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Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of New York’s conservative Archbishop Timothy Dolan and named a little-known, pro-migrant bishop from his native Chicago to replace him, the Vatican said Thursday.In a significant shift for the Catholic Church in the United States, Leo replaced Dolan, who stepped down after reaching the Church’s retirement age of 75, with Ronald Hicks, a 58-year-old bishop from Illinois.The New York archdiocese is among the largest in the US and the pick ends months of speculation about who would follow Dolan, widely regarded as being close to US President Donald Trump.This is the most important bishop appointment Leo has made since his election to head up the world’s Catholics in May and signals a desire to push back firmly on the US administration’s policies.Hicks shares several similarities with Leo including outspoken solidarity with migrants at a time when Trump is ordering mass deportations and portraying migrants and refugees as criminals.In November, the pope endorsed a rare statement from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops which heavily criticised the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policies toward undocumented migrants.He said the statement “affirms our solidarity with all our brothers and sisters as it expresses our concerns, opposition, and hopes with clarity and conviction.”It is grounded in the Church’s enduring commitment to the Catholic social teaching of human dignity and a call for meaningful immigration reform,” he said.In an event at Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dolan said “I already love (Hicks) and appreciate him and trust him.””Is there sadness in my heart? Sure, because I love the Archdiocese in New York, that sadness is mitigated by the gift” of Hicks’s arrival.Hicks quipped that he has the necessary diplomatic skills to manage the culinary and sporting rivalry between his native Chicago and New York.”Potentially my first controversial statement I’m a Cubs fan, and I love deep-dish pizza,” he said.”That said, I want you to know that I’m going to remain a loyal Cubs fan. However, I am going to start rooting for the New York sports teams, and I already love your pizza,” he said.He noted that his childhood home was just 14 blocks from Leo’s, he said.”In my 31 years of priesthood, I was formed in Chicago,” he said.- ‘Great affinity’ -Hicks spent five years of ministry in El Salvador in Central America, heading a church-run orphanage programme that operated across nine Latin American and Caribbean countries. Leo spent two decades in service in Peru.The outgoing bishop of Joliet, Illinois, also served in several parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago, the city where Leo was born — though the pair only met for the first time in 2024.Dolan, a ruddy-faced extrovert with Irish-American roots, has served in New York since 2009.A theological conservative fiercely opposed to abortion, Dolan sparked controversy in September by comparing the conservative political activist and Trump supporter Charlie Kirk to a “modern-day Saint Paul”.- Abuse challenge -Dolan oversaw the fallout from a major sexual abuse scandal in the diocese.Just a couple of weeks ago, the archdiocese announced the creation of a $300 million fund to compensate victims of sexual abuse who had filed complaints against the Church.At the time, Dolan said that a “series of very difficult financial decisions” were made, including layoffs within the archdiocese and a 10-percent reduction of its operating budget.Hicks is no stranger to managing the fallout of the abuse scandal. The Joliet diocese he now leaves was criticised under his predecessors for its handling of pedophile priests.The scandal was “something that is never going to be behind us”, Hicks told Vatican News.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will hold talks with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in Miami on Friday on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, a White House official told AFP.Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.But progress has so far been slow in moving to the following phase of October’s agreement between Israel and Hamas, which was brokered by Washington and its regional allies.Turkey said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would attend the talks. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty would also be there, the Axios news outlet reported.”Turkey will continue to fight determinedly on every front to ensure that what is happening in Gaza is not forgotten, that justice is served,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a speech on Wednesday.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on December 29, Axios said, as the US president pushes for a longer-term deal.Trump said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday that the Gaza truce had brought peace to the Middle East “for the first time in 3,000 years.”But the ceasefire remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are playing for time.Israel said it had struck and killed the head of weapons production in Hamas’s military wing in the Gaza Strip last weekend, a move that reportedly sparked Trump to warn of jeopardizing the truce.Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner played a key role in the shuttle diplomacy that led to the deal to end the Gaza war, which was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.The US pair are also involved in talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and will meet Russian officials in Miami over the weekend.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday he was willing to mediate between the United States and Venezuela to “avoid armed conflict.”Lula, one of Latin America’s most influential leaders, told reporters that Brazil was “very worried” about the mounting crisis between Venezuela and the United States.The 80-year-old leftist said he had told US President Donald Trump that “things wouldn’t be resolved by shooting, that it was better to sit down around a table to find a solution.”He said he had offered Brazil’s help to both leaders to “avoid an armed conflict here in Latin America” and may speak to Trump again before Christmas to reinforce this offer “so that we can have a diplomatic agreement and not a fratricidal war.” “I am at the disposal of both Venezuela and the US to contribute to a peaceful solution on our continent.”Trump’s administration accuses Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro of leading a drug trafficking cartel.Washington has carried out deadly strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats, seized an oil tanker and slapped sanctions on Maduro’s relatives.Trump has also overseen a major military deployment off the coast of Venezuela, and this week declared a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” to and from Caracas.Maduro claims the US seeks regime change instead of its stated goal of stopping drug trafficking.Lula said he was concerned about what was behind the US campaign.”It can’t just be about overthrowing Maduro. What are the other interests that we don’t yet know about?” he said, adding he did not know if it was about Venezuela’s oil, or critical minerals, or rare earths.”Nobody ever says concretely why this war is necessary.”

A Florida man who committed five murders while a teenager is to be put to death by lethal injection on Thursday, the 19th execution in the southern US state this year.Frank Walls, 58, was convicted of the 1987 murders of Edward Alger, 21, and his girlfriend Ann Peterson, 20, during a robbery of their home.Walls also confessed to committing three other murders.He is to be executed at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) at a state prison in Raiford.Florida has carried out 18 executions this year, more than any other US state. There have been five each in Alabama and Texas.There have been 46 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2010, when 46 inmates were also put to death. There were 52 executions in the United States in 2009.Thirty-eight of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection.Three have been by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

US consumer inflation slowed unexpectedly in November, delayed government data showed Thursday, although levels remained higher than earlier in the year before President Donald Trump’s tariffs flowed through the economy.Analysts warned that disruptions to data collection during the record-long US government shutdown, which ended in mid-November, had likely distorted the figures.The consumer price index (CPI) climbed 2.7 percent from a year ago in November, the Department of Labor said, notably below analysts’ predictions of a 3.1 percent uptick.The figure was also down from a 3.0 percent rise in September, the most recent month for which fuller data was available due to the shutdown.White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett was quick to laud the figures, calling this “an astonishingly good CPI report” in a Fox Business interview.But inflation has ticked up this year as Trump launched new tariffs on US trading partners, with many firms flagging elevated business costs.The impact on consumers has been more muted, as companies rushed to stock up on inventory before steeper import prices kicked in. Many opted not to fully pass on the cost increases.Americans nonetheless continue to voice concerns over affordability, with Democratic victories in off-year elections last month seen as a clear sign of the issue’s ongoing importance.Food prices were 2.6 percent higher from a year ago in November, with the index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs up 4.7 percent over the period.Energy costs jumped 4.2 percent over the past 12 months.Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, “core” CPI was up 2.6 percent in November from a year ago. Overall figures are still above the Federal Reserve’s longer-run target of two percent.- Budget ‘squeeze’ -There were few month-on-month comparisons in Thursday’s report, as the shutdown from October to mid-November hampered data collection.Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, cautioned that with the 43-day government shutdown hitting data collection, “it’s hard to read too much into the November inflation data.””What stands out from the data that is in the report is utilities, home furnishings and used cars and trucks are driving some of the ongoing inflation pressures. This is the result of tariff pressures and the AI boom,” she said.”Americans continue to feel the squeeze in their monthly budgets,” Long added.The White House Council of Economic Advisers pointed to airfares and groceries as areas of improvement in a series of social media posts.Yet, economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics flagged that a skew in data collection towards the end of November likely explained why airline fares were seen to slump.”A higher proportion of price quotes than usual for November likely were sourced during the Black Friday discount period,” he cautioned.Similarly, while housing inflation was “unusually weak in the two months leading into November,” this could be “more noise than signal due to the disruptions from the shutdown,” said Bernard Yaros of Oxford Economics.- Fed vigilance -While the latest figures will be scrutinized for their potential bearing on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions, missing October data means an incomplete economic picture.Even as the numbers are “encouraging” for the Fed, central bank chief Jerome Powell “has already warned against reading too much into the latest data due to distortions from the shutdown,” Yaros said in a note.”The central bank will remain most vigilant about the labor market, as a continuation of real wage growth will allow households to fully recover from the hit to their purchasing power since the pandemic,” he added.Fed policymakers have voted for three consecutive meetings to lower rates amid apparent weakening in the jobs market, but some cite risks of persistent inflation in urging caution before further reductions.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the struggling company that owns the US president’s Truth Social platform, announced Thursday a $6 billion merger with fusion power company TAE Technologies, in an unexpected pivot into energy technology.The all-stock transaction will see shareholders of each company hold approximately 50 percent of the combined entity, which plans to begin construction of what it calls the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant in 2026.Trump Media’s share price has slumped by about 70 percent in the past year but was up nearly 25 percent after the announcement.Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, said the deal represents “a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations.”Fusion power plants would generate electricity through the same process that powers the Sun, a goal long pursued by researchers, though no commercially viable project has yet been built despite decades of research.The unusual tie-up comes as the Trump administration pushes power-hungry AI technology that will require a massive build-out of energy sources.AI data centers are posing an increasing burden on US power grids, and the White House is encouraging the fast-tracking of energy projects to meet demand.TAE Technologies, founded in 1998, says its fusion technology could provide abundant electricity to power AI infrastructure. The California-based company has built five fusion reactors and employs over 400 people, including 62 Ph.D. holders, a statement said.The company has raised more than $1.3 billion from investors including Google, Chevron and Goldman Sachs. Trump Media has agreed to provide up to $300 million in cash to TAE.Trump Media has launched several projects in recent months, including cryptocurrency-related financial products and a video streaming platform, but generated only $1.7 million in revenue in the first half of 2025.Nunes and TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer will serve as co-CEOs of the combined company, while Michael Schwab of Big Sky Partners is expected to chair a nine-member board that will include Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son.The transaction requires shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to close by mid-2026.

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of influential New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, a leading figure of the US church’s conservative wing, the Vatican said Thursday.The first US pope replaced Dolan, who stepped down after reaching the Church’s retirement age of 75, with a little-known 58-year-old bishop from Illinois, Ronald Hicks.The appointment ends months of speculation about who Leo would pick to follow Dolan, widely regarded as being close to US President Donald Trump.This is the most important bishop appointment Leo has made since his election to head up the world’s Catholics in May and signals a desire to take a firmer stance on the US administration’s decisions, particularly on human rights.Hicks shares several similarities with Leo including solidarity with migrants, in contrast with Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies.He spent five years of ministry in El Salvador in Central America, while Leo spent two decades in service in Peru.Hicks also served shortly after joining the priesthood in 1994 in several parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago, the city where Leo was born.Dolan, a ruddy-faced extrovert with Irish-American roots, has served in New York since 2009, tackling shrinking Church membership by reaching out to embrace the growing Hispanic population, which is predominantly Catholic.A theological conservative fiercely opposed to abortion, he oversaw the fallout from a major sexual abuse scandal in the diocese.Just a couple of weeks ago, the archdiocese announced the creation of a $300 million fund to compensate victims of sexual abuse who had filed complaints against the Church.At the time, Dolan said that a “series of very difficult financial decisions” were made, including layoffs within the archdiocese and a 10-percent reduction of its operating budget.

Peter Arnett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who became one of the world’s foremost combat correspondents, died Wednesday at 91, according to US media reports.He had been suffering from prostate cancer.Arnett, who won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of the Vietnam War for The Associated Press, rose to international fame in his decades-long career covering conflicts from Vietnam to El Salvador to the Gulf.He broke onto the international scene as a wire-service correspondent in Vietnam from 1962 until the war’s end in 1975, dodging bullets as he accompanied troops on missions. His reporting throughout the conflict provided an on-the-ground assessment of the war that often challenged official US accounts.He was among the last reporters in Saigon as it fell to the communist-backed North Vietnamese.Arnett stayed with the AP until 1981, when he joined CNN. He would soon rise to broadcast stardom.In 1991, Arnett landed in Baghdad for the outbreak of the first Gulf War, where he interviewed then-president Saddam Hussein and documented the lives of the Iraqi people living under the bombing.His live frontline broadcasts — in some cases relayed by cell phone — would make him a household name. “Peter Arnett was one of the greatest war correspondents of his generation — intrepid, fearless, and a beautiful writer and storyteller,” Edith Lederer, chief UN correspondent for the AP, told the agency.”His reporting in print and on camera will remain a legacy for aspiring journalists and historians for generations to come.”- Bin Laden interview -In 1997, Arnett interviewed Osama bin Laden at a secret hideout in Afghanistan years before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.When asked about his plans, bin Laden reportedly told Arnett: “You’ll see them and hear about them in the media, God willing,” the New York Times reported.Arnett resigned from CNN in 1999 after the network retracted a report Arnett narrated claiming deadly Sarin nerve gas had been used on deserting American soldiers in Laos in 1970.Arnett went on to cover the second Gulf War for NBC and National Geographic.He left NBC in 2003 after giving an interview to Iraqi state television in which he was critical of the US military’s strategy. Arnett was born on November 13, 1934 in Riverton, New Zealand. Arnett, who later became a naturalized American citizen, began his career as a reporter on a local newspaper, the Southland Times, before going on to work for English-language papers in Thailand and Laos.In 1995, he published his memoir, “Live From the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World’s War Zones.”Arnett, who lived in Southern California since 2014, is survived by his wife, Nina Nguyen, and their children, Elsa and Andrew, US media said.

The United States approved $11 billion-worth of arms to Taiwan, Taipei said Thursday, announcing one of the largest weapons packages for the island and prompting an angry backlash from China.While Washington is traditionally Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier, remarks by US President Donald Trump raised doubts about his willingness to defend the democratic island.Taiwan has ramped up its defence spending in the past decade as China has intensified military pressure, but Trump’s administration has pushed the island to do more to protect itself.The arms sale announced on Thursday, which still needs US Congressional approval, would be the second since Trump returned to office in January, after a $330 million sale of parts in November.The latest, much bigger cache features HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, anti-tank missiles, drones and other equipment, according to Taipei’s foreign ministry.”This is the second arms sale to Taiwan announced during the Trump administration’s second term, once again demonstrating the US’s firm commitment to Taiwan’s security,” Taipei’s foreign ministry said.Beijing reacted angrily on Thursday, strongly condemning the sale announcement.”China urges the United States to abide by the one-China principle… and immediately stop the dangerous actions of arming Taiwan,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press conference, adding that Beijing would take “resolute and forceful measures” to safeguard its territorial integrity.Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory under the one-China principle, and has threatened to use force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.The potential size of the sale rivals the $18 billion authorised under former US president George W. Bush in 2001, although that was ultimately downsized after commercial negotiations.Bush ended up selling $15.6 billion-worth of weapons to Taiwan over his eight years in office.During Trump’s first term, the United States approved $10 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, including $8 billion for fighter jets.The latest package is expected to soon receive a Congressional rubber stamp, given the cross-party consensus on Taiwan’s defence.Taiwan maintains its own defence industry but the island would be massively outgunned in a conflict with China, and so remains heavily reliant on US arms.The latest arms sale shows Washington has continued to assist Taipei in “rapidly building robust deterrence capabilities”, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s government has vowed to ramp up defence spending to more than three percent of the GDP next year and five percent by 2030, following US pressure.It is also plans to seek up to NT$1 trillion in special funding to upgrade the island’s air defence systems and increase capacity to produce and store ammunition.The defence spending proposals need backing from the island’s opposition-controlled parliament before they can take effect.China deploys military aircraft and warships around Taiwan on a near-daily basis, which analysts describe as “grey-zone” operations — coercive tactics that fall short of an act of war.Taipei’s defence ministry said 40 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters, choppers and drones, as well as eight naval vessels, were detected around Taiwan in a 24-hour period ending early Thursday.On Tuesday, Beijing’s third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailed through the Taiwan Strait, according to Taipei. burs-dhw/je/fox

As he gears up for his first Christmas as leader of the world’s Catholics, Pope Leo XIV is starting to show more noticeable differences in leadership style with his predecessor Francis.Pope Leo has set a more guarded and formal tone than the charismatic Francis but is equally unafraid to speak his mind — even on sensitive topics like social justice, poverty and immigration.”The pope communicates by how he dresses, his gestures, his signals,” Roberto Regoli, an Italian priest and a professor at the Vatican’s Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told AFP.Whereas “Francis’s style was very linked to his words” and improvisation, Leo XIV communicates emotions “with his face and his penetrating gaze”.”He is not a physically imposing person,” he said, underlining his “soft” and “very assured” manner.Robert Francis Prevost became the first US pope on May 8 and has so far differed little from his Argentine predecessor in terms of substance.He has only had to make a few nominations to top Vatican positions — usually seen as a good indicator of papal intentions — since his election.Leo has also not yet moved into the Apostolic Palace — which Francis eschewed for more humble lodgings nearby — and the Church’s long-planned Jubilee Holy Year has taken up much of his agenda.On the international stage, Leo has only carried out one foreign visit to Turkey and Lebanon — which had already been decided under Francis.But the trip earlier this month gave important insights into their different styles.Pope Leo spoke with emotion but without being particularly effusive to fervent crowds in Lebanon.He stuck to the text of written speeches and soberly greeted the faithful during the visit, remaining measured even in crowded environments.- ‘Sure of his ideas’ -Pope Leo has revived an old tradition of taking a weekly day of rest on Tuesdays in Castel Gandolfo — the papal summer residence near Rome which Francis had mostly stayed away from.Leo said he plays tennis, swims, reads and takes phone calls there.Everyone “should do some activity” in order “to look after themselves. Body, soul, all together”, the 70-year-old told journalists last month.Before returning to the Vatican on Tuesdays, he usually answers journalists’ questions — a new way of communicating.Francis granted several exclusive media interviews during his pontificate while Leo has only done one in seven months.In recent weeks, he has become highly critical of US President Donald Trump — calling the treatment of migrants in the US “extremely disrespectful”.”He doesn’t shy away from answering questions. He says what he thinks because he is sure of his ideas and his management,” Regoli said.”He is really a modern head of state. He believes a pope can speak informally on issues that are not directly related to his remit,” a Vatican source said on condition of anonymity.The pope’s message reaches a wide audience also because of his knowledge of languages.He speaks confidently in English, Italian and Spanish, a language he masters well after spending two decades in Peru as a missionary.- Cape and smartwatch -In Vatican corridors there is some satisfaction with Leo’s greater respect for institutions and officialdom, a more methodical form of governance and detailed knowledge of the issues at stake.”His timidity is also an evangelical way of working — of having respect for people because with Francis it was not aways the case,” a diplomatic source told AFP.Francis was known for his sometimes explosive character in private and could dismiss staff from one day to the next.Leo has also taken strong decisions — such as going back on some reforms in the running of the Vatican undertaken by his predecessor.He has also brought back greater formality in papal wear, donning the red capes and gold-embroidered stoles that Francis had rejected.The one novel twist on tradition is the smartwatch on his wrist that can sometimes be seen under the lace sleeve of his white garments.