BREAKINGBREAKING,

The order comes a week after the US military seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast.

United States President Donald Trump has ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all US-sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” Trump said.

“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he said.

Trump’s comments come a week after US forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and as Washington has ordered a huge build-up of US military forces off the Venezuelan coast in an operation said to target drug smuggling.

The US military has killed at least 90 people since September in attacks on dozens of vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, in what international law experts have criticised as extrajudicial killings.

Washington claimed the vessels were involved in drug trafficking but has provided no evidence to support its allegations.

Caracas has long said the deployment of US forces to the region was aimed at allowing “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth“.

Despite holding the world’s largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela has faced severe restrictions on its exports in recent years under US sanctions first imposed during the first Trump presidency.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow shortly.

As Afghanistan reevaluates its economic geography in light of the deteriorating relations with Pakistan, India has become a major option for Kabul in its quest for diverse trade routes. The recent top-level meetings between the Taliban and the Indian government indicate a desire on the part of the former to diminish their reliance on the Pakistani transit corridors and to gain more strategic independence. However, India’s role is more a matter of political calculation than of geographical convenience. Afghanistan has no direct land route to India, and therefore its trade with India is expensive routes via Iran with limited air corridors, making it very difficult for a sanctions-hit and cash-strapped economy to scale up. Although the engagement with New Delhi gives the Afghan government the chance to send diplomatic signals and obtain very limited economic relief, it also poses the question of whether India is going to be a long-term trading partner or merely a geopolitical counterweight in Kabul’s broader regional strategy.

Taliban officials have begun signalling a recalibration of economic policy. Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar publicly urged Afghan traders to explore alternative transit corridors, accusing Pakistan of using border closures as a tool of political pressure. Shortly thereafter, Nooruddin Azizi, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan, had an official visit to New Delhi on 19 November 2025 for official discussions aimed at increasing bilateral trade, enhancing the mechanisms for import and export and finding out different ways for Afghan businesses to trade. This visit comes after the Afghanistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi’s trip to India in October that lasted for eight days, which was his first trip to India, for which he was granted a temporary UN sanctions exemption, even though India has not yet recognized the Taliban government.

Over the past two decades, the Taliban’s propaganda has been persistently depicting India as a Hindu “kafir” state that is supporting the “anti-Islam” forces in Kabul, making Indian diplomats look like enemies and Indian consulates like secret intelligence stations working against Afghanistan and Pakistan. The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was declared as a holy war against the “un-Islamic idols” and the whole Buddhist-Hindu civilization, which was a clear indication of the Emirate’s hardline ideological approach. However, this narrative has changed for political and economic reasons.

Moreover, the Taliban, having once described the Indian state as their ideological enemy, are now actively courting India, even sending their foreign minister and commerce minister to New Delhi to get access to trade routes and investment in infrastructure. However, the newly established open channels of communication between the two parties are indicative of a major pragmatism shift, wherein the former rhetoric of enmity and ideological purity has been replaced by the language of using one another in business transactions, thus, signaling the willingness of Afghanistan to retrieve economic lifelines and gain a strategic position in a region.

Historically, Taliban’s official communications are filled with references to Islamic unity, historical connections, and the values of Muslim brotherhood in its relationship with Pakistan. However, when relations with Islamabad were strained over the Tehrik-i-Taliban support, as well as border management and refugees; the Emirate quickly turned to engagement with other regional states instead of reconciliation with its closest Muslim neighbor. This selective realism reveals a definite order of priorities; Afghanistan is ignoring Pakistan’s main security issues but is ready to do anything for a state that is Hindu-majority and can offer trade routes, investment, and international legitimacy.

This transactional approach is not only limited to regional politics but also encompasses the global economic system. The Taliban constantly criticized “Western economic slavery“, interest-based financial systems and considering themselves as an ideological alternative to the West. Nowadays, the Taliban are lobbying India who is heavily involved in the Western capital markets and global financial networks positively to get banking access, reconstruction projects, and investments. The ideological rigidity at home is sharply contrasted with the foreign policy flexibility; those states which were once labelled as anti-Islamic are now being courted for material and political gains.

The Taliban’s selective pragmatism is also evident in the territorial and security sensitive issues. On one hand, they keep on challenging the issue of the Durand Line with Pakistan, an internationally recognized border between both states, while on the other hand, they are quite liberal with India. Likewise, in the past, Taliban-associated clerics and militants celebrated jihad in Kashmir, denounced Indian government actions toward Muslims there and such discourse got muted during visits to Delhi. It is very clear that economic and diplomatic goals are prioritized over ideological or sectarian consistency.

Afghanistan’s trade pivot underscores the delicate balance between ambition and structural reality. While the Taliban’s efforts to diversify transit routes reflect a desire for economic autonomy and greater regional leverage, geographic constraints, limited infrastructure, and entrenched economic patterns impose severe limitations. Engagement with India offers symbolic and partial relief, yet Pakistan remains the linchpin of Afghan commerce, providing the fastest and most cost-effective access to global markets. The Emirate’s strategy is as much a political signal-demonstrating flexibility, pragmatism, and a quest for de facto recognition as it is an economic maneuver. Ultimately, Afghanistan’s “strategic heart of Asia” narrative will be tested not by intent but by its capacity to reconcile aspiration with the unyielding realities of terrain, logistics, and regional interdependence.

Coronation Street viewers blasted one character’s sudden exit storyline as they struggled to believe it could happen and labelled the whole thing as a ‘disaster’

Coronation Street fans described Tuesday’s episode as a “disaster” after Dee Dee Bailey announced her plans to leave. The lawyer, who has been played by Channique Sterling-Brown, 28, since 2022, decided on the latest episode of the world’s longest-running TV soap that it was time to move on from the Weatherfield backstreet.

The programme normally airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but there was a slight schedule change owing to ITV’s upcoming coverage of the the Carabao Cup. It has been known for some time know that Dee Dee was set to leave the show, and in newest episode, she revealed she had been offered a new job – but there was a catch.

At first, she was hesitant to tell her father Ed about it, but over a celebratory lunch with him and her brothers at the Bistro, she revealed that it was in Singapore.

Fans will know that Dee Dee is mother to baby Laila, who was born in March, but there had been a lot of back-and-forth over whether her brother James would take on the guardianship. Once James realised what this meant, he raged: “A creche in Singapore, 24/7? You really think that’s in her best interests? What do they even speak out there?”

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Pleading her case, Dee Dee said: “I have agonised over this. And yes, it’s the right thing for me, but I’m sorry, it is also the best thing for Laila. A job where I can make a difference!” James raged: “I was there for you. I was there for Laila. I provided a solution. This was your idea! This was always, always going to happen.”

He then told his sister that she had “timed” everything to make sure things turned out this way and when he and Michael were in the pub later on, things had still not calmed down. When Dee Dee walked in, she offered to buy James a drink but he refused. He then headed into the pub toilets where he burst into tears, and text on/off lover Carl Webster to see if he wanted to meet up.

As details of Dee Dee’s exit plans came to light, fans took to social media to share their reaction. One wrote: “Losing Dee Dee but keeping the rest of the Baileys is such a disaster,” whilst another said: “So Dee dee has been a solicitor in New York Wethersfield and now Singapore. Where next Seaham Harbour?”

A third added: “I like Dee Dee but I wish this new job was a bit more believable. She is going to Singapore alone, no support, with a baby. If she took a job near her ‘gone to look after her aunt and never seen again mother’, I could believe it,” and a fourth wrote: “Dee Dee never spends any time with her kid now when she’s surrounded by family, so she’ll probably never see her in Singapore. She’ll be fobbed off to a nursery or nanny.”

Actress Channique, 28, announced her departure to The Mirror and other press, explaining for the first time her reasons for stepping down from the role. Channique said it felt like the right time “to be brave” and try new roles, as she got tearful in her exit chat.

Becoming emotional, she revealed she would miss her character, as she explained her decision that she made months ago. She said: “I made the decision in spring, and it wasn’t a rash decision. You know, I really took a couple of months from being offered my next year contract to actually even respond.

“I felt really torn, but I really just had, you know, the sense that it just felt like the time. I feel like I’ve been so privileged, and I’ve got to tell some great stories, and it’s been so wonderful. And obviously I’m very led by my faith as well.

“So I just really took my time over it and prayed into it. And I think, yeah, I found a real sense that I had done what I’d come to do, if that makes sense, not that I ever knew exactly what it was, but it just felt like I had achieved what I was sent here to do, so it was time to be brave.”

She told us: “I think Dee-Dee has changed a lot. She’s been through a lot. She was so ditsy and all this stuff when she came. But I think she very quickly, like we saw her heart with her being with Paul a lot, and we saw her strength standing up to Adam.

“We saw her, you know, soft side with all the stuff with her dad and the gambling. So I think, you know, she, she still has all those things. I think she’s definitely, obviously a bit worse for wear.

“But I think she’s finding her way back to herself at the minute. I think that’s really lovely, where we see her on screen. She’s finding some happiness. She’s finding herself again. And I think that’s life, isn’t it? You obviously change and things shape you, but it’s how many times you get back up? That’s what counts.”

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A coalition of Eaton fire survivors and community groups called on Southern California Edison on Tuesday to provide immediate housing assistance to the thousands of people who lost their homes in the Jan. 7 wildfire.

The coalition says an increasing number of Altadena residents are running out of insurance coverage that had been paying for their housing since they were displaced by the fire. Thousands of other residents had no insurance.

“When a company’s fire destroys or contaminates homes, that company has a responsibility to keep families housed until they can get back home,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, one of the coalition members asking Edison for emergency assistance of up to $200,000 for each family.

At the coalition’s press conference, Altadena residents spoke of trying to find a place to live after the Jan. 7 fire that killed at least 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 homes, apartments and other structures. Thousands of other homes were damaged by smoke and ash.

Gabriel Gonzalez, center, an Eaton Fire survivor, shown with Joy Chen, Executive Director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network (EFSN), left, and other survivors at a press conference in Altadena. They urged Southern California Edison to provide urgent housing relief to keep Eaton Fire families housed this winter.

(Gary Coronado/For The Times)

Gabriel Gonzalez said he had been living in his car for most of the last year.

Before the fire, Gonzalez had a successful plumbing company with six employees, he said. He had moved into an apartment in Altadena just a month before the fire and lost $80,000 worth of tools when the building was destroyed.

His insurance did not cover the loss, Gonzalez said, and he lost his business.

Edison is now offering to directly pay fire victims for their losses if they give up their right to file a lawsuit against the utility.

But members of the coalition say Edison’s program is forcing victims who are most desperate for financial support to give up their legal right to fair compensation.

Andrew Wessels, Strategy Director for the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, speaks about Edison’s Wildfire Recovery Compensation Plan (WRCP).

(Gary Coronado/For The Times)

“If families are pushed to give up what they are owed just to survive, the recovery will never have the funds required to rebuild homes, restore livelihoods or stabilize the community,” said Andrew Wessels. He said he and his family had lived in 12 different places since the fire left ash contaminated with lead on and in their home.

In an interview Tuesday, Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, the utility’s parent company, said the company would not provide money to victims without them agreeing to drop any litigation against the company for the fire.

“I can’t even pretend to understand the challenges victims are going through,” Pizarro said.

He said the company created its Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program to get money to victims much faster than if they filed a lawsuit and waited for a settlement.

“We want to help the community rebuild as quickly as possible,” he said.

Pizarro said Edison made its first payment to a victim within 45 days of the compensation program launching on Oct. 29. So far, he said, the company has received more than 1,500 claims.

Edison created the compensation program even though the official investigation into the cause of the fire hasn’t been released.

The company has said a leading theory is that its century-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon, which it last used in 1971, briefly became energized from the live lines running parallel to it, sparking the fire.

The program offers to reimburse victims for their losses and provides additional sums for pain and suffering. It also gives victims a bonus for agreeing to settle their claim outside of court.

Pizarro said the program is voluntary and if victims don’t like the offer they receive from Edison, they can continue their claims in court.

Edison has told its investors that it believes it will be reimbursed for all of its payments to victims and lawsuit settlements by $1 billion in customer-paid insurance and a $21 billion state wildfire fund.

Zaire Calvin, of Altadena, a survivor who has lost his home and other properties, speaks.

(Gary Coronado/For The Times)

Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers created the wildfire fund in 2019 to protect utilities from bankruptcy if their electric wires cause a disastrous wildfire.

State officials say the fund could be wiped out by Eaton fire damages. While the first $21 billion was contributed half by customers of the state’s three biggest for-profit utilities and half by the companies’ shareholders, any additional damage claims from the Jan. 7 fire will be paid by Edison customers, according to legislation passed in September.

Some Altadena residents say Edison’s compensation program doesn’t pay them fully for their losses.

Damon Blount said that he and his wife had just renovated their home before it was destroyed in the fire. They don’t believe Edison’s offer would be enough to cover that work.

Blount said he “felt betrayed” by the utility.

“They literally took everything away from us,” Blount said. “Do the right thing, Edison. We want to be home.”

At the press conference, fire victims pointed out that Edison reported nearly $1.3 billion in profits last year, up from $1.2 billion in 2023.

Last week, Edison International said it was increasing the dividend it pays to its shareholders by 6% because of its strong financial performance.

“Their stock is rising,” said Zaire Calvin, one of the Altadena residents calling on Edison for emergency relief. Calvin lost his home and his sister died in the fire. “They will not pay a penny when this is over.”

Dec. 16 (UPI) — Officials are warning that conditions could worsen parts of Washington state already reeling from deadly flash flooding as a blizzard conditions approach amid evacuations and warnings of further flooding.

At least one person has been reported dead after the body of a 33-year-old male was recovered from a vehicle that was completely submerged in water at 1:30 a.m. PST on Tuesday in Snohomish County, ABC News reported.

“The vehicle left the roadway and entered a lower farmland/ditch area containing approximately 6 feet of water,” officials with Snohomish County Fire District 4 said in a prepared statement.

“Upon arrival, deputies located the vehicle in the water,” they said. “Fire rescue swimmers made contact with the vehicle and removed the driver from the car.”

The motorist had driven past road closure signs warning drivers of localized flooding and was pronounced dead at the scene after first responders attempted lifesaving treatment.

Two levees were breached as strong rainstorms passed through the Pacific Northwest in recent days. Weather conditions are now expected to take a turn for the worse.

The National Weather Service has issued wind and blizzard warnings in the same areas impacted by flash flooding.

Heavy rainfall is predicted to continue into Tuesday night before changing to snow after 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

Outdoor temperatures are expected to fall to 24 degrees, with a west wind of 28 mph creating a wind chill of between 7 and 17 degrees, according to the NWS.

Snow could be heavy at times on Wednesday and Thursday, with between 8 and 12 inches possible by Wednesday night and wind gusts of up to 49 mph on Wednesday. That’s on top of possibly between 4 and 8 inches of snowfall on Thursday and wind gusts of up to 31 mph.

Snow is expected through the next seven days, with lows in the low 20s and highs near 32 degrees.

The wind and blizzard warnings come as major flooding is possible on Wednesday morning along the Skagit River and potentially cresting on Thursday morning in Mount Vernon, the Seattle Times reported.

An estimated 2,100 residents of Pacific in the state’s King County are subject to an evacuation warning telling them to leave now due to a levee failure on the White River.

Highway 2 also could stay closed until further notice, while Highway 167 remained closed between Auburn and Kent, two small cities south of Seattle, on Tuesday morning.

Protesters called on President Pellegrini, usually an ally of Prime Minister Fico, to veto the changes.

Thousands of people have rallied across Slovakia to protest against changes to the judicial system that opposition politicians and critics say are destroying the rule of law, Slovak media reported.

Protesters filled much of a central square in the capital of Bratislava, and there were protests in eight other cities on Tuesday.

The biggest opposition party, Progressive Slovakia, called the protest after Prime Minister Robert Fico‘s leftist-nationalist government pushed legislative changes through parliament last week that dismantle the whistleblower protection agency and change the way the state deals with crown witnesses.

“They took a chainsaw to the rule of law,” Michal Simecka, the leader of Progressive Slovakia, told the crowd in Bratislava, according to a live video that streamed online.

“Slovakia is the only country where the government approves laws to make life easier for criminals and mafia,” he also said.

People carried Slovak and European Union flags as well as placards with slogans, such as “Fico’s government is helping Mafia”, and chanted “Enough of Fico” and “Shame!”

Fico’s critics claim that, under his government, Slovakia is following Hungary’s lead under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Fico’s administration argues that the old whistleblower agency was politically abused. The administration has also weakened criminal codes for financial crimes, revamped the public broadcaster and pushed constitutional changes asserting national sovereignty over some EU laws, which has raised European Commission scrutiny.

Fico’s government has faced several large protests since coming to power in 2023. Tuesday’s rally was one of the biggest since last February, when tens of thousands demonstrated against what critics say is an increasingly pro-Russian foreign policy.

A fan has been left stunned after they spotted an Oscar-nominated actor alongside his huge popstar girlfriend at a London pub.

The pair were filmed in a busy boozer playing cards and ordering drinks, going seemingly unnoticed by the other punters around them.

The VIP guests, were none other than actor Paul Mescal and his popstar girlfriend Gracie Abrams, who were sat in the middle of a busy North London pub. 

In a video uploaded to TikTok the pair can be seen playing cards on a table together, in the beer garden of The Canonbury Tavern at night.

Paul looked inconspicuous in a cap whilst ordering drinks for the pair inside at the bar.

The fan took pics of the star as he ordered seemingly going unnoticed by the other punters around him.

PAUL SUPPORT

Gracie Abrams snogs and parties with Paul Mescal until 3am after Glasto set

heating up

Paul Mescal spotted on date with Gracie Abrams ahead of her Glastonbury set 

The eagle-eyed fan captioned the video: “Paul Mescal & Gracie Abrams playing cards in Canonbury.”

In the second clip which showed the pics of the A-lister at the bar, she wrote: “Part two of seeing Paul Mescal, Got to keep one of the cards they were playing with.”

Fans flocked to the comments in disbelief over the pair’s unexpected appearance, one user penned: “NO WAY.”

A second added: “Is that really them ??? when was this omg.”

A worker of the pub revealed that she’s even served the star before, they wrote: “ I work at this pub and I’ve served him before (crying laughing emoji).”

The couple were first linked in June 2024 when they were snapped having a romantic dinner date at celebrity haunt BRAT Restaurant in London. 

They were spotted again this year having picnics and drinks in a park in June, before they were snapped getting close at Glastonbury ahead of Gracie’s set, that same month.

It comes after Oscar-nominated actor Paul was ordered to lose some muscle and put on some fat for his next big role.

Paul will be playing Sir Paul McCartney in the upcoming Beatles biopic – and The Sun revealed that the hunky Gladiator II star has been told to go on a Normal People diet.

An insider said: “Obviously there weren’t really gyms around in the Sixties. 

“The Beatles weren’t dead-lifting between gigs. 

“Macca was always pretty lean and flexible — he has always been really into yoga — but this is a very different aesthetic to that of a burly gladiator, and Paul has been keeping his body pretty ripped, even after filming stopped.

“Sir Paul McCartney is also famously a vegetarian, whereas Paul mainly lives on a high protein steak, chicken and eggs diet. 

“There also weren’t whey protein shakes back in the Beatles’ day.”

Sarah typically works on Christmas Day. She has devoted countless Christmases to caring for newborns on the same emergency neonatal unit where her own baby was born prematurely this year

This is the heartwarming moment Sarah Alcock found out that her husband had nominated her for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday.

Christmas for the 35-year-old doesn’t tend to be spent tucking into a roast, opening presents and relaxing with the family.

In fact, Sarah typically works on Christmas Day. The Oakwood, Derby mum has missed out on many a festive day at home due to work nursing shifts at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where her own baby was born prematurely this year.

Born at just 25 weeks, weighing 1lb 12oz, the eight-month-old will be celebrating her first Christmas this year, but with staffing pressures mounting, she has volunteered to step in again to help her fellow colleagues out.

READ MORE: UK to Germany direct train will make Christmas market trips ‘one step closer’READ MORE: Majorca’s new tourist rules including beach games ban – what you need to know

Her husband, Dave, a marketing manager, from Oakwood, Derby, wanted to recognise how hard Sarah works, so he nominated her to win a break with easyJet.

“She’s a hero. Her work doesn’t stop just because it’s Christmas, so she has to go there regardless of the date,” he explained.

Alongside Sarah, NHS nurse Nicky Starkowitz and care home manager Niccii Gillett, who also selflessly work every Christmas, were gifted holidays as part of a campaign by tour operator easyJet Holidays to recognise the UK’s hidden heroes.

Nicky faced a breast cancer diagnosis in August this year and tragically, her four-year-old son Raffi was also diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain cancer in March. Her husband Neil said: “With everything going on this year we haven’t managed to get away or get the opportunity to do anything as a family together.”

Nicky added that “just to go away somewhere, as a family, and have time away together would be so nice”.

The holidays are a special easyJet Holidays escape, to give recognised key workers quality time with friends and family in the sunshine. They have been gifted to Christmas heroes after new research by easyJet Holidays found over 10 million Brits will be spending time apart from their families due to work commitments this year.

Nearly a third (28%) of key workers also feel that they haven’t taken a proper break in the past year, with nearly a quarter (22%) not likely to have a choice over whether they can work on Christmas Day or not.

Matt Callaghan, Chief Operating Officer at easyJet Holidays, said: “At Christmas especially, we’re reminded how many people quietly put others first, often sacrificing precious time with their own families. Our key workers do this year after year, and our communities simply wouldn’t function without them.

“This is easyJet holidays’ way of saying thank you – giving a few of these Christmas heroes the chance to properly step away, rest, and spend quality time together, whether that’s in the sunshine or exploring a new city. It’s about recognising the people who give so much, especially at this time of year.”

The easyJet Holidays poll uncovered the professions we feel most grateful for at Christmas, with nurses, paramedics, care workers and delivery drivers among them.

Just under a quarter (23%) of Brits say they leave out a gift for the postal workers at Christmas, while over a fifth (22%) say they do the same for binmen.

Six in ten also say Christmas makes them feel more generous towards others, with 51% saying they compliment others more during the festive period, while more than three in ten (31%) check in with their neighbours.

Top 10 professions Brits feel most grateful for at Christmas:

1. Nurses (46%)
2. Paramedics (39%)
3. Doctors (38%)
4. Care workers (29%)
5. Firefighters (27%)
6. Police officers (23%)
7. Delivery drivers (22%)
8. Retail staff (20%)
9. Postal workers (17%)
10. Hospitality (16%)

Professional wrestling legend Mick Foley announced Tuesday that he is “parting ways with WWE” because of the organization’s ties with fellow WWE Hall of Fame inductee President Trump.

“While I have been concerned about WWE‘s close relationship with Donald Trump for several months — especially in light of his administration’s ongoing cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants (and pretty much anyone who “looks like an immigrant”) — reading the President’s incredibly cruel comments in the wake of Rob Reiner’s death is the final straw for me,” Foley, 60, wrote Tuesday on Instagram.

“I no longer wish to represent a company that coddles a man so seemingly void of compassion as he marches our country towards autocracy. Last night, I informed @WWE talent relations that I would not be making any appearances for the company as long as this man remains in office.

“Additionally, I will not be signing a new Legends deal when my current one expires in June.”

WWE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times.

Following the killings of Hollywood icon Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner, Trump wrote on social media that the couple died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Trump added of Reiner, who had campaigned for liberal causes: “He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”

Nick Reiner, 32, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his parents. Trump’s comments have drawn bipartisan backlash.

Foley won the WWF (as the company was then known) championship three times in the late 1990s in his Mankind persona. He has also won eight WWF tag team titles and also has wrestled as Cactus Jack, Dude Love and under his own name. He retired from the ring in 2012 but has appeared in various roles for the league since then.

Foley was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. So was Trump, as a celebrity inductee.

A longtime pro wrestling fan, Trump has hosted WWE events and has been an active participant, both in and out of the ring, in a number of storylines. Late last year, Trump named Linda McMahon — the former longtime WWE chief executive and president whose husband, Vince McMahon, is the company’s founder — as secretary of Education for his second term.

A Canadian lawmaker who was denied entry to the occupied West Bank, alongside fellow politicians and civil society leaders, has dismissed Israel’s claims that the delegation posed a threat to public safety.

Jenny Kwan, a Canadian MP with the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), questioned whether Canada’s recognition of an independent Palestinian state earlier this year contributed to Israel’s decision to block the group.

“How is it that members of parliament are a public safety concern?” she said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “How is it that civil society organisations who are doing humanitarian work… [are] a security concern?”

Kwan and five other MPs were among 30 Canadian delegates denied entry to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday after Israel deemed them a risk to public safety.

The delegation, organised by nonprofit group The Canadian-Muslim Vote, was turned back to Jordan at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing, which connects Jordan with the West Bank and is controlled by Israel on the Palestinian side, after an hours-long security check.

Kwan said another female MP in the group was “manhandled” by Israeli border agents while attempting to keep an eye on a delegate who was being taken for additional interrogation.

“She was shoved – not once, not twice, but multiple times – by border agents there,” Kwan said. “A member of parliament was handled in that way – If you were just an everyday person, what else could have happened?”

The delegates had been expected to meet with Palestinian community members to discuss daily realities in the West Bank, where residents have faced a surge in Israeli military and settler violence.

They were also planning to meet with Jewish families affected by the conflict, said Kwan, who described the three-day trip as a fact-finding mission.

“I reject the notion that that is a public safety concern,” she said of the delegation’s mission.

Lack of information

Global Affairs Canada, the country’s Foreign Ministry, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions about the incident.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on Tuesday afternoon that the ministry was in contact with the delegation and had “expressed Canada’s objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians while attempting to cross”.

The Israeli military did not respond to Al Jazeera’s repeated requests for comment.

In a statement to Canada’s public broadcaster CBC News, the Israeli military agency that oversees affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, COGAT, said the Canadian delegates were turned back because they arrived “without prior coordination”.

COGAT also said the group’s members were “denied for security reasons”.

But the delegates said they had applied for, and received, Israel Electronic Travel Authorization permits before they reached the crossing. Kwan also said the Canadian government informed Israel ahead of time of the delegation’s plans.

“I’m not quite sure exactly what kind of coordination is required,” Kwan told Al Jazeera.

“We followed every step that we’re supposed to follow, so I’m not quite sure exactly what they mean or what they’re referring to.”

Canada-Israel ties

Canada, a longstanding supporter of Israel, faced the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after it joined several European allies in recognising an independent Palestinian state in September.

“Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats,” Netanyahu said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

The recognition came after months of mass protests in Canada and other Western countries demanding an end to Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 people since October 2023.

Rights advocates also called for action to stem a surge in deadly Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Against that backdrop, members of the Canadian delegation questioned whether their entry refusal was part of an Israeli effort to prevent people from witnessing what is happening on the ground in the Palestinian territory.

“‘What are they trying to hide?’ is the question that comes to mind,” Fawad Kalsi, the CEO of the relief group Penny Appeal Canada and one of the delegates, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

Kwan, the Canadian MP, raised a similar question, saying, “If people cannot witness” what is happening on the ground in the West Bank, “then misinformation and disinformation will continue”.

She added that she also saw foreign doctors being turned back to Jordan at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing as they tried to bring medicine and baby formula into the West Bank.

“If we as members of parliament could face denial of entry,” she said, “imagine what is going on on the ground with other people, and the difficulties that they face, that we do not know about.”

US adds five Arab and African countries to travel ban list as right-wing politicians intensify Islamophobic rhetoric.

United States President Donald Trump has added five countries to the list of nations whose citizens are banned from entering the US, including Palestine and Syria.

The White House announced the expansion of the ban on Tuesday, as it intensifies its crackdown on immigration.

Tuesday’s order imposed a travel ban on six new countries – Palestine, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria – in addition to the 12 initially made public in June.

The decree did not refer to Palestine, which Washington does not recognise as a state, by name or even as the occupied Palestinian territory.

Instead, it describes the Palestine category as “Palestinian Authority Documents” and refers to Palestinians as “individuals attempting to travel on PA-issued or endorsed travel documents”.

The decision comes weeks after Trump declared a “permanent pause” on migration from what he called “all Third World Countries” in response to the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, DC.

“Several US-designated terrorist groups operate actively in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and have murdered American citizens. Also, the recent war in these areas likely resulted in compromised vetting and screening abilities,” the White House said.

“In light of these factors, and considering the weak or nonexistent control exercised over these areas by the PA, individuals attempting to travel on PA-issued or endorsed travel documents cannot currently be properly vetted and approved for entry into the United States.”

Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, slammed the ban, accusing Trump and his top aide Stephen Miller of pushing to alter the demographics of the country.

“This administration’s racist cruelty knows no limits, expanding their travel ban to include even more African and Muslim-majority countries, even Palestinians fleeing a genocide,” she said in a social media post.

The move to ban Palestinians from entering the US comes as Israel continues its daily deadly attacks in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers have killed at least two US citizens this year.

Meanwhile, the ban on Syrians coincides with rapprochement between Washington and Damascus after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House in November.

“While the country is working to address its security challenges in close coordination with the United States, Syria still lacks an adequate central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures,” the White House said.

On Thursday, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard cited the mass shooting that killed 15 people at a Jewish festival in Australia to laud Trump’s immigration restrictions.

“Islamists and Islamism is the greatest threat to the freedom, security, and prosperity of the United States and the entire world. It is probably too late for Europe – and maybe Australia,” she wrote on X.

“It is not too late for the United States of America. But it soon will be. Thankfully, President Trump has prioritized securing our borders and deporting known and suspected terrorists, and stopping mass, unvetted migration that puts Americans at risk.”

Trump’s Republican allies have been increasingly using Islamophobic rhetoric, and calling for Muslims to be blocked from entering the country.

On Sunday, Senator Tommy Tuberville called Islam a “cult”, baselessly accusing Muslims of aiming to “conquer” the West.

“Stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers,” he wrote in a social media post. “We’ve got to SEND THEM HOME NOW or we’ll become the United Caliphate of America.”

When Trump first ran for president in 2015, he called for a complete ban on Muslims entering the US, and when he started his first term, he imposed a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries.

Throughout 2025, De Los has championed the rise of the Latino artists from their respective musical silos and into the broader global pop stratosphere. The 2026 Super Bowl halftime show headliner Bad Bunny and Inland Empire corrido kings Fuerza Regida scaled new commercial and cultural heights this year, as emerging acts like Silvana Estrada, Ela Minus and Netón Vega took exciting new detours in their sounds.

De Los recently did a team huddle to determine our personal best releases of 2025 — this is no garden variety Latin genre list, but a highlight reel of our favorite works by artists from Latin America and the diaspora.

10. Cazzu, “Latinaje”
Reeling from a romantic disappointment of mythological proportions and the lackluster reception of her previous album, Argentine trap queen Cazzu fired back with a maximalist travelogue that draws from salsa and cumbia, Argentine folk and electro-pop. Cazzu hails from the province of Jujuy, miles away from the musical snobbery that plagues much of Buenos Aires, and her genuine investment in a pan-Latino idiom is contagious. A sumptuous corrido tumbado about a red dress that went viral (“Dolce”) and an Andean-flavored ode to her daughter (“Inti”) are the emotional cornerstones of an album that refuses to harbor resentment and instead chooses to embrace plurality. Her absence from the main categories in this year’s Latin Grammys was nothing short of criminal. —Ernesto Lechner

9. Netón Vega, “Mi Vida Mi Muerte”
As one of música mexicana’s most in-demand songwriters, Netón Vega has crafted hits for every big crossover artist, from Xavi to Peso Pluma. Naturally, it’s about time that he delivered a full-length project of his own. Vega’s debut album, “Mi Vida Mi Muerte,” takes stock of the current sound of corridos tumbados and pushes it to its limits alongside the very collaborators that he helped top the charts. Vega’s chameleonic qualities as a songwriter allow him to bend the rules of what counts as “Mexican” music, and over 21 songs, he establishes that his vision includes Californian G-funk, blissed-out boom bap and even Caribbean reggaeton. Vega sounds equally as comfortable on the radio smash “Loco” as he does wailing over a bajo sexto, proving that the future of corridos, with him at the helm, can be more expansive than ever before. —Reanna Cruz

8. Juana Aguirre, “Anónimo”
If the music business thing doesn’t quite pan out for Juana Aguirre, Argentina’s newly anointed resident genius could find success as a film director — such is the palpable cinematic gravity of “Anónimo,” a stark masterpiece of digital mood conjuring. Aguirre builds her tracks slowly, armed with an unerring instinct for beauty and a ruthless, try-and-discard methodology. The results are childlike at times — parts of “La Noche” and “Lo_Divino” sound like nursery rhymes — while the nakedness of “Volvieron” brims with a solemn, ageless kind of grace. Her sonic spectrum is panoramic, from esoteric folktronica murmurs and camouflaged industrial noise to the cosmic stillness of “Un Nombre Propio” and the ritualistic piano of “Las Ramas.” Until “Anónimo,” the Argentine avant-garde had never sounded so intoxicatingly sensuous. —E.L.

7. Adrian Quesada, “Boleros Psicodélicos II”
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, multi-instrumentalist and producer Adrian Quesada enlisted some of the most enthralling vocalists in Latin music to record “Boleros Psicodélicos,” a love letter to Latin American psychedelic ballads from the ’60s and ’70s. The album, which featured original compositions alongside kaleidoscopic covers of the genre, was hailed as an instant classic after its 2022 release. Three years later, Quesada improved upon the winning formula by actually being in the same room as his collaborators — the first album was made in isolation. “There’s a little bit more life, energy to some of the songs,” Quesada told De Los of “Boleros Psicodélicos II.” That vibrancy is certainly felt in tracks like “Bravo” — Puerto Rican singer iLe’s voice is laced with plenty of venom to do justice to Luis Demetrio’s spiteful lyrics (“Te odio tanto / Que yo misma me espanto / De mi forma de odiar”) — and “Primos,” which has Quesada pair up with guitar vibemasters Hermanos Gutiérrez for the album’s only instrumental track. Here’s hoping that we get another installment of this brilliant series three years from now. —Fidel Martinez

6. Nick León, “A Tropical Entropy”
Hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., just a hop, skip and a jump north of Miami, the electronic mixmaster Nick León broke through a busy pop music landscape this year as a producer with a distinctly Floridian point of view. In his latest album, “A Tropical Entropy” — the title harks back to a phrase from Joan Didion’s 1987 book, “Miami” — León crafted his moody “beach noir” sound by blanketing his dynamic assemblages of dembow, dancehall and other Afro-Caribbean rhythms with a foamy, oceanic ambience that flows and hisses throughout the record. Featuring the vocal talents of Ela Minus (“Ghost Orchid”), Erika De Casier (“Bikini”) and Esty (“Millennium Freak” with Mediopicky), it’s an audible feast for club kids whose afters entail collapsing on the sand and watching dolphins traverse the horizon at sunrise. —Suzy Exposito

5. Not For Radio, “Melt”
Released in October, “Melt” is the frosty solo album by María Zardoya, lead singer of Grammy-nominated L.A. band the Marías, who wrote and recorded 10 of her most soul-baring songs yet during a haunted winter sabbatical in the Catskills. Imbued with brooding elements of chamber pop à la Beach House, Broadcast and the Carpenters, there is much enchantment to be found in the details of Zardoya’s electric drama; like how the warm fuzz of an organ meets frosty chimes on opening track “Puddles,” or in the restless, skittish pulse of “Swan.” Zardoya’s yearning for a love lost crescendoes, and is most devastating, in the piano ballad “Back to You”; but it seems as though even her darkest, most melancholic moments are touched by the fae. —S.E.

4. Isabella Lovestory, “Vanity”
With 2022’s “Amor Hardcore,” Isabella Lovestory established herself as a neoperreo princess — the Ivy Queen for the Instagram era. The Honduran pop star’s follow-up album “Vanity” takes a different approach, trading sleazy sexcapades for campy vulnerability. As in her name, Lovestory is inherently a storyteller. Her lyrics are pulled from half-remembered dreams, speaking of herself in immersive, surreal contradiction. She’s a perfume bottle made of foam, or a strawberry made of metal. It’s a deceptively saccharine world, one that she sees as, in her words, a “poisonous lollipop.” And when the production falls somewhere between RedOne productions and Plan B deep cuts, that world becomes a post-cultural, hazy pop dystopia of both the past and a far-off, distant future. —R.C.

3. Fuerza Regida “111XPantia”
In summer 2024, while promoting the band’s previous album, “Pero No Te Enamores,” Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz assured me that the San Bernardino quintet was not abandoning the sound that made it one of the biggest acts in the música mexicana space. Simply put, JOP was scratching a creative itch by flirting with Jersey club, drill and house music. True to his word, the charchetas and tololoche are now back and on full display in “111xPantia.” Yet the band’s 9th studio album is by no means a rehash of their past work; Fuerza Regida is as experimental as ever, whether by incorporating a banjo on “Peliculeando” (what’s next, a collab with Mumford & Sons?) or sampling Nino Rota’s iconic theme song on “GodFather” (given the focus on excess, the lyrics are more Tony Montana than Michael Corleone). This year, JOP & Co. set a new benchmark for the ever-evolving genre, all while becoming the biggest band in the world; Fuerza Regida was notably the only non-solo act to crack Spotify’s end-of-year top global artist list. —F.M.

2. Silvana Estrada, “Vendrán Suaves Lluvias”
Estrada’s second full-length album is a musical masterclass in maintaining serenity through loss. With her head held high, the Latin Grammy-winning Mexican singer-songwriter soldiered through an extended period of grief to write “Vendrán Suaves Lluvias,” including a harrowing heartbreak and the shocking murder of a friend. The bones of songs like “Como Un Pájaro” and “Un Rayo de Luz” are folk ballads, which she initially wrote using her trusty cuatro; but with the mighty backing of an orchestra, Estrada’s compositions swell with a symphonic grandeur that bolster the songbird’s more empowered and optimistic stance in the face of disappointment. “¿Cuál еra la idea de aventartе sin dejarte caer? Qué manera tan desoladora de querer,” she sings with an arid, jazzy inflection on “Dime” — a plea to a half-hearted lover who cowers at the force of her integrity. —S.E.

1. Bad Bunny, “Debí Tirar Mas Fotós”
“Debí Tirar Mas Fotós” has managed to dominate conversation all year — from its No. 1 debut in January to this summer’s blockbuster residency and subsequent world tour. Much has been said already about Bad Bunny’s magnum opus; the album is a generation-spanning, full-throated celebration of boricua resilience, and simultaneously a pointed warning about the ongoing neocolonization of La Isla del Encanto. But perhaps, in the spirit of its title, its best function is as a series of timeless musical snapshots: There’s the sweeping voice of the jíbaro calling down from the mountains on “Lo Que Le Pasó A Hawaii.” Sweat from rum-soaked nights in Brickell and La Placita lingers on “Voy a LLevarte Pa PR” and “Eoo.” Hands fold together on “Weltita” as waves ebb and flow, and the warmth of a grandparent’s final forehead kiss lingers on “DTMF.” It’s a record that is designed to be intimately understood by Latinos, with Bad Bunny’s personal ethos of Puerto Rican independence managing to build a bridge between the island and those displaced from it. And with Benito’s Super Bowl victory lap right around the corner, “Debí Tirar Mas Fotós” is poised to dominate not just 2025, but the coming months as well, cementing him as — to paraphrase “Nuevayol” — el rey de pop, reggaetón y dembow.

Honorable mentions:

Reanna’s pick: Corridos Ketamina, “Corridos Ketamina”
There’s one night at the start of every Los Angeles autumn when you can begin to feel the chill of loneliness in the air. When I heard “V-Neno,” the opening track on Corridos Ketamina’s self-titled debut EP, I was taken back to the first time I felt it: walking around at 3 AM alone and moody as hell. The 14-minute EP is like if Lil Peep and Lil Tracy went down to Sinaloa for the weekend. Triple-tracked vocals drenched in reverb drift over sluggish guitar loops, all struggling to claw out of the K-hole. Yes, technically Corridos Ketamina are making narcocorridos (what you see is what you get: in an interview with the Fader, they put it simply, “Let’s make the first corrido about doing K”), but there’s something still warm and inviting at the core of these seven songs. Maybe it’s the familiar blend of emo, rap, shoegaze and corridos — or it’s the fact that this is a record that could only come out of Los Angeles, born out of late nights on empty freeways and in seedy apartments. —R.C.

Ernesto’s pick: Amor Elefante, “Amigas”
I dare you not to smile when you listen to “Hipnótico,” the synth-pop fantasia that kicks off “Amigas,” a welcome return to action for Buenos Aires quartet Amor Elefante. The band moves in the fertile periphery where sunshine pop meets dream rock, channeling the Police on the reggae vibe of “Universal Hit” and diving into Cocteau Twins ether on “La Vuelta.” If anything, “Amigas” illustrates the band’s bloom as composers of potential singles: drummer Rocío Fernández goes funky on the folk-driven “La Vuelta,” while keyboardist Inés Copertino flexes her disco diva status on the outro line to “Foto de una Coreografía.” In lead singer Rocío Bernardiner, Amor boasts one of South America’s most radiant voices. —E.L.

Suzy’s pick: Ela Minus, “Día”
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, and now based in Brooklyn, electronic artist-producer Gabriela Jimeno, or Ela Minus, first bonded with beats as a tween drummer in a hardcore band. That rugged punk rock intensity would later unify the vast, synth-laden sprawl that is her second album, “Día”: a chronicle of her displacement during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent ego death. She lets her listeners in with the vulnerable yet galvanizing dance track “I Want to Be Better,” which she has described as her “only love song” — but icily calls for the world’s end on the Latin Grammy-nominated club cut “QQQQ,” and rejects the parasocial worship of pop stars in “Idols,” chanting: “Chasing after phantoms / Bowing down to someone else’s idols.” Indeed — how embarrassing! —S.E.

Fidel’s pick: Cuco, “Ridin’”
Hawthorne’s own Cuco (real name Omar Banos) tapped into the soundtrack of Southern California’s lowrider culture — soul and R&B — to make “Ridin’” one of the best neo-Chicano soul albums in recent years. Tracks like “My 45” and “ICNBYH” (“I Could Never Break Your Heart”) are perfect accompaniments for slow drives down Whittier Boulevard. “Para Ti,” the only Spanish song on the LP, sounds like it could come out of one of your abuelo’s bolero albums. —F.M.

When word came of Rob Reiner’s senseless death, America fell into familiar rites of mourning and remembrance. A waterfall of tributes poured in from the twin worlds — Hollywood and politics — that the actor, director and liberal activist inhabited.

Through the shock and haze, before all but the sketchiest details were known, President Trump weighed in as well, driving by his diarrhetic compulsion to muse on just about every passing event, as though he was elected not to govern but to serve as America’s commentator in chief.

Trump’s response, fairly shimmying on Reiner’s grave as he wrongly attributed his death to an act of political vengeance, managed to plumb new depths of heartlessness and cruelty; more than a decade into his acrid emergence as a political force, the president still manages to stoop to surprise.

But as vile and tasteless as Trump’s self-pitying statement was — Reiner, he averred, was a victim of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and, essentially, got what he deserved — it also pointed out a singular truism of his vengeful residency in the Oval Office.

In recent decades, the nation has had a president who lied and deceived to cover up his personal vices. Another who plunged the country into a costly and needless war. A third whose willfulness and vanity led him to overstay his time, hurting his party and America as well.

Still, each acted as though he was a president of all the people, not just those who voted him into office, contributed lavishly to his campaign or blindly cheered his every move, however reckless or ill-considered.

As Trump has repeatedly made clear, he sees the world in black-and-white, red-versus-blue, us-versus-them.

There are the states he carried that deserve federal funding. The voters whose support entitles them to food aid and other benefits. The sycophants bestowed with medals and presidential commendations.

And then there are his critics and political opponents — those he proudly and admittedly hates — whose suffering and even demise he openly savors.

When Charlie Kirk was killed, Trump ordered flags be flown at half-staff. He flew to Arizona to headline his memorial service. His vice president, JD Vance, suggested people should be fired for showing any disrespect toward the late conservative provocateur.

By noteworthy contrast, when a gunman killed Minnesota’s Democratic former House speaker, Melissa Hortman, Trump couldn’t be bothered with even a simple act of grace. Asked if he’d called to offer his condolences to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a personal friend of Hortman, Trump responded, “Why waste time?”

This is not normal, much less humane.

This is not politics as usual, or someone rewarding allies and seeking to disadvantage the political opposition, as all presidents have done. This is the nation’s chief executive using the immense powers of his office and the world’s largest, most resonant megaphone to deliver retribution, ruin people’s lives, inflict misery — and revel in the pain.

There were the usual denunciations of Trump’s callous and contemptuous response to Reiner’s stabbing death.

“I’d expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the president of the United States,” said Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who is retiring rather than seeking reelection in 2026. (Which may be why he was so candid and spoke so bracingly.)

But this time, the criticisms did not just come from the typical anti-Trump chorus, or heterodox Republicans like Bacon and MAGA-stalwart-turned-taunter Marjorie Taylor Greene. Even some of the president’s longest and loudest advocates felt compelled to speak out.

“This is a dreadful thing to say about a man who just got murdered by his troubled son,” British broadcaster Piers Morgan posted on X. “Delete it, Mr. President.”

More telling, though, was the response from the Republican Party’s leadership.

“I don’t have much more to say about it, other than it’s a tragedy, and my sympathies and prayers go out to the Reiner family and to their friends,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN when asked about Trump’s response. House Speaker Mike Johnson responded in a similarly nonresponsive vein.

Clearly, the see-and-hear-no-evil impulse remains strong in the upper echelons of the GOP — at least until more election returns show the price Republicans are paying as Trump keeps putting personal vendettas ahead of voters’ personal finances.

One of the enduring reasons supporters say they back the president is Trump’s supposed honesty. (Never mind the many voluminously documented lies he has told on a near-constant basis.)

Honesty, in this sense, means saying things that a more temperate and careful politician would never utter, and it’s an odd thing to condone in the nation’s foremost leader. Those with even a modicum of caring and compassion, who would never tell a friend they’re ugly or call a neighbor stupid — and who expect the same respect and decency in return — routinely ignore or explain away such casual cruelty when it comes from this president.

Those who insist Trump can do no wrong, who defend his every foul utterance or engage in but-what-about relativism to minimize the import, need not remain in his constant thrall.

When Trump steps so egregiously over a line, when his malice is so extravagant and spitefulness so manifest — as it was when he mocked Reiner in death — then, even the most fervent of the president’s backers should call him out.

Do it, and reclaim a little piece of your humanity.

The Whole 10 Yards panel discusses the “eerie” similarities between the careers of Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, after the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback tore his ACL in defeat by the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

WATCH: The Whole 10 Yards – ‘Topsy-Turvy’ 2025 (UK only)

Dec. 16 (UPI) — Tesla shares closed at a record-high $489.88 on Tuesday, days after CEO Elon Musk announced the company had been testing driverless vehicles in Texas.

Shares rose 3.1% for the day and were up 21% for the year, CNBC reported. This came after Tesla’s worst quarter since 2022 when it dropped 36% in the first quarter of this year.

Techstock² reported that in addition to the roboatxi announcement, Tesla saw a boost on the stock market in response to a fresh round of filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.

The filings showed that WT Wealth Management increased its Tesla stake by 178.7%, Carter Financial Group opened a new Tesla position, Orion Portfolion solutions increased its holdings of Tesla by 14.8%, National Wealth Management Group increased its stake by 26.3% and Momentum Wealth Planning purchased a new stake of 9,802 shares worth about $3.11 million.

Tesla also invested $1.2 billion in a battery cell plant in Berlin.

With Tuesday’s bounce, Tesla’s market cap reached $1.63 trillion, making it the seventh-most valuable company in trading behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, CNBC reported.

Winter cold ‘becomes lethal’ as Israel restricts entry of tents, blankets and other shelter supplies to ravaged enclave.

A Palestinian infant has frozen to death in the Gaza Strip, local authorities say, as Israel continues to restrict the entry of shelter supplies and other humanitarian aid to the enclave despite the harsh winter conditions there.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Tuesday that the two-week-old baby, Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair, died a day earlier after seeking treatment for severe hypothermia, brought on by the extreme cold gripping Gaza.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum noted that the child’s death comes as basic protections in Gaza have been “systematically dismantled” due to Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the territory.

“Families are living in tents on wet ground without heating, electricity or sufficient clothing,” Abu Azzoum said. “When food, fuel, shelter and aid are banned, cold absolutely becomes lethal.”

Israel’s two-year war has decimated more than 80 percent of the structures across Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to take refuge in flimsy tents or overcrowded makeshift shelters.

A huge storm that recently hit the Strip killed at least 11 people as torrential rains and fierce winds flooded tents and caused damaged buildings to collapse.

“We try to dry the children’s clothes over the fire,” Umm Mohammed Assaliya, a displaced Palestinian mother, told Al Jazeera from Gaza City.

“There are no spare clothes for them. I am exhausted. The tent we were given cannot withstand winter conditions. We need blankets,” she said.

Humanitarian groups have urged Israel to allow unimpeded deliveries of aid to Gaza.

But the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which the UN says is best suited to distribute supplies in the territory, says the Israeli government has blocked it from bringing aid directly into Gaza.

“People have reportedly died due to the collapse of damaged buildings where families were sheltering. Children have reportedly died from exposure to the cold,” UNRWA said in a social media post on Tuesday.

“This must stop. Aid must be allowed in at scale, now.”

Hamas slams Israeli ceasefire violations

Meanwhile, Hamas has condemned Israel for its repeated violations of a ceasefire deal that came into effect in October.

At least 393 Palestinians have been killed and 1,074 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the first full day of the ceasefire on October 11, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli military also killed a senior Hamas leader, Raed Saad, in a targeted attack on a vehicle in western Gaza City on Saturday, further straining the tenuous truce.

On Tuesday, Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad accused Israel of “manipulating” the text of the US-brokered agreement.

“We want to make it absolutely clear: the ceasefire agreement is straightforward, detailed, and unambiguous. However, it’s evident that the Israeli occupation has distorted the text, manipulating and violating every single article,” Hamad said.

“Since day one, Hamas has fully abided by the agreement and honoured its commitments. In contrast, Israel has deliberately committed several systematic and preplanned breaches.”

Joel Dommett has admitted to a major blunder during filming of The Masked Singer Christmas special.

Joel Dommett has disclosed how he plunged The Masked Singer festive special into complete pandemonium during recording following an inadvertent gaffe.

The presenter is making his comeback to the cherished ITV contest, working alongside panellists Jonathan Ross, Maya Jama, Davina McCall and Mo Gilligan.

They’ll be attempting to uncover the true identities of the famous participants alongside audiences at home, using a series of cryptic hints.

Four well-known personalities will perform on stage whilst concealing their identities, disguised as Santa’s Sack, Mistletoe, a Goose A-Laying and Figgy Pudding.

The yuletide episode broadcasts on Boxing Day, with a complete series following several weeks afterwards, reports Wales Online.

It’s now emerged that recording for the seasonal show spiralled into mayhem when Joel inadvertently revealed one of the concealed celebrities.

He confessed to recognising the distinctive giggle from behind Mistletoe’s mask, blurting out their actual identity before realising his error and collapsing to the ground.

The I’m A Celebrity Unpacked presenter told The Sun: “I can’t believe I did it. This person was chuckling in the costume and it’s a chuckle I know well and I said their name. It just came out. Their actual name!”

He continued: “Thankfully, [the judges] had pretty much guessed who it was.

“But producers did reiterate to me that I wasn’t to do that again. I was on the naughty step.”

The Masked Singer UK Christmas special will also showcase a collection of pantomime legends, including Fairy Godmother (Su Pollard), the dame (Christopher Biggins), Wicked Stepmother (Lesley Joseph) and Prince Charming (Basil Brush), who will be offering hints to the judging panel.

This follows Joel’s recent mishap several weeks back whilst recording I’m A Celebrity’s companion show Unpacked.

The presenter was compelled to say sorry after inadvertently cursing, when his regular broadcast was dramatically disrupted after being “assaulted” by a flying insect.

He frantically jumped up from his chair whilst frantically batting at a fly, exclaiming: “Ohhh f***ing hell, that’s massive.”

He swiftly bounced back from the blunder, remembering he was on live television.

“I’m sorry I swore,” he said apologetically, before adding: “That was absolutely petrifying.”

The Masked Singer Christmas Special airs Boxing Day at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s chief of staff is defending herself after granting an extraordinarily candid series of interviews with Vanity Fair in which she offers stinging judgments of the president himself and blunt assessments about his administration’s shortcomings.

The profile of Susie Wiles, Trump’s reserved, influential top aide since he resumed office, caused scandal in Washington and prompted a crisis response from the White House that involved nearly every single figure in Trump’s orbit issuing a public defense.

In 11 interviews conducted over lunches and meetings in the West Wing, Wiles described early failures and drug use by Elon Musk during his time in government, mistakes by Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi in her public handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and acknowledged that Trump had launched a retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies.

“I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution,” Wiles told Chris Whipple, the Vanity Fair writer who has written extensively on past chiefs of staff, “but when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”

Wiles also cited missteps in the administration’s immigration crackdown, contradicted a claim Trump makes about Epstein and former President Clinton and described Vice President JD Vance as a “conspiracy theorist.”

Within hours of the Vanity Fair tell-all publishing on Tuesday, Wiles and key members of Trump’s inner circle mounted a robust defense of her tenure, calling the story a “hit piece” that left out exculpatory context.

“The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history,” Wiles said in a post on X, her first in more than a year. “Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story.”

The profile was reported with the knowledge and participation of other senior staff, and illustrated with a photograph of Wiles and some of Trump’s closest aides, including Vance, Bondi and advisor Stephen Miller.

The profile revealed much about a chief of staff who has kept a discreet profile in the West Wing, continuing her management philosophy carried through the 2024 election when she served as Trump’s last campaign manager: She let Trump be Trump. “Sir, remember that I am the chief of staff, not the chief of you,” she recalled telling the president.

Trump has publicly emphasized how much he values Wiles as a trusted aide. He did so at a rally last week where he referred to her as “Susie Trump.” In an interview with Whipple, she talked about having difficult conversations with Trump on a daily basis, but that she picks her battles.

“So no, I’m not an enabler. I’m also not a bitch. I try to be thoughtful about what I even engage in,” Wiles said. “I guess time will tell whether I’ve been effective.”

Despite her passive style, Wiles shared concern over Trump’s initial approach to tariff policy, calling the levies “more painful than I had expected.” She had urged him, unsuccessfully, to get his retribution campaign out of the way within his first 90 days in office, in order to enable the administration to move on to more important matters. And she had opposed Trump’s blanket pardon of Jan. 6 defendants, including those convicted of violent crimes.

Wiles also conceded the administration needs to “look harder at our process for deportation,” adding that in at least one instance mistakes were made when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and deported two mothers and their American children to Honduras. One of children was being treated for Stage 4 cancer.

“I can’t understand how you make that mistake, but somebody did,” she said.

In foreign policy, Wiles defended the administration’s attack on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and said the president “wants to keep on blowing up boats up until [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro cries uncle,” suggesting the end goal is to seek a regime change.

As Trump has talked about potential land strikes in Venezuela, Wiles acknowledged that such a move would require congressional authorization.

“If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress,” she said.

In one exchange with Whipple, she characterized Trump, who abstains from liquor, as having an “alcoholic’s personality,” explaining that “high-functioning alcoholics, or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink.”

He “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing,” she said.

But Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, defended Wiles and her comments, saying that he would indeed be an alcoholic if he drank alcohol.

“She’s done a fantastic job,” Trump said. “I think from what I hear, the facts were wrong, and it was a very misguided interviewer — purposely misguided.”

Wiles also blamed the persistence of the Epstein saga on members of Trump’s own Cabinet, noting that the president’s chosen FBI director, Kash Patel, had advocated for the release of all Justice Department files related to the investigation for many years. Despite Trump’s claims that Clinton visited the disgraced financier and convicted sex abuser’s private island, Wiles acknowledged, Trump is “wrong about that.”

Wiles added that Bondi had “completely whiffed” on how she handled the Epstein files, an issue that has created a rift within MAGA.

“First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk,” Wiles said.

Wiles added that she has read the investigate files about Epstein, and acknowledged that Trump is mentioned in them, but said “he’s not in the file doing anything awful.”

Vance, who she said had been a “conspiracy theorist for a decade,” said he had joked with Wiles about conspiracies in private before offering her praise.

“I’ve never seen Susie Wiles say something to the president and then go and counteract him or subvert his will behind the scenes. And that’s what you want in a staffer,” Vance told reporters. “I’ve never see her be disloyal to the president of the United States and that makes her the best White House chief of staff that the president could ask for.”

Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget who Wiles described to Whipple as a “right-wing absolute zealot,” said in a social media post that she is an “exceptional chief of staff.” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said the “entire administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her.”

Wiles told Vanity Fair that she would be happy to stay in the role for as long as the president wanted her to stay, noting that she has time to devote to the job, being divorced and with her kids out of the house.

Trump had a troubled relationship with his chiefs of staff in his first term, cycling through four in four years. His longest-serving chief of staff, former Gen. John Kelly, served a year and a half.

FIFA announced an affordable admission pricing tier for every nation that’s qualified for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The supporter entry tier will make tickets available at a fixed price of $60 for every match, including the final, for each nation’s participating members associations.

The new tier comes after supporters’ groups from Europe called out FIFA on the dynamic pricing of tickets, which changes the value based on the popularity of the teams playing in each match.

“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely supporter value tier (40%) and the supporter entry tier (10%),” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The remaining allocation is split evenly between the supporter standard tier and the supporter premier tier.”

FIFA will also waive the administrative fees for fans who secure participating member association tickets, but their teams do not advance and they seek refunds.

Tickets sales were rolled out by FIFA in phases, with a third of the tournament’s inventory claimed during the first two phases. The third phase started on Dec. 11 and will go through to Jan. 13. During this period, fans have the opportunity to allocate tickets for a match based on a random selection draw.

Before the new tier was introduced, the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey would cost fans more than $4,000. The high prices raised concerns among European supporters.

“The prices set for the 2026 World Cup are scandalous, a step too far for many supporters who passionately and loyally follow their national sides at home and abroad,” the FSA, an organization of supporters for England and Wales, said in a statement posted on its website on Dec. 12. “Everything we feared about the direction in which FIFA wants to take the game was confirmed — Gianni Infantino only sees supporter loyalty as something to be exploited for profit.”

FIFA previously stated it adopted the variable pricing because it was common practice for major North America sporting events.

“What FIFA is doing is adapting to the domestic market,” a FIFA official said in the conference call. “It’s a reality in the U.S. and Canada that events are being priced as per the demand that is coming in for that event.”

A FIFA official told reporters before the first tickets went on sale that world soccer’s governing body expects to make more than $3 billion from hospitality and tickets sales and is confident the tournament will break the all-time World Cup attendance record set in 1994, the last time the competition was held in the U.S.

That 1994 World Cup featured just 24 teams and 52 matches. The 2026 tournament will be twice as large, with 48 teams and 104 games.

FIFA said it received 20 million requests during the random selection draw sales.

SoFi Stadium will host eight matches, beginning with the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12. The Americans will finish group play in Inglewood on June 25, playing the winner of a March playoff involving Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania. Two Group G matches — Iran vs. New Zealand on June 15 and Iran-Belgium on June 21 — also will be played in SoFi, sandwiched around a Group B match between Switzerland and the winner of another European playoff, this one featuring Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland.

The teams for the three knockout-stage games to be played at SoFi Stadium — round-of-32 games on June 28 and July 2 and a quarterfinal on July 10 — haven’t been determined, but the possibilities include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria.

Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.

Chile has joined South America’s shift to the right, electing Jose Antonio Kast, a hardline conservative, as president.

He tapped into voters’ fears about a rise in crime and migration, and an economic crisis.

His victory marks a significant shift since the end of military rule more than 30 years ago.

It also comes as other populist conservatives have taken office in the region.

From Bolivia to Argentina to El Salvador, the move to the right is being watched closely, particularly by the United States.

But what does it all mean for the political dynamics in South America?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Claudio Barrientos – Professor at the School of History at Diego Portales University

Jose Ragas – Historian and assistant professor at the Catholic University of Chile

Christopher Sabatini – Senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House