Accepting an argument from a law professor that no party to the case had made, the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a stinging loss that could lead to more aggressive tactics.
Wyatt Johnson, 22, lost money when his portfolio in Solana, a cryptocurrency, dropped by half. Despite that, he’s still open to receiving crypto as a Christmas gift.
There’s research suggesting that these four-legged “battle buddies” can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. But shortages and long wait times pose barriers.
Minnesota has been the white whale for Republicans in the Trump era. And 2026 could be the year they finally break through — if President Donald Trump and one of the most prolific peddlers of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election don’t sink their chances.
Republicans are growing optimistic about their chances of unseating Democratic Gov. Tim Walz next year, as he seeks a historic third term. But Trump’s increasingly caustic attacks on Walz and disparagement of Minnesota’s Somali community — and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s entrance into the gubernatorial race — could hurt Republicans’ chances of regaining ground in the state, some party strategists argue.
“When the president comes in with a flamethrower and just throws that type of rhetoric, there's no oxygen, and there's no space for the Republican to offer suggestions and to be thoughtful in that space, because the rhetoric of the president just paints them into a corner,” said Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP who backed the Democratic ticket in 2024.
Republicans have insisted they can be competitive statewide in the blue-leaning Minnesota ever since Trump lost Minnesota by less than 2 points in 2016. But since then, winning the state has beguiled both the president — who faced a 7-point loss in 2020 and a 4-point loss in 2024 — and Republicans in other statewide races, including two fairly comfortable wins for Walz in 2018 and 2022.
Still, Republicans see an opportunity to win back the Minnesota governor’s seat for the first time since 2006 by hammering Walz, who is running despite scrutiny into his oversight of state benefits and a star turn as the Democratic vice presidential nominee that put him in the crosshairs of Republicans across the country.
At the same time, Trump has also used the arrests of some Somali immigrants in federal fraud cases to broadly characterize the state’s Somali population as criminals — leaning on his trademark use of divisive rhetoric that some Republicans worry will fall flat.
That risk, insiders warn, could be exacerbated if Lindell, a Trump ally, wins the Republican nomination.
“We’d be cooked,” said Dustin Grage, a Minnesota Republican strategist. “I’d be moving to Florida very shortly. We would lose pretty badly if Mike Lindell were to get the nomination.”
Those close to the president strenuously disagree, arguing the state remains on the map. House GOP Whip Tom Emmer, the most high-profile Minnesota Republican and an ally of the president, said he’s spoken to Trump about the governor’s race and is confident that any of the 13 Republicans seeking the party’s nomination could defeat Walz.
“We should be able to beat Tim Walz with a dog,” Emmer told POLITICO in an interview.
The White House declined to comment. At a rally in North Carolina on Friday, Trump praised Lindell and said he “deserves to be the governor of Minnesota.”
Walz faces a tricky path to reelection, with no Minnesota governor winning three consecutive terms in the state’s history. That’s been made more difficult by several investigations during his tenure leading the state that revealed a ring of alleged fraudsters siphoning money from public programs. In 2022, federal prosecutors charged dozens of people for pocketing $250 million from a federally funded child nutrition program overseen by the Minnesota Department of Education during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The massive scope of the fraud allegations (the Justice Department called it the “largest Covid-19 fraud scheme in the United States”) triggered a state audit that found the Walz administration “did not effectively exercise its authority” to prevent the fraud.
In September, federal prosecutors charged eight people with defrauding a Minnesota housing and health benefits program of millions of dollars by submitting inflated and fake reimbursement claims. Six additional people were charged for participating in the scheme in December. That same month, a defendant previously charged in the pandemic program fraud pleaded guilty to attempting to steal $14 million from a Minnesota health care program that offers services to children with autism.
Prosecutors have broadened their inquiry into benefits fraud in the state to investigate billions of dollars in flagged billings of 14 public programs supported by Medicaid.
In response to a request for comment to a Walz spokesperson, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Richard Carlbom said in a statement that Walz “heads into reelection with a record focused squarely on working people and kitchen-table issues.”
“While the GOP clown-car primary remains consumed by infighting and loyalty tests for Donald Trump, Minnesota families are falling behind as Republicans unleash higher grocery prices, skyrocketing health care bills, and giant tax breaks for billionaires,” Carlbom said. “Minnesotans see the difference — a governor delivering for working families, or Republicans delivering loyalty to Donald Trump and a Washington agenda that puts billionaires first.”
In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up his efforts to link Walz to the abuse of government programs — while using incendiary rhetoric directed at the governor and the Somali community. In a social media post on Thanksgiving, he called Walz “seriously retarded” and accused Somali refugees of seeking to “prey” on Minnesotans. And at an early December rally in Pennsylvania, he again denigrated the Somali community while discussing “the great big Minnesota scam with one of the dumbest governors ever in history.”
Emmer, who said he spoke with Trump about the governor’s race as early as July, said he believes the president recognizes an opportunity in Walz’s vulnerability. “I think the president knows that Tim Walz is the weakest he's ever been in his political career,” Emmer said.
Former Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt, a Republican, said the fraud investigations are part of the risk for Walz in seeking a third consecutive term.
“If you can lay out a case that, ‘Well, you've been elected now for eight years, and you haven't fixed these problems,’ or ‘You haven't accomplished what you said you were going to’ … it kind of makes it an easier case to say, ‘Maybe it's time for someone new,’” Daudt said.
But the rhetoric Trump is using to highlight the fraud may reframe the issue to the detriment of Walz’s Republican opponent, said Brodkorb,the former party official. He believes Minnesotans are eager to weigh ideas on immigration policy and how to tackle abuse of public programs.
“The problem is when the president comes in and says things like, ‘Everyone in the entire Somali community is garbage,’” Brodkorb said.
Emmer, who adamantly defended Trump’s approach and his rhetoric attacking both Walz and the Somali community, credited him with shining a light on the state.
“If he hadn't said it exactly the way it is, and if he hadn't been so out there direct, guess what? Nobody would have covered it,” Emmer said.
The barrage directed at Walz and the state — including attacks from Trump allies, targeted probes from Cabinet officials and an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis — underscores the governor’s newfound national prominence since campaigning as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in last year’s presidential race.
Walz has emerged as a vocal critic of the second Trump administration, prompting a feud between the two. After a Democratic lawmaker was killed by a gunman and a second was seriously injured earlier this year, Trump said he would not “waste time” calling the “whacked out” governor.
Walz’s growing national profile both makes him a high-profile target in the 2026 midterms worthy of trying to defeat, GOP strategists say — but Trump’s intense focus on the race could also backfire given the state’s political makeup.
“Having Donald Trump being active in the race for a particular Republican may not be helpful, but it would be extremely helpful to raise the attention on Tim Walz and his record here in the state,” Daudt said.
And if Trump’s ends up throwing his weight behind Lindell — who conspired with Trump in 2020 to advance false claims that the presidential election was stolen — Republicans worry that could give Walz a clearer path to reelection.
“If [Lindell] is the candidate, that’s what the election will be about,” Daudt said. “It'll definitely be easier for Walz to make the election about Trump if Mike Lindell is the candidate. No question.”
Trump, who continues to claim the 2020 election was rigged, touted Lindell’s efforts to reverse the election results at the North Carolina rally, and empathized with how Lindell “suffered” as a result.
"He was just a guy that said, ’This election was so crooked, it was so rigged.’ He fought like hell," Trump told his supporters.
Lindell’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Some Minnesota Republicans hope that the party will back a more moderate candidate that can highlight Walz’s vulnerabilities.
But Emmer said candidates should do what they can to win the endorsement of the hundreds of highly engaged party activists who serve as delegates at the party’s nominating convention next year.
“I'm going to tell you the way you win this race. You go run your race to get an endorsement,” Emmer said. “As soon as you are the endorsed Republican candidate, you have won the primary in August, you are going to win the governor's race.”
Police officers standing guard in Moscow (file photo)
Three people - including two police officers - have been killed in an explosion in Moscow, Russian authorities have said.
Two traffic police officers saw a "suspicious individual" near a police car on the city's Yeletskaya Street, and when they approached the suspect to detain him, an explosive device was detonated, Russia's Investigative Committee has said.
The two police officers died from their injuries, along with another individual who was standing nearby.
The attack comes two days after a senior Russian general was killed in a car bombing in the capital on Monday.
Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov died after an explosive device - which had been planted under a car - was detonated.
Investigate Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement on Telegram that a criminal case was being investigated in Moscow "regarding an attempt on the lives of traffic police officers".
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
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Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's a look back on the past year through the eyes of the cartoonists. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
Algeria’s parliament has unanimously approved a law declaring France’s colonisation of the country a crime and demanded an apology and reparations.
Lawmakers, standing in the chamber wearing scarves in the colours of the national flag, chanted “long live Algeria” on Wednesday as they applauded the passage of the bill, which states that France holds “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused”.
The two countries are embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis and analysts say that while Algeria’s move is largely symbolic, it is still politically significant.
The parliament speaker, Ibrahim Boughali, told the APS state news agency that the vote would send “a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable”.
The legislation lists the “crimes of French colonisation”, which include nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, “physical and psychological torture” and the “systematic plundering of resources”.
It states that “full and fair compensation for all material and moral damages caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people”.
France’s rule over Algeria from 1830 until 1962 wasa period marked by mass killings and large-scale deportations, all the way up to the bloody war of independence from 1954 to 1962.
Algeria says the war killed 1.5 million people, while French historians put the death toll at 500,000 in total, 400,000 of them Algerian.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has previously acknowledged the colonisation of Algeria as a “crime against humanity” but has stopped short of offering an apology.
Asked last week about the vote, the French foreign ministry spokesperson, Pascal Confavreux, said he would not comment on “political debates taking place in foreign countries”.
Hosni Kitouni, a researcher in colonial history at the University of Exeter in the UK, said that “legally, this law has no international scope and therefore is not binding for France”. However, “its political and symbolic significance is important: it marks a rupture in the relationship with France in terms of memory,” he said.
生活被摧毁：根据莫斯科方面的说法，对乌克兰的“特别军事行动”原本只打算持续三天时间。然而三年过去了，战争仍在继续。根据智库“战争研究所”（Institute for the Study of War）的最新报告，目前俄罗斯控制着乌克兰约20%的领土，主要集中在东部。这张照片拍摄于2023年5月的顿涅茨克（Donetsk）。
马里乌波尔——乌克兰抵抗的象征：2022年，俄罗斯对乌克兰南部城市马里乌波尔（Mariupol）围攻长达82天。该市遭到猛烈轰炸，最后乌克兰守军被围困在钢铁厂内。俄罗斯轰炸一家医院后，一张孕妇被紧急撤离的照片震惊世界。这张照片由乌克兰记者拍摄，后来凭借纪录片《马里乌波尔的20天》（20 Days in Mariupol）获得奥斯卡奖。
The amount of flu circulating has started to fall in England, latest data suggests.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was encouraging news heading into Christmas, but warned the virus could always bounce back in the new year.
The UKHSA uses a range of different measures to monitor flu rates, including sample testing in hospitals and in GP practices.
The latest data covers last week up to Sunday with the UKHSA concluding the virus was circulating "at medium levels".
Similar trends are being seen elsewhere in the UK. Public Health Scotland said it had seen two weeks of cases decreasing.
The fall in England comes after the agency said last week that the spread was stabilising after several weeks of rises.
This year's flu season started early, driven by a mutated strain of the virus, which prompted concern about the pressure that could be placed on hospitals.
NHS England data for the total number of people in hospital is not being published this week.
But there are signs in UKHSA's sample testing that the numbers being admitted to hospital are beginning to fall, suggesting the projections of record numbers of patients ending up in hospital with the virus over the festive period will not be realised.
Dr Jamie Lopez-Bernal, an infectious diseases expert at UKHSA, said it was "encouraging news".
But he added: "The virus is still very much with us and everyone, especially those most vulnerable to winter bugs, needs to take care to protect themselves or help not to spread these viruses to others.
"This is particularly important over Christmas as families come together to celebrate. So if you have any cold or flu-like symptoms you should try to minimise contact with others."
He said there were simple steps we can all take to protect one another when mixing indoors.
"Washing hands regularly and ensuring indoor spaces are well ventilated helps, and we advise those who have symptoms and need to go out, to consider wearing a face covering in indoor public spaces. These simple measures can help make a difference to reduce the spread.
"Flu is always unpredictable, is still circulating and could bounce back even further in the new year as we have seen in past years," he warned.
With a new batch of episodes arriving on Christmas Day, Matt and Ross Duffer discuss the sometimes obscure movie and video game references in the final season so far.
The U.S.S. Ford has been deployed for six months, now in the Caribbean as part of President Trump’s pressure campaign on Venezuela. Maintenance woes and strains on sailors will likely mount.
The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford in the North Sea in September. Neither the Navy nor the Pentagon has said when the ship’s deployment in the Caribbean will end.
美国政府强调，其相关措施旨在打击毒品走私和有组织犯罪。美国常驻联合国代表迈克·沃尔兹（Mike Waltz）在安理会表示，委内瑞拉总统马杜罗并非合法总统，而是“罪犯”，并指控其将石油销售收入投入毒品交易。沃尔兹称，受制裁的油轮是马杜罗及其“非法政权”的主要经济生命线，并为“太阳卡特尔”（Cartel de los Soles）这一毒品恐怖组织提供资金支持。
Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, has clashed with Elon Musk in the past
The US State Department said it would deny visas to five people, including a former EU commissioner, for seeking to "coerce" American social media platforms into suppressing viewpoints they oppose.
"These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states - in each case targeting American speakers and American companies," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, suggested that a "witch hunt" was taking place.
Breton was described by the State Department as the "mastermind" of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes content moderation on social media companies.
However, it has angered some US conservatives who see it as seeking to censor right-wing opinions. Brussels denies this.
Breton has clashed with Elon Musk, the world's richest man and owner of X, over obligations to follow EU rules.
The European Commission recently fined X €120m (£105m) over its blue tick badges - the first fine under the DSA. It said the platform's blue tick system was "deceptive" because the firm was not "meaningfully verifying users".
In response, Musk's site blocked the Commission from making adverts on its platform.
Reacting to the visa ban, Breton posted on X: "To our American friends: Censorship isn't where you think it is."
Clare Melford, who leads the UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was also listed.
US Undersecretary of State Sarah B Rogers accused the GDI of using US taxpayer money "to exhort censorship and blacklisting of American speech and press".
A GDI spokesperson told the BBC that "the visa sanctions announced today are an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship".
"The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with. Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American."
Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that fights online hate and misinformation, was also handed a ban.
Rogers called Mr Ahmed a "key collaborator with the Biden Administration's effort to weaponize the government against US citizens".
Also subject to bans were Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, a German organisation that the State Department said helped enforce the DSA.
The BBC has reached out to the CCDH and HateAid for comment.
Rubio said that steps had been taken to impose visa restrictions on "agents of the global censorship-industrial complex who, as a result, will be generally barred from entering the United States".
"President Trump has been clear that his America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is no exception," he added.
Paul Stowe's boat, the Pacemaker, was perilously close to falling into the hole on the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch, which opened up on Monday after an "embankment failure".
Mr Stowe, originally from Solihull, escaped barefoot with his wife, son, and two cats at about 04:10 GMT after he woke and heard rushing water "equivalent to the Niagara Falls".
Shropshire Council said the boat, which the family live on, was rescued at about 22:00 on Tuesday using a specialist winch operation.
Once in location, the winch was able to haul the boat along the drained canal away from the breach hole," the authority said in a statement.
"The boat is now safely located next to the lift bridge," the council said, adding that it would be refloated in the new year, when a dam would be constructed beyond the boat.
Overnight, water was pumped into dammed sections created by the Canal and River Trust on Tuesday, and as of 06:00 on Wednesday, water levels were recovering.
"This means that one of the boats near to the breach site, plus six further up the canal, are now beginning to refloat," it said.
"They are expected to be fully afloat by later today."
Watch: Boat disappears into hole in canal
Mr Stowe previously told the BBC that all of his and his family's possessions were on the boat, and that they had escaped with only the clothes on their backs.
He said they had no phones or credit cards, and added his birthday was on Christmas Day.
"I'm not sure I'll ever moor in this area again, I'm not sure I'll ever moor on an embankment again," he said.
"I'll be honest with you, it's very debatable [that] I'll ever want to go on a boat again."
The authority added that investigations had begun into what caused the collapse.
"This will continue after the new year together with the initial plans to recover the two boats in the breach hole and the long and costly process of rebuilding and reinstating the canal."
Paul Stowe said he and his family only had the clothes on their backs, and their two cats
"Now the initial emergency response, including the concern for boaters' immediate safety, has passed, our teams have been working hard to refill the Llangollen Canal around the site of the breach," said Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal and River Trust.
"This will mean the boats in the immediate area are refloating, and navigation along other affected areas will be restored."
He said the trust would be providing regular updates and assurance to the local community and boating community in the coming weeks.
"Thankfully, breaches of this scale are relatively rare, but, when they do occur, they're expensive and complicated to fix," he said.
The trust previously told the BBC that repairs could take months.
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