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Lawmakers have taken a hard line against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, threatening to lock down a portion of his travel budget until he turns over unedited footage of U.S. military strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and copies of the orders behind the operations. 

The provisions, tucked in the final text of the sweeping bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), land amid intensifying bipartisan scrutiny over a Sept. 2 operation off the coast of Venezuela, in which the military carried out a second strike on a suspected drug boat that killed two survivors.

They also come as Democrats sound the alarm on the administration’s overall strategy of sinking suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and as lawmakers express increasihttps://thehill.com/homenews/house/5641394-hegseth-boat-strikes-video-ndaa/ng misgivings about Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who’s been critical of the September operation and sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told The Hill via text message that he supports the provision.

“It’s time to show Hegseth we are an independent branch,” he said.

Bacon has in recent days ramped up his criticism of Hegseth, telling Politico’s Dasha Burns on C-SPAN that “after ‘Signalgate,’ I think I’ve seen enough.”

He added that he thinks it was mainly leadership in the Senate and House Armed Services committees who pushed for the provision.

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, the second-largest diocese in the nation, has agreed to negotiate a settlement that will pay more than 1,300 people who said priests and lay staff members sexually abused them as children.

In a letter published on Dec. 8, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the archdiocese was preparing to raise more than $300 million that will be used to provide compensation for survivors of sexual abuse. The cardinal said the archdiocese has made a "series of very difficult financial decisions" to fund the global settlement, including layoffs and a 10% reduction in its operating budget.

He added that the archdiocese was also working to finalize the sale of its assets, including the former archdiocesan headquarters in Manhattan and other real estate.

"As we have repeatedly acknowledged, the sexual abuse of minors long ago has brought shame upon our Church," Dolan wrote in the letter. "I once again ask forgiveness for the failing of those who betrayed the trust placed in them by failing to provide for the safety of our young people."

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Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins won Miami's mayoral runoff election Tuesday, marking the first time in more than 30 years that the city has elected a Democrat as mayor.

Higgins secured 59% of the vote versus former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez's nearly 41%, according to unofficial results from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections. The win marks an end to a competitive race that began with a crowded 13-person field.

"Our city chose a new direction," Higgins told the cheering crowd at her election night celebration. "You chose competence over chaos, results over excuses and a city government that finally works for you."

The campaign centered on issues such as immigration, housing, flooding, city growth, and the tone of leadership Miami needs. Higgins and Gonzalez faced off in a CBS News Miami debate moderated by Jim DeFede on Nov. 25, giving voters a chance to compare their visions for the city.

While the race was officially nonpartisan, Higgins had the backing of prominent Democrats, while Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Trump, endorsed Gonzalez.

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Twelve FBI agents who were fired this year for taking a knee during racial justice protests in the heated summer of 2020 are suing the Bureau and its director, alleging unlawful retaliation.

The former special agents—who together have nearly 200 years of experience—once received awards for helping disrupt mass shootings, expose foreign spies and thwart cyber attacks.

But they say as elite federal law enforcement agents, they never received training on crowd control, nor did they have riot shields, gas masks, or helmets when they faced down volatile crowds in the streets of Washington, D.C., in June 2020.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington on Monday, described the small group of FBI agents as vastly outnumbered and literally backed against the wall of the National Archives building as unrest swept the country over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Court papers said they kneeled not to reflect a left-wing political point of view, but rather to de-escalate a situation that threatened to spin out of control.

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In a sort-of ceasefire, the killings – including of children – have slowed, not stopped. Israeli military operations continue to displace hundreds of families in Gaza. Aid has increased but Israel is still blocking vital supplies. Palestinians desperately require security, humanitarian relief and reconstruction. But they need and expect a political horizon too.

Donald Trump’s plans make only the vaguest and most conditional reference to a Palestinian state, and Israelis – as well as their ultra-right government – have entrenched their opposition since the atrocities of 7 October 2023. Yet after two yhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/07/the-guardian-view-on-marwan-barghouti-palestinians-need-a-political-future-as-well-as-aid-and-reconstructionears of annihilation, Palestinian nationhood has won international support that many thought unimaginable.

The political fate of Palestinians is bound to the personal fate of Marwan Barghouti. After more than two decades in an Israeli jail for murder, the charismatic 66-year-old is by far the most popular Palestinian leader, widely regarded as the only figure capable of uniting factions riven by ideology and enmity.

Though a member of Fatah, Mr Barghouti has criticised abuses by the Palestinian Authority and has won respect within Hamas ranks. He has led Palestinian prisoners, while the PA’s old guard are seen as self-serving, ineffective, unaccountable and essentially as security contractors for Israel in the West Bank.

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Donald Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba announced on social media she is resigning as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

Habba’s resignation came after district and appellate court rulings found that she was unlawfully serving in the role, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.

The Trump administration had been maneuvering to keep Habba in place even though her interim appointment expired and she had not received Senate confirmation as legally required.

Habba’s statement on Monday said “do not mistake compliance for surrender” and that she would serve as a senior adviser for US attorneys to the Trump administration’s attorney general, Pam Bondi.

“Make no mistake, you can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you cannot take New Jersey out of the girl,” said the statement from Habba, who had been appointed to her US attorney role by Trump nine months earlier.

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A photo of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a high school football field in San Jose, California, has caused shock and outrage among the Bay Area Jewish community.

A Branham high school student posted the photo to social media on 3 December, and included an antisemitic quote from Adolf Hitler in the caption. A screenshot of the post began circulating on Reddit last Thursday and garnered over 500 comments. The post and the account were removed by Instagram by Friday morning, according to J., the Jewish News of Northern California.

The school’s principal, Beth Silbergeld, told the Guardian in a written statement that the social media post was reported to an anonymous tip line on Wednesday evening.

She also shared that the school will not be sharing the identities of the students who participated or the disciplinary action taken against them, in accordance with federal laws.

“While this incident does not reflect the values of the vast majority of our students and families, the harm it caused is real and must be addressed,” Silbergeld said in the statement. “Many in our community were rightly appalled by the image. This incident is troubling and unacceptable. Professionally, we are committed to learning from this moment and moving forward with greater unity and purpose.”

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The Trump administration has put together a plan to send immigration agents to the U.S.-Mexico border to catch migrants who are in the U.S. illegally and are trying to return home voluntarily around the holidays, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by HuffPost.

Under the plan, ICE agents would work with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers in “targeted operations” at land ports along the southern border. They would arrest people “attempting to self-remove” after being in the U.S. without legal authorization.

Agents would target commercial buses passing through ports of entry into Mexico, according to the plan document, which was labeled “sensitive.”

Travelers who have no immigration or criminal records and who don’t pose a public-safety risk would be considered “voluntary returns” to their home countries. Others would be processed according to their current immigration cases, the document states, suggesting they would be detained and face formal deportation proceedings.

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