyboard player Wright described the scene: “I remember going in and Roger was already in the studio working.

“I came in and sat next to Roger. After ten minutes, Roger said to me, ‘Do you know who that guy is?’

“I said: ‘I have no idea. I assumed it was a friend of yours.’ Suddenly I realised it was Syd!”

Art director Storm Thorgerson, responsible with Aubrey “Po” Powell for the band’s iconic album covers, also witnessed the scene.

“Two or three people cried,” he said. “Syd sat around and talked for a bit, but he wasn’t really there.”

On that very day, the band were mixing their nine-part, 26-minute homage to Barrett, Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

To many, it ranks as the band’s greatest single composition, matching Gilmour’s elegant, fluid guitar, Wright’s serene keyboards and Mason’s perfectly weighted drumming to some of Waters’ most touching lyrics.

“You were caught in the crossfire of childhood and stardom. Blown on the steel breeze.”

The song would be split into two sections, Parts 1-5 and Parts 6-9, to bookend Wish You Were Here, the follow-up to a cultural phenomenon, The Dark Side Of The Moon.

Now, to mark its 50th anniversary, the album is appearing in expanded formats, adding alternate takes to the original release.

Poet Laureate and Floyd superfan Simon Armitage has written a stream-of-consciousness love letter to the band and, in particular, Wish You Were Here.

I’m very sad about Syd. I wasn’t for years. For years, I suppose he was a threat because of all that was written about him and us

Roger Waters

It has no capital letters or punctuation, but these lines give you the drift: “it’s the forty four minute five second guide to eternity — it’s infinity measured in five songs.”

And for the first time, Shine On You Crazy Diamond is also presented as one continuous piece thanks to a new remix by James Guthrie.

It stands as an emotional remembrance of Barrett, who died a recluse in 2006, aged 60, at his home in Cambridge.

Poignantly, as the track fades to nothing, you hear strains of the See Emily Play keyboard melody.

Waters once reflected: “I’m very sad about Syd. I wasn’t for years. For years, I suppose he was a threat because of all that was written about him and us.

“Of course, he was very important and the band would never have started without him but, on the other hand, it couldn’t go on with him.”

As for Shine On, he added: “It is not really about Syd. He’s just a symbol for the extremes of absence some people have to indulge in because the only way they can cope with how sad it is — modern life — is to withdraw completely.”

On the song’s scale in musical terms, Mason likened it to another lengthy set piece, Echoes, from 1971’s Meddle album. “Echoes,” he said, “was Shine On’s grandfather.”

Now let’s rewind to 1974 when Pink Floyd set about devising an album in the wake of the juggernaut that The Dark Side Of The Moon had already become.

Their initial attempt, using everyday objects as instruments, was not very encouraging, to say the least.

When I reminded Mason of it, he replied: “Some things I’ve been trying to obliterate from my brain — and I’m afraid you just brought that one up!

“The problem was that we ended up spending an awful lot of time grinding away, developing the sounds.

“We hadn’t even got any real music. Things like plucking rubber bands slowed down to quarter-speed.”

He added: “It was a fantastically fruitless exercise, really a way of putting off the ghastly business of what the hell were we going to do next.”

So, did the whole band buy into the daft idea? I ventured.

“We did,” Mason sighed. “If only two people at least had had the gumption to go, ‘F*** this! Let’s work on a record’.”

One of the extra Wish You Were Here tracks, Wine Glasses, offers listeners a taste of the project that became known as Household Objects.

And, as Mason reported, “The wine glasses did make it on to the beginning of Shine On.” (Listen carefully and you’ll hear the tinkling sound.)

So what about the three tracks, further exploring themes of absence and alienation, which were sandwiched between Shine On’s lengthy sections?

Synthesiser-heavy Welcome To The Machine was a product of Floyd’s infatuation with latest technology, and the others came with fascinating back stories.

If Barrett had been a surprise visitor to the Abbey Road sessions, so were two virtuoso violinists just as Floyd were recording the album’s title track, Wish You Were Here.

Mason picked up the story: “If someone was down the hall recording at Abbey Road, it was OK to pop in and say, ‘Hello’.

“Suddenly the door opened and Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli were standing there, going, ‘Hello boys’.”

Menuhin, an American-born Brit, was widely regarded as one of the greatest 20th Century classical violinists. Grappelli, a French jazz violinist, was noted for an intuitive, more improvisational approach.

Mason added with English understatement: “By ’75, we were reasonably well known and Grappelli being French would have heard about us because we always had a standing in France.

“I think we invited them both to play with us. Menuhin wanted to but wasn’t comfortable improvising, whereas Grappelli could do it like stepping off a log.”

So the Frenchman went up to one of Pink Floyd’s mics and added gorgeous violin flourishes to a take of the acoustic guitar-led Wish You Were Here.

Ultimately, his contribution didn’t make the finished album, but it can be heard on the expanded editions.

Mason said: “I’m really astonished by it. We thought it had been recorded over, that we’d lost it for ever. I don’t know why we didn’t use it — it would have enhanced the record, but maybe it sounded too folky.

“Or maybe, in a pre-Euro world, we thought, ‘It’s a bloody Frenchman and he shouldn’t have anything to do with it!’”

Grappelli was paid £300 (a princely sum in those days), but went to his death in 1997 oblivious to this unlikely footnote to the Wish You Were Here story.

People did say to us: ‘Which one’s Pink?’ They thought Pink Floyd was the lead singer!

David Gilmour

Another outsider at the sessions — Floyd’s friend, folk-rock troubadour Roy Harper — felt “hard done by” when it came to payment for his lead vocals on Have A Cigar.

After numerous failed attempts by Waters to nail his withering put-down of music industry executives “on the gravy train”, he turned to a singer who loaded his delivery with the perfect sneering tone.

“Roy was recording in the studio anyway,” remembered Waters, “and was in and out all the time. I can’t remember who suggested it, maybe I did, probably hoping everybody would go, ‘Oh no Rog, you do it’, but they didn’t!

“They all went, ‘Oh yeah that’s a good idea’. And he did it and everybody went, ‘Oh, terrific!’ So that was that.”

We know how single-minded Waters can be and he still gave it one final go — but to no avail.

Tape engineer John Leckie recalled Waters saying to Harper that they should reward him for his efforts.

“And Roy said: ‘Just get me a season ticket for life at Lord’s.’ He kept prompting Roger, but it never came.”

Many years later in 2013, when Harper released his comeback album Man & Myth, I met him for coffee near Lord’s, just before the avid cricket fan watched England play Australia for The Ashes.

Best known for When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease, he bemoaned his lack of payment for Have A Cigar but talked about his close ties to three of Britain’s biggest rock bands.

“I was an interloper really,” he said. “I was the one who didn’t have a band. I drifted between Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Who basically.

“At the time, they were big and here was this strange interloper moving between all three.

“One thing I never did, for which I deserve credit, was to transfer what one said about the other. Keep it discreet!”

On the recording Have A Cigar, he said: “I listened to the song at home for a night. I came back the following day and didn’t quite nail it. But then, on the day after that, I did — and they had a song.”

The track’s most memorable line is, “Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?”

Gilmour once admitted: “People did say to us: ‘Which one’s Pink?’ They thought Pink Floyd was the lead singer!”

As you may have gathered, Wish You Were Here comes with a rich history and timeless, captivating music.

Emerging as it did from the mighty shadow cast by The Dark Side Of The Moon, it still shines on 50 years later.

PINK FLOYD
Wish You Were Here
50th Anniversary

★★★★☆

Dec. 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday night that limits states’ ability to regulate artificial intelligence companies.

The order is designed “to sustain and enhance the United States’ global AI dominance through a minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI,” according to a release on the White House website.

“To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation,” the order says. “But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative.”

Trump has been a strong proponent of U.S. leadership in AI development, and said at the executive order signing ceremony Thursday night that AI companies “want to be in the United States, and they want to do it here, and we have big investment coming. But if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it.”

The order instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to establish an “AI Litigation Task Force” within 30 days whose “sole responsibility shall be to challenge State AI laws” that don’t align with the Trump administration’s minimal approach to regulation.

It could also revise existing state laws, and directs Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to identify state laws that “require AI models to alter their truthful outputs,” which aligns with Trump’s efforts to prevent what he describes as “woke AI.”

Trump has also used federal funding as an incentive to encourage states with such laws not to enforce them. Under terms of the executive order, federal AI law would preempt state regulations. State AI laws designed to protect children would not be affected.

The executive order comes after congress voted in July and November against creating a similar policy.

Critics of the plan created by the executive order call it an attempt to block meaningful regulation on AI and say congress is not equipped to replace state-specific laws with a single, nationwide standard.

Tech companies have been supportive of efforts to limit the power of states to regulate AI. The executive order marks a victory for tech companies like Google and OpenAI, which have launched campaigns through a super PAC, and have as much as $100 million to spend in an effort to shape the outcome of next year’s midterm elections.

The order is also seen as a move to thwart Democrat-led states such as California and New York from exerting state laws over AI development

A British backpacker who struck and killed a man while riding an e-scooter drunk has been jailed for four years in Australia.

Alicia Kemp, 25 – from Redditch, Worcestershire – was driving at speeds of 20 to 25km/h (12 to 15mph) when she hit 51-year-old Thanh Phan from behind on a Perth sidewalk in May.

She had been drinking with a friend all afternoon, the court heard, and had an alcohol level more than three times the legal limit.

Phan, a father-of-two, hit his head on the pavement and died in hospital from a brain bleed two days later.

A friend of Kemp, who was a passenger on the scooter, was also hurt in the crash – sustaining a fractured skull and broken nose – but her injuries were not life-threatening.

Kemp, who was in Australia on a working holiday visa, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in the Perth Magistrates Court in August.

Her sentence will be backdated to 1 June, and she’ll be eligible for parole after serving two years of her sentence. Her driver’s licence was also disqualified for two years.

For all those in search of pop star-infused festive cheer, Mariah Carey’s Holiday Bar opened earlier this month at the Mondrian Hotel’s Skybar.

The pop-up’s Los Angeles debut is steeped with the signature seasonal touch from the Queen of Christmas — neon signs of her lyrics light up the room, massive portraits of the star fill the space and every single song that plays — holiday-themed or not — is from Carey’s discography. (Disclaimer: “All I Want For Christmas Is You” does play every 30 minutes.)

“For as long as I’ve known Christmas, Mariah has always been there. It signals to me that childlike wonder and excitement of Christmas time that kind of harkens back to when I was a kid,” said Cathy Kwon, who was posing for a photo on the decorative sleigh. “The fact that the song itself [‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’] has stayed this popular for this long is remarkable.”

Ever since releasing her holiday album, “Merry Christmas,” in 1994, Carey has established herself as a permanent fixture in the holiday season. Every year, the 56-year-old singer has gift-wrapped a new festivity for her fans.

Last year, she embarked on Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time tour to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary and this year, she’s doing a Vegas residency called “Christmastime in Las Vegas.” She’s also previously hosted several holiday specials for Apple TV and CBS. And nearly every year, her modern holiday classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” climbs to the top of the charts.

Mariah Carey’s Holiday Bar will be open until Dec. 28.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

For her holiday bars, she partnered with the event company Bucket Listers to open four locations across the country, in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami and Las Vegas. The WeHo bar is complete with endless photo ops, including life-size cutouts and large-scale holiday-themed portraiture of the “Obsessed” singer, as well as cocktails featuring her own liqueur company, Black Irish. The bar’s pool is filled with candy cane floaties, twinkling Christmas trees decadently line every walkway and bursts of soapy snow fly through the air (occasionally landing in a cocktail or two).

Bucket Listers founder Andy Lederman says the demand for this experience has “surpassed every expectation” that the company had.

“She’s the queen of Christmas. Outside of Santa Claus and the Grinch, I don’t know if there’s anything more iconic,” Lederman said. “There’s really nothing like her during this time of year. It gives you such a great feeling to be able to celebrate her and to be a part of her wonderland with the people you love.”

Though Carey has since built out her holiday world far beyond its original soundtrack, many of the bar’s patrons came to indulge in the nostalgia provided by the 1994 holiday album. The record is a 10-track collection of reworked classic holiday covers and a handful of originals, offering a diverse selection of love songs, traditional festive tunes and modernized religious hymns.

Shannon Armah was sitting in the bar, catching up with a group of friends. The Miracle Mile resident grew up with the Mariah Carey Christmas album on repeat and describes early memories of listening to its songs in a car seat. To her, it’s the perfect balance of “fun and playful music” and music that is rooted in the religious “reason for the season.”

“We went to a Baptist church growing up, so hearing the gospel influence in the album is reminiscent of our usual Sunday experience,” Armah said. “It was very relatable. It also taps into the ‘90s nostalgia and brings back that feeling of simpler times.”

Maria Castillo takes a picture of Amanda Rico at the pop-up Mariah Carey Holiday Bar at the Mondrian Hotel.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Beyond being played in almost every festive setting, the eternally cheery earworm has tied for yet another record this year. Despite its release 31 years ago, the single currently sits at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It is now tied with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus for most weeks on top. The track is also Carey’s 19th No. 1 on the Hot 100, the most for any solo artist.

Anthony Escalante, a real estate agent and manager of a luxury retail store, came to the Christmas bar dressed in his holiday best — a well-fitted, all-white vest and matching pants. He says he admires Carey’s holiday music for its ability to tell a story beyond the typical seasonal festivities.

“She’s the pioneer of reinventing modern Christmas songs,” said Escalante. “She speaks beyond a generic Christmas. [‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’] is about experiencing a holiday without the love of your life. She sets a tone for something that is more than just another Christmas song.”

People attend the pop-up Mariah Carey Holiday Bar at the Mondrian Hotel.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

The track’s ability to amass popularity year after year is what makes it one of the few contemporary holiday classics. Decked out in their Carey holiday apparel, Sara Rushton and Benji Flowers credit the singer as being one of the few pop stars to successfully put a modern twist on Christmas.

“Growing up, everything Christmas was old-fashioned. Christmas movies were really old, and there wasn’t really a new version of Christmas for millennials, or postmillennials,” said Rushton, who received her first Carey record in her stocking as kid. “But Mariah was someone who celebrates Christmas in a different festive way.”

Flowers, who works as a yoga instructor, looks to the pop star as one of the last exciting elements of the season. He proposes that the Mariah Carey bars should stay open all year, as Carey’s discography can lend itself to more than just the holiday season.

“I do think that it could be like a year-round thing, and they could have seasonal changes to it. She has a song for every moment in life. She’s got slow romantic songs and heartbreak. She’s got hip-hop and old disco. I mean, I can go on and on,” Flowers said. “It’s not a bad idea. At night, it could be all about the EDM remixes of her songs.”

Mariah Carey’s Holiday Bar will be open until Dec. 28.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

A tsunami warning has been issued following a strong quake off northeast coast of Japan.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 has hit Japan’s northeastern region, prompting a tsunami advisory from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The earthquake struck on Friday off the coast of Aomori Prefecture at 11:44am local time (02:44 GMT) at a depth of 20km (12.4 miles), according to the JMA.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) also said that the quake measured 6.7.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no immediate signs of abnormalities at the region’s nuclear facilities.

National broadcaster NHK said that the level of shaking from the quake was less than a bigger magnitude 7.5 earthquake that hit in the same region on Monday and tore apart roads, smashed windows and triggered tsunami waves of up to 70 centimetres (2.3ft).

Following Monday’s quake, which injured at least 50 people, the JMA issued a rare special advisory warning to residents across a wide area, from Hokkaido in the north to Chiba, east of Tokyo, to be on alert for an increased possibility of a powerful earthquake hitting again within a week.

The northeast region is haunted by the memory of a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that left about 18,500 people dead or missing.

The JMA issued its first special advisory in 2024 for the southern half of Japan’s Pacific coast warning of a possible “megaquake” along the Nankai Trough.

The government has said that a quake in the Nankai Trough and subsequent tsunami could kill as many as 298,000 people and cause up to $2 trillion in damages.

Amid fears of a “megaquake”, NHK reported on Thursday that people in the northeast of Japan were stocking up on disaster-related goods such as torches, water storage tanks and support poles to prevent furniture toppling over due to tremors.

One shop in Hokkaido’s Hakodate City reported sales of bottled water and disaster kits tripling following Monday’s quake.

“We decided to prepare, so I bought disaster kits for everyone,” a male customer in his 30s told NHK while visiting a shop with his family.

Japan sits on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is one of the world’s most seismically active countries.

The Pentagon is continuing to rapidly add military capabilities to Operation Southern Spear, a mission that began as a counter-narcotics effort but is increasingly aimed at Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Images emerged online today of Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) aircraft having arrived in Puerto Rico. In addition, KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelers are now flying missions out of the Dominican Republic. We also found that KC-46 Pegasus tankers have been flying sorties out of the U.S. Virgin Islands for months, with a major ramp-up in activity in recent weeks. This is all on top of yesterday’s arrival of EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets in Puerto Rico and the news we broke today that USAF F-35As are being sent to the Caribbean, as well.

Clearly, the Pentagon is moving into a posture in the region that is much better equipped for tactical air combat operations over hostile territory than it was just days ago.

Despite all this movement, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday afternoon that U.S. President Donald Trump does not want to see a protracted conflict in Venezuela.

“A prolonged war is something the president is not interested in,” she said, adding that Trump wants to “see the end of illegal drugs trafficked into the United States.”

On Thursday, Reuters published photos showing HC-130J Combat King II combat search and rescue (CSAR) planes and HH-60W Jolly Green Giant II CSAR helicopters on the ramp at Roosevelt Roads, the former U.S. Navy facility in Puerto Rico. These aircraft are stationed at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, though the helicopters reportedly arrived from deployment to Kadena Air Base in Japan.

A Reuters image from today (11 Dec) shows 3x USAF HC-130Js from Moody AFB on the ramp at Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico.

Credit: Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters. pic.twitter.com/oAV7VEp9yn

— LatAmMilMovements (@LatAmMilMVMTs) December 11, 2025

The deployment of dedicated CSAR aircraft to the region is a sign that the Trump administration could be about to drastically increase its pressure on Maduro and go after the cartels inland with strikes. The aircraft are needed for rapid rescues of any aircrews that are lost during military operations, specifically over contested territory. While the Marine aviation force from USS Iwo Jima and its escorts are also capable of this mission, as are helicopters from the USS Gerald R. Ford, to varying degrees, the unique capabilities and the highly specialized crews the HC-130J and HH-60W bring to the table are prized. This is especially true now that USAF tactical airpower in the form of F-35As is about to arrive in-theater.

The Stratotankers arrived in the Dominican Republic sometime around Sunday or Monday, according to the @LatAmMilMovements X account, an open-source tracker who has been closely following these deployments. They are now taking up a good portion of an entire runway at the airport.

A Sentinel-2 pass from today (10 Dec) shows a total of six USAF KC-135s at Aeropuerto Internacional Las Américas (SDQ/MDSD) in the Dominican Republic.

From here, the tankers will continue to support E-3G and RC-135 missions in the Caribbean.

Work w/ @MikeRomeoAv. pic.twitter.com/tzJ8PNhqdD

— LatAmMilMovements (@LatAmMilMVMTs) December 10, 2025

Forward deploying the tankers reduces the amount of time needed to fly to the region and thus increases time on station and sortie rates. The presence of these jets in the Dominican Republic also represents a widening of the mission’s footprint, a U.S. official told us. The bulk of U.S. land-based operations are run out of Puerto Rico, and Roosevelt Roads in particular.

Noted parked up at Santo Domingo Airport ( SDQ ) in the Dominican Republic today, 6 Boeing KC135 refueling aircraft of the United States Air Force pic.twitter.com/U4bnLhhFIQ

— Michael Kelly (@Michaelkelly707) December 11, 2025

“This is an expansion of Southern Spear,” the U.S. official said of the Stratotanker presence in the Dominican Republic. “This is about capabilities and location. In case of any service support needed, you want to have that in a strategic area. The Dominican Republic is not too close, not too far and they have the capabilities to support a number of aircraft.”

The Dominican Republic presence, however, was not the first tankers operating forward in the region. They have been operating out of the U.S. Virgin Islands for months.

The KC-46s have been in the U.S. Virgin Islands since the middle of September, according to archived satellite imagery. This presence has grown steadily with now between five and six tankers being seen on the ramp there at any given time. The low-resolution satellite photo below was taken Dec. 9 and obtained by The War Zone via Planet Labs.

As the relatively sudden surge of assets to the Caribbean continues, the world waits to see what the Trump administration plans to do with all of it.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

It’s that horny time of year again!

As 2025 comes to a close, Pornhub has released its 12th annual Year in Review report.

Like previous years, the data was full of spicy revelations regarding the “ever-evolving desires, curiosities, and cultural obsessions shaping our world.”

2025 proved to be an incredible year for LGBTQIA+ diversity, with “lesbian” being the top category on the platform and terms like “lesbian scissoring and “lesbian MILF” seeing an increase in searches.

The “Trans” category also saw an influx in traffic, becoming the second most viewed category on the platform. Searches for “trans threesome” and “trans amateur” rose by 67% and 49% respectively.

Other LGBTQIA+-inclusive terms that became more popular in 2025 included “queer,” “bisexual,” and “femboys,” the latter of which made this year’s Top 10 Search Terms list.

While “Twink” was the number one most viewed gay category for another year, the top 5 featured a few changes, with “Big Dick” rising three spots to take second place, “Bareback” moving one spot to take third place, “Black” rising three spots to secure fourth place, and “Group” moving up one spot to land in fifth place.

The “Daddy” and “Straight Guys” categories remained in the top 10 but saw a slight decrease in viewership, dropping two and four spots, respectively.  

Tyler Wu, Malik Delgaty, Sandro Jenner, Rhyheim Shabazz, Jkab Ethan Dale, Legrand Wolf, Hunnypaint, Yummy Prince, Dante Colle and Mtwunk were the top 10 most viewed performers in the gay sector of Pornhub.

The top 10 most-viewed trans performers were: Emma Rose, Eva Maxim, Ariel Demure, SissyMilana, PuppygirlXO, Vicats, Daisy Taylor, DOTADASP, femboyhami, and Erica Cherry.

The United States held on to its title as the country leading the most traffic to Pornhub. At the same time, Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Canada followed close behind.

As for the country with the longest time spent per visit, Japan took the top spot at 11 minutes and 2 seconds. The Philippines, Canada, the United States and Australia were neck and neck, with all four countries clocking in at 10 minutes, separated by a few seconds.

When analysing age demographics, the report found that 18-24-year-olds accounted for the largest share of viewers at 29%, followed by 25-34-year-olds and 35-44-year-olds at 23% and 17%, respectively.

The data also provided insight into each generation’s unique tastes. For Gen Z, “Party,” “Feet,” “POV,” “Virtual Reality,” and “Vertical Video” were their top five viewed categories.

Millennials flocked to the “Fetish,” “Role Play,” “Squirt,” “Red Head,” and “Toys” categories, while Gen X enjoyed “Fisting,” “Bukkake,” “Blonde,” “Vintage,” and “Double Penetration” the most.  

Among the boomer generation (aged 55 and up), “Brunette,” “Babe,” “Casting,” “Mature,” and “Interracial” were the top five viewed categories.

Read the full Pornhub year in review here.

Dec. 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Thursday said he granted “a full Pardon” to election denier Tina Peters who was convicted for helping outsiders illegally breach voting machine security, though Colorado officials say he has no power to do so for state crimes.

Peters, a 70-year-old former Mesa County, Colo., clerk, is serving a nine-year prison sentence. She was convicted in August 2024 of attempting to influence a public servant and criminal impersonation for aiding an unauthorized person in copying voting-machine hard-drive data during a 2021 software update.

That data, including sensitive election-system information, was later leaked online by election-fraud conspiracy theorists who claimed it proved Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.

While maintaining the unfounded claim that the 2020 election was stolen, Trump has been a vocal supporter of the effort to secure Peters’ release, describing Peters as a pro-democracy activist.

“Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections,” Trump said Thursday evening in a post to his Truth Social account.

“Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”

Colorado state officials have been adamant amid Trump’s demands for Peters’ release that he does not have the authority to pardon her, as she was convicted on state charges.

“Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican District Attorney and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws, including criminal impersonation,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Thursday in response to Trump’s announcement.

“No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions,” Polis continued. “This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders.”

Trump has feuded with Polis, a Democrat, over Peters’ incarceration, calling the governor a “SLEAZEBAG” earlier this month on Truth Social for refusing “to allow an elderly woman, Tina Peters, who was unfairly convicted of what the Democrats do, cheating on Elections, out of jail!”

Trump’s declaration of Peters’ pardon came hours after her lawyer, Peter Ticktin, announced he had formally asked Trump to pardon his client, whom he called “a necessary witness in exposing election misconduct.”

“Tina Peters is rightfully in Colorado state prison,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said in a statement on X on Thursday.

“Trump’s corrupt and political attempts at a pardon won’t work here. Once again, if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”

Since returning to the White House, Trump has used his powers to issue pardons to many of those connected to the effort to overturn the 2020 election who were convicted on federal charges, including the more than 1,500 people who stormed Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

For the first time since the termination of the Cold War, a major military crisis is heating up in the Caribbean. Since early September 2025, United States aerial combat drones have been patrolling and targeting the suspected smuggler boats in the international waters of the Caribbean Sea. These strikes were initially portrayed as kinetic measures to choke off the drug trade through the Caribbean Sea. According to US officials, by 04 December, 22 strikes have been conducted and 87 narco-terrorists have been killed. However, it’s worthy to note that the majority of cocaine production is centered in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico and enters into the United States through an inland or Pacific route—not through the Caribbean Sea. Out of 22 strikes, only 10 have been conducted in the Pacific waters.

Washington’s political ambitions eventually became evident in October once it forward deployed a naval flotilla at the strike range to Venezuela. Currently, eight US Navy vessels are operating in the Caribbean Sea. The USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, with its vast combat aviation wing comprising F-35C Lightning IIs, F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, and a variety of support fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, is currently stationed in the US Virgin Islands. Other forward-deployed naval vessels include the MV Ocean Trader command vessel and the USS Iwo Jima amphibious assault ship with over 4,000 marines. These ships are supported by two Ticonderoga-class cruisers, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and the USS Newport News, a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine (SSN), each equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. The presence of this naval flotilla suggests that the USN has mustered enough capability to not only launch aerial and cruise missile strikes but also conduct amphibious operations at the Venezuelan coast. In parallel, Venezuelan airspace has been declared ‘closed’ by the Trump administration. Such assertive measures are not meant for anti-narcotic operations but perhaps for regime change either through coercive diplomacy or through direct military action. Whatever the case may be, it’s evident that for the first time in decades, the United States is apparently preparing for a direct military conflict in its own hemisphere.

Understanding how this crisis escalated requires looking back at the recent history of bilateral tensions. The fractures began to appear in US-Venezuela relations from 1999, when Hugo Chávez came to rule on a wave of anti-American populism and nationalized the country’s oil industry. Within three years, mutual relations collapsed so abruptly that first Washington imposed sanctions and then briefly removed Chávez from power through a CIA-backed coup. Chávez regained the rule in a matter of a few days. This move, however, further intensified anti-American sentiments in the Venezuelan public. Chávez made subversion of Washington a political identity; his successor Nicolás Maduro turned it into state doctrine. In 2019, Washington even declared Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader of Venezuela, as the country’s ‘legitimate president.’ Besides the open political signaling of the White House, the CIA also attempted another coup to topple the Maduro regime but again failed to achieve the requisite results.

Maduro successfully exploited continuous intervention by the United States to augment its political narrative at the public level and managed to earn a third consecutive term in 2025. However, the results of elections were regarded as dubious and were generally dismissed as fraudulent, further degrading relations with the West.

For Venezuela, oil has attracted more trouble than prosperity. The country has more than 300 billion barrels of proven oil reserves—more than Saudi Arabia (267 billion barrels)—yet it produces less than 10 percent of its 1990s highest productivity rate. The Venezuelan crude oil is ultra-heavy (8-12° API) and has very high sulfur content. Such dense oil is not only very challenging to refine—both economically and technologically—but also very hard to transfer and cannot be pumped through pipelines without imported diluents. In a nutshell, despite possessing the largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela cannot refine and export its black gold without significant foreign assistance. The current oil infrastructure, developed during the Cold War, is gradually crumbling. Pipelines are either blocked or leaking, and refineries are now operating below 15 percent capacity. Approximately 58 billion USD worth of investment is required to repair and revive the current infrastructure. Being a struggling economy, Venezuela simply does not have the financial capacity to do so. Meanwhile, the majority of technical expertise has been eroded due to brain drain. For example, PDVSA once employed more than 40,000 engineers but now has a total strength of only 12,000 with a large portion of untrained manpower. Currently, while Gulf nations are earning huge revenue from oil exports, Venezuela stands isolated as an oil superpower that cannot even power itself.

The aforementioned factors have imparted grave consequences on the Venezuelan economy. Its national GDP has shrunk from about 300 billion USD to a mere 110 billion USD approximately. More than half of the population is living in poverty, and unemployment has crippled public development. Roughly 28 percent of the total population is in need of humanitarian assistance. These financial woes have compelled common Venezuelan citizens to seek refuge outside the country. Currently, nearly 8 million locals have left the country and are living as refugees in neighboring countries, including Columbia, Peru, Brazil, and even the United States.

To survive internal implosion, Caracas has sought external assistance from Washington’s strategic competitors, including Russia, China, and even Iran. Both Russia and Venezuela are signatories of the 10-year Strategic Partnership Treaty, which was ratified in Oct-Nov 2025 with the overarching objective of combating unilateral coercive measures. Russia has provided military assistance and technical support for the training of troops and maintenance of military equipment, which is predominantly of Soviet origin. China has repeatedly provided diplomatic support and financial loans to support Venezuela’s energy infrastructure. Both Russia and China have vetoed resolutions at the UN Security Council for imposing stringent sanctions against Venezuela. With Iran, Venezuela also shares a strong relation, which was formalized by a 20-year agreement in 2022. Their domains of cooperation include trade, repairing of energy infrastructure, modernization of the defense force, and technology sharing for refinement of crude oil. For the United States, these collaborations are meant to develop a foothold in Latin America by Russia, China, and Iran—something Washington considers intolerable.

When the Trump administration returned in 2025, within weeks, it scrapped Chevron’s license, eliminating Venezuela’s last stable revenue stream. The most significant escalation came on July 25, 2025, when the US Treasury designated Venezuela’s military leadership—the Cartel de los Soles—as a global terrorist organization. No foreign military in American history had ever received such a label. Simultaneously, the reward for the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro has been doubled to 50 million USD by the Trump administration on federal charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. And now, with a fully equipped US naval strike force sailing in the Caribbean Sea, the situation is getting increasingly volatile. The Venezuelan military simply does not possess the capability to defend against such a strike force.

If hostilities break out, then instead of placing boots on the ground, the United States is likely to conduct targeted strikes at key assets, impose and sustain a naval blockade, and eventually undermine the Venezuelan military’s and nation’s loyalty to Maduro through coercive diplomacy. The current crisis illustrates that although the Trump administration claims to have taken numerous initiatives to end conflicts and promote trade & collaboration in the Eastern Hemisphere, it will show little to no tolerance for the growing influence of Moscow and Beijing in the Western Hemisphere. Under the Monroe Doctrine, the United States seeks to sustain its control in the Western Hemisphere, including Latin America. For Trump, an example can be crafted out of Venezuela to demonstrate the potential consequences of deepening collaboration with Moscow and Beijing in Washington’s backyard.

BBC Question Time host Fiona Bruce had some important news to share during tonight’s show – Fiona paused a debate surrounding the lifting of the two-child benefit cap to make the announcement

Question Time host Fiona Bruce made a huge announcement about the BBC show’s future during tonight’s episode.

Thursday evening’s panel consisted of Stephen Flynn, Anas Sarwar, Russell Findlay, Angela Haggerty and Lord Malcolm Offord, who has defected to Reform. The current affairs debate was coming from Paisley in Scotland.

After discussing the two child benefit cap Fiona said: “It’s been quite hard work this programme really to get a word in edgeways with you guys but we’re going to try aren’t we.” She then shared some important news about the programme’s future.

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She said: “Before we get to the next question, we want to say this is our last show of 2025. We’re back on January 22 in Macclesfield. So if you live in or around Macclesfield and you would like to come and be part of the audience, apply (on) our website, and hopefully we will see you there on the 22nd of January.”

After the brief announcement the panel continued answering questions from audience members. James Sinclair put a question to the panel about the percentage of children in schools who don’t speak English as a first language.

When does the show take breaks throughout the year and why?

This break is just one of the usual breaks which the show takes as they work around Parliament’s schedule. Since the MPs will not be sitting over the festive season the show takes the opportunity to go off air.

They also break for a couple of weeks at Easter, the dates vary depending on when the holiday falls. There is a further and longer break of around 6 weeks during Parliament’s summer recess.

BBC Question Time returns on January 22 in Macclesfield and then on January 29 in King’s Lynn.

These are the key developments from day 1,387 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Friday, December 12:

Fighting

• Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the Russian army after its forces reportedly took control of the town of Siversk in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military responded, saying it remained in control of the town.
• News agencies were unable to verify the battlefield claims around Siversk, a longstanding target in Russia’s drive to capture all of Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
• Moscow’s forces have also taken control of the village of Lyman in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, Russian state news agencies reported, citing the Ministry of Defence.
• Russia said Ukraine launched a major aerial attack with at least 287 drones downed over a number of regions inside the country, including Moscow. Russia’s Defence Ministry said at least 40 drones were shot down over the Moscow region, home to more than 22 million people.
• Ukrainian drones hit two chemical plants in Russia’s Novgorod and Smolensk regions, the commander of Kyiv’s drone forces said. Ukrainian drones also struck Russia’s Filanovsky oil platform in the Caspian Sea for the first time, halting production at the facility owned by Lukoil, according to a Ukraine Security Service official.
• Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on Britain to disclose what British soldier George Hooley, who was recently killed in Ukraine, was doing in the country.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused London of helping Kyiv carry out “acts of terrorism” on Russia, but provided no evidence for her assertion. Britain’s Ministry of Defence said Hooley died while observing Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability away from the front line with Russian forces.

Peace deal

• Ukraine has presented the United States with a revised 20-point framework to end its war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that the issue of ceding territory to Russia remains a major sticking point in negotiations.
• Zelenskyy said, as a compromise, the US is offering to create a “free economic zone” in Ukraine-controlled parts of the eastern Donbas, which Russia has demanded Ukraine cede.
• “They see it as Ukrainian troops withdrawing from the Donetsk region, and the compromise is supposedly that Russian troops will not enter this part of Donetsk region. They do not know who will govern this territory,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russia is referring to it as a “demilitarised zone”.
• Zelenskyy also said that Ukrainians should vote on any territorial concessions in a referendum and that he had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine in a video call with top US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff.

• Speaking at a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” – a group of 34 nations led by Britain and France that have pledged support for Ukraine against Russian aggression – Zelenskyy said that holding elections in Ukraine during wartime would require a ceasefire.
• US President Donald Trump said the US will send a representative to participate in talks in Europe on Ukraine this weekend if there is a good chance of making progress on a ceasefire deal.
• “We’ll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there’s a good chance. And we don’t want to waste a lot of time if we think it’s negative,” Trump said.
• Earlier, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump had grown weary of multiple meetings that never reached an agreement on ending the war in Ukraine.

Regional security

• NATO chief Mark Rutte urged allies to step up defence efforts to prevent a war waged in Europe by Russia, which could be “on the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured”.
• In a speech in Berlin, Rutte said too many allies of the military alliance did not feel the urgency of Russia’s threat in Europe and that they must rapidly increase defence spending and production to prevent war.

Sanctions

• Russian and Belarusian youth athletes should compete in international events without access restrictions, the International Olympic Committee said, marking a first step in easing sanctions imposed following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

• European Union governments have started a process to freeze Russian central bank assets immobilised in Europe for the long term to avoid votes every six months on rolling over the freeze, a move that would pave the way to use the money to provide a loan to Ukraine.
• Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Vincent Van Peteghem said Russian frozen assets will have to be used for Ukraine at some point, adding that Brussels “would not take any reckless compromises” before it agreed to any deal on the issue.
• Brussels has opposed an unprecedented plan to use Russian funds frozen in the EU – primarily in Belgian banking institutions – to fund a loan to Ukraine, saying it places the country at outsized risk of future legal action from Moscow.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry reiterated that the EU’s “manipulations” with Moscow’s frozen assets would not go unanswered.
• Germany’s top fiscal court has ruled that authorities cannot, for now, sell or use an oil tanker and its cargo seized off the Baltic Sea coast, siding with the vessel’s owners in two separate cases.
• The Panama-flagged Eventin was found drifting off Germany’s coast in January after departing Russia with about 100,000 metric tonnes of oil worth about 40 million euros ($47m). German authorities suspect the vessel is part of a “shadow fleet” used by Russia to skirt EU sanctions

Economy

• Russia’s revenues from exports of crude oil and refined products fell again in November, the International Energy Agency said, touching their lowest level since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The midwestern state of Indiana has dealt a setback to United States President Donald Trump’s redistricting push ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm elections, voting down legislation to redraw its congressional map.

Late on Thursday afternoon, Indiana’s state Senate voted 31 to 19 to reject the proposed congressional districts, despite a strong Republican majority in the chamber.

Of the state Senate’s 50 seats, 39 are held by Republicans, and the state has voted consistently Republican in every presidential race since 1968, save for a single flip for Democrat Barack Obama in 2008.

The vote is likely to reinforce the sentiment that the Republican Party is fracturing under Trump’s leadership, as his poll numbers slump during the first year of his second term.

Trump was confronted with the results of the Indiana vote at an Oval Office signing ceremony shortly after it happened.

“Just a few moments ago, the Senate there rejected the congressional map to redistrict in that state,” one reporter said. “What’s your reaction?”

Trump responded by touting his successes in pushing other Republican-led states.

“ We won every other state. That’s the only state,” the president said, before referencing his three presidential bids. “It’s funny because I won Indiana all three times by a landslide, and I wasn’t working on it very hard.”

Trump then proceeded to denounce the Indiana Senate president, Rodric Bray, and threatened to support a primary challenge against the Indiana leader.

“He’ll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is. I hope he does,” Trump said.

“It’s, I think, in two years, but I’m sure he’ll go down. He’ll go down. I’ll certainly support anybody that wants to go against it.”

Fractures in the caucus

Currently, Indiana sends nine Congress members to the US House of Representatives, one for each of its nine districts. Two of those seats are currently occupied by Democrats.

Republican leaders in the state, however, had proposed a new map of congressional districts that sought to disempower Democratic voters in the state, clearing the way for conservative candidates to claim all nine seats in next year’s midterm races.

The proposed map was part of a nationwide effort by the Trump administration to defend Republican control in the US Congress.

Already, the partisan map had passed the lower chamber of Indiana’s legislature. On December 5, Indiana’s House of Representatives voted 57 to 41 to send the House Bill 1032 to the state Senate.

The bill had the backing of Indiana’s Republican Governor Mike Braun, who encouraged the state senators to emulate their colleagues in the lower chamber.

But even before the bill arrived in the state Senate, there were cracks in the Republican caucus. Twelve Republicans in the state House broke ranks to vote against the map.

And certain Republican state Senators likewise expressed reticence.

Some Republicans, like Indiana state Senator Greg Walker, had a history of opposing redistricting efforts. He was quoted in the Indiana Capital Chronicle as saying, “I cannot, myself, support the bill for which there must be a legal injunction in order for it to be found constitutional.”

Partisan redistricting has long been a controversial practice in US politics, with opponents calling the practice undemocratic and discriminatory.

Critics also pointed out that the Indiana proposal would force some voters in urban centres like Indianapolis to commute more than 200 kilometres for in-person voting.

Walker joined a total of 21 Republican state Senators, including Bray, in voting against the redistricting bill on Thursday.

A nationwide campaign

But the Trump administration had invested significant time and effort into swaying the vote.

In October, Vice President JD Vance travelled to the Hoosier State to try to convince wary Republicans. US House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly made personal phone calls to state leaders. And a day before the critical state Senate vote, Trump took to social media with a mixture of cajoling and pressure.

“I love the State of Indiana, and have won it, including Primaries, six times, all by MASSIVE Majorities,” Trump began in a winding, 414-word post.

“Importantly, it now has a chance to make a difference in Washington, D.C., in regard to the number of House seats we have that are necessary to hold the Majority against the Radical Left Democrats. Every other State has done Redistricting, willingly, openly, and easily.”

Currently, the US House of Representatives holds a narrow 220-member Republican majority, out of a total of 435 seats.

All of those seats, however, will be up for grabs in the 2026 midterm elections, and Democrats are hoping to flip the chamber to their control.

Starting in June, reports began to emerge that Trump was petitioning the state legislature in the right-wing stronghold of Texas to redistrict, in an effort to help conservative candidates sweep up five extra congressional seats.

Texas Republicans complied, and in August, the state legislature embraced a new redistricted map, overcoming a walkout from state Democrats.

Republicans in other states, including Missouri and North Carolina, have followed suit, passing new maps that seek to increase right-wing gains in the midterm races.

But Democrats have fired back. In November, California voters passed a referendum to suspend their independent districting commission and adopt a Democrat-leaning map created by state lawmakers.

Indiana, however, appeared poised to buck the redistricting trend. In Wednesday’s lengthy post, Trump warned that the state could put Republican power “at risk” if it failed to pass a new map.

He also called Bray and other Republican splinter votes “SUCKERS” for the Democrats.

“Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again,” Trump wrote.

“One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!”

In the wake of Thursday’s defeat, Trump and his allies doubled down on their threats to remove the 21 Republican state senators who voted against the bill from office.

“I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity,” Governor Braun wrote on social media, calling it a decision to “reject the leadership of President Trump”.

“Ultimately, decisions like this carry political consequences. I will be working with the President to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”