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US President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a glittering New Year’s Eve party at his lavish Mar-a-Lago resort on Wednesday, according to social media.Netanyahu, who arrived at the US president’s Palm Beach residence on Monday, was spotted alongside tuxedo-clad Trump Wednesday night in a social media post from conservative influencer Michael Solakiewicz.Trump had joked that the Israeli leader could attend the party during meetings Monday to discuss the fragile Gaza ceasefire and other regional geopolitical concerns in the Middle East.The party guest list included Trump’s ardent supporters Rudy Giuliani and Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, along with his sons Eric and Don Jr., and top members of his administration, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.The Gaza ceasefire in October is one of the major achievements of Trump’s first year back in power, but some White House officials fear Netanyahu is slow-walking the process.This week, Trump downplayed reports of tensions with Netanyahu over the second stage of the ceasefire, saying that Israel had “lived up” to its commitments and that the onus was on Palestinian militant group Hamas.Siding with the Israeli premier, Trump said he was “not concerned about anything that Israel’s doing.”This week’s talks mark the fifth such meeting in the United States since Trump’s return to power this year.

Revellers around the world toasted the start of 2026 on Thursday, bidding farewell to a volatile year when temperatures soared, US President Donald Trump upended global trade, and the brutal conflict in Ukraine raged on.While a fragile truce took hold in devastated Gaza, violence in Sudan continued unabated. A new American pope was installed at the Vatican, the world lost pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall, and Labubu dolls sparked a worldwide frenzy.In Sydney, partygoers paused for a minute of silence to remember the victims of the mass shooting on Bondi Beach before fireworks lit up the skies at the stroke of midnight.Heavily armed police patrolled the shoreline, packed with hundreds of thousands of people, barely two weeks after 15 people were gunned down at a Jewish festival in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting for almost 30 years.The famed Sydney Harbour Bridge was bathed in white light to symbolise peace.Pacific nations including Kiribati and New Zealand were the first to see in 2026, with Seoul and Tokyo following Sydney in celebrations that make their way around the globe with each passing hour.In Hong Kong, a major New Year fireworks display was cancelled in homage to 161 people killed in a fire in November that engulfed several apartment blocks.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was “10 percent” away from a deal to end the fighting, soon to reach the four-year mark.Russia’s Vladimir Putin meanwhile used his traditional New Year address to urge his compatriots to believe that Moscow would deliver a victory in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.In the Ukrainian city of Vyshgorod, beauty salon manager Daria Lushchyk said the war had made her work “hell” but that her clients were still showing up.”Nothing can stop our Ukrainian girls from coming in and getting themselves glam,” Lushchyk said.- Tariffs and fragile truce -This year has brought a mix of stress and excitement for many, war for others still — and a daring jewel heist at the Louvre.Pop megastar Taylor Swift got engaged to her American football player boyfriend Travis Kelce, and K-pop heartthrobs BTS made their long-awaited return.Trump returned as US president in January, launching a tariff blitz that sent global trade and world stock markets into meltdown.As he prepared to host a New Year’s party at his lavish Florida home, the Republican president launched a broadside at Oscar-winning actor George Clooney.After two years of war that left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins, pressure from Trump helped land a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October — though both sides have accused each other of flagrant violations.”We bid farewell to 2025 with deep sorrow and grief,” said Gaza City resident Shireen Al-Kayali. “We lost a lot of people and our possessions. We lived a difficult and harsh life, displaced from one city to another, under bombardment and in terror.”In contrast, there was optimism despite abiding internal challenges in Syria, where residents of the capital Damascus celebrated a full year since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.”There is no fear, the people are happy, all of Syria is one and united, and God willing…it will be a good year for the people and the wise leadership,” marketing manager Sahar al-Said, 33, told AFP as bells rang in Damascus.In Dubai, thousands of revellers queued for up to nine hours for a spectacular fireworks and laser display at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.Revellers popped champagne near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Bulgaria adopted the euro, and huge crowds danced at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party.More than 2.5 million people were expected to pack Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach for what authorities have called the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve party.Crowds packed the city’s expansive coastline for concerts and fireworks, mostly dressed in white, a tradition related to Iemanja, the goddess of the sea in Afro-Brazilian faiths.In the US capital, the Washington Monument will be lit up to kick off America’s 250th birthday celebration year.And in New York, thousands gathered in freezing temperatures amid tight security for the traditional ball drop in Times Square.- Sports, space and AI -The coming 12 months promise to be full of sports, space and questions over artificial intelligence.Athletes will gather in Italy in February for the Winter Olympics.And for a few weeks in June and July, 48 nations will compete in the biggest football World Cup in history in the United States, Mexico and Canada.NASA is planning a crewed mission to circle the moon during a 10-day flight, more than 50 years since the last Apollo lunar mission.And after years of unbridled enthusiasm, AI is facing scrutiny, and nervous investors are questioning whether the boom might now resemble a market bubble.bur-pbt-cw-sst/sla/tc

US President Donald Trump piled on criticism Wednesday of a decision to grant Hollywood superstar George Clooney French passports after a junior government official in Paris labelled the move a “double standard”.An official decree seen by AFP on Monday showed that 64-year-old Oscar winner Clooney, his wife Amal Alamuddin Clooney and their two children had become French citizens.Trump, whose administration has backed anti-immigration parties in Europe, said that Paris was welcome to the “Ocean’s Eleven” star, a long-term Democratic supporter, fundraiser and a vocal critic of the president.”Good News! George and Amal Clooney, two of the worst political prognosticators of all time, have officially become citizens of France which is, sadly, in the midst of a major crime problem because of their absolutely horrendous handling of immigration,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.The news of Clooney and his family becoming French comes ahead of language requirements for citizenship being toughened for everyone else under new immigration rules from January 1.A junior member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government had also criticised the decision to award passports despite Clooney speaking poor French.”Personally, I understand the feeling of some French people of a double standard,” Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a junior interior minister, told the France Info radio station.”We need to be careful about the message we’re sending.”Her boss, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, and the foreign ministry however defended the decision.The civil code states that “French nationality may be conferred by naturalization, upon the proposal of the minister of foreign affairs, to any French-speaking foreigner who applies for it and who contributes through their distinguished service to France’s influence and the prosperity of its international economic relations.”But Clooney has admitted that his French remains poor despite hundreds of lessons.Under the new immigration rules from Thursday, applicants will need a certificate showing they have a level of French that could get them into a French university. They will also have to pass a civic knowledge test.Clooney has a property in southern France and said he has hailed French privacy laws that keep his family largely protected from international media intrusion.”I love the French culture, your language, even if I’m still bad at it after 400 days of courses,” the actor told RTL radio — in English — in December.His wife, an international human rights lawyer and dual UK-Lebanese national, speaks fluent French.- ‘Meets the conditions’ -Clooney bought the Domaine du Canadel, a former wine estate, near the Provence town of Brignoles, in 2021. He said it is where his family is “happiest”.Nunez, the interior minister, said he was “very happy” with the actor and his family becoming French, saying the country was lucky to have them.The French foreign ministry said the passport allocation for the Clooneys “meets the conditions set by law” for naturalisation.The family “followed a rigorous procedure including security investigations, regulatory naturalization interviews at the prefecture, and the payment of tax stamps,” the ministry added.It highlighted the Clooneys had a French home and they “contribute through their distinguished service to France’s international influence and cultural prestige” through the actor’s role in the film industry.This “can only contribute to maintaining and promoting France’s position in this essential economic sector”, it said.Amal Clooney is “a renowned lawyer” who “regularly collaborates with academic institutions and international organisations based in France”, the ministry added.Around 48,800 people acquired French nationality by decree in 2024, according to interior ministry figures.Clooney is not alone in wanting a French passport.Hollywood director Jim Jarmusch announced on Friday that he was also applying, telling French radio that he wanted “a place to where I can escape the United States”.

Donald Trump joked about quitting as US president if his hosting of the annual Kennedy Center awards went well.But viewership ratings for this year’s annual ceremony plummeted to a record low amid controversy over his takeover of the premier Washington arts complex, to which Trump’s name was added this month.The 2025 awards broadcast on CBS averaged 3.01 million viewers, according to a report from Nielsen Live + Same Day Panel + Big Data, cited by industry journals Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.The figure was down 25 percent from 2024’s figure of 4.1 million viewers, which was itself a record low and down from 2023’s 4.5 million.Former reality TV star Trump was the first US president to host the awards gala, which this year honored “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, “Phantom of the Opera” star Michael Crawford, disco legend Gloria Gaynor, rock band KISS and country legend George Strait.Since returning to office in January, the 79-year-old Republican has launched a forceful takeover of the center, branding it too “woke” and installing himself as chairman of a hand-picked board.Shortly before the December 23 broadcast of the awards ceremony, which was taped on December 7, Trump took to his Truth Social network to say he was hosting it at the request of “just about everybody.””Tell me what you think of my ‘Master of Ceremony’ abilities. If really good, would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make ‘hosting’ a full time job?” he posted.The center was renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center earlier this month in a vote by the board that sparked outrage from family members of the late John F. Kennedy.A number of artists including a prominent jazz group and a dance company have since canceled shows at the center to protest the new name.Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the arts center, denounced the performers canceling shows and said they “were booked by the previous far left leadership.””Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome,” he wrote on X late Monday.According to US media reports, ticket sales have declined since the new board of directors took over.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was withdrawing National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, following a series of legal setbacks over his military deployments in US cities.The Republican had sent troops into several cities run by Democrats during his first year back in power, in what he called a crackdown on illegal immigration and crime.Local leaders slammed the moves as authoritarian overreach and launched a string of successful legal challenges, with the US Supreme Court last week blocking the Chicago deployment.”We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.In the message on New Year’s Eve, Trump said the three cities “were GONE if it weren’t for the Federal Government stepping in.””We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time!” Trump added.Trump’s deployments of National Guard troops have been a centerpiece of his hardline policies on immigration and crime since returning to the White House in January.The 79-year-old billionaire and former reality star has also sent the National Guard into the capital Washington and to Memphis, Tennessee, and threatened to send them to San Francisco.But the Trump administration had already begun to pull some troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland in recent weeks as court judgments went against it.”He lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said on X.- ‘Illegal intimidation tactic’ -Los Angeles became the first city to have troops on the streets in June when Trump went over the heads of local Democratic leaders to order 4,000 National Guard reservists to put down protests over immigration raids.Those local leaders said the relatively minor protests, which affected only a few blocks in America’s second largest metropolis, could easily be handled by city, county and state law enforcement.On December 10, a federal judge ordered Trump’s administration to end the Los Angeles deployment and return control of the soldiers to California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.Most had already been demobilized, with the US military saying 100 Guard troops remained deployed at the time.Hours before Trump’s announcement, Newsom said the administration had formally stopped opposing the federal court’s ruling on the troops. An appellate court made it official, ruling that the lower court’s order to return control should move forward.”This admission by Trump and his occult cabinet members means this illegal intimidation tactic will finally come to an end,” Newsom, who is widely seen as a likely Democratic contender for the presidency in 2028, said on X.Trump meanwhile ordered military forces from Texas and California to Chicago and Portland in early October. As of last week, some 300 National Guard troops remained activated in the Chicago area but were not engaged in operations.A judge in November ruled the Portland deployment unlawful and ordered it permanently blocked.

Zohran Mamdani, the young upstart of the US left, was readying Wednesday to take over as New York mayor for a term sure to see him cross swords with President Donald Trump.After the clocks strike midnight (0500 GMT Thursday), bringing in 2026, Mamdani will take his oath of office at an abandoned subway stop, taking the helm of the United States’ largest city. He will be New York’s first Muslim mayor.His office says the understated venue for the swearing-in reflects his commitment to working people, after the 34-year-old Democrat campaigned on promises to address the soaring cost of living. “Our campaign was built around listening to the people of New York, and we will govern in the same way. Tomorrow, we get to work,” Mamdani said Wednesday on X.But it remains to be seen if Mamdani — virtually unknown a year ago — can deliver on his ambitious agenda, which envisions rent freezes, universal childcare and free public buses.Once an election is over, “symbolism only goes so far with voters. Results begin to matter a whole lot more,” New York University lecturer John Kane said.How Trump handles Mamdani’s arrival at City Hall could be a decisive factor. The Republican, himself a New Yorker, has repeatedly criticized Mamdani, but the pair held surprisingly cordial talks at the White House in November.Lincoln Mitchell, a political analyst and professor at Columbia University, said the meeting “couldn’t have gone better from Mamdani’s perspective.”But he warned their relationship could quickly sour. One flashpoint might be immigration raids as Trump wages an expanding crackdown on migrants across the United States.Mamdani has vowed to protect immigrant communities.Before the November vote, the president also threatened to slash federal funding for New York if it picked Mamdani, whom he called a “communist lunatic.”The mayor-elect has said he believes Trump is a fascist.- Block party -Mamdani’s private swearing-in at midnight to start his four-year term will be performed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for fraud.A larger, ceremonial inauguration is scheduled for Thursday with speeches from left-wing allies Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.Around 4,000 ticketed guests are expected to attend the event outside City Hall.Mamdani’s team has also organized a block party that it says will enable tens of thousands of people to watch the ceremony at streetside viewing areas along Broadway.In a first for the city, Mamdani will use several Korans to be sworn in as mayor — two from his family and one that belonged to Puerto Rico-born Black writer Arturo Schomburg, The New York Times reported.The new job comes with a change of address as he swaps his rent-controlled apartment in the borough of Queens for the luxurious mayor’s residence in Manhattan.Some had wondered if he would move to the official mansion given his campaigning on affordability issues. Mamdani said he is doing so mainly for security reasons.Born in Uganda to a family of Indian origin, Mamdani moved to New York at age seven and enjoyed an elite upbringing with only a relatively brief stint in politics, becoming a member of the New York State Assembly before being elected mayor. Compensating for his inexperience, he is surrounding himself with seasoned aides recruited from past mayoral administrations and former US president Joe Biden’s government.Mamdani has also opened dialogue with business leaders, some of whom predicted a massive exodus of wealthy New Yorkers if he won. Real estate leaders have debunked those claims.As a defender of Palestinian rights, he will have to reassure the Jewish community of his inclusive leadership. Recently, one of his hires resigned after it was revealed she had posted antisemitic tweets years ago.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Paris was welcome to Hollywood star George Clooney after the actor got French citizenship — and took the opportunity to bash France, too.Trump, whose administration has backed anti-immigration parties in Europe, said key ally France had a “horrendous” problem with crime and immigration.An official decree seen by AFP on Monday showed that 64-year-old Oscar winner Clooney, his wife Amal Alamuddin Clooney and their two children had become French citizens.”Good News! George and Amal Clooney, two of the worst political prognosticators of all time, have officially become citizens of France which is, sadly, in the midst of a major crime problem because of their absolutely horrendous handling of immigration,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.In one of a string of posts on New Year’s Eve, Trump added that France’s alleged problems were “much like we had under Sleepy Joe Biden,” his Democratic predecessor.”Oceans Eleven” star Clooney is a long-term Democratic supporter and fundraiser, and a vocal critic of Trump.In his social media post, Trump recalled the fact that the actor backed Biden during the 2024 US presidential election but then “dumped” him becoming concerned about the Democrat’s age during a fundraising event he hosted.”Clooney got more publicity for politics than he did for his very few, and totally mediocre, movies. He wasn’t a movie star at all, he was just an average guy who complained, constantly, about common sense in politics,” Trump said.Clooney’s newly acquired citizenship has also raised hackles in France. A junior member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government Wednesday criticized Clooney getting his passport despite speaking poor French, saying the move suggested a “double standard.”The news comes ahead of language requirements for citizenship being toughened for everyone else under new immigration rules from January 1.

The US military announced Wednesday that three people were killed in strikes on three alleged drug boats in international waters, bringing the death toll in Washington’s campaign against what it says are narcotics traffickers to at least 110.US Southern Command, which is responsible for American forces operating in Central and South America, said the strikes on Tuesday targeted “three narco-trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy.” All three people killed were on one boat. The exact location of the strikes was not immediately made clear. Previous strikes have taken place in the Caribbean or the eastern Pacific.The military said that the targeted vessels were operated by “Designated Terrorist Organizations” that it did not identify.Accompanying the statement, posted on X, was a video showing three boats traveling together at sea and then hit by a series of explosions.”Three narco-terrorists aboard the first vessel were killed in the first engagement. The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels,” it said.The military said it had notified the Coast Guard to “activate the Search and Rescue system,” without offering more details about the fate of those aboard the other boats.Since September, the US military has carried out more than 30 such strikes on what it says are boats used to smuggle drugs to the United States, without providing any concrete evidence that the targeted boats are involved in trafficking.International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings as they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.In recent months, US President Donald Trump has waged a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of running a drug cartel.Maduro denies the allegation and has accused Washington of seeking regime change to gain access to the Latin American country’s massive oil reserves.

A former top prosecutor told lawmakers his investigations into Donald Trump demonstrated “beyond a reasonable doubt” the US president committed crimes aimed at overturning the 2020 election and hoarding government documents, according to testimony released Wednesday.The 255-page transcript, made public by the House Judiciary Committee, provides the most comprehensive account yet of former special counsel Jack Smith’s reasoning for charging Trump — and a point-by-point rebuttal to Republican claims that the prosecutions were politically motivated.In a sworn deposition lasting more than eight hours earlier this month, Smith said the decision to bring charges rested with him but stressed that the underlying conduct was Trump’s alone.”Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith said.”Our investigation also developed powerful evidence that showed that President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January of 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a ballroom and a bathroom.”Trump had been charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and obstruct the peaceful transfer of power, and with unlawfully retaining classified documents while blocking efforts to recover them. Both prosecutions were dropped after his reelection, in line with Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.Smith noted that grand juries in two federal districts returned indictments after reviewing evidence gathered by career prosecutors.He said Trump knowingly pursued false claims of election fraud to block certification of the 2020 vote, and rejected arguments that such conduct was protected speech. “There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case,” Smith told lawmakers.Smith also described the 2021 Capitol riot as an assault on American democracy, saying the violence was foreseeable and later exploited to pressure Congress to delay certification of the election results.On the documents case, he said prosecutors uncovered powerful evidence that Trump repeatedly obstructed government efforts to recover the material, though a court order limited what he could disclose.And he repeatedly rejected suggestions that the timing or substance of the prosecutions was influenced by politics or the 2024 presidential race. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today,” he said, “I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.”

A junior member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government Wednesday criticised the French passports given to Hollywood superstar George Clooney despite him speaking poor French, saying the move suggested a “double standard”.The news of Clooney, his wife Amal Clooney and their two children becoming French comes ahead of language requirements for citizenship being toughened for everyone else under new immigration rules from January 1.”Personally, I understand the feeling of some French people of a double standard,” Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a junior interior minister, told the France Info radio station.”We need to be careful about the message we’re sending.”Her boss, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, and the foreign ministry however defended the decision.The civil code states that “French nationality may be conferred by naturalization, upon the proposal of the minister of foreign affairs, to any French-speaking foreigner who applies for it and who contributes through their distinguished service to France’s influence and the prosperity of its international economic relations.”But the 64-year-old Oscar winner has admitted that his French remains poor despite hundreds of lessons.Under the new immigration rules from Thursday, applicants will need a certificate showing they have a level of French that could get them into a French university. They will also have to pass a civic knowledge test.Clooney has a property in southern France and said he has hailed French privacy laws that keep his family largely protected from international media intrusion.”I love the French culture, your language, even if I’m still bad at it after 400 days of courses,” the actor told RTL radio — in English — in December.His wife, an international human rights lawyer and dual UK-Lebanese national, speaks fluent French.- ‘Meets the conditions’ -Clooney bought the Domaine du Canadel, a former wine estate, near the Provence town of Brignoles, in 2021. He said it is where his family is “happiest”.Nunez, the interior minister, said he was “very happy” with the actor and his family becoming French, saying the country was lucky to have them.The French foreign ministry said the passport allocation for the Clooneys “meets the conditions set by law” for naturalization.The family “followed a rigorous procedure including security investigations, regulatory naturalization interviews at the prefecture, and the payment of tax stamps,” the ministry added.It highlighted the Clooneys had a French home and they “contribute through their distinguished service to France’s international influence and cultural prestige” through the actor’s role in the film industry.This “can only contribute to maintaining and promoting France’s position in this essential economic sector”, it said. Amal Clooney is “a renowned lawyer” who “regularly collaborates with academic institutions and international organisations based in France,” the ministry added.Some 48,800 people acquired French nationality by decree in 2024, according to interior ministry figures.Clooney is not alone in wanting a French passport.Hollywood director Jim Jarmusch announced on Friday that he was also applying, telling French radio that he wanted “a place to where I can escape the United States”.