William Li describes his escape from the deadly Nov. 26 fire that destroyed his home at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district, Hong Kong on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)2025-11-29T08:12:03Z HONG KONG (AP) It was just after 3 p.m. when William Li received the unusual call from his wife, who was at work, saying shed heard from a friend that their building was on fire. There were no alarms, no signs of smoke in his 2nd floor apartment, and no burning smell to give a sense of urgency, so the 40-year-old office worker who was home on a day off decided to change from his pajamas before heading outside.But when he opened his door eight minutes after his wife called, it was already too late to escape as he was immediately engulfed by thick, black smoke. Everything went black before my eyes, he told The Associated Press. I thought to myself: Im in serious trouble.That was just the beginning of Wednesdays blaze at the Wang Fuk Court complex on the outskirts of Hong Kong. It would burn for more than 40 hours and engulf seven of the complexs eight buildings before being finally extinguished Friday morning, claiming the lives of at least 128 people with some 200 unaccounted-for, making it Hong Kongs deadliest fire since 1948. Fire spread through scaffoldingFrom Lis apartment near ground zero where the fire broke out, the flames shot up bamboo scaffolding covered with nylon netting that had been erected for construction work. It ignited polystyrene panels that had been placed over windows and blew out the glass, allowing the blaze to spread inside. Winds helped the fire jump from building to building. Authorities are investigating whether the netting covering the bamboo scaffolding, commonly used in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, met fire-safety requirements; why windows were covered with foam panels; and why fire alarms did not sound. Already police have arrested three people the directors of a construction company and an engineering consultant and Hong Kongs anti-corruption authorities have arrested a further eight including scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consulting company and the renovation project managers.The complex is in Tai Po, a market town that in the late 1970s was designated as a new town, with many high-rise apartments built. The district is now home to about 300,000 of the citys 7.5 million population, a mix of affluent, middle-class and lower-income groups. A quiet neighborhood amid Hong Kongs bustleLi grew up in the Wang Fuk Court complex, while resident Ding Chan and her husband moved there as adults as soon as it was built in the early 1980s, lured by the appeal of the quiet suburban neighborhood north of Hong Kong, far away from the citys commercial center. Chan had left her apartment a half-hour before the fire broke out and was at work as a cleaner when she started receiving frantic calls from friends about the blaze. I did not believe it at first, the 70-year-old told the AP.By the time she got back to the housing estate shortly after 3 p.m. around the same time Lis wife was calling him with her warning she could see the flames already spreading quickly and it wasnt long before it reached her own building, and there was nothing she could do but watch. I had never seen such a massive fire in my entire lifetime, she said.Her husband, I.N. Kong, who is also 70, was also fortunately not at home when the fire broke out. But Chan, who juggles two jobs and often works six days a week, and her husband who works as an electrician, are now faced with having to rebuild their lives from scratch. Their unit, which they spent more than a decade paying off, is likely uninhabitable now and Chan said they did not know how they were going to survive for the next months, let alone the longer term future.They have been put up temporarily in a local hotel, but dont know what comes next. I havent slept for two nights, she said. Where am I going to stay?The government has made emergency assistance available to residents, and donations have also been pouring in, but it was not yet clear what long-term financial aid those in need will receive. Of the more than 4,600 residents in Wang Fuk Court, more than one-third are over 65, like Chan and her husband, according to Midland Realty data based on the 2021 census.Some 900 people were taken to emergency shelters in the immediate aftermath of the fire, and hundreds of volunteers, including off-duty nurses, social workers and psychological counselors, flocked to the district to offer help. Sharing his story to help the community healLi took to social media to share his ordeal, posting details Friday on a Tai Po Facebook group, writing he hoped to help the community heal and rebuild together. By Saturday morning it has generated more than 1,000 comments and had been shared nearly 10,000 times. After being blasted by smoke when he first tried to venture into the hallway, Li, quickly retreated back into his apartment. He described hearing explosions, and a photo he snapped shows his room illuminated by the glow of flames outside the window. He told the AP he thought of jumping, but instead decided to wait for rescue. He called police to report the predicament, put wet towels down to block smoke coming in from under his door and called his wife to tell her he couldnt get out. Everyone told me to wait, he said. Hearing voices from the hall, he decided to brave the smoke and went into the corridor where he found two bewildered neighbors who were trying to escape, and led them back to shelter in his apartment. I asked them why they had left their own home instead of waiting inside, he said. They told me it was because their window had overheated and shattered from the fire and the fire rushed into their home.Seeing flames closing in, he began to worry his apartment would soon suffer the same fate. That was the moment I began to feel death was very close to me, he said. I was terrified, helpless, because I knew my escape route, the doorway, was no longer safe. In that instant I felt powerless, as if there was nothing I could do except wait.Not sure what else to do, the father of two reached out to friends for comfort. I started telling my friends to help take care of my family, he said. I felt like I was facing the end of my life. His mother, who lives in Britain, called in panic. I could only tell her not to worry, he said. In the end, help arrived before the flames. At around 5 p.m., about two hours after his wife called to warn him, firefighters got a ladder to the scaffolding outside his window. Li told the firefighters to take his older neighbors first, helping them out the small window onto the scaffolding, which they crawled along until they reached the ladder. Once my two neighbors had been rescued, I was left alone in the flat, he recalled. At that moment my feelings were very heavy, because I knew I had to leave this home, and that it might be swallowed by the fire I felt reluctant, but I had no choice. I had to escape.As he climbed down the ladder, firefighters yelled at him to cover his head due to falling debris, while hosing him down with water to protect him from the flames. The cold water drenched my whole body and the emotions were overwhelming, hard to describe, he said. But I felt very lucky.Dozens of residents on higher floors of the 32-story buildings were trapped even longer, as firefighters battled extreme heat to conduct door-to-door searches. Li said he had only moved down to the second floor in September, and said he had heard that his former neighbors on the 29th floor had all perished in the blaze. Emotional family reunionAbout two hours after getting rescued, Li finally got to see his wife, son and daughter, who had been watching the blaze from outside, in an emotional reunion. My wife cried until her tears were completely dry, unable to cry anymore, he said. My daughter immediately rushed over to hug me saying daddy didnt die, daddy didnt die. My son sat quietly to the side, very calm, but tears kept streaming down his face.Like Chan and her husband, and most other residents of the apartment complex, Li is now left wondering what will come next for him and his family even with the outpouring of support now being offered.No matter how many supplies are given, they are of little use we can only carry what our two hands can hold, even if more is given we have no place to put it, he said Saturday. Still, I am very grateful, Hong Kong people are full of compassion, constantly helping, donating generously, he said. At this moment, we havent yet seen all the stuff, but I will look around and see what can help us.___AP video journalist Ayaka McGill, reporter David Rising and photographers Chan Long Hei and Ng Han Guan contributed to this report. CHAN HO-HIM Chan covers China business, economy and finance for The Associated Press, reporting on key sectors from technology to trade. He is based in Hong Kong. mailto

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03856-1Blending old-fashioned logic systems with the neural networks that power large language models is one of the hottest trends in artificial intelligence.

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03737-7A survey of people at risk of exposure to natural disasters, and great balls of fire, in our weekly dip into Natures archive.

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03883-yUniversities must help students faced with the death of a supervisor

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03882-zChile must preserve international science in Antarctica

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03884-xLack of funding is pushing research in Romania to extinction

Welcome back to the Abstract! Here are the studies this week that hit the books, bottled alien lightning, reared wolf cubs, and tallied the price of fame.First, weve got a centuries-long history of an Indian savannah told through songs, folktales, and screaming peacocks. Then: Mars gets charged, the secrets of Stora Karls, and the epidemiology of stardom.As always, for more of my work, check out my book First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens or subscribe to my personal newsletter the BeX Files.When folk tales are field guidesNerlekar, Ashish N. et al. Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna. People and Nature.It has happened again: Researchers have turned to the annals of literature to address a scientific question. Longtime readers of the Abstract will recall that this is a simply irresistible category of research to me (see: Chinas porpoise corpus, Transylvanian weather reports, and milky seas). To the library!In this edition of Science from the Stacks, researchers probed the origins of the tropical savannah in western Maharashtra, India, by collecting references to plants in 28 stories and songs dating back at least 750 years. The aim was to reconstruct a vegetation history that could hint at shifts in the region between forest and savannah biomes.Ttraditional literaturefor example, myths, folk songs and storiesis a culturally resonant, yet underutilized line of evidence to understand ecological histories and foster biodiversity conservation, said researchers led by Ashish N. Nerlekar of Michigan State University.A folio from an early 19th-century manuscript of the Bhaktavijaya mentioning the tara tree. Image: Nerlekar, Ashish N. et al.We found that descriptions of both the landscape and specific plants point to an open-canopy savanna in the past rather than a forest, the team said. Of the 44 wild plant species recorded (i.e. omitting exclusively cultivated plants), a clear majority (27 species) were savanna indicators, 14 were generalists, and only three were forest indicators. Our ecological reconstructions from traditional literature complement data from archival paintings, revenue records, plant and animal fossils, and dated molecular phylogenies of endemic biodiversityall attesting to the antiquity of India's savannas.Its an out-of-the-box way to reconstruct the natural history of a region. But the highlights of these studies are always the excerpts from the literature, like the amazing origin story of this village:A folk tale illustrates the founding myth of Kolvihire village near Jejuri. The tale is about a robber-murderer named Vlhy Ko, who lived near Kolvihire. Upon meeting a sage, Vlhy Ko introspected on his wrongdoings and performed penance for 12years. After completion of the penance, as a living testimony to Vlhy Ko's sincere devotion, leaves sprouted from his stick, which he had used to hit and kill travellers to loot their money. Eventually, Vlhy Ko became the sage-poet Vlmik. According to the tale, the sprouted stick grew into a paa tree, and the tree still exists in Kolvihire.You have to love a good botanical redemption story. Another standout line is this memorable description of a thorny patch in the savannah from the early 16th century: Such is this thorny forest | it is highly frightening | this forest is empty | peacocks scream here.I dont know exactly why, but peacocks scream here is just about the scariest description Ive ever heard of a place. Shout out to this ancient poet for capturing some legendary bad vibes.In other newsExtraterrestrial electricityChide, Baptiste et al. Detection of triboelectric discharges during dust events on Mars. Nature.Lightning is a big deal on Earth, inspiring awe, fear, and some of the naughtiest deities imaginable. But lightning also strikes on other planets, including Jupiter and Saturn. For years, scientists have suspected that Mars might host its own bolts, but detecting them has remained elusive.Now, scientists have finally captured lightning on Mars thanks to serendipitous observations from the SuperCam microphone aboard the Perseverance rover.Fifty-five events have been detected over two Martian years, usually associated with dust devils and dust storm convective fronts, said researchers led by Baptiste Chide of the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Plantologie in Toulouse, France. Beyond Mars, this work also reinforces the prospect of triboelectric discharges associated with wind-blown sediment on Venus and Titan.It goes to show that even a very dead world like Mars can still crackle and zap now and then.The wolves of Stora KarlsGirdland-Flink, Linus et al. Gray wolves in an anthropogenic context on a small island in prehistoric Scandinavia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.About 4,000 years ago on a small island in the Baltic sea, people cared for two wolves perhaps as pets feeding them fish, seals, and other marine fare. Thats the cozy portrait presented in a new study that analyzed the remains of ancient wolves buried in the Stora Frvar cave on the Swedish island of Stora Karls.While dogs are commonly buried at ancient human sites, wolves and humans rarely mix in the archaeological record. But the wolves at Stora Karls were unlikely to have reached the island without the aid of humans, and their primarily seafood dietunusual for wild wolvessuggests they were also fed by people. Moreover, one of the animals suffered from a pathology that might have limited its mobility, hinting that it was kept alive by humans.The cave where the wolf remains were found. Image: Jan Stor/Stockholm UniversityThe study presents the possibility of prehistoric human control of wolves, said researchers led by Linus Girdland-Flink of the University of Aberdeen. Our results provide evidence that extends the discourse about past humanwolf interactions and relationships.Fame! Im going to live forever (or not)Hepp, Johanna et al. The price of fame? Mortality risk among famous singers. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.Celebrity may literally be to die for, according to a new study that evaluated fame as a comorbidity.Scientists collected a list of 324 big music stars active between 1950 and 1990, including Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Sam Cooke, and Janis Joplin. Those heavy-hitters were then matched with 324 twin musicians that were not household names, but otherwise shared many characteristics of the celebs, including gender, nationality, genre, and roughly similar birth dates. The idea was to directly compare the lifespans of A-listers and B-listers to isolate the extent to which fame itself is a mortality risk factor, rather than the lifestyle of a musician.The study suggests that famous singers die four years earlier, on average, compared to their B-list peers, demonstrating a 33% higher mortality risk compared with less famous singers, said researchers led by Johanna Hepp of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany. This study provides new evidence suggesting that fame may be associated with increased mortality risk among musicians, beyond occupational factors.Lady Gaga had it right, as if there were ever any doubt: Under the glitz, the Fame Monster is always waiting.Thanks for reading! See you next week.

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09936-6Author Correction: An asymmetric fission island driven by shell effects in light fragments

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03872-1Bacteria, viruses and fungi that colonize the body including some that live directly on eye surfaces can have an important role in eye health.

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03802-1COP30 negotiated efforts to protect forests and ramp up financial packages for climate action, but with one glaring omission: a road map to cut fossil fuels.

Nature, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09956-2Author Correction: Spatial fibroblast niches define Crohns fistulae

Nature, Published online: 24 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03858-zEconomists should consider forests and wetlands as well as factories and farms.

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Signs are displayed outside a tent encampment at Northwestern University on April 26, 2024, in Evanston, Illinois. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, file)2025-11-29T13:24:40Z Northwestern University has agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. government in a deal with the Trump administration to end a series of investigations and restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding.President Donald Trumps administration had cut off $790 million in grants in a standoff that contributed to university layoffs and the resignation in September of Northwestern president Michael Schill. The administration argued the school had not done enough to fight antisemitism.Under the agreement announced Friday night, Northwestern will make the payment to the U.S. Treasury over the next three years. Among other commitments it also requires the university to revoke the so-called Deering Meadow agreement, which it signed in April 2024 in exchange for pro-Palestinian protesters ending their tent encampment on campus. During negotiations, interim university president Henry Bienen said Northwestern refused to cede control over hiring, admissions, or its curriculum. I would not have signed this agreement without provisions ensuring that is the case, he said.The agreement also calls for Northwestern to continue compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws, develop training materials to socialize international students with the norms of a campus dedicated to open debate, and uphold a commitment to Title IX by providing safe and fair opportunities for women, including single-sex housing for any woman, defined on the basis of sex, who requests such accommodations and all-female sports, locker rooms, and showering facilities. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the deal cements policy changes that will protect people on campus from harassment and discrimination. The reforms reflect bold leadership at Northwestern and they are a roadmap for institutional leaders around the country that will help rebuild public trust in our colleges and universities, McMahon said. Trump has leveraged government control of federal research money to push for reforms at elite colleges he has decried as overrun by woke ideology.The fine agreed to by Northwestern is the second-largest behind Columbia, which agreed in July to pay the government $200 million to resolve a series of investigations and restore its funding. Brown and Cornell also reached agreements with the government to restore funding following antisemitism investigations.Harvard, the administrations primary target, remains in negotiations with the federal government over its demands for changes to campus policies and governance. The Ivy League school sued over the administrations cuts to its grant money and won a court victory in September when a federal judge ordered the government to restore federal funding, saying the Trump administration used antisemitism as a smokescreen.This fall, the White House tried a different approach on higher education, offering preferential treatment for federal funds to several institutions in exchange for adopting policies in line with Trumps agenda. The administration received a wave of initial rejections from some universities leadership, citing concerns that Trumps higher education compact might supplant academic freedom. ___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The departures display board shows All Nippon Airways' multipule flights cancellation at Haneda airport in Tokyo Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (Takahiko Kanbara/Kyodo News via AP)2025-11-29T10:41:22Z Airlines around the world reported short-term disruptions heading into the weekend as they fixed software on a widely used commercial aircraft, after an analysis found the computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.Airbus said Friday that an examination of the JetBlue incident revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on the A320 family of aircraft. The FAA joined the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in requiring airlines to address the issue with a new software update. More than 500 U.S.-registered aircraft will be impacted. The EU safety agency said it may cause short-term disruption to flight schedules. The problem was introduced by a software update to the planes onboard computers, according to the agency. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury apologized to customers after the required fix led to significant logistical challenges and delays. Our teams are working around the clock to support our operators and ensure these updates are deployed as swiftly as possible to get planes back in the sky and resume normal operations, with the safety assurance you expect from Airbus, he wrote in a message posted on LinkedIn on Saturday. Thanksgiving disruptions in US In Japan, All Nippon Airways, which operates more than 30 planes, canceled 65 domestic flights for Saturday. Additional cancellations on Sunday were possible, it said. The software change comes as U.S. passengers were beginning to head home from the Thanksgiving holiday, which is the busiest travel time in the country. American Airlines has about 480 planes from the A320 family, of which 209 are affected. The fix should take about two hours for many aircraft and updates should be completed for the overwhelming majority on Friday, the airline said. On Saturday, the airline said in a statement that only four planes still needed to be updated and that it expects no further operational impact. Air India said on X that its engineers were working on the fix and completed the reset on more 40% of aircraft that need it. There were no cancellations, it said.Delta said it expected the issue to affect less than 50 of its A321neo aircraft. United said six planes in its fleet are affected and it expects minor disruptions to a few flights. Hawaiian Airlines said it was unaffected.Popes plane also needs a software fix Pope Leo XIV is on his inaugural foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon, and is flying along with the papal delegation and press corps aboard an ITA Airways Airbus A320neo charter. The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Saturday that ITA was working on the issue. He said the necessary component to update the aircraft was on its way to Istanbul along with the technician to install it. Leo was scheduled to fly from Istanbul, Turkey to Beirut, Lebanon on Sunday afternoon. European flights return to normal In France, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the situation has stabilized as several software updates had already been installed. He told BFM-TV that the impact was limited in the country with an almost complete return to normal in French airports. In the U.K., disruption also was minimal. British Airways, for example, said only three of its aircraft required the update, while EasyJet indicated there may be changes to its flying schedule as a result of the update, in which case passengers will be informed. Germanys Lufthansa said most software updates were completed during the night and on Saturday morning. No Lufthansa Group Airlines flights are expected to be canceled due to the current situation, but there may be minor delays over the weekend, it said. Scandinavias SAS said its flights were operating as normal Saturday, after teams worked overnight to install the required software. Mike Stengel, a partner with the aerospace industry management consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the fix could be addressed between flights or on overnight plane checks. Definitely not ideal for this to be happening on a very ubiquitous aircraft on a busy holiday weekend, Stengel said from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Although again the silver lining being that it only should take a few hours to update the software. At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to the hospital after the Oct. 30 incident on board the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.Airbus, which is registered in the Netherlands but has its main headquarters in France, is one of the worlds biggest airplane manufacturers, alongside Boeing. The A320 is the primary competitor to Boeings 737, Stengel said. Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s, and planes in this category are called A320neo, he said. The A320 is the worlds bestselling single-aisle aircraft family, according to Airbus website.___Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Samuel Petrequin, Pan Pylas in London and Nicole Winfield in Istanbul contributed to this report. AUDREY McAVOY McAvoy is a Honolulu-based reporter who covers news in Hawaii and beyond. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 24 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03857-0The advent of artificial intelligence might be just the latest stage in a guiding biological process that has produced ever more complex, mutually dependent organisms over the history of life.

Nature, Published online: 24 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03859-yTim Berners-Lee is calling for a return to a decentralized Internet and stronger data privacy, but his arguments could be more inspiring.

Nature, Published online: 24 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03695-0Using hydrogen to power road transportation and heat homes doesnt save more carbon emissions than direct electrification.

Nature, Published online: 24 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03861-4Maria Shrestha works to understand the evolutionary history of crayfish symbionts and how they might be indicators of trouble.

Nature, Published online: 24 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09916-wMAPK-driven epithelial cell plasticity drives colorectal cancer therapeutic resistance

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Drawing comparisons to the greatest of dramatists, he entwined erudition with imagination in stage works that won accolades on both sides of the Atlantic.

Data on spending this week shows that consumers are shopping big for the holidays despite inflation and economic worries.

The police said they expected the death toll of 128 to rise as the authorities began combing through the charred apartment towers.

In this Sept. 4, 2012 file photo, British playwright Tom Stoppard poses as he arrives for the world premiere of "Anna Karenina," in London. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)2025-11-29T17:31:02Z LONDON (AP) British playwright Tom Stoppard, a playful, probing dramatist who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for 1998s Shakespeare In Love, has died. He was 88.In a statement Saturday, United Agents said Stoppard died peacefully at his home in Dorset in southern England, surrounded by his family.He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language, they said. It was an honor to work with Tom and to know him.The Czech-born Stoppard was often hailed as the greatest British playwright of his generation and was garlanded with honors, including a shelf full of theater awards. Tributes flowed in after news of his death, including from Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones who described Stoppard as his favorite playwright. He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work, he said on X alongside three photos.Theaters in Londons West End will dim their lights for two minutes at 7 p.m. local time on Tuesday in recognition of Stoppard.Over a career that spanned six decades, Stoppards brain-teasing plays for theater, radio and screen ranged from Shakespeare and science to philosophy and the historic tragedies of the 20th century. Five of them won Tony Awards for best play: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1968; Travesties in 1976; The Real Thing in 1984; The Coast of Utopia in 2007; and Leopoldstadt in 2023. Stoppard biographer Hermione Lee said the secret of his plays was their mixture of language, knowledge and feeling. Its those three things in gear together which make him so remarkable.The writer was born Toms Strussler in 1937 to a Jewish family in Zln in what was then Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. His father was a doctor for the Bata shoe company, and when Nazi Germany invaded in 1939 the family fled to Singapore, where Bata had a factory. In late 1941, as Japanese forces closed in on the city state, Tomas, his brother and their mother fled again, this time to India. His father stayed behind and later died when his ship was attacked as he tried to leave Singapore.In 1946 his mother married an English officer, Kenneth Stoppard, and the family moved to threadbare postwar Britain. The 8-year-old Tom put on Englishness like a coat, he later said, growing up to be a quintessential Englishman who loved cricket and Shakespeare.He did not go to university but began his career, aged 17, as a journalist on newspapers in Bristol, southwest England, and then as a theater critic for Scene magazine in London.He wrote plays for radio and television including A Walk on the Water, televised in 1963, and made his stage breakthrough with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which reimagined Shakespeares Hamlet from the viewpoint of two hapless minor characters. A mix of tragedy and absurdist humor, it premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966 and was staged at Britains National Theatre, then run by Laurence Olivier, before moving to Broadway. A stream of exuberant, innovative plays followed, including meta-whodunnit The Real Inspector Hound (first staged in 1968); Jumpers (1972), a blend of physical and philosophical gymnastics, and Travesties (1974), which set intellectuals including James Joyce and Vladimir Lenin colliding in Zurich during World War I.Musical drama Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (1977) was a collaboration with composer Andre Previn about a Soviet dissident confined to a mental institution part of Stoppards long involvement with groups advocating for human rights groups in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.He often played with time and structure. The Real Thing (1982) was a poignant romantic comedy about love and deception that featured plays within a play, while Arcadia (1993) moved between the modern era and the early 19th century, where characters at an English country house debated poetry, gardening and chaos theory as fate had its way with them. The Invention of Love (1997) explored classical literature and the mysteries of the human heart through the life of the English poet A.E. Housman.Stoppard began the 21st century with The Coast of Utopia (2002), an epic trilogy about pre-revolutionary Russian intellectuals, and drew on his own background for Rocknroll (2006), which contrasted the fates of the 1960s counterculture in Britain and in Communist Czechoslovakia.The Hard Problem (2015) explored the mysteries of consciousness through the lenses of science and religion.Stoppard was a strong champion of free speech who worked with organizations including PEN and Index on Censorship. He claimed not to have strong political views otherwise, writing in 1968: I burn with no causes. I cannot say that I write with any social objective. One writes because one loves writing, really. Some critics found his plays more clever than emotionally engaging. But biographer Lee said many of his plays contained a sense of underlying grief.People in his plays history comes at them, Lee said at a British Library event in 2021. They turn up, they dont know why theyre there, they dont know whether they can get home again. Theyre often in exile, they can barely remember their own name. They may have been wrongfully incarcerated. They may have some terrible moral dilemma they dont know how to solve. They may have lost someone. And over and over again I think you get that sense of loss and longing in these very funny, witty plays.That was especially true of his late play Leopoldstadt, which drew on his own familys story for the tale of a Jewish Viennese family over the first half of the 20th century. Stoppard said he began thinking of his personal link to the Holocaust quite late in life, only discovering after his mothers death in 1996 that many members of his family, including all four grandparents, had died in concentration camps.I wouldnt have written about my heritage thats the word for it nowadays while my mother was alive, because shed always avoided getting into it herself, Stoppard told The New Yorker in 2022.It would be misleading to see me as somebody who blithely and innocently, at the age of 40-something, thought, Oh, my goodness, I had no idea I was a member of a Jewish family, he said Of course I knew, but I didnt know who they were. And I didnt feel I had to find out in order to live my own life. But that wasnt really true.Leopoldstadt premiered in London at the start of 2020 to rave reviews; weeks later all theaters were shut by the COVID-19 pandemic. It eventually opened in Broadway in late 2022, going on to win four Tonys.Dizzyingly prolific, Stoppard also wrote many radio plays, a novel, television series including Parades End (2013) and many film screenplays. These included dystopian Terry Gilliam comedy Brazil (1985), Steven Spielberg-directed war drama Empire of the Sun (1987), Elizabethan romcom Shakespeare in Love (1998) for which he and Marc Norman shared a best adapted screenplay Oscar code breaking thriller Enigma (2001) and Russian epic Anna Karenina (2012).He also wrote and directed a 1990 film adaptation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and translated numerous works into English, including plays by dissident Czech writer Vclav Havel, who became the countrys first post-Communist president.He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for his services to literature.He was married three times: to Jose Ingle, Miriam Stern better known as the health journalist Dr. Miriam Stoppard and TV producer Sabrina Guinness. The first two marriages ended in divorce. He is survived by four children, including the actor Ed Stoppard, and several grandchildren. JILL LAWLESS Lawless is an Associated Press reporter covering U.K. politics and more. She is based in London. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Shoppers browse through stores at Mall of America for Black Friday deals, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Bloomington, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)2025-11-29T17:01:27Z NEW YORK (AP) Despite wider economic uncertainty hovering above this years holiday season, shoppers turned out in big numbers for Black Friday spending billions of dollars both in stores and online.Adobe Analytics, which tracks e-commerce, said U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online Friday, marking a 9.1% jump from last year. Traffic particularly piled up between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time nationwide, when $12.5 million passed through online shopping carts every minute.Consumers also spent a record $6.4 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, per Adobe. Top categories that saw an uptick in sales across both days included video game consoles, electronics and home appliances. Shopping services powered by artificial intelligence and social media advertising have also particularly influenced what consumers choose to buy, the firm said. Meanwhile, software company Salesforce estimated that Black Friday online sales totaled $18 billion in the U.S. and $79 billion globally. And e-commerce platform Shopify said its merchants raked in a record $6.2 billion in sales worldwide on Black Friday. At its peak, sales reached $5.1 million per minute with top categories including cosmetics and clothing, according to the Canadian company.Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks in-person and online spending, reported that overall Black Friday sales excluding automotive rose 4.1% from a year ago. The retail sales indicator, which is not adjusted for inflation, showed online sales jumped by double digits (10.4%), while in-store purchases inched up 1.7%. Michelle Meyer, chief economist at the Mastercard Economics Institute, said consumers are navigating an uncertain environment this holiday season by shopping early, leveraging promotions, and investing in wish-list items.Black Friday is far from the sales event that created midnight mall crowds or doorbuster mayhem just decades ago. More and more consumers have instead turned to online deals to make post-Thanksgiving purchases from the comfort of their own homes or opt to stretch out spending across longer promotions now offered by retailers. In-store traffic has dwindled over the years. Initial data from RetailNext, which measures real-time foot traffic in physical stores, found that U.S. Black Friday traffic fell 3.6% compared to 2024. Still, the firm noted that was notably better than a sharper 6.2% decline it saw in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.Sensormatic Solutions, which also tracks store traffic, found that in-store retail visits dipped 2.1% but said that was in line with expectations and trends already seen this year. Traffic over the week of Black Friday was up nearly 57% compared to the week prior, per Sensormatic. Black Friday has really turned into like a full week event, or even further, said Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions. And Black Friday is really the start of just a really and critical stretch for retailers, he added noting that the weekend following Thanksgiving, as well as the days leading up to Christmas next month, will also be some of the busiest in terms of in-store traffic. Meanwhile, in terms of e-commerce, Adobe expects U.S. shoppers to spend another $5.5 billion Saturday and $5.9 billion on Sunday before reaching an estimated $14.2 billion peak on Cyber Monday, which would mark yet another record.Still, rising prices could be contributing to some of those numbers. U.S. President Donald Trumps barrage of tariffs on foreign imports have strained businesses and households alike over the last year. And despite spending more overall, Salesforce found U.S. shoppers purchased fewer items at checkout on Black Friday (down 2% from last year). Order volumes also slipped 1%, the firm noted, as average selling prices climbed 7%.This years holiday spending rush arrives amid heightened economic uncertainty for consumers. Beyond tariffs, workers across public and private sectors are also struggling with anxieties over job security amid both corporate layoffs and the after-effects of the 43-day government shutdown. An uptick in budget-conscious behavior can also be seen in store traffic. While Sensormatic doesnt track spending, we do track consumer footsteps, Gustafson notes and consumers are thinking a little bit harder about their purchases this year, he explains, to make sure that theyre getting their very best deals.For the November-December holiday season overall, the National Retail Federation estimates U.S. shoppers will spend more than $1 trillion for the first time this year. But the rate of growth is slowing with an anticipated increase of 3.7% to 4.2% year over year, compared to 4.3% in 2024s holiday season.At the same time, credit card debt and delinquencies on other short-term loans have been rising. And more and more shoppers are turning to buy now, pay later plans, which allows them to delay payments on holiday decor, gifts and other items. WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Grantham-Philips is a business reporter who covers trending news for The Associated Press. She is based in New York. twitter mailto

Travelers wait in the main hall of the Simon Bolivar Maiquetia International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, after several international airlines canceled flights following a warning from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration about a hazardous situation in Venezuelan airspace. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)2025-11-29T18:25:10Z WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) President Donald Trump on Saturday said that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered as closed in its entirety, an assertion that raised more questions about the U.S. pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicols Maduro. His government accused Trump of making a colonial threat and seeking to undermine the South American countrys sovereignty.The White House did not respond to questions about what Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, and it was unclear whether he was announcing a new policy or simply reinforcing the messaging around his campaign against Maduro, which has involved multiple strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean on small boats accused of ferrying drugs as well as a buildup of naval forces in the region. More than 80 people have been killed in such strikes since early September. The Republican president addressed his call for an aerial blockade to Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, rather than to Maduro.Venezuelas government said it forcefully rejects Trumps claim about closing the airspace and that it was a colonial threat intended to undermine the countrys territorial integrity, aeronautical security and full sovereignty. The Foreign Ministry said such declarations constitute a hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act.The statement also said that U.S. immigration authorities had unilaterally suspended biweekly deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants. Following negotiations between the two governments, more than 13,000 Venezuelans have been deported to Venezuela this year on dozens of chartered flights, the latest of which arrived late Friday in Caracas, the capital, according to flight-tracking data. International airlines last week began to cancel flights to Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration told pilots to be cautious flying around the country because of heightened military activity. The FAAs jurisdiction is generally limited to the United States and its territories. The agency does routinely warn pilots about the dangers of flying over areas with ongoing conflicts or military activity around the globe, as it did earlier this month with Venezuela. The FAA works with other countries and the International Civil Aviation Organization on international issues. The FAA and ICAO did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.Trumps administration has sought to ratchet up pressure on Maduro. The U.S. government does not view Maduro as the legitimate leader of the oil-rich but increasingly impoverished South American nation and he faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S.U.S. forces have conducted bomber flights near Venezuela and the USS Gerald R. Ford, Americas most advanced aircraft carrier, was sent to the area. The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the Operation Southern Spear mission includes nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines. There are bipartisan calls for greater oversight of the U.S. military strikes against vessels in the region after The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for all crew members to be killed as part of the Sept. 2 attack on suspected drug smugglers.Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and its top Democrat, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, said in a joint statement late Friday that the committee will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.Trumps team has weighed both military and nonmilitary options with Venezuela, including covert action by the CIA. Trump has publicly floated the idea of talking to Maduro. The New York Times reported Friday that Trump and Maduro had spoken. The White House declined to answer questions about the conversation.___Molina reported from Quito, Ecuador. Associated Press writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto

The confrontation appeared to foil a possible ICE raid nearby, underscoring the numerous challenges the federal government faces in trying to stage raids in a dense city like New York.

President Trumps statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.

A decision on the states new congressional map will affect five House seats and could help determine control of the chamber next year.

As partisan battles rage and courts wrangle proposals, the relentless pace of the calendar will force states to act or land in murky legal ground.

The star power of Latin Grammy Award-winning Bobby Pulido has Democrats dreaming of taking a U.S. House district in South Texas, even though Republicans have redrawn it in their favor.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to discuss peace terms again after an uproar over a 28-point proposal drafted with Russian input.

A plow clears snow from the road Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)2025-11-29T05:52:26Z A major snowstorm in the Midwest and Great Lakes brought winter to some Thanksgiving travelers, and forecasters said the northeast U.S. could get its own early winter storm next week.Winter storm warnings and advisories extended from Montana to Ohio, the National Weather Service said. Forecasters warned there could be airport delays and slowed traffic with snow falling at more than an inch (2.5 centimeters) per hour in some areas.The storm dumped more than 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow on northern Iowa by Saturday morning, and at least that much was expected in Chicago, elsewhere in Illinois, and in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.Airports in Chicago and St. Louis reported delays of about an hour in the morning, according to FlightAware.com, as one of the busiest travel days cranked up after Thanksgiving. Icicles formed at a slant on a Chicago pier thanks to the wind, and Lake Michigans waters were choppy with whitecaps. Motorists drove cautiously along snowy and slushy roads. A person jogs along Lake Michigan in the snow Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) A person jogs along Lake Michigan in the snow Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Snow-covered roads and slow travel were reported across Iowa and northern Illinois and Indiana.Westbound Interstate 70 near Terre Haute, Indiana, was closed around noon after at least 45 vehicles crashed, Indiana State Police said on social media. No one was seriously injured, and officials estimated that it would take six hours to reopen the highway. Troopers were also helping people in the eastbound lanes who were sliding off the road, Sgt. Matt Ames said. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on The sheriff of Grant County, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis, urged people to stay off the roads. Stay home, have a nice cup of hot chocolate, watch some TV, play some games, Sheriff Del Garcia said in a video. A couple walk their dog on a beach in the snow Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) A couple walk their dog on a beach in the snow Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Snow was falling in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where No. 1 Ohio State played 15th ranked Michigan in their traditional season-ending rivalry game. Heavy snow was expected at other Big Ten games, nighttime contests at Illinois and Michigan State.Meteorologists said that so far, forecast conditions did not meet blizzard warning criteria winds of at least 35 mph (56 kph), visibilities of less than a quarter mile (400 meters) and lasting more than three hours.The same storm and cold front was also expected to bring thunderstorms and a chance of heavy rain Saturday from southern Missouri down to Louisiana and Texas. Forecasters said another winter storm was becoming more likely Monday and Tuesday, with freezing rain and ice in the Appalachians and moderate to heavy snow possible in the interior Northeast.

In works like Travesties and Arcadia, the playwright embraced the really big questions and wrestled words into coherent, exhilarating shape.

Fourteen people are on trial, charged with crimes related to an outbreak of sectarian violence under the new government. The abuses of the old Assad regime still await a reckoning.