The news out of Kyiv last week carried an unsettling clarity. On November 29, Andriy Yermak—President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s formidable chief of staff and chief negotiator—stepped down after anti-corruption investigators searched properties linked to him as part of a widening probe into alleged kickbacks at the state nuclear conglomerate Energoatom. What might seem like another tremor in Ukraine’s political landscape is, in fact, a far more consequential moment. This is not mere political theater; it is a critical engagement in the second, often overlooked, war for Ukraine’s survival.

For nearly four years, global attention has been riveted by the kinetic war: the drone duels over the Black Sea, the punishing artillery exchanges in the Donbas, and the steady flow of Western matériel that sustains Ukraine’s frontline defenses. But while territory can be liberated by force, Ukraine’s political future hinges on something more fragile—the credibility of its institutions. Without that, military victories risk becoming strategically hollow.

The timing of this raid and resignation is instructive. It occurs precisely when Kyiv is under maximum diplomatic strain, attempting to counter the perceived pro-Russian bias in the ceasefire framework pushed by the Trump administration through US intermediaries in Geneva. The emerging contours of the Trump team’s ceasefire proposal, which privilege territorial freezes over accountability mechanisms for Russia, have reinforced the impression in Kyiv that Washington is drifting toward a settlement architecture more palatable to Moscow than to Ukraine’s elected leadership.

 With European allies showing signs of financial fatigue—exemplified by Belgium’s recent objection to using frozen Russian assets for aid—the relationship between Western support and Ukrainian trustworthiness has never been starker. Aid, whether financial or material, is transactional. Its currency is the confidence that the recipient state is not merely an impoverished supplicant but a developing, rule-bound partner.

Historically, states born out of the collapse of empires or emerging from prolonged conflict often succumb to a specific form of institutional decay. This rot is not simple bribery; it is the establishment of parallel, extractive systems of governance where official titles serve primarily as conduits for private enrichment. The $100 million energy sector scandal currently under investigation—involving kickbacks at the state-owned nuclear giant, Energoatom, and allegedly reaching deep into the president’s inner circle—is a perfect articulation of this systemic danger. Such grand corruption is not just inefficient; it is a strategic liability. It weakens the moral authority of the state, poisons domestic political cohesion, and confirms the worst suspicions of skeptical foreign partners.

What is truly remarkable about the Yermak episode is not the alleged corruption itself, which is depressingly common in the post-Soviet space, but the institutional response. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, established under immense international pressure, demonstrated their independence by targeting the single most powerful unelected official in the government. They did this not during a period of peaceful democratic consolidation, but in the midst of the most destructive European war since 1945. This action is a powerful, self-administered inoculation against the political disease that has doomed so many promising democratic transitions.

This institutional assertiveness aligns precisely with the demands laid out in the European Commission’s 2025 enlargement report, which made plain that judicial reform, prosecutorial independence, and operational freedom for anti-corruption bodies are not aspirational benchmarks. They are prerequisites for accession. Compliance is not a bureaucratic checkbox—it is Ukraine’s political passport to the West.

The Commission noted areas of progress but also stressed the urgent need to accelerate structural changes. Specifically, it demanded the swift removal of legislative loopholes that allow for the politicization of the prosecutor service during martial law. For Kyiv, compliance with these demands is equivalent to securing a strategic mountain pass. Successfully implementing these reforms is not merely a bureaucratic exercise; it is the act of integrating Ukraine into the Western legal and economic ecosystem, cementing its victory over the Kremlin’s stated goal of drawing the country back into its orbit of managed autocracy. The European mandate transforms anti-corruption work from a domestic political concern into a strategic military asset.

President Zelenskyy’s decision to accept Yermak’s resignation and announce a “reset” of the presidential office signals an understanding of the profound stakes involved. Allowing the investigation to proceed against a close personal confidant, even one who has not yet been charged, is an act of substantial political courage. The alternative—to impede the investigation and defend the powerful aide—would have provided ammunition to the Kremlin’s propaganda machine and handed a genuine legislative crisis to Zelenskyy’s own party, threatening his parliamentary stability. Choosing institutional legitimacy over political convenience is the hallmark of leadership operating under the constraints of liberal democracy, especially when facing external aggression.

The future of Ukraine will be determined on two fronts. The first is brutal and visible, fought across ruined cities and snowbound trenches. The second is quieter but no less decisive, unfolding in courtrooms, parliamentary committees, and the meticulous work of pruning corrupt patronage networks. Victory in the former guarantees survival; victory in the latter determines the character of the state that survives.

The Yermak resignation is not a sign of weakness. It is evidence of a country attempting something astonishing: institutional self-renewal in the middle of a war that was designed to annihilate its sovereignty. The next six months will reveal whether this is a singular act of accountability or the opening phase of a systemic overhaul. If Zelenskyy matches institutional reform with legislative insulation for anti-corruption bodies, Ukraine’s integration into the European legal order will become irreversible. If Kyiv sees this moment not as damage control but as a turning point, then Ukraine may finally be on the cusp of winning both wars—the one for territory and the one for the very meaning of statehood.

ED SHEERAN has set the record straight amid fears for his marriage – insisting he just wanted to put out honest music.

The chart-topper, who headlined the first night of Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard at The O2, sparked concern with brutally candid album tracks.

His deluxe edition of Play dealt with juggling life as a superstar and dad of two.

At a Spotify pop-up ahead of the ball, Ed said: “Sometimes people listen to records today and assume that what that song is, is their world 100 per cent at the time.

“It’s very much like heightened emotions. You never write a song on a ‘meh’ day.

“You always write songs like, ‘This is the most loving I’ve ever felt, this is the happiest I’ve ever felt, this is the angriest I’ve ever felt’.

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Ed Sheeran makes decision about future in music as he wants more family time

ED OVER HEELS

Ed Sheeran makes rare marriage admission as he releases brutally honest album

“They’re all like big extremities and that’s what inspires the song.

“And then that’s where the song exists and that’s why people connect to the song as people have these big feelings.

“I think the only time the songs will ever be created, for me at least, are in those moments of big extremes.”

During his set on Saturday night, Ed paid tribute to Cherry after adding the Play album track Heaven to his performance — because it’s her favourite.

Ed told the packed London crowd: “I told Cherry I was singing this tonight and she told me to make sure that someone filmed it.”

He added: “I think Cherry knows that she has songs like Heaven and Perfect.

“It’s good to be honest, and she knows that I am writing songs like Don’t Look Down and Wargames.”

CELEBRITIES joined crowds at the South London venue to watch Ed headline night one of the weekend music spectacular.

We spotted famous faces including Fifty Shades actor Jamie Dornan, ex-footballer Peter Crouch and former PM Rishi Sunak.

Rishi previously outed himself as a huge Taylor Swift fan. But given how much he was jiggling his hips, he didn’t seem to miss her too much.

LEIGH-ANNE GOES DEEP PURPLE

LEIGH-ANNE PINNOCK stole the style show at the Jingle Bell Ball with these incredible feathered trousers.

In an all-purple outfit, The former Little Mix singer nailed her five-song set, with a mash-up of the group’s Sweet Melody, Touch and Power.

She finished the night with her highest-charting single, Don’t Say Love, and had every Mixer in the O2 Arena up on their feet.

Bravo, Leigh-Anne. That was a show to remember.

WHAM! STILL KYLIE’S No1

KYLIE MINOGUE is a hot contender for the festive No1 – but wouldn’t mind being pipped to the post by Andrew Ridgeley and the late, great George Michael.

She is already at No5 in the Official Charts this Friday with new track Xmas.

The bookies told us it’s a two-horse race between Kylie’s release and Wham!’s 1984 banger Last Christmas.

In an exclusive chat ahead of her headline slot last night, the Aussie star said it was her favourite festive song, adding: “Last Christmas – it’s always a classic.”

Kylie is heading back home to celebrate the festive season with family, including her sister Dannii.

But her tree might not win any prizes for style, as she told Bizarre’s Jack: “Maybe the initial concept is tasteful but it can very easily just become ‘that’s it’. Look, it’s got personality.”

Kylie, pictured with our Jack, decorates her tree with second-hand finds.

She said: “I tend to have a collection of decorations, a lot of proper vintage ones. I don’t know their history but I just know I have had them for a long time.”

MUTYA’S £15K ON TAXI RIDES

MUTYA BUENA says being in a girlband is not as fun as people think – and that her spending got out of control.

The Sugababes singer writes in her autobiography Real Girl: “Some of the adults we dealt with cared more about our worth than our wellbeing.

“As long as we were making money for them, they couldn’t give two s**ts about what was going on in our heads or our hearts as children.”

Mutya was in the original line-up with Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy. She said pressures led to her spending money like water, including £15,000 on taxis after getting mates to join her partying.

She added: “I went all out, chasing as much fun as I could find, trying to make up for the youth I was missing out on.”

ROBERT NEW TRUST PILOT

THE CURE’s Robert Smith is stepping into Roger Daltrey’s shoes as the “Cureator” of next year’s concerts for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The Who legend stepped down after 24 years and now Robert has announced his first the line-up.

They begin at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday, March 23. Kicking off the week are Elbow and MRCY, followed by comedy the next night from Jack Dee, Maisie Adam and Dara O Briain.

For the Wednesday, Robert has Mogwai to headline, with Manic Street Preachers the next evening. They will be there alongside The Joy Formidable, who mark their 150th show for the trust.

My Bloody Valentine and Chvrches appear on the Friday, with Garbage headlining Saturday, along with Placebo.

The final Sunday concert will see Wolf Alice performing.

Tickets go on sale at 9am this Friday and Robert, left, said: “I wanted to make it a truly unforgettable, unmissable week.”

HAIR-OBSESSED JORDAN IS ‘BIGGEST DIVA AT O2’

IF you ask Capital FM presenters Sian Welby and Chris Stark, the biggest diva at the O2 this weekend wasn’t actually a singer . . . 

Speaking to us backstage, the pair said their Breakfast co-host Jordan North can be the most high maintenance.

Asked who is the most demanding star, Sian said with a laugh: “Oh, no question, it’s Jordan North.

“First of all, the conversation about his hair will be going on for a month.”

Chris added: “I spend my life having to entertain and witness conversations about Jordan being self conscious about his hair.

“I know he’s specifically asked for slightly higher heels on his trainers as he always has to be taller than me.”

Sian continued: “But he’s a good diva, in the nicest way.

“If you see him in the street, just give him a wink and a nod and say, ‘Your hair looks all right mate’.”

Smiling, Chris added: “On a serious note, he is a diva but only in character.

“He is the most down-to-earth, kind and considerate person, which is mega really, when you consider how well he is doing.

“You cannot fake what this show is and I have been in situations where you get involved and you are forced with people – and you can tell.

“But this is the first time since I was with Scott Mills at Radio 1 where I honestly feel so excited and happy about where the show is going.”

WASHINGTON — Congress and the White House moved with rare speed Thursday night to end a crippling two-day nationwide rail shutdown that already had begun to threaten the economy by forcing layoffs at coal mines and auto assembly plants.

The House and Senate passed emergency legislation barring strikes and lockouts by large margins, setting up a “last, best offer” arbitration system to resolve the three major union-management disputes that had idled virtually all U.S. railroads. Bush signed the legislation early today.

Many lawmakers objected strongly that the action was anti-labor, but anxiety about the impact of a prolonged stoppage on the still-fragile economy overrode those concerns.

President Bush was standing by, ready to sign the bill into law.

“America will be back on track tomorrow,” Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr. said late Thursday. “

Card said that Amtrak’s passenger service along the Northeast corridor between Washington and Boston will be running today. Amtrak unions had been set to walk out nationwide at midnight Thursday.

Freight railroads said that they expected to have 75% of their trains running again within 24 hours after the legislation became law and full service restored within 48 hours.

“Some trains will be running within two hours after the bill is signed,” said Tom White, a spokesman for the Assn. of American Railroads. “It’s simply a matter of bringing in the people and moving the freight out of the yards.”

The arbitration system approved by Congress would work this way:

Within three days, the railroads and rail unions each would nominate a single arbitrator. Within the next three days, those two would select a third arbitrator who would help the parties with negotiations toward a settlement in the three disputes covered by the legislation.

If no agreement is reached after 20 days, each side would have five days to submit its last, best contract proposal and negotiations would continue for another seven days.

If there is no agreement at that time, the lone arbitrator would have three days to decide which of the final contract proposals would take effect. The proposed contract would be submitted to the President, who would have three days to decide whether to veto it.

If the President rejected it, the labor unions would be free to strike and the railroads would be free to lock out their employees or change hours and working conditions as they pleased.

At any time during the process, voluntary agreements would take precedence over the terms of the legislation.

With elections less than six months away, members of Congress at first had approached the task of intervening in the shutdown gingerly, but the prospect that a continued rail stoppage could pull down other industries and send damaging shock waves through the nation’s economy just as it seems to be emerging from a long recession apparently spurred action Thursday.

Nonetheless, the decision by Congress did not come without some bitterness.

“This bill is a fundamental mistake that will haunt railroad workers for decades,” said Rep. Pat Williams (D-Mont.), while Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) added: “Workers are getting the short end of the stick.”

His sentiments were echoed by union leaders and the AFL-CIO, which said that the legislation “punishes workers by taking away their right to strike while rewarding the carriers for their irresponsible action in shutting down. . . . “

Mac Fleming, president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Workers, one of the three unions involved in the dispute, said that he is skeptical about the legislation.

“We hope (it) doesn’t weaken our position,” he said. “Arbitration can be the worst way to arrive at an agreement.”

But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a champion of organized labor’s interests, defended the measure as the best that could be done under the circumstances. Rep. Al Swift (D-Wash.), another pro-labor Democrat, added:

“It’s a new idea and it treats organized labor better than anything Congress has ever done before.”

Acting first, the House voted, 248 to 140, for the bill and the Senate followed suit on an 87-6 roll call just before a 12:01 a.m. EDT deadline for a possible walkout by three unions against the Amtrak passenger line.

The Senate first defeated, in a 76-18 vote, a move by Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) to require an additional 30-day cooling-off period to allow negotiations to continue. It then approved the House-passed bill and sent it to the White House.

The move ends the two-day shutdown that began shortly after midnight Wednesday when the International Assn. of Machinists struck the CSX Corp., one of the nation’s largest freight lines. Declaring that a strike against one railroad was a strike against all, the nation’s 40 freight railroads halted their operations, leading to charges by the unions of an illegal lockout.

The action stopped all freight traffic across the country and severely disrupted most passenger service. The White House estimated that the shutdown was costing the nation $1 billion a day in lost wages and production.

Besides the Machinists and Maintenance of Way unions, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was involved in disputes with railroad management. The disputes have revolved largely around job security and work rules.

Although the initial strike involved only freight lines, Amtrak service was disrupted in areas–such as Southern California–where passenger lines share common tracks with freight lines. Amtrak had expected to be spared when the three major unions with which it was negotiating announced late Tuesday night that they would extend their strike deadline 48 hours.

By Thursday, the strike’s effects already had rippled through the nation’s basic industries, beginning with the closure of coal mines before hitting General Motors Corp. GM slashed work schedules at five assembly plants Thursday and had taken steps to close three plants starting today.

Light-truck plants in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Shreveport, La., ran short of sheet metal that normally arrives by rail from plants in Flint, Mich., and Indianapolis, a GM spokeswoman said. The plants, which together build about 1,400 trucks daily and employ 4,600, probably won’t reopen until the rail strike ends.

The 4,000 employees in Wilmington, Del., who make the Chevrolet Corsica and Beretta, and another 5,300 in Oklahoma City who make the Buick Century and Oldsmobile Ciera, also worked a short day Thursday.

GM said that it planned to keep the Wilmington and Oklahoma City plants operating today but had warned that most of its 28 U.S. car and truck assembly sites would “face serious production interruptions if the rail situation is not resolved quickly.”

Chrysler Corp. officials also said that they had planned, settlement or not, to keep all their plants running through today but that shutdowns would spread quickly if the rail disruption continued into next week.

As predicted, the coal industry was hit hard and fast. Railroads deliver about two-thirds of the coal that is shipped in this country.

No industry-wide figures were available Thursday. But Island Creek Coal Co. in Lexington, Ky., the nation’s 15th largest coal producer, said that the interruption of rail service had cost it $2 million a day in lost revenues.

“We are not shipping coal,” said government relations director. “The prospects of a continued strike in this industry are disastrous.”

Jerry McPhee, Island Creek’s government relations director, said that three of its 20 mines closed almost immediately.

The coal industry’s chief customers, electric utilities and steel producers, said they had stockpiled enough coal to last for days or weeks. The Inland Steel Co. of Chicago said that it was more likely to suffer from the problems of its customers, especially the auto industry, than from a shortage of raw materials.

RELATED STORY: D1

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Dec. 7 (UPI) — A federal judge has potentially blocked the Department of Justice from bringing a second indictment against former FBI Director James Comey.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Ketelly on Saturday granted a temporary restraining order sought by Comey’s friend and attorney Daniel Richman to prevent prosecutors from using evidence that Richman’s lawyers said was gathered illegally from his devices.

In a four-page order, Kollar-Ketelly said she issued the temporary restraining order because the suit is likely to succeed based on the Justice Department having retained a complete copy of all of the files on Richman’s personal computer and searched it without a warrant, Politico reported.

The DOJ initially charged Comey with lying to and obstructing Congress as to whether he had leaked information about investigations to the media through Richman.

That case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie in November without prejudice because the appointment of U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who’d brought the case, was “invalid.”

The bulk of the evidence against Comey in the case had been based on emails and information on Richman’s laptop and, after the initial case was dismissed, the Justice Department has indicated it plans to seek another indictment.

The New York Times reported that the DOJ had planned to bring another indictment of Comey in the next couple of weeks, which led Richman’s attorneys to file an emergency request Friday night to prevent prosecutors from once again using evidence they are improperly investigating.

In 2017, after President Donald Trump fired Comey, DOJ obtained warrants to image and search Richman’s personal computer as part of a separate leak investigation — an investigation that closed in 2021, the Guardian reported.

According to a magistrate judge who has been overseeing Comey’s current case, the government appears to have kept all of the information it obtained from Richman — not just the information they were allowed to obtain based on the warrants.

For the new charges brought against Comey this year, it appears that the Department of Justice violated Richman’s Fourth Amendment rights to unreasonable search and seizure by retaining the full copy of his computer image, Kollar-Kotelly said.

The restraining order was issued ahead of a formal response from prosecutors to Richman’s request for the return of his data, prompting the judge to request clarity on who has the data and where it is being stored.

Prosecutors were ordered to respond to Richman’s suit by Tuesday, while the department will be barred from accessing Richman’s data through at least Friday unless Kollar-Kotelly cancels the restraining order.

Ziad Mahmoud al-Amayiri sat with photographs of his 10 lost family members laid out in front of him.

“There are two options: either the government gives me justice, or I take justice myself.”

Al-Amayiri’s threat is directed at one man: Fadi Saqr.

Saqr was a commander of the National Defence Forces (NDF), a militia loyal to Bashar al-Assad that was accused of atrocities like the 2013 Tadamon massacre, where, according to local Syrian officials, activists and leaked videos, dozens of people were led to a pit and shot.

However, Saqr denies any links to what happened in Tadamon. He told The New York Times that he was not the NDF’s leader at the time.

But al-Amayiri insists Saqr should be behind bars for the disappearance of his loved ones, who he says were arrested by NDF fighters in 2013.

Instead, Saqr is walking free.

Hassan Soufan, a member of the government-appointed Committee for Civil Peace, says Saqr was “granted safe passage” by Syria’s new leadership “at the beginning of the liberation”.

Soufan said Saqr’s release was part of a strategy to calm tensions because of his links to Alawite groups in the region.

“No one can deny that this safe passage contributed to averting bloodshed,” said Soufan.

But that was not enough to satisfy many Syrians, especially in Tadamon, where residents demanded that Saqr be tried in court.

“How was the government able to forgive Fadi Saqr with the blood of our families?” said al-Amayiri, speaking of the 10 loved ones he has lost.

“I don’t think they will be able to hold him accountable after that.”

Syria’s fragile peace

A year on since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s new leadership is dealing with the very real danger of people feeling frustrated by justice efforts being delayed or denied.

After taking power, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he would prioritise “achieving civil peace” and “prosecuting criminals who spilt Syrian blood … through genuine transitional justice”.

But the last year has been marked by sectarian fighting – and there has been a marked rise in so-called revenge killings.

As of November 2025, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 1,301 people had died in what it described as “retaliatory actions” since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.

These statistics do not include the people killed during the violent clashes on either the Syrian coast in March or in Suwayda in July.

The coastal massacres alone resulted in the death of 1,400 people, mainly civilians, according to a United Nations report.

The clashes in Suwayda, triggered by fighting between Druze and Bedouin communities, killed hundreds, the majority of them Druze.

In his first interview with an English-language outlet, Abdel Basit Abdel Latif, head of the National Commission for Transitional Justice, acknowledged the risks of stalled justice.

“It is certain that any Syrian citizen will feel that if the transitional justice process does not start properly, they will resort to their own ways, which is something we do not wish for,” Abdel Latif said.

Ibrahim al-Assil from the Atlantic Council says it is an example of a conundrum often seen in transitional justice: pursuing justice versus keeping the peace.

“Which one comes first? It’s very important to realise that they do need to work hand in hand, but things are never ideal.”

Transitional justice in Syria

The government has set up two bodies to oversee transitional justice.

One, headed by Abdel Latif, tackles transitional justice more broadly, addressing violations committed by the former regime.

The other is focused on investigating the estimated 300,000 Syrians considered missing and widely believed to have disappeared into al-Assad’s notorious prison system and buried in mass graves.

While the scale of the missing is often reported as more than 100,000 people, the head of the National Commission on Missing Persons believes it is approximately 300,000.

Ever since the fall, there have been concerns that this number is rising, with UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen al-Kheetan saying they “continue to receive worrying reports about dozens of abductions and enforced disappearances”.

Both national committees have met international experts to draw lessons from other transitional justice processes.

But Danny al-Baaj, vice president for advocacy and public relations at the Syrian Forum, believes “we’re far behind any real progress”.

“A framework is still missing. A special law on transitional justice is still missing,” he said.

The families of the hundreds of thousands of forcibly disappeared Syrians are also demanding answers.

Wafa Ali Mustafa is a Syrian activist whose father, Ali Mustafa, was arrested in the capital, Damascus, 12 years ago.

“Families of the detainees are not going on the streets every day saying that now you have to dig mass graves,” she said.

“They’re saying at least communicate with us, at least let us know what you are doing.”

The head of the National Commission on Missing Persons, Mohammad Reda Jalkhi, explained that Syria needs a huge amount of resources.

“We need to do very hard work on building capacity, preparing the infrastructure, collecting data, analysing data, and equipping laboratories,” Jalkhi said.

“All this does not happen overnight.”

The government has made dozens of arrests, including people linked to the former regime.

It has been posting glossy videos on social media of prison guards making confessions and suspects appearing before judges.

But questions remain about transparency.

“Of course, every time they arrest someone, people get very, very happy and grateful,” Wafa added.

“Unfortunately, we don’t really know what’s happening to these people, we don’t know where they’re being held, we don’t know what kind of investigation they’re being exposed to.”

There is also ambiguity around arrests of security and military personnel who were linked to sectarian violence in Suwayda earlier this year, which killed hundreds of people.

But the lead investigator of the Suwayda killings declined to say how many.

“My problem with the mass arrests,” said al-Baaj, “is that it’s not according to a plan.”

“We don’t know how the government is doing its work.”

Holding perpetrators accountable

One of the big hopes among Syrians is for public, national trials of Assad-era war crimes.

Hasan Al Hariri helped to smuggle more than 1.3 million pieces of documentary evidence out of Syria.

Since the start of the war in 2011, he has been working for the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), which specialises in collecting criminal evidence.

Al Hariri led a team of people who would locate and retrieve paperwork from places like regime intelligence buildings and police stations – in areas where al-Assad’s forces had been driven out, or while fighting was still going on.

They then came up with creative ways to sneak the valuable documents through military checkpoints and eventually across the border.

“Sometimes we used to take advantage of moving furniture,” Al Hariri said.

“We used to put the documents underneath the car’s floor and fill it with the furniture of the house.”

CIJA now has a vast archive of security, military and intelligence documents that link war crimes to regime officials at the highest levels, all the way up to al-Assad himself.

“Countries that saw conflicts, such as Bosnia, began work after five years and started collecting evidence, so the evidence was gone, or only a few simple things could be collected,” Al Hariri said.

“We worked during the conflict, so the evidence was alive.”

But while that suggests Syria has a head-start in the judicial process, national trials are still a long way away.

The Assad-era legal system is still being reformed.

“It needs legal infrastructure, administrative infrastructure, courts, judges, and resources,” said al-Baaj.

But he added that there is an eagerness among Syrians.

“All of us want to see these public trials, want to see the whole process of transitional justice starting.”

That includes people like al-Amayiri, who wants to see Saqr face trial.

But he says his biggest desire is to be able to mourn his loved ones.

“It is now a dream for us to have a grave for our family to visit,” he said.

“To know that these are their remains, and that they are buried here.”

Harry Potter

Perhaps most widely beloved in this content lineup is the multibillion-dollar Wizarding World, which is a two-for-one deal with the “Fantastic Beasts” property.

With this crown jewel asset, Netflix will steward great generational reach, merchandising power and long-term franchise potential. Harry Potter never dies, and after this deal, Netflix doesn’t seem like it will either.

Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Elijah Wood as Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”

(New Line / WireImage)

“Lord of the Rings”

Further solidifying Netflix’s hold in the fantasy market is its acquisition of “Lord of the Rings” and its twin asset “The Hobbit.”

These epics, adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien’s renowned novels, form one of the most celebrated film franchises in history, earning multiple Academy Awards and a global fan base that bodes well for Netflix’s subscription numbers.

Robert Pattinson in 2022’s “The Batman.”

(Jonathan Olley / DC Comics)

DC Universe: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman

Netflix with its purchase also drafted a roster of heavy hitters in the DCU, including Batman, Superman and the entire Suicide Squad.

In addition to its film assets, DC has a strong television catalog, its most recent installment being HBO’s “The Penguin.” Another series, “Lanterns,” featuring the Green Lantern characters Hal Jordan and John Stewart, is scheduled to drop next year.

Ultimately, there’s little higher-value IP than this.

“Dune”

The Denis Villeneuve-directed film franchise should enhance Netflix’s critical reputation and overall standing, despite dismissal from legacy studios.

It looks like Netflix might have the last laugh there.

“Dune: Part Three,” the final installment in the film trilogy adapted from Frank Herbert’s acclaimed sci-fi novels, is slated for a December 2026 release. Additionally, the second season of the spinoff series “Dune: Prophecy” is now in production.

Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Judy Garland as Dorothy and Jack Haley as the Tin Woodman in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz.”

(AP)

“The Wizard of Oz”

This Technicolor pioneer is a Warner Bros. mainstay and marks one of several cinematic touchstones making its way into Netflix’s hands through this acquisition (see “Casablanca,” “Gone With the Wind” and others below).

Note: The “Wicked” films are separate intellectual property, owned and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Honorable mentions:

“Casablanca”
“Gone With the Wind”
“Citizen Kane”
“Mad Max”
“It”
“The Matrix”
“Blade Runner”
“Bonnie and Clyde”
“The Minecraft Movie”
“The Lego Movie”
“Barbie”
“The Shining”
“The Conjuring”
“Weapons”
“Godzilla”

For a while, it seemed Elizabeth Holmes was everywhere.

Peering wide-eyed and black-turtlenecked from a shelf load of magazine covers. Honored as a “Woman of the Year” by Glamour. Touted as one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People.”

At age 30, Holmes was regarded as a preternatural business talent — and, more impressively, described as the youngest self-made female billionaire in history — owing to her founding and stewardship of Theranos, a Silicon Valley start-up that promised to revolutionize healthcare by diagnosing a host of maladies with just a pinprick’s worth of blood.

It was all a big con job.

Her medical claims were a sham. Theranos’ technology was bogus. Even the husky TED-talking voice Holmes used to invest herself with greater seriousness and authority was a put-on. (The turtlenecks were an austere affectation she cribbed from Steve Jobs.)

In January 2022, a San Jose jury convicted Holmes on four counts of fraud and conspiracy. At age 37, she became a case study in gullibility and greed. Months later, Holmes — by then a mother of two — was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison. She began serving her term in May 2023, at a women’s prison camp outside Houston.

Now, Holmes — who spawned a best-selling book, podcasts, a documentary, a TV miniseries and, not incidentally, stole hundreds of millions of dollars from investors — is lobbying for a pardon from President Trump.

And why not?

Game knows game. Grift knows grift.

Of all the powers a president wields, few match his awesome pardon authority.

It is sweeping and life-changing. Idiosyncratic, resting wholly on personal whim, and irrevocable. Once granted, it is impossible to reverse.

The power to pardon is also, like any grant of authority, subject to mismanagement and abuse.

Just about every president “has issued his share of controversial pardons and more than that, perhaps, pardons that just were in terrible taste, that violated all sense of reason and propriety,” said Larry Gerston, a San José State political science professor emeritus and longtime student of Silicon Valley.

Excess being Trump’s signature, the president has, true to form, taken his pardon power to indecent and unholy extremes.

As soon as he settled back into the Oval Office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 criminal defendants tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including some who beat and pepper-sprayed law enforcement officers.

Other malefactors he’s let off the hook include Changpeng Zhao, the money-laundering former CEO of Binance, which has ties to the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business; disgraced former congressman and embezzler George Santos; and Illinois’ politically corrupt former governor, Rod Blagojevich.

Just last week, Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a convicted drug trafficker who, according to prosecutors, “paved a cocaine superhighway” to the United States. This at the same time the U.S. military ramps up its presence in Latin America and blows boats out of the Caribbean in a professed fight against drug smuggling in the region.

If you can square those actions with Hernández’s pardon and not throw your back out in the process you’re either more pliable than most or willfully obtuse.

Or try reconciling Trump’s supposed tough-on-crime stance with his pardon of crypto cult hero Ross Ulbricht.

Ulbricht, whom a judge described as “the kingpin of a worldwide digital drug-trafficking enterprise,” was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison for running Silk Road, a dark web marketplace where criminals used Bitcoin to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit trade.

Acting from behind bars, with help from family and supporters, Ulbricht mounted a social media campaign clamoring for his release. Among those who took note was Trump, who championed Ulbricht’s cause during the 2024 campaign as a way to woo libertarian-minded voters. A day after his inauguration, the president granted Ulbricht a full, unconditional pardon.

Apparently, Holmes also took note.

From her minimum security lockup, she’s begun mounting her own social media blitz in a seeming attempt to win Trump’s favor and get sprung from prison and freed from accountability for her epic swindle.

Holmes cannot access the internet or social media, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons told the San Jose Mercury News. So her postings, she explains on X, are “mostly my words, posted by others.” (Her biography reads: “Building a better world for my two children. Inventor. Founder and former CEO @Theranos.” Somewhere Thomas Edison is blushing.)

Holmes’ feed is a babbling stream of self-help epigrams, ankle-deep reflections and many, many photos of herself. “I gave my life to fighting for our basic human right to health information,” says the would-be Joan of Arc.

Of course, there is also plenty of Trump flattery along with paeans to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his cockamamie make-America-sick-again agenda, as one medical charlatan nods to another.

Nowhere does Holmes offer the slightest expression of guilt or remorse for her considerable ill-gotten gains. At one point, she even likens herself to a Holocaust survivor, displaying both staggeringly poor taste and utter cluelessness.

All of which makes Holmes an ideal candidate for a pardon from Trump, who’s turned self-dealing and victimization into an art form. Maybe if Holmes is freed from jail she can find a job somewhere in his administration.

She’d fit right in.

The ongoing discussions about continuing the expired USC-Notre Dame football rivalry should begin with one basic truth.

Notre Dame needs USC more than USC needs Notre Dame.

One need look no further than Sunday, when the Fighting Irish will be selected as one of the 12 teams to compete in this season’s College Football Playoff.

Notre Dame needs to profusely, profoundly thank USC.

USC receiver Tanook Hines attempts to make a catch under pressure from Notre Dame’s Dallas Golden at Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 18.

(Justin Casterline / Getty Images)

Notre Dame would not be in this position without USC.

The 10-2 Irish lost their first two games of the season before embarking on their usual cupcake schedule. Somewhere in the muck of forgettable games against the likes of Boise State and Boston College and Navy, they needed a marquee win.

USC showed up in October and gave them the opportunity for that marquee win. Every year USC shows up in the middle of the season and gives them a chance at collecting that marquee win.

Notre Dame can’t get that win from a strong conference foe because they refuse to join a conference. Notre Dame can’t get that win from another national powerhouse in late October or November because nobody in their right mind would risk their high ranking at such a late date to play such a strong independent.

USC is Notre Dame’s safety net. USC is Notre Dame’s ace in the hole. USC is Notre Dame’s blue-and-golden ticket.

And what is Notre Dame to USC?

This season, as in the past, they were a poorly timed roadblock that unnecessarily stifled USC’s hopes.

Just as USC handed Notre Dame a spot in this year’s playoff, one could reasonably argue that Notre Dame kept the Trojans out of this year’s playoff.

Imagine if, instead of losing to the Irish during a rainy October evening, the Trojans played a small-time opponent that night at the Coliseum. You know, take a schedule break like those schools in the overrated SEC? You think maybe USC wins that game, finishes 10-2, and it’s enough for the buzz-conscious selection committee to let them join football’s dance?

Of course it would be. The Notre Dame game proved as pivotal in the Trojans postseason hopes as it always does, and that’s increasingly silly.

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava throws a pass under pressure from Notre Dame’s defense on Oct. 18 in South Bend, Ind.

(Justin Casterline / Getty Images)

No other conference-affiliated team endures the annual potential midseason mugging from an established independent like USC.

Every year the Trojans are throwing haymakers through the thick of their conference schedule when suddenly they get pulled out of the ring and dragged into the alley and forced to deal with an old nemesis from down the street.

If they beat him down, their season survives. If they are beaten down, their season disappears. No other conference-affiliated team has to deal with anything like this.

The Trojans belong to the Big Ten, but their season is often decided by the Entitled One, and that just no longer makes sense.

Lincoln Riley, the USC coach, set this issue ablaze two summers ago with quotes that suggested he no longer wanted to play the game, period.

“If you get in a position where you’ve got to make a decision on what’s best for SC to help us win a national championship versus keeping that, shoot, then you gotta look at it,” he said.

Granted, that was a misguided sentiment. Yes, you look at the rivalry, but you don’t even think about eliminating it. We’re talking 96 years of one of the best traditions in sports.

Three words. The Bush Push. I was there, and I’d never before experienced such rollicking waves of breathtaking suspense at any sporting event anywhere.

The tradition is unmatched. The history is undeniable. The rivalry must endure.

But, like many things in the changing world of college football, it could use a little tweaking.

USC should not run from the Irish. But USC should rearrange the Irish.

In their current negotiations with Notre Dame — their contract expired this fall — USC needs to use its leverage and make a stand.

Move the game to the start of the season. Play it in late August. Position it so a loss would not eliminate either team from a potential spot in the playoffs.

Alternate spots every year, but always do it at the beginning of every year, when the teams are at full strength and the results are essentially harmless.

Notre Dame should be thrilled that they keep a decent program on their menu of weaklings, and USC should be thrilled that they maintain the tradition.

You want a second opinion on this, check out USC Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen’s smart explanation of the situation in a recent open letter to Trojan fans.

“For the well-being of our student-athletes, and to schedule equitably with our Big Ten rivals, we want to play our non-conference opponents in the Coliseum as early as possible every year,” she wrote. “USC is the only team in the Big Ten to play a non-conference road game after Week 4 in either of the past two seasons. USC is also the only team to play a non-conference game after Week 4 in both seasons.”

So you see, despite the biased whispers coming from South Bend, Cohen doesn’t want to run from Notre Dame, she just wants her Trojans to be in a fair race.

Moving the Notre Dame game to the beginning of the season seems fair to everyone, even if Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua seems insistent on keeping USC as their season savior.

“I think there’s no secret that USC would like to play our game earlier in the season,” he told the Dan Patrick Show earlier this fall. “… Where can we position this game so it’s a ‘win win’ for us when we go out there and when USC comes here and visits?”

The Irish are not going to get their win-win. And to end the rivalry over a few calendar dates is a lose-lose.

Both Notre Dame and USC are going to have to compromise to get this done and, for the sake of one of the grandest Saturdays in college sports, here’s hoping they do.

Notre Dame indeed needs USC more than USC needs Notre Dame.

But, in the end, they both need each other.

A team of Syrian filmmakers gained rare access to HTS-led armed forces, following them from the moment they departed Idlib all the way to the capital Damascus. Their exclusive footage offers a unique insight into the military operations that ultimately led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, 14 years after Syrians first took to the streets demanding an end to his rule. The filmmakers also captured civilians’ reactions as opposition forces advanced and more cities fell under their control.

Follow the build-up, analysis and live text commentary of the game as Madrid host Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The show has only been available a matter of days and fans are already praising it

A ‘cosy’ Netflix series is forcing fans to binge all eight episodes at once. It is also being dubbed as the perfect watch leading up to the Christmas holidays.

Viewers are also hopeful of being treated to a second season sooner rather than later after watching the new show called Ripple. The series was only added to the streaming platform earlier this week, on December 3.

While it has arrived with very little fanfare, an increasing number of fans have been urging others to discover the title. It was originally a production for the Hallmark channel but made a last minute switch to Netflix, making its debuts on the platform instead.

The official synopsis states: “Set in New York City, Ripple explores how seemingly small decisions can bring people together in unexpected ways.

“The series follows four strangers —Walter, Kris, Nate, and Aria— who have unknowingly crossed paths many times but never met. As they each face life’s challenges, their actions create a ripple effect that ultimately connects them. Ripple delivers a powerful message of hope: the best things often come after the storm, and no one is truly alone.”

It is created by Michele Giannusa who previously wrote Dead Girls Detective Agency. The writer has spoken out about how the premise of Ripple stems from her own personal experiences.

She said: “Set in my hometown, Ripple is a love letter to New York City. Its unpredictability, its rough edges, and its capacity to bring strangers together. Finding the people who show up, who stay, who make the world feel less impossible. It’s a reminder that even in the quietest corners, we are never as alone as we think — and sometimes all it takes is a single ripple to lead us exactly where we’re meant to be.”

The cast list includes some familiar stars such as Frankie Faison (The Wire, The Rookie: Feds), Julia Chan (Saving Hope, Katy Keene), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars, Long Slow Exhale), and Sydney Agudong (Lilo & Stitch).

The series has not registered enough published reviews to earn a score on Rotten Tomatoes. Nor has it managed enough views yet to place in Netflix’s top 10 charts. However, there are plenty of fans who are sharing their recommendations, especially those who consider it a perfect binge watch leading up to the Christmas holidays.

Sharing their views on social media, one person posted: “Watching Ripple on Netflix and it has such a warm, cosy vibe. Love the parallel stories. It’s the perfect watch for a snowy weekend and the holiday season. Reminds me a little bit of A Million Little Things.”

Another added: “Binged this really corny US series called Ripple on Netflix this weekend. Soapy and very adult Dawson’s Creek, full of deep and meaningful stuff. Loved it though, perfect winter comfort escapism.”

Someone else commented: “This is the type of series that fills a void television has had for a long time. Not since This Is Us have I felt this way about a series. Love these characters and I binged all 8 episodes. It’s terrific, a must see!”

While one viewer replied: “Watched the whole thing in one day. LOVED IT!!! I hope there’ll be a season two!”

Ripple is streaming on Netflix.

It’s a bad look when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is ahead of you on scientifically sound health policy — women’s health, to make matters worse — but that’s exactly what happened to Gov. Gavin Newsom last week.

Ouch.

In a Cabinet meeting, Kennedy went on a six-minute-plus grovel to Trump. That’s pretty standard for these increasingly weird meetings, but the secretary of Health and Human Services specifically praised the president for ending a “20-year war on women by removing the black box warnings from hormone replacement therapy.”

As much as it shocks me to say it, RFK Jr. has a reasonable point.

A couple of days later, appearing onstage at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Oscar-winning actor Halle Berry took an unexpected and harsh shot at Newsom for vetoing a bill on menopause treatment.

“But that’s OK,” she said of Newsom killing the Menopause Care Equity Act (AB 432), which she had lobbied to pass and which had strong bipartisan support in the Legislature.

“Because he’s not going to be governor forever, and with the way he has overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us in midlife, he probably should not be our next president either,” Berry said. “Just saying.”

The two events show just how complicated and controversial menopause care has become in the past few years, as women not only talk about it more openly, but demand care that for, well, basically always, has been denied or denigrated as unnecessary.

Looking a bit deeper, this seemingly out-of-the-blue menopause moment gets to the heart of an insurance problem that, male or female, most Americans have an opinion on: How much power should insurance companies have to deny care that a doctor deems reasonable?

To keep it simple, menopause is a phase that all women go through when their fertility ends, meaning 50% of the population deals with it. It has specific and life-altering symptoms — most of which can be treated, but often aren’t because many doctors aren’t trained in menopause care (or perimenopause, which comes first), and the science is too-often overlooked or misunderstood.

The result is that way too many women stumble through menopause not understanding what is happening to them, or that there are excellent, scientifically backed treatments to help.

A prime example of that is the “black box” warning that has been on many hormone replacement drugs since the turn of the millennium, when one large but flawed study found that such drugs might increase the risk of cancer or other diseases.

A black box warning is the most serious caution the Food and Drug Administration can put on a medication, and its inclusion on hormone replacement theory, or HRT, put a severe chill on its use.

Twenty years of subsequent research not only revealed the flaws in that first analysis, but also showed significant benefits from HRT. It can protect against cognitive decline, decrease heart disease and alleviate symptoms such as hot flashes, among many other benefits.

In early November, the FDA removed those warnings from many HRT drugs. The result will likely be greater access for more women as doctors lose a hesitancy to prescribe them, and women lose fear of using them.

“The misconceptions around the risks have been overblown for decades, fringing on dogma over real science and have led to population-level missed opportunities for life improvements for our aging women of the developed world,” wrote Michael Rodgers, chairman of the Santa Clara County Health Advisory Commission, on a public comment about the change.

While Rodgers is right, insurance coverage and doctor know-how remain problems for women seeking care — ones that the Menopause Care Equity Act hoped to address.

The bill would have required private insurance companies to cover FDA-approved menopause treatments and rewarded doctors who took voluntarily continuous education classes on menopause topics. That final version had already been watered down from earlier proposals that would have mandated coverage of even more treatment options (such as non-FDA approved compounded hormones) and made menopause training required for doctors.

But Newsom seemed to take issue with a part of the bill that banned insurance companies from applying “utilization management” to menopause treatments — and here’s where we get back to agreeing with RFK Jr.

Utilization management, or UM, is basically when insurance companies get to decide what a patient needs and what they don’t — the pre-approvals, the reviews and the denials, which all too often seem to be far more about cost than care.

Now artificial intelligence is getting in on the utilization management business, potentially meaning it’s not even a human deciding our treatments. UM is a multibillion-dollar industry that, under the premise of keeping healthcare affordable, too often does so by denying care.

Which is why Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), the author of the California bill, put in a prohibition against UM.

“The standard is ‘medically necessary‘” when it comes to insurance coverage, Bauer-Kahan points out.

“When you talk about menopause, that’s a really fuzzy term, right? I mean, I will survive in the short term without any treatment,” she said. “So what is ‘medically necessary’ is this very vague thing when it comes to menopausal care.”

In his veto message, Newsom said the UM prohibition “would limit the ability of health plans to engage in practices that have been shown to ensure appropriate care while limiting unnecessary costs.”

But the truth, and problem, with menopause care is that it is specific to the individual woman. Like birth control pills, a treatment that works for one woman might cause side effects for another. There is often a lot of trial and error to find the right path through menopause, and women need to be able to have the freedom and flexibility to work one-on-one with their doctor. Without interference.

In June, Kennedy called out prior authorization across the healthcare industry as a problem, and announced shortly after that he had received a pledge from many large insurance companies to reform that process by 2026, removing the need for prior authorization from many treatments and procedures and streamlining the process overall.

If that reform comes to pass, it will indeed be terrific — I am hopeful — but also, let’s wait and see. Those changes are supposed to begin in January.

Back in California, Newsom has also pledged to do something about menopause coverage in January, when he announces his budget proposal. In his veto message, Newsom said he would go this route — adding it into his budget package — rather than work on a new bill in the regular legislative session. This remains the plan, though no details are yet available.

Apparently, someone forget to mention it to Berry.

The budget has increasingly become a catch-all for legislation the governor wants to get done with less fuss because the budget and its trailer bills always pass at some point, and it can be an easier route for him to control.

Newsom has made it a core part of his policies, and his presidential campaign, to be a backer of women’s rights, especially around reproductive care — and equity for women is a cause championed by his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

But the governor also has long been hesitant to pass legislation that has costs attached (the menopause bill could raise individual premiums by less than 50 cents a month for most private-pay consumers). With federal cuts, increasing premiums and the generalized hot mess of healthcare, his caution is not unwarranted.

But also, in this case, maybe it is misguided. The only real opposition to the California bill came from insurance companies. Go figure.

Bauer-Kahan said she has been in touch with the governor’s office, but remains committed to pursuing a law that limits utilization management.

“I am happy to hear that we are going to hopefully achieve this, but it needs to be achieved in a way that actually meaningfully makes a difference for getting the menopausal care women need,” she said.

Newsom’s October veto made barely a ripple. Thanks to Berry’s punch, his January proposal will be not just noticed, but scrutinized.

If he does eliminate the restrictions on UM, he’ll need to answer the broader question that action would raise — how much power should insurance companies have to override the decisions of doctors and patients?

It would be strange days if January saw Kennedy and his chaotic and questionable Department of Health and Human Services offering better healthcare options for women than the state of California.

And stranger still if Newsom puts a price tag on the well-being of women.

Mark Selby established a 6-2 lead over defending champion Judd Trump as he dominated the opening session of the UK Championship final in York.

Selby, a two-time winner who is appearing in the final of one of snooker’s prestigious Triple Crown events for the 15th time, produced an almost flawless display of snooker over the first five frames.

Having made a 77 clearance from the most unlikely of situations to pinch the first frame from Trump, he took the second after winning a tactical battle on the yellow and compiled a break of 97 to go 3-0 up.

When world number one Trump, missed a red to the right middle while 68 points ahead, fellow Englishman Selby again stepped up to ruthlessly punish him by clearing the table with a 70.

By the time Selby took the fifth frame, he had remarkably won 10 on the trot against Trump – going back to their Champion of Champions final in November.

Yet, despite cutting a frustrated figure, Trump rallied to reduce his arrears with runs of 74 and 75 before Selby underlined his dominance by taking the final frame of the afternoon session.

More to follow.

Dec. 6 (UPI) — West Virginia National Guardsman Adam Wolfe is showing progress in healing from the head wound that he suffered in an ambush attack near the White House on Nov. 26, the state’s governor said.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced the current status of Wolfe, 24, who remains hospitalized ahead of a vigil held for Wolfe on Friday night at Musselman High School in Berkeley County, W.Va.

“His parents report that his head wound is slowly healing and that he’s beginning to ‘look more like himself,'” Morrisey said in a prepared statement.

“The family expects that Andy will be in acute care for another two to three weeks but have been optimistic about his progress,” he said.

“We continue to ask all West Virginians and Americans for their prayers,” Morrisey added. “They are making a difference.”

Wolfe and National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, were shot while patrolling near the West Farragut Metro Station that is located about two blocks northwest of the White House.

Beckstrom died Thanksgiving Day, and accused gunman Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and related charges Tuesday.

Lakanwal is accused of ambushing the two National Guard members and shooting each in the head with a .357 magnum Smith & Wesson revolver.

He was attempting to reload when nearby Guardsmen engaged Lakanwal and shot and detained him until first responders arrived.

Lakanwal was hospitalized in critical condition, where he remains in custody and from which he remotely entered not guilty pleas during Tuesday’s arraignment hearing.

Lakanwal is a citizen of Afghanistan and was a member of an Afghan military unit that cooperated with the CIA before the U.S. military pulled out in 2021.

He entered the United States in 2021 as part of a Biden administration program that brought Afghans to the United States to escape the Taliban, which regained control of Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal.

Lakanwal lived with his wife and five children in Bremerton, Wash., and applied for asylum in 2024, which was granted in April.

“[The death of Yasser Abu Shabab] marks the end of a dark chapter – one that did not reflect our tribe’s history and principles …The Tarabin tribe stands with the Palestinian resistance in all its factions … it refuses to let our tribe’s name or members be exploited to form militias that work for the benefit of the occupation.”

This is what Gaza’s Tarabin tribe said in a statement following the killing of its member Yasser Abu Shabab on December 4. There have been conflicting reports about how he died and who killed him. Some have said it was Hamas fighters who shot him, others that members of his own tribe did. Reportedly, he was taken to an Israeli hospital, where he died of his wounds.

Israel framed the killing as a “tribal dispute” rather than retribution for his collaboration; this was also the position of the Popular Forces militia, which Abu Shabab commanded. This narrative, of course, ignores the fact that his own tribe saw him as a collaborator and welcomed his death.

Throughout the war, Abu Shabab’s name was synonymous with collaboration with Israel. He was a key partner in Gaza in securing safe passage for Israeli troops, searching for Israeli captives, killing Palestinian resistance members, and, most infamously, looting aid trucks. Before he was killed, Abu Shabab was reportedly being considered for the position of governor of Rafah to be appointed by Israel.

His death deals a massive blow to Israel’s efforts to establish a new Palestinian administration in Gaza that responds to its wishes and oppresses the Palestinians. It is yet another proof that the Palestinian people will never accept colonial rule.

For decades, Israel has used collaborators to undermine Palestinian unity and governance. In the early 1980s, it spearheaded the creation of so-called “village leagues” in the occupied West Bank. These represented institutions of local rule headed by individuals funded and protected by Israel in exchange for their loyalty. The aim was to diminish the influence of the Palestine Liberation Organization and spread disunity. However, the leagues were rejected by the Palestinians as illegitimate, and the whole initiative collapsed within a few years.

Now Israel is trying to replicate the same model in Gaza. Funding and arming Abu Shabab was supposed to create a centre of coercive power in Gaza, which would have been fully loyal to Israel. It would have allowed the Israeli occupation to come after the resistance, exterminating its fighters, without having to get its soldiers involved any more or bearing the diplomatic cost of doing so.

Even if Abu Shabab had not succeeded in establishing control over Rafah or the whole of Gaza, sowing internal conflict would have been beneficial enough for Israel. It would have undermined internal security in Gaza, damaging the cohesion of the Palestinian society and encouraging people to leave.

But just like in the past, Israel’s plan was doomed to fail.

Although Abu Shabab had significant financial and military support from the occupation, he could not convince his tribe to follow him or the people of Rafah to join him. He was only able to recruit takfiri extremists, criminals and formerly imprisoned collaborators.

The vast majority of Palestinians saw him as a collaborator. Abu Shabab could not recruit even among those who oppose or dislike the resistance factions because they too would not sell out their principles and work for the genocidal power killing Palestinians every day.

While Abu Shabab provided Israel with security and technical services on the ground, his power was built entirely on crimes and theft, which made him just a hated traitor, not a leader. Despite bragging in videos about giving away stolen aid to the poor or building tent camps with looted tents, he was unable to rally people behind himself.

The Israeli plan to make Abu Shabab into a governor failed because it failed to take into account that one cannot build legitimate governance on crimes.

As much as Israel tried to protect him, his death was inevitable. His tribe and others in Rafah could not accept his collaboration with the occupation, which hurt their honour and longstanding moral ground.

When news of Abu Shabab’s death spread, people in Gaza celebrated, going out into the streets and distributing sweets. Palestinians who had different perspectives about Hamas’s actions were united in their joy. Israel’s attempt to put its hand on Gaza’s future was severed.

Abu Shabab’s death, in the end, sent a powerful message: that any collaborator is a target and no collaborator can achieve legitimacy. After more than two years of genocide, the Palestinian people’s spirit has not broken; they have not given up on their land and on their just cause.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

MARTINE McCutcheon is grabbing life – and lucrative opportunities – with both hands after splitting from husband Jack McManus. 

She and Jack, 41, stunned fans when they announced their separation in August 2024 after 18 years together. 

And we’re told that, after taking some time out to lick her wounds, 49-year-old Martine has decided it’s time for a reset – and to remind everyone of the star she is. 

In 1994 the actress and singer joined the cast of EastEnders as Tiffany Raymond in what was supposed to be a minor role. 

Instead Tiffany went on to become one of the soap’s most iconic characters and 22 million people tuned in to watch her final scenes, when she was killed off in 1998. 

What followed was a whirlwind pop career and her biggest gig to date – starring alongside Hugh Grant in the Christmas classic Love Actually. 

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But after she and Jack welcomed son Rafferty, now nine, in 2015, Martine decided to put family first. 

PERSONAL STRUGGLES

Martine, who has been living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since 2011, was then diagnosed with Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in 2017. 

And in 2022 she was left heartbroken by the sudden death of her brother in 2022. 

But now Martine is finally ready to re-introduce herself to the world. 

A well-placed source told The Sun: “Martine hasn’t had it easy – the divorce is in some ways trivial compared to the things she’s been through. 

“She needed to put her health first for a while and isn’t in any way resentful for prioritising family over her career, but the simple truth is she’s a natural born entertainer and wasn’t made to be a stay-at-home mum. 

“Martine’s marriage ending made her realise you need to live in the moment – and that’s exactly what she’s doing. Friends are even quoting her own hit song to her, saying ‘this is your moment’.”

She’s starring in five big-money Christmas adverts this festive season, working with huge brands including Costa and Google. 

And Martine is only just getting started. 

COMING BACK WITH A BANG

Our insider continued: “Martine isn’t silly enough to say no to the money she was offered for some of these collaborations but adverts aren’t enough for her. 

“This is a woman who was a household name in the 90s, has had number one singles and won awards for West End roles – she finally feels confident enough to start acting like it. 

“She’s a national treasure so booking meetings with directors hasn’t been a problem, it’s choosing the right role she’s finding difficult.

“If she gets this right, it’s going to be the comeback of all comebacks.

“Unlike many people who got their big break in a soap, Martine is genuinely talented and one of the gigs she’s considering will show her in a whole new light.” 

Martine’s confidence resurgence was highlighted when she posted a very clear message on social media – insisting she’s not going to apologise for prioritising herself. 

She said: “I feel excited about this next chapter because I know myself so much more.

“I’m so not sorry for my own opinions, my own voice, my own limitations and being able to say, always with the most respect, ‘No, no, no’.

“I just want to have fun. I want to find out, away from career and family, what just brings me fun.”

And as she approaches her 50th birthday, we’re told that, not only does Martine look better than ever, she finally feels like she’s taken back control of her life.

One capital city is perfect for exploring even if you only have a day

Extreme day tripping is the newest travel fad sweeping social media, with adventurous tourists jetting off to explore a new city all within 24 hours. This high-octane travel hack might be exhausting, but it lets you see more of the world without dipping into your annual leave.

It’s cheaper than a night on the town, as you save on hotel costs and get to snuggle up in your own bed at the end of the day. Being based in the UK gives you easy access to Europe, allowing you to jet off to a stunning new city and return home all in one day. Travel gurus at Iglu Cruise have shared some top picks for extreme day trips.

One of the best cities to discover in a day is Dublin. With a flight time of just one hour and 15 minutes, it’s an ideal destination for a quick adventure.

Catch an early morning flight from the UK and kickstart your day with a stroll around Trinity College, Dublin’s oldest university, reports the Express.

Don’t miss a visit to the Old Library, which houses the renowned Book of Kells, a beautifully illustrated manuscript that’s a must-see for history buffs and art enthusiasts.

There are plenty of breakfast spots nearby for a delicious start to your day, including The Woollen Mills on Ormond Quay and Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street.

In the afternoon, take a leisurely walk from the college to Dublin Castle, a key player in Ireland’s history. If you’re still up for more sightseeing, continue on foot to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the largest cathedral in Ireland.

This awe-inspiring structure is a marvel of architecture, housing captivating exhibits dedicated to Ireland’s patron saint.

Naturally, no trip to Ireland would be complete without tasting some Guinness, and Dublin is home to the Guinness Storehouse. Here, you can delve into the brewing process and the history of Ireland’s most iconic beer.

YouTuber and self-proclaimed Guinness aficionado Darragh Curran, also known as the Guinness Guru, asserts that Dublin serves up some of the finest pints globally.

Speaking to Ireland Before You Die, he revealed that the world’s best pint of Guinness can be found at John Kavanagh’s The Gravediggers.

He declared: “Situated right beside Glasnevin Cemetery and currently run by the seventh generation of Kavanaghs; this 180-year-old pub serves the best pint of Guinness on the planet.”

If you fancy verifying his claim before jetting back to the UK after your whirlwind day trip, you’ll find the pub at 1 Prospect Square, Glasnevin, Dublin, D09 CF72, Ireland.

SACRAMENTO — Julianna Arnold wasn’t alarmed when her teen daughter first joined Instagram.

Many people her age were using it. And her daughter Coco had a social life and other hobbies, like track and gymnastics, to balance out her time online.

“It was music and dancing videos and it seemed innocent,” said Arnold, who resides in Los Angeles, explaining that she would look over the content Coco watched.

But Arnold said a man used Instagram to target her daughter while they were living in New York in 2022, sending private messages and acting like a “big brother” to earn her trust. Two weeks after her 17th birthday, Coco met him near her home — and died after taking a fentanyl-laced fake Percocet that he provided.

Similar stories are playing out nationwide as parents grapple with how to protect their children from a myriad of threats online.

As the state is home to many tech giants, Gov. Gavin Newsom has said California is paving the way for legislative restrictions on social media and artificial intelligence. But while child safety advocates agree progress was made at the state capital this year, they argue there’s still a long way to go and plan to fight for more protections when legislators reconvene in January.

“I would say California is definitely leading on this,” said Jai Jaisimha, co-founder of the Transparency Coalition, a nonprofit researching the risks and opportunities associated with AI. “[But] I would love to see a willingness to be a bit stronger in terms of understanding the impacts and taking action faster. We can’t afford to wait three or four years — harm is happening now.”

A survey last year from the Pew Research Center found nearly half of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they’re online “almost constantly.” Nine in 10 teens said they use YouTube, and roughly 6 in 10 said they use TikTok and Instagram. Fifty-five percent reported using Snapchat.

During the recent legislative session, Newsom signed a slate of legislation intended to make the internet safer, particularly for minors.

One new law requires operating system providers to ask account holders for the user’s age when setting up equipment such as laptops or smartphones. The system providers then send a signal to apps about the user’s age range so content can be adjusted for age-appropriateness. Another measure requires certain platforms to display warning labels about the adverse mental health effects social media can have on children.

A third new law requires companion chatbots to periodically remind users they are not interacting with a human and to put suicide prevention processes in place to help those who show signs of distress. A companion chatbot is a computer program that simulates humanlike conversations to provide users with entertainment or emotional support.

Newsom, however, vetoed what was arguably the most aggressive bill, saying it was too broad and could prevent children from accessing AI altogether.

Assembly Bill 1064 would have prohibited making companion chatbots available to minors if the chatbots were “foreseeably” capable of promoting certain behaviors, like self-harm, disordered eating or violent acts. It would also have required independent safety audits on AI programs for children.

“That is one piece that we are going to revisit next year,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project. “We are in conversations with members’ offices and the governor’s office about getting that legislation to a place where he can sign it.”

Another organization is taking a different approach.

Common Sense Media Chief Executive Jim Steyer has launched a campaign for a state ballot initiative, dubbed the California Kids AI Safety Act, to take the issue directly to voters. Among other provisions, it would strictly limit youth access to companion chatbots and require safety audits for any Al product aimed at children or teens. It would also ban companies from selling the personal data of users under 18 without consent.

Steyer added that AB 1064 had widespread support and likely would have been signed were it not for the tech industry’s aggressive lobbying and threats to leave the state.

“In the world of politics, sometimes you have to try and try again,” Steyer said. “[But] we have the momentum, we have the facts, we have the public and, most of all, we have the moral high ground, so we are going to win.”

Ed Howard, senior counsel and policy advocate for the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego, said one of its goals for next year is to give more teeth to two current laws.

The first requires social media platforms to provide a mechanism for minors to report and remove images of themselves being sexually abused. The second requires platforms to create a similar reporting mechanism for victims of cyberbullying.

Howard said the major platforms, like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, have either not complied or made the reporting process “incredibly difficult.”

“The existence of such imagery haunts the survivors of these crimes,” he said. “There will be a bill this year to clean up the language in [those laws] to make sure they can’t get away with it.”

Howard believes legislators from both sides of the aisle are committed to finding solutions.

“I’ve never before seen the kind of bipartisan fury that I have seen directed at these [tech] companies,” he said.

Lishaun Francis, senior director of behavioral health for Children Now, said the organization is still exploring potential legislative priorities for 2026.

She explained they often take a measured approach because stronger legislation tends to get tied up in lawsuits from the tech industry. Meta, Google and TikTok, for example, are challenging a California law enacted last year that restricts kids’ access to personalized social media feeds.

“We are still trying to do a little bit more research with our young people about how they want to interact with AI and what they think this should look like,” Francis said. “We think that is an important missing piece of the conversation; you’ve just got a bunch of 40-and-up adults in the room talking about technology and completely ignoring how young people want to use it.”

David Evan Harris, senior policy advisor for the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy, said he’s keeping an eye on Washington as he prepares for the state session.

“There are people in Congress and in the White House who are trying to make it impossible for states” to regulate AI, he said. “They want to take away that power from the states and not replace it with any type of federal regulation, but replace it with nothing.”

The White House has a draft executive order on hold that would preempt state laws on artificial intelligence through lawsuits and by withholding federal funds, Reuters reported Saturday.

When advocates speak out at the statehouse next year, Arnold will be among them. Since her daughter died three years ago, she has co-founded Parents Rise — a grassroots advocacy group — and works to raise awareness about the risks youth face online.

Even before Coco was targeted by a predator, Arnold said technology had already taken a toll on their lives. Her once-lively daughter became addicted to social media, withdrawing from activities she used to love. Arnold took Coco to therapy and restricted her time online, but it resulted in endless fights and created a rift between them.

“You think your kid is safe in their bedroom, but these platforms provide a portal into your home for predators and harmful content,” Arnold said. “It’s like they’re just walking through the front door.”

It happens almost every time Dash Fifita is on the football field. Somehow, someway he outmaneuvers 300-pound offensive linemen to make the tackle. It’s as if he has a magic power to make himself invisible and suddenly show up to confront the player with the ball.

“It comes with the territory being an undersized linebacker, you have to know the game inside and out,” he said.

No one in Southern California has been a better role model for breaking the mold to be a success in football than the 5-foot-9, 195-pound All-Southern Section linebacker for Santa Margarita High. He has his own role model in brother Noah, who has proven at Arizona you can be a college quarterback at 5-10 and 186 pounds.

Troy Thomas knows the family well. He coached Noah at Servite when the Friars made it to the Southern Section Division 1 championship game in 2021 and has seen Dash continue the family tradition of being fearless and tough.

“Family is a huge part of their inspiration,” Thomas said. “You can see how they play. They’re playing for their teammates. They’re playing for God. I don’t see many linemen getting their hands on him very often. The brothers are very similar. They lay it on the line. He’s going to put his body on the line to represent his family and team.”

Fifita has been part of the best defensive unit in Southern California going into the CIF Open Division state championship bowl game against unbeaten Concord De La Salle on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Saddleback College.

“I have the best defensive line in the nation and it makes my job easy,” Fifita said.

Fifita’s uncle, Steve, is Santa Margarita’s defensive coordinator. His father, Les, helps run OC Buckeyes youth football organization. In the bleachers on Saturday, there should be more than 50 cousins, aunts and uncles rooting for Dash, plus former OC Buckeyes. If his name is mentioned on the PA system, expect lots of noise. Noah will be there to lead the charge.

“There’s tons of cousins and they come out and support,” Thomas said.

Linebacker Dash Fifita of Santa Margarita is headed to Arizona.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Playing middle linebacker, Fifita leads the Eagles in tackles with 95. He also has 5½ sacks and one interception. He has the vision and instincts of an eagle, anticipating, reading and then pouncing and attacking.

After two seasons of showing his size is an asset, not a liability, because of his quickness and instincts, Fifita has earned universal respect.

From St. John Bosco defensive coordinator Chris King: “Dash is just a super-intelligent football player. If you really know the game, it slows down for you. He plays with relentless effort. He has this attitude, ‘I’m the best dude on the field.’ He’s a coach on the field and knows more than just his role. He’s 18 but acts like a linebacker coach with 10 years of experience.”

Steve Fifita said Dash “has been around football his whole life.” The other day, he was playing the Madden video game with his brother, Noah, and both kept talking about “real” football in the middle of the game. As for who won, the word is Dash did.

Fifita signed with Arizona this past week to follow his brother to Tucson.

The big question is which Fifita has faced the longest odds with their size?

“It’s harder for quarterbacks than for linebackers,” Thomas said. “As long as you’re tough and fast, you can still see at linebacker. As a quarterback, you still have to find those lanes. Very few can do it and Noah can.”

If you come out to Saddleback College on Saturday, there’s a good chance you’ll run into someone related to the Fifitas. You will feel their energy. You will see their loyalty. They’re all about family and proving skeptics wrong.

Norris finished third behind Max Verstappen in final race to deliver McLaren its first drivers’ world title since 2008.

A tearful Lando Norris claimed his maiden Formula One world drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, ending Max Verstappen’s four-year reign.

The Briton finished third in the season closer behind race winner Verstappen and the other title challenger, McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, to claim the crown by two points.

After he crossed the line, his team engineer told him: “That’s it, mate, you are world champion, world champion!”

“Thank you guys, you made a kid’s dream come true,” he replied.

“I haven’t cried in a while. I didn’t think I would cry, but I did,” Norris said on the podium in the desert night at the floodlit Yas Marina Circuit.

“I want to thank my mum, my dad; they’ve supported me since the beginning.

“It feels amazing, I know now what Max feels like a little bit. I want to congratulate both Max and Oscar, I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a long year!” he added.

A great year for McLaren

McLaren, headed by team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown, secured back-to-back constructors’ titles in Singapore last month.

“That was exciting, a little too exciting, awesome,” said Brown.

“What an effort, Lando and Oscar, what a fantastic season!” added the American.

Norris becomes Britain’s first world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020 with this 13th drivers’ crown for McLaren.

The 26-year-old’s success comes over half a century after Emerson Fittipaldi claimed the British marque’s first drivers’ title in 1974.

A galaxy of F1 greats followed – James Hunt (1976), Niki Lauda (1984), Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1999) and Hamilton in 2008.

Assessing his path to glory, Norris added: “As we’ve seen many times, anything can happen. So I just kept pushing. I wanted to fight to the end. [Verstappen and Piastri] certainly did not make my life easy this year. But I am happy!

“It has been a long journey with McLaren; I’ve been with them for nine years.

“For me to bring something back to them, I feel like I did my part for the team this year, so I’m proud of myself.”

Piastri, who had led the championship for much of the season before being overtaken by Norris in Mexico, finished third in the standings.

Sunday’s season closer was the first time the title was decided by a contest involving more than two drivers since a four-way scrap at the final race in Abu Dhabi in 2010.

A pilot’s wife has given some invaluable advice that will help you get through the security line quickly and easily, without encountering any heartrate-rising drama

Airports can be stressful – but there are a few little things that can make the experience altogether easier. It can be all too easy to get yourself in a tizz, stressing about whether you’ve got everything you need to go through security, and whether you’ve managed to lose your passport between dropping your bags off and getting a plastic bag to put your liquids in.

But a pilot’s wife has given some advice as to what you should do before you go through security in America – though the advice is similar in the UK, too. If you follow the guidance, the entire process should be simplified and made easier.

As part of the caption, Laurie, who posts on Instagram as @traveltipsbylaurie, wrote: “In airport security screening, these travel tips will help you be prepared while also helping you speed through the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) line”.

She recommended that you take off your belt every time you’re approaching security, because “sometimes” you’ll need to. Therefore, it will speed up the whole process if you just do it from the word go.

Laurie also said you’re “supposed to not have anything in your pockets”. Sometimes she forgets and the screening “does not catch it,” but she’d still recommend emptying your pockets just in case.

She did say that it’s a good idea to have an “easily accessible pocket” to put your phone and passport in, so you can get to them quickly should you need to.

“If you’re worried, maybe an inner zipped pocket” would be a good idea, as this way, you won’t be panicked about potential theft.

In the caption, she continued: “Listen to the TSA officers as you approach so you know if electronics larger than a phone need to be in the grey bin for screening. Even if you have PreCheck, be ready to take off your belt. It is inconsistent at different airports”.

It’s similar in the UK, as sometimes you’ll be told you can keep things like jackets on, but other times you may even have to take your shoes off and have them scanned.

It just depends on the day, and the best advice that she can give is to comply with what the staff members want at the airport you’re at.

Laurie’s helpful post racked up 500 likes and plenty of comments from grateful travel fans.

Someone penned: “Really helpful tips to keep that line moving.” Meanwhile, another wrote: “Your tips are so helpful Laurie!!”