These are the key developments from day 1,383 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Monday, December 8:

Fighting

• Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed at least four people, including a 70-year-old woman, on Sunday, according to Ukrainian police and the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. At least 10 others were also injured.
• Russian forces also hit the Pechenihy reservoir dam in Kharkiv during the attack, with the Ukrainian military saying it was ready for the facility to be “critically damaged”. The reservoir supplies water to the city of Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis.
• Russian attacks also killed two others in Ukraine on Sunday, one in the city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region and another in the Chernihiv region, according to regional governors.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched more than 650 drones and 51 missiles overnight into Sunday, causing injuries and destroying infrastructure across Ukraine, with energy being the “main target”.
• In the central city of Kremenchuk, the attacks caused widespread power and water outages, according to Mayor Vitaliy Maletsky. He described the assault as a “massive combined strike” and said city workers were working to restore services.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces have seized the Ukrainian villages of Kucherivka in the Kharkiv region and Rivne near Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
• The ministry also said that its forces shot down 172 Ukrainian drones and four Neptune long-range guided missiles in a 24-hour period.

Politics and diplomacy

• Zelenskyy said on Sunday that his conversation with United States representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on a peace plan for Ukraine had been “constructive, although not easy”. “The American representatives know the basic Ukrainian positions,” Zelenskyy added.
• Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump’s outgoing envoy for Ukraine, told the Reagan National Defense Forum in California that a deal to end the war in Ukraine was “really, really close”, and that negotiations were continuing over Russia’s demand for Ukraine’s Donbas region and the future of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. “The last 10 metres” is always the hardest, said Kellogg, who is due to step down in January.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said that “territorial problems” were discussed at talks in Moscow between US and Russian officials last week, and that Washington would have to “make serious, I would say, radical changes to their papers” on Ukraine.
• Zelenskyy is due to meet the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for talks in London on Monday.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin on Sunday that Trump’s new national security strategy largely aligned with Russia’s positions. “The adjustments that we see correspond in many ways to our vision,” Peskov said of the new US strategy.
• He also said it was encouraging that the new strategy pledged to end “the perception, and preventing the reality, of the NATO military alliance as a perpetually expanding alliance”.

• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke with Zelenskyy on the phone and denounced what she called a new wave of “indiscriminate” Russian attacks on Ukraine. She also pledged to provide Italian generators to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

Lewis Cope was the latest celebrity to leave the iconic BBC show despite earning some of the highest scores throughout the series

Strictly Come Dancing fans spotted the judges’ horrified reaction to Lewis Cope’s dance off this evening. Sunday evening saw the former Emmerdale actor be sent home after he found himself in the dance off. The star was in the bottom two alongside Amber Davies, despite the two of them earning some of the highest scores throughout the series.

The judges made it clear how upset they were to see Lewis in the bottom two, with Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas barely able to watch the dance off. All of the judges agreed to save Amber, but were still sad to see Lewis go home. Viewers have now pointed out how disappointed the judges were, with a screengrab being uploaded online of Motsi and Shirley with their heads in their hands after Lewis’ last performance.

READ MORE: Pregnant Paloma Faith posts alarming picture from hospitalREAD MORE: Strictly’s Lewis Cope’s girlfriend shares sweet message as fans say he was ‘thrown under the bus’

Alongside the photo being uploaded, the poster captioned the snap: “Motsi and Shirley’s reaction after Lewis’ dance off says it all #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing.”

Fans of the show have been commenting on the reaction from the judges, with one saying: “Semi final will be flat and wont be worth watching now as the dancers left in wont come up to anywhere near Lewis and Katya standard. They had something special.”

As a second wrote: “Such a wrong decision, I like amber but she is from musical theatre where he’s not. I hope he continues and shines the dancer and performer he truly is.”

“It’s all about balance. The public vote for their favourites; the judges then vote the better dancer through,” a third person added.

While many viewers couldn’t quite believe that Lewis went home, some insisted the writing had been on the wall for a while, with fans liking celebs who have been on a dancing “journey”.

One fan posted: “Some of us want to see people on a ‘journey’ still. To see people improve each week. To find their confidence. To see people out of their comfort zone. I think thats what Karen, George and Balvinder represent. I for one am enjoying their journeys.”

As another agreed: “It shows thats not always the best dancers that prove popular, those with ‘more experience’ are not always followed. I didn’t know Bal, George or even Kaz before this series but they take my votes every week. Are they the best dancers, no, but they are warm, humble and a joy.”

Actor Lewis has insisted that his dance past hadn’t helped him while he was competing on the show. He played Billy Elliott’s friend Michael in the hit musical.

Lewis was also part of the dance troupe Ruff Diamond, who finished as runner-up on the Sky dance contest Got to Dance, which was fronted by Ashley Banjo, in 2013.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — A Chavez Ravine dream was yet again dashed on Sunday.

Fernando Valenzuela was once more denied induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Fourteen months removed from his death at the age of 63 in October 2024, and 27 years removed from the end of a pitching career measured by more than just wins, losses and ERA, Valenzuela failed to be elected for the 2026 Hall of Fame class by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee — a 16-person group that once every three years considers players from the 1980s or later who had not been elected to the Hall through the traditional media vote.

Needing 12 votes from that committee to attain Hall of Fame status, Valenzuela instead came up short by receiving fewer than five.

Because Valenzuela didn’t receive five votes, he will be ineligible to be back on the Contemporary Era Committee’s ballot in 2028. The next time the committee could review his case won’t be until 2031.

Until then, his name will remain among the most notable snubs from Hall of Fame induction.

In his first year of traditional Hall of Fame voting eligibility in 2003, Valenzuela received just 6.2% of the writers’ vote, far from the 75% threshold required for election. In 2004, his name fell off the ballot after garnering a vote total of just 3.8%.

The problem then was that Valenzuela did not boast typical Hall of Fame numbers. Though he was a six-time All-Star, a Cy Young and rookie of the year award winner in 1981, and World Series hero in the Dodgers’ championship run that season, the left-hander posted only a 3.54 ERA in his 17-year, 173-win, 2,074-strikeout career, and amassed only 37.3 wins above replacement according to Baseball Reference.

Of the other 90 pitchers in the Hall of Fame, only one fellow modern-era inductee (Jesse Haines) had a career WAR below 40.0 and a career ERA above 3.50 (excluding players from the Negro Leagues).

Valenzuela’s impact, however, was defined far more than by just production and statistics — seemingly epitomizing the Hall’s motto of “preserving history, honoring excellence, connecting generations” with a career that changed the popularity of both the Dodgers and the sport.

Ever since his historic “Fernandomania” rookie season in 1981 — which started with eight consecutive victories for the then-20-year-old southpaw, and ended with his Cy Young, rookie of the year and World Series honors — the Mexican-born hurler had been an enduring cultural icon.

Valenzuela’s success greatly expanded baseball’s reach in Mexico and Latin America. His celebrity fueled a boom in Dodgers fandom, especially among Los Angeles’ Hispanic base.

This winter, hopes of that legacy being recognized in Cooperstown were rekindled when Valenzuela was named as one of eight finalists to be considered by the Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era Committee.

He joined a group that also had Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy and Gary Sheffield — all of whom were evaluated by a 16-person panel made of former Hall of Fame inductees, former general managers, writers and a statistician, plus two current MLB owners (one of them, Arte Moreno of Angels).

In the end, only Kent (a former MVP and five-time All-Star who spent the final four years of his career with the Dodgers) received enough votes to earn a Hall of Fame election.

Bonds, Clemens and Sheffield joined Valenzuela among those to receive fewer than five votes.

Though Valenzuela never quite recaptured the heights of that singular 1981 campaign, he remained a celebrated and uniting figure over the rest of his 11-year Dodgers career, as well as in stops with the Angels and San Diego Padres, among others, over the back half of his playing days.

And since he first dropped off the traditional Hall of Fame ballot 21 years ago, there has been a persistent push from many in the baseball community — and especially the Dodgers’ fan base — to get Valenzuela into Cooperstown.

In 2023, the Dodgers even broke their unofficial rule of retiring only the numbers of the club’s Hall of Fame players, adding Valenzuela’s No. 34 to its ring of honor in a long-overdue celebration.

But for now, that will remain the most recognizable honor of Valenzuela’s contribution to the sport.

Once again, a doorway to Hall of Fame induction has been closed.

Dec. 7 (UPI) — British police have arrested four protesters who threw a custard and apple crumble at the display case housing the crown jewels in the Tower of London.

Take Back Power said in a news release that members of the new nonviolent protest group, which appears to be an offshoot of the climate change group Just Stop Oil, had “smothered the dessert over the display case around 9:50 a.m. local time Saturday morning.

The protesters then held a sign reading “Democracy Has Crumbled — Tax The Rich” before they were “taken into custard-y” by police, the group said.

Take Back Power said police arrested the two members who actually threw the dessert as well as two others present at the time.

The particular display case targeted, the BBC noted, houses the Imperial State Crown worn by King Charles III during formal ceremonies.

Take Back Power identified the two protesters involved in the protest action itself as 21-year-old Miriam Cranch, a retail worker from Leeds, and Zahra Ali, a 19-year-old student from London.

Unlike the climate change protests that have swept through global cultural sites in recent years, Take Back Power instead called for a tax on Britain’s ultra-wealthy.

“Britain is broken because the super-rich are pocketing billions, whilst working people struggle to get by,” Cranch said in a statement.

“This wealth inequality is leading us towards civil unrest, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Billionaires should not pay a lower tax rate on wealth they generate doing nothing, than those of us working jobs. It’s time ordinary people get a say on how to tax wealth with a permanent House of the People.”

Directly remarking on the wealth amassed by the British monarchy, Ali said that homeless people have died “on the very streets that King Charles passed on his way to the coronation.”

Take Back Power has launched a fundraising campaign to aid its efforts, so far raising about $75,000 since Friday.

“The super-rich are not paying their fair share because the tax system is rigged,” the group said in the fundraiser. “Since 2008, the wealth of the super-rich has increased four times faster than average household wealth, while more than a third of us now earn less than needed to make ends meet. The scales need balancing. We need to tax the rich.”

The protest at the Tower of London has drawn a lot of interest, particularly in the wake of theft of France’s Napoleonic jewels from the Louvre Museum in October.

The creation of Take Back Power comes after three years of headline-making protest actions by climate change demonstrators.

However, the art news website Urgent Matter reported last month that climate change groups many of the world’s most visible climate change protest groups have coordinated an end to their direct-action campaigns in the past year.

Such climate change groups had cited a lack of effect of their protests, mounting legal costs and the “evolving landscape of climate activism.”

A New Financial Reality

The release of Digital Yuan 2.0 in 2025 will change the way money works in Asia. This technology links the People’s Bank of China directly to the ASEAN cross-border payment network, which speeds up transactions compared to older systems like SWIFT, which take 3 to 5 days. Beijing is developing the groundwork of a regional financial infrastructure that speeds up transaction settlements while minimizing reliance on the US dollar.

Reports from Yuan Adoption Tracker say that in the first quarter of 2025, the Renminbi was used a lot more in international trade settlements, and its share of the global foreign currency market kept growing. This shows that the e-CNY project is not just a test in China, but also part of the country’s larger plan to make its currency more global.

This push for growth is also in line with the global trend of de-dollarization. China is using the competition between its economy and the US to spread the use of e-CNY across Asia. Experts say that 2025 will be a key year for the digital yuan to become more powerful outside of China, notably in Hong Kong’s retail sector and beyond ASEAN borders.

The Digital Yuan raises a strategic problem for ASEAN: should they prioritize transaction efficiency or monetary sovereignty? On the one hand, integrating e-CNY is cheap and fast. Beijing’s control over cross-border payment systems, on the other hand, could limit ASEAN central banks’ policy options. The fact that Thailand is involved in the m-CBDC initiative, Indonesia is involved with Rupiah Digital, and Vietnam is focused on regulating crypto in its own country shows that the region is not the same in how it reacts to Chinese financial technology entering its markets.

China’s Strategic Intent

Since its 2020 inception, Beijing has never limited e-CNY to local innovation. ASEAN trade aggressively promotes the digital Yuan as a cross-border payment method. The China Crunch analysis found that ASEAN e-CNY transactions exceeded 500 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2025. This suggests that e-CNY is becoming a popular SWIFT alternative.

China views the US dollar’s dominance as a political weakness. Beijing is creating an alternative financial system by making e-CNY more popular. This will reduce global dollar dependence, which Russia and other BRICS countries want. Observer Research Foundation predicts that e-CNY will aggressively spread internationally in 2025, particularly in Hong Kong’s retail sector and beyond ASEAN.

Digital Yuan boosts soft power and speeds up transactions. Beijing becomes a rule-maker by adding ASEAN to e-CNY. China gains political leverage because ASEAN countries that use the e-CNY will find it tougher to oppose Beijing’s economic and diplomatic aims.

China is advancing the Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge (mBridge) project with Hong Kong, Thailand, and the UAE. This experiment tests how rapidly e-CNY can be utilized for cross-border transactions and improves regional financial strength. Beijing is utilizing mBridge to provide technology and create a new financial system to replace the West.

ASEAN’s Dilemma

The initiative is handled differently by each ASEAN nation. Thailand hopes to cut cross-border money transfer costs and strengthen financial integration. Indonesia made only the Rupiah Digital legal for digital payments. Clear goal: retain rupiah independence and prevent foreign currency takeover. Vietnam is regulating crypto more internally. According to PwC, Vietnam views crypto as an investment tool, rather than a payment method. Singapore’s latest project, BLOOM, uses tokenization and stablecoins to enable cross-border payments, maintaining system flexibility and preventing the dominance of a single currency. This suggests that several Southeast Asian countries are eyeing the growth of e-CNY.

Adding e-CNY may constrain ASEAN central banks’ policy options. If not regulated, cross-border CBDCs might cause capital flight and monetary instability, according to the IMF. Transaction efficiency may cost domestic stability through loss of influence. If ASEAN approves the e-CNY, the system would be more efficient and cost-effective, but more dependent on Beijing. If ASEAN rejects e-CNY integration, it would maintain monetary sovereignty but risk falling behind in global financial innovation.

Long-Term Risk for ASEAN

The digital yuan in ASEAN’s cross-border payment system could complicate monetary policy decisions. Each country’s central bank, which previously regulated liquidity and monetary instruments, will face new challenges when many cross-border transactions rely on the e-CNY.

Weaker economies in ASEAN, such as Timor-Leste, Laos, and Cambodia, that trade substantially with China will lose the ability to adjust their fiscal and monetary policies. The Digital Yuan is a data-driven payment system. China’s financial system may log all e-CNY cross-border transactions. The Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker notes that the e-CNY helps Chinese regulators track cash movements in real time. Others worry that Beijing could use financial data to influence politics, such as pressuring ASEAN countries that don’t support its strategic aims.

People desire to use e-CNY because it simplifies cross-border transactions, but widespread use could lead to structural reliance. ASEAN countries that overrely on China’s payment system will struggle to diversify their trade and maintain financial independence. E-CNY’s quick expansion in Hong Kong’s retail sector and beyond ASEAN boundaries by 2025 suggests that Beijing wants the Renminbi to be the region’s most significant currency. Beijing’s payment structure makes it difficult for countries to reject China’s diplomatic and investment offers.

Policy Implication

ASEAN needs to develop the Digital Payment Hub as a framework for regional integration. This will reduce the risk of single-party dominance of the e-CNY while strengthening interoperability between central banks. Cross-border coordination in CBDC development can prevent fragmentation of the global payment system and maintain regional monetary stability.

Digital Yuan carries financial surveillance risks. ASEAN must strengthen related regulations, Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT). Strong regulation of fintech and CBDC is necessary to protect state sovereignty from excessive external influence.

Indonesia, with Rupiah Digital, and Vietnam, with domestic crypto regulations, show that a hedging strategy can maintain monetary policy space. ASEAN needs to encourage each country to develop a domestic digital currency as a bulwark against external domination. Small countries can maintain policy space by developing alternative monetary instruments that strengthen financial sovereignty.

Finally, ASEAN must act as a collective bloc in international forums such as the G20 and the IMF to negotiate global CBDC standards. This will strengthen ASEAN’s bargaining position in the face of payment system dominance from major powers. Regional coordination in the face of global pressure is key to maintaining economic stability and national security.

Conclusion

The digital yuan has evolved from a mere financial innovation into a geopolitical instrument challenging the global monetary architecture. Its presence in Southeast Asia places ASEAN in a strategic dilemma: accept the cross-border transaction efficiencies offered by Beijing or maintain monetary sovereignty by developing a regional alternative.

The long-term risks that arise cannot be ignored. The integration of e-CNY has the potential to narrow policy space central bank, opening up opportunities for financial surveillance by Beijing, and creating structural dependencies that undermine the political and economic autonomy of ASEAN countries. The fragmentation of responses between countries further increases the region’s vulnerability to single-party domination.

Therefore, ASEAN needs to assert its collective position through the development of a regional CBDC framework, diversification of financial partners, strengthening regulations, and coordination in global forums. Without concrete steps, the region risks becoming an arena for great power competition, rather than an actor capable of determining the direction of the regional financial future.

SOME Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em star Michael Crawford is Frankful to get an award from Donald Trump.

The British actor and musician, 83, is famed for exclaiming “Ooooh Betty” as hapless Frank Spencer in the 1970s sitcom.

However, his role in Phantom of the Opera earned him a medal for his contribution to US culture.

Action hero Sylvester Stallone, Gene Simmons and fellow members of rockers Kiss, singer Gloria Gaynor and country music icon George Strait were also honoured at the White House.

Trump is said to have picked this year’s Kennedy Center honourees and rejected several “woke” nominations.

Trump’s eldest son has labelled his father “unpredictable”, claiming Trump may walk away from a deal to bring peace to Ukraine.

‘GOT OFF LIGHTLY’

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DOUBLE TAKE

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Donald Trump Jr went as far as saying the bloody war between Kiev and Moscow was not a priority for Americans.

It comes as Moscow launched a “massive” combined air strike on infrastructure in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, causing power and water outages early Sunday morning.

Speaking in his capacity as a business leader in Doha today, Trump Jr spoke bluntly about his feelings for his father’s diplomatic efforts around the world.

He said there were far bigger “clear and present dangers” to the US than the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and that Americans “don’t have the appetite” for endless overseas wars.

When asked directly if he believed his father would walk away from Ukraine he said: “I think he may, what’s good about my father and what’s unique about my father is you don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s unpredictable.”

He added: “He’s the most unpredictable person, probably in the history of politics. Which is why he’s able to get something done. We’ll see.”

After the US government placed sanctions on the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, her life turned upside down.

Credit cards stopped working, she told Al Jazeera. A hotel reservation booked by the European Parliament was cancelled. Medical insurance was denied. For Albanese, the consequences of her work on Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza were not just professional — they were personal, too.

“We are turned into non-persons,” she said at the Doha Forum, calling the sanctions imposed against her “unlawful” under international law.

“But again, for me, it’s important that people understand the extent … the United States, Israel and others would go to silence the voice of justice, the voice of human rights,” Albanese said.

As leaders, diplomats, and legal experts gathered in Qatar’s capital for the Doha Forum this weekend under the theme “Justice in Action: Beyond Promises to Progress”, the crisis in Gaza dominated discussions.

Allegations of genocide against Israel, repeated vetoes blocking UN ceasefire resolutions, and growing pressure on international justice mechanisms have made Gaza a test case for the rules-based international order, raising questions about whether international law is capable of providing justice.

‘Sense of insecurity around me’

According to Albanese’s legal assessments, Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza constitutes a genocide, a term that prominent human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israel’s B’Tselem have also used.

When announcing the sanctions on Albanese, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused her of waging a “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel”. She says the allegation is baseless.

“I have been subjected to smear campaigns,” she said, adding that US officials have accused her of being an anti-Semite, of supporting violence, and of failing to condemn the crimes committed on October 7 against Israeli civilians.

“It has created a sense of insecurity around me. I have received threats from all corners,” Albanese said.

In addition to targeting Albanese, the US imposed sanctions in August on nine judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including two European citizens, after the court began investigating alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

“This is mafia-style intimidation that we are subjected to, just for doing our job,” Albanese noted, warning that sanctions and intimidation of legal experts set a dangerous precedent.

“There will be that pressure [on ICC judges and legal experts] that, if I go on this route, this is going to be scrutinised. This is the idea, to make it impossible for the organisation, for the ICC to work,” she cautioned.

“Imagine that every US person interacting with us, someone who works in the US or is a citizen, could go to jail for up to 20 years. It creates a chilling effect.”

Western hesitance

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged “war crimes”.

The US called the move “outrageous”, and while the United Kingdom and Canada said they would adhere to international law, they did not make clear if they would uphold the warrant.

Many Western countries have not described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and have continued to send the country arms, despite growing allegations of war crimes occurring in Gaza.

Albanese emphasised that nations continuing to transfer arms are failing in their legal obligations.

“They have the obligation to prevent a genocide that has already been recognised as plausible in January 2024 by the International Court of Justice,” she said.

Janine Di Giovanni, co-founder of the Reckoning Project, which documents war crimes in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza, said the position of many Western states reeked of a glaring “double standard”.

“There is one set of laws and rules that pertain to Ukraine … and another set for brown and Black people,” she said, pointing to the ICC’s historical focus on African leaders and the failure of Western powers to hold Israel accountable.

Di Giovanni directed her criticism at European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, saying the former Estonian prime minister had been “negligent” when it came to Gaza.

“She points out over and over again what [Russian President] Putin has done in Ukraine, but not a word about Gaza,” she added.

“She’s the EU foreign policy chief. She has a responsibility to point out Israel’s criminality.”

Is international law still relevant?

With multilateral institutions and the international law system coming under growing pressure from nation-states, Albanese said that international law does work and that “we need to make it work”.

“I often make the example, if a cure doesn’t work, would you trash all medicine? No,” she asserted.

“This is the first genocide in history that has awakened a conscience, a global conscience, and has the potential to be stopped.”

Meanwhile, Reckoning Project’s Di Giovanni said the UN General Assembly could be “activated to work at a higher level and a more effective level than what they’re doing, while the Security Council is blocked”.

“But maybe this shows us that we need to have a greater reform for how the Security Council works,” she said.

Di Giovanni added that it was crucial to address the “extraordinary heinous crimes that Netanyahu and others” have committed, or else it would send a message that “impunity is rampant”.

“Without accountability, there is no global security,” she said.

As Israel and Hamas prepare to move towards phase two of a United States-led blueprint to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, disagreements loom over the as-yet undefined role of an international stabilisation force in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Sunday that the US draft required “a lot of clarifications”. While the group was ready to discuss “freezing or storing” weapons during the ongoing truce, he said it would not accept that an international stabilisation force take charge of disarmament.

“We are welcoming a [United Nations] force to be near the borders, supervising the ceasefire agreement, reporting about violations, preventing any kind of escalations,” he said, adding that Hamas would not accept the force having “any kind of mandates” on Palestinian territory.

His comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier in the day that he would meet with Donald Trump to discuss entering a new phase of the US president’s plan at the end of the month. The focus of the meeting, he said, would be on ending Hamas governance in Gaza and ensuring it fulfilled its “commitment” to the plan, which calls for demilitarisation of the enclave.

“We have a second phase, no less daunting, and that is to achieve the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of Gaza,” Netanyahu said during a news conference with visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

It was not clear whether Naim’s comments on the group freezing or storing arms would satisfy Israel’s demands for full disarmament. The Hamas official said the group retained its “right to resist”, adding that laying down arms could happen as part of a process leading to a Palestinian state, with a potential long-term truce lasting five to 10 years.

The US-drafted plan for Gaza leaves the door open to Palestinian independence, but Netanyahu has long rejected this, asserting that creating a Palestinian state would reward Hamas.

Vague plan

Trump’s 20-point plan offers a general way forward on such plans as the establishment of the stabilisation force and the formation of a technocratic Palestinian government operating under an international “board of peace”, but does not offer concrete details or timelines.

US officials have said they expect “boots on the ground” early next year, but while countries like Indonesia have agreed to contribute troops, there is no roadmap for setting up the force, and its exact makeup, command structure and responsibilities have not been defined.

Netanyahu appeared to recognise the plan’s vagueness. “What will be the timeline? What are the forces that are coming in? Will we have international forces? If not, what are the alternatives? These are all topics that are being discussed,” he said on Sunday.

The Israeli prime minister said that phase two of the plan, which will be set in motion once Hamas returns the last Israeli captive, a policeman killed in the October 7 attack on southern Israel, would be “more difficult”.

Stage one of the plan has already proven challenging, with Israel continuing to bomb Gaza throughout the ceasefire, killing more than 370 Palestinians, according to health officials. Meanwhile, it has accused Hamas of dragging out captive returns.

Israeli army says yellow line ‘new border’

The plan’s initial steps saw Israeli forces withdraw to positions behind a so-called yellow line in Gaza, though the Israeli military remains in control of 53 percent of the territory. The Israeli military said on Sunday that the line of demarcation was a “new border”.

“We have operational control over extensive parts of the Gaza Strip, and we will remain on those defence lines,” said Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir. “The yellow line is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity.”

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani warned at the Doha Forum on Saturday that the truce was at a “critical moment” and could unravel without rapid movement towards a permanent deal.

He said a true ceasefire “cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal” of Israeli forces, alongside restored stability and freedom of movement for Palestinians, which has so far not transpired under phase one of the plan. He did not allude to the yellow line in his comments.

Amid growing momentum for a move to phase two of the peace plan, Israeli and Qatari officials met with US counterparts in an effort to rebuild relations after Israel’s air strike on Doha in September, Axios reported, citing unnamed sources.

GENEVA — Public broadcasters in Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia on Thursday pulled out of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers decided to allow Israel to compete, putting political discord on center stage over a usually joyful celebration of music.

The walkouts came after the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union — a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries that runs the glitzy annual event — met to discuss concerns about Israel’s participation, which some countries oppose over its conduct of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

At the meeting, EBU members voted to adopt tougher contest voting rules in response to allegations that Israel manipulated the vote in favor of their contestants, but took no action to exclude any broadcaster from the competition.

The feel-good pop music gala that draws more than 100 million viewers every year has been roiled by the war in Gaza for the last two years, stirring protests outside the venues and forcing organizers to clamp down on political flag-waving.

“It’s a historic moment for the European Broadcasting Union. This is certainly one of the most serious crises that the organization has ever faced,” said Eurovision expert Dean Vuletic. “Next year, we’re going to see the biggest political boycott of Eurovision ever.”

Vuletic, author of “Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest,” predicted “tense” weeks and months ahead as other countries contemplate joining the walkout and protests set to overshadow the contest’s 70th anniversary in Vienna next May.

A report on the website of Icelandic broadcaster RUV said its chiefs would meet Wednesday to discuss whether Iceland would take part: Its board last week recommended that Israel be barred from the event in the Austrian capital.

The broadcasting union said it was aware that four broadcasters — RTVE in Spain, AVROTROS in the Netherlands, RTÉ in Ireland and Slovenia’s RTVSLO — had publicly said they would not take part.

A final list of participating countries will be announced by Christmas, EBU said.

Controversy over Israel

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on social platform X that he was “pleased” Israel will again take part, and hoped “the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations and cross-border cultural understanding.”

“Thank you to all our friends who stood up for Israel’s right to continue to contribute and compete at Eurovision,” he added.

Austria, which is set to host the competition after Viennese singer JJ won this year with “Wasted Love,” supported Israel’s participation. Germany, too, supported Israel along with countries like Switzerland and Luxembourg, Vuletic said.

AVROTROS, the Dutch broadcaster, said the participation of Israel “is no longer compatible with the responsibility we bear as a public broadcaster.”

Spain’s RTVE said the situation in Gaza — despite the recent ceasefire — and “Israel’s use of the contest for political purposes, make it increasingly difficult to maintain Eurovision as a neutral cultural event.”

RTÉ said Ireland’s participation “remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza” and the humanitarian crisis there.

Some broadcasters — which run their country’s news programs and wanted Israel kept out — cited killings of journalists in the conflict in Gaza and Israel’s continued policy of denying international journalists access to the territory.

Israeli broadcaster KAN’s Chief Executive Golan Yochpaz questioned whether EBU members are “willing to be part of a step that harms freedom of creation and freedom of expression.”

KAN officials said the Israeli broadcaster was not involved in any prohibited campaign intended to influence the results of the latest song contest in Basel, Switzerland, last May — when Israel’s Yuval Raphael placed second.

Divided over politics

The contest pits acts from dozens of nations against one another for Europe’s musical crown. It strives to put pop before politics, but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The war in Gaza has been its biggest challenge, with pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Israel outside the last two Eurovision contests in Basel, Switzerland, in May and Malmo, Sweden, in 2024.

Opponents of Israel’s participation cite the war in Gaza, which has left more than 70,000 people dead, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government and whose detailed records are viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Israel’s government has repeatedly defended its campaign as a response to the attack by Hamas-led militants that started the war on Oct. 7, 2023. The militants killed around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — in the attack and took 251 hostage.

A number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said that Israel’s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim that Israel — home to many Holocaust survivors and their relatives — has vigorously denied.

A boycott by some European broadcasters could have implications for viewership and money at a time when many broadcasters are under financial pressure from government funding cuts and the advent of social media.

The pullouts include some big names in the Eurovision world. Spain is one of the “Big Five” large-market countries that contribute the most to the contest. Ireland has won seven times, a record it shares with Sweden.

The controversy over Israel’s 2026 participation also threatens to overshadow the return next year of three countries — Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania — after periods of absence because of financial and artistic reasons.

“Next year’s edition is certainly going to be one of the most politicized ever,” Vuletic said. “It’s the 70th anniversary. It was meant to be a big celebration, a big party, but it’s going to be shrouded in political controversy yet again.”

Keaten and Lawless write for the Associated Press. Lawless reported from London.

Mountain West Conference champion Boise State is extending the nation’s second-longest active bowl streak with a trip to Los Angeles.

The Broncos (9-4, 6-2 Mountain West) will facing off with Washington (8-4, 5-4 in Big Ten) in the LA Bowl on Dec. 13 at SoFi Stadium. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. PST and the game will air on ABC.

Boise State is making its 28th consecutive bowl appearance, trailing only Georgia (29) for the longest postseason streak. The Broncos are coming off a 38-21 win over UNLV in the Mountain West Conference championship game. Quarterback Maddux Madsen, who returned from an injury absence, threw four first-half touchdown passes that sealed the Broncos’ title win.

Washington earned a bowl bid in coach Jeff Fisch’s second season leading the Huskies. Fisch previously worked on the UCLA and Rams coaching staffs.

Dual-threat quarterback Demond Williams, who has passed for 2,850 yards and run for 595 more, and versatile running back Jonah Coleman, who has 14 rushing touchdowns and two more receiving scores, pace the Washington offense.

Dec. 7 (UPI) — Southwest Airlines will not have to pay the final $11 million portion of a record civil penalty tied to its 2022 holiday meltdown, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Friday.

Transportation officials in 2023 had fined Southwest some $140 million for “numerous violations of consumer protection laws” when operations failures led to 16,900 cancelled flights during the 2022 Christmas holiday season.

Included in that penalty was $35 million that the airline was ordered to pay in three installments to the U.S. Treasury Department. Southwest previously made two $12 million payments.

The Trump administration credited Southwest for $112 million in operational upgrades that significantly improved its on-time performance and reliability and waived the final $11 million payment to the Treasury Department.

“DOT believes that this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes airlines to invest in improving their operations and resiliency, which benefits consumers directly,” officials said in a statement.

“This credit structure allows for the benefits of the airline’s investment to be realized by the public, rather than resulting in a government monetary penalty.”

Those penalties had come on top of the $600 million Southwest was ordered to reimburse passengers who faced travel disruptions.

“Southwest Airlines is grateful to Secretary Duffy and the DOT Team for recognizing Southwest’s significant investments in modernizing our operations,” the airline said in a statement to ABC News.

“During the last two years, Southwest successfully completed an operational turnaround that directly benefits our Customers with industry-leading on-time performance and percentage of completed flights without cancellations.”

Substitute Williot Swedberg scores brace to defeat Real Madrid, who ended game with nine players after two red cards.

Real Madrid suffered a shock 2-0 loss and finished with nine men against Celta Vigo in their La Liga clash after Williot Swedberg scored an audacious goal with his heel and a second in stoppage time to leave the hosts four points off leaders Barcelona.

Swedish substitute Swedberg cleverly diverted a cross from Bryan Zaragoza past Thibaut Courtois in the 53rd minute to put Celta ahead, and had an easy finish three minutes into added time, going around the goalkeeper to wrap up the points on Sunday.

Celta jumped from 14th to 10th, while the defeat ended Real’s 100 percent home league record this season after six successive wins.

Xabi Alonso’s stuttering Real team have now won only one of their last five league games as they await the midweek arrival of Manchester City in the Champions League.

Alonso chose to rest centre-back Antonio Rudiger, starting with Alvaro Carreras in the heart of defence, but Rudiger’s break did not last long, with the German defender coming on midway through the first half after Eder Militao pulled up injured.

Celta Vigo goalkeeper Ionut Radu made a handful of good saves in the first half, keeping out a Jude Bellingham header and Arda Guler’s drive from range.

Madrid struggled to create serious danger as Celta set up in a tough-to-crack low defensive block, denying dangerous forwards Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior space.

Guler missed Madrid’s best chance of the first half, with the Turkish playmaker sending a shot wide on the swivel after Mbappe teed him up.

Radu also thwarted Vinicius Junior after Aurelien Tchouameni chopped a ball in behind the defence for the Brazilian to run onto, a rare crack in Celta’s armour.

Celta’s Romanian goalkeeper turned away a fierce Fede Valverde effort from distance early in the second half, before Celta stunned the hosts.

Bryan Zaragoza crossed from the left for Swedberg, who produced a gorgeous flicked finish to beat Thibaut Courtois to send the Galicians ahead.

Madrid were wounded, literally in the case of Bellingham, with blood running down his face from a cut sustained in a tussle with Celta target man Borja Iglesias.

Adding insult to injury, Fran Garcia earned two yellow cards inside a minute, the second for a clumsy foul on Swedberg, to leave Los Blancos with 10 men for the final third of the match.

Mbappe sent a lob over Radu but down onto the roof of the net, and substitute Gonzalo Garcia headed just wide as Madrid searched for an equaliser, which did not come.

Carreras was dismissed in stoppage time as Madrid lost their heads, receiving a second yellow for dissent as he protested a decision by referee Alejandro Quintero.

With Madrid down to nine and in disarray, Celta wrapped up their win as Swedberg rounded Courtois and ran the ball home.

Speaking to the media after the game, Iglesias praised his side’s defensive resilience to win a game with a “strange” ending.

“They have got a lot of quality. It is difficult to play against them. We defended very well,” he said.

“The end of the game was pretty strange. There were a lot of situations, and then there were stoppages, and then some fouls. They then got a bit desperate.

“We are doing well on the road [as it is Celta Vigo’s fourth away win this season]. It is difficult to explain.”

Alonso criticised his team’s “disappointing” effort and intensity, as well as the decisions of the referee.

“We were better with 10 men than with 11 tonight. Simply because with 10 men, at least we started running and working hard,” Alonso said in comments to the media after the game.

“We have to try to turn the page as quickly as possible. It’s just three points – there’s still a lot of the league games left.”

He added: “The referee’s decisions have driven us crazy. The referee was itching to give the card to Alvaro Carreras. The refereeing has been very poor.”

Great Britain finished third at the European Short Course Swimming Championships after Jack McMillan, Duncan Scott and Lauren Cox won golds in Lublin.

The 17-strong British team which travelled to Poland finished with a total of 11 medals after six days of competition.

McMillan claimed the men’s 400m freestyle title, before finishing second to team-mate Scott in the men’s 200m freestyle final.

“Coming into this I was in really good shape. But to actually do it on the stage, on the day, is very special,” McMillan said.

“It just gives me more confidence, the training I am doing is clearly working, so that’s good to know at the start of this block heading towards the 2028 Olympic Games.”

Cox triumphed in the women’s 100m backstroke as Britain finished with three golds – only table-toppers Italy (nine) and the Netherlands (seven) amassed more.

Freya Colbert, 21, contributed two medals with her third-place finishes in the women’s 200m and 400m freestyle events.

Meanwhile, Ellen Walshe became the first Irish woman to win gold at the championships as she won a thrilling 200m butterfly final.

Great Britain topped the medal table at the previous staging of the championships in 2023, with nine golds and a total medal haul of 23.

US diplomacy under President Donald Trump has a bigger chance of success because it focuses on transactional deals that “translate into improvements of people’s lives” instead of “theories about democracy, freedom and human rights”, argues Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Kagame, who has led Rwanda for more than 30 years, tells host Steve Clemons that he’s “never seen the level of focus, attention, energy and pressure” that the US president brought to the conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, which led to the signing of a tentative deal between the two sides in Washington on December 4.

After nearly 14 years of civil war, Syria is trying to turn the page on its past.

It has been a year since Ahmed al-Sharaa’s now-defunct armed group walked into Damascus to little resistance.

Bashar al-Assad, whose family had been in power since 1970, had already fled to Moscow.

Crowds cheered the end of a dictatorship, and political prisoners walked out of the most notorious jails in the country, shocked at their own freedom.

But the optimism of that day has now given way to the realities of transition – sectarian tensions, grinding poverty and demands for justice over atrocities carried out by the Assad regime.

So, can the new government bring real change and unity to Syria? And what can be learned from the steps it has taken so far?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Haid Haid – researcher at Chatham House

Ammar Kahf – executive director at Omran Center for Strategic Studies.

Heiko Wimmen, project Director for Iraq, Syria and Lebanon at the International Crisis Group

SYDNEY Sweeney bares her soul — finally breaking her silence over her American Eagle advert backlash. 

The 28-year-old US actress said she is against hate and divisiveness after she came under fire from critics who said the “great jeans” campaign fuelled racial tensions. 

It comes as she shared topless behind-the-scenes pictures while promoting her upcoming movie, The Housemaid, and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in the US. 

Speaking out about the ad, which saw her backed by President Donald Trump, Sydney said: “I was honestly surprised by the reaction. 

“I did it because I love the jeans and love the brand. 

“I don’t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign.” 

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The star added: “Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true. 

“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to bring people together. I’m against hate and divisiveness. 

“I have come to realise my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it.

“So I hope this new year brings more focus on what connects us instead of what divides us.” 

It comes after her £20million boxing biopic Christy bombed at the UK Box Office, taking just £54,360 in its opening weekend in British cinemas. 

It raked in less than A Paw Patrol Christmas, which made almost double at £103,000 in its second week.

It also failed in the US, opening with just $1.3million (£975,000). 

New UCLA coach Bob Chesney’s James Madison football team bumped Notre Dame for the final spot in the College Football Playoff 12-team field revealed Sunday morning, setting up a busy stretch for Chesney as he juggles leading two programs.

No. 12 James Madison (12-1) will play at No. 5 Oregon (11-1) on Dec. 20 at 4:30 p.m. PST (TNT/HBO Max).

Chesney joined his team’s raucous celebration as it became the first Sun Belt school to earn a playoff spot. He was then set to fly to L.A. Monday and will be formally introduced as the Bruins’ new coach Tuesday before returning to lead James Madison through playoff practices on Wednesday.

When asked what fans could expect while watching his JMU team face Oregon, Chesney said he is certain the group will bring a strong fight.

“I think you’re going to see a confident bunch, I think you’re going to see an inspired bunch and I think you’re going to see us continue to attack every single opportunity that we have,” he said during ESPN’s playoff bracket reveal show. “Confident, inspired, attack — that’ll be our mantra as we go through this. That has been our mantra up to this point in time. The preparation that these guys deal with every single week. The ability to block out the noise and focus on the task at hand are the things that I watch them do at an elite level.”

Chesney succeeded current Indiana coach Curt Cignetti at James Madison, with many former Dukes now on the Hoosiers roster. Chesney said Indiana’s success has shown his current players they, like their friends on the Hoosiers roster, can compete against anyone.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning concurred, saying he expects the Ducks to be challenged by “a really good team.”

Nobody paying attention for the past 24 months would be surprised to see Indiana — yes, Indiana — leading the way into this year’s College Football Playoff.

But anyone paying attention over the last 24 hours knew the only sure thing beyond that was that the selection committee was destined to get destroyed when it released the pairings for this season’s 12-team bracket on Sunday.

Most of that second-guessing and vitriol will be coming from Notre Dame, which was passed over in favor of Alabama, Miami and James Madison in the bracket. The Fighting Irish dropped two notches in the CFP rankings during the past two weeks, down to No. 11, despite a 10-game winning streak, winning their finale by 29 points and sitting on the couch Saturday.

The Irish responded by refusing to play in any bowl game.

“As a team, we’ve decided to withdraw our name from consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season,” Notre Dame said in a statement posted on X. “We appreciate all the support from our families and fans, and we’re hoping to bring the 12th national title to South Bend in 2026.”

No. 9 Alabama didn’t move in the CFP rankings after a 28-7 loss to No. 3 Georgia that looked worse than that. The committee didn’t count that against the Tide in keeping with a hazy policy that refrains from penalizing teams for playing in their league title game.

No. 10 Miami didn’t play either, but the Hurricanes’ 27-24 win over Notre Dame in Week 1 played a role in their move once the teams were grouped right next to each other after BYU lost its game on Saturday.

Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said he directed the committee to rewatch the Miami-Notre Dame game again.

“Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, we had the side-by-side comparison that everyone had been hungy for,” Yurachek said.

The committee’s other key decision during deliberations that went until 2:30 a.m. Sunday then picked up again after a short rest, was choosing James Madison over Duke for the final spot. The selection left the Atlantic Coast Conference champion out of the mix, but didn’t fully exclude the ACC because Miami made it.

Yurachek insisted that including the ACC — one of the Power Four conferences — in the playoff in some form played no role in the deliberations.

Chesney’s team was the final team revealed in the 12-team playoff, adding some drama to Sunday morning, but he always hoped his team would be rewarded for its conference championship season.

“I think it’d be really hard to look a group like us in the eye and say you’re not deserving after all the things we’ve done,” he said.

The rest of the field includes No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech, which joined Indiana in getting first-round byes. The Hoosiers moved to No. 1 with their 13-10 win over the Buckeyes on Saturday — their first Big Ten title since 1967 — and their 1-2 positioning sets up a possible rematch in the national title game Jan. 19.

Then it was No. 5 Oregon, followed by Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama, Miami, Tulane and James Madison.

The playoffs start Dec. 19 with No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma. On Dec. 20, it’s No. 10 Miami at No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 11 Tulane at No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 12 James Madison at No. 5 Oregon.

The quarterfinals will feature Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve, then Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, Indiana in the Rose Bowl and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.

A costly snub for Notre Dame

This is a particularly costly and painful snub for the Fighting Irish. They lost their first two games of the season — one to Miami, the other to Texas A&M — by a combined four points.

They did not play a tough schedule the rest of the way; it was ranked 44th, compared to 6th for Alabama but 45th for Miami. But they won all those games easily.

It also hurts the pocketbook. Where conferences split $4 million for each team they place into the first round, Notre Dame — as an independent — would have banked the full amount for itself.

Yurachek said the committee had not previously considered Miami’s Aug. 31 win over Notre Dame because there were always other teams in the mix, namely Alabama and BYU. The only real explanation for passing over Notre Dame was that BYU lost badly to Texas Tech and dropped to No. 12.

Alabama back in after snub last year

Alabama (10-3) is in despite three losses. Those who believe the Tide deserve it will look at these factors:

— An eight-game winning streak after that 14-point, season-opening loss to Florida State) that included a 24-21 victory at Georgia and wins over the likes of Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Missouri.

— The “You can’t lose ground for playing in the title game” argument. Last year, Alabama had three losses and was passed over for SMU, which was coming off a loss in the ACC title game. Using the same logic, someone other than the Tide needed to go this time.

Associated Press staff writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.

Tunisia beat Asian champions Qatar 3-0, while Palestine draw with Syria to enter the quarterfinals for the first time.

Asian champions Qatar have been knocked out of the FIFA Arab Cup 2025 after a shocking 3-0 loss to Tunisia, with Palestine advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time with a 0-0 draw against Syria.

Home favourites Qatar needed a big win over Tunisia to have any chances of progressing from Group A, where Palestine and Syria were in the lead as the last round of the group fixtures was played on Sunday.

A poor defensive display from the Asian Cup winners saw them concede the lead in the 16th minute on Sunday, when Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane pounced on a goalkeeping error by Meshaal Barsham, allowing the Tunisian midfielder to poke the ball into the net from close range at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor.

While the Annabi (the Maroons) were able to hold off further Tunisian goals in the first half, the home crowd was left frustrated by Qatar’s attack.

Led by star striker Akram Afif, the forwards looked jaded as they failed to produce goal-scoring opportunities despite holding 60 percent of the possession.

They were made to pay for not converting their shots into goals when Tunisia doubled their lead in the 62nd minute through a low and close-range header by Yassine Meriah following a corner.

A few minutes later, Tunisia were reduced to 10 men when Seifeddine Jaziri was sent off for a foul with 25 minutes left until full time, but Qatar failed to capitalise on the advantage.

Tunisia’s win was sealed in the closing minutes of the game when an unmarked Mohamed Benali received the ball in the Qatari half and slotted in a powerful strike.

He went on to celebrate the goal and the win, but Tunisia’s joy was short-lived as the result from the other group game confirmed that both teams were knocked out.

Widely contrasting scenes unfolded 48 kilometres (30 miles) away at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, where Palestine and Syria played out a goalless draw to secure their respective qualification for the last-eight stage.

Palestine beat Qatar dramatically in the opening game of the tournament when an own goal gave the war-torn nation a shock win over the favourites.

The Fidai – as the Palestinian team is known – then put on a dogged display against Tunisia as they came back from 2-0 down to draw their second match.

Syria, too, won their first match when they beat Tunisia 1-0 and were level on points and goal difference with their fellow Levantine nation.

This left both table-topping teams needing a point from the final Group A match to secure their progress, and when the full-time whistle was blown by the referee signalling a goalless draw, both sets of players fell to the ground in an outpouring of the emotions they had held back for 90 minutes.

The Palestinian team brought out their flags, keffiyehs and loudest roars as they celebrated in tandem with their vociferous supporters.

Syria’s players were equally emotional as they jumped around in joy and disbelief.

Several Palestinian players, including Gaza-born defender Mohammed Saleh, waved both Palestinian and Syrian flags as the celebrations carried on well past full time.

The results and their impact on the tournament’s next round are shocking, not only because both Palestine and Syria are reeling from the effects of war, but also due to the gulf in the teams’ standings in world football.

Palestine are 96th in FIFA’s team rankings, 45 places behind Qatar, while Syria are placed at 87. Tunisia, the sixth-best team in Africa, are ranked 40th in the world.

Qatar are among the six Arab teams to have qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, and Tunisia are among the nine African nations in the finals.

Neither Palestine nor Syria have ever qualified for football’s showpiece event, but for now, their fans will not care as their teams march on in the Arab Cup.