Category: News
No hay plan alternativo para arena de hockey olímpico mientras construcción llega al límite
Por DANIELLA MATTAR
MILÁN (AP) — No hay un plan de respaldo si la principal arena de hockey sobre hielo para l os Juegos de Invierno de Milán-Cortina no logra estar lista a tiempo.
La construcción de la arena que está destinada a recibir a los jugadores de la NHL en su regreso a los Juegos Olímpicos por primera vez en más de una década está retrasada, llegando justo al límite.
Un evento de prueba en l a Arena de Hockey sobre Hielo Santagiulia —el nuevo recinto con capacidad para 16.000 asientos que se está construyendo en las afueras de Milán— tuvo que ser trasladado, y los próximos no se realizarán hasta el 9 y 11 de enero.
“No hay un plan B”, dijo Andrea Francisi, el director de peraciones de los Juegos para Milán-Cortina, entrevistado el sábado por The Associated Press. “Así que necesariamente tenemos que ser capaces de organizar la competencia de manera impecable en Santagiulia”.
La primera actividad de los Juegos en la principal arena de hockey es la competencia de la ronda preliminar femenina el 5 de febrero, solo un día antes de la ceremonia de apertura.
Por lo general, los nuevos recintos olímpicos se ponen a prueba al menos el año anterior de los eventos de medalla. Y con una gran arena de hockey, no se trata solo del hielo y de asegurarse de que la superficie de juego esté lista y segura. También se trata de probar los puestos de venta de comida, los baños y todo lo demás dentro de una arena completamente nueva.
Francisi admitió que no hay “una fecha precisa” para que el recinto sea entregado a los organizadores locales, pero confía “por el momento” en que estará listo para los Juegos Olímpicos.
“Hay actualizaciones diarias en el sentido de que nuestro equipo está allí trabajando todos los días”, dijo Francisi. “Las empresas involucradas en la construcción de la instalación han acelerado significativamente su trabajo.
“Estamos monitoreando todo eso diariamente junto con ellos, hay una gran colaboración entre nosotros, estamos creando un plan coordinado entre su trabajo y nuestras preparaciones y por el momento somos saludablemente optimistas, pero al 100% lo lograremos”, añadió.
El torneo olímpico de hockey masculino está programado para llevarse a cabo del 11 al 22 de febrero. El torneo femenino se desarrollará del 5 al 19 de febrero.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Raphinha asiste, Olmo anota doblete y Barcelona se recupera tras derrota ante Chelsea
Por JOSEPH WILSON
BARCELONA (AP) — Raphinha asistió en dos goles y Dani Olmo facturó un doblete en la remontada del Barcelona para derrotar el sábado 3-1 a Alavés en La Liga español, recuperándpse tras su debacle ante Chelsea en la Liga de Campeones.
Lamine Yamal también brillo para sacudirse la derrota 3-0 que los azulgranas sufrieron en la visita Stamford Bridge a mitad de semana, cuando atacante no mostrar su habitual destreza ofensiva. La estrella de 18 años anotó el gol del empate para el Barça y estuvo cerca de añadir otro tanto en dos ocasiones, incluyendo un disparo al poste al final de la primera mitad.
Raphinha, clave en el doblete de títulos domésticos del Barcelona la temporada pasada, se mostró incisivo como en sus mejores momentos en el Camp Nou en su primera titularidad en dos meses tras recuperarse de una lesión del isquiotibial de la pierna derecha. El atacante brasileño jugó unos cuantos minutos en la victoria sobre el Athletic Bilbao el fin de semana pasado e ingresó cerca del final frente a Chelsea antes de que Hansi Flick le diera la titularidad.
Raphinha desbordó dos veces a la defensa de Alavés por la banda izquierda el área antes de pasar el balón a Lamine y Olmo para que anotaran en dos ocasiones.
Olmo añadió un tercer gol en el tiempo de descuento cuando se combinó con Lamal antes de disparar a puerta.
La cuarta victoria consecutiva del Barça en La Liga le permitirá irse a dormir como líder, dos puntos por delante del Real Madrid. Los merengues visitan a Girona el domingo.
Los azulgranas recibieron otro impulso con el regreso de Pedri González después de pasar un mes sin su principal creador de juego.
Pedri ingresó con media hora por jugar, reemplazando a Raphinha. El centrocampista español había estado fuera un mes por una lesión muscular en la pierna izquierda.
Alavés, con poca pegada durante toda la temporada, se mostró mucho más peligroso de lo esperado.
A primera hora, el delantero Vedat Muriqi firmó un doblete para Mallorca pero Osasuna salvó el empate 2-2 con dos goles postreros en la visita a las Islas Baleares.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Trump Did It: Wasserman Schultz Accuses The President Of Causing The Shooting Of National Guard Members
Trump Did It: Wasserman Schultz Accuses The President Of Causing The Shooting Of National Guard Members
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) has long performed a key role for many on the left. When there is an argument barred by decency or decorum, Wasserman Schultz is happy to make it, from attacking journalists in her defense of censorship to attempting to rig an election and bar Republicans from ballots as part of her defense of democracy. However, on Friday, the Florida representative set a new low in American politics: attempting to assign some of the blame for the shooting of two National Guardsmen on President Donald Trump.
On CNN’s “News Central,” Rep. Wasserman Schultz declared that
“This is a deeply concerning situation, but, you know, it’s one that I think we have to — it begs the question, would an individual have flown across the country to target law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C.? And, I mean, the answer is likely no. So why wasn‘t the president‘s first thought, ‘Wow, you know, maybe I should reconsider deploying military troops in the nation‘s capital or in any city?’ Particularly not when they haven‘t coordinated closely with the leadership of these cities and when we have law enforcement that are quite capable of handling the criminal justice issues that are — that we need law enforcement to focus on, and not our military.”
There is a good-faith debate over the deployment of National Guard personnel in cities. However, the mayor of Washington, D.C., has worked with the Administration on that deployment, and crime has fallen in the Capitol. They have been coordinating with the city.
Nevertheless, Wasserman Schultz pressed on:
“I just think, you know, the president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies. We need to make sure that we don‘t have our military deployed in our cities, doing — handling law enforcement responsibilities. And we need to make sure that we address gun violence. We certainly need to make sure we always have the proper and appropriate and tight, tight vetting processes, and those should be reviewed. But it‘s never the president‘s fault or his policies when it comes to his reaction, and it’s pretty disgusting.”
D.C. has some of the strongest gun control measures in the nation. Moreover, this is a crime committed with a handgun brought from another area with strong gun control, Washington State.
Wasserman Schultz is also assuming that it was the deployment that motivated the shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. Lakanwal entered the U.S. on September 8, 2021, under Operation Allies Welcome, a program established by former Democratic President Joe Biden after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The father of slain Guardsman Staff Sgt. Darin “Taylor” Hoover blamed the “feckless Biden Administration” for the death of his daughter the day of Wasserman Schultz’s statement.
Wasserman Schultz, however, does not blame former President Biden for Lakanwal’s presence in the United States. (Lakanwal, a former member of a CIA unit in Afghanistan, was reportedly granted asylum under the Trump Administration in April).
Investigators are still working to discover the motive of Lakanwal for murdering one soldier and critically wounding another. However, Wasserman Schultz feels entirely comfortable in suggesting that it was the deployment of the Guard in cities over Democratic objections. Of course, a few other possibilities come to mind. First, it could be an act of religious-based terrorism. Second, it could be an act of mental illness. Third, it could be a personal grievance with the U.S. government.
Killing soldiers in the nation’s Capitol can be appealing for any of these motivations or a combination of motivations. It is not obvious that someone travels across the country because this is where you can find personnel on the streets. After all, there are also troops deployed in other states closer to Washington state. There are also large bases in Washington state where military personnel are present in large numbers in public areas.
A shooter with any of these motivations could view the location as amplifying his grievances against the government. Wasserman Schultz seems to suggest that Trump is responsible for making troops targets due to the controversial use of the Guard and supplying targets for a terrorist.
The most important point for Wasserman Schultz is a familiar one: Trump did it.
Yet, blaming the deployment is like blaming the Republican members for the mass shooting at the 2017 softball field. After all, if they had not made themselves targets, James T. Hodgkinson would not have gone there. Hodgkinson, a former Bernie Sanders supporter, hated Republicans and would have found another gathering to carry out his murderous plan. In the same way, Lakanwal may have been on the hunt for any soldiers as a symbol of the United States in the Capitol.
The point is that we do not know. The effort to use this tragedy for political purposes is to dishonor the victims and capitalize on their deaths. Few would feel comfortable getting into the head of a homicidal madman without any evidence or support. However, that appears to be a unique skill set for Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 11/29/2025 – 12:50
Estadounidenses gastan miles de millones el Black Friday pese a la incertidumbre económica
Por WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
NUEVA YORK (AP) — A pesar de la incertidumbre económica generalizada que se cierne sobre la temporada navideña de este año, los compradores acudieron en masa para el Black Friday, gastando miles de millones de dólares en tiendas físicas y en línea.
Adobe Analytics, que da seguimiento al comercio electrónico, dijo que los consumidores estadounidenses gastaron una cifra récord de 11.800 millones de dólares en línea el viernes, marcando un aumento del 9,1% respecto al año pasado. El tráfico se acumuló particularmente entre las 10 de la mañana y las 2 de la tarde, hora local en todo el país, cuando 12,5 millones de dólares pasaron por los carritos de compras en línea cada minuto.
Los consumidores también gastaron una cantidad récord de 6.400 millones de dólares en línea el Día de Acción de Gracias, según Adobe. Las principales categorías donde se produjo un aumento en las ventas en ambos días fueron las consolas de videojuegos, electrónica y electrodomésticos. Los servicios de compras impulsados por inteligencia artificial y la publicidad en redes sociales también han influido particularmente en lo que los consumidores eligen, señaló la empresa.
Mientras tanto, la firma de software Salesforce estimó que las ventas en línea del Black Friday totalizaron 18.000 millones de dólares en Estados Unidos y 79.000 millones a escala mundial. Y la plataforma de comercio electrónico Shopify informó que sus comerciantes recaudaron una cifra récord de 6.200 millones de dólares en ventas en todo el mundo durante el Black Friday. En su punto máximo, las ventas alcanzaron los 5,1 millones de dólares por minuto. Entre las categorías principales estuvieron los cosméticos y la ropa, según la empresa canadiense.
El Black Friday está lejos de ser el evento de ventas que congregaba multitudes en los centros comerciales a medianoche o el caos de ofertas hace solo décadas. Cada vez más consumidores han optado por las ofertas en línea para realizar compras después del Día de Acción de Gracias desde la comodidad de sus propios hogares, o eligen extender el gasto a lo largo de promociones más largas que actualmente ofrecen los minoristas.
Como resultado, el tráfico en las tiendas ha disminuido constantemente. Según los datos iniciales de RetailNext, que mide el tráfico en tiempo real en tiendas físicas, el tráfico del Black Friday en Estados Unidos cayó un 3,6% respecto a 2024.
Pero “la historia no es solo que los compradores se quedaron en casa, sino que están cambiando cómo y cuándo compran”, dijo Joe Shasteen, gerente global de análisis avanzado en RetailNext, en comentarios enviados el sábado por correo electrónico. Explicó que los clientes ahora distribuyen las compras en un período de tiempo más largo y “entran a las tiendas con una misión mucho más específica de lo que hemos visto en temporadas navideñas pasadas”.
El Black Friday sigue siendo una fecha importante en el calendario de los minoristas, y Shasteen agregó que la caída del viernes es “notablemente mejor” que la disminución más pronunciada del 6,2% que RetailNext observó en el tráfico en tiendas en los días previos al Día de Acción de Gracias. Esto indica que, aunque los compradores siguen siendo cautelosos y están reduciendo el gasto en tiendas en general, “todavía están dispuestos a acudir para los momentos promocionales más importantes”, afirmó.
Los expertos esperan que el aumento del gasto navideño continúe durante el fin de semana. En términos de comercio electrónico, Adobe espera que los compradores estadounidenses gasten otros 5.500 millones de dólares el sábado y 5.900 millones el domingo, antes de alcanzar un pico estimado de 14.200 millones de dólares el Cyber Monday, lo que marcaría otro récord.
Aun así, el aumento de los precios podría estar contribuyendo a algunas de esas cifras. La avalancha de aranceles del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, sobre las importaciones extranjeras ha afectado por igual a empresas y hogares durante el último año. Según Salesforce, a pesar de gastar más en general, los compradores estadounidenses adquirieron menos artículos en tiendas físicas el Black Friday (una disminución del 2% respecto al año pasado). Los volúmenes de pedidos también disminuyeron un 1%, señaló la firma, ya que los precios de venta promedio aumentaron un 7%.
La fiebre de compras navideñas de este año llega en medio de una mayor incertidumbre económica para los consumidores. Más allá de los aranceles, los trabajadores de los sectores público y privado también enfrentan ansiedad sobre la seguridad laboral, en medio de despidos corporativos y los efectos posteriores del cierre gubernamental de 43 días.
Para la temporada navideña de noviembre a diciembre en general, la Federación Nacional de Minoristas estima que los compradores estadounidenses gastarán más de 1 billón de dólares por primera vez este año. Pero la tasa de crecimiento está desacelerándose, con un aumento anticipado del 3,7% al 4,2% interanual, en comparación con el 4,3% de la temporada navideña de 2024.
Al mismo tiempo, la deuda de tarjetas de crédito y las morosidades en otros préstamos a corto plazo han aumentado. Y cada vez más compradores recurren a planes de “compre ahora, pague después”, que les permiten retrasar los pagos en decoraciones navideñas, regalos y otros artículos.
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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.
Bayern establece un nuevo récord en la Bundesliga con 44 jornadas en la cima
Por CIARÁN FAHEY
BERLÍN (AP) — El colombiano Luis Díaz y Nicolas Jackson anotaron el sábado en el tiempo de descuento para sacar al Bayern Múnich de un apuro con una victoria de 3-1 sobre el St. Pauli en la Bundesliga.
Incluso si el Bayern hubiera perdido, ya tenía asegurado establecer un nuevo récord de liga con 44 jornadas consecutivas en la cima de la tabla de la Bundesliga.
Díaz desvió con el hombro un centro de Joshua Kimmich para anotar y desvanecer las esperanzas del visitante de obtener un punto tres minutos después del tiempo de descuento, seguido del gol de Jackson a pase de Serge Gnabry.
Los goles extendieron el récord de derrotas del St. Pauli en la liga a nueve partidos consecutivos y evitaron preguntas incómodas en el Bayern, que el miércoles sufrió su primera derrota de la temporada ante el Arsenal en la Liga de Campeones.
Un empate contra el equipo con sede en Hamburgo habría sido el segundo del Bayern en tres partidos de liga después de que el Union Berlin terminara su récord de 16 victorias consecutivas al inicio de la temporada con un empate 2-2 el 8 de noviembre.
Andreas Hountondji del St. Pauli sorprendió al Bayern con el gol para abrir el marcador en el sexto minuto, disparando el balón entre las piernas de Manuel Neuer después de que Mathias Pereira Lage superara a Konrad Laimer.
El goleador tuvo que salir poco después tras una molestia en la parte posterior de su muslo.
Lennart Kark y luego Tom Bischoff golpearon el poste mientras el Bayern buscaba una respuesta al revés temprano.
Los esfuerzos dieron sus frutos justo antes del descanso cuando Díaz asistió a Raphaël Guerreiro para igualar.
Harry Kane tuvo otra oportunidad al final mientras el Bayern seguía presionando por el gol de la victoria.
Heidenheim también anotó dos veces en el tiempo de descuento para ganar 2-1 al Union y salir del fondo de la tabla, a donde cayó el St. Pauli.
Said El Mala anotó para el Colonia en el tiempo de descuento y conseguir un 1-1 ante Werder Bremen. Niklas Stark del Bremen fue expulsado tras dos faltas graves sobre la estrella del Colonia.
El Hoffenheim disfrutó de una victoria por 3-0 sobre el Augsburgo con todos los goles anotados en la primera mitad.
El Bayer Leverkusen recibirá más tarde al Borussia Dortmund.
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Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Russian attacks kill 3 as diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine gain momentum
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian drone and missile attacks in and around the Ukraine’s capital killed at least three people early Saturday, officials said, as the country’s representatives traveled to the U.S. to work on a renewed push to end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that the delegation, headed by national security chief Rustem Umerov, was on its way to “swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war.” A U.S. delegation is then expected to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the second half of next week.
The Kyiv City Military Administration said two people were killed in the strikes on the capital, and a woman died, and eight were wounded in a combined missile and drone attack on the broader Kyiv region, according to the regional police.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 29 people were wounded in Kyiv, noting that falling debris from intercepted Russian drones hit residential buildings. He also said the western part of Kyiv had lost power.
U.S. President Donald Trump last week released a plan for ending the nearly four-year war. The 28-point proposal heavily favored Russia, prompting Zelenskyy to quickly engage with American negotiators. European leaders, fearing for their own future in the face of Russian aggression, scrambled to steer the negotiations toward accommodating their concerns.
Trump said Tuesday that his plan to end the war had been “fine-tuned” and that he’s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia to meet with Putin and U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials. He suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.
Zelenskyy announced Friday that the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, who was also the country’s lead negotiator in talks with the U.S, after anti-corruption investigators searched Yermak’s residence.
The unprecedented search at the heart of Ukraine’s government was a blow to the Ukrainian leader, risking the disruption of his negotiating strategy at a time when Kyiv is under intense U.S. pressure to sign a peace deal.
Zelenskyy will travel to Paris on Monday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron’s office said the two leaders will “discuss the situation and the conditions for a just and lasting peace, in continuity with the Geneva discussions, the American plan, and in close coordination with our European partners.”
In Russia, a major oil terminal near the port of Novorossiysk stopped operations Saturday after a strike by unmanned boats damaged one of its three mooring points, according to a statement from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC, which owns the terminal.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, confirmed that Ukraine had carried out the attack.
“Ukrainian special forces worked on the Russian Federation, its energy sector and infrastructure. In particular, naval drones managed to destroy one of the three oil tanker berths of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the Novorossiysk area,” he wrote on Telegram.
Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries and terminals have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war.
Meanwhile, Kyiv and its western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power gridand deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the biting cold.
A Ukrainian security service official from the SBU, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of their operations, said that Ukraine used domestically produced Sea Baby naval drones to strike two oil tankers in the Black Sea said to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that evade sanctions.
The Kairos and Virat tankers were struck in quick succession late Friday afternoon, prompting rescue operations. Crew members on board both vessels were reported to be safe.
The SBU official sent a video of the alleged attack, purporting to show the destruction of two tankers at sea.
“The SBU continues to take active steps to curtail Russia’s financial capabilities to wage war against Ukraine. Sea Baby naval drones disabled ships that could transport oil worth almost $70 million and helped the Kremlin circumvent international sanctions,” the official told The Associated Press.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/29/russia-ukraine-war-diplomatic-efforts/
Foden salva al Man City con gol postreto en victoria 3-2 sobre Leeds en la Liga Premier
Por STEVE DOUGLAS
Manchester City desperdició una ventaja de dos goles antes que Phil Foden apareció como salvador en el tiempo de descuento para asegurar el sábado una victoria 3-2 sobre Leeds en la Liga Premier.
Con Erling Haaland sin marcar por tercer partido consecutivo, el City dependió en gran medida de Foden para superar a un equipo que languidece en la zona de descenso.
El mediocampista inglés abrió el marcador a los 59 segundos —el gol más rápido de la liga esta temporada— antes de que Josko Gvardiol añadió el segundo del City a los 25 minutos.
Leeds respondió en la segunda mitad mediante los goles Dominic Calvert-Lewin y Lukas Nmecha, un delantero que surgió de la academia del City. Pero Foden decretó la victoria de los anfitriones en el primer minuto del tiempo añadido.
El City subió al segundo lugar y redujo la diferencia con el líder Arsenal, que el domingo visita a Chelsea, a cuatro puntos.
Tras perder 2-1 ante Newcastle en la liga el fin de semana pasado y 2-0 contra Bayer Leverkusen en la Liga de Campeones el martes, el City avistaba una racha de tres partidos sin ganar en todas las competiciones antes de la intervención tardía de Foden.
Haaland, el máximo goleador de la Premier, no ha marcado en ninguno de esos partidos.
Sunderland protagonizó una remontada aún mejor que la de Leeds. También revirtió un déficit de goles para vencer 3-2 en casa a Bournemouth. Brian Brobbey consiguió el gol de la victoria a los 69 minutos. El segundo gol de Bournemouth fue un disparo desde casi 50 metros del mediocampista estadounidense Tyler Adams.
Brentford venció 3-1 a Burnley, con el delantero brasileño Igor Thiago firmando un doblete para los locales.
Más tarde, Newcastle visita a Everton y Tottenham recibe a Fulham.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza ministry says
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday, while a hospital said that Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south.
The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.
The Health Ministry says the Palestinian toll is now 70,100. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and fighters taking more than 250 hostages. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.
Staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies of the children in southern Gaza, said the brothers, ages 8 and 11, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila.
Israel’s military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops. The statement didn’t mention children. The military said it also killed another person in a separate but similar incident in the south.
At least 352 Palestinians have been killed across the territory since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel says its strikes are aimed at fighters violating the truce. Both Israel and Hamas have accused the other of violating the deal. Hamas again urged mediators on Saturday to pressure Israel to stop what it called ceasefire violations in Gaza.
A U.S. blueprint outlining the future of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than two years of war, is still in the early stages. The plan to secure and govern the territory authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by U.S. President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli forces have pushed forward on a number of other fronts in the region in recent weeks.
Syrian officials said that Israeli forces raided a Syrian village on Friday and opened fire when they were confronted by residents, killing at least 13 people. Israel said it conducted the operation to apprehend suspects of a group planning attacks in Israel, and that the fighters opened fired at troops, wounding six.
Israel also has escalated strikes in Lebanon, saying it’s targeting Hezbollah sites and asserting that the group is attempting to rearm.
Hezbollah called on Pope Leo XIV to “reject injustice and aggression,” in reference to the near-daily Israeli strikes, despite a ceasefire that ended the 14-month war between the two sides a year ago. The pope is visiting the region on his first foreign trip.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were accused by Palestinians of executing two men on Thursday after footage aired by two Arab television stations showed troops shooting the men after they appeared to surrender. The Israeli military said that it was investigating.
Israeli settler violence has continued to rise in the West Bank. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that 10 Palestinians were injured by beatings and live ammunition during settler attacks in Khallet al-Louza village close to Bethlehem.
Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/29/palestinian-death-toll-surpasses-70000/
Trump Declares Airspace Above Venezuela “To Be Closed In Its Entirety”
Trump Declares Airspace Above Venezuela “To Be Closed In Its Entirety”
President Trump said on Saturday on X that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela will “be closed in its entirety.”
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump wrote on X.
To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2025
Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned pilots to “exercise caution” near Venezuela’s airspace due to the “worsening security situation and heightened military activity.
The Pentagon has been deploying warships and other military assets in the Caribbean this year. The deployment centers around bolstering Hemispheric Defense, and the Trump administration has formally characterized Nicolás Maduro as the head of a terrorist organization and considers his government illegitimate.
Joint Special Operations Command has ordered numerous airstrikes on speed boats carrying narcoterrorists. The intent is to stop drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists that are part of a sophisticated network pumping drugs into America, resulting in the drug death overdose crisis that kills 100,000 Americans per year – one that the Biden-Harris regime ignored by opening borders to the third world.
On Friday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed fake news from corporate media about recent lethal kinetic strikes.
Hegseth explained:
As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.” The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.
The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narcoterrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.
Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.
Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narcoterrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.
As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 28, 2025
Hegseth followed the post with, “We have only just begun to kill narcoterrorists.”
We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) November 28, 2025
What the U.S. airspace shutdown over Venezuela signals:
Pressure Maduro into stepping down
Or intent to collapse the Maduro regime
Expectation of Russian/Iranian pushback
Readiness to escalate militarily
Maduro and his circle would treat this as both an existential threat, and it remains to be seen how he would respond. We guess Trump’s airspace announcement only suggests talks aren’t going well.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 11/29/2025 – 12:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/trump-declares-airspace-above-venezuela-be-closed-its-entirety
What Is Unaffordable?
What Is Unaffordable?
Authored by Richard Lyons via American Greatness,
The new Democrat Party’s appeal to the public these days is that the failure of a free enterprise system has made America unaffordable and that all Americans need government help! This sort of emergency plea to the public has been made before.
In order to make housing more affordable in the early 2000s, Fannie and Freddie Mac, US government mortgage guarantor companies, began pressuring mortgage lenders to widen their rules for mortgage lending, even to include NINJA loans—No Income, No Job, No Problem—for purchasing real estate properties; then Fannie and Freddie married that expansion with marketing Adjustable Rate Mortgages, which would float according to Federal Reserve rates.
The outcome was the real estate and stock market crash of 2008. Since then, between 2009 and 2016, the fed rate was kept arbitrarily low at .75%, which inflated real estate prices; from 2020 to 2022, the fed rate was pushed down again to .25%, with the result of further increasing the average home price from $220,900 in 2010 to $420,000 in 2024. At the same time, the Federal Reserve has pushed up interest rates to 5.5%, so the average American has to pay more and borrow at higher rates for real estate, thanks to the government’s interventions to make housing more affordable.
During the Obama presidency, there was a grand push to make a university education more affordable; that is when the whole student loan industry was taken over by the federal government. In 2010, the total US student loan debt was $772 billion; today, the total debt is $1.750 trillion.
The average student graduating today carries $30,000.00 in debt. The average price of a university education has risen from $20,000 in 2010 to $31,000 per year today, or 59% higher since the Democrat Party took over the US university financing system. The average college education costs $120,000 these days; that does not sound affordable. It sounds like every single student needs a loan…
In the mid-1960s, the Democrat Party dominated Washington, D.C., and as part of the Great Society, decided to make healthcare (you got it!) more affordable.
With that, Medicare was created at an initial cost of $3 billion in 1967. Since 1967, the cost of Medicare has increased 370X, to an annual cost to the taxpayers of $1.12 trillion per year. Medicaid began as a $1 billion program and has since increased to $909 billion per year today. Even with this government control and expenditure, the average cost per capita is $13,432 per year, compared to the average cost per capita of other developed nations of $7,393. Aren’t costs supposed to go down or remain stable when the government creates affordability?
Even with the government’s control and expenditure, by 2010, healthcare in America was still deemed “unaffordable” to the Democrat Party. In answer to the problem, the Obama administration created the Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2014. In 2013, the average consumer paid $232 for their monthly premium, with an average deductible of $2,425. Today, that same consumer must pay $621/month or $7,452/year while having $6,000 in deductibles. Premiums and deductibles are expected to increase by 25% again in 2026. The Affordable Care Act is becoming more unaffordable by the day.
In 2020, the Biden administration decided the Earth could not afford the use of fossil fuels any longer, so it began an all-out effort to strangle the fossil fuel industry through regulations and executive orders that made land leases and drilling unaffordable, giving rise to a 38% inflation spike in the costs of energy products.
Inflating the costs of energy affects literally everything in an economy that is produced, warehoused, or delivered: think of the factories and machines that do the manufacturing, the warehouse heating or cooling needed to store product, and the ships, trains, and trucks needed to get product to the stores, then what about the light, heat, and refrigeration… Strangling the energy sector of an economy creates a gusher of inflation affecting every single product from fruits and vegetables to meats and dairy. During Biden’s administration, inflation rose 20%.
An inflation rate of 20% also means that every person who had put away savings of $100,000 by 2020 was worth $80,000 by 2024.
Midway through Biden’s term, the administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which pushed trillions of dollars into green energy “investments” and expansions of healthcare payouts, none of which helped to reduce inflation.
It turned out to be just another Democrat act that neither the taxpayer nor the consumer could afford.
Now we have the new mayor of New York, claiming that socialist policies will make life more “affordable” by taking over rental properties, grocery stores, transportation lines, and utility companies.
The fact is, the Democrats create our nation’s unaffordability problems by advancing (quasi-socialist) government control of energy, healthcare, education, finance, and housing sectors. And then Democrats propose to solve the problems their policies create with the solution of the government taking the same sectors over entirely through socialism.
What has proven to be unaffordable for over half a century in this country is pseudo-socialism. Apparently, the Democrat Party believes in the aspiration of advancement through failure. We, as voters, need to let the Democrats know we understand and reject their policy failures.
What is no longer affordable are Democrat policies that pervert the virtuous American free enterprise system, which has been the cornerstone of this nation’s prosperity since its founding.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 11/29/2025 – 11:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/what-unaffordable
