Jan. 19 (UPI) — A geomagnetic storm that occurred on Sunday may make the Northern Lights visible on Monday or Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says.

The NOAA has placed a severe geomagnetic storm watch in effect for Tuesday as the effects of Sunday’s coronal mass ejection is set to reach Earth.

A coronal mass ejection is a burst of solar material and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere. The event creates conditions that may make the Northern Lights visible as far south as Alabama and California, further south than they can usually be seen.

The solar flare may reach Earth as early as Monday night. The conditions that make the Northern Lights visible will likely weaken later in the day on Tuesday, NOAA says. Minor geomagnetic storm related effects may still be present on Wednesday.

“Forecasters have a fair measure of confidence in timing and of CME arrival at Earth,” NOAA said.

The visibility of the Northern Lights will depend on a few factors, including local cloud cover and how the solar flare interacts with Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Sunday’s geomagnetic storm was given a G4 rating, the second highest rating possible. Storms of this rating can cause satellite navigation and low-frequency radio navigation problems.

These are the key developments from day 1,426 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Tuesday, January 20:

Fighting

• Explosions have been reported in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, amid warnings from the country’s air force that Russia had launched ballistic missiles early on Tuesday morning.

• Russia launched a barrage of drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, cutting off power in five regions across the country amid freezing temperatures, Ukrainian officials said.

• The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia’s military had launched 145 drones at targets in Ukraine and that 126 were successfully intercepted.

• In an attack on the southern Odesa region, energy and gas infrastructure were damaged, the regional governor said, adding that one person was hurt.

• DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said its facility in Odesa was “substantially” damaged, knocking out power to 30,800 households.

• Russia also hit Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv with missiles on Monday, significantly damaging a critical infrastructure facility, the city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on the Telegram messaging app. Terekhov did not provide details about the type of facility that was struck.

• Russian forces have taken control of the settlements of Pavlivka, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, and Novopavlivka, in the Donetsk region, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said. The ministry’s claims could not be independently verified.

• Ukraine’s armed forces are introducing a new approach to air defence, involving small groups of interceptor drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
• The Kyiv Independent media outlet reported that Ukraine’s SBU secret service captured a Russian soldier suspected of executing nine Ukrainian prisoners of war in 2024.

Military aid

• The Czech Republic will not sell or donate to Ukraine light combat planes that could shoot down incoming Russian drones, the country’s prime minister, Andrej Babis, said, rejecting a plan outlined by President Petr Pavel. Pavel earlier said that Ukraine had offered to buy some of the country’s subsonic L-159 jets.

Peace talks

• Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, said Moscow is showing no signs of interest in talks leading to a peace deal with Kyiv. It is instead boosting arms production, including a target of 1,000 drones per day, he added.
• Kyiv has held “substantive” talks on security and economic issues with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and envoy Steve Witkoff, with more discussions expected at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week, Ukraine’s security chief and top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said.
• Zelenskyy said he hopes to sign documents with the US on post-war security guarantees for Ukraine at Davos this week, adding that his team of negotiators had held several rounds of talks in the US.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, will travel to Davos this week and hold meetings with members of the US delegation on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, the Reuters news agency reported, citing two sources with knowledge of the visit.

Politics

• Ukraine will face enormous challenges to organise its first elections since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, with its infrastructure shattered and millions of people displaced by war, the country’s election chief, Oleh Didenko, said, responding to Trump’s demand for Ukraine to hold the vote.

• Russia jailed an American man for five years for illegally transporting weapons, a court announced, saying that a rifle was found on his yacht after it docked in the port city of Sochi last June. It identified the man as Charles Wayne Zimmerman, and said he “admitted his guilt in full”. It did not mention when exactly the man was sentenced, but said an appeal against the conviction had been rejected.

Energy

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that the 330-kilovolt (kV) Ferosplavna-1 power line has been reconnected to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The power line is one of two high-voltage lines supplying electricity that powers the Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in Ukraine, and was disconnected earlier this month.

• Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Telegram that he had informed the head of the IAEA about Russian preparations for more strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, including those that ensure the operations of nuclear plants.

• Russia’s federal budget proceeds from taxes on oil and gas are expected to drop by 46 percent in January from the same month in 2025 due to weaker oil prices and a stronger rouble, according to an analysis by Reuters. Oil and gas revenue are key to funding Russia’s war on Ukraine.

• Polish pipeline operator Gaz-System will increase gas transmission capacity to Ukraine between February and April, the company said in a statement, as Russia continues to attack Ukraine’s energy sector.

Motherland star Anna Maxwell Martin teams up with Sophie Turner in Prime Video’s new thriller

Thriller enthusiasts are set for a real treat as acclaimed actress Anna Maxwell Martin, renowned for her performances in Motherland and Until I Kill You, is appearing in a fresh Prime Video thriller launching imminently. Arriving on January 21, the series boasts major stars and is headlined by Game of Thrones legend Sophie Turner.

All six episodes will be released simultaneously, allowing viewers to binge-watch the entire series, entitled Steal. This high-octane thriller, already generating considerable buzz amongst fans, centres on ordinary office worker Zara (Turner), who becomes embroiled in the “heist of the century”.

While employed at pension fund investment firm Lochmill Capital, her routine day is shattered when a gang of brutal thieves storms in demanding billions in cash. Zara and her closest friend Luke (Archie Madekwe) are forced to comply with the gang’s orders.

DCI Rhys (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) is brought in to apprehend the criminals, but as a recently relapsed gambling addict, he must manage to keep his personal financial troubles in check. Meanwhile, Zara decides to take control when the investigation raises more questions than it answers, reports the Express.

Anna Maxwell Martin’s character is shown speaking to Zara in the trailer, demanding she “tell us what you know”, or MI5 “could kill you”. Specifics about her role remain confidential, though she appears to be some form of detective.

Whilst the series isn’t rooted in actual events, Good Housekeeping has described its premise as “scarily real”. Vernon Sanders, Head of Television at Amazon MGM Studios, hailed it as a “uniquely thrilling ride”.

When Prime Video posted the trailer on Facebook, fans rushed to the comments section after spotting the Motherland and Line of Duty star. Shelley Griffiths declared: “Well, if Anna Maxwell Martin is in it, I’ll be watching!”

The actress is particularly renowned for her crime drama performances, having starred in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Ludwig and Until I Kill You. In the latter, she portrayed real-life victim Delia Balmer, who endured an abusive relationship with serial killer John Sweeney.

She deliberately avoided speaking to the actual Delia before shooting, ensuring her interpretation remained entirely her own. She revealed in an interview: “I’ve played quite a few real people and I have never met them before. I don’t choose to do that, that’s how I work.

“Our writer filmed a lot of footage of his meetings with Delia, which I had access to. I did meet her very briefly during filming, but only because she wanted to visit the set and of course I was respectful of that.

“I didn’t do lots of research into abusive relationships either, instead I just focused on the character, on who she was, how she responded to things, and what I could gauge about how she interacted with people.”

Her powerful performance as Delia earned her three prestigious awards.

Fans flocked to the Steal trailer’s comments section on YouTube to voice their enthusiasm for her latest project.

@PozoBlue remarked: “Ohhhh this actually looks original and exciting! Looking forward to this!”

@Glasweg1an wrote: “Oooooh Prime video comes through clutch, this looks exciting. Don’t let me down, I`m gonna start this on the 21st.”

@genedeangelo3800 added: “Wow, I’m not impressed easily, this looks amazing. WTF!”

Steal premieres on Prime Video on January 21.

**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website**

Five-star USC freshman Alijah Arenas is likely to make his long-awaited debut for the Trojans this week against Northwestern.

Arenas is considered “probable” for Wednesday’s game, a person familiar with his status but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times.

The addition of the five-star freshman, who has yet to play at USC since injuring his knee in the summer, comes at a critical time for the Trojans. USC has lost three of its last five since the start of its Big Ten slate.

Arenas is the highest-rated recruit to join USC in Eric Musselman’s two-year tenure with the Trojans. Before he injured his knee during practice, he was involved in a fiery single-car accident in his Tesla Cybertruck in the spring. He was hospitalized and put into an induced coma because of smoke inhalation.

Arenas returned to practice last month and was initially expected to debut last week. Now he joins the Trojans with 13 games left in the regular season and a critical stretch ahead.

The Syrian army has taken territory long held by Kurdish-led forces, before declaring a ceasefire.

The lightning offensive changes the balance of power in the country.

Are there wider implications for Kurds beyond Syria?

Presenter: Maleen Saeed

Guests:

David Des Roches – Professor at the Thayer Marshall Institute

Mohammed Salih – Non-resident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute

Elijah Magnier – Military and political analyst

Radev is widely expected to form his own political party prior to the upcoming snap vote.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has said that he will resign, stoking speculation that he will form his own political party ahead of snap elections expected to take place in the months ahead.

Radev said on Monday that he would submit his resignation to the country’s Constitutional Court the following day. He will be replaced by Vice President Iliana Iotova if the court grants approval.

“Today, I am addressing you for the last time as president of Bulgaria,” the 62-year-old Radev said during a televised speech, adding that he was eager to participate in the “battle for the future” of the country.

His resignation, the first by a head of state in Bulgaria’s post-communist history, comes as the country – which is a member of the European Union and NATO – struggles to overcome a prolonged political crisis.

Bulgaria’s last government was swept out of power in December amid widespread anticorruption protests, of which the left-leaning Radev was an outspoken supporter. The upcoming snap election will mark Bulgaria’s eighth round of voting in five years.

Large anticorruption protests last month forced the resignation of the governing coalition, led by the centre-right GERB party. Attempts to form a new government within the current parliament have subsequently failed, and the country is headed towards its eighth parliamentary election since 2021.

Radev, whose second mandate ends in 2026, has repeatedly indicated that he may take part in new elections. The former Air Force general has been a vocal opponent of the leader of the GERB party, Boyko Borissov.

Radev has also opposed politician and oligarch Delyan Peevski – under sanctions from the United States and United Kingdom over alleged bribery, corruption and media manipulation – whose MRF New Beginning party has repeatedly backed the outgoing GERB-led coalition.

The former president has expressed doubt about Bulgaria’s decision to join the eurozone and is opposed to sending military aid to Ukraine, chastising European leaders for not doing enough to support the efforts of US President Donald Trump to facilitate a negotiated peace.

Radev did not mention on Monday what his plans are. Asked recently about forming a new party, he said there was a need for a party that “unites all democrats – left and right – regardless of where they belong or whether they are politically active at all, because we all need fair elections and democratic, free development”.

A recent Market Links poll found that Radev has an approval rating of 44 percent.

“His goal is to be close to the majority so that he doesn’t have to negotiate,” Parvan Simeonov from the Myara polling agency told the news agency AFP, adding that a solid result for Radev could be “a way out” of the country’s political crisis.

LOS ANGELES — The NFL is marking the 60th anniversary of the Super Bowl with a hometown opening act.

Green Day will kick off the big game with an opening ceremony Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the league announced Sunday. The performance will celebrate six decades of the championship’s history, with the band helping usher generations of Super Bowl MVPs onto the field.

The trio, formed in the East Bay and made up of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool, is expected to perform a selection of their best-known anthems as part of the tribute.

“We are super-hyped to open Super Bowl 60 right in our backyard!” lead singer Armstrong said. “We are honored to welcome the MVPs who’ve shaped the game and open the night for fans all over the world. Let’s have fun! Let’s get loud!”

The ceremony airs live at 3 p.m. Pacific on NBC, Telemundo, Peacock and Universo.

“Celebrating 60 years of Super Bowl history with Green Day as a hometown band, while honoring the NFL legends who’ve helped define this sport, is an incredibly powerful way to kick off Super Bowl LX,” said Tim Tubito, the league’s senior director of event and game presentation. “As we work alongside NBC Sports for this opening ceremony, we look forward to creating a collective celebration for fans in the stadium and around the world.”

The opening ceremony will take place ahead of the pregame entertainment, during which Charlie Puth is to perform the national anthem, Brandi Carlile will sing “America the Beautiful,” and Coco Jones will deliver “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Jonathan Landrum Jr. writes for the Associated Press.

On July 2, 2024, a mamón tree fell on Delcy Rodríguez. The accident caused injuries to her right arm, which she frequently wore bandages on. That day, Rodríguez was in Cumanacoa, in eastern Venezuela, overseeing the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl, a gust of wind brought down the enormous tree on top of her and some of her equipment.

The accident was announced by Nicolás Maduro at a public event, in the midst of the campaign for the presidential elections of July 28 of that year. With a discordant sense of humor that has aged poorly, he said: “Delcy, while working in Cumanacoa, was hit by a missile. But she recovers from everything.”

And the statement seems true. Because a year and a half later, we see her—quite recovered—being sworn in as acting president of Venezuela after, indeed, American bombs fell on Caracas to remove Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez, the woman who occupies the presidential seat in Miraflores with the unexpected backing of the United States, is one of the figures with the greatest accumulation of power within the Venezuelan ruling party and a key operator of the state’s political, repressive, and economic apparatus.

Delcy Rodríguez has been presented as a moderate, a technocrat, a “different” chavista because of her studies in France and England and her fluent English. The first is not true. This is confirmed by American columnist Eva Golinger, who spent several years in Venezuela alongside Hugo Chávez, and by former Turkish diplomat Imdat Oner, who served in Caracas and recalls a meeting with ambassadors in 2015 when Rodríguez was foreign minister: “She arrived two hours late and started yelling at the US and European diplomats. She is a radical chavista, in terms of ideology,” he told La Hora de Venezuela.

What Delcy Rodríguez is, observers and analysts agree, is pragmatic. In fact, her greatest rise within the chavista power structure has occurred since she began to pull the strings of the economic agenda. Over the years, she has become more than just the vice president: she is a central operator of the system, the figure to whom is called upon when it is necessary to confront, execute, close ranks, and secure economic lifelines.

Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez was born in Caracas on May 18, 1969. Her political biography cannot be understood without a later date: July 25, 1976, when her father, Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, died in police custody after being arrested for his involvement in the kidnapping of American businessman William Niehous. The death—attributed to torture and mistreatment—became a breaking point for the family and, over time, a key element of the chavista narrative about the 1958-1998 governments. For Delcy and her brother Jorge, that history of victimization served as both a wound and a compass: politics as reparation, as justice, as revenge. In fact, she once uttered on television: “The Bolivarian Revolution, the arrival of our Commander, was our personal revenge.”

In a government where trust is managed as a scarce resource, Delcy has remained for a fundamental reason: she serves to hold the edifice together when it creaks.

Furthermore, Delcy is not just Delcy. She is part of a duo that, for years, has operated as the backbone of the revolutionary government: alongside her brother Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, they have both been described as “political twins” of chavismo. They share origins, narratives, and ambitions.

This family alliance explains their strength. In a government where trust is managed as a scarce resource, Delcy has remained for a fundamental reason: she serves to hold the edifice together when it creaks.

That’s why, when the economy hit its lowest point and needed a boost, Rodríguez became the only high-ranking official attending business meetings, while a vast network of private initiatives was being built under her wing. Investigative journalism platforms like Armando.info have uncovered the now-acting president’s connections to a “business entourage” with ramifications in the construction, tourism, real estate, food import, and packaging sectors.

Domestically, government officials describe her as a reserved, quiet, and low-profile figure with a small but highly loyal circle of allies—allies who now stand by her in what could be the greatest paradox of her life: denouncing the American capture of Nicolás Maduro in her speeches, while in practice allowing the Trump administration to exert control over political decision-making and resuming oil sales agreements with the US.

However, the hand Delcy Rodríguez is currently wielding lacks, by far, the legal certainty, reliability, and constitutional guarantees that oil executives demand. She and her inner circle are burdened by a long history of human rights violations, economic hardship, over 800 political prisoners still incarcerated, and internal disputes.

A pillar of the dictatorship

Rodríguez served as Minister of the Presidency (2006), Minister of Communication and Information (2013-2014), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2014-2017), President of the National Constituent Assembly (2017-2018), and, since June 2018, Executive Vice President. However, one of the turning points in her career was her presidency of the National Constituent Assembly, a body created without a prior referendum and not recognized by the international community.

From her position as president of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), she spearheaded a process that effectively nullified the National Assembly elected in 2015, concentrating legislative, judicial, and political oversight functions in a body dominated exclusively by chavismo. Under her leadership, legal instruments widely criticized by human rights organizations were approved.

This was also the period when Delcy Rodríguez held the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur, and when Venezuela ceased to be a member of the organization for violating the Accession Protocol.

In this context, the then Foreign Minister was involved in an unforgettable incident: In December 2016, she was denied entry to the organization’s meeting held in Buenos Aires, but she made headlines by appearing with her arm in a sling, allegedly due to injuries she suffered when she was prevented from entering the meeting. “I was beaten by a police officer (…) the offenses and physical abuse that can occur within Mercosur against a nation and its foreign minister are shameful,” Rodríguez stated at the time.

Investigations indicate that, days before the ‘Delcygate’ trip, Delcy Rodríguez facilitated the sale of 104 Venezuelan gold bars valued at more than $60 million to Spanish businesspeople.

Delcy Rodríguez’s record on human rights ranges from her participation in the creation of a repressive legal framework to her role as one of the main perpetrators of one of the most intense waves of repression during the chavista era. During her tenure in the National Constituent Assembly, regulatory frameworks and decisions were promoted and consolidated that facilitated the repression and criminalization of dissent.

Among them are the Constitutional Law Against Hatred (2017), systematically used to criminally prosecute opposition members, journalists, activists, and citizens for expressions on social media, with sentences of up to 20 years in prison. She provided critical support for permanent states of emergency, which suspended constitutional guarantees and allowed for arrests without a warrant. Delcy Rodríguez also helped to legitimize civil-military control of public order, consolidating the use of military courts and intelligence agencies against civilians.

As Executive Vice President of the Republic, she had direct authority over Ministries and security agencies. Between 2018 and April 2021, under her chain of command, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) was documented as responsible for arbitrary detentions, torture, enforced disappearances, and mass surveillance.

The UN Human Rights Council’s Fact-Finding Mission concluded in 2020 that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that Rodríguez knew or should have known about crimes committed by the State and failed to act to prevent them, despite her position of authority. These conclusions were reiterated and expanded in subsequent resolutions that kept the international investigation into Venezuela active.

Corruption, gold, and international schemes

Beyond her role in the chain of command of human rights violations, Delcy Rodríguez has been linked to transnational corruption schemes involving gold, foreign businesspeople, and opaque financial circuits.

On January 20, 2020, Rodríguez (sanctioned by the European Union from 2018) entered Spain despite the existing travel ban and met with then-Minister José Luis Ábalos (currently in jail), triggering the scandal known as Delcygate. Investigations indicate that, days before the trip, she facilitated the sale of 104 Venezuelan gold bars valued at more than $60 million to Spanish businesspeople. The Civil Guard found communications between Rodríguez and businessman Víctor de Aldama that directly link the vice president to this transaction.

This case is part of a broader pattern of illegal extraction and international money laundering of Venezuelan gold through shell companies, a scheme that reinforces corruption and the evasion of financial controls. In the political and media sphere, the Delcygate scandal has also been linked to other controversies in Spain, such as the state bailout of the airline Plus Ultra, which has ties to figures associated with Chavismo, although there is no direct legal evidence implicating Rodríguez.

It is impossible to forget that Venezuela’s current interim president spearheaded a scandalous pact with dangerous gang members in 2017.

Another key figure is Jorge Giménez. This Venezuelan businessman and president of the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), is the subject of an investigation by Armando.info, which exposes him as an operative for the chavista regime and a trusted associate of Rodríguez. He is implicated in opaque contracts linked to the CLAP program and PDVSA, with debts and irregular agreements exceeding $1.2 billion. Furthermore, he appears in chats related to the Spanish case as a direct interlocutor of his “boss,” solidifying the connection between Venezuelan political power and international corruption networks.

The Associated Press recently published a report revealing that the DEA has been investigating Rodríguez for years. “Rodriguez has been on the radar of the US Drug Enforcement Administration for years, and in 2022 she was even labeled a ‘priority target,’ a designation the DEA reserves for suspects believed to have a ‘significant impact’ on drug trafficking, according to records obtained by the AP and more than half a dozen current and former US law enforcement officials,” the publication states.

Although the same publication clarifies that the United States has never accused Rodríguez of any crime and notes that she “is not among the more than a dozen Venezuelan officials—from Maduro’s inner circle—accused of drug trafficking along with the ousted president,” it is impossible to forget that Venezuela’s current interim president spearheaded a scandalous pact with dangerous gang members in 2017.

That year, while dozens of students protesting against the repression of Nicolás Maduro’s government were being killed in the streets of the country’s main cities, Rodríguez, then president of the National Assembly, led the task of negotiating with criminal groups to keep them calm and prevent them from rising up against the government.

CHICAGO — We’ve seen these movies before, or at least most of them.

With the NFL’s conference championship games set — the Rams at Seattle following New England at Denver — three of the four possible Super Bowl permutations are rematches.

Rams-Patriots? There have been two of those, at the end of the 2001 and 2018 seasons.

And Seattle has played both combinations, beating the Broncos in the 2013 season and losing to the Patriots a year later.

Of the four possibilities, the only one that hasn’t happened is Rams-Broncos.

There are strong ownership ties binding those two franchises. Among his many sports holdings, Rams owner Stan Kroenke also owns the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. Although he built his empire with real estate and as a developer, he’s married to Ann Walton Kroenke — of the Walmart family — who is a first cousin of Rob Walton, who led the group that purchased the Broncos in 2022.

The Broncos last won the Super Bowl 10 years ago, weeks after the Rams were approved to move back to Los Angeles, and it happened at Levi’s Stadium, site of this year’s game. That was when Peyton Manning won his second ring, with his second franchise, then called it a career.

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Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 20-17 overtime victory against the Chicago Bears in the NFC divisional playoffs at Soldier Field.

There’s a possibility that Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford could follow that blueprint. He’s on his second team, having spent the first part of his career with Detroit, and he already has one ring. But whereas Manning was clearly in the sunset of his storied career, Stafford remains at the top of his game, and likely will be this season’s NFL Most Valuable Player.

Still, Stafford will turn 38 the day before the Super Bowl, and it wouldn’t be much of a curveball if that were his last game, especially if the Rams were to win.

Rams tight end Terrance Ferguson is from Littleton, Colo., a suburb of Denver, and Broncos general manager George Paton is from La Cañada and played football at Loyola High and UCLA.

If the Seahawks were to win the NFC — and oddsmakers have them as 2½-point favorites — they would look to repeat against Denver or atone for that painful loss to New England.

It was at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, remember, that Seattle rolled over Manning and the Broncos, 43-8, behind a smothering defense. Pete Carroll’s team looked unbeatable.

A year later in Arizona, one of the most excruciating moments in Seattle sports history.

With 20 seconds left and the Seahawks a yard away from the go-ahead touchdown, Patriots rookie Malcom Butler picked off a goal-line pass by Russell Wilson. Seattle inexplicably decided to throw instead of handing off to battering ram Marshawn Lynch, who was all but automatic in short-yardage situations.

Despite some reported clashes, the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are implementing their new ceasefire agreement. The SDF is expected to integrate its fighters into the Syrian army and place public infrastructure and services under federal government control.

No sooner had 2026 begun than dramatic events in world politics followed one after another. The problem is not even the speed of these events but the difficulty of systematizing them. Forecasting is a thankless task. And the issue is not only the high probability of error. The conditions of the current transitional international system and the turbulent world make forecasting a process far from scientific. We lack the necessary tools, theory, and sufficient input information. It is very difficult to predict which events will be of central importance, which regions will be at the center of world attention, and where conflicts will begin and end.

Despite the enormous attention focused on the conflict in Ukraine and the events surrounding Iran, Palestine, and Venezuela, it can be assumed that the center of Eurasia will be one of the key regions in terms of conflict potential and world politics. Important political processes and, possibly, various actions should be expected due to the high conflict potential between India and Pakistan and the increased tensions between the United States and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Anarchical Year? The brilliant Oxford University professor Hedley Bull published his book “The Anarchical Society” in 1977, arguing that “international society is a society without government, and in this respect it resembles primitive or archaic societies.”

One can expect an obvious archaization of international life. Classical realists, theorists of international relations, have led us to believe that the world is in a state of eternal and unchanging anarchy. Unlike domestic relations, there is no policeman in the world of global politics. The monopoly on force belongs to the state, but only within the borders of that state. This restrains members of society from using force for their own interests. In relations between countries, there is no such policeman. Liberal theorists believed that anarchy is a negative thing and should be combated through collective methods, especially through the use of various international organizations. They believed it was possible to create an international system in which a global policeman could emerge.

But what is to be done when a potential contender for the role of world policeman does not want such a fate, and the others do not possess sufficient resources and capabilities? What is to be done when the world has become so complex and the number of ambitious, influential powers has become so high that there is no single powerful force capable of restraining everyone? And what if the great military powers themselves have concluded that expanding the field of anarchy is beneficial to them?

Symbolically, in the prestigious Anglosphere journal International Organization, Alexander Wendt suggested that the level of anarchy will be determined by the great powers themselves. That is, he refuted the liberal view that anarchy is something that has a beginning and an end: “Anarchy is what the great powers make of it.”

It can be assumed that 2026 will be a year of expanding anarchy. Trumpist America will be the leading political actor whose actions will expand the field of anarchy and, in parallel, break down what remains (and much remains) of the current international system. Powers will be self-serving. The very concept of alliances will be rethought. Militarization processes will be widespread. Everyone who can afford it will arm themselves. The increase in the sphere of anarchy will lead to an expansion of conflict potential. There will be many conflicts. Military potential will determine the balance of power in international life. The technological race will reach a new level, blurring the line between the military and civilian spheres. Apparently, diplomatic agreements will remain overshadowed by military capabilities. It can be assumed that 2026 will break records for spending on armaments.

South and Central Asia

As I have already said, the Central and South Asian region will remain in the focus of world media attention. The conflict potential between the leading players in the political and economic life of the region is too high.

The US National Security Strategy, published at the end of 2025, pays extremely limited attention to the South and Central Asian regions. The document, developed during Donald Trump’s second presidential term, represents, in many ways, an atypical and, to a certain extent, innovative approach to strategic planning. It is noteworthy that Afghanistan is not mentioned at all in Trump’s strategy, and Pakistan is mentioned only once, exclusively in the context of the Indo-Pakistani settlement. Nevertheless, this arrangement of priorities is difficult to interpret as evidence of Washington’s withdrawal from an active role in the region.

Donald Trump, in turn, quite clearly and unambiguously outlined the priority interest of the United States—the Bagram airbase. In September 2025, Trump stated that if Afghanistan refused to return the Bagram airbase, the United States, which built it, would face “bad consequences.” A legitimate question arises: why does this facility remain so important to the US? Bagram has exceptional strategic and symbolic significance. According to Afghan legends, it was founded by Alexander the Great and is located near the Afghan-Chinese border, essentially in the geographical center of Eurasia. Trump himself emphasized that one of the key reasons for interest in the base is its proximity to facilities connected with China.

Another potential conflict is linked to the “eternal” military, political, and economic confrontation between two hostile countries—India and Pakistan. In May 2025, a real war broke out between Delhi and Islamabad, lasting several days. Indian artillery and air force struck military targets in Pakistan on May 7. The operation, codenamed “Sindhur,” was allegedly aimed at the “terrorist infrastructure” of pro-Pakistani terrorist groups that have certain ties to some military circles. Pakistan, in turn, denied all these accusations and launched a military operation in response to India’s actions.

The reason for the conflict was a horrific terrorist attack in the Indian part of the disputed territory of Kashmir on April 22. Islamists from a Pakistani terrorist organization opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam, killing several dozen people. Indian authorities claimed Pakistan’s involvement in the attack. Donald Trump stated that he was the one who managed to stop the conflict between the two warring countries. Furthermore, many observers and analysts believe that a significant recalibration of U.S. strategy in South Asia is signaling a deliberate warming of relations with Pakistan after years of prioritizing ties with India.

Thus, 2026 is unlikely to be a year of universal peace, cooperation, and prosperity. Unfortunately, we may face a very tense year with a number of complex conflicts.

The art of the so-called art song is a thriving business. Singers galore are monthly recording songs from the rich 19th ^{century classical repertory, while composers are busy making new ones. But what was once known as the Lieder recital — the German title for songs in a genre once dominated by Schubert, Schumann, Hugo Wolf and Richard Strauss — has approached its sell-by date.}

The smart shopper will already note signs of staleness and mold in the old practice of a singer in stiff white tie and tails or gaudy gown, standing, arm propped on piano, of the second banana accompanist. Attention here was meant to be drawn not to the singer but the marvels of song, as you followed the text in your program book. The recital acted like a religious experience in which a rarefied atmosphere befits radiance.

A new generation of singers, however, has been strikingly upending the song recital, turning to songs from a wide variety of sources old, new and genre fluid. Singers think thematically and theatrically. Pianists become welcoming creative partners. Other musicians, stage directors, choreographers and dancers may be invited in.

“From Ordinary Things,” which had its premiere as part of CAP UCLA’s series at the Nimoy Theater on Thursday night, is the latest project of one of the least ordinary and most compelling singers of this new generation, Julia Bullock. A rivetingly theatrical soprano, Bullock, in collaboration with percussionist/composer Tyshawn Sorey and director Peter Sellars, has developed a full-scale operatic evening, “Perle Noir: Meditations for Joséphine,” about the chanteuse Josephine Baker and slated next for Australia’s Adelaide Festival in March. Another project has been Bullock’s riveting staging, with dance, of Olivier Messiaen’s mystical, Amazonian, sex-love-death song cycle, “Harawi,” which came to the Wallis in October 2024.

Conor Hanick, a partner of Bullock’s in the experimental collective American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), was the pianist for “Harawi” and is again for “From Ordinary Things.” They are further joined by the equally versatile cellist, Seth Parker Woods. The title comes from the last line of “Shelter,” a song by André Previn with a text by Toni Morrison. “In this soft place/Under your wings/I will find shelter/From ordinary things.”

That leaves us Bullock with extraordinary things, and her program is surprising in all things. She begins in shock, singing unaccompanied, on a dark stage in a darkened hall, performers illuminated by powerful spotlights.

Julia Bullock performs at the UCLA Nimoy Theater on Thursday in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)

Stark, discomforting amplification diminishes intimacy and the luxurious richness of Bullock’s soprano, which easily fills a room on its own, suggests quiet terror, the lonely state of Nina Simone’s “Images.” The unaccompanied solo about a woman who “thinks her body has no glory” gets it from Bullock. That progresses without a break into the first song, “Nahandove,” from Ravel’s “Songs of Madagascar,” with piano and cello but not the flute in Ravel’s original setting. Here beauty is celebrated with voluptuous rapture, setting the mood for “Oh, Yemanja,” a mythic, watery mother’s prayer from Tania León’s opera “Scourge of Hyacinths.”

A highlight was to have been a pair of songs by León, with texts by Kevin Young, written for the recital, but they were apparently not yet ready. A line from one of them is “All light wrong?” With the program and song texts only available to download on the cellphone, the audience was left in the dark without texts and, with amplification obscuring diction, not knowing what’s what.

Another Young line — “are my chief complaints” — suited the blowsy loudspeakers that messed up balances, which extended to a performance of George Walker’s rarely heard Sonata for Cello, that ends the first half, for no apparent reason other than it gives the spotlight to the instrumentalists and it is a score that begs to be heard.

Parker has been a glowing advocate of the early work, written in 1957, by the late composer whose music is only in the past few years beginning to find its way to the public thanks to the efforts of reviving neglected Black composers. The sonata does not have the vibrant complexity of Walker’s commanding later works, but it is tight, strong, accessible and with an inspired slow movement that it would be hard to get enough of.

Cellist Seth Parker Woods and pianist Conor Hanick at the UCLA Nimoy Theater on Thursday in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)

The strange second half brought fewer complaints. An intermission bought time to familiarize oneself with text squeezed onto the cellphone screen. Amplification proved less objectionable. Bullock announced that while putting the program together she had come across songs by Robert Owens, a little-known American composer who lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 2017 and who wrote songs in the style of Richard Strauss to texts by the 19^th century poet Joseph von Eichendorff. If not a find, a curiosity.

From there to the avant-garde. “Ultimate Rose” from Salvatore Sciarrino’s 1981 opera, “Vanitas,” turns early music, along with vocal and cello production, marvelously inside out. More Nina Simone, the harsh “Four Women,” then Previn. Along with “Shelter,” Bullock sang a song he wrote with Dory Previn (“It’s Good to Have You Near Again”) and arrangements he made of standards (The Gershwins’ “Love Walked In” and Rogers’ and Hart’s “Nobody’s Heart Belongs to Me”) for his album with Leontyne Price. The encore was Massenet’s “Elégie.”

Each song seems to exist for reasons of its own. Each song creates a different dynamic among the three performers. You listen, left in the dark, wondering but also in wonder, as Bullock asks you a question why each song mattered as much as it did.

You go home and read the texts and find there are no ordinary things.

FORGET flights – you can now book a package holiday with Skyscanner.

The comparison website has long been used by holidaymakers looking to find the cheapest flight options.

And from today, Skyscanner has launched its own Package Holidays search option.

Scouring the internet, it compares 25million holiday packages a day which includes all the big names like TUI, Jet2, easyJet, Loveholidays and OnTheBeach,

For example, we found bargain deals such as seven nights in Benidorm with hotels and flights for just £226 with Lastminute, using the new serch tool.

There’s also a week in Marrakech for £195 next month, with flights and hotels bookable via Expedia.

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The search options let you choose everything from board, such as self-catered or all-inclusive, as well as star rating of the hotels you want to stay at.

The tour operator and airline can be chosen as well as whether you only want direct flights.

It isn’t quite as advanced as their flight search just yet – there isn’t an option for ‘Everywhere‘ or ‘Cheapest Month’ just yet.

So as long as you know where you want to go, and when, you can find a bargain.

The new search tool has been launched due to a boom in package holiday demand.

New data released by Skyscanner found that demand has increased by 113 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Not only that, but 52 per cent of Brits said they were looking at booking a package holiday.

Once seen as a more expensive option, bargain deals are now available which aren’t much more expensive compared to booking flights and hotels separately.

Not only that, but all of the holidays are ATOL protected, meaning your money is safe if the operator goes bust.

Laura Lindsay, Skyscanner’s Travel Expert, said: “Our research shows that for many, finding that perfect holiday can feel overwhelming, with value for money top of mind.

“We’re excited to bring our industry leading price comparison tech to packages.

“With more and more choice in how package holidays are constructed, travellers need an easier way to compare all of the options in one place, to find great deals without the hassle.”

Last year, Skyscanner also launched a new price drop tool.

And here are the 10 cheapest places to fly to this year, according to Skyscanner.

WASHINGTON — James Harden scored 36 points, and when he finally missed a couple big free throws in the final seconds, the ball came right back to him as the Clippers edged the Washington Wizards 110-106 on Monday for their sixth straight victory.

Harden made two free throws with 36.9 seconds left to give the Clippers a 108-106 lead, and after the teams traded scoreless possessions, Kyshawn George missed a three-pointer for Washington. Harden was fouled with 5.9 seconds left. At that point, he was 16 for 16 from the line, but he missed both free throws.

The Wizards couldn’t secure the rebound, and the ball bounced back to Harden, who was fouled again. This time he made both shots to seal the win.

Washington has lost seven straight.

Although the two teams have been headed in opposite directions, the game was close the whole way. Harden’s layup put the Clippers up by three, but Khris Middleton was fouled while shooting a three with 57.6 seconds left, and he made all three free throws to tie it at 106.

The Clippers (19-23) were without the injured Kawhi Leonard for a second straight game. Trae Young (knee, quad) still hasn’t played since being traded to Washington from Atlanta.

Alex Sarr led the Wizards (10-32) with 28 points. George had 18 points, six assists and six rebounds, but he missed a trio of key shots in the last couple of minutes for Washington.

The Clippers won despite shooting five for 28 from beyond the arc. They were 33 for 38 on free throws and outscored the Wizards 60-38 in the paint.

Up next for the Clippers: at Chicago on Tuesday night.

Jan. 19 (UPI) — Strong winds and snow created whiteout conditions in Michigan Monday, leading to a pileup of more than 100 vehicles and shutting down a portion of Interstate 196.

The crash happened on Interstate 196 in Zeeland Township, Mich., at about 10:19 a.m. EST. The road has been closed to all traffic.

The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office and Ottawa County Emergency Management say buses are transporting people who are stranded on the road away from the site of the accident. Motorists are advised to stay in their vehicles until they are able to board a bus.

The Hudsonville Public Schools and Holland, Mich., public transit services are providing transportation to the Hudsonville High School.

The Michigan State Police estimate that 30 to 40 semi-trucks were involved in the pileup. Numerous people have been injured but no fatalities have been reported.

The whiteout conditions have caused multiple crashes on Monday with several involving 15 vehicles or more. Part of U.S. Route 131 is closed in Kalamazoo, Mich., due to multiple crashes.

Semi-trucks have been involved in the Kalamazoo area crashes as well, with multiple trucks jackknifing on the road.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories in western Michigan due to strong winds and lake effect snow.

It is a much more public show of support than Powell has previously displayed, but comes as Trump threatened Fed chair with criminal indictment.

United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will attend the Supreme Court’s oral argument in a case involving the attempted firing of Fed governor Lisa Cook, an unusual show of support by the central bank chair.

The high court is considering whether US President Donald Trump can fire Cook, as he said he would do in late August, in an unprecedented attempt to remove one of the seven members of the Fed’s governing board. Powell plans to attend the high court’s Wednesday session, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It is a much more public show of support than the Fed chair has previously shown Cook. But it follows Powell’s announcement last week that the Trump administration has sent subpoenas to the Fed, threatening an unprecedented criminal indictment of the Fed chair. Powell — appointed to the position by Trump in 2018 — appears to be casting off last year’s more subdued response to Trump’s repeated attacks on the central bank in favour of a more public confrontation.

Powell issued a video statement on January 11 condemning the subpoenas as “pretexts” for Trump’s efforts to force him to sharply cut the Fed’s key interest rate. Powell oversaw three rate cuts late last year, lowering the rate to about 3.6 percent, but Trump has argued it should be as low as 1 percent, a position few economists support.

The Trump administration has accused Cook of mortgage fraud, an allegation that Cook has denied. No charges have been made against Cook. She sued to keep her job, and the Supreme Court on October 1 issued a brief order allowing her to stay on the board while they consider her case.

If Trump succeeds in removing Cook, he could appoint another person to fill her slot, which would give his appointees a majority on the Fed’s board and greater influence over the central bank’s decisions on interest rates and bank regulation.

Jill Halfpenny plays DS Sam Bradley in the tense police drama, which has returned for a second series

After The Flood star Jill Halfpenny shared a sweet message with fans after the police drama returned.

The second series of the tense show started this month, with detective Jo Marshall, played by Sophie Rundle, back on our screens and looking into a new set of murders.

Fans have been gripped by the ITV series so far and as the latest instalment aired on Monday (January 19), Jill – who stars as DS Sam Bradley – expressed her delight in a post on her Instagram Story.

Sharing a screengrab of some of the positive comments about the show, she told fans: “We are so happy you are enjoying After The Flood series 2.”

The drama, which also stars Matt Stokoe and Lorraine Ashbourne, is back two years after season one, which saw police investigating after a man was found dead in an underground car park following a catastrophic flood.

Fans have been thrilled to see it return, with many posting messages on social media calling it “brilliant”. One posted a message on Instagram saying they were “so happy it’s back” as another penned: “Binged it all in one day!”

“Binge watched the whole series already and it’s one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while,” commented another viewer, adding: “Hats off to everyone involved in it.”

Another hailed the “brilliant first episode!” as others shared clapping emojis to show their appreciation.

Lead star Sophie recently shared: “It’s really nice coming back to something that has been recommissioned because people watched it and because people liked it, you know, and I think that’s obviously the only way you can kind of judge whether people want a series two.

“It’s really lovely coming back, you meet people when you’re out and about and they often say, ‘Oh, we loved After the Flood, we loved that one’, so it’s really nice when you go back to something and you think, ‘Okay, to a degree, I think we got that right’ and I think people liked it and people kind of want more, so that is always a really nice starting point.”

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website.

After The Flood airs on ITV.

US President Donald Trump has unveiled a proposed “Board of Peace” initially aimed at rebuilding Gaza but now pitched as a global conflict body. Critics see a wide gap between its lofty promises and political reality. Al Jazeera’s Ruby Zaman takes a look the growing scepticism over whether it can deliver meaningful change.

WHEN the most famous women in the world wanted a show-stopping dress, their designer of choice was Valentino Garavani.

The Italian fashion legend, who last night died, aged 93 at his home in Rome, even had a colour — Valentino red — named after his signature dresses.

Among the many fans of his designs were Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Zendaya, Lady Gaga and Queen Camilla.

JFK’s widow Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Schiffer are among those to have worn one of his creations on their wedding day.

Valentino is one of the biggest fashion brands on the planet, making more than a billion pounds worth of sales last year.

Founded in 1960, the company’s V is a sign of luxury found on everything from handbags, shoes and perfume to both men’s and women’s clothes.

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Valentino has included a red dress in every collection since its launch, and Valentino red gowns have been worn by Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rihanna among others.

But the designer famously fell out with Princess Diana after the late royal ditched one of his creations for a different “revenge dress” for her first public appearance following revelations that King Charles had cheated on her.

Valentino was the last of the classic 20th-century designers, who also included Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.

The fashion great, who had a relationship with his male business partner Giancarlo Giammetti, said: “I love beauty. It is not my fault.

‘WOMEN WANT TO BE BEAUTIFUL’

“And I know what women want — they want to be beautiful.”

Right from his birth, this son of an electrical wholesaler was destined to be linked with a world of glamour.

His mother named him after the silent movie star Rudolph Valentino.

He grew up in the small Italian town of Voghera, near Milan, and started designing clothes when he was 12 years old.

Valentino said: “I could do shoes, blouse, scarf, skirt, I did everything. All on top of my school book.”

His parents wanted him to become a doctor, but were supportive when he announced he wanted to go into fashion.

After studying and working in Paris, Valentino set up his own fashion house in Rome in 1960, helped financially by his father.

Aged 28 at the time, he met fashion student Giancarlo, then 18, who became the co-founder of the firm.

The couple had a romantic relationship until 1972 but continued working together professionally for half a century.

Their first famous supporter was Jackie Kennedy, the wife of the US President John F Kennedy.

She wore his couture dresses while mourning her husband after he was assassinated in 1963 and also selected a Valentino for her marriage to the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis five years later.

Joan Collins wore his frocks at the height of her Dynasty fame in the 1980s and Princess Diana was a close friend who would holiday on his yachts.

Diana was supposed to wear a Valentino in 1994 for an event at the Serpentine Gallery in London after Charles spoke about his affair with Camilla in a Jonathan Dimbleby interview.

But when Valentino leaked the news, she ditched him for a black silk cocktail gown by Christina Stambolian.

I use very slim models without bosoms to be free to create. Sometimes, if the model has a bosom or a little big hips, it gets in the way

Valentino

There were plenty of other women who wanted to wear the brand’s elegant frocks on the red carpet.

Julia Roberts wore Valentino at the Oscars in 2001, Florence Pugh followed suit at the Venice Film Festival 2022 as did Sharon Stone at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995.

Such was his status in the fashion world, he even appeared as himself in 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada alongside Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.

But he also had an obsession with women’s weight and objected to “fat” women.

In 1986 he said: “Women love to be slim. I prefer too thin to too fat.

“I use very slim models without bosoms to be free to create. Sometimes, if the model has a bosom or a little big hips, it gets in the way.

“That is important when I create something new. Later it can be translated for women much larger.”

‘ADIEU TO THE WORLD OF FASHION’

In 1998, Valentino and Giancarlo sold the firm for around £200million and then later tried and failed to buy it back.

His huge wealth meant he lived a jet-set lifestyle, with homes in London, Rome and New York as well as an 84ft yacht.

Valentino kept designing up until 2008, eventually choosing to quit while he was still at the top of his game.

He said: “I have decided that this is the perfect moment to say adieu to the world of fashion.

“As the English say, I would like to leave the party when it is still full.”