Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, began handing out $10,000 checks to T.S.A. workers who “went above and beyond” during the shutdown, after the president recommended similar bonuses for some air traffic controllers.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, announced on Thursday that several Transportation Security Administration officers would be awarded checks of $10,000 for working during the shutdown.
Shoppers at a grocery store in Brooklyn last week. Food prices have risen significantly this year, and a gauge of consumer confidence hit near-record lows this month.
Germany plans to boost its army to 260,000 by 2035
Germany's coalition government has agreed a new military service plan to boost troop numbers following months of wrangling between political forces.
The new military service plan will mandate all 18-year-old men to fill out a questionnaire on their suitability to serve and, from 2027, to undergo medical screening.
The decision comes as Berlin aims to create Europe's strongest conventional army.
The boss of Germany's biggest defence firm, Rheinmetall, has told the BBC he believes that target could be met in five years.
Armin Papperger said Chancellor Friedrich Merz's aim to boost the Bundeswehr was "realistic" and he told the BBC that "clear decisions" were coming from government.
Earlier this year German defence chief Gen Carsten Breuer warned that the Western Nato alliance had to prepare for a possible Russian attack within four years.
Mr Papperger said he had "no glass ball" about the future but agreed Germany had to be "ready in '29".
When they formed a coalition earlier this year, Merz's conservative CDU/CSU and the centre-left Social Democrat SPD agreed to re-introduce military service which would be voluntary "to start with".
The Bundeswehr currently has around 182,000 troops. The new military service model aims to increase that number by 20,000 over the next year, rising to between 255,000 and 260,000 over the next 10 years, supplemented by approximately 200,000 reservists.
From next year, all 18-year-old men and women will be sent a questionnaire to assess their interest and willingness to join the armed forces. It will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women.
From July 2027 all men aged 18 will also have to take a medical exam to assess their fitness for duty.
If the government's targets are not met, a form of compulsory enlistment could be considered by parliament. If war were to break out, the military would be able to draw on the questionnaires and medical exams for potential recruits.
Some within Germany's political left remain deeply opposed to mandatory service.
Many young Germans are wary and a significant majority oppose it. A recent Forsa survey for Stern magazine suggested while just over half of respondents favoured compulsory service, opposition rose to 63% among 18- to 29-year-olds.
"I don't want to go to war because I don't want to die or I don't want to be shot at," said Jimi, a 17-year-old student from Berlin, who attended an anti-conscription protest outside the Bundestag earlier this week. "I also don't want to shoot people."
An attack against Germany was an "unlikely and abstract scenario" that the government was using to legitimise "stealing millions of young people's right to decide what they should be doing", he said.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Jason signed up as new Bundeswehr recruit earlier this year because of the current "security situation".
"I wanted to contribute to defend peace, to defend democracy if the worst happens," he said. By joining up he felt he was "giving back to society" but also believed in the deterrent potential of the army, "so potential enemies don't even think about attacking you".
Jason, 21, joined the German army this year because of the current "security situation"
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has sought to reassure Germans, saying that despite the new military service plan there was "no cause for concern... no reason for fear".
"The more capable of deterrence and defence our armed forces are, through armament through training and through personnel, the less likely it is that we will become a party to a conflict at all," Pistorius said.
Defence spending in Germany tumbled after the end of the Cold War, while conscription was suspended in 2011.
Given its past, Germany has long been shy of showing military might, but earlier this year Friedrich Merz announced that the rule for German defence "now has to be whatever it takes", following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Nato countries across Europe have come under pressure from President Donald Trump's White House to hike spending.
European moves to re-arm have meant significant revenue for Rheinmetall.
Its CEO, Armin Papperger, whose firm also supplies Ukraine, said: "We make a lot of money because there is a huge demand."
"We have to grow strong on vehicles, on ammunition, we have to have our own satellite competencies. We do much more on the electronics and artificial intelligence... than ever before," he said.
A US report last year suggested the Rheinmetall boss had been the target of a Russian assassination plot. There was no confirmation at the time and Mr Papperger would not be drawn on the report, saying: "I feel good, I feel safe."
Asked about whether he felt Europe was in a state of a cold or hybrid war, he said: "Whatever you call it, it's not a peaceful time."
A Pennsylvania plant run by the company, ByHeart, was shut down this year after inspectors found mold, a leaking roof and more than 2,500 dead insects in a food production area.
Opponents of a natural gas pipeline approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York noted that the project would benefit a client of the prominent law firm where her husband works.
Critics said Gov. Kathy Hochul should have recused herself from decisions to issue permits that benefited recent clients of the law firm that employs her husband, William Hochul.
The death-row inmate, Tremane Wood, 46, had already had his last meal. It was only the second time Gov. Kevin Stitt has stepped in to stop an execution.
He spent almost two decades at the network, covering a wide range of court cases and the White House. He was also at the center of a defamation lawsuit over “pink slime.”
Several states have restarted food stamp payments, but millions of Americans are still awaiting the November deposits that the Trump administration resisted paying out in full.
The administration said the strikes are lawful because President Trump has “determined” that the United States is in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels.
The professor will no longer be able to teach a class on diversity after she showed students a diagram that included the “Make America Great Again” slogan as an example of white supremacy.
The Indiana University campus in Bloomington. A state law requires universities to monitor whether faculty members are fostering “intellectual diversity.”
A Pentagon intelligence report says China could try to acquire advanced F-35 technology in Saudi Arabia if the Trump administration sells jets to the kingdom.
Desk 02 Nicolas 13/11/2025 Soir_Egypte : l'entretien avec une historienne sur l’élection de Khaled el-Enany à la tête de l'Unesco
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Desk Nicolas 13.11.2025_nuit Egypte _Papier Desk 02 Nicolas 13/11/2025 Soir_Egypte : l'entretien avec Chloé Maurel, historienne sur le nouveau DG UNESCO
The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode which spliced parts of a speech together, but rejected his demands for compensation.
The corporation also said it would not show the programme again.
Lawyers for Trump have threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£759m) in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him.
The apology comes after a second similarly edited clip, broadcast on Newsnight in 2022, was revealed by the Daily Telegraph.
A BBC spokesperson said: "Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump's legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday.
"BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president's speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.
"The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.
"While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."
The child safeguarding practice review, published on Thursday, said there were "clearly several points in Sara's life, in particular during the last few months, where different actions could and should have been taken" by the authorities.
"The system failed to keep her safe," it added.
Responding to the report, the Children's Commissioner said the case was a "catalogue of missed opportunities, poor communication and ill-informed assumptions." The education secretary said there had been "the glaring failures" across all agencies.
From before she was even born Surrey Children's Services, Surrey Police and the Family Court knew of the domestic violence in her home.
The review authors said her father and stepmother were "a lethal combination", and that "with hindsight it is clear that they should never have been trusted" with her care.
Here are five of the key failings identified by the review.
Social workers not trusted
Warning: This story contains distressing details
When Sara Sharif's case was first in the family court in the early months of her life, social workers from Surrey County Council wanted her to be removed from her parents for her safety.
But after the initial court hearings the plan changed.
The review found that the "social workers felt very frustrated" by this, saying voices were not heard.
They felt that in court "the views of the children's guardian took precedence". The children's guardian is an expert appointed by the court to "represent the best interests of a child".
The review authors said that where the children's guardian and local authority social workers have differing views, the difference of opinion should be summarised clearly for the judge.
When Sara Sharif's father remarried and applied for custody, an inexperienced social worker was asked to produce what is called a Section 7 report.
But the review found the report was missing "vital information and analysis" because the files that Surrey Children's Services held were not "thoroughly reviewed".
By chance the judge who heard the case, Alison Raeside, had sat on the earlier hearings, but she was not reminded of some key facts.
For example, Sara's father Urfan Sharif had a history of "domestic abuse and past violence to the children". He had been told to complete a domestic abuse perpetrators programme before having unsupervised contact, but he had not.
Surrey Police
Sara's father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool were sentenced to life imprisonment
Bruising report rushed
When in March 2023, Sara's school reported to Children's Services that she had a golf ball-sized bruise on her cheek the request for support was graded "Amber".
This meant it should be dealt with within 24 hours. The social worker did not check what information Surrey Police held on the family, and they did not speak to the school to inquire more about Sara's change in demeanour.
She had gone from a bubbly child who loved singing to someone who was "quiet and coy".
Urfan Sharif told the social worker that Sara had "lots of marks because of the machinery she was hooked up to when born prematurely", which was a lie. The outcome was "no social work action".
Five months later Sara was murdered by her father.
Address not updated
The next month Urfan Sharif took his daughter out of school. The review found that she "effectively disappeared from view".
Surrey County Council had a policy of making home visits to children being home-schooled. The Sharif family had recently moved from a small flat in West Byfleet to a house in Woking. The school knew this and had informed the Council who owned both the homes anyway.
The review found that "address on the referral form sent by the school was the new address but the old address remained on the electronic system used by the inclusion team."
It meant that when the home education team went round to check on Sara on 7 August 2023 they went to the old address.
The next day Sara - already tortured, battered and burned - was murdered by Urfan Sharif and her stepmother Beinash Batool.
'Devastating that the information was incorrectly inputted,' says Surrey County Council
Racism concerns
Neighbours of the Sharif family did at times hear things that worried them, but the review found that "they were worried about reporting concerns about what they heard within the family's home. They feared being branded as being racist, especially on social media".
Sara started wearing the hijab in 2021 when she was only eight years old, even though her stepmother did not.
The review found that the "school showed appropriate curiosity by talking to Sara and stepmother and accepted the explanation that this was linked to Sara's interest with Pakistani culture following a visit to her paternal grandparents in Pakistan".
In the last months of Sara's life the the hijab hid the bruising and injuries to her face and head.
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