This is the first picture of the schoolgirl who tragically died in a house fire that left her mother and another child in hospital.

Lily Kennedy, 13, described by her aunt as a ‘princess’, was killed when the raging inferno swept through her family home on Sunday lunchtime.

The blaze in the village of Hamstreet near Ashford, Kent was so fierce that three firefighters were also hospitalised, and crews spent the day and night watering down the charred structure.

Lily is the daughter of Chris Kennedy, 49, a keen amateur footballer who runs a small, independent media production company. Chris is originally from Oldham but now lives in Ashford.

Her mother is Annemarie Childs, who works as a tutor with vulnerable adults in Kent.

Ms Childs, 40, posted a series of pictures on social media of her and Lily underlining the deep bond they shared.

Posting a picture on social media, Lily’s aunt Marie Louise said: ‘Rest in peace sweet girl Xx’, while later linking to a report on the blaze she added: ‘My poor niece, thoughts and prayers are with my poor brother and Lily’s mum.’

A Go Fund Me Page was set up by a friend of Lily’s father.

Lily Kennedy, 13, pictured with her mother Annemarie Childs

The extent of the damage caused by the fire is seen on Monday, December 29

The appeal read: ‘Please can people donate what they can for a close friend of mine who lost his little girl a wonderful happy full of life child, Lily at just aged 13.

‘Lily passed away after an awful fire that tore through hers and her family home leaving them with no home and a massive part of their hearts missing RIP Lily …… all funds raised can give this little girl the send off she truly deserves x’

Meanwhile, family friend Aeryn Gower posted a tribute to Lily on social media which read: ‘I am beyond sad to hear this news. She was always smiley and knocking on our door wanting to play. She will never be forgotten.’ 

The next of kin has been informed of Lily’s death. This morning the area around the house remained taped off and a lone police car was parked outside.

In an update Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: ‘Firefighters have extinguished all remaining hot spots at the scene of a house fire in White Admiral Way, in Hamstreet, Ashford.

‘KFRS technical rescue unit is in attendance, as well as two fire engines, and crews are working to make the property structurally safe. An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

‘Our thoughts and deepest condolences remain with everyone affected.’

There had been reports that the fire had started in a wood burner in the house but this was dismissed by relatives of the family online.

Lily with her mother Annemarie, who remains in hospital after the fire on Sunday

Another child and an adult remain in hospital after the house fire in Ashford, Kent on Sunday (Pictured: Deflated Christmas decorations in the front garden of the home)

Neighbours desperately tried to put out the house fire but were ‘beaten back’ by the blaze.

Those living near to the semi-detached home in Kent rushed to the scene in a bid to extinguish the ferocious flames as they tore through the property just after midday.

Firefighters arrived on the scene to tackle the blaze which brought chaos to the sleepy village on Christmas weekend, with three rushed to hospital after suffering injuries, before being released later.

The windows on the ground floor were completely blown out in the fire as Christmas decorations lay deflated in the home’s front garden.

Six fire engines and a height vehicle were deployed to the property, where crews worked to extinguish the fire, which had spread quickly. 

A probe into what caused the inferno continues, and photos of the scene show the charred remains of a home.

Neighbours said they tried to rush into the house to help out but the blaze was too strong.

One told Metro: ‘It started downstairs and spread really quickly.

Lily, 13, died after a fire swept through her family home in Ashford on Sunday

Six fire engines were deployed to the semi-detached property, where crews worked to extinguish the fire, which had spread throughout the home

A height vehicle pictured at the home. A probe into what caused the inferno continues

‘There was nothing we could do at that point. It was really bad. We were all beaten back.’

Ann Millington, chief executive of Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS), said on Sunday night: ‘Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with everyone affected by this tragic incident, especially the child’s loved ones.

‘We understand this will be a distressing time for the local community and support is available at a welfare hub set up at Hamstreet Village Hall.’

A Kent Police spokesperson said: ‘Kent Police was called at 12.22pm on Sunday 28 December 2025 to reports of a fire at a house on White Admiral Way in Hamstreet.

‘Officers attended the scene and assisted Kent Fire and Rescue crews with closure of the road whilst they extinguished the fire.’

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If you have a pet dog, you can only dream that they love you as much as you love them. It turns out, if they display key behaviours, they are telling you just how much they care

10:32, 29 Dec 2025Updated 10:34, 29 Dec 2025

Dogs show their love in different ways (stock image)(Image: Getty)

Pet owners often hope their animals love them as much as they love their animals but, it turns out, your dog could be telling you they love you all the time. Experts claim dogs display certain behaviours to show their affection, and they could be showing just how much they care more often than you think.

Joe, known as Joe Dog Tips on TikTok, said dogs actually tell their owners they love them all the time, but people don’t always realise it. Humans don’t always pick up on it, as their love is said to be “quiet”, and is actually hidden in small behaviours.

So, if you’re hoping your animals adore you, there may be a simple way you can tell if they do. In fact, there are many tell-tale signs which imply your dog loves you a lot.

According to Joe, there are some subtle signs you should look out for to pick up on their affection. Here are the five you really need to know about.

Pausing

If your dog pauses what they’re doing to look at you, it’s said this soft eye contact “isn’t random”. Instead, it’s your dog checking in, and ensuring you feel safe.

Little you may know, a dog pausing to look at you can certainly be a sign of love and affection. This is because mutual eye contact releases the bonding hormone oxytocin in both dogs and humans.

Sometimes, however, they can also do it to communicate with you, seeking guidance or approval in a certain situation. What you need to know is a soft, relaxed gaze with loose body language is considered a bold sign of a deep connection, trust and love.

Resting close to you

If your dog decides to rest close to you, this is also a good sign. They don’t have to lie on top of you, as they just need to be close enough to “sense your breathing”. Dogs can sometimes relax better when their owner is near, which marks a strong sign of their affection, trust and loyalty.

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This behaviour shows they feel safe and comfortable enough to be vulnerable (like sleeping). They likely also view you as a vital part of their “pack” or family, as they look for your presence for security and bonding. This behaviour actually links to their pack instincts, whereby closeness to trusted members offers protection and warmth.

Joy when you return home

When a dog expresses joy when you return home, this shows a strong sign of love, joy and deep attachment. Clearly they have missed you a lot when you’ve been out.

If they show excitement when you return, they clearly feel secure and happy in your presence. It was explained: “The tail spins, the wiggles, the happy chaos. That’s not bad behaviour, that’s pure joy. In their world, you’re the person they love most.”

Gentle touches

You may not realise it, but gentle touches from a dog also imply a strong indication of love, trust and a desire for connection. Small actions, including leaning, nudging or placing a paw on you, can help to enhance the bond you share.

The way they sit

If your dog sits facing away from you, but pressed against you, they may also be telling you something important. It’s reported that dogs only turn their backs on someone they completely trust.

It may seem small, but the action is often considered a sign of affection, trust and a desire for comfort and security. By sitting this way, they are suggesting they feel safe with you, and want to be close to you, though without direct eye contact.

They may want to share warmth or they could simply be showing they trust you enough to not continuously monitor you.

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Severe weather conditions are bringing further misery to displaced Palestinians in Gaza, who have already suffered relentless bombardment, siege and loss in Israel’s genocidal war for more than two years, as Israel continues to block critical shelter and aid supplies into the territory.

Flimsy tents were flooded and makeshift camps engulfed in mud on Monday following heavy winter rains lashing the enclave in recent days.

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The harsh conditions have added to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom are reduced to sheltering in tents and other makeshift structures since Israel’s war destroyed an estimated 80 percent of the buildings there.

Officials are warning that severe conditions also bring new dangers, with the threat of disease and illness as overwhelmed and damaged sewage systems contaminate floodwaters, and the risk that damaged buildings could collapse amid heavy rainfall.

On Sunday, a 30-year-old woman was killed when a partially destroyed wall collapsed onto her tent in the Remal neighbourhood to the west of Gaza City amid fierce winds, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Officials have warned people not to shelter in damaged buildings, but the tents offer limited protection from the heavy rain and no real protection against flooding.

At least 15 people, including three babies, have died this month from hypothermia following the rains and plunging temperatures, according to the authorities in Gaza.

Two-month-old baby Arkan Firas Musleh was the latest infant to die as a result of the extreme cold.

Contaminated floodwater

Reporting from Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, where most of the buildings have been reduced to rubble by Israeli attacks, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the heavy rains had created deep puddles and thick mud that was difficult to pass in places.

“People are struggling to walk in those mud puddles,” she said. “These are not only water, but it’s also sewage, rubbish.”

A team of municipal workers were trying to pump sewage from the overwhelmed network, amid reports of flooded tents from residents.

“Families are saying that sewage water has been coming into their tents,” she said.

Calls for aid deliveries

Aid groups have called for the international community to pressure Israel to lift restrictions on life-saving aid deliveries into the territory, which they say are falling far short of the amount called for under the US-brokered ceasefire.

“More rain. More human misery, despair and death,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the top United Nations group overseeing aid in Gaza, wrote on social media on Sunday.

“Harsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering. People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins.”

There was “nothing inevitable about this”, he added. “Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.”

More Israeli attacks

Meanwhile, despite the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10, Israeli attacks on Palestinians have continued in Gaza.

Three Palestinians were injured on Monday when Israeli forces targeted the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, a medical source told Al Jazeera Arabic.

Witnesses said the attack happened in an area from which Israeli forces had withdrawn under the ceasefire agreement.

Witnesses also reported an Israeli air raid on the eastern areas of the Bureij camp in central Gaza, artillery shelling east of Rafah and further Israeli attacks east of Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

A 20-point plan proposed by United States President Donald Trump in September called for an initial truce followed by steps towards a wider peace. So far, as part of the first phase, there has been the exchange of captives held in Gaza and prisoners in Israeli jails, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. However, it still occupies almost half of the territory.

However, Israeli attacks have not stopped, while humanitarian aid flows into the territory have not been what was promised.

Since the truce went into effect, more than 414 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,100 wounded in ceasefire violations, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

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Zelenskyy says status of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains unresolved in 20-point peace plan

Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this morning that control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s biggest – remained unresolved.

Donald Trump said the status of the Russian-occupied plant was discussed “at length” yesterday.

Speaking to reporters about the plant after the bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy ended, the US president said: “President Putin is actually working with Ukraine on getting it open.”

“He’s been very good in that sense. He wants to see that open.” “He hasn’t hit it with missiles,” Trump added.

Under the US plan to end the war, the US, Russia and Ukraine would run the facility and profit from it jointly, but Kyiv reportedly wants to exclude Russia and operate the plant on equal footing with Washington.

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Updated at 11.34 CET

The future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which Russia took control of in March 2022, is one of the remaining sticking points in negotiations.

Almost all countries consider that it belongs to Ukraine but Russia says it is owned by Russia and a unit of Russia’s state-owned Rosatom nuclear corporation runs the plant.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion was launched, there have been numerous safety concerns at the plant, including power outages and nearby shelling.

A monitoring mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been stationed there for over three years, but Russian authorities have been accused of regularly restricting access to the plant, which is located in Enerhodar on the banks of the Dnipro river and the Kakhovka reservoir.

Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in June 2023. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

It is not currently producing electricity but relies on external power to keep the nuclear material cool and avoid a meltdown.

The head of the plant, Ramil Galiyev, said on Monday that the facility could restart power generation by the middle of 2027 if the war concludes in the near future.

Galiyev said “serious issues” at the plant would have to be addressed first, including replenishing the cooling pond and preparing railway tracks.

Both Russia and Ukraine regularly accuse one another of shelling the plant, risking a nuclear disaster.

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Al Jazeera has some quotes Zelenskyy gave reporters about the US security guarantees he reportedly agreed with Trump during their meeting (see opening post for more details). Here are some quotes from the Ukrainian leader:

In the documents, it is for 15 years, with the possibility of extending these security guarantees. I raised this issue with the president, I told him that we have a war going on, and it has been going on for almost 15 years, so I really wanted the guarantees to be longer …

I told him that we really wanted to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years, and this would then be a historic decision by President Trump. The president said that he would think about it.

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Zelenskyy says he wants Kyiv to host US-Europe-Ukraine meeting in ‘coming days’

Zelenskyy also said he wants Kyiv to host a meeting with European and American officials in the “coming days” to work on documents to end the war.

“We want this meeting to take place, and I believe we will do everything possible for it to finally be held in Ukraine,” Zelensky told journalists a day after the Florida talks with Trump, adding that the meeting would be “at the adviser level”.

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Updated at 11.03 CET

Zelenskyy says meeting with Russia will come if Trump and European leaders agree on peace framework

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also told reporters this morning that a meeting with Russia would be possible after the US and European leaders agreed on a Ukraine-proposed peace plan to end the war.

Donald Trump told the media yesterday he believed that there could be a trilateral meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the US “at the right time” and appeared to suggest that Russian President Vladmir Putin “wants to see it happen”.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin at the Élysée Palace in 2019. The pair did not shake hands or acknowledge each other at a press conference after the meeting. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/AP

Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin have not met since December 2019. The meeting, mediated by the leaders of France and Germany, aimed to revive efforts to resolve Kyiv’s then five-year conflict with Russian-backed separatists who had held a broad swath of south-eastern Ukraine since 2014.

In May 2025, the Russian president declined to travel to Istanbul for talks with Zelenskyy, rejecting the Ukrainian president’s bold proposal for a face-to-face meeting in Turkey to discuss peace.

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Updated at 11.10 CET

Zelenskyy says plan includes US security guarantees for 15 years, although he asked for more

We are restarting our live coverage of the war in Ukraine and the diplomatic efforts to bring it to an end after nearly four years of conflict following the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters via WhatsApp this morning that he asked Donald Trump to provide security guarantees of up to 50 years during their high stakes meeting at the US president’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, yesterday.

Zelenskyy said that, instead, a draft peace framework envisages US security guarantees for Ukraine for 15 years.

It is not clear what form these commitments would take, but the Ukrainian leader has been pushing for “article-5-like” security guarantees from Europe and the US, referring to Nato’s founding principle that an attack on one member should be seen as an attack on all.

Trump touts progress on peace plan after Zelenskyy meeting – video

Zelenskyy has said US security guarantees for Ukraine under the revised 20-point proposal to end the war have been 100% agreed, though Trump was more cautious, putting the figure at more like 95%.

Both leaders said progress had been made during the Florida talks and stressed that the lengthy peace talks would continue. Trump, however, cautioned there were “one or two tough” outstanding issues, including over territory, and expressed sympathy with Russia not wanting a ceasefire. “You have to understand the other side,” he said.

Trump said that a proposal to turn eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Russia largely controls, into a demilitarised zone remains “unresolved”, adding that it will become clear within weeks if the war can end.

Stay with us as we bring you all the latest news updates and analysis.

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John SimpsonBBC world affairs editor

BBC

Sensitive content: This article contains a graphic description of death that some readers may find upsetting

I’ve reported on more than 40 wars around the world during my career, which goes back to the 1960s. I watched the Cold War reach its height, then simply evaporate. But I’ve never seen a year quite as worrying as 2025 has been – not just because several major conflicts are raging but because it is becoming clear that one of them has geopolitical implications of unparalleled importance.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the current conflict in his country could escalate into a world war. After nearly 60 years of observing conflict, I’ve got a nasty feeling he’s right.

Nato governments are on high alert for any signs that Russia is cutting the undersea cables that carry the electronic traffic that keeps Western society going. Their drones are accused of testing the defences of Nato countries. Their hackers develop ways of putting ministries, emergency services and huge corporations out of operation.

Authorities in the west are certain Russia’s secret services murder and attempt to murder dissidents who have taken refuge in the West. An inquiry into the attempted murder in Salisbury of the former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skrypal in 2018 (plus the actual fatal poisoning of a local woman, Dawn Sturgess) concluded that the attack had been agreed at the highest level in Russia.

That means President Putin himself.

AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine’s President has warned that the current conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a world war

The year 2025 has been marked by three very different wars. There is Ukraine of course, where the UN says 14,000 civilians have died. In Gaza, where Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu promised “mighty vengeance” after about 1,200 people were killed when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023 and 251 people were taken hostage.

Since then, more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action, including more than 30,000 women and children according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry – figures the UN considers reliable.

Meanwhile there has been a ferocious civil war between two military factions in Sudan. More than 150,000 people have been killed there over the past couple of years; around 12 million have been forced out of their homes.

Maybe, if this had been the only war in 2025, the outside world would have done more to stop it; but it wasn’t.

“I’m good at solving wars,” said US President Donald Trump, as his aircraft flew him to Israel after he had negotiated a ceasefire in the Gaza fighting. It’s true that fewer people are dying in Gaza now. Despite the ceasefire, the Gaza war certainly doesn’t feel as though it’s been solved.

Given the appalling suffering in the Middle East it may sound strange to say the war in Ukraine is on a completely different level to this. But it is.

AFP via Getty Images

“I’m good at solving wars,” said US President Donald Trump

The Cold War aside, most of the conflicts I’ve covered over the years have been small-scale affairs: nasty and dangerous, certainly, but not serious enough to threaten the peace of the entire world. Some conflicts, such as Vietnam, the first Gulf War, and the war in Kosovo, did occasionally look as though they might tip over into something much worse, but they never did.

The great powers were too nervous about the dangers that a localised, conventional war might turn into a nuclear one.

“I’m not going to start the Third World War for you,” the British Gen Sir Mike Jackson reportedly shouted over his radio in Kosovo in 1999, when his Nato superior ordered British and French forces to seize an airfield in Pristina after the Russian troops had got there first.

In the coming year, 2026, though, Russia, noting President Trump’s apparent lack of interest in Europe, seems ready and willing to push for much greater dominance.

Earlier this month, Putin said Russia was not planning to go to war with Europe, but was ready “right now” if Europeans wanted to.

At a later televised event he said: “There won’t be any operations if you treat us with respect, if you respect our interests just as we’ve always tried to respect yours”.

Getty Images

Putin said Russia was not planning to go to war with Europe, but was ready “right now” if Europeans wanted to

But already Russia, a major world power, has invaded an independent European country, resulting in huge numbers of civilian and also military deaths. It is accused by Ukraine of kidnapping at least 20,000 children. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for his involvement in this, something Russia has always denied.

Russia says it invaded in order to protect itself against Nato encroachment, but President Putin has indicated another motive: the desire to restore Russia’s regional sphere of influence.

An increasingly different America

He is gratefully aware that this last year, 2025, has seen something most Western countries had regarded as unthinkable: the possibility that an American president might turn his back on the strategic system which has been in force ever since World War Two.

Not only is Washington now uncertain it wants to protect Europe, it disapproves of the direction it believes Europe is heading in. The Trump administration’s new national security strategy report claims Europe now faces the “stark prospect of civilisational erasure”.

The Kremlin welcomed the report, saying it is consistent with Russia’s own vision. You bet it is.

Inside Russia, Putin has silenced most internal opposition to himself and to the Ukraine war, according to the UN special rapporteur focusing on human rights in Russia. He’s got his own problems, though: the possibility of inflation rising again after a recent cooling, oil revenues falling, and his government having had to raise VAT to help pay for the war.

Getty Images

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed during a meeting at the White House in February 2025

The economies of the European Union are 10 times bigger than Russia’s; even more than that if you add the UK. The combined European population of 450 million, is over three times Russia’s 145 million.

Still, Western Europe has seemed nervous of losing its creature comforts, and was until recently reluctant to pay for its own defence as long as America can be persuaded to protect it.

America, too, is different nowadays: less influential, more inward-looking, and increasingly different from the America I’ve reported on for my entire career. Now, very much as in the 1920s and 30s, it wants to concentrate on its own national interests.

Even if President Trump loses a lot of his political strength at next year’s mid-term elections, he may have shifted the dial so far towards isolationism that even a more Nato-minded American president in 2028 might find it hard to come to Europe’s aid.

Don’t think Vladimir Putin hasn’t noticed that.

The risk of escalation

The coming year, 2026, does look as though it’ll be important. Zelensky may well feel obliged to agree to a peace deal, carving off a large part of Ukrainian territory.

Will there be enough bankable guarantees to stop President Putin coming back for more in a few years’ time?

For Ukraine and its European supporters, already feeling that they are at war with Russia, that’s an important question. Europe will have to take over a far greater share of keeping Ukraine going, but if the United States turns its back on Ukraine, as it sometimes threatens to do, that will be a colossal burden.

Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

If the United States turns its back on Ukraine, that will be a colossal burden for Europe

But could the war turn into a nuclear confrontation?

We know President Putin is a gambler; a more careful leader would have shied away from invading Ukraine in February 2022. His henchmen make bloodcurdling threats about wiping the UK and other European countries off the map with Russia’s vaunted new weapons, but he’s usually much more restrained himself.

While the Americans are still active members of Nato, the risk that they could respond with a devastating nuclear attack of their own is still too great. For now.

China’s global role

As for China, President Xi Jinping has made few outright threats against the self-governed island of Taiwan recently. But two years ago the then director of the CIA William Burns said Xi Jinping had ordered the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. If China doesn’t take some sort of decisive action to claim Taiwan, Xi Jinping could consider this to look pretty feeble. He won’t want that.

You might think that China is too strong and wealthy nowadays to worry about domestic public opinion. Not so.

Ever since the uprising against Deng Xiaoping in 1989, which ended with the Tiananmen massacre, Chinese leaders have monitored the way the country reacts with obsessive care.

I watched the events unfold in Tiananmen myself, reporting and even sometimes living in the Square.

AFP via Getty Images, Sputnik, Pool

President Xi Jinping (centre) has made few outright threats against Taiwan recently

The story of 4 June 1989 wasn’t as simple as we thought at the time: armed soldiers shooting down unarmed students. That certainly happened, but there was another battle going on in Beijing and many other Chinese cities. Thousands of ordinary working-class people came out onto the streets, determined to use the attack on the students as a chance to overthrow the control of the Chinese Communist Party altogether.

When I drove through the streets two days later, I saw at least five police stations and three local security police headquarters burned out. In one suburb the angry crowd had set fire to a policeman and propped up his charred body against a wall.

A uniform cap was put at a jaunty angle on his head, and a cigarette had been stuck between his blackened lips.

It turns out the army wasn’t just putting down a long-standing demonstration by students, it was stamping out a popular uprising by ordinary Chinese people.

China’s political leadership, still unable to bury the memories of what happened 36 years ago, is constantly on the look-out for signs of opposition – whether from organised groups like Falun Gong or the independent Christian church or the democracy movement in Hong Kong, or just people demonstrating against local corruption. All are stamped on with great force.

I have spent a good deal of time reporting on China since 1989, watching its rise to economic and political dominance. I even came to know a top politician who was Xi Jinping’s rival and competitor. His name was Bo Xilai, and he was an anglophile who spoke surprisingly openly about China’s politics.

He once said to me, “You’ll never understand how insecure a government feels when it knows it hasn’t been elected.”

As for Bo Xilai, he was jailed for life in 2013 after being found guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

John Simpson has reported on China many times over the years – pictured in Tiananmen Square, 2016

Altogether, then, 2026 looks like being an important year. China’s strength will grow, and its strategy for taking over Taiwan – Xi Jinping’s great ambition – will become clearer. It may be that the war in Ukraine will be settled, but on terms that are favourable to President Putin.

He may be free to come back for more Ukrainian territory when he’s ready. And President Trump, even though his political wings could be clipped in November’s mid-term elections, will distance the US from Europe even more.

From the European point of view, the outlook could scarcely be more gloomy.

If you thought World War Three would be a shooting-match with nuclear weapons, think again. It’s much more likely to be a collection of diplomatic and military manoeuvres, which will see autocracy flourish. It could even threaten to break up the Western alliance.

And the process has already started.

Top picture credits: AFP / Getty Images

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. You can now sign up for notifications that will alert you whenever an InDepth story is published – click here to find out how.

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Skip next section Peace deal draft includes ‘strong’ security guarantees — Zelenskyy

12/29/2025December 29, 2025

Peace deal draft includes ‘strong’ security guarantees — Zelenskyy

Ukraininan President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the current framework offered to end Russia’s war in the country includes “strong” security guarantees for Ukraine for 15 years. 

However, Zelenskyy also said Kyiv would look for a longer period, possibly for up to 50 years.

“I told (US President Donald Trump) that we already have a war going on and it has been going on for almost 15 years,” Zelenskyy told reporters in a Whatsapp chat, adding that he asked Trump to “consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years” of security guarantees, with the US leader saying he would think about it.

According to the Ukrainian leader, a meeting between national security advisors from Ukraine, the US and Europe could take place in the coming days. 

https://p.dw.com/p/5644l

Skip next section Welcome to our coverage12/29/2025December 29, 2025

Welcome to our coverage

After meeting US President Donald Trump in Florida, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is giving an update on how the talks went and what to expect in the next days regarding the diplomatic efforts to end the war.  

From the Russian side, the country’s deputy chairman of the upper house of parliament thinks the chances of peace depend on the talks between Russia and the US.

Russia also announced the re-opening of a well-known theater in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol. 

Follow this blog as we bring you all the updates from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

https://p.dw.com/p/5644H

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NEED TO KNOW

• Jess Elena and Jake Gomez rejected a conventional life and chose to move into a fully sustainable 40-foot school school bus
• After two buses broke down on them, the couple found a barely used school bus and spent a year rebuilding it from scratch while documenting the journey online
• Their off-grid bus — complete with solar power, water storage, and custom interiors — has gone viral, inspiring millions to rethink what life on the road can look like

As college graduation loomed, Jess Elena and Jake Gomez found themselves at a crossroads.

Since meeting while working at an ice cream parlor in South Florida, the couple had been steadily saving money, motivated by a shared love of travel and a desire to avoid the traditional 9-to-5 path. What they lacked wasn’t ambition — it was a clear plan for how to turn their savings into something lasting.

They explored every possibility: a year abroad, a cross-country road trip, even international travel. But none of the options felt permanent enough. A van initially seemed like the obvious answer — simple, efficient and popular at the time — until they factored in life with two cats and realized space would quickly become an issue.

That’s when the idea of a school bus entered the conversation. “We thought, ‘We could make 40 feet of space actually sustainable,’” Elena, 25, tells PEOPLE exclusively over Zoom.

Jake Gomez and Jess Elena standing outside their bus.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

Energized by the possibility, the couple dove in headfirst, and quickly discovered just how steep the learning curve would be. With no prior experience, they leaned on advice from mechanics and a tight-knit community of bus lifers, learning through trial, error and persistence.

From the beginning, they documented every step of the process — from demolition to rebuilding — across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Their videos quickly gained traction, drawing millions of viewers who followed along as the couple worked to transform a worn-down bus into what they hoped would become a future home.

Jess Elena and Jake Gomez painting their second bus.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

But the journey was far from smooth.

Their first two buses turned into costly setbacks. The engine on the first blew just 20 miles from the auction site. “I was 19, and somehow I convinced them to take it back,” Elena recalls with a laugh.

The second bus lasted nearly a year before failing as well, leaving them facing a $20,000 repair estimate for a used engine with no warranty.

The repeated disappointments were crushing. “We got really depressed,” Gomez, also 25, admits. “We started questioning if this lifestyle was even possible.”

Just as the dream began to feel out of reach, an unexpected opportunity surfaced. A private mechanic they knew had a spare bus from a private school that had barely been used. With just 35,000 miles on it — far below the typical half-million-mile lifespan of diesel buses — it felt like one last shot. Within 48 hours, they finalized the deal.

“All we cared about was that the engine worked,” Gomez says.

Jess Elena and Jake Gomez spray painting their bus.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

Before construction on their third bus could truly begin, Elena and Gomez had to let go of the remnants of their earlier attempts. After years of breakdowns and false starts, they salvaged what they could from the old build and sent the rest to the scrapyard.

True to how they had approached the journey from the start, the couple continued to share everything online, including the hardest moments. One video, showing a crane lifting and crushing the old bus, quickly went viral.

“This huge crane picked up the bus like it was a toy,” Elena remembers. “The windows shattered, the tires popped off — it was crazy.” What could have been devastating instead felt freeing. “We were just leaving it all behind.”

With a clean slate — and one last chance — the couple committed fully. To make the build possible, Elena and Gomez relocated to Georgia, where they rented a tiny home and parked their new bus inside a fully equipped warehouse.

For an entire year, they worked on the project full time, pouring everything they had into turning the shell into a livable, long-term home while continuing to document each milestone for their rapidly growing audience.

“We did nothing else,” they say, laughing. “It was a crazy year, but totally worth it.”

Jake Gomez and Jess Elena inside their school bus.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

All that effort paid off: earlier this year, after four and a half years of planning, breakdowns and persistence, the foundation of their 40-foot sustainable bus was finally complete — minus a few interior design elements — a milestone that once felt impossible.

Inside, the bus reflects the care and intention shaped by years of trial and error. For Elena and Gomez, the goal was never just mobility, but true sustainability. The bus now holds 100 gallons of water, 1,800 amp-hours of lithium-ion batteries and 3,300 watts of solar power — enough to run air conditioning, appliances and electronics without ever plugging in.

Jake Gomez and Jess Elena inside their school bus.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

Gomez says the bathroom is his favorite space.

“It’s the only room so far that is 100% complete, and it’s lush,” he says, laughing. “After a long time of not being able to use a bathroom comfortably, I wanted this to be the best one I’ve ever had. Everything is fully customizable to what both of us want, and the vibes really blend with our personalities.”

Elena, meanwhile, is most impressed by the storage — something she once thought impossible in a bus.

“It’s rare to have a closet in a bus,” she says. “We have full-sized closets with drawers and hanging space — I can hold 12 pairs of shoes. I love that we don’t have to compromise our lifestyle, even living minimally.”

Jake Gomez and Jess Elena organizing their closets.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

Even with a few elements still unfinished — including built-in furniture and a completed shower — the space already felt like home. So, this fall, the couple finally decided to put their work to the test.

Starting in Florida, they drove to Washington State, then slowly made their way down the West Coast before looping back through the southern U.S., sharing every step of the journey with their growing audience.

“Those first nights were kind of brutal,” Elena admits. “We’d be parked near highways, and every time a semi went by, the whole bus would shake. We’d just look at each other like, ‘Is this really what we signed up for?’”

Overnight parking varied widely. Sometimes it meant squeezing into big-box store lots — Walmart, Home Depot, or Cracker Barrel — where overnight stays are tolerated but rarely comfortable.

“A lot of those stops were just survival mode,” Gomez says. “You’re tired, you need to sleep, and you know you’re gone first thing in the morning.”

Jess Elena and Jake Gomez traveling in their bus.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

During longer stretches — including a five-day push from Colorado to Washington — they relied on quick overnight stops to rest before continuing. Once they reached Washington, though, their pace shifted.

Instead of constantly moving, they began using nomadic camping apps to find dispersed campsites on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The apps didn’t just show where camping was allowed — they helped determine whether a 40-foot bus could realistically access the site.

“People don’t realize how stressful that part can be,” Elena explains. “It’s not just, ‘Is this spot pretty?’ It’s, ‘Can we actually get in and out without getting stuck?’”

They became meticulous about reviews, especially warnings about narrow roads, steep inclines, or tight turns.

“If even one person said, ‘We barely made it in our truck,’ we were like, ‘Okay, hard no,’” Gomez says, laughing. “We learned to trust the comments.”

When the logistics worked, the payoff was undeniable. One of their most memorable stays was a two-week stretch along a river near Washington’s Hoh Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula.

“That was the moment where everything clicked,” Elena says. “We were completely off-grid, no hookups, no neighbors — just us, the bus and nature. And everything worked.”

Jess Elena and Jake Gomez making breakfast inside their bus.

Courtesy of Jake Gomez and Jess Elena

Unlike many van-lifers who move every few days, Elena and Gomez intentionally slowed down, often staying in one location for a week or more.

“With a bus this size, moving is a whole production,” Gomez explains. “You’re securing everything, leveling the bus, checking systems. Doing that every day would’ve been exhausting.”

Staying put helped the bus feel less like a vehicle and more like home.

“When you’re in one place for a while, you start cooking real meals, unpacking, settling into routines,” Elena says. “That’s when it stopped feeling like a project and started feeling like our life.”

“There were so many moments where we thought, ‘This is never going to happen,’” Gomez admits. “So being out there, fully self-sufficient, was like proof that we didn’t waste all those years.”

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Nigel Farage is bidding to seize control of six London councils next year as he looks to end the capital’s reputation as a no-go zone for Reform.

The Reform leader has made London a key target in his plans to trigger another political ‘earthquake’ at the local elections in May.

In an interview with the Mail, he said Reform would target Sadiq Khan’s ‘terrible’ record on law and order. Mr Farage said success in the capital next year could be the springboard for a serious push to topple Mr Khan in the next mayoral election in 2028.

Reform and its predecessor parties have struggled in the past to gain a foothold in London, which was a stronghold of the Remain campaign.

But Mr Farage said ‘everything has changed’ since the last election.

The party is pouring resources into the contest in the capital and Mr Farage said it has a ‘very real chance’ of winning in ‘half a dozen’ of the 32 London boroughs.

Key targets include the outer London boroughs of. Bromley, Bexley, Havering and Barking and Dagenham.

But Mr Farage, who will launch his party’s London campaign at a major event at the Excel centre next month, is also looking for signs of Labour’s vote splintering in currently rock-solid parts of inner London where it is under intense pressure from the Greens and other Left-wing parties.

Capital offensive: Nigel Farage is targeting Reform’s first electoral success in London

‘Labour are going to find their vote horrendously split,’ he said. ‘With the Greens and Corbyn and the Gaza independents. All these different people. There is a chance that Labour vote really gets hit.’

He added: ‘Starmer’s problems as we face May are immense, These elections in May are the British equivalent of the US midterms.

‘We’re going for gold.’

Mr Farage criticised the record of both Mr Khan and the Conservatives on crime in the capital.

‘London is in big, big, big, big trouble,’ he said.

‘Absolutely at the heart of our campaign in London is law and order. Crime is everywhere and Sadiq’s record is one of almost not caring about it. It is remarkable. And the Tories’ record I’m afraid… 87 per cent of police stations in London closed under the Conservatives. People feel there is no local police station, there is no community policing. They see the dramatic decline in police numbers since 2010 and yet large numbers of Londoners get knocks on the door for what they say on Facebook.

He added: ‘I don’t know anybody in London who has not had a member of their family who’s been a victim of crime in the last year. I don’t know anyone. It’s literally everywhere. People who commute in from the suburbs every day are deeply conscious of it.

‘If your mobile phone is stolen… I had a relation whose phone was stolen, mugged outside Victoria Station and phone taken. We had a tracker on it, we phoned the police we told them exactly where it was and the postcode in High Wycombe and you can bet your life it wasn’t just his mobile phone – there would have been 100 of them – and the police did nothing. They’re just not interested.’

Mr Farage plans to adopt the ‘broken windows’ strategy pioneered by Rudy Giuliani in New York, which saw crime rates slashed in the 1990s by taking a zero tolerance to even minor offences.

He said Reform would introduce ‘radical change’ to the policing of offences like shoplifting and phone theft.

‘Basically now, you can shoplift with impunity,’ he said. ‘We believe every single shoplifting case should be prosecuted – every single one.

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Reform believe success in the capital in May could provide a springboard for a serious bid to oust Sadiq Khan as London mayor

‘We are basically beginning to apply the broken windows theory from Rudy Giuliani. He’s somebody I admire and know very well. During my time working for American companies I saw the most dangerous city in America become the safest city in America. We want to model ourselves on that.’

Reform is targeting big gains in the May elections, which include around 5,000f council seats in England and Scottish and Welsh assembly elections.

Labour is expected to lose control in Wales for the first time ever, with Reform fighting it out with Plaid Cymru to emerge as the largest party.

In Scotland, recent polls have suggested that Reform is now in second place behind the SNP.

There is a genuine collapse in the Labour vote across the country,’ Mr Farage said. ‘It’s amazing.’

Reform topped the poll in this year’s local elections, delivering a seismic shock to both Labour and the Conservatives last May.

Recent council-by elections suggest that the trend is continuing.

A tally of this year’s contests shows that Reform has quietly gained 59 seats at by-elections this year, including 25 from Labour and 19 from the Conservatives. The Lib Dems, who hope to do well in the home counties in May, have picked up 20 seats, half of them from the Conservatives. Meanwhile, the Tories have lost 25 seats and Labour is down by 44.

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Ahmed Al-Ahmed sustained injuries after he rushed a gunman amid the chaos of the deadly shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach that resulted in the deaths of 15 people

08:33, 29 Dec 2025Updated 08:38, 29 Dec 2025

Ahmed Al-Ahmed disarmed one of the suspected terrorists (Image: MDMOTIVATOR/TIKTOK)

Bondi Beach hero Ahmed Al-Ahmed revealed what went through his head as he disarmed suspected terrorist Sajid Akram during the bloody rampage.

Mr Al-Ahmed spoke for the first time following the deadly terror attack where 15 people were brutally murdered as gunmen shot at Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach earlier this month. Tobacconist owner Al-Ahmed said he leaped into action with the sole aim of protecting as many people as possible.

Syrian-born Mr Al-Ahmed became an Australian hero after he was filmed rushing Akram as the suspected terrorist shot at defenceless people. Using nothing but his own strength and determination, Mr Al-Ahmed disarmed Akram who used his final moments to cower away back toward his son, alleged second gunman Naveed Akram.

READ MORE: Bondi shooting hero recounts terrifying encounter with gunman for first timeREAD MORE: New Year’s Eve terror threats force several major cities to cancel eventsGovernor-General of Australia Sam Mostyn visited Al-Ahmed in hospital(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

“I jumped on his back, hit him,” Al-Ahmed told CBS. ” I held him with my right hand and start saying a word, you know, like to warn him, ‘drop your gun, stop doing what you’re doing.

“I don’t want to see people killed in front of me, I don’t want to hear his gun, I don’t want to see people screaming and begging, asking for help, and that’s my soul asking me to do that. Everything in my heart, in my brain, everything, it’s worked just to manage to save the peoples’ life.”

Mr Al-Ahmed said his aim was to take the firearm away from the gunman to stop him from killing. He added: “I know I saved lots of peoples lives, innocent kids and women and men, and I know I save lots [of people]. But I feel sorry still for the lost.”

Al-Ahmed was visited by New South Wales Premier Chris Minns(Image: NSW Premier’s Department/AFP via)

The Bondi Beach hero is now preparing to welcome family who are coming to Australia to see him. Mr Al-Ahmed continues to recover from two gunshot wounds that he sustained during the terror attack.

Australia’s Department of Home Affairs has since fast-tracked and granted visa applications for members of his family, which also include temporary visas for his siblings. Families of the victims continue to grieve after gunmen opened fire on about 1,000 people celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach’s Archer Park on December 14.

Sajid Akram was shot dead by police during the rampage and Naveed is facing 59 charges. The attack is the second-deadliest mass shooting in modern Australian history.

In the days following the shooting, the Australian government revealed plans to establish an honour for people who stood up against “the worst of evil” during the attack. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “This Christmas is a different one because of the anti-terror and the terrorist attack motivated by Isis and antisemitism.”

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A British-Egyptian activist has apologised “unequivocally” for “shocking and hurtful” past social media posts in which he appears to call for violence against “Zionists” – but said some had been “completely twisted”.

The historic tweets by Alaa Abd El-Fattah emerged after he returned to the UK on Boxing Day following several years of imprisonment in Egypt.

“I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship,” he said in a statement on Monday.

“Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.”

Image:
Alaa Abd El-Fattah was pardoned in September 2025. Pic: AP

Mr Abd El-Fattah was a leading voice in Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising and went on hunger strikes behind bars.

He was most recently detained in September 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison in December 2021, on charges of spreading false news.

UN investigators branded his imprisonment a breach of international law, and both Conservative and Labour governments lobbied for his release.

Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi pardoned the activist earlier this year and he flew to the UK to reunite with his young son, who lives in Brighton, last week.

He had been granted UK citizenship in December 2021 under Boris Johnson, reportedly through his UK-born mother.

Image:
Mr Abd El-Fattah with his sister after his release from prison. Pic: Twitter/@monasosh

‘I take allegations of antisemitism very seriously’

After the historic social media posts came to light, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for the home secretary to look into whether the activist can be stripped of his UK citizenship and deported.

In his statement, the activist highlighted that he is now a middle-aged father, but said the posts were “mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises” and the “rise of police brutality against Egyptian youth”.

He continued: “I particularly regret some that were written as part of online insult battles with the total disregard for how they read to other people. I should have known better.”

Mr Abd El-Fattah said he took allegations of antisemitism “very seriously” and that some of the tweets had been “misunderstood, seemingly in bad faith”.

A tweet being shared to allege homophobia was actually ridiculing homophobia, he said, while another had been “wrongly interpreted to suggest Holocaust denial – but in fact the exchange shows that I was clearly mocking Holocaust denial”.

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Mr Abd El-Fattah said he had been looking forward to celebrating his son’s birthday with him for the first time since 2012, when he was just a year old.

He missed those birthdays because of his “consistent promotion of equality, justice and secular democracy”, he said. This included “publicly rejecting anti-Jewish speech in Egypt, often at risk to myself, defence of LGBTQ rights, defence of Egyptian Christians, and campaigning against police torture and brutality – all at great risk”.

Mr Abd El-Fattah said it had been “painful” to see some people who supported calls for his release now feeling regret.

“Whatever they feel now, they did the right thing,” he continued. “Standing up for human rights and a citizen unjustly imprisoned is something honourable, and I will always be grateful for that solidarity.”

He finished by saying he had “received huge empathy and solidarity from people across the UK, enough to win me my freedom, and I will be forever grateful for this”.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said it had been a “long-standing priority under successive governments” to work for Mr Abd El-Fattah’s release, “and to see him reunited with his family in the UK”.

However, the government condemns the “abhorrent” historic tweets, the spokesperson added.

It is understood Prime Minister Keir Starmer was not aware of the social media posts when he celebrated Mr Abd El-Fattah’s returned to the UK.

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The world’s largest accounting body is to stop students being allowed to take exams remotely to crack down on a rise in cheating on tests that underpin professional qualifications.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), which has almost 260,000 members, has said that from March it will stop allowing students to take online exams in all but exceptional circumstances.

“We’re seeing the sophistication of [cheating] systems outpacing what can be put in, [in] terms of safeguards,” Helen Brand, the chief executive of the ACCA, said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Remote testing was introduced during the Covid pandemic to allow students to continue to be able to qualify at a time when lockdowns prevented in-person exam assessment.

In 2022, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK’s accounting and auditing industry regulator, said that cheating in professional exams was a “live” issue at Britain’s biggest companies.

A number of multimillion-dollar fines have been issued to large auditing and accounting companies around the world over cheating scandals in tests.

The FRC’s investigation found that instances of cheating also included some tier-one auditors, a category comprising the “big four” accountants – KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY – along with Mazars, Grant Thornton and BDO.

In 2022, EY agreed to pay a record $100m (£74m) to US regulators over claims that dozens of its employees cheated on an ethics exam and that the company then misled investigators.

The ACCA said it has now concluded that online tests have become too difficult to police, given the rise in artificial intelligence (AI) tools available to students.

Brand said the ACCA, which has more than half a million students, had worked “intensively” to combat cheating but “people who want to do bad things are probably working at a quicker pace”.

She added that the rapid rise of technology, led by AI tools, had pushed the issue of cheating to a “tipping point”.

Last year, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which also trains accountants around the world, said reports of cheating were still increasing.

However, the ICAEW still permits some exams to be sat online.

“There are very few high-stakes examinations now that are allowing [remote invigilation],” Brand said.

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Whether it’s virtual assistants on our phones or chatbots on government websites, the large language models (LLMs) that power AI tools such as ChatGPT are almost everywhere online.

But growing evidence suggests these LLMs are judging dialect speakers harshly.

In 2024 researchers from the University of California, Berkely, tested ChatGPT’s responses to several varieties of English dialects from places like India, Ireland, and Nigeria.

Compared to American or British English, responses to dialects showed increases in stereotyping (18% worse), demeaning content (25% worse) and condescending responses (15% worse).

Some models also simply cannot comprehend dialects at all. In July 2025, an AI assistant used by the Derby City Council struggled to understand a radio presenter’s Derbyshire dialect when she used words like mardy (complaining) and duck (dear/love) during a call she’d made on air to test the AI assistant.

Other dialect speakers have experienced much worse effects. As businesses and governments use more AI in their services, researchers are getting worried. AI developers, however, see an opportunity to provide tailored LLMs for dialect speakers.

LLMs on German dialect speakers: uneducated, angry farm-workers

In a new German study presented at the 2025 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing in Suzhou, China, researchers first gathered ten LLMs including OpenAI’s ChatGPT-5 mini and Meta’s Llama 3.1. They then presented the models with texts in either standard German or one of seven German dialects, such as Bavarian, North Frisian and Kölsch.

The models were asked to describe the speakers of these texts with personal attributes, and to then assign individuals in different scenarios. For example, the models were asked who should be hired for low-education work or where they think the speakers lived.

In nearly all tests the models attached stereotypes to dialect speakers. The LLMs described them as uneducated, farm workers and needing anger management. This bias grew when the LLMs were told the text was a dialect.

“We actually see, I think, really shocking adjectives being attached to the dialect speakers,” Minh Duc Bui of Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, one of the study’s co-lead authors, told DW.

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Bias is ‘alarming’

This type of consistent dialect bias is “impactful and alarming,” said Emma Harvey, a PhD student in information science at Cornell University in the US.

In July she and colleagues published research that showed that Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, Rufus, responded with vague or even incorrect answers to people writing in an African American English dialect. And if those inputs have typos, the replies can get even worse.

“As LLMs become more widely used, this means that they may not only perpetuate but also amplify existing biases and harms,” Harvey told DW.

ChatGPT changes caste of Indian job applicant

In India, one job applicant turned to ChatGPT to proofread his English on a job application. One of the corrections included changing the applicant’s surname to one that signaled a higher position in India’s caste structure, the MIT Technology Review reported in October 2025.

So one-size-fits-all LLMs don’t seem to work. Instead, it might be time for AI to embrace dialects.

One paper published in Current Opinion in Psychology in August 2024 suggests that personalized AI “speaking” dialects could lead to users viewing them as warmer, more competent and authentic.

LLMs first gather a lot of text and then generate the likely result to a given prompt. The problem lies in who writes the text. This means LLMs learning from web data could also pick up what someone writes about a dialect-speaker, said Carolin Holtermann from the University of Hamburg and the co-lead author of the German paper.

Holtermann says that one benefit of LLMs is that, unlike many human speakers, biases can also be tuned out of the system.

“We can actually steer against this kind of expression,” she told DW.

Can new, custom LLMs work for local dialects?

AI companies make sure their LLMs reply in a way that users want them to, and don’t discriminate against gender or age. But so far it doesn’t seem like this alignment training includes nuanced data like dialects.

The answer might lie with more customized LLMs. One of the AIs in the German study, Aya Expanse, said that the model tested in the paper was a research-only model and that they work with business clients to customize their LLM for factors including dialects.

Other AI companies are making this customization a selling point. An LLM called Arcee-Meraj for example focuses on multiple Arabic dialects such as Egyptian, Levantine, Maghrebi and Gulf. 

As new and more customized LLMs appear, Holtmann says that AI should not be considered as an enemy of dialects but rather as a flawed tool that, like humans, can improve.

Edited by: Carla Bleiker

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Tim Walz addressed the ongoing fraud scandal in Minnesota after a viral video showed an empty daycare center with a misspelled sign that received millions in federal funding.

The Minnesota governor claimed he was taking strong action against the alleged fraud, just hours after FBI boss Kash Patel revealed the crisis runs far deeper than initially thought.

‘The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,’ a spokesperson for Walz told Fox News. 

‘He has strengthened oversight – including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.’ 

Walz also ‘hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.’ 

The governor has been inundated with criticism from concerned Americans questioning how he intends to respond to allegations of widespread fraud within the state. 

Initial reports emerged earlier this month of a massive Covid-era scheme involving the federally funded nonprofit group Feeding Our Future.

At least 78 people, 72 of whom are Somali, have been charged in connection with the illicit plot. 

Walz shared a series of favorable statistics about life in Minnesota in a statement on X after a daycare was accused of stealing $4 million in taxpayer money

On Friday the crisis worsened when independent journalist Nick Shirley shared footage of an apparently empty Minnesota daycare, which reportedly received millions in taxpayer funds

Walz, who ran as Vice President on the Democratic ticket alongside Kamala Harris in 2024, defended his state on Sunday on X and shared four photographs of him interacting with members of the Somali community. 

He wrote about Minnesota: ‘#8 state for safety. #5 state to live in. #3 state for jobs. #2 state to raise a family, and #2 state to retire. 

‘We’ve made progress, but there’s more to do to deliver security, opportunity, and freedom to every Minnesotan. I won’t quit fighting until we’re #1.’

His post came after outrage over the alleged fraud grew on Friday when independent journalist Nick Shirley shared footage of an apparently empty Minnesota daycare, which reportedly received millions in taxpayer funds. 

Footage of the facility, featuring a misspelled sign as ‘Quality Learing Center’, sparked outrage among lawmakers and allegations state authorities allowed the ‘largest fraud in US history’ to go unchecked. 

In response, FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI has long been aware of fraud allegations in the state and threatened action against perpetrators.

‘The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg,’ Patel wrote. 

‘We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing.’ 

Initial reports emerged earlier this month of a massive Covid-era scheme involving the federally funded nonprofit group Feeding Our Future

In a lengthy X post on Sunday, FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI has long been aware of fraud allegations in the state and threatened action against perpetrators

‘Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigration officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible.’

Addressing the allegations made in Shirley’s video, Patel said the ‘FBI is aware of recent social media reports in Minnesota.’

He claimed that the bureau has moving to ‘dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.’

‘Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide.

According to Shirley, the childcare center pocketed $1.9 million from Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) in 2025, bringing the total to $4 million. 

Shirley, in his investigation, arrived at the doorsteps of several daycare centers, claiming to be a father looking to enroll his child, but said he never saw any children at the facilities.

He said it was ‘potentially the largest fraud scandal in US history.’ 

Walz ran as Vice President on the Democrat ticket alongside Kamala Harris in 2024

Footage of the facility, featuring a misspelled sign as ‘Quality Learing Center’, sparked outrage among lawmakers and allegations state authorities allowed the ‘largest fraud in US history’ to go unchecked

Trump has been critical of Rep Ilhan Omar amid the ongoing Somali fraud crisis

In his announcement, Patel emphasized that the FBI has been aggressively targeting a massive fraud network that stole COVID-era food scheme.

‘The FBI has toppled a $250 million fraud network that targeted vulnerable children and exposed a ‘large-scale money laundering’ operation,’ Patel said.

‘The investigation exposed sham vendors, shell companies and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network,’ he wrote. 

‘The case led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions.’

Prosecutors alleged that most of the meals intended for low-income children during the pandemic never existed. Instead, the taxpayer’s money went to luxury homes, cars, jewelry, and real estate abroad. 

Walz shared four photographs of him interacting with members of the community in the post

‘These criminals didn’t just engage in historic fraud, but tried to subvert justice as well,’ Patel wrote.

President Donald Trump criticized Governor Tim Walz for allowing Minnesota to become ‘a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.’

He said the perpetrators should be ‘sent back to where they came from.’

Later, he said he would be revoking the temporary protected status of the roughly 700 Somali nationals who have it, which prevents them from being deported. 

On Thanksgiving, Trump called Walz ‘seriously retarded’ and also attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar and Minnesota’s immigration policy. 

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Major UK retail and hospitality brands closed nearly 800 stores in 2025 as businesses restructured amid rising costs and pressure on consumer spending

Poundland is among the chains to have suffered over the year from pressure on shoppers despite its value proposition(Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

A host of major UK retail and hospitality brands have closed stores across the UK this year, with other high street staples shutting their doors permanently. This occurred against a backdrop of strain on consumer finances, rising inflation for most of the year and increased costs for businesses.

Consequently, numerous businesses initiated restructuring efforts or entered administration. Here are some of the major brands that closed sites throughout this year as nearly 800 locations were shut down.

Major chains that closed stores in 2025

Poundland

Poundland is among the chains that have struggled over the year due to pressure on shoppers despite its value proposition. As a result, the group was sold for £1 and embarked on a significant restructuring plan.

This involved the initial closure of 57 stores, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk. The company, which was purchased by investment firm Gordon Brothers, has since announced additional rounds of closures and is expected to have closed more than 100 sites by the beginning of 2026, as part of efforts to reduce its estate from around 800 sites to between 650 and 700 shops.

WH Smith

WH Smith, a mainstay of UK high streets since its first shop opened in 1792, selling everything from crime novels to sweets, has vanished from the high street. This follows the group’s decision to sell all its UK high street retail shops to private equity firm Modella Capital, choosing instead to concentrate on its travel locations, where it will continue to operate under the same brand.

As a consequence, Modella unveiled plans to rebrand the chain as TGJones. In its bid to offload the high street arm, the group proceeded with the closure of 20 stores.

WH Smith had been a stalwart of UK high streets since its first store opened in 1792, selling everything from crime fiction to confectionery. However, the brand disappeared from the high street after the group sold off all its UK high street retail shops to private equity company Modella Capital(Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

Claire’s

The UK branch of fashion accessories company Claire’s fell into administration this year after its American parent company filed for bankruptcy. Once again, Modella Capital stepped in, striking a deal to rescue 156 stores.

However, 145 shops – employing around 1,000 workers – were not included in the deal and subsequently closed.

Pizza Hut

In October, Pizza Hut confirmed that 68 of the brand’s UK restaurants would close after the company running its franchise in the country went into administration. It also closed 11 delivery sites as part of a restructuring plan, putting 1,210 employees at risk of redundancy.

DC London Pie, the company operating Pizza Hut’s UK dine-in restaurants, appointed administrators following a downturn in the sector. American hospitality giant Yum! Brands, which owns the global Pizza Hut business, purchased the remaining UK restaurant operation in a rescue deal, saving 64 sites.

In October, Pizza Hut confirmed that 68 of the brand’s UK restaurants would shut after the business running its franchise in the country entered administration(Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

Bodycare

Bodycare was one of the brands to vanish from UK high streets for good after it closed all its approximately 150 stores. The retailer, which was established in 1970 in Lancashire, sold beauty products, fragrances and other bathroom items.

At the start of this year, it employed up to 1,000 people but faced challenges due to increasing costs and a lack of funding, which also impacted supplier relationships and led to stock shortages.

Quiz Clothing

The fashion chain Quiz closed 23 of its stores after going into administration in February, affecting around 200 employees. Despite being purchased in a pre-pack administration deal by a subsidiary of the founding Ramzan family, it still closed the shops.

Quiz began the year seeking emergency funding but fell into insolvency after failing to secure a deal.

Leon

Leon is shutting approximately 20 of its restaurants following a significant restructuring in December. The company announced it will close the doors of the worst-performing of its 71 stores.

This followed the group’s acquisition by co-founder John Vincent from supermarket group Asda.

Select Fashion

Select Fashion was another chain to stop trading in 2025, after the womenswear business struggled with mounting losses. The business shut all its roughly 80 stores earlier this year and went into liquidation after failing to find a buyer.

Homebase

Home improvement retailer Homebase closed 65 outlets between January and March following its tumble into administration towards the end of 2024. Retail conglomerate CDS, headed by The Range’s owner Chris Dawson, acquired the brand but couldn’t rescue all locations.

Homebase executives described recent years as “incredibly challenging” for DIY retailers, citing “a decline in consumer confidence and spending” in the wake of the pandemic.

New Look

Meanwhile in the retail sector, high street fashion retailer New Look shuttered 15 of its UK outlets throughout the year. The company also announced its departure from the Republic of Ireland, closing all 26 stores across the nation and affecting 347 employees, amid tightened consumer expenditure.

New Look closed 15 stores(Image: Matthew Troke via Getty Images)

Starbucks

In September, Starbucks initiated a restructuring programme that led to the closure of several UK coffee outlets. Whilst the corporation didn’t specify the exact number of sites earmarked for closure, it shut 10 branches in October as part of the initiative.

Fired Earth

Premium tile specialist Fired Earth collapsed into administration in October, leading to the closure of its 20 UK showrooms and 133 redundancies. Competitor Topps Tiles purchased the Fired Earth brand, intellectual property, website and approximately £2.5 million of inventory, but was unable to preserve any of the chain’s retail premises.

Brewdog bars

Scottish craft brewery and hospitality enterprise Brewdog closed 10 of its venues in July, including its original site in Aberdeen. The closure strategy, forming part of a restructure of Brewdog’s hospitality division, threatened nearly 100 positions.

Monki At the beginning of the year, European fashion behemoth H&M revealed plans to shut its seven outlets under its Monki brand. The company stated that a “limited number” of these would be converted into its sister brand Weekday, but still permanently closed several shops.

Brewdog made changes in 2025(Image: Nigel Harris via Getty Images)

River Island

The retail chain River Island shuttered 33 outlets as part of a restructuring effort to bolster its future prospects. The fashion group implemented a formal restructuring plan amid concerns that the company could tumble into administration without intervention.

It also negotiated rent reductions on 71 other outlets as part of the scheme.

Hobbycraft

In April, the arts and craft retailer unveiled plans to close nine of its outlets, in a move it said would affect up to 126 workers. This follows Modella Capital’s acquisition of the retail business last year.

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