The SNP is the political equivalent of knotweed – but the Scottish parliament election this coming May provides an unmissable opportunity to root it out.

Scotland could then emerge from a long spell of torpor and stagnation and start to draw a line under almost two decades of failure and mismanagement.

For anyone who harbours such a hope, a weekend interview with John Swinney was a depressing foretaste of the possible future that lies in store.

The First Minister said he wants to be a ‘long-term’ leader and confirmed his plan to serve a full term if re-elected – and to stand again in 2031.

He was speaking just before the Christmas break at Holyrood but perhaps he’d already had a tad too much of the festive sherry.

Either way, it’s a depressing forecast because the polls currently predict an SNP victory, although mercifully a majority appears to be unlikely.

John Swinney, pictured with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, wants to be a ‘long term’ leader for Scotland

The SNP’s stewardship of Scotland has been dogged with paralysis and inertia

Nationalist rule has been a kind of permafrost for public life, leading to paralysis and inertia, where meaningful reform is off the table (or badly botched).

Take the NHS, which has been judged to be ‘financially unsustainable’ by the public sector watchdog Audit Scotland.

A newspaper profile of the ‘invisible’ NHS chief executive Caroline Lamb, who makes only rare appearances on the front line of hospital care despite earning more than £200,000 a year, contained a telling line.

A political insider noted a ‘weariness in the civil service about suggestions of any reform that might rattle a special adviser to the SNP’.

Those in charge, they told the Sunday Times, had little choice but to ‘manage decline’ – though it’s more of a desperate downward spiral, with no one willing to be held accountable for the manifest deficiencies of the NHS.

Government by special adviser is no way to run a country, though you might wonder what’s so special about their advice given the crisis in so many of our public services.

Scotland is crying out for exactly the sort of change that will ‘rattle’ SNP functionaries but it’s nowhere on the horizon.

The only ‘blue-sky thinking’ offered by the SNP is yet more costly rumination about another independence referendum.

Many hours have been wasted by those wearied civil servants, living in fear of seemingly all-powerful SNP strategists, drawing up plans for a parallel universe.

As we reported last week, Mr Swinney’s £30,000 independence relaunch was a humiliating flop, with as few as 28 people bothering to read the Fresh Start With Independence paper on some days.

The Scotland in Union campaign group found only 3,934 people in the UK browsed the prospectus in its first 33 days online.

There’s nothing remotely ‘fresh’ about these rehashed ideas which fail to address unresolved questions from 2014 on currency and any number of other issues – or at least to provide any convincing answers.

The useful idiots of the Left-wing commentariat provide a willing audience for much of this propaganda, helping to provide a sheen of credibility for the most preposterous proposals.

A case in point is a recent interview with Mr Swinney by former New Labour spin chief Alastair Campbell and former Tory minister Rory Stewart for their podcast, The Rest is Politics.

It’s hard to imagine a chummier chat, with Mr Stewart admitting that neither he nor his co-host had mugged up on Scottish education, so they let the First Minister off the hook with a soft-soap exercise.

Try and envisage the polar opposite of Jeremy Paxman in his heyday and you’d come close to the sycophancy and deference shown to Mr Swinney.

He was allowed to trot out soundbites about how wonderful schools are, with no consequences.

As fervent Remainers, Mr Campbell and Mr Stewart naturally gave Mr Swinney an easy ride, though sadly they must have run out of time to ask him about the chances of Scotland regaining EU membership in the event of independence – and why it could lead to the adoption of the Euro as our currency. 

True, it’s only one podcast – albeit a popular one – but this docile approach is reflected in much of the media, including the BBC.

A shameful paucity of opposition at Holyrood is another contributory factor, fuelling the sense among many voters that there’s no real alternative.

Yet while SNP ‘perma-rule’ continues, there’s no hope of boosting the economy despite Mr Swinney’s talk of growth. It is hard to take seriously from a party which once governed alongside the Marxist Greens.

He also has a deputy, Kate Forbes, who was held up as a business guru – but one of her big ideas was to tell new firms to set up in cupboards to cut their rates bills.

Ms Forbes won’t be around for much longer but how many of us truly think there’s anyone waiting in the wings with a sounder grasp of how businesses operate?

Meanwhile, taxes remain high and may go higher in the Scottish Budget next month, notwithstanding Mr Swinney’s insistence that income tax won’t be hiked.

Mind you, he also said his party hadn’t broken manifesto promises ruling out tax-grabs, when it patently had – so nothing he says can be trusted.

Scotland is already the highest-taxed part of the UK after the SNP used the powers of devolution not to relieve the tax burden but to increase it to eye- watering levels.

Another SNP government will inevitably mean higher taxation, whether in this Budget or the next, given that the £5billion hole in the nation’s finances is greater than the annual budgets for transport or policing and public order.

Taking a 40-year view, the Scottish Fiscal Commission projects that Scottish public spending will exceed funding for that spending by, on average, 4.1 per cent each and every year.

That represents a sharp deterioration from estimates issued as recently as April.

Adjusting to account ‘for a possible UK Government response to its [own] fiscal sustainability pressures’ widens the gap between spending and revenues to 13.2 per cent a year.

Total devolved social security spending in Scotland is due to soar from £6.22billion this year to £6.93billion next year, and then to £7.92billion by 2027/28 – and £9billion a year by the end of the decade.

More and more taxpayers’ cash is being ploughed into state handouts, with no plan, and indeed no appetite, to cut back on spending.

It means more pain in the pipeline for those who work for a living, and for future generations who will have to pay the cost of a bloated welfare system.

Polling day in May will be a chance to change government but also to change Scotland – and free it from the yoke of toxic nationalism.

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Emergency services rushed to a bungalow on Hardy Place in Upperthorpe, Sheffield, on the night of December 27 where a woman was tragically declared dead at the scene



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Standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump threatened Iran and said “we’ll knock the hell out of them” if Tehran rebuilds its military forces. When asked by an Israeli reporter about regime change, however, he didn’t give a clear answer.

Published On 29 Dec 202529 Dec 2025

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The United States on Monday pledged $2bn in assistance to tens of millions of people facing hunger and disease in more than a dozen countries next year, part of what it said was a new mechanism for the delivery of life-saving assistance following major foreign aid cuts by the Trump administration.

The US slashed its aid spending this year, and leading western donors such as Germany also pared back assistance as they pivoted to increased defense spending, triggering a severe funding crunch for the UN. The billions of dollars in assistance pledged by Washington on Monday will be overseen by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, the state department said, under what it described as new model of assistance agreed with the UN that aims to make aid funding and delivery more efficient and increase accountability for the spending of funds.

UN data shows total US humanitarian contributions to the UN fell to about $3.38bn in 2025, equating to about 14.8% of the global sum. This was down sharply from $14.1bn the prior year, and a peak of $17.2bn in 2022.

The US and UN will sign 17 memorandums of understanding with individual countries identified by the US as priority countries, officials from the state department and UN said in Geneva.

But some areas that are priorities for the UN, including Yemen, Afghanistan and Gaza, will not be receiving US funding under the new mechanism, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said, adding that the UN will seek support from other donors to find funding for those.

Jeremy Lewin, state department under secretary of state for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, said further countries would be added as more money is contributed to the mechanism.

“These are some countries where I think our interests overlap … But over time, we will thoughtfully add additional countries,” Lewin said.

A UN spokesperson said Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sudan were among the countries covered in Monday’s package.

But Gaza – where aid agencies have repeatedly said far more aid needs to get into the small, crowded enclave – is not covered in Monday’s announcement and will instead be handled on a separate track, Lewin said.

A family in a makeshift tent in Gaza City, Gaza, on 28 December. Photograph: Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/Anadolu/Getty Images

He said that the US had approved over $300m after Donald Trump’s administration helped broker a Gaza ceasefire “to give pipeline to the UN agencies”, adding that the US will be working to get additional donors for a pooled mechanism under a separate track for Gaza under phase two of the deal.

Fletcher said that donors would have “specific requirements” around which countries and what type of work should be funded.

“But the humanitarian action at the other end of that must always be neutral and impartial and independent, and nothing in the work that we’re doing together here in this partnership undermines those principles,” he said.

Lewin said the focus of the funding was on life-saving assistance, while funding for climate-related and other projects that were not a priority for the administration would be cut out. Earlier in December, the United Nations launched a 2026 aid appeal for $23bn to reach 87 million people at risk – half the $47bn sought for 2025, reflecting plunging donor support despite record global needs.

Fletcher acknowledged it had been a tough year for the UN, following a slew of cuts while humanitarian crises in war-torn countries such as Sudan surged, but said he was optimistic following the US pledge.

“Millions of lives will be saved across 17 countries,” said Fletcher.

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Navin Singh KhadkaEnvironment correspondent, BBC World Service

David Liano

Officials say the problem of waste piling up is more evident on higher camps of Everest

A scheme to encourage climbers to bring their waste down from Mount Everest is being scrapped – with Nepalese authorities telling the BBC it has been a failure.

Climbers had been required to pay a deposit of $4,000 (£2964), which they would only get back if they brought at least 8kg (18lbs) of waste back down with them.

It was hoped it would begin to tackle the rubbish problem on the world’s highest peak, which is estimated to be covered in some 50 tonnes of waste.

But after 11 years – and with the rubbish still piling up – the scheme is being shelved because it “failed to show a tangible result”.

David Liano

Clean-up campaigns have usually focused on lower camps of Mt Everest as it is difficult and costly to operate at higher altitudes

Himal Gautam, director at the tourism department, told the BBC that not only had the garbage issue “not gone away”, but the deposit scheme itself had “become an administrative burden”.

Tourism ministry and mountaineering department officials told the BBC most of the deposit money had been refunded over the years – which should mean most climbers brought back their trash.

But the scheme is said to have failed because the rubbish climbers have brought back is usually from lower camps – not the higher camps where the garbage problem is worst.

“From higher camps, people tend to bring back oxygen bottles only,” said Tshering Sherpa, chief executive officer of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which runs an Everest checkpoint.

“Other things like tents and cans and boxes of packed foods and drinks are mostly left behind there, that is why we can see so much of waste piling up.”

Mr Sherpa said on average a climber produces up to 12kg (26lbs) of waste on the mountain where they spend up to six weeks for acclimatisation and climbing.

Apart from the “flawed rule” that required climbers to bring back less trash than they produce, authorities in the Everest region said lack of monitoring has been the main challenge.

“Apart from the check point above the Khumbu Icefall, there is no monitoring of what climbers are doing,” said Mr Sherpa.

Nepalese authorities are hoping a new scheme will be more effective.

Getty Images

Even the lower parts of the Everest region below the base camp see abandoned waste by visitors and trekkers

Under the changed rule, officials said, a non-refundable clean-up fee from climbers will be used to set up a checkpoint at Camp Two and also deploy mountain rangers who will keep going to the higher parts of the mountain to make sure climbers bring down their trash.

Tourism ministry officials said it will most probably be $4,000 per climber – the same amount as deposit money – and will come into effect once passed by the parliament.

Mingma Sherpa, chairperson of the Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, said the change was something the Sherpa community had lobbied for for many years now.

“We had been questioning the effectiveness of the deposit scheme all this time because we are not aware of anyone who was penalised for not bringing their trash down.

“And there was no designated fund but now this non-refundable fee will lead to creation of a fund that can enable us to do all these clean-up and monitoring works.”

Getty Images

Increasing number of climbers on Mount Everest has been a growing concern for sustainable mountaineering

The non-refundable fee will form part of a recently introduced five-year mountain clean-up action plan, with Jaynarayan Acarya, spokesperson at the ministry of tourism, saying it was designed “to immediately address the pressing problem of waste on our mountains”.

Although there has been no study quantifying the waste on Everest, it is estimated there are tons of it including human excrement which does not decay on the higher part of the mountain because of freezing temperature.

And the growing number of climbers each year, averaging around 400 with many more supporting staff, has been a growing concern for mountaineering sustainability.

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President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States and Israel have already destroyed Iran’s nuclear program and warned that Tehran would face renewed military action if it attempts to rebuild, as new reports allege the regime is pursuing chemical and biological warheads for its ballistic missiles.

Speaking at Mar-a-Lago alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump issued a blunt warning to Tehran over its nuclear and missile ambitions.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” Trump said. “We’ll knock the hell out of them.” He added that Iran would be “much smarter” to pursue a deal.

IRAN, ISRAEL AND US AGREE THAT ISLAMIC REPUBLIC NUCLEAR SITES WERE ‘BADLY DAMAGED’ DESPITE LEAKED INTEL REPORT

US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Jim Waston/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump framed Iran’s defeat as central to regional stability, claiming joint U.S.-Israeli military action had fundamentally altered the Middle East balance.

“We just won a big war together,” he said. “If we didn’t beat Iran, you wouldn’t have had peace in the Middle East. We wiped it out.”

Pressed on whether he would support further Israeli military action if Iran continues advancing its missile or nuclear programs, Trump responded affirmatively. “If they continue with the missiles — yes,” he said. “The nuclear — absolutely.”

The Trump-Netanyahu meeting came as Iran’s currency has hit record lows, and shopkeepers in Tehran have staged strikes over soaring inflation and a collapsing economy.

TRUMP WOULD STRIKE IRAN ‘WITHOUT QUESTION’ IF IT RESTARTS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

Iranian worshippers hold up their hands as signs of unity with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during an anti-Israeli rally to condemn Israel’s attacks on Iran, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025.  (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Asked whether he would support the overthrow of Iran’s regime, Trump rejected the idea while pointing to unrest inside the country.

“I’m not going to talk about overthrow of a regime,” he said. “But they have tremendous inflation. Their economy is busted.” Trump added that protests are frequently met with lethal force by Iranian authorities.

The remarks followed a report Sunday by Iran International alleging that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is accelerating work on unconventional missile payloads, including chemical and biological options, citing unnamed military and security sources.

MOSSAD CHIEF THANKS US FOR HELP WITH IRAN, SAYS ‘MISSION IS NOT YET COMPLETE’

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage at the Fordo enrichment facility in Iran after U.S. strikes, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP) (Maxar Technologies via AP)

Iran denies pursuing chemical or biological weapons and maintains its missile program is defensive. Tehran ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997 and analysts say the reported developments fit a broader pattern.

“The fact that Tehran’s ballistic missiles can carry unconventional payloads is not new,” said Behnam Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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Iranian pro-government supporters hold a giant Palestine flag at Palestine Square in Tehran, on April 14, 2024, in a celebration of the early morning Iran’s IRGC attack on Israel.  (Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)

Taleblu pointed to Iran’s recent military behavior. 

“What should underscore the chemical threat was Tehran’s use of warheads with cluster munitions against Israel during the 12-day war,” he said. “These warheads can easily carry canisters for poison gas. In short, the conflict contained a dry run for a potential chemical attack.”

He added that Iran’s history heightens concern, citing Tehran’s past use of chemical agents during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and its transfer of such weapons to Libya.

Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and war correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter can be followed on X @efratlachter.

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NEED TO KNOW

• Rebecca Gayheart is sharing how Eric Dane’s ALS diagnosis has impacted her family’s dynamic
• In an essay for The Cut, the model and actress spoke about helping Dane navigate his ALS diagnosis
• Gayheart shared how it’s “nice” for her daughters to see a “softer side” to their parents’ relationship, but noted they don’t have “hope” for a reconciliation

Rebecca Gayheart is sharing how navigating Eric Dane’s ALS diagnosis has brought her family closer.

In an essay for The Cut published on Monday, Jan. 29, the model and actress spoke about helping the Euphoria star, 53, navigate his ALS diagnosis alongside her two daughters Georgia, 14, and Billie, 15. While Gayheart admitted that there’s no escaping the future ahead of them, she wrote that she tries to focus on the current moment.

“Spending all this time together, it’s all been really positive, and I think it’s nice for the kids to see maybe a softer side of us,” she wrote. “It’s not that they have the hopes of us being together — kids always dream of their parents getting back together, and I think now ours don’t because they understand the reality of the situation.”

Rebecca Gayheart and her daughters in 2019.

JB Lacroix/Getty

Gayheart went on to share what she hopes this moment will show her girls.

“Hopefully, what they see instead are two adults who are trying to be mature and focus on what’s important,” she said.

Dane met Gayheart in 2003, and the pair wed less than a year later in Las Vegas. They welcomed their first daughter, Billie Beatrice, in 2010, and their second daughter, Georgia Geraldine, in 2011. The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress filed for divorce in February 2018 and requested to dismiss the petition in March 2025. 

While the pair have dated other people, she explained in her new essay that she lives 12 minutes from Dane’s home, where they have “a lot of meals together” and “a lot of drop-by visits” with their children.

“He made it very clear that he wants to spend time with his family as much as possible, and I am committed to facilitating that,” she wrote. 

Gayheart noted that she she always wants “the best” for Dane. She added, “It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people. Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love.”

Eric Dane (left) and Rebecca Gayheart in 2016.

JB Lacroix/WireImage

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Dane revealed his ALS diagnosis exclusively to PEOPLE in April. “I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time,” he said in a statement at the time.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE at Step Up’s 2025 Inspiration Awards, Gayheart said she and their two daughters are “taking it day by day” when it comes to Dane’s diagnosis.

“We have some professional therapists who are helping us, and we’re just trying to have some hope and do it with dignity, grace and love,” she continued. “I mean, it’s heartbreaking. My girls are really suffering, and we’re just trying to get through it. It’s a tough time.”

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The 21-year-old sorority girl daughter of a General Electric executive died on Christmas Eve after a fire caused by ‘heat spots’ destroyed her family’s mansion.

Kayla Corrigan, 21, was killed when her $4 million home in Needham, a suburb of Boston, erupted into flames last week. Two other adults who were inside the residence at the time of the fire managed to escape unharmed.

Corrigan was a ‘beloved’ member of the university’s Sigma Delta Tau chapter and on track to graduate with a degree in marketing management this spring.

‘Kayla shared the most beautiful presence and was such a kind and caring soul,’ her sorority sisters hailed in a heartbreaking Instagram post. ‘Everyone who knew her recognized her kindness, her warmth, her humor and her selflessness.’

The sorority issued its condolences to Corrigan’s family, whose home has sustained what police described as ‘catastrophic damage’.

Investigators believe the fire began in the rear of an attached garage, the state fire marshal said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but firefighters found several heat sources that they suspect may have contributed to the blaze.

A GoFundMe campaign established to cover Corrigan’s funeral expenses and provide temporary housing to her family has already amassed more than $160,000. 

Sigma Delta Tau is also planning to honor Corrigan at their chapter house once students return to Syracuse after winter break.

Kayla Corrigan, 21, (pictured in Spain earlier this year) was killed when her family home in Needham, a suburb of Boston, erupted into flames last week. Two other adults who were inside the residence at the time of the fire managed to escape unharmed

Corrigan (pictured during a beach trip in March 2023) is remembered for her generosity, caring attitude and her devotion to her family. Loved ones said she was a ‘beautiful and beloved sister and daughter’

The fire erupted at the sprawling 2,500 square-foot mansion, which boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, around 5am on December 24. Pictured the Corrigan home in Needham, MA

Firefighters were called to the sprawling 2,500 square-foot mansion, which boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, around 5am on December 24 as heavy smoke and flames engulfed the property.

Crews tried to enter the home, but were pushed back by the raging inferno, with the state fire marshal said ‘quickly spread’ throughout the residence.

Two residents escaped, but Corrigan was later found dead inside the home. 

It is unclear who was in the home at the time, but property records reviewed by the Daily Mail indicate that Corrigan’s mother Christa and 23-year-old sister Alyssa are residents at the property.

Christa, 55, has had a storied career at Boston-based General Electric, which dates back to the mid-1990s, her LinkedIn profile revealed.

She held several positions at GE and has served as the VP Human Resources for its Capital Retail Finance and Restructuring Operations leg for the past 16 years.

Corrigan’s father James worked for GE Healthcare for 11 years. He left the company in 2013 after serving as the President & CEO of Surgery for eight months, according to his LinkedIn.

James, 61, remarried in 2022 and currently lives in a $2.6 million house in Florida.

He works for financial services firm JMC Advisors LLC, where he has served as President and CEO since July this year, his profile stated.

James has worked at multiple companies in the pharma, biotech, and digital health industries. His previously roles included investor, top executive and board member.

Fire crews tried to enter the home, but were pushed back by the raging inferno, with the state fire marshal said ‘quickly spread’ throughout the residence. Two residents escaped, but Corrigan was later found dead inside the home

Corrigan’s mother Christa Baer Corrigan (pictured with Kayla in 2019) is the VP Human Resources at Capital Retail Finance & Restructuring Operations. Property records reviewed by the Daily Mail show that Christa and her two daughters are residents at the Needham home

Kayla Corrigan (right) is pictured with her father James (left), sister Alyssa (second left) and step-mother Jennifer (second right)

Fire investigators in Needham have determined that the blaze was accidental and suspect it first ignited in the family’s garage. 

‘We haven’t determined the cause of this fire yet, but we know that tragedies like this one are most common in the winter months,’ State Fire Marshal Jon Davine said in a press release obtained by the Daily Mail. 

In wake of the horrible tragedy, Davine urged other families to ‘please be sure you have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on every level of your home and a practiced escape plan in the event of an emergency.’

Corrigan is remembered for her generosity, caring attitude and her devotion to her family.

Amy Lund, who established the crowdfunding page supporting Corrgian’s family, said the house fire tragically took the life of a ‘beautiful and beloved sister and daughter.’

‘Words cannot express the depth of our grief or the shock of this loss,’ Lund wrote. 

‘Kayla was a beautiful 21 year old girl who was deeply loved by many. Her absence has left a space that can never be filled. We will carry her memory with us always.’

‘She touched the lives of so many,’ her sorority echoed, adding that her Sigma Delta Tau sisters are ‘so incredibly grateful for the memories she shared’ with them.

Kayla Corrigan (pictured in Barcelona in May this year) was a driven student and on track to graduate from Syracuse University this spring with a degree in marketing management

A GoFundMe campaign established to cover Corrigan’s funeral expenses and provide temporary housing to her family has already amassed more than $160,000. Sigma Delta Tau is also planning to honor Corrigan (pictured during her trip to Spain) at their chapter house once students return to Syracuse after winter break

Corrigan was a driven student and passionate about her field of study, Syracuse University Chief Student Experience Officer Allen Groves shared in a letter to the campus community.

She had ‘immersed herself into internships strengthening her understanding of navigating marketing decisions in an evolving global landscape.’

Groves urged her classmates and others impacted by the tragedy to use available counseling and support resources.

The Syracuse University community has already demonstrated a wave of support for the Corrigans. Two fraternities – Delta Kappa Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Epsilon – and the men’s ice hockey team were among the organizations who contributed to the family’s GoFundMe.

Neither Corrigan’s parents nor her sister Alyssa, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst this past May, have publicly commented on the tragedy. 

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The December 29 Set For Life draw has taken place with players set to win a life-changing monthly payment of £10,000 for the next 30 years



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Six militants and three police officers have been killed during a shoot-out after extremists clashed with authorities in Turkey.  

At least eight police officers and a night guard were also wounded in the confrontation in the country’s northwest on Monday, Turkey‘s interior minister said.

Shots were fired after police stormed a house where the alleged militants were hiding in the Elmali district in Yalova province, south of Istanbul.

Image:
President Erdogan has vowed to continue the crackdown on IS activity. Pic: Reuters.

Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said the operation was one of more than 100 simultaneous raids carried out in 15 provinces across the country against suspected IS militants.

The violence comes amid a crackdown on extremist groups across with country, with Turkish police carrying out another wave of raids last week.

Some 115 militants were arrested for allegedly planning attacks targeting Christmas and new year celebrations during this operation.

Mr Yerlikaya said the operation in Yalova was carried out with “great care” because women and children were inside the house where the alleged militants were located.

All the militants arrested were Turkish nationals, the minister said.

Image:
Turkish police have arrested a total of 138 IS suspects in the last month. Pic: Reuters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences for the police officers who were killed and vowed to push ahead with the fight against extremist groups.

“We will continue our fight against the blood‑stained killers who threaten our nation’s peace and our state’s security both within our borders and beyond, with determination, comprehensively and without compromise,” he said in a statement posted on X.

Read more from Sky News:
Anthony Joshua injured in car crash in Nigeria
Activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah apologises for historic tweets

Image:
More than 100 simultaneous raids were carried out in 15 provinces on Monday. Pic: Reuters.

The Yalova Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into Monday’s shooting.

Turkish justice minister Yilmaz Tunc said on X that five prosecutors had been appointed to lead the probe.

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IS has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey in recent years, including a shooting at an Istanbul nightclub during new year celebrations in 2017, which killed 39 people.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly denied a claim by Moscow that his country’s military launched a drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s residence in the city of Novgorod. The Ukrainian leader accused Russia of trying to derail peace talks a day after Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump.

Published On 29 Dec 202529 Dec 2025

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied allegations by Russia that Ukraine launched a drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences, and accused Moscow of trying to derail peace talks.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Kyiv had launched an attack overnight using 91 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on Putin’s state residence in Russia’s northwestern Novgorod region.

Russia said it would now review its position in peace negotiations. It is not yet clear where Putin was at the time of the alleged attack.

Zelensky dismissed the claim as “typical Russian lies”, intended to give the Kremlin an excuse to continue attacks on Ukraine.

He said that Russia had previously targeted government buildings in Kyiv.

Zelensky added on X: “It is critical that the world doesn’t stay silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work on achieving a lasting peace.”

In a statement shared on Telegram on Monday, Lavrov said all of the 91 drones he claimed were launched at Putin’s residence were intercepted and destroyed by Russian air defence systems.

He added that there were no reports of casualties or damage as a result of the attack.

“Given the final degeneration of the criminal Kyiv regime, which has switched to a policy of state terrorism, Russia’s negotiating position will be revised,” he said.

But he added that Russia does not intend to exit the negotiating process with the US, Russian news agency Tass reported.

The claim by Moscow comes after talks between the US and Ukraine in Florida on Sunday, where Presidents Trump and Zelensky discussed a revised peace plan to end the war.

Zelensky said the US had offered Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, and Trump said an agreement on this point was “close to 95%” done.

Ukraine’s leader described territorial issues and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as the last unresolved matters, and there was little sign of progress on the future of Ukraine’s contested Donbas region – which Russia wants to seize in full.

Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The two regions are known collectively as Donbas.

Russia has previously rejected key parts of the plan under discussion.

The White House said on Monday that President Trump had “concluded a positive call” with Putin, following the US-Ukraine talks.

Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy aide, told reporters on Monday that during the call, Putin had pointed out the alleged attack on his residence happened “almost straight after what the US had considered to be a successful round of talks”.

Ushahov said: “The US president was shocked by this information, he was angry and said he couldn’t believe such mad actions. It was stated that this will no doubt affect the US approach to working with Zelensky”.

The White House did not address this claim when confirming the call took place.

Ushakov added that Putin had stated that the “reckless terrorist action” would be met with “the strongest response”.

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The Mountain of God — Ol’doinyo Lengai to the Maasai — is an active volcano rising sharply a few kilometers from the town of Engare Sero in northern Tanzania. At its base lies Lake Natron, a shimmering salt lake. It’s considered the most important breeding site for 75% of the global population of lesser flamingos.

But it’s also an important site for Maasai people, who consider parts of it their ancestral land. Now, some fear another mass eviction is coming.

“I was forced to flee my home. They turned the area where I lived into the Pololeti hunting reserve,” says 36-year-old Nesikar Daudi, now living in Engare Sero.

In 2022, the Tanzanian government established the Pololeti Game Reserve, and designated it exclusively for hunting and tourism. Thousands of people, like Nesikar were directly affected or even forcibly evicted.

“We suffered a lot because of this takeover. We lost our livestock, and bulldozers demolished our homes,” Nesikar says. She, and hundreds of others, relocated to Lake Natron.

Activist and lawyer Joseph Oleshangay together with members of Maasai communities, between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Loliondo areaImage: Marco Simoncelli/DW

Since the 1990s, the country has seen a 20% expansion of protected areas. But Maasai lawyer and activist Joseph Oleshengay says the government’s strategy in recent years has little to do with conserving nature.

“It is essentially a mechanism for land dispossession,” he says. Behind the rhetoric of environmental protection, he argues, stand economic interests linked to tourism and trophy hunting.

“The idea is to empty these territories so they can be turned into something that makes money,” Oleshengay told DW.

Authorities operate under a lawthat allows all land in Tanzania to be reclassified if it is deemed to serve the “public interest.” In practice, the head of state can decide the fate of entire areas without any obligation to consult the communities living there.

Maasai excluded from tourism projects

Tanzania has game-controlled areas (GCAs) and wildlife management areas (WMAs). All are officially defined as tools for protecting wildlife and the environment, but differ in their rules and in how they affect local communities.

In WMAs and GCAs, human activities are restricted but not entirely excluded. WMAs allow residence, pastoralism, and sometimes agriculture. In GCAs, cultivation is prohibited, and grazing is allowed only with a specific permit from the relevant authority, while residence remains permitted. In game reserves like Pololeti, however, human presence is completely banned.

A sign at one of the entrance gates to the Pololeti Game Reserve, damaged by Maasai protesters during demonstrations following forced evictions from the area Image: Marco Simoncelli/DW

Game reserves outnumber national parks and cover a comparable amount of land. Around 43% of Tanzania’s territory now falls within some form of protected area. Taken together, game reserves, GCAs and WMAs span roughly 159,000 square kilometers, an area larger than the neighboring nation of Malawi.

Engare Sero stretches along the banks of a river that descends from the volcano. Its calm waters sustain farming, pastoralism, and daily life before flowing into the vast salt lake below. For Nesikar Daudi, reports that the state wants to turn Lake Natron into a hunting reserve is worrying.

“We are not happy about this at all. It would mean yet another mass eviction,” she says, adding: “You’ve seen the lake basin? That’s where our livestock graze. If they turn it into a game reserve, our animals would have to climb the mountains to find food, and that’s simply impossible.”

An internal report from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, based on its 2021–2026 strategic plan, indicates that 15 new areas — nearly 7,000 square kilometers — are slated for conversion from GCAs into game reserves. The project, which would affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, also includes 4,000 square kilometers in the Lake Natron area.

Tourist dollars beckon

“For years, the government has tried to evict residents because, from a tourism perspective, it is a strategic area,” says Navaya Ole Ndaskoi, a Maasai academic and member of the Pastoralists Indigenous NGOs Forum. The land around the lake — about 3,000 square kilometers — is already classified as a GCA, with four hunting blocks leased to private companies that pay annual fees of up to $300,000 (€255,000) each.

Clients include several high-profile figures. On 8 June 2023, Donald Trump Jr., son of the United States’ president, visited Tanzania, including the Lake Natron area. According to local media and sources close to TAWA (Tanzanian Wildlife Management Authority), he spent tens of thousands of dollars on a safari that included intensive hunting sessions.

Even though the area has not yet been formally designated as a game reserve, TAWA rangers seem to be behaving as if it already were. Several testimonies report that in recent years, they have begun imposing restrictions on the movement of local communities.

“We welcomed them, and they took our land by force. They no longer consult us. Now we understand their real intentions. TAWA is not a good neighbor,” says Nesikar.

Rural services cut

Authorities have also targeted essential health services, repeating patterns seen in other areas such as Ngorongoro. In 2022, without offering any explanation, they revoked the flight permits of the Flying Medical Service — a non-profit organization that has operated in northern Tanzania for 40 years, providing free healthcare to around 30,000 patients annually, including vaccinations, support for high-risk pregnancies, and emergency evacuations.

Nalotwesha, a young Maasai woman from the remote village of Napandi near Lake Natron, has suffered two strokes. The first time, she was saved by an emergency flight operated by the Flying Medical Service, but when she suffered a second stroke the planes were already grounded Image: Marco Simoncelli/DW

The consequences have been severe for the people living in the area. Nalotwesha, 28, comes from the remote village of Napandi near Lake Natron. The Maasai woman has suffered two strokes. The first time, an emergency medical flight saved her life by bringing her to the region’s main city Arusha. But the service had been shut down when she suffered another stroke.

“The plane gave us hope. Now we are abandoned. There are no doctors or medicines in our village,” she says.

The delay in receiving care left Nalotwesha partially paralyzed. She now lives near the hospital in Arusha, and is undergoing physiotherapy.

Territories like Lake Natron, Pololeti, and others earmarked for game reserves lie along crucial wildlife migration routes: adjacent to major national parks, and close to the Kenyan border. While this makes them especially valuable for conservation and tourism, their pastoralist communities are vulnerable.

For the Maasai, who once moved freely between Tanzania and Kenya in search of pasture, these new boundaries and restrictions have dramatically narrowed the land available for their herds.

Edited by Cai Nebe

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed back Monday against a report that Kyiv attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence, calling the allegation a “complete fabrication.”

According to Reuters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine tried to strike Putin’s home in Novgorod, located in northern Russia, and that Moscow intends to retaliate.

“This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “Typical Russian lies. Furthermore, the Russians have already targeted Kyiv in the past, including the Cabinet of Ministers building.”

“Ukraine does not take steps that can undermine diplomacy,” the Ukrainian leader continued. “To the contrary, Russia always takes such steps. This is one of many differences between us.”

This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.

Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.

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A Texas teenager who vanished from her home on Christmas Eve and has been missing ever since could be in “imminent danger,” authorities have warned, following fears she may have been trafficked abroad.

Camila Mendoza Olmos was last seen just before 7 a.m. Wednesday outside her home, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say she appeared to be heading out for what her family believed was just a routine walk.

“Camila’s mother stated that Camila normally goes for a morning walk; however, she became concerned when Camila did not return within a reasonable period of time,” the sheriff’s office said.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said detectives have not ruled out any scenario in the teen’s sudden disappearance, including kidnapping or human trafficking.

“We definitely don’t want to miss anything,” Salazar told ABC News. “The ground search is somewhat limited to a couple of square miles. We’re also not ruling out that this case may take us outside the borders of the continental United States.”

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Camila Mendoza Olmos was last seen just before 7 a.m. Wednesday outside her home, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say she appeared to be heading out for what her family believed was just a routine walk (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)

He also confirmed that Mendoza Olmos was not arrested by ICE agents, stating that she is a U.S. citizen, and that the Department of Homeland Security was monitoring border crossings for signs of her.

The Independent has contacted the Bexar County Sheriff for further information.

While the teenager had reportedly gone through a recent break up, authorities said it was mutual and they do not believe any “nefarious” circumstances were involved, adding that those close to the teenager were cooperating.

Surveillance video showed Mendoza Olmos wearing baby blue pajama shorts, a black hoodie and white shoes as she rummaged through her car before the footage cut off, officials said.

Her vehicle was left at the home, and investigators believe she walked away carrying only her car keys and possibly her driver’s license.

Salazar said that the fact Mendoza Olmos had left her belongings at home before disappearing was “highly unusual,” adding that she left an active lifestyle. “That’s why we’re working basically around the clock on this case,” he said.

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Surveillance video showed Mendoza Olmos wearing baby blue pajama shorts, a black hoodie and white shoes as she rummaged through her car before the footage cut off, officials said. Authorties believe she could be in ‘imminent danger’ (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)

The morning she disappeared, the teenager had been sleeping in the same bed as her mother, Rosario Olmos. She told KENS5 that she felt her daughter get up but stayed in bed for about 90 minutes before checking on her.

Her mother later searched the neighborhood, believing she would spot her daughter on her usual route, but she was nowhere to be found. After contacting the teenager’s current boyfriend and father, both of whom said they had not seen or heard from her, she filed a missing persons report.

Family and friends spent Christmas Day searching areas near the home but found no sign of her. “I only ask God to please bring her back home,” her mother told KENS5. “Bring her back to me.”

Anyone who may have seen or heard from Camila Mendoza Olmos is asked to contact the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at 210-335-6000.

In 2025 there have been more than 170 cases in which U.S. citizens have been detained by federal agents at raids and protests, according to ProPublica. The Independent has contacted ICE for comment.

Since returning to office in January, Donald Trump and his administration have pushed aggressive anti-immigration policies. The president’s immigration czar Stephen Miller has previously been reported to have pushed ICE agents to make up to 3,000 arrests per day. As a result, the number of people without a criminal record being arrested by federal agents and held in detention has jumped 800 percent since January.

According to both public and internal ICE data and data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, as of September 2025 there were 59,207 immigrants in ICE custody. June marked the first time that U.S. detention centers held over 50,000 immigrants at once.

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