The Patriots (13-3) enter Sunday’s matchup with the Miami Dolphins (7-9) having secured their first playoff berth since 2021. But with a victory against Miami and a loss or tie by the Denver Broncos against the Los Angles Chargers, New England could also secure the AFC’s top seed and a first-round bye.

Focusing on those stakes was made more difficult after legal cases against receiver Stefon Diggs and defensive lineman Christian Barmore surfaced this week.

Diggs is facing strangulation and other criminal charges in connection with a dispute with his former private chef. Barmore is facing a domestic assault and battery charge after his girlfriend told police he threw her to the ground in August. The NFL is reviewing the cases, but both are eligible to play this week.

“It’s definitely an open case, so I can’t even say anything about it,” Diggs told reporters Friday.

Barmore said he was keeping his mind on the field. “I’m focused on Miami. I’m focused on playing football,” he said.

Coach Mike Vrabel believes the team has done the best it can to balance giving those situations the necessary attention while also focusing on the game.

“We’ve taken the allegations very seriously, and what comes of that, I think then we’ll have another discussion,” Vrabel said. “But I don’t think we have to jump to any sort of conclusions right now and let the process take its toll.”

Quarterback Drake Maye said the team has taken its cues from Vrabel. The biggest advice the coach has offered is to let Diggs and Barmore speak for themselves. That said, Maye said he’s available for any of his teammates if they need him.

“I’m going to support them anyway I can, support my teammates, and I love those guys,” Maye said. “Those two, really everybody, I’ve really got a good relationship with. And I feel like whatever they need from me, I’m here for them.”

Miami arrives in New England looking to play the role of spoiler, while also getting a jump on the future with rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers set to make his third consecutive start since Tua Tagovailoa was benched.

The Dolphins are trying to avoid being swept by the Patriots for the first time since the 2016 season.

Coach Mike McDaniel said he’s avoided letting feelings interfere with his decision-making regarding Tagovailoa’s status.

“It’s my job to be able to make tough decisions. Getting personal about decisions that have a lot of consequences for individuals in the collective whole, I take my job too serious to really allow myself to go there,” McDaniel said. “Generally the tough things, that’s what I signed up for and that’s what people are counting on me to be able to do.”

Defending the schedule

The Patriots have only had one victory over a team (Buffalo) that entered the final week of the regular season with a record above .500.

That equates to the 10th-easiest schedule since the 1970 NFL merger, and has drawn criticism as they prepare for the playoffs.

It’s not something that has bothered Maye, however.

“We play who’s on our schedule, and we can’t control that,” he said. “Just trying to go out there and win. A lot of these teams that we do play are good, and they’re in the National Football League for a reason.”

Achane’s spark

De’Von Achane continues to be a spark for Miami’s offense and was voted the Dolphins’ most valuable player for the 2025 season.

The third-year running back leads the NFL in rushing average (5.7) and ranks fifth in rushing yards (1,350). Achane was also named to his first career Pro Bowl, making him the ninth Miami running back to earn the honor.

Achane’s speed and shiftiness were well documented when he played at Texas A&M, but Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has praised his vision and ability to maintain his balance after contact for extra yardage.

“Every time he shows up against an opponent, top of their agenda is to stop him,” McDaniel said. “And he can feel that the guys are trying to tattoo him and tackle him with aggression. When you’re able to combat that with successful, definitive, decisive action, his contact balance has improved.”

Campbell, Williams on track to return

The Patriots could get a boost with starters on both sides of the ball in line to return from stints on injured reserve.

Left tackle Will Campbell (knee) and defensive tackle Milton Williams (ankle) both practiced all week. Campbell has missed the past four games, while Williams sat out the previous five.

Williams’ return is particularly key for a New England run defense that has allowed 146.8 rushing yards per game while he was out. The Patriots allowed 84.7 yards over the first 11 games with Williams in the lineup.

QB signing

The Dolphins signed former North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller to the active roster off the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad Thursday.

Miller led the Bison to their 10th Football Championship Subdivision title last year, throwing for two touchdowns and running for two more in his 54th consecutive start as North Dakota State’s quarterback. The Raiders selected him in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Miller isn’t likely to get any extended game action Sunday, but the young quarterback was signed to get acclimated with the team for the offseason.

Waller will miss the Dolphins’ regular-season finale at New England on Sunday, ending his lone season in Miami with 24 catches for 283 yards and six touchdowns — tied for seventh most among tight ends — in nine games.

The Dolphins are also dealing with injuries to several other key players entering Sunday’s game.

Veteran linebacker Jordyn Brooks, the NFL’s leading tackler, is dealing with a hamstring injury but will likely try to play. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick will be sidelined for the third straight game with a calf injury. Running back De’Von Achane, Miami’s best offensive playmaker this season with an NFL-leading 5.7 yards per rush, has not practiced this week because of a shoulder injury.

If Achane can’t play, the Dolphins will turn to Jaylen Wright and rookie Ollie Gordon.

“You utilize all of your players, including your entire running back room and give them opportunities that they probably otherwise wouldn’t have,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said.

Edwards entered the NFL as an undrafted college free agent with the New York Jets in 2025. He played collegiately at Michigan, rushing for 2,251 yards on 422 carries with 19 touchdowns in 14 career starts.

Miami also released cornerback Clarence Lewis from the practice squad.

Wagaman batted .250 with 28 doubles, nine home runs and 53 RBIs in 140 games as a rookie last season for the Marlins, finishing strong with a team-leading .328 average over 61 at-bats during the month of September. The 28-year-old Wagaman started 94 games at first base and 13 games in left field in 2025, after appearing in 18 games with the Los Angeles Angels in his debut in 2024.

Drafted in the 13th round in 2017 by the New York Yankees, Wagaman was designated for assignment earlier this week by the Marlins. He’ll provide the Twins more potential depth at first base along with Kody Clemens behind veteran Josh Bell, who signed a one-year, $7 million contract last month.

The Twins also designated infielder Ryan Fitzgerald for assignment to make room on their 40-man roster for Wagaman.

The 24-year-old Bragg was a 17th-round draft pick by the Twins in 2023. He finished last season with Double-A Wichita.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5 and its epicenter was near the town of San Marcos in the southern state of Guerrero near the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, according to Mexico ’s national seismological agency. There were more than 500 aftershocks.

The state’s civil defense agency reported various landslides around Acapulco and on other highways in the state.

Residents and tourists in Mexico City and Acapulco rushed into the streets when the shaking began. Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said that one person died after suffering an apparent medical emergency followed by a fall while evacuating a building.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake occurred at a depth of 21.7 miles (35 kilometers), 2.5 miles north-northwest of Rancho Viejo, Guerrero, which is in the mountains about 57 miles northeast of Acapulco.

Sheinbaum, who resumed her press briefing a short time later, said she spoke with Guerrero’s Gov. Evelyn Salgado, who told her there was no serious damage reported.

José Raymundo Díaz Taboada, a doctor and human rights defender who lives on one of the peaks ringing Acapulco, said he heard a strong rumble noise and all the neighborhood dogs began barking.

“In that moment the seismic alert went off on my cellphone,” he said, “and then the shaking began to feel strong with a lot of noise.”

He said the shaking was lighter than in some previous quakes and he had prepared a backpack of essentials to be ready to leave as the aftershocks continued.

He said he had been unable to reach some friends who live along the Costa Chica southeast of Acapulco because communications were cut.

And they were armed with paintbrushes, not hockey sticks.

The Panthers — a few hours before their Winter Classic outdoor game at the Miami Marlins’ ballpark against the New York Rangers — unveiled a couple dozen panther sculptures, all painted in a unique way and now being auctioned off with hopes of raising $1 million for cancer research.

Gretzky commissioned a sculpture that displays some of his stats, Johnson arranged one depicting a scene from Augusta National, Bublé’s is adorned in rhinestone braille, the NBA’s Heat commissioned a pair of sculptures with some of the team’s themes, artist Romero Britto painted one as well and Navratilova didn’t technically paint hers — she dipped tennis balls into paint and then served them into the panther, creating a polka-dotted splash of various colors.

“To be able to have the privilege to reach out and make those contacts and have those folks say, ‘Of course,’ what a gift that was,” Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said. “It’s just so neat.”

About $700,000 has been raised already, Zito said. The idea for the fundraiser — “Panthers on the Prowl,” they call it — is loosely built around Chicago’s “Cows on Parade” art project. Zito and his wife Julie co-chair the Panthers’ project; she is a breast cancer survivor, and Zito has lost a number of relatives to the disease.

“It was my wife Julie’s idea,” Zito said. “And we lived in Chicago during ‘Cows on Parade,’ and then Romero Britto said we should auction them. I can’t take credit for any of it.”

Many of the panthers were on display at LoanDepot Park on Friday, where about 35,000 fans attending the Winter Classic would see them.

“There’s a tear and a smile,” Zito said. “And then you think, you know what, there’s a reason that everybody is engaged. There’s a reason that everybody gave their time and their talent. And it’s because it works and it’s right.”

Christian Sturdivant was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Investigators said he told an undercover FBI employee posing as a supportive confidant about his plans to attack people with knives and a hammer.

Worried Sturdivant might attempt violence before New Year’s Eve, the FBI placed him under constant surveillance for days, including on Christmas, U.S. Attorney for western North Carolina Russ Ferguson said.

Agents were prepared to arrest him earlier if he left his home with weapons, Ferguson said at a news conference. “At no point was the public in harm’s way.”

Sturdivant was arrested Wednesday and remained in custody after a federal court appearance Friday. An attorney representing him did not immediately respond to an email or phone message seeking comment. Another hearing was scheduled for Jan. 7.

The alleged attack would have taken place one year after 14 people were killed in New Orleans by a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who proclaimed support for IS on social media.

The FBI has foiled several alleged attacks through sting operations in which agents posed as terror supporters, supplying advice or equipment. Critics say the strategy can amount to entrapment of mentally vulnerable people who wouldn’t have the wherewithal to act alone.

Searches of Sturdivant’s home and phone uncovered what investigators described as a manifesto detailing plans for the attack, FBI Special Agent in Charge James Barnacle told reporters.

“He was willing to sacrifice himself,” Barnacle said.

A handwritten note found in a trashcan at Sturdivant’s home listed details of the planned attacks and the number of intended victims at a Burger King restaurant and unnamed grocery store, according to an FBI affidavit.

The note also said he would attack arriving officers and “hoped to die by the hands of police.”

Ferguson acknowledged that Sturdivant worked at a Burger King. It wasn’t clear if that was the same restaurant cited in the note. Ferguson declined to identify the targeted businesses, citing the ongoing investigation.

If convicted, Sturdivant faces up to 20 years in prison, according to court documents.

The fact that Sturdivant encountered two undercover officers while allegedly planning the attack should reassure the public, Ferguson said.

The affidavit says the investigation began last month after authorities linked Sturdivant to a social media account that posted content supportive of IS, including imagery that appeared to promote violence. The account’s display name referenced Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former leader of the extremist group.

Some experts argue that IS is powerful today partly as a brand, inspiring both militant groups and individuals in attacks that the group itself may have no real role in.

The affidavit says Sturdivant had been on the FBI’s radar in January 2022, when he was a minor, after officials learned he’d been in contact with a suspected IS member in Europe, and received instructions to dress in black, knock on people’s doors and commit attacks with a hammer.

At that time, Sturdivant set out for a neighbor’s house armed with a hammer and a knife but was restrained by his grandfather, the affidavit says.

The FBI in Los Angeles last month announced the disruption of a separate New Year’s Eve plot, arresting members of an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group who federal officials said planned to bomb multiple sites in southern California.

Other IS-inspired attacks over the past decade include a 2015 shooting rampage by a husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, and a 2016 massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who fatally shot 49 people.

According to the Misquamicut Fire Department, volunteer firefighters and other emergency officials were dispatched early Thursday morning for a water rescue. Once on scene, firefighters saw a dog named Phoenix struggling and unable to move to shore in the slushy, icy water.

Members from both the Misquamicut and Watch Hill fire departments donned ice rescue suits, which help protect the body from frigid temperatures, to enter the pond and successfully rescue Phoenix. The National Weather Service reported it was 26 degrees Fahrenheit around 9 a.m. on Thursday, with the wind chill dropping the temperature to 14 degrees.

“It was the chillest dog I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Steve Howard, deputy chief of the Misquamicut Fire Department, in a phone interview on Friday. “The dog never made a sound. He was pretty chill.”

While the firefighters were evaluated for possible hypothermia, they did not require treatment. The fire departments described the incident as “a successful first call of 2026,” in a statement posted on Facebook.

Phoenix was also declared free of injuries, but Howard made sure to check in with his owner later Thursday.

“He got a little bit of extra food last night,” Howard said. “And he took a little nap.”

The incident served as a reminder to treat all ice as potentially dangerous, particularly over bodies of water, the fire department warned.

“No ice is ever safe. Our firefighters train extensively for cold water and ice rescues, but these situations are extremely dangerous,” the fire department said.

Aikman, who led the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl wins and is now an ESPN analyst, isn’t expected to remain with the organization beyond their GM search, ESPN reported. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel welcomed the outside help.

“I’m not opposed to more information, ever,” McDaniel said Friday morning, adding that he was previously informed by Dolphins ownership of the decision. “I think Troy Aikman speaks for himself in terms of his relationships that he’s had within the National Football League, and (he) knows a lot of things. That information is a positive to me.”

The Dolphins fired longtime general manager Chris Grier on Oct. 31 after a 2-7 start to the season. McDaniel has remained head coach despite questions about his job security, and Miami is 7-9 entering Sunday’s regular-season finale at the New England Patriots. Dolphins senior personnel executive Champ Kelly has been Miami’s interim general manager.

Aikman has been in the broadcast booth since he retired from a 12-year career during which he made six Pro Bowls and threw for more than 32,000 yards.

He called Miami’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 15 and was highly critical of McDaniel’s fourth-quarter decision-making and clock management.

“This is about as ridiculous a fourth quarter as I’ve seen in quite a long time,” Aikman said during the broadcast, as McDaniel and the Dolphins showed little urgency while trailing by multiple scores.

“So you’re telling me he didn’t like us not scoring points and taking up too much time,” McDaniel said Friday. “Neither did I. That was not the intent. And he’s doing his job. … Doesn’t bother me in the least. As a matter of fact, I think it would be funny if it did.”

The S&P 500 rose 0.7%. The benchmark index is coming off a gain of more than 16% in 2025.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.3%.

Markets in Europe and Asia also made strong gains. Indexes in Britain and South Korea hit records.

The gains are helping trim some of the broader weekly losses for the market, which is closing a shortened holiday week. Markets were closed Thursday for New Year’s Day.

Technology stocks were leading the market higher, especially companies with a focus on artificial intelligence, continuing the trend that pushed the broader market to records in 2025.

Nvidia jumped 2.8% and was the biggest force pushing the market higher. Apple jumped 2% and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, rose 2%. They are among the most valuable companies in the world and their outsized valuations give them more influence on the market’s direction.

Technology companies have been a major focus because of advancements in artificial intelligence technology and the potential for growth within the sector. Wall Street has been betting that demand for computer chips and other items needed for data centers will help justify the big investments from technology companies and their pricey stock values.

Tesla rose 0.8% despite reporting falling sales for a second year in a row.

E-commerce giant Alibaba climbed 4.3% and Baidu, maker of the Ernie chatbot, jumped 9.4% in Hong Kong after it said it plans to spin off its AI computer chip unit Kunlunxin, which would list shares in Hong Kong early in 2027. The plan is subject to regulatory approvals.

Crude oil prices slipped. Prices for U.S. crude oil fell 1.2% to $56.73 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.2% to $60.13 per barrel.

Gold prices kicked off the new year with more gains. The price of gold rose 0.7%.

Treasury yields held steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.18% from 4.17% late Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which moves more closely with expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, held steady at 3.48% from late Wednesday.

Marching bands, floats and throngs of spectators were soaked by one to two inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) of New Year’s Day rain at the 137th Rose Parade in Pasadena. The mercury stood at a chilly 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14.4 degrees Celsius) at the 8 a.m. start of the parade.

Across the country, in New York City, hats and gloves were as necessary as noisemakers at the city’s New Year’s Eve ball drop, where temperatures near freezing appeared to be the coldest in 10 years.

Hundreds of thousands of people gather along the nearly six-mile (10-kilometer) route in Pasadena, where the two-hour parade kicked off. Millions more watch on national television. Organizers at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the group that organizes the parade ahead of the Rose Bowl college football game, said they made only small changes to accommodate the weather, such as the tops being up on convertibles carrying grand marshal Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other VIPs.

Rain forecasts for the Rose Parade, which had been dry for 20 years, grew all week. On Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for all California counties and a coastal flood advisory through Sunday afternoon along much of the Pacific Coast near San Francisco.

Meanwhile, residents in the areas hit hardest by last year’s devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires were under evacuation warnings.

In New York City, the sun came out ahead of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural celebration, but other areas of the Northeast and Midwest were hit by an Alberta clipper storm and trailing Arctic front that brought snow squalls and high winds.

Conditions varied widely — from snow showers to heavier squalls — from Wisconsin through northern Illinois and Michigan and into northern New Jersey, southeastern New York and New England.

About a quarter of flights were delayed out of both San Diego International Airport and Boston Logan, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

The bodies of Spencer Tepe, 37, and his wife, Monique Tepe, 39, were found Tuesday after a welfare check at their home in the 1400 block of N. 4th Street, Columbus police said.

“Two small children were also found in the residence unharmed,” police said.

Officers found no obvious signs of forced entry, and no firearm was found at the scene, CNN affiliate WSYX reported. Police have not released any details about a possible suspect or motive and are asking the public for any information on the case.

Detectives are investigating the deaths as a double homicide, not as a murder-suicide. Their direction is not surprising, CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem said.

“If there’s no gun, there would have been no way to do murder-suicide,” she said. “So that’s why they excluded that relatively quickly. The other clue is, of course, the children are left safe.”

Spencer Tepe worked at Athens Dental Depot. The owner of the practice, Dr. Mark Valrose, called 911 on Tuesday morning when Tepe uncharacteristically missed work.

“He is always on time, and he would contact us if there was any issues,” Valrose told dispatchers. “I don’t know how else to say this, but we are very, very concerned. This is very out of character for him. We can’t get in touch with his wife, which is probably the more concerning thing.”

An officer responded at 9:22 a.m., but did not get an answer, WSYX reported, citing police records.

Colleagues also drove to the Tepes’ home, and one friend heard children crying inside. But no one answered the door.

The friend called police around 9:56 a.m.

“I can hear kids inside, and I think I heard one yell,” the caller said, according to dispatch audio. “But we can’t get in.”

Around 10:03 a.m., an audibly distressed man called 911.

“There’s a body,” he said.

Either of two scenarios for how the crime unfolded seems to be most likely, Kayyem said: a “stranger at the door who just happens to kill this couple, or some narrative that might explain why they were targeted.”

To help zero in on a motive, investigators will examine forensics, the possible entry of the killer, whether anything was stolen and “the history of the family or the couple to determine whether … there’s any threat to the rest of the community,” she said.

Regardless of the motive, this type of crime is “exceptionally rare,” Kayyem said.

“Given the fact that this doesn’t happen often, and there was no signs of forced entry/burglary, you’re going to look at people who they may have known or people who knew where they lived, unfortunately, and begin there,” she said.

“Maybe this was random. But the … national data suggests both how uncommon this is as well as the likelihood that there may be someone who knew them who was involved with this.”

Athens Dental Depot announced its closure for the rest of this week.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the sudden passing of our dear colleague and friend, Dr. Spencer Tepe, as well as his wife Monique,” the office posted Thursday on Facebook.

“He will be deeply missed by our team and the many patients he cared for over the years. Our thoughts and sincerest condolences are with their families and loved ones during this very difficult time.”

Tesla said that it delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, down 9% from a year earlier.

Chinese rival BYD, which sold 2.26 million vehicles last year, is now the biggest EV maker.

For the fourth quarter, sales totaled 418,227, falling short of the 440,000 that analysts polled by FactSet expected. The sales total was impacted by the expiration of a $7,500 tax credit that was phased out by the Trump administration at the end of September.

Tesla stock was mostly unchanged at $450.27 in early trading Friday.

Even with multiple issues buffeting the company, investors are betting that Tesla CEO Musk can deliver on his ambitions to make Tesla a leader in robotaxi service and get consumers to embrace humanoid robots that can perform basic tasks in homes and offices. Reflecting that optimism, the stock finished 2025 with a gain of approximately 11%.

The latest quarter was the first with sales of stripped-down versions of the Model Y and Model 3 that Musk unveiled in early October as part of an effort to revive sales. The new Model Y costs just under $40,000 while customers can buy the cheaper Model 3 for under $37,000. Those versions are expected to help Tesla compete with Chinese models in Europe and Asia.

For fourth-quarter earnings coming out in late January, analysts are expecting the company to post a 3% drop in sales and a nearly 40% drop in earnings per share, according to FactSet. Analysts expect the downward trend in sales and profits to eventually reverse itself as 2026 rolls along.

Investors have largely shrugged off the falling numbers, choosing to focus on Musk’s pivot to different parts of business.

He has been saying that plunging car sales don’t matter as much now because the future of the company lies more with his new driverless robotaxis service, the company’s energy storage business and building robots for the home and factory. To make his task worthwhile, Tesla’s directors awarded Musk a potentially enormous new pay package that shareholders backed at the annual meeting in November.

Musk, already the world’s richest man, scored another huge windfall two weeks ago when the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a decision that deprived him of a $55 billion pay package that Tesla doled out in 2018.

Authorities planned to look into whether the material on the ceiling that was designed to muffle sound conformed with regulations.

The candles, which give off a stream of upward-shooting sparks, were the same type that is commonly available for parties, officials said.

Forty people were killed and another 119 injured in the blaze as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said.

An evening of celebration turns tragic

Among the crowd was Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris, who said he felt as if he was suffocating inside the Swiss Alpine bar where moments before he had been ringing in the new year with friends and dozens of other people.

The teenager escaped the inferno, which broke out early Thursday, by forcing a window open with a table. But about 40 other partygoers died, including one of Clavier’s friends, falling victim to one of the worst tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

Many of the wounded were in their teens to mid-20s, police said.

Clavier told The Associated Press that two or three of his friends remained missing hours after the disaster.

Late Thursday, mourners left candles and flowers at an impromptu memorial near the bar. Hundreds of others prayed for the victims at the nearby Church of Montana-Station.

Pope Leo sent a telegram Friday to the bishop of nearby Sion to express condolences and pray that “the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

On Instagram, an account filled up with photos of people who remained unaccounted for, with their friends and relatives begging for tips about the whereabouts of the missing.

“We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say, of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Valais regional government head Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. He lauded the work of emergency officials on the day after the fire but added “in the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”

Waitresses arrived with burning sparklers

Clavier, the Parisian teenager, said he did not see the fire start, but did see waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles topped with burning sparklers.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.

One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from the basement nightclub up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door.

Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside.

Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation, rushed to the bar to help first responders after receiving a call from a friend who escaped the inferno. He described a scene of people trapped on the ground, severely injured and burned.

“I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Campolo told TF1.

The severity of the burns has made it difficult to identify bodies, requiring families to hand over DNA samples to authorities. In some cases, wallets and any ID documents inside turned to ash in the flames.

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising 17-year-old Italian golfer who competed internationally, is officially listed as one of Italy’s missing nationals. His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the DNA checks, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said 13 Italian citizens were injured and six remained missing by midday Friday. Galeppini’s name was on the missing persons list.

With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is a major destination for international alpine skiing competitions. It’s also home to the European Masters each August.

The first appearances of the classic cartoon and comic characters are among the pieces of intellectual property whose 95-year U.S. copyright maximum has been reached, putting them in the public domain on Jan. 1. That means creators can use and repurpose them without permission or payment.

The 2026 batch of newly public artistic creations doesn’t quite have the sparkle of the recent first entries into the public domain of Mickey or Winnie. But ever since 2019 — the end of a 20-year IP drought brought on by congressional copyright extensions — every annual crop has been a bounty for advocates of more work belonging to the public.

“It’s a big year,” said Jennifer Jenkins, law professor and director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, for whom New Year’s Day is celebrated as Public Domain Day. “It’s just the sheer familiarity of all this culture.”

Jenkins said that, collectively, this year’s work shows “the fragility that was between the two wars and the depths of the Great Depression.”

Here’s a closer look at what will enter the public domain on Thursday, based on the research of Jenkins and her center.

Cartoons and comics bring the boop-a-doop

Betty Boop began as a dog. Seriously.

When she first appears in the 1930 short “Dizzy Dishes,” one of four of her cartoons entering the public domain, she’s already totally recognizable as the Jazz Age flapper later memorialized in countless tattoos, T-shirts and bumper stickers. She has her baby face, short hair with groomed curls, flashy eyelashes and miniature mouth. But she’s also got dangling poodle ears and a tiny black nose. Those would soon morph into dangling earrings and a tiny white nose.

She started as essentially the Minnie Mouse to a popular anthropomorphic dog named Bimbo, whom she would eventually outshine — and push aside. She’s got a supporting role in “Dizzy Dishes,” performing a slinky song-and-dance in a tiny black dress. She’s not named, but sings “boop boop, a doop.”

Jenkins suggests this canine Betty Boop could be rich for exploitation in new works, and has a free idea: “She was bitten by a radioactive dog, that’s why she had this weird backstory,” she said with a laugh. “This movie needs to be made.”

The character was designed and owned by Fleischer Studios, and the shorts were released by Paramount Pictures. She was based at least in part on singer Helen Kane, known as the “Boop-Oop-a-Doop Girl,” thanks to a hit 1929 song. Kane would lose a lawsuit over Betty Boop’s character and use of the phrase. During the proceedings the defense alleged Black singer Esther Lee Jones used similar phrases first.

Artists are now free to use this earliest Boop in films and similar work. But making merch won’t be free. In an important distinction often raised by Disney over Mickey Mouse, a character’s trademark is distinct from the copyright of works that feature them. The Fleischer Productions trademark of Betty Boop remains intact.

Boops and doops were apparently in the air in 1930. Blondie Boopadoop was, like Betty, a young flapper, and the central character of Chic Young’s newspaper comic strip that debuted in 1930. It inspired a film series and radio show, and is still running today in papers that still have comics.

The strip followed her carefree breeze through life with her boyfriend, Dagwood Bumstead. The two would marry (and she would change her name) in 1933, and the strip would become the sandwich-heavy domestic comedy familiar to later readers. Though the strip was meant to be based on a woman’s life, Dagwood would in many ways become its breakout star — a proto- Adam Driver, if you will, as the breakout actor from “Girls.”

Nine new Mickey Mouse cartoons also are becoming public domain, two years after “Steamboat Willie” made the first version of him public property. He’s joined this year by his dog Pluto, who, in 1930, was known as Rover. (He would get his long-term moniker the following year.)

Books bring big detective debuts

The books entering the public domain this year open the door to three iconic detectives from the 20th century:

— The teen sleuth Nancy Drew, whose first four books came in 1930, starting with “The Secret of the Old Clock.” They were written by Mildred Benson under the pen name Carolyn Keene.

— The middle-aged(-ish) sleuth Sam Spade, who debuted via the full-book version of Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon.” (It had been serialized in a magazine the previous year.)

— The elderly sleuth Miss Marple, who solves her first mystery in Agatha Christie’s “Murder at the Vicarage.”

A year after his “The Sound and the Fury” became public, William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” becomes public domain. It would help lead to his Nobel Prize in literature.

And kiddie lit legends Dick and Jane, who taught generations to read and became essential parody fodder for decades, become public via the “Elson Basic Readers” textbooks.

Films include Marxes, Marlene and Oscar winners

A year after their film debut, “The Cocoanuts,” entered the public domain, the Marx Brothers’ beloved “Animal Crackers” joins it, as they entered their prime of high cinematic antics. The film finds Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo invading a Long Island society party celebrating an explorer of Africa.

Other movies entering the public domain include:

— “The Blue Angel,” the German film from Josef von Sternberg that emblazoned Marlene Dietrich’s top-hatted image into film lore.

— “King of Jazz,” featuring the first screen appearance of Bing Crosby.

— A pair of Oscar best picture winners, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which won in 1930, and “Cimarron,” which won in 1931. The award was known as “Outstanding Production” then, and the Academy Awards eligibility period didn’t sync with the calendar year.

The coming decade will bring a true bounty of Hollywood Golden Age films into the public domain. 2027 will be a truly monster year, literally, with the original 1931 Universal Pictures versions of “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” among the titles due.

Dreamy and embraceable tunes ring in the 1930s

As in the last several years, a whistle-worthy stream of tunes from the Great American Songbook will become public:

— Four cherished classics written by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira: “Embraceable You,” “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “But Not for Me” and “I Got Rhythm.”

— “Georgia on My Mind,” written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell.

— “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” written by Gus Kahn, Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt.

Different laws regulate the actual recordings of songs, and those newly in the public domain this week date to 1925. They include Rodgers and Hart’s “Manhattan” by the Knickerbockers, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” by Marian Anderson and “The St. Louis Blues” by Bessie Smith, featuring Louis Armstrong.

At least eight people have been killed so far in violence surrounding the demonstrations, which were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds chanting anti-government slogans.

The protests, now in their sixth day, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

Trump post sparks quick Iranian response

Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.

Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, alleged that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. He offered no evidence to support the allegation, which Iranian officials have repeatedly made during years of protests sweeping the country.

“Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests,” Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. “The people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.”

Larijani’s remarks likely referenced America’s wide military footprint in the region. Iran in June attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after the U.S. strikes on three nuclear sites during Israel’s 12-day war on the Islamic Republic. No one was injured, though a missile did hit a structure there.

As of Friday, no major changes had been made to U.S. troop levels in the Middle East or their preparations following Trump’s social media posts, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.

In a letter late Friday to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the U.N. Security Council, Iran’s envoy asked the world body to condemn the rhetoric and reaffirm the country’s “inherent right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security, and to protect its people against any foreign interference.”

“The United States of America bears full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and any ensuing escalation,” said Amir Saeid Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the U.N.

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who previously was the council’s secretary for years, separately warned that “any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.”

US signals support for protesters

Trump’s online message marked a direct sign of support for the demonstrators, something other American presidents have avoided out of concern that activists would be accused of working with the West. During Iran’s 2009 Green Movement demonstrations, President Barack Obama held back from publicly backing the protests — something he said in 2022 “was a mistake.”

But such White House support still carries a risk.

“Though the grievances that fuel these and past protests are due to the Iranian government’s own policies, they are likely to use President Trump’s statement as proof that the unrest is driven by external actors,” said Naysan Rafati, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“But using that as a justification to crack down more violently risks inviting the very U.S. involvement Trump has hinted at,” he added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei recently cited a list of Tehran’s longtime grievances regarding U.S. intervention, including a CIA-backed coup in 1953, the downing of a passenger jet in 1988 and the strikes in June.

Protests continue Friday

Protests continued Friday in various cities in the country, even as life largely continued unaffected in the capital, Tehran. Demonstrations have reached over 100 locations in 22 of Iran’s 31 provinces, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. It said the death toll in the demonstrations rose to eight with the death of a demonstrator in Marvdasht in Iran’s Fars province.

Demonstrators took to the streets in Zahedan in Iran’s restive Sistan and Baluchestan province on the border with Pakistan. The burials of several demonstrators killed in the protests also took place Friday, sparking marches.

Videos purported to show mourners chasing off security force members who attended the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari. He was killed Wednesday in Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran in Iran’s Lorestan province.

Footage also showed Khodayari’s father denying his son served in the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as authorities claimed. The semiofficial Fars news agency later reported that there were now questions about the government’s claims that he served.

Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran’s rial has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked the initial protests.

The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran’s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since the June war.

Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.

Maduro, in an interview with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, reiterated that the U.S. wants to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the monthslong pressure campaign that began with a massive military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in August.

“What are they seeking? It is clear that they seek to impose themselves through threats, intimidation and force,” Maduro said, later adding that it is time for both nations to “start talking seriously, with data in hand.”

“The U.S. government knows, because we’ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” he said. “If they want oil, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investment, like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it and however they want it.”

Chevron Corp. is the only major oil company exporting Venezuelan crude to the U.S. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

The interview was taped on New Year’s Eve, the same day the U.S. military announced strikes against five alleged drug-smuggling boats. The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. Venezuelans are among the victims.

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. The strikes began off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast and later expanded to the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter. It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the boat strikes began, a significant escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S.

Asked about the operation on Venezuelan soil, Maduro said he could “talk about it in a few days.”

Cade Cunningham had 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for Detroit and Marcus Sasser scored 18.

Detroit trailed by 22 in the second half and was still down 114-103 with two minutes left, but scored six straight points to make it a five-point game. Powell missed and Javonte Green hit a 3-pointer to get the Pistons within two with 46.4 seconds to play.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. hit a short jumper to make it a two-possession game, though, and Ausar Thompson’s turnover forced the Pistons to start fouling. Powell hit a pair of free throws — his first points of the fourth quarter — to clinch it.

Jaquez scored 19 points for the Heat and Andrew Wiggins added 17.

The Pistons can usually overcome their outside shooting struggles by dominating the offensive glass, but that didn’t happen in the first half. Miami pulled down 22 of 24 defensive rebound chances and held Detroit to 20% (2 for 10) on 3-pointers.

Powell finished the half with 19 points, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers, as Miami took a 63-54 lead.

The Heat opened the third quarter with a 15-2 run to take a 22-point lead. Detroit missed its first seven shots and turned the ball over twice. The Pistons reserves cut the deficit to 94-81 at the end of the quarter, led by six points and five rebounds from Paul Reed.

Sasser’s outside shooting got Detroit within 98-92 with 9:09 left, but the Pistons struggled to get enough stops for a big run.

Up next

Heat: Host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday.

Pistons: Visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.

The artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio is up for six awards at the Feb. 1 show, becoming the first Spanish-language artist to be nominated for album, song and record of the year simultaneously. His critically acclaimed album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” is only the second Spanish-language record to be nominated for album of the year. The first? Well, that also belonged to Bad Bunny, 2022’s “Un Verano Sin Ti.”

Win or lose, experts say Bad Bunny’s Grammy nominations mark a symbolic moment for Latinos. Just a week later, after all, he’ll headline the Super Bowl halftime show.

Historic nominations reflect the cultural zeitgeist

Vanessa Díaz, associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies at Loyola Marymount University and co-author of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” says Bad Bunny’s nods extend beyond his own art and serve as a “very welcome recognition of Latin music that is growing.”

“Music from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean has been shaping global music tastes since the 19th century,” adds Albert Laguna, associate professor of ethnicity, race and migration and American studies at Yale. “Bad Bunny is another link in a much longer chain of the popularity of Caribbean music on a global stage.”

Much of this music — particularly Latin trap and reggaetón, the genres Bad Bunny got his start in and continues to use in his new work — has been historically criminalized in Puerto Rico, not unlike hip-hop in the United States. Reggaetón in particular, Díaz points out, “comes from the most marginalized communities in Puerto Rico. And so, the fact that Bad Bunny is receiving nominations in three main categories, and this is an artist who came up with trap … is the most groundbreaking thing about the entire situation.”

Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor of American studies at Wellesley College and co-author of “P FKN R,” says that element is particularly noteworthy because institutions often ignore marginalized genres — including at the Latin Grammys, a sister award show to the Grammys.

A victory in the major categories could have “profound, symbolic meaning,” she says. But with a caveat: “I’m interested to see if this is going to open doors for other people.” After all, Bad Bunny himself isn’t immune to the Recording Academy’s institutional biases: He already has three career Grammys, but all have been in música urbana categories — despite the fact that he is the most streamed artist on the planet.

Local-to-global appeal that meets the political moment

Across “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Bad Bunny and his producers weave traditional Puerto Rican folkloric styles into a hyper-contemporary context. Latin trap and reggaetón aren’t abandoned but fused with música jíbara, salsa, bomba, plena and even aguinaldo, a kind of Christmas music, in “Pitorro de Coco.” While Bad Bunny’s previous albums also fused different genres — including bossa nova, mambo, rock, merengue and more — this album’s melange was more homegrown.

Laguna sees “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” as a direct challenge to the prevailing “formula for global pop stardom,” which he describes as an artist making it locally, gaining traction and then “watering down” their sound into something commercial and palatable for a global audience.

“Bad Bunny went in the opposite direction. It’s his most Puerto Rican album ever,” says Laguna. He hopes it will communicate to other artists that they, too, can look to their ancestry and history for artmaking.

“There’s so much amazing Latin music that has been overlooked and that’s part of what is so beautiful about this moment,” says Díaz. “And that’s why it feels like a win for all Latinos.”

The timing of the album’s release and recognition, too, feels consequential. “The U.S. has a history of othering Latinos, othering the Spanish language. … We’re in a moment where that feels extremely acute,” she continues. “For a community that is being targeted on such a deep level, it is a little bit of light, a little bit of faith that we can still carve out our place here.”

Latinos and the Spanish-speaking community in the U.S. have grown increasingly wary amid growing anti-immigrant sentiment and raids, as President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and executive actions have vastly expanded who is eligible for deportation and routine hearings have turned into deportation traps for migrants.

In an interview with i-D Magazine earlier this year, Bad Bunny mentioned that concerns around the mass deportations of Latinos factored into his decision not to tour in the continental U.S. ( Hundreds of people have been detained in Puerto Rico itself since large-scale arrests began in late January.)

“The content of the lyrics — which are so steeped in the history of Puerto Rico, political histories, tourism and gentrification — there’s so much rich political and historical content,” Díaz adds. “This album is historic even without a Grammy win.”

But if Bad Bunny does win, Díaz says, it will be “akin to Halle Berry being the first Black woman to win an Oscar. That was a watershed moment. Or Rita Moreno being the first Latina to win.”

Beyond that, Laguna says the politics of the album are not exclusive to Puerto Rican or even Latino identity — “the lyrics on this album align with global struggles,” he says. Take, for example, “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii” (“What happened to Hawaii”), a rallying cry for cultural autonomy in an era of neocolonialization.

The album’s multigenerational appeal

Rivera-Rideau says one of the reasons “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” has resonated is not just the political implications of using folkloric music in addition to música urbana, but its sound. The traditional genres are “a lot more digestible” to listeners who embrace the antiquated taboos surrounding Latin trap and scoff at reggaetón’s sexuality. As a result, the combination of sounds makes for an album that is “popular across generations,” she says.

But it only works because it is “musically really interesting. If it was just traditional music, and that’s only what people cared about, it wouldn’t have done as well as it did,” she explains. “Musically, it is super innovative and makes accessible a lot of these older genres that people in Puerto Rico listen to, but he’s been able to globalize these very local genres in a way that no one else has.”

That intergenerational appeal was a feature of Bad Bunny’s landmark Puerto Rican residency, with the age and global diversity of its audience.

“A lot of people feel like this is a tense moment, it’s a difficult moment. And here’s someone giving us a sonic language in which to narrate this complex present,” Laguna says. “There’s pleasure, in political critique, that the music makes possible in a beautiful way. And I think that’s very much welcomed.”

Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in at a decommissioned subway station below City Hall just after midnight, placing his hand on a Quran as he took his oath as the city’s first Muslim mayor.

After working part of the night in his new office, Mamdani returned to City Hall in a taxi cab around midday Thursday for a grander public inauguration where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the mayor’s political heroes, administered the oath for a second time.

“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try,” Mamdani told a cheering crowd.

“To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives,” he said.

Throngs turned out in the frigid cold for an inauguration viewing party just south of City Hall on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes,” famous for its ticker-tape parades.

Mamdani wasted little time getting to work after the event.

He revoked multiple executive orders issued by the previous administration since Sept. 26, 2024, the date federal authorities announced former Mayor Eric Adams had been indicted on corruption charges, which were later dismissed following intervention by the Trump administration.

Then he visited an apartment building in Brooklyn to announce he is revitalizing a city office dedicated to protecting tenants and creating two task forces focused on housing construction.

‘I will govern as a democratic socialist’

Throughout the daytime ceremony, Mamdani and other speakers hit on the theme that carried him to victory in the election: Using government power to lift up the millions of people who struggle with the city’s high cost of living.

Mamdani peppered his remarks with references to those New Yorkers, citing workers in steel-toed boots, halal cart vendors “whose knees ache from working all day” and cooks “wielding a thousand spices.”

“I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani said. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed ‘radical.’”

Before administering the oath, Sanders told the crowd that most of the things Mamdani wants to do — including raising taxes on the rich — aren’t radical at all.

“In the richest country in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical,” he told the crowd. “It is the right and decent thing to do.”

Mamdani was accompanied on stage by his wife, Rama Duwaji. Adams was also in attendance, sitting near another former mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Actor Mandy Patinkin, who recently hosted Mamdani to celebrate Hannukah, sang “Over the Rainbow” with children from an elementary school chorus. The invocation was given by Imam Khalid Latif, the director of the Islamic Center of New York City. Poet Cornelius Eady read an original poem called “Proof.”

In addition to being the city’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also its first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. At 34, Mamdani is also the city’s youngest mayor in generations.

Free child care and bus rides

At the watch party on Broadway, onlookers stood shoulder to shoulder gazing up at several jumbotrons and singing and dancing to stave off the cold, with some passing out hot cocoa and hand warmers. Many described feeling as though they were witnessing history.

Among them was Ariel Segura, a 16-year-old Bronx resident, who had arrived five hours earlier to secure a place near the front of the crowd.

“I’m out here fan-girling a politician, it’s kind of crazy,” he said, wiping away tears as Mamdani concluded his speech. “Now it’s time to hold him accountable.”

In a campaign that helped make “affordability” a buzzword across the political spectrum, Mamdani ran on a focused platform that included promises of free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households and a pilot of city-run grocery stores.

Mamdani insisted in his inaugural address that he will not squander his opportunity to implement those policies.

“A moment like this comes rarely. Seldom do we hold such an opportunity to transform and reinvent. Rarer still is it the people themselves whose hands are on the levers of change. And yet we know that too often in our past, moments of great possibility have been promptly surrendered to small imagination and smaller ambition,” he said.

But he will also have to face the everyday responsibilities of running America’s largest city: handling trash and snow and rats, while getting blamed for subway delays and potholes.

In his speech, Mamdani acknowledged the task ahead, saying he knows many will be watching to see whether he can succeed.

“They want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the struggles that afflict them can be solved. They want to know if it is right to hope again,” he said. “So, standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else: We will set an example for the world.”

Quick rise to power

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author. His family moved to New York City when he was 7, with Mamdani growing up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims didn’t always feel welcome. He became an American citizen in 2018.

He worked on political campaigns for Democratic candidates in the city before he sought public office himself, winning a state Assembly seat in 2020 to represent a section of Queens.

Now that he has taken office, Mamdani and his wife will depart their one-bedroom, rent stabilized apartment in the outer-borough to take up residence in the stately mayoral residence in Manhattan.

The new mayor inherits a city on the upswing, after years of slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime has dropped to pre-pandemic lows. Tourists are back. Unemployment, which soared during the pandemic years, is also back to pre-COVID levels.

Yet deep concerns remain about high prices and rising rents.

In opening remarks to the crowd, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised New Yorkers for choosing “courage over fear.”

“We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” she said.

Dealing with Trump

During the mayoral race, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the city if Mamdani won and mused about sending National Guard troops to the city.

But Trump surprised supporters and foes alike by inviting the Democrat to the White House for what ended up being a cordial meeting in November.

“I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job,” Trump said.

Still, tensions between the two leaders are almost certain to resurface, given their deep policy disagreements, particularly over immigration.

Several speakers at Thursday’s inauguration criticized the Trump administration’s move to deport more immigrants and expressed hope that Mamdani’s City Hall would be an ally to those the president has targeted.

Mamdani also faces skepticism and opposition from some members of the city’s Jewish community over his criticisms of Israel’s government.

Still, Mamdani supporters in Thursday’s crowd expressed optimism he’d be a unifying force.

“There are moments where everyone in New York comes together, like when the Mets won the World Series in ’86,” said Mary Hammann, 64, a musician with the Metropolitan Opera. “This feels like that — just colder.”

“Next time,” it read, “let’s go OUTSIDE the box.”

The play on words was clear. A seed was planted. And for the next few years, the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers kept talking about how they could bring outdoor games to the Sunshine State.

On Friday, the waiting ends. At loanDepot Park, home of baseball’s Miami Marlins, a sold-out crowd is expected to watch the Panthers host the New York Rangers in the first outdoor game to take place in Florida. The retractable roof on the ballpark — which has been shut while air conditioning has been piped in to help ice-builders create a playing surface suitable for hockey — will be opened not long before puck drop.

“I know it’s cliche, but it’s like little kids at Christmas,” Panthers hockey operations president and general manager Bill Zito said, when asked to describe the feeling going into the game. “It’s anticipating this wonderful celebration of our game on all the levels and with our families and with our friends and new fans and our fans.”

The outdoor game will be the first of two in Florida this season; the Lightning get their home game Feb. 1 against the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For each of the last six years — Tampa Bay in 2020, 2021 and 2022, then Florida in 2023, 2024 and 2025 — a Sunshine State team has made its way to the Stanley Cup Final, with the Lightning and Panthers both winning twice in that span.

“We just kept on talking about it,” said Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president for events and content. “And then we got a lot more comfortable with the ice build, the temperatures — we did a lot of research, this just doesn’t happen — and now we’re here. I can’t believe we’re here, but we are.”

How ice happens

By Miami standards, it’s cold these days. The high temperature has been struggling to get out of the 60s Fahrenheit, and lows have gone into the low 40s overnight.

And the NHL couldn’t have timed this cold snap any better.

The league’s equipment arrived at the Marlins’ ballpark in mid-December. Custom refrigeration units were installed, and thousands of gallons of coolant will run through hoses onto the field to chill aluminum trays that were placed under what became the playing surface.

From there, ice — about 25% thicker of a sheet than usual — started being made in what is a long, slow, gradual process. A water-soluble paint was added to whiten the ice, and this week lines and logos were painted onto the surface.

The process in Tampa will be slightly different; with no roof on Raymond James, the league will build a tent to help build the ice, then take the tent down before the Lightning-Bruins game. The rink used for the Panthers-Rangers game will be trucked over to Tampa not long after Friday’s game.

Panthers finally get a game

Florida was one of two teams never to play in an outdoor game. The Utah Mammoth are the other.

Some Panthers players have taken part in outdoor matchups — Brad Marchand is about to play in his fourth — but many are getting to experience it for the first time. And Marchand said the idea of playing in front of 35,000 or so fans in Miami will only continue the growth that hockey is enjoying all over Florida.

“They’re opportunities that don’t come around very often,” said Marchand, who went 3-0-0 in outdoor games with Boston. “They tend to be kind of crazy, a lot of mayhem, but they’re moments that when you look back on your career they’re some of your favorite times. They’re the ones that you always go back and talk about. That’s a great opportunity for everyone. … I just think the environment that we’re going to be in will be very unique and special. It’s not often you get to play outdoors in a climate like this.”

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky played in his first outdoor game 14 years ago. He’s about to set a record for the longest span between outdoor game appearances. And Panthers coach Paul Maurice will coach an outdoor game for a third time.

He said putting on a good show for fans is important.

“It’s not going to look like anything we normally are doing,” Maurice said. “And for some guys, it’ll be the only one they ever play in. So, you want to make sure you appreciate it.”

No Tkachuk

Matthew Tkachuk is nearing his season debut after having surgery in August to repair a torn adductor and sports hernia — issues that dogged him since February and through last season’s run to Florida’s second straight Stanley Cup title.

He practiced Thursday when the Panthers skated on the Marlins’ field, but Maurice said he won’t play on Friday.

By the numbers

2 — Golf carts will be utilized to carry the goaltenders from the ice to the locker rooms, simply because the distance involved would make it impractical to have them walk.

5-0-0 — The Rangers’ record in outdoor games.

15 — loanDepot Park will become the 15th Major League Baseball stadium to host to an outdoor game.

44 — It’ll be the 44th outdoor game in NHL history, dating to 2003. Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings played an outdoor preseason game in Las Vegas in 1991 against the Rangers; the Kings won, but it’s not part of the official outdoor game records.

65 — It was 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 Celsius) for a 2016 game in Denver pitting the Colorado Avalanche against the Detroit Red Wings. That’s the warmest game-time temperature in NHL outdoor game history (not including that 1991 preseason game in Las Vegas, when the temperature exceeded 90 degrees). Forecasters do not believe Friday’s game will break the 65-degree record.

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a transcript and video of a closed-door interview Smith gave about two investigations of Trump. The document shows how Smith during the course of a daylong deposition repeatedly defended the basis for pursuing indictments against Trump and vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigations were politically motivated.

“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit,” Smith said, bristling at a question about whether his investigations were meant to prevent Trump from reclaiming the presidency in 2024.

“So in terms of why we would pursue a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the presidential election,” he added.

The Dec. 17 deposition was conducted privately despite Smith’s request to testify publicly. The release of the transcript and video of the interview, so far Smith’s only appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving his special counsel position last January, adds to the public understanding of the decision-making behind two of the most consequential Justice Department investigations in recent history.

Trump was indicted on charges of conspiring to undo the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and of willfully retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both cases were abandoned after Trump’s 2024 election win, with Smith citing Justice Department policy against the indictment of a sitting president.

Smith repeatedly made clear his belief that the evidence gathered against Trump was strong enough to sustain a conviction. Part of the strength of the Jan. 6 case, Smith said, was the extent to which it relied on the testimony of Trump allies and supporters who cooperated with the investigation.

“We had an elector in Pennsylvania who is a former congressman, who was going to be an elector for President Trump, who said that what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government and illegal,” Smith said. “Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party.”

Accounts from Republicans willing to stand up against the falsehood that the election had been stolen “even though it could mean trouble for them” created what Smith described as the “most powerful” evidence against Trump.

When it came to the Capitol riot itself, Smith said, the evidence showed that Trump “caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him.”

Asked whether there was evidence that Trump had instructed supporters to riot at the Capitol, Smith said that Trump in the weeks leading to the insurrection got “people to believe fraud claims that weren’t true.”

“He made false statements to state legislatures, to his supporters in all sorts of contexts and was aware in the days leading up to Jan. 6th that his supporters were angry when he invited them and then he directed them to the Capitol,” Smith said.

“Now, once they were at the Capitol and once the attack on the Capitol happened, he refused to stop it. He instead issued a tweet that without question in my mind endangered the life of his own vice president,” he added. “And when the violence was going on, he had to be pushed repeatedly by his staff members to do anything to quell it.”

Some of the deposition focused on Republican anger at revelations that the Smith team had obtained, and analyzed, phone records of GOP lawmakers who were in contact with Trump on Jan. 6. Smith defended the maneuver as lawful and by-the-book, and suggested that outrage over the tactic should be directed at Trump and not his team of prosecutors.

“Well, I think who should be accountable for this is Donald Trump. These records are people, in the case of the senators, Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings. He chose to do that,” Smith said. “If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic senators.”

The communications between Trump and Republican supporters in Congress were an important component of the case, Smith said. He cited an interview his office did with Mark Meadows in which Trump’s former chief of staff referenced that Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and current chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, had been in touch with the White House on the afternoon of the riot.

“And what I recall was Meadows stating that ‘I’ve never seen Jim Jordan scared of anything,’ and the fact that we were in this different situation now where people were scared really made it clear that what was going on at the Capitol could not be mistaken for anything other than what it was,” Smith said.

Smith was also asked whether his team evaluated former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s explosive claim that Trump that grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when the Secret Service refused to let him go to the Capitol after a rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021.

Smith told lawmakers that investigators interviewed the officer who was in the car, “who said that President Trump was very angry and wanted to go to the Capitol,” but the officer’s version of events “was not the same as what Cassidy Hutchinson said she heard from somebody secondhand.”

By New Year’s Day, after a Texas two-step in the playoff, the 10th-ranked Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) were a win away from a chance to play for a national championship in their home stadium.

“It means everything to this team,” quarterback Carson Beck said. “This team has constantly battled through adversity, constantly fought. … We’ve banded together as one. We’ve shown unity. We’ve shown connection. We’ve shown that we’re a family.”

They also have proven to be well-deserving of that at-large CFP berth they got without an Atlantic Coast Conference title. Miami made its playoff debut with a first-round win at No. 7 Texas A&M, then was back in the Lone Star State 11 days later to beat defending national champion Ohio State 24-14 without a penalty in the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve.

The Hurricanes play a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against Ole Miss (13-1, CFP seed No. 6) after the Rebels won the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal 39-34 on Thursday night over No. 3 seed Georgia, Beck’s former team. Beck was part of back-to-back national titles with the Bulldogs in 2021 and ’22 before he was a starter.

This year’s national championship game is Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium.

Miami has won six games in a row since that 26-20 setback at SMU on Nov. 1, which was its second loss in three games after a 5-0 start propelled it to a No. 2 AP ranking that was its highest since 2017.

“It was a low point. And we quickly, we got together because we have really good people, and we work really, really, really hard. And we weren’t achieving the results that we set out to have, and that’s difficult. That’s a punch in the gut,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “Y’all saw the 5% chance we had to make the CFP. (Players) saw it.”

A convoluted tiebreaker left Miami out of the ACC championship game while five-loss Duke became the league champion and then was left out of the 12-team playoff field when higher-ranked Group of Five champions Tulane and James Madison got automatic berths.

Keionte Scott, a transfer from Auburn, returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown to give Miami a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter of the Cotton Bowl.

“I could just tell, when I first got here, the program was just very serious about what they were trying to get done. You could tell everybody in the room had their eyes on one goal,” Scott said. “I feel like Coach Cristobal does a good job of keeping us focused and keeping us on task. … We’re never satisfied.”

Past champions

The last national title for “The U” was in 2001, which was their fifth; Cristobal was a standout offensive tackle for the Hurricanes in their 1989 and 1991 championship seasons. The Hurricanes were denied a repeat championship in 2002 with a double-overtime loss to Ohio State in their last Fiesta Bowl appearance.

Before receiver Michael Irvin and coach Jimmy Johnson were Super Bowl champions with the Dallas Cowboys, the Pro Football Hall of Famers won the 1987 national title with Miami. Irvin also played a role in getting Cristobal to become a Hurricane nearly 40 years ago; he was one of the recruiting hosts on Cristobal’s official visit.

Irvin was on the sideline during the Cotton Bowl and Johnson was nearby when Cristobal acknowledged the coach during the on-field trophy presentation.

“He changed our lives, my brother and I. We were still kind of a nobody. … He offered my brother and I scholarships. My parents, may they rest in peace, they didn’t even know what a scholarship was. They’re Cuban-Americans that came over and found a way and tried to make a living,” Cristobal said. “Fast forward, almost 40 years later, and he’s out there on the sidelines supporting us. He set such a high standard. … Really proud that this team is making him proud.”

Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in as the first Muslim leader of America’s biggest city, placing his hand on a Quran as he took his oath.

“This is truly the honor and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said in a brief speech.

The private ceremony, administered by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a political ally, took place at the old City Hall station, one of the city’s original subway stops that is known for its stunning arched ceilings.

In Mamdani’s first remarks as mayor, he said the old subway station was a “testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health and the legacy of our city” as he announced the appointment of his new Department of Transportation commissioner, Mike Flynn.

The new mayor then closed: “Thank you all so much, now I will see you later,” he said with a smile before heading up a flight of stairs.

Mamdani will be sworn in again, in grander style, in a public ceremony at City Hall at 1 p.m. by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the mayor’s political heroes. That will be followed by what his office is billing as a public block party on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes,” famous for its ticker-tape parades.

Mamdani now begins one of the most unrelenting jobs in American politics as one of the country’s most-watched politicians.

In addition to being the city’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also its first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. At 34, Mamdani is also the city’s youngest mayor in generations.

In a campaign that helped make “affordability” a buzzword across the political spectrum, the democratic socialist promised to bring transformative change with policies intended to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. His platform included free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households, and a pilot of city-run grocery stores.

But he will also have to face other responsibilities: handling trash and snow and rats, while getting blamed for subway delays and potholes.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author. His family moved to New York City when he was 7, with Mamdani growing up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims didn’t always feel welcome. He became an American citizen in 2018.

He worked on political campaigns for Democratic candidates in the city before he sought public office himself, winning a state Assembly seat in 2020 to represent a section of Queens.

Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, will depart their one-bedroom, rent stabilized apartment in the outer-borough to take up residence in the stately mayoral residence in Manhattan.

Mamdani inherits a city on the upswing, after years of slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime has dropped to pre-pandemic lows. Tourists are back. Unemployment, which soared during the pandemic years, is also back to pre-COVID levels.

Yet deep concerns remain about high prices and rising rents in the city.

He’ll also have to deal with Republican President Donald Trump.

During the mayoral race, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the city if Mamdani won and mused about sending National Guard troops to the city.

But Trump surprised supporters and foes alike by inviting the Democrat to the White House for what ended up being a cordial meeting in November.

“I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job,” Trump said.

Still, tensions between the two leaders are almost certain to resurface, given their deep policy disagreements, particularly over immigration.

Mamdani also faces skepticism and opposition from some members of the city’s Jewish community over his criticisms of Israel’s government.

The new mayor and his team have spent the weeks since his election victory preparing for the transition, surrounding Mamdani with seasoned hands who have worked inside or alongside city government.

That included persuading the city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, to remain in her position — a move that helped calm fears in the business community that the administration might be planning radical changes in policing strategy.

They certainly were excited, as were a Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver and a former coach who won national championships with the Hurricanes.

Scott picked off a screen pass by Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin, Carson Beck threw a touchdown pass and 10th-ranked Miami shocked the Buckeyes 24-14 on Wednesday night at the Cotton Bowl in the first College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

“I was full of emotions. … That was a pretty cool moment,” said Scott, who has TD returns on both of his interceptions this season. “Just having fun. … That’s what this team relies on, man, just going out there playing free and just having fun.”

The Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) have won two playoff games to get into football’s final four after needing an at-large berth to make the 12-team field, after not even playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. One more win and they will get to play for a national championship in their home stadium.

Next for Miami in coach Mario Cristobal’s fourth season is a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against No. 3 seed Georgia or No. 6 seed Ole Miss, the SEC teams in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday night.

There hasn’t been a national title for “The U” since 2001, when Cristobal was a standout offensive tackle for the Hurricanes and part of his second championship there. The Hurricanes were denied a repeat the following season with a double-overtime loss in the Fiesta Bowl to Ohio State, the only other time the teams met in a bowl — and the last Miami played in that game.

“It is 100% not about me. I’m part of their team, I’m a part of that family,” Cristobal said. “It is my obligation as a former Miami Hurricane player and all the things that Miami did for my brother and I to do my best to try to provide these guys with even better opportunities so they can fulfill all the great things they are destined for.”

Before receiver Michael Irvin and coach Jimmy Johnson were Super Bowl champions with the Dallas Cowboys, they were part of the Hurricanes’ 1987 national championship. Irvin excitedly ran down the sideline while Scott was scoring for a 14-0 lead, and Johnson was nearby when acknowledged by Cristobal during the on-field trophy presentation.

Now it’s third-ranked Ohio State (12-2, CFP No. 2 seed), which went into the game as a 9 1/2-point favorite according to BetMGM Sportsbook, that can’t win back-to-back national titles for the first time in program history.

The Buckeyes hadn’t played since a 13-10 loss to now-No. 1 Indiana in a Big Ten championship game matchup of undefeated teams on Dec. 6. They still got a first-round bye, then lost just like all four teams that went directly to the quarterfinal round in the inaugural 12-team playoff last season.

“We worked really hard during the last three weeks leading up to this game to come out of the gates and win the first quarter, win the first half, be ready to go,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “I think the guys bought into it. But at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done.”

Scott’s interception return came only 1:42 after Beck’s quick pass to Mark Fletcher Jr. out of the backfield for a 9-yard score.

Beck, who was part of Georgia’s national titles in 2021 and 2022 when Stetson Bennett was the starter, completed 19 of 26 passes for 138 yards.

When asked what stood out to him about these Hurricanes, Beck said, “Just the way that this team has responded to adversity. We knew coming into today that it wasn’t going to be easy.”

The TD throw to Fletcher, who also ran 19 times for 90 yards and was the game’s offensive MVP, was the seventh of 13 consecutive completions for Beck. That set a record in the Cotton Bowl, which was played for the 90th time.

Sayin, a freshman backup behind Will Howard for Ohio State’s championship run last season, was 22 of 35 for 287 yards with two interceptions and a TD to Jeremiah Smith. Sayin was sacked five times.

AP All-America receiver Smith, the Miami native, caught seven of those passes for 157 yards, including a 14-yard TD on a fourth down in the fourth quarter.

Carter Davis added a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter and ChaMar Brown ran for a 5-yard TD in the game’s final minute for the Hurricanes, whose 24 points were the most Ohio State gave up this season.

The takeaway

Miami: The Hurricanes have won six games in a row since an overtime loss Nov. 1 at SMU, less than 25 miles from AT&T Stadium, where the Cotton Bowl is played. They also made their CFP debut in the Lone Star State, winning 10-3 at No. 7 Texas A&M in the first round on Dec. 20.

Ohio State: All-America safety Caleb Downs, who started in the CFP for the third season in a row, became the first player to force two fumbles in a CFP game. … The Buckeyes had gone four consecutive quarters — the equivalent of a full game — until Bo Jackson’s 1-yard TD run to cap its opening drive of the second half.

Up next

Miami waits to see who it will play in the Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State is scheduled to open the the 2026 season at home against Ball State on Sept. 5.

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees South America, did not reveal where the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday occurred. Previous attacks have been in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

A video of Tuesday’s attack posted by Southern Command on social media shows three boats traveling in a close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes and “had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.” The military did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.

Southern Command’s statement did not say whether those who jumped off the boats were rescued.

Calling in the Coast Guard is notable because the U.S. military drew heavy scrutiny after U.S. forces killed the survivors of an attack in early September with a follow-up strike to their disabled boat. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers say the follow-up strike was legal.

U.S. forces attacked two more boats on Wednesday, killing five people who were allegedly smuggling drugs along known trafficking routes, Southern Command said in a separate statement. It did not provide evidence of the alleged trafficking or reveal the body of water in which the attacks occurred. Videos posted with the statement on social media showed a boat in the water and explosions.

The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States.

Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter.

It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September, a significant escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro’s government.

The worker at the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios park was knocked to the ground by the 400-pound (181-kilogram) prop boulder after it moved off its track on Tuesday and started rolling toward audience members. Another worker stopped the boulder before it reached the spectators.

Disney on Wednesday wouldn’t disclose the worker’s injuries, citing privacy reasons.

One of the attraction’s scheduled shows was canceled Tuesday after the accident, and Wednesday’s shows were modified to exclude the prop boulder. Disney said it was reviewing why the prop rolled off the track.

“We’re focused on supporting our cast member, who is recovering,” Disney said in a statement. “Safety is at the heart of what we do, and that element of the show will be modified as our safety team completes a review of what happened.”

The show is based on the Indiana Jones films and recreates an early scene in the first film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

The three bodies were discovered Monday evening along the Devil’s Backbone Trail at Mount Baldy, which rises more than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) east of Los Angeles, according to a statement from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The department said it received a call around 11:30 a.m. Monday from someone reporting that a hiker had tumbled 500 feet (150 meters) down a remote mountainside. The caller had hiked to an area with cellular service and provided GPS coordinates to rescuers.

A helicopter crew spotted the injured hiker and two other people, but strong winds prevented the aircraft from landing. A second landing attempt hours later was also unsuccessful because of winds.

A medic was eventually hoisted down from a helicopter and found three people dead around 7:30 p.m., the sheriff’s statement said. Their identities were not released as of Tuesday, and the cause of the deaths wasn’t immediately known.

Southern California had been buffeted by strong Santa Ana winds, with isolated gusts reaching 70 mph (112 kph) in some areas.

The deaths occurred in the wilderness near where actor Julian Sands died three years ago. Sands, who starred in “A Room With a View” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” was reported missing after setting off on a solo hike in January 2023. His body was found five months later.

Malaysia’s Transport Ministry said Wednesday that a search vessel, the Armada 86 05, arrived at a designated search area with two autonomous underwater vehicles.

The location of the search area was not disclosed in the statement. It said the vessel had prepared for the search in Fremantle Port in Western Australia.

The government did not specifically mention Ocean Infinity, the company that helmed a previous search and had long been slated to lead the new one. But the craft that the government specified by number has been widely identified by maritime and aviation websites as belonging to Ocean Infinity.

Earlier in December, the Malaysian government said that the Texas-based marine robotics firm would begin searching targeted areas of the seabed under a renewed “no-find, no-fee” agreement.

Ocean Infinity has confirmed it was resuming the search for MH370 but refused to comment further, citing the “important and sensitive nature” of the operation.

Ocean Infinity previously searched the seabed in 2018, under a similar contract but found no trace of the plane. The company has said it has since upgraded its technology and refined its analysis. Its CEO Oliver Plunkett said last year the firm was working with multiple experts and had narrowed the search zone to what it believes is the most probable crash site.

Earlier this year, Ocean Infinity briefly restarted seabed search operations in a new 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean after receiving approval from Malaysia, but the effort was suspended in April because of poor weather.

The Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. Satellite data later showed the aircraft veered from its planned route and flew south toward the remote southern Indian Ocean, where investigators believe it crashed. There has never been an explanation for the course change.

A costly and protracted multinational search effort failed to locate the aircraft, though pieces of debris believed to be from the plane later washed up along the East Africa coast and on Indian Ocean islands. No main wreckage or bodies have ever been recovered.

Extreme cold with near-zero degree wind chills descended upon parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin, forecasters said Tuesday, even as utilities worked to restore power to thousands of customers after heavy snow and strong winds pummeled parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes and the Northeast this week.

The cold front follows a system that barreled across the Midwest and parts of the Great Lakes with strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.

Nick Korstad, who lives in the Big Bay Point Lighthouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior, called the storm the strongest he has seen since he moved there in 2018, with gusts up to 75 mph (121 kph) rattling the house as waves pounded the cliffs below. The storm knocked out power for about 40 hours, darkening the lighthouse beacon and forcing him to rely on oil lamps and fireplaces.

“When winds reach this magnitude, the entire house rumbles, the windows flex and you can feel the pounding of the waves against the sandstone cliff,” Korstad said Tuesday.

Wisconsin’s forested Northwoods region will see temperatures drop as low as minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius), said Cameron Miller, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wisconsin.

“On New Year’s Eve wind chills could be down to the negative 20-25 degree (minus 29-minus 32 degrees Celsius) range there,” Miller added.

Nationwide, about 60,000 customers were without power Tuesday.

Frigid air will spread across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, the weather service said, powering the lake-effect “snow machine” in areas downwind of the Great Lakes.

In New Jersey, an animal shelter scrambled to line up foster homes for at least 30 dogs after snow damage to some of its kennels. Snow from a weekend storm apparently tumbled from a neighboring roof onto roofing that covered rear sections for some of the roughly 125 kennels at the Associated Humane Societies’ shelter in Newark, social media manager Olivia Gonzalez said.

Repairs can’t begin until the animals move elsewhere. “We definitely need to band together and move these dogs out of this building as quickly as possible,” she said. After a social media appeal, two dogs were settled in foster households, though six new stray dogs came into the shelter, Gonzalez said.

Snow totals in parts of western and upstate New York could reach up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) this week, forecasters said. Strong winds on Monday knocked down trees and power lines across the region.

Video posted on social media showed people struggling to walk in the wind. Just south of Buffalo in Lackawanna, Diane Miller was blown off the front steps of her daughter’s house and landed in some bushes. She wasn’t seriously hurt.

“I opened her door and the wind caught me, and I went flying,” Miller told WKBW-TV.

On the West Coast, strong Santa Ana winds with isolated gusts topping 70 mph (112 kph) brought down trees in parts of Southern California where recent storms had saturated the soil. With more rain expected, LA County issued evacuation warnings to go into effect Wednesday for residents near burn scars left by this year’s devastating wildfires. Law enforcement went door-to-door telling residents to be prepared to leave if ordered to do so.

Rain on New Year’s Day could potentially soak the Rose Parade in Pasadena for the first time in about two decades.

Extreme winds hampered an air rescue attempt on Monday in mountains east of Los Angeles where three hikers were found dead.

Cold is the norm this time of year in Alaska — but it’s been “unusually cold for unusually long for December” in Fairbanks, said weather service meteorologist Jacob Troyke. Temperature readings late this month have plunged as low as minus 48 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 44.4 degrees Celsius). Extreme cold and the potential for ice fog prompted sponsors to postpone a New Year’s Eve fireworks show hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the university said.

Road crews have struggled to keep up with the snow in Juneau, Alaska’s capital. The city shattered a December monthly snowfall record of 54.7 inches (1.4 meters) set in 1964, receiving more than 63 inches (1.6 meters) so far.

That variant, known as “subclade K,” led to early outbreaks in the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. In the U.S., flu typically begins its winter march in December. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported high or very high levels of illness in more than half the states.

The CDC estimated there have been at least 7.5 million illnesses, 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths from flu so far this season. That includes at least eight child deaths — and is based on data as of Dec. 20, before major holiday gatherings.

Some states are particularly hard-hit. New York’s health department said the week ending Dec. 20 marked the most flu cases the state had recorded in a single week since 2004: 71,000.

It’s far too soon to know if this flu season will be as severe as last winter’s.

But it’s not too late to get a flu shot, which health experts say can still prevent severe illness even if someone gets infected. While this year’s vaccine isn’t a perfect match to the subclade K strain, a preliminary analysis from the U.K. found it offered at least partial protection, lowering people’s risk of hospitalization.

According to the CDC, only about 42% of adults and children have gotten a flu vaccination so far this year.

What is subclade K flu?

The flu virus is a shape-shifter, constantly mutating, and it comes in multiple forms. There are two subtypes of Type A flu, and subclade K is a mutated version of one of them, named H3N2. That H3N2 strain is always harsh, especially for older adults.

Subclade K’s mutations aren’t enough of a change to be considered an entirely new kind of flu.

But they’re different enough to evade some of the protection from this year’s vaccine, said Andrew Pekosz, a virus expert at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Will subclade K make people sicker?

The CDC said it’s too soon to know how severe this season will be.

Flu seasons dominated by any version of H3N2 tend to be bad, with more infections overall and more people becoming seriously ill. But Hopkins’ Pekosz cautioned it will take time to tease apart whether this subclade K version simply spreads more easily or also is more dangerous.

That question aside, the CDC notes there are some prescription medicines to treat flu — usually recommended for people at high risk of complications. But they generally need to be started a day or two after symptoms begin.

Who needs a flu vaccine?

The CDC and major medical societies all recommend a flu vaccine for just about everyone age 6 months and older. Despite lots of recent misinformation and confusion about vaccines, the flu recommendations haven’t changed.

Flu is particularly dangerous for people 65 and older, pregnant women, young children and people of any age who have chronic health problems, including asthma, diabetes, heart disease and weak immune systems.

The vaccines are brewed to protect against three influenza strains. Despite concern over that new H3N2 variant, they appear to be a good match against H1N1 and Type B flu that may also circulate this year, Pekosz said.

There are shots for all ages, as well as the nasal spray FluMist for ages 2 to 49. For the first time this year, some people may be eligible to vaccinate themselves with FluMist at home.

This time, the second-seeded Buckeyes (12-1) are defending national champions as they get ready to play College Football Playoff first-timer Miami (11-2, CFP No. 10 seed) in a quarterfinal game there Wednesday night. The Cotton Bowl last January was a CFP semifinal game when Ohio State beat Texas for the third of four wins needed last postseason for a sixth AP national title.

As for the first of those appearances in North Texas two years ago, that was the last season before the CFP expanded from four to 12 teams and when it wasn’t the Cotton Bowl’s turn as one of the playoff games. The Buckeyes arrived then coming off a regular season-ending loss to rival Michigan after a 10-0 start. Their starting quarterback (Kyle McCord) had transferred and NFL-bound All-American receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. opted out of playing in what was a 14-3 loss to Missouri.

“Just more stakes than the first game I’ve ever played in here. … Now it’s a bowl game with the playoffs on the line, so it just means more,” senior receiver Carnell Tate said Monday on the field at AT&T Stadium.

“It wasn’t CFP, so I felt like the job was not accomplished. We kind of fell short of our initial goal, and then when we played here, our quarterback ended up transferring. It was a whole lot of stuff going on,” senior cornerback Davison Igbinosun said. “It was definitely a tough game. It really didn’t feel like a typical Ohio State game, and then here last year and back in the playoffs, and that was a great game.”

Ohio State hasn’t played since losing 13-10 to No. 1 Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game matchup of undefeated teams on Dec. 6, and still got a first-round bye.

Miami, which is 24 years removed from its last national title, made its CFP debut with a 10-3 win in the first round at No. 7 seed Texas A&M on Dec. 20. The Hurricanes made the 12-team playoff field even after not making the Atlantic Coast Conference title game and that league’s champ (five-loss Duke) not getting a bid.

When the Hurricanes left Dallas after a 26-20 overtime loss at SMU on Nov. 1, their second loss in three games after a 5-0 start, they weren’t even sure they would make the playoff. Now they are back in Texas for their second playoff game in a row and with another five-game winning streak.

“That was a low point for us in the season, and in that locker room, it was as simple as a decision has to be made,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday. “It came down to the simplicity of taking all the clips of us in our first five games and putting it on a reel and just letting it play. No audio, no one’s talking, no nothing. Just shut the lights, remind ourselves of who we are. And there’s nothing more powerful than the power of choice.”

QBs on championship teams

Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin with Ohio State and Miami’s Carson Beck have both been part of national championship teams. Now the two most accurate FBS passers are trying to win a title as a starting quarterback.

Sayin was the Buckeyes backup last year behind Will Howard. Beck transferred to Miami after being at Georgia from 2020-24, when he was a youngster on the Bulldogs’ back-to-back national championship teams in 2021 and 2022 — he did get some late snaps in that second title game, a 65-7 romp over TCU.

The Cotton Bowl will be the first CFP game for Sayin, the sophomore who has thrown for 3,323 yards with 31 TDs and six interceptions. He has completed 78.4% of his passes (279 of 356). Beck made his first CFP start going 14-of-20 for 103 yards and a touchdown on a windy day in College Station. He has completed 74.5% of his passes (277 of 372) for 3,175 yards, 26 TDs and 10 interceptions.

Back-to-back chances

Miami’s last shot at back-to-back national championships ended in a double-overtime loss to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3, 2003, before most of the current players were born and the only other time these teams have met in a bowl game.

Ohio State, which won the first CFP national championship at AT&T Stadium at the end of the 2014 season, is now trying to win consecutive national titles for the first time. The Buckeyes are in their seventh CFP overall, and are the only team to appear in five of the last seven — all of those since Ryan Day became their head coach.

The only other time the Hurricanes played in the Cotton Bowl was at the end of the 1990 season, their last as an independent before moving to the Big East. They beat Texas 46-3 in Cotton Bowl Stadium.

South Pacific countries were the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks stuck midnight in Auckland 18 hours before the famous ball drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks.

Defiant celebration in Australia after worst mass shooting

Australia’s east coast welcomed 2026 two hours after New Zealand. In Sydney, celebrations were held under the pall of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years. Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, killing 15 and wounding 40.

A heavy police presence monitored the thousands who thronged to watch a fireworks show centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Many officers openly carried rapid-fire rifles, a first for the event.

An hour before midnight, massacre victims were commemorated with a minute of silence. The crowd was invited to show solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns urged Sydney residents not to stay away through fear, saying extremists would interpret smaller crowds as a victory.

“We have to show defiance in the face of this terrible crime,” he said.

Indonesia and Hong Kong hold subdued events

In Indonesia, cities scaled back festivities in solidarity with communities devastated by floods and landslides that struck parts of Sumatra island a month ago, claiming more than 1,100 lives.

The capital, Jakarta, held subdued celebrations with a program centered on prayers for victims. Concerts and fireworks on the tourist island of Bali were replaced with a cultural event featuring traditional dances.

Hong Kong was ringing in 2026 without the usual spectacle over iconic Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November killed at least 161 people. The facades of landmarks were turning into countdown clocks presenting a light show at midnight.

Temple bells rang across Japan, and some people climbed mountains to see the year’s first sunrise. Others were eating noodles in a traditional wish for long life because of the noodle’s shape. In South Korea’s capital, Seoul, a bell tolling was held at the Bosingak Pavilion.

Displaced Gazans hope for end to war

Palestinians in Gaza said they hope the new year brings a definitive end to the war between Israel and Hamas that has battered the enclave for two years, as negotiators push for progress into the ceasefire’s challenging second phase.

“We hope that it will be a good year for our people in Palestine,” said Faraj Rasheed, noting that thousands continue to live in harsh conditions in tent camps.

Others described 2025 as a year of loss. “The war humiliated us,” said Mirvat Abed Al-Aal, displaced from the southern city of Rafah.

Berliners celebrate in snowfall

Tourists and Berliners marked the end of 2025 by taking selfies and making snowmen in front of the German capital’s cathedral and the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin TV Tower was nearly invisible thanks to the falling flakes and fog.

Quieter celebrations in Greece and Cyprus

Greece and Cyprus were turning down the volume, replacing traditional fireworks with low-noise pyrotechnics, light shows and drone displays in capital cities. Officials said the change is intended to make celebrations more welcoming for children and pets, particularly animals sensitive to loud noise.

Additional security in New York City

Police in New York City will have additional anti-terrorism measures at the Times Square ball drop, with “mobile screening teams.” It is not in response to a specific threat, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

After the ball drops it will rise again, sparkling in red, white and blue, to mark the country’s upcoming 250th birthday.

Zohran Mamdani will take office as mayor at the start of 2026. Two swearing-in ceremonies are planned, starting with a private ceremonial event around midnight in an old subway station.

The Treasury Department said the latest measures are intended to support the reimposed United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, further squeezing the Islamic Republic. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is peaceful.

Included in Tuesday’s sanctions is a Venezuelan firm and its chairman, accused of purchasing Iranian drones; three Iranian men connected with efforts to procure chemicals used for ballistic missiles; and a group of Iran-based people and firms connected to Rayan Fan Group, a holding company previously sanctioned by the U.S.

In February, President Donald Trump reimposed a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in an effort to to block its development of nuclear weapons. The campaign included U.S. led strikes on three critical Iranian enrichment facilities this summer after a week of open conflict between Israel and Iran, sparked by a sudden barrage of attacks by Israel against Iran’s nuclear and military structure.

This week, Trump warned Iran that the U.S. could carry out further military strikes if the country attempts to reconstitute its nuclear program as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.

“Treasury is holding Iran and Venezuela accountable for their aggressive and reckless proliferation of deadly weapons around the world,” said Treasury’s Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, John K. Hurley. “We will continue to take swift action to deprive those who enable Iran’s military-industrial complex access to the U.S. financial system.”

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Iran continues to violate UN restrictions. “Iran’s ongoing provision of conventional weapons to Caracas is a threat to U.S. interests in our region,” he said.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said in a statement on X that 11 missions were carried out over the past 10 days and followed initial strikes against IS weapons sites and infrastructure on Dec. 19, which hit 70 targets across central Syria.

In the operations since, the U.S. military and other forces from the region, including Syria, killed at least seven IS members, captured others and eliminated four weapons caches, U.S. Central Command said.

“We will not relent,” Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the command, said in the statement. “We are steadfast in commitment to working with regional partners to root out the ISIS threat posed to U.S. and regional security.”

Targets ranged from senior IS members who were being closely monitored by military officials to lower-level foot soldiers, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The official said a growing collaboration between the United States and Syria’s relatively new government meant that U.S. forces were able to attack IS in areas of the country where they previously did not operate. Syrian forces were the driving force behind some of the missions against the militant group this year, the official added.

The official compared the growing cooperation to that between the U.S. and Iraq in fighting IS a decade ago and said the goal, like in Iraq, is to ultimately hand over the effort fully to the Syrians.

The latest operations followed a Dec. 13 ambush that occurred near the ancient city of Palmyra while American and Syrian security officials had gathered for a meeting over lunch. Two members of the Iowa National Guard and a civilian interpreter from Michigan were killed, while three other U.S. troops and members of Syria’s security forces were wounded.

The gunman, who was killed, had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard and recently had been reassigned because of suspicions he might be affiliated with IS, Syrian officials said.

The initial retaliatory strike on IS targets in Syria, which included fighter jets from Jordan, was a major test for the warming ties between the U.S. and Syria since last year’s ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad.

President Donald Trump said Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”

The first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September marks a significant escalation in the administration’s months-long pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government. The strike has not been acknowledged by Venezuelan officials.

President Donald Trump first made reference to the operation in an interview Friday with John Catsimatidis on WABC radio in New York, saying the U.S. had knocked out some type of “big facility where ships come from.”

In an exchange with reporters Monday as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump added that the operation targeted a “ dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.” But the president declined to comment when asked whether the attack was conducted by the military or the CIA.

The CIA and White House officials also declined to offer further comment on the matter. CNN first reported on the CIA’s involvement in the operation. Col. Allie Weiskopf, a spokesperson for Special Operations Command, which oversees U.S operations in the Caribbean, said in a statement that “Special Operations did not support this operation to include intel support.”

The strike escalates what began as a massive buildup of U.S. personnel in the Caribbean Sea starting in August, which has been followed by at least 30 U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. More recently, Trump has ordered a quasi-blockade aimed at seizing sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of Venezuela.

Trump for months had threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land. He’s also taken the unusual step of publicly acknowledging that he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert action inside Venezuela.

“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump replied. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America,” he said in October as he confirmed to reporters his approval for the CIA to act. “And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.”

All the while, Trump has repeatedly said Maduro’s days in power are numbered. The Venezuelan leader and members of his inner circle have been under federal indictment in the United States since 2020 for narcoterrorism and other charges.

Maduro has denied the charges. The U.S. Justice Department this year doubled to $50 million the reward for information that leads to his arrest.

The Venezuelan president made no mention of the CIA operation during an hourlong speech Tuesday at an international leadership school for women.

Suzuki also scored late in regulation to tie the game for the Canadiens, who improved to 6-1-3 in their last 10 games. Cole Caufield also scored for Montreal.

Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart scored for Florida, but Marchand was called for roughing 1:27 into overtime — giving Montreal a 4-on-3 advantage.

The Panthers paid tribute to Marchand’s 1,000th career point in a pregame ceremony. Marchand got the milestone point in mid-November, but chose this game — against Montreal, one of his longtime rivals when he was with Boston and a team coached by one of his idols, Martin St. Louis — for the formal celebration.

The game was scoreless after two periods, just the 11th such game in the NHL this season and the first for both the Panthers and the Canadiens. And it was the first time a Florida-Montreal matchup saw no goals in the first 40 minutes of action since Feb. 14, 2013 — a contest that ended up as a 1-0 road win for the Canadiens.

But the final 10 minutes were wild.

Marchand opened the scoring at 10:18 and Reinhart connected with 4:59 left to put Florida up 2-0. Back came Montreal, with Caufield scoring 32 seconds after Reinhart’s goal and then Suzuki tying it up with 1:22 remaining.

It was the final game of 2025 for both teams. Montreal’s 21 wins going into New Year’s Day are its most since having 21 wins at this point during the 2018-19 season. And Florida — which has played in each of the last three Stanley Cup Finals, winning the last two titles — played its 106th game of the year, the third straight year in which the Panthers have topped 100 games.

Up next

Canadiens: Visit Carolina on Thursday.

Panthers: Host the New York Rangers in the Winter Classic at Miami on Friday.

Oops. Nearly a full year passed before his second NHL point.

“After the first, I’m like, ‘Oh, this, it’s not too hard,’” Marchand said. “But I had a pretty rude awakening after that. You just see how hard it is every night to play in this league.”

He has never forgotten the lessons that came after that first point, what it was like to go scoreless in 21 consecutive games, how it felt to get sent down from Boston to the team’s minor league affiliate in nearby Providence. And they were still in mind Tuesday night, when the Florida Panthers — who acquired him in a trade last season — paid tribute to Marchand joining the NHL’s 1,000-point club in a pregame ceremony before playing host to the Montreal Canadiens.

Marchand hit the milestone more than a month ago; the Panthers let him and his family choose when they wanted to have the ceremony, and this game was the pick. Flowers were presented to Marchand’s wife and mother, gold mini-sticks were presented to his three children. The NHL sent a Tiffany crystal to present to Marchand, and he got a commemorative gold stick and plaque from Panthers hockey operations president and general manager Bill Zito as well.

Several NHL coaches and players sent video tributes as well, including many of his former Bruins teammates as well as Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby. “Super proud of you,” former Bruins teammate Zdeno Chara said.

Marchand watched the ceremony from a corner of the ice, surrounded by family.

“I have all my family in town,” Marchand said. “These are moments throughout your career that don’t happen often. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate things that I definitely never thought would ever become possible. … It’s a great opportunity for everyone to enjoy a very special thing.”

Getting to 1,000 points is a testament to plenty of things, his longevity included. Marchand had 100 points in a season exactly once; he’s basically been just about a point-a-game guy for the entirety of his 17-year career.

“It’s just such a large milestone to hit,” Marchand said. “Your dream is to play a game in the NHL. I never really thought about what it takes to get to this point. You hope to play and then stay. That’s all you’re really worried about is just trying to stay and hold onto it for as long as you can. Even when I was 10 years in I didn’t think that this was possible.”

Panthers coach Paul Maurice often tells a story of last season’s playoffs, a first-round game at Tampa Bay where Florida was down 5-1 late in Game 3 of that series. Everyone was ready for Game 4, except Marchand, who was shouting encouragement to teammates and trying to get a comeback try started.

No rally happened, but what Marchand did that night still resonates with his coach.

“He’s not 25 anymore,” Maurice said of the 37-year-old Marchand. “What he’s been able to do, the consistency of his game, has been incredibly impressive. I think you’ll find, older players, when they get into the playoffs, can find another level, but October through Christmas, sometimes they may not. The juice is hard to find. But not for him.”

It was fitting that the ceremony came with Montreal in town; the Canadiens were a huge rival for Marchand for all those years he spent with the Boston Bruins, and coach Martin St. Louis — another pesky, diminutive forward who just knew how to put pucks in nets, just like Marchand — is one of the Panthers’ star’s idols.

“It’s always a special team to play,” Marchand said. “And it’s pretty cool to have Marty on the bench, being my favorite player growing up.”

Marchand got the first 976 points of his career with the Bruins. He joined Florida in a trade that shocked many — especially given how the Bruins and Panthers had developed a playoff rivalry in recent years — late last season. The Panthers went on to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup, which was the second Cup of Marchand’s career as well.

And Tuesday was the Panthers’ final game before the calendar flips to 2026. By any measure, 2025 — with the trade, a Cup and a milestone point — was a year for Marchand to remember.

“It was a hell of a year,” Marchand said. “Lot of ups and downs, but if I could categorize it, I’m just very grateful for all of it.”

That was Texas Tech’s path.

That was also Oregon’s path.

Numbers-wise, Texas Tech and Oregon have basically been mirroring images of one another this season. They’re both 12-1, neither has lost since mid-October, both have top-10 scoring offenses, both have top-10 scoring defenses … the similarities go on and on and on.

The Red Raiders ( No. 4 AP, No. 4 CFP) and Ducks (No. 5 AP, No. 5 CFP) will square off in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, with the winner headed to the national semifinals at the Peach Bowl next week against either Indiana or Alabama.

“Everybody knows the stakes,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “These are moments that you’re excited to get to go be a part of.”

There are no shortage of numbers that have one team looking a lot like the other. Points per game, it’s Texas Tech 42.5 and Oregon 39.2. Points allowed per game, it’s Texas Tech 10.9 and Oregon 16.3. Yards per game, it’s Texas Tech 480 and Oregon 469. Yards allowed per game, it’s Texas Tech 254 and Oregon 271. Yards allowed per play, it’s Texas Tech 3.96 and Oregon 4.36.

“How lucky are we? And that’s not a question, but man, a statement of gratitude,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “You know, if you had told my 13-year-old self that I’m getting ready to coach on January 1st in the Orange Bowl at 11 a.m. Central time, man, I would have probably never believed it. So, I’m just so fortunate and grateful that we get to do this and man, we’re excited.”

It could be argued that this is already the best season in Texas Tech history, with a school record for wins and a strong likelihood that the Red Raiders will finish the year 10th or better in the final AP Top 25 for the first time.

Clearly, they are aiming for much more.

“It’s more of an internal thing for us to push through and try to be the best that we can no matter what the outside voices say,” star Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said. “If they say that we’re the best, we’ll try to play the best. If they say we’re the worst, we’ll try to play the best.”

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore said after the Ducks’ win over James Madison in Round 1 of the CFP that this has been the longest season of his life — now 14 games and counting, with the potential of two more after this one.

And he’s not complaining.

“I feel like with this team, we were very young at the beginning of the year, but we’ve had a lot of experience,” Moore said. “We’ve been pushing each other every day.”

Playing early

Texas Tech will be playing for the sixth time this season in a game starting at noon Eastern, or 11 a.m. Central. The Red Raiders are 5-0 in those games this season.

“I started saying we’re the best 11 o’clock team in the country,” McGuire said.

It’s the second noon Eastern — or 9 a.m. Pacific — game for Oregon. The Ducks beat Northwestern 34-14 on Sept. 13 in the other early kick they had this season.

And obviously, both teams have been in South Florida for a few days — plenty of time to acclimate to time changes.

Among the best

The game features some of college football’s active career leaders in a few different statistical categories at the FBS level.

Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman leads all active players in solo tackles per game over a career (4.78), while Texas Tech’s 1-2 defensive punch of Rodriguez and David Bailey are also on the active leader lists.

Rodriguez is second in forced fumbles among active FBS players (13), while Bailey is third in forced fumbles (10) and third in sacks (28).

Something will give?

A good rule for the Orange Bowl: 35 points is typically enough. And these two teams make scoring 35 points look easy at times.

Teams that score 35 or more points in the Orange Bowl are 24-1 all-time. The exception was Jan. 3, 2014, when Clemson beat Ohio State 40-35.

The average score of an Orange Bowl to this point: 28-14.

The series

This could have been the third consecutive season where Oregon and Texas Tech met on the field. They played in 2023 and were scheduled to again last season — but altered those plans so Oregon could continue its annual rivalry game with Oregon State.

The 2024 game was moved to the 2033 season.

Explosive plays

Another numerical similarity: Big plays.

Oregon has 91 plays for 20 or more yards this season, the most in the country. The No. 2 team on that list? Texas Tech, with 90 such plays.

Storms caused Christmas week flooding, mudslides and other miseries across the region. Now comes a 90% chance of rain Thursday in Pasadena, according to the National Weather Service.

“We try not to say that word around here,” joked Candy Carlson, a spokesperson for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the organization behind the 137th Rose Parade, which precedes the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff game.

On New Year’s Eve in New York City, forecasters are predicting temperatures in the low 30s, which is not unusual, when the ball drops in Times Square. Light rain is possible in Las Vegas, where several casinos will be shooting fireworks from rooftops.

During Nashville’s Big Bash, a New Year’s Eve event at a park, temperatures will be in the low 30s when an illuminated music note drops at midnight in the Tennessee city. New Orleans will be in the 40s for a free concert and fireworks along the Mississippi River.

At the Rose Parade, it has rained only 10 times in the parade’s history — and not since 2006, Carlson said.

Rare wet weather is unlikely to keep floats, marching bands, entertainers and others from participating. Carlson said people riding on floats will have rain gear if necessary, and tow trucks will be standing by in case of mechanical problems.

Spectators will need to prepare, too. Umbrellas are not allowed in parade seating areas that require tickets, though the ban doesn’t cover people who simply line up along the nearly 6-mile (9.6 kilometer) route. Curbside camping — no tents — begins at noon Wednesday. Rain also is predicted that day.

“Last year’s parade theme was ‘Best Day Ever!’ and six days later it was the worst,” said Lisa Derderian, spokesperson for the city of Pasadena, referring to the devastating Eaton wildfire in Los Angeles County. “We want to start the new year on a high note. Hopefully Mother Nature cooperates with the weather.”

Firefighters arrived Sunday night at a two-story home near Stanley that was mostly engulfed in fire, with flames showing through the attic, the Gaston County Office of Emergency Management and Fire Services said in a news release.

Dennis Hamlin, 75, and Mary Lou Hamlin, 69, were found outside the home, suffering from catastrophic injuries, officials said. Dennis Hamlin later died from his injuries at a hospital, officials said.

Mary Lou Hamlin was taken to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center in Winston-Salem, where she was being treated Monday, officials said.

The fire caused the structure to collapse. The cause is under investigation.

Stanley is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Charlotte.

The home is owned by a company called Won One Real Estate that lists Denny Hamlin as its manager, according to local property tax records and a business document filing with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office.

Representatives for Hamlin had not responded to requests for comment as of Monday evening.

Hamlin is one of the marquee drivers in NASCAR’s top circuit, having won 60 NASCAR Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500 three times.

The 45-year-old driver for Joe Gibbs Racing has yet to win a Cup points championship. He fell short of the title during this season’s final race in Arizona last month.

Weeks earlier, Hamlin said his father — who nearly went broke with financial sacrifices to try to get his son into NASCAR — was battling a serious illness, and that he didn’t have much time left to live.

“I know for a fact this is my last chance for my dad to see it. I don’t want him going and never getting to see the moment,” Hamlin told The Associated Press.

Hamlin also mentioned his dad in emotional testimony this month at the start of a federal antitrust trial against NASCAR brought in part by 23XI Racing, which is owned by Hamlin and Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. NASCAR, 23XI Racing and another race team reached a settlement during the trial before jurors ever deliberated.

Blustery winds were expected to add to the chill, with low temperatures dipping below freezing as far south as the Florida panhandle, the National Weather Service said.

The wild storm hit parts of the Plains and Great Lakes this week with sharply colder air, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain, leading to treacherous travel. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.

Kristen Schultz, who was heading home to Alaska, said it took her four hours to get to the Minneapolis airport on Tuesday.

“Just give yourself plenty of extra time and that way, even if things go smoothly, you don’t have to be stressed out,” she said, “and you’re ready in case things don’t go so smoothly.”

Nationwide, more than 115,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning, around a third of them in Michigan, according to Poweroutage.us.

As the storm moves into Canada, the frigid air trailing behind it will spread across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, the National Weather Service said, powering the lake-effect “snow machine” in areas downwind of the Great Lakes.

Some areas in western and upstate New York saw a foot or more of snow Monday and their totals could reach up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) this week, forecasters said. Strong winds on Monday, including an 81 mph (130 kph) gust in Buffalo, New York, knocked down trees and wires across the region, the weather service said.

“At this point, the worst does seem to be over, and we are expecting conditions to improve especially by later today,” said Andrew Orrison, a weather service meteorologist.

Videos on social media show people struggling to walk in the windy conditions and a waterway in downtown Buffalo clogged with tree branches and other debris stemming from a windblown surge from Lake Erie.

Just south of Buffalo in Lackawanna, Diane Miller was caught on video being blown off the front steps of her daughter’s house and landing in some bushes. She wasn’t seriously hurt.

“I opened her door and the wind caught me, and I went flying,” Miller told WKBW-TV.

Whiteout conditions were still possible in some areas, forecasters said, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned people in impacted areas to avoid unnecessary travel.

The fierce winds on Lake Erie had sent water surging toward the basin’s eastern end near Buffalo while lowering water on the western side in Michigan to expose normally submerged lakebed — even the wreck of a car and a snowmobile.

Kevin Aldrich, 33, a maintenance worker from Monroe, Michigan, said he has never seen the lake recede so much and was surprised Monday to spot remnants of piers dating back to the 1830s. He posted photos on social media of wooden pilings sticking up several feet from the muck.

“Where those are at would typically be probably 12 feet deep,” or 3.6 meters, he said. “We can usually drive our boat over them.”

Dangerous wind chills across parts of North Dakota and Minnesota plunged as low as minus 30 F (minus 34 C) on Monday. And in northeast West Virginia, rare nearly hurricane-force winds were recorded on a mountain near Dolly Sods, according to the National Weather Service.

On the West Coast, strong Santa Ana winds with isolated gusts topping 70 mph (112 kph) brought down trees in parts of Southern California where recent storms had saturated the soil. Downed powerlines forced the shutdown of a freeway north of Los Angeles for several hours on Monday. Wind advisories had expired by evening, but blustery conditions were expected through Saturday, along with thunderstorms.

Rain on New Year’s Day could potentially soak the Rose Parade in Pasadena for the first time in about two decades.

The Capitals (20-14-5) have lost four of five.

Florida came back from a third-period deficit to pull out the win, getting goals from Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad and Reinhart.

The Capitals led 3-2 early in the third on a goal by Dylan Strome, who also had two assists. But Marchand tied the score by batting in his own rebound past goalie Logan Thompson at 6:16 of the third, and Ekblad put Florida ahead for good about seven minutes later.

Reinhart added an empty-netter to seal matters for Florida.

Tom Wilson got both Washington goals in the opening period, giving the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 3:53 and then tying the score at 2-2 with 43 seconds remaining on a power-play chance.

With the two goals, Wilson has four multigoal games this season — and his second multigoal period, the first of which came Nov. 19 against the Edmonton Oilers.

Between Wilson’s goals, the Panthers tied the score on Anton Lundell’s goal at 4:35 of the first, with Reinhart scoring his 20th of the season for a 2-1 lead at 12:45.

Wilson had a three-point night, getting the primary assist on Strome’s third-period goal. Strome assisted on Wilson’s two goals in the first.

After a scoreless second, the scoring picked up again in the third.

The game was Florida’s first since forward Matthew Tkachuk practiced for the first time this season, following offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia. Tkachuk practiced Sunday, but there is no timetable for his return to game action.

Up next

Capitals: Host the New York Rangers on Wednesday.

Panthers: Host Montreal on Tuesday.

The teams were tied at 63 at halftime, with Jokic getting hurt with about three seconds left before the intermission. Miami then scored 47 third-quarter points to take full control.

Nikola Jovic scored 22 points, Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 20 and Bam Adebayo returned from a two-game absence to grab 10 rebounds for the Heat, who had gone 1-15 in their last 16 games against Denver — the one win coming in five-game defeat to the Nuggets in the 2023 NBA Finals.

Denver had also won the last 11 regular-season matchups between the clubs and hadn’t lost a game in Miami since 2018.

But everything changed after halftime, with Jokic remaining in the locker room areas for evaluation.

Jokic still led the Nuggets in scoring with 21 points, along with eight assists and five rebounds. Jamal Murray scored 20 for Denver and Spencer Jones — who stepped on Jokic’s left foot on the play where the three-time MVP was injured — scored 16 for the Nuggets, as did Tim Hardaway Jr.

Jokic was alone under the basket and appeared to step forward to help Denver’s Spencer Jones defend a drive by Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. as time was about to expire in the second quarter. While backtracking, Jones stepped on Jokic’s left foot and it seemed the center’s knee buckled.

Jokic collapsed to the court, grabbing at the knee and writhing in pain.

The Heat topped the 140-point mark for the eighth time in the 2025 calendar year. Miami had seven such games from its inception in 1988 through 2024, combined.

Up next

Nuggets: At Toronto on Wednesday night.

Heat: At Detroit on Thursday night.

The strike, which was announced by U.S. Southern Command on social media, has brought the total number of known boat strikes to 30 and the number of people killed at least 107 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

The military said the vessel “was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” though it did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

In a video of the strike posted to social media, a boat is seen moving through water before being struck by two explosions.

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States.

Trump, when asked by reporters Monday about “an explosion in Venezuela,” said the U.S. had “hit” a dock facility along a shore where boats accused of carrying drugs “load up.”

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida. Trump, the White House and the Pentagon have provided no other details.

In December, the Trump administration also launched a new tactic by seizing two sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela and pursuing a third. As a result, some sanctioned tankers began to divert away from the South American country.

Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. operations is to force him from power. Trump for months has suggested that he may conduct land strikes in Venezuela or possibly another country.

The Trump administration has been faced scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign. It grew amid revelations that the first attack in early September involved a follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit.

The NHL — as part of the celebrations planned for the Winter Classic game between the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers at loanDepot Park, home of baseball’s Miami Marlins — is going to make snow fall at the ballpark.

How it’ll happen, well, the NHL is keeping some of the exact details surrounding the plan quiet. But some fans are going to get at least a few flakes headed their way.

“You may get snowed on,” Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president for events and content, said Monday in what essentially was a message to the more than 30,000 fans who are expected for the game. It’ll be the first time the NHL plays an outdoor game in Florida.

The rink is built, the ice is down — still being worked on, of course — and the ballpark feels about 20 degrees chillier than usual, which is by obvious design. The sets are still being built in some cases, but all will be ready when the teams come in for practices on Thursday.

“This is a show,” Mayer said. “There’s a hockey game that goes on, and that is so important. I mean, this is a big game. Panthers-Rangers, you know, when we’re in April, this could be a game that could determine whether a team makes the playoffs or not. But we also know that people are here for an experience, for something different, and we’re going to give it to them — and we’re going to have some fun along the way.”

Which brings us back to snow.

Officially, it hasn’t snowed in Miami since 1977. There were some unconfirmed reports of a few flakes in the air in South Florida in 2010, and the temperature on Friday means the snow won’t be courtesy of Mother Nature. Forecasters expect the temperature in the area of the retractable roof stadium to be in the upper 50s by game time for Panthers-Rangers.

But inside the stadium, with plans for the roof to be open for the game, it’ll be a scene for all seasons. The NHL — which was getting the logos and lines onto the ice Monday — is planning to have everything from beach chairs to a lifeguard shack and palm trees as part of the backdrop for the game, with some nods to winter as well.

Some entertainers will be in parkas, some in swim wear.

“We’ve designed it so that winter meets summer — or let’s go the opposite way, here in Florida, summer meets winter,” Mayer said. “Fire, ice, hot, cold, all of the thematics that you would think. So, half the field is going to be a Miami beach … and the other side is as if a huge snowstorm has hit Miami. That’s the dynamic that we’re going to have fun with throughout the game.”

“I’m going to start with a couple of players deserving of game balls,” McDaniel said. “Rookies no more.”

McDaniel then rattled off several members of the Dolphins’ rookie class who played key roles in the victory.

With Miami already eliminated from playoff contention, the final games of the season have provided extended opportunities for young players. On Sunday, the Dolphins got meaningful contributions from their rookies — an encouraging sign as the franchise looks toward the future.

“I think we’ve been heavily reliant upon the rookie class,” McDaniel said. “It was very calculated, the types of people that we brought in for the reasons of needing to be able to be professional football players at the NFL level. It is not always an easy task for someone coming straight out of (college). You go out of your college play, you go into training for the draft and then you go from training for the draft right into NFL football.

“I think our group today exhibited one of the reasons why we felt good about the entire class right after the draft.”

Quinn Ewers, a rookie seventh-round pick, threw two touchdowns with no interceptions in his second career start and again appeared to show calmness and sound decision-making.

Ewers’ first touchdown was a 63-yard toss to fellow rookie Theo Wease Jr., an undrafted free agent who signed with Miami earlier this year.

“I think we’ve done pretty well,” Ewers said of Miami’s rookie class. “The way that we all came in together and built a relationship, being in the hotel together, hanging out outside of football — that chemistry only helps us. It’s been fun to watch the growth of these rookies on the team, including myself.”

Ewers also has showed unusual poise and leadership for a young player, his teammates noted. The 22-year-old challenged the team last week to remain motivated during the final games of the season despite not being in the postseason hunt.

“You’re inherently a leader when you’re a quarterback, so to me, he’s passionate about football,” McDaniel said. “Don’t let the Texas twang in his speech fool you. This dude is very, very, very smart, very on it, and he’s very comfortable when he’s playing the position. You can see that.”

All eight of Miami’s 2025 draft picks played on Sunday, in addition to three undrafted rookies. Ewers, defensive tackles Kenneth Grant and Jordan Phillips and offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea started.

Rookie cornerback Jason Marshall Jr., a fifth-round pick, recorded his first career interception in the second quarter, picking off Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield on an underthrown downfield pass and returning it 24 yards. Marshall also recorded five tackles, a tackle for loss, two pass breakups and three special teams tackles.

Zeek Biggers, another seventh-round pick, blocked kicker Chase McLaughlin’s 55-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter, marking the first time a Miami rookie blocked a field goal since Vincent Taylor at Baltimore on Oct. 26, 2017.

“I think it was a great game to see a lot of guys step up and make some plays,” veteran defensive tackle Zach Sieler said. “Obviously we all know, we’re not going to sugarcoat it, we’re not making playoffs, but to see guys go out there no matter the conditions and just play their best ball and show no quit … It’s been exciting to see these young boys grow up and look forward to keep playing and keep growing up.”

What’s working

Establishing the run game was a point of emphasis for the Dolphins to take some pressure off Ewers and set up the play action. That worked on Sunday, with Miami recording 145 yards rushing. De’Von Achane had 18 carries for 83 yards, and Jaylen Wright added 56 yards on five carries.

What needs help

Third-down efficiency. The Dolphins moved the ball well enough, but they went 4 for 12 on third down. They’re 6 for 22 on third downs over the past two games.

Stock up

TE Greg Dulcich. He has been increasingly important in the passing game since being elevated to the active roster from the practice squad in October. Dulcich caught five passes for a season-high 58 yards and an 11-yard touchdown pass.

Stock down

WR Jaylen Waddle. He did not record a catch for the first time this season and played only 14 snaps. Waddle was limited by a rib injury suffered in the second quarter.

Injuries

S Minkah Fitzpatrick missed his second straight game with a calf injury. … LB Chop Robinson is in the concussion protocol.

Key number

10 — The numbers of games this season in which Achane has recorded 100-plus scrimmage yards — he had 112 on Sunday — which is tied for second most in a single season in franchise history.

Next steps

The Dolphins visit New England in next week’s regular-season finale.

Cherfilus-McCormick was scheduled to be arraigned, but her attorney requested the proceeding be rescheduled to Jan. 20 so that she could finalize her legal team. Prosecutors didn’t object, and Judge Lisette Reid agreed to the new date. The hearing lasted less than five minutes.

“I just want to make it very clear that I am innocent,” Cherfilus-McCormick said immediately after leaving court. “In no way did I steal any kind of funds. I’m committed to the people of Florida and my district.”

Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty. She is facing 15 federal counts that accuse her of stealing funds that had been overpaid to her family’s health care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, in 2021. The company had a contract to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Cherfilus-McCormick’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said the case involves mistakes that generally aren’t even misdemeanors, let alone felonies. He said he believes the case is politically motivated.

Cherfilus-McCormick was arrested in November and then freed on a $60,000 bond. In addition to bail, the judge said Cherfilus-McCormick must surrender her personal passport, and is allowed to travel only between Florida, Washington, D.C., Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia.

She has been allowed to retain her congressional passport so she can perform certain duties for her job.

According to the federal indictment, prosecutors said that within two months of receiving the funds in 2021, more than $100,000 had been spent on a 3-carat yellow diamond ring for the congresswoman.

The health care company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family had received payments through a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, the indictment said. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, requested $50,000, but they mistakenly received $5 million and didn’t return the difference.

Prosecutors said the funds received by Trinity Healthcare were distributed to various accounts, including to friends and relatives who then donated to Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign for Congress.

Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election in January 2022 to represent Florida’s 20th District, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.

The charges she faces include theft of government funds; making and receiving straw donor contributions; aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return; money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those counts.

According to a previous statement provided by Cherfilus-McCormick’s chief of staff, she doesn’t plan to resign from office. She said she has cooperated with “every lawful request” and will continue to do so until the matter is resolved.

State District Judge Tony Graf said public transparency was “foundational” to the judicial system before ordering the release of details from the Oct. 24 closed hearing. Attorneys for media outlets including The Associated Press had argued for access because they said it was also the first time Robinson’s lawyers suggested a ban on cameras in the courtroom.

Prosecutors have charged Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 shooting of the conservative activist on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem. They plan to seek the death penalty. Robinson has not yet entered a plea.

In a 97-page transcript released later Monday, attorneys for Robinson argued that widespread videos and photos of him shackled and in jail clothing could create bias against him among potential jurors. Defense attorney Richard Novak said prohibiting cameras would be “very easy” for the court to enforce and could help curb visual prejudice.

“We’re not litigating this case in the press,” Novak said during the Oct. 24 hearing.

The transcript contained limited redactions to remove discussions of security protocols in the closely watched case. Graf also ordered the release of an audio recording of the hearing, again with redactions.

Robinson was not present in court Monday and appeared via audio feed from the Utah County Jail.

Graf has not ruled on the defense’s suggestion to ban cameras, but he has implemented other limitations.

Days after the closed-door hearing, Graf ruled that Robinson could wear civilian clothes in pretrial hearings but must also wear restraints to ensure the safety of court staff and Robinson himself. Utah court rules require defendants who are in custody to be restrained or supervised at all times unless otherwise ordered.

Graf also prohibited media outlets from publishing photos, videos and live broadcasts that show Robinson’s restraints to help protect his presumption of innocence before a trial.

The judge briefly stopped a media livestream of a hearing earlier this month and ordered the camera be moved after Robinson’s attorneys said the stream showed the defendant’s shackles. Graf said he would terminate future broadcasts if there were further violations.

Lawyers for the media wrote in recent filings that an open court “safeguards the integrity of the fact-finding process” while fostering public confidence in judicial proceedings. Criminal cases in the U.S. have long been open to the public, which the attorneys argued is proof that trials can be conducted fairly without restricting reporters.

In a separate ruling Monday, Graf denied a request from attorneys for the media who sought to intervene in the case. The judge said members of the press do not need to be formal parties in the proceedings to access court records.

Prosecutors are expected to lay out their case against Robinson at a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 18.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and insisted that Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace settlement.

Negotiators are still searching for a breakthrough on key issues, however, including whose forces withdraw from where in Ukraine and the fate of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the 10 biggest in the world. Trump noted that the monthslong U.S.-led negotiations could still collapse.

“Without security guarantees, realistically, this war will not end,” Zelenskyy told reporters in voice messages responding to questions sent via a WhatsApp chat.

Ukraine has been fighting Russia since 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists took up arms in the Donbas, a vital industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

Details of the security guarantees have not become public, but Zelenskyy said Monday they include how a peace deal would be monitored as well as the “presence” of partners. He didn’t elaborate, but Russia has said it won’t accept the deployment in Ukraine of troops from NATO countries.

Trump and Putin discuss peace efforts by phone

Trump on Monday had “a positive call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X. The two leaders had also spoken shortly before Trump’s talks with Zelenskyy on Sunday as the American president tries to steer the countries toward a settlement.

Later, to reporters, the U.S. president similarly characterized the call as “a very good talk” and said “we have a few very thorny issues, as you can imagine” in the negotiations to end the war.

“If we get them resolved, you’re going to have peace,” he added.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Trump is pushing Ukraine to seek a comprehensive peace agreement and not demand a temporary respite for its military through a ceasefire. Putin has insisted on a full settlement before any truce.

In Monday’s call, Putin told Trump that Ukraine attempted to attack the Russian leader’s residence in northwestern Russia with long-range drones almost immediately after Trump’s Sunday talks with Zelenskyy.

The attack “certainly will not be left without a serious response,” Ushakov said, adding that Moscow will now review its negotiating position.

Zelenskyy denied the Russian claim of an attack, describing it as an attempt to manipulate the peace process. He said it was “another lie” and came about because Moscow is unnerved by progress in peace efforts.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine launched an attack on Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region overnight from Sunday to Monday using 91 long-range drones.

“I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump said of the alleged attack on Putin’s home, confirming the Russian leader informed him of it during their call Monday morning.

Russia claims its forces are advancing

As indications suggest negotiations could come to a head in January, before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Putin on Monday claimed that Russian troops are advancing in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine and are also pressing their offensive in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Putin has sought to portray himself as negotiating from a position of strength as Ukrainian forces strain to keep back the bigger Russian army.

He emphasized at a meeting with senior military officers the need to create military buffer zones along the Russian border. “This is a very important task as it ensures the security of Russia’s border regions,” Putin said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv’s allies will meet in Paris in early January to “finalize each country’s concrete contributions” to the security guarantees.

Trump said he would consider extending U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine beyond 15 years, according to Zelenskyy. The guarantees would be approved by the U.S. Congress as well as by parliaments in other countries involved in overseeing any settlement, he said.

Zelenskyy said he wants the 20-point peace plan under discussion to be approved by Ukrainians in a national referendum.

However, holding a ballot requires a ceasefire of at least 60 days, and Moscow has shown no willingness for a truce without a full settlement.

Ukrainians doubt Putin’s sincerity

On the snowy streets of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, people were skeptical about the chances of peace.

One military veteran who uses the call sign Sensei, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military, said Putin’s record in power shows he can’t be trusted. Sensei joined the military in 2022 and was wounded that year during the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Now, he said, almost nobody from his company is still alive.

“But all these sacrifices, they are not in vain, because we need to prove … that we exist, that we are, that we have the right to our existence, to our territory, to our culture, to our language,” the 65-year-old veteran told The Associated Press.

Denys Shpylovyi, a 20-year-old student who was home for the holidays, said Trump’s willingness to accept Putin’s arguments has put Zelenskyy in a difficult situation.

“But I’m thankful for some progress. They are speaking, and maybe someday there will be hope,” he said.

Oleh Saakian, a Ukrainian political scientist, said it was a good sign that Zelenskyy is managing to build a relationship with Trump, although he noted that “nothing has been adopted yet, nothing has been signed yet.”

“I don’t see these negotiations bringing us closer to real peace, because they are based on equality between the aggressor and the victim, they are based on complete disregard for international law, and … disregard for European security,” he said.

Trump initially seemed to confirm a strike in what appeared to be an impromptu radio interview Friday, and when questioned Monday by reporters about “an explosion in Venezuela,” he said the U.S. struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs “load up.”

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said as he met in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. There’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”

It is part of an escalating effort to target what the Trump administration says are boats smuggling drugs bound for the United States. It moves closer to shore strikes that so far have been carried out by the military in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. military said it conducted another strike on Monday against a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The attacks have killed at least 107 people in 30 strikes since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

Trump declined to say if the U.S. military or the CIA carried out the strike on the dock or where it occurred. He did not confirm it happened in Venezuela.

“I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was. But you know it was along the shore,” Trump said.

Trump first referenced the strike on Friday, when he called radio host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC radio and discussed the U.S. strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats.

“I don’t know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard.”

Trump did not offer any additional details in the interview.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or one of the U.S. military’s social media accounts has in the past typically announced every boat strike in a post on X, but there has been no post of any strike on a facility.

The Pentagon on Monday referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking more details. The press office of Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s statement.

Trump for months has suggested he may conduct land strikes in South America, in Venezuela or possibly another country, and in recent weeks has been saying the U.S. would move beyond striking boats and would strike on land “soon.”

In October, Trump confirmed he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. The agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.

Along with the strikes, the U.S. has sent warships, built up military forces in the region, seized two oil tankers and pursued a third.

The Trump administration has said it is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and seeking to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from power.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro ‘cries uncle.’”