THE UK’s most isolated island celebrates Christmas on January 6 – despite the rest of Britain packing away the decorations weeks earlier.

Foula, a tiny Scottish island 20 miles off the west coast of Shetland, follows its own festive timetable.

The unusual timing is down to the calendar the island follows.

While the rest of the UK adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, Foula’s residents chose to keep using the older Julian calendar.

That decision means key dates slowly drifted, and after a leap year change in 1900, Christmas and New Year ended up falling 12 days later than elsewhere.

Home to just 35 people, Foula is often described as one of the most remote places in the country.

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With no pubs, shops, bars, Wi-Fi or National Grid connection, supplies arrive only by boat or small plane, weather permitting, yet despite its isolation the island still offers plenty to see.

Foula covers around five square miles and is dominated by five dramatic peaks, including Da Kame, which is believed to be one of the highest sheer sea cliffs in Britain.

The island is also one of the best places in the UK to spot the Northern Lights.

Known locally as the Mirrie Dancers, they are most often seen between mid-October and mid-March, depending on conditions.

Wildlife is another major draw. Foula is famous for its native sheep, which are unique.

Foula is also popular with scuba divers due to several shipwrecks around its shores, notably the RMS Oceanic, launched in 1899, later used during the First World War, and wrecked just three miles east of the island.

Those who prefer to stay on dry land can join guided walks run by the Foula Ranger Service, or explore independently using maps provided by Foula Heritage.

The island can be reached by ferry or flight from the Shetland Mainland, with ferries running three times a week and taking about two hours, while visitors stay in self-catering accommodation and must bring all supplies.

Two other little-known islands to visit in the UK

HERE are two other little-known islands to visit in the UK.

The Isle of Erraid, Scotland

The tiny Inner Hebridean Isle of Erraid is a tidal island, just off the tip of the Ross of Mull.

For an hour or two either side of low tide, the Isle of Erraid is linked to the mainland by a broad expanse of sand that you can cross.

But Erraid’s major claim to fame is its inspiration for the famous novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Erraid is one of the driest and sunniest places in Scotland, with less than 1,000 millimetres of rain and 1,350 hours of sunshine annually, so you’re virtually guaranteed great days out on the beach.

Unst, Scotland

Unst is roughly 178 miles away from the Scottish mainland.

There are thought to be just 600 people living on the tiny island, making it the most northerly inhabited place in the UK.

Unst has just one pub, one hotel, one school, three shops and a lone bus route.

Skaw Beach, the most northerly in the UK, is packed with golden sand, and it’s backed by a meadow that’s home to an array of wild flowers in the spring and summer.

Because of its shape, the beach is fairly sheltered from the winds.

There are limited facilities at the beach, so holidaymakers should aim to pack everything they need before visiting.

Despite its remote location, around 100 people have reviewed the beach on Google, with one person writing: “Wild and wooly, with nobody around. The water was freezing, as you would expect.”

It’s also a haven for birds including corncrake, lapwing, peregrine, hen harriers and sandpipers and you’ll also see plenty of deer, hedgehogs and Black Face sheep.

Liverpool and Egypt star forward Mohamed Salah is centred on winning his first Africa Cup of Nations title.

Egypt captain Mohamed Salah ‌has put aside his travails at Liverpool and is focused on Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) ‍success with his national ‍team, coach Hossam Hassan said on Sunday.

Egypt’s talisman is at the tournament in Morocco on the back of a fiery outburst after being dropped by the Premier League champions, but his comments and subsequent apology to teammates have had no impact on his form, Hassan ⁠said ahead of Egypt’s opening Group B match against Zimbabwe in Agadir on Monday.

“Salah’s morale in training is ​very high, as if he were just starting out with the national team, and ‍I believe he will have a great tournament with his country,” said the coach.

At 33, it is arguably Salah’s last chance to win an elusive trophy with Egypt and add international honours to an impressive collection of medals at club ‍level.

“I believe Salah ⁠will be among the best players at the tournament, and he will remain an icon and one of the best players in the world.

“I support him technically and morally, because we cannot forget that Salah needs to win the Africa Cup of Nations,” Hassan added.

Liverpool struggles on the backburner

Salah goes into Monday’s match having last started for Liverpool in their 4-1 home loss to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League at the end of November.

He was dropped for the next game against West ​Ham United, and after a draw with Leeds United on December 6, lashed ‌out at the club and Liverpool coach Arne Slot, telling journalists he felt he had been made a scapegoat for their poor start to the season and suggested that he may not have long left at Anfield.

Hassan said he had kept in ‌touch with his captain throughout the controversy.

“There was constant communication with Mohamed Salah during what I don’t want to call a crisis because any player ‌can have a difference of opinion with his coach at his ⁠club.”

Salah has not scored since Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa at the start of November, including an outing with Egypt in a friendly against Uzbekistan last month.

“The same situation happened with Salah when he went through a period of not scoring goals with ‌Liverpool,” Hassan told reporters.

“Then he returned to the right path through the national team, and as a result, he came back at a level even better than before. I believe he will deliver a strong ‍tournament alongside his teammates.”

Salah has twice been a Cup of Nations runner-up, in 2017 and 2021. Egypt have won a record seven AFCON titles, but their last success was in 2010.

The radio host and her producer boyfriend kept their relationship on the down low but are now celebrating their happy news.

Congratulations are in order as Kemi Rodgers, host of I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked, has announced she is engaged after her boyfriend Thomas Hannett proposed during a trip to Australia.

The radio presenter, 30, shared the happy news with fans over the weekend, posting a series of photos to Instagram showing off her engagement ring. In one snap, Kemi beamed as she held up her hand, while another captured the couple enjoying their time abroad.

Kemi, who hosts Unpacked alongside Joel Dommett, was in Australia for the duration of the series, which started on 19 November and ended on 7 December with YouTube star Angryginge taking the crowd.

She captioned the post: “I said yes.” Friends and celebrity colleagues were quick to flood the comments with congratulatory messages. Coronation Street actor Colson Smith wrote: “Congratulations Kemi!”

Capital FM star and This Morning host Sian Welby reacted with excitement, posting: “OMGGGG INCREDIBLE.” Former X Factor contestant Sam Lavery added: “OMG YESSSSS.” While Capital FM presenter Jordan North also shared his delight, commenting: “OMG! Congratulations guys.”

Thomas, who is a senior producer at Capital, and Kemi’s engagement comes just weeks after she revealed that they had actually been dating for over a year. The couple only went public with their relationship in September, when they shared photos from a romantic trip to Paris.

At the time, Kemi explained they had chosen to keep things private before stepping into the spotlight together.

In a short video shared on her Instagram page, Kemi and Thomas could be seen in Paris having a drink at a low-key restaurant as they enjoyed the weather.

They used the famous TikTok audio featuring a person’s voice saying: “Are you happy to be in Paris?”, which Thomas lip-synced before Kemi, 30, said: “Oui.” In the caption, she wrote: “Wine drunk in paris and thought the best way to hard launch my boyfriend on the grid was with the iconic nicki minaj ‘oui’ video loooooool.”

She added: “Full bottle of sancerre in the sun truly is the key to my heart.”

Friends and fans were delighted by the launch and took to the comment section to congratulate the pair. One pal wrote: “The hard launch we’ve all been waiting for,” and another said: “Finally.”

Last year, Kemi joined Sam Thompson and Joel Dommett in hosting a I’m A Celebrity spin-off show called Unpacked, four years after companion show Extra Camp was axed.

Everyone seemed to know in the first quarter of the Southern Section Division 1 final at the Rose Bowl what Santa Margarita High was going to do again and again — get the ball into the hands of Trent Mosley.

Every offensive play in the opening 12 minutes by Santa Margarita involved a pass or a run by Mosley.

“Why not?” quarterback Trace Johnson said.

In the end, Santa Margarita defeated Corona Centennial 42-7 with Mosley scoring four touchdowns and catching 10 passes for a stunning 292 yards. Two weeks later, he made 11 catches for 183 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 47-13 win over De La Salle in the CIF Open Division state championship bowl win.

It was the culmination of a return to greatness for Mosley, who was the Trinity League player of the year as a sophomore, then was slowed by injuries last season. He finally got healthy this season after an injury in the opening game, and every opponent knew the challenge he presented.

Mosley has been selected The Times’ football player of the year in the Southland.

Trent Mosley raises the Southern Section Division 1 championship trophy won by Santa Margarita at the Rose Bowl.

(Craig Weston)

There’s little doubt where his talent comes from — it’s in his genes. His mother, Cindy, was the Heisman Trophy winner for soccer at Notre Dame. His father, Emmett, played football at Notre Dame. His sister, Jalyn, played soccer at Iowa. His brother, Emmett, is a receiver at Texas. Younger brother Grant is another top receiver at Santa Margarita. The three brothers used to see who was most competitive.

“Usually my basketball games with my brothers would end up in fights. Video games, fights,” Trent said. “Blessed to have the experience and their guidance.”

There’s not a sport or position Mosley can’t master. He used to love playing lacrosse, and his versatility is his super power. When he shows up to USC, his college choice, the Trojans will have plenty of plans on how to use him, whether it’s receiver, wildcat quarterback, returning punts or kickoffs.

Centennial coach Matt Logan called him “phenomenal.” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said, “Good lord.”

Mosley added additional speed this season that led to even more big plays and showed what he can do when healthy.

“The gifts I’ve been given by God, working out with offseason speed training and also playing lacrosse two years ago — all that coming together produces what I can do now,” he said.

Dec. 19 (Asia Today) — President Lee Jae-myung on Friday questioned South Korea’s restrictions on access to North Korean state media such as Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, saying the policy treats citizens as if they could be swayed by propaganda.

“Isn’t the reason for blocking access to Rodong Sinmun because they fear the public might fall for propaganda and become communists?” Lee said during a joint briefing by the Foreign Ministry and the Unification Ministry at the Government Complex Seoul.

Lee criticized the approach as treating the public “not as autonomous beings” but as people susceptible to “propaganda and agitation,” and he ordered that access to North Korean media be opened.

Lee asked a Unification Ministry official whether opening access could trigger political backlash, including accusations that the government is trying to turn South Korea into a communist state.

The official cited Rodong Sinmun as an example, saying ordinary citizens and researchers currently cannot access it in real time under existing rules, even though South Korean media and scholars frequently cite it.

“There is a gap between the system and reality,” the official said.

Lee pressed the point, asking why citizens should be prevented from seeing it and whether officials were afraid they might be influenced by propaganda.

Lee said greater access could help the public better understand North Korea and its realities. He argued the restriction, as currently applied, assumes citizens are vulnerable to manipulation.

When a Unification Ministry official said the ministry would pursue opening access to North Korean information, including Rodong Sinmun, as a national policy task, Lee said it did not need to be treated as a solemn initiative.

“Why pursue this as a national policy task? Just open it up,” he said.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

NESTLED in the Scottish highlands is an island like no other.

Think – vibrant trees that change colour as the seasons do, calm water with a gentle breeze skimming over the surface and cosy cabins with log burners in…

What you are picturing is Eilean Shona, an island in the Inner Hebrides that has no cars, no roads and no shops.

In fact, only nine people permanently live on the island.

To add to its beauty, the island even inspired J.M Barrie’s Neverland in Peter Pan.

Despite being a private island, visitors can still book to stay on the island and to get there, the residents have to come and collect you by boat.

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Once on the island, you can indulge in the ultimate detox from the modern world by heading on hikes, including to the island’s summit and to white sand beaches.

And to add to the magic, a spirits brand was created on Eilean Shona.

Sun Travel spoke to Ed Faulkner, co-founder of Sapling about the brand and the story behind it.

If someone were to planning a restorative road trip in the UK, where should the top stops be?

A Sapling inspired road trip would celebrate quiet luxury, slow living and a deep connection with the natural world.

It could begin at Knepp Wildland in West Sussex, where rewilded meadows and roaming wildlife surround peaceful treehouses.

Then move on to the ancient beech canopy of Blackwood Forest in Hampshire with its inviting woodland trails.

From there, the journey might continue to the historic Blean Woods in Kent and the tranquil off grid cabins at Elmley Nature Reserve.

End among the ancient Caledonian pines that frame the still waters of Loch Tay in Perthshire.

Along the way, the spirit of the trip comes alive in the simple moments, such as enjoying a vodka or gin and tonic after a long walk with the people you care about.

It is a wholesome and grounding pause that brings everyone closer.

It reflects exactly what Sapling stands for, which is connection, presence and celebrating nature together.

For more inspiration about where to travel in the UK, these exciting new hotels, attractions and festivals coming to the UK’s seaside towns and cities next year.

Plus, our expert picks for UK staycation trips to banish post-summer blues – including free hidden gems for kids and £1.50 meals.

Leaders from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are hoping to find a way to repel advancing fighters linked to al-Qaeda. Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan explains what’s at stake at an Alliance of Sahel States summit in Bamako.

IT’S no question Sydney Sweeney has cemented her status as one of Hollywood’s most talked about sex symbols – and the actress often pairs red-hot outfits to match. 

Since her rise from Euphoria to international stardom the A-lister hasn’t shied away from showing off her now famous assets.

This week, Sweeney leaned fully into old Hollywood glamour, turning heads as she put on a busty display for her upcoming flick The Housemaid, which is already getting buzzy reviews after a few recent misses in her repertoire.

Her boxing biopic Christy failed to set the box office alight and saw her criticized for its poor performance paired with her shock American Eagle advert ‘great jeans’ backlash. 

But one thing the blonde bombshell’s fans never tire of is her plethora of sexy outfits.

From barely-there ’nude’ red carpet moments to plunging gowns and racy lingerie, let’s take a look at some of the actresses’ most raunchiest ever looks…

READ MORE ON SYDNEY SWEENEY

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Sydney Sweeney channels her inner Monroe in plunging white gown at premiere

THAT NUDE DRESS

In one of her sexiest outfits ever, the actress went almost naked in a jaw-dropping sheer chainmail style silver dress that left very little to the imagination.

Back in October, the White Lotus star went braless with her bare chest on display under her figure-hugging attire, which featured a floor-skimming hemline and elbow-length sleeves.

The see-through fabric gave a glimpse at her famous boobs, as well as the skin on her torso and thighs, making her appear pretty much naked in the exposing gown.

Sydney opted to keep the rest of her look minimal as it was clear that the dress was the statement piece here.

Monroe Muse

Sydney looked a vision in a plunging white gown adorned with a fur trim that seemed to be inspired by the late Marilyn Monroe.

The star showed out with her revealing red carpet look for the premiere of The Housemaid alongside her co-star Amanda Seyfried.

Sydney oozed sexiness in the striking halterneck, with corset detail to highlight her curves and a floor-length hemline.

The American’s bust was on full display, bursting out of the dress as she posed for the cameras.

Baring It All

As one of the biggest young starlets in Hollywood Sydney has endured more than her fair share of criticism.

She was once slammed by Hollywood producer Carol Baum, who criticised her looks and acting ability, saying: “She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?”

Taking it in her stride the actress remains unafraid to push boundaries with her exposing outfits.

Sweeney looked the classic bombshell in a sizzling photoshoot for her swimwear collection with Frankies Bikinis.

The star stripped down to a lacy lingerie ensemble, dressed in black head-to-toe in this daring look.

Sheer Sweens

Back in 2023, the actress flew to her namesake Aussie city for the premiere of rom-com Anyone But You.

And it was transparent to all that fans loved meeting her. . . and her see-through dress.

The gown had a pair hot pants and a bikini style top fitted into the bodice of the almost completely sheer overlay.

The risqué gown had Sydney grabbing at the fabric to cover her modesty and clutching at her chest.

Playing Dress-up

The two-time Emmy nominee swapped the gowns for a more revealing number, as she dressed up as the Dragon from Shrek for her Friends-giving party this year.

The star dazzled, in her plunging red sequined leotard, black tights, stilettos and a horned headband for the holiday.

The racy costume showed off her natural curves, with the leotard revealing her busty display and plunging neckline.

She celebrated the Friendsgiving festivities alongside her boyfriend Scooter Braun.

Lace and Grace 

The actress opted for a bridal style dress with white lace stockings when attending the Southwest Film Festival.

The gown covered the movie star’s cleavage this time but revealed a sexy thigh high slit adorned with a white lace stocking. 

Although a more modest look for Sydney, the actress still managed to find a way to reel in the sex appeal.

Over the years, the star has been vastly underestimated, with Sydney famously declaring the biggest misconception people have about her is she’s just “a dumb blonde with big t**s.”

But when it comes to her outfits she’s certainly unafraid to push boundaries, and is unapologetic in her confidence.

Latex Look

The Euphoria star looked striking in a black outfit, whilst out at Variety’s annual Power of Young Hollywood event.

Sydney put on a raunchy show for this next look, opting for a latex figure hugging top which clung on to her every curve. 

The plunging neck line had her assets very much front and centre, while the leather skirt boasted a split and a flash of her pins.

Teasing her fans

Back in 2023, Sydney wowed in a gorgeous tule gown which was mostly transparent due to the mesh stripes placed on the dress.

The sheer fabric exposed her midriff, abs and thighs whilst the strapless neckline left her arms and shoulders on show.

Much of the scrutiny around Sydney revolves around her physical appearance, which has fanned debates about the double standards that women face in Hollywood.

Known for choosing roles that lean into hyper-sexualised archetypes, she’s become a lightning rod for public debate.

If you’re like me, perhaps you’re waiting until the last minute to buy holiday gifts.

This fun, but nerve-racking practice isn’t for the faint of heart, and often I rely on an edge: caffeine.

That’s why I was pleased when my colleague Lisa Boone highlighted 15 L.A. spots that offers coffee and gifts, quite the happy hybrid experience.

Let’s jump into her list and maybe you’ll find your own shop that offers the best of both worlds.

(Lisa Boone/Los Angeles Times )

Flowerboy Project (Venice)

With Flowerboy Project, equal parts coffeehouse, florist and gift shop, partners Sean Knibb and Stella Shirinda have created an intriguing space that offers a feel-good mix for all the senses.

On Lincoln Boulevard in Venice, the concept cafe and flower shop offers apparel, jewelry, Venice Organics chocolate, home decor and apothecary items alongside fresh-cut and dried floral arrangements.

The cafe serves hot and cold coffee drinks, plus a few specialty drinks such as the Dirty Rose Girl (rose latte) and Lavender Boy (lavender latte), served with flowers on top. Custom flower arrangements are offered at prices ranging from $90 to $175.

(Lisa Boone/Los Angeles Times )

Javista at the Atrium (West Hollywood)

Billed as “The Botanist’s Bodega,” the bustling two-story Atrium in West Hollywood is a unique blend of coffee and plants. With Javista Coffee on the ground floor and a delightful array of plants, gifts and additional seating upstairs, the Atrium is a haven for plant enthusiasts and coffee lovers alike.

In addition to coffee staples such as macchiato and espresso, the bodega offers some exotic beverages like the CBTea Latte.

But that’s not all. The Atrium also hosts plant-related workshops, such as a recent one on how to mount a staghorn fern and create a terrarium. Plant lovers will appreciate a variety of plant accessories, including ceramic pots, misters, river stones and LED grow lights.

To support other small businesses, owner Andrew Ruiz stocks a wide selection of books and clothing along with candles from Flamingo Estate, Lavune and Marak, adding a local touch to the Atrium’s offerings.

(Lisa Boone/Los Angeles Times)

Little Nelly (Burbank)

Conveniently located in a Burbank neighborhood with plenty of parking, this takeout spot is a great place to shop for gifts while you wait for your espresso or hot combo sandwich (shaved turkey, hot coppa, Gioia burrata, giardiniera, wild arugula and pesto).

The market and sandwich shop, which also offers catering, is filled with cookbooks, handmade ceramics, wood carving boards perfect for charcuterie displays, candles and greeting cards. And for the foodies in your life, the market stocks unique pantry items such as spices, olive oils, vinegar and hot sauce that are perfect for stocking stuffers.

Made by DWC Cafe and Gift Boutique (Downtown L.A.)

Made by DWC, the Skid Row gift shop launched by the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles in 2011, offers handmade gifts — soaps, bath salts, soy candles and greeting cards — crafted by women on L.A.’s Skid Row area as part of a vocational training program.

All profits from the Made store and cafe, which sells organic coffee, smoothies, salads and pastries from Homeboy Industries, help fund the center’s career training and mentorship programs. Note: The gift shop is not open on weekends.

(Lisa Boone/Los Angeles Times)

Sachi.LA (Del Rey)

Influenced by their Japanese heritage, sisters Sachi and Chiyo Hartley opened their Del Rey coffeehouse in 2018 to share “Sachi” — the Japanese kanji character meaning happiness, fortune or good luck — with their community. The coffeehouse, which serves a wide variety of coffee drinks including matcha and the Sachi Special, a signature cold brew with oat milk and vanilla syrup, is just the beginning.

Adjacent to the coffeehouse, which also serves pastries, the sisters have opened a retail space that is a treasure-trove filled with houseplants, gifts, vintage clothes and plant accessories such as bud vases and planters. They also host occasional pop-ups, so keep an eye on their Instagram for updates.

For the entire list, check out the full article here.

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WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III faced open hostility to the Reagan Administration’s tax revision proposal Tuesday as the Senate Finance Committee began what is expected to be at least three months of testimony on overhauling the current tax code.

“The best simplification this committee could do for the country would be just to adjourn,” Sen. Steven D. Symms (R-Ida.) complained.

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas, a committee member, conceded that progress on tax revision could be slow. “Once the initial glow has faded,” Dole said, “there are a lot of questions this committee has to deal with.”

Warning of ‘Fiscal Disaster’

Meanwhile, Martin S. Feldstein, former chairman of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, warned that the Administration’s tax proposal could be a “fiscal disaster if tax reform became a deficit-enlarging tax cut.”

Feldstein, who left the White House last year after several disputes over Administration policy toward budget deficits, told the House Ways and Means Committee that the tax proposal “is at best revenue neutral and has a substantial risk of losing revenue.”

Other economists testifying before the House panel, which originates tax legislation, also expressed skepticism over the Administration’s contention that the tax plan would raise as much revenue as the current tax system. They contended that the package could exacerbate deficits that are now expected to remain larger than $170 billion annually well into the next decade, even if the package of spending cuts now working its way through Congress becomes law.

“I suspect that the President’s proposal is a revenue loser, particularly after 1990,” said John H. Makin, director of fiscal studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

But Baker, in defending the tax proposal to the Senate panel, insisted that Reagan’s plan would lose only $11.5 billion during the next five years, substantially less than 1% of the $4.7 trillion that the government estimates it will collect in total revenues during that period.

Contradictory Attacks

In grilling Baker, senators on the tax panel attacked the White House proposal on a wide variety of sometimes contradictory points.

Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.) complained that the proposal “tends to soak the middle class,” but he worried also that the plan would be too generous to consumers at the expense of those who save.

Some senators argued that the plan would do little to help businesses facing the threat of foreign competition, but others suggested that individuals should receive a more generous tax break even if it means increasing taxes for corporations.

Most members of the Republican-controlled committee warned that they would attempt to restore certain tax breaks that would be eliminated by the White House package.

In particular, they criticized Reagan’s proposals to abolish the deductions for state and local taxes and for two-earner couples, to eliminate the investment tax credit and alternative energy tax credits and to tax growth in the cash value of insurance policies. But Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N. J.), author of a separate tax revision proposal, argued that the White House tax plan does not go far enough in eliminating special tax preferences. He told Baker that he would try to eliminate some tax breaks for the oil industry and wealthy investors.

Exemption Hike Opposed

Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) challenged Baker’s contention that the best way to help families living below the poverty line to escape income taxes is to increase the personal exemption from the current $1,040 to $2,000 next year.

Mitchell said that he would introduce a proposal to limit the increase in the personal exemption and grant a larger increase than Reagan recommended in the standard deduction, or zero-bracket amount, a proposal that would help only taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions. Mitchell said that his approach would concentrate tax relief more directly on middle-income and lower-income families than would the Administration’s plan.

Baker vigorously defended the Administration’s plan against the attacks. “We think our plan is very fair,” he said, pointing out that the majority of taxpayers at every income level would receive tax reductions and that the average tax cut would be 7%.

Dragons followed up their European Challenge Cup win against Lyon by dismantling Connacht for back-to-back successes for the first time since 2022.

Two wins in six days have released some pressure on Tiatia and his coaching team after reaching December without victory in any competition in 2025.

There has been a reaction to an embarrassing 41-17 defeat by Perpignan, who look doomed to relegation despite recording a first Top 14 win of the season against Clermont Auvergne at the weekend.

Amid talk of what Dragons bring to the table in uncertain times for Welsh rugby, the squad have produced two timely victories.

The thrashing of Connacht has lifted them above both Scarlets and Ospreys, prompting hopes of not only a fight to avoid being the URC’s bottom team with Zebre, but a scrap to lose the tag as Wales’ worst.

Tiatia will not get carried away after one victory to end a 15-month, 23-game streak without league success.

“We are trying to put wins together but also trying to build a game that the fans want to see,” said the former All Blacks forward.

“We are building belief in what they are trying to achieve together, particularly when fatigue sets in.

“There is also the mental side of the game, because we have a lot of young guys that don’t have those tools.”

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has released thousands more documents relating to the prosecution of the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, including photographs of prominent figures he spent time with. But campaigners behind the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compelled the Justice Department on Friday to release all files still sealed, say far too much information in them has been redacted.

Furthermore, according to US media, at least 16 of the files – which they said were disclosed late – have since “disappeared” from the website where they were released. The deleted files included a photograph showing President Donald Trump.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed into law after it passed through Congress in November, required the government to release all remaining unclassified material in its possession relating to Epstein’s and his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases. Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison for her part in the scandal.

Despite heavy redaction of many of the documents, which has angered Democrats and some Republicans alike, there is some new information about the powerful people who associated with the disgraced late financier.

The Justice Department said it will release more documents in the coming weeks.

Here’s what we know about what’s been released so far:

What’s new in this tranche of Epstein files?

This is just the latest release of documents relating to the prosecution of Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019. The first tranche of about 950 pages of court documents was made public in early 2024.

One document released this time around confirms that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was tipped off about the convicted sex offender’s crimes nearly a decade before he was first arrested.

In September 1996, Epstein survivor Maria Farmer complained to the FBI that the late financier was involved in child sex abuse. Farmer said officials failed to take steps to investigate.

While the name of the complainant is redacted in the document relating to this complaint to the FBI, Farmer has confirmed it was made by her.

Now in her 50s, Farmer said in a statement via her lawyers after the release on Friday that she feels “redeemed” and this was “one of the best days of my life”.

“I want everyone to know that I am shedding tears of joy for myself but also tears of sorrow for all the other victims that the FBI failed,” she said.

Newly released transcripts of grand jury proceedings also include testimony from FBI agents who described interviews that they conducted with girls and young women describing their experiences of being paid to perform sex acts for Epstein. The youngest interviewee was 14, according to local media.

One woman, then aged 21, told a grand jury that Epstein had hired her when she was 16 to perform a sexual massage and that she had gone on to recruit other girls to do the same.

“For every girl that I brought to the table, he would give me $200,” she said.

They were mostly people she knew from high school, she said, adding that she told them that if they were under age, “just lie about it and tell him that you are 18.”

Much of the material published had already been circulating in the public domain after years of court action and investigations.

However, many of the new photos – some of them heavily blacked out – feature well-known public figures.

Who features in the newly released photos?

Among the documents released on Friday are photographs in a folder labelled “DOJ Disclosures”. Most of the photographs were seized by the FBI during various searches of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the US Virgin Islands.

New photos show the musicians Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross in photographs with Epstein and at times with other people whose faces have been blacked out.

In one image, Jagger can be seen sitting between Epstein and former US President Bill Clinton. Popstar Jackson is also pictured standing next to Clinton and posing for a photo with Epstein in front of a painting in another.

Other famous men featured in the newly released photos include the actor Kevin Spacey, comedian Chris Tucker, billionaire Richard Branson, former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – formerly known as Britain’s Prince Andrew – and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson.

In one black and white image, Andrew can be seen lying across the laps of five people whose faces have all been blacked out while Maxwell stands behind them.

The Justice Department did not include any details about the contents or context of the photos.

Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers and who died by suicide in April aged 41, accused Mountbatten-Windsor of sexual abuse when she was 17. He settled a lawsuit with her in 2022 but continued to deny the allegation.

Another prominent figure among the photos is Clinton. One photo shows him in a swimming pool with Maxwell and another person whose face has been blacked out. Another photo shows the former US president in a hot tub with a woman whose face is also redacted.

While Clinton has never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s crimes, his spokesperson said the White House was using him as a scapegoat.

“This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Clinton in the past has said he cut ties with Epstein before the late financier pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor in Florida.

Does Trump appear in the Epstein files?

Trump hardly appears in the files at all. The few photos that do feature him are ones that have been circulating in the public domain for decades.

According to one court document released on Friday, Epstein was alleged to have taken a 14-year-old girl to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and to have introduced her to the president.

While introducing her, Epstein elbowed Trump, asking him – referring to the teenager: “This is a good one, right?” Trump smiled and nodded in agreement, said the document from a case against Epstein’s estate and Maxwell in 2020.

In the court filing, the unnamed plaintiff herself makes no specific accusation against Trump.

In response to media requests for comment about this court document, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration was “the most transparent in history” and by “recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” she added.

Have some of the files disappeared since they were published on Friday?

Apparently, yes. One image, originally labelled File 468, which showed the inside of a desk drawer, included a photograph of Trump alongside Epstein, US first lady Melania Trump and Maxwell.

Other missing photos were images of paintings depicting nude women and one showing a series of photographs on a cupboard and in drawers.

On Saturday, The Associated Press news agency reported that at least 16 files published on Friday had disappeared from the Justice Department’s webpage.

The department has not provided any explanation or statement to the public about this but said in a post on X that “photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information.”

Democrats on the Oversight Committee in the US House of Representatives also released 68 photos, drawn from the 95,000 photos and files the Oversight Committee has so far received from the Epstein estate.

Democrats in the committee said the images, which they released on Thursday, “were selected to provide the public with transparency into a representative sample of the photos” and “to provide insights into Epstein’s network and his extremely disturbing activities”.

Following the Justice Department’s release on Friday, the committee’s Democratic members questioned in a post on X why the image featuring a photo of Trump, a Republican, was missing, stating: “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”

Why has so much been redacted?

Among the thousands of documents published on Friday, at least 550 pages were reportedly fully redacted.

One 119-page document labelled “Grand Jury-NY” is completely redacted as is a set of three consecutive documents totalling 255 pages. Each page is fully blacked out.

Campaigners behind the Epstein Files Transparency Act said they had hoped to obtain more information about how the sex offender had been able to avoid serious federal charges for so many years.

However, many crucial FBI interviews with Epstein’s accusers and internal Justice Department memos on charging decisions are unreadable.

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, sent a six-page letter to members of Congress laying out the redaction process, noting that the law mandates that the department omit or redact any references to victims and files that could jeopardise pending investigations or litigation.

Blanche explained that he had, therefore, instructed attorneys to redact or withhold material that contained personally identifiable information about victims; depicted or contained child sexual abuse materials; would jeopardise an active investigation or prosecution; or contained classified national defence or foreign policy information.

Without specifying which, Blanche added that in some instances, the department had withheld or redacted information covered by deliberative-process privilege, work-product privilege and attorney-client privilege.

When will the remaining files be released?

The Justice Department has said the publication of thousands more documents concerning investigations into Epstein will be released in the coming days as the year-end holidays approach.

The department missed its original Friday deadline to release all the information it had on Epstein in violation of the law signed by Trump in November ordering a complete release within 30 days.

After the drop on Friday, the department published two much smaller tranches on Saturday, which went beyond the initial redactions and featured identities of prosecutors, FBI case agents and other law enforcement personnel who appeared before two federal grand juries in New York state.

Several US lawmakers expressed anger about the White House’s failure to produce all the documents required under the law within the time limit.

Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Republican – the duo who introduced the petition that eventually led to the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act – strongly criticised the partial release on social media.

Massie wrote that it “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law”.

Khanna called the release so far “disappointing” and added: “We’re going to push for the actual documents.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused the Trump administration of being “hell-bent on hiding the truth” and reiterated that the failure to release all the Epstein documents by Friday’s deadline amounts to “breaking the law”.

Meanwhile, officials from the Trump administration have been publicising the photographs featuring former Democratic President Clinton and hailing the current government as “the most transparent in history”.

Can campaigners take further steps to obtain more of the documents?

In a statement, Schumer said Senate Democrats are working “closely with attorneys for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and with outside legal experts to assess what documents are being withheld and what is being covered up by [US Attorney General] Pam Bondi”.

Representatives Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, said they are examining “all legal options” after “the Department of Justice is now making clear it intends to defy Congress itself.”

“Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring,” Garcia and Raskin said in a statement.

Senator Ron Wyden, another top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee who investigated Epstein’s financial ties, said on social media that the failure to release all the files was “a continuation of this administration’s coverup on behalf of a bunch of pedophiles and sex traffickers”.

The Associated Press reported that if Democratic lawmakers so choose, they could go to court to force the Justice Department to comply with the law. However, that would likely be a lengthy process.

Separately, the House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena for the Epstein files, which could give Congress another avenue to force the release of more information to the committee. But that would require Republicans to join them in contempt-of-Congress proceedings against a Republican administration.

WE all know that reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh – but did you realise his entire fleet of magical-hooved creatures is female?

“We know this because of their horns,” Diego Osorno tells me, pointing towards Vixen, one of Grouse Mountain’s resident herd.

At that moment, she decides to depart her hay-filled lodge and gently plod off through the snow, tilting her antlers towards the shimmering Christmas lights in a well-timed performance.

Males shed their antlers in the winter months, while females cast theirs in summer, the knowledgeable Diego shares. He is one of a few rangers here at Grouse Mountain, a 4,100ft tall peak that towers over the city of Vancouver, on Canada’s western coast in British Columbia.

This magnificent landmark will be celebrating its 100th birthday next year, and for those already planning their 2026 wintry getaway, few places offer more Christmas cheer, aside from Santa’s home in the North Pole.

A small “skating pond” sits just beyond the reindeer shelter, where kids can twirl on ice in front of snow-topped fir trees listening to festive music echo between the trunks.

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Elsewhere on the peak, you can trudge through fresh white powder on a snowshoe experience, weaving through the frosty woodland which, at this time of year, is dripping in twinkling lights.

These lights are almost as magical as the ones glimmering up from the city of Vancouver at night.

Birds-eye views of the city are spectacular from the cliffside restaurant, The Observatory, and you can soak them up while you dive into fondue — a bubbling pot of rich, gooey cheese served alongside thick slices of charcuterie, pickles and hunks of bread for dipping.

Of course, there’s skiing and snowboarding, too. In fact, visitors will have their pick of three mountains for snowsports when staying in Vancouver, which is partly what makes this region one of the best in the world for night skiing.

You can hit the slopes in a mere 25 minutes from the city centre, including the cable car journey. And Vancouver’s breathtaking nature doesn’t end with its mountains. At the foot of the snow-capped cliffs lies a huge harbour, filled with ships, fishing boats and humming seaplanes — and plenty of wildlife, too.

Winter isn’t the season for spotting whales, but you’re still in with a chance of catching something emerging from the waters, especially if you decide to take a stroll around the seawall of Stanley Park.

This is Vancouver’s answer to Central Park in New York, except it’s roughly 20 per cent larger, boasting 1,000 acres of lush green space bang in the centre of a skyscraper city.

A pal had spotted seals here only a few days earlier, but during my morning run, I only spied black squirrels (cool, nonetheless) and a seagull cracking into a crab that it had plucked from the water for breakfast.

Messy but fun

That sight hammered home just how fresh the grub here really is.

With a huge body of water on its doorstep, wild salmon is, unsurprisingly, very popular in Vancouver. It’s also a staple in the diets of the indigenous communities around these parts. Sushi is big, too. In fact, it turns out Vancouver is where the California roll was invented, supposedly by Japanese-Canadian chef Hidekazu Tojo, although there is some debate over this.

One of the best places in the city to sample this is Miku Waterfront, near the cruise port. This restaurant has rightly earned a place in the Michelin guide for its extremely high-quality dishes at prices that won’t break the bank.

I polished off clean plates of oshizushi, a sushi block made from layered rice and slabs of fresh tuna or mackerel, dolloped with a smattering of saffron as well as perfectly-crafted nigiri, which I was instructed not to dip in soy sauce as the seasoning had already been meticulously balanced.

Right they were.

An extremely filling lunchtime Shokai consisting of ten pieces of traditional sushi, rolls and nigiri with appetisers and miso soup, will set you back just under £25, in a swish setting.

Asian influences can be seen throughout a large number of restaurants in Vancouver due to a wave of Cantonese and South Asian communities immigrating to the city over recent years. Anh And Chi at the northern end of Main Street serves immaculately executed Vietnamese classics, including DIY rice paper rolls that you construct at the table. Messy but fun.

During the festive period, however, you can’t go wrong with a slap-up Christmassy meal within a sparkling globe-style dome at H Tasting Lounge.

Order the 24-hour braised beef shank, which is lit on fire tableside, the smoky smell of rosemary and meat engulfing the dome.

Cold plunge pools

If you simply can’t decide what tickles your fancy, book on to a food tour with foodietours.ca around the public markets of Granville Island.

This industrial area has become a hub for arts and food, and more than 50 independent vendors flog their homemade delights to not just tourists and locals, but A-list celebs, too.

Pop star Harry Styles once bought Hobbs Pickles’ entire stock of sweet pickles in one day. I had to resist doing the same after sampling their dill flavour.

Vancouver-born actor Seth Rogen, on the other hand, regularly makes a beeline for Lee’s Donuts, which sells the classic ring-shaped bake in all manner of flavours, from cinnamon to honey-dip.

For more snacking with a festive twist, there are two Christmas markets in the city. The main Vancouver Christmas Market (entry from £3.80), offers a more commercial atmosphere with wooden stalls selling all the classics.

Meanwhile, the Shipyards markets on the North Shore are a little more crafty and free to visit, serving quirkier titbits like pickled spruce tree tips.

They taste like capers, if you’re wondering.

I was also grateful for the city’s emphasis on wellness after gorging one too many poffertjes (mini Dutch pancakes).

Spas have become a large part of the culture here and the two-hour thermal circuit at Circle Wellness will ensure every ounce of stress is extracted from your body through specially designed hot pebble floors, Himalayan salt chambers and cold plunge pools.

From my private shipping container, I watched the steam billow from my cedar tub, clashing with the air’s chill.

Some things are just made for winter. And Vancouver is one of them.

Animation is an art of the impossible, though it often settles for the ordinary. Much of what comprises adult animation merely translates into line what might be shown in live action — humans in human settings. Which is fine. Some great shows fit that bill — “King of the Hill” and “Bob’s Burgers,” for example. Still, there are infinite avenues to explore, and so it’s good to have Adult Swim, the network that once produced a series whose heroes are a meatball, a shake and a bag of fries, still making aesthetic trouble.

“The Elephant,” which premieres Friday on the network, and Saturday on HBO Max alongside a documentary on its creation, “Behind the Elephant,” is an animated take on exquisite corpse, the old surrealist game in which three artists contribute the head, torso or legs of a single figure, folding the paper so as not to see what the others had drawn. This project enlists four fab animators over three acts — “Adventure Time” creator Pendleton Ward, Ian Jones-Quartey (“OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes”), Rebecca Sugar (“Steven Universe”) and Patrick McHale (“Over the Garden Wall”) — to make something that not only had we not seen before, but none of them had either, until their independently produced parts were put together. All are “Adventure Time” vets, as are Jack Pendarvis and Kent Osborne, who conceived the idea, served as “game keepers,” and share story credit with the animators.

Exquisite corpse was also used in character design. It invariably produces monsters, if amusing ones, which explains why the character — let’s call her The Character — in Ward’s act has a cactus for an arm and a giant pink foot in place of one leg. In the Jones-Quartey and Sugar act, she has robot arms, fishnet stockings and a “music button” in her chest (the city parties when its disco plays), and in McHale’s, a TV for a torso. One regards The Character as the same person in each act, and through changes that occur within each act — identity, death and reincarnation are at the heart of the show. She’s always different, though always the protagonist. (And seemingly female.) Which is not surprising if you’ve ever watched “Adventure Time,” where even every villain is also a protagonist.

Ward takes the first act; Jones-Quartey and Sugar, who are married, worked together on the second; and McHale brings it home with Act 3. Ward’s section is easily recognizable as his work in its mix of the uncanny and the offhand, both from “Adventure Time” and the psychedelic “Midnight Gospel.” Sugar and Jones-Quartey opt for a New Wave angularity far from their usual styles, and McHale cycles through several looks until his Character, who arrives already hoping to get off this wheel of endless rebirth and cease to exist, settles down for a spell in a realistically portrayed city in the snow — New York, I’d say — in conversation with a lonely inventor. McHale also brings in, for just a few seconds, the eponymous elephant in an apropos reference to the parable of the blind men who imagined that animal to be a different sort of beast depending on where they laid their hands.

Each animator (or team) integrates their position in the game — and the nature of the game itself — into their storytelling. Ward’s Character, born onscreen, wonders “What am I? I’m not sure.” In the second section, Sugar and Jones-Quartey have their narrating Character say, “I could feel my existence stretching in both directions, back to the nothingness before anything happened and forward to the nothingness after everything is over. And if everything has a beginning and also a end then this was just the middle.” By virtue of owning the conclusion, and it’s a moving one, McHale brings order to the whole; given the scattered process, and the changes between and within each section, it feels remarkably cohesive and intentional. But metamorphosis is the soul of animation.

If “The Elephant,” described by the network as “a creative experience,” had appeared before it was already published, it would have certainly joined four other animated series — three from Adult Swim — on my list of 2025 favorites. It demands a second viewing, and you’ll want to watch “Behind the Elephant” to learn more. You may want to watch that twice as well.

DENVER — Just in time for the holidays, President Trump has issued another of his dubious pardons. Or rather, make that a “pardon.”

This one comes on behalf of a former Colorado elections official serving a nine-year sentence for election fraud.

“Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure our elections were fair and honest,” Trump said in a typically gaseous, dissembling post on social media.

“Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections,” the president went on. “Today I am granting Tina a full pardon for her attempts to expose voter fraud in the rigged 2020 Presidential Election.”

Actually, Peters’ crime was conspiring to let an unauthorized person access voting equipment as part of a nutty scheme to “prove” the November 2020 balloting was bogus, then lying and covering up her illegal actions.

And she’s not likely to leave jail anytime soon.

That’s because Trump has precisely zero say over Peters’ fate, given the former Mesa County elections chief was convicted on state charges. The president’s pardon power — which Trump has twisted to a snapping point — extends only to federal cases. If we’re going to play make-believe, then perhaps Foo-Foo the Snoo can personally escort Peters from prison and crown her Queen of the Rockies.

That’s not to suggest, however, that Trump’s empty gesture was harmless. (Apologies to Foo-Foo and Dr. Seuss.)

Some extremists, ever ready to do Trump’s malevolent bidding, have taken up Peters’ cause, using the same belligerent language that foreshadowed the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. In fact, threats have come from some of the very same thugs whom Trump pardoned in one of the first shameless acts of his presidency.

“WE THE PEOPLE ARE COMING TO BREAK TINA PETERS OUT OF PRISON IN 45 DAYS,” Jake Lang, a rioter who was charged with attacking police with an aluminum baseball bat, said on social media. “If Tina M. Peters is not released from La Vista Prison in Colorado to Federal Authorities by January 31st, 2026; US MARSHALS & JANUARY 6ERS PATRIOTS WILL BE STORMING IN TO FREE TINA!!”’

(Capitalization and random punctuation are apparently the way to show fervency as well as prove one’s MAGA bona fides.)

Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the Proud Boys extremist group whom Trump also pardoned, shared a screenshot of the president’s social media post. “A battle,” Tarrio said, “is coming.”

Trump’s pretend pardon is not the first intervention on Peters’ behalf.

In March, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to free her from prison, saying there were “reasonable concerns” about the length of Peters’ sentence. The judge declined.

In November, the administration wrote the Colorado Department of Corrections and asked that Peters be transferred to federal custody, which would presumably allow for her release. No go.

Earlier this month, apparently looking to up the pressure, the Justice Department announced an investigation of the state’s prison system. (Perhaps Peters was denied the special “magnetic mattress” she requested at her sentencing, to help deal with sleep issues.)

Like any child, when Trump doesn’t get his way he calls people names. On Monday, he set his sights on Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis — “a weak and pathetic man” — for refusing to spring Peters from state prison.

“The criminals from Venezuela took over sections of Colorado,” Trump said, “and he was afraid to do anything, but he puts Tina in jail for nine years because she caught people cheating.”

The only true part of that statement is that Colorado does, in fact, exist.

While Trump portrays Peters as a martyr, she is nothing of the sort.

As Polis noted in response to Trump’s “pardon,” she was prosecuted by a Republican district attorney and convicted by a jury of her peers — a jury, it should be noted, that was drawn from the citizenry of Mesa County. The place is no liberal playpen. Voters in the rugged enclave on Colorado’s Western Slope backed Trump all three times he ran for president, by margins approaching 2-to-1.

If Peters’ sentence seems harsh — which it does — hear what the judge had to say.

Peters was motivated not by principle or a search for the truth but rather, he suggested, vanity and personal aggrandizement. She betrayed the public trust and eroded faith in an honestly run election to ingratiate herself with Trump and others grifting off his Big Lie.

“You are as privileged as they come and you used that privilege to obtain power, a following and fame,” Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters in a lacerating lecture. “You’re a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.”

Peters remains unrepentant.

In petitioning Trump for a pardon, her attorney submitted nine pages of cockamamie claims, asserting that Peters was the victim of a conspiracy involving, among others, voting-machine vendors, Colorado’s secretary of state and the Venezuelan government.

To her credit, Peters has rejected calls for violence to set her free.

“Tina categorically DENOUNCES and REJECTS any statements or OPERATIONS, public or private, involving a ‘prison break’ or use of force against La Vista or any other CDOC facility in any way,” a post on social media stated, again with the random capitalization.

Perhaps the parole board will take note of those sentiments when the 70-year-old Peters becomes eligible for conditional release in January 2029, a date that just happens to coincide with the end of Trump’s term.

Which seems fitting.

Keep Peters locked up until then, serving as an example and deterrent to others who might consider emulating her by vandalizing the truth and attacking our democracy.

Clipper Kris Dunn grabs Laker Maxi Kleber ‘s jersey in front of a ref Saturday at the Intuit Dome.

(Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

The Lakers have been assessed five technical fouls in the last two games because of conduct with officials as frustration over inconsistent calls is starting to boil over. After Doncic, Jaxson Hayes and Marcus Smart were all given technical fouls in the third quarter of Thursday’s win over Utah, Doncic and Smart were T’ed up again Saturday in the first and third quarters, respectively.

“I think if any coach, any player, what we ask for is consistency,” Redick said. “And that’s not to single any official out or any crew out, it’s not about that. We need to know what it is night to night.”

Smart also drew a technical foul against Utah after attempting to talk to an official at halftime. When Smart walked away frustrated, he raised his middle finger toward the official, a gesture that got him fined $35,000 Saturday, the NBA announced.

“Sometimes you got to take the hit to get your point across,” Smart said Saturday.

Redick expressed additional frustration with the lack of transparency in the replay system and murky communication with officials. He said he has not received any feedback when he requests it and the distinction between plays that can and can’t be challenged appears to change every night.

The lack of communication has been frustrating for players as well, Smart said, who met with referees before the Utah game as a team captain, but still had his questions dismissed.

“The captain should be able to come talk to them,” Smart said. “They still don’t want to hear it. So control what you can control. They don’t want to talk, you know, you try and you move on. But it definitely is frustrating when you pour your heart out to this game and the feedback is literally waving you off, telling you to get out your face, and then giving you a tech because you’re asking a simple question.”

Dec. 19 (Asia Today) — A South Korean civic group said most retired National Assembly officials subject to post-employment screening were cleared to take private-sector jobs, calling the results evidence of a serious revolving-door problem involving major companies, supervised agencies and law firms.

The Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice said at a news conference Thursday that it analyzed employment screening decisions involving retired National Assembly officials from 2020 to 2025. The group said the review covered lawmakers, aides and National Assembly Secretariat staff.

South Korea’s post-employment screening system is designed to determine whether a retired public official’s new job is closely related to their former duties and whether it should be approved. The purpose is to prevent improper collusion between public officials and private institutions.

CCEJ said 427 of 438 National Assembly cases, or 97.5%, received decisions allowing employment, either as “employment possible” or “employment approved.” The group said “employment possible” applies when the new position is deemed unrelated to the official’s previous duties, while “employment approved” applies when there is a connection but authorities find grounds for a special approval.

CCEJ said more than half of those cleared, 239 people, joined private companies. By major corporate groups, the group said Coupang hired the most, with 16 people, including 15 aides and one policy research fellow. LG followed with 11, SK with 10, Samsung with nine and KT with eight.

CCEJ said the National Assembly holds significant powers, including legislation, budgeting and state audits. It argued that when former officials move directly into jobs at audited agencies, major corporations or law firms tied to their prior duties, it can lead to collusion between politics and business and preferential treatment for former officials.

The group called for stronger requirements for approving post-retirement employment tied to the National Assembly, tighter reviews of job relevance and disclosure of specific reasons when screening results are announced.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

This year, in the US-China trade war and the grand military parade, China demonstrated economic and military strength that forced the United States to back down. However, Beijing merely displayed its power; various parties discovered that this giant does not know how to wield it.

The US paused its economic attacks on China, but the Dutch government directly “took control of” a Chinese-owned company in the Netherlands—Nexperia—through public authority. The EU expanded anti-dumping measures against China, with France as the main driver behind anti-China economic policies.

The US publicly acknowledged that China’s rising military power in the Western Pacific can no longer be suppressed and adjusted its global strategy to focus on the Western Hemisphere. Yet Japan shifted the Taiwan issue from strategic ambiguity to strategic clarity, adopting a more confrontational posture and challenging China’s bottom line. Regional countries, in various ways, have called for “peace” in the Taiwan Strait—support that amounts to nothing less than opposing China’s unification and indirectly endorsing Japan’s position. Meanwhile, the Philippines, mired in internal chaos, continued to provoke China in the South China Sea.

Since China has the capability to confront the US, it should have the ability to punish Europe, Japan, and the Philippines for their unfriendliness toward China. But Beijing did not do so. When facing challenges from these parties, it only issued symbolic verbal protests or took measures that failed to eradicate the problems—putting on a full defensive posture but lacking concrete and effective actions. As a result, events often started with thunderous noise but ended with little rain, fizzling out in the end.

From Beijing’s appeasement toward Europe, Japan, and the Philippines, all parties have reason to believe that China is a giant that doesn’t know how to use its own power. This presents a strategic opportunity for the weak to overcome the strong—especially now, as the US contracts its global strategy and distances itself from its allies. Maximizing benefits from China’s side is the rational choice.

For example, with Japan: Beijing responded to Tokyo’s intervention in the Taiwan issue with high-intensity verbal criticism, but its actions were inconsistent with its words. Although it revisited the “enemy state clauses” at the UN, raised the postwar Ryukyu sovereignty issue, and even conducted joint military exercises with Russia 600 kilometers from Tokyo, these actions were far less intense than the rhetoric. Even the verbal criticism cooled down after a month.

The US maintained a low profile on the China-Japan dispute, adopted a cool attitude toward Tokyo, and even indirectly expressed condemnation—likely the main reason Beijing de-escalated. This shows that China’s original intent in handling the incident was to force the US to “decouple” from Japan on the Taiwan issue and isolate Tokyo, which maintains close ties with Taipei.

Influenced by official attitudes, the Chinese people once again mistook official rhetoric for commitments, believing Beijing would go to war if necessary to eradicate Japan’s interference in internal affairs. After all, unresolved deep-seated hatred—akin to a sea of blood—remains between China and Japan. Moreover, this year marks the 80th anniversary of China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, with various events held throughout the year to engrave in memory the national humiliation of Japan’s invasion of China.

But after Trump indirectly criticized Japan for provoking unnecessary disputes, Beijing seemed satisfied and stepped down gracefully. Although the dispute has not ended and continues to develop, like its handling of Philippine provocations, China has placed disputes with neighbors into long-term games, effectively shelving the issues—and causing the Chinese people renewed frustration.

After this three-way interaction, the asymmetry between Beijing’s words and actions has likely become deeply ingrained. In the future, it will be much harder for Beijing to mobilize the 1.4 billion people’s shared enmity.

The key point: In this dispute, who—China, Japan, or the US—gained the greatest substantive strategic benefits? So far, it’s hard to say who won the first round. China appeared to come out looking the best, preserving the most face, yet Japan also gained, and the US obtained leverage for future talks with China.

In the first round of this dispute, China strategically established the legitimacy of denying Japan’s intervention in the Taiwan issue, narrowing Tokyo’s diplomatic space for anti-China actions via Taiwan. Japan’s right wing advanced toward national normalization, hollowing out its peace constitution to cope with US strategic contraction; additionally, the Liberal Democratic Party regained public support. The US demonstrated its influence in East Asia—even after “withdrawing” its military to the second island chain—and raised its bargaining chips at the US-China negotiation table.

However, from a medium- to long-term perspective, Japan gains nothing worth the loss: the Ryukyu Islands will become a burden rather than an outer defense wall. The two major powers, China and the US, will orderly redraw their spheres of influence in East Asia; the US will gain a dignified pretext for abandoning Taiwan, while China will recover Taiwan at a lower cost.

Conversely, beyond the asymmetry between words and actions, there is also asymmetry between actions and strength. Beijing’s greatest loss is that the international community—especially its neighbors and Europe—has seen through China’s essence of appearing fierce but being timid inwardly. They have once again discovered that antagonizing China brings no adverse consequences; on the contrary, it can yield unexpected benefits—provided they give China the face it needs to achieve strategic gains.

For example, Vietnam: After the China-Japan dispute cooled, a Vietnamese warship transited the Taiwan Strait under the pretext of freedom of navigation without prior notification to China, signaling it is not a vassal of Beijing and aligning with Washington’s position.

Vietnam is a major beneficiary of the US-China confrontation, with massive Chinese goods rerouted through Vietnam to the US; transit trade has skyrocketed its economic growth. Thus, it firmly believes maximizing benefits lies in a neutral stance between China and the US. However, from a supply chain perspective, China is the supplier and the US the customer—the latter slightly more important. Factoring in China-Vietnam South China Sea disputes and China’s habitual concessions versus the lethal US carrot-and-stick approach, Vietnam naturally leans more pro-US.

Additionally, during the China-Japan dispute, Singapore’s prime minister publicly sympathized with Japan, while Thailand and Vietnam jointly called for peace in the Taiwan Strait—showing Southeast Asian nations, like Japan, hope to maintain the peaceful status quo in the Taiwan Strait and oppose military conflict in the region, which is equivalent to opposing China’s recovery of Taiwan. Of course, Northeast Asia’s South Korea holds the same view; some countries publicly state it due to internal and US factors, while others choose silence.

China’s neighboring countries all see the fact that the Philippines’ intense anti-China stance has gone unpunished. Despite deep internal political turmoil, Manila can still spare efforts to provoke China in the South China Sea—clearly a profitable path. Neighbors conclude: If China can concede on core interests, what can’t it concede?

On the other side of the globe, Europe has noticed this phenomenon too. The Dutch government rashly took over a Chinese enterprise, severely damaging China’s interests and prestige; Beijing’s response started strong but ended weakly—mainly to avoid impacting China-EU trade, even amid decoupling risks everywhere. No wonder Britain subsequently sanctioned two Chinese companies on suspicion of cyberattacks, unafraid of angering Beijing just before Prime Minister Starmer’s planned January visit to China.

In short, whether on the regional Taiwan issue or extraterritorial China-EU economic issues, China faces a broken windows effect. Although from a grand strategic view, all related events remain controllable for Beijing, appeasement only invites more trouble. It’s not impossible that China will eventually be unable to suppress public indignation and be forced to suddenly take tough measures—like at the end of the pandemic, when people took to the streets and Beijing immediately lifted lockdowns, rendering all prior lockdown justifications untenable overnight.

Indeed, China currently appears as a giant that doesn’t know how to use its power. But when a rabbit is cornered, it bites. When Beijing is forced to align actions with strength, the intensity will be astonishing; then, China will want more than just face.

There’s a saying: Attack is the best defense. But with its long history, this nation views offense and defense more comprehensively. The Chinese believe that when weak, attack is the best defense; when holding an advantage, defense is the best attack. As long as the opponent’s offense can be controlled within acceptable limits, persistent defense inflicts less damage than the opponent’s self-exhaustion in stamina. Conversely, when at a disadvantage, a full assault is needed to reverse it.

In other words, China doesn’t fail to know how to use power; it deems using power uneconomical. This explains why the West walks a path of decline while China continues rising—the latter accumulates power, and the former overdraws it.

President Trump is shrewd and pragmatic; he knows cornering China awakens the giant, so he eased US-China relations. But simultaneously, the US doesn’t mind—and even quietly encourages—its allies to provoke China, while positioning itself as a mediator to benefit. This is a reasonable tactic and the most effective offensive against China.

Xi Jinping once said China has great patience—implying that if patience is exhausted, the world will see a completely different China, one that uses power without regard for cost.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — When Idalia Bisbal moved to this Pennsylvania city synonymous with America’s working class, she hoped for a cheaper, easier life than the one she was leaving behind in her hometown of New York City.

About three years later, she is deeply disappointed.

“It’s worse than ever,” said the 67-year-old retiree, who relies on Social Security, when asked about the economy. “The prices are high. Everything is going up. You can’t afford food because you can’t afford rent. Utilities are too high. Gas is too expensive. Everything is too expensive.”

Bisbal was sipping an afternoon coffee at the Hamilton Family Restaurant not long after Vice President JD Vance rallied Republicans in a nearby suburb. In the Trump administration’s second high-profile trip to Pennsylvania in a week, Vance acknowledged the affordability crisis, blamed it on the Biden administration and insisted better times were ahead. He later served food to men experiencing homelessness in Allentown.

The visit, on top of several recent speeches from President Trump, reflects an increasingly urgent White House effort to respond to the economic anxiety voiced by people across the country. Those worries are a vulnerability for Republicans in competitive congressional districts like the one that includes Allentown, which could decide control of the U.S. House in next year’s midterms.

But in confronting the challenge, there are risks of appearing out of touch.

Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, down from 40% in March, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Yet Trump has called affordability concerns a “hoax” and gave the economy under his administration a grade of “A+++++.” Vance reiterated that assessment during his rally, prompting Bisbal to scoff.

“In his world,” Bisbal, a self-described “straight-up Democrat,” responded. “In the rich man’s world. In our world, trust me, it’s not an ‘A.’ To me, it’s an ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F.’”

Agreement that prices are too high

With a population of roughly 125,000 people, Allentown anchors the Lehigh Valley, which is Pennsylvania’s third-largest metro area. In a dozen interviews last week with local officials, business leaders and residents of both parties, there was agreement on one thing: Prices are too high. Some pointed to gas prices while others said they felt the shock more at the grocery store or in their cost of healthcare or housing.

Few shared Trump’s unbridled boosterism about the economy.

Tony Iannelli, the president and CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, called Trump’s grade a “stretch,” saying that “we have a strong economy but I think it’s not yet gone to the next stage of what I would call robust.”

Tom Groves, who started a health and benefits consulting firm more than two decades ago, said the economy was at a “B+,” as he blamed the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, for contributing to higher health costs, and he noted stock and labor market volatility.

Joe Vichot, the chairman of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, referred to Trump’s grade as a “colloquialism.”

Far removed from Washington’s political theater, there was little consensus on who was responsible for the high prices or what should be done about it. There was, however, an acute sense of exhaustion at the seemingly endless political combat.

Pat Gallagher was finishing lunch a few booths down from Bisbal as she recalled meeting her late husband when they both worked at Bethlehem Steel, the manufacturing giant that closed in 2003.

Now retired, Gallagher too relies on Social Security benefits, and she lives with her daughter, which helps keep costs down. She said she noticed the rising price of groceries and was becoming exasperated with the political climate.

“I get so frustrated with hearing about the politics,” she said.

A front-row seat to politics

That feeling is understandable in a place that often gets a front-row seat to the national debate, whether it wants the view or not. Singer Billy Joel’s 1982 song “Allentown” helped elevate the city into the national consciousness, articulating simultaneous feelings of disillusionment and hope as factories closed.

In the decades since, Pennsylvania has become a must-win state in presidential politics and the backdrop for innumerable visits from candidates and the media. Trump and his Democratic rival in 2024, Kamala Harris, made several campaign swings through Allentown, with the then-vice president visiting the city on the eve of the election.

“Every race here, all the time,” Allentown’s mayor, Democrat Matt Tuerk, recalled of the frenzied race last year.

The pace of those visits — and the attention they garnered — has not faded from many minds. Some businesses and residents declined to talk last week when approached with questions about the economy or politics, recalling blowback from speaking in the past.

But as attention shifts to next year’s midterms, Allentown cannot escape its place as a political battleground.

Trump’s win last year helped lift other Republicans, such U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, to victory. Mackenzie, who unseated a three-term Democrat, is now one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress. To win again, he must turn out the Republicans who voted in 2024 — many of whom were likely more energized by Trump’s candidacy — while appealing to independents.

Mackenzie’s balancing act was on display when he spoke to the party faithful Tuesday, bemoaning the “failures of Bidenomics” before Vance took the stage at the rally. A day later, the congressman was back in Washington, where he joined three other House Republicans to rebel against the party’s leadership and force a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of the year.

Vichot, the local GOP chairman, called Mackenzie an “underdog” in his reelection bid and said the healthcare move was a signal to voters that he is “compassionate for the people who need those services.”

A swing to Trump in 2024

Lehigh County, home to Allentown and the most populous county in the congressional district, swung toward Trump last year. Harris’ nearly 2.7-percentage-point win in the county was the tightest margin for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2004. But Democrats are feeling confident after a strong performance in this fall’s elections, when they handily won a race for county executive.

Retaking the congressional seat is now a top priority for Democrats. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who faces reelection next year and is a potential presidential contender in 2028, endorsed firefighter union head Bob Brooks last week in the May primary.

Democrats are just a few seats shy of regaining the House majority, and the first midterm after a presidential election historically favors the party that’s out of power. If the focus remains on the economy, Democrats are happy.

The Uline supplies distribution factory where Vance spoke, owned by a family that has made large donations to GOP causes, is a few miles from the Mack Trucks facility where staff was cut by about 200 employees this year. The company said that decision was driven in part by tariffs imposed by Trump. Shapiro eagerly pointed that out in responding to Vance’s visit.

But the image of Allentown as a purely manufacturing town is outdated. The downtown core is dotted by row homes, trendy hotels and a modern arena that is home to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms hockey team and hosts concerts by major artists. In recent years, Latinos have become a majority of the city’s population, driven by gains in the Puerto Rican, Mexican and Dominican communities.

“This is a place of rapid change,” said Tuerk, the city’s first Latino mayor. “It’s constantly changing ,and I think over the next three years until that next presidential election, we’re going to see a lot more change. It’s going to be an interesting ride.”

Sloan writes for the Associated Press.