Published on
09/12/2025 – 10:40 GMT+1

The European Commission on Tuesday launched a probe into Google over its use of web publishers’ content and YouTube material for its AI services.

The decision comes after transatlantic tensions escalated over the weekend after Brussels imposed a €120 million fine on Elon Musk’s social network X for breaching its landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), prompting a political response from the world’s richest man calling for the EU to be abolished.

“AI is bringing remarkable innovation and many benefits for people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the principles at the heart of our societies,” EU competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a statement.

“This is why we are investigating whether Google may have imposed unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, while placing rival AI models developers at a disadvantage,” Ribera added.

The EU investigation will examine whether Google used web publishers’ content to provide generative-AI services on its search results pages without appropriate compensation and without giving them the option to refuse.

Many publishers depend on Google Search for user traffic.

It will also assess whether videos uploaded on YouTube were used to train Google’s generative AI models without proper compensation to creators and without giving them any choice.

The Commission’s probe is based on EU rules designed to prohibit abuses of dominant market position. However, the opening of a probe following a fine on X might trigger Washington’s ire, which has positioned itself on the side of Big American Tech.

Since Trump’s return to power in 2025, the EU and the US have been at loggerheads over the bloc’s enforcement of digital rules.

The Trump administration accuses the EU of targeting only US companies, while the EU says its legislation is non-discriminatory and reflects its sovereign right to enforce its own digital-market rules.

Euronews has reached out to Google for comment.

This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.

Chris Sutton and Conor Coady discuss Aston Villa’s title credentials and their admiration for manager Unai Emery on the Monday Night Club.

You can watch the full show on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport YouTube, or listen on BBC Sounds.

READ MORE: Are Aston Villa in title hunt?

THE nation’s most Christmassy coach has been revealed – filled with 53 people named Carol and Noel singing festive songs.

National Express welcomed the army of festive folk with the same name on a service from London Victoria Coach Station.

IDs were checked before boarding to make sure each Carol and Noel was legitimate, and the dress code was simply ‘festive fun’, with many opting for novelty Christmas jumpers.

There were some notable names among the passengers, including TOWIE’s Carol Wright – mum of Mark – and even Noel Fielding (or at least their lookalike).

They were encouraged to sing Christmas songs for the entire journey to get into the festive spirit.

It comes as the UK’s largest coach operator is offering anyone called Carol or Noel free travel on Christmas Day for one of any of the 355 journeys it’s running to 96 locations across the country.

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John Boughton, commercial director for National Express, said: “Carol and Noel are the most festive names, so we were delighted to welcome so many on board to kick off the holiday season.

“This year we are feeling more festive than ever before and we can’t wait to welcome Carols and Noels for their free journeys with us on Christmas Day. Singing Christmas songs is optional.

“With planned rail disruption over the festive period, we’re once again stepping up to help people get home this Christmas with thousands of coach services across our key intercity and airport routes.”

The coach company also polled 2,000 people who celebrate the festivities, which found Silent Night was the most popular carol with 35 per cent of the vote.

It was followed by O Come All Ye Faithful and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (both 18 per cent).

More than a third (36 per cent) admitted they don’t start feeling festive until they sing their first carol and 45 per cent are left with a nostalgic feeling when they hear them.

Around four in 10 (42 per cent) reckon the main thing that makes a great Christmas carol is that it should be easy to sing along to.

While 40 per cent look for a ‘traditional feel’ and 37 per cent reckon it should have memorable lyrics, according to the OnePoll.com figures.

Other top tunes to hear at this time of year included O Holy Night (15 per cent) and Away in a Manger (12 per cent).

But Ding Dong Merrily on High just missed out on the top 10, placing 11th on the list.

John added: “There’s something magical about hearing carols drift through the air during the holidays.

“Whether you’re out singing them door-to-door, or aboard a coach with three dozen people called Carol or Noel, they’re timelessly festive.

“Singing them at this time of year is almost guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit, even if there’s no snow on the ground.”

Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington reports from Indonesia’s Aceh Tamiang, one of the areas worst hit by the deadly floods. Survivors there are now threatened by disease and starvation after entire villages were wiped out, leaving people with nothing.

Less than five years ago, the Golden Globes were hanging by a thread.

In the wake of a Times investigation that exposed the group’s self-dealing and ethical lapses and a complete lack of Black representation among its membership, NBC pulled the ceremony off the air as Netflix and Amazon Studios and more than 100 publicity agencies cut ties with the embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.

It got so bad that Tom Cruise sent back his three Golden Globes to the HFPA in protest, an act not quite on the level of Sean Penn’s 2022 threat to smelt his Oscars, though it grabbed headlines all the same.

But the Golden Globes have returned from the brink. The awards show, now run by Penske Media Eldridge, owned by Jay Penske and Todd Boehly, announced its latest slate of film and television nominations Monday. And the coverage, led by trade publications owned by Penske, has contained little to no mention of the show’s troubled past — or the controversies that continue to swirl around the ceremony, which will again air in January on CBS as part of a five-year broadcast deal signed in 2024.

So, yes, for all intents and purposes, the Golden Globes are back. But regarding ethical practices, today’s for-profit Globes may well be worse than ever, crossing the line in ways that are more egregious than the shady maneuverings that put the awards on life support not so long ago.

As part of the show’s rehabilitation, the Globes have expanded their voting pool to 300 people, including Black voters. Fifty of the original HFPA members were grandfathered into the group and offered an annual salary of $75,000. The Globes terminated that policy earlier this year, calling the move “an acknowledgment that continuing to pay members could add to a perception of bias in voting.”

It’s hard not to be skeptical of such principled reasoning in light of more recent events. In May, the Globes announced a new category for podcasts. A shortlist of 25 followed in October, selected by audio analytics company Luminate, which, surprise, is also owned by Penske Media.

The eligible titles ranged from Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” and Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” to political programs like “Pod Save America.” Conservative commentators Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro, Theo Von and Candace Owens all made the shortlist. (Surprisingly, “New Heights,” the popular podcast hosted by Jason Kelce and his brother Travis, the all-pro Kansas City Chiefs tight end engaged to singer Taylor Swift, was omitted. If the goal in creating the new award was to find a way to coax Swift into attending the ceremony, somebody forgot to save her a seat.)

But the real motivation behind the podcast category became apparent soon afterward: money. Per the Ankler, Penske-owned trade publication Variety had its sales team pitch nominated podcasts an array of paid marketing partnerships, including a $25,000 buy to become a Podcasting FYC Fest supporting partner and a $75,000 deal for the podcaster to be given the Variety Creative Impact Award in Podcasting.

With those prices, no wonder Luminate seems to have made popularity — and thus financial resources — a core criterion for eligibility. Plus, there was the hope that some of the 25 shortlisted shows would buy FYC ads in Variety and Penske’s other trade publications, the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, all of which rely on FYC dollars to keep the lights on.

How many bit? Shapiro is one prominent name, buying ads on Deadline and partnering with awards prediction website Gold Derby (yes, another Penske property) in a paid video interview with his podcast team. (The stumping failed to pay off in the end: The final six nominees in the category were “Armchair Expert,” “Call Her Daddy,” “Good Hang With Amy Poehler,” “The Mel Robbins Podcast,” “SmartLess” and “Up First.”)

“It’s just a money grab,” says a veteran awards consultant, who asked not be identified in order to protect industry relationships. “Everybody used to knock the Globes, but they were just goofy. … This is next level.”

You want next level? How about Penske offering three pairs of Golden Globes tickets for $70,000 each via a “concierge gift guide” in its luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report? After the New York Post reported these shenanigans, the offer disappeared on the publication’s website.

Privately, there has been pushback. Publicly, not so much. We live in a culture at large where we’ve come to accept flagrant corruption as the norm, and Penske’s Globes are just another example, skating through our collective numbness.

The Golden Globes have long been excused for their scandals and idiosyncratic membership and, of course, mocked for their irrelevance. Ricky Gervais dismissed them as “worthless,” calling the award “a bit of metal that some nice old confused journalists wanted to give you in person so they could meet you and have a selfie with you.”

The membership has turned over, but the trophy’s value is still inconsequential.

Yet the ceremony keeps on chugging along, remaining, in the view of filmmakers behind the sort of grown-up movie fare that’s becoming an increasingly endangered species, an essential marketing platform. The January ceremony brought in 9.3 million viewers — not “Sunday Night Football” numbers, but not shabby in this fragmented media landscape.

For one night, the thinking goes, movies like “Marty Supreme,” “Hamnet” and “Sentimental Value” (among this year’s most-rewarded contenders) are celebrated and, perhaps, discovered. Studios still platform their films’ expansion into more theaters on the weekend after the Globes ceremony. If you award it, the thinking goes, people will come.

We all want these movies to continue to be made. No doubt a fair number of moviegoers bought a ticket to see the Brazilian political drama “I’m Still Here” after its lead Fernanda Torres won a Globe earlier this year.

But adding categories for podcast and, two years ago, “cinematic and box office achievement” only squeezes the amount of time that the show can spotlight the nominated films and their actors.

There’s a saying, first coined by Maya Angelou, that’s been repopularized in recent years: “If someone shows you who they are, believe them.” The same could be said of awards shows.

The Golden Globes may be here to stay. But let’s stop pretending they’re any better than they were before the last scandal.

SALT LAKE CITY — Joel Armia scored twice, Adrian Kempe had a goal and assist, and the Kings beat the Utah Mammoth 4-2 on Monday night.

Anze Kopitar also scored and Kevin Fiala had two assists to help the Kings get their third win in five games. Darcy Kuemper stopped 19 shots.

Clayton Keller had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Guenther also scored for the Mammoth in their sixth loss in eight games. Karel Vejmelka finished with 23 saves.

Kempe got the Kings on the scoreboard 7:50 into game after he got a pass from Fiala, skated in on Vejmelka and put a backhander past the goalie for his 10th goal of the season.

Armia made it 2-0 at 10:08 as he took a long stretch pass from Fiala and beat Vejmelka from between the circles.

Guenther pulled the Mammoth to 2-1 with a one-timer from the high slot off a pass from Clayton Keller on the power play 34 seconds into the second period. It was his 11th goal of the season.

Kopitar restored the Kings’ two-goal lead at 3:27 of the third on a rebound in front.

Keller pulled the Mammoth back within one with 7:47 remaining, but Armia sealed the Kings’ win with an empty-netter with 1:38 to go.

Up next for the Kings: at Seattle on Wednesday night.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — A federal judge has ordered two senior Justice Department attorneys, including one fired by the Trump administration, to testify before the court in its inquiry into a March deportation flight that proceeded in defiance of court orders.

Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Monday ordered Erez Reuveni, a former Justice Department attorney-turned-whistleblower, to testify the morning of Dec. 15. Drew Ensign, a senior Justice Department official, is to testify the afternoon of Dec. 16.

“Both sides shall appear in person at such hearings and will have the opportunity to question witnesses,” Boasberg said in his order.

The case centers on a March 15 deportation flight of 100 Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, which was last used to deport Japanese Americans during World War II.

The flight departed amid litigation over President Donald Trump‘s invocation of the AEA. As it departed, Boasberg issued an order for the plane to return, which it did not occur.

Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem admitted she was responsible for allowing the plane to complete its flight, stating she made the decision prior to Boasberg issuing his temporary restraining order.

Boasberg has launched an inquiry to determine whether Noem’s decision was a willful violation of the court’s order.

In his order Monday, Boasberg said it “would be premature” to refer Noem for prosecution for criminal contempt and ordered the testimony of Reuveni and Ensign “to better understand the bases of the decision to transfer the deportees out of the United States’ custody in the context of the hearing on March 15, 2025.”

Reuveni, a 15-year DOJ veteran, was fired after acknowledging in court in April that the Trump administration wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.

After his firing, he filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Emil Bove, a former criminal attorney on Trump’s personal defense team, directed the Trump administration to disregard a court order to stop the deportation flight.

Ensign is being asked to testify as the government’s attorney of record during the March 15 hearing.

Noem, in a brief Dec. 4 sworn statement to the court, said she made the decision for the deportation flight to continue, and had done so after receiving “privileged legal advice” from Trump administration counsel.

Just up the road from Whitby, this village offers golden sandy beaches, rugged cliffs, traditional cottages and ‘the best seafood restaurant’ visitors claim

Nestled along Yorkshire’s captivating coastline, just a short distance from Whitby, lies this charming fishing village boasting secluded beaches – ideal for those seeking a more serene retreat.

Boasting its own stretch of golden sand, Sandsend provides a far more peaceful alternative to its lively neighbouring town. The scenery features dramatic cliffs, gentle sands and the most delightful traditional cottages, creating a picture-perfect British village. When the weather’s fine, both residents and tourists can enjoy a seaside stroll, a refreshing swim or simply unwind whilst catching some sun. A recent guest said on TripAdvisor: “A beautiful coast; would highly recommend. Lovely atmosphere and views. My children loved it here; it’s very peaceful, and if you love a quiet coastal trip, then I would advise visiting here. There are a few pubs, cafes and restaurants too.”

During the warmer months, one holidaymaker remarked: “Beautiful stretch of coastline any time of year. We often visit in the spring/autumn; this was our first time visiting during the summer, and it was great to see this beach in all its glory! Lovely calm water for swimming; it was great for beating the heat after we had walked the length of the beach.”

Originally two separate villages – Sandsend and East Row – the area boasts a lengthy heritage in fishing, operating as a local port engaged in inshore fishing that remains active today. Visitors can savour locally caught fish at the village’s diverse dining establishments, ranging from cafés to restaurants and, naturally, fish and chip shops.

Particularly noteworthy is The Fish Cottage in Sandsend, a charming whitewashed establishment serving as both a seafood restaurant and fish and chip takeaway. Located merely 20 yards from the beach, some diners have even dubbed it “the best seafood restaurant by far”.

Additionally, they operate another location in Robin Hood’s Bay, another picturesque village on the opposite side of Whitby. Following a spontaneous visit, one diner shared on TripAdvisor: “Whenever I’m in the area, I cannot help myself; be it lunch or dinner time, I have to call in, and I am never disappointed. Staff are so so nice and very accommodating. The restaurant, although small, is lovely. If you’re ever in the area, honestly, this fish restaurant is the best.”

If that’s insufficient to entice you, an enchanting castle, Mulgrave Castle, stands just beyond the village and features a fascinating ‘ancient’ tale. According to legend, the site was established by a 6th-century ruler of Hälsingland, with its ruins now serving as a testament to the area’s fascinating past.

One visitor said: “It’s a bit of a slog getting there through the beautiful woods, but it’s well worth the effort. There was only one other person up at the castle, so it felt like the place was all mine. The views are breathtaking, and the ruin itself is very romantic.”

Stephen Alderton’s callous refusal to answer questions over the murder of father and son Gary, 57, and Joshua Dunmore, 32, will be shown in the second episode of 24 Hours In Police Custody: A Family Vendetta airs on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight

This is the moment a widower who “executed” a father and son remains stony-faced as he is confronted with chilling details of the double murder.

Stephen Alderton, 67, blasted his daughter’s ex-partner Josh Dunmore, 32, and his 57-year-old dad Gary with a Beretta shotgun after a bitter custody battle over Alderton’s grandson. Police footage following his arrest – shared with the Mirror – is revealed in a new episode of Channel 4’s hit series 24 Hours In Police Custody being aired tonight.

In never-before-seen interviews, detectives quiz murderer Alderton over the callous moment he coolly fired two rounds from his shotgun into Gary’s body, before emptying the cartridges, reloading and firing again. Detectives ask: “We know there were four gunshots at Gary’s house. We know, from the gunshot spray that one has been fired into the staircase in the property.” But Alderton replies: “No comment.”

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The detective continues: “He appears to have been shot twice to the body – the chest – and once in the head. Would you agree that that shows an element of perseverance and intent?” Without showing a flicker of emotion, Alderton replies: “No comment.” He is then asked: “How many times did you have to load your shotgun for a double-barrelled over-under gun, to be able to fire six shots?”

But again Alderton simply says: “No comment.” The detective then says: “So to load it, bang, bang, empty your cartridges, reload, bang, bang, break the shotgun, empty the cartridges, reload, bang, bang.”

Alderton’s two victims were found dead in March 2023 at their homes – six miles apart in Cambridgeshire – just two days after a family court hearing over his seven-year-old grandson. Following his arrest Alderton told police: “Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, even if it’s wrong in the eyes of the law.”

The ex-chartered surveyor, who admitted double murder, was jailed for life at Cambridge crown court and must serve a minimum 25 years. Last year the sentence was increased to 30 years after it was referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

After being arrested Alderton initially refused to answer questions and only showed a shred of emotion when quizzed about his grandson. When asked by the custody sergeant how he was feeling as he was booked in, Alderton replied: “It’s not exactly the best day.”

During his interview, a a detective asked Alderton: “Do you think what you did was justified?” He replies: “No comment.” The detective continues: “How do you think your grandson is going to feel about the death of his father and his other grandad? Talk to me about your grandson, are you close?” Alderton replies: “Yes.” The detective says: “He’s lost his dad, he’s lost his paternal grandfather, and it’s looking like he’s not going to see his maternal grandfather for quite some time.” Seeming to breakdown, Alderton says: “No comment.”

Later he told the Channel 4 cameras: “Down in Texas, they have a particular approach that you have to respect because ion red-kneck country they have guns and things like that.” After his arrest, he was also recorded saying: “I come from a world where you look after your family.”

Alderton’s rampage on March 29 2023 came two days after a family court hearing involving his grandson, who cannot be named. Josh had stopped his ex – Alderton’s daughter – Samantha Stephen, and her US airman husband, Paul, taking the seven-year-old to live in America.

Alderton shot Josh twice in the hallway of his home in Bluntisham at 9.09pm. Thirty-one minutes later, he shot Gary three times in the hallway of his Sutton home, six miles away. The killer fled in his motorhome but was arrested the following day on the M5 near Worcester.

Before the killing, he wrote a series of text messages saying he would “override any court decision” and that there was “always a plan B” following the custody row. After Alderton was arrested, he told police that “sometimes you have to do what you have to do even if it’s wrong in the eyes of the law”, prosecutor Peter Gair told Cambridge crown court. Judge Mark Bishop said the killings amounted to “an execution”.

The second episode of 24 Hours in Police Custody: A Family Vendetta airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4

Sport: Football Country: Egypt

Salah, the ‘Egyptian King’, scored 29 Premier League goals and broke a host of records as he helped Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th top-flight title in the 2024-25 season.

He became the first player to win the Golden Boot, the Playmaker award for most assists and the Premier League player of the season award in the same campaign. He was also named as the PFA men’s player of the year for a record third time and collected a third Football Writers’ footballer of the year award.

The 33-year-old became the highest-scoring overseas player in Premier League history, overtaking Sergio Aguero’s mark of 184.

Salah has scored five goals in 18 appearances for Liverpool so far this season, and on Saturday said he felt like he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club and that his relationship with head coach Arne Slot had broken down.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — Florida has designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist organizations, becoming the second GOP-led state in as many months to move against the Islamic groups.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Monday statement that the designations were “EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”

“Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,” the Republican governor and President Donald Trump ally said.

The executive order signed by DeSantis accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of supporting and being affiliated with “political entities and front organizations that engage in terrorism and funnel money to finance terrorist activities.”

CAIR, the order alleges, was founded by persons connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The order also designates them based on their alleged connections to Hamas, an Iran-backed militant group in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

The designations, issued under state authority and while mostly symbolic, can prohibit contracts with the groups and bar them state funds and resources, among other measures.

On the governor’s personal X account, DeSantis said that members of the GOP-controlled Florida legislature were “crafting legislation to stop the creep of sharia law, and I hope that they codify these protections for Floridians against CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood in their legislation.”

CAIR, and its Florida branch, were swift to respond, announcing they will sue Florida over the designation, which they called “defamatory and unconstitutional.”

The United States’ largest Muslim organization accused DeSantis of serving the Israeli government over residents of his state and of seeking to silence Americans critical of U.S. support for alleged Israeli war crimes.

“Gov. DeSantis knows full well that CAIR-Florida is an American civil rights organization that has spent decades advancing free speech, religious freedom and justice for all, including for the Palestinian people. That’s precisely why Gov. DeSantis is targeting our civil rights group,” CAIR National and CAIR-Florida said in a joint statement.

“We look forward to defeating Gov. DeSantis’ latest Israel First stunt in a court of law, where facts matter and conspiracy theories have no weight.”

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s, renounced violence in the 1970s and now provides a mixture of religious teaching with political activism and social support, such as operating pharmacies, hospitals and schools, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

CAIR was founded in 1994 with the mission to promote justice, protect civil rights and empower American Muslims. CAIR condemns all acts of terrorism by any group designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, including Hamas.

Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor CAIR has been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.

However, President Donald Trump last month, via executive order, directed the Treasury and State Department to evaluate if any chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States should be blacklisted.

The Trump administration has accused the Muslim Brotherhood of fueling terrorism in the Middle East, highlighting actions by alleged members following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The federal government, under Trump, has repeatedly taken action against individuals and organizations that have criticized Israel over its war in Gaza, including revoking visas from students studying in the United States and fining universities over alleged failures to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestine protests that erupted on their campuses.

Federal immigration authorities last month detained British journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi, who was on a CAIR speaking tour in the United States. He was released a little more than a week later under an agreement with the United States to leave the country.

No explicit reason for his detention was given, though Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin had said “those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit the country.”

Texas was the first state to designate CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood on Nov. 18.

I feel terrible … I’ve left the children at home and Seiffen, nicknamed Spielzeugdorf (The Toy Village), is literally a Christmas wonderland. Every street is alive with sparkling fairy lights and soft candlelight. There are thousands of tiny wooden figurines, train sets and toy animals displayed in shop windows, wooden pyramids taller than doorframes and colourful nutcracker characters. Forget elves in the north pole, this is the real Santa’s workshop. For hundreds of years, here in the village of Seiffen, wood turners and carvers have created classic wooden Christmas toys and sold them around the world.

Near the border of the Czech Republic, Seiffen may be well known in the German-speaking world as the “home of Christmas”, but so far it has been largely missed by English-speaking seasonal tourists. Tucked away in the Ore Mountains, about an hour and a half south of Dresden, it is not the easiest place to get to by public transport – the nearest train station is in Olbernhau, nearly 7 miles (11km) away. Buses are available, but we opt for a hire car and make our way into the hills, arriving the day after the first snowfall of the year. The roads are cleared quickly, but snow clings to the branches of the spruce trees. We half expect to see the Gruffalo’s child, but only spot a rust-coloured fox making its way through a fresh field of snow.

The surrounding forests we drive through are key to Seiffen’s survival. (The only reason we are here is a tipoff from a friendly German forester who said it was a must-see.) The Ore Mountains – Erzgebirge in German – were classified as a Unesco world heritage site in 2019 due to their rich history of mining. For 800 years, the area was shaped by intensive silver and tin mining (and later uranium).

Seiffen was built in the 1300s just below the mountain ridge and is surrounded by forests of spruce, pine and beech. Mining and forestry go hand in hand. Timber was essential for making pit props to hold up the roofs of mines, and for tool-making. So when the supply of tin dried up and the miners were forced to find an alternative way to make a living, they sourced the timber on their doorstep, modified their machinery and first made wooden bowls and spoons, before turning to what would make them famous – toys. One craftsman took his toys to a nearby Christmas market and came back with pockets full of coins, and the rest, as they say, is history. Families in every corner of the village began making small animals and figurines in their homes, with everyone pitching in to help carve and paint them.

It is difficult to know where to start in a town full of twinkly lights and warm, inviting shops, but a trip to the toy museum (Erzgebirgisches Spielzeugmuseum, €9) makes sense. Open since 1936, it tells the story of Seiffen’s toy-making traditions. The short video is recommended as it is the only information supplied in English. Despite the language barrier, the 5,000 exhibits – ranging from nutcrackers to train sets, Noah’s arks to minuscule matchbook carvings (including the “smallest kitchen in the world”) – will, if you are into that kind of thing, keep you amazed for hours. There are even traditional wooden toys that little (or big) kids can play with. To this day, Seiffen continues its toy-making tradition and even played host to the European Toy Maker festival earlier this year.

To experience the toy-making in action, we head to the Seiffener Volkskunst workshop for the toy-decorating session we have booked. We walk through the shop, the tiny figurines and moving candle wheels stealing our attention, then past the viewing gallery of wood-turners and toy-painters. The way they turn the wood here is something special. In the 1800s, craftsmen created a method called hoop-turning, in which a specifically designed lathe turns a piece of wood into a thick ring shape with notches and grooves. When they slice it, the shape of the animal or toy is revealed. This enabled the mass production of figurines, contributing to the economic success of Seiffen throughout the 19th century. Currently, only a few people in the world still use this technique.

For our decorations, I choose a Christmassy-looking toadstool to paint, my partner a characterful duck, plus we take home a forest house to build with the children. Our little decorations are made with wood from local birch, beech, maple and linden trees. We sit alongside the professional toy painters, who are painting nutcrackers and snowmen, a slow mindful feeling settling over us.

One decoration I am particularly drawn to is the candle arch, or schwibbogen. These beautifully crafted objects depict the history of the village, sometimes with the local church above and mining figures at work below. Heritage is important in Seiffen, and when the advent season starts each year, there is a miners’ parade, with costumes that would have been worn 400 years ago.

Next, our decorations safely packaged away, we walk the streets of the village and come to understand that each shop has its own style and personality. Some toymakers focus on nutcrackers, some on angels, some on Räuchermänner, incense-burning figures. The more modern artisans’ shops, such as Wendt & Kühn, are fascinating to look around, with smartly decorated interiors, although the toys’ price tags reflect this. In fact, you could spend hundreds of euros in even the most down-to-earth places, with some pyramids costing more than €2,000.

After a lunch of delicious leek soup called Heidi (€7.80) at Hotel Seiffener Hof, we walk to the church, an unusual octagonal shape, which is depicted in so many of the archways and decorations they sell here, and listen a while as the organ is played.

As the Christmas season sets in the sun drops early, so we try a shot of heisse holunderbeere, hot elderberry served with vodka and a dollop of whipped cream on top, to warm us up. Then we take two cups of red glühwein on a walk up the hill and on to the historic miners’ trail. The snow is untrodden up here and it crunches underfoot as we make our way to the Binge, once the opencast mine used to extract tin, now an amphitheatre for the community. The wooden benches arranged in a semi-circle are white, and the only sound we hear today is the dripping of the melting snow.

We climb further up the steps on to the hill made of the waste material left over from the mining years. Now there are birch trees thriving, and we look down over the valley as the lights of the houses click on.

Before the temperature drops further, we enjoy rostbratwurst (grilled sausage) from a street seller and another mulled wine outside the central Hotel Erbgericht Buntes Haus. It is properly cold now. The shops are shutting and the paths are freezing, so we begin to walk back up the hill to our hotel, stopping every few minutes to look at the lights below. We are welcomed into the Panorama Berghotel Wettiner Höhe (rooms from €79), where we settle in for the night, well and truly ready for the Christmas season ahead.

Congress has taken a new step toward blocking the Pentagon from axing the acquisition of new E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft. The latest draft of the annual defense policy bill also includes language that would compel the U.S. Air Force to keep all 16 of its remaining E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) jets in service until a sufficient number of Wedgetails are delivered or other conditions are met. Earlier this year, the Pentagon had laid out a plan to purchase more of the Navy’s E-2D Hawkeyes instead of E-7s to fill interim capability gaps left by the retirement of the E-3 until the Air Force can push most, if not all, airborne target warning sensor layer tasks into space.

The House Armed Services Committee released a new draft of the defense policy bill, or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), for the 2026 Fiscal Year late yesterday. The draft NDAA is described as a “compromise” bill that follows significant negotiations between the House and the Senate to bring their respective versions of the legislation into alignment.

“None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Defense may be obligated or expended— (1) to terminate the mid-tier acquisition rapid prototype contract for the E-7A aircraft; or (2) to terminate the operations of, or to prepare to terminate the operations of, a production line for the E-7A aircraft,” according to one provision within the draft legislation.

The draft NDAA also includes a separate provision that says “none of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2026 for the Air Force may be obligated or expended to retire, prepare to retire, or place in storage or in backup aircraft inventory any E-3 aircraft if such actions would reduce the total aircraft inventory for such aircraft below 16.”

As noted, the Air Force only has 16 E-3s still in inventory in total, according to documents accompanying the service’s most recent budget request, which was released earlier in the year. This means the latest draft NDAA would effectively prohibit the retirement of any of the jets, at least through the end of the current fiscal year.

However, “if the Secretary of the Air Force submits to the congressional defense committees a plan for maintaining readiness and ensuring there is no lapse in mission capabilities the prohibition … shall not apply to actions taken to reduce the total aircraft inventory for E–3 aircraft to below 16, beginning 30 days after the date on which the plan is so submitted,” per this same section of the proposed legislation. In addition, “if the Secretary of the Air Force procures enough E–7 Wedgetail aircraft to accomplish the required mission load, the prohibition … shall not apply to actions taken to reduce the total aircraft inventory for E–3 aircraft to below 16 after the date on which such E–7 Wedgetail aircraft are delivered.”

Along with these two provisions, the new draft NDAA includes the approval of $647 million in additional funding for “continued development and procurement” of the E-7. This is in addition to nearly $200 million for Wedgetail that Congress already included in a bill that was passed last month to reopen the federal government following a protracted shutdown. Additional funding from the 2025 Fiscal Year originally intended for the procurement of aircraft was previously reallocated to ongoing research, development, test, and evaluation activities, as well.

The Air Force had formally decided to buy E-7s as replacements for at least a portion of its E-3 fleet in 2022, and had moved first to acquire two production representative prototypes. Those aircraft were to be used for test and evaluation purposes, and as a lead-in to the production of Wedgetails in a service-specific production configuration. The goal had been for production E-7s for the Air Force to begin entering service in 2027.

However, delays and cost growth had marred the Air Force’s E-7 program, factors the Pentagon cited in announcing its intention to cancel the program earlier this year. Concerns about the survivability of the Boeing 737 airliner-based aircraft, especially in future high-end fights, such as one against China in the Pacific, were also raised. It is worth noting here that versions of the Wedgetail are currently in service in Australia, South Korea, and Turkey. The United Kingdom is also working to acquire E-7s now. In November, NATO canceled its plans to purchase Wedgetails to replace a fleet of E-3s that the alliance operates collectively after the U.S. military separately withdrew from that effort.

As mentioned, the Air Force’s longer-term vision has been and remains to eventually have space-based assets provide the bulk of its airborne target warning sensor layer. From the outset, the service had described the E-7 acquisition effort as a ‘bridge’ to future capabilities in orbit.

For months now, members of Congress and other advocates of the Wedgetail program have been openly questioning the viability of using E-2s as an interim substitute, as well as the timeline for a realignment around space-based capabilities. Though the U.S. Navy and other E-2 operators have employed those aircraft from bases on land, the Hawkeye was designed around the unique requirements and constraints of carrier-based operations. Compared to the E-7, the E-2 is a lower and slower flying aircraft that would have to operate even closer to threat areas in order to provide similar surveillance capacity. The E-7 is also larger and more adaptable to expanded operations, especially when it comes to critical battle management and networking node capabilities, than the Hawkeye, as well. Previously stated survivability concerns would apply to any crewed airborne early warning aircraft in a future near-peer conflict.

The Air Force has also said it does not expect to have an operational ability to persistently track air or ground targets from orbit until the early 2030s at the earliest. Even then, the service expects traditional airborne early warning and control aircraft to remain part of the equation for years afterward.

In the meantime, the aging E-3s are already increasingly struggling to meet existing operational requirements, and the fleet would only be strained even more if a major sustained conflict were to erupt.

“I have been concerned. We have E-3 capability up north, of course, but we were all counting on the E-7 Wedgetail coming our way. We’re kind of limping along up north right now, which is unfortunate. And the budget proposes terminating the program,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, had said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in June, where the E-7 cancellation plans first emerged publicly. “Again, the E-3 fleet [is] barely operational now, and I understand the intent to shift towards the space-based – you call it the ‘air moving target indicators’ – but my concern is that you’ve got a situation where you’re not going to be able to use more duct tape to hold things together until you put this system in place. And, so, how we maintain that level of operational readiness and coverage, I’m not sure how you make it.”

The House and the Senate do still have to pass a final version of the NDAA for the 2026 Fiscal Year, and President Donald Trump then has to sign it, before any of its provisions can become law. What timeline the Air Force might now be looking at for actually fielding operational E-7s remains to be seen.

Regardless, Congress looks increasingly set to halt the Pentagon’s plans to cancel the E-7 program, at least for another year or so.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

WICKED: For Good has had less-than-favourable reviews compared to the first Wicked film, but there were still horrified gasps after it was snubbed from the biggest category in the Golden Globe nominations last night.

While Cynthia Erivo landed a Best Female Actor nod and Ariana Grande was nominated in the Best Supporting Female Actor shortlist, Jon M Chu’s film missed out for Best Film in the Musical/Comedy category.

Sydney Sweeney will also have her head in her hands as her new boxing biopic Christy failed to get a single nomination for the ceremony, which will take place next year in Los Angeles on January 11.

Leonardo DiCaprio will be ordering in the tequila though as his new film, One Battle After Another, is leading the nods in the film categories and is up for a total of nine Golden Globes, including Best Picture, Best Director and Screen Writer.

Sentimental Value is just behind with eight, while Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners has seven nods.

In the telly categories, The White Lotus leads the pack with six nominations, while Netflix’s brilliant Adolescence is just behind with five nods.

NEW LOOK

Noughties TV hunk looks unrecognisable as he debuts rugged silver fox makeover

STREAMER DEAL

Netflix to buy rival studio giant & owner of Harry Potter franchise for £54bn

Its teenage acting sensation Owen Cooper is nominated in the Best Supporting Male Actor category.

His co-stars Erin Doherty, Ashley Walters and Stephen Graham — who lives just a stone’s throw from my mum — are also in the running for awards.

Plenty of other Brits feature in the TV categories, including Helen Mirren, Bella Ramsey, Adam Scott and Gary Oldman.

In films it’s not a stellar year for homegrown talent, with only Cynthia and Emily Blunt — up for her role in The Smashing Machine — representing us in the acting categories.

Irish stars Jessie Buckley and our favourite Glastonbury raver Paul Mescal both have nominations for Hamnet.

With luck, us Brits will bring it home with Adolescence, and my fingers are crossed for Aimee Lou Wood and Jason Isaacs in The White Lotus.

JESSIE J-JINGLES ALL THE WAY

JESSIE J was in a reflective mood as she closed the final night of Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard.

She opened up about her tough year after she was diagnosed with breast cancer as she bounced through hits including Bang Bang, H.A.P.P.Y and Price Tag.

Jessie told the packed London’s O2 Arena: “A lot of this stuff is smoke and mirrors. What really matters is who we are behind the camera and what we do in our lives when we wake up in the day.

“I’ve learnt a lot this year. I’ve learnt to slow down and be more present. I’ve learnt to live more in the moment, and I’ve learnt to know that life is not promised in the way we might want it to be.”

Louis Tomlinson, Celebrity Traitor Cat Burns and Kylie Minogue also took to the stage for the show – which also saw Five pulling up in a massive hummer for their Barclaycard Out Of The Blue surprise performance.

JUNGLE WAS NO EASY RYDER

SHAUN RYDER was glued to I’m A Celebrity so he could cheer on fellow Mancunians Aitch and Angry Ginge – who was crowned King Of The Jungle on Sunday night.

But in an exclusive chat to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Happy Mondays’ landmark album Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches, Shaun, admits his time in the jungle in 2010 wasn’t such smooth sailing.

Shaun, who finished runner-up to Stacey Solomon, recalls: “I got really bad mosquito bites when I was in the jungle.

“My face swelled so much that medics had to come to my rescue. I also got badly bitten by a snake. But I survived.”

It didn’t get much better when he signed up to the All Stars series of the show back in 2023 either.

“My hip came out,” Shaun explains. “I was down on one of the low beds.

“And I dived out, forgetting where I was, and my hip just went boom.

“I screamed and woke the whole camp up.

“And I had to stick it back in straight away. It’s a titanium hip. But it just comes out.

“A couple of my implanted teeth were sticking into the side of my mouth, too.

“So I had blisters every time I opened my mouth. They really did cause me a lot of hassle.

“I think my teeth went from the crystal meth and crack cocaine.”

That’s rock ‘n’ roll for you.

MILEY GOT TRUMP’S BACKING

WE’VE seen a lot of unlikely celebrity friendships over the years, but Miley Cyrus and Donald Trump was not a pairing we saw coming.

Miley has revealed that the US President comforted her after her infamous 2013 MTV VMAs performance which saw her grinding up against Robin Thicke while belting out her hit We Can’t Stop.

The performance led to the former Hannah Montana star being slammed by prudish bores who branded it inappropriate.

On a recent episode of the Awards Chatter podcast Miley said: “It’s never been about that expectation of reaction for me.

“My mum is often the brains behind the crazy things.

“But it was all my idea and mum really supported it.

“I didn’t know what the big deal was and never thought it was a big deal until I woke up the next day.

“I was staying at the Trump hotel and Trump sent me a message saying, ‘Don’t let them get you down.’”

KYLIE MINOGUE is on course to land her 11th No1 album with her new festive record. Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) is currently holding Sam Fender‘s deluxe version of People Watching off the top of the charts.

Depeche Mode’s Memento Mori: Mexico City is also sitting at No6 but could climb higher ahead of Friday.

MILLIE SUCH A SWIFTY

MILLIE BOBBY BROWN is a self-confessed Swiftie and she used her encyclopaedic knowledge of Taylor Swift‘s albums to craft her monologue on Jimmy Fallon‘s The Tonight Show.

Referencing her Stranger Things character, Millie said: “Eleven has always been totally Fearless and that taught me to Speak Now. I wore a Red dress when we won our first SAG Award. And Eleven needs to save the world before 1989. Eleven gave me a Reputation.”

Finishing up, Millie added: “I had my first kiss on the show, married my Lover and had a baby girl. Like, isn’t that the best Folklore you’ve ever heard?

“I’m so lucky to have played Eleven and will be for Evermore in debt to the Duffers and Netflix for giving me this opportunity. I could keep thanking everyone, but I’d be here long past Midnight.”

Millie also took part in Pup Quiz – where for every question she got right she was given a dog to cuddle.

MONDAY’S RESULTS

BOYS

CITY SECTION

Arleta 67, Sherman Oaks CES 61

Canoga Park 55, Fulton 28

Downtown Magnets 49, USC-MAE 38

Dymally 37, TEACH Tech Charter 33

Garfield 46, Bell 23

Huntington Park 50, Legacy 36

Jefferson 67, Torres 48

L.A. Roosevelt 47, South East 36

L.A. University 87, RFK Community 47

L.A. Wilson 90, Maywood Academy 43

MSAR 55, Panorama 50

Port of Los Angeles 43, New Designs University Park 38

Sun Valley Magnet 64, Bert Corona Charter 32

Sylmar 93, San Fernando 84

Triumph Charter 49, East Valley 33

VAAS 51, Central City Value 49

Valor Academy 65, Lakeview Charter 21

West Adams 82, Elizabeth 39

Wilmington Banning 48, View Park 38

SOUTHERN SECTION

Arroyo 49, Baldwin Park 39

Barstow 69, Serrano 43

Bellflower 64, Mesrobian 17

Buena Park 54, Cerritos 52

Canyon Country Canyon 86, Colony 57

Etiwanda 71, Quartz Hill 48

Garden Grove Santiago 63, Magnolia 36

Garey 69, Pomona 34

Glenn 35, Samueli Academy 31

Godinez 63, Tustin 60

Great Oak 78, Sage Hill 34

Grove School 71, Public Safety Academy 55

Hacienda Heights Wilson 57, Patriot 43

Hemet 83, Twentynine Palms 38

Heritage 82, Pacific 55

Heritage Christian 62, La Serna 44

Hesperia Christian 67, Cornerstone Christian 36

La Mirada 73, Wiseburn Da Vinci 62

Legacy Christian Academy 62, Moorpark 53

Long Beach Wilson 75, Dominguez 71

Montclair 58, Temple City 57

Montebello 49, Flintridge Prep 47

Murrieta Mesa 74, Rancho Bernardo 67

Newport Harbor 71, California 51

Orange Vista 78, Grand Terrace 42

Orcutt Academy 69, Valley Christian Academy 37

Paraclete 62, Palmdale 59

Pasadena Poly 61, EF Academy 27

Rancho Christian 71, Paloma Valley 30

Rancho Cucamonga 54, Long Beach Poly 53

Rancho Verde 71, Orange Lutheran 67

Riverside Notre Dame 84, Mesa Grande Academy 23

Rosemead 53, Hawthorne 30

Saddleback 68, Santa Ana Valley 41

San Jacinto Valley Academy 89, River Springs 7

Santa Fe 63, California Lutheran 53

Sierra Vista 78, Jurupa Valley 43

Simi Valley 101, Hueneme 43

South Hills 48, Edgewood 44

St. John Bosco 89, Palos Verdes 56

St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 69, Long Beach Cabrillo 49

Tahquitz 54, Colton 29

Tarbut V’ Torah 63, Vista Meridian 24

Temescal Canyon 53, Valley View 50

Valley Torah 80, Lancaster Baptist 49

Valley Torah 79, Desert Christian 59

Vista del Lago 46, Kaiser 40

INTERSECTIONAL

Animo City of Champions 66, Animo Venice 61

Buckley 86, Van Nuys 43

Chaminade 67, El Camino Real 66

Hoover 67, North Hollywood 64

Westlake 66, LA Marshall 37

Windward 80, Palisades 60

GIRLS

CITY SECTION

Bernstein 36, Diego Rivera 27

Community Charter 56, Horace Mann UCLA 22

Crenshaw 37, Marquez 20

East College Prep 31, SEED: L.A. 28

L.A. Hamilton 89, Verdugo Hills 47

L.A. Wilson 50, Maywood Academy 19

Legacy 30, Huntington Park 28

Lincoln 46, Torres 40

Northridge Academy 63, VAAS 5

Panorama 53, MSAR 15

Sherman Oaks CES 65, East Valley 10

Sotomayor 41, Jefferson 23

South East 64, LA Roosevelt 15

South Gate 40, Lakeview Charter 24

USC-MAE 47, Downtown Magnets 3

Vaughn 45, Fulton 19

West Adams 54, Elizabeth 8

SOUTHERN SECTION

Aliso Niguel 51, Northwood 36

Bolsa Grande 44, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 28

California Military Institute 51, United Christian Academy 15

Camarillo 71, Oxnard Pacifica 15

Campbell Hall 57, Alemany 53

Capistrano Valley Christian 43, Newport Christian 10

Carpinteria 53, Magnolia 40

Citrus Valley 54, Victor Valley 50

Colton 38, Bloomington 18

Corona 54, Beaumont 50

Covina 37, Eisenhower 28

Cypress 50, La Palma Kennedy 44

Esperanza 61, Fountain Valley 53

Fontana 48, Chaffey 24

Glendora 78, Riverside North 21

Heritage 54, Hillcrest 39

La Canada 42, Corona Santiago 38

La Serna 70, Workman 4

Loma Linda Academy 38, Vista del Lago 18

Long Beach Jordan 53, Savanna 51

Los Alamitos 60, Heritage Christian 27

Los Altos 54, Chino Hills 50

Lynwood 52, Crescenta Valley 43

Marina 47, El Toro 44

Monrovia 31, San Gabriel 29

Montclair 46, Rim of the World 18

Ontario 39, Colony 33

Ramona Convent 38, Webb 24

Rialto 84, Segerstrom 41

Riverside Notre Dame 62, Mesa Grande Academy 34

Riverside Prep 35, Sultana 27

San Jacinto 43, Cajon 36

San Jacinto Valley Academy 67, River Springs 8

Santa Ana 58, NOVA Academy 25

Santa Clarita Christian 44, PACS 24

St. Margaret’s 63, Placentia Valencia 42

St. Monica 57, YULA 44

Tesoro 64, Dana Hills 10

Trabuco Hills 65, Garden Grove Pacifica 6

Trinity Classical Academy 55, Culver City 40

Twentynine Palms 55, Hemet 36

Viewpoint 43, Notre Dame Academy 42

Vistamar 38, CAMS 18

Warren 56, Silverado 50

West Valley 38, Anza Hamilton 35

Wiseburn Da Vinci 54, Westminster 23

INTERSECTIONAL

Cantwell-Sacred Heart 52, Narbonne 44

Compton 81, Dorsey 7

Compton Centennial 44, LA Jordan 16

Dominguez 50, Rancho Dominguez 21

King/Drew 55, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 49

Lawndale 56, LACES 43

Taft 45, Calabasas 42

Venice 64, Gahr 26

Wilmington Banning 69, Firebaugh 3

Top court sentences Alejandro Gil in the highest profile case against an ex-official in Cuba in decades.

Cuba’s top court has sentenced former Economy Minister Alejandro Gil to life in prison for espionage following a closed-door trial, in one of the country’s highest-profile cases in decades.

In a statement on Monday, the Supreme Popular Tribunal said Gil also received a second concurrent prison sentence of 20 years on corruption charges.

These include bribery, falsification of documents and tax evasion.

Gil, who served as economy minister from 2018 to 2024, was once a close confidant of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The 61-year-old politician was sacked in February 2024 and had not been seen or heard from until the trials.

The court did not give details about what exactly the former minister did or who he was spying for.

It said Gil had engaged in “corrupt and deceitful actions” and that he had abused the powers of his office “to obtain personal benefits”. It also said he received money from foreign companies and bribed other public officials to legalise the acquisition of assets.

“He failed to follow work procedures with the classified official information he handled, he stole it, damaged it, and finally made it available to the enemy,” it added.

Gil has the right to appeal the sentence within 10 days.

The former minister’s case is the highest profile among officials who have fallen from grace since 2009, when then-Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque were dismissed.

Their case involved leaks of sensitive information, although they were not sentenced.

Gil was the public face of monetary and financial reforms in 2021 in Cuba, including trying to unify the country’s currency system. But Cuba, already affected by an economic crisis and shortage of some products, saw an inflationary spiral.

“The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within,” Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference, February 14, 2025.

America’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) marks an ideological and substantive shift in U.S. foreign policy. The administration of President Donald Trump is attempting to define a new “America First” foreign policy doctrine that is deeply pragmatic. It invokes the Monroe Doctrine but with a “Trump Corollary.” The agenda of previous administrations to spread democracy around the world through foreign military interventions is no longer the aim. Foreign policy choices will be made based on what makes the United States more powerful and prosperous. This is a truly pivotal moment in the way the US will navigate world affairs.

This NSS is a real, painful, shocking wake-up call for Europe. It is a moment of significant divergence between Europe’s view of itself and Trump’s vision of as well as for Europe. If Europe had any doubt that the Trump administration is fully committed to a tough love strategy, it now knows it with certainty. The administration is asking — demanding, really — that Europe polices its own part of the world and, most importantly, pays for it itself. The strategy—which has been long overdue—chastises Europe for losing its European character. The orientation behind the words seems to indicate that the US sees Europe as evolving into a rigid, intransigent, globalist entity. And the latter is apparent given the EU’s reaction to the new NSS as illustrated by Brussels and the establishment elite of France, Germany, Poland and the Baltics: one of shock and dismay as met Vice President JD Vance’s Munich speech.

The continent of Europe is plagued with immigration issues and a predilection towards censorship, according to the US president’s newly issued National Security Strategy (NSS).

Europe is facing potential “civilizational erasure” as EU policymakers encourage censorship, stifling of political dissent, and turning a blind eye to mass immigration.

The landmark and strongly worded document released on Friday says that while the EU is showing worrying signs of economic decline, its restive cultural environment and internal political instability pose an even greater threat.

The strategy cites as serious concerns EU-backed immigration policies, suppression of political opposition, curbs on speech, collapsing birthrates, and “loss of national identities and self-confidence.” It warns that Europe could become “unrecognizable in 20 years or less.”

Over-regulation

The document argues that many European governments are “doubling down on their present path,” while the US wants Europe “to remain European” and abandon what it termed “regulatory suffocation.”  The latter is an apparent reference to America’s push back against the EU over its strict digital market guidelines, which Washington claims discriminate against US-based tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday denounced the European Commission’s $140 million fine against Elon Musk’s social media platform X, calling it an attack on American tech companies and “the American people.”

Rubio wrote on X, “The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on @X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments. The days of censoring Americans online are over.”

Rubio’s comments reflected others within the Trump administration, including Vice President JD Vance, who also posted on the social media platform that the Commission was punishing X for not engaging in censorship.

“The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage,” he wrote.

Immigration

Another one of Washington’s key objectives is “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations,” the paper adds.

Trump’s strategy notes that the rise of “patriotic European parties” offers “cause for great optimism,” in a reference to growing bloc-wide support for right-wing Euroskeptic parties calling for strict immigration limits.

The document proclaims that “the era of mass migration is over.”  It argues that large inflows have strained resources, increased violence, and weakened social cohesion, adding that Washington is seeking a world in which sovereign states “work together to stop rather than manage” migration flows.

Normalizing relations with Russia

President Trump’s security strategy for the US also calls for a swift end to the Ukraine conflict and preventing further escalation in Europe.

To this end, the US has placed the restoration of normal ties with Russia at the center of its newly released National Security Strategy, presenting both aims as among America’s core interests.

The 33-page report outlining President Donald Trump’s foreign-policy vision was released by the White House last Friday.

“It is a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine,” the paper states, “in order to stabilize European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war, and reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”

It notes that the Ukraine conflict has left “European relations with Russia… deeply attenuated,” resulting in destabilization of the entire region.

The report criticizes EU leaders for “unrealistic expectations” regarding the outcome of the conflict, arguing that “a large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy.”

The US, it says, is ready for “significant diplomatic engagement” to “help Europe correct its current trajectory,” reestablish stability, and “mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.”

In contrast with the US national strategy during Trump’s first term, which emphasized competition with Russia and China, the new strategy shifts the focus to the Western Hemisphere and to protecting the homeland, the borders, and regional interests. It calls for resources to be redirected from distant theaters to challenges closer to home and urges NATO and European states to shoulder primary responsibility for their own defense.

The document also calls for an end to NATO expansion—a demand that Russia has repeatedly voiced, calling it a root cause of the Ukraine conflict, which Moscow views as a Western proxy war.

Overall, the new strategy signals a shift away from global interventionism toward a more transactional foreign policy, arguing that the US should act abroad only when its interests are directly at stake.

President Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy puts the Western Hemisphere at the center of US foreign policy and revives the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, appending it with a “Trump Corollary.”

The document invokes the legacy of the Monroe Doctrine but pushes it further. It states that the US will block “non-Hemispheric competitors” from owning or controlling “strategically vital assets” in the Americas, including ports, energy facilities, and telecommunications networks. It describes the Western Hemisphere as the top regional priority, above Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, and ties that status to controlling migration, drug flows, and foreign influence before they can reach US territory—clearly a fundamental and much-needed break with the foreign policies of recent presidential administrations.

After an unusual year in his late-night tenure, Jimmy Kimmel is officially sticking around for a little while longer.

The host signed a one-year contract extension with ABC so “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will continue through May 2027. Kimmel’s previous contract was set to expire in May 2026, at the end of the 2025-2026 television season.

The extension, first reported by Bloomberg, comes a few months after the network and its parent company, Walt Disney Co., temporarily benched Kimmel following sharp backlash over comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death. Hours before the indefinite suspension was announced, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of ABC affiliates, said they would not air the series after Kimmel’s comments.

Kimmel returned to the air after a nearly weeklong absence, delivering an emotional monologue in which he ardently defended free speech. He did not explicitly apologize for his comments, which Sinclair said was a condition that had to be met before it would broadcast the show again, but both Nexstar and Sinclair resumed airing the program shortly after Kimmel returned.

During his brief time off the air, Kimmel found himself at the center of a fiery culture war. Talk show hosts, actors, comedians, writers and even the former head of Disney condemned ABC’s decision to pause production, but a wave of critics celebrated Kimmel’s suspension, including President Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who had publicly urged ABC to act on Kimmel’s comments.

The late-night landscape has been the subject of much discourse about free speech since CBS announced in July that it would not be renewing the storied network franchise “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” The decision, the company said, was due to financial reasons and not — as many have speculated — because of Colbert’s criticism of a settlement between the Trump administration and Paramount, the parent company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

Kimmel’s previous contract extension in 2022 was good for three years. It came at a time of speculation over whether he’d continue with the show.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 11:35/10:35 Central.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — Honduras’ attorney general on Monday night announced that he had issued an international arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, days after he was released from a U.S. prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump.

Attorney General Johel Antonio Zelaya Alvarez said in a statement that he had instructed ATIC, Honduras’ elite criminal investigative body housed within the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to pursue the international arrest warrant, while urging security agencies and international allies, including INTERPOL, to do the same.

“We have been lacerated by the tentacles of corruption and by criminal networks that have deeply marked the life of our country,” he said.

Hernandez is accused of money laundering and fraud in what is known as Pandora II, a corruption case in which prosecutors allege that between 2010 and 2013, a network siphoned nearly $12 million in public funds meant to alleviate extreme poverty in Honduras through abuse of authority, fraud and money laundering.

As part of the sprawling case investigating several government officials, including ministers, Honduras’ Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a criminal complaint against Hernandez in October 2023. Prosecutors accuse him of receiving at least $2.5 million of the siphoned funds through foundations, front men and fictitious contracts. The money was allegedly used to finance his political campaign.

In the United States, Hernandez was charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses in late January 2022 during the Biden administration amid its crackdown on corruption in Central and South America.

Honduran authorities arrested him in February 2022 and extradited him to the United States, where he was convicted in March 2024 on all counts and sentenced in June of that year to 45 years in prison.

U.S. prison officials released Hernandez earlier this month after receiving a pardon from Trump, who said the disgraced Honduran president had been “treated very harshly and unfairly.”

Trump made the announcement while urging Hondurans to vote for conservative Nasry “Tito” Asfura for president ahead of the Nov. 30 elections, in which he is challenging left-leaning President Xiomara Castro, moves widely seen as opposition to her government.

The announcement of the pardon was met with criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, as well as critics of Trump’s administration, which has killed 86 people in 22 military strikes targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats in international waters.

“Hernandez once boasted at a meeting of narco-traffickers that ‘together they would shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.’ What message does pardoning this criminal send to parents who have lost children to narcotics, to law enforcement officers risking everything to stop the flow of deadly drugs?” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a Dec. 2 floor speech.

“This disgraceful pardon should be met with bipartisan condemnation as an affront to our values, our safety, our rule of law, our democracy.”

Hernandez served two terms as president, from 2014 to 2022.

The election between Asfura and Castro was still too close to call as of Monday night.