A further five of Saturday’s SPFL fixtures have been postponed, including Greenock Morton v Dunfermline Athletic and Queen’s Park v St Johnstone in the Championship.
Frozen pitches have caused the cancellation of the two second-tier games.
Alloa Athletic v Montrose (frozen pitch) and Peterhead v Hamilton Academical (waterlogged pitch) in League 1 are off and, in League 2, frozen pitches mean Dumbarton v Clyde and East Kilbride v Spartans will also be rearranged.
Annan Athletic’s home game against Elgin City in League 2 was called off after a Friday pitch inspection revealed another frozen surface.
People across Scotland are being warned to prepare for more snow and ice this weekend.
The plot centres on widow Debbie, who goes to extraordinary lengths to safeguard her family following the sudden death of her reclusive husband.
But there’s a shocking revelation: she’s not actually bereaved, as William is very much alive. After being wrongly pronounced dead, Debbie takes the audacious step of going along with the charade and pocketing his life insurance payout, provided he stays hidden from view, reports the Express.
When their son Harry (Craig Roberts) discovers the reality, he’s understandably shaken to find his supposedly deceased father alive and kicking.
As the programme began, BBC viewers wasted no time heading to X to voice their reactions, with many clearly unimpressed.
One viewer remarked: “Makes Mrs Brown look like a comedy masterclass. Wish the bbc had kept it a secret!” Another posted: ” Waiting for the comedy on @bbc #CanYouKeepaSecret.”
A third viewer admitted: “Not sure not raised a half hearted smile so far #CanYouKeepaSecret.”
whilst another simply declared: “Just awful.”
Yet not everyone shared the same view, with some thoroughly enjoying the new programme, as one person noted: “That was lucky. I kept the TV on after #Traitors and Dawn French humour is cracking me up.”
While another viewer enthused: “Same here. This is hilarious!”
Yet the comedy appears poised to shift into darker territory, as the episode’s closing moments revealed someone has discovered William’s survival, with a menacing letter addressed to him being pushed through the letterbox.
A teaser for upcoming episodes showcased a montage of scenes making it abundantly clear the family’s closely guarded secret has been exposed, with the mysterious individual demanding hush money – but whose identity remains unknown?
Discussing her role in the sitcom, Dawn French explained: “Right from the off I could see that she’s one of those people that absolutely believes she’s always right. I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life, been sat firmly in that righteous place the way Debbie is.
“I may have often imagined that I could be right, but I’ll err on the side of thinking, ‘I’m probably wrong about this’. Debbie just doesn’t have that anxiety or filter. She’s made a split decision in a mad moment, and once the decision is made, unless she’s prepared to go to prison, she knows she’d better man up and deal with it.
“I mean, I’ve never been in this situation, but I guess once you make a life-changing decision like that, and you jump into the dilemma of it, you’ve got to gird your loins and get on with it because once you’re in, you’re in.”
Can You Keep a Secret is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website**
People attend an event held at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune in support of Venezuela in Havana on Saturday. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel condemned the United States’ attack on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA
BUESNOS AIRES, Jan. 6 (UPI) — Cuba is navigating another delicate moment in its recent history after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces Saturday.
The operation that removed him from Caracas and left him facing a court in New York killed 32 Cuban soldiers, part of Maduro’s praetorian guard, and abruptly dismantled the island’s main economic lifeline.
The blow comes amid an energy and health crisis already considered the worst in decades — and one that could now deepen rapidly.
For more than 20 years, the alliance with Venezuela served as a strategic pillar for the Cuban government. The exchange of subsidized oil for medical and security services allowed Havana to sustain its economy after the Soviet collapse and cushion the impact of the U.S. embargo.
Maduro’s fall and the prospect of a regime change in Caracas directly disrupt that balance and place Cuba in a position of heightened economic and political vulnerability.
In the days after the Venezuelan leader’s arrest, the Cuban government responded with a mix of public gestures of support, internal political mobilization and tighter security.
On Saturday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel led a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana, where he said Cuba was prepared to defend its alliance with Venezuela “even at a very high cost.”
The next day, the government decreed two days of national mourning in response to events in Venezuela. Senior officials dominated state television broadcasts to reinforce the idea of a “shared homeland” and a historic resistance to adversity.
The official narrative sought to counter statements by U.S. President Donald Trump, who publicly warned that allies of chavismo would face direct consequences.
Speaking about the island nation just 90 miles from Key West, Fla., Trump said, “Cuba is ready to fall … going down for the count,” while aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
On Monday, according to diplomatic sources, Cuban authorities stepped up surveillance at strategic facilities and convened emergency meetings. At the same time, reports of prolonged blackouts multiplied across several provinces — a concrete sign of the fragility of the energy system, as Venezuelan assistance could disappear or be sharply reduced within weeks.
Cuba’s energy crisis stems from a combination of obsolete infrastructure, chronic lack of maintenance and fuel shortages.
Most electricity generation depends on decades-old thermoelectric plants that are frequently offline due to breakdowns. Limited alternative capacity forces the state to rely on floating plants and diesel generators, whose operation depends on imports the country cannot secure due to a lack of hard currency or the loss of free supplies from traditional allies such as Venezuela.
Venezuelan lawyer and former prosecutor Zair Mundaray told UPI that for decades, Cuba depended entirely on Venezuelan oil, and that the collapse of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., Venezuela’s state‑owned oil and gas company, which started around 2014, broke that anchor. That left the island exposed to more frequent blackouts and a deeper economic downturn.
“In that vacuum, Mexico’s assistance emerged,” Mundaray said.
Press reports indicate that during the peak years of cooperation with Cuba, Caracas sent between 90,000 and 120,000 barrels per day. Since 2023, the Mexican state has shipped hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude and diesel to Cuba in operations valued at more than $300 million.
For economic historian Leandro Morgenfeld at the University of Buenos Aires, one of the objectives of U.S. intervention in Venezuela is to deepen Cuba’s isolation.
“The United States sees the Western Hemisphere as its exclusive domain. It will not accept the presence of extra-hemispheric forces and is willing to remove governments if it believes its interests or national security are at risk,” Morgenfeld said.
From that perspective, he added, the goal goes beyond Venezuela and seeks to dismantle the political and economic ties that sustain adversarial governments in the region, including Cuba.
“That is why they want to cut the political and economic link with Venezuela and further suffocate the island. Despite the blockade, they aim to intensify financial pressure to achieve what they have pursued for decades: the fall of the Cuban revolutionary government,” he said.
Morgenfeld said concern in Havana is real and deep. Cuba has faced a complex economic situation for years, marked by sanctions, lack of hard currency and low productivity.
“It is no longer, as in other times, an economy with easy sources of financing. If chavismo were to fall, the impact on Cuba would be very severe, economically and politically,” he said, while noting that a full regime change in Venezuela has not yet occurred.
From another angle, Colombian political scientist Christian Arias Barona said it is premature to anticipate an immediate collapse of the Cuban model.
He told UPI that as long as Delcy Rodríguez remains in power and U.S. hostility does not intensify, an abrupt shift is unlikely.
“Cuba would not face a drastic alteration in its economy or international relations, especially in its ties with Venezuela, from which it receives significant assistance, particularly in energy,” Arias Barona said. “Nor would its links with Russia and China be immediately affected.”
He recalled that Cuba’s recent history reflects an ability to adapt to adverse scenarios. Since the 1959 revolution, the island has faced what he described as constant “aggressions and hostilities” from the United States, including the ongoing economic embargo.
“That experience has allowed it to develop mechanisms of political and diplomatic survival,” he said.
Arias Barona also noted that the U.N. General Assembly has repeatedly voted against the U.S. embargo on Cuba, calling it a unilateral measure without backing in international law.
However, he said the United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council, has maintained its position and secured occasional support, including from Israel and, in recent votes, Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay.
“What we are seeing today is a situation that increases Cuba’s vulnerability,” he said.
Sociologist Luis Wainer, also an academic at the University of Buenos Aires, agreed it is too early to project definitive scenarios.
“We do not know whether there will be a change in the political and economic model, how such a transition would look or even whether a transition will exist,” he told UPI.
“We are at a moment of negotiations, where what will be defined is who manages to impose the conditions,” he said.
Wainer said strong interest exists in framing this moment as a return to the Special Period, the severe economic and social crisis that began in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s main ally and supplier, and resulted in extreme shortages of fuel, food and medicine.
“There is a tendency to think Cuba will return to that scenario, but Cuban experience itself shows the country has developed creative responses to sustain itself without surrendering sovereignty,” he said.
Those responses include selective openings to new trade schemes, agreements with strategic sectors in other countries and the promotion of activities such as international tourism.
In that context, he highlighted the political and economic impact of Latin America’s leftward shift following Hugo Chávez’s electoral victory in 1998.
“That progressive cycle was a key lifeline for Cuba,” Wainer said. “It enabled regional integration, political cooperation and economic agreements that were fundamental for the island, especially with Venezuela.”
There were no stars in the October sky. No moon that 64-year-old Masuma Khan could see from the narrow window of the California City Immigration Processing Center.
“No planes,” she said, recalling her confinement.
Once a prison, the facility in the Mojave Desert, located 67 miles east of Bakersfield, reopened in April to hold people in removal proceedings, including Khan.
It was not the kind of place where she imagined ending up — not after living in the country for 28 years, caring for her daughter and surviving one of California’s deadliest wildfires, the Eaton fire.
Khan was fortunate not to have lost her west Altadena home to the Jan. 7 fire, which destroyed more than 9,000 structures and killed 19 people.
But in the months that followed, Khan faced another threat — deportation.
As fire recovery efforts were underway in Los Angeles, the Trump administration launched immigration raids in the city, hampering recovery efforts and creating more distress for immigrants after the fires.
Khan worried. She was in the process of adjusting her immigration status and was required to check in every year with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
An immigration attorney reassured her that there was no cause for concern: Her husband and daughter were citizens, she had no criminal record, and her case was still under review.
And so, on Oct. 6, Khan drove to downtown Los Angeles for her routine immigration check-in and found herself caught up in Trump’s deportation surge.
Eaton fire survivor Masuma Khan, 64, right, with her daughter Riya Khan and husband Isteak Khan after bring released in December.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Khan was taken into custody by ICE agents and kept in a cold room for almost an entire day. She said agents denied her access to a lawyer and a phone until she signed deportation papers. Khan resisted but later signed.
She was placed in a van with other detainees and driven three hours north to the detention center in California City. She said there was no air conditioning in the van and she became nauseous and started to experience hypertension symptoms.
At the facility she was denied access to medications for high blood pressure, asthma, peripheral arterial disease, general anxiety and hypothyroidism, she said.
Khan, who is also prediabetic, said she struggled to maintain her health at the facility. Her blood pressure spiked and she began to experience stroke-like symptoms. Her legs swelled up and she became weak.
She said the facility was so cold that people often became ill, including staff. She and other women used socks as scarves, sleeves and mittens but were threatened with fines if they continued to misuse the garments.
She said she became sick and her vision got blurry without her prescribed eye drops. Her Halal meals shifted to a medical diet that included pork, which she cannot eat because she is Muslim.
Khan’s experience at the facility was similar to that of other detainees who filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. They alleged inhumane conditions at the facility that included inadequate food, water and medical care, frigid cells and lack of access to medications and lawyers.
The California City Immigration Processing Center in Kern County, where Masuma Khan was held.
(Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images)
In an email response, Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, said any claims about “subprime conditions at ICE detention facilities are false.”
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, certified by dietitians, medical treatment and have the opportunities to communicate with lawyers and family members.”
Khan said she spent most days in her cell crying.
“I missed my family, I missed everything,” she said “I was frustrated.”
She often thought of home: her husband and daughter, her small garden and the birds she fed daily with seeds and oranges from her balcony.
It would be weeks before she could see her family again, before she could gaze at the mountains and hear the symphony of wildlife.
‘Like an inferno’
The Eaton fire had been raging for hours in west Altadena when Khan and her husband were awakened by evacuation alerts on their phones at 3:30 a.m.
Khan got out of bed and from her bedroom window could see flames raging in the mountains.
Khan hadn’t seen anything like it. Four years before she arrived, the Kinneloa fire, sparked by a campfire, erupted in the same mountains. It fed on dry and flammable vegetation and was driven by Santa Ana winds. It was a destructive fire.
But the Eaton fire was different. Hurricane-force winds helped spread the embers and flames deep into the town’s heart — destroying homes, schools and countless structures.
A business and vehicle are a total loss as the Eaton fire rages along Lake Avenue in Altadena on January 8, 2025.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Khan and her husband, Isteak, didn’t have time to grab much before fleeing in their car that evening.
“It was like an inferno,” Isteak Khan, 66, recalled. “You could see the embers flying everywhere. It was very chaotic.”
The couple drove about three miles south to a supermarket in Pasadena. For a month they lived at a hotel until they were allowed to return home.
When they got back the surrounding neighborhoods were in ruins: Trees were charred, cars were stripped down to metal frames and homes were gutted or left in ash.
The couple’s apartment still was standing but had suffered smoke damage and there was no electricity, no safe water to use. The couple depended on water bottles and showered at the homes of relatives.
Khan never thought she would experience such a disaster in the U.S. Then again, she didn’t journey here for her own reasons. She came to save her daughter.
‘Incredibly traumatized’
In August 1997, Khan was living in Bangladesh with her husband and their 9-year-old daughter, Riya. That month Riya had traveled with her grandparents to the U.S. to see relatives when she fell seriously ill. Doctors determined she was suffering from kidney failure and needed ongoing treatment including chemotherapy and peritoneal dialysis.
Khan traveled to the U.S. on a visitor’s visa to be with Riya. For more than a decade her daughter received treatment at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.
Khan became her daughter’s primary caretaker and did not return to Bangladesh as her visa was expiring. Her husband joined her in 1999 after obtaining a visa. He and Riya eventually received green cards and became citizens.
The following year, as Khan looked for legal ways to adjust her immigration status, she met a man at a Bangladeshi grocery store who befriended her and offered to help her obtain a green card, according to court records. Little did Khan know that this man — who spoke her language and was well known in the Bangladeshi community — was a scammer, one of many who prey on South Asians migrating to the U.S.
At the time Khan did not speak, read or write English well, and this man told her he could file an asylum application on her behalf, for a fee amounting to several thousand dollars.
But Khan was unaware this man had filed the application for her using a false name and listed his own address for future correspondence from immigration authorities, according to court documents.
All this came to light when she showed up for an asylum hearing in Anaheim in 1999 and responded to the questions of an asylum officer who noticed the information did not match what was in the application.
The officer denied the application, and later she was unaware of a notice to appear before an immigration court, since it had been sent to the scammer’s address.
Her absence at the hearing prompted an immigration judge to order her to be deported. Khan did not find out about the court’s action until 2015, when her husband petitioned to adjust her status so she could obtain a green card.
After the petition was denied and her case was closed because of the deportation order, Khan hired an immigration attorney who sought to reopen the case. But a judge denied it, and her appeal also was rejected by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In February 2020, Khan was detained by ICE but released and required to check in with immigration officials. That year she hired an immigration attorney who submitted paperwork to let her stay in the U.S. The application was pending when ICE took her into custody on Oct. 6.
McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson, said there was no reason for the government to reconsider her case, since Khan had a final removal order since 1999 and had exhausted all appeals.
“She has no legal right to be in our country,” McLaughlin said. “DHS law enforcement lawfully arrested her on Oct. 6.”
Yet Khan caught a break in early November when a federal judge ordered her released. The judge ruled the government cannot detain Khan without giving her a hearing and explaining why it needs to detain her.
It was a victory for her legal team, made up of a law firm and two nonprofit groups — the South Asian Network and Public Counsel and Hoq Law APC.
Laboni Hoq, a chief attorney on the case, said the goal is to keep Khan out of detention while the team seeks to adjust her status.
“We’re feeling like she has a shot to pursue that process … given her long history in the country and that she is law-abiding and has met all the requirements to deal with her case through the court system and immigration system,” Hoq said.
Khan’s predicament has drawn the attention of numerous Southern California politicians, including U.S. Rep. Judy Chu and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff. Much of it had to do with Khan’s 38-year-old daughter, Riya, who reached out to the lawmakers and also took to social media to bring her mother’s case to the public’s attention.
Still, it is unclear what will happen next.
As Khan’s legal fight proceeds, she must check in regularly with immigration authorities, as she did in downtown L.A. on Dec. 19, accompanied by Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra), who also became aware of her case from Riya’s efforts.
“She’s incredibly traumatized by what’s happened to her,” Pérez said of Khan. “She’s scared to even participate in the community events that we have during the holidays … it’s painful, it makes me angry, it makes me sad and I just wanted to be here with her.”
At their Altadena home one recent evening, the Khans sat in their living room. Riya said the hope was that the case will be reopened so her mother can obtain a green card.
“We’re going to stay together,” Isteak said.
Not far from Masuma, old “welcome home” balloons hovered. As she sat next to her daughter, she could express only two things: “I cannot leave this country. This is my home.”
United States President Donald Trump has promised to “take back” Venezuela’s oil reserves and unleash them onto the global market after abducting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
But exploiting the Latin American country’s vast reserves would face a host of big hurdles, from decrepit infrastructure and legal obstacles to leadership uncertainty in Caracas and an excess supply of oil in the global market, experts say.
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Venezuela possesses the world’s largest known oil reserves – estimated to be some 303 billion barrels – but currently produces only a tiny fraction of global output. Its estimated output was 860,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, less than 1 percent of the world’s total, compared with 3.7 million bpd during peak production in 1970.
The oil sector’s decline has been blamed on the combined effects of US sanctions and years of underinvestment, mismanagement and corruption under Maduro and his left-wing predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
While the Trump administration could boost supply in the short term by lifting sanctions, restoring Venezuela’s output to anything near peak levels would require huge investment and likely take years, according to energy analysts.
‘Venezuela’s oil infrastructure is in poor shape’
Oil prices moved only slightly in trading on Monday amid market expectations that output would remain largely unchanged for the foreseeable future.
“Venezuela’s oil infrastructure is in poor shape overall, due to lack of maintenance for both equipment and oilfield wells,” Scott Montgomery, a global energy expert at the University of Washington, told Al Jazeera.
“The state oil company, PDVSA, is well known to suffer from corruption and lack of expertise – many well-trained people have left the country to work elsewhere – and has been unable to invest in the country’s petroleum sector,” Montgomery added.
Thomas O’Donnell, an energy and geopolitical analyst based in Berlin, Germany, estimated that Venezuela could return to peak production in five to seven years in the “absolute best” circumstances, including a peaceful transfer of power.
“Longer term, if things are sorted out, yes, Venezuela can become one of the world’s biggest producers of oil. As far as how long that takes, that has all to do with the transition and what is put in place to manage that – both the country’s security and also to manage the investments,” O’Donnell told Al Jazeera.
Mixed messaging from Trump administration
Trump’s administration has provided conflicting messages on Washington’s exact plans for Venezuela and its oil reserves.
On Saturday, Trump said the US would “run” Venezuela and that US oil companies were ready to invest billions of dollars to build up the country’s dilapidated infrastructure and “get the oil flowing”.
In interviews with US media on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to downplay Trump’s remarks about controlling the country, saying the president was referring to “running policy” and his plans related to spurring private investment, “not securing the oilfields”.
Trump later on Sunday said Washington was “in charge” of the country and was “dealing with” members of the acting administration without providing details.
Under international law, the US has no claim of ownership over Venezuela’s oil reserves, as sovereign states possess the right to control and use their natural resources under the United Nations-endorsed Principle of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources.
Foreign investors, however, can claim compensation when authorities seize their assets.
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were awarded $1.6bn and $8.7bn, respectively, in international arbitration following the Chavez government’s 2007 nationalisation of the oil sector. Caracas did not pay out in either case.
US oil giants, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips, have not commented directly on Trump’s claims about planned investments in Venezuela.
Chevron is the only large US oil company currently operating in Venezuela, the result of an exemption to US sanctions first granted by the administration of former President Joe Biden.
Consultancy Rystad Energy, based in Oslo, Norway, has estimated that Venezuela’s oil sector would need about $110bn in capital investment to return to its mid-2010s output of about 2 million bpd.
Patrick De Haan, an analyst at energy price tracker GasBuddy, said companies may be reluctant to commit to large investments in the country when global oil prices are hovering around $60 a barrel due to a glut of supply.
“It will take a longer amount of time than many likely realise. Oil companies in a low-priced environment of today would likely be cautious investing billions with oil prices already low,” De Haan told Al Jazeera.
“In addition, Trump seizing Maduro could lead to loyalists sabotaging efforts to increase output. A lot would have to go right to yield the most optimistic timelines.”
US companies are likely to carefully weigh political developments in Venezuela following their experiences with the Chavez government’s expropriation of their assets.
“Oil companies are not likely to rush into a situation where the state is in turmoil, security is lacking, and no clear path forward for political stability exists,” the University of Washington’s Montgomery said.
Maduro due in court in New York
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s deputy, is now leading the country following a ruling by Venezuela’s Supreme Court.
Maduro is scheduled to appear in a New York court on Monday to face charges related to alleged drug trafficking and working with criminal gangs.
Venezuela’s government has condemned the Trump administration over Saturday’s bombing and overthrow of Maduro, labelling his capture a “cowardly kidnapping”.
Russia, China, Iran and Brazil, among other countries, have accused Washington of violating international law, while nations including Israel, Argentina and Greece have welcomed Maduro’s forced removal.
OPEC, which sets limits on production for its 12 members, including Venezuela, is another factor in the Latin American country’s potential oil output.
“Venezuela is a member of OPEC, and like many countries, may become more actively subject to quotas if output climbs,” De Haan said.
Phil Flynn, a market analyst at the Price Futures Group, said reviving Venezuela’s oil production would face “significant challenges”, but he was more bullish about the near-term prospects than other analysts.
He said the market could conceivably see a couple of hundred thousand more barrels a day coming online in the coming months.
“We’ve not had a free Venezuela, and sometimes the US energy industry has the capability to do a lot more than people give them credit for,” Flynn told Al Jazeera.
OASIS star Liam Gallagher is facing a new court order to reveal how much money he has earned from the band’s hugely successful reunion tour, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.
A court hearing is set to be held in New York this month after the mother of the singer’s love child filed a fresh legal motion to access his latest finances.
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Oasis star Liam Gallagher is facing a new court orderCredit: AP:Associated PressLiza Ghorbani, the mother of the singer’s love child, filed a fresh legal motionCredit: Splash News
Liza Ghorbani is trying to obtain the singer’s bank records, tax returns and credit card statements to show how much he is now worth, say experts.
It will be the first time the band’s tour finances — which are estimated to be more than £350million — face being exposed to public scrutiny.
Ms Ghorbani wants to use the fresh information to prove he should stump up the £500,000 a year she’s claiming for the care of their daughter Gemma, 12, who was born in 2013 after an affair.
Liam, 53, and his brother Noel, 58, are expected to have raked in millions of pounds for last year’s sell-out Oasis Live ’25 reunion world tour.
The band, whose 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe has sold 15million copies worldwide, is estimated to have made £303million from ticket sales alone — with another £40million from sponsorship deals and merchandise.
And there could be more cash to come as he has been teasing fans about new tour dates in the next couple of years.
It is understood that Ms Ghorbani, 51, is trying to access details on all of their tour-related income.
We can reveal that lawyers for the US music journalist have filed an application for an Order to Show Cause in New York’s Supreme Court.
The judge hearing their case, Mr Jeffrey Pearlman, has been asked to consider a motion to compel both sides to answer further questions and provide more information to help him make a decision.
He has set a date later this month for a fresh court hearing.
Ms Ghorbani has filed various documents into the court, including 15 exhibits setting out her specific requests on what she wants from Liam’s lawyers.
Details of her exact demands have not been disclosed.
But top New York family lawyer Morgan Mazer said Liam will have to hand over the documents relating to tour earnings during a process in the case called discovery.
Ms Mazer said: “Ms Ghorbani can get access to the tour merchandise sales, if it’s a side thing Mr Gallagher is earning money from.
He has been more than generous over the years and is standing firm with his legal team
Source close to Liam
“Ms Ghorbani will want to look at any employment and income, any perks that Mr Gallagher has.
“Credit card statements are relevant because some people don’t always show all their income on their tax returns.
“With the credit card statements you can glean what somebody is making based on their lifestyle. The powers to determine what you should pay in child support are broad.”
Liza Ghorbani with Liam’s daughter Gemma in New YorkCredit: TheImageDirect.comLiam and Noel Gallagher’s Oasis tour finances are estimated to be more than £350millionCredit: Simon Emmett
Yesterday a source close to the singer told The Sun on Sunday: “Liam has been focused on enjoying Christmas with his family and not letting this court case get to him.
“He has been more than generous over the years and is standing firm with his legal team.”
In March we revealed Ms Ghorbani had filed a lawsuit demanding more money despite the case being settled in 2015.
He also posted a link to the 1963 Beatles song Money (That’s What I Want).
His tax returns will be sophisticated so you will likely want a forensic accountant to review them
Dror Bikel, New York family lawyer
Ms Ghorbani claims she needs more money because Gemma is autistic and her needs have changed.
Liam’s lawyer Judith Poller has called it an attempt to cash in on the Oasis tour.
Dror Bikel, another respected New York family lawyer, said the examination of Liam’s finances could be extensive.
He added: “When the accountants sink their teeth into it, people are in for a ride.
“His tax returns will be sophisticated so you will likely want a forensic accountant to review them and you can find out what investments he has, what property he owns.
“You start with the tax returns and go from there.”
And he said Liam could be held in contempt of court if he refuses to hand over more information.
Mr Bikel went on: “He could face financial penalties and the severest punishment is incarceration.
‘Could be consequences’
“If he doesn’t hand over his financial details there could be consequences.”
Mr Bikel also chided Liam for insulting Ms Ghorbani and said that it was “never a good idea” because “courts don’t like those kinds of things”.
In June the New York court heard Liam has paid out more than £750,000 since 2015. His lawyers said he later agreed to pay £180,000 towards Gemma’s school and autism-related expenses.
But Ms Ghorbani is demanding £510,000 a year to cover child support and expenses.
She and her daughter live in a £3,300-a-month Manhattan apartment. Her new demands include £22,500 a month for a home with a pool, £75,000 a year for a live-in nanny and a £5,000 holiday budget.
Liam, who has three other children, is said to have had a fling with Ms Ghorbani in 2011 soon after she interviewed him, while he was married to singer Nicole Appleton.
Additional reporting: Hannah Hope
Liam and Noel are expected to have raked in millions from last year’s sell-out Oasis Live ’25 reunion world tour
Protests are intensifying in Iran as a deepening economic crisis fuels public anger over soaring prices and falling living standards. Here’s a breakdown of what’s driving the unrest and how authorities are responding.
Ban could cut hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza off from essential care, Doctors Without Borders warns.
Israel faces mounting global condemnation as a ban on dozens of international aid organisations working to provide life-saving assistance to Palestinians in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has come into effect.
On Thursday, a group of 17 human rights and advocacy organisations in Israel condemned the prohibition, saying it “undermines principled humanitarian action, endangers staff and communities, and compromises effective aid delivery”.
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“Israel, as the occupying power, has an obligation to ensure adequate supplies to Palestinian civilians. Not only is it failing to fulfil that obligation, but it is also preventing others from filling the gap,” the groups said.
Israel has revoked the operating licences of 37 aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, for failing to comply with new government regulations.
The new rules require international NGOs working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to provide detailed information on staff members, as well as their funding and operations.
Israel has defended the move by accusing international organisations that work in Gaza of having links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – without providing any evidence.
But experts say the requirements contravene humanitarian principles and follow a longstanding Israeli government campaign to vilify and ultimately impede the work of aid groups providing assistance to Palestinians.
“The new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality,” the Israel-based rights groups, including B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, said in Thursday’s statement.
“Conditioning aid on political alignment, penalizing support for legal accountability, and requiring the disclosure of sensitive personal data of Palestinian staff and their families all constitute a breach of duty of care and expose workers to surveillance and harm.”
‘Pattern of unlawful restrictions’
The ban comes as Israel has waged a genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, imposing restrictions on food, medicine and other humanitarian aid deliveries to the coastal territory.
Israeli violence has also soared in the occupied West Bank, with the military forcing tens of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes in what Human Rights Watch has described as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Against that backdrop, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said earlier this week that Israel’s NGO ban is “the latest in a pattern of unlawful restrictions on humanitarian access” in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Doctors Without Borders said in a social media post that, as of Wednesday, it was still waiting on the renewal of its registration to operate in Gaza and the West Bank under the new Israeli rules.
“The Palestinian health system is decimated, essential infrastructure is destroyed, and people struggle to meet basic needs. People need more services, not less,” MSF said.
“If MSF and other INGOs lose access, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be cut off from essential care.”
Former UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who sits on the board of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Al Jazeera he was not optimistic about what will happen next.
“The reality is these agencies are essential to aid delivery – [and] aid delivery in particular in the Gaza Strip,” Griffiths said. “They are the last mile, the phrase used in humanitarian operations to those who actually deliver the aid to the people involved.”
Actor Mickey Rourke faces eviction from his Los Angeles home after failing to pay rent.
Rourke, whose birth name is Philip Andre Rourke Jr., received a three-day notice to pay rent or vacate the premises on Dec. 18 and had failed to comply, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday.
At the time of the notice, he owed $59,100 in unpaid rent.
A representative for Rourke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, Rourke signed a lease for the three-bedroom, 2.5-bath house for $5,200 a month; it was subsequently raised to $7,000 a month, states the court filings.
A Zillow listing describes the property as a “nicely upgraded Spanish bungalow” built in 1926. Raymond Chandler was said to have resided there for two years in the 1940s.
The property’s owner, Eric Goldie, is requesting compensation for attorney‘s fees and for damages. A lawyer for Goldie was unavailable for comment.
A former boxer, Rourke, 73, turned to acting with small roles in the 1980 film “Heaven’s Gate” and “Body Heat” a year later, before earning acclaim for his role in 1982’s “Diner.”
After a slate of leading roles in a number of movies including “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” “9 1/2 Weeks” and “Rumble Fish,” Rourke‘s film career took a nosedive, with his off-screen antics frequently overshadowing his acting.
“I lost everything. My house, my wife, my credibility, my career,” he told The Times in an interview in 2008. “I just all had all this anger from my childhood, which was really shame, not anger, and used it as armor and machismo to cover up my wounds. Unfortunately, the way I acted really frightened people, although it was really just me who was scared. But I was like this person who was short-circuited and I didn’t know how to fix myself.”
In 2005 he reemerged with the neo-noir action thriller “Sin City.”
Three years later, Rourke’s portrayal of aging, washed up wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson, in the Darren Aronofsky film “The Wrestler,” earned him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for lead actor.
Rourke’s return to the big screen has not been an entirely smooth ride.
In April, he agreed to exit “Celebrity Big Brother UK” after producers warned him over the use of “inappropriate language and instances of unacceptable behavior,” according to a statement a spokesperson for the show released at the time.
Following his departure from the reality show, his manager announced that he was pursuing legal action over a pay dispute, claiming that the show had disrespected her client by “publicly embarrassing him” and declined to pay him, according to People.
Reporting from Lincoln, Calif. — Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore was riding high from his party’s recent Senate election victory in Massachusetts when he bounded into the town library here. The meeting of the Lincoln Tea Party Patriots was already buzzing over Scott Brown’s win in one of the bluest of blue states, and DeVore tried to convince them that with his consistent conservative credentials, he could take incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer.
“A sleeping giant has been awakened,” he said. “Some of you are scared. Some of you are mad as hell. . . . Times are different and we can win!”
If any major candidate should be able to marshal that sentiment in California it is DeVore, a lifetime conservative rumbler whose policy positions dovetail perfectly with the mojo of the nation’s guerrilla movement of the moment. Almost a third of Californians, according to a recent poll, identify with Tea Partiers like those at this gathering about 30 miles northeast of Sacramento; Republicans here and across the nation are salivating over the possibility of defeating their long-time Democratic nemesis, Boxer.
But serious questions remain about whether DeVore, 45, can survive the GOP primary. He has the fiscal and social credentials desired by the conservative party voters most likely to turn out in June. But, despite campaigning for more than a year, his candidacy is something of an apparition. Outside party circles and his home base of Orange County voters generally have no idea who he is, and he ended 2009 with a net $140,000 in the bank.
In a state as big as California, recognition does not come cheap. Primary opponent Carly Fiorina, a multimillionaire, has already lent her campaign $2.5 million, and former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell, who jumped into the race last month, is much better known to voters because he has been in the public eye for two decades.
DeVore is counting on hard work and persistence to make up for money and name identification. Since announcing his candidacy in November 2008 he has logged more than 50,000 miles by car and air to meet with nearly 40,000 Republican voters at 239 stops up and down the state. (The candidate, an admitted wonk, logs every visit, mile and voter on a spreadsheet when he gets home to Irvine).
“Whatever the polls say four months before the primary, the strength of the volunteers backing us, the lack of any skeletal remains in my closet are going to allow me to prevail in this primary and to ultimately vanquish Barbara Boxer,” DeVore said at the January meeting of the West Valley Republican Women Federated at a diner in San Jose.
He tells voters that politicians in both parties have forgotten their duty, which he believes should be limited to securing citizens’ rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — “not making up new rights.”
“They make it up as they go along because they don’t have a core philosophy that guides their decisions,” DeVore said. “I have a core. It’s the Constitution, it’s the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. I don’t vary from that.”
The retired National Guardsman, Reagan White House appointee to the Pentagon and longtime legislator relishes political combat. Referring to the Senate hearing in which Boxer rebuked a brigadier general for addressing her as “ma’am” rather than “Senator” — she told him she worked hard to win her seat — DeVore pledged to call her “ma’am” every chance he could during debates.
If she objects, he told the women’s club, he will reply, “Well, then, Senator, you can call me Colonel because I worked a hell of a lot harder for that title!”
While mocking Boxer, he also criticizes his GOP primary opponents. At gatherings across the state, he paints Fiorina as a dilettante whose spotty voting record alone undermines her candidacy, and who has shifted her positions to the right on policies such as the federal economic stimulus package. He faults Campbell, who is campaigning as a fiscal conservative, for supporting temporary tax increases in recent years.
“I would argue it’s important to have some consistency in the people we trust with our vote,” DeVore said in Lincoln.
At each event, DeVore takes question after question, and he doesn’t always tell the voters what they want to hear. In Lincoln, one man said he was tired of congressional Republicans arguing they could accomplish nothing because they are in the minority. He asked DeVore how he would achieve more.
“I’m going to challenge you a bit on this, sir,” DeVore replied, before booming: “The first order of a senator is not to do something. It’s to follow the Constitution!”
DeVore’s supporters believe he is the lone candidate who would stop what they see as a growing threat to the nation’s future: ever-expanding government, deficit spending, debt to China. Their frustration that their leaders have stopped listening to them, and acting in their best interest, is palpable.
“I trusted my government,” said Ruth Crone, a Fair Oaks mother of four who attended the Lincoln Tea Party. The registered Republican said she has grown increasingly disillusioned with both her elected representatives and her party, and she supports DeVore because he understands what’s at stake. “Our individual liberties are imperiled by the financial irresponsibility” of the federal government, she said.
Zeal, however, is no guarantee of momentum.
DeVore sees a path to victory. Once primary voters tune in to the race later this year, he said, they will be turned off by the other candidates’ pasts: Campbell’s support for tax increases and Fiorina’s controversial tenure as chief of Hewlett-Packard. When he wins the primary, DeVore said, he believes the national conservative movement will financially back him much as it did Scott Brown in Massachusetts.
“Once you get past the June primary, the notoriety we’ll generate by defeating the better-known and presumably better-financed Republican — one perceived rightly as the pick of the establishment, the other a moderate who has been in favor of tax increases — I think that’s going to put us on the map,” DeVore said. “Frankly, I need that.”
While analysts predict, and polls thus far confirm, that the other candidates match up better against Boxer in the general election, he argues that Republicans would coalesce behind him because of their interest in defeating her. “That’s going to motivate a lot of people,” he said.
In every step DeVore takes, however, lies confirmation that his situation is dire.
He urges followers to attach bumper stickers to their car, noting that each one is worth $200 in paid ads. Campaign signs and T-shirts are stored in his Sacramento apartment. DeVore knows which car rental firm near the state Capitol offers the cheapest rates should he drop the car off in another city.
DeVore’s campaign staff is tiny and volunteer-driven, a shadow of Fiorina’s assembly of pollsters, media advisors and political consultants. The silver lining: The lack of bureaucracy allows DeVore’s circle to be nimble. As Brown gained steam in Massachusetts, DeVore directed his volunteers to call voters there the weekend before the election on Brown’s behalf; Campbell and Fiorina merely put out statements on election day. On Thursday, DeVore jumped on an opportunity to ambush Fiorina on a popular Southern California radio show, where he accused her of flip-flopping on the issues and tried to goad her into committing to a debate.
DeVore used to drive himself to campaign events, until his staff decided his time would be better spent in other ways, such as phone calls, interviews, Facebooking and chatting with voters on Twitter.
“I don’t know if this is going to be a waste of time at the end of the day in a state of 37 million people, or whether, relative to the large numbers of voters that we’re dealing with, whether this is a good investment of time. But what other choice do I have?” he asked. “I’m not a millionaire, and I’m not a celebrity.”
The Kennedy Center is ending the year with a new round of artists saying they are canceling scheduled performances after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the facility, prompting the institution’s president to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics.
The Cookers, a jazz supergroup that has performed together for nearly two decades, announced their withdrawal from “A Jazz New Year’s Eve” on their website, saying the “decision has come together very quickly” and acknowledging frustration from those who may have planned to attend.
Doug Varone and Dancers, a dance group based in New York, said in an Instagram post late Monday they would pull out of a performance slated for April, saying they “can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution.”
Those moves come after musician Chuck Redd canceled a Christmas Eve performance last week. They also come amid declining sales for tickets to the venue, as well as news that viewership for the Dec. 23 broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors — which Trump had predicted would soar — was down by about 35% compared to the 2024 show.
The announcements amount to a volatile calendar for one of the most prominent performing arts venues in the U.S. and cap a year of tension in which Trump ousted the Kennedy Center board and named himself the institution’s chairman. That led to an earlier round of artist pushback, with performer Issa Rae and the producers of “Hamilton” canceling scheduled engagements while musicians Ben Folds and Renee Fleming stepped down from advisory roles.
The Cookers didn’t mention the building’s renaming or the Trump administration but did say that, when they return to performing, they wanted to ensure that “the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it,” reiterating a commitment “to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.”
The group may not have addressed the Kennedy Center situation directly, but one of its members has. On Saturday, saxophone player Billy Harper said in comments posted on the Jazz Stage Facebook page that he “would never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture. The same music I devoted my life to creating and advancing.”
According to the White House, Trump’s handpicked board approved the renaming. Harper said both the board “as well as the name displayed on the building itself represents a mentality and practices I always stood against. And still do, today more than ever.”
Richard Grenell, a Trump ally whom the president chose to head the Kennedy Center after he forced out the previous leadership, posted Monday night on X, “The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership,” intimating the bookings were made under the Biden administration.
In a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press, Grenell said the ”last minute cancellations prove that they were always unwilling to perform for everyone — even those they disagree with politically,” adding that the Kennedy Center had been “flooded with inquiries from real artists willing to perform for everyone and who reject political statements in their artistry.”
There was no immediate word from Kennedy Center officials about whether the entity would pursue legal action against the latest round of artists to cancel performances. Following Redd’s cancellation last week, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages for what he called a “political stunt.”
Not all artists are calling off their shows. Bluegrass banjoist Randy Barrett, scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center next month, told the AP he was “deeply troubled by the politicization” of the venue and respected those who had canceled but feels that “our tribalized country needs more music and art, not less. It’s one of the few things that can bring us together.”
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him. Scholars have said any changes to the building’s name would need congressional approval; the law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs was charged with felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery at a court hearing Tuesday. The alleged victim in the Dec. 2 incident was his private chef, according to a report taken by police in Dedham, Mass.
Through his attorney, Diggs has denied the allegations. The name of the woman was redacted from the police report.
The chef reported the incident Dec. 16, telling police that she and Diggs had a dispute over pay after he told her via text that her services weren’t needed the week of Nov. 7 and she replied that she should be paid for the week.
The woman told police that Diggs entered her unlocked bedroom in his house and “smacked her across the face.” She tried to push him away and he “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck.”
She said that she had trouble breathing and felt like she could have blacked out. “As she tried to pry his arm away, he tightened his grip,” she told police.
The woman told police she had redness on her upper chest area after the incident occurred but did not take photos. She returned to Diggs’ house Dec. 9 to retrieve personal belongings and he instructed her to speak with his assistant about getting paid, she told police. The assistant told her Diggs had requested she sign a non-disclosure agreement, but she refused.
Diggs’ girlfriend is rapper Cardi B, who gave birth to their son in November. Cardi B, born Belcalis Almánzar, is not mentioned by name in the police report, although the woman told police Dec. 20 that a few days earlier “she received a voice mail and text messages from a female that she believed to be Diggs girlfriend. Based on these messages, [the alleged victim] believed that Diggs somehow knew the police were contacted. The messages stated something to the effect of ‘You don’t need to do all this. It’s not that big of a deal.’”
The woman, who had worked as Diggs’ private chef since July, initially did not want the police to file charges against the two-time All-Pro receiver but changed her mind Dec. 23.
Diggs’ lawyer David Meier said in a statement that his client “categorically denies these allegations. They are unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, and were never investigated — because they did not occur.
“The timing and motivation for making the allegations is crystal clear: they are the direct result of an employee-employer financial dispute that was not resolved to the employee’s satisfaction. Stefon looks forward to establishing the truth in a court of law.”
Meier also said Diggs has made a financial offer to the woman, telling the judge at the hearing Tuesday, “As we speak, they’re working to come to an agreement on that.”
According to the police report, Diggs did not return calls from investigators and the criminal complaint was “based on [the alleged victim’s] statement.”
Diggs, 32, has been one of the NFL’s top receivers since beginning his career with the Minnesota Vikings in 2015. He ranks fifth among active players with 939 career receptions, including 82 this season for 970 yards.
This is his first season with the Patriots, who have clinched the AFC East title and will begin the playoffs with a wild card home game the weekend of Jan. 10. Diggs is in the first year of a three-year, $69-million contract.
“We support Stefon,” the Patriots said in a statement. “We will continue to gather information and will cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities and the NFL as necessary. Out of respect for all parties involved, and given that this is an ongoing legal matter, we will have no further comment at this time.”
Diggs’ arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 23. Meier asked the judge Tuesday that the proceeding be delayed until March but no ruling was made.
Ramallah, occupied West Bank – The Palestinian economy is undergoing a severe downturn, driven by Israel’s continued assault on Gaza, intensified restrictions on movement and trade in the occupied West Bank, and a sharp decline in both domestic and external financial resources.
As the Palestinian government struggles to manage an escalating fiscal crisis, official data and expert assessments warn that the economy is approaching a critical threshold – one that threatens the continuity of state institutions and their ability to meet even basic obligations.
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A joint report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA), published in the Palestinian Economic Monitor for 2025, found that the economy remained mired in deep recession throughout the year.
According to the report, gross domestic product (GDP) in Gaza contracted by 84 percent in 2025 compared with 2023, while GDP in the occupied West Bank declined by 13 percent over the period. Overall GDP levels remain far below their pre-war baseline, underscoring the fragility of any potential recovery and the economy’s inability to regain productive capacity under current conditions.
The report documented a near-total collapse of economic activity in Gaza, alongside sharp contractions across most sectors in the West Bank, despite a modest improvement compared with 2024. It also recorded a decline in trade volumes to and from Palestine compared with 2023, while unemployment in Gaza exceeded 77 percent during 2025.
Palestinian Economy Minister Mohammed al-Amour visits the Bethlehem Industrial Zone to assess the state of Palestinian industries, December 10, 2025 [Handout/Palestinian Ministry of National Economy]
Withheld revenues and mounting debt
Palestinian Economy Minister Mohammed al-Amour said Israeli authorities are withholding approximately $4.5bn in Palestinian clearance revenues, describing the move as a form of “collective punishment” that has severely undermined the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) ability to function.
“The total accumulated public debt reached $14.6bn by the end of November 2025, representing 106 percent of the 2024 gross domestic product,” al-Amour told Al Jazeera.
The minister said the debt includes $4.5bn owed to the International Monetary Fund, $3.4bn to the Palestinian banking sector, $2.5bn in salary arrears to public employees, $1.6bn owed to the private sector, $1.4bn in external debt, and $1.2bn in other financial obligations.
“These pressures have had a direct impact on the overall performance of the public budget,” al-Amour said, contributing to a widening deficit and sharply reduced capacity to cover operational spending and essential commitments.
All of that has led al-Amour to conclude that the Palestinian economy is undergoing “its most difficult period” since the establishment of the PA in 1994.
Official estimates show GDP contracted by 29 percent in the second quarter of 2025, compared with 2023, while GDP per capita fell by 32 percent over the period. These figures align with a recent report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which concluded that the Palestinian economy has regressed to levels last seen 22 years ago.
In response, al-Amour said the government was implementing an “urgent package of measures”.
“The government is rolling out a series of actions that include strengthening the social protection system, supporting citizens’ resilience in Area C [of the West Bank], and backing small and medium-sized enterprises and productive sectors, particularly industry and agriculture,” al-Amour said.
Official data show a sharp drop across nearly all economic activities. Construction contracted by 41 percent, while both industry and agriculture declined by 29 percent each. Wholesale and retail trade fell by 24 percent.
The tourism sector has been among the hardest hit. Following the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, the Ministry of Tourism reported daily losses exceeding $2m, as inbound tourism nearly collapsed. By the end of 2024, cumulative losses were estimated at approximately $1bn.
The Palestinian Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), citing PCBS data, reported an 84.2 percent drop in hotel occupancy in the West Bank during the first half of 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier. Losses in accommodation and food services alone amounted to roughly $326m.
Despite the downturn, al-Amour said the Ministry of Economy is focusing on sustaining the private sector, substituting Israeli imports across seven key sectors, developing the digital and green economies, and improving the business environment. He noted that about 2,500 new companies continue to be registered each year.
Tourism collapsing
Samir Hazbun, a lecturer at al-Quds University and board member of the Palestinian Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said repeated crises have hollowed out the economy.
“Over the past five years, all economic sectors have entered successive crises, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic and followed by the war on Gaza,” Hazbun said. “Tourism, one of the most important sectors, has been especially affected, exhausting the local economy and weakening its ability to recover.”
Hazbun said preliminary estimates indicate tourism has suffered direct losses exceeding $1bn, alongside extensive indirect losses resulting from the paralysis of hotels, souvenir shops, travel agencies, tour guides and street vendors.
He added that hotel investments alone are estimated at $550m, with no financial returns for owners, forcing many workers out of the sector due to the absence of job security and safety nets.
Economic expert Haitham Daraghmeh described Palestinian debt as “accumulated debt that increases monthly”, owed to banks, suppliers, contractors, and the telecommunications and health sectors.
“The withholding of clearance revenues is no longer a temporary financial crisis; it has become a factor of complete economic paralysis,” he said.
With external aid frozen and domestic revenues at historic lows, Daraghmeh warned that the government was “no longer able to cover salaries or operational costs”.
“The government is operating like an ATM, with no real capacity for investment or economic stimulus,” Daraghmeh added.
Economic warnings
Daraghmeh said World Bank reports warn that continued failure to pay salaries and meet obligations could trigger comprehensive economic collapse. While some countries, including France and Saudi Arabia, have pledged support, he said none of that assistance has materialised.
He outlined three possible scenarios; the most likely is a continued gradual decline, driven by ongoing revenue withholding and shrinking resources. The second involves international intervention to prevent total collapse, particularly at a decisive political moment. The third scenario could see a conditional breakthrough, tied to European demands for financial reform, anticorruption measures, curriculum changes and elections.
Taken together, the data and expert assessments suggest the Palestinian economy is approaching a dangerous tipping point. Analysts warn that without an end to revenue withholding, renewed international financial support, and a shift in the political context, the economy risks sliding from prolonged crisis into outright collapse.
The question facing Palestinian officials and economists alike is how long the system can endure under siege-like conditions – and whether political and economic shifts will arrive in time to halt what many now describe as a slow and deliberate economic unravelling.
Coronation Street icon Carla Connor (Alison King) was revealed to have become a victim of evil Becky Swain on the Christmas Eve episode of world’s longest-running TV soap
21:15, 24 Dec 2025Updated 21:16, 24 Dec 2025
Coronation Street’s Carla Connor has become a victim of kidnap again(Image: ITV)
Having managed to move her way into number six after claiming that a gang was after her, Becky was thrilled when Carla announced last week she was off to the Canary Islands. But in the latest episode if the world’s longest-running TV soap, things took a shocking turn when it was revealed that was not where she had ended up at all.
Before the twist involving Carla came to light, Becky set about taking full advantage of Lisa when they were in the house alone. What started as a massage ended up with the pair heading upstairs. When all was said and done, Becky told Lisa: “I never stopped loving you, you know. We do need to think about…where do we go from here? “
Lisa insisted: “I’ve lost so much trust. I still love Carla too,” and Becky shot back: “Of course. Complicated Carla. I’m not being horrible, but which one of us is here? Carla was just a tourist, and it looks like she heard the bell ring and finally it was time to jump off the bus.”
Later that evening, Lisa voice noted Carla. She said: “It’s Christmas Eve, babe. I can’ stop thinking about you. I want you back in my life and I’m gonna do whatever it takes to get you back. It’s you. And it will only ever be you. I love you. Merry Christmas.” To Lisa’s relief, a message from Carla popped back up almost straight away.
In the very next scene, it turned out that Becky had gone back to her flat, and was texting Lisa herself, from Carla’s phone. This would mean that all of Carla’s social media pictures of herself on a beach were in fact, fake.
Becky threw down the mobile phone, got out of her chair and a terrified Carla appeared on screen, having been bound and gagged. She kicked Carla and coldly said: “Get back in the closet, Carla,” before slamming the door. Fans of the Manchester-based soap will remember that this is not the first time the businesswoman has found herself in this sort of sticky situation.
In 2010, Carla’s now-late husband Tony Gordon returned to Underworld from prison and, seeking revenge, he held Carla hostage along with fellow Street legend Hayley Cropper in the factory as he set it on fire. They both made it out alive, just before the building exploded, but earlier this year, Carla was held hostage by her brother Rob Donovan at number one, who had escaped from prison after almost a decade behind bars for the murder of Tina McIntyre.
Reacting to the latest kidnap twist, fans predicted that even if Carla does manage to make it out of her latest scrape, there will never be a reconciliation between herself and Lisa, and that the policewoman will likely be leaving Weatherfield for good.
One fan wrote on Reddit: “I don’t see a way back for Carla and Lisa at present and more importantly I can’t see a way back for Lisa as a character in 2026 in general and I am someone that actually likes her character.”
Another said: “I said about a month ago Lisa wants her cake and to eat it too and that’s what’s transpired. She’s quite happy to have Becky around and enjoys her being there regardless of Betsy or fake gangs. She was lying to herself saying otherwise at the start. She expected Carla to be fine with that which is just ridiculous.”
Liverpool manager Arne Slot says star forward Alexander Isak will be on the sidelines until at least late February.
Published On 23 Dec 202523 Dec 2025
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Alexander Isak is expected to be out of action for two months after fracturing his leg against Tottenham, with Liverpool manager Arne Slot accusing Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven of making a “reckless challenge”.
The Sweden striker was injured in a tackle from the defender in the act of scoring the opening goal in Saturday’s 2-1 victory and limped off the pitch.
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Liverpool said in a statement on Monday that the forward had had an operation on an ankle injury that included a fibula fracture.
“It’s going to be a long injury, for a couple of months,” Slot told reporters on Tuesday, “So, yeah, that’s a big, big, big disappointment for him. And as a result, also of course for us.”
Slot described Van de Ven’s tackle as “reckless”.
“I think I said a lot about the tackle of Xavi Simons [sent off earlier in the game for Spurs], which for me was completely unintentional, and I don’t think you will ever get an injury out of a tackle like that.
“The tackle of Van de Ven, if you make that tackle 10 times, I think 10 times there’s a serious chance that a player gets a serious injury.”
Isak, centre, gets injured in a challenge with Tottenham Hotspur’s Dutch defender #37 Micky van de Ven at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on December 20, 2025 [Justin Tallis/AFP]
Isak’s challenging year continues
Isak’s injury is the latest setback for the forward after he signed from Newcastle for a British record 125 million pounds ($168m) in September.
A dispute with Newcastle meant he did not have a proper preseason programme and arrived at Liverpool well behind his teammates in terms of fitness.
His season was then interrupted by a groin injury.
The 26-year-old has scored just three goals in 16 appearances since completing his protracted move to Anfield.
Isak’s absence will be a major blow for Reds boss Slot, with Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations and Cody Gakpo not ready to return from a muscle injury until early in the new year.
It leaves Slot with Hugo Ekitike, who has five goals in his past four games, and the little-used Federico Chiesa as his only senior forwards.
Liverpool, whose Premier League title defence collapsed after a shocking run of results, have climbed to fifth in the table after extending their unbeaten league run to five games.
Isak’s injury raises the prospect of Liverpool moving to boost their attack in the January transfer window, with Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo linked with a move to Anfield.
It may also change the conversation around Salah, who had been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia following his recent claim that he had been thrown under the bus by the club and no longer had a relationship with Slot.
Salah’s rant, which came after he was left on the bench for three successive matches, prompted Liverpool to leave him out of the squad for a Champions League match at Inter Milan.
But he returned to action as a substitute against Brighton before leaving for international duty.
Dec. 19 (UPI) — Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s lung condition has worsened, and her doctors are considering a lung transplant, the royal palace announced Friday.
The 52-year-old was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a rare, chronic disease that causes lung tissue to become damaged and scarred. This scarring causes difficulty for the lungs to carry oxygen to the bloodstream.
Symptoms of the condition include shortness of breath, dry cough, fatigue, weight loss and loss of appetite, muscle or joint pain, and rounded or swollen fingertips.
“During the autumn, a number of tests have been carried out that show a clear worsening of the crown princess’ health,” a statement from the palace said.
“The physicians at Rikshospitalet University Hospital have therefore started the process towards an evaluation for potential lung transplant surgery.”
At the time of her diagnosis, Mette-Marit predicted the condition would restrict her ability to perform royal duties.
“Although such a diagnosis will limit my life at times, I’m glad that the disease has been discovered so early,” she said in 2018. “My goal is still to work and participate in the official program as much as possible.
Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon, son of King Harald V and heir to the throne, in 2001. The couple share two children — Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, and Mette-Marit has a 28-year-old son, Marius Borg Høiby, from a previous relationship.
Høiby faces trial early next year on 32 charges, including four counts of rape.
Former President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on January 2, 2025. The Presidential Citizens Medal is bestowed to individuals who have performed exemplary deeds or services. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo
