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Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi poses before ringing the bell during a ceremony to mark the last trading day of the year on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)2025-12-30T05:19:07Z BANGKOK (AP) Shares opened mixed in Europe on Tuesday after slipping in Asia as some regional markets wrapped up trading for the year. Crude oil prices edged higher and gold and silver resumed their ascent. U.S. futures were flat.In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi rang out the final session for 2025 in a traditional year-end ceremony. By realizing a Japanese economy that earns the trust of investors around the world, we will create a virtuous cycle in which global capital flows into Japan, Takaichi said. The benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.4% to 50,339.48, its first year-end close above 50,000. It ended 2025 up nearly 25%. With just two trading days left before the year ends, most big investors have closed out their positions and volume has been thin. Most global markets will be closed Thursday, New Years day, and some will also be closed Wednesday and Friday. In early European trading, Germanys DAX was nearly unchanged at 24,348.38. Britains FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 9.876.73, while the CAC 40 in Paris had barely budged at 8,112.37. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kongs Hang Seng index climbed 0.9% to 25,854.60, while the Shanghai Composite index was virtually unchanged at 3,965.51. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,717.10.South Koreas Kospi fell 0.2% to 4,214.17, while Taiwans Taiex lost 0.4%. Indias Sensex was down less than 0.1%. On Monday, stocks slipped in quiet trading on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.3%. Its still up more than 17% for the year and it remains on track for its eighth monthly gain in a row.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5%.Big technology stocks with outsized valuations were among the heaviest weights on the market. Nvidia and several other companies focusing on AI or benefiting heavily from the developing technology have become some of the most valuable in the world. Nvidia fell 1.2% and Broadcom fell 0.8%. Tech shares have wobbled recently as investors have grown skeptical over the whether the eventual payoff will justify hefty investments in artificial intelligence. The price of gold gained 0.7% early Tuesday after falling 4.6% the day before. Its up about 64% for the year.Silver prices gained 4.4% after slumping 8.7% on Monday. They have more than doubled in 2025.The precious metals fell back on Monday when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the largest trading floors for commodities, asked traders to put up more cash to make bets on precious metals.Treasury yields fell in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.11% from 4.13% late Friday. Treasury yields have fallen significantly from the start of the year, after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate to help counter a slowing jobs market. That risks heating up inflation that is already stubbornly above the central banks target rate of 2%. Interest rate cuts could boost the economy by making loans less expensive, but that benefit could be nullified by rising inflation stunting economic growth. In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. crude oil gained 14 cents to $58.22 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 12 cents to $61.61 per barrel. The U.S. dollar slipped to 156.00 Japanese yen from 156.05 yen. The euro fell to $1.1769 from $1.1774.___AP video journalist Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report. ELAINE KURTENBACH Based in Bangkok, Kurtenbach is the APs business editor for Asia, helping to improve and expand our coverage of regional economies, climate change and the transition toward carbon-free energy. She has been covering economic, social, environmental and political trends in China, Japan and Southeast Asia throughout her career. twitter mailto

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This post originally ran on Tedium, our zine designer Ernie Smith's wonderful website and newsletter about the Dull Side of the Internet. Check it out here.I write a lot these days, but my path into journalism, going way back to J-School, was through layout.For years, I was a graphic designer at a number of newspaperssome fairly small, some quite large. I was a card-carrying member of the Society for News Design. It was one of my biggest passions, and I fully expected to have a long career in newspaper design. But newspapers as a medium havent really panned out, so I eventually fell into writing.But I still adore laying out a big project, conceptualizing it, and trying to use it to visually add to the story that the words are trying to convey. Its not quite a lost art, but I do think that print layout is something that has been a bit back-burnered by society at large.So when 404 Media co-founder Jason Koebler, who spent years editing my writing for Motherboard, reached out about doing a zine, I was absolutely in. The goal of the zineto shine a spotlight on the intersection of ICE and surveillance techwas important. Plus, I like working with Jason, and it was an opportunity to get into print design again after quite a few years away.I just had two problems: One, I have decided that I no longer want to give Adobe money because of cost and ethical concerns about its business model. And two, I now use Linux pretty much exclusively (Bazzite DX, in case youre wondering).But the good news is that the open-source community has done a lot of work, and despite my own tech shifts, professional-grade print design on Linux is now a viable option.Why page layout on Linux is fairly uncommonThe meme in the Linux community writes itself: I would move over to Linux, but I need Photoshop and InDesign and [insert app here] too much. In the past, this has been a real barrier for designers, especially those who rely on print layout, where open-source alternatives are very limited. (Theyve also been traditionally at the mercy of print shops that have no time for your weird non-standard app.)Admittedly, the native tools have been getting better. Im not really a fan myself, but I know GIMP is getting closer in parity to Photoshop. Inkscape is a totally viable vector drawing app. Video is very doable on Linux thanks to the FOSS Kendenlive and the commercial DaVinci Resolve. Blender is basically a de facto standard for 3D at this point. The web-based Penpot is a capable Figma alternative. And Krita, while promoted as a digital painting app, has become my tool of choice for making frame-based animated GIFs, which I do a lot for Tedium.But for ink-stained print layout nerds, it has been tougher to make the shift (our apologies to Scribus). And Adobe locks down Creative Cloud pretty hard.However, the recent Affinity release, while drawing some skepticism from the open-source community as a potential enshittification issue, is starting to open up a fresh lane. For those not aware, the new version of Affinity essentially combines the three traditional design appsvector editor, raster editor, and page layoutinto a single tool. Its pretty good at all three. (Plus, for business reasons related to its owner Canva, its currently free to use.)While it doesnt have a dedicated Linux version, it more or less runs very well using WINE, the technology that has enabled a Linux renaissance via the Steam Deck. (Some passionate community members, like the WINE hacker ElementalWarrior, have worked hard to make this a fully-fleshed out experience that can even be installed more or less painlessly.)The desire for a native Linux version of a pro-level design app is such that the Canva subsidiary is thinking about doing it themselves.But Im not the kind of person who likes to wait, so I decided to try to build as much of the zine as I could with Affinity for page layout. For the few things I couldnt do, I would remote into a Mac.The RISO factorAnother consideration here is the fact that this zine is being built with Risograph printing, a multicolor printing approach distinct from the more traditional CMYK. The inky printing process, similar to screen printing, has a distinct, vibrant look, even if it avoids the traditional four-color approach (in our case, using layers of pink, black, and lime green).Throughout the process, I spent a lot of time setting layers to multiply to ensure the results looked good, and adding effects like halftone and erase to help balance out the color effects. This mostly worked OK, though I did have some glitches.At one point, a lime-green frog lost much of its detail when I tried to RISO-fy it, requiring me to double-check my color settings and ensure I was getting the right tone. And sometimes, PDF exports from Affinity added unsightly lines, which I had to go out of my way to remove. If I was designing for newspapers, I might have been forced to come up with a quick plan B for that layout. But fortunately, I had the luxury of not working on a daily deadline like I might have back in the day.I think that this layout approach is genuinely fascinatingand I know Jason in particular is a huge fan of it. Could I see other publications in the 404 mold taking notes from this and doing the same thing? Heck yes.A sneak peek at the inside layout of the 404 Media zine.The ups and downs of print layout on LinuxSo, the headline you can take away from this is pretty simple: Laying stuff out in Affinity over Linux is extremely doable, and if youre doing it occasionally, you will find a quite capable tool.Admittedly, if this was, like, my main gig, I might still feel the urge to go back to MacOSespecially near the end of the process. Heres what I learned:The good: Workflow-wise, it was pretty smooth. Image cutoutsa tightly honed skill of mine that AI has been trying to obsolete for yearswere very doable. Affinity also has some great effects tools that in many ways beat equivalents in other apps, such as its glitch tool and its live filter layers. It didnt feel like I was getting a second-class experience when all was said and done.The bad: My muscle memory for InDesign shortcuts was completely ineffective for this, and there were occasional features of InDesign and Photoshop that I did not find direct equivalents for in Affinity. WINEs file menus tend to look like old Windows, which might be a turn-off for UX purists, and required a bit of extra navigation to dig through folders. Also, one downside of WINE that I could not work past was that I couldnt use my laptops Intel-based GPU for machine learning tasks, a known bug that I imagine slowed some things down on graphically intensive pages.I checked, by the way; this was not a WINE thing, it did this in MacOS too. (Ernie Smith)The ugly: I think one area Affinity will need to work on as it attempts to sell the idea that you can design in one interface are better strategies to help mash down content for export. At one point while I was trying to make a PDF, Affinity promised me that the file I would be exporting was going to be 17 exabytes in size, which my SSD was definitely not large enough for. That wasnt true, but it does emphasize that the dream of doing everything in one interface gets complicated when you want to send things to the printer. Much of the work I did near the end of the process was rasterizing layers to ensure everything looked as intended.When I did have to use a Mac app for something (mainly accessing Spectrolite, a prepress app for RISO designs), I accessed an old Hackintosh using NoMachine, a tool for connecting to computers remotely. So even for the stuff I actually needed MacOS for, I didnt need to leave the comforts of my janky laptop.Looking for a Big Tech escape hatchWas it 100% perfect? No. Affinity crashed every once in a while, but InDesign did that all the time back in the day. And admittedly, an office full of people using Affinity on Linux isnt going to work as well as one guy in a coffee shop working with a team of editors over chat and email.But its my hope that experiences like mine convince other people to try it, and for companies to embrace it. Affinity isnt open-source, and Canva is a giant company with plenty of critics, just like Adobe. But there are emerging projects like PixiEditor and Graphite that could eventually make print layout an extremely viable and even modern open-source endeavor.But we have to take victories where we can find them, and the one I see is that Affinity is a lot less locked down than Creative Cloud, which is why its viable on Linux. And in general, this feels like an opportunity to get away from the DRM-driven past of creative software. (Hey Canva, its never too late to make Affinity open-source.)Difficult reporting shouldnt have to be tethered to the whims of Big Tech to exist. Especially when that techon Amazons cloud, using Adobes PDFs, through Googles search, over Metas social network, with Apples phones, and on Microsofts operating systemtoo often causes uncomfortable tensions with the reporting. This is one step towards a better escape hatch.

Nature, Published online: 30 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-04026-zConstructive feedback.

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Voters fill out their ballots Nov. 4, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)2025-12-30T13:22:26Z If history is a guide, Republicans stand a good chance of losing control of the House of Representatives in 2026. They have just a slim majority in the chamber, and the incumbent party usually gives up seats in midterm elections.President Donald Trump, whose loss of the House halfway through his first term led to two impeachments, is trying to keep history from repeating and doing so in ways his opponents say are intended to manipulate next years election landscape.He has rallied his party to remake congressional maps across the country to create more conservative-leaning House seats, an effort that could end up backfiring on him. Hes directed his administration to target Democratic politicians, activists and donors. And, Democrats worry, hes flexing his muscles to intervene in the midterms like no administration ever has.Democrats and other critics point to how Trump has sent the military into Democratic cities over the objections of Democratic mayors and governors. They note that hes pushed the Department of Homeland Security to be so aggressive that at one point its agents handcuffed a Democratic U.S. senator. And some warn that a Republican-controlled Congress could fail to seat winning candidates if Democrats reclaim the House majority, recalling Trumps efforts to stay in power even after voters rejected him in 2020, leading to the violent attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol. Regarding potential military deployments, Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told The Associated Press: What he is going to do is send those troops there, and keep them there all the way through the next election, because guess what? If people are afraid of leaving their house, theyre probably not going to leave their house to go vote on Election Day. Thats how he stays in power. Military to the polls, or fearmongering?Democrats sounded similar alarms just before Novembers elections, and yet there were no significant incidents. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump antagonist who also warns about a federal crackdown on voting in 2026, predicted that masked immigration agents would show up at the polls in his state, where voters were considering a ballot measure to counter Trumps redistricting push.There were no such incidents in November, and the measure to redraw Californias congressional lines in response to Trumps efforts elsewhere won in a landslide.White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the concerns about the midterms come from Democratic politicians who are fearmongering to score political points with the radical left flank of the Democrat party that they are courting ahead of their doomed-to-fail presidential campaigns.She described their concerns as baseless conspiracy theories.Susie Wiles, Trumps chief of staff, denied that Trump was planning to use the military to try to suppress votes.I say it is categorically false, will not happen. Its just wrongheaded, she told Vanity Fair for an interview that was published earlier in December. DNC litigation director Dan Freeman said he hasnt seen an indication that Trump will send immigration enforcement agents to polling places during the midterms, but is wary.He said the DNC filed public records requests in an attempt to learn more about any such plans and is drafting legal pleadings it could file if Trump sends armed federal agents to the polls or otherwise intervenes in the elections.Were not taking their word for it, Freeman said in an interview. States, not presidents, run electionsNovembers off-year elections may not be the best indicator of what could lie ahead. They were scattered in a handful of states, and Trump showed only modest interest until late in the fall when his Department of Justice announced it was sending federal monitors to California and New Jersey to observe voting in a handful of counties. It was a bureaucratic step that had no impact on voting, even as it triggered alarm from Democrats.Alexandra Chandler, the legal director of Defend Democracy, a group that has clashed with Trump over his role in elections, said she was heartened by the lack of drama during the 2025 voting.We have so many positive signs we can look to, Chandler said, citing not only a quiet election but GOP senators resistance to Trumps demands to eliminate the filibuster and the widespread resistance to Trumps demand that television host Jimmy Kimmel lose his job because of his criticism of the president. There are limits on Trumps power, she noted.We will have elections in 2026, Chandler said. People dont have to worry about that.Under the Constitution, a president has limited tools to intervene in elections, which are run by the states. Congress can help set rules for federal elections, but states administer their own election operations and oversee the counting of ballots.When Trump tried to singlehandedly revise election rules with a sweeping executive order shortly after returning to office, the courts stepped in and stopped him, citing the lack of a constitutional role for the president. Trump later promised another order, possibly targeting mail ballots and voting machines, but it has yet to materialize. DOJ voter data request should frighten everybodyStill, theres plenty of ways a president can cause problems, said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.Trump unsuccessfully pushed Georgias top election official to find him enough votes to be declared the winner there in 2020 and could try similar tactics in Republican-dominated states in November. Likewise, Hasen said, Trump could spread misinformation to undermine confidence in vote tallies, as he has done routinely ahead of elections.Its harder to do that in more lopsided contests, as many in 2025 turned into, Hasen noted.Concerns about Trump interfering in 2026 are real; theyre not frivolous, Hasen said. Theyre also not likely, but these are things people need to be on guard for.One administration move that has alarmed election officials is a federal demand from his Department of Justice for detailed voter data from the states. The administration has sued the District of Columbia and at least 21 states, most of them controlled by Democrats, after they refused to turn over all the information the DOJ sought.What the DOJ is trying to do is something that should frighten everybody across the political spectrum, said David Becker, a former Justice Department voting rights attorney and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. Theyre trying to use the power of the executive to bully states into turning over highly sensitive data date of birth, Social Security numbers, drivers license, the Holy Trinity of identity theft hand it over to the DOJ for who knows what use.Voter protection vs election integrityVoting rights lawyers and election officials have been preparing for months for the midterms, trying to ensure there are ways to counter misinformation and ensure state election systems are easy to explain. Both major parties are expected to stand up significant campaigns around the mechanics of voting: Democrats mounting what they call a voter protection effort to monitor for problems while Republicans focus on what they call election integrity.Freeman, the DNC litigation director who previously worked in the DOJs voting section, said his hiring this year was part of a larger effort by the DNC to beef up its in-house legal efforts ahead of the midterms. He said the committee has been filling gaps in voting rights law enforcement that the DOJ has typically covered, including informing states that they cant illegally purge citizens from their voter rolls.Tina Barton, co-chair of the Committee on Safe and Secure Elections, a coalition of law enforcement and election officials who advise jurisdictions on de-escalation and how to respond to emergencies at polling places, says interest in the groups trainings has exploded in recent weeks.Theres a lot at stake, and thats going to cause a lot of emotions, Barton said.___Associated Press writers Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

Palestinians pass along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, in Gaza City, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-12-30T13:36:58Z JERUSALEM (AP) Israel on Tuesday said it will suspend over two dozen humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, for failing to meet its new rules to vet international organizations working in Gaza.The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said the organizations that will be banned on Jan. 1 did not meet new requirements for sharing staff, funding and operations information. It accused Doctors Without Borders, one of the largest health organizations operating in Gaza, of failing to clarify the roles of some staff that Israel accused of cooperation with Hamas and other militant groups.International organizations have said Israels rules are arbitrary and could endanger staff. The ministry said around 25 organizations, or 15%, of the NGOs working in Gaza did not have their permits renewed.Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel previously accused its staff of involvement in military activities in Gaza in 2024. At the time, the group said it was deeply concerned by these allegations and is taking them very seriously. The group said it would never knowingly employ people engaged in military activity. Israel and international organizations have been at odds over the amount of aid going into Gaza. Israel claims it is upholding the aid commitments laid out in the latest ceasefire in the two-year war that took effect Oct. 10, but humanitarian organizations dispute Israels numbers and say more aid is desperately needed in the devastated Palestinian territory of over 2 million people.___Find more of APs Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war. MELANIE LIDMAN Lidman is an Associated Press reporter based in Tel Aviv, Israel. SAM MEDNICK Mednick is an AP correspondent for Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She focuses on conflict, humanitarian crises and human rights abuses. Mednick formerly covered West & Central Africa and South Sudan. twitter

Snow is cleared from a parking lot in Grandville, Mich. on Monday Dec. 29, 2025. (Joel Bissell /MLive.com via AP)2025-12-30T06:02:57Z A wild winter storm was expected to bring strong winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Great Lakes and Northeast on Tuesday, a day after a bomb cyclone barreled across the northern U.S. and left tens of thousands of customers without power.The storm that hit parts of the Plains and Great Lakes on Monday brought 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. Nationwide, more than 127,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning, more than a third of them in Michigan, according to Poweroutage.us. As the storm moved into Canada, the National Weather Service predicted more inclement weather conditions for the Eastern U.S, including quick bursts of heavy snow and gusty winds known as snow squalls. Blustery winds were expected to add to the arctic chill, with low temperatures dipping below freezing as far south as the Florida panhandle, the agency said. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned that whiteout conditions were expected Tuesday in parts of the state, including the Syracuse metro area. If youre in an impacted area, please avoid all unnecessary travel, she said in a post on the social platform X. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Snow piled up quickly in Michigans Upper Peninsula on Monday, where as much as 2 feet (60 centimeters) fell in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Ryan Metzger said additional snow was expected in the coming days, although totals would be far lighter. Waves on Lake Superior that were expected to reach 20 feet (6 meters) on Monday sent all but one cargo ship into harbors for shelter, according to MarineTraffic.com.The fierce winds on Lake Erie sent water surging toward the basins eastern end near Buffalo, New York, 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 on 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, he said. We can usually drive our boat over them.Dangerous wind chills plunged as low as minus 30 F (minus 34 C) across parts of North Dakota and Minnesota 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.In Iowa, after blizzard conditions eased by Monday morning, high winds continued blowing snow across roadways, keeping more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) of Interstate 35 closed. State troopers reported dozens of crashes during the storm, including one that killed a person.On the West Coast, the National Weather Service warned that moderate to strong Santa Ana winds were expected in parts of Southern California through Tuesday, raising concerns about downed trees in areas where recent storms had saturated the soil. Two more storms were forecast later this week, with rain on New Years Day potentially soaking the Rose Parade in Pasadena for the first time in about two decades.___Associated Press writers Julie Walker in New York; Corey Williams in Detroit; Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska; Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut; and Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed. JEFF MARTIN Martin covers a variety of topics including crime, hurricanes, and civil rights across the southeastern U.S. He was a member of the AP team named a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting for the Lethal Restraint project. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Passengers queue to enter the Eurotunnel site in Folkestone in Kent, England, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)2025-12-30T12:15:03Z PARIS (AP) Power problems and a stuck train interrupted rail traffic that flows through the undersea tunnel connecting the U.K. to continental Europe on Tuesday, with passenger train operator Eurostar indefinitely suspending its services to and from London during the busy end-of-year holiday period.Eurostar blamed overhead power supply issues in the Channel Tunnel and what it said was a failed train operated by LeShuttle, which transports vehicle traffic by rail through the tunnel, to and from the French port of Calais and the U.K. port of Folkestone. Eurostar said in a statement that its services to and from London are suspended until further notice and advised its passengers to rebook their journeys for other days. The Channel Tunnels operator, Eurotunnel, said in a separate statement that the power supply problem started overnight Monday in part of the tunnel, impacting both passenger and vehicle travel by rail in both directions through the tunnel.It said traffic is expected to resume gradually on Tuesday afternoon. A technical intervention is required, which is currently underway, it said. Our teams are working to restore the situation as quickly as possible.

In this photo provided by the Federal Road Safety Corps, people gather at the accident scene of British boxer Anthony Joshua in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Federal Road Safety Corps via AP)2025-12-30T12:02:21Z LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) Tributes have been paid after the crash that injured British former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and killed two close associates on Monday, amid growing concern over Nigerias roads following the deadly incident near Lagos.Joshua, a two-time heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist, was under observation while recovering from minor injuries, his promoter said Monday.Nigerias Federal Road Safety Corps said the accident along a major highway connecting Lagos, the countrys economic hub, and Ogun state was a result of excessive speed and wrongful overtaking, which had caused the car to collide with a stationary truck by the roadside. Eyewitnesses say the vehicles tire had burst at high speed.Joshua had recently won a bout against Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Dec. 19, a fight he used to improve fitness in a bid to contest future top-flight boxing titles. The former world heavyweight champion, who also holds Nigerian nationality, is in stable condition and would remain in hospital for further observation according to his promoter, Matchroom Boxing. Joshuas long-term friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, were killed in the crash, the promoter said in a statement posted on X. Ghami was Joshuas strength and conditioning coach while Ayodele was a trainer. Just hours before the crash, Joshua and Ayodele posted clips on social media playing table tennis together. Mustafa Briggs, a friend of Ayodele, described him as pure-hearted and sincere. He had not a bad intention or a bad bone in his body, Briggs told U.K. broadcaster Sky News. He loved life, he enjoyed life, he said.Outside a gym owned by Ghami in London, bouquets of flowers have been left at the entrance. Evolve Gyms was temporarily closed on Tuesday to mourn the loss of its beloved owner, according to a statement posted on the building. Concerns over frequent road crashes in NigeriaThe high-profile accident has prompted serious concerns about road safety on Nigerian highways, where accidents are common.The West African nation recorded 5,421 deaths in 9,570 road accidents in 2024, according to data by the countrys Federal Road Safety Corps. Its data showed 340 more people were killed in road accidents last year compared to 2023.Experts say a combination of factors including a network of dilapidated roads, lax enforcement of traffic laws, and indiscipline by drivers, produces the grim statistics.The stationary truck that Joshuas vehicle hit is a fixture of Nigerias thoroughfares, often causing massive gridlocks. Goods and food are transported across Nigerias vast geographical reach via these trucks, which experts say tend to be in poor condition and are responsible for many accidents. The prevalence of accidents in Nigeria is a serious issue, Ache Ogu, the CEO of the Road Accident Prevention Network Centre, an Abuja-based nongovernmental organization, told The Associated Press. Most of the trucks are not in order, and the law enforcement agency needs to step up its efforts. Monisola Abosede, a 27-year-old marketer who lives in Lagos and commutes several kilometers every weekday for work, has been involved in two accidents in December alone. In Lagos, everyone is in a rush to get somewhere; people are always on the move, she told The AP, blaming crashes on the citys heavy traffic combined with the bad state of its road network.The boxing world reactsBritish heavyweight star Tyson Fury has led the tributes from the boxing community in the aftermath of the crash. This is so sad. May god give them a good bed in heaven, he posted on Instagram.Boxer Chris Eubank Jr, who last month fought a high-profile middleweight bout, expressed his support and condolences. Thank god our heavyweight champ survived that horrible car crash. And pray for the two fallen soldiers Latz & Sina & their families, Eubank Jr posted on X. I knew both they were genuinely good men. Rest in Peace boys. British boxer Shannon Courtenay, a womens bantamweight fighter who fought earlier this month in the build-up to the Joshua-Paul fight in Miami, Florida, posted a photo of her with Joshua on Instagram. As well as Sina and Latz please keep the big man (Joshua) in your prayers, she wrote, adding. No man should have to go through and witness what he went through today losing his two best friends. Former world champion Wladimir Klitschko, who was stopped in the 11th round by Joshua at Wembley Stadium in 2017, wrote on X: Im deeply saddened to hear about AJ and his close-knit group of friends.Having had the pleasure of engaging in an unforgettable battle with AJ, Ive always regarded him as a true class act who commands my utmost respect.My heart goes out to him, and I wish him and his loved ones all the best during this difficult time. OPE ADETAYO Adetayo is a West Africa reporter for The Associated Press. He covers news and regional development across West and Central Africa. twitter facebook mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

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Gary Seputis, top, and Clint Hornsby, employees of Entertainment Design Group, work on attaching two leaves to the fiberglass and foam Peach in preparation for the 2012 Peach Drop at Underground Atlanta, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, in Atlanta. ( Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)2025-12-30T05:03:16Z Why let New York City have all the fun with its Times Square ball drop on New Years Eve?Dozens of places across the U.S. will ring in 2026 by dropping a quirky assortment of fruits, vegetables, sea creatures and balls of all shapes and sizes.Many have a hometown flair.Theres the giant cheese wedge in Plymouth, Wisconsin, a chile pepper in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a pinecone in Flagstaff, Arizona, and a conch shell in Key West, Florida.Pennsylvania is home to a bonanza of bizarre New Years Eve events the bologna drop in Lebanon, the pickle drop in Dillsburg and the potato chip drop in Lewistown.Its a New Years tradition that goes back to 1907 when a 700-pound (318-kilogram) ball measuring five feet (1.5 meters) in diameter debuted in Times Square. Copycat celebrations have surged coast to coast over the past few decades and around the beginning of the new millennium.Heres a look at some of those events around the nation: Fruity traditions on New Years EveIts said in some cultures that eating fruit on New Years Eve brings luck and wealth. Perhaps thats why many cities mix fruit into their celebrations. Miami has its Big Orange drop, while Sarasota, Florida, features a pineapple. There are cherry drops in Milwaukie, Oregon, and Traverse City, Michigan. Brightly lit grapes plunge from above in Temecula, California. Atlanta this year is replacing its peach drop with a digital drone peach in the sky. Beach balls and flip-flopsIts tough to beat ringing in the year while watching a pair of sparkly flip-flops diving into Folly Beach, South Carolina. In Panama City Beach, Florida, theres an evening-long bash where 15,000 beach balls are dropped above revelers just hours before a giant beach ball descends a tower at midnight. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on MoonPies and a giant PeepWhat could be better than seeing a 600-pound (272 kilograms) MoonPie make a 60-second descent in Mobile, Alabama? How about getting a slice of MoonPie cake at the citys biggest event of the year? Not sweet enough? Check out the 400-pound (181 kilograms) yellow Peep chick that drops into Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Seafood smorgasbordWaterfront cities celebrate the sea on New Years Eve. Brunswick, Georgia, has the shrimp drop, while Easton, Maryland, serves up its annual crab drop. The oyster drop is the main event in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The biggest catch might be in Port Clinton, Ohio, along Lake Erie, home to a 600-pound (272-kilogram) walleye named Wylie. The original papier-mache version debuted 30 years ago and has given way to a menacing fiberglass fish. Potatoes and pierogiesTheres definitely a food theme to these New Years drops. Just outside Chicago, watch out for a 10-foot (3 meters) pierogi in Whiting, Indiana. The Idaho Potato Drop in Boise has been going for more than a decade, and Mt. Olive, North Carolina, celebrates its hometown pickle brand by dropping a glittery green pickle thats close to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long.Possum drop lives onAll of these events are meant to be fun, boost civic pride and attract tourists. But one created such a stir that it ended up in court. Residents in western North Carolina no longer lower a live possum inside a glass box at midnight, calling off the event in 2019 after years of protests and legal challenges. There is still a possum drop in Tallapoosa, Georgia, which was long ago known as Possum Snout. That one, though, stars a stuffed possum named Spencer. JOHN SEEWER Seewer covers state and national news for The Associated Press and is based in Toledo, Ohio. twitter mailto

A Basset Fauve De Bretagne stands for photographs during a Meet the Breeds event February 22, 2022 in San Diego. (David Woo/American Kennel Club via AP)2025-12-30T14:02:34Z NEW YORK (AP) Theyre ready to embark on 2026.Three more dog breeds joined the American Kennel Clubs roster of recognized breeds on Tuesday, making them eligible for many U.S. dog shows and likely increasing their visibility to the pet-loving public.One of the newcomers is a terrier named for a U.S. president. Another is a toy dog from Cold War-era Russia. The third is a centuries-old French hunting hound. Heres a closer look:The basset fauve de BretagneThe stats: 12.5 to 15.5 inches (32 to 40 centimeters) at the base of the neck; 23 to 39 pounds (10.5 to 17.5 kilograms)The topline: A hardy, sociable, compact hound that can hunt all day and needs mental and physical activity. The pronunciation: bah-SAY fove deh breh-TAHN-yehThe translation: Fawn-colored, low-set dog from BrittanyThe history: Versions of these coarse-coated, tan-hued hounds go back at least as far as 16th-century French aristocratic circles. The breed has been championed in the U.S. in recent years by Cindy Hartman, a South Carolina service dog trainer who brought a pair of fauve puppies back from France in 2001. She has since trained and placed about 20 fauves as medical alert dogs for people with diabetes, she said. The quote: Theyre wicked smart, and so if youre wanting a dog thats just going to lay around all day long, a fauve is not for you, Hartman said. But yet, when challenged mentally and physically, theyre happy to come in with you and curl up on the sofa for the evening. The Teddy Roosevelt terrierThe stats: 8 to 14 inches (20 to 36 centimeters) at the base of the neck; 8 to 25 pounds (3.5 to 11 kilograms)The topline: A solid, energetic small canine that will rid your barn of rodents, alert you to strangers, do dog sports or just entertain you with its antics. The history: Originally seen as a short-legged variant of the rat terrier, these dogs were deemed a breed of their own in 1999. The breed was named for President Theodore Roosevelt because of his fondness for dogs, including terriers. The quote: They know how to get you to laugh, says Cindy Rickey of Waynesville, North Carolina, the secretary of the American Teddy Roosevelt Terrier Club. While many terrier breeds are known for being independent-minded, her Teddy competes in obedience. Theyre terriers, no doubt about it, but they also have this tremendous desire to please, she explains.The Russian tsvetnaya bolonkaThe stats: Up to 10 inches (26 centimeters) at the base of the neck; 7 to 9 pounds (3 to 4 kilograms)The topline: A sweet but clever little companion that wants playful interaction, not just snuggling (though it likes that, too). The pronunciation: zvit-NEYE'-ah boh-LON'-kahThe translation: Russian colored lapdog The history: The breed was developed in Soviet-era Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) after World War II as a pet for apartment dwellers. American fans have been working to establish bolonki (the proper plural) in the U.S. since the early 2000s. The quote: Having a bolonka is like having a 3-year-old kid running around your house. They can enjoy their time lying on the couch with you, but youve got to be prepared to play with them and keep them entertained, says Denise Dang of Oklahoma City, the secretary of the Russian Tsvetnaya Bolonka Club of America. Owners also need to care for a thick, wavy coat thats low-shedding but can get matted. Even if its cut fairly short, a bath every couple of weeks is wise, Dang says. The big picture The AKC recognizes 205 breeds, including these three newcomers. Fanciers of many others though, as yet, no doodles or other popular poodle hybrids have voluntarily entered a pipeline that takes years of breeding, documentation and consensus-building. The club doesnt limit the number of breeds it might eventually recognize. Spokesperson Brandi Hunter Munden says its not adding dogs indiscriminately, but rather providing an established framework for growth, breed standards, competition and education in the U.S. The controversyAnimal-rights activists have long deplored dog breeding and the AKC for supporting it, and the criticism hardened this year into a lawsuit over the health of French bulldogs, pugs, dachshunds and Chinese shar-peis. The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking a court order to stop the AKC from continuing to promulgate the current standards, or ideal characteristics, for those breeds.PETA accused the kennel club of providing blueprints for the breeding of deformed, unhealthy dogs.The AKC denies the allegations and has asked a court to dismiss the case, calling the suit frivolous. The club said it has been and remains firmly committed to the health, well-being and proper treatment of all dogs.