claims

Jan. 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump insulted NATO member states by suggesting they can’t be counted on to contribute to military actions when needed, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday.

Starmer called the president’s comments “insulting and, frankly, appalling” and suggested Trump should apologize, while the prime minister addressed media on Friday.

“If I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologize,” Starmer said.

Starmer said Britain lost 457 military personnel in Afghanistan, while Canada lost 165 and Denmark 44, during the war that started Oct. 7, 2001, and ended Aug. 30, 2021.

The prime minister said Britain has a close relationship with the United States to ensure the island nation’s national security.

“It is because of that relationship that we fought alongside the Americans for our values in Afghanistan,” Starmer said.

“And it was in that context that people lost their lives or suffered terrible injuries [while] fighting for freedom, fighting with our allies for what we believe in,” he added.

Trump on Thursday accused NATO allies of shying away from fighting in Afghanistan by avoiding areas in which fighting was underway and said the United States could not count of NATO allies to help protect the United States and its territories if necessary.

He made the comments during an interview with Fox News, according to Politico.

“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan,” Trump said, adding that European nations did send troops.

“They stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” he said, while suggesting they shied away from fighting.

British Defense Minister John Healey also took exception to the president’s comments.

“The UK and NATO allies answered the U.S. call,” Healy said on social media, “and more than 450 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan.

“Those British troops should be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation.”

Healy said NATO only issued an Article 5 call to action once, and the United Kingdom responded.

NATO’s Article 5 is a commonly included military treaty agreement in which an attack on one member nation is considered an attack on all.

Such treaty provisions led to military escalation that caused World War I after the assassination of Austro-Hungary’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

Trump also criticized British officials’ decision to cede control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius.

Jude Bellingham has dismissed reports about his lifestyle off the pitch as “outside noise”, adding his celebration after scoring in Real Madrid’s Champions League win over Monaco was intended as “a bit of a joke back to the fans”.

Bellingham scored Real Madrid’s final goal – and his first of 2026 – in a comfortable 6-1 Champions League victory and marked the occasion by performing a drinking gesture.

The moment quickly drew attention online.

The celebration came after well-known Spanish YouTuber AuronPlay, who has over 29 million subscribers, made viral comments about Bellingham before Real Madrid faced Levante at the weekend.

He claimed Belliingham “loves alcohol too much” and has visited “every nightclub in Spain”, suggesting this is affecting the midfielder’s form.

Bellingham was subsequently among the players singled out for boos and whistles from the stands during the 2-0 win against Levante.

“It feels like anyone now can get a camera, say what they want and the whole world just believes them with no evidence,” Bellingham told TNT Sports after Tuesday’s Champions League fixture.

Former X Factor star Chris Leonard has opened up about his experience on the show and the double-edged sword after finding himself in the live finals with his bandmates

A former X Factor finalist has revealed the heartbreaking reality of his time on the programme. Chris Leonard, who found himself thrust into the live shows as one eighth of the manufactured band Stereo Kicks, had initially auditioned as a solo artist.

Chris and his bandmates instantly became a hit with fans but finished the programme in fifth place during series 11, which Ben Haenow went on to win.

But Chris, 30, admits that while he loved the experience the show gave him and helped further his career, he admits his time on the show was a “mixture” of feelings. 11 years on from Stereo Kicks splitting in 2015, the County Meath-born singer is now touring across the world with his traditional Irish band, Shillelagh Law. Speaking about his time on the show, which saw Louis Walsh act as their mentor, Chris told the Mirror: “The show was a real mixture.

READ MORE: ‘I was on X Factor – now I’m touring the world and working with Grammy winners’READ MORE: Only The Poets to give unsigned act huge support slot at Brixton Academy gig

“One thing that many people don’t realise is, I developed an eating disorder after the show. I got so sucked into the image side of things, I think my image was always in question within the band.

“It was between shaving my head and not being allowed to be myself. People always questioned my image, which was because what was being put out there wasn’t who I was. There was none of my personality. I think that affected me because I had a feeling or an expectation of people expecting me to live up to it.

“There were difficult parts on the show as a result, but there were also the normal sides. If it wasn’t for X Factor, I wouldn’t get to do the things I’m doing today, get to play with the people that I’ve played with, or have the experiences I’ve had. I’m very grateful.” But if he could turn back time, would he do it again? Absolutely, he would just be a braver 19-year-old from Ireland and stand up for himself more.

However, one of his all-time highlights in his music career happened on X Factor, sharing the stage with Queen legend, Sir Brian May. “As a musician and a guitar player, to see Brian May was just insane. It was absolutely wild,” Chris gushed.

One fond memory he has, sitting in Louis Walsh’s dressing room with JLS members, Marvin, Aston and JB. He revealed: “We were having a couple of drinks and they turned around and said ‘Chris, just be prepared, when this is over, when the X Factor bubble pops, it’s done, the phone stops ringing – it’s down to your management to keep that buzz after.’

“If it wasn’t for them saying that to me, I wouldn’t have been as prepared. I’m so grateful for that.” While Chris was young at 19, his bandmate Reece was just 16, and Charlie was 15. Now, he hopes that TV shows have measures in place to help contestants with their mental health and navigate their newfound profile. He said: “I haven’t been on that side of everything in a long time, but I’d like to think these networks and companies that do talent shows have now put the correct measures in place and do look after contestants’ mental health.”

And following the rise of December 10, created by Simon Cowell on his new Netflix show, Chris encouraged the band to “stay humble” and realise that, despite being on a TV show or in a band, they’re still young men trying to make music. “You have to work harder,” he said, adding: “Keep your ego in check and be kind to people, don’t think you’re above anybody.”

While he may have been on arguably the biggest show on TV, Chris never for a second thought of himself as famous. Instead, he was just a young lad from Ireland chasing his dream. “Egos can kick in, and work ethic can slip,” he said of people who get above themselves.

He said of December 10: “My advice would be keep your feet on the ground, focus on the music that you’re doing, make sure you’ve got two or three good people around you that you can confide in that actually have your best interests at heart and just be a good person.”

If you’re worried about your health or the health of somebody else, you can contact SEED eating disorder support service on 01482 718130 or on their website, here.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

A White House social media post misleadingly links deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro with the US fentanyl crisis.

The X post includes a video highlighting parents who lost children to fentanyl overdoses thanking President Donald Trump for capturing Maduro.

“Angel Families thank President Trump for saving lives & capturing Maduro – the kingpin flooding America with deadly fentanyl,” the White House’s January 5 X post said. “Justice is being served.”

US troops abducted Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their Caracas home in the early hours of January 3. The two pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges on January 5 in New York federal court.

The White House post isn’t the first time the Trump administration has blamed Maduro for trafficking fentanyl to the US. Trump has cited the potent synthetic opioid that is responsible for most US drug overdose deaths to justify pressure on Venezuela in the months before Maduro’s capture.

But neither Venezuela nor Maduro plays a role in smuggling fentanyl to the US. The majority of US fentanyl comes from Mexico and is made with chemicals from China, according to US government reports and drug policy experts.

The White House did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment.

Vice President JD Vance addressed fentanyl in a January 4 X post, the day before the White House’s post, saying cocaine is “the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela,” and, “Yes, a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico. That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one.”

Drug experts previously told PolitiFact that Venezuela acts as a transit country for some cocaine trafficking in part because its neighbouring country, Colombia, is the world’s main cocaine producer. However, most of the cocaine that enters the US doesn’t go through Venezuela.

Government reports say fentanyl does not come from Venezuela

The Drug Enforcement Agency’s annual National Drug Threat Assessment reports for years have pointed to Mexico and China as the countries responsible for illicit fentanyl in the US. None of the agency’s reports from 2017 to 2025 list Venezuela as a fentanyl producer or trafficker.

Most illicit fentanyl entered the US via the southern border at official ports of entry, and 83.5 percent of the smugglers in fiscal year 2024 were US citizens.

“There is no evidence of fentanyl or cocaine laced with fentanyl coming from Venezuela or anywhere else in South America,” David Smilde, a Tulane University sociologist who studies violence in Venezuela, told PolitiFact in September.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report also points to Mexico as the country of origin for the most fentanyl seized in the US.

US fentanyl overdose deaths recently have dropped. From May 2024 to April 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 43,000 synthetic opioid deaths, most of which were from fentanyl, down from nearly 70,000 in the previous year.

“The United States has been suffering an enormous overdose crisis driven by opioids and fentanyl in particular in recent years,” John Walsh, director for drug policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, a group advocating for human rights in the Americas, previously told PolitiFact. “I would say it has zero to do with anything in South America or the Caribbean.”

The Justice Department first indicted Maduro in 2020 for alleged drug-related actions dating to 1999. A newly unsealed and updated indictment filed in the Southern District of New York charges Maduro and two co-defendants with narcoterrorism conspiracy and him, Flores and the four other co-defendants with cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machineguns.

The indictment calls Maduro an illegitimate leader who transported cocaine under Venezuelan law enforcement protection, enriching his family and cementing power.

The 25-page document does not mention fentanyl or fentanyl trafficking.

Our ruling

The Trump White House described Maduro as “flooding America with deadly fentanyl”.

Drug experts and official government and international reports point to Mexico and China as the countries primarily involved in producing and trafficking the illicit fentanyl that reaches the US. The majority of fentanyl in the US comes from Mexico, is made with chemicals from China, and is smuggled by US citizens via official ports of entry at the southern border.

The US Justice Department indicted Maduro on charges related to cocaine. The indictment does not mention fentanyl.

We rate the statement False.

Even as flight tracking data shows an apparent exodus of aircraft from the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East ahead of a possible new conflict with Iran, Trump on Wednesday said the rationale for an attack may be subsiding. The president claimed that the killings of anti-regime protesters, which sparked his repeated threats against Iran, seem to be ending. His comments have created confusion in military, political, and diplomatic circles about what he intends to do about Iran.

You can catch up with our previous coverage of the unfolding events here.

“We were told that the killing in Iran is stopping and stopped – stopping, and there’s no plan for executions or an execution or executions,” Trump stated. “So I’ve been told that on good authority. We’ll find out about it.” 

Asked if that meant an operation against Iran was off the table, Trump said: “We will watch and see how the process develops. However, we have received a very good — very good — statement from people who know the situation well.”

Before Trump’s White House statements, it was reported that Wednesday’s planned execution of Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old protester who has become the face of imperiled demonstrators, was postponed.

On Tuesday, Trump put out a message on his Truth Social platform, urging continued protests against the regime, adding a perceived promise of action that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

In an exclusive story later in the day, NBC News reported that “Trump has told his national security team that he would want any U.S. military action in Iran to deliver a swift and decisive blow to the regime and not spark a sustained war that dragged on for weeks or months.” The network cited a U.S. official, two people familiar with the discussions and a person close to the White House.

“If he does something, he wants it to be definitive,” one of the people familiar with the discussions told NBC.

“But Trump’s advisers have so far not been able to guarantee to him that the regime would quickly collapse after an American military strike, the U.S. official and two people familiar with the discussions said,” the story continued, “and there is concern that the U.S. may not have all the assets in the region it would need to guard against what administration officials expect would be an aggressive Iranian response.”

President Donald J. Trump has told his national security team that he would want any U.S. military action in Iran to deliver a “swift and decisive blow” to the regime and not spark a sustained war that dragged on for weeks or months, according to a U.S. official who spoke to NBC… pic.twitter.com/kMku3M52WH

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 15, 2026

Trump’s comments on Wednesday have reportedly left diplomats bewildered about what will happen next. In a post on X, Wall Street Journal reporter Laurence Norman reported that there is “Utter confusion, uncertainty about what’s going on now with #Iran among various senior diplomats.”

Utter confusion, uncertainty about what’s going on now with #Iran among various senior diplomats.

— laurence norman (@laurnorman) January 14, 2026

Still, there were signs potentially indicating impending military action. The Pentagon ordered some personnel at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to evacuate the facility.

Later on Wednesday, as we pointed out earlier in this story, U.S. military aircraft appeared to be leaving that facility in numbers.

The U.S. Embassy in Qatar advised personnel to “exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel to Al Udeid.”

Qatar: Given ongoing regional tensions, the U.S. Embassy in Doha has advised its personnel to exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel to Al Udeid Airbase. We recommend U.S. citizens in Qatar do the same. The U.S. Mission to Qatar continues to monitor the… pic.twitter.com/wGXYW8uF0G

— TravelGov (@TravelGov) January 14, 2026

In Kuwait, the U.S. Embassy instructed mission personnel to halt movements to military bases in that country.

“‘Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that U.S. bases in those countries will be attacked if the U.S. targets Iran,” Reuters reported. We saw a similar pattern in June, just days before Trump ordered the Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, when the Air Force evacuated many of its aircraft from bases near the Persian Gulf in order to save them from a potential barrage.

There have also been peculiar aircraft movements to Hawaii, though the reason is not clear. The Hawaii Air National Guard (HANG) is holding Sentry Aloha, a large training exercise involving fighter aircraft, airborne early warning jets and refueling tankers. This could account for some of the activity, but that even kicked off today and usually participating aircraft do not show up the night before such an exercise.

It also should be remembered that the Pentagon purposely made sure flight trackers could see the movements of what appeared to be a large group of B-2s over the Pacific ahead of Midnight Hammer in what became a very effective information operation. In reality, the real strike force was heading east without being tracked, over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, before making their way to strike their targets in Iran.

“At midnight, Friday into Saturday morning, a large B-2 strike package comprised of bombers” left the United States, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained during a press conference following Midnight Hammer. “As part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy, a deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders here in Washington and in Tampa.” 

Whether there is any connection between what we are seeing in Hawaii and any attack on Iran is something we will only really know after the fact, just like Midnight Hammer. But aside from prepositioning refueling assets, this seems less likely at this time.

As far as Navy assets, a handful of unconfirmed reports state the U.S. is ordering the USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group (CSG) to the Middle East. This would mark the first major movement of Navy assets to the region since massive protests against the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei broke out across the country last month. There are currently no U.S. aircraft carriers in the region.

US MILITARY HARDWARE MOVING TO THE MIDDLE EAST AMID TENSIONS WITH IRAN:

The U.S. is moving a carrier strike group from the South China Sea to the CENTCOM area of responsibility, a source with knowledge tells me @NewsNation

That will take a week or so to complete.

— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) January 14, 2026

“A US official tells Al Jazeera: The USS Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group…will move from the South China Sea to the Middle East,” the news outlet reported on Telegram Wednesday afternoon. While The War Zone cannot independently confirm that, such a movement fits in with our assessment earlier today that the Lincoln CSG would be the most likely choice for a carrier deployment should the Pentagon decide to plus-up its Navy presence in the region. We will continue to monitor this situation for updated information.

Earlier today, a Navy official told us that there were six ships in the CENTCOM region – three Areligh Burke class destroyers, USS McFaul, USS Mitscher and USS Roosevelt, as well as three Littoral Combat Ships, the USS Tulsa, USS Santa Barbara and USS Canberra.

In comparison, at the time of the Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June, the Vinson Carrier Strike Group was deployed to the region as well as two Arleigh Burke class destroyers, according to USNI’s Fleet and Marine Tracker. An additional three Arleigh Burkes were on station in the Eastern Mediterranean, well within range of Iran for its long-range missiles. There are currently no U.S. warships in that body of water, the Navy told us this morning.

Wednesday morning, Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, addressed questions about whether he was concerned no carriers are now in the CENTCOM region.

While those deployments provided far more punch than exists now, we have previously pointed out that other capabilities can fill-in for a carrier strike group, at least to a degree. This includes land-based aircraft and additional land-based air defenses, although we have seen no indication of major movements of those capabilities, either. It’s also worth noting that there is a sizable U.S. force deployed to the Middle East at any given time.

“So we can show up pretty much anywhere in the world and provide options right away [but] it’s about risk,” he told reporters, including from The War Zone, at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium. “This is risk. This is risk to mission. It can be risk to force and certainly risk to objectives if combatant commanders don’t have the forces they need.”

Regardless of Trump’s comments or U.S. military movements, the region remains on edge. The British closed their embassy in Tehran while India ordered its citizens to leave the country.  

BREAKING: British Embassy has been closed in Tehran

A government spokesperson said: “We have temporarily closed the British Embassy in Tehran, this will now operate remotely. Foreign Office travel advice has now been updated to reflect this consular change.”

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) January 14, 2026

Meanwhile, Israel seems to be preparing for a major event, though officials are trying to maintain an element of calm.

“The IDF says it has stepped up its defensive posture and is closely monitoring developments amid reports of a possible US strike on Iran and Iranian threats of retaliation against Israel, while urging the public to rely only on official updates and avoid spreading rumors,” the Times of Israel reported.

A senior IDF official told us that he is seeing mixed signs of preparation.

“I have just returned from the Kirya base, the IDF’s main headquarters,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. “I did not observe anything out of the ordinary there. At the same time, I continue to hear ongoing directives instructing units to maintain a high level of readiness for any possible scenario.”

“I am aware that aircraft are armed and on immediate standby, and that all active missile defense systems are fully operational and prepared,” he added.

Jerusalem is also preparing for attacks from the Houthi rebels of Yemen and the Hezbollah insurgents of Lebanon. Both groups are Iranian proxies that have had frequent conflicts with Israel.

? CHANNEL 12 | IDF PREPARES FOR MULTI-FRONT THREAT

Channel 12 News reports that the Israel Defense Forces is preparing for the possibility that Houthi movement forces in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon could also take part in attacks against Israel.

The assessment reflects… pic.twitter.com/SpEWeSMcYv

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) January 14, 2026

The German airline Lufthansa told employees to immediately prepare to leave Israel, which is at a high state of alert for an attack on or from Iran.

The German flagship carrier Lufthansa has told employees to immediately prepare to leave Israel and will cancel all flights to and from the country beginning Thursday, due to heightened tensions in the region related to Iran. pic.twitter.com/5xfIxE0lmu

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 14, 2026

As for the situation inside Iran, it remains extremely difficult to assess what is really taking place. The scope of any ongoing protests remains unclear.

Iran, as we previously noted, has largely shut down the internet and telephone service, including attempting to jam Starlink terminals. An exact number of deaths since the protests began on Dec. 28 over rising prices, devalued currency that saw the rial crater now to basically nothing, a devastating drought, and brutal government crackdowns, is hard to pin down. On Wednesday, the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) reported that more than 2,400 protesters have been killed so far. A day earlier, CBS News stated that the death toll was at least 12,000 and possibly as high as 20,000.

The events in and around Iran remain highly fluid and we will continue to provide updates when warranted.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Jan. 13 (UPI) — Actor Timothy Busfield surrendered himself to the Albuquerque Police Department on Tuesday after a warrant was issued last week accusing him of sexually abusing two children.

Busfield said he is fighting the charges that accuse him of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and child abuse.

Before turning himself in on Tuesday, Busfield told his attorneys in Albuquerque that he will “confront these lies” and that he “did not do anything to those little boys,” according to a video obtained by TMZ.

The charges arise from two boys who were cast members of The Cleaning Lady television show that aired on Fox when Busfield was its director and a cast member. Episodes were filmed in New Mexico beginning in 2022.

Attorney Larry Stein is Busfield’s non-criminal attorney and told TMZ that the accusations are false and were made by the mother of two boys who were fired ahead of the show’s final season.

Stein said the mother allegedly told another cast member that she would get revenge against Busfield for cutting her sons from the final season’s cast.

The Warner Bros. studio commissioned an independent investigation by a law firm into the matter and concluded the allegations lacked any evidence.

The law firm interviewed about a dozen people close to the matter before concluding that there was no evidence to support the claims, TMZ reported.

The children accuse Busfield of inappropriately touching them while on the film set.

Busfield surrendered himself after learning a warrant had been issued for his arrest. U.S. Marshals and local police were seeking his whereabouts to initiate an arrest.

Stein said Busfield won’t be allowed to post bail, and his wife, actress Melissa Gilbert, said she won’t comment on the matter.

“Her focus is on supporting and caring for their very large family as they navigate this moment,” Gilbert’s spokesperson Ame Van Iden told NBC News.

“Melissa stands with and supports her husband and will address the public at an appropriate time,” Van Iden said.

Zoe Atkin secured a second British World Cup podium of the weekend with a silver medal in the freeski halfpipe event at the US Grand Prix in Aspen.

The 22-year-old halfpipe world champion was top of the standings in qualification but finished 0.25 points behind winner China’s Li Fanghui in the finals on Saturday to place second.

Li scored 93.00, Atkin achieved a score of 92.75 and third-placed Kexin Zhang of China finished with 88.75.

Atkin said she was “really happy” to secure a podium at the last World Cup event before the Winter Olympics get under way next month.

“I’m feeling super confident, really excited to get back to training and work on a couple of new things in preparation for the Games,” she added.

KENDALL Jenner has opened up on cosmetic procedures she’s had in order to shut down rumours once and for all she’s had work done. 

While the Kardashian family love ‘tweakments’ and going under the knife to achieve their perfect image, 30-year-old Kendall has always maintained that she has never had any plastic surgery to maintain her supermodel looks. 

Appearing on the In Your Dreams podcast, Kendall shut down rumours that she’s had any sort of extensive work – despite facing years of criticism online by those claiming she’s lied about having surgery on her face, including a nose job. 

“I’m not going to sit here and convince anyone that I haven’t had work,” the star told host Owen Theile. “There’s a whole world on the internet that thinks I’ve had full facial reconstruction.

“I’m just here to tell you the truth, which is the fact that I’ve never had any plastic surgery on my face. Nothing. I’ve never had any work done.” 

While Owen didn’t appear convinced, she stood her ground and added: “I swear to God. I’ve done two rounds of Baby Botox in my forehead. That’s it. The only thing I’ve ever injected.”

She added that she “didn’t love it” and has opted to not use it since. 

“I look at old photos of me and I’m like, ‘Wait, it does look like I have a nose job,’” she added. “[But] I swear to God, on everything that I love, I’ve never had a nose job.” 

However, while she’s not had any major work done, she loves having skin rejuvenation treatments after suffering from acne for years. 

Among the treatments she’s tried are the “vampire facials” which involve microneedling platelet-rich plasma into the skin, and PRP injections to inject her own blood plasma back into her skin to give a filler-type effect. 

However, Kendall does understand where the confusion is coming from, admitting that looking at old photographs from her teenage years she could see why people would presume she’d gone under the knife. 

But she condemned those who have used social media to analyse what she may or may not have had done, saying it could have a negative impact on young people who follow her. 

“It can affect young people in such an interesting way,” she explained. “Because then they see that and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, that’s what I have to do to look like that.’ And then they go rush, and they do something silly.”

The star’s frank chat also included her addressing long-standing rumours about her sexuality – despite being in public relationships with stars including Harry Styles, Bad Bunny and Devin Booker.

“I understand that coming out is not an easy thing for anybody, if not most people, and I’m not saying it’s an easy thing” she said.

“But knowing, and I can speak for myself here, and knowing myself, I think at this point in my life I’d be out if I was.”

“I’m not saying it’s an easy thing. I’m just saying that knowing me and knowing how I would want to live my life, I would be,” she added.

“I’d have no problem being that.”

“All’s to say, as of today, I am not,” she later added, before noting: “I don’t think I will be, but I’m not closing doors to experiences in life.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom used his final State of the State address to underscore California’s jaw-dropping crime figures — stats that he said refute the president’s claims about widespread murder and mayhem.

To put in perspective some of the numbers cited by the governor on Thursday:

The last time homicides were this low in Oakland, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was visiting Joan Baez at Santa Rita Jail to commend her on her recent arrest in protest of the Vietnam draft.

Killings haven’t been so rare in San Francisco since superstar Marilyn Monroe wed baseball legend Joe DiMaggio at City Hall.

And violent deaths in the city of Los Angeles fell to rates not seen since the Beatles played Dodgers Stadium, their penultimate public show.

“We have seen double-digit decreases in crime overall in the state of California,” Newsom said. “We’ve got more work to do, but to those with that California derangement syndrome, I’ll repeat — it’s time to update your talking points.”

The governor’s remarks follow reporting by The Times that showed L.A.’s homicide rate is nearing a record low, mirroring trends in other cities nationwide.

With the counts based on data from the LAPD and other law enforcement agencies, President Trump’s insistence that crime in California is out of control has come to seem increasingly bombastic. Recently, the president has modified his message to warn of a possible crime resurgence.

“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again,” Trump said on Truth Social in a post announcing an end to his legal battle to maintain National Guard troops in L.A., Portland and Chicago. “Only a question of time!”

In his speech Thursday, Newsom credited the stark drop in violence to a flood of crime-fighting cash unleashed by the California Legislature.

“No one’s walked away from public safety,” Newsom said. “We didn’t turn a blind eye to this, we invested in it. We didn’t talk about it, we leaned in.”

But experts said the reality is more complicated. Those who study the root causes of crime say that it may take years, if not decades, to disentangle the causes of the pandemic-era surge in violence and the precipitous drop that has followed.

Trump hammered lawlessness in California’s streets during the 2024 presidential campaign and throughout his first year back in the White House. He rarely names Newsom without invoking crime and chaos, and regularly threatens to surge armed soldiers back into into the streets.

At the same time, the Trump administration has slashed hundreds of millions in federal funding from school safety grants, youth mentoring programs and gang intervention networks that experts say have been instrumental in improving public safety.

Proponents worry those cuts could threaten L.A.’s patchwork of alternative crisis response programs aimed at easing the city’s reliance on law enforcement. In recent years, scores of groups have sprung up to assist people dealing with homelessness, drug addiction and the symptoms of untreated mental health disorders — all of which can heighten the perception of crime, even when actual numbers go down.

Looming cuts in federal spending could hinder efforts to scale up these initiatives, some warned.

“I just don’t know how we can continue to trend in the right direction without continuing to invest in things that work,” said Thurman Barnes, assistant director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.

According to data published by the Major Cities Chiefs Assn., homicides were down in San Francisco, San José, Sacramento and Oakland. Other violent crimes, including rape, aggravated assault and robbery, also dropped, with a handful of exceptions.

Property crime was also down, the governor said Thursday.

Street-level disorder and perceptions of widespread lawlessness helped topple progressive administrations across California in 2024 and earned Trump an unexpected windfall in some of the state’s bluest cities.

Those concerns are “at the core” of California voters’ frustrations, Newsom acknowledged Thursday.

“We’re seeing results, making streets safer for everyone,” the governor said.

Jeff Asher, a leading expert in the field of criminology, said it’s hard to say whether the perception gap is closing “because we don’t necessarily track it super systematically.”

But he pointed to a Gallup poll from late last year that showed less than half of Americans believed that crime had gone up — the first time in two decades that that number had dipped below 50%.

“The pandemic broke us in a lot of ways, and we’re starting to not feel as broken,” he said.

Newsom also touted sharp declines in the number of people living on the streets.

Unsheltered homelessness dropped 9% in California and more than 10% in Los Angeles, the governor announced — data he sought to contrast with an 18% rise in homelessness nationwide.

The sight of encampments and people in the throes of psychosis in the streets drives perceptions of lawlessness and danger, studies show. Lowering it soothes those fears.

But California’s overall homeless population remains stubbornly high, with only modest reductions. Federal funding cuts could hamper efforts to further reduce those numbers, experts warned.

Rather than dig into the complexities of crime, Newsom sought to portray the president himself as the driver of lawlessness, calling the first year of his second term a “carnival of chaos.”

“We face an assault on our values unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime,” the governor said. “Secret police. Businesses being raided. Windows smashed, citizens detained, citizens shot. Masked men snatching people in broad daylight, people disappearing. Using American cities as training grounds for the United States military.”

“It’s time for the president of the United States to do his job, not turn his back on Americans that happen to live in the great state of California,” Newsom said.

KHLOE Kardashian has made a shocking claim in a recent episode of her podcast, Khloe In Wonderland.

The Good American co-founder shared her thoughts on aging and expressed a rather unconventional desire: she wants her body to be “frozen and preserved.”

This statement has ignited discussions about aging, beauty standards, and the lengths individuals might go to maintain their youthful appearance.

Khloe confidently stated, “As soon as I can be frozen and preserved, sign me up,” reflecting her ambition to defy the natural aging process and live until the age of 104.

Khloe’s remarks highlight a growing trend in celebrity culture where the pressure to look youthful and beautiful is immense.

The Kardashian family, already known for their extensive cosmetic enhancements, continues to be at the forefront of discussions regarding beauty standards.

PARANORMAL PALACE

Khloe Kardashian reveals Kylie Jenner has a GHOST in her $48m LA mansion

Khloe’s comments come after she has undergone a series of aesthetic procedures, and her desire to preserve her body could resonate with many individuals who share similar worries about aging.

She discussed the topic during and Ask Me Anything Episode of her show, sandwiched between her experiences with the paranormal, whether or not she Venmos her sisters, and rumors about planning her own baby shower.

This notion of “freezing” one’s body could refer to advancements in cryonics and other preservation technologies.

Cryonics is the practice of preserving individuals at very low temperatures with the hope that future medical advancements can bring them back to life or restore their health.

While the science is still in its infancy and remains largely theoretical, it raises intriguing ethical and philosophical questions about the lengths people might go to for immortality.

It also brings up memories of sci-fi movies like Jurassic Park, Encino Man, Alien 3, and Cryo.

Alongside her mother Kris Jenner, 70, and grandmother MJ, 91, who is seen as a vibrant near-centenarian, Khloe’s statements reflect a family legacy steeped in openness about beauty and aging.

The Kardashians have long faced scrutiny about their appearances and the messages they send to younger generations.

Supermodel sister Kendall has had rumors of a nose job, Kylie has publicly announced her breast implant size, and mama bear Kris is famous for her recent facelift.

Khloe’s comments are particularly pertinent in these discussions surrounding self-image and health.

While Khloe dreams of a youthful, preserved future, her call for body preservation sparks broader conversations about aging, the pressures of celebrity culture, and what it truly means to be “forever young.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump has made broad but vague assertions that the United States is going to “run” Venezuela after the ouster of Nicolás Maduro but has offered almost no details about how it will do so, raising questions among some lawmakers and former officials about the administration’s level of planning for the country after Maduro was gone.

Seemingly contradictory statements from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have suggested at once that the U.S. now controls the levers of Venezuelan power or that the U.S. has no intention of assuming day-to-day governance and will allow Maduro’s subordinates to remain in leadership positions for now.

Rubio said the U.S. would rely on existing sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector and criminal gangs to wield leverage with Maduro’s successors.

The uncertainty on definitive next steps in Venezuela contrasts with the years of discussions and planning that went into U.S. military interventions that deposed other autocratic leaders, notably in Iraq in 2003, which still did not often lead to the hoped-for outcomes.

‘Disagreement about how to proceed’

The discrepancy between what Trump and Rubio have said publicly has not sat well with some former diplomats.

“It strikes me that we have no idea whatsoever as to what’s next,” said Dan Fried, a retired career diplomat, former assistant secretary of state and sanctions coordinator who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

“For good operational reasons, there were very few people who knew about the raid, but Trump’s remarks about running the country and Rubio’s uncomfortable walk back suggests that even within that small group of people, there is disagreement about how to proceed,” said Fried who is now with the Atlantic Council think tank.

Supporters of the operation, meanwhile, believe there is little confusion over the U.S. goal.

“The president speaks in big headlines and euphemisms,” said Rich Goldberg, a sanctions proponent who worked in the National Energy Dominance Council at the White House until last year and is now a senior adviser to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish think tank.

Goldberg does not see Rubio becoming “the superintendent of schools” but “effectively, the U.S. will be calling the shots.”

“There are people at the top who can make what we want happen or not, and we right now control their purse strings and their lives,” he said. “The president thinks it’s enough and the secretary thinks it’s enough, and if it’s not enough, we’ll know very soon and we’ll deal with it.”

If planning for the U.S. “to run” Venezuela existed prior to Maduro’s arrest and extradition to face federal drug charges, it was confined to a small group of Trump political allies, according to current U.S. officials, who note that Trump relies on a very small circle of advisers and has tossed aside much of the traditional decision-making apparatus.

These officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss their understanding of internal deliberations, said they were not aware of any preparations for either a military occupation or an interim civilian governing authority, which has been a priority for previous administrations when they contemplated going to war to oust a specific leader or government. The White House and the State Department’s press office did not return messages seeking comment.

Long discussion among agencies in previous interventions

Previous military actions that deposed autocratic leaders, notably in Panama in 1989 and Iraq in 2003, were preceded by months, if not years, of interagency discussion and debate over how best to deal with power vacuums caused by the ousters of their leaders. The State Department, White House National Security Council, the Pentagon and the intelligence community all participated in that planning.

In Panama, the George H.W. Bush administration had nearly a full year of preparations to launch the invasion that ousted Panama’s leader Manuel Noriega. Panama, however, is exponentially smaller than Venezuela, it had long experience as a de facto American territory, and the U.S. occupation was never intended to retake territory or natural resources.

By contrast, Venezuela is vastly larger in size and population and has a decadeslong history of animosity toward the United States.

“Panama was not successful because it was supported internationally because it wasn’t,” Fried said. “It was a success because it led to a quick, smooth transfer to a democratic government. That would be a success here, but on the first day out, we trashed someone who had those credentials, and that strikes me as daft.”

He was referring to Trump’s apparent dismissal of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose party is widely believed to have won elections in 2024, results that Maduro refused to accept. Trump said Saturday that Machado “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country” to be a credible leader and suggested he would be OK with Maduro’s No. 2, Delcy Rodríguez, remaining in power as long as she works with the U.S.

Hoped-for outcomes didn’t happen in Iraq and Afghanistan

Meanwhile, best-case scenarios like those predicted by the George W. Bush administration for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq that it would be a beacon of democracy in the Middle East and hopes for a democratic and stable Afghanistan following the ouster of the Taliban died painfully slow deaths at the tremendous expense of American money and lives after initial euphoria over military victories.

“Venezuela looks nothing like Libya, it looks nothing like Iraq, it looks nothing like Afghanistan. It looks nothing like the Middle East,” Rubio said this weekend of Venezuela and its neighbors. “These are Western countries with long traditions at a people-to-people and cultural level, and ties to the United States, so it’s nothing like that.”

The lack of clarity on Venezuela has been even more pronounced because Trump campaigned on a platform of extricating the U.S. from foreign wars and entanglements, a position backed by his “Make America Great Again” supporters, many of whom are seeking explanations about what the president has in mind for Venezuela.

“Wake up MAGA,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has bucked much of his party’s lockstep agreement with Trump, posted on X after the operation. “VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for.”

Sen. Rand Paul, also a Kentucky Republican, who often criticizes military interventions, said “time will tell if regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant monetary or human cost.”

“Easy enough to argue such policy when the action is short, swift and effective but glaringly less so when that unitary power drains of us trillions of dollars and thousands of lives, such as occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam,” he wrote on social media.

In addition to the Venezuela operation, Trump is preparing to take the helm of an as-yet unformed Board of Peace to run postwar Gaza, involving the United States in yet another Mideast engagement for possibly decades to come.

And yet, as both the Iraq and Afghanistan experiences ultimately proved, no amount of planning guarantees success.

Lee writes for the Associated Press.

Jan. 4 (UPI) — A far-left activist group sent police a letter taking credit for setting fire to part of a power plant near Berlin, leaving nearly 50,000 customers in the dark, as a protest against the fossil fuel industry.

The German activist group Vulkangruppe, or Volcano Group, acknowledged in a 2,500-word letter that it set a fire on Saturday near the Lichterfelde heat and power station, damaging high-voltage cables to “cut the juice to the ruling class,” The Guardian reported.

On Sunday morning, Stromnetz Berlin, the power company that owns the station, reported that roughly 45,000 homes and 2,200 businesses had lost power in the outage, Deutche Welle reported.

The power company said that while some connections have been turned back on in small waves, some customers may not have their electricity until as late as Thursday afternoon.

Some schools may also be closed for the part of the week because they do not have power, The BBC reported.

“We are expecting damage costing millions to plants and machines and owing to high losses in revenue,” Alexander Schirp, director of the regional business associations in Berlin and Brandenburg, said of the arson.

“This is a serious problem and stokes a feeling of insecurity in the business world,” he added.

Early Saturday, cables near the power plant were spotted burning and incendiary devices were later found to have caused the inferno.

In the aftermath, several hospitals and health care facilities received emergency generators, but many people had to be moved from either facilities or their own homes because there was no power.

Vulkangruppe said in the letter, which police have said is credible, that they set the fire in an “act of self-defense and international solidarity with all those who protect the Earth and life.”

The group condemned “greed for energy” by burning fossil fuels for the ever-growing electricity needs of humanity, and specifically called out the massive, and exponentially growing, use of electric for artificial intelligence computing.

“We are contributing to our own surveillance and it is comprehensive. The tech corporations are in the hands of me with power, which we give them,” the group wrote, calling the fire an “action in the public interest.”

Vulkangruppe previously took credit for a fire that was set at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin in March 2024.

That arson included deliberately setting fire to a high-voltage electric pole, which damaged the electric line and cut power to the surrounding area, including the plant, officials said at the time.

Caracas, January 3, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – US President Donald Trump has claimed that US Special Forces have captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a miltary operation against Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday.

In a social media message, Trump stated that the US had “successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela” and that Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores had been “captured and flown out of the country.”

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed that Maduro and Flores’ whereabouts are unknown and demanded that the Trump administration provide proof of life.

US attacks began around 2 am local time, with loud explosions felt in the capital and nearby states.

Multiple military sites, including Fuerte Tiuna in Caracas, were reportedly bombed. Social media users reported low flying aircraft and active air defenses. The port in La Guaira was likewise among infrastructures hit.

Videos on social media also showed helicopters flying over the Venezuelan capital, with military analysts claiming that US Special Forces were deployed.

In a statement published on state outlets, the Venezuelan government accused the United States of carrying out a military attack against Venezuelan territory, describing it as a violation of the UN Charter and a threat to regional peace.

Authorities announced the activation of national defense plans, the deployment of the armed forces, and the declaration of a state of “External Commotion” nationwide. The Maduro government also called for popular mobilization and said it would raise formal complaints before international bodies, including the United Nations.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez issued a statement confirming US bombings in Caracas and surrounding areas.

Padrino reported that Venezuelan authorities are assessing damages and casualties from the attacks, claiming that US helicopters fired missiles on residential areas. The armed forces chief urged the international community to condemn Washington’s “criminal aggression.”

The Trump administration has escalated regime-change threats against Caracas im recent months and vowed to strike land targets.

[Story in development]

Russia has accused Ukraine of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone attack on a hotel and cafe where New Year celebrations were taking place in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.

Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of the region, first made the claim in a statement on Telegram before Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and senior politicians later accused ⁠Ukraine of carrying out “a terrorist attack”.

Saldo also published photos of what he wrote was the aftermath of the attack, which Al Jazeera has not been able to verify.

At least one person’s body was visible in the images beneath a white sheet.

The building showed signs that a fierce fire had raged, and there were what appeared to be bloodstains on the ground.

In the statement, ​Saldo said three Ukrainian drones had struck the site of New Year ‌celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village, in what he said was a “deliberate strike” against civilians. He said many people were burned alive.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said initial information indicated that 24 people had been killed, and that 50 people had been injured.

“There is ‌no doubt that the attack was planned in advance, with ⁠drones deliberately targeting areas where civilians had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve,” the ministry said in a statement, calling the attack “a war crime”.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Telegram that ‌Ukraine’s backers in the West were ultimately to blame.

Senior politicians, including the speakers of both houses of Russia’s parliament, condemned Kyiv.

Kherson is one of the four regions in Ukraine ‍that Russia claimed as its own in 2022, a move Kyiv and most Western countries denounced as an illegal land grab.

Ukraine’s ‍military ‍did not comment on Moscow’s claim, but it said it had hit Russia’s Ilsky ⁠oil refinery in ​the Krasnodar region overnight, ‍adding that the results of the attack ‍were still ⁠being confirmed.

In a statement on Telegram, the military also said it hit the ​Almetyevsk ‌oil facility in Russia’s Tatarstan region.

The Almetyevsk facility is ‌more than 965km (600 ‌miles) from ⁠the nearest part of Ukraine, and even further ‌from the nearest territory currently controlled by ‍Kyiv.

Russia releases video of ‘attack’ on Putin’s residence

On Tuesday, Moscow claimed that Ukraine launched a long-range drone attack against one of President Vladimir Putin’s official residences in northwestern Russia, which Kyiv has denounced as a “lie”.

Russia’s Defence Ministry released a video on Wednesday of a downed drone it said was involved in the attack.

The night-time clip showed a man in camouflage, a helmet and a Kevlar vest standing near a damaged drone lying in snow.

The man, with his face covered, talks about the drone. Neither the man nor the Defence Ministry provided any location or date.

The video and claims could not be independently verified.

Peace talks

Kyiv has called the allegations of an attack on Putin’s residence a ruse to derail ongoing peace negotiations, which have ramped up in recent weeks on both sides of the Atlantic.

In his New Year’s address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a peace deal was “90 percent ready” but warned that the remaining 10 percent, believed to include key sticking points such as territory, would “determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live”.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday that he, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had had a “productive call” with the national security advisers of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ukraine to discuss the “European peace process”.

“We focused on how to move the discussions forward in a practical way on behalf of [Trump’s] peace process, including strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart,” Witkoff said in a post on X.

Lead Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov also reaffirmed that European and Ukrainian officials plan to meet on Saturday, while Zelenskyy is due to hold talks next week with European leaders.

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia attacked the Odesa region overnight, targeting civilian infrastructure in several waves of drone attacks, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.

In a post on Telegram, Kiper said a two-storey residential building was damaged and that a drone hit an apartment on the 17th floor of a high-rise building without detonating. No casualties were reported.

In its daily report, the air force said air defence forces had downed or suppressed 176 of 205 drones targeting Ukraine overnight.

It said 24 drone hits were recorded at 15 locations, and the attack was ongoing.

Dec. 31 (UPI) — The nation’s new jobless claims exceeded expectations with fewer than 200,000 reported for the week ending on Saturday, marking the third straight week that new jobless claims fell.

The number of new jobless claims fell by about 16,000 and posted a seasonally adjusted 199,000, the Labor Department announced on Wednesday.

The term “seasonally adjusted” refers to a statistical method in which seasonal effects, such as weather and holidays, are factored to better show the direction in which the nation’s job market is moving.

Last week’s decline was the third straight week and the seventh of the past eight in which seasonally adjusted new jobless claims declined across the country, MarketWatch reported.

Economists responding to a Wall Street Journal poll had estimated 220,000 new jobless claims for the week.

The prior week’s new jobless claims were revised up by 1,000, from an initial estimated of 214,000 to the adjusted total of 215,000.

The Labor Department reported 269,953 unadjusted new jobless claims last week, which was up by 5,333 and 25 from the prior week ending on Dec. 20. Economists had predicted an increase of 26,612 for a 10.1% increase last week.

The unadjusted new jobless claims for last week were down from 283,488 during the same period in 2024.

Meanwhile, the number of people with previously established unemployment claims fell by 47,000 to 1.87 million for the week that ended on Dec. 20.

The number of continuing claims had risen since the pandemic due to a slowdown in hiring, but they have not grown in number in recent months, according to MarketWatch.

While new and existing jobless claims are down, some economists cautioned that the slow hiring pace since the summer might herald an economic slowdown.

The nation’s total unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November, which was its highest rate since September 2021.

The states with the five highest unemployment rates for the week ending on Dec. 13 were Washington state at 2.5%, followed by New Jersey, 2.4%; Massachusetts and Minnesota, 2.2%, each; and California, Illinois and Rhode Island at 2.1%, each.

Dec. 30 (Asia Today) — President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday ordered prosecutors and police to investigate allegations that the Unification Church lobbied politicians, directing authorities to begin work even as political parties debate appointing a special prosecutor.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office, Lee said investigators should coordinate in advance on how the case would be handled if it is later transferred to a special prosecutor.

“Even if it becomes a special prosecutor case during the investigation and is handed over then, it would be better for the prosecution and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to consult beforehand and decide who will handle it or if they will work together, and form a team,” Lee said. “It doesn’t seem like something we should just wait around for.”

Lee said religious interference in politics, bribery and collusion are serious matters that threaten democracy and the country’s future.

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok also called for a strong response, saying he believes instability in state affairs has been fueled by what he described as “shamanistic politics” and church-state collusion.

Kim said it was timely that discussions are emerging about appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the Unification Church and potentially expanding the scope to include Shincheonji, while warning the process could be derailed by political disputes.

He suggested the government should prepare for the possibility the political process fails to produce an agreement and said authorities could consider setting up a government-level special investigation headquarters.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Belarus has announced the deployment on its territory of Russia’s still-shadowy Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile. The development comes soon after the appearance of satellite imagery that suggests that Moscow is likely stationing the nuclear-capable missiles in Belarus. However, there remain questions about the status of the Oreshnik, as well as its overall capabilities.

The Belarusian Ministry of Defense today released a video that it says shows the deployment of the Oreshnik system on its territory. The footage shows a flag-raising ceremony involving Russian troops in Belarus as well as a column of vehicles moving out into a firing position in the field, where they are then covered in camouflage netting.

It’s notable that the vehicles shown appear to all be associated with support roles, rather than being transporter-erector launchers (TEL) for the missile itself. It could be the case that the TELs (and missiles) have yet to arrive in Belarus, or that they were deliberately omitted from the footage. It may also be that the missiles themselves are based elsewhere.

A senior officer is seen telling troops that the systems have officially been placed on combat duty and talks about the missile crews’ regular training and reconnaissance drills.

The location of the missile systems and the date of the video were not disclosed.

The release of the video follows Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s announcement earlier this month that the Oreshnik would be deployed in his country, part of his extensive military support for his staunch ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Only last week, evidence emerged pointing to the likely stationing of the Oreshnik at a former airbase near Krichev (also known as Krichev-6) in eastern Belarus, around 190 miles east of the capital of Minsk, and 300 miles southwest of Moscow.

After assessing available satellite imagery, researchers Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, in California, and Decker Eveleth of the CNA research and analysis organization in Virginia, said they were “90 percent certain” that mobile Oreshnik launchers would be stationed there, if they weren’t already.

Lewis and Eveleth highlighted a hurried construction project that began at the site between August 4-12, which was consistent with a Russian strategic missile base. By November of this year, key evidence included a “military-grade rail transfer point” surrounded by a security fence, from where TELs and other components could be unloaded. There were also signs of a concrete pad being constructed at the end of the former runway, “consistent with a camouflaged launch point.”

According to Lewis and Eveleth, the site near Krichev is large enough to accommodate three launchers. Previously, Lukashenko said up to 10 Oreshniks would be based in Belarus, suggesting that more might yet be fielded at other locations.

The researchers’ assessment “broadly aligns with U.S. intelligence findings,” Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter who spoke to the news agency on the condition of anonymity.

After a December 2024 meeting with Lukashenko, Putin had made clear his plan to station Oreshnik missiles in Belarus, but the exact location had not previously been reported. The Russian leader had said the deployment would occur in the second half of 2025.

As for the Oreshnik (Russian for hazel tree) system itself, U.S. officials have said this is an intermediate-range design derived from the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The new missile first emerged in public after it was used in an unprecedented attack on Ukraine in November 2024. Ukrainian authorities said that the missile that was fired at them carried six warheads, each containing six more sub-payloads, but that these contained no explosives.

Ok, two reasons why I think Russia probably used a variant of the long-gestating RS-26 Rubezh IRBM: (1) Russia hinted that it resumed development of the RS-26 this summer and (2) that’s what the Ukrainians predicated a day ago, down to the launch site. https://t.co/eUIPx7eqVt

— Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) November 21, 2024

Otherwise, details about the Oreshnik remain limited. After its use against Ukraine, Putin described it as a “medium-range missile system” and “a ballistic missile equipped with non-nuclear hypersonic technology” capable of reaching a peak speed of Mach 10. “The kinetic impact is powerful, like a meteorite falling,” the Russian president also said.

Overall, Russian claims of hypersonic performance for the Oreshnik are questionable. There is no evidence of true hypersonic boost-glide vehicles, for example, but larger ballistic missiles, even ones with traditional designs, do reach hypersonic speeds, typically defined as anything above Mach 5, in the terminal stage of their flight.

The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a conventionally armed ICBM this morning, marking the first combat use of an ICBM in history.

Footage from Dnipro showed glowing reentry vehicles hitting the ground around 5 AM local time. pic.twitter.com/PWTGajH9bT

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) November 21, 2024

Western estimates suggest the missile has a range of up to 3,400 miles.

While positioning the Oreshnik marginally farther west does extend its reach further into Europe, the difference is less significant, bearing in mind its already considerable maximum range is enough to hit every NATO capital city in Europe from within Russian territory. With that in mind, stationing these missiles in Belarus does little to practically enhance Moscow’s ability to deliver these kinds of weapons across Europe.

In fact, the missile’s likely minimum range, forward deploying the Oreshnik to Belarus might actually limit the ability to employ it against certain targets, such as those in Ukraine. For example, Ukraine’s capital Kyiv lies less than 60 miles from the border with Belarus.

Another option might be to use a very high lofted trajectory that would allow the missile to hit targets at shorter ranges, but there would still be a limit to what could be achieved in this way. At the same time, we don’t know for sure what kinds of trajectories the Oreshnik can actually be fired on.

Regardless, the deployment does carry important political and strategic signals. It means that Belarusian and Russian affairs are even more deeply intertwined, with the former firmly and openly under the protection of the latter’s nuclear deterrent umbrella. Russia had already begun deploying nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory in cooperation with that country’s armed forces in 2023.

Russia really wants West to see they’re doing a tac nuke exercise. After several exercise videos they put the head of the 12 GUMO in front of a Belarusian Su-25 (possibly at Lida air base) loaded with what is said to be “training nuclear ammunition.” https://t.co/h9rHp2qvGv pic.twitter.com/sTzAqSNd9f

— Hans Kristensen (also on Bluesky) (@nukestrat) June 13, 2024

Placing these missiles (and air-dropped nuclear bombs) in Belarus is indicative of the Kremlin’s new nuclear strategy, which includes basing these kinds of weapons outside its territory for the first time since the Cold War.

The apparent deployment also comes only weeks before the expiration of the 2010 New START pact, the last U.S.-Russia treaty that puts limits on the deployments of strategic nuclear weapons by these two powers.

For NATO, it’s very much arguable whether Russia’s placing of the Oreshnik in neighboring Belarus, rather than on Russian territory, will really be seen as a more direct threat.

“The military implications of this missile being in Belarus are not all that different from the missile being in Russia — the technical support site is already very close to the Russian border,” Eveleth wrote on X last week.

For Belarus, the situation is different. For a country in the international wilderness, the deployment does underscore Russia’s guarantee of providing Belarus with (nuclear) protection.

Russia’s revised nuclear stance also relies increasingly on these kinds of weapons to deter NATO members from supplying Kyiv with weapons that can strike deep inside Russia, although it’s questionable whether placing the Oreshnik in Belarus will have a significant, if any, effect in this regard.

More generally, the deployment of the Oreshnik has to be seen as part of Moscow’s response to U.S. plans to send its own intermediate-range strike capabilities to Germany, and potentially elsewhere in Europe, in the coming years. This includes planned “episodic deployments” of the U.S. Army’s Typhon ground-based missile system, which can fire Tomahawk cruise missiles and multi-purpose SM-6 missiles, as well as that service’s still-in-development Dark Eagle hypersonic missile. The U.S. Navy has also demonstrated its ability to deploy containerized launchers related to Typhon, which can be employed in a ground-based mode and also fire Tomahawks and SM-6s, to sites in Europe.

While these U.S. long-range strike systems are all conventionally armed, it’s worth recalling that the Oreshnik, too, can be utilized in a non-nuclear version, as demonstrated in Ukraine. The missile, therefore, presents a longer-range strategic-level threat that can be employed without crossing the nuclear threshold.

The potential value of a conventionally armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which some countries may be looking at fielding if they haven’t already, is something that we discussed in detail in this previous story.

Provided that the Oreshnik is indeed now deployed on Belarusian territory, we still don’t know how many missiles might be involved, or what kinds of warheads they might carry. While we may learn more in due course, for now, the missile’s greatest significance is in the political domain.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Russia has threatened to retaliate against Ukraine after alleging that nearly 100 drones had targeted one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences.

The threat on Monday was made as United States President Donald Trump tries to broker a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, which will enter its fifth year in February.

What has Russia claimed?

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged that Ukraine had launched the attack on the Valdai residence, one of Putin’s residences in the Novgorod region in northwestern Russia. The property is 360km (225 miles) north of Moscow.

Lavrov told reporters that Ukraine had launched 91 drones towards the residence. He added that air defence systems shot down the drones and no one was injured.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said 49 of the drones were shot down over the Bryansk region, one was shot down over the Smolensk region and 41 were shot down over the Novgorod region while en route.

“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” Lavrov said. “The targets for retaliatory strikes and the timing of their implementation by the Russian armed forces have been determined.”

Russian officials accused Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of carrying out the strike to derail the prospects of a peace agreement.

In an apparent reference to Zelenskyy, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev wrote on X: “The stinking Kiev b**tard is trying to derail the settlement of the conflict. He wants war. Well, now at least he’ll have to stay in hiding for the rest of his worthless life.”

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the strike took place on Sunday “practically immediately after” talks were held in Florida between Trump and Zelenskyy on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine.

After that meeting, Trump and Zelenskyy had voiced optimism, saying a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was “close”.

Putin has not publicly commented on the attack yet. It is unclear where Putin was at the time of the attack, but he was holding meetings in the Kremlin on Saturday and Monday.

How has Ukraine responded?

Zelenskyy has strongly denied Russia’s allegation that Ukraine attacked one of Putin’s residences.

“Russia is at it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all achievements of our shared diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team,” Zelenskyy wrote in an X post on Monday.

“This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also condemned Moscow’s claims, saying they were designed to undermine the negotiations.

In a post on X, Sybiha said the claim was intended “to create a pretext and false justification for Russia’s further attacks against Ukraine, as well as to undermine and impede the peace process”.

In another post on Tuesday, Sybiha wrote: “Almost a day passed and Russia still hasn’t provided any plausible evidence to its accusations of Ukraine’s alleged ‘attack on Putin’s residence.’ And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened.”

How has Trump reacted?

Trump appeared to accept the Russian version of events on Monday when he told reporters: “It’s one thing to be offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”

But when reporters asked Trump if US intelligence agencies had evidence of the alleged attack, Trump said: “We’ll find out.”

Congressman Don Bacon, a member of Trump’s Republican Party, criticised the president for accepting the Russian account of events without assessing the facts.

“President Trump and his team should get the facts first before assuming blame. Putin is a well known boldface liar,” Bacon wrote in an X post.

How have other world leaders reacted?

Like Trump, other leaders appeared to accept the Russian allegations.

In a statement released on Monday, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote: “The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned the attempt to target the residence of His Excellency Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and denounced this deplorable attack and the threat it poses to security and stability.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote in an X post on Tuesday: “Deeply concerned by reports of the targeting of the residence of the President of the Russian Federation.”

Modi added that the ongoing diplomatic engagement being led by the US is the “most viable path” towards achieving peace. “We urge all concerned to remain focused on these efforts and to avoid any actions that could undermine them.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the alleged attack.

“Pakistan condemns the reported targeting of the residence of His Excellency Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. Such a heinous act constitutes a grave threat to peace, security, and stability, particularly at a time when efforts aimed at peace are underway,” Sharif wrote on X.

“Pakistan expresses its solidarity with the President of the Russian Federation, and with the government and people of Russia.”

Have Putin’s residences previously been attacked?

Russia has made previous claims of Ukrainian attacks on Putin’s residences, including on the Kremlin, Putin’s official residence and main workplace.

In May 2023, Moscow alleged that Ukraine had deployed two drones to attack Putin’s residence in the Kremlin citadel but said its forces had disabled the drones. Kyiv denied any involvement.

On December 25, 2024, Russia alleged that it had intercepted and destroyed a Ukrainian drone also targeting the Kremlin. Kyiv again denied responsibility.

Conversely, Ukraine has alleged that Russia has attacked Kyiv and other government buildings in Ukraine.

In September, the Ukrainian military said a Russian drone attack damaged a government building in Kyiv that is home to Ukraine’s cabinet. Plumes of smoke were seen emerging from the building. Russia said it had targeted Ukrainian military infrastructure only.

What has Russia now threatened to do?

While Russia has not outright threatened to end the peace talks, Moscow said it would realign its position in the talks.

“The diplomatic consequence will be to toughen the negotiating position of the Russian Federation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned that Moscow’s response “would not be diplomatic”. Indeed, it has warned that it plans to hit back militarily but has given no details of how or when it might do this.

Will this derail the US-led peace talks?

Speaking to reporters after his “terrific” meeting with Zelenskyy on Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump told reporters that Moscow and Kyiv were “closer than ever” to a peace deal.

But Trump has made this claim several times before. In April, Trump said Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal” after Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow.

On December 15, Trump also said Russia and Ukraine were “closer than ever” to a deal after talks in Berlin involving Zelenskyy and the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and NATO.

However, observers and analysts said the issue of territorial concessions remains a major sticking point. Trump’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, which he unveiled in November, involved Ukraine ceding large amounts of land that Russia has occupied during nearly four years of war. Zelenskyy has stated on numerous occasions that this is a line Ukraine will not cross.

Most analysts are sceptical that any progress has been made on this point and said the latest accusations against Ukraine will probably have little effect. “I don’t think there is anything to derail at this point,” said Marina Miron, an analyst at King’s College London.

The peace process “is not going well due to disagreements on key issues between Ukraine and Russia”, she told Al Jazeera.

“Trump has repeatedly claimed that a peace deal is close without sustainable agreement,” Keir Giles, a Russian military expert at the London think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera this month.

Russia has occupied nearly 20 percent of eastern Ukraine and has been slowly gaining territory as Ukraine’s military has been weakened by desertions, casualties and dwindling military aid. Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

“It’s probably impossible that Ukrainians will voluntarily withdraw from these territories unless we will also see a withdrawal of Russian forces on the other side,” Nathalie Tocci, director at the Rome-based think tank Istituto Affari Internazionali (Institute of International Affairs), told Al Jazeera.

Giles said there are still parallel negotiation tracks, however – one involving the US and Ukraine and another between Ukraine and European nations. He added, however, that there is no clear evidence that these efforts are fully coordinated or aligned in terms of strategy.

The passenger said she was flung out of her seat when the plane suddenly dropped – Ryanair has stated the plane was forced to make a U-turn due to air turbulence

A passenger aboard the Ryanair flight forced to return to the United Kingdom after a mid-flight emergency has said the experience ‘felt like something out of a horror movie’.

The Boeing 737 MAX, which departed from Birmingham Airport at about 2.50pm on Sunday, December 28, issued a 7700 squawk over Brittany, France, after reaching an altitude of 35,000ft. This code signifies a general emergency.

The Boeing was bound for Tenerife but was forced to return to the UK mid-flight.

“It felt like something you see on a horror movie,” said a 33-year-old passenger from Lichfield, who did not wish to be named.

“We were smooth cruising then out of nowhere all of a sudden the plane jerked to the left extremely quickly and then to the right, it felt like a loss of control, and then we plummeted down and we were flung out of our seats,” the passenger said.

Passengers informed The Aviation Herald that flight FR1121 experienced turbulence, resulting in injuries to several individuals while cabin service was underway. The flight then made a U-turn and descended to FL100 (flying at 10,000ft).

The aircraft safely touched down back at Birmingham around one hour and 32 minutes after take-off. According to AirLive, it was parked on a remote stand at the airport for paramedics to attend to passengers. The severity of the passengers’ injuries is yet to be determined.

“I came out physically unharmed but the mental toll this has taken it awful… this has really traumatised me,” the woman said.

“The cabin crew said within their 10 years as cabin crew they’ve never experienced anything like it.”

She said other passengers claimed to see a fighter jet pass the Boeing before the incident, but this has not been confirmed.

Ryanair said in a statement: “”FR1121 from Birmingham to Tenerife on 28th December returned to Birmingham Airport shortly after take-off due to air turbulence.

“The aircraft landed normally before passengers disembarked and returned to the terminal, where a small number of passengers were provided with medical assistance. This flight continued to Tenerife at 21:06 local.”

The Mirror has reached out to the airline for further comment.

WASHINGTON — Tips provided to federal investigators about Donald Trump’s alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s schemes with young women and girls are “sensationalist” and “untrue,” the Justice Department said on Tuesday, after a new tranche of files released from the probe featured multiple references to the president.

The documents include a limousine driver reportedly overhearing Trump discussing a man named Jeffrey “abusing” a girl, and an alleged victim accusing Trump and Epstein of rape. It is unclear whether the FBI followed up on the tips. The alleged rape victim died from a gunshot wound to the head after reporting the incident.

Nowhere in the newly released files do federal law enforcement agents or prosecutors indicate that Trump was suspected of wrongdoing, or that Trump — whose friendship with Epstein lasted through the mid-2000s — was investigated himself.

But one unidentified federal prosecutor noted in a 2020 email that Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported,” including over a time period when Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s top confidante who would ultimately be convicted on five federal counts of sex trafficking and abuse, was being investigated for criminal activity.

The Justice Department released an unusual statement unequivocally defending the president.

“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the Justice Department statement read. “To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

“Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims,” the department added.

The Justice Department files were released with heavy redactions after bipartisan lawmakers in Congress passed a new law compelling it to do so, despite Trump lobbying Republicans aggressively over the summer and fall to oppose the bill. The president ultimately signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law after the legislation passed with veto-proof majorities in both chambers.

One newly released file containing a letter purportedly from Epstein — a notorious child sex offender who died in jail while awaiting federal trial on sex-trafficking charges — drew widespread attention online, but was held up by the Justice Department as an example of faulty or misleading information contained in the files.

The letter appeared to be sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, another convicted sex offender, shortly before Epstein’s death. The letter’s author suggested that Nassar would learn after receiving the note that Epstein had “taken the ‘short route’ home,” possibly referring to his suicide. It was postmarked from Virginia on Aug. 13, 2019, despite Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail three days prior.

“Our president shares our love of young, nubile girls,” the letter reads. “When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair.”

The Justice Department said that the FBI had confirmed that the letter is “FAKE” after it made the rounds on Tuesday.

“This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual,” the department posted on social media. “Nevertheless, the DOJ will continue to release all material required by law.”

The department has faced bipartisan scrutiny since failing to release all of the Epstein files in its possession by Dec. 19, the legal deadline for it to do so, and for redacting material on the vast majority of the documents.

Justice Department officials said they were following the law by protecting victims with the redactions. The Epstein Files Transparency Act also directs the department not to redact images or references to prominent or political figures, and to provide an explanation for each and every redaction in writing.

The latest release, just days before the Christmas holiday, includes roughly 30,000 documents, the department said. Hundreds of thousands more are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a statement in response to the Tuesday release accusing the Justice Department of a “cover-up,” writing on social media, “the new DOJ documents raise serious questions about the relationship between Epstein and Donald Trump.”

Documents from Epstein’s private estate released by the oversight committee earlier this fall had already cast a spotlight on that relationship, revealing Epstein had written in emails to associates that Trump “knew about the girls.”

The latest documents release also includes an email from an individual identified as “A,” claiming to stay at Balmoral Castle, a royal residence in Scotland, asking Maxwell if she had found him “some new inappropriate friends.” Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has come under intense scrutiny over his ties to Epstein in recent years.

Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday, Trump said the continuing Epstein scandal amounts to a “distraction” from Republican successes, and expressed disapproval over the release of images in the files that reveal associates of Epstein.

“I believe they gave over 100,000 pages of documents, and there’s tremendous backlash,” Trump told reporters. “It’s an interesting question, because a lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein. But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin a reputation of somebody. So a lot of people are very angry that this continues.”