The United States Supreme Court on Monday appeared poised to hand President Donald Trump a significant boost in executive power after conservative justices signaled that they would uphold the dismissal of a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

President Trump fired Democratic FTC member Rebecca Slaughter in March, four years before the end of her term and in contradiction of a 90-year-old legal precedent which affords tenure protection to the heads of independent agencies.

A lower court had initially ruled that Trump had exceeded his presidential authority by dismissing Slaughter but, during a two-hour appeal hearing, the Justice Department argued that tenure protections unlawfully encroached on presidential power.

And the argument appeared on Monday to have earned sympathy from conservative justices, who have a 6-3 Supreme Court majority and who have called for the precedent in question – known as “Humphrey’s Executor v. United States” – to be overturned.

Conservatives arugue precedent is out of date

“Humphrey’s Executor must be overruled,” said US Solicitor General D. John Sauer, arguing for the Trump administration, arguing that the 1935 precedent has “not withstood the test of time.”

Conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts appeared to concur, suggesting that the ruling, which rebuffed an attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt to fire an FTC member over policy differences, was a relic of the past which had applied to an FTC which was far less powerful in the 1930s than it is today.

“Humphrey’s Executor is just a dried husk of whatever people used to think it was,” Roberts said. “It was addressing an agency that had very little, if any, executive power and that may be why they were able to attract such a broad support on the court at the time.”

Solicitor Sauer said the existence of the precedent “continues to tempt Congress to erect, at the heart of our government, a headless fourth branch insulated from political accountability and democratic control.”

Liberals warn of boost in presidential power

Liberal justices, however, warned that overturning the precedent and upholding Slaughter’s dismissal would signal a massive increase in presidential power for Trump.

“The result of what you want is that the president is going to have massive, unchecked, uncontrolled power – not only to do traditional execution, but to make law through legislative and adjudicative frameworks,” argued Justice Elena Kagan, adding:

“What you are left with is a president … with control over everything, including over much of the lawmaking that happens in this country.”

Her liberal colleague Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that independent agencies such as the FTC have existed throughout US history, and for good reason.

“Neither the King, nor Parliament nor prime ministers in England at the time of the founding [of the United States] ever had an unqualified removal power,” Sotomayor argued, adding:

“You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that a government is better structured with some agencies that are independent.”

‘Real-world realities’

Given Trump’s recent testing of the constitutional limits of presidential powers in areas including immigration, tariffs and domestic military deployments, Kagan called on the court not to ignore “the real-world realities” of what its decisions can do.

“We are asking the court to adhere to all of its precedents and to give effect to the collective wisdom and experience of all three branches of government,” added Amit Agarwa, a lawyer representing Slaughter.

By contrast, he continued, the administration is “asking you to abandon precedent after precedent, after precedent.”

Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez

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First lady Melania Trump and Ukraine’s Olena Zelenska have joined a campaign exposing Russia’s billion-dollar operation to abduct and indoctrinate Ukrainian children, its spokesperson said.

While labeling Russia’s “calculated” attempts to strike at his country’s future, Maksym Maksymov of Bring Kids Back UA said the two first ladies’ contrasting roles make the organization’s messaging even stronger.

“Together, they help ensure that no abducted child is forgotten, but apart, one speaks from the center of the crisis and the other carries the message to the world,” Maksymov told Fox News Digital.

Melania Trump’s recent work helped bring visibility to cases that saw seven Ukrainian children reunited with their parents. In October, the mom-of-one supported another eight.

FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP ANNOUNCES 8 UKRAINIAN CHILDREN REUNITED WITH FAMILIES AFTER BEING TAKEN INTO RUSSIA

First lady Melania Trump speaks during a Naturalization Ceremony at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. (Saul Loeb)

“Melania Trump uses her voice as a mother and a public figure with compassion to draw global attention to children who might otherwise be forgotten,” Maksymov said.

“When she speaks, people listen, and she chose to use that influence to highlight the suffering of Ukrainian children directly to the person responsible for their abductions. That takes courage,” he added. “Melania acknowledges their pain, elevates the urgency of bringing these children home, and reinforces a simple truth: that children belong with the people who love them, and their return must be unconditional.”

MELANIA TRUMP NAMED FOX NATION’S ‘PATRIOT OF THE YEAR’ FOR GLOBAL CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY WORK

Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, is working to expose Russia’s billion-dollar operation to abduct and indoctrinate Ukrainian children. (Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)

Meanwhile, Olena Zelenska, he said, is involved on the ground.

“Our first lady, Olena Zelenska, has been a steady and essential presence in this work. She visits hospitals, shelters, schools and churches across Ukraine, meeting children who have lived through trauma no child should ever experience,” Maksymov explained.

In fact, in response to the work of the organization, Ukraine has since criminalized the deportation of children, their forced militarization and the obstruction of their return. 

Melania Trump joins Ukraine’s Olena Zelenska in the fight against Russia’s systematic child abduction program. (Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images; Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Sanctions were also imposed on individuals involved in abductions and illegal adoptions.

It was Melania Trump who also previously wrote a “peace letter” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling him “it is time” to protect children and future generations around the globe, Fox News Digital reported in August.

UKRAINE’S STOLEN CHILDREN CRISIS LOOMS LARGE AS NATO MEETS ON RUSSIA’S WAR

Ukrainian orphans are seen during a stopover in Warsaw, Poland, en route to the U.K., on March 21, 2022. (Pawel Kuczynski/AP Photo)

President Donald Trump then hand-delivered the message to the Russian leader before their summit in Alaska that month.

But ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the illegal removal of children continues to be a concern.

According to Bring Kids Back UA, launched by Zelenska, nearly 20,000 children have been reported taken, although Maksym stresses that “each case requires individual verification because Russia blocks access, hides information and often alters children’s identities.”

So far, he said, “Ukraine has fully verified 9,221 cases,” but thousands more remain unaccounted for.

One example of Russia’s coercive system, he said, is the case of Bohdan Yermokhin, whose experience Ukrainian officials describe in detail.

DEM SENATOR SAYS MELANIA TRUMP IS AMERICA’S ‘SECRET WEAPON’ AGAINST PUTIN’S ‘WAR CRIMINALITY’

People and medical staff are seen responding to the missile strike against a children’s hospital in Kyiv. (AP/Anton Shtuka)

“One case that shows both the cruelty of this crime and the resilience of these children is this story.” 

After being taken to Russia, “he was pressured to give up his Ukrainian identity and exposed to propaganda aimed at reshaping how he saw his own country.”

His ordeal highlights what Maksym said is Russia’s deliberate “abduction of Ukrainian children as part of a strategy to erase their identity and mold them into something they are not.” 

“Russia is spending billions on systems that militarize and indoctrinate these children rather than return them,” Maksym claimed.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Ukraine’s position is clear. Every abducted child must be returned unconditionally. There can be no peace while even one child remains in Russia’s hands,” he said. “War has taken away their childhood. Children live with bombings, displacement, fear, and the loss of everything familiar. This is calculated. It is systematic, and it is aimed at Ukraine’s future.”

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture. 

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A 30-year-old Florida man is facing up to a half-decade in federal prison after confessing to posting violent threats on social media that promised to decapitate Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, murder her “monkey children,” then eat the kids “for protein,” according to plea agreement papers reviewed by The Independent.

Myles M. McQuade, a Tampa resident, made the threats on X, the Elon Musk-owned social network formerly known as Twitter, one day after Omar criticized late right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk in an interview with a progressive news outlet. Her remarks sparked Republican outrage, leading to GOP legislators insisting Omar be stripped of her committee assignments.

“Go back to Somalia before its [sic] too late,” McQuade warned in one post, which is reproduced in his December 2 plea.

In another, McQuade addressed Omar as “you dirty subhuman [N-word].”

In both instances, McQuade’s plea, which was added to the public docket on December 4, says that the threat to kill Omar was “intended… to be a true threat of violence,” and that he “recognized that it would be viewed as a true threat of violence… not idle talk, a careless remark, or something said jokingly.”

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Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, is the only Somali-American member of Congress. She said she has faced a skyrocketing number of death threats in recent months, and a Florida man, 30-year-old Myles M. McQuade, has now pleaded guilty to threatening her life (Getty Images)

McQuade is an account executive at a tech company, according to his LinkedIn profile. The charges against him have not been previously reported.

Omar’s family fled war-torn Somalia when Omar was a child. They were granted asylum in 1995, and Omar became a U.S. citizen five years later, at the age of 17. The 43-year-old legislator, who has represented Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019, is the first Somali-American member of Congress, and one of two Muslim women presently serving.

A member of “The Squad,” a group of far-left-leaning Democratic lawmakers, Omar has faced ongoing death threats from the MAGA faithful amid years of vitriolic attacks by President Trump, who last week during a televised cabinet meeting described Omar and her fellow Somali-Americans as “garbage,” and called for Omar to be “thrown the hell out of our country.”

“Those Somalians should be out of here,” Trump ranted, using an incorrect term for Somalis. “They’ve destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain. You have her – she’s always talking about ‘the constitution provides me with uhhhh,’” he continued, referring to Omar.

“Go back to your own country and figure out your constitution. All she does is complain about this country and without this country she would not be in very good shape. She probably wouldn’t be alive right now.”

In October, Omar told NBC News that she feared for her life due to a sharp spike in threats over her criticisms of Israel. GOP leaders did nothing to push back against the “toxic language” being used by party members, refusing to “hold extremists in their ranks accountable,” she said, noting that this kind of behavior in fact has “real-world consequences.”

“Since assuming office, two men have pleaded guilty to threatening to kill me,” Omar told the outlet. “This is very real. I fear for my children and have to speak to them about remaining vigilant because you just never know.”

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Rep. Ilhan Omar is the only Somali-American member of Congress, and one of two Muslim women serving in the legislative body. She has faced a recent uptick in violent threats, stoked in part by public animosity from the White House (AFP via Getty Images)

On Sept. 11, Omar sat for an interview with Zeteo, during which she expressed concern that conservatives had “weaponized” the fatal September 10 shooting of Charlie Kirk to attack the left. While emphasizing that Kirk’s death was in fact tragic, Omar said those on the right had recast Kirk wrongly as a unifying presence, rather than a divisive figure who last year demanded she be deported.

“There are a lot of people who are out there talking about him [Kirk] just wanting to have a civil debate,” Omar told host Mehdi Hasan. “These people are full of s**t, and it’s important for us to call them out while we feel anger and sadness.”

At 12:33 a.m. on September 12, McQuade – who was vacationing in Orlando, according to his plea papers – logged onto X and posted a message aimed at a target identified in court documents as “U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN 1.”

“[U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN 1] I’m going to kill you, you dirty subhuman [N-word] and I’ll eat your monkey children for protein,” the post read. “Go back to Somalia before its [sic] too late.”

Eight minutes after that, McQuade followed up with a second X message, according to the plea documents.

“[N-word]. When this country falls I’m going to kill your children in front of you then cut your head off,” the post read.

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(US District Court for the Middle District of Florida)

McQuade’s plea bargain says he was “motivated by U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN 1’s status as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives and her official actions.”

As is customary for the Department of Justice, the filing does not include the victim’s name. However, the language used in court filings, in addition to McQuade’s messages, make clear she was the target. (Omar’s office did not respond to a request for comment; a Department of Justice spokesperson declined to share any additional detail.)

Shortly before 8 a.m. that morning, the U.S. Capitol Police “received a report of these threats… and began investigating,” the plea papers say. A team of Capitol Police special agents showed up at McQuade’s apartment that evening, in an attempt to question him, but he was out of town, the plea goes on.

“The agents attempted to contact McQuade by phone, but when they identified themselves, he disconnected the call,” it states.

The agents returned to McQuade’s apartment on Sept. 14, and “attempted an interview,” according to the plea, which does not provide further specifics.

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President Trump last week described Rep. Ilhan Omar as ‘garbage,’ and called for her to be deported (AFP via Getty Images)

Prosecutors charged McQuade in a bill of information filed December 2. He pleaded guilty the same day to one count of transmitting an interstate threat to injure.

The charge carries a maximum of five years behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.

Seamus Hughes, a senior research faculty member at University of Nebraska Omaha’s National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, and an expert on violent extremism, is seeing more and more people like McQuade crossing his professional radar.

“With three weeks still to go, 2025 continues its record of the most federal arrests involving threats to public officials in at least a decade,” Hughes told The Independent. “The violent rhetoric touches on all levels of public service, be it the local election official, to a Minnesota congresswoman, to the president of the United States – the connective glue being a rising and concerning subset of Americans who see threatening murder as an acceptable outlet to express their political disagreements. It never is, it never should be, and hopefully… it never will be.”

McQuade is set to appear for a hearing in Tampa federal court on December 22.

Defense attorney Andrew Searle, who is representing McQuade, did not respond on Monday to a request for comment.

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NEED TO KNOW

• Valerie Bertinelli showed an individual cheese plate during a holiday entertaining segment on The Drew Barrymore Show
• After she ate an olive from it, co-host Ross Mathews offered her his own plate, explaining that Drew Barrymore’s dog Douglas had licked hers
• Bertinelli didn’t appear concerned and opted to keep her own plate

Valerie Bertinelli got some surprising news after sampling a snack plate.

During a segment on holiday entertaining on the Dec. 4 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the celebrity chef, 65, showed off a personal cheeseboard place setting.

“Look at this cute little cheese plate that you can put in front of everybody when they come over,” she said, holding it up for viewers to see.

“It’s the perfect size,” she added, before placing an olive in her mouth.

Co-host Ross Mathews quickly tried to swap in his own plate before she could eat more, telling Bertinelli, “I want you to eat mine.”

Drew Barrymore’s dog Douglas on the ‘Drew Barrymore Show’ set.

The Drew Barrymore Show

He then explained, “Drew’s dog Dougie was licking your cheese plate back there before you pulled it out.”

However, Bertinelli didn’t seem worried, pulling back her own plate in front of her.

“You don’t care?” Mathews asked, as Bertinelli assured him, “I don’t care.”

The small cheese plates prompted host Drew Barrymore to suggest serving individual guacamole bowls at parties.

“Don’t do the large guacamole bowl,” she advised. “It’s foul. It’s disgusting. It browns. It’s double-dipped and I’m so mad at it. Just do little bowls!” 

Drew Barrymore, Valerie Bertinelli, Ross Mathews.

The Drew Barrymore Show

The One Day at a Time alum, who joined Barrymore’s show as a lifestyle expert in 2024, recently said the supportive atmosphere there encouraged her to write her upcoming memoir, Getting Naked.

In a clip posted on the show’s Instagram on Oct. 10, Barrymore praised Bertinelli as “a very open book,” calling her “very real, very wise, very giving of your life experiences.”

“I want my life experiences to have meant something,” the Food Network alum explained.

Bertinelli revealed that she started the project around the same time she began appearing on the talk show last year.

“You welcomed me into this home and it felt like such a safe space,” the Indulge cookbook author said. “And I started to then just write, and write and write. And I went, ‘Oh, I’m not healed yet. I’ve got so much more left to do.’”

“I feel so loved here,” she added. “And this book is hopefully what I’ve been through, what I can learn from it, and then what I can then give anybody else that may want to learn and make their lives better as well.”

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The NHS has issued an urgent vaccination warning as a ‘superflu’ sweeps across Britain with hospitalisations in London tripling and schools across the nation shutting. 

The health service said it is ‘bracing for an unprecedented flu wave this winter’ with thrice as many Londoners being hospitalised in comparison to last year.

Last week there was a daily average of 259 in beds across the capital city due to the flu – a stark contrast to a daily average of 89 last year. 

Meanwhile, there were 16,500 ambulance handovers with a daily average of 2,363 another ‘significantly’ higher figure when compared to 2024 statistics. 

The NHS has warned Londoners to get their flu jab as ‘a matter of urgency’, adding that with only a couple weeks left before Christmas, ‘now is the time to act’. 

It comes as schools are closing amid escalating flu outbreaks that are seeing hundreds of pupils off sick at a time. 

School staff have compared the situation to ‘being back in Covid times’, with some headteachers reducing singing in assemblies to cut the spread of illness.

Elsewhere, medical leaders have pleaded with junior doctors to ‘end their painful’ strikes amid safety fears as it could clash with the worst outbreak in decades.

St Martin’s School in Caerphilly, Wales, has closed after more than 250 pupils and staff fell ill

Meanwhile, London Ambulance Service has been working closely with partners in the capital since the summer to plan for a city-wide approach to a flu outbreak. 

Dr. Chris Streather, Chief Medical Director for the NHS in London, said: ‘The NHS has prepared earlier for winter than ever before, but despite this, we know that surging flu cases, coinciding with industrial action by resident doctors, will put pressure on services in the coming weeks.

‘While we’ve vaccinated over 1.8 million people this season, there are still vulnerable people who haven’t come forward. 

‘If you’re in one of the eligible groups and you haven’t had your flu vaccine yet, I urge you to come forward as soon as possible – it’s never too late.’

Dr. Fenella Wrigley, Chief Medical Officer for the London Ambulance Service, added: ‘I strongly urge all eligible people to get a flu vaccination. 

‘We are extremely busy and our 999 control rooms are taking a number of calls from people with flu or similar viral illnesses.

‘Flu can make you feel very unwell, but most healthy people recover with rest, fluids and products available at your pharmacy to manage symptoms. 

‘We need our clinicians to be available to help the people who are more seriously unwell with flu or other conditions.’

Elsewhere, the Academy of  Medical Royal Colleges has made the uncommon decision to attempt to de-escalate the row between the government and the British Medical Association (BMA).

And in doing so, the academy issued a stark warning of the ‘particularly virulent flu’ gripping the country as the outbreak could potentially be at its peak during strikes. 

The resident doctors were set to take to the picket lines between December 17 to December 22 – a move lambasted by Wes Street as a ‘cynical’ bid to ruin Christmas.

The ACMRC urged junior doctors to ‘abandon guidance’ to not inform their employers if they were striking. 

It stated this would allow NHS hospitals to find cover during the strikes and at the height of the flu outbreak. 

A statement, seen by The Times, explained staff would be working in a bid to get ‘patients home for Christmas’.

‘Second, and perhaps more significantly, there is considerable additional pressure being caused by a particularly virulent flu virus taking hold,’ it added.

‘Today, there are ten times more patients in hospital beds with flu than there were at the same time two years ago.

‘If managers were told which resident doctors are intending to take action, it would at least allow them to plan safely for emergency cover and perhaps consolidate resources on a regional basis.’

The BMA has told doctors to do the opposite as they say following the academy’s advice would ‘undermine’ their industrial action. 

Meanwhile, NHS chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has branded the union’s action in the run-up to Christmas as ‘cruel and calculated to cause mayhem’.

The NHS boss believes, by the end of this week, there will be anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 people hospitalised by the flu – figures that exceed peaks in previous years. 

Junior doctors took industrial action with demands of a 26 percent pay rise in addition to the wage increase of 28.9 percent they were given in the last two years. 

While ministers have said they will not move on pay, the Secretary of Health did offer to cover training costs as well as an additional 2,000 jobs.  

But, the BMA rejected the proposal in just four hours without consulting their wider membership. 

A BMA spokesperson said: ‘As the Academy recognises, there is no legal obligation for resident doctors to inform their employers whether they are planning to strike. 

‘This is an important safeguard to ensure doctors exercising their legal right to take part in industrial action are not discriminated against or singled out for negative treatment by employers. 

‘In previous rounds of action we saw NHS England saying that striking doctors should face “consequences'” – illustrating exactly why doctors would not want to have to tell their employers.

‘We’ve given employers adequate notice to plan for next week’s strikes, assuming that no resident doctors will be in work, so they can plan appropriately.’

The Daily Mail has approached the BMA and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges for comment.

Amid the ‘superflu’ outbreak University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust declared a ‘critical incident’.

Royal Stoke Hospital and Stafford County Hospital face ‘extremely high demand’. Patients were urged to use A&E only for life-threatening conditions.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran has cancelled ‘routine visiting’ across all its hospitals amid ‘significant pressure’ due to a ‘sharp rise in viral respiratory infections, including flu’. 

NHS chiefs also warned that London was in the grip of an unprecedented and escalating flu wave with already cases at a record high and ‘no peak yet in sight’. 

One of the worst-hit schools has been St Martin’s in Caerphilly, South Wales, where a temporary closure has been imposed after more than 250 pupils and staff fell ill.

The secondary school’s headteacher Lee Jarvis told parents and carers about a ‘significant outbreak of flu-like illness’, saying there would be a ‘firebreak’ period.

During this time there will be a deep clean of the school, with online learning in place after 242 pupils and 12 members of staff were reported absent from St Martin’s.

Their symptoms including vomiting, diarrhoea, high temperatures, cough, headaches, fatigue and ‘general flu-like effects’ – with an average recovery time of seven days.

The school closed last Friday and is aiming to reopen tomorrow, but parents were urged to keep their children at home if they show any symptoms ‘even if mild’.

Public Health Wales confirmed it had been in contact with St Martin’s and understood ‘the school has done a risk assessment and decided to shut down temporarily’.

Elsewhere, Congleton High School in Cheshire shut for three days a fortnight ago after high numbers of pupils suffered flu-like symptoms. 

Headteacher Heidi Thurland said the closure from November 26 to 28 was to carry out a deep clean, with teaching continuing on the Arbor remote learning platform.

Simon Kidwell, headteacher of Hartford Manor Primary School and Nursery in Nantwich, Cheshire, told BBC Breakfast this morning: ‘The winter bugs spread really easily in schools.

‘We do know that we can do things to make sure that it’s safer in schools. But we’ve seen schools close to us in Cheshire close for three days, so it has been a real challenge this year.’ 

Late last month, Danesfield Middle School in Williton, Somerset, closed due to a norovirus outbreak among its pupils and staff.

The school said the closure aimed to ‘prevent further spread of the virus’, and so it could ‘carry out a deep clean and break the chain of infection’.

Meanwhile a primary school in Leeds has reduced singing in assemblies to cut the spread of flu, after one in six children were off or sent home last week.

Wigton Moor Primary School headteacher Elaine Bown said it was the ‘worst year’ for sickness since she started nearly 14 years ago. 

She said 70 children were off sick or sent home from Wigton Moor last Monday with high temperatures or coughs – and one class saw almost every pupil off on one day. 

Ms Bown told BBC Yorkshire: ‘We’ve had assemblies, but we’ve not sung in assemblies because again, we know that that’s something that spreads it quite a lot.

‘We are rehearsing for nativities at the moment and Christmas performances and we know from Covid that singing in schools is one of the worst spreaders.

‘But we are also trying hard not to cancel Christmas, we do not want to do that, so we are trying to make it as non-infectious as we can manage.’

Meanwhile the principal of a school in County Londonderry said it is like ‘being back in Covid times’ after 170 pupils were off sick on one day.

Brian Guthrie of Ebrington Primary School said some children even had to go to hospital, telling BBC News NI: ‘It’s not just been flu, it’s been stomach bugs, very sore throats and illnesses in other ways as well.

‘But over the course of last week, it was very, very challenging with the number of pupils and staff off.

‘It took me back to 2020, to be quite honest, the attendance was actually worse last week than it would have been at any of the worst points, if you like, back in Covid times so, yeah, it was a bit of a shock.’

In Scotland, East Lothian Council said its pupil sickness absence rate in the last week of November was 8.1 per cent of the school population, compared to 5.3 per cent in the same week last year.

Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, told the Daily Mail: ‘I think any requests to wear masks should be looked upon as an extension of the old “catch it, bin it, kill it” advice for flu, which was commonly issued every winter before anyone had ever heard of Covid-19.

‘Wearing masks won’t do any harm, but anyone who is ill with flu is unlikely to be able to get out of bed, let alone mix with people outside the home.

‘We’ve known for many years that children are an engine of spread for flu, and the recent data do show increasing cases of infection in educational settings.

‘However, I think the problem most likely to arise is staff getting ill. If there are not enough teachers able to come to work, a school cannot operate safely.

‘Ultimately, we have a vaccine against flu and we have a degree of population-wide immunity which will blunt the severity; we did not have a vaccine to use against Covid, so we have weapons at our disposal to tackle this.

‘People should get their vaccine, especially if they’re entitled to it free on the NHS – just because someone may have had a vaccine last year, does not mean they are covered this year.’

Meanwhile about 100 passengers and crew members on a cruise ship have fallen ill from a potentially deadly sickness bug during a 133-day world trip.

Some on board the Aida Cruises voyage which left Hamburg on November 10 have suffered symptoms including vomiting and diarrhoea.

Passengers began displaying symptoms of norovirus after stops in Boston, New York and Miami, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least 95 of the 2,007 passengers and six of the 640 crew members ‘reported being ill during the voyage’, with staff isolating infected passengers after the outbreak.

It comes as the NHS faces a ‘historic crisis’ this winter amid looming strikes and record numbers of people in hospital with flu – with experts now urging Britons to wear face masks.

A troublesome mutant strain of the flu hitting the UK is believed to be more infectious and leading to more severe illness and hospital admissions than last year – while also leaving people vulnerable to other catching other seasonal viruses at the same time.

A ‘drifted’ influenza A(H3N2) strain, also now known as ‘subclade K’ or ‘super flu’, is dominating cases and health leaders have warned the flu season started ‘unusually early’ this year – while virology experts are leading growing calls for mask wearing.

Officials believe surging flu rates are being largely driven by a spike among children at school aged five to 14, with H3N2 accounting for the vast majority of cases. There are now ten times as many patients in hospital compared with the same time in 2023. 

Concerns are mounting at the NHS amid a record number of people in hospital with flu in England for the time of year and fears of an ‘unprecedented wave’ of infections.

NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has warned the country could face its worst flu season on record, after Australia suffered the same earlier this year – and believes the NHS faces pressures that ‘in a lot of ways will be like the Covid period’.

Professor Nicola Lewis, World Influenza Centre director at the Francis Crick Institute, said: ‘We haven’t seen a virus like this for a while, these dynamics are unusual. H3 is always a hotter virus, it’s a nastier virus, it’s more impactful on the population.’

Amid the so-called ‘flunami’, the UK Health Security Agency said masks ‘continue to be a useful tool in limiting the spread respiratory viruses in some situations’.

Officials reissued guidance saying anyone feeling ill should wear a mask because it can reduce the number of particles with viruses released from the mouth and nose.

They also said masks can protect the person wearing them from becoming infected with other respiratory viruses such as Covid-19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Mandatory mask rules have been imposed over recent weeks in parts of hospitals in London, Lincolnshire, Shropshire and Oxfordshire amid alarm at infection numbers.

Last Thursday, an NHS England board meeting was told by chief executive Sir Jim Mackey that by the end of this week there could be between 5,000 and 8,000 beds occupied by flu patients. That could exceed the highest number on record, 5,400.

Some 1,717 flu patients were in beds each day last week, more than 50 per cent higher than last year. But an average of 259 patients were in a London hospital bed each day last week with flu – three times the average of 89 this time last year.

Those who wish to be vaccinated can find a walk-in appointment by using the NHS walk-in finder.  

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The Israeli government has been accused of intimidation, harassment and a “blatant disregard” of its obligations by the United Nations after Israeli officials raided a UN building in Jerusalem.

Police officers, along with officials from the town council, entered the East Jerusalem compound of UNRWA, the UN agency that provides services to Palestinian refugees.

The compound has been empty since January, when the Israeli government ordered UNRWA to close the building, accusing the agency of being “infested” with members of Hamas.

The United Nations denied that accusation vehemently.

Read more: What were UNRWA workers in Gaza accused of?

Having gained entry to the compound, the officials filled vehicles with possessions, including office furniture, and raised an Israeli flag in place of the United Nations flag.

They claimed that the building had been raided because UNRWA owed around hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of local taxes.

However, under the UN charter, UN buildings are exempt from such taxes and are also considered “inviolable”, meaning that, rather than raiding the building, Israel has an obligation to protect it.

Since its staff were told to leave, there have been attempts to break into the compound, which has been secured by a team of guards employed by the UN.

Sky News has been told that, when the Israeli officials arrived on Monday morning, the security guards were detained in a room within the compound.

“We didn’t let them in when they first came to the compound, but they cut the chains and the locks and took control,” said George, the head of security, who was standing outside the front gate when we arrived.

“They told my guards to stay in one room, took their phones from them, and told them they couldn’t leave.”

‘The false accusations led to this’

UNRWA’s commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said the raid was “a blatant disregard of Israel’s obligation as a United Nations Member State to protect and respect the inviolability of UN premises”.

He said that failing to cooperate with UN agencies “represent a new challenge to international law, one that creates a dangerous precedent anywhere else the UN is present across the world”.

His anger was not isolated. Outside the gates of the UNRWA compound, we met Hakam Shahwam, who used to work here as UNRWA’s chief of staff. It was, he said, “a very sad day”.

Shahwam says the claims that UNRWA was a breeding ground for Hamas had led to the raid.

He told me: “The false accusations led to this. This is a shameful day, not only for the United Nations but also for the government of Israel.

“There must be a strong protest, and a response from the international community. This is unacceptable.”

Read more from Adam Parsons:
Gaza longs for normality, but quasi-anarchy reigns
Israeli forces kill two Palestinians after apparent surrender

‘It is time for UNRWA to be dismantled’

The Israeli government remains adamant that its criticism of UNRWA is justified.

When I asked Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about the raid, she said: “UNRWA is a stain on the United Nations.”

She added: “It is time for UNRWA to be dismantled. It is not part of the solution for Gaza, it is part of the problem.”

She did not comment on the legality of the raid, or on Israel’s ongoing commitment to the UN Charter.

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Footage shows Thai civilians huddling in bunkers and Cambodian children fleeing classrooms after Thailand launched dawn airstrikes on Cambodian border forces on Monday. Both nations accuse the other of breaching a ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump. At least four Cambodian civilians were killed.

Published On 8 Dec 20258 Dec 2025

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David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is not giving up in its aggressive campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid for the entertainment company despite the announcement on Friday that Netflix had agreed to buy its studio and streaming operation.

Netflix’s bid for WBD’s storied Hollywood movie studio, as well as its premier HBO cable network, valued the company at $82.7bn. But it did not agree to acquire WBD’s traditional television assets, including the news network CNN and the Discovery channel.

Paramount’s all-cash tender offer sent directly to shareholders on Monday morning would be for the entire company, and puts a total enterprise value of $108.4bn on WBD, a major premium to its stock price.

In making its case to shareholders, Paramount claimed its acquisition of the company provides significantly better value for shareholders, and would be much likelier to survive regulatory scrutiny. WBD said it would “carefully review and consider” the bid, and advise its shareholders on how to respond within two weeks.

David Ellison and his father, the billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison, whose family is financially backing the offer, are both friendly with the Trump administration, which had previously indicated that it supported a Paramount purchase of WBD. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, had even had early conversations with a senior Trump aide about what changes he might want to see at CNN.

Donald Trump has praised recent changes at Paramount since its acquisition by the Ellisons, including the selection of the heterodox writer Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News. Paramount is also bringing back the Rush Hour franchise for a fourth film, reportedly at the request of Trump.

Shortly before the Ellisons won regulatory approval for their takeover of Paramount, the firm agreed to pay $16m to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump, who had claimed a pre-election interview with the 2024 Democratic candidate for president, Kamala Harris, was falsely edited. Many legal experts had dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless” and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment.

A regulatory filing on Monday revealed that the Ellisons’ bid for WBD was backed by outside funders including Affinity Partners, an investment fund founded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund; and the Qatar Investment Authority.

In a statement, David Ellison called the Netflix deal “an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process”.

“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” he said. “Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros Discovery board of directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.”

Ellison’s Paramount Skydance had already made several offers that were rejected during the bidding process for WBD. The company said on Monday it was concerned that shareholders “were not presented [the] most compelling and superior transaction”.

Last week, attorneys for Paramount sent a letter to WBD suggesting the company was not fairly considering its offer. “It has become increasingly clear, through media reporting and otherwise, that WBD appears to have abandoned the semblance and reality of a fair transaction process, thereby abdicating its duties to stockholders, and embarked on a myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder,” they wrote.

Netflix’s proposed acquisition of the studio and streaming assets of WBD fleetingly provided some relief for some employees at CNN, who had been concerned about the prospects of a merger between the network and CBS News, now led by Weiss.

“I think this is the best outcome for CNN for sure,” a senior network producer told the Guardian after the Netflix acquisition was announced, describing a “palpable sense of relief” at the network. But, the person added, “there is still a hell of a lot of anxiety around the Discovery Global spin-off and what comes next”.

In a memo to CNN employees on Friday, the network’s CEO, Mark Thompson, framed the deal as a positive. “I’ve been asked by many of you what today’s news means for us,” he wrote. “And the answer is that it will enable us to continue to roll out our strategy to secure a great future for CNN by successfully navigating our digital transition.”

Some employees at CBS News had also feared a merger with CNN’s parent company, and that a tie-up could lead to significant job losses. “A merger with CNN is the one thing that would make me genuinely worried about losing my job,” one CBS News staffer said. (Paramount’s offer on Monday noted that the combination of television networks would “dramatically improve cash flow and increase efficiencies, leading to a division more capable of managing structural declines”.)

Paramount’s offer on Monday for WBD could re-ignite those concerns for employees at both networks. If the Netflix deal moves forward, however, CNN will be spun off – as planned – into a standalone company, encompassing WBD’s traditional television networks, from Cartoon Network to TLC.

On a conference call with analysts, David Ellison did not answer a question about whether he would be interested in acquiring the television group by itself if the greater Netflix deal goes through.

On Sunday evening, before Paramount tabled its hostile bid, Trump had said he would be personally involved in the review for the Netflix-WBD transaction, which he said would have implications for competition considering Netflix’s “big market share”. But he had kind words for Netflix’s co-chief executive Ted Sarandos, who visited the White House recently.

Several US politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, and entertainment unions, however, had expressed strong reservations about the deal.

Because no television licenses would be transferred in a potential acquisition, the acquisition of WBD is very unlikely to be subject to the review of the Federal Communications Commission and its Trump-picked chair, Brendan Carr. But anti-trust concerns around any such deal would be reviewed by the Department of Justice.

“Paramount is highly confident in achieving expeditious regulatory clearance for its proposed offer,” the company said on Monday, “as it enhances competition and is pro-consumer, while creating a strong champion for creative talent and consumer choice.”

The Ellisons’ offer is set to expire at 5pm on 8 January, unless it is extended.

On the Monday call, David Ellison said the company’s offers for WBD had not received a response. “We’re here to fight for value – for our shareholders and for WBD shareholders,” he said. “This transaction is about building more, not cutting back … Our proposal is superior to Netflix’s in every dimension.”

While Trump has been very supportive of the Ellisons’ takeover of CBS News, he lashed out at the network and its new management on Monday morning for a 60 Minutes broadcast the night before, featuring the outgoing GOP House member Marjorie Taylor Greene, who told correspondent Lesley Stahl that many Republican legislators privately mocked Trump.

“My real problem with the show, however, wasn’t the low IQ traitor, it was that the new ownership of 60 Minutes, Paramount, would allow a show like this to air,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP, who just paid me millions of Dollars for FAKE REPORTING about your favorite President, ME! Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!”

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Watch: CCTV shows moment earthquake hits Japan

A major earthquake of magnitude 7.6 has hit Japan’s north-eastern region.

The quake occurred at 23:15 (14:15 GMT) at a depth of 50km (31 miles), about 80km off the coast of the Aomori region, the Japan Meteorological Agency said,

It prompted tsunami warnings which have now been downgraded to advisories, while waves of 40cm (16in) were seen in some places.

Local media reports that some people in the region have been injured, while trains have been suspended as a precaution.

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes.

Orders were issued for about 90,000 residents to evacuate, according to Reuters news agency.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted a hotel employee in Hachinohe as saying a number of people had been injured.

The government has set up a response office within the prime minister’s crisis management centre and convened an emergency team, chief cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara has said.

“We are making every effort to assess the damage and implement emergency disaster response measures, including rescue and relief operations,” he added.

AFP via Getty Images

Japanese TV broadcast mesages which said “Tsunami! Run!” and “Tsunami warning issued for central Hokkaido’s Pacific Coast”

No irregularities were reported at the Higashidori and Onagawa nuclear power plants as a result of the quake, Tohoku Electric Power said.

None were detected either at the disabled Fukushima nuclear power station site, the Japanese authorities told the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Fukushima was damaged when a magnitude 9.0 quake struck off the country’s eastern coast on 11 March 2011.

That quake, the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, triggered a tsunami which swept over the main island of Honshu, killing more than 18,000 people and wiping entire towns off the map.

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NEED TO KNOW

• Leona Lewis is in the midst of her Las Vegas residency, A Starry Night
• In this week’s issue of PEOPLE, Lewis opens up about her marriage to husband Dennis Jauch and their 3-year-old daughter Carmel
• Lewis recalls meeting Jauch when he was a dancer on her 2010 Labrynth Tour

Leona Lewis’ life is full of love.

The British singer-songwriter is currently in the midst of her 33-date A Starry Night residency at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas, for which she’s relocated to the Nevada city with husband Dennis Jauch and their 3-year-old daughter Carmel.

Taking the stage feels different for Lewis as a wife and mother, especially when she sings her chart-topping hit “Bleeding Love,” as its meaning has changed for her since its release in 2007. “To me it was about a romantic love,” she reflects to PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “When I sing it now, I think about [Carmel] and what she’s opened me up to and how deep that love goes.”

It’s a full-circle moment for performing to now make Lewis think about her family, as she met Jauch — who won the German TV series You Can Dance in 2007 — when he was a dancer on her 2010 Labyrinth Tour.

“I think we connected because we’d been through two very similar shows,” says Lewis, who won the U.K. version of The X Factor in 2006. “Plus, he saved me on stage.”

During a show on the Labrynth Tour, Jauch caught Lewis after she nearly fell into a hole on stage. “So I had to marry him,” she quips.

The pair tied the knot in July 2019, and their bond remains strong to this day. “You can have these little disagreements and arguments and things, but at the end of the day, we always say this to each other: ‘Remember we’re on the same team,’” says Lewis.

They welcomed Carmel three years after marrying, which dramatically changed her perspective on everything — not just her breakout hit. “I am a different woman to who I was before I had Coco,” she says. “Now I have to make sure this human is okay in the world and also hopefully making a positive impact.”

Dennis Jauch, Leona Lewis and Carmel Jauch.

Leona Lewis/Instagram

Carmel saw her first concert last year when Lewis took her to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour, and she’s already looking to follow in her mom’s footsteps. “Last night she was like, ‘Mama, I’m going to come onstage with you,’” Lewis says. “I’m like, ‘Okay, what are you going to do—dance, sing?’ She’s like, ‘I want to do both.’”

Connecting with fans in Las Vegas has inspired Lewis to start working on a new album, her first since 2015’s I Am. But the pressure will be easier to navigate living under the same roof as her two biggest fans.

“No matter what’s going on, when you’re at your peak and everyone’s playing your song, and then when you’re just quiet and things are more still,” she says, “they are always the constant to me.”

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