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
BP announced on Wednesday that O’Neill will become CEO in April, making her its first CEO appointed from outside the company and the first woman to head any of the world’s top five oil majors
International News via Reuters:
Energy industry veteran Meg O’Neill, tapped by BP to lead a shake-up at the London-based oil major, made an immediate impact when she took the reins at Australia’s Woodside Energy, clinching a deal that doubled its production portfolio.
Woodside’s 2021 acquisition of BHP’s petroleum assets in a then-$28 billion merger bulked up the Perth-based company with an international footprint during a period of industry consolidation, making it a top-10 global energy independent and a gas powerhouse. Despite O’Neill’s history of acquisitions and investments for the company, Woodside’s shares have underperformed its bigger rivals in the last five years, however.
O’Neill – a 55-year-old American from Boulder, Colorado and the first openly gay woman to helm a FTSE 100 company – joined Woodside in 2018, having spent 23 years at U.S. major Exxon. She had led Woodside since 2021.
BP announced on Wednesday that O’Neill will become CEO in April, making her its first CEO appointed from outside the company and the first woman to head any of the world’s top five oil majors.
‘COME UP AND SEE US’
Initially promoted as acting CEO in April 2021 before being named to the post permanently that August, she brought a new, more open approach to management at Woodside, making executive floors at its Mia Yellagonga headquarters building accessible to all staff.
Australian media at the time reported on an internal memo that said “come up and see us”.
“She is very accessible to staff, she had a low ego,” a former Woodside colleague said.
Another described the graduate of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an “engineer’s engineer.”
A regular speaker at global energy events, O’Neill built an increasingly high industry profile along with Woodside’s rising ambitions, which saw it invest in the $7.2 billion Trion oil development offshore Mexico and take a larger share of the North West Shelf gas project, once Australia’s largest.
Last year, O’Neill made a big bet on the boom in U.S. LNG exports, acquiring a company that Woodside is developing into the $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG project, part of a portfolio expansion heavily weighted to gas.
“It was only a matter of time until Meg was poached by a major who can pay far more,” said MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic.
In November, O’Neill announced plans for Woodside to increase sales by 50% by 2032 to 300 million barrels of oil equivalent. Woodside has also been beefing up its global trading team in Singapore and poaching talent as it expands.
O’Neill has focused on buying barrels rather than exploring for them, telling multiple investor day audiences that Woodside would focus its drilling on brownfield work to tie into existing infrastructure, as opposed to launching projects from scratch.
Her appointment at BP could signal a fundamental overhaul for the energy firm, which follows three tumultuous years for the over century-old company.
RED TAPE AND FRUSTRATION
Known as a straight-shooter, O’Neill has expressed frustration with red tape and environmental laws in Australia, where many projects need both state and then federal approval.
At Woodside’s capital markets day last month, she said the only thing holding up developing the large Browse gas fields as backfill for the ageing North West Shelf LNG facility was regulation, noting that it took seven years for final approvals to extend the project’s life by 40 years.
“If you like straight talk and clear expectations, she’s good to work with,” said an industry source who has attended meetings with O’Neill. “If you prefer a softer, consensus-led style, she will be very tough on you.”
O’Neill has walked back clean energy investments, with Woodside’s only major project still standing a clean ammonia development in Beaumont, Texas, an approach that has drawn criticism from climate activists.
At Woodside’s annual meeting in May, organisers tried to drown out the noise from activists by playing promotional videos about its projects and sponsorship of Australian rules football club the Fremantle Dockers.
“We have plenty more of these videos we can play,” O’Neill said.
Some investors have called Woodside’s plans to curb emissions insufficient, and the Climate Transition Action Plan O’Neill developed in 2024 was voted down by 58% of shareholders.
Last month, she said sentiment was changing.
“I think there’s greater recognition that as the world invests in, even the developed world invests in data centres and artificial intelligence, that that needs to be powered.”
Reporting by Helen Clark in Perth; Additional reporting by Sarah McFarlane, Shadia Nasralla and Stephanie KellyEditing by Tony Munroe, Shri Navaratnam, Elaine Hardcastle
Neither Dati, seen as a leading candidate to become Mayor of Paris in 2026, nor her lawyers could be reached for comment
International News via Reuters:
French authorities carried out searches at the Culture Ministry, private homes and the office of the mayor of the 7th district of Paris on Thursday as part of a corruption probe involving Culture Minister Rachida Dati in connection with her years as a European Parliament member, the Financial Prosecutor said.
The searches are part of an investigation two French judges opened in October into possible “active and passive corruption, influence peddling, embezzlement of public funds, concealment and laundering in connection with Ms Rachida Dati’s mandate as a Member of the European Parliament,” the statement added.
Neither Dati, seen as a leading candidate to become Mayor of Paris in 2026, nor her lawyers could be reached for comment.
According to French media, the searches are intended in particular to determine whether Dati was paid by then-French energy company GDF Suez in 2010 and 2011 while she was a member of the European Parliament. She has denied this.
In a separate case, French judges in July ordered that Dati and former automobile executive Carlos Ghosn stand trial for alleged corruption and abuse of power in a case focusing on consulting fees, a judicial source said.
Dati has denied irregularities in the fees she received during that time, and Ghosn, who fled Japan in late 2019 aboard a private jet to Lebanon, has denied allegations of misconduct against him.
Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Additional reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Hugh Lawson
The ruling orders Meta to disclose not only raw data but also detailed information on its sources, recipients and purposes
International News via Reuters:
Austria’s Supreme Court has ruled that Meta’s personalised advertising model is unlawful, the court said on Thursday, requiring the company to provide EU users full access to their personal data within 14 days of a request, in a decision that sets a legal precedent across the bloc.
The ruling orders Meta to disclose not only raw data but also detailed information on its sources, recipients and purposes. The court found Meta violated the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by collecting user data from third-party apps and websites and processing sensitive information without “specific, informed, unambiguous and freely given” consent for personalised advertising.
“We acknowledge the Court’s decision on this long-running matter and are reviewing the ruling,” a Meta spokesperson said.
The case was brought by Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems in 2014 and has taken 11 years to resolve, involving three Austrian Supreme Court decisions and two EU Court of Justice rulings.
“It is enforceable throughout the EU by the plaintiff, meaning that, depending on the country of enforcement, non-compliance could result in daily fines or even a prison sentence for the relevant decision-makers at Meta,” privacy advocacy group noyb, founded by Schrems, told Reuters.
The court ordered Meta to cease processing sensitive user data, such as political views or health status, dismissing the company’s claims that this was not technically feasible. The ruling reinforced previous ones on the use of personal data without explicit consent.
“Platforms like Facebook or Instagram have huge influence, for example via pushing political views on users,” Schrems said. “The decision makes clear that Meta must not use such user preferences without explicit consent by each user.”
The Meta spokesperson said that the case pertains to practices from over a decade ago, noting improvements to the company’s privacy measures, including investments exceeding 8 billion euros.
The Austrian Supreme Court said in its statement that its assessment was based on the situation as it stood in 2020.
The spokesperson said Meta no longer uses sensitive data for ad personalisation and disputes the Court’s findings on third-party data.
EU users can now use Facebook and Instagram for free with personalised or less personalised advertising, or subscribe to avoid data usage for ads. In December, EU antitrust regulators approved Meta’s proposal to use less personal data in this pay-or-consent model.
The court awarded Schrems 500 euros ($587) in damages. Noyb stated this figure, set in 2014, predates GDPR enforcement and suggested users today might receive higher compensation.
($1 = 0.8519 euros)
Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak, Kirsten Donovan
Bermuda Olympian Emma Harvey made a stunning return to the international stage at the 2025 Toyota U.S. Open Championships, shattering her own national record and securing a clean sweep of Commonwealth Games qualifying times.
Competing in Austin, Texas, after a six-month hiatus from competitive racing, Harvey wasted no time in making an impact. On the opening day of competition, she clocked a blistering 25.69 seconds in the 50-metre Freestyle, shaving a hundredth of a second off the record she established at the same event in 2023.
The performance placed her 22nd overall in a field stacked with international talent and Olympic medalists. Speaking after the race, Harvey reflected on her successful return to the pool:
“Overall I am very happy with my 50m Freestyle and setting a new national record. For my first race back in 6 months I was very pleased and I’m excited to race more in the New Year.”
Beyond the headlines of the national record, Harvey’s primary objective was securing her spot for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. She achieved this with clinical precision, reaching the qualifying standard in all five of her entered events.
The four other members supported no change as they worried about the potential for inflation – still the highest among the Group of Seven economies – to remain too high
International News via Reuters:
The Bank of England cut interest rates on Thursday after a narrow vote by policymakers, but it signalled that the already gradual pace of lowering borrowing costs might slow further.
After a big inflation drop in data this week and a new forecast from BoE staff that the economy is stagnating in late 2025, five Monetary Policy Committee members voted to lower the BoE’s benchmark rate for the fourth time in 2025 to 3.75% from 4%.
The four other members supported no change as they worried about the potential for inflation – still the highest among the Group of Seven economies – to remain too high.
Governor Andrew Bailey changed his view and voted for a cut, tipping the balance on the committee.
“We still think rates are on a gradual path downward,” Bailey said in a statement. “But with every cut we make, how much further we go becomes a closer call.”
Sterling rose by nearly half a cent against the U.S. dollar after the data as investors reacted to the cautious tone from the BoE about further rate cuts.
Government bond prices fell, pushing two-year gilt yields up nearly 6 basis points to 3.77%, having touched a post-August 2024 low of 3.684% before the decision.
Bailey said he did not yet see proof of a sharper downturn in the jobs market but he also noted inflation expectations had not dropped significantly so far.
Analysts polled by Reuters last week had mostly expected a 5-4 vote for a rate reduction.
Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said the MPC’s description of its stance as becoming less restrictive and the deep split among its members suggested consensus on the committee would be hard to find next year.
“As a result, we expect only two interest rate cuts in 2026, taking rates down to 3.25%,” Selfin said.
Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at Aberdeen Investments, said he expected more cuts.
“With the economy set to remain weak into next year, and various measures in the recent budget designed to push down on headline inflation, we think there are more rate cuts to come, with Bank Rate eventually heading back towards 3% late next year,” he said.
INFLATION FALLING FASTER THAN THOUGHT
The MPC echoed Bailey’s words in its end-of-meeting statement. But some senior policymakers who voted against the rate cut made clear their worries.
Deputy Governor Clare Lombardelli said she remained more concerned about the risk of inflation proving stronger than expected and the recent data had only softened “at the margin.”
Chief Economist Huw Pill said he saw a bigger risk of inflation getting stuck too high than too low.
The quarter-point cut took Bank Rate to its lowest level in nearly three years, although it is still almost double the equivalent rate of the European Central Bank.
British inflation remains higher than among peer economies – in part because of finance minister Rachel Reeves’ decision last year to raise taxes on employers – even after it fell unexpectedly sharply to 3.2% in data released on Wednesday.
The BoE said inflation was “now expected to fall back towards target more quickly in the near term” and the risk that it would persist at high levels had “become somewhat less pronounced.” The possibility of weaker demand pushing it too low remained, the post-meeting statement said.
Data on Tuesday showed a weakening jobs market including the highest unemployment rate since 2021 and a slowdown in private-sector pay growth.
The BoE said it now expected zero economic growth in the last three months of 2025, down from a forecast of 0.3% growth made as recently as last month, although it thought underlying growth was stronger at about 0.2% a quarter.
Britain’s economy shrank by 0.1% in the three months to October amid reports that businesses put investment projects on ice in the run-up to Reeves’ budget on November 26.
The BoE said it expected the budget would bring down inflation in 2026 by about half a percentage point due to one-off measures which would then push it up a bit in the following two years.
The budget measures would add at most 0.2 percentage points to the size of the economy in 2026 and 2027.
Other major central banks are believed to be close to halting their rate cuts – the U.S. Federal Reserve last week signalled one more move in 2026, while the ECB has probably already come to the end of its monetary loosening cycle.
The ECB was expected to keep rates on hold on Thursday.
Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Hugh Lawson
“Such measures targeting judges and prosecutors who were elected by the States Parties undermine the rule of law
International News via Reuters:
The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Thursday that U.S. sanctions against two of its judges over its case involving Israel were a “flagrant attack” on the court’s independence.
“Such measures targeting judges and prosecutors who were elected by the States Parties undermine the rule of law. When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the court said.
Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Stephanie van den Berg, Editing by Sharon Singleton
Bermuda international Kenni Thompson and her AFC Bournemouth Women teammates were handed a daunting but historic home draw against Women’s Super League (WSL) leaders Manchester City in the fourth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
The third-tier “Cherries” secured the high-profile tie after making club history on Sunday with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Fulham. The win marked the first time the South Coast side has ever reached the fourth round of the competition, having never previously progressed past the third-round stage.
The clash against Fulham at the Ringwood Community Hub was a one-sided affair. Goals from Sophie Quirk, Molly Barron-Clark, Jenna Markham, Katie James, and Amber Treweek ensured a clinical afternoon for the hosts. Thompson, a key figure in the Bournemouth attack, started the match and played 82 minutes before being substituted, having played a vital role in the build-up to the opening goals.
The victory was part of a remarkable run for Helen Bleazard’s side, who remain unbeaten in all competitions this season. Their resilience will now face the ultimate test against an elite Manchester City squad that currently sits at the summit of the top flight and boasts Lionesses stars such as Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood.
The match represents a significant milestone for Bournemouth, who compete in the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division—two tiers below their upcoming opponents.
The standout fixture is scheduled to take place on the weekend of January 17th and 18th, 2026. With City’s star-studded lineup heading to the South Coast, the Cherries will be looking to produce one of the greatest upsets in the competition’s history.
Police intervened when the violence escalated and sought to arrest some of the protesters
International News via Reuters:
Belgian police fired tear gas and water cannon on Thursday as a demonstration by farmers against an EU-Mercosur free trade agreement turned violent, with some protesters hurling rocks and potatoes at police and smashing windows.
Police intervened when the violence escalated and sought to arrest some of the protesters. At one point, a tractor was driven into a line of riot police, although it did not appear to have hit anyone. Some also targeted journalists.
Brussels police said they had authorised a protest with up to 50 tractors, but by early Thursday afternoon around 1,000, mostly with Belgian number plates, had arrived in the Belgian capital. They estimated the number of protesters at 7,000.
EU leaders are set to debate at a summit in Brussels on Thursday whether the EU should sign the deal with the bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Critics of the trade pact, which has been 25 years in the making, say cheap commodities could flood the market to the detriment of European producers.
Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Charlotte Van Campenhout; editing by Barbara Lewis
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