Japan has accepted importing pork from within the containment zone near Spain’s Barcelona
International News via Reuters:
Japan has accepted importing pork from within the containment zone near Spain’s Barcelona that has been processed and refrigerated before the outbreak of African swine fever in the area, the head of Catalonia’s regional agriculture department told reporters on Friday.
Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip
The gunman, identified as Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was found dead Thursday night in a storage rental facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where he had rented a unit last month, officials said
International News via Reuters:
The suspect in last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with investigators certain he also killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days later, officials said on Thursday.
The gunman, identified as Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was found dead Thursday night in a storage rental facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where he had rented a unit last month, officials said.
Valente attended Brown University more than two decades ago as a Ph.D. student in physics and was a former classmate in Portugal of slain MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, 47. Despite those links, authorities said that his motive in the killings remains a mystery.
“I don’t think we have any idea why now, or why Brown, or why these students, why this classroom,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, at a Thursday night press conference in Providence, where the university is located.
Valente entered a building used for Brown’s engineering and physics programs on December 13 and fired at least 44 rounds from his 9 mm pistol, killing two students and injuring another nine, according to the Providence police affidavit for his arrest.
Then, officials say, he fatally shot Loureiro inside his home before disappearing and leading investigators on a manhunt that stretched over five days. Authorities said two guns — including the 9 mm pistol they believe was used in the killings — were found by his corpse.
In Boston, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said at a press conference that investigators had evidence that made them certain that Valente, who was living in Miami and was a lawful permanent resident of the United States, murdered Loureiro in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO HALT DIVERSITY VISA PROGRAM
The Trump administration quickly pointed to Valente’s permanent residency status as a reason to halt the Diversity Immigrant Visa program’s lottery system that awards green cards to people from countries with relatively low numbers of immigrants to the United States.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X late Thursday.
Noem said she would “immediately” implement a directive by President Donald Trump to pause the green-card lottery “to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”
Foley said Valente and Loureiro had attended the same academic program at a university in Portugal from 1995 to 2000.
Valente used a phone that was harder to track and did not use credit cards linked to his name, according to Foley.
“He was sophisticated in hiding his tracks,” she said.
Valente also switched the license plates on his rental car in an effort to avoid capture, officials said.
Foley declined to provide many details about the evidence linking Valente to Loureiro’s murder, but said video images showed a rental car Valente was driving near Loureiro’s home. The IP address associated with Valente’s phone was known to have accessed the internet in the vicinity of the slain professor’s home on the day he was killed, Foley added.
Providence police chief Oscar Perez said at a press conference that investigators believe Valente acted alone.
RENTAL CAR BREAKTHROUGH
The big break in the case came via information from a man who had seen Valente inside a bathroom in the Brown University building where he carried out the shooting a few hours later, Perez said.
The witness told police that he found Valente to be extremely suspicious and followed him out of the building and down a street.
The witness saw Valente unlock his rental car and later gave police a description of that vehicle and its license plate, Perez said. Police reviewed video, found the images of Valente’s car, and from there could trace it back to the rental agency, according to officials and the police affidavit.
The rental agency’s security video included Valente’s face and showed him wearing the same clothing worn by the suspect in footage from the Brown University shooting, officials said. Investigators obtained his name from the car rental agreement, and they noted that license plate readers showed Valente had been in the vicinity of the university from December 1 until nearly two weeks later when he carried out the shooting.
Investigators in Providence had said that Valente, whose face was covered by a mask in video from the day of the Brown University shooting, escaped on foot into nearby streets after carrying out the campus killings. That prompted a search that relied heavily on residential security footage because of a lack of surveillance cameras in the classroom building and surrounding area.
Police released images and video of a man believed to be the shooter, based on survivor accounts, and repeatedly sought the public’s help in identifying him. The footage showed the suspect walking in a nearby neighborhood both before and immediately after the attack.
Reporting by Nate Raymond, Brad Brooks, Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Jana Winter, CJ Gunther, Andrew Hay and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Donna Bryson, David Gregorio, William Mallard and Saad Sayeed
Media reports said the federal jury delivered a mixed verdict on Hannah Dugan, 66, an elected judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, acquitting her of one of the two charges she faced
International News via Reuters:
A Wisconsin judge was found guilty on Thursday of helping a migrant evade a planned immigration arrest outside her courtroom, a U.S. Justice Department official said, a victory for President Donald Trump’s administration in its effort to deter interference with its hardline immigration tactics.
Media reports said the federal jury delivered a mixed verdict on Hannah Dugan, 66, an elected judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, acquitting her of one of the two charges she faced. She was convicted of obstructing a federal proceeding and cleared of a lesser charge accusing her of concealing a person from arrest, the reports said.
Dugan had pleaded not guilty. A spokesperson for her legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This Department will not tolerate obstruction, will enforce federal immigration law, and will hold criminals to account – even those who wear robes,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media post.
The unusual case put a judge on trial for actions she took in her courtroom while overseeing cases and reflects tensions over the Trump administration’s use of courthouses to stage arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The prosecution stemmed from a directive by the Justice Department ordering prosecutors to pursue cases of alleged obstruction of ICE enforcement by local activists and officials resisting Trump’s drive for mass deportations.
Prosecutors alleged that Dugan intended to help a migrant from Mexico, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, escape an immigration arrest when he was scheduled to appear before her on domestic violence charges. They said she diverted federal agents and escorted the man and his attorney out of a non-public exit of her courtroom.
“She was focused on orchestrating Flores-Ruiz’s escape,” prosecutor Keith Alexander said in court. “She knew what she was doing. She did it anyway.”
Dugan’s lawyers had argued that she was following a policy directing staff to alert a supervisor to the presence of ICE in the courthouse. They argued that the incident took place at a time of confusion and uncertainty following two prior ICE arrests in the courthouse.
“All she did was send him out into the hallway with his lawyer,” Dugan’s lawyer Steven Biskupic told the jury during the trial.
DUGAN DIVERTED ICE AGENTS, PROSECUTORS SAY
Agents from ICE and other agencies, dressed in plainclothes, planned to arrest the man in a hallway outside Dugan’s courtroom following his hearing.
Dugan angrily confronted the agents and directed them to the chief judge’s office after learning that ICE was present, according to witness testimony in the case. She then dealt privately with Flores-Ruiz’s case and directed the man and his attorney through a private “jury door,” prosecutors alleged.
Flores-Ruiz walked through a public hallway and was arrested outside the courthouse following a brief foot chase.
Dugan was first elected as a county judge in 2016, and before that served as head of the local branch of Catholic Charities, which provides refugee resettlement programs, among other services.
She spent much of her early career as a lawyer at the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, which serves poor people.
Justice Department officials touted the case as an example of prosecutors’ willingness to pursue powerful public officials. The Trump administration has escalated immigration enforcement at state and local courthouses, viewing them as a reliable and safe venue to make arrests.
Activists and some judges have criticized those efforts, arguing the presence of ICE agents undermines trust in the legal system and could dissuade people from seeking justice.
Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Diana Novak Jones; editing by Scott Malone and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Across from where she had taken cover from the gunshots under a bench, Dadon saw two children stranded out in the open, beside their wounded parents
International News via Reuters:
As two gunmen opened fire on hundreds celebrating Hanukkah on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, 14-year-old Chaya Dadon’s mind was clear.
Across from where she had taken cover from the gunshots under a bench, Dadon saw two children stranded out in the open, beside their wounded parents.
“I knew in that moment, I felt like Hashem was sitting right next to me,” she said in an interview with Reuters, using a Hebrew name for God. “He was whispering into my ear, ‘This is your mission: go save those kids’.”
The schoolgirl left the safety of her hiding spot, pulled the children away and jumped on top of them, covering their bodies with her own. At some point, she was shot in the thigh. But she kept shielding them, reciting the Shema, a Jewish prayer.
“I knew I got shot, but I wasn’t even worried, I channeled all that energy that I had into strength and I made sure that I knew I had to be there for those kids,” she said.
“If I could give up my life saving these children, that’s what I was going to do.”
Her father eventually found them and took her to get help. “When he found me, he told me this after, that I had the girl in this arm and the boy in this arm. And I was just kissing them.”
Sunday’s attack, which officials described as an act of terrorism, killed 15 people and wounded dozens more in Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades. Police allege the Islamic State-inspired attack was carried out by Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed. Sajid was shot dead by police at the scene, while Naveed has been charged with 59 offences including murder and terror.
Dadon’s story is one of several accounts of bravery and heroism that have emerged in the attack’s aftermath, and she resists being singled out.
“I don’t feel like I’m a hero. I feel like everyone was a hero in that situation,” said the teenager, who attended the annual event with a friend.
“I’ve been going my whole life,” she said. “It’s usually such an amazing event.”
Dadon spent four days at the Sydney Children’s Hospital before returning home on Thursday. She is now walking with crutches, which she has decorated with stickers commemorating some of those who were killed.
She still does not know the children she shielded but hopes to connect with them again.
“Those little kids that have been through things that no one should have been through,” she said, but the ordeal would make the Jewish community stronger.
“Even if they can’t see it now, everyone is going to grow stronger because I really feel like that situation, everyone was tested.”
Reporting by Cordelia Hsu in Sydney; Writing by Christine Chen; Editing by Lincoln Feast.
Sterling was mostly flat against the dollar at $1.3378, while the euro was marginally lower at 87.55 pence
International News via Reuters:
The pound held steady against the euro and the dollar on Friday, after the Bank of England delivered an expected rate cut, while hitting its highest since 2008 against the yen, hit by profit-taking following a well-telegraphed Bank of Japan rate increase.
Sterling was mostly flat against the dollar at $1.3378, while the euro was marginally lower at 87.55 pence. However, the pound jumped almost 0.8% on the day against the yen to a high of 209.75, its highest since August 2008, as traders took profit on the positions they had laid on in the run-up to the BOJ’s decision to lift rates.
With the two central banks going the opposite ways, the gap between their interest rates is now at its narrowest in four years, which would usually boost the yen at the expense of the pound. But now, traders are more concerned about Japan’s longer-term finances than what the Japanese currency is yielding at the moment.
The BoE, meanwhile, cut rates by a quarter point, as expected, on Thursday but the narrow vote suggested not all policymakers were convinced much more easing was needed, given that inflation – the highest among the Group of Seven richest economies – remains high. Governor Andrew Bailey said the overall direction for rates was lower, but possibly at a slower rate.
The pound, which has risen 1% this month so far, rose as much as 0.7% on the day after the BoE decision, only to then end Thursday’s session with just a 0.1% gain.
ING strategist Chris Turner said the pound has drawn some initial support from the BoE, which proved not to lean so much in favour of more rate cuts as some had expected, with policymakers flagging wage growth and overall inflation as remaining stubbornly high. But he said sterling strength may not last long and “bears need patience.”
“We suspect that these wage expectations will come down in the New Year in line with lower headline inflation. In all, we continue to expect 25-basis-point rate cuts in February and April, compared to market pricing of just one cut. And that should mean euro/sterling continues to find support ahead of 0.87,” he said.
Markets on Friday showed traders expect at least one more rate cut by June at the latest, with a roughly 50/50 chance of a second by the end of next year, which would take the base rate down to 3.25%, its lowest since late 2022.
Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Tomasz Janowski
Police received reports of gunshots heard in the Bandroom Lane and Spruce Lane areas around 10pm tonight
Police Statement:
Shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Thursday December 18, 2025, police received a report of possible gunshots heard in the area of Spruce Lane, Pembroke.
Officers were dispatched to the location and confirmed that shots had been fired into a nearby residence.
An unresponsive victim was located at the residence.
Officers immediately commenced life-saving measures and Emergency Medical Services was contacted and attended the scene where they continued life saving measures and conveyed the victim to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
We are appealing for residents of Bandroom Lane and Spruce Lane, who may have noticed any suspicious individuals or activity in their neighbourhood, shortly before or after 10:00 o’clock tonight to please call the main police number 295-0011.
No matter how insignificant you may think that information to be, please contact us.
You may also call the independent and confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477 or speak with a police officer you know.
We would particularly like to hear from anyone in those areas who may have Ring or other CCTV cameras.
We are asking that you check your devices to see whether they may have recorded any images of suspicious individuals or unusual activity as this could assist with the investigation into this matter.
A man had to be extracted from one of the vehicles, a woman suffered a suspected back injury and an infant sustained a forehead injury
Shortly before 6:00 p.m. this evening, police and other first responders were dispatched to a three vehicle road traffic collision involving a van, a car and a motorcycle, near Raynor’s gas station, Middle Road, Southampton.
The collision resulted in a number of persons being injured, including a female, with a suspected back injury, a male who had to be extracted from one of the vehicles and an infant with an injury to the forehead.
The roadway was closed while the collision scene was being processed.
Diversions were put in place at Camp Hill and Riviera Road.
Update issued by BPS:
“The roadway has now been reopened to regular traffic flow. We wish to thank the public for their patience and cooperation while the collision scene was being processed.”
Photographer and author Ras Mykkal is stepping up to help a community in Jamaica to recover from the impact of Hurricane Melissa.
He has reduced the cost of his books, and proceeds from sales will go toward re-building Cairn Curran Primary School in Darliston, Westmoreland.
It’s a rural community hit hard by the storm, and funds will also help with shelter, food and medical supplies.
Mr. Mykkal says the effort combines the power of storytelling with humanitarian action, sacrificing personal profit to support those in need.
The appointment of a career diplomat to the high-profile post represents a shift in strategy from Prime Minister Keir Starmer
International News via Reuters:
Britain on Thursday named Christian Turner as its next ambassador to the United States, handing the veteran diplomat one of the country’s most prestigious and politically sensitive postings at a pivotal moment for transatlantic ties.
The appointment of a career diplomat to the high-profile post represents a shift in strategy from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after his decision to send in political appointee Peter Mandelson to build relations with the Trump administration backfired earlier this year.
Mandelson was fired in September over supportive emails he sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that came to light, revealing a much closer than previously acknowledged relationship.
Turner said he was “honoured” to take on the role, describing the UK-U.S. partnership as “rooted in common values, shared security and deep economic ties.”
STARMER HAILS ‘SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP’
Starmer said Turner’s appointment would help reinforce Britain’s close ties with Washington, describing his diplomatic experience as key to maintaining and strengthening the long-standing partnership between the two countries.
“I warmly congratulate him as he starts his work to further build our strong economic and security ties and deliver for the British people,” Starmer said.
Turner, 53, had been appointed as Britain’s next ambassador to the United Nations in New York and was due to take up that role at the end of 2025.
He takes on the crucial brief of managing the UK’s relationship with the Trump administration at a time when the two countries are in open disagreement on issues like free speech and energy policy, but are also working closely together in other areas like AI technology and ending the war in Ukraine.
Turner said he looked forward to working with the Trump administration to bolster the relationship.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Turner’s appointment.
A DIPLOMATIC CAREER LEADING TO TOP POSTING
Turner’s appointment caps a career spanning two decades in foreign policy and national security. A former historical documentary maker before turning to diplomacy, Turner began his government career in the Cabinet Office before joining the foreign office in 2005.
He served as first secretary in Washington from 2002 to 2006, then as director for the Middle East and North Africa during the Arab Spring.
He was the British high commissioner to Kenya from 2012 to 2015, where he led Britain’s response to the Westgate Mall attack and helped steer reconciliation efforts over Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion. Later, he oversaw the London Syria Conference in 2016, which raised billions for refugees.
Turner became the prime minister’s international affairs adviser and deputy national security adviser in 2017, before serving as high commissioner to Pakistan from 2019 to 2023 and most recently as the foreign office’s political director.
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, Turner had pledged to make the U.N. “more effective and efficient at delivering peace, sustainable development, human rights, justice and humanitarian assistance.”
Mandelson, Britain’s first political appointee to the U.S. ambassador role in decades, was dismissed in September after emails revealed he had been close enough to Epstein to call him “my best pal” and had advised him on seeking early release from jail in 2008.
The government said the depth of Mandelson’s ties to Epstein appeared “materially different” from what was known at the time of his appointment.
Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Susan Fenton and Hugh Lawson
Premier and Finance Minister David Burt said the government will hold its next Budget Presentation on February 20th
A near $60 million surplus is outlined in the 2025/26 pre-budget report, it was confirmed today.
Premier and Finance Minister David Burt also tabled the Independent Bermuda Fiscal Responsibility Panel.
The Premier stressed that the public’s input will directly shape the upcoming budget in February.
The Government is inviting residents and business owners to submit their feedback on the pre-budget report online at forum.gov.bm or email openbudget@gov.bm before January 16th.
Leo, the first U.S. pope, appointed a relatively unknown cleric from Illinois, Bishop Ronald Hicks, to replace Dolan as leader of the nation’s second-largest Catholic diocese, home to some 2.8 million Church members
International News via Reuters:
Pope Leo replaced Cardinal Timothy Dolan as leader of the Catholic Church in New York, the Vatican announced on Thursday, sidelining a prominent U.S. Church figure in a major shake-up of the country’s Catholic leadership.
Leo, the first U.S. pope, appointed a relatively unknown cleric from Illinois, Bishop Ronald Hicks, to replace Dolan as leader of the nation’s second-largest Catholic diocese, home to some 2.8 million Church members.
Dolan, Archbishop of New York since 2009 and a former president of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, offered to resign in February upon turning 75, as required by Church law. Cardinals often serve until 80, the mandatory retirement age.
“Hicks represents not just a new chapter for New York but for the American church as a whole,” said David Gibson, a U.S. Church expert.
NEW ARCHBISHOP HAS ‘GREAT HEART’ FOR LATINO COMMUNITY
At a press conference in New York a few hours after the Vatican’s announcement, Hicks, 58, gave some remarks in Spanish before speaking in English. He said he has a “great heart” for the Latino community as a former missionary in Latin America.
Hicks also repeated an earlier endorsement of the U.S. Catholic bishops condemnation of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
He said the U.S. should protect its borders but “also be a country that upholds human dignity, respect, (and) treating each other well”.
Hicks, leader of the Church in Joliet, Illinois, since 2020, has several similarities to Pope Leo. They are both originally from south Chicago suburbs but spent years as missionaries – Leo in Peru while Hicks in El Salvador.
“(Leo) is elevating to the most prominent American see an Illinois native very much like himself,” said Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture.
Hicks joked at the press conference that he and Leo even have the same favourite pizza restaurant.
The Archdiocese of New York is a sprawling and influential institution, serving Catholics across Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island and in seven counties to the north across 296 parishes and hundreds of Catholic schools and hospitals.
Leo’s replacement of Dolan comes as the archdiocese is struggling to raise more than $300 million for expected settlements with survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy.
The archdiocese has entered mediation with some 1,300 alleged survivors, with Dolan announcing on December 8 the archdiocese would cut its operating budget by 10%, lay off staff and sell properties as it sought to raise funds for payouts.
Hicks will be installed in his new role on February 6, the New York archdiocese said in a statement. Dolan will remain as temporary leader in the interim.
HICKS SEEN AS SUPPORTER OF POPE FRANCIS’ REFORMS
Gibson said Hicks is “a soft-spoken Midwesterner who embraces the reformist line of Pope Francis and who is respected by many across the divides in a polarized church.”
The late Pope Francis, who led Catholicism for 12 years until his death in April, pursued a reform agenda and tried to make the Church more inclusive of a diverse range of viewpoints, sometimes creating pushback from conservative cardinals.
In an October pastoral letter to the roughly 520,000 Catholics in Joliet, Hicks did not address political issues or Church reforms and instead urged his people to focus on their prayer lives and to spread their faith among others.
Dolan is seen as a leading conservative among the U.S. bishops, who have become more divided in recent years amid deepening political polarization in the country.
The cardinal delivered one of the invocations at Trump’s second inauguration and praised right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk as a “modern-day St. Paul”, sparking online criticism from a range of Catholics.
Dolan, known for a gregarious personality, is a frequent guest on the conservative Fox & Friends talk show and hosts his own weekly program on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel.
Reporting by Joshua McElwee, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Chizu Nomiyama
