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American actor Isiah Whitlock Jr., who played a corrupt politician on HBO crime drama “The Wire” and had roles in numerous films directed by Oscar winner Spike Lee, died at age 71 on Tuesday, his manager said. “It is with tremendous sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr. If you knew him — you loved him. A brilliant actor and even better person,” manager Brian Liebman wrote on social media.Whitlock delighted audiences as slimy politician Clay Davis on action-packed drama “The Wire,” based on former journalist David Simon’s gritty tales from the seedy underbelly of drug-trafficking and criminal politicking in Baltimore, Maryland.Writers on the show leaned into his character’s catchphrase, a drawn-out pronunciation of the word “shit” that lasted several syllables — “sheeeee-it.”On Tuesday, Simon posted an image of Whitlock, smiling with gentle eyes, in honor of the actor’s passing.With more than 125 acting credits to his name, Whitlock’s career spanned decades and includes roles in many Spike Lee films, including “She Hate Me,” “25th Hour,” “Red Hook Summer,” “Chi-Raq,” “BlacKkKlansman” and “Da 5 Bloods.” Lee took to social media to share a photo of himself holding hands with Whitlock, calling him “My Dear Beloved Brother.” Whitlock’s other memorable turns include his role as the US Secretary of Defense on the satire TV comedy series “Veep,” which parodies the workplace environment of politicians in Washington.In one of his earliest film roles, Whitlock appeared in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” as a doctor who provided mobster Henry Hill with valium. His deep baritone voice was in animated movies and TV shows, including Pixar’s “Lightyear” and “Cars 3.”Born in the midwestern state of Indiana as a middle child in a family of 10, Whitlock’s father was a steel mill worker. A graduate of Southwest State University, he studied drama at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.

Iowa farmer Aaron Lehman was already paying a hefty price for health insurance, but his premium is set to skyrocket in January when major government subsidies expire, after US President Donald Trump’s Republican party declined to extend them.That imminent change to the “Obamacare” health insurance program means that Lehman, 58, a fifth-generation grain farmer in the US Midwest, may have to postpone improvements in his farm.”My wife and I have been paying about $500. We’re anticipating to go to about $1,300 a month,” Lehman, who is president of the Iowa Farmers Union, told AFP. “It’s more than double.”More than 20 million Americans from lower and middle-income brackets are facing a significant increase in the cost of their health insurance in 2026. The hike comes as persistent inflation weighs on households and adds to political pressure on Trump, who had promised to bring down the cost of living when he took office nearly a year ago.”It’s pretty stressful for a lot of people,” said Audrey Horn, a 60-year-old retiree from another Midwestern state, Nebraska, that Trump comfortably won in the 2024 presidential elections. She told AFP that her monthly increase will be $300. “Most Americans can’t afford a bill of (an) extra 300 or whatever a month on top of, you know, their mortgage… car insurance and groceries,” she said.- Dipping into savings -For their first payment in January, Horn and her husband will be tapping into some of her retirement savings. Her husband works for a small construction company where he is paid by the hour and doesn’t get health insurance. “Next year, we probably won’t be going out to eat as much. We don’t go out to eat as much anyway,” Horn said, adding, “And I’m going to keep driving my old 2008 Honda for a few more years.” Created in 2010 under then President Barack Obama, so-called Obamacare allowed millions more people to access health coverage. The program included financial aid, which was expanded and strengthened during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is this temporary boost that is now coming to an end.This issue was at the heart of the budget standoff between Republicans and opposition Democrats in October and November that led to a 43-day shutdown of the federal government.The Democrats demanded the extension of the enhanced subsidies, which the Republicans opposed, arguing it was too expensive for taxpayers, subject to abuse, and failed to control the rising cost of health insurance. “It is frustrating to me that that these subsidies were cut in order to make tax breaks for billionaires,” said Andrea Deutsch, 58, owner of a pet supply store in Pennsylvania, referring to the Trump-backed legislation that Congress eventually passed.- ‘Largest rollback in health coverage’ -Deutsch, who has suffered from type one diabetes since childhood, said that Obamacare was life-changing as it mandated that insurance companies provide coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions. So, she’s resigned herself to paying $160 more per month for her insurance in 2026.But others are expected to forgo insurance rather than pay much bigger premiums.According to a government estimate, the expiration of the subsidies is expected to cause four million Americans to lose their health insurance over the next 10 years. But Matt McGough, at the health policy think tank KFF, said there are estimates that an additional 10 million could become uninsured because of changes under the budget bill to health insurance marketplaces and the state-funded Medicaid program that serves low-income Americans.”This is the largest rollback in health coverage in US history, certainly in modern times,” he told AFP.He warned that could lead to increased mortality and higher health care costs for all Americans, with insured individuals paying for the unpaid bills of the uninsured.But things could still change. While Republicans are still refusing to extend the subsidies, they want to limit the surge in costs which will come less than a year before midterm Congressional elections.Democrats have made the issue key to their election platform to claw back control of both houses of Congress from Republicans.Faced with this risk, Trump has floated the idea of summoning health insurance executives to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is spending the holidays, “to see if they can lower prices.”

American environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of late president John F. Kennedy, has died from cancer at the age of 35, her family announced Tuesday.”Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the family wrote in a statement posted on the JFK Library Foundation’s Instagram account.Schlossberg, a science and climate reporter for the New York Times, wrote movingly about her diagnosis with acute myeloid leukemia in an essay for The New Yorker published in November.Doctors were first alerted to the condition — mostly seen in older patients and among first responders to the 9/11 attacks in New York — after detecting an unusually high white blood cell count following the birth of her second child in May 2024.”During the latest clinical trial, my doctor told me that he could keep me alive for a year, maybe,” she wrote. “My first thought was that my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me.”She was also deeply critical of her relative Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now serves as health secretary in President Donald Trump’s cabinet and has curtailed access to vaccines while slashing spending on government medical research.”I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby, in the face of logic and common sense, was confirmed for the position, despite never having worked in medicine, public health, or the government,” she wrote.Schlossberg published widely in leading outlets including The Atlantic and Vanity Fair, and in 2019 authored the prize-winning book “Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have.”The daughter of designer Edwin Schlossberg and diplomat Caroline Kennedy, she is survived by her husband, George Moran, a physician, and their two children.

A prominent jazz group and a dance company have canceled shows at Washington’s premier performing arts center to protest its renaming to include US President Donald Trump.Family members of late president John F. Kennedy and Democratic politicians have already expressed outrage over the change this month at the Kennedy Center rebaptizing it the Trump-Kennedy Center.Now artists are voicing their disapproval. Several who were scheduled to perform end-of-year and 2026 shows at the center have pulled out.The Cookers, a veteran jazz ensemble, voiced “deep regret” they would not be performing on New Year’s Eve as planned.  “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice,” the group said in a statement that did not give a reason for the cancellation.But the band’s drummer, Billy Hart, told The New York Times that the center’s name change had “evidently” played a role in their decision. Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the arts center, denounced the artists canceling shows and said they “were booked by the previous far left leadership.””Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome,” he wrote on X late Monday.Late last week, Grenell accused another jazz artist, Chuck Redd, of a “political stunt” and said the center would be seeking $1 million in damages after the musician cancelled a performance he hosts there annually on Christmas Eve, according to a copy of a letter from Grenell seen by AFP. A New York dance company, Doug Varone and Dancers, withdrew from a performance scheduled for April. They posted on Instagram Monday, “With the latest act of Donald J. Trump renaming the Center after himself, we can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution.”And last week, folk singer Kristy Lee announced on social media that she was cancelling a January 14 performance as “losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck.”Trump has stamped his mark on the Kennedy Center since the start of his second term as part of an assault on cultural institutions that his administration has accused of being too left-wing.A number of musicians and other artists had already pulled out of performing at the center after Trump named himself its chairman and replaced most of its board with people loyal to him.The new management of the center has cut drag shows and events celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, and it has hosted conferences for the religious right and invited more Christian artists.According to US media reports, ticket sales have declined since the new board of directors took over.

The United States hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuela drug boats, President Donald Trump said Monday, in what could amount to the first land strike of the military campaign against trafficking from Latin America.The US leader’s confirmation of the incident comes as he ramps up a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Trump of seeking regime change.”There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”Trump would not say if it was a military or CIA operation or where the strike occurred, noting only that it was “along the shore.”Sources familiar with the operation told CNN and the New York Times that the CIA had carried out a drone strike on a port facility. The strike was believed to be targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, though no one was present at the time of the operation and there were no casualties, the US media outlets reported.There has been no official comment from the Venezuelan government.The Pentagon earlier referred questions to the White House. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from AFP. Asked on Monday if he had spoken to Maduro recently, Trump said they had talked “pretty recently” but that “nothing much comes out of it.”Trump revealed details of the operation after being asked to elaborate on comments he made in a radio interview broadcast Friday that seemed to mention a land strike for the first time.”They have a big plant or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump told billionaire supporter John Catsimatidis on the WABC radio station in New York.”Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.” Trump did not say in the interview where the facility was located or give any other details.Trump has been threatening for weeks that ground strikes on drug cartels in the region would start “soon,” but this is the first apparent example.- Fresh US strike in Pacific -US forces have also carried out numerous strikes in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting what Washington says are drug-smuggling boats.The administration has provided no evidence that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking, however, prompting debate about the legality of these operations. International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings, a charge that Washington denies.After Trump spoke Monday, the US military announced on social media that it had carried out another strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two and bringing the total killed in the maritime campaign to at least 107.It did not specify where exactly the strike took place.The Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on Maduro, accusing the Venezuelan leader of running a drug cartel himself and imposing an oil tanker blockade.

US President Donald Trump warned Iran of fresh strikes and said Hamas would have “hell to pay” if it fails to disarm in Gaza, as he presented a united front with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.Speaking at a news conference with Netanyahu in Florida, Trump threatened to “eradicate” any attempt by Tehran to rebuild its nuclear program or ballistic missile arsenal following US and Israeli strikes earlier this year.Trump also downplayed reports of tensions with Netanyahu over the second stage of the fragile Gaza ceasefire, saying that Israel had “lived up” to its commitments and that the onus was on Palestinian militant group Hamas.”If they don’t disarm as they agreed to do, then there will be hell to pay for them,” Trump told reporters at his lavish Mar-a-Lago resort. “They have to disarm in a fairly short period of time.”Hamas’s armed wing reiterated earlier on Monday that it would not surrender its weapons.A top political adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on Monday said any aggression against his country would be met with an “immediate harsh response.””Iran’s #Missile_Capability and defense are not containable or permission-based. Any aggression will face an immediate #Harsh_Response beyond its planners’ imagination,” Ali Shamkhani wrote on X.- ‘Productive’ meeting -Netanyahu said his meeting with Trump had been “very productive” and announced that Israel was awarding the US leader its highest civilian honor — the first time it has gone to a non-Israeli citizen.Trump, the self-proclaimed “president of peace,” has been keen to move onto the next phase of the Gaza truce, which would see a Palestinian technocratic government installed and the deployment of an international stabilization force.While some White House officials fear Netanyahu is slow-walking the process, Trump said he had “very little difference” with the Israeli premier and was “not concerned about anything that Israel’s doing.”During their fifth meeting in the United States since Trump’s return to power this year, Netanyahu also appeared to have steered the US leader toward focusing on Israel’s concerns about Iran.Israeli officials and media have expressed concern in recent months that Iran is rebuilding its ballistic missile arsenal after it came under attack during the 12-day war with Israel in June.Trump said Iran “may be behaving badly” and was looking at new nuclear sites to replace those targeted by US strikes during the same conflict, as well as restoring its missiles.”I hope they’re not trying to build up again because if they are, we’re going have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup,” Trump said, adding that the US response “may be more powerful than the last time.”But Trump said he believed Iran was still interested in a deal with Washington on its nuclear and missile programs. Tehran denies that it is seeking nuclear weapons.- Focus on Gaza -Trump and Netanyahu’s talks also focused on other regional tension points, including Syria and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.Trump said he hoped Netanyahu could “get along” with Syria’s new president, a former Islamist rebel commander who toppled long-term ruler Bashar-al-Assad a year ago, despite a series of Israeli strikes along their border.Netanyahu’s visit caps a frantic few days of international diplomacy in Palm Beach, where Trump hosted Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday for talks on ending Russia’s invasion.The Gaza ceasefire in October is one of the major achievements of Trump’s first year back in power, and Washington and regional mediators have hoped to keep their foot on the gas.The Axios news site said Trump seeks to make announcements as soon as January on an interim government and an international force.But Trump gave few details beyond saying that he hoped “reconstruction” could begin soon in the Palestinian territory, devastated by Israeli attacks in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks.The disarmament of Hamas however continued to be a sticking point, with its armed wing again saying that it would not surrender its arms.”Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation remains,” the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a video message.

The United States has hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuela drug boats, President Donald Trump said Monday, in what could amount to the first land strike of the military campaign against trafficking from Latin America.The US leader’s confirmation of the incident comes as he ramps up a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Trump of seeking regime change.”There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”The US leader would not say if it was a military or CIA operation or where the strike occurred, saying only that it was “along the shore.”Asked if he had spoken to Maduro recently, following an earlier phone call in November, Trump said they had talked “pretty recently” but said that “nothing much comes out of it.”Trump had been asked to elaborate on apparent throwaway comments he made in a radio interview broadcast Friday that seemed to mention a land strike for the first time.”They have a big plant or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump told billionaire supporter John Catsimatidis on the WABC radio station in New York.”Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.” Trump did not say in the interview where the facility was located or give any other details.There has been no official comment from the Venezuelan government.The Pentagon earlier referred questions to the White House. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from AFP. Trump has been threatening for weeks that ground strikes on drug cartels in the region would start “soon,” but this is the first apparent example.- Fresh US strike in Pacific -US forces have also carried out numerous strikes in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting what Washington says are drug-smuggling boats.The administration has provided no evidence that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking, however, prompting debate about the legality of these operations. International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings, a charge that Washington denies.After Trump spoke Monday, the US military announced on X that it had carried out another deadly strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two and bringing the total killed in the maritime campaign to at least 107.It did not specify where exactly the strike took place.The Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on Maduro, accusing the Venezuelan leader of running a drug cartel himself and imposing an oil tanker blockade.

The US military said Monday two people were killed in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Eastern Pacific, bringing the total killed in Washington’s campaign in the region to at least 107.In a post to X, US Southern Command said “intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” adding two men were killed.The post included a black-and-white video of the “lethal kinetic strike” on a small boat, with what appeared to be two explosive flashes and flaming debris visible.Since September, the US military has carried out at least 30 strikes on what it says are boats used to smuggle drugs to the United States, with the majority of the attacks occurring in the Eastern Pacific. Some have also occurred in the Caribbean Sea.The administration has provided no evidence that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the legality of these operations.International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings, a charge that Washington denies.The US military’s post did not specify where exactly the strike took place.News of the latest attack came after US President Donald Trump confirmed Monday that Washington had hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged drug boats in Venezuela, in what could amount to the first land strike of the military campaign said to target drug trafficking.In recent months Trump has waged a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Washington of seeking regime change to gain access to the Latin American country’s massive oil reserves.The US has also imposed a partial naval blockade on Venezuela and recently intercepted oil tankers. Trump says he does not need lawmakers’ approval to strike suspected drug cartels at sea or on land in Venezuela, citing concerns over information leaks.

US singer Beyonce is now a billionaire, Forbes magazine said Monday, becoming only the fifth musician to achieve such a milestone.The 44-year-old entertainer joins a select club that includes her husband, rapper Jay-Z, as well as Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Rihanna, according to the publication, known for its rankings of the world’s richest people.Beyonce reached the landmark after several very lucrative years.In 2023, her Renaissance World Tour grossed nearly $600 million. She then reinvented her musical profile in 2024 with the Grammy-winning country album “Cowboy Carter” before staging the world’s highest-grossing tour of 2025.Combining these earnings with income from her music catalog and other deals, Forbes estimated that Beyonce brought in $148 million in 2025 before taxes, making her the third highest-paid musician in the world.The publication did not provide a more specific estimate of the former Destiny’s Child member’s net worth, who founded Parkwood Entertainment to manage her career and productions.Forbes said that while Beyonce has expanded her business empire with ventures such as a hair care brand, a whiskey label and a clothing line, most of her personal wealth derives from her music, along with her global tours and controlling the rights to her back catalog.

US President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on Monday for crucial talks on moving to the next stage of the fragile Gaza truce plan.The two leaders also discussed Iran, with Trump saying that if Tehran rebuilt its nuclear facilities the United States would “knock them down.”Trump played down reports of tensions with Netanyahu, saying that “he can be very difficult” but that Israel “might not exist” without his leadership following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks. “We have about five major subjects that we’re discussing, and Gaza will be one of those,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort ahead of the bilateral meeting.Trump called again on Hamas to disarm as part of the next phase of October’s Gaza ceasefire, after the Palestinian group’s armed wing vowed to keep its weapons.”There has to be a disarming of Hamas,” Trump said.Netanyahu responded by saying that “we’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House.”The Israeli premier also met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ahead of his talks with Trump.The meeting, the fifth between the two leaders to be held in the United States this year, comes as some White House officials fear both Israel and Hamas are slow-walking the second phase of their ceasefire.Trump is reportedly keen to announce as soon as January a Palestinian technocratic government to replace Hamas’s rule in Gaza, and the deployment of an international stabilization force.- Fragile ceasefire -Netanyahu’s visit caps a frantic few days of international diplomacy in Palm Beach, where Trump hosted Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday for talks on ending Russia’s invasion.The Gaza ceasefire in October is one of the major achievements of Trump’s first year back in power, but his administration and regional mediators want to keep up the momentum.The first phase of the truce deal stipulated that Hamas release the remaining hostages, both dead and alive, taken during its 2023 attack on Israel. The group has so far returned all the living captives and the remains of all but one. Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, while Hamas is supposed to lay down its weapons. An interim authority is meant to govern the Palestinian territory, and the international stabilization force (ISF) is to be deployed.Both sides, however, have alleged frequent ceasefire violations.Hamas’s armed wing reiterated earlier on Monday that it would not surrender its weapons.”Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation remains,” the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a video message.- ‘Harsher consequences’ -The Axios news outlet reported on Friday that Trump wanted to convene the first meeting of a new Gaza “Board of Peace” that he will chair at the Davos forum in Switzerland in January.But it said that senior White House officials were growing exasperated with what they viewed as efforts by Netanyahu to stall the peace process.The Israeli and US administrations are increasingly at odds on many key issues, including Israel’s continued strikes on Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in Syria.On Iran, Israeli officials and media have expressed concern in recent months that Iran is rebuilding its ballistic missile arsenal after it came under attack during the 12-day war with Israel in June.Trump told reporters Monday he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal but warned it would face a repeat of US attacks on its nuclear facilities “fast” if it tried to rebuild its program.Iran on Monday denounced the reports as a “psychological operation” against Tehran, emphasizing it was fully prepared to defend itself, and warning renewed aggression would “result in harsher consequences” for Israel.Trump added that he hoped Netanyahu could “get along” with the new president of Syria, the former commander of an armed Islamist rebel group, following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad last year.