Two December days in Palm Beach and I have sunburn and whiplash.The Latest News from the UK and Around the World | Sky News
Month: December 2025
Idris Elba, ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, as well as England’s victorious women’s football and rugby teams, are among 1,157 people recognised in the New Year Honours list.The Latest News from the UK and Around the World | Sky News
AP- When turbulent weather with whipping winds and heavy snow is in the forecast, meteorologists sometimes warn that a storm could “bomb out” or become a bomb cyclone. But what exactly does this mean?
According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, certain storms undergo bombogenesis, which happens when a storm’s central pressure drops at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. These storms are sometimes called bomb cyclones. Storm intensity is measured by central pressure, so the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.
Such rapidly strengthening storms are capable of producing heavy rain, blizzard conditions and intense winds that can create dangerous conditions such as downed trees and power outages.
“If you’re watching TV at night and the weather report comes on and you’re hearing ‘bomb cyclone’ being used, that usually means there’s quite a bit of active weather going on,” said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
Bomb cyclones can happen in any season, but mainly occur during fall and winter when frigid air from the Arctic can creep south and clash with warmer air masses.
“It’s really the clash of those air masses that really kind of helps to generate the areas of low pressure in the first place,” said Orrison.
Regions in North America that are prone to seeing bomb cyclones include Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes region.
“It’s not common to get bomb cyclones at lower latitudes. So generally speaking, you wouldn’t see a bomb cyclone across, let’s say, the southern United States,” said Orrison.
By: Claire Stremple, Alaska Beacon
Alaska was awarded more federal money than any state besides Texas for a federal rural health initiative, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced on Monday.
The money will come from the Rural Health Transformation Fund, a $50 billion program set up as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and intended to counteract the effects of its sweeping Medicaid cuts in rural areas.
Alaska’s congressional delegation and state officials lauded the federal investment, which will be upwards of $272 million in Alaska in 2026.
At a Wednesday news conference in Anchorage, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said the $1.36 billion the state is slated to receive over the next five years is the biggest investment from the federal government to Alaska’s health care system in state history.
“This is a generational opportunity for our state,” he said.
Heidi Hedberg, commissioner of the state’s health department said a major goal is to rework the state’s “fragmented” health system.
She said the agency will release more information about its plan for the money in the coming days, but pointed to the state’s application to the program, which outlines six priorities: maternal and child health, access to services, preventative care, a strengthened workforce, financial sustainability and updated technology and data systems.
Emily Ricci, the agency’s deputy commissioner, said that core to the state’s application was the question of how to support services that already exist in the state.
“Part of our focus was making sure that the tribal communities could see some of the ways that they want to sustain their programs and evolve or build their programs out further into something that provides more access and sustainable costs,” she said. “So I would say that those opportunities are written in each one of the initiatives.”
She did not immediately supply specific examples.
The state’s application also commits to adherence to several policies favored by the Trump administration, including a pledge to join licensure compacts and prohibit the use of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds to buy soda pop by 2027.
Several of those commitments require the approval of the state’s legislature or medical board.
Hedberg said her agency will work with those decision makers to follow through on the commitments the state made in its application.
In a virtual meeting with reporters after the state’s news conference, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, challenged the state administration and legislators to take on the question of rebuilding the state’s health care system as a major issue.
In response to a reporter’s question, she said she was worried about the reliability of the funding because the state could fail to make the most of the opportunity or because the federal government could pause or cancel the funding.
“I know that we’re going into an election year next year. I know that the Permanent Fund always takes up space. I know we’re going to be talking about the gas line,” she said. “But we must, we must absolutely be talking about this health care opportunity that we have in front of us now.”
NOTN- Upwards of 3 feet of snow has fallen since the winter storm began Friday night, with more expected today.
Winter storm warnings have been extended until 6 am tomorrow.
The National Weather Service said significant precipitation amounts will persist through the weekend, with hazardous travel conditions possible due to snow accumulation.
Looking ahead, precipitation is expected to become lighter during the latter half of the week. Temperatures are forecast to drop again as colder air moves in from the north.
Flood watches and advisories remain in effect for parts of central and southern Southeast Alaska, where heavy rain and runoff may lead to localized flooding, particularly in low-lying and poor drainage areas. Forecasters urge residents use caution when travelling and stay updated on the latest advisories and warnings.
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Framed by the fireplace in Alaska’s governor’s mansion earlier this month, Gov. Mike Dunleavy shook hands and posed for pictures in the final holiday open house of his two terms as Alaska’s top elected official.
Dunleavy is prohibited from running for another term, and 14 candidates have already signed up to run for his office in the 2026 elections. One of those candidates, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, stood next to Dunleavy at the open house, smiling alongside her husband.
Speaking to reporters before the open house, Dunleavy said the highlight of the year at a statewide level was the signing of a gas pipeline contract with developer Glenfarne.
“It started what I think is going to be a real pipeline,” Dunleavy said. “It’s something that the state has dreamed about for decades, ever since the trans-Alaska oil pipeline came into being.”
Since January, when Glenfarne announced it was buying into the long-pursued Alaska LNG pipeline project, it’s announced a series of preliminary agreements from international companies interested in buying gas.
To date, it doesn’t have firm deals for either buying or selling, and it is expected to make a go/no-go decision on the first phase of the project — a pipeline from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska for in-state use — within the next month.
“I think in January there’s going to be some major announcements that will solidify that this pipeline as a go,” Dunleavy said.
Dunleavy said he’s also been pleased with rising forecasts for Alaska North Slope oil. In November, the federal Energy Information Administration predicted that North Slope production would grow 13% in 2026, reaching levels that haven’t been seen since 2018.
“That’s good for Alaska as well,” Dunleavy said, “because of the renaissance on the Slope.”
The state’s unemployment rate is holding below 5%, he noted.
“When you look at the turmoil across the country and you look at the turmoil across the world, I think Alaska is in pretty good shape. … We have a lot of resources here, and I think we have a lot of great people,” he said.
Asked for the lowest point of the year on a statewide basis, Dunleavy said: “You’re always dealing with disasters. Under my tenure, there’s been 73 declared disasters … we had the issue out in Western Alaska, and so we have to add now a typhoon to our mix of volcanoes, earthquakes and so forth.”
Dunleavy himself was affected by the recent Matanuska-Susitna Borough windstorm disaster, and his wife couldn’t attend the holiday open house as a result.
“We lost some of our roofing on a building or two out there, and the heat went out,” he said.
While disasters are part of living in Alaska, he said Typhoon Halong was something extra.
“I would say that whenever a disaster impacts people at the visceral level, at the local level, at their household level — we got hit hard with that typhoon,” he said.
For much of the year, as in his conversation with reporters, the governor preferred to focus on the positives.
Earlier this year, Dunleavy said the arrival of the Trump administration was “like Christmas every morning” for Alaska.
Since Trump was sworn into office, his administration has relaxed restrictions on oil and gas drilling on the North Slope. It has advanced the Ambler Access Project, which promises to open a large mining area in Northwest Alaska.
The Interior Department has also pushed forward the road between Cold Bay and King Cove and proposals to explore for oil in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Dunleavy administration has been enthusiastic in its support of those actions, but most have been tied up in federal court and will be for months or years.
The ANWR drilling issue, for example, won’t even come before a federal judge until late 2026, according to a status update published this month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.
The Trump-backed Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress this year will deliver millions of dollars in construction projects to the state, and other legislation will provide millions more, but other projects — particularly those involving renewable energy and projects intended to deal with climate change — were eliminated.
“Christmas every morning” entailed other metaphorical bits of coal for Alaska this year: The extended government shutdown left thousands of Alaskans unpaid for over a month, and the cuts instituted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency caused significant amounts of uncertainty.
In the long run, DOGE doesn’t appear to have significantly affected the number of federal jobs here: The latest available figures show more federal employees in the state than there were at the start of the year.
While some federal grants targeted by DOGE have since been restored, many were not. Public radio stations and arts organizations laid off staff and curtailed their work.
Tariffs, visa issues and a prolonged dispute with Canada threatened the summer tourist season, but a feared Yukon boycott never appeared, and the number of cruise ship passengers traveling to Alaska increased slightly, to a new record high of more than 1.7 million.
At the holiday open house, Dunleavy said there’s plenty to look forward to in the coming year and in the years once he leaves office.
“There’s just a whole host of things — the possibility of data farms, artificial intelligence, and how that’s gonna revolutionize not just the world, but here in Alaska, I think we could become a data transportation center because of our proximity on the globe. So I think you’re going to see a number of announcements throughout the year that I think will set the stage for a great several decades going forward,” he said.
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We’ve lost an icon.
Brigitte Bardot — a French actress who helped usher in a sexual revolution on the big screen with her sensual, uninhibited performances in movies such as Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt” — has passed away.
She was 91 years old.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation confirmed the long-time had died in a statement shared with the French news agency AFP.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” the statement read, according to the BBC.
The outlet didn’t specify the time or place of Bardot’s death.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation pays tribute to the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything and gave up everything for a world more respectful of animals,” the foundation added.
“Her legacy lives on through the actions and struggles the Foundation continues with the same passion and the same fidelity to her ideals.”
Brigitte Bardot kicked off her career as a model, eventually appearing on the cover of Elle in 1950 at the age of 15.
In 1952, at 18 years old, Bardot appeared in the film Manina, the Girl in the Bikini.
She garnered international recognition for her role in the 1957 movie And God Created Woman, earning the label of global sex symbol in the process.
Other memorable credits included 1960’s The Truth, 1963’s Le Mépris and 1965’s Viva Maria!; Bardot also pursued a music career, releasing her debut album, Brigitte Bardot Sings, in 1963.
Bardot retired from acting in 1973 at age 39, emphasizing at the time that she wanted to “get out elegantly.”
After leaving the movie industry, Bardot became an animal rights activist, launching the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.
In September 1983, on her 49th birthday, Bardot overdosed on pills and red wine. She was rushed to the hospital, where her stomach was pumped. That same year, Bardot was treated for breast cancer.
Late on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Bardot, saying she “embodied a life of freedom.”
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne (the symbol of the French republic), Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” Macron wrote on X.
“We mourn a legend of the century.”
Brigitte Bardot, Legendary French Actress, Dead at 91 was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
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We have a disturbing story to report out of Houston today, and we’d like to warn our readers that the following article contains a number of unsettling details.
Claire Tracy, a student and star soccer player at Rice University, was found dead in her apartment earlier this month, shortly after participating in the viral ChatGPT “devil trend.”
She was just 19 years old.
Now, medical examiners have confirmed that Tracy died by suicide.
According to a Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences report obtained by People, Tracy died of “asphyxia due to oxygen displacement by helium.”
While we don’t know what factors might have led her to take her own life, many have noted that Tracy participated in a viral TikTok challenge known as “the devil trend” one day before her death.
The trend involved asking ChatGPT a detailed question about the devil.
“I’m doing ‘the devil’ trend on TikTok. I will say ‘the devil couldn’t reach me,’ and you will answer, ‘he did,’” Tracy explained in her TikTok video.
“Then, I will ask ‘How,’ and you will give me the most brutally honest answer based on everything you know about me,” she continued.
“Because you did the work for him. You took that sharp, unfiltered intelligence of yours — the same mind that can write in metaphors most people can’t even feel — and drove it straight into yourself,” the AI platform replied.
“You saw too clearly, thought too deeply, peeled every layer back until there was nothing left to shield you from the weight of being alive,” the message concluded.
“In chat we trust, he ain’t’ wrong,” Tracy captioned the post.
Shortly thereafter, she posted her very last video.
“Accepting that the big lock in just isn’t going to happen this time,” Tracy said in the clip.
“#college #university #exams #cooked #fyp,” she captioned the post.
News of Claire’s death was revealed to her classmates in a statement from Rice University’s Dean of Undergraduates, Bridget K. Gorman
“It is with deep sadness that I am writing to tell you that Claire Tracy, a second-year undergraduate student, passed away on Sunday,” Gorman wrote.
“Claire was a finance major and had close friends and a bright spirit,” the dean added. “Our hearts go out to Claire’s family and all who knew her and are grieving her loss.”
Our thoughts go out to Claire Trac’s loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.
Rice University Student Dies After Posting ChatGPT ‘Devil Trend’; Cause of … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
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It was quite an eventful Christmas this past week for Jinger Duggar.
The former reality star spent the holiday with her siblings for the first time in a decade, documenting the special occasion alongside Joy-Anna Duggar and Jessa Duggar on Instagram.
The sisters posted a video with several of their other loved ones, as they could be seen together in this footage around their Christmas tree in several silly poses.
Their unethical mom, Michelle Duggar, was also depicted in the video… posing in front of all her girls at one point.
“POV: Christmas with my mom + 8 sisters,” was written over the video.
“Nothing brings the fam together like making reels,” the three older sisters captioned their joint post.
On a recent episode of The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast, Jinger (who basically thinks Taylor Swift is the Devil) spoke about her Christmas plans with her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, stating that she hadn’t been home for the holidays in a VERY long time.
“We have not been back to the Duggar house since we’ve been married, in nine years, for Christmas, and we’re going this year,” Jeremy said at the top of the episode, with Jinger later explaining their spent the holidays at her in-laws in the past.
Jeremy, meanwhile, made the most of this quasi reunion.
On December 28, his spouse shared a photo of the two from her family’s holiday celebrations to her Instagram Story, writing at the time:
“@jeremy_vuolo surprised me with a new and upgraded wedding band for Christmas.”
However, it wasn’t just the ring that was a present for the 32-year-old because Jeremy also recruited her brother-in-law Austin Forsyth — who is married to Joy-Anna Duggar — to “officiate [a] ceremony.”
He even had their kids — Felicity, 7, Evangeline, 5, and Finnegan, 9 months — “be a part of the wedding party to present it to me.”
What a swell guy!
To be clear, of course, Jinger sees her family members often.
“They’re always together a lot,” she said on the aforementioned podcast edition. “So it’s easy for us just to pop back. We went back three times in one year for weddings. So you’re like, ‘Oh, we weren’t there for the holidays.’ But we were there for multiple weddings.”
Elsewhere, Jinger Duggar made headlines prior to this visit due to her take on a certain Disney movie.
She said it was demonic and that she bans her children from watching it.
Jinger Duggar Finally Returns Home for Christmas, Kinda Gets Remarried was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
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