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British officials say they’re enforcing tougher policies for asylum seekers, including ending refugees’ automatic right to settle permanently in the UK. As Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands explains, the overhaul comes as polls show growing concerns about immigration.

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Another board member of the conservative Heritage Foundation resigned after the organization’s president, Kevin Roberts, posted video defending Tucker Carlson‘s interview with anti-Semitic commentator Nick Fuentes.

Board member Robert P. George wrote Monday on Facebook that “I have resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation. I could not remain without a full retraction of the video released by Kevin Roberts, speaking for and in the name of Heritage, on October 30th.”

In the video, Roberts refused to distance himself from the two-hour interview, which was posted two weeks ago on YouTube, and has 6.2 million views. Counting other platforms, including X, it has been seen by more than 20 million.

George, who had been a Heritage trustee since 2019, said: “Although Kevin publicly apologized for some of what he said in the video, he could not offer a full retraction of its content. So, we reached an impasse.”

Fuentes, 27, has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, claiming the Holocaust was “exaggerated.” He has also said “organized Jewry” is leading to white culture’s disappearance, and that white people are “justified” in being racist, and said “a lot of women want to be raped.”

A spokesman for the Heritage Foundation confirmed the resignation in a statement to Politico, thanked him for his service and calling him a “good man.”

George, the McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, also called Roberts a “good man.”

“He made what he acknowledged was a serious mistake,” George said. “Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes. What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake.”

The Foundation defended Roberts in a statement through a spokesperson.

“Under the leadership of Dr. Roberts, Heritage remains resolute in building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish,” the spokesperson said. “We are strong, growing, and more determined than ever to fight for our Republic.”

Roberts, in the Oct. 30 video, blasted the “venomous coalition” that has faulted Fuentes and Carlson, with the latter described as a “close friend.”

“The Heritage Foundation didn’t become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won’t start doing that now,” Roberts said.

“Their attempt to cancel [Carlson] will fail,” he added. “I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either.”

One day later, Roberts also posted on X, elaborating on his remarks.

“Our task is to confront and challenge those poisonous ideas at every turn to prevent them from taking America to a very dark place,” Roberts wrote. “Join us — not to cancel — but to guide, challenge, and strengthen the conversation, and be confident as I am that our best ideas at the heart of western civilization will prevail.

“For those, especially young men, who are enticed by Fuentes and his acolytes online — there is a better way.”

Some staff members at a two-hour meeting on Wednesday called for Roberts’ resignation, with one attendee saying he had caused “enormous damage” to the foundation, according to the video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

At least five members of the foundation’s anti-Semitism task force also have resigned, CBS News reported.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that dates to the mid-1970s and came to larger prominence for its influence on the Reagan administration, helped to spearhead Project 2025, which has been used as a guide for President Donald Trump‘s second term in the White House.

Trump, who hosted Fuentes and rapper Kanye West at his Mar-a-Lago home in 2024, on Sunday told reporters that you can’t tell Carlson “who to interview.”

Carlson hosts platforms on his platform. The Tucker Carlson Network. He has worked for CNN, PS, MSNBC (now called MSNOW) and Fox News, the latter of which he was fired from in April 2023.

George said he wished the Foundation “the very best.”

“My hope for Heritage is that it will be unbending and unflinching in its fidelity to its founding vision, upholding the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the civic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States,” he wrote.

“I pray that Heritage’s research and advocacy will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal’ and ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.'”

Fuentes and Vice President JD Vance have been at odds since Fuentes asked his audience “Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?”,

In 2024 on CBS’s Face the Nation, Vance called him a “total loser” and said there is “no room” for him in the Make America Great Again movement.

San Francisco, United States – Just weeks ago, Brandon Praileau, a pastor from Norfolk, Virginia, was speaking to families in his community about a federally funded programme that would help them install rooftop solar units in their homes. The government funds would take care of their installation costs, and once installed, lower the burden of rising electricity costs, a pressing concern.

Then, Praileau heard the federal government had scrapped the $7bn Solar For All programme through which his project and other solar projects across the country were to be funded, leaving them stranded.

It is one of several federally funded renewable energy projects that have been scrapped or will end early, veering off the country’s planned shift to renewable energy, also making it harder to meet climate goals.

Praileau, Virginia programme director for Solar United Neighbors, had been helping roll out the project that received $156m in federal funds to support 7,500 low- and middle-income families with solar installation. Praileau say he was “mind blown” by the sudden withdrawal.

The federal government will also end the 30 percent tax credit for solar rooftop installation in homes this December. For businesses, these tax credits will only be available if they start construction of factories, malls or other businesses, for which the solar installations are meant, by June 2026.

The Department of Energy also withdrew $13bn in funding from a range of other renewable energy projects, including upgrading power grids, carbon-neutral cement production, and battery energy storage. The administration also ended several funding initiatives for wind energy.

President Trump has said, “We’re not going to be approving windmills unless something happens that’s an emergency.”

This could lead to a $114bn loss in delays or cancellation of wind energy projects, according to an April 2025 report by BloombergNEF.

In Florida, intake forms for 10,000 low- and middle-income households to enrol for federal subsidies to get solar units installed on their rooftops were ready when the $156m project was scrapped in August.

A resident of Miami-Dade County had told volunteers who were helping her fill in the forms to enrol for the grant that she was “scared to use power. I am scared to put on air conditioning”, because the steep rise in power costs in the state had put it out of reach for her.

Power costs in the state are up 60 percent for some residents since 2019, Heaven Campbell, Florida programme director of Solar United Neighbors, which was working on implementing the project, told Al Jazeera.

Other states have also seen varying power cost hikes due to hurricanes and the war in Ukraine, which made Russian natural gas more expensive.

Florida Power and Light, the utilities provider, has also currently made a case to increase rates further to raise nearly $10bn over the next four years, according to Florida’s Office of Public Counsel.

Solar United’s staff has tried to educate residents that not using power could get them disconnected, and reconnecting comes with a fee.

Early ending of the tax credit will mean “consumers are stuck at the mercy of utilities”, and their rising rates, says Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president for California at the Environmental Working Group.

‘Rain shadow impact’

With the solar rooftop tax credits set to expire in December, there has been a scramble to install, and some solar installers say they are having to turn away customers.

“We will see the rain shadow impact of this in 2026,” Del Chiaro says, referring to a sharp drop in business and jobs that the industry is steeling itself for next year.

“This is a big plunge on the solar coaster,” says Barry Cinnamon, chief executive of Cinnamon Energy Systems, a San Francisco-based solar installation company.

Ed Murray, president of the California Solar and Storage Association, told Al Jazeera he expects the elimination of tax credits to double the payback time for installation and other costs associated with the solar units to up to 12 years.

It would also lead to job losses for thousands of skilled workers in the sector, Murray said, even as the air quality is likely to worsen and the state is expected to fail to meet its climate goals.

In its announcement withdrawing from these projects, the Department of Energy notification said the projects “advance the previous Administration’s wasteful Green New Scam agenda”.

In the statement, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that, “By returning these funds to the American taxpayer, the Trump administration is affirming its commitment to advancing more affordable, reliable and secure American energy and being more responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

Critics of solar projects have said they drive up costs for households still on the power grid because solar customers pay less to utilities but still use that power when needed.

The Trump administration has, instead, supported oil and gas production through several measures, including plans to open up the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil and gas leasing recently. It has also eased permitting for drilling on federal lands.

Rising costs

The Biden administration had funded renewable energy projects under what it called the Green New Deal, a programme to accelerate economic growth and job creation while having a positive climate impact.

But even as these projects began rolling out, power costs have risen sharply in many states, including Virginia.

A recent study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the rise in power costs had outpaced inflation in 26 states and listed a range of factors for it, including the Ukraine war and extreme weather factors such as wildfires and hurricanes that have damaged an already ageing electric poles and grid.

For instance, prices in California have risen more than 34 percent since 2019, the study says, in part because the record-breaking wildfires forced utilities to replace and strengthen their power lines. Federal funding of $630m to strengthen grids in California was among the projects scrapped by the Department of Energy.

“A majority of the projects that were scrapped were mid-implementation,” says Ryan Schleeter, communications director of The Climate Center, a California-based think tank.

Federal incentives also meant that more than 20 percent of the cars sold in the state over the last two years had been electric vehicles (EVs). These allowed middle-income families to buy EVs, Schleeter says. With incentives having ended on September 30, “the central challenge will be how to be equitable,” he says.

Susan Stephenson, executive director of California Power and Light, which supports places of worship to have renewable energy, says several places of worship that had planned to move to solar energy or install EV charging stations are now struggling to find installers and have seen costs going up beyond their initial budget due to federal cuts.

In Virginia, Praileau says power costs came up as one of the greatest concerns in his interactions with his congregants. The state has among the most data centres in the country, and Praileau believes that could be a reason for rising costs.

Voter dissatisfaction over rising power costs has been among the top issues in the governor’s elections in the state that went to the polls on November 4. One of the promises that Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat candidate who won, had made was to reduce power costs by increasing energy production and getting data centres to pay a higher share of power costs.

Praileau hopes the solar project, the cuts to which are already being litigated, can also be revived by the new governor. In Florida, too, there is ongoing litigation on the federal funding cuts.

Several states, including California, have announced their own rollbacks on renewable energy incentives.

But with funding withdrawals hurting residents, Steve Larson, a former executive director of the California Public Utilities Commission, expects more litigation to restore programmes and mastering “techniques of delay”, for federal cuts in grants and to allow renewable energy projects to keep going.

Nov. 17 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Monday ended a Biden-era policy that forced airlines to reimburse travelers for issues such as long flight delays.

The White House pulled the proposal by then-U.S. President Joe Biden from the Federal Register, arguing the move was part of President Donald Trump‘s plan to scrap perceivably wasteful federal regulations.

It required airlines to, among other things, compensate its customers with meals, hotels, transportation, or rebooking fees after significant domestic flight delays.

The department announced in September it intended to ditch the policy implemented by Biden and then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

On Monday, the Transportation Department said it would “continue to allow airlines to compete on the services and compensation that they provide to passengers.”

“Rather than imposing new minimum requirements for these services and compensation through regulation, which would impose significant costs on airlines and potentially consumers,” it added.

On Friday, Trump Transportation officials claimed the passenger protection rule created “unnecessary regulatory burdens.”

Officials added Monday that the Transportation Department was “not convinced that a new regulatory regime that includes passenger compensation requirements would yield meaningful improvements in airline flight performance.”

But it was “just the latest example of [the Trump administration] siding with corporations and against customers,” Buttigieg, a rumored 2028 presidential candidate, stated in September on X.

The air carrier trade group Airlines for America previously praised the action.

Meanwhile, the senate’s leading consumer advocate criticized Trump’s move, saying it lets airlines “off the hook.”

“Who does this policy help aside from the CEOs at major airlines?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said on social media. “If this is Trump’s idea of lowering costs, then we’re in a lot of hot water.”

More than 288,000 families in Gaza are enduring a shelter crisis as Israeli restrictions on humanitarian supplies worsen conditions for Palestinians displaced by the war, the territory’s Government Media Office says.

Local authorities said in a statement on Monday that heavy rainfall over recent days submerged tens of thousands of makeshift tents across Gaza, leaving Palestinians suffering under conditions that “no society can endure”.

The Government Media Office warned that Palestinians are facing “the most dangerous humanitarian disaster” since the war began with Israel “deliberately deepening the catastrophe” through its blockade of essential shelter materials.

“We strongly condemn this ongoing crime committed by the [Israeli] occupation against civilians,” it said.

“We hold the occupation fully responsible for the suffering of hundreds of thousands of displaced people who are facing the harshness of winter without safe shelter or basic services, and for its catastrophic crime of insisting on completely closing the crossings and preventing the entry of shelter supplies.”

The flooding began on Thursday when the first winter storm hit Gaza. The United Nations confirmed more than 13,000 households were affected within hours.

Conditions deteriorated over the following days as the rain continued, overwhelming the worn tents that have housed displaced families for nearly two years.

Many displacement camps sit at lower elevations than surrounding areas. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported on Monday that “some areas are completely submerged” after water rushed in from all sides.

Gaza authorities said the enclave requires 300,000 tents and mobile homes to provide basic shelter, a figure they have “clearly stated” for months.

However, Israel has prevented their entry despite a ceasefire that came into effect on October 10.

More than 80 percent of buildings across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed during the war, according to UN figures, forcing massive displacement.

Rights experts have said Israel’s campaign that turned most of Gaza into rubble amounts to genocide. Actions that constitute a genocide, according to the United Nations, include “deliberately inflicting on [a] group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

On Monday, the Government Media Office accused Israel of “continuing its policy of restriction and preventing the entry of tents, tarps and plastic covers” while keeping border crossings closed and “reneging on implementing the humanitarian protocol” it signed as part of the ceasefire.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is restricting humanitarian supplies.

But Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), described the situation last week as “misery on top of misery” and warned that Gaza’s fragile shelters “quickly flood, soaking people’s belongings”.

UNRWA said it has enough supplies waiting in Jordan and Egypt to fill 6,000 trucks, including food to sustain Gaza’s entire population for three months. Yet Israeli restrictions mean only about half the required 500 to 600 aid trucks a day are entering the territory.

UNRWA has also said it cannot bring pens and notebooks into the territory under import rules imposed by Israeli authorities.

Aid groups warned in early November that about 260,000 Palestinian families, totalling nearly 1.5 million people, faced vulnerability as winter approached.

Natalie Boucly, a senior UNRWA official, said Israel is breaching international humanitarian law by maintaining restrictions. Boucly cited the Fourth Geneva Convention and a recent International Court of Justice ruling that found Israel must ensure Palestinians have “essential supplies of daily life”.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said during a visit to aid warehouses in Jordan this month that Israel has “no excuse” for delaying humanitarian supplies.

‘Aid restrictions are entirely political’

Professor Mukesh Kapila of the University of Manchester said the restrictions represent deliberate strategy rather than logistical problems.

“Accessing Gaza is one of the easiest regions where a humanitarian crisis is happening, so this is entirely a political act,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It is a deliberate Israeli strategy to keep up pressure on Hamas on the hostages and possibly disarmament, but it is compounding human suffering in Gaza.”

The Government Media Office statement called on United States President Donald Trump and mediator countries to the ceasefire to “take serious and immediate action to force the occupation to comply with what it signed” in the truce and humanitarian protocol.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 266 people have been killed since the truce began with Israeli forces carrying out strikes almost daily even in areas where troops were supposed to withdraw.

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Luxury air carrier Emirates will order dozens of new Boeing aircrafts in a deal worth tens of billions of dollars.

On Monday, Emirates said it ordered 65 additional new Boeing 777-9 planes worth $38 billion at list prices to bring its total to 315 orders for Boeing’s wide-body jets.

“This is a long-term commitment to our partnership with Boeing and to U.S. aerospace,” according to Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group.

The news arrived on opening day of the Dubai Airshow 2025.

“We are expanding our commitment,” added Al Maktoum in a statement.

Headquartered in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates — where Boeing opened a regional UAE office in 2015 — is the Boeing’s largest wide-body jet supplier.

Boeing said the 777-9 will be the world’s largest twin-engine jet, reduce fuel use and emissions by 20% and “set new standards in efficiency and passenger experience.”

“Already the world’s largest customer for GE90 and GP7200 engines, this additional GE9X order reflects Emirates’ confidence in our technology and our team,” Russell Stokes, president and CEO of commercial engines and services at GE Aerospace, told CNBC.

GE Aerospace is producing its GE 9X engines for Boeing’s 777-9. It takes the Emirate order to a rough 540 unit total, according to the company.

Stokes said GE Aerospace was “ready to support Emirates in every way to leverage the efficiency and durability of our industry-leading solutions and services.”

According to Boeing officials, the Arab region is anticipated to need nearly 3,000 new wide-body jets over the next 20 years.

Boeing currently struggles with production and certification issues and the Emirate order could impose delivery timeline hurdles into 2027.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has pressed global companies to purchase Boeing aircrafts as a facet to trade talks in the move likely to be welcomed by the White House.

It arrived nearly two years to the date of Emirates’ 2023 announcement during Dubai’s 2023 Airshow it would buy some 95 wide-body Boeing jets in a $52 billion orderbook.

For Palestinians, the olive harvest is both an essential source of income and a treasured cultural tradition. Each year, families gather beneath the groves to pick olives, press oil, and celebrate a connection to the land that spans generations. But this season has seen increasing attacks from settlers and Israeli troops, damaging or uprooting thousands of trees. With tens of thousands relying on olives for their livelihoods, each loss carries economic and emotional weight. This episode examines the harvest as a means of livelihood, a celebration, and a form of resistance.

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:
Sami Huraini – Palestinian activist
Sarah Sharif – Palestinian American food blogger

Nov. 17 (UPI) — The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to vote Monday on a draft resolution supporting U.S. President Donald Trump‘s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, which would include the establishment of an international security force and a transitional government.

The plan, if approved, would see a Board of Peace put in place for two years in Gaza that would work to disarm Hamas and other militants, according to the draft resolution viewed by CNN. This body would be overseen by Trump and would control redevelopment of Gaza.

In addition to an international security force, a Palestinian police force would be created and trained by Egypt. Previous police forces in Gaza were operated by Hamas.

Hamas issued a statement overnight calling the draft resolution under consideration “dangerous” and an “attempt to subject the Gaza Strip to international authority,” according to the BBC. The group rejected disarmament efforts.

The Trump administration put forth the 20-point peace plan in September, the basis for a suspension of most fighting and a hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.

Though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu originally agreed to the plan, some members of the Israeli government have opposed it, CNN reported. The plan could be vetoed by China or Russia, the latter of which has proposed its own plan.

The plan also proposes a possible separate Palestinian state, added later under pressure from Arab States. Netanyahu, though, pushed back against the idea.

Bundled into vehicle with blacked-out windows, British journalist recounts detainment in US due to Palestinian support.

British journalist Sami Hamdi, who says he was held illegally for more than two weeks by United States immigration authorities for his pro-Palestinian commentary, has described his detention as “like something from the movies”.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamdi accused the US Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of using “loopholes” to abuse people, and he directed attention towards the plight of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention.

The 35-year-old British citizen was stopped at San Francisco International Airport in California on October 26 midway through a speaking tour discussing Israel’s war on Gaza.

Hamdi said Laura Loomer and other right-wing activists and allies of President Donald Trump created the grounds for his arrest by posting his lectures and calling for his visa to be revoked.

Homeland Security Department authorities stopped Hamdi at the airport and told him his visa had been revoked. However, they refused to allow him to immediately leave the US by flying to London instead of his planned domestic flight.

“And then four other ICE agents appeared out of nowhere,” he told Al Jazeera. “They surrounded me, and then they escorted me outside of the airport where a black car with tinted windows was waiting for me. They told me, ‘Get in the car.’”

He was given a few moments to use his phone after insisting on his legal rights as a United Kingdom citizen, which he used to contact the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The civil rights group agreed to help him get legal representation and inform his family of his detention.

After three car rides in handcuffs, he arrived at an ICE detention facility and was checked in with a number of other people of various ethnicities.

He later discovered through a lawyer that he was being held in Golden State Annex in McFarland, California, in what he labelled “a very politically motivated manoeuvre”.

Hamdi said he and 20 other men were held in a small cell with no facilities. Inmates repeatedly had their cases delayed through bureaucracy, he said.

One Latino man named Antonio whose wife and children are US citizens had been in detention for 10 months without charge, Hamdi said.

“This is the tragedy. You have these people who are illegally detained, who shouldn’t be there longer than six months, according to all habeas corpus rules, but who stay there longer because of bureaucratic loopholes,” said the journalist, who returned to London on Thursday.

ICE agents were “particularly aggressive” and most displayed “little sympathy for the people they were dealing with”, Hamdi said. They appeared to feel that they could act with “impunity”, he continued.

The journalist noted that while his case has received much attention, he believes it is important to remember that thousands of Palestinians remain incarcerated in Israeli military prisons in appalling conditions.

“It’s important to note that arbitrary detention for the sake of expression of freedom of speech isn’t something that’s under threat just in America or in the UK.”

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Indian authorities have arrested a man whose vehicle was used in last week’s Red Fort car bombing attack that killed 10 people and injured 32 others.

In a statement Sunday, India’s National Investigation Agency said Amir Rashid Ali was arrested in Delhi by NIA agents in a massive search operation.

Authorities identified the accused as a resident of Pampore in Muslim-majority Kashmir, a disputed region under Hindu-majority India control.

The NIA accused Ali of conspiring with the alleged suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi in the attack, which occurred Nov. 10 near the tourist-heavy and crowded Red Fort in New Delhi.

Authorities and officials were initially reluctant to label the attack but have since said it was terror-related. Two days after the attack, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed a resolution stating it was “a heinous terrorist incident, perpetrated by anti-national forces.”

Authorities said the attack, which occurred at about 7 p.m. local time, was carried out with a Hyundai i20.

Nabi, a resident of Pulwama, in Kashmir, has been forensically identified as the deceased driver of the car, NIA said Sunday. He was identified as an assistant professor in general medicine at Al Falah University.

A vehicle belonging to Nabi has also been seized and is being examined for evidence.

Seventy-three people have so far been questioned, including those injured in the blast, the NIA said. The investigation is being conducted across multiple states.

Who: Spain vs Turkiye
What: UEFA World Cup qualifier, Group E
Where: La Cartuja Stadium in Seville, Spain
When: Tuesday at 8:45pm (19:45 GMT)

Click here to follow our live coverage.

Unbeaten Spain (5-0-0) is guaranteed direct qualification into the FIFA World Cup 2026 if they beat Turkiye in their last Group E fixture on Tuesday in Seville.

Armed with a three-point lead – and a huge goal difference – Luis de la Fuente’s side are in a highly advantageous position to clinch a 13th consecutive appearance at football’s global showpiece.

Turkiye (4-0-1), for their part, still have a mathematical chance to steal the top spot from Spain in their Matchday 10 finale – but they will need to rain down a plethora of goals on the reigning European champions to avoid the runners-up spot.

Here is all to know about their Group E return clash:

Current Group E standings (one fixture remaining):

• Spain – 15 points (from five matches)
• Turkiye – 12 points (from five matches)
• Georgia – 3 points (from five matches)
• Bulgaria – 0 points (from five matches)

How can Spain qualify for the World Cup?

Spain currently sits at the top of their Group E with five wins out of five fixtures and have a perfect record with 15 points.

Scenario 1:

A draw or a win in their final match against Turkiye would seal their spot at the 2026 World Cup with an insurmountable lead in the group.

Scenario 2: 

A loss to Turkiye would mean both teams conclude the qualification period with 15 points from six matches – but with Spain having a vastly superior goal difference.

To finish first in Group E, Turkiye would have to pull off a stunning seven-goal victory away to Spain to pip La Roja for automatic World Cup qualification.

How can Turkiye qualify for the World Cup?

Turkiye sit in second position in Group E with 12 points – nine points clear of next-best Georgia.

Unless they can defeat Spain by seven goals, Turkiye will enter the UEFA playoff competition in March as the group runners-up.

Turkiye last took part in the World Cup finals in 2002, finishing a surprise third place in the tournament that was co-hosted by Japan and South Korea.

What happened the last time Spain and Turkiye played?

Mikel Merino’s hat-trick helped Spain thrash hosts Turkiye 6-0 in their last World Cup qualifier on September 7.

The home side had no answer to Spain’s dominance, undone time and again by the visitors’ speed and finesse, with a helpless Turkish defence torn apart on every counterattack.

That loss remains Turkiye’s only defeat in Group E.

Will Lamine Yamal play for Spain?

Barcelona star forward Lamine Yamal will miss Spain’s final World Cup qualifier against Turkiye as he continues to manage an ongoing groin issue.

Yamal, 18, underwent a small procedure in Barcelona on November 10 to try and fix the problem. Doctors estimate his recovery time from the surgery at 7-10 days.

Head-to-head

Spain has never lost to Turkiye in the six international fixtures they have played since 2005.

• Spain – won 5
• Turkiye – won 0
• Draws – 1

Form Guide:

Spain: W-W-W-W-W (UEFA World Cup qualifiers, most recent result last)

Turkiye: W-L-W-W-W (UEFA World Cup qualifiers, most recent result last)

Spain team news

In addition to Yamal’s unavailability, Spain heads into the Turkiye fixture without other key players Dani Carvajal, Pedri and Rodri.

Dean Huijsen is also questionable with a groin issue and is likely to be a game-time decision for De la Fuente.

Mikel Oyarzabal, who has scored eight goals in his last eight international appearances, will again be the No 1 choice to lead the line for Spain on Tuesday.

Turkiye team news

The Turkish Football Federation has officially ruled out Inter Milan midfield star Hakan Calhanoglu against Spain after he picked up a wrist injury during the previous international match against Bulgaria on Saturday.

Calhanoglu, who is the top goalscorer in Italy’s top-flight Serie A this season, will likely be replaced in an attacking midfield position by Isak Vural, who has been brought into the squad.

Head coach Vincenzo Montella will almost certainly be without Galatasaray defender Kaan Ayhan, who is highly questionable after he was substituted on Saturday with a groin injury.

Midfielder Ismail Yuksek will serve a one-match ban after picking up a second yellow card in the qualifying campaign against Bulgaria.

Predicted starting lineups:

Spain: Simon (goalkeeper); Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Merino, Zubimendi, Ruiz; Torres, Oyarzabal, Baena

Turkiye: Cakir (goalkeeper); Celik, Demiral, Bardakci, Kadioglu; Vural, Kocu; Aydin, Guler, Yildiz; Akturkoglu

What the coaches had to say:

De la Fuente:

The Spain head coach is not taking his team’s unbeaten Group E run for granted before Tuesday’s fixture with Turkiye.

“Our aim is to qualify for the [FIFA] World Cup,” he said.

“Regardless of the results in this phase, we want to win to secure our place in the qualifiers, and that means fighting, working hard and doing things right to give ourselves the best chance of winning.

“It’s very difficult to win and we want to continue on our path, but one game at a time and one day at a time,” De la Fuente said.

“Every now and then it’s good to keep our feet on the ground. What this team is doing is very difficult, but we want to keep improving.”

Montella:

The Turkiye head coach has deployed a strong tactical game plan against Spain, but concedes his side’s chances of overtaking the European champions in the points table are slim.

“It [the fixture] won’t have much effect on the points table, but it’s important for us nonetheless,” he said. “I believe in my players.”

When and where is the FIFA World Cup 2026?

The tournament is being staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The first match will be played in Mexico City on June 11, while the final will be staged in New Jersey, US, on July 19.

Due to the expansion of the tournament – from 32 teams to 48 – the 39-day event is the longest in its history.

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Authorities in central California said divers have recovered the body of a 7-year-old girl who was swept into the ocean by massive waves on Friday.

Her body was recovered by a volunteer diver at 1:20 p.m. PST Sunday about a half-mile north of where she went missing at Garrapata State Park, California State Parks said in a statement.

Officers with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office had responded Friday to reports of a water rescue at Garrapata State Park Beach.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that her father Yuji Hu, of Calgary, Alberta, had attempted to save the unidentified child from waves estimated to be as tall as 20 feet. As he reached for her, both were swept out to sea.

A beachgoer and an off-duty California State Parks officer were able to bring Hu back to shore and initiated CPR. Hu was transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said.

The mother who had entered the water to attempt a rescue of her own was treated for hypothermia and released, while a 2-year-old child who was present was not injured.

A search was then launched for the missing girl, who was initially reported to be 5 years old, involving multiple agencies.

“The family has expressed their gratitude to all agencies, personnel and community members in the search and recovery efforts. They continue to request privacy and do not wish to make further statements at this time,” the sheriff’s office said.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have plummeted over Japanese leader’s recent remarks on Taiwan.

Japanese shares linked to the tourism industry have nosedived following China’s warning to its citizens against travelling to Japan.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have plummeted since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested earlier this month that Japan’s military could intervene to stop China from taking control of Taiwan.

In a sharp escalation of the dispute on Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised citizens to avoid travel to the East Asian country, claiming that Takaichi’s comments had increased risks to their “personal safety and lives”.

The issue continued to reverberate as Japan’s stock market reopened on Monday after the weekend break, with shares of airlines and retail outlets taking sharp falls.

Department store group Isetan Mitsukoshi fell more than 11 percent in afternoon trading, while its rival Takashimaya tumbled about 5 percent.

Japan Airlines fell about 4 percent, while Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing dipped about 5 percent. Cosmetics company Shiseido plunged about 9.5 percent.

China is Japan’s biggest source of foreign tourists, accounting for almost one-quarter of the 31.65 million arrivals in the first nine months of this year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

Ryota Abe, an economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, said Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) could shrink by about 0.5 percent in the event of a total collapse in Chinese arrivals and by about 0.1-0.2 percent if arrivals decreased by about one-third.

“Even if the number of visitors decreases 30 percent because of the heightened tensions, the negative impact will be around 0.1-0.2 percent,” Abe told Al Jazeera.

Japan’s economy shrank by 0.4 percent in the three months to September, official data released on Monday showed, the first contraction in six quarters.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news briefing on Monday that Beijing’s travel warning was inconsistent with mutually beneficial ties and that Tokyo had requested “appropriate steps” from the Chinese side.

Japan’s top official for Asia Pacific affairs, Masaaki Kanai, departed for China on Monday for talks aimed at lowering tensions between the sides, Japanese media reported.

Masaaki Kanai will meet his Chinese counterpart, Liu Jinsong, in Beijing, where he is expected to clarify that Tokyo has made no change to its security policy despite Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan, the reports said.

Japan has long viewed China’s threats to take control of Taiwan with concern due to the self-ruled island’s close proximity to Japanese territory and its location in waters that carry large volumes of trade.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has pledged to “reunify” the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.

Taiwan is not officially recognised by most countries but has many characteristics of a de facto independent state, including its own military and passport, and a democratically elected president and legislature.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — Rep. Thomas Massie said as many as 100 Republicans may vote to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, amid a last-ditch effort by the White House to stall their release.

Massie, R-Ky., said Sunday on ABC News’ This Week that at least 100 Republicans will join Democrats in the House and vote this week for the rest of the Epstein documents to be released.

President Donald Trump this week also ordered the Department of Justice to investigate Democrats and their supporters whose names appear in the files after more than 20,000 documents related to Epstein were released by Congress.

With newly sworn in Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., there were enough members of the House to sign a discharge petition forcing a vote on whether to force the Department of Justice to release all of the files it has on Epstein — over the objections of Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other Republicans in Congress.

Massie cautioned that while there are ways to push the Senate to vote on the bill, the chamber does not have a discharge petition-like method to force a vote over the objection of the majority leader. If the bill passes both houses of Congress, Trump still would have to sign it.

But Massie also noted that Trump’s order to the Department of Justice could potentially delay some part of the documents from being released, regardless of what Congress does.

“If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released,” he said. “So, this might be a big smokescreen, these investigations, to open a bunch of them to, as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files.”

Trump has fought the release of the files, at least partially because of widespread speculation that he figures prominently in them over of his years-long friendship with Epstein.

Despite the president’s claims that “Jeffery Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years,” they were close for more than a decade before the friendship went south.

“This is a hoax put out by the Democrats and a couple, a few Republicans have gone along with it because they’re weak and ineffective,” Trump said about the Democrats push for the release of the files.

Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI to investigate alleged Epstein ties to former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats whose names appear in the files.

Bondi said last week that she would pursue the investigation with “urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”

Bondi announced that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton will lead the investigation just days after the House Oversight Committee released tens of thousands of emails released by Epstein’s estate, which documented his ties to friends and associates over a decade.

The emails made several direct references to Trump, Clinton and prominent media figures, Hollywood personalities and high-ranking politicians.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized Indiana state lawmakers who have dropped an effort to seek a vote for the potential redistricting of congressional seats.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, had called a special session last month to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Rodric Bray, the president pro tempore of the Indiana Senate, issued a statement Friday that said Republicans did not have enough votes “to move the idea forward.”

Trump called Bray a “RINO,” which stands for “Republican in Name Only,” for not pursuing a vote in a post to his Truth Social platform Sunday.

“Very disappointed in Indiana State Senate Republicans, led by RINO Senators Rod Bray and Greg Goode, for not wanting to redistrict their state, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats,” Trump said.

Trump then said that Democrats “have done redistricting for years,” which he falsely said was often done “illegally.”n

“They could be depriving Republicans of a majority in the House, a very big deal!” Trump said in his post.

He also criticized his “friend,” Braud, who he said “is not working the way he should to get the necessary votes.”

“Considering that Mike wouldn’t be governor without me (not even close!), is disappointing!” Trump said. “Any Republican that votes against this important redistricting, potentially having an impact on America itself, should be primaried.”

A number of states across the country have revisited their congressional maps after Texas Republicans earlier this year pushed through a map projected to give the GOP five additional seats.

In response, California Democrats advanced changes expected to create five new Democratic-leaning districts, setting off a wave of similar efforts in other states from both parties.

Normally, Congressional districts are normally remapped every ten years after the U.S. Census has been completed.

Chile’s presidential election is heading to a run-off in December, in a showdown between leftist former Labour Minister Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast.

With about 83 percent of ballots counted on Sunday, Jara led with 26.71 percent, followed by Kast on 24.12 percent, according to the electoral authority, Servel.

President Gabriel Boric, in a statement from the presidential office in Santiago, recognised Jara and Kast as the front-runners headed to the second round on December 14. He also congratulated both candidates, calling it a “spectacular day of democracy”.

Eight candidates appeared on Sunday’s ballot, but would have needed to get 50 percent plus one vote to win the election outright.

Despite leading in the first round, Jara, 51, faces an uphill battle in which her rivals are throwing support around Kast, founder of the far-right Republican Party.

Sunday’s election was dominated by growing public anxiety over surging murders, kidnappings and extortion in what has long been one of Latin America’s safest countries.

Jara, a minister under Boric, has promised to hire more police, lift banking secrecy to tackle organised crime and tackle cost-of-living issues.

Kast, 59, has pledged to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile’s border with Bolivia to keep out migrants and asylum seekers from poorer countries to the north, such as Venezuela.

Conservative candidates back Kast

Speaking from Santiago after Boric’s statement, Jara thanked supporters and urged Chileans not to let fears over rising crime drive them into the arms of the far right in the run-off.

“Don’t let fear harden your hearts,” the politician said, insisting that the answer to crime was not to “come up with ideas, each more radical than the next” and hide behind bulletproof glass.

The comments were a dig at Kast’s draconian campaign security measures.

For his part, Kast, in his address to supporters, called for unity and promised to “rebuild” Chile after four years of centre-left rule, which he termed “maybe the worst government in Chile’s democratic history”.

Maverick economist Franco Parisi caused surprise by finishing third on 19.42 percent, ahead of ultra-right lawmaker Johannes Kaiser on 13.93 percent, and former conservative mayor Evelyn Matthei on 12.70 percent.

Parisi refrained from backing either Jara or Kast in the run-off, saying that they both needed to go look for new voters “on the street”.

The next-closest contender, Kaiser, conceded defeat and announced his endorsement of Kast, while Matthei, another conservative who won about 13 percent of votes, quickly followed suit, citing the “absolutely uncontrolled arrival” of migrants and claiming Chile needed a “sharp change of direction”.

Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from Santiago, said supporters at Kast’s headquarters were euphoric.

“There seems to be confidence that even though he came in second place by a slim margin, he will be the first to cross the finish line in the run-off next month. These people say that it is time for a deep change in this country,” Newman said. “They say the main problems are crime, delinquency, a slow and stagnant economy and also just the fact that there has been the same people governing this country for too long, and say that it’s time for a major overhaul.”

Law-and-order issues

The dominance of law-and-order issues in Sunday’s election has marked a drastic change from the wave of left-wing optimism and hopes of drafting a new constitution that brought Gabriel Boric, who isn’t allowed to run for re-election, to power.

The rising crime has been widely attributed to foreign criminal groups, coinciding with a doubling of Chile’s migrant population since 2017. Migrants now make up 8.8 percent of the country’s residents.

Wall-to-wall news coverage of crime has led to a clamour among voters for a “mano dura” or iron fist.

Rodrigo Arellano, an analyst at Chile’s University for Development, called the results “very bad news” for Jara and said it seemed “unlikely” she could win the December 14 run-off.

“Not only is her vote count low, but the combined total of the opposition candidates is almost more than double hers,” he told the AFP news agency, blaming anti-incumbent and anticommunist sentiment.

Jara’s candidacy is considered historic in contemporary Chilean politics, in part because of her working-class background and in part because she represents the Communist Party, which has not seen such broad support since Chile’s return to democracy.

Jara, who led an effort to reduce the work week from 45 hours to 40, has campaigned on affordability, pledging to increase Chile’s minimum wage and make housing more affordable. She has also made efforts to distance herself from Boric’s administration, even hinting at a possible break from her Communist Party if elected president.

Kast, frequently compared to United States President Donald Trump, founded Chile’s Republican Party in 2019 and is widely credited for bringing extreme right positions to the national stage. He lost to Boric in the 2021 presidential election.

He has repeatedly denied reports that his father was a supporter of the Nazi party, describing him instead as a forced conscript in the German army.

Voter turnout on Sunday was significantly higher than in the previous 2021 presidential election, as voting was mandatory for all 15.7 million registered voters.

Chileans also voted for members of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate on the same day.

The governing leftist coalition currently has a minority in both chambers, and right-wing majorities in both could set the stage for Congress and the presidency to be controlled by the right for the first time since the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in 1990.

The election is being closely watched as a gauge of the broader fortunes of South America’s left, which has recently suffered setbacks in countries like Argentina and Bolivia.

Last month, a centre-right president was elected in neighbouring Bolivia after 20 years of socialist rule. Right-wing candidates look likely to win presidential elections in Colombia and Peru next year, while the left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is predicted to face a close battle to retain his office in Brazil despite ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s sentencing for leading a failed coup.

Hasina is being tried in absentia for crimes against humanity for a violent crackdown on student protests last year.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — Emergency flight reductions ordered at 40 major U.S. airports by the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this month will be lifted Monday morning, federal officials announced Sunday.

The flight reduction emergency order will be terminated at 6 a.m. Monday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a joint statement.

Since Nov. 7, the FAA has been enforcing an ordered 10% reduction in flights at 40 U.S. airports due to staffing shortages at air-traffic control facilities that were being exacerbated by the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1.

Amid the shutdown, millions of passengers were affected by the thousands of canceled and delayed flights, and officials warned the disruption could get worse heading into the upcoming holiday season if Congress failed to act on passing a government funding bill in time.

That bill was passed last week, and the government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — ended Nov. 12.

According to the FAA, since the resumption of normal government operations, staffing levels at air-traffic controller facilities have continued to “snap back,” with this weekend seeing five staffing triggers Friday, eight on Saturday and only one on Sunday compared to a high of 81 on Nov. 8.

“Now we can refocus our efforts on surging controller hiring and building the brand-new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system the American people deserve,” Duffy said.

Jannik Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz for just the second time this year and defended his ATP Finals crown in Turin.

Italy’s Jannik Sinner retained his ATP Finals title on Sunday, sending the Turin crowd wild as he battled past Spanish world number one and rival Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(4) 7-5 in the decider to the season-ending championships.

Sinner, backed by a raucous Italian crowd, fell to the floor after breaking his rival’s serve in the final game before racing to celebrate with his team as chants of “Ole, Ole, Ole, Sinner, Sinner” rang around the Inalpi Arena.

“Finishing in front of the Italian public was a fantastic thing, maybe even better than last year. Thank you very much for the support, it was incredible,” Sinner said.

“Thanks to all of you, it felt like being on a football pitch.”

In a season defined and dominated by the rivalry between the two players, it seemed inevitable that they would meet in the title clash, and both obliged by easing through the tournament unbeaten to set up one last dance in Turin.

Sinner under pressure

Alcaraz forced the only break point in the first set, but Sinner held firm and brought the crowd to its feet with a tiebreak win and sealed the match when the Spaniard was unable to hold while serving to stay in the contest.

Sinner missed out on ending the year as world number one to Alcaraz after the Spaniard won his three round-robin matches this week, but the Italian won the last act of 2025 to crown the best season of his career.

The 24-year-old reached the final of all four Grand Slams, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while Alcaraz has also had a stellar year, winning Roland Garros and the US Open, beating Sinner in both finals.

“Hopefully you’re going to be ready for next year,” Alcaraz said with a smile.

“Because I will be ready.”

Alcaraz put Sinner to the test in Turin, but despite not being at his best and struggling with his service game – which had powered him past opponents all week – the Italian held his nerve.

Sinner won his opening service game to love with Alcaraz responding in kind, and at 2-2 the Spaniard forced deuce before a medical emergency in the stands led to a 10-minute break, the duo chatting over the net, belying the tension in the arena and on court.

When play resumed, Sinner advanced to the net to slam down a winning volley and fired an ace to hold. Alcaraz required a medical time-out during the break at 5-4 up before forcing the first break point of the match at 6-5.

Sinner survived and after letting slip a mini-break in the tiebreak, the champion brought the crowd to its feet, smashing down a lob after Alcaraz had chased back to return a drop shot and then catching out the Spaniard with a lob of his own to take the first set.

The Spaniard had chances to take the final the distance, breaking the Italian in the opening game of the second set, where Sinner hit two double faults. Yet Sinner came back to level the set at 3-3 and came through when it counted.

Sinner arrived in the final on a remarkable indoor hardcourt winning run of 30 matches since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 decider in Turin, also the last time the Italian dropped a set in the competition.

Appearing in his third successive final in the season-ender, Sinner had lost four of his previous five meetings with Alcaraz this year, which all came in finals, but he was not to be denied in Turin, where his win earned him a record $5.07m in prize money.