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South Korea's president avoids an impeachment attempt over short-lived martial lawActor Richard Gere, 75, has announced plans to relocate to Spain with his wife, Alejandra Silva, 41, and their children. Gere's relocation follows a growing trend of celebrity moves influenced by the US political climate . Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi , reportedly put their Montecito, California, home on sale and have moved to the UK. Gere discussed the relocation decision during an appearance on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' on November 20, revealing that Thanksgiving will be spent in Spain this year. "My wife is Spanish. Is this a problem for anybody out there?" Gere joked, adding, “She gave me about seven years here, so we’re going to spend some years in Madrid with her family.” A family-centered move The couple, who married in May 2018, share two sons—Alexander, 5, and James, 4—and each has a child from previous marriages, creating a blended family. “Our kids are bilingual so they’re going to flourish there,” Gere said, noting that his wife is stepping into a matriarchal role in her extended family. “She’s already planning for 35 people for Sunday lunches,” the actor quipped, reflecting on Silva’s familial ties and traditions. Selling US roots The decision to move coincided with the sale of Gere’s six-bedroom Connecticut home in October for $10.7 million. The property, previously owned by singer Paul Simon, had been purchased by Gere in 2022 for $10.8 million, according to The New Canaan Advertiser. Gere first hinted at the relocation in an April interview with Vanity Fair Spain, describing it as a chance to embrace a new way of life. "For me, going to Madrid is going to be a great adventure... I love Spain and think your lifestyle is fabulous," he said, praising the culture, food, and warmth of the Spanish people. Despite his move to Spain, Gere emphasized that he plans to return to the United States in the future. For now, he views Madrid as the perfect setting for his family’s next chapter.

The House shut down Democrats' efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, pushing the fate of any resolution to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty. Related video above: Matt Gaetz withdraws attorney general nomination The nearly party-line votes came after Democrats had been pressing for the findings to be published even though the Florida Republican left Congress and withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Republicans have argued that any congressional probe into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent to set. While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare. Shortly before the votes took place, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., who introduced one of the bills to force the release, said that if Republicans reject the release, they will have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims. Earlier Thursday, the Ethics panel met to discuss the Gaetz report but made no decision, saying in a short statement that the matter is still being discussed. It's unclear now whether the document will ever see the light of day as lawmakers only have a few weeks left before a new session of Congress begins. It's the culmination of weeks of pressure on the Ethics committee's five Republicans and five Democrats who mostly work in secret as they investigate allegations of misconduct against lawmakers. The status of the Gaetz investigation became an open question last month when he abruptly resigned from Congress after Trump's announcement that he wanted his ally in the Cabinet. It is standard practice for the committee to end investigations when members of Congress depart, but the circumstances surrounding Gaetz were unusual, given his potential role in the new administration. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., the committee chairman, said Wednesday that there is no longer the same urgency to release the report given that Gaetz has left Congress and stepped aside as Trump's choice to head the Justice Department. “I’ve been steadfast about that. He’s no longer a member. He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general,” Guest said. The Gaetz report has also caused tensions between lawmakers on the bipartisan committee. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, publicly admonished Guest last month for mischaracterizing a previous meeting to the press. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s separate investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended without federal charges. His onetime political ally Joel Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in prison.Lynn groups demonstrate support for Haiti

Treasurer: Why Aussies should be optimistic about 2025

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The House shut down Democrats' efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz , pushing the fate of any resolution to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty. The nearly party-line votes came after Democrats had been pressing for the findings to be published even though the Florida Republican left Congress and withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Republicans have argued that any congressional probe into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent to set. While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare. Shortly before the votes took place, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., who introduced one of the bills to force the release, said that if Republicans reject the release, they will have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims. Earlier Thursday, the Ethics panel met to discuss the Gaetz report but made no decision, saying in a short statement that the matter is still being discussed. It's unclear now whether the document will ever see the light of day as lawmakers only have a few weeks left before a new session of Congress begins. It's the culmination of weeks of pressure on the Ethics committee's five Republicans and five Democrats who mostly work in secret as they investigate allegations of misconduct against lawmakers. The status of the Gaetz investigation became an open question last month when he abruptly resigned from Congress after Trump's announcement that he wanted his ally in the Cabinet. It is standard practice for the committee to end investigations when members of Congress depart, but the circumstances surrounding Gaetz were unusual, given his potential role in the new administration. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., the committee chairman, said Wednesday that there is no longer the same urgency to release the report given that Gaetz has left Congress and stepped aside as Trump's choice to head the Justice Department. “I’ve been steadfast about that. He’s no longer a member. He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general,” Guest said. The Gaetz report has also caused tensions between lawmakers on the bipartisan committee. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, publicly admonished Guest last month for mischaracterizing a previous meeting to the press. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s separate investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended without federal charges. His onetime political ally Joel Greenberg , a fellow Republican who served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in prison.QLD News Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News. O n an especially muggy early morning this month, my seven-year-old daughter and I were walking the big hills near our Logan home in Queensland. She was puffing and chatting away, and in her characteristically inquisitive way she asked me what my favourite year was. I said I couldn’t decide; we spoke about some of the good ones. I asked her what her favourite year was and without hesitation she said “next year”. I’ve been thinking a lot about that optimism. I thought about it again watching Sam Konstas bat in the first session on Boxing Day, with the freedom and fearlessness of a teenager. Bringing joy to Australians at the end of what was an especially tough year in 2024. Inflation has come down a lot but people are still struggling with cost-of-living pressures. Higher interest rates have hit household budgets hard. There’s been a lot of uncertainty and conflict in the world that’s weighed on our economy here. Aussie cricketer Sam Konstas has helped bring joy to Australians over the festive period. Picture: Michael Klein As a government, our focus has been fighting inflation and rolling out cost-of-living help. After a difficult couple of years we shouldn’t forget the progress we’ve made together as Australians. Our economy has continued to grow while other countries like the UK and New Zealand went into recession. Inflation has more than halved since we came to office, it’s now at its lowest in almost four years and within the Reserve Bank’s target band. The RBA’s latest minutes describe their increasing confidence that inflation is sustainably headed where we want it. Real wages are growing and more than a million jobs have now been created on our watch, a record for any government in a single term. The combination of tax relief, falling inflation, and wages and jobs growth means real disposable household incomes are also growing again in the latest numbers. They were going backwards when we came to office. Our policies have helped ease some of the pressure on people. We delivered a tax cut for every taxpayer and took a slice off electricity bills, with energy bill relief for every household. We made childcare and medicines cheaper; strengthened Medicare; delivered more rent assistance; provided student debt relief; cracked down on the supermarkets to get a fairer go for farmers and families. And we’ve done all this in a responsible way, while getting the Budget into surplus twice, shrinking the deficit this year, and pushing debt down by $177bn. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock. Picture: NewsWire/ Monique Harmer Even as we’ve made progress together in the aggregate numbers, we know it doesn’t always translate to how people are feeling and faring. We see that in consumer surveys where confidence is still below where it’s been historically. But since mid-year, those consumer confidence numbers have come up, with our income tax cuts playing a part. We spent last summer working on these tax cuts, to ensure they delivered benefits to every taxpayer – not just some. It was one of the most important decisions we made as a government, the one I’m proudest of, but it didn’t come without political risk. Peter Dutton even called for an election over the tax cuts. So Australians would be worse off if Mr Dutton had his way on tax. It’s another important reminder that the biggest risk to household budgets in 2025 would be a Coalition government that would come after Medicare again, push electricity prices up and wages down. We can’t jeopardise the progress we’ve made together as Australians, in our economy. There will still be challenges to meet in 2025, still people under pressure who need help. The outlook for China remains uncertain, and conflict and trade tensions are likely to weigh on the global economy next year. Inflation has bounced up and down in the US, Euro area and the UK. Despite all this, when we look at the direction of our economy now, we can be more optimistic about the year ahead. The worst of the inflation challenge is behind us, better days are ahead of us. 2024 was difficult but 2025 will be better. We’ve been planning and preparing for a soft landing in our economy, and that’s what economists are now expecting. They expect inflationary pressures to ease further, growth to improve and unemployment to remain at or near historically low levels. There are lots of reasons to be cautious and not complacent, but also lots of reasons to be confident and optimistic about the coming year. Jim Chalmers is Federal Treasurer Originally published as Jim Chalmers: Why Australians should be optimistic about 2025 Join the conversation Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout More related stories Gold Coast Watch preview: Documentary on Alexa Leary’s brave comeback New documentary Alexa’s Story with Alexa Leary and her parents charts her defiance of medical prediction to come back from a horror cycling crash. Watch the preview before it is out January 1 Read more QLD News ‘Frightened’: Claudine’s heartbreak over loss of sister, mother A Queenslander who lost her entire family in one of the state’s worst-ever car crashes has a message for drivers during the festive season. See the video. Warning: Distressing Read more

Former Member of Parliament (MP) Gloria Julia King has donated VT1 million to the Mele Union of Moderate Parties Sub-committee (MUS) for road infrastructure. However, the project is currently on hold as there is constant rainfall due to the cyclone season. Former MP King has been recognised by the community for her contributions, particularly in facilitating donations during the holiday season to support celebrations. She has consistently been a primary resource in times of need. Mr. Ati George Sokomanu, Vanuatu’s first President, reaffirmed his support for the former MP, commending her community efforts in providing financial assistance to her constituents. He emphasised the necessity for the MUS to work together with the local and collaborate on improving the road conditions, which are currently inadequate. “I must stress the importance of ensuring that residents have access to reliable transportation, particularly as the village is the largest in Vanuatu,” he said. The village committee establishment an agreement with the World Bank regarding road infrastructure three years ago. However, there is now uncertainly regarding the allocation of the funds, as it is suspected that political interference may have redirected the money to another province. The village road leading from the main road into the Mele community is plagued by large potholes, which blocks vehicle passage, often taking several minutes to navigate. During the rainy season, these potholes accumulate water and can remain filled for up to a week before drying out, creating considerable difficulties for residents attempting to access transportation for work and school. The villagers frequently encounter various difficulties, particularly concerning the river during rainy periods. The rainfall often results in damage to homes and gardens, as the locals typically construct bridges using manual labour. To address widespread unemployment among the youth in the community to sustain their living, the Area Council is assisting individuals in travelling for seasonal work in order to generate income that will help support their families. Leaders have urged the residents to collaborate and unite in order to build a resilient community and ensure that operations align with both traditional customs and government regulations.Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah start a ceasefire after nearly 14 months of fighting

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Unlock Codes for Pressure in Roblox! Discover Hidden Secrets with Future UpdatesBY Sarah Bregel3 minute read We kept it very demure this year. We obsessed over skincare and Taylor Swift and stressed over politics and the price of groceries. But 2024 was also a brutal year for businesses, with a record number of once-bubbling retailers and restaurants shuttering left and right. In the first nine months of 2024, business bankruptcy filings rose 33.5% from 17,051 to 22,762. As shoppers focused more on essential items this year, some budget retailers like Walmart saw more foot traffic, while others struggled to bring people through the doors. The restaurant industry struggled too, with more people opting to cook at home or hit up more affordable spots for grub like fast food chains. And as diners sought affordable deals, fast food brands battled it out by dropping competitive meal deals throughout the year. Overall, in 2024, retailers and restaurants, including major chains, saw a staggering number of store closure announcements as bankruptcies rose. Here are some of the biggest brands to downsize this year. Subscribe to the Compass newsletter. Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you daily Privacy Policy | Fast Company Newsletters Big Lots More than 400 Big Lots stores have already shut their doors this year, but just this week, the company announced it would begin going-out-of-business sales at its remaining 963 stores. The retailer filed for Chapter 11... Sarah BregelStunning twist after Georgie the cockatoo faced being cruelly evicted from a Sydney pub after 16 years of bringing joy to Aussies

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves delayed their game against the San Antonio Spurs by one hour on Sunday night due to an issue with the court at Target Center. The Timberwolves announced the decision about three hours before the originally scheduled tipoff time. The Spurs discovered the problem during their morning shootaround, Timberwolves spokesman Patrick Rees said. The team decided to delay the game so arena staff had enough time to install the replacement court that had to be delivered from elsewhere. The Timberwolves have played at Target Center since 1990. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA The Associated PressBy MARK VANCLEAVE and MICHAEL GOLDBERG FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — A jury convicted two men on Friday of charges related to human smuggling for their roles in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, an Indian national who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Steve Shand, 50, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that has brought increasing numbers of Indians into the U.S., prosecutors said. They were each convicted on four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the country illegally. “This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organizations that value profit and greed over humanity,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said. In an image released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, shows how the migrants who survived the crossing were terribly inadequately dressed. (U.S. Attorney’s Office via AP) This combination image shows left to right; undated photo released by the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office shows Harshkumar Patel in Elk River, Minn., and undated photo released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows Steve Shand. (AP Photo) The Edward J. Devitt U.S. Courthouse and Federal building is seen, where two men on trial face human smuggling charges, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Fergus Falls, Minn. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg) FILE – Road signage is posted just outside of Emerson, Manitoba, Jan. 20, 2022. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP, File) In an undated image released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, shows items found in a migrant child’s backpack. (U.S. Attorney’s Office via AP) FILE – Road signage is posted just outside of Emerson, Manitoba on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP) In an image released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, shows how the migrants who survived the crossing were terribly inadequately dressed. (U.S. Attorney’s Office via AP) “To earn a few thousand dollars, these traffickers put men, women and children in extraordinary peril leading to the horrific and tragic deaths of an entire family. Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures on the Minnesota-Canadian border,” Luger added. The most serious counts carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office told The Associated Press before the trial. But federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas. Luger said Friday that various factors will be considered in determining what sentences prosecutors will recommend. Federal prosecutors said 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death Jan. 19, 2022, while trying to cross the border into Minnesota in a scheme Patel and Shand organized. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel. The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. The family was fairly well off by local standards, living in a well-kept, two-story house with a front patio and a wide veranda. Experts say illegal immigration from India is driven by everything from political repression to a dysfunctional American immigration system that can take years, if not decades, to navigate legally. Much is rooted in economics and how even low-wage jobs in the West can ignite hopes for a better life. Before the jury’s conviction on Friday, the federal trial in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, saw testimony from an alleged participant in the smuggling ring, a survivor of the treacherous journey across the northern border, border patrol agents and forensic experts. Defense attorneys were pitted against each other, with Shand’s team arguing that he was unwittingly roped into the scheme by Patel. Patel’s lawyers, The Canadian Press reported , said their client had been misidentified. They said “Dirty Hary,” the alleged nickname for Patel found in Shand’s phone, is a different person. Bank records and witness testimony from those who encountered Shand near the border didn’t tie him to the crime, they added. Prosecutors said Patel coordinated the operation while Shand was a driver. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border, prosecutors said. Only seven survived the foot crossing. Canadian authorities found two parents and their young children later that morning, dead from the cold. The trial included an inside account of how the international smuggling ring allegedly works and who it targets. Rajinder Singh, 51, testified that he made over $400,000 smuggling over 500 people through the same network that included Patel and Shand. Singh said most of the people he smuggled came from Gujarat state. He said the migrants would often pay smugglers about $100,000 to get them from India to the U.S., where they would work to pay off their debts at low-wage jobs in cities around the country. Singh said the smugglers would run their finances through “hawala,” an informal money transfer system that relies on trust. Related Articles The pipeline of illegal immigration from India has long existed but has increased sharply along the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30, which amounted to 60% of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago. By 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates more than 725,000 Indians were living illegally in the U.S., behind only Mexicans and El Salvadorans. Jamie Holt, a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said the case is a stark reminder of the realities victims of human smuggling face. “Human smuggling is a vile crime that preys on the most vulnerable, exploiting their desperation and dreams for a better life,” Holt said. “The suffering endured by this family is unimaginable and it is our duty to ensure that such atrocities are met with the full force of the law.” One juror Kevin Paul, of Clearwater, Minnesota, told reporters afterward that it was hard for the jurors to see the pictures of the family’s bodies. He said he grew up in North Dakota and is familiar with the kind of conditions that led to their deaths. “It’s pretty brutal,” Paul said. “I couldn’t imagine having to do what they had to do out there in the middle of nowhere.”San Francisco Democratic Party leaders voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt a new set of sexual harassment and assault policies and code of conduct following allegations levied against prominent party members earlier this year. “The unanimous vote speaks to the strong coalition of collaborators we created with stakeholders from democratic clubs, survivors, experts, and advocacy groups,” said Lily Ho, the chair of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee’s special committee responsible for drafting the new rules, in a statement Thursday. “Next, we will focus on ensuring the integrity of implementation to see these policies to fruition.” The new policies outline proper procedures for identifying, reporting, recording, and investigating incidents of harassment and assault among the members of San Francisco Democratic clubs. Harassment- and assault-prevention trainings are now required, and the local party website will provide reporting forms and access to resources. The party governing body will also retain an independent evaluator who will decide if reported code-of-conduct violations warrant further investigation. Members of affiliated clubs spoke in favor of passing the guidelines during the public comment portion of Wednesday’s DCCC meeting. “All voices have come to the table, and we have been able to come up with a really inclusive and really amazing platform and amazing policy to move forward and change the culture of our democratic clubs and our party,” said Ernesto Cuellar, the vice president of the San Francisco Young Democrats. “As San Francisco Democrats, we have some of the most vulnerable folks to this kind of abuse that happens in our field of work in politics.” The DCCC formed the special committee in April following reports centered on a pair of prominent figures in the local party: former TODCO director Jon Jacobo and Kevin Ortiz, who was then the co-president of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club. That month, The San Francisco Standard reported that three women filed police reports accusing Jacobo of domestic violence and sexual assaults not long after he was publicly accused of rape in 2021. The Standard also reported in April that the DCCC’s announcement of “a recent second allegation against a current president of a chartered Democratic club” referred to Ortiz. In July, Zahra Hajee told the San Francisco Chronicle told police that Ortiz sexually assaulted her twice in 2021 . Ortiz stepped down soon after. “These changes reflect a commitment to building an environment where survivors can come forward without fear of retaliation or losing control of their narrative,” Hajee said in a statement Thursday. While voicing support for the new rules during Wednesday’s meeting, others also shared lingering questions about how the guidelines would be implemented moving forward, particularly as one of the penalties for not coming into compliance is a club losing its charter. All clubs are expected to adopt the new guidelines by May 2025. Dennis Hendricks, the vice president of communications for the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, suggested “decoupling” the new guidelines from “the chartering process so that the clubs can absorb this as a way to move this forward, separate from the punitive measure.” “The implementation is really a factor,” he added. “An ineffective implementation pushes all the rest of it kind of down the hill.” Nancy Tung, the chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, acknowledged the months of work that went into drafting the policies by the special committee, but assured those concerned that the current version was not necessarily set in stone. “This is something that I think we should treat as a living document,” Tung said. “I don't think that anyone believes that it can't be improved in some way, shape or form, as we attempt to implement it.”