A travel expert has shared six winter sun destinations where it will be 25C and above.

While the UK might be in the grip of a cold snap, there’s still plenty of sunshine to be found elsewhere. If you’re not one for the chilly and dark seasons in the UK, then there are numerous other destinations to consider.

Maria Hughes, a travel expert at Good To Go Travel Insurance, has revealed to the Express her top six winter sun spots that holidaymakers should check out.

From vibrant cities to expansive beaches and lush rainforests, there’s a world of options – and these locations all boast temperatures in the mid to high 20s, ideal for soaking up some rays.

6. Valletta, Malta

This majestic walled city is a popular holiday destination for Brits because it’s just a few short hours away. Not only does Malta have some gorgeous beaches, but it also has winding streets filled with cafes and bars, perfect for exploring.

5. Cape Town, South Africa

South Africa is in full summer splendour, and the views are spectacular. Dine alfresco at the foot of the imposing Table Mountain, or take a cable car up to it and see the landscape spread out beneath you. There are white sand beaches and a bustling harbour to sit at and watch the boats sail to and from.

4. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

White sand, turquoise seas and a gentle breeze rustling the palms as you sit back and relax. The Dominican Republic is a stunning place to explore, and this is no different. This resort town is the perfect place to kick back and enjoy a taste of luxury as the warm, balmy weather sweeps over you.

3. Tenerife, Canary Islands

Although this island is not as hot as some of the other places on the list, it’s still a popular winter sun destination for Brits because it’s so easy to get to. Tenerife has jaw-dropping black sand beaches, volcanoes and a bustling Old Town that makes for a fabulous day out.

2. Sri Lanka

January marks the beginning of Sri Lanka’s dry season, so it’s the perfect time to visit for the best weather. You can explore the misty rainforest highlands and drink tea, or just laze around on the beaches and relax.

1. Barbados, Caribbean

Just as in Sri Lanka, January in Barbados is the dry season. This island paradise is famous for its laid-back lifestyle, delicious food and beachfront resorts. You can swim with turtles, explore the coast by boat and experience true Caribbean hospitality.

Lossiemouth took the final Grade One win of the year after holding off 2024 winner Brighterdaysahead in Monday’s December Hurdle at Leopardstown.

The pre-race favourite (4-6) produced the goods in what was an exciting finish as jockey Paul Townend delivered the victory for trainer Willie Mullins.

It was the first race of the season for Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead and the second favourite (5-2) made a late gallop with Jack Kennedy on board, but was unable to overhaul the favourite at the line.

“She was brilliant,” Townend said of the winner, speaking to RTE Sport.

“I hoped she’d get me out of trouble, like she did.

“I was anxious when Patrick [Mullins on Anzadam] flew over a couple of hurdles to go past us. It probably got us racing a bit sooner than if he hadn’t gone by me, but I wanted to mark him and cover all bases and make the rest of them dance to my tune as much as we could.”

Casheldale Lad set the early pace with Lossiemouth on the shoulder, while Brighterdaysahead stayed on the outside along the back straight.

Anzadam, with Patrick Mullins in the saddle, made a move to open a brief lead, yet it was Lossiemouth who roared back superbly and surged ahead on the home straight.

Brighterdaysahead rose to the challenge, narrowing the gap but had to settle for second with Casheldale Lad (16-1) pipping Anzadam for third.

Washington, DC – For United States President Donald Trump, 2025 was a year of crisis.

Roaring into office on January 20 on the heels of a raucous political comeback, the president’s own telling describes a series of actions that have been swift and stark.

To name a few, he has envisioned rooting out a migrant “invasion” that includes staunching legal immigrants, and, potentially, targeting US citizens; he has touted a hard reset of uneven trade deals that pose “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security”; and, in the final months of the year, he has gone on the military offensive against “narcoterrorists” that he claims seek to topple the US through illicit drugs, possibly used as “weapons of mass destruction”.

For legal observers, Trump’s approach has been a yet-undecided stress test on presidential power, cranked by the gears of broadly interpreted emergency statutes and untrammelled executive authority.

Decisions by the court, lawmakers and voters in the 2026 midterm elections could determine how that strategy resonates or is restrained.

“The use or abuse of emergency powers is only one corner of a larger picture,” Frank Bowman, professor emeritus of law at the University of Missouri, told Al Jazeera.

“In many cases, the administration is simply doing stuff that certainly any pre-existing understandings of executive authority would have said you cannot do,” he said.

Emergency powers and ‘national security’

The US Constitution, unlike many countries, has no catch-all emergency power authorisation for presidents.

In fact, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1952 that presidents have no such implied authorities, explained David Driesen, professor emeritus at Syracuse University College of Law. Still, Congress has passed “numerous statutes that grant the president limited emergency powers under limited circumstances to do specific things”.

Nearly every modern president has used emergency powers with varying degrees of gusto, with Congress and the Supreme Court historically wary of reining in those actions.

Like many US presidents, Trump has also used broad and ambiguous national security claims to justify expanding his reach.

But several factors have set Trump’s second term apart, most notably the lack of distinct inciting events for many of the powers claimed, Driesen said.

“I’ve never seen a president invoke emergency powers to justify practically all of this policy agenda,” he told Al Jazeera, “and I’ve also never seen a president use them to seize powers that really are not in the statutes at all.”

Put simply, he added, “to Trump, everything is an emergency”.

The tone was set on day one, with Trump’s broad executive order declaring that irregular crossings at the southern border meant nothing less than “America’s sovereignty is under attack”. The order has been used to indefinitely suspend US asylum obligations, surge forces to the border, and seize federal land.

The same day, Trump declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to designate Tren de Aragua (TdA) and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) as “foreign terrorist organizations”, posing a threat to the “national security, foreign policy, and economy” of the US.

The administration has, in part, relied on and expanded that order in efforts to circumvent due process in its mass deportation push and to rhetorically justify a militaristic approach to Latin America.

Simultaneously, Trump also declared a wide-ranging energy emergency on his first day in office, laying the groundwork to bypass environmental regulations.

To be sure, as Bowman explained, Trump’s use of official emergency statutes has been only a piece of the puzzle, combined with his broad interpretation of constitutionally mandated power to reshape the government in ways big and small.

That has included cleaving civil servants from congressionally created government departments via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), trying to fire heads of independent agencies, renaming institutions – possibly illegally – in his likeness, and allegedly bypassing required approvals to physically transform the White House.

But the invocation of emergency statutes has remained a backbone of his second term. Trump invoked an emergency to justify sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its investigations into Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

He used the “emergency” of fentanyl smuggling to justify tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, later unilaterally labelling the drug “weapons of mass destruction”.

In April, in one of his most challenged uses of an emergency authority, Trump cited an emergency statute to impose sweeping reciprocal tariffs against nearly all US trading partners.

A ‘mixed picture’

In review, 2025 has shown virtually no willingness from Congress, where both chambers remain narrowly controlled by Trump’s Republican Party, to challenge the president.

Rulings from lower federal courts, meanwhile, have offered a “mixed picture”, according to the University of Missouri’s Bowman, while the country’s top court has left wider questions unanswered.

Bowman noted the six conservative members of the nine-judge panel ascribe to varying degrees to the “unitary executive theory”, which argues the drafters of the constitution envisioned a strong consolidation of presidential power.

“On the one hand, Trump is obviously willing to declare emergencies where no rational person would really believe they exist,” Bowman said.

“On the other hand, at least the lower courts have pushed back, but it remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will back them up.”

For example, Trump has been temporarily allowed to continue the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, DC, a federal district where he declared a “crime emergency” in August. City officials have said the characterisation defies facts on the ground.

Despite claiming similar overlapping crime and immigration crises in liberal-led cities in states across the country, Trump has had far less success. Lower courts have limited deployments of the National Guard in California, Illinois, and Oregon.

Trump has also floated, but not yet invoked, the Insurrection Act, another law in the crisis portfolio dating back to 1792 that allows the president to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement to “suppress insurrections and repel invasions”.

A judicial response to the tactics behind Trump’s deportation drive has also been mixed.

Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act – a 1798 law designed to quickly expel foreign nationals during times of war – to swiftly deport undocumented individuals without due process has been constrained, but allowed to proceed by the Supreme Court with limited due process protections.

In one of the most-watched cases on the docket, the Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling when it returns to session in January on the legal justification of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.

A lower court has previously ruled that Trump deployed the emergency statute illegally. Some conservative justices on the top court have also expressed wariness over the president’s claim.

The panel has appeared more amenable in a landmark case determining whether Trump can fire heads of independent agencies, also set to be decided in the new year.

The spectre of war

When it comes to unilaterally making war, Trump has been bounding down a well-trodden path of misused presidential power, according to Matt Duss, the executive vice president of the Washington, DC-based Center for International Policy.

The end of the year has been marked by US military strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats from Venezuela, decried by rights groups as extrajudicial killings.

The administration has claimed, without evidence, that over 100 people killed had sought to destabilise the US by flooding it with drugs. Trump has made a similar claim about the Nicolas Maduro-led government in Venezuela, as he has continued to rattle the sabre of land strikes.

The actions have been accompanied by a pugilistic rebranding of the Department of Defense as the Department of War, a reframing of criminal Latin American cartels as so-called “narcoterrorists” and declaring a new drive to bring the Western Hemisphere firmly under the US sphere of influence.

“We have to understand this in the context of multiple administrations of both parties abusing executive authority to essentially go to war,” said Duss, who explained that the practice accelerated in the so-called “global war on terror” post-September 11, 2001 attacks.

Most recently, Republicans – and a handful of Democrats – in the House of Representatives voted down two separate war powers resolutions that would require congressional approval for future strikes on alleged drug boats or on Venezuelan territory.

The vote, Duss said, underscored “Trump’s near-total control of the Republican Party despite the fact that he is blatantly violating his own campaign promises to end wars, rather than to start them”.

Public opinion

Trump’s control over his party and his influence writ-large over the country will largely be tested in next year’s midterm elections. The vote will determine control of the House and the Senate.

A slate of polls has indicated at least some degree of wariness in Trump’s use of presidential power.

In particular, a Quinnipiac poll released in mid-December found 54 percent of voters think Trump is going too far in his authority claims, while 37 percent think he is handling the role correctly. Another 7 percent believe Trump should go further in using the power of the presidency.

Another Politico poll in November found that 53 percent of US residents think Trump has too much power, while the president has seen an overall slump in his approval ratings since taking office.

To be sure, a panoply of factors determine US elections, and it remains unclear if voters were more likely to respond to the results of Trump’s approach to the presidency, or to the approach itself.

“Does the average person really think much about any of the theoretical bases for the things Trump is doing? And frankly, would the average person care very much if the results were, in the short term, results of which they approved?” University of Missouri’s Bowman mused.

“I don’t know the answer … How all this is perceived across the country, and what’s going to happen next, is anybody’s guess.”

This 800-year-old village is a must-see in the New Year.

Portugal boasts numerous attractions that draw visitors from across the globe. Lisbon and Porto remain incredibly sought-after destinations, with travellers flocking to wander their charming cobbled lanes and savour exceptional cuisine.

Yet venture beyond these hotspots and you’ll discover a corner of Portugal that remains largely unexplored.

This settlement represents a true hidden treasure, though those who’ve discovered it regard it as amongst the nation’s finest spots to visit.

Indeed, Castelo Novo in Portugal received international acclaim from the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The UNWTO assesses settlements using rigorous standards, covering environmental responsibility, prospects for locals, safety measures, plus preservation of cultural and natural heritage.

And Castelo Novo in Portugal secured recognition amongst the globe’s top tourism villages, reports the Express.

This historic community, founded eight hundred years ago, contains one of the area’s most important archaeological locations. The Roman Baths of Quinta do Ervedal represent the main attraction drawing travellers to Castelo Novo.

UNWTO observed: “The oldest mention of Castelo Novo, then called Alpreada, dates back to around 1202 AD. To protect his kingdom against any potential threats, King Dinis rebuilt the village castle adopting typical Gothic features and commissioned several Medieval-style buildings.”

The settlement has also earned praise for its groundbreaking environmental initiatives, becoming Portugal’s first location to reach total carbon neutrality. Castelo Novo offers five electric vehicles to ferry visitors from nearby train stations.

One traveller who visited the village shared: “A secret kingdom. Located in the heart of the Beira Baixa Region, once the capital of Portugal, it is a picturesque stone village that looks out onto the Garduna mountains. It has a terrific visitor centre.”

Another holidaymaker noted: “The castle on top of the hill is a gem. Once at the top the view of the surrounding area is superb even on a grey day.”

Visitors can also learn about the traditional grape-treading methods used by former residents and admire the historic manor houses in the settlement.

Those touring the area can follow the Miller’s Way to see the windmills that were once a crucial part of village life.

The journey to Castelo Novo from Lisbon takes roughly three-and-a-half hours by train or two-and-a-half by car. The village is also conveniently located near Coimbra, a charming riverside city in Portugal with a medieval Old Town.

The drive is just under two hours, making Castelo Novo an easy day trip from the city.

Iranians are further squeezed every day amid a tanking economy, an energy crisis, water bankruptcy and lethal pollution.

Several protests have erupted in downtown Tehran after business owners closed down their shops in reaction to a free-falling national currency, and no improvement appears in sight amid multiple ongoing crises.

Shopkeepers near two major tech and mobile phone shopping centres in the capital’s Jomhouri area closed their businesses and chanted slogans on Sunday, before more incidents were recorded on Monday afternoon, this time with other people appearing to participate.

Videos circulating on social media showed that there were more gatherings in the same area, as well as other nearby neighbourhoods in downtown Tehran. “Don’t be afraid, we are together,” demonstrators chanted.

There was a heavy deployment of anti-riot personnel in full gear on the streets, with multiple videos showing that tear gas was deployed and people were forced to disperse.

Many shops were closed down by owners in and around Tehran’s Grand Bazaar as well, with some footage showing business owners asking others to do the same.

State media outlets also acknowledged the protests, but quickly reacted to emphasise that the shopkeepers are only concerned about economic conditions and have no qualms with the theocratic establishment that has been ruling the country since a 1979 revolution that ousted the United States-backed shah of Iran.

The government’s IRNA news agency claimed that vendors selling mobile phones were disgruntled after their businesses were threatened by the unchecked depreciation of the Iranian currency, the rial.

The rial registered yet another all-time record low of over 1.42 million per US dollar on Monday before regaining some ground.

But the currency is not the only problem. For years, Iran has also been dealing with an exacerbating energy crisis, which has periodically contributed to deadly air pollution that claims tens of thousands of lives each year.

Most dams feeding Tehran and a large number of major cities across Iran continue to remain at near-empty levels amid a water crisis. Iran also has one of the most closed-off internet landscapes in the world.

The continuing decline of purchasing power for 90 million Iranians comes amid increasing pressure from the US, Israel and their European allies over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Israel and the US attacked Iran in June during a 12-day war that killed more than 1,000 people, including civilians, dozens of top-ranking military and intelligence commanders, and nuclear scientists.

The attacks also significantly damaged or destroyed most of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which were under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The watchdog has since been denied entry to the bombed sites, with no diplomatic breakthrough in sight as the West applies more pressure.

Iran last saw nationwide protests in 2022 and 2023, with many thousands pouring into streets across the country after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for alleged non-compliance with strict Islamic laws regarding headscarves.

Hundreds of people were killed, over 20,000 people were arrested, and several people were executed in connection with the protests before they subsided. Authorities blamed foreign influence and “rioters” trying to destabilise the country, as they did with previous rounds of protests.

In parliament on Sunday to defend the controversial budget bill his administration has presented, President Masoud Pezeshkian painted a grim picture of the situation.

His highly contractionary budget bill proposes a 20 percent increase in wages while inflation stands at around 50 percent, consistently one of the highest in the world over the past several years. Taxes are slated to increase by 62 percent.

“They tell me you’re taxing too much, and they’re saying you must increase wages,” Pezeshkian told lawmakers. “Well, somebody tell me, where do I get the money from?”

Here’s where you’ll be able to stream the new episodes of the Malcolm in the Middle reboot.

A new trailer has given fans the first look at the Malcolm in the Middle sequel series, confirming the new show’s release date.

Titled Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, the special four-episode event will see the majority of the cast reunite almost two decades later. The original series lasted for seven seasons between 2000 and 2006.

Over the years, the series followed Malcolm, a bright and intelligent boy, who had to put up with the rest of his dysfunctional family, including his quirky parents, and three older brothers. All while dealing with the troubles of being the middle child and a teenager.

Frankie Muniz, whose acting career began with the series, is set to reprise his role as Malcolm. Alongside him will be Justin Berfield and Christopher Masterson who are also returning as two of his brothers, Reece and Francis respectively.

Bryan Cranston, who went on to star in hit drama Breaking Bad once the show ended will also make his comeback as father Hal, with Jane Kaczmarek returning as strict matriarch Lois.

The first trailer has confirmed a number of other familiar faces will be returning to our screens for the reboot. This includes, Gary Anthony Williams as Abe Kenarban, a friend of Hal’s and father of Malcolm’s mate Stevie. There’s also Emy Coligado as Francis’ wife Piama.

One original cast member who is not returning is former child actor Erik Per Sullivan, who played Malcolm’s younger sibling Dewey. The star has since quit acting and is now studying for a masters degree at Harvard. His character has since been recast.

According to the synopsis for the sequel series, Malcom has successfully been shielding himself from his family for over a decade. However, he along with his own wife and daughter end up dragged back into their orbit when Hal and Lois demand his presence at their 40th anniversary party. Judging by the short clips shown in the trailer, very little is set to go as planned leading up to the big event.

The original series is held in high regard by those who remember it fondly, with an impressive 90% fan score on Rotten Tomatoes. Indeed some mention how they still binge watch the older show regularly and so the sequel will need to meet high expectations.

Fans did not take long to share their thoughts about the trailer, which also confirmed the release date of April 16. All episodes will be made available to stream on Disney Plus, via the Hulu brand.

One fan commented: “One of my most rewatched shows. I hope there’s more seasons or something after Life’s Still Unfair.”

Another added: “It’s good that everyone is still the same character personality wise, I thought they’d change the tone because they’re all older but looks like the original.”

“Used to watch the original all the time with my own dysfunctional family! Honestly it’s nice seeing everyone doing their thing again,” someone else replied, while one fan hoped: “Please be good please be good. The original creators are involved so I have faith!”

And there were some doubts, as a fan said: “Doesn’t look to be shot in the same way as the rest of the series. That could go against this… Hopefully the writing is just as good though.”

Malcolm In The Middle Life’s Still Unfair is streaming on Disney+ from April 16. For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new ** Everything Gossip ** website.

SCOTLAND could soon have its own direct link to Europe via ferry.

Plans have been in the works for years to connect Scotland to northern France and it’s set to become a reality in 2026.

Called ‘Project Brave’, the ferry route was first proposed in 2022 and was originally set to launch in spring 2025, but has faced delays due to a lack of funding.

The route is now being actively pursued once more and could be reintroduced as early as 2026 with the funding issue having now been resolved.

If it goes ahead, the service will link Rosyth, a town in Fife to Dunkirk in France.

If it goes ahead, the route would run three times a week and take 20 hours in total.

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Speaking in Westminster in November 2024, Scottish MP Graeme Downie proposed that £3 million in funding was needed to start up the service.

He said: “It is estimated the direct ferry link would initially carry 51,000 passengers a year, rising to 79,000, bringing an additional £11.5 million of spend to the Scottish economy.”

The new proposed route would become one of the longest ferry journeys in Europe.

But that title currently belongs to the service between Portsmouth to Bilbao in Spain, which lasts between 27 and 30 hours.

In the past, Scotland had a similar service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge which Belgium previously connected Scotland to Europe.

The overnight crossing took 17 hours and operated four times per week.

The route was discontinued in 2008, following six years of service.

It was reintroduced in 2009, but was pulled again in 2010 because of insufficient demand.

DFDS operates three main routes from the UK to France.

These are from Dover to Calais, Dover to Dunkirk and Newhaven to Dieppe.

Currently, there are no direct passenger ferries from Scotland to mainland Europe.

Other routes DFDS offers include those to the Channel Islands from southern England and the northernmost major ferry route from the UK from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

Another ferry route connects Essex to the Netherlands…

Elsewhere in the UK, Harwich, a seaside town in Essex, already has a direct ferry service to Europe.

Brits looking to head to the Netherlands will be excited to know about Harwich’s ferry link to the Hook of Holland.

With a journey time of roughly seven hours, many tourists opt for the sleeper service so they can arrive in Holland early in the morning.

From the Dutch ferry port, Rotterdam is 40 minutes away by car, while a drive to Amsterdam takes just over an hour.

Meanwhile, a new ferry route to ‘Maldives-style’ UK island loved by royals was scrapped last year.

Plus, find out if taking a ferry could save you money on your next holiday.

SACRAMENTO — Lou Cannon was a good friend and a daunting competitor. And he was a national treasure.

The retired newspaper reporter and Ronald Reagan biographer died Dec. 19 at age 92 in hometown Santa Barbara from complications of a stroke.

I use the words “national treasure” hesitantly because they smack of trite hyperbole. But they truly fit.

That’s because it was Cannon who brought to light through several Reagan books innumerable broad details of the actor-turned-politician’s important and often controversial actions as America’s 40th president and California’s 33rd governor.

Bookshelves are crammed with Reagan tomes. But no author has been so thorough on a sweeping scale as Cannon. That’s because he put in the time and did the hard work of sifting through records and conducting hundreds of interviews, then painstakingly explaining it all in very readable nongovernmentese.

Cannon also covered Reagan up close as a reporter during the early years of his governorship and both his terms as president.

Reagan once asked Cannon why he was embarking on yet another book about him. “I’m going to do it until I get it right,” the writer replied, only half-jokingly, according to Cannon’s son, longtime journalist Carl Cannon.

In all, Lou Cannon authored five books on Reagan‘s tenures as governor and president.

That’s an invaluable contribution to historians and contemporary America’s sense of this oft-misunderstood and underestimated world leader.

But that’s not what mainly prompted me to write this column. I wanted to point out Cannon’s core strength. And that was his dedication to strict nonpartisanship in writing, whether it be straight news stories for the Washington Post, syndicated columns or his Reagan biographies.

I knew Cannon for 60 years, competed against him covering Reagan for at least 20 and we became friends very early based on professional respect. In none of my countless conversations with him did I ever learn whether he leaned right or left. He registered to vote as an “independent,” as do many of us political journalists.

Cannon was the type of journalist that millions of Americans — particularly conservative Republicans and MAGA loyalists — claim is rare today: An unbiased reporter who doesn’t slant stories toward one side or the other, especially left.

Actually, most straight news reporters follow that nonpartisan credo or they leave the business. Columnists? We’re supposed to be opinionated. But for some, their opinions are too often rooted more in predetermined bias than in objective facts. But that has always been true, even in the so-called “good ol’ days.”

Cannon’s sole goal was to report the news accurately with analysis and, if possible, beat his competitors to the punch. He beat us plenty, I hate to admit.

I vividly remember one such beating:

At the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Cannon scooped everyone for a full news cycle on Reagan selecting former campaign rival George Bush as his vice presidential running mate. Still pounding in my ears are the loud whoops and cheers by Cannon’s colleagues as he walked into the Post working area — next to the Los Angeles Times quarters — after Reagan formally announced Bush’s selection. It was deflating.

News sources readily opened up to Cannon, who was intense but always wore a slight smile.

I asked former Reagan speechwriter and Republican strategist Ken Khachigian what Cannon’s secret was.

“You’d get a fair shot from him,” Khachigian says. “He’d always be straight. He just wanted to get information mostly and find out what was going on.

“He had a way of talking to people that made them comfortable and he’d get a lot out of them. He wasn’t aggressive. He had a soft personality, one of his benefits. He’d put people at ease, a big advantage.”

His son, Carl Cannon, says: “If he’d been in politics, he’d have been a Democrat. But he didn’t go into politics. He went into journalism. He wasn’t partisan. He was a reporter who wanted to know what happened and why.”

Cannon began covering the state Capitol in 1965 for the San Jose Mercury News and became friends with Jud Clark, a young legislative staffer. Clark ultimately co-founded the monthly California Journal and persuaded Cannon to write for it on the side. Cannon did that for many years and when it folded, followed up by writing columns for a successor publication, the Capitol Weekly.

Cannon just loved to report and write and juggled it all in — reporting full time for the Washington Post, authoring books and writing for friends’ small publications in Sacramento.

“He would always want something new. In interviews, he didn’t want the standard stock story,” Clark says.

“Lou was curious about everything,” says Rich Ehisen, his longtime editor at Capitol Weekly. “He liked understanding what was going on and breaking things down. He told the straight story unvarnished. Never shortchanged on facts.”

Cannon was a workaholic, but he also knew how to carve out time for fun.

One summer while we covered Reagan vacationing at his beloved Santa Barbara hilltop ranch, Cannon decided he wanted to drive down to Los Angeles to see a Dodgers’ night game. But it’s risky to abandon your post while bird-dogging the president. Anything could happen. And you’d need to explain to your bosses why you weren’t there but your competitors were.

Cannon’s solution was to also get good seats for the two reporters he considered his main competitors– Steve Weisman of the New York Times and me at the L.A. Times. We’d provide each other some cover if any news broke out around the president, which it didn’t. Cannon even managed to wrangle us free dinners in a large suite overlooking the playing field.

He’ll be missed as a friend and a journalist — but not as an unrelenting competitor.

What else you should be reading

The must-read: How the Trump administration sold out public lands in 2025
The Golden State rules: After a year of insults, raids, arrests and exile, a celebration of the California immigrant
The L.A. Times Special: America tried something new in 2025. It’s not going well

Until next week,
George Skelton

—
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Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu comes after he touted progress in achieving a resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Egyptian-British writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who faced years of imprisonment in Egypt, ‘unequivocally’ apologises for the tweets.

Alaa Abd El-Fattah, an Egyptian-British human rights campaigner, has “unequivocally” apologised after right-wing leaders in the United Kingdom dug up decade-old tweets to demand he be stripped of British citizenship.

In a lengthy apology posted online, the writer and blogger – who returned to Britain this week after 12 years of imprisonment in Egypt – said the tweets were “shocking and hurtful”, but added that some had been “completely twisted”.

Conservative Party and far-right Reform UK leaders, along with right-wing commentators, took to sympathetic outlets and social media to demand that Abd El-Fattah be stripped of citizenship for the posts dating back to 2010, which included alleged references to killing Zionists and police officers.

The tweets were “expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises”, including the wars on Iraq and Gaza, and a pervasive culture of “online insult battles”, Abd El-Fattah wrote.

Still, “I should have known better”, he said.

“I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship,” he added.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wrote in a Daily Mail op-ed that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood should consider how Abd El-Fattah “can be removed from Britain” and added that she does “not want people who hate Britain coming to our country”.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, posted a letter he wrote to Mahmood on X and took a swipe at Badenoch for being part of the 2021 administration, then under Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, that granted Abd El-Fattah citizenship.

Human rights activists and supporters of Abd El-Fattah dismissed the efforts as a smear campaign and directed followers to his apology.

Jewish academic and writer Naomi Klein wrote on social media that right-wingers were “playing politics with his hard-won freedom”, while Mai El-Sadany, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said the citizenship revocation campaign was “coordinated” to “impugn his reputation and harm him”.

British law allows the home secretary to revoke citizenship if doing so is considered “conducive to the public good”, a policy that critics say is disproportionately wielded against British Muslims.

In a 2022 report, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion estimated that at least 175 people had been stripped of British citizenship since 2006, including more than 100 in 2017 – prompting the group to deem the UK “a global leader in the race to the bottom” for revocations.

Part of British conservatives’ ire appeared to stem from the reaction of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Abd El-Fattah’s release. Earlier this week, he said the case had been a “top priority” and added that he was “delighted” by Abd El-Fattah’s return, a sentiment echoed by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Abd El-Fattah had been jailed during Egypt’s mass protests in 2011 that ousted then-leader Hosni Mubarak. He went on to become a top critic of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who took power in a military coup two years later.

The writer received a 15-year prison sentence in 2014 on charges of spreading fake news. He was briefly released in 2019 before receiving another five-year sentence.

He received a pardon in September, along with five other prisoners, after repeated international calls to release him.

Wales’ craggy coastline is among the most beautiful in the world and can be enjoyed year-round

The UK’s craggy coastline is among the most beautiful in the world and can be enjoyed year-round, especially in winter when crowds disperse and prices drop. I spent an affordable winter weekend in Tenby, widely considered one of the UK’s best seaside towns — and now summer travel is officially off the list as I want to avoid the crowds and sky-high prices.

There’s a particular joy in taking a solitary coastal walk on a Tuesday in November while everyone else is stuck at their desks. Strolling around the seafront, it’s easy to see why Tenby is such a hit. With picturesque beaches just a short stroll from the lively town centre, pubs, cobbled streets, and eye-catching, brightly coloured houses, I’m not surprised that this coastal jewel consistently tops the list of the country’s “best seaside towns”.

Stepping beyond its historic 13th-century walls, you’ll find sandy beaches and dramatic cliffside vistas over the sea towards the mesmerising Caldey Island. I have visited Tenby many, many times over the years, from childhood holidays to grown-up escapes and I love it a bit more with each visit. While admittedly summer is perfect for sea swimming and long wine-filled afternoons on sun-trap pub terraces, I have come to appreciate Tenby more in winter, especially when I can bag a good accommodation deal.

Sure, the weather might not be as sunny, but this is Wales. It’s completely unpredictable, so you may as well chance a cheaper autumn visit and hope the weather gods smile upon you. I love that if you visit Tenby during the week, say, mid-January, you can escape the crowds and wander the pretty streets and sandy beaches in relative peace. Just wrap up warm, buy a hot chocolate, and watch the waves roll in from a chilled-out seaside cafe.

Where to stay in Tenby

You can get some pretty good deals in the off-season, especially if you visit midweek rather than at the weekend. One of my favourite spots is YHA Manorbier, a very affordable stay that’s a short drive from the town centre.

This budget-friendly hostel, situated on a former military installation, offers glamping and camping facilities and costs under £50 for a private en-suite room for two (YHA members pay even less). Accommodation options include affordable private rooms, unique American Airstreams, cute camping pods, and pitch-up camping.

I usually book a clean, private en-suite room for just £45 for two, and as a YHA member, I get an extra 10% off. Win! Yes, the private rooms can have limited space for large luggage, which estate agents might call “bijou” and normal people might call “compact”. However, for just over £20 each it’s a genuine bargain – especially in the pricey Pembrokeshire area. You’re here for the vibes.

A community-spirited atmosphere fostered by shared kitchens, mismatched mugs, and conversations over wine in the lounge. Want to stay closer to town? Check out autumn deals on Booking.com and book a seaside hotel for around £70 for two adults, or spoil yourself with a stay at a four-star property, the Dunes, for just £80 for a night in the off-season.

The Premier Inn Tenby Town Centre hotel costs just £48 for a night for two in January and offers a cosy stay right in the middle of all the action.

Things to do in Tenby off-season

There’s still plenty to do in Tenby after the busy summer season has ended. You can stomp along the coast path, drink craft ales in local boozers, browse boutique shops, and pick up locally made gifts. Tenby has several sandy beaches where you can take a chilly winter sea dip if you’re feeling brave or drink hot chocolate overlooking the blustery shoreline.

South Beach is a dune-backed sandy beach close to the town and has the added accolade of being a Blue Flag Beach. For food options, check out Salty’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, located right on the beach.

Nearby Castle Beach was crowned the UK’s best beach in 2019 and currently holds a 4.8 out of five rating on Google. Unlike most places in the UK, it’s just a few steps from the town centre. North Beach in the Pembrokeshire town has previously been voted the most photogenic in the UK, beating other stunning sites like Durdle Door in Dorset and Brighton seafront. Pretty Harbour Beach is the smallest but has a backdrop of colourful houses, bobbing boats, and a road leading back to town.

Autumn is also a great time to traverse the Tenby Coast Path. This scenic section of the larger Pembrokeshire Coast Path offers views of Tenby’s colourful harbour, Caldey Island, and St Catherine’s Island.

Popular routes include the four-mile walk to Saundersfoot, a moderate nine-mile loop returning inland, and a challenging 10.9-mile point-to-point path to Freshwater East.

If it’s raining, head to Tenby Museum and Art Gallery, the oldest independent museum in Wales. Established in 1878, this retro museum houses a wide-ranging collection of local geology, biology, archaeology, and maritime artefacts.

Many of the exhibits also relate to the culture and heritage of South Pembrokeshire, offering insight into local history and art. A small gift shop near the entrance also sells local books and gift items.

The museum’s admission price is £6.50 for adults and £3.50 for children. It also operates a reusable ticket scheme – all tickets are valid for one year after purchase, so you can make as many return visits as you like within that time at no additional charge.

Places to eat and drink in Tenby

There are two local breweries in Tenby for Welsh tipples. Both produce quality beers and supply local bars and restaurants. Tenby Brewing Co., which took over from Preseli Brewery, has multiple stockists in Tenby and is one of Wales’s leading craft breweries.

The award-winning brewery was born when two friends decided (over a pint) to quit the rat race and start their own brewery. The Yard is their hip venue here at the brewery, with a capacity of 150, an exciting rotating food offering from awesome pop-up food vendors, draft beer lines from their range, and some of their favourite brewers.

The newer brewery on the scene, Harbwr, is a craft brewery and taproom that brews a range of cask and bottled ales just above Tenby harbour.

Food-wise, Tenby’s cluster of tiny streets and pastel-coloured buildings hides its best restaurants and cafes down the narrowest of alleys.

One of these more secluded dining finds is Plantagenet House, with a warren of flagstone floors, exposed beams, and a 40ft medieval Flemish chimney.

If you book early enough, you can bag a table by the fireplace. A recommended dish is their vegan Thai coconut curry, featuring squash, chargrilled spring onion, spiced rice, and roasted almonds.

Links restaurant is located on the ground floor of Tenby Golf Club and is a great Michelin-recommended dining choice for gastronomes.

Led by a talented local chef, the menu features simple yet incredibly tasty dishes made with the best Welsh produce. Start your meal with their freshly baked ale bread, served with whipped Marmite butter – trust me, it’s the perfect opener.

The atmosphere is relaxed but refined, and the menu strikes the perfect balance between unpretentious and exciting. From hot-smoked salmon with cucumber and buttermilk to heritage tomatoes paired with buffalo mozzarella, there are loads of lush dishes to choose from.

For mains, enjoy locally sourced delights like Pembrokeshire beef or Cornish cod in a bisque sauce, or tuck into a tender Welsh lamb rump, served with all the right accompaniments.

And don’t forget to save room for dessert, whether it’s rich dark chocolate fondant with tarragon ice cream or tangy lemon meringue with almond cake and blueberry sorbet, you won’t go home hungry.

D. Fecci and Sons possibly serve the best fish and chips in Wales and have been serving visitors and locals since 1935. With potatoes grown up the road in Pembrokeshire and groundnut oil making haddock, cod, and calamari fantastically light, the chippy also serves fresh mackerel in the summer.

For sweet treats, pop into Môr Tenby, a swish family-run coffee shop and gift shop that sells its own blend of coffee (“Coffi Môr”), chocolate products, deli items, home fragrances, homeware, gifts, and Welsh produce.

A beloved institution in Tenby, Top Joe’s is the go-to spot for pizza lovers.

This former ’60s diner has transformed into an artisan pizzeria serving freshly-made pizza, pasta, and salads with the finest Italian ingredients. Located in the heart of this picturesque beach town, it’s a firm favourite with locals and visitors.

Chef Giovanni Recchia, recently named one of the best in the world at the Pizza World Championships, brings his expertise to the menu. He crafts pizzas with locally milled flour and top-notch ingredients, including cured meats from Trealy Farm Charcuterie.

After snapping up a room for just £50, strolling straight into pubs that are usually rammed, and demolishing fish and chips by the sea, I can honestly say winter has stolen the crown as my favourite time in Tenby.

In 2026, I fully intend to resist the siren call of summer and book another cold-weather escape, where I can wander the streets before anyone else wakes up and claim the town entirely for myself.

As Villa manager Unai Emery’s changes swung the game in their favour, Maresca’s substitutes made little impact.

Star attacker Cole Palmer reacted furiously to being taken off in the 72nd minute for 18-year-old Estevao Willian, while the decision to withdraw Marc Cucurella drew criticism – though it was later revealed that the Spaniard had a potential hamstring issue.

Maresca’s substitutions have faced scrutiny before, notably in defeats with 10 men against Manchester United and Brighton earlier this season. Atalanta forward Charles De Ketelaere even suggested they “drop” in the second half after his side came from behind to beat Chelsea in their Champions League game in Italy earlier this month.

While Maresca’s changes have occasionally worked, it has usually been when resting key players. In the Carabao Cup against Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Cardiff City, he rotated heavily but ultimately relied on star players to secure wins.

This has sparked a chicken-and-egg debate: some blame the lack of quality on the fringes of the squad, while others question Maresca’s handling of certain players.

Asked about the issue by BBC Sport, Maresca smiled before replying: “No, I think it’s in general.”

That guarded response came after a defeat defined by substitutes.

Villa’s quintet of Watkins, Amadou Onana, former Chelsea loanee Jadon Sancho, Lucas Digne and Lamare Bogarde, had an average age of over 26.

Chelsea, meanwhile, made four changes – Estevao Willian, Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap and Malo Gusto – with an average age of under 21.

In terms of attacking impact, Estevao has delivered five goals and an assist since moving to Stamford Bridge, but injury-hit Delap has scored just once, as has Gittens, albeit having also delivered five assists in all competitions.

“It’s probably how we can improve after we concede a goal, to manage the game a little bit better, in terms of experience game after game,” says Maresca.

Chelsea rely on youth, and have had minimal impact from their changes in the Premier League this season.

The average age of their starting XI is 24 years and 219 days, while substitutes average 21 years and 349 days – both are the youngest in the league.

Alongside Arsenal, Chelsea make the earliest changes, averaging their first substitution at 48 minutes, often at half-time. Despite this, their substitutes have contributed only three goals and one assist in the league this season.

A DR Congo fan known as ‘Lumumba’ stood motionless in the stands for the entire match against Senegal at AFCON on Saturday, mirroring a statue of the country’s independence leader.

Gamal Mansour of the University of Toronto says Syria’s authorities are still in a fragile state-building phase, and the clashes in coastal Syria have exposed gaps in control.

As “Avatar: Fire and Ash” headed to the big screen this month, theater owners held their breath.

In an uneven year that saw two billion-dollar hits and a viral “chicken jockey” craze, but also a disastrous first quarter and a nearly 30-year-low at the October box office, the end of December was the last chance for theaters to make up ground.

But even James Cameron and the Na’vi — the latest “Avatar” film has already grossed more than $472 million globally — couldn’t save 2025 from a disappointing conclusion.

Box-office revenue in the U.S. and Canada is expected to total $8.87 billion for the year, up just 1.5% from last year’s disappointing $8.74 billion tally, according to movie data firm Comscore. More troubling is that 2025’s domestic box-office haul is projected to be down more than 20% compared with 2019, before the pandemic changed audiences’ movie-going habits and turbocharged streaming in ways that the exhibition industry is still grappling with.

The problem: Fewer people are buying movie tickets. Theatrical attendance is running below last year’s levels, with an estimated 760 million tickets sold as of Dec. 25, according to media and entertainment data firm EntTelligence. Last year, total ticket sales for 2024 exceeded 800 million.

Part of the explanation for the falloff in cinema revenue and admissions lies in the movies themselves.

Industry experts and theater owners say the quality and frequency of releases led to dips in the calendar that put extra pressure on the other movies to perform. Once-reliable genres such as comedies and dramas are facing a much tougher time in theaters, and female moviegoers — who came out in droves in 2023 for “Barbie” — were underserved in a year that largely skewed toward male-leaning blockbusters.

“It’s fair to say that 2025 didn’t quite reach the levels many of us expected at the start of the year,” Eduardo Acuna, chief executive of Regal Cineworld, said in a statement. “A big part of that comes down to a lack of depth in the release schedule, and the struggle of many smaller titles to break through.”

Even big-name stars such as Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Dwayne Johnson and Sydney Sweeney couldn’t prop up attendance for films such as Sony Pictures’ “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” A24’s “The Smashing Machine” and Black Bear Pictures’ “Christy,” all of which flopped.

And despite the critical acclaim and stacked cast list for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” the film has stalled domestically at $71 million, with a global total of $205 million.

“One Battle After Another” had a budget of about $130 million, while “The Smashing Machine” reportedly cost $50 million and has grossed just $21 million worldwide.

“The challenge facing Hollywood is how to reconcile the budgets of these films with how much they can earn in theaters and down the road, eventually, in streaming,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.

Universal Pictures’ “Wicked: For Good” hauled in more than $324 million, but it was one of few big blockbusters targeted to women. (Taylor Swift’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” which brought in $50 million globally, was another.)

Though the summer was marked by a number of big films, including Warner Bros.-owned DC Studios’ “Superman,” Universal’s “Jurassic World Rebirth” and Apple’s “F1 The Movie,” most were geared toward male audiences.

Female-focused films are “are few and far between,” said Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations, an entertainment data and research firm. “There should be something for everyone playing most of the time, and that isn’t the case.”

To be sure, there were some bright spots for the industry, including success from young audiences.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “A Minecraft Movie” was the highest-grossing domestic film this year, with $423.9 million. Close behind was Walt Disney Co.’s live-action adaptation “Lilo & Stitch,” which collected $423.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and a total of $1 billion worldwide.

Counting those two, five of the year’s top 10 domestic-grossing films had PG ratings, including “Wicked: For Good,” Disney’s animated “Zootopia 2” and Universal’s live-action “How to Train Your Dragon.”

“In general, the good news about the year is that most of the big hits involved young audiences,” said Tom Rothman, chair and CEO chief executive of Sony Pictures’ motion picture group. “There is a bit of a youth-quake.”

Disney capitalized on the big year for family-friendly fare.

The Burbank entertainment giant recently crossed $6 billion at the global box office for the year, powered by billion-dollar hits such as “Lilo & Stitch” and “Zootopia 2,” and marking the company’s biggest year since 2019. (Though it wasn’t all sunny for Disney this year, as Pixar’s original animated film “Elio” misfired, as did the live-action film, “Snow White,” which was mired in controversy.)

Another notable youth driver was “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” from Sony Pictures in partnership with its anime banner, Crunchyroll. The film had a massive opening weekend haul of $70 million in July on its way to a domestic gross of $134 million and a global total of $715 million, highlighting the increasing popularity of anime.

“The mainstreaming of anime at the theatrical box office is a really significant part of what happened this year and a really good sign,” Rothman said. “You’re bringing in young audiences.”

Not surprisingly, established intellectual property — whether video games, known franchises, novels or comic books — still topped the charts this year, with nine of the top 10 domestic films tied to an existing title.

That familiarity at the box office counts when moviegoers, particularly families, are looking for movies to watch. Viewers can be choosy about how they spend their cash and time, and may not always want to gamble on a movie they’ve never heard of.

“Meaningful IP still has an advantage in getting people to come to the theater, though it’s not the only way to do it,” said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate’s motion picture group, which saw success this year with an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel “The Long Walk,” as well as franchise film “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.”

Horror flicks also scared up plenty of business in 2025. Warner Bros., in particular, had a string of wins in fearful films, including Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” and “Final Destination Bloodlines.”

In one notable exception, Blumhouse had a rare miss with “M3GAN 2.0,” the follow-up to the 2022 cult favorite. In an interview on “The Town” podcast, Blumhouse Productions Chief Executive Jason Blum blamed the sequel’s shortcomings on a change in genre from the original.

As 2025 draws to a close, industry insiders and theater owners are more optimistic about next year’s box office prospects.

Several big films are set to release in 2026, including Christopher Nolan’s much anticipated “The Odyssey,” Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three,” as well as Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” from Universal, Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment.

That anticipation is also clouded by the uncertainty of the impending Warner Bros. deal and what that will mean for movie releases.

Many cinema owners fear that a takeover by Netflix will limit or eliminate the theatrical exclusivity of Warner Bros. films, though Netflix executives have said they will honor the company’s current and future commitments to the big screen. And if Paramount were to buy the company, theatrical exhibitors fear that the number of films would decrease, leaving them with less content to show. (Paramount CEO David Ellison has said the company did not plan to release fewer movies.)

Any deal is expected to take at least a year to complete.

In the meantime, Hollywood will wait to see how strong the 2026 slate truly is.

“There are a lot of great titles out there, and that’s why people have been calling 2026 a return to form,” said Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Even though 2026 is very promising, can Hollywood keep delivering year-in and year-out?”

A flight attendant with over five years of experience has shared the ideal seats to book on long-haul flights for maximum comfort – and which rows you should avoid at all costs.

Few experiences test human endurance quite like a marathon economy flight.

Squeezing into those minuscule seats with barely any legroom whilst the journey drags into double-digit hours can push anyone to their limits, yet several strategies can help make the ordeal more bearable.

When embarking on a distant adventure, ensuring your experience is as comfortable as can be is paramount, and industry insiders have shared exactly how to achieve this.

Travel medical insurance specialists at AllClear have collaborated with a seasoned Virgin Atlantic flight attendant to unveil optimal seating choices, areas to steer clear of, and crucially, techniques for snatching some shut-eye during those marathon journeys.

The crew member, boasting over half a decade of flying experience, revealed that nervous flyers should prioritise booking seats positioned above the aircraft’s wings.

They explained: “Seats over the wings usually offer the smoothest ride during turbulence, and the further forward you sit on the aircraft, the less you’ll feel the impact of it.

“Likewise, sitting over the wing is often one of the smoother spots on the plane. Being closest to the aircraft’s centre of gravity, you tend to feel less movement and vibration compared with seats further back.”

Regarding securing some rest during extended flights, striking the right balance proves particularly challenging.

Finding a peaceful spot for slumber becomes essential, though this can prove elusive, the aviation professional warned.

They explained to the Express.: “You can never truly predict the quietest spot on a plane, as it depends on the passengers around you. But the aft [rear] of the plane can be a bit noisy because toilet flushes are quite loud.

“The seats at the back on all our aircraft recline, so that’s not a problem, but sometimes light catches through the galley curtains on a night flight, and it can be noisy as the crew are working. So, I also wouldn’t choose back row seats.”

For the ultimate in-flight experience, the cabin crew member suggested one particular area to aim for when selecting your seat: “The ideal seat would be around five rows from the back, or five rows from the front.

“Crew work front to back simultaneously, or two carts from the front of economy to the back. So, five seats from the front is best as you’ll get your first meal choice.

“It’s also closer to the front for turbulence, as if you’re five from the back you’ll feel it more, and being closer at the front means you’ll get off quicker.”

The primary federal contractor entrusted with purging fire debris from the Eaton and Palisades fires may have illegally dumped toxic ash and misused contaminated soil in breach of state policy, according to federal government reports recently obtained by The Times.

The records depict harried disaster workers appearing to take dangerous shortcuts that could leave hazardous pollution and endanger thousands of survivors poised to return to these communities.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allocated $60 million to hire personnel to monitor daily cleanup operations and document any health and safety risks. The Times obtained thousands of government oversight reports that detail these federal efforts to rid fire-destroyed homes of toxic debris between February and mid-May.

The records, which were obtained on a rolling basis over several months, include dozens of instances in which oversight personnel flagged workers for disregarding cleanup procedures in a way that likely spread toxic substances.

The latest batch of reports — turned over to The Times on Dec. 1 — contained allegations of improper actions involving Environmental Chemical Corp., the primary federal contractor, and the dozens of debris-removal crews it supervised.

For example, on April 30, federally hired workers were clearing fire debris from a burned-down home in the Palisades burn scar. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, after the last dump truck left, an official with Environmental Chemical Corp., a Burlingame, Calif., company hired to carry out the federal debris removal mission, ordered workers to move the remaining ash and debris to a neighboring property.

The crew used construction equipment to move four or five “buckets” worth of fire debris onto the neighboring property. It’s unclear if that property was also destroyed in the Palisades fire, and, if so, whether it had been already remediated.

“I questioned if this was allowable and then the crew dumped material into the excavator bucket and planned to move it on the lowboy with material in bucket,” a federal supervisor wrote in a report intended to track performance of contractors. “Don’t think this is allowed.”

According to the report, the workers also left glass, ash and other fire debris on the property the crew had been clearing, because they “were in a rush to get to the next site.”

Experts who reviewed the reports said the behavior described may amount to illegal dumping under California law. Other reports obtained by The Times describe federal cleanup workers, on multiple occasions, using ash-contaminated soil to backfill holes and smooth out uneven portions of fire-destroyed properties in the Palisades burn scar. If that were true, it would be a breach of state policy that says contaminated soil from areas undergoing environmental cleanup cannot be used in this way.

The reports also cite multiple occasions where workers walked through already cleared properties with dirty boot covers, possibly re-contaminating them. The inspectors also reported crews spraying contaminated pool water onto neighboring properties and into storm drains, and excavator operators using toothed buckets that caused clean and contaminated soil to be commingled.

“Obviously, there was some really good work done,” state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Pacific Palisades) said about the federal cleanup. “But it appears that we’ve got some folks who are knowingly breaking the law and cutting corners in their cleanup protocol.

“We’ve got to figure out how widespread this was, and anybody who was responsible for having broken a law in this area needs to be held accountable.”

The Army Corps did not respond to requests for comment. An ECC executive said that without information such as the properties’ addresses or parcel numbers, he could not verify whether the accusations made in the oversight reports were substantiated by the companies’ own investigations or if any issues raised by the inspectors were resolved. Such specifics were redacted in the version of the reports sent to The Times.

“At a high level, ECC does not authorize the placement of wildfire debris or ash on neighboring properties, does not permit the use of contaminated material as fill, and operates under continuous [Army Corps] oversight,” said Glenn Sweatt, ECC’s vice president of contracts and compliance.

Between February and September, the Army Corps responded to nearly 1,100 public complaints or other inquiries related to the federal fire cleanup. Over 20% of grievances were related to quality of work, according to the Army Corps assessment of complaints.

Some of these complaints point to the same concerns raised by the inspectors. For example, a resident in the Eaton burn scar filed a complaint on June 19 that “crews working on adjacent properties moved fire debris and ash onto his property after he specifically asked them not to.”

Other property owners in Altadena filed complaints that crews had left all sorts of fire debris on their property — in some cases, buried in the ground.

The Army Corps or ECC ordered crews to go back and finish up the debris removal for some properties. Other times, the officials left the work and costs to disaster victims.

A Palisades property owner complained on May 7 that after the Army Corps supposedly completed cleaning his property, he found “parts of broken foundation [that] were buried to avoid full removal.” He said it cost him $40,000 to hire a private contractor to gather up and dispose of several dumpsters of busted-up concrete.

James Mayfield, a hazardous materials specialist and owner of Mayfield Environmental Engineering, was hired by more than 200 homeowners affected by the fires to remove debris and contaminated soil — including, in some cases, from properties already cleared by Army Corps contractors.

When Mayfield and his workers excavated additional soil from Army Corps-cleared properties, he said they occasionally uncovered ash, slabs of burned stucco, and other debris.

“All you have to do is scoop and you can see the rest of the house underneath the ground,” Mayfield said. “It was never cleared at all.”

After January’s wildfires, local health authorities warned the soil could be riddled with harmful pollutants from burned-down homes and cars, including lead, a heavy metal that can cause irreversible brain damage when inhaled or ingested by young children.

Soil testing has been standard practice after major wildfires in California since 2007. Typically, after work crews clear away fire debris and several inches of topsoil from burned-down homes, federal or state disaster officials arrange for the same contractors to test the soil for lingering contamination. If they find contamination above state benchmarks, they are required to excavate another layer of that soil and conduct additional rounds of testing.

But the aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades fires has been different. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has repeatedly refused to pay for soil testing in California, insisting the practice is not necessary to remove any immediate threats after the fires. The Newsom administration unsuccessfully petitioned FEMA to reconsider conducting soil testing to protect returning residents and workers. But as pressure mounted on the state to fund soil testing, the California Environmental Protection Agency secretary downplayed public health risks from fire contamination.

Indeed, the vast majority of wildfire cleanups in California are managed by state agencies. Since the January wildfires, California officials have been noticeably guarded when questioned about how the state will respond when the next major wildfire inevitably strikes.

Asked whether the state will continue to adhere to its long-standing post-fire soil sampling protocols, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services wouldn’t directly answer whether it would pay for soil testing after future wildfires. Its director, Nancy Ward, declined to be interviewed.

“California has the most advanced testing systems in the nation, and we remain committed to advocating for the safe, timely removal of debris after a wildfire,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “Protecting public health and the well-being of impacted communities remains the state’s foremost priority.”

Some environmental experts and lawmakers worry that abandoning long-established wildfire protocols, like soil testing, may set a precedent where disaster victims will assume more costs and work to ensure that their properties are safe to return to and rebuild upon.

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D–Los Angeles) called for the Army Corps to review the results of large-scale soil testing initiatives, including data from USC, to determine which contractors were assigned to clean properties where heavy contamination persists. Such an analysis, he said, might help the federal government figure out which contractors performed poor work, so that they they aren’t hired in future disasters.

“I’m going to press the Army Corps to look at where the testing indicates there was still contaminants and who is the contractor for that, to see whether there are certain contractors that had a high failure rate,” Sherman said.

“I want to make sure they’re … evaluating these contractors vis-à-vis the next disaster,” he added. “And, ultimately it’s in the testing.”

Throughout much of Altadena and Pacific Palisades, thousands of empty lots are awaiting permits to rebuild. But many property owners fear the possibility of contamination.

The Department of Angels, a community-led nonprofit formed after the January wildfires, surveyed 2,300 residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the Eaton and Palisades blazes. About one-third of respondents said they wanted testing but had not received it.

“The government abandoned testing and left us on our own,” one victim wrote. “We have each had to find out what is the best route to test and remediate, but without standardization and consistency, we are a giant experiment.”

Jacob Bethell said he wants to remain England’s number three but admitted he has “a lot more to do” to make the position his own.

The 22-year-old was recalled for the fourth Ashes Test and made a crucial 40 in the second innings as England won by four wickets to end an 18-match winless streak in Australia.

Bethell had never batted higher than number four in first-class cricket until he had three Tests for England at number three in New Zealand last year.

The left-hander played only three first-class matches in 2025 before replacing Ollie Pope for the Boxing Day Test.

His impressive 40 actually came at number four after England promoted Brydon Carse as a pinch-hitter in the second-innings run chase of 175. Now Bethell will get the opportunity to stake a claim for a long run in the team in the final Ashes Test in Sydney.

“I like three,” he said. “You come in when the ball is new and in some scenarios the ball’s going all over the shop, but in other scenarios it presents opportunities to score when bowlers are trying to take wickets and the field is attacking there’s loads of gaps.

“I’ve still got a lot more to do to call it my position.”

Bethell’s selection in Melbourne was the culmination of year-long speculation over Pope’s position at number three.

After impressing with three half-centuries in New Zealand last December, Bethell’s international progress was hampered by an injury, a stint at the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pope’s good form at the start of the home summer.

The Warwickshire man made his first professional century in a one-day international against South Africa in September. Following the Ashes, he will be part of England’s white-ball plans in the new year then will return to the IPL with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

It could mean Bethell’s next first-class cricket following the tour of Australia is England’s first Test of the home summer against New Zealand in June.

“I’m not thinking too far ahead yet,” said Bethell. “Hopefully next week in Sydney and then we’ve got a lot of cricket to play before next summer.”

Asked about securing the number three spot, he said: “I would like to. I would like to just nail down any role in the team. If you’re in the XI and contributing to winning I’m pretty happy with that.”