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.
Alfie Hallett's local basketball club paid tribute to him
Tributes have been paid to a 13-year-old boy who was fatally stabbed in central Portugal on Tuesday.
The boy, named locally as British national Alfie Hallett, died in the parish of Casais in Tomar after being found with "several injuries caused by a bladed weapon".
According to Portuguese police a suspect was found with similar injuries and died in a possible gas explosion, which also injured one of the National Republican Guard (GNR) officers.
The UK Foreign Office said it was "in contact with local authorities following an incident in Portugal".
Alfie's basketball club, Sport Club Operario Cem Soldos (SCOCS), paid tribute to him in a post on Facebook.
"SCOCS BASKETBALL has just become poorer today," it said. "Our athlete Alfie passed away today at the age of 13.
"He played his last game on Saturday, played so well that it seemed like he knew it was his last game but far from imagining it.
"We want to tell you how much we love you and that you will always be in our hearts. Rest in peace."
Police said the mother was found by authorities showing signs of having been restrained and assaulted.
She was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for her injuries, police added.
"The alleged perpetrator had already served a prison sentence for aggravated homicide, and the family had been flagged following domestic violence cases registered in 2022 and 2023," a spokesperson said.
Portuguese TV news channel SIC Notícias reported that the mother and child are British.
However, it is reported the suspect was a Portuguese citizen.
The Criminal Investigation Department of Leiria is leading the investigation into the two deaths.
The number of passengers passing through UK airports will be the most ever seen on any Christmas Eve since record began, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.
It projects over 335,000 people will be flying in the UK on Wednesday, which is up 5% from Christmas Eve in 2024, though minimal disruption is expected.
Britain's roads are also expected to see one of the busiest Christmas Eves since records began said the RAC, though another motoring lobby says traffic peaks for the season have passed.
The RAC said the worst time to travel on Wednesday is from 1pm to 7pm as millions hit the road to get home before Christmas Day on Thursday, with delays expected on major routes.
Manchester airport said on Christmas Eve it expects around 75,000 passengers passing through, with 208 flights leaving the UK, but that number will halve on Christmas Day. Its most popular destination on Christmas Eve are Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin.
Heathrow meanwhile says it is expecting its busiest December period ever, including 152,000 passengers using it on Christmas Day. EasyJet said 558 flights will depart on Christmas Day, part of "its busiest festive season ever".
Stansted Airport said Christmas Day for it, meanwhile, will be relatively quiet.
The busiest single day of the festive period for air travel was Friday 19 December.
Getty Images
The RAC meanwhile said particular tight spots on the roads will be the clockwise northern and western sections of the M25 from mid-morning, and the M5 north from Gloucestershire towards the West Midlands later in the afternoon.
While millions will travel by rail, earlier last-train times mean many may take to the road, making them even more congested.
Several rail routes will be restricted or closed over the Christmas period for maintenance.
National Express coaches says it is running on Christmas day to 96 destinations.
The RAC's mobile servicing and repair's team leader Nick Mullender said 2025 was "looking to be the busiest getaway period since our records began" in 2013.
He said this year's Christmas Eve would be the busiest, with workers saving on annual leave days and heading off on getaways at the last minute.
Meanwhile the AA, which provides traffic updates across the UK, said 19 December was the busiest part of the season.
For Christmas Eve, it warned the M27 will close in both directions between Junction 9 (Whiteley/Park Gate) and Junction 11 (Fareham East/Gosport) from 8pm until 4am on 4 January for major works at Junction 10.
This closure affects road journeys between Southampton and Portsmouth.
Drivers are advised to check tyres, expect delays, ensure oil and coolant levels are correct. It expected a rise in breakdowns as the weather becomes colder and 4.2 million journeys will be taken on roads.
Michael Dumbuya was sentenced to 14 years and five months at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday
A 37-year-old who dragged a man from his bed, punched and kicked him repeatedly before driving off in a case of mistaken identity has been jailed for more than 14 years.
Michael Dumbuya, from London, was part of a group who attacked Cody Hudd in his home after driving to south Wales on 20 May to recover drugs on behalf of an organised crime group, but went to the wrong address.
He then drove off, reaching speeds above 150mph (241 km/h) and was caught by police after a high-speed chase, before crashing with another motorist.
He was sentenced to 14 years and five months at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday.
The court heard Mr Hudd woke up to three men in his room asking about drugs, who then punched and slapped him repeatedly before dragging him by the neck out of the room and leading him downstairs and into his garden.
After opening his car and trying to show the men he did not have any of their drugs, he was attacked again by the men, which was filmed by one of the attackers.
The video, played to the court, showed the victim lying on the floor with blood in his mouth while a man pointed a finger in his face and asked him about drugs.
At one point, his head was stamped on by one of the men.
After running from the house following the attack, the court heard police located Dumbuya's vehicle on the M4 near Caerleon, Newport county, and pursued it.
The 37-year-old was travelling at more than 150mph (241 km/h) on the M4, until the car left the M4 at junction 17, where it crashed into another motorist.
Dumbuya was seen climbing out of the driver's side window.
Crown Prosecution Service
The car travelled at speeds in excess of 150mph before crashing
After arresting him, police recovered a loaded sawn-off shotgun from Dumbuya's car, along with a balaclava, gloves and a carbon dioxide-powered pistol.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) used the presence of the victim's blood on his clothes as part of their evidence in the case.
In a statement read out in court, Mr Hudd said his life had changed since the attack and he became "cold and distant" and "easily distracted".
"I don't get any enjoyment out of anything," he said.
"I feel like I have no motivation or drive."
Mr Hudd said he was "trying to put all of this behind me but it's proving difficult", adding "there has been additional financial stress as I haven't been able to work since it's happened".
Crown Prosecution Service
One of the weapons recovered following Dumbuya's arrest was a sawn-off shotgun
Sentencing Dumbuya, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said he was "involved in the supply of cocaine" and acted as a "paid enforcer" using "serious violence and weapons" on behalf of organised crime groups.
"You had been recruited to use force and terror," she said, adding his role was to recover drugs which had gone missing and he was due to be paid £5,000 for his part in the plan.
Judge Lloyd-Clarke said Dumbaya had put his foot on Mr Hudd's chest, pressing down "so hard that it was hard for him to breathe".
She added when police found him he was in possession of a crowbar, a sawn-off shotgun and a phone with a video taken by one of the three men during the attack.
Judge Lloyd-Clarke said there was a "significant degree of planning" and it was a "prolonged and persistent assault" involving "dangerous" driving.
Dumbuya pleaded guilty to five charges including possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and dangerous driving. He pleaded not guilty to a sixth charge of aggravated burglary, which will lie on file.
He was sentenced to a total of 14 years and five months in prison.
He was also was ordered to pay a £228 surcharge within 12 months and was disqualified from driving.
Following the sentencing, Millie Davies of the CPS said Dumbuya had "planned the attack and armed himself with dangerous weapons before subjecting the victim to a prolonged assault".
She added: "Dumbuya also tried to evade police by driving at high speeds for a considerable distance along the motorway, showing no regard for the safety of others."
Two other men were charged with conspiracy to commit arson and burglary with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and have since been released on bail.
A 37-year-old man from Wolverhampton and a 32-year-old man from Stafford are next due to appear at Cardiff Crown Court on 9 January.
There can be a lot to think about at Christmas, from whether public transport is running to when shops and services are open.
With UK bank holidays on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, and a fourth holiday in Scotland on 2 January, here are some tips to help you win the festive period.
When are roads likely to be busiest?
Motoring organisations the RAC and AA predict that 2025 could see the busiest festive getaway on record.
The RAC expects 37.5 million trips to take place in the week running up to Christmas Day. It thinks roads are likely to be especially busy after lunchtime on Saturday 20 December, and during the afternoon and evening on Christmas Eve.
Make sure you have plenty of fuel, that your tyres are properly inflated and your lights are working. Prepare for bad weather by carrying a charged phone, food, drinks and warm clothes. Top up your screen wash and de-icer supplies.
Many BP and Shell petrol stations will be open as usual, but some garages may have shorter hours. All Tesco petrol stations will be closed on Christmas Day. On other days, opening hours could be different to those of the linked store.
Some National Rail services will finish early on Christmas Eve, and no trains will run on Christmas Day.
Most train operators won't run any services on Boxing Day either. However, a small number of firms (Chiltern Railways, London Overground, Merseyrail, ScotRail, Southern and Stansted Express) will have a very limited service.
There are no Eurostar services on Christmas Day, but trains are running every other day.
Buses and coaches
Most local bus services will not run on Christmas Day, but check individual websites for detailed schedule information.
National Express is running extra coaches on a number of UK routes between 20 December and 4 January.
On Christmas Day itself, 355 services will operate from 96 locations. This includes routes between Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, as well as some to and from Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports.
There is no Elizabeth line service on Boxing Day, and a number of overground lines are also shut. Some Tube lines have restricted service. No night Tube or night overground services will operate.
Tfl services will run through the night on New Year's Eve.
Some black taxis and private cab firms may operate throughout the period, including Christmas Day. Hire bikes and electric scooters will be available.
Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels charges do not apply on Christmas Day.
Ferries
The Port of Dover will close at 15:30 GMT on Christmas Eve and reopen at 07:30 on Boxing Day.
The final departures on 24 December are:
DFDS (Dunkerque route): 12:00
DFDS (Calais route): 13:15
Irish Ferries:14:25
P&O: 16:05
There are no sailings to or from Holyhead or Portsmouth ports on Christmas Day either, but services will run on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.
What if I'm flying over Christmas?
Most UK airports are open on Christmas Day, although they may have a reduced schedule. All Heathrow and Gatwick terminals will be open as normal.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) expects Friday 19 December to be the busiest travel day, with around 460,000 passengers. Around 160,000 people are due to fly on Christmas Day itself, a 13% increase on 2024.
All air passengers are advised to check the status of their flights before setting off. Experts also recommend confirming any return journey.
As usual, passengers should arrive at the airport three hours before long-haul flights and two hours before short-haul flights.
You may need to make alternative travel arrangements to get to the airport if public transport is not running. If you plan to drive, consider booking parking in advance.
GP surgeries are generally closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
Some practices offer out-of-hours services which you can access via the NHS 111 helpline, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.
Most pharmacies will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
However, one or more should be open near you under out-of-hours arrangements. Your local pharmacy should display details of the rota, or you can find details online.
You can find open pharmacies near you via the relevant NHS website:
Boots will open more than 60 pharmacies on Christmas Day and more than 460 on New Year's Day.
All Superdrug pharmacies will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Most branches in Scotland will remain shut on 2 January.
What about supermarkets and food delivery services?
Getty Images
You should check your local store's opening hours, but in general you should assume:
early closing on Christmas Eve
almost all stores will be shut on Christmas Day
Aldi, Lidl, M&S and most Waitrose shops will also close on Boxing Day. Other chains have reduced hours
early closing on New Year's Eve
Aldi, Lidl, M&S and most Waitrose shops are closed on New Year's Day
Smaller local shops are more likely to be open earlier and later than the large superstores. Many petrol station forecourt shops will be open too.
The Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats apps and websites will be running throughout the festive period, but restaurants will set their own operating hours.
Zelensky said the 20 points agreed with the Americans offered Ukraine security guarantees that mirrored Nato membership
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has given details of an updated peace plan that offers Russia the potential withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east that Moscow has demanded.
Giving details of the 20-point plan agreed by US and Ukrainian negotiators in Florida at the weekend, Zelensky said the Russians would give their response once the Americans had spoken to them.
Describing the plan as "the main framework for ending the war" Zelensky said it proposed security guarantees from the US, Nato and Europeans for a co-ordinated military response if Russia invaded Ukraine again.
On the key question of Ukraine's eastern Donbas, Zelensky said a "free economic zone" was a potential option.
The 20-point plan is seen as an update of an original 28-point document, agreed by US envoy Steve Witkoff with the Russians several weeks ago, which was widely seen as heavily geared towards the Kremlin's demands.
The Russians have insisted that Ukraine pulls out of almost a quarter of its own territory in the eastern Donetsk region in return for a peace deal. The rest is already under Russian occupation.
Zelensky told journalists that as Ukraine was against withdrawal, US negotiators were looking to establish a demilitarised zone or a free economic zone.
He said: "There are two options: either the war continues, or something will have to be decided regarding all potential economic zones."
He emphasised that an economic zone would also have to be set up around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant currently occupied by Russia, and that Russian troops would have to pull out of four other Ukrainian regions - Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv.
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.
The government's partial U-turn on what opponents dubbed the "farms tax" was a Christmas present for those who had campaigned against the imposition of 20% inheritance tax from next April.
About half the farms that would have been affected will now be exempt.
But given that minsters had defended the policy in the 14 months since last year's Budget, the questions are: Why change it? And why now?
Sustained protests - the regular convoys of tractors, horns blaring, converging on Parliament Square - certainly played a part.
The National Farmers' Union which had organised the noisy demonstrations had also engaged in quieter diplomacy behind the scenes with Downing Street and the agriculture department. It has been reported that discussions shifted to mitigating rather than obliterating the policy completely.
But there are other factors.
A consequence of last year's landslide Labour election victory is that more of the party's MPs represent rural and semi-rural seats.
Behind closed doors, some of them had been pressing hard for concessions.
While only one voted against, more than 30 of them actively abstained on a parliamentary vote on the inheritance tax policy earlier this month to demonstrate their concerns.
Beyond this, the reasons for the timing of the government's volte face are speculative.
One of the rural rebels told me that conversations with ministers had been more positive this month - though they had not been told in advance of yesterday's announcement.
And some believe that Sir Keir Starmer's appearance this month before the liaison committee - which consists of senior MPs who chair cross-party parliamentary committees - played a role.
He was subjected to uncomfortable questioning by the Labour MP Cat Smith and the Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael, both of whom in effect suggested some farmers were contemplating suicide - or as Smith put it, "actively planning to expedite their own deaths" - before inheritance tax was introduced next April so they could pass on their family farms.
The prospect of personal tragedies - and awful headlines - was made very clear to the prime minister.
EPA
Convoys of tractors have rolled through London on several occasions during protests against the tax plans
Downing Street is keen to get on the front foot when MPs return to Parliament in January, and dispelling this particular political dark cloud might have been regarded as an essential precursor.
The Conservatives maintain that the policy change was "sneaked out" while MPs were away and could not subject ministers to scrutiny.
A recess reversal certainly does not radiate confidence from a government that has 400 of parliament's 650 seats.
While some Labour MPs are relieved that the government has listened, others are wondering why it persisted with a policy that was going to raise relatively little revenue.
This change is going to cost £130m. To put that in context, it is a tiny fraction of the around £900bn generated in total in taxation annually.
And of course with Labour trailing in the polls, there are concerns about the government's ability to make the political weather.
Something of a modus operandi is emerging where revenue raising policies are announced by the Treasury, then there is a public backlash, and internal Labour discontent followed some time later by a partial reversal once the political damage has been sustained.
Think winter fuel, welfare reform and now family farms.
The policies may have changed but questions over political judgment remain.
Alfie Hallett's local basketball club paid tribute to him
Tributes have been paid to a 13-year-old boy who was fatally stabbed in central Portugal on Tuesday.
The boy, named locally as British national Alfie Hallett, died in the parish of Casais in Tomar after being found with "several injuries caused by a bladed weapon".
According to Portuguese police a suspect was found with similar injuries and died in a possible gas explosion, which also injured one of the National Republican Guard (GNR) officers.
The UK Foreign Office said it was "in contact with local authorities following an incident in Portugal".
Alfie's basketball club, Sport Club Operario Cem Soldos (SCOCS), paid tribute to him in a post on Facebook.
"SCOCS BASKETBALL has just become poorer today," it said. "Our athlete Alfie passed away today at the age of 13.
"He played his last game on Saturday, played so well that it seemed like he knew it was his last game but far from imagining it.
"We want to tell you how much we love you and that you will always be in our hearts. Rest in peace."
Police said the mother was found by authorities showing signs of having been restrained and assaulted.
She was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for her injuries, police added.
"The alleged perpetrator had already served a prison sentence for aggravated homicide, and the family had been flagged following domestic violence cases registered in 2022 and 2023," a spokesperson said.
Portuguese TV news channel SIC Notícias reported that the mother and child are British.
However, it is reported the suspect was a Portuguese citizen.
The Criminal Investigation Department of Leiria is leading the investigation into the two deaths.
Ben Stokes admitted he is going through his "toughest time" as England captain as he called for "empathy" towards this team-mates.
The tourists' awful Ashes series has been dogged by reports of excessive drinking.
England are already 3-0 down after three Tests against Australia, with the chance of regaining the urn gone and the risk of a humiliating clean sweep in the final two Tests.
Later on the same day, a video emerged on social media appearing to show opener Ben Duckett drunk.
The BBC has not verified the video, while the England and Wales Cricket Board said it would "establish the facts".
With England preparing to play the fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Boxing Day, Stokes told BBC Sport: "This is probably the toughest time right now as an England captain that I'll have.
"I'm not going to run away from it. I feel like I will lead for the rest of this trip how I think I can help guys get through it."
Stokes would not be drawn on the allegations about Duckett.
Asked about the scrutiny on his team-mates, he added: "We've got other guys who play all three formats and spend a lot more time away from home than others.
"It is very gruelling and it is tough when you're here, there and everywhere.
"I know people have got things a lot worse than what we do. You have to deal with the emotions of being away [and] the scrutiny that you are under, in particular when things aren't going well.
"Everything just gets heightened, but there needs to be a little bit of empathy towards stuff that people might not quite understand, but I guess if you're not in it and you're not amongst it, it is hard to understand that.
"But just in this moment right now, I think a little bit of empathy from everyone would be not too hard to think about, if that makes sense."
The all-rounder later revealed he suffered from panic attacks and feared he would not play again. His struggles were laid bare in a documentary released in August 2022.
"I've had some pretty good times over my career. I've also had some pretty tough times," he said.
"I'm obviously aware of reports and stuff that's circulating around. For me as England captain, my main concern is the players and everyone in the dressing room.
"I know what it can feel like when everything just piles on top of you. It's hard. My main thing right now as England captain is making sure that everyone's OK."
Duckett has kept his place in England's team for the fourth Test, with Stokes saying he has spoke to the opener to offer his full support.
Stokes described Duckett as an "incredibly influential person" within the group.
The futures of Stokes, Key and head coach Brendon McCullum will come under intense scrutiny both for the result of the Ashes and the behaviour of the England players in Australia.
Following defeat in the third Test in Adelaide, which sealed England's fourth successive Ashes loss in Australia, Stokes said he "absolutely" wanted to remain skipper.
"Everything's easy when it's going well," said Stokes. "It's these moments where I guess the responsibility does fall on your shoulders a lot more than it ever has done.
"I will always do my best on the field. I'll always do my best off the field. I will always, always protect my players, especially in moments like these."
England's trip to Noosa was planned a year before the Ashes tour and went ahead despite the tourists falling 2-0 down inside two Tests.
The England squad spent four nights on the Queensland coast. Several media outlets, including the BBC, reported that some players were drinking for a significant portion of their time in Noosa, as well as on two previous days in Brisbane, the venue for the second Test.
"When you're winning, it's a lot easier to do stuff," said Stokes. "When you're losing, like we have done with being 3-0 down, everything you say, everything you do gets criticised, analysed, and rightly so.
"You don't really have a leg to stand on when you are 3-0 down in a big series like this."
England are on an 18-Test winless run in Australia. The visitors need to avoid defeat in one of the final two matches to prevent becoming the fourth England team to lose 5-0 in this country.
"How you use this kind of stuff is you either let it get on top of you too much or you can use it as fuel if you want to use it as fuel," said Stokes.
"Certain things inspire different people. Everyone will be focused when we come to here on Boxing Day and everyone wants to get that win."
Jeremiah Azu ran for Team GB in the men's 100m semi-final at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025
When Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi scored against Arsenal on Tuesday night, he did what he often does - point to the sky.
Arsenal's Jurrien Timber - nicknamed 'Pastor Timber' by fans - followed suit when he scored in the penalty shoot-out at the end of the game.
Both teams have influential players who have recently been discussing the importance of their Christian beliefs.
And it's not just in football where we've seen contrasting headlines about professional athletes displaying their faith.
Earlier this year, at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, GB sprinter Jeremiah Azu was warned not to wear a "100% Jesus" headband.
But can your beliefs impact your performance - and how you are treated - in the sport you play?
Reuters
Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi celebrates scoring against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium
Sport governing bodies often have rules against displaying religious and political slogans during competition.
Jeremiah wasn't formally punished for wearing his "100% Jesus" headband in a 400m semi-final, but World Athletics bosses said they spoke to his team about the accessory.
The 24-year-old says he now backs the rules separating religion from the track, but he's glad he did it.
He tells BBC Newsbeat he believes his "strength" comes from his faith, and he wore the headband to show that.
His father is a pastor, so Jeremiah says religion has always been a part of his life.
"We read the Bible at home, we prayed at home," he recalls.
He says his religion helps his performance in athletics.
"As a Christian you have to be disciplined," he says, a trait he feels transfers over to track and field.
"There's days where it's difficult to push, but I know I have to from the discipline I've got from my faith," he explains.
Semi-pro footballers Zainab El-Mouden (left) and Jaiden Chang-Brown are both devote to their religions
Though Jeremiah says he's never felt "muted" when talking about his faith, up-and-coming athletes tell Newsbeat it's not always that simple.
Semi-pro footballer Zainab El-Mouden, who plays for Chesham United FC Women, says there are challenges as a female Muslim player who wears a hijab.
The garment is worn over the head as a display of modesty, but it's not always been welcomed on the football pitch.
It was banned by governing body Fifa until 2014, when players were permitted to wear it for religious reasons.
Zainab, 22, says her faith means everything to her, from the way she conducts herself to the way she dresses.
She says it's been a real journey to become comfortable wearing a hijab while playing football.
"Initially I hated it, I hated the way it looked on me," she says.
"My hijab was my biggest insecurity and then it became my biggest strength.
"Whether you want to or not, you're going see me and you're gonna watch me more than anyone else."
Zainab feels there is still a difference in how male Muslim players are treated compared with female players.
"With a female Muslim player, they're visibly different so that's where I think the rift kind of comes in," she says.
After growing up with no one that "looked like" her in football to inspire her, Zainab says she wants to be that role model for others.
"All the girls that are growing up now need that representation to play," she says.
Does faith impact your performance in sport ?
There are studies on how a positive mindset and confidence can influence your performance.
Religion isn't always part of it - many athletes have rituals they "must" follow before a big game or race to centre themselves.
Some report that their faith forms part of preparations for a big event.
A Seoul University study published in 2000, based on interviews with 180 sports people across 41 sports, identified prayer as one of seven main "coping strategies" those surveyed used to combat anxiety before a big event.
It suggested this could have a positive effect on their performance.
Semi-professional footballer Jaiden Chang-Brown, of Lingfield FC, tells Newsbeat his faith has helped him to manage his emotions in a slightly different way.
"I feel like sometimes my passion could get the better of me in the past," he says.
"Sometimes I would lash out at teammates.
"It's really helped just to give me peace when I'm on the pitch."
Jaiden says his faith has helped him to improve his mindset and "tap into that psychological side of football" when he plays.
The 21-year-old describes himself as a "born-again Christian" and says his religion is the most important thing in his life.
"It's bigger than football, it's bigger than everything," he says.
"People think it's not cool to be bold in your faith, but it is.
"You can laugh and have your giggles, but it's what I believe in."
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
Zelensky said the 20 points agreed with the Americans offered Ukraine security guarantees that mirrored Nato membership
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has given details of an updated peace plan that offers Russia the potential withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east that Moscow has demanded.
Giving details of the 20-point plan agreed by US and Ukrainian negotiators in Florida at the weekend, Zelensky said the Russians would give their response once the Americans had spoken to them.
Describing the plan as "the main framework for ending the war" Zelensky said it proposed security guarantees from the US, Nato and Europeans for a co-ordinated military response if Russia invaded Ukraine again.
On the key question of Ukraine's eastern Donbas, Zelensky said a "free economic zone" was a potential option.
The 20-point plan is seen as an update of an original 28-point document, agreed by US envoy Steve Witkoff with the Russians several weeks ago, which was widely seen as heavily geared towards the Kremlin's demands.
The Russians have insisted that Ukraine pulls out of almost a quarter of its own territory in the eastern Donetsk region in return for a peace deal. The rest is already under Russian occupation.
Zelensky told journalists that as Ukraine was against withdrawal, US negotiators were looking to establish a demilitarised zone or a free economic zone.
He said: "There are two options: either the war continues, or something will have to be decided regarding all potential economic zones."
He emphasised that an economic zone would also have to be set up around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant currently occupied by Russia, and that Russian troops would have to pull out of four other Ukrainian regions - Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv.
The collapse happened in the early hours of Monday
The owner of a narrowboat hire company near the site of a collapsed canal embankment has said it will have a "massively negative effect" on business.
The giant hole on the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch opened up on Monday, dragging in two boats and leaving one balancing over it. Dozens of liveaboards - people who live on the canal - are stranded, with repairs expected to take months.
Paul Donnelly is operator of Floating Holidays, based in nearby Middlewich, Cheshire, and said the area is a landmark destination.
"A lot of our customers do the Llangollen Canal to do the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct," he said.
"We have customers coming from all over the world who come specifically to go on the canals and hire our boats, so it's going to have a large effect on our business and our future bookings.
"There's two of the other major routes that people come to do with the Anderton Boat Lift being out of action and the Bridgewater Canal having had a breach... earlier this year in January, so it is limiting a lot of options for customers to do different routes."
Paul Donnelly said the canal community had come together
He said it was hard to estimate how much money the firm could lose, and he worried people would be put off booking because of the event, despite the company still being able to operate on other routes avoiding the incident site.
Water has been lost from about 1.6km (0.6 miles) of the canal between Whitchurch and Grindley Brook, according to the Canal and River Trust (CRT), which said its immediate task was to ensure boaters were supported and the area made safe.
West Midlands regional operations manager Richard Preston told BBC Radio Shropshire on Tuesday: "Assessments to the bank could take days if not weeks and [for the] reconstruction. We're definitely talking several months before we can get the canal back open."
A dam is also being built to withhold the water at the site.
"These things tend to take an awful long time to fix, especially with the very difficult location to get to," said Mr Donnelly.
"They're going to have to build essentially a road up to the canal, where there is not one at the moment."
Watch: Boat disappears into hole in canal
"In terms of our business... I recognise it's a nice-to-have… there are people who are in a worse situation than we are," he said.
"If any of those people are struggling and need accommodation, we have got hire boats that are laid up for the winter."
He said everyone helped each other in the canal community.
"We've had similar challenges in different years with breaches or locks failing, and then the drought this year, and we've all tended to pull together in the season to help each other out."
Paul Stowe said he and his family only have the clothes on their backs, and their two cats
The incident has left many without homes, including Paul Stowe, who is originally from Solihull.
He, his wife, son, and two cats have been left without a home and have been helped by a local boating company.
"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."
Venezuela has accused the United States of the "greatest extortion" at an emergency session of the UN Security Council in New York.
Washington's seizure of two Venezuelan oil tankers was "worse than piracy," the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN said.
The emergency meeting of the Security Council was called to discuss the seizure of the tankers, which took place off the coast of Venezuela earlier this month.
The US has also said it was pursuing a third Venezuelan oil tanker.
President Trump has accused Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drugs cartel and said gangs had operated with impunity for too long.
On 16 December, Trump ordered a naval blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The US president has said the US will keep or sell the crude oil contained on tankers it has seized, as well as the vessels themselves.
The US has deployed 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean.
The stated aim of the deployment - the largest to the region since the US invaded Panama in 1989 - is to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US.
The US has also targeted more than 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean in recent months, killing at least 90 people, as part of President Trump's campaign against gangs he accuses of transporting drugs in the region.
Some experts say the strikes could violate laws governing armed conflict.
Venezuela's envoy to the UN said the US was subjecting his country to the "greatest extortion" in its history.
Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Samuel Moncada said "we are in the presence of a power that acts outside of international law, demanding that Venezuelans vacate our country and hand it over."
Regarding the US seizure of Venezuelan oil, he added: "We are talking about pillaging, looting and recolonisation of Venezuela.
"The government of the United States does not have jurisdiction in the Caribbean."
Referring to the Venezuelan oil industry, he said: "What does that have to do with drugs?"
In response, the US Ambassador to the UN, Michael Waltz, told the Security Council the US does not recognise Mr Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
"Maduro's ability to sell Venezuela's oil enables his fraudulent claims to power and his narco-terrorist activities," Mr Waltz said.
On a visit to a trade fair in Caracas, President Maduro said "the Security Council is giving overwhelming support to Venezuela."
Russia and China accused the US of bullying and aggression.
The US was "illegally destroying" civilian vessels in the Caribbean Sea, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the UN meeting.
He warned that other countries could be next.
The US actions against Venezuelan vessels, he said, were "a template for future acts of force against Latin American states."
Meanwhile, China's envoy to the UN, Sun Lei, called on the US to "immediately halt relevant actions and avoid further escalation of tensions."
Ben Stokes admitted he is going through his "toughest time" as England captain as he called for "empathy" towards this team-mates.
The tourists' awful Ashes series has been dogged by reports of excessive drinking.
England are already 3-0 down after three Tests against Australia, with the chance of regaining the urn gone and the risk of a humiliating clean sweep in the final two Tests.
Later on the same day, a video emerged on social media appearing to show opener Ben Duckett drunk.
The BBC has not verified the video, while the England and Wales Cricket Board said it would "establish the facts".
With England preparing to play the fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Boxing Day, Stokes told BBC Sport: "This is probably the toughest time right now as an England captain that I'll have.
"I'm not going to run away from it. I feel like I will lead for the rest of this trip how I think I can help guys get through it."
Stokes would not be drawn on the allegations about Duckett.
Asked about the scrutiny on his team-mates, he added: "We've got other guys who play all three formats and spend a lot more time away from home than others.
"It is very gruelling and it is tough when you're here, there and everywhere.
"I know people have got things a lot worse than what we do. You have to deal with the emotions of being away [and] the scrutiny that you are under, in particular when things aren't going well.
"Everything just gets heightened, but there needs to be a little bit of empathy towards stuff that people might not quite understand, but I guess if you're not in it and you're not amongst it, it is hard to understand that.
"But just in this moment right now, I think a little bit of empathy from everyone would be not too hard to think about, if that makes sense."
The all-rounder later revealed he suffered from panic attacks and feared he would not play again. His struggles were laid bare in a documentary released in August 2022.
"I've had some pretty good times over my career. I've also had some pretty tough times," he said.
"I'm obviously aware of reports and stuff that's circulating around. For me as England captain, my main concern is the players and everyone in the dressing room.
"I know what it can feel like when everything just piles on top of you. It's hard. My main thing right now as England captain is making sure that everyone's OK."
Duckett has kept his place in England's team for the fourth Test, with Stokes saying he has spoke to the opener to offer his full support.
Stokes described Duckett as an "incredibly influential person" within the group.
The futures of Stokes, Key and head coach Brendon McCullum will come under intense scrutiny both for the result of the Ashes and the behaviour of the England players in Australia.
Following defeat in the third Test in Adelaide, which sealed England's fourth successive Ashes loss in Australia, Stokes said he "absolutely" wanted to remain skipper.
"Everything's easy when it's going well," said Stokes. "It's these moments where I guess the responsibility does fall on your shoulders a lot more than it ever has done.
"I will always do my best on the field. I'll always do my best off the field. I will always, always protect my players, especially in moments like these."
England's trip to Noosa was planned a year before the Ashes tour and went ahead despite the tourists falling 2-0 down inside two Tests.
The England squad spent four nights on the Queensland coast. Several media outlets, including the BBC, reported that some players were drinking for a significant portion of their time in Noosa, as well as on two previous days in Brisbane, the venue for the second Test.
"When you're winning, it's a lot easier to do stuff," said Stokes. "When you're losing, like we have done with being 3-0 down, everything you say, everything you do gets criticised, analysed, and rightly so.
"You don't really have a leg to stand on when you are 3-0 down in a big series like this."
England are on an 18-Test winless run in Australia. The visitors need to avoid defeat in one of the final two matches to prevent becoming the fourth England team to lose 5-0 in this country.
"How you use this kind of stuff is you either let it get on top of you too much or you can use it as fuel if you want to use it as fuel," said Stokes.
"Certain things inspire different people. Everyone will be focused when we come to here on Boxing Day and everyone wants to get that win."
Supporters of Palestine Action hunger strikers protested outside Pentonville prison last week
A fourth remand detainee awaiting trial for alleged offences relating to the Palestine Action group has ended a hunger strike after more than 50 days.
Amy Gardiner-Gibson, who also goes by the name Amu Gib, has joined three others in ending the strike after reportedly being taken to hospital.
Lawyers for the group set a deadline of Tuesday afternoon for the government to respond to a threat of a High Court challenge.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We want these prisoners to accept support and get better, and we will not create perverse incentives that would encourage more people to put themselves at risk through hunger strikes."
Since the hunger strike began on 2 November, protesters have been taken to hunger on a number of occasions.
Four people have ended their strike, while three others are said to be continuing.
Supporters say an eighth member of the group is intermittently refusing to eat because of an underlying health condition.
Gardiner-Gibson, who is reportedly being held at HMP Bronzefield, jointly started the protest with Qesser Zuhrah on 2 November. It was confirmed on Monday she had ended her strike after 48 days.
The other remaining hunger strikers are Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha and Kamran Ahmad. They are said to have been refusing food for 50 days, 44 days and 43 days respectively - accounts that have not been disputed by officials.
Prison and NHS guidelines make clear that clinicians must oversee treatment decisions for hunger strikers. They can only be given food-related treatments if they consent or it is clear they lack the mental capacity to choose.
Prisoners for Palestine have called for improved treatment of detainees while they are held on remand and for Palestine Action's ban to be lifted.
The High Court has been reviewing the home secretary's decision to proscribe the group and a judgment is expected in the New Year.
Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending Lord Timpson said: "While very concerning, hunger strikes are not a new issue for our prisons.
"Over the last five years, we've averaged over 200 a year and we have longstanding procedures in place to ensure prisoner safety."
Winnie-the-Pooh's fame reached new heights in 1961 when Disney acquired the rights
Christmas Eve marks the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of one of the world's most popular children's characters.
Winnie-the-Pooh first featured in the short story The Wrong Sort of Bees published in the newspaper London Evening News on 24 December 1925.
The bear soon became loved world-wide, alongside Tigger, Christopher Robin, the game of Pooh sticks and the fictional 100 Aker Wood, which was in reality Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, where author AA Milne had a country home.
Pooh's enormous fame still generates a substantial income for the area to this day, with £450,000 of public money being used to fund a programme of events locally to mark the anniversary.
CBW/Alamy
AA Milne wrote Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926, followed by The House at Pooh Corner in 1928
The Winnie-the-Pooh stories are set in Ashdown Forest, an area of open heathland on the highest sandy ridges of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
In 1925 AA Milne, a Londoner, bought a country home a mile to the north of the forest at Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield.
Winnie-the-Pooh, featuring the imaginary adventures of Milne's son Christoper Robin and his toy bear, was published in 1926 and its sequel The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.
There were also two books of poems featuring the much-loved characters.
The original bridge where Milne and his son Christopher Robin created the game Pooh sticks became worn and unsafe in the late 1990s.
It was dismantled and replaced with a replica which is still in place in Ashdown Forest.
The original structure sold at auction in 2021 for £131,000.
Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy
AA Milne with his son Christopher Robin and the well-loved bear in 1926
The honey-loving bear took on a new level of fame when Disney acquired the rights to the stories in 1961.
Pooh Corner has been a gift shop and tea room close to Pooh Sticks Bridge in Hartfield since 1978 and is filled with mementos.
Owner Neil Reed said: "It's amazing to have people travel to our little village hidden in the English countryside from all over the world to celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh.
Pooh Corner
Pooh Corner has acquired a rare copy of the 1925 Evening News story which features illustrations by J. H. Dowd
"We love hearing from visitors about why he is special to them and the reasons behind them travelling so far to come to the Ashdown Forest."
Pooh Trek Tours has organised guided walks around the forest since 2018, taking in the sites made famous by the books.
Founder Gerry Manser said around 90% of people on his tours came from outside the UK, predominantly from north America.
PA Media
Christopher Milne revisited the original Pooh Sticks Bridge in 1979
He said: "The 100th anniversary is an extremely important event for the forest.
"Without Pooh one of the most remarkable landscapes in the UK wouldn't be as well-known."
The commemorations in Ashdown Forest to mark Pooh's 100th birthday are expected to include an installation, which would transform the forest's visitor centre into a life-sized pop-up book.
There are also plans to create new walking trails within the forest, designed to avoid protected sites.
Watch: The BBC reports on the latest Epstein file release
The US Department of Justice released its latest - and largest - tranche of Jeffrey Epstein files on Tuesday.
The 11,000-plus documents continue a stream of released information that began on Friday, the deadline mandated in a new law that required the department to publicly release all of its investigative files into the deceased paedophile and financier.
Many of the documents released on Tuesday are redacted with names and information blacked out, including names of people who the FBI appears to cite as possible co-conspirators in the Epstein case.
The justice department is facing criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle over the amount of redactions, which the law specifically states can only be done to protect the identity of victims or active criminal investigations.
President Donald Trump's name appeared more in these new documents than in previous releases. Many were media clippings that mention him, but one notable email from a federal prosecutor indicated Trump flew on Epstein's jet.
The justice department said some files "contain untrue and sensationalist claims" about Trump.
Being mentioned in the Epstein files does not indicate wrongdoing. BBC has requested comment from individuals named in our reporting.
Email exchange between 'A' and Ghislaine Maxwell about 'girls'
Of the thousands of pages included in this latest release, one 2001 email sent by a person identified as "A" stands out.
The message, to Epstein's accomplice and close associate Ghislaine Maxwell, says that "A" is at "Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family".
"A" then asks Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for sex trafficking of minors and other offences: "Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?"
In another email sent later that day, Maxwell writes back: "So sorry to dissapoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends."
The "A" email was sent from the address abx17@dial.pipex.com, with the sender's name shown as "The Invisible Man".
An image from a prior Epstein files release showed a different, but similar email - aace@dial.pipex.com - listed in Epstein's phone book under a contact titled "Duke of York".
Another exchange in the new files between Maxwell and "The Invisible Man" discusses a trip to Peru.
In October, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lost use of his Duke of York title following scrutiny over his links with Epstein.
He has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing, and said he did not "see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his [Epstein's] arrest and conviction".
The BBC has contacted Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's team for a response.
FBI email lists out 10 alleged co-conspirators to Epstein
US Department of Justice
Among the documents released are emails appearing to be sent between FBI personnel in 2019 that mention 10 possible "co-conspirators" of Epstein.
The emails said six of the 10 co-conspirators had been served with subpoenas. This included three in Florida, one in Boston, one in New York City, and one in Connecticut.
Four subpoenas were yet to be served when the emails were sent, including to one "wealthy businessman in Ohio".
Another email sent to FBI New York gives an update on the co-conspirators. This time it appears to mention multiple names. Most are redacted from the file.
Two names were not redacted – (Ghislaine) Maxwell and Wexner.
An email says, "I do not know about Ohio contacting Wexner".
The email is presumably referring to Former Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner, who had a public friendship with Epstein. In 2019, Wexner said he was "embarrassed" by his ties to the financier.
Lawyers for Wexner told BBC News that "the assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Epstein investigation stated at the time that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target".
"Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again," they said.
Possible co-conspirators in Epstein's crimes are a major focus for his victims, and for several lawmakers who have demanded more transparency from the DOJ.
"There's 10 co-conspirators potentially that we knew nothing about that the DOJ had been investigating," Democrat Congressman Suhas Subramanyam told BBC News on Tuesday.
Subramanyam, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, added that he was also "concerned" over the level of redactions that protect names of lawyers and people who are not victims. Lawmakers in both parties have said they are examining legal options to force more transparency.
The law passed by Congress and signed by President Trump states names and information that might be embarrassing or cause "reputational harm" are not allowed to be redacted and specifically asks the justice department for internal communications and memos detailing who was investigated and decisions concerning "to charge, not charge, investigate, or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates".
Justice Department says Epstein letter to Larry Nassar is a fake
Getty Images
Larry Nassar
A letter included in the released batch of documents got a lot of attention online. But, according to the justice department, it is fake.
The handwritten letter and envelope at first appeared to show Epstein writing to Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor who is serving decades in prison for sexually abusing young female athletes.
"As you know by now I have taken the 'short route' home. Good luck!" the faux letter states. "We shared one thing…our love & caring for young ladies and the hope they'd reach their full potential."
The writer signs it, "Life is unfair, Yours, J. Epstein."
The letter had been deemed undeliverable, and was sent back to a Manhattan jail where Epstein was detained before his death.
The FBI was alerted to the returned letter and requested an analysis of it. That request was also included in the releases batch of documents.
The justice department on Tuesday called the letter a fake, noting several irregularities with the note and the envelope that held it.
"The writing does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein's," the justice department wrote on X.
"The return address did not list the jail where Epstein was held and did not include his inmate number, which is required for outgoing mail," they added.
Officials pointed out the envelope bore a postmark from northern Virginia - noting that Epstein was detained in New York. It was also postmarked on 13 August 2019, three days after Epstein died.
Even before the justice department's announcement of it being fake, the documents raised immediate questions.
The return sender was listed as "J. Epstein" at "Manhattan Correctional" - but the correct name for the now-shuttered jail was "Metropolitan Correctional Center".
The documents released on Tuesday also show the analysis request by the FBI.
A FBI laboratory request stated that in August 2019, a sender listed as "J. Epstein" at "Manhattan Correctional" tried to send a letter to "Larry Nassar at 9300 S. Wilmot Road, Tucson, Arizona, 85756", the address of a federal prison.
Nassar is currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Trump's travels aboard Epstein's private jet
Getty Images
Trump's name appears more in these files than in other batches of documents released by the justice department.
Notably, in a January 2020 email, a federal prosecutor in New York wrote that newly received flight records "reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware)".
The recipient of the email was redacted.
Trump was listed as a passenger on "at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996", and Ghislaine Maxwell was present on at least four of those flights, the prosecutor wrote. Trump was also "listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric".
Trump was previously married to Marla Maples, Tiffany's mother, from 1993 to 1999.
The prosecutor also wrote that "on one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old", with the third passenger's name redacted.
"On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case."
The timing of the trips coincide with years in which federal prosecutors were examining Maxwell's conduct and travels as part of the criminal case they brought against her. She was ultimately found guilty of conspiring with Epstein to recruit and sexually abuse minors.
But throughout the files released on Tuesday, many of the other mentions of Trump's name are simply in press clippings mentioning him, his campaigns, and other news moments.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in regards to Epstein.
In a statement accompanying Tuesday's release, the Department of Justice said the new files "contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election".
"To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already," the justice department said.
Fake video of Epstein included
Among one of the odder entries in Tuesday's document drop was a fake video showing an Epstein-like figure in a prison cell, which raised questions of how it had appeared in the department's official files.
Other documents showed that a man from Florida sent an email to federal investigators in March 2021 with a link to the video. He asked if it was real, but it is not.
BBC Verify used a reverse image search to find a copy of the video had been uploaded to YouTube in October 2020. The user who posted it said the clip had been created using 3D graphics.
According to a 2023 report by the Bureau of Prisons, no video recording from inside Epstein's cell on the day of his death exists.
The fake video's inclusion in this release gives a glimpse of the questions that federal authorities have received from the general public, many of whom, having heard conspiracy theories or harboured doubts for years, want answers about Epstein's life and death.
Andrew faces more questions after the latest round of Epstein documents
Every time you think the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor story must have finished, there is another twist.
The latest batch of documents from the Epstein files includes emails that could further damage his reputation.
Or perhaps his reputation is already at rock bottom and this will only reinforce existing negative impressions.
Public opinion might be divided too, in reaction to this drip-drip of pictures and emails.
US Department of Justice
This released photo seemed to show Andrew and Maxwell in Sandringham
There might be some who have had enough of all these seedy headlines and do not want any more Andrew all over their Christmas dinner. They have already formed an opinion and this will only provide further confirmation.
While others will see these latest documents as evidence of the need to press even harder into Andrew's links to Jeffrey Epstein and his circle. What more is there to find, they will ask.
There are still outstanding calls for Andrew to give evidence to a US Congress committee and the US Department of Justice. And these latest emails will only add to the questions.
"Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?" someone called A in Balmoral asks Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's friend and companion who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in the US for sex trafficking.
Maxwell replies: "I have only been able to find appropriate friends. Will let you know about some church meetings on those dates."
She signs off with "kisses", and the emails seem to be between people who are very close.
The identity of A, who also uses the name "Invisible Man", is not made clear and we do not know for sure it is Andrew. And there might be some quizzical looks at some of the language in the emails - for instance "Fall" rather than "Autumn", which is more like American English than British.
But there are lines in the emails that seem to tally with Andrew's biography, such as talking about when he left the Royal Navy.
Elsewhere in the files, there also seem to be documents detailing arrangements in 2002 for a trip to Peru, with calls from Maxwell for discreet introductions to friends when he is there, with the suggestion from Maxwell of "intelligent pretty fun and from good families".
All of that could be read in many different ways, innocent or otherwise. And appearing in these files is not any proof of guilt or misbehaviour.
But part of the challenge with this released information is to put apparently random pieces into some kind of context.
The email sent by "A" asking for "inappropriate friends" was sent in August 2001, which is five months after Virginia Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with the then Prince Andrew in London at Maxwell's house.
That is a claim that Andrew has always strongly denied and he has always rejected any claims of wrongdoing arising from his links with Epstein.
However, further documents show that the US Department of Justice formally sought to question Andrew, asking in April 2020 for the UK government to assist in getting him to give evidence in cases linked to Epstein.
In the event that he would not voluntarily give evidence, the US authorities asked their UK counterparts to compel him.
There were also detailed questions about Andrew's relationship with Epstein from US authorities, including asking for details for any financial payments between them or any women associated with Maxwell or Epstein.
There could be more questions about what happened to that request. It arrived when the Covid lockdown had just begun and attention was elsewhere.
There has already been some embarrassment for Andrew from the Epstein files, with a picture of him lying on the laps of people in what is thought to be the saloon at Sandringham, with Maxwell in the background.
It is a room in Sandringham where the royals could be gathering this week to watch the King's message and they might have to erase that other image from their thoughts.
So far for Andrew it is more bad news, but perhaps similar to the previous bad news, of which there has been plenty.
A year ago there were multiple "What next for Andrew?" pieces, after his disastrous scandal surrounding his links to an alleged Chinese spy.
And it could not have been foreseen then how much further there was still to fall, with Andrew experiencing the most public loss of status for a royal in modern history.
No-one would have predicted the loss of his titles and his status as prince.
Next year there will be questions about his finances and his Crown Estate lease from the Public Accounts Committee.
And who knows how much more could emerge from this vast cache of Epstein documents?
This is a downward spiral - and every time you think it has ended, has kept going deeper.
All 63 blocks of flats that make up Stratford’s East Village have been found to have dangerous cladding and fire safety defects
Government plans to turn post-Grenfell fire safety guidance into law have been strongly criticised by a leading voice in the construction industry.
David Jones, president of the Institute of Construction Management, says the guidance for multi-storey residential buildings is "loose", "spineless" and "open to interpretation".
He argues it permits too many "tolerable" risks - for example, allowing flammable materials in window systems and between floors to remain even if they could let fire spread.
"It's allowing developers to game the system," the veteran of more than 50 years says, adding that making it law would be an "absolute abomination".
Mr Jones is the first senior building industry leader to publicly criticise the plans, which are currently out for consultation.
The government says the guidelines are a proportionate approach to dealing with the flammable cladding crisis.
Ministers insist making them law will bring clarity and certainty to the process of deciding which fire safety defects need addressing.
Mr Jones argues the guidance, which the government wants to enshrine into law, permits too many "tolerable" fire risks
Cladding campaigners say the word "tolerable" appears dozens of times in the guidelines, which are known in the industry as PAS 8890.
Combustible materials are allowed to remain in place if risks are assessed to be "tolerable" - meaning in a standard fire test a blaze does not spread beyond one floor within 15 minutes or two floors within 30 minutes.
Mr Jones argues that in the guidance, engineers are not explicitly required to present fire test safety data for these materials, making assessments subjective and open to interpretation.
He believes the lack of a ban on materials with "limited combustibility" is "another gaming of the system. It's a fuel, it just burns a little bit slower."
Part of the motivation for tolerating certain risks is to avoid delays caused by disagreements about how much work is needed to make buildings constructed with cladding safe.
Progress has been slow in the eight years since the Grenfell tragedy.
Ministry of Housing statistics for December show around 475 of the more than 5,500 blocks so far identified as unsafe have been completely fixed and certified as safe in the last 12 months.
Cladding has been replaced in 35% of those dangerous blocks since Grenfell - including nearly all of the tallest buildings with the same type of cladding as Grenfell Tower.
Residents' representatives fear that any flammable materials left in place can lead to a lower fire safety rating - even after repairs. In turn, this could result in permanently higher building insurance premiums.
In a statement, the government said it was up to the insurance industry to bring premiums down once buildings are certified as safe.
The insurance industry says if flammable materials remain, it will price the risk accordingly.
View Pictures via Getty Images
Seven years have passed after the problems at East Village, the Olympic Park development, were discovered
Mr Jones also criticises the fact the guidelines only deal with the exterior facades of buildings - covering cladding and insulation issues.
Fire safety inspections since Grenfell have revealed many tower blocks also have significant internal fire safety defects.
The government has robustly rejected Mr Jones's criticisms.
It adds the new law will prevent what it describes as unnecessary work and disturbance for residents.
A consultation on the guidance becoming law ends on 31 December, with legislation planned in 2026.
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".
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Pace bowler Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series in another huge blow to England on a wretched tour of Australia.
The 30-year-old, who returned to Test cricket after a four-year absence in July, has suffered a side strain.
He will miss the fourth Test in Melbourne on Boxing Day, and the fifth Test in Sydney in the new year.
Archer's place in the England XI is taken by Gus Atkinson, while Ollie Pope is finally dropped and replaced by Jacob Bethell.
Archer has been England's standout performer in a desperate series in which they are 3-0 down after three matches.
The Sussex man has taken nine wickets, and also registered his maiden half-century in the third Test in Adelaide.
It is a huge disappointment for Archer, who spent years battling elbow and back injuries in order to return to Test cricket.
He made his comeback against India at Lord's five months ago and has played five Tests before being hit by another injury.
Archer will return to the UK after the fourth Test to be assessed, after which a decision can be made on his availability for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, beginning in February.
"The effort that he's put in over these three games has been exceptional," said captain Ben Stokes.
"There were a lot of question marks around his ability or whatever it may be coming out to Australia, and he's put in a great effort for the team."
Archer took 5-53 in Australia's first innings in Adelaide, his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket for six years.
However, he was limited to only 12.4 overs in Australia's second innings, and a scan on Tuesday in Melbourne revealed the side injury.
England have already lost fellow pace bowler Mark Wood to injury on this tour, meaning a call-up for Surrey's Matthew Fisher. There are currently no plans to add another seamer to the squad.
England XI for fourth Ashes Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue.
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Archer takes five wickets as Australia bowled out for 371
Replacing Pope with Bethell is the latest stage of long-running speculation around England's number-three position.
Pope's highest score in six innings on this Ashes tour is 46, extending his run of eight Tests against Australia without a half-century.
In the 27-year-old's past seven Tests since making a century against India at Headingley in July, he averages 24.38.
Overall, he averages 34.55 in 64 Tests. This is the first time he has been left out of a Test since the 2022 tour of West Indies.
The Surrey man has been under pressure since Bethell made his Test debut in New Zealand at the end of last year, when the left-hander made three half-centuries in as many matches.
However, Bethell has endured a stop-start year since that breakthrough tour of New Zealand.
He has played only three first-class matches in the past year, one of which was the fifth Test against India at The Oval, when he made scores of six and five.
The 22-year-old did make 71 for England Lions against Australia A in Brisbane earlier this month.
Speculation that Bethell may come in for the start of the Ashes series grew when Pope was replaced as vice-captain by Harry Brook when the England squad was announced in September.
Instead, Pope has become the first selection victim of the failed bid to regain the urn.
"He's not going to be the only one who's disappointed in the dressing room with how things have gone," said Stokes. "Being 3-0 down, it's a tough place to be on a trip like this.
"There's going to be a lot of disappointment within the dressing room from everyone who's in there."
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'That's a terrible shot!' - Pope out after flicking ball to Inglis at mid-wicket
There is again no place for off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, while opener Ben Duckett is retained despite being the subject of a social media video that emerged on Tuesday.
The BBC has not verified the video, while the England and Wales Cricket Board said it would "establish the facts".
"It's all pretty fresh and pretty new," said England captain Ben Stokes. "I've obviously reached out and spoken to him and offered my complete support with him throughout this.
"He's an incredibly influential person within this group. I will always support my players, particularly in a moment like this where everything feels like it's on top of you - and for some players more than others as well.
"Supporting them and letting them know that I will be there for them through thick and thin is very, very important, and Ben Duckett knows that."
Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro to undergo hernia surgery on Thursday 24 December.
Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro has been permitted to leave prison to undergo surgery on Christmas Day following approval from Brazil's Supreme Court, court documents show.
Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the last election in 2022.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday granted permission for Bolsonaro to temporarily leave prison and be transferred to a hospital on Wednesday for a hernia operation on 25 December.
Bolsonaro, 70, has faced ongoing health complications since being stabbed in the abdomen during a 2018 presidential campaign.
In April, the right-wing former president underwent intestinal surgery. By November, Justice Moraes, who also oversaw his trial, mandated that Bolsonaro be given full-time medical care.
Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son, posted a video to X on Wednesday with the caption: "Keep praying for the president."
Bolsonaro was found guilty in September for plotting a coup d'etat after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The former leader is serving his sentence in a federal police jail in Brasilia, the capital, after being deemed a flight risk and removed from home detention.
Earlier this month, tens of thousands of people in Brazil's main cities gathered to protest against a bill trying to significantly reduce the time Bolsonaro spends in jail.
Lawmakers passed the bill last week after it was approved by the lower house. Legal experts have estimated it could reduce Bolsonaro's sentence to less than three years.
"With all due respect to the Congress, when it reaches my desk, I will veto it," Lula told journalists last week, while acknowledging his veto could be overridden by the largely conservative Congress.
US President Donald Trump, who had previously called the investigation into Bolsonaro a "witch hunt", welcomed the bill being passed. The US also lifted sanctions that had been placed on Justice Moraes in July.
West Australian police arrested the man after a public tip-off
Police located several guns, a stockpile of ammunition and a shopping list for bomb materials in the home of a Western Australian man arrested after pledging support for the Bondi attackers, a court has heard.
Martin Glynn, 39, appeared in a Perth court on Wednesday charged with racial harassment, possessing a prohibited weapon and failing to store firearms correctly.
Prosecutors allege flags of Hamas and Hezbollah, both declared terrorist groups by Australia, were located during a police raid sparked by a tip-off from the public.
In a statement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said "there is no place in Australia for antisemitism, hate and violent ideologies".
The court heard that Mr Glynn posted on Instagram just hours after two gunmen killed 15 people in a targeted attack on a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach on 14 December to endorse their actions.
"A community member saw a post from the man online, recognised it wasn't right, and reported it to police," acting Western Australia premier Rita Saffioti told reporters on Christmas Eve.
Police subsequently searched Mr Glynn's home in Yangebup, a suburb of Perth, allegedly finding a notebook including antisemitic comments and references to Nazi ideology.
Three flags, six rifles and around4,000 rounds of ammunition were also seized, prosecutors say.
There is "nothing illegal or improper" with supporting the Palestinian cause, Magistrate Benjamin Tyers told the court on Wednesday.
"What is not proper is posting online comments supporting a massacre of innocent civilians," he said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
In court, Mr Glynn, who represented himself, said he had been "opinionated" about the war in Gaza, but was "hoping to raise the hypocrisy" by creating the Instagram post.
He said he was a doomsday prepper, and that the alleged "bomb-making material" was actually fire-starting material.
"I don't intended to harm anyone," he said.
Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch told media it is early days in their investigation, but there was no previous "record of concern for this individual".
Mr Glynn, a former mine worker, was denied bail and will face court again on 3 February.
Turkeys being walked by drovers to Attleborough railway station in 1927. The practice of sending live birds to London dwindled with better refrigeration from the mid-1930s
Long before Christmas turkeys arrived shrink-wrapped in the shops, they walked to market on their own two feet.
First introduced to England in the 1500s, the birds gradually gained in popularity to become a must on the dinner tables of London's wealthy.
But before the advent of refrigeration and the railways, getting turkeys from Norfolk and Suffolk farms to the capital involved a long walk for the birds.
In a practice known as turkey droving, thousands of birds, some wearing tiny leather boots, were herded through fields and along rough roads on a three-month journey.
At the heart of this tradition was one of Britain's oldest breeds, the Norfolk Black, which was nearly lost to history until one farming family stepped in to save it.
Pat Graham
This 1990 re-enactment shows turkeys walking through Attleborough. In times past, drovers would walk the birds some three miles (almost 5km) each day
Pat Graham's family, the Peeles, have been farming turkeys since the 1800s when demand grew among wealthy Victorian families.
The 84-year-old amateur historian recounts how the birds were walked to markets in Attleborough and Aylsham in Norfolk, to be sold to merchants who had travelled from London.
Once selected, the birds then set off with a "drover", covering about three miles each day.
They arrived at the start of December at Smithfield Common inthe City of London, where they were rested and fattened up for Christmas.
Norfolk Museums
A steam traction engine was used in 1913 by the Peeles' Wymondham farm to transport plucked turkeys to London
"Because of their long journey, sometimes, especially if some of the smallholders had a few pet flocks, they would make little leather boots for them," says Mrs Graham.
Most turkeys, however, would have their feet coated in a protective layer of hot tar and sand.
"There'd be flocks of up to 1,000 turkeys go down to London," she says.
The drovers would forage along the way, picking berries, acorns and gleaning corn for the birds to eat.
The turkeys would roost at night in trees before being encouraged down in the morning with food and then walking on again.
Some died along the way or were eaten by predators.
The turkey drives to the capital ended when the steam engine and railways came along in the late 1800s.
By 1913, Mrs Graham's father's farm would instead slaughter and rough-pluck the birds, putting them on trains in wicker crates to arrive in London a week later.
Live birds were still walked but much shorter distances to railway stations, from where they were sent to the capital.
And from the mid-1930s, onwards improved refrigeration saw more birds slaughtered and sent on trains and lorries.
Pat Graham took over the family turkey-breeding business after her father Frank Peele died, and has written a book about the history of turkey farming in East Anglia
Pat Graham
Turkeys being hand-plucked at the Peeles' Norfolk farm in 1905. The birds' shape was different then, with a long breast, like a pheasant, and longer legs
It is thought turkeys were introduced to the UK by the explorers, Sebastian Cabot and William Strickland, who brought them back from the Americas in the early 1500s.
The black turkey, originally from South America, was said to have arrived in East Anglia during King Henry VIII's reign, via Spain.
Mrs Graham's father, Frank Peele, has been credited with saving the breed known as the Norfolk Black.
In 1931 he was asked by Britain's poultry club to help preserve the breed, whose numbers had dwindled due to changing tastes.
"They found a dear old lady who had got a few black turkeys, and they got some eggs from her, and my father put them in a very old incubator and hatched them," says Mrs Graham.
The Peeles still farm the Norfolk Black, now referred to as a heritage breed.
Pat Graham
The Norfolk Black turkey was saved after a concerted effort by Frank Peele
From the 1950s, demand for turkeys exploded when mass production breeding techniques were adopted, says Mrs Graham.
"After the war, you see, everybody wanted turkey. And so the turkey industry really went booming."
Police arrested and charged the British man, 43, earlier this month
A British national in Australia has had his visa cancelled and faces deportation for allegedly displaying Nazi symbols.
The 43-year-old man living in Queensland was arrested and charged earlier this month, after allegedly using a social media account to post the Nazi swastika, promote pro-Nazi ideology and call for violence towards the Jewish community.
The man was taken into immigration detention this week in Brisbane and is due to face court in January. Police have been cracking down on the use of prohibited symbols amid a recent rise in antisemitism and right-wing extremism.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said: "He came here to hate - he doesn't get to stay."
"If you come to Australia on a visa, you are here as a guest," Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.
Last month, Burke also revoked the visa of Matthew Gruter, a South African national who had been living in Australia since 2022, after he was seen attending a neo-Nazi rally in front of the New South Wales parliament.
Like Gruter, the British man can appeal his visa being revoked. He can leave Australia voluntarily or wait to be deported to his home country.
It is understood police are assessing whether to delay deporting the man so he can face court next month.
Police began investigating the British man in October over alleged posts on X. The social media platform blocked his account, prompting him to create a new one with a similar name where he continued posting offensive and harmful content, police said.
Australian Federal Police
Police seized weapons including axes and knives from the British man's home
Authorities searched the man's home in Caboolture, on the outskirts of Brisbane, in late November and seized phones, weapons and several swords with swastika symbols.
He was charged with three counts of displaying banned Nazi symbols and one count of using the internet to cause offense.
"We want to ensure these symbols are not being used to fracture social cohesion," Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said earlier this month.
"If we identify instances where this is happening, we will act swiftly to disrupt the behaviour, prosecute those involved and protect the dignity, safety and cohesion of our diverse community."
Christmas is a time when families get together if they can - and, until this year, the Murdochs were no different. With members of the media dynasty spread across the globe, full family gatherings were rare, although in 2008, according to biographer Michael Wolff, the Murdochs spent the festive season together on a flotilla of private yachts.
But more often in recent years it was Rupert - for many decades the most influential media titan in the world - and his daughter Elisabeth who would make time for each other.
She would certainly have room this year to host her father at the luxurious home she has renovated on the edge of the Cotswolds. But after a bruising closed-court battle in Nevada that became public and an eventual agreement that shut Elisabeth and two of her siblings out of the family firm for good, relations are likely still too strained for even the Murdoch family peacemaker to suggest communal tree-decorating.
WireImage
Elisabeth Murdoch and two of her siblings, James and Prudence, have been cut out of the family firm
Rupert's eldest child by his second wife, Elisabeth is the co-founder and executive chairman of the production company, Sister, which is behind hit television series, including Black Doves, The Split and This is Going To Hurt. In my experience, she is generous, intelligent and hard-working.
Friends are fiercely loyal and protective of her privacy. Nobody I have spoken to has a bad word to say about her. Many acknowledge, though, that it has been an incredibly testing year on the family front - even if Elisabeth, her younger brother, James, and elder half-sister, Prudence, are each around a billion dollars richer.
Money doesn't compensate for a father who, in his mid-90s, decided to rip his family apart because he believed it was in the interests of his business. The Murdochs have never been a traditional family - one reason why their story is said to have inspired the power struggles and backstabbing in the acclaimed TV drama, Succession. But this time, the schism feels more permanent. And as one person put it to me, the TV show concluded too early by killing off Logan Roy: there was more drama to come.
'James and Rupert will never patch up differences'
James Murdoch's relationship with his father and older brother Lachlan appears irreconcilable. Earlier this year, he described his dad as a "misogynist" in an interview in US magazine The Atlantic, and referred to some of Rupert's behaviour in the courtroom fight as "twisted".
He is known to feel betrayed and angered by Rupert's decision to force him, Elisabeth and Prudence formally to cut ties with Fox Corp and News Corp. Driven by fears over the more liberal direction they might want the companies to take after his death, the media mogul tried to change the terms of a trust that gave his four oldest children equal control when he dies.
Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
James Murdoch's relationship with his father Rupert and older brother Lachlan now appears irreconcilable (L-R, James Murdoch, Anna Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch)
Lachlan, who Rupert had already chosen to run the business, is now - definitively - the only one who will take the reins after his father's demise.
Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch actually lost the first round of their court fight. The trust had been set up in 1999, when Rupert divorced Anna, the mother of Lachlan, Elisabeth and James.
The judge ruled that changing it was in bad faith. But behind the scenes, the warring sides eventually came to an agreement. James, Elisabeth and Prudence agreed to sell their shares. They have accepted terms that include not being allowed to buy any equity in the family company in future.
"It's a sad ending," Claire Atkinson, whose biography of Rupert Murdoch will come out next year, told us on The Media Show.
"These kids worked in the business, they grew up in the business, and the press release said, 'You can't buy shares in this company,' and effectively said, 'Don't let the door hit you on the way out.'"
She also told me: "This break is extremely permanent. It feels like James and Rupert will never patch up their differences."
Lachlan Murdoch has been quoted as saying that the resolution is "good news for investors" and "gives us clarity about our strategy going forward".
Ironically, his successful leadership of Fox Corp, where he's been CEO since 2019 (he became chairman of Fox and also News Corp in 2023 when his father became chairman emeritus), made the deal more costly.
Getty Images
Media journalist Claire Atkinson says the family rift involving Lachlan (left), Rupert (centre) and James (right) feels "permanent"
Fox Corp has seen its share price double under Lachlan and the Trump presidency has brought a ratings bonanza. It raised the amount he had to pay his siblings to get them out - a presumably unwelcome side effect.
Despite the payout, Atkinson says, "There is a fracture in the company and a fracture in the family."
So where do the Murdochs go from here, privately and corporately?
Court battles, rifts and an ageing patriarch
Elisabeth and her half-sister Prudence are said to be concentrating on moving on.
Their father turned 94 in March, with the court battle in full swing. The sisters are mindful that he won't be around forever and I am told they are hoping at some point to repair the rift.
Reuters
Prudence Murdoch and her half-sister Elisabeth are said to be focused on moving on from the dispute
However much they have felt betrayed by him (and there is no doubt, they have felt it, very painfully), there's an understanding of the dwindling number of years he has left.
But Christmas may still be too soon for reconciliation. Lachlan hosted his annual party for the Australian elite at his harbour-side Sydney home earlier this month. Fox Corp may operate out of the US, but he is said to prefer the laid-back nature of Australian life, even if the trade-off is business calls in the middle of the night because of the time difference, as well as a lot of flights.
Atkinson says he is popular and well-liked within the business. "The difficulty that Lachlan has is that he's been in charge for years, but everybody is always going to project that every decision is Rupert's. He's never going to want to say, 'Hey, that's me,' and so I think it's a little hard to come out from Dad's shadow."
At the same time, Rodney Benson, professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University, says that while Rupert remains a presence in the company "what's really unique about Lachlan's approach, or what will be unique about his approach, won't fully emerge".
Lachlan's 'business over politics' strategy
Fox News is the financial cash cow, which may explain Rupert Murdoch's concerns that his children might have wanted to change its political affiliations.
Under Lachlan, there's been a successful strategy to expand into digital and streaming, most notably the ad-supported video-on-demand service, Tubi.
In September, US President Donald Trump said Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch were expected to be part of a group of investors trying to buy TikTok in the US. On Thursday, TikTok parent company ByteDance announced to staff that it had signed an agreement to sell a portion of TikTok to a group of mostly US based investors. Lachlan and Rupert were not named as part of the deal.
Reuters
Under Lachlan Murdoch's leadership, the company has pursued a strategy centred on digital and streaming growth
Presenting the Fox Corporation's results for July to September, Lachlan said Tubi had achieved rapid revenue growth and growth in view time, confirming its position as the top premium advertising-based video-on-demand platform in the US.
"And I'm happy to say Tubi reached profitability this past quarter," he added. "It's a great milestone."
He also said Fox News had maintained strong ratings throughout the quarter, cementing its status as the most-watched cable network in prime time, and leading to the highest advertising revenue for July-September quarter in Fox's history.
Rupert Murdoch's 70-year career saw him as "both an interventionist editor-in-chief figure and a political kingmaker", according to Paddy Manning, an investigative journalist who wrote The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch. But he adds, "Lachlan is less of the journalist and powerbroker than his father, and more of a businessman.
Getty Images
Author Paddy Manning says Lachlan is "less of a journalist and powerbroker than his father, and more of a businessman"
"If you look at the signature deals that Lachlan has made over his career, they have not been designed to increase his political influence. From digital real estate to sports betting to commercial radio to Tubi, Lachlan's investment decisions are focused on the bottom line, not burnishing his political credentials."
But Prof Benson suggests the significant debt the Murdoch businesses have taken on as part of the settlement with Lachlan's siblings increases pressure to make profit, and therefore to pursue "politically sensationalistic… outrage journalism".
"The proven way to be profitable in cable/streaming news is not by becoming more centrist and civil, it's by becoming more extreme, more polarising, and more willing to stir outrage," he says.
Rupert has had a hotline to major political figures for decades. In September he was on President Trump's guestlist for the state banquet at Windsor Castle. I'm told he spent nearly two weeks in London and was in the News UK office most days.
While Lachlan now runs the company, his father is still very much involved. Rupert's been described to me, at 94, as still "the sharpest person in the room" and a "phenomenon who loves papers and has ink in his veins". His voice may be a little softer, but he is mentally as strong and influential as ever, I'm told.
AFP via Getty Images
Rupert Murdoch recently attended a state banquet at Windsor Castle as a guest of US President Donald Trump
At one point the editor of the Times introduced Rupert to a slightly startled young journalist on the newsdesk and asked him to show the boss the paper's recently launched Live app and what it showed around reader engagement on specific stories.
Rupert also spoke to Fraser Nelson, the former Spectator editor now Times columnist, who usually sits at the open plan table in the office. They discussed the company's pivot to video and the work Nelson had been trialling around short form video. Rupert also wanted to talk to his paper's new star about whether Nigel Farage would end up in government.
A family 'deeply divided'
Three months on from the family trust dispute settlement, Mr Manning claims that the Murdochs are "deeply divided".
"While Lachlan works closely with his father, I understand he remains estranged from his elder siblings," he alleges.
Rupert Murdoch and his children Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence were all approached for comment.
Presciently, Anna Murdoch - Lachlan, James and Elisabeth's mother - predicted much of the fallout back in the 1980s.
In her novel Family Business, Anna, a journalist and author, wrote about the rise of a fictional newspaper dynasty and explored sibling rivalry, jealousy and how parental power can negatively impact family relationships. The plot of the book, published while her children were in their teens, follows how a newspaper owner's children are shaped by a parent who turns them into competitors in a power struggle.
Getty Images
Anna Murdoch, the mother of Lachlan, James and Elisabeth, warned that family divisions could emerge (L - R, Lachlan, James, Rupert, Elisabeth and Anna)
A decade after it was published - by which time the pair had divorced and Rupert had married third wife Wendy Deng - Anna gave an interview to an Australian women's magazine, during which she was asked which of her children would be best suited to take over from her ex-husband.
"Actually I'd like none of them to," she said. "I think they're all so good that they could do whatever they wanted really. But I think there's going to be a lot of heartbreak and hardship with this [succession]. There's been such a lot of pressure that they needn't have had at their age."
The family trust, agreed between Rupert and Anna as part of their divorce settlement, was her way of safeguarding her children's futures, by ensuring they had equality after Rupert's death. But that blew up - through a court fight in Nevada and a settlement.
And with that, relations with three of his six children may have blown up too - perhaps for good.
Top picture credits: Getty Images and Reuters
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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.
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