Suspected Pirates Swarm Bulk Carrier In Critical Red Sea Maritime Chokepoint

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/05/2025 – 06:55

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/suspected-pirates-swarm-bulk-carrier-critical-red-sea-maritime-chokepoint 

Associated Press

LONDRES (AP) — Los reguladores de la Unión Europea multaron el viernes a la plataforma de redes sociales de Elon Musk, X, con 120 millones de euros (140 millones de dólares) por no cumplir con las regulaciones digitales del bloque.

La Comisión Europea emitió su decisión tras una investigación a abierta a X hace dos años bajo la Ley de Servicios Digitales del bloque de 27 naciones. También conocida como DSA, es un amplio conjunto de normas que exige a las plataformas asumir más responsabilidad para proteger a los usuarios europeos y retirar contenidos y productos dañinos o ilegales en sus sitios, bajo la amenaza de fuertes multas.

La Comisión afirmó que las sanciones a X, antes conocido como Twitter, derivan de tres incumplimientos de los requisitos de transparencia de la DSA. La decisión podría irritar al presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, cuyo gobierno ha arremetido contra las regulaciones digitales de Bruselas y ha prometido tomar represalias si las tecnológicas estadounidenses son penalizadas.

Los reguladores dijeron que las marcas de verificación azul de X infringían las normas debido a su “diseño engañoso”, que podría exponer a los usuarios a estafas y manipulaciones.

X tampoco cumplió los requisitos en su base de datos de anuncios y para proporcionar acceso a los investigadores a datos públicos.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/05/ue-multa-a-x-con-120-millones-de-euros-por-violar-la-ley-de-redes-sociales-del-bloque/ 

My favorite part of the holidays is giving someone a book. I’m that person who gives everyone on my list a wrapped book then I joke it’s a box of socks. My least favorite part of the holidays, however, is realizing months later they still have not opened that book.

The secret to a happy pairing?

Being honest about who that person is, not who you want them to be. With this in mind, what follows are the best gift books of the season, paired to some very specific people.

For the Constant Reader

Folio Society books with slipcases “Hamnet,” by Maggie O’Farrell, left, and “The Binti Trilogy,” by Nnedi Okorafor. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

It’s hard to beat a Folio Society edition of a favorite book. They are to literature what the Criterion Collection is to movies, only much older, offering contemporary classics and established landmarks in keepsake editions ripe for posterity. Their latest includes “The Binti Trilogy,” the great sci-fi epic from Flossmoor-native Nnedi Okorafor, featuring illustrations by David Palumbo that cement the series in a long history of genre fiction. Even nicer: The elegant linocuts by British artist Becca Thorne that spot a new edition of Maggie O’Farrell’s modern classic “Hamnet.” For children: A vibrant reissue of “Pippi Longstocking,” quirkily manic as its heroine.

For Chicagoans Not From Chicago

“Clout City: The Rise and Fall of the Chicago Political Machine,” by Columbia College’s Dominic A. Pacyga, is an accessible one-stop history that returns the familiar story of how Chicago works to its cultural, street-level roots, from the Great Fire to the “rusted-out remnant” of Mike Madigan. If that sounds too familiar, might I suggest a newer epic about doing the same thing and expecting a different result: Danish writer Solvej Balle’s “On the Calculation of Volume,” a cult smash with “Groundhog Day” vibes, the story of a woman trapped in Nov. 18 who meets others lost in the same time. (Volume III just came out and it’s addicting.)

For the Museum Fiend Who Can’t Make it to Everything

The catalog for Wrightwood 659’s “The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity 1869-1939” is as ambitious and absorbing as the exhibition, a vast internationally-minded study of how fine art portrayed homosexuality for centuries; what packed the Lincoln Park gallery earlier this year is now tucked alongside deeper dives into Russia, Japan, Brazil. “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind” is the catalog you needed after the moving new exhibit at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, a way to slow down and read all of those instructions on many of Ono’s works, prompts for creating your own art. One catalog for an exhibition that never made it to Chicago: “3-D Doings: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art 1964-1980,” organized by Skidmore College, is great fun, a roundup of the objects, the pop irons, stools, mannequins, tiny diners and more, constructed by the fabled Hairy Who art collective and Barbara Rossi, Ed Paschke, etc.

For the Restlessly Creative

Elizabeth McCracken’s “A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction” boils 35 years of teaching creative writing into 280 practical points, from the siren’s song of punctuation to the danger in striving for perfection. It’d make a nice companion to “Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady,” an elegant illustrated diary from 1905 by the English artist Edith Holden, pairing her watercolors with daily thoughts about the moors, the grass, the birds… If you fear hand’s-on life lessons are being lost to iPads, try “Little Woodchucks: Offerman Woodshop’s Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery,” which Nick Offerman wrote as a step-by-step manual for kids to make toys and little libraries, but hmmm, I know an adult who might benefit even more…

For Your Debby Downer

I can barely write this, I’m so hypnotized by “The Penguin Book of Cults,” a fascinating batch of news accounts, papers, Roman tales, forming a first-person history of Branch Davidians, Jonestown, Kansas City “vampires,” even a sect in the late 19th century formed around a Rockford man who said he was Jesus Christ. Sound too peppy? “Wish We Weren’t Here: Postcards From the Apocalypse” collects Peter Kuper’s celebrated four-panel editorial comics for the Washington Post and others, explaining our existential threats — sea-level rise, plastic waste — in a blink.

For the Indomitable Swiftie

“Taylor Swift: All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Track” is not authorized, and landed too late to include “Life of a Showgirl,” but here’s nearly 500 nicely illustrated pages on every track, all the boyfriend clapbacks, all the backstories, all the hidden messages. After that, if you can no longer see the Swiftie forest from the Swiftie trees, Gus Morais’ “Taylor Swift: Unofficial Search & Find Biographies” will finish off your eyesight: Think “Where’s Waldo” with Lollapalooza-dense scenes inspired by Taylor, harboring, somewhere, tiny cartoon Taylors.

For the Owner of a New Coffee Table Who Wants to Seem Interesting

“Air Jordan,” by Assouline Publishing, “Meaning Matter Memory: Selections from the Studio Museum in Harlem Collection,” “Martha Graham Dance Company 100 Years,” by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory, “The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970″ and “The Complete Peanuts 1997-1998,” by Charles M. Schulz. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

The key to a good coffee table book is very large, offbeat images of a deceptively obvious subject. Take the sculpture of “Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley,” the exhibition catalog for the Texas-born millennials’ Cranbrook Art Museum show outside Detroit. You think furniture, and then no, wait — brains, corral, Muppets… “Wild Ocean: A Journey to the Earth’s Last Wild Coasts” is a doorstop with actual coral, then comes the twist: cattle on a beach, a volcano of chub off Ecuador. A lack of explanation here only enhances the mystery. “Martha Graham Dance Company: 100 Years” is a large portrait of poise, yet, really, it’s a study of great costuming, spotlighting 25 seminal productions. “Italy: In the Footsteps of the Great Artists” comes across like a travelogue but zeroes in cleverly on the art of altars, palazzos and villas, straying from museums to tell the stories of many lesser-known great works tucked away into the everyday country.

For Blockheads

Is there a person alive who doesn’t like “Peanuts”? From 2004 to 2016, Fantagraphics republished all 17,000 Charles Schulz newspaper strips in 26 volumes, with introductions by Matt Groening, John Waters, Barack Obama… This holiday all 26 are being reissued — including “The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970” and “The Complete Peanuts 1997-1998” —  to mark the 75th anniversary of “Peanuts,” and I can’t think of a nicer tribute to tangible media. For the newbie: “The Essential Peanuts” is a best-of wrapped around an often touching history, with appreciations, dives into the TV specials and old paperbacks, plus a set of stickers and postcards and a Snoopy patch.

For the Armchair Chicago Architect

Robert Loerzel, online man about town, terrific historian, has gathered, with James A. Pierce, “The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace,” as thoughtful a revival as that seemingly-stalled Northside marvel itself may ever receive. (Finger’s crossed.) “Chicago’s Fine Arts Building: Music, Magic and Murder,” by Keir Graff, one of the building’s resident writers, is a mountain of archival insight, coupled with a sweet set of portraits of contemporary tenants. Pointedly more prosaic: “Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture,” by Carla Bruni and Phil Thompson, is a richly illustrated taxonomy, and a readable explainer, of every brick flat, apartment courtyard and pre-fab dwelling in Cook County.

For the Cousin Who’d Rather Be Hooping in the Driveway

“Air Jordan,” by art book publisher Assouline, starts with a sneaker fetish, then covers so much cultural ground — from Michael Jordan-branded french fry packets to a foldout of seemingly every rap lyric namecheck of Air Jordans — the shoe plays like a pebble in an ongoing ripple. A must for Bulls obsessives. Stephen Curry’s “Shot Ready,” certainly pretty, is closer to self-help than revelatory. Far more insightful is “Masters of the Game,” a collaboration between former Tribune sports writer Sam Smith and former Bulls coach Phil Jackson, who essentially chat about NBA legends — sports history as bull session.

For a Fresh Look at Classic American Artists

“South Africa, 1977/1978,” reminiscent of Gordon Parks and Robert Frank, collects images of everyday segregation and resistance, mundane and epic. The photographer is Chatham native Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, who spent decades obscured by her better-known husband, Arthur Ashe. If you’re looking for a compact, lively art education in a single book, “Meaning Matter Memory: Selections from the Studio Museum in Harlem” gathers 250 artists (including Chicagoans Dawoud Bey and Theaster Gates) in the collection of this venerable Manhattan museum, which just relocated after 57 years. Much broader: “The American Art Book” updates a classic Phaidon best-of survey, pulling together 500 representative pieces, from 17th-century portraiture to conceptual performance, into a reminder of how American art only thrives with American diversity.

For a More Playful Art Book

There’s no shortage of coffee-table appreciations of Kerry James Marshall. “Kerry James Marshall: Rythm Mastr — This is How it Begins” is the first focused squarely on the Chicago-based artist’s 25-year-long sidebar into comics, placing them in the context of his fine art and the history of Black characters in comics. Speaking of lesser-known side gigs: “Garbage Pail Kids” compiles all 206 stickers that Art Spiegelman (with a smaller team at Topps) created in the mid-80s, clearly inspired by underground comix. (The book even includes a bonus pack of stickers.) OK, now this is super fun: “Drawn to MOMA: Comics Inspired by Modern Art,” created by the New York City institution, asks 25 cartoonists to make an original piece about a visit to MOMA. Chris Ware, being constitutionally unable to do anything easy, contributed a whole poster (which is folded and included at the back).

For Comedy-Obsessed Chicago

“Comedy Nerd: A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures,” Judd Apatow’s sweet scrapbook of candids and anecdotes, from “Freaks and Geeks” to “Anchorman” to seemingly every stage appearance and producer credit, is a heap of charm; whoever receives this will curl into it for hours. Same for “John Candy: A Life in Comedy,” Paul Myers’ just-the-facts biography, with a nice delve into Candy’s Second City stint in Chicago. Speak of the devil: Anne Libera, Second City’s director of comedy studies, has “Funnier: A New Theory for the Practice of Comedy,” a trove of practical advice for anyone thinking about going pro.

For Someone Edgy yet Approachable

Diane DiMassa’s “Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist,” a zine staple of the early ‘90s Chicago, returns not having aged an inch: Here are the first 20 comics, made as “rage therapy,” DiMassa says, addressing gender and mental health, yearning for community. Speaking of creatively activist: Ben Passmore’s furious graphic novel “Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance” finds the author forced to time travel through moments — the Black Liberation Army, 1900 Louisiana — when Black Americans picked up guns and fought back. Nothing, though, is as surprising as “The Complete C Comics,” writer Joe Brainard’s brief delve into abstract, free-associative ‘60s comic books, with parodies of “Nancy” and “Archie” and collaborations with Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery …

For Those Without Enough Time in the Day

Anything from The Best American series, still going at 110 years old. Six volumes now, including “The Best American Short Stories,” “The Best American Food and Travel Writing” and “The Best American Essays.” A nice way of catching up over winter, finding new voices, reading a must-read piece you missed. Okorafor edited “The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy,” and Susan Orlean assembled “The Best American Science and Nature Writing.”

For the Sibling Itching to Sneak Out to a Movie

“Godzilla: The First 75 Years,” co-written by Chicago-area kaiju know-it-all Ed Godziszewski, is the absolute last word on the ageless monster, a history full of storyboards and interviews and charming backstage production stills. Genuinely fascinating, even if your speed is more… “Making Mary Poppins,” Todd James Pierce’s concept-to-premiere tell-all, so thorough that now I know songwriters Bob and Dick Sherman, who wrote “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” also came up with “You’re Sixteen,” which Ringo Starr later turned into a creepy smash. Too earnest? Cartoonist Nathan Gelgud’s “Reel Politik” asks a question you never considered: What if there was a casual Sunday-comics-esque strip about insufferable movie snobs? (Yes, that’s a recommendation.)

For the Recently Radicalized

Turn to the Library of America. Their new edition of “The Origins of Totalitarianism” expands Hannah Arendt’s first major book, including excised chapters and annotating a prescient map of why Stalinism and Nazism rose simultaneously. Impossible to set aside: “Jim Crow: Voices From a Century of Struggle, 1876 to 1976,” a two-volume collection of speeches, congressional testimony, Chicago Defender reporting, pamphlets by Ida B. Wells — a first-hand account of Reconstruction, Chicago’s 1919 “Red Summer,” the Boston busing crisis…

For Dad Rockers of the ‘70s-‘80s

Paul McCartney’s “Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run” offers a welcome breather from Liverpool, a collaboration between McCartney, filmmaker Morgan Neville and presidential speechwriter Ted Widmer, who gathered a sometimes juicy oral retelling of the disorienting, platinum years after the Beatles. “Iron Maiden: Infinite Dreams” is light on reading material but heavy on everything else, a huge visual history of the 50-year-old metal institution, from early diaries of its founders to a truly cool gallery of fans’ denim vests. “The Grateful Dead: Photos and Stories from the Formative Years, 1966-1977” is a coffee-table love-in, a decade of candids by Jim Marshall, music’s most Zelig-like of documentarians. He shot the iconic Johnny Cash middle-finger picture, Dylan album covers, and he was there before there were Deadheads — here’s 300 pages of proof, culled from 52,000 images.

For Original Stocking Stuffers

“The Mistress in Black: A Ghost Story for Christmas,” by Rosemary Timperley, part of Biblioasis’s series “A Ghost Story For Christmas,” “The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady,” by Edith Holden, The Best American Short Stories 2025,” edited by Celeste Ng, “The Best American Essays 2025,” edited by Jia Tolentino, “Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic,” by Stuart Moore, “Daredevil: Born Again,” by Chris Ryall and “Reel Politik,” by Nathan Gelgud. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Bloomsbury Publishing brings the historical, critical approach to superheroes it did for albums in its “33 1/3” series, inviting smart writers to the “Marvel Age of Comics.” The first three, small and colorful, turn a critical eye on the Avengers in ‘70s, Doctor Strange in the ‘60s and, best, Frank Miller’s “Daredevil: Born Again.” Even tinier: Biblioasis’ ongoing “A Ghost Story For Christmas” series, an addicting revival of the Victorian-born tradition of reading scary stories at holidays.

For the Reader Who’s Read Everything

”Song of Solomon” and “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, “Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run,” by Paul McCartney, “South Africa, 1977/1978,” by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and “The American Art Book,” by Phaidon Press. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

It’s hard being disappointed by a smart new edition of what they already love, and who doesn‘t love “Pride and Prejudice”? Rizzoli’s “British Library Facsimile Edition,” made for the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, is a lovely reproduction of the 1813 first edition in three volumes, in an eggshell blue case, with a bundle of Austen’s letters. For more contemporary taste: Vintage, to counter censorship challenges to Toni Morrison‘s works, is reissuing 11 classics, with new covers and introductions. The first includes “Sula” with an essay by Jesmyn Ward and “Beloved” with an appreciation by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers.

For a Nostalgic Christmas Vibe

I can’t begin to say how happy I am to see a new reissue of “Norman Rockwell’s Christmas,” which an aunt gave me in the 1970s and I somehow misplaced. It’s the 1977 original, same O. Henry stories, same poems, same letters to Santa — without any updating. Same goes for Lee Friedlander’s “Christmas,” 70 years of slightly seedy, kind of ironic, charming black-and-whites of iffy nativities and roadside yuletides. The joyous commercialism that Friedlander finds is unabashedly celebrated in “The Mattel Archive,” a decade-by-decade cataloging of forgotten toys and Barbie makeovers. Ideal for anyone who misses the old Sears holiday catalogs. If you need a reminder that not all of the great holiday traditions have been discontinued, “Chicago’s Holiday Train” by Daniel Moreno is a modest, gentle photo celebration.

For the Impossible to Buy For

Think rando. They were a teenager once (or still are). The new reissue of 1995’s “Teenagers in Their Bedrooms,” shot by Adrienne Salinger after graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, remains a powerful, disarmingly revealing set of portraits of kids in their domains, their anxieties and obsessions pasted to their walls. “Stuff: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos” could almost be a grown-up sequel: Kim Hastreiter, co-founder of the hipster mag PAPER, shows off the hidden charm of a hoarding impulse, grouping decades of sweaters, ceramic peanuts, newspapers, Obama tchotchkes, brand knockoffs. Every few pages, she pauses to tell stories about her famous friends, whom she also collects.

None of that seems promising?

“It’s Snowing!: Fashion, Art, Design and Winter Sports,” with its irresistible bright blue and pink cover, collects centuries of examples of how winter sports influenced wallpaper and tin toys and ski jackets and ski boots and ceramic figurines and tourism posters and fashion design. Here is the ideal gift book: Nothing about it sounds interesting, but then hours later, they’re still flipping.

cborrelli@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/05/holiday-gift-books-2025/ 

The annual Give-A-Thon is a four-decade-plus tradition at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

In its 41st year, Give-A-Thon for 2025 included the Wednesday, Dec. 3 distribution day when students helped to load bags of wrapped gifts, baby items and food for delivery. Bicycles and trikes, totaling 48, were either assembled, some donning bright bows, or the large boxes of bikes were wrapped with festive holiday paper for later assembly by mystical helping hands.

Give-A-Thon is a student project of the National Honor Society (NHS). During November, students networked to raise funds to purchase items such as clothing, food, toys, baby needs, plus more.

Right, in lightbulb festive headband, Logan Trojan, 17, a senior from Hawthorn Woods, is among student volunteers bringing holiday donations to trucks parked outside during the Give-A-Thon distribution day at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire on Dec. 3, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Approximately 200 boxes of food were brought to the Vernon Township Food Pantry in Buffalo Grove. Baby items, including 83 boxes of diapers and wipes, were delivered to PADS Lake County in Vernon Hills. Catholic Charities of Lake County (with a warehouse in Libertyville) provided household wish lists for gifts. The project’s philanthropy benefited 328 families, resulting in 1,135 children being assisted.

Give-A-Thon directors this season were Tanvi Shitole, 17, a senior from Buffalo Grove and Aaron Wu, 17, a senior from Lake Zurich.

“Stevenson really strives to give back to not only our community but the community surrounding us,” Shitole said.

Adlai E. Stevenson High School is home of the Patriots.

“I think that being a Patriot, that if you are a Patriot, that you really care about the community,” Wu said. “In Stevenson, we’re all taught a lot of good values, but now you get to put these good values in place by helping communities in need and these underprivileged families.”

Cam Jacobs, a senior from Buffalo Grove, was among the student volunteers braving the deep cold to load donations on a box truck.

“People that need it are getting food,” Jacobs said.

Examples of food donations at Give-A-Thon distribution day at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire on Dec. 3, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Wearing holiday reindeer antlers, Hannah Diab, 18, a senior from Long Grove, said, “It’s a lot of gratitude to think that I am able to contribute.”

Alexa Segovia, 17, a junior of Vernon Hills, appreciated the collaborative philanthropy, saying, “I get to be a part of it.”

Wearing a festive holiday light bulb headband was Logan Trojan, 17, a senior from Hawthorn Woods.

“I think it’s just the aspect that we know that this is going to a great place,” Trojan said.

“All this stuff that we worked so hard to donate and we worked so hard to raise, we all know that it’s going to a great place, to families in need,” Trojan added.

Some of the bikes were ridden for fun to the hallway leading to the dock for loading to awaiting trucks during the Give-A-Thon distribution day at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire on Dec. 3, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

“And so the fact that when we’re loading it into trucks when we know that’s where it’s going, that’s the destination, it’s all this hard work and dedication that all the Stevenson students put in to help all the families involved, it just feels so good to us and me and … all of the other NHS members to be able to help fulfill the need in the community,” Trojan said.

Among students bringing bicycles to an awaiting truck in a frigid outside dock was Grace Shin, 16, of Buffalo Grove, who said, “I really like to help others. I think it’s really nice.”

Also transporting a child’s bicycle was Kaitlyn Jiang, 15, a sophomore from Long Grove, who said, “I feel like it’s very cute and I love it.”

From left to right, bringing bicycles to an awaiting truck are Grace Shin, 16, of Buffalo Grove, who said, “I really like to help others. I think it’s really nice.” Kaitlyn Jiang, 15, a sophomore from Long Grove, said, “I feel like it’s very cute and I love it.” Taken at the Give-A-Thon distribution day at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire on Dec. 3, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Courtney Zabrin, among National Honor Society sponsors and Stevenson’s community service coordinator, agreed that owning a bicycle empowers a child.

“A bike gives them freedom, flexibility, time to spend with their friends around the neighborhood,” Zabrin said with a smile.

The packed gift staging area is being quickly cleared during the Give-A-Thon distribution day at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire on Dec. 3, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Head National Honor Society Sponsor Jennifer McBride also summed up distribution day with a smile.

“It’s so fun,” McBride said. “It’s like the best day.”

See https://connect.stevensonschool.org/portal/stevenson-giving-day

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/05/stevenson-high-school-give-a-thon/ 

6 Reasons Jack Dorsey Is Definitely Satoshi… And 5 Reasons He’s Not

Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/05/2025 – 06:30

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/6-reasons-jack-dorsey-definitely-satoshi-and-5-reasons-hes-not 

Por NICOLE WINFIELD

ROMA (AP) — León XIV ha dado el paso más significativo hasta la fecha para corregir una de las medidas financieras más controvertidas del papa Francisco, al cancelar una comisión especial de recaudación de fondos de la Santa Sede que se anunció en circunstancias cuestionables durante la hospitalización del religioso argentino.

El pontífice suprimió oficialmente el jueves la comisión de recaudación, derogó sus estatutos y despidió a sus miembros. Además, decretó que sus activos pasarán a la Santa Sede en su conjunto, y que la oficina de patrimonio vaticana supervisará la disolución de la comisión.

Se formará un nuevo grupo de trabajo, con miembros aprobados por el papa, para elaborar propuestas de recaudación de fondos y una estructura adecuada para el futuro, según el decreto.

El decreto fue la última señal de que el primer papa estadounidense de la historia está cerrando los cabos sueltos del pontificado de Francisco. En la recta final del año, León está corrigiendo los problemas a medida que es necesario y cumple con las obligaciones del Año Santo de Francisco con la vista puesta en 2026, cuando podrá centrarse más en su propia agenda.

El Vaticano anunció la creación de la comisión, sus estatutos y sus miembros el 26 de febrero, mientras Francisco estaba ingresado luchando contra una neumonía bilateral. En aquel momento, el papa recibía la visita de los principales funcionarios de la secretaría de Estado.

La comisión estaba formada únicamente por italianos sin experiencia profesional en recaudación de fondos. Su presidente era el asesor de la secretaría de Estado, la misma oficina a la que Francisco había despojado previamente de su capacidad para gestionar activos tras perder decenas de millones de euros en un escandaloso acuerdo inmobiliario en Londres.

La concentración de poder en la secretaría de Estado, la falta de recaudadores de fondos calificados y la ausencia de estadounidenses en la junta —Estados Unidos es el mayor donante del Vaticano— generaron de inmediato dudas acerca de la credibilidad de la comisión. Para algunos, parecía que la secretaría, dirigida por italianos, estaba aprovechando la enfermedad del papa para anunciar un nuevo flujo de donaciones sin control hacia sus arcas después de que Francisco le quitara el fondo soberano de 600 millones de euros (684 millones de dólares) y se lo diera a otra oficina para gestionarlo como castigo por el fiasco de Londres.

El decreto del papa estadounidense parece un esfuerzo por empezar desde cero. Las donaciones son una fuente crucial de ingresos para la Santa Sede, y los donantes estadounidenses adinerados, en particular, esperaban que León, licenciado en matemáticas, impusiera una mayor transparencia financiera y responsabilidad en las cuentas del Vaticano.

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La cobertura de religión de Associated Press recibe apoyo a través de la colaboración de AP con The Conversation US, con financiación de Lilly Endowment Inc. AP es el único responsable de este contenido.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/05/len-cancela-comisin-de-recaudacin-del-vaticano-anunciada-en-circunstancias-cuestionables/ 

“Elf the Musical” is the theatrical equivalent of pouring maple syrup on spaghetti; kids may love it, but nostalgia aside, it’s too sickly sweet to have broad appeal for adults. Based on the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell, the 2010 stage adaptation returned to Broadway last year, directed by Philip Wm. McKinley, and a new national tour based on this production is now playing a limited run at the Auditorium Theatre.

With music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, the Christmas cheer is dialed up to 11 in the familiar story of Buddy, a human raised in the North Pole who travels to New York to find his birth father. The title of the opening number, “Happy All the Time,” pretty much sums up the mood. Performed by Santa Claus (Andrew Hendrick) and the elves (average-height adult ensemble members shuffling around on their knees), the song introduces Jack Ducat’s Buddy, the happiest elf of them all.

This production didn’t change my mind about the key problem with this musical: it’s not as funny as the movie, because Buddy’s song-and-dance schtick doesn’t seem as incongruous in a setting where all the characters, even the jaded New Yorkers, regularly break into song. Most of the tunes aren’t particularly memorable, with the exception of a few unwelcome earworms. However, I’ll concede one element that kind of works in musical form: it makes sense that Buddy is the one egging on the company in many of the major numbers, because this emphasizes his role in helping his newfound family and community rediscover their love for Christmas and each other.

Ducat makes an endearing Buddy, with childlike enthusiasm that comes off as more believable than Ferrell’s performance, thanks in part to his youthful look and mannerisms. Buddy’s complete oblivion to innuendo adds a note of adult humor to this overall family-friendly comedy, and his exaggerated physicality should play well with younger viewers. The rest of the cast does fine with the material at hand, though many of the roles are underdeveloped or caricature-like. Buddy does share a few sweet moments with love interest Jovie (Felicia Martis), but she doesn’t get nearly as much stage time.

The production design is suitably loud and jolly, from the rainbow palette of the elf costumes to the tinsel-bedecked halls of Macy’s (scenic and costume designs adapted from the original by Tim Goodchild). As with most Broadway tours in recent years, the visuals rely heavily on video projections, in this case designed by Ian William Galloway. The opening scenes at the North Pole evoke the animated elements of the film — a style that Galloway unfortunately retains when the action moves to New York, resulting in an unrealistic and busy look. However, it’s a nice touch that Santa’s sleigh physically flies in the end, while fake snow sprinkles the house.

The cast of the touring production of “Elf the Musical” at the Auditorium Theatre. (Evan Zimmerman)

Even though I enjoyed the movie as much as most millennials, the musical makes me feel a bit Grinch-like, so take my grumpiness with a grain of salt. On opening night, the audience included people in festive holiday sweaters, T-shirts with quotes from the film and at least one pair of elf ears. Based on the ovation, it seemed that a good time was had by most.

Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.

Review: “Elf the Musical” (2 stars)

When: Through Dec. 14

Where: Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive

Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes

Tickets: $40.00-$110.00 at broadwayinchicago.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/05/review-elf-auditorium-theatre/ 

Por ILLIA NOVIKOV

KIEV, Ucrania (AP) — Aviones no tripulados rusos alcanzaron una vivienda en el centro de Ucrania y mataron a un niño de 12 años, dijeron las autoridades, y se reportaron ataques ucranianos de largo alcance contra un puerto y una refinería de petróleo rusas, mientras los esfuerzos de paz de Estados Unidos continuaban fuera de la vista del público.

Estaba previsto que Steve Witkoff, el enviado especial del presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, y el yerno del mandatario, Jared Kushner, se reunieran el jueves con una delegación ucraniana en Miami, pero no hubo confirmación oficial del encuentro.

Estas conversaciones programadas seguían a la reunión que mantuvieron el presidente de Rusia, Vladímir Putin, y los enviados de la Casa Blanca en el Kremlin el martes.

Los esfuerzos diplomáticos previos para romper el estancamiento no arrojaron resultado y la guerra, que comenzó hace casi cuatro años, no da signos de detenerse. Las autoridades han mantenido en gran medida en secreto el desarrollo de las últimas conversaciones, aunque se filtró el plan inicial de 28 puntos de Trump.

El presidente de Ucrania, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, apuntó que la delegación de su país en Miami quería escuchar la versión estadounidense de lo ocurrido en la reunión en el Kremlin.

Zelenskyy y los líderes europeos que lo apoyan han acusado repetidamente a Putin de demorar las conversaciones de paz mientras el ejército ruso intenta avanzar sobre el terreno.

En un mensaje en video el jueves por la noche, Zelenskyy indicó que los funcionarios querían saber “qué otros pretextos ha ideado Putin para prolongar la guerra y presionar a Ucrania”.

Mientras, el asesor de asuntos exteriores del Kremlin, Yuri Ushakov, quien acompañaba a Putin en una visita a India el viernes, repitió las recientes críticas del liderazgo ruso a la postura de Europa en las conversaciones de paz. Los aliados europeos de Kiev están preocupados por una posible agresión rusa más allá de Ucrania y quieren que el posible acuerdo de paz incluya sólidas garantías de seguridad.

Los socios europeos de Kiev están “constantemente presentando demandas que son inaceptables para Moscú”, dijo Ushakov a la televisión estatal rusa Zvezda. “Dicho suavemente, los europeos no ayudan a Washington y Moscú a llegar a un acuerdo sobre los asuntos ucranianos”.

En la región de Dnipropetrovsk, en el centro de Ucrania, un ataque con drones rusos destruyó el jueves por la noche una casa donde falleció el menor y otras dos mujeres resultaron heridas, según el jefe de la administración militar regional, Vladyslav Haivanenko.

La fuerza aérea ucraniana dijo que Rusia disparó 137 drones de varios tipos durante la noche.

Aviones no tripulados ucranianos atacaron un puerto en la región fronteriza rusa de Krasnodar. La ofensiva causó un incendio en el puerto de Temryuk y dañó la infraestructura portuaria, indicaron las autoridades.

Los drones ucranianos también apuntaron a objetivos más adentro en Rusia, atacando la ciudad de Syzran, en el río Volga, explicó el alcalde, Sergei Volodchenkov, que no dio más detalles.

Informes de prensa no confirmados señalaron que drones ucranianos golpearon una refinería de petróleo en Syzran, a unos 800 kilómetros (500 millas) al este de la frontera con Ucrania.

El Ministerio de Defensa ruso dijo que sus defensas antiaéreas interceptaron 85 drones ucranianos sobre regiones rusas y Crimea, la península anexionada ilegalmente por Moscú, durante la noche.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/05/ataque-de-dron-ruso-mata-a-un-nio-en-ucrania-mientras-sigue-el-secreto-sobre-conversaciones-de-paz/