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Received today — 18 December 2025

Kennedy Center board votes to add Trump’s name to DC arts institution

18 December 2025 at 14:28

Joe Kennedy III, JFK’s grandson, said he doubted the Trump-Kennedy Center name change was legal

The board of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC is moving ahead with a proposal to rename the arts and culture-focused institution, named after President John F Kennedy, in honor of Donald Trump, according to an announcement from the White House on Thursday.

If the White House move succeeds it would be called the Trump-Kennedy Center, though it is unclear if this change would be legal.

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© Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

© Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

© Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Pope’s naming of New York archbishop signals continued challenge to Trump on immigration

18 December 2025 at 10:43

Ronald Hicks, who endorsed message condemning ICE raids, to lead one of biggest US archdioceses

Pope Leo XIV has named a fellow Chicagoan as the next archbishop of New York, one of the biggest US archdioceses, in a signal that the church will continue its stance against the Trump administration on immigration.

The US-born pope chose 58-year-old Ronald Hicks, the current bishop of Joliet, Illinois, to lead the church in New York, replacing retiring Cardinal Timothy Dolan who has served for 16 years after being selected by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

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© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Received before yesterday

Two people dead and nine wounded in mass shooting at Brown University, as suspect remains at large

13 December 2025 at 18:47

Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, says ‘shooter’ still at large, as officials embark on widespread manhunt

At least two people were killed and nine more critically injured in a shooting on Saturday at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with the suspect still at large hours after the first shelter in place orders were issued.

Police scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighbourhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, back yards and porches for hours late into the night after the shooting was first reported in the afternoon.

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© Photograph: Bing Guan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bing Guan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bing Guan/AFP/Getty Images

Cuba denounces US seizure of oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast as ‘piracy’

13 December 2025 at 11:14

Cuban foreign ministry called US military action ‘maritime terrorism’ under a policy of ‘economic suffocation’

Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday, calling it an “act of piracy and maritime terrorism” as well as a “serious violation of international law” that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.

“This action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela’s legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba,” the Cuban foreign ministry statement said.

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© Photograph: Satellite image ©2025 Vantor/Reuters

© Photograph: Satellite image ©2025 Vantor/Reuters

© Photograph: Satellite image ©2025 Vantor/Reuters

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