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Morocco coach Walid Regragui has angrily rejected suggestions his team is benefitting from favourable refereeing decisions as the 2025 CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) host.

The Atlas Lions will face fellow favourites, Nigeria, in a titanic semifinal on Wednesday.

“We’re the team to beat. As the team to beat, people will try to find all sorts of reasons to say Morocco has an advantage,” Regragui said after his team’s 2-0 win over Cameroon in the quarterfinals.

“The only advantage that Morocco has at this Africa Cup is playing in front of 65,000 spectators. The rest is on the field, we speak on the field.”

On the field, however, Cameroon might have had two penalties if experienced referee Dahane Beida hadn’t decided in favour of the home team.

Morocco defender Adam Masina was involved in both, appearing to catch Bryan Mbuemo’s right boot after missing the ball when Cameroon was trying to level the match, then, in the final minutes, appearing to strike Etta Eyong’s head with his elbow in the penalty area.

Beida, who refereed the final at the last edition, also decided not to show Bilal El Khannouss a second yellow card for stopping Danny Namaso on a counterattack shortly before Ismael Saibari wrapped up the win.

“Many people want to believe or make others believe that we have advantages from the referees. Personally, I saw penalties that could have been awarded to us. As for the referees, I never talk about the referee,” Regragui said.

The Morocco coach then spoke about a penalty his team was not awarded against South Africa in the previous tournament in the Ivory Coast, and wrongly said he was “suspended for no reason” at that tournament.

Regragui was suspended for two games at the previous edition for his role in a dispute with Congo captain Chancel Mbemba at the end of their game that led to a melee between players and team officials.

“The statistics always show us as better than the others,” Regragui said, getting back to this edition. “We create far more opportunities than our opponents. Not a single goal was disallowed for Cameroon, or for any other team. When you want to get rid of something, you find a pretext.”

Mali and Tanzania also had penalty claims against Morocco rejected in previous games, while Morocco also had a penalty awarded after a VAR check in the draw against Mali.

Thousands of whistling Moroccan fans tried to help referee Abdou Abdel Mefire make up his mind while he consulted replays before he eventually decided to penalise Mali’s Nathan Gassama for handball. He initially ignored Jawad El Yamiq’s penalty-area foul on Mali’s Lassine Sinayoko before awarding it some minutes later after a VAR check.

There did not appear to be any VAR checks against Cameroon on Friday.

Morocco has played all its matches at the nearly 70,000-capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, where the vast majority of supporters are shouting for the home team, creating an intimidating atmosphere for opponents and referees.

“Today, Cameroon played the match they needed to play. I think they lost against a better team. I don’t think any player, coach, or anyone else is going to talk about the refereeing because there were a lot of physical battles today. This is Africa. But today, I think we deserved our victory,” said Regragui, who added his team also deserved to win all its previous games.

“That’s it. We’re trying to play on that field. I don’t think it’s fair play from those who want to see us fall. The best team will win this tournament, inshallah,” he said.

Morocco will play Nigeria at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, which is also the venue for the final on January 18.

The Atlas Lions are among the heavy favourites to win the tournament, having become the first African nation to reach the semifinals of a FIFA World Cup at the Qatar 2022 edition.

The Night Manager has returned to BBC One, with a tense clip from episode two showing villain Teddy Dos Santos complaining about someone making his life difficult

The Night Manager could be in for a shocking twist, with a teaser clip showing baddie Teddy Dos Santos hinting that he wants someone killed.

The BBC drama, which stars Tom Hiddleston as MI6 agent Jonathan Pine, has returned for its second series, a decade after the first series captivated audiences. The initial series followed Pine, a night manager at a Cairo hotel, who was enlisted by Angela Burr from the Foreign Office (Olivia Colman) to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie).

The second series, which premiered on New Year’s Day, picks up several years later, and a gripping snippet from the second episode shows Pine coming face-to-face with his new adversary.

Pine is now a low-ranking MI6 officer overseeing a discreet surveillance unit in London. However, things take a turn when he identifies one of Roper’s former mercenaries, with a synopsis stating it “prompts a call to action and leads Pine to a violent encounter with a new player: Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos.”

An exclusive preview of the second episode reveals him covertly listening in as Teddy (Diego Calva) engages in a sinister conversation with a General, reports the Express.

Teddy informs the General that a man named Alejandro Gualteros is “making my life difficult”, claiming that he has frozen his bank accounts and is attempting to inspect one of his shipments.

“That cannot happen,” he cautions.

The General reassures Teddy that he’ll handle it, to which the arms dealer responds: “Make it quick. No money. No operation.”

In a conversation between Teddy and Pine, Pine masquerades as a businessman who has spent his career in a Hong Kong bank, aiming to gain the villain’s trust.

“You’re English?” Teddy asks during their encounter at a tennis club. “I’m from Hong Kong,” Pine responds. “Swiss Bank. I’ve been there for 10 years.”

When questioned about his presence in Colombia, he coolly answers: “Let’s just say it’s getting more complex to work with our Chinese friends. So I’m seeking new opportunities.”

“You are a risk taker,” Teddy observes. “In life as in on the court,” Pine retorts with a smile.

The latest series of the drama also stars actress and model Camila Morrone as Roxana Bolaños. She portrays a businesswoman who is close to Teddy and reluctantly assists Pine in penetrating his arms operation.

The plot summary concludes: “As allegiances splinter, Pine races to expose a conspiracy designed to destabilise a nation. And with betrayal lurking around every corner, he must decide whose trust he needs to earn and how far he’s willing to go before it’s too late.”

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website.

The Night Manager is broadcast on BBC One.

When the explosive devices from the US airstrike landed in Birkini, a satellite village in Jabo town, Sokoto, North West Nigeria, on Thursday, Dec. 25, locals said they were alarmed after years of relative calm that allowed them to sleep peacefully at night. More than 18 civilian neighbouring communities were similarly shaken after the blast in Tambuwal Local Government Area (LGA), prompting some residents to pack their belongings and flee. 

The villagers believed they were under direct attack.

Before the news of the incident became widespread, rumours spread in the area that the American government was targeting Muslim-dominated settlements in Nigeria. 

Muhammad Bawa, a commercial driver from Birkini, said the airstrike, which targeted suspected Islamic State terrorists, occurred close to his farm. He said locals read social media posts claiming that “the American government is envious of Nigeria’s long history of peace and has been misled into believing that Nigerian Christians are being persecuted”.

“As a result, the US seemed prepared to target us, especially the Muslims in the North. This is why we are all feeling frightened and anxious about these unusual incidents,” he said. 

HumAngle found these claims to be false and misleading. However, with little media literacy and limited access to reliable information, many residents chose to leave rather than risk being caught in another strike. 

“That night, people from all 18 neighbouring communities gathered to move to Jabo in search of safety, as we were unsure of what might happen next,” Muhammed told HumAngle. 

As dozens of residents attempted to flee, Aminu Aliyu, the Information Officer of Tambuwal LGA, addressed some of them, urging calm and asking them to return to their homes. He assured them that the strikes were not aimed at civilians. 

Although the primary impact site was Birkini, fragments of the explosive device were later found across neighbouring communities, including Sakanau, Tungar Barke, Aske Dodo, Barga Hordu, Gasa Lodi, Yangwal, Lungu, Tungar Doruwa, Tungar Kwatte, Tungar Na’adda, and Darin Guru.

Muhammad recalled sitting on a mat watching a movie when the device flew above, “shaking our roof and sounding like strong wind before it fell”. “I didn’t give a damn and went on watching the movie,” he said. “We suddenly heard a high-sounding explosion strike like thunder. It came with the fire catching dried shrubs and farm straws, swirling like a storm.”

The Nigerian government later claimed the explosive devices found in Jabo and other rural communities in Tambuwal LGA, as well as in Offa, Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, were debris from precision weapons fired at terrorist camps within the Bauni forest axis of Tangaza LGA, Sokoto State, several kilometres from Tambuwal. 

Mohammed Idris, the country’s Minister of Information and National Orientation, said intelligence showed the Bauni forest was “being used as assembly and staging grounds by foreign ISIS elements infiltrating Nigeria from the Sahel region, in collaboration with local affiliates, to plan and execute large-scale terrorist attacks within Nigerian territory”.

He further noted that the strikes were launched from maritime platforms in the Gulf of Guinea after extensive intelligence gathering. Sixteen GPS-guided munitions were deployed using MQ-9 Reaper drones, and the targeted ISIS elements were successfully neutralised. Although specific damage assessments have not been released, Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said “those who handled the operational aspects of the episode will return with the details”. 

The origins of fear and terror

The Dec. 25 airstrike in Sokoto was first announced by US President Donald Trump, who said American forces struck ISIS positions in the northwestern region. The Nigerian government later confirmed the operation, noting that it was a joint effort between the Nigerian military and US forces, targeting terrorist camps in the state. 

“No civilian casualties were recorded in Jabo Town or any other affected area,” according to Abubakar Bawa, the spokesperson for the Sokoto State government. He added that recovered objects were under investigation by Nigerian and US military authorities. 

Trump justified the strike using a Christian genocide narrative, claiming that ISIS terrorists in Nigeria were “viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries”. This echoed earlier US rhetoric that designated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” for alleged state-backed religious persecution. 

Nigerian officials and conflict researchers have rejected this framing, stressing that terror groups target both Muslims and Christians. Nevertheless, the framing of the narrative heightened fear among Muslim communities in Sokoto’s Birkini, Sakanau, and Kagara, where many interpreted the strike as an attack on them under the guise of protecting Christians.

“I fled my community and will resettle in Jabo town for fear of the unknown,” Sani Yale, a resident of Sakanau, told HumAngle. “Drawing from what I watched in American films exposing the powers of the US in war, I fear that the bomb explosion will come to our villages again. We feel we are not safe at all.” Several other residents share the same fear.

Umar Yusuf, from the Kagara community near Jabo, said he was asleep when his wife woke him screaming that an American attack was underway. They fled to Jabo town, where they encountered others debating what they described as “America’s ill intentions toward Nigeria”. 

“How can the US claim precision targeting at ISIS and throw bombs at us here, where we have never experienced a terrorist attack?” asked Ibrahim Shehu, a retired security officer from Jabo. “They claim intelligence sharing, yet miss the correct locations where terrorists, bandits, and Lakurawa reside and camp. This is just deliberately done to finish us, but God protected us.”

Nigeria’s foreign minister reiterated that the joint operation was intended “to fight against terrorism, to stop the terrorists from killing innocent Nigerians, be (they) Muslim, Christian, atheist, whatever religion.” Over the years, Nigeria has grappled with insecurity driven by a variety of causes, including terrorism, criminality, and ethno-religious violence. 

Security analysts believe the strike targeted Lakurawa, a violent criminal gang active in the northwestern region. The group first arrived in the Gudu and Tangaza areas of Sokoto State around 2018, after some communities invited them to act as protectors against terror attacks.

At the time, security authorities described them as “herders [from the neighbouring Niger Republic] not known to be violent but strongly suspected to be armed”. The group became more lethal last year, frequently assaulting communities while taking refuge in the forests spanning across the region. The Nigerian Defence Headquarters designated Lakurawa a terrorist organisation in Nov. 2024.

A study by the Combating Terrorism Centre suggests Lakurawa may have had links to Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (the al-Qaeda affiliate in the Sahel) between 2017 and 2018, but is now associated with the Islamic State’s Sahel Province (ISSP). Meanwhile, a Nov. 2025 study by Good Governance Africa notes that “the group currently maintains a nominal or permanent presence in at least 19 local government areas and 82 villages across Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara”.

As authorities and residents continue to make sense of the recent strikes, concerns persist over the careless collection of unexploded fragments scattered across affected areas. Some of the devices have yet to detonate, according to Aminu, the Tambuwal LGA spokesperson. 

“Military personnel were here to see for themselves, but did nothing to stop it. There are strong indications that it will probably explode at any time. People are barred from visiting the area,” he said. 

Dec. 27 (UPI) — President Donald Trump and Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent urged an end to the Senate filibuster rule ahead of an anticipated budget battle in January.

Bessent submitted an op-ed that The Washington Post published on Saturday and blames Senate Democrats and the filibuster for blocking passage of a resolution to keep the federal government open while negotiating the 2026 fiscal year budget and causing a record 43-day shutdown of the federal government.

“The American people are just now emerging from the longest and most devastating government shutdown in U.S. history,” Bessent said.

“While the blame lies squarely with Senate Democrats, we cannot ignore the weapon they used to hold the country hostage: the legislative filibuster,” Bessent wrote.

With the continuing resolution expiring on Jan. 30, Bessent said there is a strong likelihood that Senate Democrats again will use the filibuster to block passage of a budget and force the government to close again.

“Democrats inflicted tremendous harm on the nation, including $11 billion in permanent economic damage” as the federal government was “held for ransom by the left’s demands,” Bessent said.

He said the shutdown caused the nation to lose 1.5 percentage points in gross domestic product growth during the fourth quarter, triggered 9,500 canceled flights and caused 1.4 million federal workers to miss their paychecks.

He called the filibuster a “historical accident that has evolved into a standing veto for the [Senate] minority and a license for paralysis.”

The Constitution does not mention a filibuster, and its “framers envisioned debate, but they expect majority rule,” Bessent said.

He said the filibuster has its roots in an 1806 Senate rules decision that deleted a “previous question” motion, which unintentionally removed the Senate’s mechanism for ending debate with a majority vote.

Senators later realized they could “delay or block” legislative action with unending debate, and just the threat of a filibuster is enough to trigger the filibuster rule requiring a supermajority of 60 votes to end it, Bessent explained.

He said it is likely that Senate Democrats again will force the federal government to shut down at the end of January by blocking the 2026 fiscal year budget vote.

President Barack Obama called the filibuster a “‘Jim Crow relic,'” but Bessent said Senate Democrats always use it to their advantage whenever possible, and the president agrees.

“It’s time to end the filibuster,” Trump said while agreeing with Bessent in a social media post that includes Bessent’s op-ed.

He also told Politico that the GOP must end the filibuster when interviewed on Friday night.

Doing so will help his administration to undo damage that he said was caused by the Biden administration and led to very high inflation that he is trying to fix to make life more affordable in the United States, Trump said.

The president has urged Senate Republicans to end the filibuster as soon as possible and said Senate Democrats will do it the first chance that they get when they eventually win a majority in the Senate.

Senate Democrats in September and afterward overwhelmingly opposed a clean continuing resolution to keep the federal government open and instead submitted a resolution that would add $1.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of December.

Senate Democrats control 47 seats, including two occupied by independents who caucus with Senate Democrats, while the GOP controls 53 seats, so neither party can overcome the filibuster rule without help from the other.

The Senate GOP could not muster the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster rule until eight Senate Democrats joined with most Senate Republicans to support the continuing resolution to end the 43-day government shutdown that began when the 2026 fiscal year started on Oct. 1.

Senate Democrats in 2022 tried to end the filibuster rule but could not obtain a simple majority due to opposition from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, both of whom were Democrats but have retired from politics.

Mexico City, Mexico, December 11, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela accused the United States of committing “international piracy” after US authorities seized an oil tanker in the Caribbean, denouncing the action as part of a long-running US campaign to strip the country of its energy resources.

US President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Washington seized an oil tanker sanctioned by the US off Venezuela’s coast. He described the vessel as the largest oil tanker ever seized and indicated that the United States would retain the crude aboard. 

The move was met with a sharp rebuke from Caracas.

“The Bolivarian Government will appeal to all existing international bodies to denounce this grave international crime and will defend its sovereignty with absolute determination,” read the communiqué. “Venezuela will not allow any foreign power to take from the Venezuelan people what belongs to them by historical and constitutional right.”

According to Reuters, the “Skipper” tanker loaded an estimated 1.8 million barrels of crude at Venezuela’s José terminal early this month before unloading 200,000 to a Cuba-bound ship. The remaining cargo was believed to be destined for Asian markets. The move was viewed as aggression against Cuba as well, which relies on Venezuelan oil shipments for energy and income.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla condemned “the vile act of piracy” as a violation of international law.

Michael Galant, member of the Progressive International Secretariat, said that calling the US seizure an act of piracy fell short.

“This is the deliberate immiseration of the Cuban people, already suffering debilitating fuel shortages, blackouts, and a chikungunya outbreak thanks to the US blockade,” wrote Galant on social media.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi posted a video on social media on Wednesday evening showing armed US forces boarding the vessel. There was reportedly no resistance from the crew nor any casualties. The assault involved Coast Guard members, Marines, and special forces who were seen in the video descending from helicopters onto the ship’s deck.

The seizure of the tanker comes only days after Delaware District Judge Leonard P. Stark approved the sale of Venezuela’s US-based refiner CITGO to Amber Energy, a process that Venezuela called a “barbaric theft” of a Venezuelan asset via a “fraudulent process.” 

In past years, the United States has intercepted shipments of Iranian fuel bound for Venezuela, ultimately taking control of the gasoline and selling it at auction. While US-led sanctions have created significant challenges for the sale of Venezuelan oil on international markets, Wednesday’s seizure marks the first time the US has directly impeded a crude shipment of from Venezuela. Reuters reported that buyers in Asia were demanding further discounts on Venezuelan crude as a result of the seizure.

Trump’s latest move is a significant escalation in the latest US effort to oust the Nicolás Maduro government from power. Since September, the US has built up its forces in the region, including the mobilization of the Gerard Ford Carrier Fleet, and has carried out deadly strikes on boats that the administration claims are tied to drug trafficking. 

Washington’s decision to seize the tanker drew scrutiny from US lawmakers who have questioned the true intentions behind military mobilization and campaign in the Caribbean.

“If Trump’s aggression in the Caribbean is about drugs, why did he just seize an oil tanker?” asked US Representative Nydia Velázquez. “This is yet another dangerous escalation that brings us closer to a regime change war.”

Senator Mark Warner, who serves as the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, questioned how the US was able to seize an oil tanker but has opted to strike alleged drug smuggling boats from the skies without an effort to arrest the occupants or seize the purported contraband. 

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen spoke Wednesday on the floor of Congress to call on lawmakers to stop Trump’s ”regime change war” against Venezuela.

Caracas maintains that the US attacks are motivated by a desire for regime change in order to secure access to Venezuela’s natural resources.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, speaking from Oslo where she traveled to receive her Nobel Peace Prize, publicly endorsed the seizure of the tanker as a “very necessary step.”

Juan González, Joe Biden’s former chief Latin America adviser and the architect behind the former president’s Venezuela policy, said that a US Naval blockade was “potentially a viable option” despite admitting that it would constitute an act of war against Venezuela.

The White House has repeatedly threatened further escalation, including land strikes. The New York Times reported that US officials expected additional seizures in the coming weeks. This action would constitute an act of force and place additional pressure against Venezuela’s oil industry.

The United Nations (UN) Charter expressly prohibits all Member States from using or threatening force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state. Blockades imposed without a declaration of war or that are not sanctioned by the UN Security Council are not considered legal. Likewise, UN independent experts have consistently maintained that the extraterritorial application of unilateral sanctions is contrary to international law.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

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Legislators have been publishing photos related to convicted sex offender as Justice Department faces Friday deadline to release more.

Democrats in the United States House of Representatives have released dozens more photos from the estate of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The release on Thursday comes a day before the Department of Justice faces a deadline to release a more comprehensive set of files related to Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting sex-trafficking charges.

In a statement, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said they would “continue releasing photographs and documents to provide transparency for the American people”.

“It’s time for the Department of Justice to release the files,” they said.

The latest trove includes photos of Epstein with public intellectual Noam Chomsky, as well as images of billionaire Bill Gates, filmmaker Woody Allen and former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon at Epstein’s compound.

One release shows a screenshot of a text exchange in which an unknown sender appears to discuss recruiting young women.

“I have a friend scout she sent me some girls today. But she asks 1000$ per girl. I will send u girls now. Maybe someone will be good for J?” the post says.

Other images show women’s passports and the body of an unidentified woman with messages written on her skin, next to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a novel about a man’s sexual obsession with a child.

Like a trove of images released last week, the materials released on Thursday were not accompanied by any further context or details. Last week’s images also showed Bannon, Allen, and Gates, as well as former US President Bill Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Another image showed US President Trump surrounded by three young women, his hand clutching the waist of the woman to his right.

Trump has acknowledged a prior relationship with Epstein, but has denied taking part in the sex abuse ring that Epstein ran. He said the two men had a falling out years before Epstein’s arrest.

In emails previously released by House Democrats, Epstein said that Trump “knew about the girls”. In another, Epstein described Trump as “the dog that hasn’t barked”.

The president had initially opposed a more complete release of files related to Epstein, but faced mounting pressure, including from within his own Make America Great Again (MAGA) base.

Speculation has focused on the influential figures in Epstein’s orbit, and any involvement they made have had in his crime. The intrigue has been fueled by the murky circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death in a New York jail cell, which was ruled a suicide.

Last month, Trump pivoted on the issue, signing into law a bill requiring the Justice Department to publish materials connected to the Epstein investigation.

However, the Justice Department has remained silent on whether it will meet Friday’s deadline outlined in the law, dubbed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organisation,  has raised concerns over the dire humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, following the capture of Uvira town by M23/AFC rebels.

In a statement released on Monday, Dec. 15, Human Rights Watch reported that the offensive launched by M23/AFC, with support from Rwanda in Uvira and the surrounding areas, has resulted in a significant displacement of populations. It stated that access to humanitarian assistance has been severely diminished.

According to figures from the United Nations, approximately 200,000 people have fled the fighting, including over 30,000 who have crossed the border into Burundi. Congolese refugees arriving in Burundi have informed UN officials that they are receiving little to no humanitarian assistance. Human Rights Watch reports that local hospitals and health centres are overwhelmed amid a decline in humanitarian aid due to limited access and financial resources.

The organisation emphasises the suspension of food assistance in the province, stating that the UN World Food Programme has halted its support throughout South Kivu, worsening the living conditions of displaced populations still in areas affected by conflict. They are urging all forces present on the ground to ensure humanitarian access and the protection of civilians. In particular, they demand that the Rwandan authorities and the M23 guarantee access to essential items for the population’s survival, including water, food, and medicine.

Human Rights Watch states that the lack of progress in humanitarian aid, despite recent diplomatic efforts, is concerning.

“The Washington Accords dealing with the situation in the Eastern DR Congo have not permitted improved security nor better access to aid for the civilians near Uvira in South Kivu,” said Clementine de Montjoye, Human Rights Watch’s principal researcher for the Great Lakes region.

While humanitarian needs are rapidly increasing, Human Rights Watch exhorts its international partners to act quickly.

 “The situation faced by civilians in South Kivu is more and more perilous, and the humanitarian needs are considerable,”  the non-governmental organisation said, calling for an urgent reinforcement of assistance and the adequate protection of civilian populations.