News Desk

Recently, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Karl Kendrick Chua said that the Philippines is standing at a “critical juncture” that could determine whether the country finally attains sustained high growth or once again falls into a cycle of lost opportunities.

Speaking during a Makati Business Club briefing, Chua, who now serves as a managing director at Ayala Corp., noted that depending on the policy crafted, the results have been varied. “You have years where the critical juncture led to economic recession or depression. There are years where it led to economic growth,” he added.

The current economic position of the Philippines is the effect of several critical junctures where policy choices either accelerated or derailed long-term development. For example, Chua noted that if the country had avoided the 1983 debt crisis and the 1997–2003 fiscal crisis, per capita income today could have matched or even exceeded Thailand’s. “These crises wiped out decades of growth,” Chua said.

To understand the magnitudes involved, it is instructive to go beyond these remarks. So, let’s take a closer look at these past losses and the more recent ones.

Debt, fiscal and corruption crises            

Starting in 1983, the debt crisis penalized the Philippine GDP for a decade.

Let’s assume that the economic trends that had prevailed prior to the crisis would have prevailed without a crisis. In this view, it was only after the early 1990s, that the Philippines GDP first got to level where it had first been 10 years before. In economic terms, the debt crisis was a lost decade.

Adding the cumulative losses, it cost the economy over $152 billion.

What about the fiscal crisis?

Starting in the mid-1990s, this crisis penalized the GDP until 2011. Again, let’s assume that the economic trend that had prevailed before the fiscal crisis would have prevailed without a crisis. In this view, it was only in the early 2010s that the Philippines GDP got to the level where it had first been almost two decades before.

Adding the cumulative losses, it cost the economy over $630 billion – over four times more than the prior crisis.

Although flood-control corruption is an old challenge, the present crisis associated with it – assuming the critics are right – moved to a new level after 2022. In that case, assuming the present trends prevail, it could penalize the GDP by more than $191 billion by 2028.

Notice that in the case of the debt and fiscal crises, we have historical economic data that allows us to test counterfactuals. Whereas in the case of the flood-control corruption, we are comparing economic performances in the Duterte years (2016-2022) and in the projected Marcos Jr. years (2022-28), in order to assess the economic value of missed opportunities.

The Costs of Three Crises. GDP, current prices; in billions of U.S. dollars. Source: IMF/WEO, author

Losses of almost $1 trillion in four decades        

In a current project, I am examining the economic development of most world economies from the 19^th century up to 2050. The kind of losses that the Philippines has suffered are typical to conflict-prone nations, but somewhat unique in countries that should benefit from peacetime conditions.

The lost opportunities and economic value associated with these crises indicate that in the past 45 years or so, the Philippine GDP has under-performed far more often than it has engaged in more optimal growth.

That translates to missed opportunities of massive magnitude, in light of the size of the economy. All things considered, these losses could amount to more than $970 billion.

Overcoming misguided and self-interested economic policies that serve the few at the expense of the many is vital in a nation, where poverty and food security is the nightmare of every second household.

Pressing need for development and smart diplomacy

According to public surveys, the national priority issues are topped by the need to control the rise in prices of basic goods and services (48%) and fighting corruption (31%). Other major concerns are also domestic featuring affordable food (31%), improving wages (27%), and reducing poverty (23%).

These are all pressing domestic, bread-and-butter issues. And yet, although foreign policy issues represent a fraction in popular national priorities, much of the country’s policy attention and resources have been allocated to precisely such priorities.

Of course, the country should insist on its national interest, but that interest should be defined by the needs of the many, not by the priorities of the few. And that should mean focus on inflation control, corruption, food security, rising wages and poverty reduction.

Most Southeast Asian nations have elevated their economic fortunes by accelerated economic development and smart regional diplomacy. There is no reason why the Philippines couldn’t or shouldn’t do the same.

Most Filipinos would certainly agree.

*Author’s note: The original version was published by The Manila Times on November 24, 2025

A 22-year-old influencer and Latin musician was killed in an ambush-style shooting in Northridge in the early hours of Saturday morning, authorities said.

Maria de la Rosa was fatally shot when multiple rounds were fired at several people sitting in a car parked on Bryant Street near Tampa Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Witnesses described seeing two men approach the vehicle around 1:25 a.m. Saturday, police said. De la Rosa was transported to a hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.

No further information was available on the suspects or whether the others inside the car were wounded.

De la Rosa released her first song, “No me llames” (“Don’t Call Me”) in August under the name DELAROSA. The most recent post on her Instagram account, which has more than 40,000 followers, shows her with an electric guitar in a recording studio and is captioned “Ocupada cocinando en el Stu,” meaning “Busy cooking in the Stu[dio],” alluding to the upcoming release of more music.

Many people left messages expressing grief for the loss of the young performer in the comments, including several figures in the Latin music community such as music producer Jimmy Humilde and Juan Moises, the lead singer of Los Gemelos de Sinaloa.

In a message in Spanish, music producer and engineer Times J Martinez wrote that she was a young and talented musician.

“Me duele que alla sido con violencia,” he wrote, or “It hurts that it happened with violence.”

The motive for De la Rosa’s shooting is unknown, and so far no arrests have been made, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Valley Bureau homicide detectives at (818) 374-9550. Anonymous tips can be left at (800) 222-8477 or at the Crime Stoppers website.

Heads of state from the world’s most powerful countries gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, over the weekend for a summit that had been billed, under South Africa’s G20 presidency, as a turning point for addressing debt distress across the Global South.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had consistently framed the issue as central to his agenda, arguing that spiralling repayment costs have left governments, particularly in Africa, with little room to fund essential services like healthcare and education.

But despite repeated pledges – including in the leaders’ summit declaration to “strengthen the implementation of the G20 Common Framework” – South Africa did not deliver any new proposals for easing fiscal constraints in indebted nations.

Hopes that world leaders would use the G20 summit to tackle sovereign debt distress were further dashed when United States President Donald Trump, at odds with South Africa over domestic policies, skipped the meeting altogether amid Washington’s retreat from multilateralism.

The summit also marked the close of a brief period of Global South leadership in the G20, following presidencies held by Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023, and Brazil in 2024. The US is set to assume the G20 presidency on December 1.

Debt ‘vulnerabilities’

The G20 – which consists of 19 advanced and emerging economies, the European Union and the African Union – represents 85 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and roughly two-thirds of the world’s population.

In October, G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs met in Washington and agreed to a consensus statement on debt.

“We recognise that a high level of debt is one of the obstacles to inclusive growth in many developing economies, which limits their ability to invest in infrastructure, disaster resilience, healthcare, education and other development needs,” the statement said.

It also pledged to “reaffirm our commitment to support efforts by low- and middle-income countries to address debt vulnerabilities in an effective, comprehensive and systematic manner”.

The communique committed to improving the much-criticised Common Framework, a mechanism launched by the G20 five years ago to accelerate and simplify debt restructuring – when countries have to reprofile debts they can no longer afford to repay.

Elsewhere, the statement advocated for greater transparency around debt reporting and more lending from regional development banks.

Record-high debt levels

According to the Institute of International Finance, a banking industry association, total debt in developing countries rose to a record high of $109 trillion by mid-2025.

In recent years, COVID-19, climate shocks and rising food prices have forced many poor countries to rely on debt to stabilise their economies, crowding out other investments. For instance, the United Nations recently calculated that more than 40 percent of African governments spend more on servicing debt than they do on healthcare.

Africa also faces high borrowing costs. In 2023, bond yields – the interest on government debt – averaged 6.8 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 9.8 percent in Africa.

Meanwhile, Africa collectively needs $143bn every year in climate finance to meet its Paris Agreement goals. In 2022, it received approximately $44bn.

At the same time, countries on the continent spent almost $90bn servicing external debt in 2024.

No progress

Shortly before the release of the G20’s final communique, 165 charities condemned the group’s slow progress on debt sustainability and urged President Ramaphosa to implement reforms before transferring the G20 presidency over to the US in December.

“While this year’s G20 has been put forward as an ‘African G20’, there is no evidence that any progress has been made on the debt crisis facing Africa and many other countries worldwide during the South African presidency,” the group said in a letter.

The missive called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to sell its gold reserves and set up a debt relief fund for distressed governments. It also backed the creation of a ‘borrowers club’ to facilitate cooperation among low-income countries.

The call for a unified debtor body reflects growing frustration with existing frameworks, notably the Paris Club, in which mostly Western governments, but not China, have exerted undue influence over the repayment policies of debtor nations.

In May 2020, the G20 launched a multibillion-dollar repayment pause to help poor countries cope with the COVID‑19 crisis. Known as the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, the programme is continuing to provide relief to some participating countries.

The launch of the Common Framework, soon afterwards, was designed to coordinate debt relief among all creditors. At the time, the initiative was hailed as a breakthrough, bringing together the Paris Club, China and private creditors to help prevent a full-blown debt crisis in developing countries.

But coordinating equal treatment, including government lenders, commercial banks, and bondholders, has made the process slow and prone to setbacks.

To date, none of the countries that joined the Common Framework – Ethiopia, Zambia, Ghana, and Chad – have completed their debt restructuring deals.

And even then, the programme has relieved just 7 percent of the debt costs for the four participating nations, according to ONE Campaign, an advocacy group.

‘Outmanoeuvred’

In March, South Africa convened an expert panel – headed by a former finance minister and a former Kenyan central banker – to explore how to assist heavily indebted low-income countries, particularly in Africa.

In a report released earlier this month, the panel echoed many of the ideas put forward by the 165 charities that wrote to Ramaphosa in October, calling for measures like an IMF-backed special debt fund and the formation of a debtors’ club.

But the experts’ proposals “weren’t even acknowledged at the leaders’ summit”, Kevin Gallagher, director of Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, told Al Jazeera. He said that the G20 presidency “failed to address the scale of the global debt problem”.

“Ultimately,” Gallagher added, “South Africa was outmanoeuvred by larger, more economically important members of the G20 who saw little benefit to themselves in reforming the international financial architecture on debt.”

‘Double whammy’ of debt

In the early 2000s, the IMF, World Bank and some Paris Club creditors cancelled more than $75bn of debt – roughly 40 percent of external obligations – under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

Since then, however, many developing countries have slipped back into the red. After the 2008 financial crisis, private creditors poured money into low-income economies, steadily replacing the cheaper loans once offered by institutions like the World Bank.

Between 2020 and 2025, almost 40 percent of external public debt repayments from lower-income countries went to commercial lenders. Just one-third went to multilateral institutions, according to Debt Justice, a United Kingdom-based charity.

China has also emerged as the world’s largest single creditor, especially in the Global South, committing more than $472bn through its policy banks – such as the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank – between 2008 and 2024.

“On top of debt becoming more expensive over the past 10 or 15 years, there is now a wider universe of lenders that developing countries have turned to,” says Iolanda Fresnillo, a policy and advocacy manager at Eurodad, a civil society organisation.

“It’s been a double whammy. Debt is now costlier and harder to resolve,” she said, noting the difficulty of coordinating creditors in a restructuring. Protracted debt crises slow growth by squeezing public investment.

Overcoming these hurdles is made harder when creditors pursue competing commercial interests. Fresnillo says an independent debt-restructuring body, designed to shorten negotiation times and limit economic costs, could help.

In September, the head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rebeca Grynspan, said, “There is no permanent institution or system that is there all the time dealing with debt restructuring … maybe we can create new momentum.”

However, talk of an international sovereign debt restructuring mechanism isn’t new. The IMF spearheaded a push for a neutral body – which would be akin to a US bankruptcy court – in the late 1990s.

The Fund’s proposed restructuring mechanism faced swift pushback. Major creditor countries, particularly the US, opposed ceding power to an international body that could override its legal system and weaken protections for US investors.

Still, “the need for this type of international solution is obvious”, says Fresnillo. “Having a basic set of rules, as opposed to an ad hoc negotiation for every new debt crisis, should be a bare minimum.”

She added that “adopting a global standard on taxing transnational corporations could also guarantee a baseline of revenues for low-income countries. But with multilateral cooperation so weak right now, I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

Israeli forces have killed at least four Palestinians and wounded several others across Gaza despite a six-week ceasefire, as a Palestinian armed group announced recovering the body of another captive in the war-torn territory.

The victims on Monday included a Palestinian man who was killed in a drone attack in the southern town of Bani Suheila, in an area controlled by Israeli forces beyond the so-called “yellow line”.

Separately, a Palestinian child was also killed in northern Gaza City when ordnances left behind by Israeli forces exploded, according to the territory’s civil defence.

The group said several more children were wounded, with some in critical condition.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Gaza City, said Israeli attacks also continued throughout the day, with artillery, air raids and helicopter strikes reported in both northern and southern parts of the enclave.

In Beit Lahiya, Israeli fire hit areas outside the yellow line. In the south, tanks and helicopters targeted territory northeast of Rafah and the outskirts of Khan Younis.

“There are extensive Israeli attacks beyond the yellow line that have led to the systematic destruction of Gaza’s eastern neighbourhoods,” Abu Azzoum said.

Testimonies gathered by families, he added, point to a “systematic attempt to destroy Gaza’s neighbourhoods and create buffer zones, making these areas completely uninhabitable, which complicates a return for families”.

In central Gaza, civil defence teams, operating with police and Red Cross support, recovered the bodies of eight members of a single family from the rubble of their home in the Maghazi camp, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported, which was struck in an earlier Israeli attack.

The Gaza Government Media Office said the number of bodies retrieved since the ceasefire began has now reached 582, while more than 9,500 Palestinians remain missing beneath the ruins of bombed-out districts.

Captive’s body recovered

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group allied with Hamas, meanwhile, announced it had recovered the body of an Israeli captive in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

If the body is identified, two more will have to be recovered under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel is supposed to return the bodies of 15 Palestinians in exchange for each captive’s body.

Hamas has previously said the widespread destruction has hampered efforts to locate the remaining bodies.

Also on Monday, the GHF, a US-backed entity that operated parallel to United Nations aid structures, announced the end of its activities in Gaza.

The organisation cited provisions in the October ceasefire as the reason for its withdrawal.

UN experts say at least 859 Palestinians were killed around GHF distribution points since May 2025, with Israeli forces and foreign contractors regularly opening fire on crowds desperately seeking food.

The scheme drew widespread condemnation for bypassing established humanitarian channels.

Israeli attacks on the West Bank

Across the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces stepped up raids overnight, arresting at least 16 Palestinians, according to Wafa. Arrests were reported in Iktaba near Tulkarem, in Tuqu southeast of Bethlehem, in Kobar near Ramallah, and in Silat al-Harithiya west of Jenin.

Israeli troops also detained residents in Tubas and the surrounding areas.

Violence escalated further on Sunday night when Israeli forces killed a 20-year-old law student, Baraa Khairi Ali Maali, in Deir Jarir, north of Ramallah.

Wafa reported that clashes erupted after Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes on the village’s outskirts. Fathi Hamdan, head of the local council, said troops entered the village to protect the settlers, then opened fire on Palestinians confronting them.

Maali suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and died shortly after arrival at hospital. His killing follows the fatal shooting of another young man by settlers in Deir Jarir last month.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers injured two Palestinian women and detained two brothers during a raid in Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya.

Settler attacks also continued. Fires were set on agricultural land between Atara and Birzeit, north of Ramallah, destroying farmland belonging to residents.

In a separate incident in Atara, settlers from a newly established outpost torched olive trees and stole farming equipment.

Israeli settler violence has surged over the past two years; since October 7, 2023, at least 1,081 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, including 223 children, with more than 10,614 wounded and more than 20,500 arrested.

Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon

In Lebanon, Hezbollah held a funeral for senior commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai, assassinated by Israel on Sunday.

Images from Beirut’s southern suburbs showed mourners carrying his coffin, wrapped in yellow and green, as Hezbollah flags lined the streets. The group has not yet announced how it will respond.

Mahmoud Qmati, vice president of Hezbollah’s Political Council, called the killing “yet another ceasefire violation”, accusing Israel of escalating the conflict “with the green light given by the United States”.

Security analyst Ali Rizk said Hezbollah is weighing its options carefully, warning that the group is unlikely to “give Netanyahu an excuse to launch an all-out war against Lebanon”, which he said could be more devastating than the current limited exchanges.

Geopolitical analyst Joe Macaron said the US is “no longer restraining Israel” and is instead supporting Israeli operations in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said that Hezbollah, in turn, faces a strategic dilemma: retaliation could risk a massive Israeli assault, yet inaction could erode its deterrence.

Imad Salamey of the Lebanese American University said any Hezbollah response could be met with a “severe” Israeli reaction.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he added that Israel’s right-wing government “is eager to escalate because escalation will serve that government staying in power”.

Salamey argued that Hezbollah’s deterrence capacity has been “severely damaged” and that the group “no longer has the support it used to have or the logistical routes it used to utilise via Syria”.

Emmerdale’s Celia Daniels star Jaye Griffiths may have just confirmed she will feature in the soap’s big crossover with Coronation Street next year, dubbed Corriedale

Another Emmerdale character may have been confirmed for the looming soap crossover with Coronation Street.

Weeks on from Danny Miller being confirmed to take part as his character Aaron Dingle, alongside Corrie’s Lisa Swain played by Vicky Myers, another star has declared “watch this space”. With no details yet confirmed about the big episode, it’s yet to be announced who exactly is involved and why.

But teasing what was ahead for villain Celia Daniels, actress Jaye Griffiths, who plays the character, hinted she would be involved. After recently confirming an exit would be on the way for her sinister character, she’s now teased she will pop up in Corriedale.

Asked about whether we may see her popping up in Weatherfield, Jaye dropped a massive hint that this could well happen. She shared: “Watch this space. She has fingers in many, many pies.”

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She also addressed whether a comeuppance was on the cards for Celia, who is currently running a drugs operation in the village with the help of her ‘son’ Ray Walters. Only recently we learned the pair were also exploiting people including Bear Wolf in a sickening modern slavery plot.

But Jaye hopes that Celia can get away before she gets caught out, as she hinted she could end up doing the same thing somewhere else, like she did before her move to the village. Wanting her to “escape and flee”, Jaye shared: “Her comeuppance is she’s lonely.

“She has a penthouse you never see because she’s never in it, she’s too busy. What is her life? What does she enjoy? She has all this money in the bank and yet she does nothing.

“She doesn’t have any friends and she manipulates everyone she meets and it’s quite a lonely existence.” Explaining how Celia gets away with what she’s done every time, she added: “She just moves on, sets up somewhere else.”

Jaye also confessed Celia would never throw Ray under the bus, while she doesn’t completely trust him. She explained: “He’d have to be so disloyal to her that she simply cannot envisage it. So it might theoretically happen, but no.”

Spoilers for next week confirm that Celia finally finds out Bear is related to Paddy Kirk. Jaye said: “It is mildly infuriating that yet again, Ray has mucked up. Locals have families, locals are known, locals are missed so we don’t touch them with a 10 foot disinfected bargepole.”

When April Windsor ends up telling her dad Marlon Dingle about her ordeal too, Celia is forced to take action. Jaye teased: “What that means is she will have to explain to them in no uncertain terms what their new reality is.

“April would have brought this on her own family, it’s April’s doing. Celia warned her what would happen and now it will happen. Celia doesn’t do threats, empty or otherwise. She just states realities and consequences, and the consequence of this is now I own your family. They should be very scared.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Nov. 24 (UPI) — A federal agency wants to exhume unknown servicemembers who died in the Pearl Harbor attack in Honolulu, Hawai, including on the battleship Arizona, 84 years ago.

The Defense Department’s Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency announced it “will seek exhumation of dozens of unknowns from the Pearl Harbor attack once an advocacy group is confirmed to have reached the required mark in its genealogy work,” Stars & Stripes reported last week. The agency has a searchable list of missing military personnel dating to World War II.

They want to remove 86 sets of commingled remains buried as unknowns from the Arizona in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and 55 sets of remains with no known ship affiliation, DPAA director Kelly McKeague told Stars & Stripes.

Since the surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941, the Arizona has been underwater as a gravesite for more than 900 entombed.

The Pearl Harbor National Memorial straddles the sunken battleship with an oil sheen. The names of all 1,177 casualties are engraved on a marble wall in the Shrine Room of the memorial.

The U.S. Navy considers the site a final resting place.

In all, 2,403 were killed at Pearl Harbor, including on the USS Oklahoma with 429 fatalities.

Of the ship’s dead, 277 of the sailors and marines are buried in Honolulu’s National Memorial of the Pacific with the 86 unknown remains.

The Pentagon requires a general threshold of family reference samples from 60% of the “potentially associated service members” before removal.

With the Arizona, that means 643 families. Once the threshold had been reached, final approval from the Defense Department can be sought.

The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory had DNA from 613 families and is awaiting additional test kits, DPAA director Kelly McKeague said.

Rear Adm. Darius Banaji, the agency’s deputy director, said in 2021 the Navy had no plans to exhume the remains and try to identify them because there is insufficient documentation, the Military Times reported.

It would cost approximately $2.7 million and take 10 years to track down enough families.

In 2023, Virginia-based real estate agent Kevin Kline formed Operation 85 with a “mission to identify 85 or more crew members removed from the ship in 1942, or found near the U.S.S. Arizona after the attack, never identified, and left buried in commingled graves ten miles away from Pearl Harbor, marked only as “UNKNOWN USS ARIZONA.”

His great-uncle, Robert Edwin Kline, a gunner’s mate second class petty officer, was among those killed on the Arizona, and his remains were never recovered or identified.

Kline brought in research analysts and a forensic genealogist to track down the appropriate family member DNA donors and worked with the Navy and Marine Corps casualty offices to send DNA kits to the families.

They have tracked down 1,415 family members from 672 families

“What DPAA is preparing to do now is exactly the mission we built the foundation for,” Kline said. “When the system said ‘no,’ families stepped forward and made ‘yes’ possible.”

James Silverstein is a California attorney and maternal grandnephew of Pearl Harbor casualty Petty Officer 2nd Class Harry Smith.

“So much hard work and dedication has gone into something that should have been so uncontroversial, yet has been so difficult to receive approval for,” he told Stars & Stripes. “It will be such a glorious homecoming and well-deserved sendoff when they are identified.”

White House cites groups’ alleged support for Hamas, accusing them of waging campaign against US interests and allies.

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has ordered his aides to start a process to label the branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as “terrorist” organisations, citing their alleged support for the Palestinian group Hamas.

Trump issued the decree on Monday as Washington intensified its crackdown on Israel’s foes in the region.

The decree accused Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Jordan of providing “material support” to Hamas and the Lebanese branch of the group – known as al-Jamaa al-Islamiya – of siding with Hamas and Hezbollah in their war with Israel.

It also claimed that an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader “called for violent attacks against United States partners and interests” during Israel’s war on Gaza. But it was not clear what the White House was referring to. The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt and mostly driven underground.

“President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilization campaigns against US interests and allies in the Middle East,” the White House said.

Trump’s order directs the secretary of state and the treasury secretary to consult with the US intelligence chief and produce a report on the designation within 30 days.

A formal “foreign terrorist organisation” label would then officially apply to the Muslim Brotherhood branches within 45 days after the report.

The process is usually a formality, and the designation may come sooner. The decree also opens the door to blacklisting other Muslim Brotherhood branches.

The White House is also pushing to label the groups as “designated global terrorists”.

The designations would make it illegal to provide material support to the group. It would also mostly ban their current and former members from entering the US, and enable economic sanctions to choke their revenue streams.

Longstanding demand of right-wing activists

Established in 1928 by Egyptian Muslim scholar Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood has offshoots and branches across the Middle East in the shape of political parties and social organisations.

Across the Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated parties take part in elections and say they are committed to peaceful political participation.

But the group has been outlawed by several countries across the region.

Blacklisting the Muslim Brotherhood has been a longstanding demand for right-wing activists in the US.

But critics say that the move could further enable authoritarianism and the crackdown on free political expression in the Middle East.

The decree could also be used to target Muslim American activists on allegations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or contributions to charities affiliated with the group.

Right-wing groups have long pushed to outlaw Muslim American groups with unfounded accusations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the designation should not have an impact on Muslim American advocacy groups and charities.

“The American Muslim organisations are solid,” Awad told Al Jazeera. “They are based in the US. The relief organisations serve millions of people abroad. I hope that this will not impact their work.”

But he noted that anti-Muslim activists have been trying to promote “the conspiracy theory that every Muslim organisation in the US is a front to the Muslim Brotherhood”.

Recently, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as “foreign terrorist organisations and transnational criminal organisations”.

CAIR has sued the governor’s office in response.

A HOTEL has unveiled the ultimate getaway for Jeremy Clarkson fans – a suite with the presenter’s face staring down at your bed.

The £90-a-night Clarkson Suite has been unveiled at Mexborough’s Empress Building – and is just one of a number of rooms devoted to local celebrities, including the Doncaster-born Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Clarkson’s Farm and Top Gear host.

There is also a Kevin Keegan room.

The black and white image also features cheeky quotes, entitled Clarkson’s Rules of Life, which read: “Always go faster than strictly necessary, never apologise for having fun and laugh loudly, drive hard and live even harder.”

A spokesperson for the hotel said: “The suite is in honour of Jeremy Clarkson, the outspoken motoring journalist, television presenter, and writer who redefined automotive entertainment with wit, irreverence, and undeniable charisma.

“Best known for his tenure on Top Gear and later The Grand Tour, Clarkson has taken audiences on wild, globe-trotting adventures, combining horsepower with humour.

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“Beyond cars, he’s made a mark in British broadcasting through his sharp commentary and, more recently, his unexpectedly heartfelt take on rural life in Clarkson’s Farm, earning him admiration from a new generation of viewers.

“The Clarkson Suite captures his bold spirit and unapologetic style in a spacious, characterful suite perfect for those who appreciate horsepower, hearty laughs, and a touch of countryside grit with their luxury.

“Relax in a luxurious super king-size bed, or opt for two comfortable single beds and rejuvenate in your private en-suite, featuring a spacious double rainfall shower with premium fittings.”

The room also includes a 60 inch digital TV, Wi-Fi, full-length mirror, wardrobe, office desk and dressing table, a mini bar and fridge, safe, iron and ironing board and a tea maker and coffee machine.

The room spec adds: “With modern comforts and solar-powered energy, The Clarkson Suite is an accelerated choice for a stylish stay.”

Housed within the town’s Empress Building, the apartments are designed to preserve the architectural beauty of a bygone era while incorporating modern comforts that discerning travellers expect, a spokesperson added.

“Each suite has been thoughtfully named after notable local figures, from actors to athletes, creating a meaningful connection to the town’s storied past.”

No casualties reported, but local resident of Afar region says impact of eruption ‘felt like a sudden bomb had been thrown’.

A long-dormant volcano in northern Ethiopia has erupted, sending plumes of ash across the Red Sea towards Yemen and Oman.

The Hayli Gubbi volcano in the Afar region of Ethiopia, located about 800 kilometres (500 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa, erupted for several hours on Sunday morning, leaving the nearby village of Afdera covered in ash.

There were no casualties from the eruption, which sent thick plumes of smoke up to 14km (nine miles) into the sky, sending ash clouds to Yemen, Oman, India, and northern Pakistan, according to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in France.

Ahmed Abdela, a resident of the Afar region, said it “felt like a sudden bomb had been thrown”. Many people who had been heading to the Danakil desert, a local tourist attraction, were left stranded in ash-covered Afdera on Monday, he said.

Mohammed Seid, a local administrator, said there were no casualties, but the eruption could have economic implications for the local community of livestock herders.

“While no human lives and livestock have been lost so far, many villages have been covered in ash, and as a result, their animals have little to eat,” he said.

The volcano, which rises about 500 metres in altitude, sits within the Rift Valley, a zone of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program said Hayli Gubbi has had no known eruptions during the current geological epoch, which experts know as the Holocene.

The Holocene began approximately 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age.

Afar authorities have not yet reported casualties.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s superb first-half goal seals 1-0 win for the visitors, who had 10 players for most of the game.

Everton enjoyed their first Premier League win at Manchester United for 12 years despite playing virtually the entire game with 10 men after midfielder Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping his own teammate Michael Keane.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s superb first-half goal on Monday sealed a 1-0 win for the visitors, who shrugged off the 13th-minute incident that had a furious Gueye dismissed after he and Keane squared up.

United came into the match at Old Trafford on the back of a five-game unbeaten run and could have moved up to fifth with a win.

They dominated possession, especially in the second half, but Everton defended superbly to repel the hosts who looked blunt in attack.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made several fine saves to preserve his side’s lead, the pick of them to claw away a Joshua Zirkzee header with 10 minutes remaining.

A second away win of the season lifted Everton above city rivals and champions Liverpool into 11th place, level on 18 points with United, who are above them on goal difference.

Everton suffered a big blow in just the 10th minute when they lost captain Seamus Coleman to injury.

But worse was to follow three minutes later with the scarcely believable bust-up between Gueye and Keane

The Premier League Match Centre posted on X: “The referee’s call of red card to Gueye for violent conduct was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action deemed to be a clear strike to the face of Keane.”

Gueye is the first Premier League player to be sent off for fighting with a teammate since 2008.

The home crowd anticipated waves of attack but United failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage, proving toothless against David Moyes’ battling team.

Instead it was 10-man Everton who found the net, taking the lead courtesy of a wonderful strike by Dewsbury-Hall in the 29th minute.

Dewsbury-Hall received the ball and surged towards goal, beating Bruno Fernandes and Leny Yoro before bending the ball into the top corner.

United huffed and puffed for the rest of the half, with Pickford clawing away a Fernandes shot from distance as the half-time approached.

Ruben Amorim, marking the first anniversary of his maiden game in charge of United, brought on Mason Mount for Noussair Mazraoui at half-time but his team created little, despite dominating possession.

Amorim threw on Kobbie Mainoo and Diogo Dalot for Casemiro and Yoro in the 58th minute but still United looked blunt.

Pickford kept out a powerful Zirkzee header with just over 10 minutes of normal time to go and Everton hung on for a famous win.

Speaking after the game, Dewsbury-Hall said it was a “rollercoaster” of a game.

“I’m so genuinely happy for the lads and how hard they worked. A fantastic performance of gritting away, getting a goal and keeping that spirit,” he said. “So glad we got the three points.”

He said Gueye apologised to the team at full-time for the incident with Keane.

“We move on from it. The reaction from us was unbelievable. Top tier,” Dewsbury-Hall said.

“We could have crumbled, but if anything, it made us grow.”

United defender Matthijs de Ligt said the result and performance was a “step back” for his side after a decent run.

“I think the game says enough; against 10 men for 70 minutes and not creating that many chances,” the Dutch defender told Sky Sports. “Today was not a good night for us.

“We lacked the patience to play through the lines, and we crossed a lot of balls. We need to do a lot more.

“In all aspects today, it felt like a step back. Not just the result but the intensity and the focus.”

Diversity has taken a back seat in Hollywood, and Eva Longoria is taking notice.

In a recent interview with British publication the Times, the 50-year-old actor-director-producer spoke out about the lack of Latino representation on screen.

“We’re severely underrepresented in TV and film and it’s getting worse,” said Longoria. “Five years ago we [made up], like, 7% of TV and film and now we’re 4%. It’s actually going in the wrong direction.”

According to UCLA’s 2025 Hollywood Diversity Report, 1% of Latino performers were leading roles in top theatrical films, while 4.3% of Latino directors and 2.1% of Latino writers were involved in last year’s top films.

The report, released in February, found that the proportion of people of color working in entertainment roles dropped in every area from 2023 to 2024 when compared with their white counterparts. Actors of color made up 25.2% of lead roles in the top theatrical films in 2024, which is down from 29.2% in 2023. Also, directors of color accounted for 20.2% of 2024 movies, compared with 22.9% of films from the prior year.

This downward trend has popped up as President Trump has consistently targeted and called to end all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. As a result, much of Hollywood has followed his lead. Paramount Global changed its staffing goals related to gender, race, ethnicity and sex; Warner Bros. Discovery restated its DEI activities as “inclusion”; and Walt Disney Co. got rid of its “diversity and inclusion” performance standard used to calculate executive compensation.

“There is definitely a lot of work to be done. I’m trying to do my part,” Longoria told the Times. “That’s one of the main reasons I got behind the camera, to create opportunities for women and for people from my community.”

The “Desperate Housewives” actor made her directorial debut in 2023 with “Flamin’ Hot,” a biographical comedy about Richard Montañez, who says he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

She’s also currently working on “The Fifth Wheel,” a Netflix comedy starring Kim Kardashian, which she will direct. As for acting, her latest gig is in “Christmas Karma,” a movie musical released earlier this month, where she plays the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Nov. 24 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation granting two years of regulatory relief from a stringent, existing Environmental Protection Agency on coke over facilities.

rump inked a proclamation Friday that exempts manufacturing facilities from Biden-era regulatory updates to the Clean Air Act that affect coal in steelmaking plants known as coke ovens.

The Coke Oven Rule, according to the White House, “places severe burdens on the coke production industry and, through its indirect effects, on the viability of our nation’s critical infrastructure, defense, and national security.”

A coke oven is a chamber in which coal is flamed to produce coke, which then fuels steelmaking. The Biden EPA estimated compliance cost would cost companies about$500,000 in additional fees.

The Trump administration’s new policy switch will absolve at least 11 U.S. coke oven plants from a need to cut back on release of toxic pollutants, including mercury, formaldehyde, soot and dioxins for two years.

“Specifically, the Coke Oven Rule requires compliance with standards premised on the application of emissions-control technologies that do not yet exist in a commercially demonstrated or cost-effective form,” Trump’s proclamation said.

A number of companies eligible for the exemptions include ABC Coke, EES Coke, SunCoke Energy, Cleveland Cliffs and U.S. Steel.

The previous administration under then-President Joe Biden argued the rule was critical to cut back on pollution and could curtail an increase in dirty air.

In March, the EPA set the stage for the coke oven proclamation by announcing it would allow Clean Air Act exemptions to be processed online.

Prominent environmental groups, meanwhile, say the exemptions will likely harm local communities.

It followed a slew of other Trump administration rollbacks on environmental regulations, most recently on wetland protection and other greenhouse gas emission standards for motor vehicles and engines.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has insisted he has “never directly racially abused anybody”, following complaints from 20 people he went to school with.

A Guardian investigation spoke to contemporaries at Dulwich College who alleged Farage made racist and antisemitic remarks to them, which a spokesperson denied.

Speaking directly to a journalist about the allegations for the first time, Farage, 61, was pressed on what he meant by “directly” and replied: “By taking it out on an individual on the basis of who they are or what they are.”

He also ruled out holding an investigation into his own party, following the jailing of former Welsh Reform UK leader Nathan Gill for taking pro-Russian bribes.

Among the allegations in the Guardian are that Farage joked about gas chambers and put another pupil in detention, when he was a prefect, for the colour of their skin.

When asked about the claims, Farage responded: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being banter in a playground, that you can interpret in the modern light of day in some sort of way? Yes.”

He added: “I’ve never directly racially abused anybody. No.”

Pointing towards “political disagreements” with some of his school peers, Farage also denied having “ever been part of an extremist organisation or engaged in direct, unpleasant personal abuse, genuine abuse, on that basis”.

Pressed on whether he would say categorically that he did not racially abuse fellow pupils, Farage said: ” I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way.”

Asked whether he had perhaps said things to fellow pupils that he had not intended to be hurtful or racist, but they took it that way, he said: “I hope not.”

And asked whether he had said things at school that people might have taken offence to, he replied: “Without any shadow of a doubt.

“And without any shadow of a doubt I shall say things tonight on this stage that some people will take offence to and will use pejorative terms about.

“That is actually in some ways what open free speech is. Sometimes you say things that people don’t like.”

When asked if he would apologise to the people claiming he had been racist towards them, Farage replied: “No, I’m not, because I don’t think I did anything that directly hurt anybody.”

Farage, who was an MEP from 1999 until 2020, and was UKIP leader from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016, was also questioned about his former UKIP MEP colleague Nathan Gill, who was jailed for ten and a half years last Friday after admitting taking bribes to make pro-Russian interviews and statements when he was an MEP.

Gill was first elected to Brussels as a UKIP MEP in 2014, becoming a Brexit Party MEP in 2019, sticking with the party when it became Reform UK, and becoming Welsh leader in 2021, although he failed to get re-elected shortly afterwards.

Speaking at a Reform UK rally in Llandudno, north Wales, Farage said Gill was “briefly… leader of Reform Wales”.

The fact Gill took bribes “is of course an absolute and total disgrace,” he said.

“We disown his actions and we disown what he has done in every single way.”

In a separate interview, Farage was asked if he needed to investigate any other Russian links within his party, but said: “I’m not a police force, I haven’t got the resources.”

He added he thought there should be a broader investigation into Russian and Chinese interference in British politics, suggesting MI5 should conduct it.

Farage said he was as confident “as I can be” that no one else in Reform past or present had done similar things to the former Reform Wales leader, labelling the issue a “very minor embarrassment for Reform”.

He said: “I’m very shocked about Gill – he was in UKIP for a very, very long time – albeit it his time in Reform was very, very short…

“I’ve had no engagement with him and nobody in my leadership team has had any engagement with him whatsoever.”

Asked if that meant he could not rule out that there might be people in the party that might have spoken to him since his arrest, he added: “Nobody in authority.”

Responding to the accusations of racism during Farage’s schooldays, Liberal Democrat President-Elect Josh Babarinde MP said: “The Reform leader’s refusal to deny that he’s said these racist remarks is unbecoming from someone who wants to be our next prime minister.

“The British people deserve a straight answer.

“It looks like the mask has slipped and fact-of-the matter-Farage is turning into no-answers-Nigel.”

And Labour accused Nigel Farage of claiming “you can racially abuse people without it being hurtful and insulting”.

Lord Mike Katz, a Labour peer and former Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, called on Farage to “come clean” about the claims and said “failure to do so would be yet more evidence that Farage is simply unfit for office”.

He said: “Just when you thought Nigel Farage couldn’t sink any lower, he is trying to say abhorrent racist comments, including vile antisemitic insults, doesn’t matter.

“He seems to think that you can racially abuse people without it being hurtful and insulting. Let’s be crystal clear: you can’t.”

Aitch and Angry Ginge got an unexpected reaction from their I’m A Celebrity 2025 cast mates on Monday, as a change in camp sparked a divide and risked a row on the ITV series

The cracks were starting to show in camp on I’m a Celebrity on Monday, as two stars were called out.

In a bizarre moment, Aitch and Angry Ginge managed to get on the wrong side of three of their jungle co-stars, with one of them left “scared”. Despite Aitch and Ginge often being at the centre of humour in camp, in the latest episode it was a different tale.

Ruby Wax was quick to call the stars out over something she had noticed, and she wasted no time in sharing her thoughts. She wasn’t alone though, as both Eddie Kadi and Jack Osbourne also had something on their minds after the pair became Camp Leaders.

The duo took over from previous leaders and new arrivals Vogue Williams and Tom Read Wilson. Following the change, campmates began to notice a “big difference” in leadership styles, but also in Aitch and Ginge’s behaviour.

Enjoying their new camp status, the pair, who now got the comfy beds, decided to sleep in. It didn’t go down well with their co-stars, as Eddie joked about Ginge still being asleep when the leader, Aitch, was awake. He said: “He’s still asleep and then he comes out in a sleeping bag and starts roaming around like The Little Mermaid, I don’t understand.”

READ MORE: I’m A Celebrity’s Kelly Brook left stunned as she makes huge discoveryREAD MORE: I’m A Celeb’s Angry Ginge’s pal reveals ‘game plan’ to win with Aitch

As the duo sat down for the community meeting with their co-stars, Ruby shared her “confusion” over their new roles, saying she was “thrown”. She explained: “We were all on an even plane. [It] has thrown me a little bit.”

Suggesting the pair had changed and made her feel inferior, she asked: “Are we playing king and deputy, and we’re the low people?” She even suggested she felt “frightened” of the pair, something she did not feel when it was Vogue and Tom in charge of the camp.

When they asked if she was “scared” of the previous leaders, she said no “because they never took it seriously,” leaving the boys confused. Ruby added in the Bush Telegraph: “I think we’re divided.” As Aitch tried to reassure Ruby there was nothing changing at all asides him not having a chore to do, she replied: “No but there’s a vibe. A little.”

Aitch was baffled by how the stars had taken his “performance” which he called a joke, seeming deflated by the drama. Jack then took a moment to share his own concern, implying he didn’t know whether he could trust Ginge after he lied about how many stars he’d won in the previous trial.

Jack said: “I know this isn’t intentional Ginge but it got in my head about how well you played saying you only got five stars. I was like, can I trust Ginge? It played with me.” Martin Kemp then said it played with Ruby too, with Ginge not wanting a division in camp, trying to clear the air with his co-stars.

Fans watching backed the duo though, with one writing: “I think Ruby is taking it way too seriously it’s not that deep.” Another agreed: “Are the celebs so hungry that they can’t even take a joke?” as a third said: “Is humour banned in camp today?”

It comes as one I’m a Celebrity star was caught flouting the show’s rules in camp. Alex Scott smuggled in contraband, which violates the strict code enforced by I’m a Celeb bosses.

She was spotted with salt, which is on the banned list of items, and was seen putting it onto the crocodile feet on Sunday night’s show. Ant and Dec later confirmed it was “contraband” and said viewers would have to wait to see what the punishment was.

It is not known if the other campmates were aware of Alex’s rule-breaking at the time, or if she was going rogue. On the spin-off show, Unpacked, guest Jill Scott said: “I am surprised by Alex doing it as I thought she would follow the rules actually.” Seann Walsh added: “I was surprised by how indiscreet Alex was with putting the salt on.”

I’m A Celebrity 2025 airs every night at 9PM on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

France prepares to host Iran’s foreign minister in Paris for high-stakes talks on nuclear and regional tensions.

France will host Iran’s foreign minister in Paris this week for talks that are set to include stalled nuclear negotiations.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed on Monday that his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi will arrive on Wednesday for discussions that Paris hopes will nudge Iran back into full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as part of a defunct nuclear deal.

“This will be an opportunity for us to call on Iran to comply with its obligations towards the IAEA and for a swift resumption of cooperation with the agency,” Barrot said ahead of the meeting.

French officials also plan to raise the status of two French nationals who were released from detention in Iran but remain unable to leave the country. Both are currently staying inside the French embassy in Tehran, and Paris has repeatedly pressed for their return.

The Paris meeting comes as Tehran has signalled it sees little urgency in resuming indirect talks with the United States over the future of its nuclear programme.

Earlier this month, Iran declared it was “not in a hurry” to restart negotiations, despite mounting pressure following the return of United Nations sanctions and growing economic strain.

Araghchi reiterated that position in an interview with Al Jazeera, saying Tehran remained open to dialogue if Washington approaches talks “from an equal position based on mutual interest”.

He dismissed reported US conditions – including demands for direct talks, zero enrichment, restrictions on missile capabilities, and curbs on support for regional allies – as “illogical and unfair”.

“It appears they are not in a hurry,” he said. “We are not in a hurry, either.”

Tehran’s top diplomat also argued that regional politics are shifting in Iran’s favour.

Referring to the Israeli prime minister, he said: “I sometimes tell my friends that Mr [Benjamin] Netanyahu is a war criminal who has committed every atrocity, but did something positive in proving to the entire region that Israel is the main enemy, not Iran, and not any other country.”

A planned sixth round of indirect US–Iran nuclear talks collapsed in June after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear sites, triggering a 12-day war that killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and caused billions of dollars in damage.

The two sides reached a ceasefire after the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

US President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a deal between the US, Iran, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and the European Union that saw Tehran curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran has since continued to violate provisions of the agreement, arguing that the US withdrawal has nullified the deal. Iranian officials maintain that the country is only developing its nuclear programme for civilian purposes.

UN sanctions against Iran were reimposed in September as part of the 2015 agreement’s “snapback” mechanism.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense is facing growing questions about the progress of its F-35 program, after key shortcomings were outlined in a recent critical report from the Public Accounts Committee, a body that examines the value for money of government projects. As well as the adverse effect on the program of years of cost-cutting, the F-35B still critically lacks a standoff strike capability.

In particular, the committee found that a shortage of maintenance engineers is having a profound effect on F-35B availability and output. During Parliamentary questions in the House of Commons, Ben Obese-Jecty, a Conservative member of parliament, asked the Ministry of Defense how long it would take to fix these issues.

In response, Luke Pollard, minister of state at the Ministry of Defense, said that the maintenance engineer shortages would not be fixed for three to four years, although steps had been taken in this direction, including a “significant” increase in the recruitment of engineers over the last two years. These efforts have included boosting training capacity as well as sign-on bonuses for new recruits.

According to the Public Accounts Committee report, The U.K.’s F-35 capability, the shortage of qualified engineers in the Royal Air Force (RAF) came about due to a failure to determine exactly how many of these critical staff would be needed. As a result, this is now one of the main reasons behind the F-35’s availability being judged “poor” and the jet consistently failing to meet targets.

“The Ministry of Defense has introduced a program of surging recruitment for the RAF so that it returns to workforce balance across every specialization,” Pollard explained. “This activity includes a significant focus on the engineer profession where, over the last two years, the RAF has offered joining bonuses and increased the capacity of technical training schools to enable more recruits to be trained. To improve retention, the RAF has implemented a Financial Retention Incentive for engineers. The recruitment and retention of personnel remains one of the top two priorities for the chief of the defense staff.”

While it’s true that the U.K. Armed Forces, in general, are suffering from a lack of technical support staff, it remains embarrassing that, in the case of the F-35B, the Ministry of Defense simply “miscalculated how many engineers would be needed per plane,” by failing to take into account staff taking leave and performing other tasks.

Overall, the Public Accounts Committee judges the F-35 “the best fast jet the United Kingdom has ever had.”

The jet is currently operated by two frontline units, the RAF’s No. 617 Squadron, the “Dambusters,” and the Royal Navy’s 809 Naval Air Squadron (NAS), as well as a training unit, No. 207 Squadron, RAF, which serves as the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). All of these are home-based at RAF Marham in England, the main operating hub when the jets are not embarked in one of the two Royal Navy aircraft carriers or deployed on operations. As of this summer, 38 F-35Bs had been delivered, with one of these lost in a carrier accident in the Mediterranean.

The report found that a history of “cost-cutting” throughout the U.K. F-35 program “has caused significant problems in its use,” which have affected the jet’s “capability, availability to fly, and value for money.”

While these issues relate to the in-service F-35B, the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) version of the jet, the same report also warns that the plan to introduce the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A version, which is nuclear-capable, is also likely to run into problems relating to costs and timelines.

When it comes to RAF Marham, the Public Accounts Committee slams the airbase for its “substandard accommodation,” which it described as “shabby, sometimes lacking hot water, and lacking bus access to a local town.”

The report notes that work on infrastructure at Marham won’t be finished until 2034, a “very complacent date,” and one that could further exacerbate problems in personnel retention.

Turning to the aircraft itself, one of the most significant problems caused by the cost-cutting relates to the facility that is required to assess the F-35’s stealth capability. This is critical to ensure that the fighter’s low-observable characteristics are functioning as they should. After all, the jet’s stealth features are key to its evading high-end air defense systems. More broadly, it should be noted that this type of infrastructure is a core requirement of the F-35’s unique capabilities, and constructing and sustaining it comes at an added cost.

To reduce the spending on the program, the Ministry of Defense delayed the investment in the facility, which provided a savings of £82 million (around $107 million) by 2024-25. However, due to inflation, the final cost of completing the facility will add another £16 million (around $21 million) on top of that by 2031-32.

In another effort to save cash in the short term, in 2020, the Ministry of Defense chose to slow down the delivery schedule of the F-35Bs, which had the effect of reducing the number of jets available on the flight lines today. The situation was then compounded by a lack of funds for buying new aircraft in 2020; this meant that seven aircraft were delivered a year late.

Finally, the Ministry of Defense took the decision to delay the full establishment of the first Royal Navy F-35B squadron, 809 NAS, again on budgetary grounds. This means the squadron has to wait until 2029 to get its full infrastructure at Marham. As a result, capability has been reduced and, once again, the eventual spend will be even greater: from £56 million (around $73 million) to a likely £154 million (around $201 million).

With this history of financial mismanagement in the program, the Public Accounts Committee is skeptical about how the Ministry of Defense will manage the introduction of another version of the jet, the F-35A.

“The new fast jets will be based at RAF Marham, with the Government expected to procure 138 F35s over the lifetime of the programme.” Everything else aside, this is about as clear a commitment to the UK’s full programme of record as you’re ever going to get……

— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) June 25, 2025

After years of speculation, the United Kingdom finally announced this summer that it will buy 12 F-35As. As we have discussed in the past, this jet offers a number of advantages over the F-35B, but the Ministry of Defense has specifically highlighted its ability to join the NATO nuclear mission, which would see the jets armed with U.S.-owned B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs. On top of this mission, the RAF says that the new jets will be assigned to the training unit and will primarily be used in that role.

According to the Public Accounts Committee:

“Becoming certified for the NATO nuclear mission will add new requirements to training, personnel, and possibly infrastructure, but discussions in this area are at an early stage, and no indication of forecast costs has been provided by the Ministry of Defense.”

One of those costs could well relate to the secure underground weapons vaults that are required to store the nuclear bombs. Whether such vaults did exist at RAF Marham in the past, it’s unclear whether this infrastructure remains intact or what degree of work it might need to accommodate the B61-12s. Some reports suggest the vaults have been dismantled or even filled in completely. Making use of U.S.-operated vaults at nearby RAF Lakenheath could be another option.

When the F-35A decision was announced, TWZ also highlighted the potential disadvantages of a mixed fleet, especially with only a dozen of these versions, which represents very much a token force:

“A fleet of just 12 jets adds another type with some different maintenance and infrastructure requirements, and a relatively low availability rate, at least historically. At the same time, the training that it offers is not 1:1 for the STOVL F-35B, and it is questionable whether it will save money in the long run. That would change, however, if the British were to buy A-models in bigger numbers.”

The question of numbers is one that has surrounded the U.K. F-35 program for many years now.

The Ministry of Defense has vehemently stuck to its plan to procure 138 F-35s over the lifetime of the program, although this has long been called into question.

So far, firm orders have only been placed for 48 F-35Bs. The previous Conservative government confirmed it was negotiating to buy another 27 F-35Bs for delivery by 2033. However, this batch of 27 jets will now be divided between F-35As (12) and F-35Bs (15).

At the very least, it seems the planned number of STOVL F-35Bs to be purchased will be reduced.

This could lead to problems, since it is widely considered that significantly more than 48 F-35Bs are required to meet the ambition of 24 jets available for the baseline Carrier Strike mission, across both carriers. Considering training and other demands, a figure of 60-70 jets is generally thought to be reasonable. In the meantime, U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs have, on occasions, been relied upon to make up the required aircraft numbers during carrier cruises, although this wasn’t the case for the recent embarkation of 24 jets on HMS Prince of Wales.

Reports of Ministry of Defense financial mismanagement on the F-35 program also hardly inspire confidence in the even more ambitious plan for the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), the United Kingdom’s future air combat initiative at the heart of which is the Tempest crewed stealth fighter.

As we have discussed before, the future of the GCAP program is by no means certain.

In the past, we have suggested that, should the F-35A prove itself with the RAF, that could open up the possibility of a follow-on purchase, and larger numbers of this version that would be a very obvious threat to the future of the Tempest.

That, however, likely depends on the Ministry of Defense solving the issues with the ongoing fielding of the F-35.

In summing up the U.K. F-35 program, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, likened the mismanagement to a homeowner choosing to delay making repairs to a leaky roof, noting that “making short-term cost decisions is famously inadvisable … and yet such decisions have been rife in the management of the F-35.”

The Public Accounts Committee doesn’t provide a final figure for the U.K. F-35 program’s whole-life cost but does state that the Ministry of Defense’s projection of £57 billion (around $75 billion) through to 2069 “is unrealistic.”

Meanwhile, the additional capabilities that are promised under the latest Block 4 standard will represent another huge investment, but one that is required to ensure the jets perform to their fullest potential. The implications of Block 4 are also yet to be fully understood in terms of cost perspective, but will certainly be very significant.

By way of comparison, the United Kingdom expects to pay £31 billion (around $40 billion) for the design and manufacture of its four new Dreadnought class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, including inflation over the life of the program.

The committee also notes that the Ministry of Defense’s figure does not include costs for personnel, fuel, and infrastructure.

While the financial side of the program is worrying, of more immediate concern for the U.K. Armed Forces is the fact that key capabilities are still missing from its F-35s. While full operating capability was recently declared, after demonstrating the ability to put 24 U.K.-owned F-35Bs on a single carrier, this milestone remains somewhat aspirational, since the personnel shortages are still to be properly addressed.

Alarmingly, for a jet that is the backbone of the Carrier Strike role, the Public Accounts Committee reiterates that the F-35 “will also not have the ability to attack ground targets from a safe distance until the early 2030s.”

This, according to the Chief of the Defense Staff, is the biggest concern of all.

The U.K. F-35’s current lack of long-range standoff weaponry has long been acknowledged as a significant shortfall.

Earlier this year, the National Audit Office (NAO), the U.K.’s independent public spending watchdog, stated the following:

“There are some important capabilities that the Ministry of Defense has delayed into the next decade. Most significantly, the F-35 does not have a standoff weapon to attack ground targets from a safe range, which will impact its effectiveness in contested environments.” The NAO added that this capability isn’t expected in full until the early 2030s.

Currently, the U.K. F-35B relies on the Paveway IV precision-guided bomb to attack surface targets.

Ultimately, it plans to integrate the Selected Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) 3 standoff weapon, but this process has been repeatedly delayed, as you can read about here.

As an interim measure, the United Kingdom is now looking to provide its F-35Bs with the GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II, a weapon better known as StormBreaker.

“To acquire a more capable interim air-to-surface weapon, the U.K. F-35 program has requested funding for Small Diameter Bombs,” the NAO said, referring to the SDB II.

However, the NAO also noted that the Ministry of Defense “has yet to provide this funding.”

When it comes to standoff air-to-ground weapons, it is important to note that, while the F-35 is hard to detect using fire-control radars, it is not invisible. In some cases, making a direct attack on a target is impossible in terms of survivability, making it necessary to employ standoff munitions to degrade hostile air defenses.

All in all, the Public Accounts Committee report paints a sorry picture of the U.K. F-35 program, with a culture of cost-cutting constraining its capabilities in the short term, while also increasing costs in the long term.

In order for the U.K. Armed Forces to get the most out of the F-35, which it describes as “the best fighter jet this nation has ever possessed,” the report concludes that the Ministry of Defense “must root out the short-termism, complacency, and miscalculation in the program.”

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