WORLD NEWS
Two killed in suspected Palestinian ramming and knife attack in Israel
Magen David Adom
The attacker drove into people and then carried out a stabbing several miles away, police say
Two people have been killed in what police say was a “rolling terror attack” in northern Israel.
Police said the attacker ran over a pedestrian in the eastern city of Beit Shean, then drove on before stabbing a woman near Ein Harod, about 8 miles (12.5km) to the west.
A 68-year-old man was killed and a 16-year-old boy was hurt in the ramming, officials said, whilst the stabbing victim was an 18-year-old woman.
The suspect was eventually shot and wounded later by a civilian outside the city of Afula, according to police.
A day before the attack, an Israeli reservist was fired after video emerged of him ramming a praying Palestinian with a quad bike.
The suspect in Friday’s attack came from the village of Qabatiya, in the northern occupied West Bank, Israel’s defence minister said.
Following the incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was preparing to carry out an operation in the Qabatiya area. Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the IDF to act “forcefully and immediately”.
The IDF said the suspect had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago”.
Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster said the 37-year-old man had been working illegally in Israel and had used his employer’s vehicle in the attack.
The incident comes a day after an Israeli army reservist drove a quad bike into a Palestinian man who was praying on a roadside in the occupied West Bank.
Video shows the man, dressed in civilian clothes but with a firearm, ramming the victim with the vehicle. Reports say the victim was unhurt.
The Israeli military said the soldier – who had earlier opened fire in a nearby village – had been fired and his weapon confiscated.
Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have surged in the West Bank in recent years, according to the United Nations, with more than a thousand killed since the Hamas attacks on Israel of 7 October 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted into Gaza.
More than 70,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Additional reporting by Tom McArthur
A Palestinian man rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel, killing both, police said on Friday.
In retaliation, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz quickly ordered military action in what he said was the assailant’s hometown in the occupied West Bank.
What do we know?
The attack began Friday afternoon in the northern city of Beit She’an, in the Jordan Valley.
Police said the Palestinian man crashed his vehicle into people, killing one man and injuring a teenage boy.
He then sped onto a highway, where he fatally stabbed the woman and injured another person near the entrance to the city of Afula.
Authorities said the alleged attacker, a 34-year-old Palestinian, was shot and is in a stable condition in the hospital.
The Israeli military said the suspect had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that he was shocked by the “horrific killing spree.”
Israeli settlers ‘rarely arrested’ for West Bank violence
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Katz orders retaliation by military in West Bank
Israeli police later said the attacker was a resident of Qabatiya and had taken his employer’s vehicle to carry out the attack.
Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to launch an operation in the northern West Bank city.
Katz said that he’d told troops to “act forcefully and immediately” against what he called “terrorist infrastructure” in the Qabatiya.
“Anyone who aids or sponsors terrorism will pay the full price, he said.
It’s common practice for Israel to launch raids in Palestinian attackers’ hometowns, which Israel defends as helping to locate militant infrastructure and preventing future attacks. Human rights watchdogs say these actions constitute collective punishment.
Later Friday, the military said its soldiers had launched an operation in Qabatiya.
Rising violence fuels West Bank tensions
Friday’s attack took place just days after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the Qabatiya area.
The military has launched a probe after footage emerged showing the teenager not posing any threat or throwing anything at soldiers who shot him.
Friday’s incident also came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the West Bank.
Social media footage purporting to show the incident shows the victim praying by the roadside when the ramming occurs.
More than a thousand Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank between October 7, 2023 and October 17, 2025, mostly in operations by security forces and some by settler violence, according to the UN. In the same period, 57 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
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Police said a 12-year-old boy thwarted a burglary at his Long Island home this holiday season in an incident that has been likened to the classic Christmas film Home Alone.
Tristen Taylor, a seventh grader from the hamlet of Medford, was home alone Tuesday afternoon when he heard his kitchen window shatter and footsteps inside his house, according to CBS New York. Taylor was quick on his feet and escaped his home through his bedroom window.
“I said, ‘I have to get out the house, the quickest way possible,'” he told CBS New York.
Once outside, Taylor said he spotted a person inside his house, so he hid behind his garage and called 911, according to the outlet. “I was on the phone with them, waiting for them to get here,” he said.
Officers received the call shortly before 1 p.m. and arrived at his home within three minutes, according to a press release from the Suffolk County Police Department. They found the 12-year-old uninjured.
A 12-year-old boy escaped his home and called 911 after he heard someone break into his Long Island home, police said (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The police department said officers found Christian Garcia, 53, inside the home and arrested him at the scene. Garcia was charged with third-degree burglary and possession of burglars tools. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday.
The Independent has contacted Garcia’s attorney for comment.
The incident has drawn comparisons to Home Alone, which follows eight-year-old Kevin McAllister as he fends off burglars targeting his home after his family forgot him when they left for a vacation.
Taylor’s grandmother, Timothea Taylor, told CBS New York the family is “very proud” of the 12-year-old.
“We were very proud that he was able to keep his composure and call the police as quickly as he did. Without even thinking about it, he automatically called 911,” she said.
Neighbor Mike Campanella also praised Taylor’s quick thinking.
“I would hope my son would have done the same thing. When someone is breaking into the house, caution is to get out and call the police. You just have to be brave and call them,” he told CBS New York.
NEED TO KNOW
- The family of Alexander Pinon alleges in a new lawsuit that a funeral business gave them a bag containing a brain instead of his clothing
- The lawsuit also claims that after Pinon’s family returned the brain to the funeral home, an employee discovered it was stored in a box and left in the business’s courtyard for two months
- “It’s something they’re gonna have to live with forever,” said an attorney for the family
The family of a 27-year-old man is suing a California funeral business after the family says they received a bag containing what they thought was was the young man’s clothing — but turned out to be a brain.
Alexander Pinon died on May 19 at a Santa Clara, Calif., residence, according to a complaint filed by his relatives in Santa Clara Superior Court on Oct. 2.
His family contracted the services of Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel in San Jose for a “full-service memorial tribute package,” to the cost of more than $10,000 and including the embalming, dressing and casketing of Alexander’s body, per the complaint, which was reviewed by PEOPLE.
The suit states that the family did not want Pinon to be dressed in the clothes he wore at the time of his death but rather alternative attire for the visitation and funeral services.
Pinon’s father allegedly met with the funeral home director, Annette Singh, at the mortuary on June 4 to pick up his late son’s previous clothing.
The funeral home director gave Pinon’s father a red bag that indicated “biohazardous material” and purportedly contained the clothes, the complaint states.
Pinon’s dad then drove home with the intention of cleaning his son’s clothes, per the complaint. He “opened up his washing machine, and dumped the contents of the bag straight into the washing machine.”
It was at that moment that he made the macabre discovery.
“The bag did not contain any clothing, but rather, it only contained human brain matter,” according to the suit.
Samer Habbas, an attorney for Pinon’s family, told ABC station KGO in a story posted on Friday, Dec. 12, that they were unaware at the time whether it was their son’s brain in the washing machine.
“They didn’t know if it was mixed up with somebody else’s brain, whether it was their son’s, they had not a single idea,” Habbas said.
Pinon’s father retrieved the brain from the washing machine, put it back in the bag and delivered the contents to Singh with the funeral home that same day, according to the family’s suit.
Habbas alleged that Singh took the bag from Alexander’s father and never explained whose brain it was and didn’t offer an apology.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Service Corporation International — a parent corporation affiliated with Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel — tells PEOPLE that “due to active litigation, we won’t be commenting on this matter.”
Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel and Singh did not respond to PEOPLE’s separate requests for comment.
KGO reported that one of its reporters went to Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel and was told by an office manager that Singh had left the company two weeks ago. After the reporter located Singh at her home, she was seen driving away without answering questions about the allegations.
Alexander’s funeral services occurred on June 5 at Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery. Over the next few weeks, his mother repeatedly messaged Singh to inquire about the status of her son’s clothes, the family’s complaint states.
On July 8, Singh allegedly texted Alexander’s mother to say that she would get back to the family that day.
Based on information they received, the family alleges in the complaint that Singh placed a box at the funeral business’s courtyard sometime in June and told staff that it just contained clothing that she was going to have professionally cleaned.
By late August, the box still remained in the courtyard, according to the suit. A funeral employee allegedly opened the box and discovered a red biohazard bag stuffed among other bags.
“The same employee then opened and looked inside the red biohazard bag and immediately [was] overwhelmed with the smell and witnessed a clay-like, light brown, and purple in coloration material that was severely deteriorated,” the complaint states.
Another employee came over to look into the contents of the red biohazard bag and quickly realized that the red bag did not contain any clothing but instead a rotting human brain,” the complaint continues.
Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel.
Google Maps
Funeral employees later confirmed that the red bag that Singh hid in the courtyard was Alexander’s brain, according to the complaint.
The suit alleges that the family believes Alexander’s brain and clothing are still in the funeral business’ possession.
Alexander’s family claims that the handling of their son’s remains by defendants Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel, Lima Family Santa Clara Mortuary and Singh caused them “emotional distress, trauma, and mental anguish.”
“Discovering one’s own child’s brain matter in a washing machine and then having to scoop it out, and later learning that part of your loved one’s body was hidden and left to rot, is a horror no family should ever endure,” the complaint states. “Plaintiffs have suffered shock, grief, nightmares, anxiety, depression, and other lasting psychological injuries as a direct result of DEFENDANTS’ conduct.”
Attorneys for Alexander’s family are attempting to get back the brain they believe to be their son’s, KGO reported. His body has already been buried.
“We don’t know the extent of how much suffering they’re gonna go through for the remainder of their life,” Habbas told the station. “But I can tell you, it’s something that they’re never gonna forget, it’s something they’re gonna have to live with forever.”
WORLD NEWS
Chilling game-day photo posted months before newlywed husband killed his wife and shot stepdaughter, 13, after football dispute – as his ominous social media posts emerge
A husband shared sport memes and ominous messages about marriage and Satan just hours before killing his wife and shooting his stepdaughter.
He also uploaded an ominous ‘game day’ photo to social media earlier this year where children’s toys and equipment were lying in the background.
Jason Kenney, 47, killed his wife, Crystal Kenney, and shot his 13-year-old stepdaughter in the face before fleeing the scene, and later turned the gun on himself.
The deadly shooting unfolded after an argument over watching a Monday Night Football game on TV on December 22.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Jason was drinking while watching the San Francisco 49ers–Indianapolis Colts game in a shed behind the house.
He returned inside for the final few minutes and when Crystal challenged him over control of the television, the argument suddenly escalated.
Just hours earlier, at 4.22pm, he posted a jovial meme showing old people dancing with the caption: ‘Mood knowing the 49ers play tonight.’
A few hours before that, at 1.54pm, he tagged his wife with a love heart emoji in response to a video with the chilling caption: ‘Satan wants your wife. I always tell men if they don’t lead their family, Satan will.’
A game day photo from the Kennedy household in February
Jason Kenney, 47, fatally shot his wife, Crystal Kenney, and shot her 13-year-old daughter before fleeing the scene before later turning the gun on himself
Jason Kenney posing with a gun while in a pest control company’s uniform
As the confrontation between Kenney and his wife on Christmas intensified, Crystal told her 12-year-old son to run to a neighbor’s house and call 911.
The boy fled, but as he was leaving, he heard gunfire.
‘So the 12-year-old flees to the neighbor’s house in order to dial 911, and as he’s leaving the house, he hears a gunshot,’ Judd said.
Deputies arrived within minutes, and once inside the home, they found Crystal Kenney dead, having been fatally shot in the head.
In a bedroom, they discovered her 13-year-old daughter had been shot twice – once in the shoulder and once in the face.
‘She said, “I begged him, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, and he shot me anyway,” Judd said, recounting what the girl told him.
Judd said the bullet struck the girl on the bridge of her nose, traveled upward, and exited through the top of her head.
‘That’s a Christmas miracle,’ he said.
The girl remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition, alert and able to speak, authorities said.
A one-year-old daughter shared by Jason and Crystal was also inside the home at the time of the shooting, but was unharmed. Deputies later found her asleep in her crib.
One of the ominous posts Kenney made
During a search of the family’s home, deputies uncovered a handwritten note Crystal had written to her husband, Jason, urging him to seek help
After the attack, Jason Kenney fled before deputies arrived. During the drive, Judd said, he called his sister in upstate New York.
‘He told her he had done something very, very bad,’ Judd said, adding that Jason told her ‘the next time you see me will be on the news.’
Jason then drove to his father’s home, where he barricaded himself inside a shed.
Deputies tracked him to the property and attempted to coax him out. Moments later, a single gunshot rang out.
Jason Kenney was found dead inside the shed, having taken his own life, Judd said.
During a search of the family’s home, deputies uncovered a handwritten note Crystal had written to her husband, urging him to seek help.
‘You’re drinking, you’re using cocaine again. This is not the way the family should be. You need God,’ the note read, according to Judd.
Deputies arrived within minutes at the family home. Once inside, they found Crystal Kenney dead, having been fatally shot in the head. Her own husband, Jason, was her killer
The sheriff said the case devastated everyone involved, including seasoned investigators.
‘He just absolutely destroyed a family. Literally, not to mention the mental health of two children without their mother and a father three days before Christmas,’ Judd said. ‘Our homicide detectives are distraught.
‘Three days before Christmas, he shot and killed his wife, he shot his 13-year-old stepdaughter twice, and intended to kill her,’ Judd explained.
‘When you go in there, there is a beautiful Christmas tree with lots of Christmas presents under it, just like the nuclear family should be.
‘The only thing he did right that night was shoot himself,’ Judd added.
All three children are now in the custody of their maternal grandparents.
Miller & Carter Hockley Heath was forced to close down on December 25 – with some customers only finding out they wouldn’t have their £105pp dinners until just before their booking
Miller & Carter Hockney Heath was forced to close on Christmas Day, leaving customers furious(Image: GRAHAM YOUNG)
Hundreds of people eagerly awaiting a slap-up Christmas steak dinner were left devastated after they paid more than £100 per person – only to have the venue close on them.
Families living in and around Hockley Heath in Solihull, the West Midlands, had booked coveted spaces for Miller & Carter’s famous Christmas day dinner on December 25. The set menu typically costs £105 per person, and a source told the Mirror that “hundreds” were eagerly awaiting the opportunity to have a tasty dinner without any of the dreaded clean up responsibility.
But the Hockley Heath management team left them devastated when, on the big day, it was forced to close due to an extractor fan issue, leading one family to “write off” their Christmas Day.
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Locals have blasted management for failing to inform customers of the closure in a timely manner(Image: GRAHAM YOUNG)
Miller & Carter posted a message to families at 1pm on December 25 saying the location would have to close its doors after experiencing an “unexpected electrical issue” that shorted its entire extractor fan system. A spokesperson wrote on its Facebook page saying that, while engineers had been promptly called out, they were unable to resolve the issue.
They wrote: “There is no easy way to say this but Miller & Carter Hockley Heath has had to close our doors today due to an unexpected electrical issue in our kitchen meaning that our extractor fan system is not working.
“We have had engineers working all morning to try and resolve this issue but unfortunately are unable to do so. This means we are unable to open our kitchens today. Our management team are currently contacting all bookings to advise them of this closure. We apologise for any inconvenience and those affected will be contacted by senior management in the next couple of days.”
Hundreds of people are said to have booked meals at the restaurant for Christmas Day(Image: Getty Images)
The Facebook message was posted at 1.20pm, more than an hour after some people said they had slots booked at the restaurant. One diner, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Mirror the club had “hundreds” of customers who had already booked and paid.
They said: “This is disastrous. I know the pub and hundreds have booked and paid £105 per head for dinner. Now they will have no food in for their own Christmas dinner and have had their plans scuppered. What will they do? It’s a huge blow this Christmas, and I feel sorry for these families.”
Among those left short-changed by the cancellation was James Munro, who booked a 12pm slot at the restaurant for himself and 12 members of his family.
The restaurant informed customers of the issue in a Facebook post at 1.20pm
Speaking to the Mirror, Mr Munro said he had booked the group meal after his sister travelled up from Devon to spend the big day with his family, and were left with a “write off” of a Christmas after Miller & Carter failed to inform them of the closure. He explained: “There were 13 of us, including my sister’s family, a friends family of four and my wife’s mother.
“We heard the news about half an hour before our booking. Initially we were sceptical and assumed they would sort the problem out, so myself and my brother-in-law decided to walk over at midday.
“We were then told the news was true and that the extraction unit had failed and they couldn’t get the part. Apparently the ovens won’t turn on without the extractor as a safety measure. I questioned why we hand’t received a call and they claimed they had tried to call my sister, yet she had no missed calls or voicemails so evidently that wasn’t true.”
One Miller & Carter customer said they only found out abou the closure an hour before their booking(Image: GRAHAM YOUNG)
“They offered no solution and essentially apologised saying there’s nothing they could do. I though we should at the very least have been offered a drink or perhaps even some food to take away to cook at home.”
Mr Munro explained that the closure and late contact meant that he and his family hadn’t even had the chance to cobble together scraps for their own dinner, saying: “Safe to say the day has been a write off, perhaps if we had been informed early enough we might have had time to pull some scraps together.”
Other people following Miller & Carter’s page commented under the restaurant’s post announcing the closure, with some suggesting it should have provided booked diners with food for their own dinner.
Miller & Carter representatives said an extractor fan issue caused them to close down(Image: GRAHAM YOUNG)
One commenter said: “Could they have not just given all the food to the booked customers to take home and cook? Not ideal situation but could of helped in a way.” Another added: “I can only imagine or the stock and prepped food that will be wasted.” A third, who was less fussed about the cancellation, said: “We were booked for Christmas lunch today but these things happen occasionally.”
The Daily Mirror has reached out to Miller & Carter Hockley Heath and Mitchells & Butlers, the parent company of Miller & Carter, for comment.
Three women have been stabbed in Paris, according to the capital’s prosecutor’s office.
French police detained a man suspected of carrying out the attacks in three different stations of the Paris metro on Friday evening.
The three women were stabbed at the Republique, Arts et Metiers and Opera stations at around 4pm local time.
They were given medical attention by firefighters and sustained only minor injuries, two of them to their backs and thighs, according to Le Parisien.
“The young woman was injured in the thigh,” a witness told the newspaper. She was at the Republique station at the time of the attack.
“There was quite a lot of blood; it was a pretty deep cut.”
The prosecutor’s office said their wounds were not life-threatening.
Read more from Sky News:
Police warn sea swimmers as two still missing
Health alert still in force as cold weather set to continue
The suspect, a man in his mid-20s, fled the scene and was then arrested at his home, according to C News.
The prosecutor’s office said he was previously known to police and he was identified thanks to CCTV.
“Thanks to the immediate action” of the emergency services, “the suspected individual has been apprehended”, posted the official Parisian police account on X.
“I extend all my wishes for a prompt recovery to the 3 victims who were slightly injured and taken in charge by the emergency services, whom I also salute.”
The possibility of terrorism has been ruled out, according to local media.
Washington’s top diplomat says he thanked Asfura, who was backed by Trump, for ‘advocacy of US strategic objectives’.
Published On 26 Dec 2025
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United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has congratulated Honduran President-elect Nasry Asfura, whom President Donald Trump had endorsed, for his victory in the Central American country’s contentious election.
The Department of State said on Friday that Rubio and Asfura in a phone call discussed collaboration on issues such as trade and security.
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“Secretary Rubio commended President-Elect Asfura for his advocacy of US strategic objectives, including advancing our bilateral and regional security cooperation, and strengthening economic ties between our two countries,” the State Department said in a statement.
Asfura claimed a narrow victory on Wednesday in the November 30 election marked by Trump’s intervention on his behalf. Election authorities declared Asfura the winner after weeks of counting amid high tensions and allegations of fraud and impropriety from other candidates.
The right-wing Asfura, representing the National Party, edged out Salvador Nasralla of the centre-right Liberal Party with 40.27 percent of the vote to Nasralla’s 39.53 percent.
“Today, with deep gratitude, I accept the honour of being able to work for you. I extend my hand so we can walk together with determination to work tirelessly for Honduras. I will not fail you,” Asfura said in a video statement released on Wednesday night.
Both Nasralla and Rixi Moncada, the candidate for current President Xiomara Castro’s left-leaning LIBRE Party, who came in a distant third, have disputed the results of the election.
Nasralla said on Wednesday that election authorities had “betrayed the Honduran people”. He also took aim at Trump, who said before the election that a victory for anyone but Asfura would put US economic ties with Honduras at risk.
“Mr President, your endorsed candidate in Honduras is complicit in silencing the votes of our citizens,” Nasralla said in a social media post. “If he is truly worthy of your backing, if his hands are clean, if he has nothing to fear, then why doesn’t he allow for every vote to be counted?”
Honduras has experienced several contested elections since a US-backed coup in 2009. Protests over the November election have thus far remained peaceful.
Before the election, Trump also issued a criticised pardon for right-wing former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of crimes linked to the trafficking of drugs to the US during his time in office.
The pardon came as the US says it is shifting its foreign policy focus to the Americas.
Asfura, the former mayor of Honduras’s capital, Tegucigalpa, is of Palestinian descent. But his National Party is staunchly pro-Israel.
Under Hernandez in 2021, Honduras became only the fourth country to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in breach of international law.
Asfura has also aligned himself with Trump and other right-wing leaders in the Americas, including Argentina’s Javier Milei.
Tributes have been paid to one of two men who went missing during a Christmas Day swim.
The family of Matthew Upham issued a tribute to him on the Instagram account of his antiques business, saying he was “deeply loved and forever missed”.
Emergency services were called to Budleigh Salterton at 10.25am on Christmas Day after concerns were raised for people in the water.
A number of people were safely brought to shore but two men – one in his 40s and another in his 60s – could not be found. Of the people who were rescued, two were checked by paramedics and one was taken by ambulance to hospital as a precaution.
In a statement posted on Upham’s Instagram account, his family said: “Our family is heartbroken by the loss of our beloved family member Matthew Upham, who was reported missing on Christmas morning.
“Matthew is deeply loved and will be forever missed.
“We would like to express our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the emergency services who responded, particularly the RNLI and coastguard, for their dedication, professionalism, and tireless efforts during this extremely difficult time.
“We are profoundly grateful for their compassion and support.As we grieve and support one another, we kindly ask that our family’s privacy is respected.
“We thank everyone for their understanding, kindness, and condolences.”
Upham, from Budleigh Salterton, ran an antiques business called Matthew Upham Antiques in the Devon town.
A coastguard search for the two men has been called off.
On Boxing Day, police said both men were still missing. A spokesperson added: “Police inquiries are ongoing. A police presence remains at the scene.”
The coastguard stopped searching the water at 5pm but police said onshore inquiries continued into the evening. The men’s families had been informed.
While there is no official weather warning in place on Boxing Day, some sea swims have been cancelled and police in Devon and Cornwall have urged people not to get into the water.
Map of Devon
On Christmas Day, Det Supt Hayley Costar, of Devon and Cornwall police, said officers had responded to “a truly tragic incident” in Budleigh Salterton. “Our thoughts remain firmly with the families and friends of the two men who are currently missing and to all who may have witnessed and be impacted by the incident,” she said.
“There have been weather warnings in place this week and a number of official and unofficial swims have already been cancelled. While there are no official warnings in place for tomorrow, we urge anyone with plans to go swimming in the sea on Boxing Day not to.”
The coastguard said its search was stood down at 5pm. A spokesperson said: “Alerted at around 10am, Exmouth and Beer coastguard rescue teams, RNLI lifeboats from Exmouth, Teignmouth and Torbay, coastguard search and rescue helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were sent to the scene to assist, alongside police and ambulance service.
“Searches have continued throughout the day to find two men believed to still be in the water. After extensive shoreline and offshore searches, the coastguard part of the search was stood down at 5pm.”
Julia Robb, a resident who had been watching swimmers at the beach before the men went missing, said it had been a “very cold and windy” day and the waves “would have been at least 6ft”. She said it was only when she heard helicopters it became clear something was wrong.
Robb added: “It was a sad thing to happen on what had been such a positive morning. I just feel sorry for those who have been affected. I think it will be shocking for the whole community. We are a small town. People are very friendly. I think it is important to think of the friends and families of those who have been affected.”
At least eight people were killed on Friday when an explosion struck a mosque used by Syria’s Alawite minority in Homs, state media reported.
The blast, believed to be the first attack on a mosque since the overthrow last year of longtime leader Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite.
The blast was claimed by an Islamist militant group formed shortly after Assad’s ouster.
Syrians still wait for rebuilding one year after Assad
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What do we know?
The Interior Ministry labeled the explosion at the Imam Ali Mosque in Homs, Syria’s third‑largest city, a “terrorist bombing.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the mosque is attended primarily by members of the Alawite community.
State news agency SANA, citing a security source, reported that the blast was caused by explosives planted inside the mosque.
A government official said the devices detonated during the crowded Friday prayer service.
Photos released by SANA showed extensive destruction and bloodstains inside the prayer hall.
In addition to the eight fatalities, Health Ministry official Najib al‑Naasan told SANA that 18 people were injured.
The official said the figures were not final, indicating that the death toll could rise.
The Syrian government blamed the church attack on a cell of the Islamic State (IS) groupImage: AP Photo/picture alliance
Islamist group claims responsibility
A local security official told SANA that investigators had not yet identified the attacker or confirmed any link to armed groups.
However, in a statement on Telegram, the Islamist militant group Saraya Ansar al-Sunna said later Friday that its fighters had “detonated a number of explosive devices” at the mosque.
The group was formed after the ouster of Assad, who is a member of the Alawite community.
Syria has faced multiple episodes of sectarian bloodshed since Assad was driven from power by a rebel offensive last year and replaced by a Sunni‑led interim government.
After his ouster, Assad fled to Russia, and since then, Alawite communities have faced a series of crackdowns.
The Syrian government has recently stepped up security campaigns against Assad loyalists and the self-declared Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
On December 19, the United States launched strikes aimed at IS targets in Syria, not the Syrian state, in retaliation for an attack which killed two American servicemen and an interpreter a few days earlier.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
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JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar blasted the Palestinian Authority (PA) for emboldening terrorism with its infamous “Pay-for-Slay” program after a Palestinian on Friday murdered two Israelis.
Palestinian terrorists murdered 19-year-old Aviv Maor from Kibbutz Ein Harod and Mordechai Shimshon, 68, from Beit She’an on Friday in northern Israel.
The Palestinian Authority “Pay-for-Slay” policy gained wide public attention when Taylor Force, a West Point graduate who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, was savagely knifed to death by a Palestinian terrorist on March 8, 2016, while on a tour of Israel. President Donald Trump signed the Taylor Force Act into law in October 2018, after a vigorous campaign by Force’s parents, Robbi and Stuart Force.
TRUMP ADMIN WEIGHS TERRORISM SANCTIONS AGAINST UN PALESTINIAN AID AGENCY OVER HAMAS ALLEGATIONS
Israeli security forces inspect the scene where a vehicle was used by an assailant in a suspected terrorist attack involving a car ramming and stabbing that killed two people in Afula, northern Israel, on Dec. 26, 2025. (Gil Eliyahu/Reuters)
Prior to Friday’s terrorist attacks, Sa’ar issued warnings to the international community about alleged Palestinian leadership deception. He wrote on X: “Don’t believe Mahmoud Abbas’ lies. The Palestinian Authority’s payments to terrorists and their families haven’t stopped. The PA decided to continue its ‘Pay-for-Slay’ policy. This includes payments to the families of ‘martyrs’ and injured terrorists, jailed terrorists and released terrorists. The PA is also disguising the payments to the released murderers as payments to pensioners of the Palestinian Security Services! This is distorted. End ‘Pay-for-Slay’ now!”
Abbas is the 90-year-old chain-smoking president of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank (the region is known in Israel by its biblical names of Judea and Samaria.)
Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, told Fox News Digital that contrary to Palestinian Authority claims about stopping the “Pay-for-Slay” program, there has been “no substantial change in Palestinian Authority policy with regard to the payments to terrorists.”
Taylor Force was a West Point graduate who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was pursuing his MBA at Vanderbilt University. His bright future was savagely cut short on March 8, 2016, when Taylor was walking with his Vanderbilt friends along the Mediterranean boardwalk promenade in Tel Aviv, Israel. A Palestinian terrorist attacked the group with a knife, and Taylor was stabbed to death. (Courtesy of the Force Family)
He continued that “They are making noises as if they are changing their policies.” But he termed it a “façade” with no change in policy.
Michael said that “Pay-for-Slay will continue in a different manner. Donors and the international community [who finance the PA] will find it more difficult to monitor it.”
UN UNDER FIRE AS USAID INVESTIGATORS PROBE HAMAS DIVERSION OF AID TO GAZA
The counter-terrorism expert, Michael, who is also a fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, said the PA “defines terrorists as social welfare. They continue to support incitement against Israel. They continue remaining dysfunctional.”
According to a Dec. 19 report in the Times of Israel, a PA-linked organization –The Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (also known as Tamkeen) — disputed the Israeli government claim that “Pay-for Slay” is still intact.
Tamkeen noted in its statement that it “confirms that the payment system linked to the number of years of imprisonment has been completely and permanently abolished and is no longer in effect in any way.” It added that “Claims regarding its continuation fall under the category of deliberate misinformation and falsification of facts.”
Fox News Digital reached out numerous times to the Palestinian Authority for a comment and sent press queries to the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (Tamkeen.)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets with then-President Joe Biden in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Friday, July 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
When asked by Fox News Digital what donor nations can do to stop “Pay-for-Slay,” Michael said, “Be strict when it comes to financial donations,” adding there are “many ways to pressure the Palestinian Authority.”
He sharply criticized Western European leaders who recognized an independent Palestinian state in 2025 without ensuring that the state would be a non-sponsor of terrorism. “Western leaders, the British prime minister, the French president and the Spanish prime minister are rushing and running to recognize a Palestinian state, and they don’t care what takes place under the Palestinian Authority in the territories.” He said their recognition is “an incentive to continue to ‘Pay for Slay.”’
Michael said the Trump administration is the only one “applying pressure on the Palestinian Authority.”
A Palestinian terrorist from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is seen carrying a weapon during a military parade in the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. (Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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He stressed that if the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hamas is not dismantled and disarmed in Gaza, “it will be another achievement of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.”
The U.S. State Department and American Embassy in Jerusalem did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com
WORLD NEWS
Did that really happen? Four outrageous stories from Trump’s first year back that you may have forgotten about
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In 2019, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon told PBS’ Frontline program how President Donald Trump was engaged in a deliberate strategy to overwhelm the press and his critics by rolling out massive and controversial policy changes while distracting them with trolling to keep them from ever focusing on any one thing that could matter.
He described the tactic as “flooding the zone.”
“Every day, we hit them with three things. They’ll bite on one, and we’ll get all of our stuff done, bang, bang, bang,” he said.
Nearly a year into Trump’s second term, their “flood the zone strategy” has been in full effect.
His administration has unveiled sweeping changes to how America’s government operates in ways that have had and will have dramatic effects on how everyday people live for years to come. But those changes have come in such rapid-fire succession that nearly 365 days after Trump was sworn in on a freezing January day last year, it’s hard to even begin to remember what he’s done.
Here are some of the wildest stories from the White House in 2025:
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Donald Trump’s return to the White House has come with big changes and constant headlines. Here is a look back at some of the wildest stories. (Getty Images)
The Purge of the Watchdogs
Five days after his swearing-in, Trump committed a Friday-night massacre of the independent inspectors general who root out waste, fraud and abuse within federal agencies and departments.
The late-night purge removed the inspectors general at nearly every Cabinet-level agency without warning and in violation of a longstanding law requiring the president to notify Congress of his intent to fire any such official 30 days before actually doing so.
Only the watchdogs at the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security were permitted to remain in their jobs.
Trump, who fired a number of inspectors general during his first term in an effort to kneecap their ability to investigate wrongdoing by his appointees, defended the illegal move as “very common” while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the first weekend golf outing of his second term.
“I don’t know them … but some people thought that some were unfair or some were not doing their job. It’s a very standard thing to do,” he said.
The purge took out Senate-confirmed watchdogs at the departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Energy, Commerce, Treasury and Agriculture, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, Small Business Administration and the Social Security Administration. The move allowed Trump fill the positions with loyalists.
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Days after taking office, Trump removed several government watchdogs from their post. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz was just one of two watchdogs spared by Trump’s January 25 purge (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The U.S. Takeover of Gaza that never happened
Less than a month in the White House, Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an official visit.
Netanyahu’s trip was his first appearance there in quite some time, as Trump’s predecessor, former president Joe Biden, had declined to invite the Israeli leader due to election-year sensitivities around Israel’s brutal campaign of bombing civilian targets in Gaza to retaliate for the October 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas.
Just weeks earlier, the Biden and Trump teams had shared credit for what was billed at the time as a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, though the agreement quickly collapsed.
But as Netanyahu stood beside him in the East Room, Trump offered up another plan for the war-torn territory that sent Middle East experts’ heads spinning as the president claimed the U.S. would “take over” Gaza, displacing the 2.1 million Palestinians living there while the territory is rebuilt as “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
The president’s shocking proposal to put the Gaza Strip — territory that Israel has occupied since the end of the 1967 Six-Day War — under American control came at the start of a madcap marathon press conference in the East Room following a bilateral meeting with Netanyahu, the first foreign leader Trump has hosted since returning to the White House last month.
He claimed that “everybody” he had spoken to about the plan “loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent.”
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Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take questions during a press conference in the East Room of the White House. (AFP via Getty Images)
“I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months, and I’ve seen it from every different angle, and it’s a very, very dangerous place to be, and it’s only going to get worse. And I think this is an idea that’s gotten tremendous … praise. And if the United States can help to bring stability and peace in the Middle East, we’ll do that,” Trump added.
His comments drew widespread criticism around the world, with Saudi Arabia saying it “unequivocally rejected” the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, and Hamas branding the idea “ridiculous and absurd.”
The White House walked back the idea less than a day later, and the president’s aborted plan was later superseded by the ceasefire agreement negotiated between Israel and Hamas with the aid of Egypt, Qatar and other regional powers in October.
Trump targets a critic with his very own executive order
During his 2024 campaign against former Biden, and later former vice president Kamala Harris, Trump was fond of telling supporters that he would be their “retribution” if he was elected again.
Since taking office, he’s made good on that promise in ways that critics say have strained the rule of law and undermined the independence of the Department of Justice.
But Trump took an unprecedented step on his “retribution” tour in April by ordering the Department of Justice to investigate one of his most prominent first-term critics — for anything that can be found to investigate.
The order singled out Miles Taylor, a veteran of multiple Republican administrations who served as chief of staff to then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly during the president’s first term. During that time, Taylor infamously penned an anonymous New York Times op-ed — and later a book — describing efforts by Trump administration personnel to shield the government from Trump’s worst instincts.
White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said at the time that the order stripped Taylor “of any active clearance that he has in light of his past activities involving classified information” even though Taylor’s writings weren’t alleged to have included anything classified at all.
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Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, was as a major critic of Trump. He was targeted by the White House soon after Trump returned to Washington. (AFP/Getty)
“It’s also going to order the Department of Justice to investigate his activities, to see what else might come up in that context, given his egregious behavior during your previous administration,” Scharf added.
The same day, Trump signed a similar order directing a probe of Chris Krebs, the security expert who headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency during his first term. Krebs had incurred Trump’s ire in the immediate wake of the 2020 election — which Trump lost to Joe Biden — by stating publicly that the election was the most secure in the country’s 250-year history.
He also said there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised” during the 2020 election, directly contradicting Trump’s false claims of fraud.
That order further targeted Krebs’ employer, the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, by ordering the stripping of security clearances “held by individuals at entities associated with Krebs, including SentinelOne, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest.”
Eight months later, neither Taylor nor Krebs has been accused of any crime, but Trump has continued to escalate his campaign of revenge against critics and adversaries by ordering the Justice Department to prosecute ex-FBI director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, among others.
Those efforts have thus far been stymied by federal judges who dismissed a pair of indictments against both Comey and James on the grounds that the ex-White House official who Trump installed as a prosecutor in Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed.
Trump suggests he’s above the law with dubious Napoleon quote
Less than a month after he swore to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution, Trump took to social media to push back against the myriad challenges to his blitzkrieg of executive actions and threats to federal agencies from the then-Elon Musk-ed Department of Government Efficiency by invoking a movie quote from a film about Napoleon, who justified his despotic regime as the will of the people of France.
Writing on X and Truth Social on February 15, Trump said: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
Trump, whose efforts to gut federal funding, fire thousands of aid workers and unilaterally redefine the 14th Amendment had been swiftly blocked by federal courts across the country in the opening salvos of what has become a series of months-long legal battles, appeared to be lifting a line 1970 film Waterloo, in which actor Rod Steiger’s Napoleon states that he “did not ‘usurp’ the crown.”
“I found it in the gutter, and I picked it up with my sword, and it was the people … who put it on my head,” he says. “He who saves a nation violates no law,” Steiger said.
Four days later, Trump went even further by crowning himself “king” of his former home, New York City, after the Department of Transportation purported to order the withholding of federal funds to New York unless it nixed the congestion pricing plan that the Democratic-led city government implemented.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD,” he wrote February 19 on Truth Social. “Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
The White House’s X account then shared his statement with a mock cover of Time magazine featuring a portrait of the president wearing a crown with the caption “long live the king.”
Then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich also shared an AI-generated image of the president wearing a crown and regal cape.
In response, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and federal transportation officials, arguing the Trump administration unlawfully and “precipitously — and for blatantly political reasons— purported to ‘terminate’ the program, as then-candidate Trump proclaimed he would do in his first week in office.”
A federal judge later blocked the Trump administration from withholding funds in retaliation for the congestion pricing scheme, and the MTA’s lawsuit seeking to permanently enjoin the administration from doing so remains ongoing.
WORLD NEWS
Janelle Brown Shares Update on North Carolina Farm as Her ‘Dream’ Property Starts to ‘Take Shape’
NEED TO KNOW
- Janelle Brown is sharing an update on her “dream” home at her North Carolina farm
- “For the first time it looks (almost) complete,” she wrote on Instagram, sharing a picture of the property’s exterior weeks after showing off the interior in November
- The Sister Wives star first told her followers about her North Carolina property in December 2024
Janelle Brown is getting closer and closer to her dream home.
On Friday, Dec. 26, the Sister Wives star gave fans an update on her “dream” property in North Carolina in an Instagram post. Brown, 56, first told her followers about the 156-acre property in December 2024.
“Today we were out at the property. And as I came around the bend on the road I caught this photo. For the first time it looks (almost) complete. And this part of the dream seems tangible,” Brown captioned a picture of her house’s exterior.
“There is still so much of the inside to finish,” she continued. “The kitchen cupboards and dry wall is finished. That is about all.”
Janelle Brown via Instagram.
Janelle Brown/Instagram
Brown’s followers were excited to hear about the progress. “dreams do come true…. it’s never too late !! so happy for you! cant wait to see the completed forever home,” one fan said.
“What an exciting news chapter in your life…one that you can write,” another wrote. “Congratulations, this is a well deserved dream unfolding.” Others said they loved her front porch.
Days before, the TLC star wrote about how it still surprises her how peaceful she finds the North Carolina farmland. “The farm, the quiet, the way my shoulders drop the second I step outside,” she wrote in part on Dec. 22.
“Life was so loud for so long and having this space — literally and emotionally — has made me see how much I’d been holding without even noticing,” she continued about her new home. “It’s funny how the place you never imagined becomes the place that puts you back together.”
Brown first told her followers about the North Carolina purchase in December 2024 and has been providing plenty of updates on the property’s development.
“Finally putting down some permanent roots. Doesn’t look like much yet but it will 💪🏻,” she posted on Instagram at the time, alongside a video of the property’s vast greenery. “I like the wild feel that it has now and we are planning for many acres to stay that way for the benefit of the wildlife.”
She purchased the land with her daughter Madison Brush and son-in-law Caleb Brush. Their house is located “maybe 100” yards away door to door, facing one another. Together, the trio founded Taeda Farms, whose motto is “building beauty from the ground up.”
Janelle Brown via Instagram.
Janelle Brown/Instagram
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In November, she called building a new house “messy, emotional and one of the most exciting things I’ve done.”
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
WORLD NEWS
Tortured Reiner family history REVEALED: Rob’s troubled relationship with his father… and how it was mirrored in his bond with his son
Rob Reiner’s complicated relationship with his famous father shaped a lifelong mission to save his own troubled son – a mission that may have ultimately cost the filmmaker his life.
The actor and director spoke candidly over the years about yearning for validation from Hollywood icon dad Carl Reiner, and his commitment to being a better parent to his own children, particularly younger son, Nick, 32, who has long struggled with addiction and instability.
But that private, painful struggle appeared to a devastating twist when Nick allegedly cut the throats of both his father Rob, 78, and his mother Michele, 70, at their Brentwood home on December 14.
Authorities say the couple died from ‘multiple sharp-force injuries.’
The killings have highlighted the unresolved father-son dynamic that shaped Rob Reiner’s life.
Speaking about his childhood in an interview with NPR’s Fresh Air, just three months ago, Reiner said: ‘I felt that my father didn’t, you know, love me or understand me.’
Host Terry Gross noted that those feelings seemed at odds with what Reiner had described as his affection and admiration for Carl. But Reiner had no trouble explaining the contradiction.
‘Well, they’re not,’ he said. ‘Because loving your father and looking up to your father doesn’t necessarily mean you’re feeling that back, that you’re feeling that from him,’ he said, noting that the older man didn’t really know him as a boy and young man, let alone lavish praise on him.
Rob Reiner had candidly spoken about his own painful, complicated relationship with his late father, Carl Reiner, months before his shocking murder
The legendary film director was determined to be a different kind of parent to his own children, specifically, his troubled, drug-addict son Nick
Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 aged 98, was a comic and actor who performed alongside Sid Caesar before creating The Dick Van Dyke Show and going on to direct successful comedies including The Jerk, Oh, God! and All of Me, among others.
Gross went on to ask about Reiner’s relationship with Nick, whose long history of substance abuse was the subject of Being Charlie, a semi-biographical film about a privileged drug addict child of a high-profile actor turned politician, on which the father and son collaborated in 2015.
‘Did you feel like your son was sending you the message that you were sometimes too busy to pay attention to him?’ Gross asked.
‘I was never, ever too busy,’ Reiner answered, unequivocally. ‘I mean, if anything, I was the other way.
‘I was more hands-on and trying to do whatever I thought I could do to help.’
Rob was quick to note that Nick had turned his life around since the years that inspired him to co-write the film with Matt Elisofon, a friend from rehab.
‘He’s been great. He hasn’t been doing drugs for over six years.
Rob and wife Michele shared three children, Jake, Nick, and Romy; pictured at the premiere of Rumor Has It in 2005
The Reiner family all shared their support for Romy at her high school graduation
‘I mean, he’s in a really good place…,’ he said.
Rob Reiner was born in 1947, the eldest of three children. His sister Annie, is an artist, poet, playwright, painter and psychoanalyst, and brother Lucas is a painter, printmaker, photographer and filmmaker. Both live near the home where Rob and Michele were killed.
Estelle, their mother, was an actress and singer, best remembered for her late-career cameo appearance in Reiner’s famed 1989 romcom, When Harry Met Sally.
She delivered the legendary line: ‘I’ll have what she’s having,’ in the famous scene in which Meg Ryan’s character faked an orgasm in a deli. Estelle died at age 84 in 2008.
Rob revered his dad, even announcing at age eight, that he wanted to change his name to Carl.
‘I loved him so much, I just wanted to be like him and I wanted to do what he did and I just looked up to him so much,’ he told Gross.
Nick is charged with murdering his parents
Nick was in court Wednesday wearing a blue anti-suicide vest, it was his first appearance since the death of his parents. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder
The couple was killed inside their mansion in Brentwood, a ritzy neighborhood in Los Angeles on December 14
He talked about yearning for his father’s validation, and finally earning it after directing a version of Jean Paul Sartre’s play, ‘No Exit,’ at a Los Angeles theater at age 19.
‘He came backstage after the performance. And he looked me in the eye, and he said, that was good. No bull****. And that’s the first time he ever said anything like that to me,’ Reiner said.
Reiner went on to make a name for himself, at first with his Emmy-winning role as Mike ‘Meathead’ Stivic, the liberal, college-educated son-in-law of Archie Bunker in All in the Family, a sitcom largely about generational divides.
Norman Lear, who created the show, was a close friend of his father.
In his interview with Gross, Reiner spoke about finally differentiating himself from his dad when directing Stand By Me, which he later cited as his favorite piece of work partly because one of its characters, Gordie, felt similarly unloved and misunderstood by his father.
‘It wasn’t until I did Stand By Me that I really started to feel very separate and apart from my father,’ he told Gross.
‘And when it became successful, I said, oh, OK. I can go in the direction that I want to go in and not feel like I have to, you know, mirror everything my father has done up till then.’
In 2017, Rob and Carl Reiner became the first father and son pair to be honored together during a Hand and Footprint Ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre. Rob referred to his dad as his idol.
Reiner went on to follow in his father’s professional footsteps as a director and actor, getting his big break on CBS sitcom All in the Family, created by his dad’s close friend Norman Lear, pictured in 2017
The film director made no secret about his complicated relationship with his father, who he noted, despite his flaws, he loved deeply. Carl Reiner died in 2014
Reiner was a supportive father to his own four kids, including Tracy Reiner, 61, the daughter of his first-wife, actress Penny Marshall, who played Laverne on the sitcom Laverne & Shirley and died in 2018. Reiner adopted Tracy as a child.
‘I came from one of the greatest families ever and now I have a lot of flagpoles missing – people who held me up,’ she told the Daily Mail on Sunday in the hours after learning of Reiner’s murder.
Tracy, an on-again, off-again actress, has had small roles in several films connected to her family, including work by both her parents.
Rob, who gleaned his love of baseball from his father, shared it with Jake, 34, his eldest child with Michele. Reiner and Michele met while making When Harry Met Sally.
Jake, a former journalist, is an actor and writer. He told People in 2023 that he and his dad regularly attended games together and talked daily about their beloved Los Angeles Dodgers.
Social media posts by Romy Reiner, 28, Rob’s youngest child with Michele, show an exceptionally close and playful relationship in which father and daughter shared progressive politics.
She can be seen in one post giving him a home haircut as they joked about the possibility of her having a Brazilian butt lift to make her more ‘marketable’ in show business.
Jake and Romy issued a statement last week calling their parents’ deaths ‘horrific and devastating.’
Reiner was a supportive father to his own four kids, who include Tracy Reiner, 61, the daughter of his first-wife, actress Penny Marshall, who died in 2018. Reiner adopted Tracy as a child
Along with Nick, he shared daughter Romy and older son Jake Reiner, with his wife Michele
‘Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,’ they wrote.
‘They weren’t just our parents,’ the pair continued. ‘They were our best friends.’
It was Rob’s relationship with his son Nick that has had by far the most scrutiny.
Rob and Michele realized that Nick had been using drugs just before his 15th birthday.
‘I was never angry,’ Rob told People. ‘I felt bad for him and I didn’t know what to do to help – and a lot of times parents don’t know what to do.’
The father-son duo did a string of joint interviews together in 2016 after the release of ‘Being Charlie.’
By that point, Nick had been in and out of nearly two dozen rehab programs and had cycled in and out of homelessness.
The film ended up being as much, if not more, about the father’s take on his son’s addiction as the son’s own experience.
‘Charlie, I know you’re angry at me and probably don’t want to hear this right now, but I do love you,’ the father, played by Cary Elwes, tells his son.
‘I’m sorry. Every expert with a desk and a diploma told me I had to be tough at you, but every time we sent you away to another one of those programs I saw you slipping away from us.
‘And all I could tell myself is that I’d rather have you alive and hating me than dead on the streets.’
A Daily Mail review of their promotional interviews shows Rob did most of the talking, acknowledging that the end result was more a film that he, as the director, envisioned than one that Nick, a co-writer, would have wanted.
Rob spoke about his insistence at points that Nick enroll in inpatient rehabilitation centers rather than programs in which he could continue living at home, as he wanted.
Although he said tough love didn’t come naturally to him, he relied on experts’ advice to practice it in hopes of helping his son break the cycle of addiction. He said he later realized what deep anger it triggered in Nick, and that working together on the film helped heal their relationship.
Nick sounded less upbeat about their collaboration, saying ‘there were disagreements’ and ‘at times it was really rough’ working with his father.
At one point, he said in an interview, ‘I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do this.’
Nick Reiner had a long history of substance abuse and had spoken about it publicly alongside his father
Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead in their home on Sunday with stab wounds. Their cause of death was a result of ‘multiple sharp force injuries,’ according to a report from the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner
His career in show business seems to have ended after that film and it is unclear what, if anything, has done for work in the decade since. He had been living in his parents’ guest house until Sunday.
One friend told the Daily Mail that Rob and Michele’s approach to Nick was ‘an approach of acceptance, of hope, like, “Nick is Nick and can be a pain, but we’re all 100 percent behind him”.
‘They really knew Nick, and saw him, and had enormous empathy and patience for him.’
A contemporary of Nick who has known the family since childhood said Nick was always uncomfortable with his status as a nepo baby and couldn’t seem to shake feelings of shame that he was somehow breaking a legacy set by his more brilliant and accomplished father and grandfather.
‘My sense was that he knew he failed to launch and hated himself for it,’ she said.
‘Nick came from one of the best, warmest, most loving families I know. But maybe all the love in the world couldn’t fix whatever he was going through.’
Nick appeared in court on Wednesday wearing an anti-suicide vest. Prosecutors have yet to announce whether they will seek the death penalty in the double-murder case against him.
His family has hired A-list defense attorney Alan Jackson. In their statement Wednesday, his brother and sister asked that speculation about him and the case be ‘tempered with compassion and humanity’ as authorities investigate what happened.
A man aged just 20 has died and several others have been injured after a crash in Northern Ireland in the early hours of Boxing Day
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Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak jailed for 15 more years in 1MDB graft scandal | Najib Razak
The jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been sentenced to an additional 15 years after he was found guilty of abuse of power, in the biggest trial yet in the multibillion-dollar fraud scandal related to the state fund 1MDB.
Najib’s conviction substantially increases the six-year prison term he is already serving for a separate case related to the 1MDB graft scandal, one of the world’s biggest financial frauds in which billions were plundered from the now defunct sovereign wealth fund.
In the latest case, Najib had been charged with four counts of corruption and 21 counts of money laundering for receiving illegal transfers of about 2.2bn ringgit ($544.15m) from 1MDB. He has consistently denied wrongdoing in the scandal, which dented Malaysia’s image abroad.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who was presiding, convicted Najib, 72, on all four counts of abuse of power. The former PM will also face a verdict on 21 counts of money laundering linked to the fund, which prompted investigations in several countries, from Singapore to the US.
The judge said in his verdict: “The contention by the accused that the charges against him were a witch-hunt and politically motivated were debunked by the cold, hard and incontrovertible evidence against him that pointed towards the accused having abused his own powerful position in 1MDB, coupled with the extensive powers conferred upon him.”
Malaysian and US investigators say at least $4.5bn was stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund Najib co-founded in 2009 while in office. More than $1bn allegedly made its way into accounts linked to Najib, who has denied wrongdoing.
The ruling could add to tensions in the prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim’s, governing alliance, which includes the once dominant United Malays National Organisation, over which Najib, its former leader, has retained significant influence.
Najib has been in prison since August 2022, when Malaysia’s top court upheld a corruption conviction for illegally receiving funds from a 1MDB unit. His 12-year jail sentence in that case was halved last year by a pardons board.
Najib is the son of one of the country’s founding fathers and was groomed for leadership from a young age until his spectacular fall from power. He had been seen as untouchable until public anger over the 1MDB corruption scandal led to the 2018 election defeat of his ruling party, which had governed since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957.
Prosecutors say Najib abused his positions as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chair to move large amounts of money from the fund into his personal accounts more than a decade ago.
According to investigators, proceeds from the state fund were used to bankroll high-end real estate, a luxury yacht and precious artworks.
Najib has repeatedly said he was misled by 1MDB officials and the fugitive financier Jho Low, who has been charged in the US for his central role in the case. Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, has denied wrongdoing.
The judge dismissed several of the defence lawyers’ arguments, including that Najib was duped by Low, his close associate. He also dismissed arguments that the money flowing into Najib’s accounts was “donations” from Middle East funders, calling it a “tale that surpassed even those from the Arabian Nights”.
The prosecution presented bank records, testimony from more than 50 witnesses and documentary evidence.
Najib “paints himself as a victim of rogue subordinates, when in truth, he was the single most powerful decision maker”, the deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib told the court during closing arguments. “The accused wielded absolute financial, executive and political control,” he said.
Najib has apologised for allowing the 1MDB scandal to happen during his tenure, but maintains he knew nothing about illegal transfers from the fund.
His legal battle was dealt a blow on Monday after he lost an application to serve the remainder of his first jail term at home rather than the Kajang prison, outside Kuala Lumpur.
Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press contributed reporting