World

Seventh seed James Wade suffered a fourth successive second-round exit at the PDC World Championship, losing a thrilling tie to fellow Englishman Ricky Evans.

Both players missed match darts in the deciding set, with world number 43 Evans eventually taking it 6-4 in the fifth.

Wade is the highest-ranked seed to be eliminated so far and his defeat, along with Wessel Nijman’s loss earlier on Monday, means 14 of the 32 seeded players have been knocked out.

Dutch 31st seed Nijman lost in straight sets to Germany’s Gabriel Clemens, who reached the semi-finals in 2023.

Elsewhere, Kenyan debutant David Munyua was unable to follow up his shock win over Mike de Decker in round one, winning just two legs in a 3-0 defeat by world number 40 Kevin Doets.

Scotland’s Darren Beveridge was beaten 3-1 by Latvia’s Madars Razma in Monday’s opening match.

Dec. 22 (UPI) — Japan has approved Tokyo Electric Power Co. to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear site as the world’s largest nuclear power plant.

On Monday, the Niigata assembly backed Governor Hideyo Hanazumi’s decision to stay in office after approving the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in its first reactor restart since the Fukushima disaster more than a decade ago.

“We remain firmly committed to never repeating such an accident and ensuring Niigata residents never experience anything similar,” ‌a Tepco spokesperson told The Japan Times.

The decision finalizes local approval to restart the plant.

Hanazumi will meet Economy Minister Ryosei Akazawa on Tuesday to confirm the prefecture’s consent.

TEPCO intends to apply to the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority by Wednesday to restart its No. 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.

The utility aims to resume operations around Jan. 20 marking the facility’s first activity since shut down March 2012 a year after the Fukushima disaster.

On Nov. 21, Hanazumi approved restarting operations but said final approval depended on a vote by the prefectural assembly.

The assembly passed the measure with backing from the Liberal Democratic Party while opposition parties objected and called for a gubernatorial election or public referendum instead.

The Niigata provincial assembly in northern Japan approved a supplementary budget that included public relations funds for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa.

With consent already granted by the Kashiwazaki and Kariwa municipal governments, the vote cleared TEPCO’s final hurdle to resume operations.

Most of the plant’s power supplies the Tokyo area, but electric bills are expected to remain unchanged as TEPCO planned.

Meanwhile, Japan has restarted 14 of its 33 active nuclear plants to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.

WASHINGTON — As the dawn rose on President Trump’s second term, one key figure from his first administration stood back, content to focus on his personal business interests and not retake a formal government role.

Now, nearly a year into Trump 2.0, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been drawn back into the foreign policy fold and is taking a greater role in delicate peace negotiations. Talks had initially been led almost solo by special envoy Steve Witkoff, a real estate mogul who had no government experience before this year.

The shift reflects a sense among Trump’s inner circle that Kushner, who has diplomatic experience, complements Witkoff’s negotiating style and can bridge seemingly intractable differences to close a deal, according to several current and former administration officials who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations.

That role was on display this weekend as Kushner and Witkoff took part in a blitz of diplomacy in Miami.

On Sunday, they concluded two days of talks with Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev in Miami on the latest proposals to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The talks with Dmitriev came after they met on Friday in Florida with the Ukrainian negotiating team, led by Rustem Umerov, as well as senior British, French and German national security officials. The Ukrainians and European officials stuck around Florida for more talks with U.S. government officials facilitated by Trump’s envoys.

Witkoff and Kushner also squeezed in meetings on Friday with Turkish and Qatari officials to discuss the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza as they look to implement the second phase of Trump’s ceasefire plan.

Kushner and Witkoff employ contrasting styles

Witkoff, a longtime pal of Trump’s, is seen by some inside the administration as an oversize character who has traveled the world for diplomatic negotiations on his private jet and does not miss an opportunity to publicly praise the president for his foreign policy acumen, the officials say.

Kushner has his own complicated business interests in the Middle East and a sometimes transactional outlook to diplomacy that has distressed some officials in European capitals, a Western diplomat said.

Still, Kushner is seen as a more credible negotiator than Witkoff, who is viewed by many Ukrainian and European officials as overly deferential to Russian interests during the war that began with Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, the diplomat said.

“Kushner has a bit more of a track record from the first administration,” said Ian Kelly, a retired career diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Georgia who now teaches diplomacy at Northwestern University. Kelly stressed, however, that the jury is still out on Kushner’s intervention.

Trump views Kushner as a “trusted family member and talented adviser” who has played a pivotal role in some of his biggest foreign policy successes, said White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly.

Trump and Witkoff “often seek Mr. Kushner’s input given his experience with complex negotiations, and Mr. Kushner has been generous in lending his valuable expertise when asked,” Kelly added.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott called Kushner “a world-class negotiator.” Pigott noted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is grateful for Kushner’s “willingness to serve our country and help President Trump solve some of the world’s most complex challenges.”

In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” in October, Kushner spoke about his unconventional approach to diplomacy.

“I was trained in foreign policy really in President Trump’s first term by seeing an outsider president come into Washington with a different school of foreign policy than had been brought in place for the 20 or 30 years prior,” he said.

But some Democrats and government oversight groups have expressed skepticism about Kushner’s role in shaping the administration policies in the Middle East while he manages billions of dollars in investments, including from Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s sovereign wealth funds through his firm, Affinity Partners.

Similarly, Witkoff has faced scrutiny for his and his family’s deep business ties to Gulf nations. Witkoff last year partnered with members of Trump’s family to launch a cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, which received a $2 billion investment from a United Arab Emirates-controlled wealth fund.

“What people call conflicts of interests, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world,” said Kushner, who is not drawing a salary from the White House for his advisory role.

White House counsel David Warrington said in a statement that Kushner’s efforts for Trump “are undertaken in full compliance with the law.”

“Given that Jared Kushner was a critical part of the efforts leading to the historic Abraham Accords and other diplomatic successes in the first Trump Administration, the President asked Mr. Kushner to be available as the President engages in similar efforts to bring peace to the world,” Warrington said in a statement, referring to Trump’s first-term effort that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations. “Mr. Kushner has agreed to do so in his capacity as a private citizen.”

Kelly and other veterans of U.S. diplomatic encounters with the Russians over many years are also skeptical about Kushner’s ability to secure a Russia-Ukraine deal because Witkoff technically remains in the lead.

“I don’t see that the Witkoff approach is going to work,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t really read the Russians well. He misunderstands what they say and reports the misunderstandings back to Washington and the Europeans.”

“They seem to have this idea that the magic key is money: investment and development,” Kelly said. “But these guys don’t care about that, they are not real estate guys except in the sense that they want the land, period.”

Kushner was out of the spotlight until he wasn’t

For the first half of the year, Kushner stayed out of the spotlight, even as he pushed, unsuccessfully in some cases, to install some former associates — those with whom he worked on negotiating the Abraham Accords — into powerful roles in the new administration, according to the current and former administration officials.

Kushner had told Trump and others that while he would not be joining the second-term White House, he stood ready to offer his counsel if it was desired. That is a role he also played on a few occasions during the Biden years as the Democratic administration tried, without success, to expand the Abraham Accords.

Although Kushner remained an informal sounding board for Trump and top advisers, he resisted getting directly involved, even as the president expanded his peacemaking pursuits, until it became clear to him and others that the job might be too much for Witkoff to seal on his own, the officials said.

As Trump’s efforts to forge an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza faltered over the summer, Kushner came in, trading on his experience and contacts in negotiating the Abraham Accords to help Witkoff push Trump’s plan over the finish line.

Agreed to in late September after frantic talks surrounding the annual U.N. General Assembly, the 20-point plan is still a work in progress, but its implementation is being coordinated by Kushner and numerous members of his Abraham Accords team.

“We always bring Jared when we want to get that deal closed,” Trump told Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, shortly after the agreement. “We need that brain on occasion.”

As soon as the Gaza plan was finalized, Kushner said he was returning to his family and day job in Miami, where he heads a multibillion-dollar private equity firm. His involvement in high-stakes peacemaking was only temporary, Kushner said, joking that his wife, Ivanka, might change the locks if he did not get home soon.

“I’m gonna try to help set it up, and then I’m gonna hopefully go back to my normal life,” Kushner said in October.

But within weeks of shepherding the Gaza ceasefire, Trump turned again to his fixer-in-law to dive into the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. They had been deadlocked for months despite persistent efforts by the White House to lure both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky into an agreement.

Trump hinted then that he would continue to lean on Kushner when the stakes are highest, just as he has done.

Lee and Madhani write for the Associated Press.

Dec. 22 (UPI) — Beijing unveiled tariffs as high as 42.7% on imports of European Union dairy products on Monday, saying the subsidies Brussels provided to producers in the 27-country bloc were the cause of “substantial damage” to China’s dairy industry.

The import taxes of between 21.9% and 42.7%, which come into force Tuesday following a 16-month-long anti-subsidy probe by China’s Ministry of Commerce, will affect France’s famous Roquefort, other blue, fresh and processsed cheeses as well as whole and unsweetened milk and cream.

“The investigating authority has preliminarily determined that imported dairy products originating from the European Union were subsidized, causing substantial damage to the relevant dairy product industry in China, and that there is a causal relationship between the subsidies and the substantial damage,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said that the highest levy would be applied to the products of firms that had failed to cooperate with the investigation with firms that had been cooperative only subject to a rate of 28.6%.

Firms named in the ministry list hailed from across the bloc with France, the Netherlands and Belgium heavily represented. Italian and Spanish producers also feature. Most companies were hit with a rate of 28.6% or 29.7%.

The Netherlands’ Friesland Campina and its subsidiary in neighboring Belgium were both hit with the top 42.7% rate along with an “Other EU Companies” grouping, which is not specified. It is unclear if this group is all EU companies not named in the document that export to China.

The EU criticized the action, saying it was neither justified nor warranted.

The move came just over a year after the EU hit China’s massive EV sector with import tariffs of as high as 36.3%, alleging unfair competition due to subsidies provided to the industry by the Chinese government.

Among the big three EV makers — BYD, Geely and SAIC — BYD and Geely were slapped with duties of 17% and 19.3% respectively, along with a 21.3% tariff on other “cooperating companies.”

The top rate was applied to SAIC together with other EV makers deemed not to have cooperated with the EU’s investigation.

The EV tariffs also saw Beijing launch anti-competition probes into Europe’s brandy and pork products industries, leading to accusations the EU was dumping surplus pork production in the Chinese market.

In September, Beijing imposed short-lived tariffs of between 15.6% and 62.4% on EU pork and pig by-product imports, but revised them down to between 4.9% and 19.8% on Tuesday.

SANTIAGO, Chile, Dec. 19 (UPI) — After nearly two decades of relative stability, the advance of organized crime has reshaped security across Latin America.

The expansion of illicit economies, armed disputes over territorial control and rising violence triggered new migration flows and partly explain the region’s political shift toward right-wing governments in 2025.

According to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 39 organized crime groups are operating across Latin America.

The report said these groups have become more interconnected and sophisticated, “coordinating operations not only at the local level but also across borders and even continents.”

One of the main factors behind the expansion of criminal structures is business diversification, said organized crime specialist Hugo Contreras, who holds a doctorate in social complexity sciences and is a researcher at the School of Government at Universidad del Desarrollo.

“Organized groups stopped being just traffickers and adopted a portfolio of activities such as extortion, contract killings, smuggling, arms trafficking and human trafficking,” Contreras told UPI. “That has multiplied and diversified their sources of illicit income, as well as their territorial control and disputes.”

He said the trend has been compounded by institutional weakness, including collapsed prison systems that have turned into logistical hubs for criminal groups and judicial systems ill-prepared to confront the phenomenon.

“There has been an emergence of more aggressive and sophisticated transnational criminal gangs, with international networks, greater financial capacity and increased firepower,” Contreras said.

He added that the situation has been reinforced by “massive migration flows from different conflict regions, which these groups have exploited to conceal their members, recruit new people and expand their criminal activities into other countries.”

Pablo Carvacho, director of research and development at the Center for Justice and Society at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, shared that assessment, noting that organized crime is especially dynamic and adaptable.

“Migratory processes created space for the development of transnational illicit activities such as human trafficking and sexual or labor exploitation, particularly affecting a highly vulnerable group like migrants,” Carvacho told UPI.

“These flows served as an entry point for countries such as Chile, where criminal activity was not as developed as what we are seeing today,” he said.

The new scenario has deeply transformed internal security dynamics across the region, turning local problems into international threats that are more violent and more damaging to social and political stability, Contreras said.

Criminal organizations manage and contest territory, impose their own rules, control prisons and challenge state authority.

“This forces governments to move beyond traditional crime-control strategies and adopt comprehensive responses that combine financial intelligence, border security, international cooperation and prison reform,” he said.

Contreras said the impact varies widely across the region depending on how deeply organized crime has taken root in each country.

In 2025, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil and Haiti ranked among the world’s 10 most dangerous countries based on indicators such as mortality, risk to civilians, geographic spread of conflict and the number of armed groups, according to a conflict index published by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a nongovernmental organization known as ACLED.

The report said rising violence has been a common trend across Latin America this year. However, the sharpest deterioration was recorded in those four countries.

In Mexico, the organization linked the surge in violence to factors including an internal war within the Sinaloa cartel following the July 2024 arrest in the United States of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of the group’s historic leaders.

In Ecuador, ACLED warned that violence levels are on track to reach record highs in 2025. It said the homicide rate could be the highest in Latin America for a third consecutive year and that gang-related violence has caused more than 3,600 deaths.

In Haiti, gangs have taken advantage of the political instability the country has faced since 2021, expanding their operations from the capital, Port-au-Prince, to other areas.

In a different political context, criminal gangs in Brazil have also fueled major clashes as they fought for territorial control in cities such as Rio de Janeiro. A large-scale police operation in that city targeting the Comando Vermelho, one of the country’s main criminal groups, left 121 people dead.

The rise in violence and organized crime has contributed to at least 10 countries in the region electing right-wing governments in the 2024-2025 period.

Carvacho said more conservative platforms “place greater emphasis on public order and the intensive use of coercive tools, with strategies based on police force, military deployment, harsher criminal penalties and territorial control.”

He said these approaches often rely on emergency measures under states of exception, with rapid executive decisions and reforms, as well as a greater willingness to strengthen ties with foreign intelligence agencies, including those of the United States.

In Carvacho’s view, containing transnational organized crime requires coordination among countries because “emergency policies alone will not stop its advance.”

He said what can truly weaken these organizations is targeting their financial assets and reducing the pool of people, including children and adolescents, vulnerable to recruitment.

“Everything else is treating the symptoms of a disease,” Carvacho said. “It is arriving late to a problem that is not about criminal law but about vulnerability and the lack of opportunities in communities excluded from society. That is where the state must act.”

Dec. 21 (Asia Today) — Nearly half of South Korea’s small and medium-sized exporters expect their overseas shipments to decline next year, with many citing intensifying low-price competition from China as their biggest challenge, a survey released Sunday found.

The Korea Federation of SMEs said its “2026 SME Export Outlook Survey” polled 1,300 exporting SMEs from Dec. 1-12.

In the survey, 68.6% of respondents said they expect exports to increase in 2026 compared with this year, while 31.4% forecast a decrease, the federation said.

Among firms expecting export growth, cosmetics exporters (86.4%) and medical and biotech exporters (86.1%) were the most optimistic, the federation said. The most common reason for expecting export growth, in multiple responses, was improved product competitiveness through new product launches and quality improvements (47.1%), followed by diversification of export markets (29.8%) and improved price competitiveness due to exchange rate appreciation (21.6%).

Among SMEs forecasting weaker exports, 49.3% cited intensifying low-price competition from China as their main export challenge, followed by greater exchange rate volatility (44.6%), sharp increases in raw material prices (37.0%) and uncertainty over U.S. and European Union tariff policies (35.0%), the federation said.

Planned responses to weaker export performance included diversifying export markets (28.2%), improving quality or launching new products (23.0%) and reducing production costs such as labor and raw materials (21.8%), according to the survey.

Despite tariff concerns, the United States ranked first among markets SMEs most want to enter or expand into, at 21.0% when combining first-, second- and third-priority choices, the federation said. Europe followed at 15.2%, with Japan and China tied at 10.6%.

For government priorities to strengthen export competitiveness, respondents most frequently called for expanding support for an export voucher program (53.5%), followed by building a system to counter China’s low-cost offensive (35.8%) and strengthening diplomacy to respond to U.S. and EU tariffs (35.1%), the federation said. Other priorities included expanding support for participation in overseas exhibitions, including in emerging markets (31.5%) and supporting overseas certification and regulatory compliance (27.2%).

Chu Moon-gap, head of the federation’s economic policy division, said it was significant that SMEs are projecting export growth by improving competitiveness despite external headwinds such as tighter export regulations by various countries. He added that companies’ ability to reduce total costs, including production and logistics costs, tariffs and lead times, will be key to export competitiveness and said the government should prepare cost-reduction support measures to help SMEs respond to China’s low-cost competition.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

At AC Milan’s Milanello training base images of club legends adorn the walls. After all, it was Paolo Maldini who rang Tomori on Zoom before he joined and was instrumental in him moving.

“It’s mad. You walk in every day and you see pictures of players like Maldini, (Franco) Baresi, Kaka, Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) and (Alessandro) Nesta,” says Tomori.

“So you definitely feel the expectation knowing those players were in the same building.

“And it comes from the fans you meet in the city. You realise how much weight the shirt holds.

“I love that they’re so proud of the club and there’s an expectation for us to deliver and do what those before did.”

Tomori has fond memories of the summer after winning Serie A in 2022, and there is of course an eye on the summer ahead. Winning the Scudetto would surely enhance his chances of going to the World Cup with England.

“Of course, I want that for myself and I know that winning the league will help,” he says.

Tomori was born in Canada and played for their Under-19s, and revealed recently that he was never asked to consider Nigeria, where his parents are from.

He made his England debut in 2019 and won five caps under Gareth Southgate but, even though it has been two and a half years since his most recent international call-up, current England manager Thomas Tuchel remains in touch.

When Tomori left Chelsea for Milan on loan initially in 2021, Tuchel became Chelsea boss four days later.

“I spoke to him after the last international break in November. We’ve spoken a few times and the message is to keep doing what I’m doing,” Tomori says.

“The World Cup is six months away and there’s a lot of football to be played.

“I know he’s watching and keeping an eye because he called up (team-mate) Ruben Loftus-Cheek. That gives me the confidence I can make it.

“He came to Milan last season and I know he gets our data and sees our clips regularly too.

“The way he’s spoken about it is that it’s difficult because there’s so many players in that position, and I get it because you have players like John Stones, Marc Guehi, Dan Burn and Ezri Konsa.

“But the World Cup is still a dream and I’m working towards that.”

Achieve that dream and the likelihood is that his neighbour will be waiting in Dallas when England face Croatia in their first game at the World Cup.

Luka Modric, who joined AC Milan in the summer, lives in the same apartment complex as Tomori.

“I guess it’s not too shabby of a building then,” jokes Tomori.

Does he ever pick the brain of the former Ballon d’Or winner?

“Yes, but it’s more about listening when he speaks and seeing the way he carries himself and trains. You just know the levels and, because it’s Modric, whenever he speaks you just listen.”

All that listening will certainly come in handy for both Tomori and England if he does make the cut for the World Cup.

Lim met Englishman Humphries in the first round of the 2021 World Championship and, on that occasion, Lim was a 3-2 winner.

The odds of a repeat are unlikely, given Humphries – who is 41 years younger than Lim – has gone on to have a spell of nearly two years as world number one and won multiple major titles, including the world crown in January 2024.

“If anything, I’m thankful for Paul winning that game because it changed me as a player and it changed me as a person,” Humphries said after beating Ted Evetts in round one.

“Three months later, I’d lost about four stones and I was in a major final [at the 2021 UK Open]. It helped my career.”

On those comments, Lim said: “To come across a champion who is as humble as him – when he said that, it was really a compliment to me. I’ve got nothing ever bad to say about Luke.

“With every defeat or every win, there is a spark somewhere – you’ve got to find it to spark you in the right direction. I can’t say that loss made him a world champion, but maybe it created that spark within himself to look at something differently and it turned out well for him.

“He is definitely a different Luke Humphries. He was good then, now he is great. It’s an honour to hear him calling me a legend.”

Dec. 21 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s industry ministry said Sunday it has raised concerns with Canada over strengthened tariff-rate quota measures on steel set to take effect Dec. 26 and asked Ottawa to consider steps including an exemption or expanded quota for South Korea.

A tariff-rate quota (TRQ) is a trade system under which a limited volume of steel imports can enter Canada at a lower or zero tariff, while shipments exceeding that quota face much higher duties. Under Canada’s revised measures, the amount of South Korean steel that can enter Canada at the lower tariff rate will be reduced, and shipments above that limit would face much higher tariffs.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Trade Negotiations Director General Yeo Han-gu met Canadian Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu and Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Essassi in Toronto on Dec. 18 local time and conveyed the position of South Korean industry on the measures.

Canada plans to lower the TRQ utilization rate for free trade agreement partners including South Korea from 100% to 75% and for non-FTA countries from 50% to 20%, the ministry said. Imports exceeding the quota would face a 50% tariff and a new 25% tariff would be applied to certain steel derivative products, according to the ministry.

The ministry said Yeo traveled to Canada one week after a phone call with Sidhu on Dec. 11 to hold detailed discussions. It said he asked Canada to take favorable measures for South Korea, citing large-scale investments by South Korean companies in Canada including battery makers and cooperation potential in sectors such as steel, electric vehicles, batteries, energy and critical minerals.

Yeo also said some steel items, including pipelines used in Canada’s oilsands crude production, are difficult to produce domestically and are largely supplied through imports, including from South Korea. Tightening TRQ measures on South Korean steel could affect both South Korean exporters and Canadian industry, he said, according to the ministry.

The ministry said Yeo and Sidhu agreed to establish a new strategic sector dialogue channel between trade ministers under the Korea-Canada free trade agreement, which marks its 10th anniversary this year. They also agreed to set up a hotline for discussions on issues including steel, electric vehicles, batteries, energy and critical minerals, the ministry said.

Sidhu proposed using Canada’s duty drawback system, which the ministry said remains in operation through the end of January 2026 for certain steel items not produced domestically. The ministry said South Korea plans to continue consultations on steel TRQs through high-level and working-level channels.

The ministry said Yeo also met South Korean companies operating in the Toronto area in sectors including steel, autos, home appliances and minerals to hear concerns about trade uncertainty. It said he visited a battery plant backed by LG Energy Solution in Windsor on Dec. 19 and toured the facilities.

The ministry said Yeo later held a meeting in Detroit with South Korean auto parts companies and reviewed issues including Section 232 tariffs on automobiles, Mexico’s announced tariff increases on non-FTA countries and trends related to USMCA revisions. It said he also met potential foreign investors in the auto parts sector to discuss investment opportunities tied to South Korea’s smart factory and manufacturing AI capabilities.

Yeo said shifting trade conditions across the United States, Canada and Mexico pose challenges for South Korean firms operating locally, but also create opportunities tied to changes in North American supply chains, the ministry said.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

On June 12, Peggy Orenstein’s inbox flooded with booking requests for her Inglewood Airbnb.

The date seemed random, but after a quick search, the influx of interest became clear. It was exactly a year before one of the biggest events in American soccer history, when the U.S. will kick off its World Cup in a match against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, and Orenstein had set up the system to only accept booking requests up to a year in advance.

Orenstein’s rental sits just across the street from the venue. Suddenly, her Airbnb became one of the hottest homes in the Southland.

She hadn’t adjusted the prices yet to reflect the rabid demand, so she declined the requests and tweaked the rates. Typically, a two-night stay at the house would cost around $1,000. For a two-night stay during the Americans’ opening match June 12, it’ll now cost more than $10,000.

Roughly 6.5 million people are expected to travel to North America during the 2026 World Cup, and many of them will be heading to L.A., where SoFi Stadium is hosting eight games, including two U.S. matches during the group stage. Airbnb hosts are viewing the games as a gold mine, hoping soccer fans will shell out thousands to stay near the stadium.

The World Cup rental market will serve as a test case for the 2028 Olympics, when an estimated 15 million people are expected to visit Southern California.

For the night of the opening match June 12, more than 70% of short-term rentals in Inglewood have already been booked, according to data site Inside Airbnb. That’s a 58% increase compared to typical reservation rates on normal days.

Rates are rising as well. On June 1, the average booked rate for an Airbnb in L.A. is $245, according to data platform AirDNA. On June 12, when the U.S. plays Paraguay, it’s $382 — a 56% jump.

In Inglewood, prices are even wilder. Homes that normally rent for hundreds are listed for thousands. The nightly price for a one-bedroom apartment a block from SoFi is typically around $400. On June 11, the day before the game, it’s $713. On June 12, the day of the game, it’s $1,714.

“It’ll be interesting to see how much people will pay,” Orenstein said.

Some hosts use an algorithm to determine their nightly rates, but Orenstein sets the prices herself. She arrived at the $10,000 number by looking at nearby hotels, which are mostly sold out for the nights of the eight World Cup matches.

“The Lum Hotel had a suite available during the World Cup for $1,943. Meanwhile, our house can accommodate eight guests with four bedrooms, plus a kitchen and yard,” she said.

There are classic amenities such as a grill and hot tub, but the biggest amenity is proximity. Orenstein is banking on visitors ponying up for the convenience of parking at the property and walking to the stadium while everyone else navigates traffic jams and long rideshare waits.

“It gets crazy out there,” she said. “I’ve had people offer to pay me $40 to use the bathroom while walking by during a Taylor Swift concert. Our neighbor sold parking spots for $1,000 during the Super Bowl.”

David (pictured) and Peggy Orenstein, run an Airbnb across the street from SoFi Stadium.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Colin Johnson has been renting out his home near SoFi Stadium for two years. It’s his actual residence, meaning when someone stays there, he has to book a hotel or crash on a friend’s couch. But he said the payouts are worth it.

“There are so many events and venues around us, why wouldn’t we take advantage?” he said.

A typical two-night stay in the three-story townhouse runs about $600. For the U.S. opening match, it costs more than $3,000.

Johnson said demand is roughly 60% Americans and 40% foreigners, but he expects foreign interest to pick up as the games get closer.

Demand isn’t limited to Inglewood. Luxury rentals across Los Angeles are being booked for eye-popping numbers, according to Mokhtar Jabli, founder of luxury rental platform Nightfall Group.

He’s booked two so far. The first was rented by a Florida client coming to Los Angeles to see Iran play two matches at SoFi Stadium against New Zealand and Belgium. The modern home in Hollywood Hills, complete with an infinity pool overlooking the city, rented for $33,000 for seven nights from June 15 to 22.

The second was booked by a New York client coming to see the U.S. play Paraguay. The 7,000-square-foot mansion in Malibu comes with a movie theater, butler, security and full-time staff. For 10 days, it rented for $100,000.

Jamie Lane, chief economist for AirDNA, expects a surge across L.A. County — not just in demand, but in supply.

“There’s a lot of interest right now in what you can make as a host,” Lane said. “In most cities, there won’t be enough lodging, so that pushes rates higher.”

He added that since Airbnb is the official “Alternative Accommodations and Bookings Platform” of the World Cup, the company is urging people to host. AirDNA has hosted multiple bootcamps around the country for people interested in renting out their homes during the World Cup, teaching them how to furnish homes, how to set prices during the games and more.

Lane expects a boost in listings early next year, which would mirror Paris in the months leading up to the 2024 Olympics, when active listings soared by 40%.

It’s unclear how proactive Southern California cities will be in cracking down on illegal listings as homeowners look to make a quick buck by renting out their rooms. Many cities have strict short-term rental regulations, but haven’t taken the steps necessary to enforce them.

Last year, the L.A. Housing Department estimated that 7,500 short-term rentals were violating the city’s Home Sharing Ordinance, but the city only issued 300 citations.

Orenstein said it won’t be easy in Inglewood.

“You have to jump through hoops to have an Airbnb,” she said. “Apply for permits, do inspections, pay your taxes every month. It has to be done right.”

Dec. 21 (UPI) — Seven days after a mass shooting devastated Bondi Beach, Australians gathered on Sunday for a national day of reflection.

The commemorations come as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faces intense public scrutiny and has ordered an urgent investigation into the nation’s intelligence and police frameworks.

The tragedy, which claimed 15 lives during a Hanukkah seaside event, is the deadliest mass shooting Australia has seen in nearly three decades.

Authorities have officially classified the massacre — which killed a 10-year-old girl, a British rabbi and a Holocaust survivor, among others — as a terrorist act aimed at the Jewish community.

As the clock struck 6:47 p.m., marking the exact moment the first shots rang out the previous Sunday, a minute of silence was observed. Mourners at Bondi Beach and across the country stood in unison to honor the fallen, according to the BBC.

The atmosphere in Sydney was one of high alert, NBC News reported, with a massive security detail involving rooftop snipers and water patrols.

The Sydney Opera House also paid tribute, illuminating its iconic sails with candle projections to mark the day of mourning.

Despite the somber occasion, Albanese met a hostile reception, NBC News reported. Sections of the crowd booed the prime minister upon his arrival, a sign of the growing friction between the government and the grieving Jewish community.

The BBC also reported that one protester shouted, “Blood on your hands,” while security personnel had to intercept an individual attempting to approach the prime minister.

In an acknowledgment of the criticism, Albanese said during the observation that he accepts his share of responsibility as the nation’s leader.

Addressing the crowd, David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, delivered a eulogy.

“Like the grass here at Bondi was stained with blood, so, too, has our nation been stained,” Ossip said, per NBC News. “We have landed up in a dark place.”

Ossip also shared a message of resilience from Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian shop owner who was injured while heroically disarming one of the gunmen.

From his hospital bed, al-Ahmed’s message to the mourners was, “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted. Today I stand with you, my brothers and sisters.”

Unlike Albanese, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns was met with applause, the BBC reported.

Minns offered a blunt apology for the state’s inability to prevent the shooting, stating, “The government’s highest duty is to protect its citizens. And we did not do that one week ago.”

He further warned that the tragedy exposed a “deep vein of antisemitic hate” that the country must now confront.

After the ceremony, the federal government pivoted toward legislative action.

Albanese announced a comprehensive review of federal intelligence and law enforcement to determine if current powers are sufficient for the modern security landscape. He characterized the “ISIS-inspired” attack as proof of a shifting threat environment.

Additionally, the government has committed to a massive national gun buyback initiative, the scale of which has not been seen since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

Joe Cullen says opponent Mensur Suljovic’s slow style of play is akin to cheating after the 32nd seed was knocked out.

Austrian Suljovic denied using any specific tactics in his second-round success.

“I never ever do this as a provocation,” said the 53-year-old. “I do it only for my game. Sorry Joe, I never do this – love you man.”

England’s Cullen won the first set, but became the 11th seed to crash out as he lost the following three, including throwing away a 2-1 lead in the fourth set.

Referring to the way that Suljovic slowed down play, Cullen said in a post on X: “If that’s darts, I don’t want no part of it.

“Always liked Mensur away from the board but that was plain for all to see! I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way. The old guard will say it’s part of the game but word it how you will – it’s cheating. That’s not darts.”

After the match, the 36-year-old shook his head as he picked up his darts case and turned to glare at the Austrian, who celebrated his win in front of the crowd.

The PDC does not have a specific, timed rule for pace of play, but deliberate slow play intended to disrupt an opponent is considered unsportsmanlike conduct and a potential rules breach.

Suljovic is next in line to take on defending champion Luke Littler, who faces David Davies on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, 2018 champion and 17th seed Rob Cross managed to avoid a deciding set against Ian White as he won a nervy encounter 3-1.

Krzysztof Ratajski beat Ryan Joyce 3-1 to reach the third round, while Luke Woodhouse cruised past Max Hopp with a victory in straight sets.

Dec. 21 (UPI) — The head steward responsible for formal silverware has been arrested for stealing fine cutlery and porcelain from Élysée Palace, the official residence of French President Emmanuel Macron, reports said.

The man, identified by French media as Thomas M., is suspected of stealing more than a hundred pieces of porcelain used for state dinners and other banquets over the course of months, Le Parisien reported.

Authorities have also charged his romantic partner — an antique dealer — as well as an acquaintance from Versailles, both accused of receiving stolen goods, the newspaper reported. The three men, who have all reportedly confessed to their crimes, are expected to stand trial in February 2026.

“My client acknowledges the charges against him and has fully cooperated with the investigators,” Thomas Malvoti, the lawyer for the Versailles man, told French television network TF1.

“He is a 30-year-old man with an atypical profile, gifted, a history buff and passionate about the porcelain of the Sèvres Manufactory; he was even about to write a book on the subject. He unfortunately let himself be blinded by his passion and regrets it today.”

The items stolen include various porcelain dishes manufactured by the prestigious Sèvres factory, some of which were part of a 2018 order placed by the palace for around half a million dollars.

Authorities allege that the steward’s Versailles acquaintance convinced him to steal the tableware. After taking the dishes home, the steward allegedly falsified the official inventory of the objects.

The thefts went unnoticed for nearly two years, only coming to light once the number of missing items became large enough to trigger an alert from palace security.

A large number of the missing items were recovered from the home of the Versailles man, whom Le Parisien reported is an employee of the Louvre Museum.

The disclosure comes weeks after the Louvre reported a separate theft involving Napoleonic jewels worth some $102 million, underscoring renewed security concerns at French cultural institutions.

A French court has banned the Versailles man from continuing his work at the Louvre, Le Parisien reported. And the silverware steward resigned from his work at Élysée Palace last month.

The three suspects have agreed to return the rest of the stolen tableware, which is still in their possession.

High-profile thefts at museums and cultural sites have made headlines since the Louvre Museum heist in October, drawing international concern and attention to security practices.

Syria’s Culture Ministry said Friday that suspects had been arrested in connection with the theft of six Venus statues from the National Museum of Damascus, Urgent Matter reported. Syrian officials said they recovered surveillance footage after reactivating a monitoring system that the thieves assumed was not functioning.

The heightened attention to security has also led to criticism levied at authorities in cases like the recent theft of artifacts from the Bristol Museum’s British Empire and Commonwealth collection in Britain.

That theft occurred on Sept. 25, but police did not publish photos of the suspects or release information about the theft until Dec. 11.

Dec. 19 (Asia Today) — President Lee Jae-myung on Friday questioned South Korea’s restrictions on access to North Korean state media such as Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, saying the policy treats citizens as if they could be swayed by propaganda.

“Isn’t the reason for blocking access to Rodong Sinmun because they fear the public might fall for propaganda and become communists?” Lee said during a joint briefing by the Foreign Ministry and the Unification Ministry at the Government Complex Seoul.

Lee criticized the approach as treating the public “not as autonomous beings” but as people susceptible to “propaganda and agitation,” and he ordered that access to North Korean media be opened.

Lee asked a Unification Ministry official whether opening access could trigger political backlash, including accusations that the government is trying to turn South Korea into a communist state.

The official cited Rodong Sinmun as an example, saying ordinary citizens and researchers currently cannot access it in real time under existing rules, even though South Korean media and scholars frequently cite it.

“There is a gap between the system and reality,” the official said.

Lee pressed the point, asking why citizens should be prevented from seeing it and whether officials were afraid they might be influenced by propaganda.

Lee said greater access could help the public better understand North Korea and its realities. He argued the restriction, as currently applied, assumes citizens are vulnerable to manipulation.

When a Unification Ministry official said the ministry would pursue opening access to North Korean information, including Rodong Sinmun, as a national policy task, Lee said it did not need to be treated as a solemn initiative.

“Why pursue this as a national policy task? Just open it up,” he said.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Dec. 19 (Asia Today) — A South Korean civic group said most retired National Assembly officials subject to post-employment screening were cleared to take private-sector jobs, calling the results evidence of a serious revolving-door problem involving major companies, supervised agencies and law firms.

The Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice said at a news conference Thursday that it analyzed employment screening decisions involving retired National Assembly officials from 2020 to 2025. The group said the review covered lawmakers, aides and National Assembly Secretariat staff.

South Korea’s post-employment screening system is designed to determine whether a retired public official’s new job is closely related to their former duties and whether it should be approved. The purpose is to prevent improper collusion between public officials and private institutions.

CCEJ said 427 of 438 National Assembly cases, or 97.5%, received decisions allowing employment, either as “employment possible” or “employment approved.” The group said “employment possible” applies when the new position is deemed unrelated to the official’s previous duties, while “employment approved” applies when there is a connection but authorities find grounds for a special approval.

CCEJ said more than half of those cleared, 239 people, joined private companies. By major corporate groups, the group said Coupang hired the most, with 16 people, including 15 aides and one policy research fellow. LG followed with 11, SK with 10, Samsung with nine and KT with eight.

CCEJ said the National Assembly holds significant powers, including legislation, budgeting and state audits. It argued that when former officials move directly into jobs at audited agencies, major corporations or law firms tied to their prior duties, it can lead to collusion between politics and business and preferential treatment for former officials.

The group called for stronger requirements for approving post-retirement employment tied to the National Assembly, tighter reviews of job relevance and disclosure of specific reasons when screening results are announced.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Dec. 19 (Asia Today) — President Lee Jae-myung said Friday that while North Korea’s “hostile two-state” line may reflect current realities, South Korea must “return to our proper place” and work to restore channels for contact, dialogue and cooperation.

Speaking at a joint work report by the Foreign Ministry and the Unification Ministry at the Government Complex Seoul, Lee pointed to what he described as an unprecedented buildup along the inter-Korean boundary.

“For the first time since the 1950s war, North Korea has erected triple fences along the entire demarcation line, severed bridges, cut off roads and built retaining walls,” Lee said. He added that North Korea may have acted out of concern that the South could invade, but said it was regrettable and appeared tied to “strategic desires.”

Lee said the moves could be part of Pyongyang’s strategy, but argued South Korea must respond with patience and sustained effort to improve what he described as a situation in which the North “fundamentally refuses contact itself.”

“As I’ve said before, we must find even the smallest opening,” Lee said. “We need to communicate, engage in dialogue, cooperate and pursue a path of coexistence and mutual prosperity between the North and South.”

He said there is currently “not even a needle’s eye of an opening,” repeating that the situation is “truly not easy.”

Lee also appeared to criticize the previous administration’s approach to North Korea, saying “one could call it a kind of karma.” He added that if a strategy contributed to the current impasse, “then we must change it now.”

Lee said the government should make proactive efforts to ease tensions and create conditions for trust to emerge, adding that the Unification Ministry should now take a leading role.

“It is certainly not an easy task, but it is equally clear that it is not something we should give up on,” he said.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

The way the story is often told is that Western countries gifted human rights to the world and are the sole guardians of it. It may come as a surprise for some, then, that the international legal framework for prohibiting racial discrimination largely owes its existence to the efforts of states from the Global South.

In 1963, in the midst of the decolonisation wave, a group of nine newly independent African states presented a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) calling for the drafting of an international treaty on the elimination of racial discrimination. As the representative from Senegal observed: “Racial discrimination was still the rule in African colonial territories and in South Africa, and was not unknown in other parts of the world … The time had come to bring all States into that struggle.”

The groundbreaking International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was unanimously adopted by the UNGA two years later. The convention rejected any doctrine of superiority based on racial differentiation as “scientifically false, morally condemnable and socially unjust”.

Today, as we mark 60 years since its adoption, millions of people around the world continue to face racial discrimination – whether in policing, migration policies or exploitative labour conditions.

In Brazil, Amnesty International documented how a deadly police operation in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas this October resulted in the massacre by security forces of more than 100 people, most of them Afro-Brazilians and living in poverty.

In Tunisia, we have seen how authorities have for the past three years used migration policies to carry out racially targeted arrests and detentions and mass expulsions of Black refugees and asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Kenyan female domestic workers face racism and exploitation from their employers, enduring gruelling and abusive working conditions.

In the United States, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives aimed at tackling systemic racism have been eliminated across federal agencies. Raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting migrants and refugees are a horrifying feature of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation and detention agenda, rooted in white supremacist narratives.

Migrants held in detention centres have been subjected to torture and a pattern of deliberate neglect designed to dehumanise and punish.

Elsewhere, Amnesty International has documented how new digital technologies are automating and entrenching racism, while social media offers inadequately moderated forums for racist and xenophobic content. For example, our investigation into the United Kingdom’s Southport racist riots found that X’s design and policy choices created fertile ground for the inflammatory, racist narratives that resulted in the violent targeting of Muslims and migrants.

Even human rights defenders from the Global South face racial discrimination when they have to apply for visas to Global North countries in order to attend meetings where key decisions are made on human rights.

All these instances of systemic racism have their roots in the legacies of European colonial domination and the racist ideologies on which they were built. This era, which spanned nearly four centuries and extended across six continents, saw atrocities that had historical consequences – from the erasure of Indigenous populations to the transatlantic slave trade.

The revival of anti-right movements globally has led to a resurgence of racist and xenophobic rhetoric, a scapegoating of migrants and refugees, and a retrenchment in anti-discrimination measures and protections.

At the same time, Western states have been all too willing to dismantle international law and institutions to legitimise Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and shield Israeli authorities from justice and accountability.

Just as the creation of the ICERD was driven by African states 60 years ago, Global South countries continue to be at the forefront of the fight against racial oppression, injustice and inequality. South Africa notably brought the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and cofounded The Hague Group – a coalition of eight Global South states organising to hold Israel accountable for genocide.

On the reparations front, it is Caribbean and African states, alongside Indigenous peoples, Africans and people of African descent, that are leading the pursuit of justice. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been intensifying pressure on European governments to reckon with their colonial past, including during a recent visit to the United Kingdom by the CARICOM Reparations Commission.

As the African Union announced 2026-36 the Decade of Reparations last month, African leaders gathered in Algiers for the International Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism, at which they consolidated demands for the codification of colonialism as a crime under international law.

But this is not enough. States still need to confront racism as a structural and systemic issue, and stop pretending slavery and colonialism are a thing of the past with no impact on our present.

Across the world, people are resisting. In Brazil, last month, hundreds of thousands of Afro-Brazilian women led the March of Black Women for Reparations and Wellbeing against racist and gendered historic violence. In the US, people fought back against the wave of federal immigration raids this year, with thousands taking to the streets in Los Angeles to protest and residents of Chicago mobilising to protect migrant communities and businesses against ICE raids.

Governments need to listen to their people and fulfil their obligations under ICERD and national law to protect the marginalised and oppressed against discrimination.

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — An international hunger watchdog group said that while Gaza is no longer in famine conditions since the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, it’s still food-insecure and many people still go hungry.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a United Nations-backed group, released a report Friday that said on X that at least 1.6 million people are still facing high levels of acute food insecurity.

It said that acute malnutrition is still critical in Gaza City and is serious in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis with nearly 101,000 children under 5 likely to suffer acute malnutrition through mid-October 2026 throughout Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry called the IPC report “deliberately distorted” and “doesn’t reflect the reality in the Gaza Strip,” the BBC reported.

Between “600 and 800 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day, 70 percent of them carrying food — nearly five times more than what the IPC itself said was required for the Strip,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Since the cease-fire, humanitarian agencies have been better able to get aid into Gaza, easing the famine that caused widespread hunger and malnutrition in the area during fighting, when Israel blocked aid from the Palestinians.

“Over the next 12 months, across the entire Gaza Strip, nearly 101,000 children aged 6-59 months are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition and require treatment, with more than 31,000 severe cases,” the report said. “During the same period, 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will also face acute malnutrition and require treatment.”

UNWRA, the U.N. agency for Palestine, supported the report from the IPC.

“The latest report from the IPC info underscores how fragile the gains have been since the cease-fire began in October,” UNWRA said in a statement. “While Gaza Governorate is no longer classified as being in famine, 1.6 million people still face high levels of acute food insecurity. To end this catastrophe, supplies must be let in at scale and humanitarians allowed to do their job.”

Dec. 20 (UPI) — The former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, and his wife have been sentenced to 17 additional years in jail over charges of corruption and grifting.

Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, received the sentence in the Toshakhana-2 case, which charged them with fraud for intentionally undervaluing a Bulgari jewelry set that had been gifted to them by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon in 2021, The BBC and Bloomberg reported.

The verdict, handed down late Friday during a hearing at the jail Khan is at, also includes a roughly $54,000 fine, is just the latest in a series of charges and trials he has faced since leaving office.

Khan and Bibi may be permitted to serve the new sentences concurrent to their previous sentences, according to reports.

“This court, while passing sentences, has considered the old age of Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, as well as the fact that Bushra Imran Khan is a female,” Pakistani news organization Dawn reported Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand said in a court order. “It is in considering of both said factors that a lenient view has been taken awarding a lesser punishment.”

Imran has been imprisoned since August 2023 on a 14-year sentence related to another corruption case, the same case that landed Bibi a seven-year jail sentence.

Khan also awaits trial on charges under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act because of riots in 2023 linked to his arrest for the litany of charges he faces, which include illegally receiving land worth $6.5 million and allegations that he “deliberately concealed” the details and value of gifts from foreign officials.

In Pakistan, politicians are required to return state gifts to the country’s treasury, but are permitted to buy them back. In the case of the Bulgari jewelry set, Khan and Bibi allegedly had the jewels undervalued to avoid paying what they are truly worth.

Dec. 20 (UPI) — Most tourists visiting Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain will have to pay a modest fee starting Feb. 1, but locals and some tourists will not.

It will cost €2, equivalent to $2.34, to get a close-up view of the fountain that features Baroque artwork and statues, according to the BBC.

Tourists still can toss coins into the fountain, which legend says ensures they go back to the Eternal City, once they have paid the entry fee.

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri announced the new fee on Friday, which he called a “paltry” sum and said it will help local officials to better control traffic while visiting one of the ancient city’s most popular sites.

It also reduces the size of crowds at the 18th century fountain, which is located in a relatively confined space that easily becomes crowded. The space is limited to no more than 400 people at a time.

Local officials said the fountain drew 9 million visitors over the past year and anticipate the new fee will reduce the number of annual visitors, although the fee is expected to draw roughly €6 million — more than $7 million — in annual revenues.

Only tourists will pay and not Rome’s residents. Neither will children under 5 years of age, nor people who have disabilities and those who accompany them.

Tourists won’t have to pay a fee to view the Trevi Fountain from a distance, though.

Local officials remove coins and other items tossed into the fountain and donate them to the Caritas Catholic charity.

Fees also will be charged to visit other sites around Rome, so tourists are advised to plan ahead and ensure they have the pocket change to cover admission costs at various sites.

FANTASY lovers can take a step down the hobbit hole this winter, as a new location invites guests inside to escape the icy winter weather.

A Tolkien-inspired holiday spot has opened for business north-west of Cambridge, with pods and lodges available for keen glampers.

Just outside of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, West Stow Pods offers a peaceful stay for those wishing to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.

Emulating world-famous Hobbiton, the pods and lodges are equipped to service groups between two and six people.

Pods are fitted out with a kitchenette and appliances, as well as an en-suite, TV and bedroom area, and are slightly smaller than the lodges.

The lodges are bigger, with full kitchens and separate bedrooms, as well as living room space.

SETTING THE MOO-D

The countryside spa hotel with outdoor hot tubs next to Highland cows 

BETTER ‘BAI

I visited a Dubai-alternative four hours from UK with 24-hour champagne bars

West Stow Pods is also pet friendly, allowing families to include their furry family members in holiday plans.

The glamping spot has been recognised as one of the best forest getaway spots in the UK.

Located next to King Forest, the options for hikes, bike rides and time in nature are endless.

Guests can also choose to spend the day in the local town, which is jam-packed with restaurants and shops to explore.

West Stow has priced rooms between £170 and £458 for two nights, depending on whether you choose a pod or a lodge.

Future guests can secure a spot by booking on the company’s website.

For holiday makers who are more keen of the seaside than the forest, the pretty seaside town of Saundersfoot has cosy pubs and award winning hotels.

The town sits between Tenby and Amroth in Pembrokeshire.

It’s home to around 3,000 residents and has a Blue Flag sandy beach, a picturesque harbour with cafes and shops, plenty of walking paths – but absolutely no rides.

And according to WalesOnline its “craggy coastline is amongst the most beautiful in the world and can be enjoyed year-round, especially in autumn”.

Someone on Tripadvisor described the village as a “winter wonderland” when the Christmas lights are up.

It’s a popular place for Atlantic grey seals and you can see them on boat trips – and you can see them all year round

Saundersfoot has previously been named one of the ‘best places to live by the sea in the UK 2024’ by The Sunday Times.

The family-run restaurant serves up meals from curries to pastas, surf and turf, steak, and burgers.