United

WFP says a ‘deepening hunger crisis’ is unfolding and that it may have to pause food aid due to record low funding.

The number of people facing emergency levels of hunger in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has nearly doubled since last year, the United Nations has warned.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday a “deepening hunger crisis” was unfolding in the region, but warned it was only able to reach a fraction of those in need due to acute funding shortages and access difficulties.

“We’re at historically low levels of funding. We’ve probably received about $150m this year,” said Cynthia Jones, country director of the WFP for the DRC, pointing to a need for $350m to help people in desperate need in the West African country.

“One in three people in DRC’s eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse. That’s over 10 million people,” Jones said.

“Of that, an alarming three million people are in emergency levels of hunger,” she told a media briefing in Geneva.

She said this higher level meant people were facing extreme gaps in food consumption and very high levels of malnutrition, adding that the numbers of people that are facing emergency levels of hunger is surging.

“It has almost doubled since last year,” said Jones. “People are already dying of hunger.”

Years-long conflict

The area has been rocked by more than a year of fighting. The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has seized swaths of the eastern DRC since taking up arms again in 2021, compounding a humanitarian crisis and the more than three-decade conflict in the region.

The armed group’s lightning offensive saw it capture the key eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu, near the border with Rwanda. It has set up an administration there parallel to the government in Kinshasa and taken control of nearby mines.

Rwanda has denied supporting the rebels. Both M23 and Congolese forces have been accused of carrying out atrocities.

Jones said the WFP was facing “a complete halt of all emergency food assistance in the eastern provinces” from February or March 2026.

She added that the two airports in the east, Goma and Bukavu, had been shut for months.

WFP wants an air bridge set up between neighbouring Rwanda and the eastern DRC, saying it would be a safer, faster and more effective route than from Kinshasa, on the other side of the vast nation.

In recent years, the WFP had received up to $600m in funding. In 2024, it received about $380m.

UN agencies, including the WFP, have been hit by major cuts in US foreign aid, as well as other major European donors reducing overseas aid budgets to increase defence spending.

Fourteen members of the UN Security Council voted in favour of the US-drafted resolution. China abstained.

The United Nations Security Council has voted to remove sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his Interior Minister Anas Khattab following a resolution championed by the United States.

In a largely symbolic move, the UNSC delisted the Syrian government officials from the ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda sanctions list, in a resolution approved by 14 council members on Thursday. China abstained.

The formal lifting of sanctions on al-Sharaa is largely symbolic, as they were waived every time he needed to travel outside of Syria in his role as the country’s leader. An assets freeze and arms embargo will also be lifted.

Al-Sharaa led opposition fighters who overthrew President Bashar al-Assad’s government in December. His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), began an offensive on November 27, 2024, reaching Damascus in only 12 days, resulting in the end of the al-Assad family’s 53-year reign.

The collapse of the al-Assad family’s rule has been described as a historic moment – nearly 14 years after Syrians rose in peaceful protests against a government that met them with violence that quickly spiralled into a bloody civil war.

HTS had been on the UNSC’s ISIL and al-Qaeda sanctions list since May 2014.

Since coming to power, al-Sharaa has called on the US to formally lift sanctions on his country, saying the sanctions imposed on the previous Syrian leadership were no longer justified.

US President Donald Trump met the Syrian president in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in May and ordered most sanctions lifted. However, the most stringent sanctions were imposed by Congress under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act in 2019 and will require a congressional vote to remove them permanently.

In a bipartisan statement, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee welcomed the UN action Thursday and said it was now Congress’s turn to act to “bring the Syrian economy into the 21st century”.

We “are actively working with the administration and our colleagues in Congress to repeal Caesar sanctions”, Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement ahead of the vote. “It’s time to prioritize reconstruction, stability, and a path forward rather than isolation that only deepens hardship for Syrians.”

Al-Sharaa plans to meet with Trump in Washington next week, the first visit by a Syrian president to Washington since the country gained independence in 1946.

While Israel and Syria remain formally in a state of war, with Israel still occupying Syria’s Golan Heights, Trump has expressed hope that the two countries can normalise relations.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has called for “deep reflection” in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”

The Chicago-born pope was responding Tuesday to a variety of geopolitical questions from reporters outside the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East.

Leo underlined that scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: “How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening.”

He said “the spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered,’’ and he called on authorities to allow pastoral workers access to the detained migrants. “Many times they’ve been separated from their families. No one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to,’’ Leo said.

Leo last month urged labor union leaders visiting from Chicago to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks.

Asked about the lethal attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela, the pontiff said the military action was “increasing tension,’’ noting that they were coming even closer to the coastline.

“The thing is to seek dialogue,’’ the pope said.

On the Middle East, Leo acknowledged that the first phase of the peace accord between Israel and Hamas remains “very fragile,’’ and said that the parties need to find a way forward on future governance “and how you can guarantee the rights of all peoples.’’

Asked about Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, the pope described the settlement issue as “complex,’’ adding: “Israel has said one thing, then it’s done another sometimes. We need to try to work together for justice for all peoples.’’

Pope Leo will receive Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican on Thursday. At the end of November he will make his first trip as Pope to Turkey and Lebanon.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group took control of football operations after he bought a 27.7% stake in United in February 2024.

Since Amorim’s arrival, United have spent about £250m on new signings and while Ronaldo says they have “good players”, he feels that some of them “don’t have in mind what Manchester United is”.

“Manchester United is still in my heart,” added the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who won seven major honours with the club between 2003 and 2009.

“I love that club. But we have all to be honest and look for ourselves and say, ‘listen, they are not in a good path’.

“So, they need to change and it’s not only about the coach and players, in my opinion.”

Ronaldo’s contract at Old Trafford was terminated after an interview with Morgan in November 2022, in which he said he felt “betrayed” by United and that he was being forced out.

He added that he did not respect then-manager Ten Hag and criticised the Dutch boss again in September 2024, saying that United must “rebuild everything”.

Ronaldo signed a new contract last summer with Al-Nassr that expires in 2027 and he is expected to play for Portugal in the 2026 World Cup.

Asked by Morgan when he might retire, Ronaldo replied: “Soon. But I think I will be prepared.

“It will be tough, of course. But Piers, I prepare my future since [the age of] 25, 26, 27 years old. So I think I will be capable to support that pressure.”

Scholes initially kept his son’s diagnosis secret during his playing career and revealed he was dropped by United manager Sir Alex Ferguson while attempting to handle the situation privately.

“I never got a break from it, even when playing – it was very hard in those days,” Scholes, one of United’s key players in the 1999 Treble season, added.

“I don’t think they diagnosed it until he was two-and-a-half years old. But you knew early something was wrong, but then you get the diagnosis, and I’d never heard of it.

“I remember the first time after it, we were playing Derby away and I just didn’t want to be there.

“I remember the manager dropped me the week after, and I hadn’t told anyone. I ended up telling them a few weeks later, as it was quite hard.

“Even now, I don’t want sympathy or anything. I just thought, even if I did speak to someone about it, it’s not going to help Aiden.

“The big concern now is, because you’re getting a bit older, what happens when you’re not here? That’s the thing that’s now on my mind all the time.”

Autism spectrum disorder – its medical name – is the name for a range of conditions that affect how a person communicates and interacts with the world around them, as well as their interests and behaviour.

It is not a disease or an illness, but a condition that somebody is born with, and it is estimated that one in every 100 people in the UK is autistic.

GYEONGJU, South Korea — The United States and South Korea advanced trade talks on Wednesday, addressing details of $350 billion that would be invested in the American economy, after negotiations and ceremonies that included the presentation of a gold medal and crown to President Trump.

Both were gifts from the country’s president, Lee Jae Myung, who dialed up the flattery while Washington and Seoul worked to nail down financial promises during the last stop of Trump’s Asia trip.

Although both sides said progress has been made — Trump said things were “pretty much finalized” — no agreement has been signed yet. The framework includes gradual investments, cooperation on shipbuilding and the lowering of Trump’s tariffs on South Korea’s automobile exports, according to Kim Yong-beom, Lee’s chief of staff for policy. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The announcement came after a day of adulation for the visiting American president from his hosts. There was a special lunch menu featuring U.S.-raised beef and a gold-adorned brownie. A band played Trump’s campaign anthem of “Y.M.C.A.” when he stepped off Air Force One. Lee told him that “you are indeed making America great again.”

Trump can be mercurial and demanding, but he has a soft spot for pomp and circumstance. He was particularly impressed by a choreographed display of colorful flags as he walked along the red carpet.

“That was some spectacle, and some beautiful scene,” Trump told Lee during their meeting. “It was so perfect, so flawlessly done.”

Earlier in the day, Trump even softened his rhetoric on international trade, which he normally describes in predatory terms where someone is always trying to rip off the United States.

“The best deals are deals that work for everybody,” he said during a business forum.

Trade deal with Seoul in process

Trump was visiting while South Korea is hosting the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the historical city of Gyeongju. He previously stopped in Japan, where he bonded with the new prime minister, and Malaysia, where he attended a summit of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations.

The Republican president has been trying to tie up trade deals along the way, eager to show that his confrontational approach of tariffs is paying dividends for Americans who are uneasy about the job market and watching a federal government shutdown extend into its fifth week.

South Korea has been particularly tough to crack, with the sticking point being Trump’s demand for $350 billion of direct investment in the U.S.

Korean officials say putting up cash could destabilize their own economy, and they’d rather offer loans and loan guarantees instead. The country would also need a swap line to manage the flow of its currency into the U.S.

Trump, after meeting with Lee, said “we made our deal pretty much finalized.” He did not provide any details.

Oh Hyunjoo, a deputy national security director for South Korea, told reporters earlier in the week that the negotiations have been proceeding “a little bit more slowly” than expected.

“We haven’t yet been able to reach an agreement on matters such as the structure of investments, their formats and how the profits will be distributed,” she said Monday.

It’s a contrast from Trump’s experience in Japan, where the government has worked to deliver the $550 billion in investments it promised as part of an earlier trade agreement. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced up to $490 billion in specific commitments during a dinner with business leaders in Tokyo.

For now, South Korea is stuck with a 25% tariff on automobiles, putting automakers such as Hyundai and Kia at a disadvantage against Japanese and European competitors, which face 15%.

Lee, speaking at the business forum before Trump arrived, warned against trade barriers.

“At a time when protectionism and nationalism are on the rise and nations focus on their immediate survival, words like ‘cooperation,’ ‘coexistence’ and ‘inclusive growth’ may sound hollow,” he said. “Yet, paradoxically, it is in times of crisis like this that APEC’s role as a platform for solidarity shines brighter.”

Trump and Lee swap praise

Lee took office in June and had a warm meeting with Trump at the White House in August, when he praised Oval Office renovations and suggested building a Trump Tower in North Korea.

He took a similar approach when Trump visited on Wednesday. The gold medal presented to Trump represents the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, the country’s highest honor, and Trump is the first U.S. president to receive it.

Trump said, “It’s as beautiful as it can possibly be” and “I’d like to wear it right now.”

Next was a replica of a royal crown from the Silla Kingdom, which existed from 57 B.C. to 935 A.D. The original crown was found in a tomb in Gyeongju, the kingdom’s capital.

Besides trade disagreements, there have been other points of tension between Washington and Seoul this year. More than 300 South Koreans were detained during a U.S. immigration raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia in September, sparking outrage and betrayal.

Lee said at the time companies would likely hesitate to make future investments unless the visa system was improved.

“If that’s not possible, then establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies,” he said.

Asked Monday about the immigration raid, Trump said, “I was opposed to getting them out,” and he said an improved visa system would make it easier for companies to bring in skilled workers.

Trump-Xi meeting is expected Thursday

While in South Korea, Trump is also expected to hold a closely watched meeting on Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Washington and Beijing have clashed over trade, but both sides have indicated that they’re willing to dial down tensions.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday that he expects to lower tariffs targeting China over the flow of fentanyl ingredients.

“They’ll be doing what they can do,” he said. Trump added that “China is going to be working with me.”

Trump sounded resigned to the idea that he wouldn’t get to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on this trip. The president previously floated the possibility of extending his stay in South Korea, but on Wednesday said “the schedule was very tight.”

North Korea has so far dismissed overtures from Washington and Seoul, saying it won’t resume diplomacy with the United States unless Washington drops its demand for the North’s denuclearization. North Korea said Wednesday it fired sea-to-surface cruise missiles into its western waters, in the latest display of its growing military capabilities as Trump visits South Korea.

Trump brushed off the weapons test, saying, “He’s been launching missiles for decades, right?”

The two leaders met during Trump’s first term, although their conversations did not produce any agreements about North Korea’s nuclear program.

Megerian writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Kim Tong-hyung and Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul and Josh Boak contributed from Tokyo.

Bryan Mbeumo’s match-winning goal in stoppage time elevated Manchester United to fourth on the Premier League ladder.

Manchester United’s improvement under coach Ruben Amorim continued as Matheus Cunha, Casemiro and two goals from Bryan Mbeumo secured a 4-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, their third successive Premier League win.

Looking to build on last weekend’s first victory at Liverpool since 2016, Cunha arrowed home a sublime 24th-minute strike into the bottom corner, the Brazilian’s first goal for United.

There was fortune about the second from Casemiro 10 minutes later, his shot taking a huge deflection before finding the net, but Mbeumo’s well-taken third just after the hour mark put the hosts in complete command.

Danny Welbeck’s sublime free kick against his former club pulled one back for Brighton, before Charalampos Kostoulas’s header in stoppage time ensured a nervy finish at Old Trafford.

With Brighton committing everyone forward in search of the equaliser, Mbeumo fired a fine strike into the roof of the net to lift United to fourth in the standings. Brighton stayed 12th.

“I enjoy it a lot here,” Mbeumo told Sky Sports. “It hasn’t been easy at the start. It’s a new environment, a new expectation, but I think with the link-up with the team, everything is going the right way.

“The work we put in, the togetherness we give on the pitch, is key. I like the challenges, I came here to a big club, and we want to fight for the best places.”

Brighton big test for United

The visitors provided a big test for an improving United, given that since the start of the 2021-22 season no team has won more league games against United than Brighton.

United’s victory against Liverpool last weekend was the first time Amorim had achieved back-to-back league wins since taking charge 11 months ago, but the manager insisted the revival would be undone if they slipped to another loss to Brighton.

Welbeck forced a fine save from United goalkeeper Senne Lammens early on as Brighton started brightly, but Cunha’s pinpoint finish settled home nerves. Since the start of last season, Cunha has scored more goals from outside the box than any other Premier League player in all competitions.

Casemiro’s deflected strike deservedly put a dominant United further ahead, with more chances coming and going to extend the hosts’ lead before the break.

Mbeumo followed up his goal at Liverpool with the third to put United into a seemingly unassailable position.

Proof that they are far from the finished article yet came, however, as mistakes crept in and Welbeck started the Brighton comeback.

United appeared on the ropes when Kostoulas pounced to narrow the deficit to 3-2, but Mbeumo’s 96th-minute strike secured the three points as the home side won three straight league victories for the first time since August 2024.

“We put ourselves in a really difficult position,” Welbeck said. “We have a great group. We got two goals and were close to maybe getting a third. It didn’t happen, but it is a good sign we showed character.”

ENGLAND

The General Tarleton, North Yorkshire

Tommy Banks, one of Yorkshire’s favourite foodie sons, is best known as the chef behind Michelin-starred restaurant the Black Swan at Oldstead, but he’s no stranger to pubs. In fact, the Black Swan started out as one, with Banks working behind the bar of his family’s pub before graduating to the kitchen. In 2023, he opened the Abbey Inn in Byland, and he has recently launched a hospitality arm dedicated to restoring other pubs across the UK. First up is the eight-bedroom General Tarleton in the village of Ferrensby, near Harrogate. Food, naturally, is top notch with polished takes on pub classics made with local produce (steak and Black Sheep ale pie; burgers made from Dexter beef from the Banks’ farm) – the perfect fuel for walks along the river and into the Nidd Gorge, a local beauty spot.
Doubles from £175 B&B, generaltarletonferrensby.co.uk

The Bat and Ball, Oxfordshire

In recent weeks, American politics have stopped resembling a democracy and started looking more like a Manson family group chat, with a flag emoji right next to the “pile of poo” emoji in our bio.

First it was the Young Republicans (you know, the nerds who used to wear ill-fitting sports jackets and drone on about budgets) who were caught on Telegram saying things such as “I love Hitler,” calling Black people “watermelon people,” and joking about gas chambers and rape. Hilarious, right?

Then came Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s now-aborted nominee to head the Office of Special Counsel, who texted that he has “a Nazi streak” and that Martin Luther King Jr. Day belongs in “the seventh circle of hell.”

But the moral rot isn’t exclusive to Republicans. Not to be outdone, Democrat Jay Jones (who is currently running for attorney general in Virginia) was caught with texts from 2022 saying another Virginia lawmaker should get “two bullets to the head,” and that he wished the man’s children would “die in their mother’s arms.”

Charming.

Meanwhile, in Maine’s race for the U.S. Senate, old posts on Reddit reveal that Democrat Graham Platner — oysterman, veteran and self-described communist — said that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.”

Did I mention that he called police officers “bastards,” broadly criticized rural white folks and had a tattoo on his chest that resembled Nazi imagery?

What we are witnessing is a trend: Bipartisan moral collapse. Finally, something the two parties can agree on!

Keep in mind, these are not randos typing away in their parents’ basements. These are ambitious young politicos. Candidates. Operatives. The ones who are supposed to know better.

So what’s going on? I have a few theories.

One: Nothing has really changed. Political insiders have always done and said stupid, racist and cruel things — the difference is that privacy doesn’t exist anymore. Every joke is public, and every opinion is archived.

It might be hard for older generations to understand, but this theory says these people are merely guilty of using the kind of dark-web humor that’s supposed to stay on, well, the dark web. What happened to them is the equivalent of thinking you’re with friends at a karaoke bar, when you’re actually on C-SPAN.

For those of us trying to discern the difference, the problem is that the line between joking and confession has gotten so blurry that we can’t tell who’s trolling and who’s armed.

Two: Blame Trump. He destroyed norms and mainstreamed vulgarity and violent rhetoric. And since he’s been the dominant political force for a decade, it’s only logical that his style would trickle down and corrupt a whole generation of politically engaged Americans (Republicans who want to be like him and Democrats who want to fight fire with fire).

Three (and this is the scary one): Maybe the culture really has changed, and these violent and racist comments are revelatory of changing hearts and worldviews. Maybe younger generations have radicalized, and violence is increasingly viewed as a necessary tool for political change. Maybe their words are sincere.

Indeed, several recent surveys have demonstrated that members of Gen Z are more open to the use of political violence than previous generations.

According to a survey conducted by the group FIRE, only 1 in 3 college students now say it is unacceptable to use violence to stop a speaker. And according to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, “53 percent of those aged 18-34 – approve of one or more forms of hostile activism to bring about change.” This includes “threatening or committing violence, and damaging public or private property.”

Of course, it’s possible (and probably likely) that some combination of these theories has conspired to create this trend. And it comes on the heels of other trends, too, including the loss of trust in institutions that began somewhere around the Nixon administration and never reversed.

Put it all together, and we’ve arrived at a point where we don’t believe in democracy, we don’t believe in leaders, and we barely believe in each other. And once you lose trust, all that’s left is anger, memes and a primal will to power.

Worse, we’ve become numb. Every new scandal shocks us for approximately 15 minutes. Then we scroll to another cat video and get used to it.

Remember the Charlie Kirk assassination? You know, the gruesome murder that freaked us all out and led to a national discussion about political violence and violent rhetoric? Yeah, that was just last month. Feels like it was back in the Eisenhower administration.

We’re basically frogs in a pot of boiling political sewage. And the scariest part? We’re starting to call it room temperature.

Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”

England international Marcus Rashford joined Barcelona on loan from childhood club Manchester United in July.

Barcelona forward Marcus Rashford says he hopes to remain at the Spanish club beyond his loan spell from Manchester United, describing the move as the change he needed after spending his entire career in England.

Barcelona are covering Rashford’s wages during this season-long loan after the Manchester-born player accepted a pay cut with an option to buy set at about 30 million euros ($35m).

Rashford’s United contract runs through 2028, but his future at Old Trafford appears bleak after falling out with manager Ruben Amorim last year. The 27-year-old has since rediscovered his form under Barcelona coach Hansi Flick.

“For sure,” Rashford told ESPN on Thursday when asked if he wanted to remain in Barcelona. “I’m enjoying this football club, and I think for anybody who loves football, Barcelona is one of the key clubs in the history of the game. For a player it is an honour.”

The England international, who first revived his form during a short loan spell at Aston Villa last season, has gone a step further at Barcelona, scoring five goals and providing six assists in 12 appearances across all competitions.

Before what would be his first El Clasico on Sunday, Rashford said his move abroad has given him a new perspective.

“People forget this, but 23 years of my life was with Manchester United. So sometimes you just need a change. I think maybe this is the case with me, and I’m enjoying everything,” he said.

For Trump followers, his offer of a 20 to 40 billion economic assistance to Argentina came as a shock. For a government that emphasizes not spending American tax payers’ money abroad the record high foreign debt defaulter and agrobusiness competitor Argentina is a puzzling choice.

However, there are profound reasons for this outcome. In what follows, I will try to explain them. The first two motives are the most obvious ones, but I promise that the following two are the ones that are not that apparent though interesting to read.

The first reason, and more obvious one, is the ideological congruence between the executives. The Argentine president Milei shares Trump’s anti woke ideology, it has always been a Trump supporter and shares with him a deep-seated rejection for leftist governments and ideologies. However, whereas Trump is an economic nationalist, Milei brands himself as an “anarcho-capitalist” that profoundly believes that the powers of free market should reign without interference in order for economies and societies to succeed.

Secondly, next Sunday Milei will face a crucial midterm election. In a last September legislative vote in the crucial Buenos Aires province (that accounts for 40% of Argentina’s population) he lost against his arch rivals, the Peronist Party. The Peronist coalition, that governed Argentina for the most part of the last 25 years, held a leftist ideology that privileged bilateral relations with China over the US and that is a staunch critic of Trump’s policies. The following Monday, the Argentine peso faced very strong devaluation pressures that ended up drying up the Central Bank’s reserves.

Third, the US grand strategy has been under a deep transformation, at least since Obama`s presidency. It has been progressively withdrawing from the Middle East while focusing more on China. It has also demanded the Europeans (and also its allies in East Asians) to up their defence spending. This relative withdrawal is somewhat compensated by an increase of attention in its own neighbourhood, the Americas. It is under this lens that we can understand the recent US military actions against the Maduro regime in Venezuela, the suspension of economic aid to leftist governed Colombia and the huge tariffs applied to also leftist governed Brazil. Being Mexico also governed by a (somewhat pragmatic) leftist party and having in Chilean President Boric a staunch critic of Trump`s policies, the US is left with very few friends in the region. Right now, the only welcoming ally from a large country in the Americas is Argentina`s Milei.

Fourth, from the Argentine side, a change in the strategic outlook in part of its elites is also paving the way for an alliance with the US. The current Argentine executive, in its quest to achieve macroeconomic stability has as its most coveted goal the dollarization of the economy. This is the endpoint of the pro market economic reforms under way. At the same time, the Milei government supports the US and Israel in a fashion unseen in Argentine history. Worldwide, there are not many countries supporting the Trump agenda as thoroughly as Argentina.

There are strong indications that the deepening of the alliance between the US and Argentina is under way. However, near future events might change this course. Next month there will be presidential elections in Chile, while Colombia and Brazil will have theirs in May and October respectively. A win by the opposition in any of these countries will devalued the strategic relevance that Argentina holds right now. Secondly, will Trump successors double in an alliance with a country that has never been considered strategic for US interests? Finally, there is the question of Milei`s political future in Argentina. Good part of his ambitions and of Argentina’s grand strategy will be risked in next elections.

Academics, journalists and pundits talk at great length about the conundrum of overtourism; the ready-made solution is simply to swerve the crowds. These three towns are regional centres where you will never need to queue, but will come away culturally stimulated and historically enlightened.

Leicester

Like many people, I’ve spent a lot of my travels going to edges, extremities, ends of the road. I overlooked Leicester because it was so very central – quintessentially in-between. The Fosse Way, from Lincoln to Exeter, bisects it; Watling Street, from Dover to Wroxeter, passes nearby. The stylish, high-spec Jewry Wall museum – which reopened in July after a major redesign – shows how roads and traffic made Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) a wealthy, important hub: sublime mosaics; a gold ring; a bathhouse complex; a wall still standing.

A cluster of medieval and Tudor structures beside the River Soar, including stone gateways, a church and castle motte, indicates a major religious centre. I was the only visitor on a Sunday morning. Near this convenient national crossroads, Richard III was able to gather forces from across the kingdom for the Battle of Bosworth; little good it did him. Leicester’s King Richard III Visitor Centre delineates the whys and wherefores of the blood-drenched savagery of the Wars of the Roses. The mental shift demanded of you as you segue from the vast, interlocking, bastard-rich Plantagenet family trees and riots of heraldry to the quiet science of archaeology and, finally, to the cold, austere tomb of the dead hunchback in the cathedral next door, is not insignificant. This is a city so loaded with history that every new retail and hotel development unearths new treasure or traces of past peoples, like a stratified tell in the Holy Land.

A pint in the Globe allowed some thinking time and – as the former preferred boozer of stockingers – a natural link to Victorian and Edwardian Leicester, which rippled with entrepreneurial energies. Thomas Cook, Walkers crisps, Wolsey clothing and Currys started here. Garments, hosiery and corsetry made the city more like a Lancashire town. Chimneys, mills and, most reassuringly, makers are still in evidence.

The 21st-century city is multipurpose – the centre has diversified from retail into gaming, co-working, education, dining, cocktails, cafes – and famously diverse. The Golden Mile (Belgrave Road) is a thriving, gimmick-free Asian gauntlet for clothes, jewellery, spices, fresh veg and restaurants. The likes of Bobby’s, with its Bollywood-inflected interiors, and Sharmilee won the city the Curry Capital gong in 2024. Belgrave Road was part of the Fosse Way, which is thought-provoking – ancient Rome was multicultural too.
Things to see and do: Guildhall; Abbey Park; King Power Stadium; Curve theatre; De Montfort Hall

Paisley

Someone on Reddit asks: “Why is Paisley even still a place?” Sixty comments follow. At the end of it, I know Paisley is most definitely a place. I have to admit, as an English northerner, I thought of it as somewhere imprecise – suburb, district, city borough. But even on the non-stop train (nine minutes from Glasgow Central), you know you’re crossing a proper green belt and, when you arrive, you see towers and domes above the trees. Paisley stands apart; it stands tall.

Bold buildings hint at booming textile times. The station – the fourth busiest in Scotland – is Scots baronial. The town hall is a capacious neoclassical palace, recently turned into a concert venue. The mighty Abbey, built on the site of a 12th-century Cluniac monastery, is a solemn hulk (minimally subverted by a witty “Alien” gargoyle). St Matthew’s church, designed by local architect William Daniel McLennan, is a blend of perpendicular and art nouveau – somewhat influenced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Queen’s Cross church in Glasgow, but more strident and startling.

On White Cart Water stand two monumental mills. The massive Anchor Mills is residential and sits beside a weir that resembles a wild waterfall. Mile End Mill is a business centre and has a superb chimney, coffee shop and small textile museum. The dramatic gothic hulk of the Coats building, constructed as a memorial church – and nicknamed the Baptist Cathedral of Europe – is now an event space, used for weddings, proms and as a set for TV series Outlander. Paisley has gone big on repurposing.

The famous Paisley print pattern has its origins in Persia. The teardrop-shaped motif, known as boteh in Farsi, is probably a stylised almond or cypress cone (the cypress was sacred to Zoroastrians). Paisley Museum, undergoing a major refurbishment that will create a display space as good as any in Scotland, owns 1,200 Paisley shawls, as well as looms, pattern books and printing blocks. I was allowed to see the interior on a hard-hat tour and saw a Paisley-emblazoned guitar case and a Ken doll in a Paisley top.

The Paisley pattern features in street art and in the Buddie Walk of Fame, a series of 10 plaques spread around the town centre that honour local legends, living and dead. They include TV show Porridge’s Fulton Mackay; playwright, designer and painter John Byrne – whose Slab Boys Trilogy, originally titled Paisley Patterns, is set in a carpet-making factory; Tom Conti; Paolo Nutini; Phyllis Logan; and Gerry Rafferty (whose Baker Street can be read as an angst-ridden lament from London to his home town of Paisley). Byrne’s and Rafferty’s plaques should really have been placed at Ferguslie Park, the socially marginalised district from which they hailed. As did Gordon Williams, author of the novel From Scenes Like These, a blistering, honest, funny portrayal of social deprivation, violence, sex and booze, as good as anything by Alan Sillitoe, and nominated for the first ever Booker prize in 1969. The novel was long ignored but recently rediscovered. Like Paisley.
Things to see and do: Sma’ Shot Cottages; Paisley Heritage Tours; Mural Trail

Nelson

No town is born totally ex nihilo, but Nelson in Lancashire comes close. An early description is “a peat covered and rain sodden wilderness”. An 1844 map shows a cotton factory, two chapels, the New Inn and a post office. The canal, opened in 1816, enabled the fledgling settlement to ship its wares. When the railway came in 1849, it was known as Marsden – but there was already a Marsden in Yorkshire. The train guard would shout “Nelson!” as the train came to a halt by the Lord Nelson inn. The name stuck. Locals boast, half-heartedly, that it’s the only town named after a pub.

Two thousand terrace houses sprang up around the station – built from stone, many are still there, laid out on a gridiron plan. Mid-19th-century Nelson had nine small general stores, two drapers, two druggists, one tailor and one stationer. There was a saddler’s shop and two smithies. By 1876, to these were added butchers, cabinet-makers, chemists, cloggers, drapers, glass and china dealers, grocers, greengrocers, ironmongers and tobacconists – plus corner shops, fish-and-chip shops and 21 grocery and provisions branches run by the Co-operative Society. There were more than a dozen each of pubs and churches or chapels. What towns – and townspeople – miss isn’t only what we remember from our own lifetimes.

More than 20 mills clacked and whirred with thousands of looms. By 1921, almost 18,000 Nelson residents – divided equally between men and women – worked in weaving. Nine tenths of Nelson’s buildings and population were dedicated to textiles. I’d seen the sad husk of Whitefield Mill from the canalside. All that remains of Riverside Mill is a chimney. Lomeshaye Bridge Mill and Spring Bank Mill survive as mixed-use spaces. Brierfield Mill has been converted into posh flats. A 40ft-high shuttle on the high street is meant to remind people of the weaving heyday; it’s an ineffectual monument, unable to convey anything of the power, graft, suffering or pride of the old times.

There were also minor industries in brewing, quarrying, coalmining, corn-milling, soap manufacture, brick- and pipe-making and engineering. The Victory V lozenge, originally made with ether and chlorodyne (containing chloroform, the opiate laudanum and cannabis), was a local invention. A more mass-market mouth-pleaser was developed by an Austrian confectioner employed at Fryers in the 1860s. He was asked to make a mould for jelly bears, but the resulting sweets looked like newborn infants. They were rebranded as “Unclaimed Babies”. That name didn’t stick, and so Jelly Babies were born.

Nelson is a radical left haven. Weaving unions were strong and often militant. A local newspaper called the town Little Moscow. The first world war saw the emergence of a sizeable pacifist movement, leading to schisms between conscientious objectors and those who believed in the national war aims. Britain’s first working-class female novelist, Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, addressed a crowd of 20,000 at Victoria Park (formerly Victoria Recreation Ground), calling for an end to war as part of the Women’s Peace Crusade. Her 1925 novel, This Slavery, has just been reimagined in graphic form.

The building that best embodies local radical history is Unity Wellbeing Centre on Vernon Street – known as the Independent Labour Party Socialist Institute when it opened in 1908. One foundation stone, in memory of William Morris and Edward Fay, was laid by Katharine Bruce Glasier, a prominent ILP figure, known as “the grandmother of the Labour party”. The other, in memory of Caroline Martyn and Enid Stacy, was laid by Selina Cooper, who had moved to Nelson from Cornwall with her family in 1875 following her father’s death. She started working in the mills aged 10 as a half-timer then full time from the age of 13. Cooper played a leading role in politicising and organising local female textile workers. She lived at 59 St Mary Street, which has a plaque – though not an official English Heritage one.

The streets of stone terraces are attractive and many open on to bracing views of Pendle Hill’s south-eastern face and the steep slope that plummets down from the summit – beloved of fell runners – called the Big End. Nelson also opens vistas in the mind, and pilgrims travel in both directions – to the fells and moors, and to the cobbled streets and regenerated mills.
Things to see and do: Seedhill Cricket Ground and West Indian cricketer Learie Constantine’s house; 66 bus ride to Clitheroe via Pendle Hill; Clarion House; Two Toms Trail

Chris Moss’s trips were supported by Paisley First, VisitScotland and Visit Leicester.

Colombia announced the move after US President Donald Trump called President Gustavo Petro an ‘illegal drug leader’.

Colombia has said it has recalled its ambassador to the United States, after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off aid and made disparaging remarks about the Colombian president over the weekend.

The South American country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Pena had already arrived in Bogota to meet with President Gustavo Petro, whom Trump called an “illegal drug leader” on Sunday.

The growing feud between the two countries has centred on US strikes in the Caribbean on vessels that the Trump administration alleges are transporting drugs, mostly from Venezuela. Those strikes, which have killed dozens of people and are widely viewed as a violation of US and international law, have drawn strong criticism from Petro.

In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said aid to Colombia would be cut off and threatened that if Petro did not take more steps to combat the drug trafficking in the country, the US would do the task itself, “and it won’t be done nicely”.

Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said on Monday that he viewed those remarks as “a threat of invasion or military action against Colombia”.

“I can’t imagine closing down some hectares [of drug production sites] unless it’s in that way, unless it’s by invading,” he added.

The US also announced over the weekend that it had struck a vessel from Colombia on Friday, alleging that it was helmed by a left-wing rebel group involved in the transport of drugs. The Trump administration has not provided evidence regarding those claims.

Petro responded in a series of social media posts, stating that one of those killed in the attack was a Colombian fisherman named Alejandro Carranza, who did not have any ties to drug trafficking.

“US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” he wrote.

Manchester United condemned Liverpool to a fourth successive defeat as Harry Maguire’s late goal sealed a 2-1 win over the spluttering Premier League champions.

After losses against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea, Arne Slot’s side endured their most painful setback of the season at the hands of their bitter rivals on Sunday.

Bryan Mbeumo put United in front after two minutes and although Cody Gakpo equalised in the 78th minute, Maguire grabbed his club’s first win at Anfield since 2016 with an 84th-minute header.

Maguire’s goal also secured back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time in Ruben Amorim’s tenure as United boss.

The defeat leaves Liverpool four points adrift of Arsenal at the top of the table and Arne Slot still searching for answers on how to get the right balance after splashing out nearly 450 million pounds ($604m) on new players in the transfer market.

United close to within two points of their historic football rivals and up to ninth in the table to ease the pressure on Amorim after his biggest win in nearly a year in charge.

After three consecutive defeats for the first time in Slot’s reign, Liverpool could barely have imagined a worse start on Sunday.

Mbeumo sped past Virgil van Dijk with ease before firing past Giorgi Mamardashvili from Amad Diallo’s pass after barely a minute.

The home side and support were furious that play was not stopped in the build-up after Alexis MacAllister went down with a head injury, inflicted by his own captain, van Dijk.

Slot left big-money signing Florian Wirtz on the bench for the second consecutive game as he looked in vain to find the right balance between defence and attack.

Gakpo should have levelled for the defending champions when he hit the post from Mohamed Salah’s through ball in Liverpool’s one flowing move of the first half.

Bruno Fernandes then spurned a glorious chance to double the Red Devils’ lead when he hit the outside of the post when unmarked from the edge of the area.

At the other end, Senne Lammens was rarely troubled in the first 45 minutes, but produced a big save when called upon to deny Alexander Isak his first Premier League goal since joining Liverpool for a British transfer record 125 million pounds ($168m).

A Gakpo deflected cross then came back off the post and the Dutchman rattled the woodwork for a third time early in the second half.

Slot turned to his near 200 million pounds ($268m) in forward options off the bench as Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike were introduced on the hour mark to join Salah, Gakpo and Isak in a five-man attack.

Salah has scored more goals than any other player in this fixture, but his lack of form showed in a wild finish to slice wide with just Lammens to beat at the back post.

Liverpool’s wealth of attacking talent finally broke the door down when Federico Chiesa, who had replaced Isak moments earlier, drilled in a low cross that Gakpo converted from point-blank range.

Yet, their defensive frailties meant parity only lasted six minutes as Maguire was left unmarked to head in Fernandes’s looping cross.

Gakpo should still have rescued a point when he headed wide with the goal gaping from Jeremie Frimpong’s inviting delivery.

But Liverpool fell to their first league defeat at Anfield in over a year in another blow to their hopes of usurping United with a record 21st English top-flight title.

Maguire told Sky Sports that it “meant everything” to get the win.

“It has been a long time coming to come to this ground and pick up three points,” he said.

“The old cliche is that it is only three points, but it definitely isn’t – it means a lot more than that for the club, the boys and the fans.”

Van Dijk told Sky Sports that Liverpool need to stick together to get through such a difficult period.

“It is an interesting time because we have to stick together, not just us as players but as a club and the fans who want us to win,” Liverpool’s captain said.

“We need to stay humble, stay working and keep our confidence as high as possible. When things get tough, it is important we keep the mentality of being there for each other. It is a long season,” he said.

In Sunday’s earlier Premier League game, Emi Buendia’s curling shot sealed a 2-1 comeback win for Aston Villa against Tottenham.

The victory continued Villa’s resurgence after a desperate start to the season and denied Spurs the chance to provisionally move up to second in the standings.

Buendia shimmied his way across the edge of the box in the 77th minute at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before sweeping a perfect shot low into the bottom corner.

It was Villa’s fifth-straight win in all competitions after failing to pick up a victory in their first six games of the campaign.

It ended Spurs’ seven-game unbeaten run that looked set to continue when Rodrigo Bentancur fired the home team ahead after just five minutes.

Morgan Rogers levelled the game in the 37th before Villa went on to take all three points and consign Tottenham coach Thomas Frank to his second league loss since taking over in the summer.

Follow the build-up, analysis, and live text commentary of the game as Liverpool and Man United face-off at Anfield.

Mayer, the son of former McLaren team principal Teddy Mayer and a long-time steward for the FIA before being fired by Ben Sulayem last year, said he had submitted a number of ethics complaints to the governing body about the election process.

“We strongly believe a series of ethics violations have been committed in this election process,” he said. “And we have now submitted numerous ethics complaints.

“Assuming the Ethics Committee finds validity to our complaints, who does this go to for action? The president of the FIA or the senate president – both conflicted parties. The statutes don’t provide for any other method or for any appeal. Where is the accountability? This is how institutions fail.

“I am not a revolutionary. I do want to evolve the FIA to a better place so I intend to use the processes of the FIA as much as is don’t believe they are independent or free and open.”

He also questioned the appointment of Daniel Coen as a representative for the world council from Costa Rica when the country has no motorsport events listed, which is a requirement of membership.

Mayer quoted from a report into the FIA produced by the Utrecht School of Governance, which studies public organisations in their interaction with the developments in politics and society.

Its report said the FIA score on the sports governance observer index was 45% which places it “among federations that have adopted the formal trappings of modern governance but lack robust institutional policies and safeguards”.

The report continued: “The FIA’s governance structurally concentrates power in the office of the president, and accountability remains confined within a system over which the president exercises decisive control.”

An FIA spokesperson said: “The FIA presidential election is a structured and democratic process, to ensure fairness and integrity at every stage.

“The requirements for the 2025 FIA elections, including the relevant deadlines and eligibility criteria for the presidential list and World Councils, are defined in the FIA statutes and internal regulations, which are publicly available on the FIA’s website.

“Detailed information regarding these elections has also been made available on a dedicated page on the FIA’s website since 13 June 2025 and communicated to all FIA members.

“The requirements related to the regional representation of the vice-presidents for sport, and to select them from the World Motor Sport Council in order to draw up a presidential list, are not new. These criteria applied to previous elections.

“As to be expected, preparing a candidature for a presidential list or the World Councils requires certain steps to be taken. Prospective candidates have had since the publication of the detailed information on 13 June to prepare their applications.”

Responding to the Utrecht report cited by Mayer, the FIA spokesperson said: “The report commissioned by Tim Mayer’s team finds the FIA’s governance practices to be in line with other federations, particularly those ‘that have made progress in formalising governance structures’.

“The benchmarking process outlined within the report does not find the FIA to be behind the curve. This reflects the fact that the FIA has taken several steps to strengthen its corporate governance policies.

“The FIA was not contacted to confirm any of the statements or assumptions made about its processes, policies and administration within the report.”

For this season, the cooling vests are optional, and some drivers, such as four-time world champion Max Verstappen, do not like them because they consider them uncomfortable and flawed.

Williams driver Alex Albon said it was a “polarising subject”, between “the old-school and new-school mentality”, but that the cooling vest was “a good thing”.

Referencing the Singapore Grand Prix on 5 October, he added: “As a team we’ve done a really good job with the cooling system. It works well on our car, it’s comfortable. The first 20 laps of the race I was actually cold rather than hot, which was definitely a new thing for me.

“In a weird way I think we see it as an advantage as a team because if we’ve got drivers that are fresher at the end of the race then surely that’s performance.”

But Albon said he did not know whether the system would be necessary in Austin this weekend.

“Humidity is always a struggling factor,” Albon said. “Getting your skin to breathe with all the fireproofs that we have on our car and all these kind of things.

“When it’s dry heat, and this doesn’t feel that humid out there at the moment, it’s relatively comfortable for us.”

Mercedes driver George Russell wore the vest when he won in Singapore in hot and humid conditions on 5 October.

If the driver chooses not to wear the vest, his car must carry 500 grams of ballast to compensate for the weight of the system so he does not gain a competitive advantage.

The system, which teams can make to their individual designs, typically features a liquid such as glycol pumped through a tank of dry ice and through the driver’s fireproof top.

Issues with the system include the dry ice running out. This leads to liquid at car temperature, which is hotter than ambient temperature, being pumped through the system.

That is not meant as a slight on the community Shelvey has left behind.

Though Shelvey has uprooted from the UK, the 33-year-old said the north east was “the only place there he would want to live”.

“There’s this debate about whether Newcastle are able to attract the big players compared to the Manchester clubs and the London clubs but, until you go there, you don’t understand what it does to you,” he said.

“There are loads of things to do. I don’t care what anyone says. If players are going to listen to this, it’s a no-brainer to go there and play football.

“You will not find love at a football club like I found at Newcastle, with how they take to their players and how much they back you.”

Shelvey spent longer at Newcastle than any other side – seven years in total following his move from Swansea City – and said he was “honoured” to have represented the club and worn the captain’s armband on occasion.

As well as sticking around following relegation, in 2016, and playing his part in taking Newcastle straight back up, Shelvey also helped ensure the club then stayed in the top flight.

He even scored what proved to be a “massive” goal against Leeds United as Newcastle started to pull away from danger three and a half years ago.

It ended up proving a turning point in head coach Eddie Howe’s reign.

“If I had not scored that, the club would have gone down!” he said. “I’m joking. Looking back at it, you don’t realise how big a goal it was and, to be fair, the keeper [Illan Meslier] chucked one in for us. I scuffed the life out of it.

“But I’ve only got good things to say about my time at Newcastle. I loved it. Even when I first got the call about going there, I drove 12 hours from Swansea because of the traffic. I just wanted to get up there, get my medical done and get signed.

“I had experienced playing against Newcastle at St James’ Park and you get a real buzz, but you never understand how big the club is until you are there.”